Tejon & Vaquero differences?

[Rocky77]

I've never used a Tesoro before, but they look like fun detectors and I've heard nothing but good things about them. I've been doing some research and I think if I were to purchase one it would be the Vaquero or the Tejon. What are the major differences between the two?

I'd mostly be relic hunting, but of course, I'd use it for local park hunts and coin shooting. Any info would be most appreciative. Thanks!

 

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[Ronzie]

Both are great but the Tejon is known for depth. It'll go deeper than my Explorer SE w/pro coil.
I have an Outlaw that I love and picked it over the Vaquero because it comes with 3 coils.
Between this fall and next spring I'm getting a Tejon & a Tiger Shark. They are the most fun, underrated and best for money metal detectors on the planet.
A great thing about the Outlaw & the Vaquero is they both take a single 9 volt battery. The Tejon is the better machine out of the 3, and better at relic hunting.
So imo I'd get the Tejon, but either way you win.
My order would be Tejon, Outlaw, Vaquero.

 

[chinchilla]

Tesoros are great machines, well built, good performance, efficient, very light and with only the necessary (no bells and whistles)

Both detectors are good performers. The vaquero is easier to handle and more of a do everything machine than the Tejon, but the tejon has more power, depth and a dual discrimination toggle

 

[Rocky77]

Thanks for the replies! I definitely like the dual disc. function of the Tejon. I'll watch some videos and do some more research before I make my decision.

 

[rws51]

The Tejon is going to be about 3 inches deeper than the Vaquero in most instances. I have both detectors and the Tejon is certainly the more powerful of the two. You can't go wrong with either detector.

 

[PostalTwo]

i believe u can change the tone on the tejon as well

 

[U.K. Brian]

You can change the tone to suit your hearing which is a real advantage if your hearing isn't what it should be. Can't agree with the depth advantage over the Vanquero though. More like one inch if the cheaper model is hypertuned and it's smoother running with less chatter in general use.

The extra gain and the frequency of the Tejon may account for it not being quite as good in high mineralisation. Try and speak to someone who has or has had both in your area as it "doesn't meet and defeat all soil conditions" as claimed. Re the twin discrimination levels a top detector designer/builder said a good discriminator didn't need this feature.

Save some money by going Vaquero and you could pick up the excellent 5.75 coil to go with it.

 

[Terry Soloman]

You can change the tone to suit your hearing which is a real advantage if your hearing isn't what it should be. Can't agree with the depth advantage over the Vanquero though. More like one inch if the cheaper model is hypertuned and it's smoother running with less chatter in general use.

The extra gain and the frequency of the Tejon may account for it not being quite as good in high mineralisation. Try and speak to someone who has or has had both in your area as it "doesn't meet and defeat all soil conditions" as claimed. Re the twin discrimination levels a top detector designer/builder said a good discriminator didn't need this feature.

Save some money by going Vaquero and you could pick up the excellent 5.75 coil to go with it.

The English member above, in my never humble opinion, lives to BASH Tesoro. He feels he is smarter and more knowledgeable than almost everyone else on the forum, and again, in my opinion, is the definition of "bloviator."

The major differences in the Vaquero and the Tejon are as follows:

1) Operating Frequency: Tejon = 17.2 to 17.6 kHz / Vaquero = 14.3 kHz, 14.5 kHz, 14.7 kHz
2) All Metal and Dual Discrimination on one toggle with the Tejon (no need to thumb the Discrimination Knob)
3) The Tejon sends more power (8 AA batteries vs One 9v in the Vaquero) to the coil resulting in deeper detection ability.
4) Tejon = 3-lbs; Vaquero = 2.2-lbs.
5) The Tejon is more sensitive to gold, and is DEEPER than the Vaquero by 3"-4" depending on the soil
6) It handles hot, mineralized soil just as well or better than the Vaquero

I own and use both.

 

[Rocky77]

The English member above, in my never humble opinion, lives to BASH Tesoro. He feels he is smarter and more knowledgeable than almost everyone else on the forum, and again, in my opinion, is the definition of "bloviator."

The major differences in the Vaquero and the Tejon are as follows:

1) Operating Frequency: Tejon = 17.2 to 17.6 kHz / Vaquero = 14.3 kHz, 14.5 kHz, 14.7 kHz
2) All Metal and Dual Discrimination on one toggle with the Tejon (no need to thumb the Discrimination Knob)
3) The Tejon sends more power (8 AA batteries vs One 9v in the Vaquero) to the coil resulting in deeper detection ability.
4) Tejon = 3-lbs; Vaquero = 2.2-lbs.
5) The Tejon is more sensitive to gold, and is DEEPER than the Vaquero by 3"-4" depending on the soil
6) It handles hot, mineralized soil just as well or better than the Vaquero

I own and use both.

Thanks, Terry. That was very helpful.

 

[U.K. Brian]

No, but I know more than you. Vaquero is a Tesoro by the way.

Next step should be to read the reports from those in mineralised areas who have both detectors.

Nearly forgot. Who was the designer who didn't consider the twin discrimination level switching to be necessary ?

 

[Terry Soloman]

No, but I know more than you. Vaquero is a Tesoro by the way.

Next step should be to read the reports from those in mineralised areas who have both detectors.

Nearly forgot. Who was the designer who didn't consider the twin discrimination level switching to be necessary ?

This HAS to be your weakest response to date Brian. Tsk-Tsk..

 

[rainyday101]

I can feel the love!

 

[parsonwalker]

Most has already been said, but I'd like to add two things: if you are a true relic hunter (I hunt CW relics exclusively) The switchable discrimination is very useful in trashy relic sites. For example, after owning the Tejon for a few months, I realized that I could get MUCH deeper on ANY kind of metal in all-metal-mode. maybe that's a no-brainer . . . but I didn't know!! I was finding relics right along, but I wasn't finding DEEP relics (tejon) in disc mode. Then one day I was in a trench and switched to all metal for the heck of it. I started hearing faint signals. I switched to the lowest disc mode but got NOTHING. Ended up digging 3 .69 cal 3-ringers about a foot apart at 14 inches. Keep in mind this was TRENCH dirt which is looser and in Virginia where I was, it was sandy. My friend walked over with his nautilus, and could hear NOTHING. Another day, my friend with an AT Pro tried hearing the faint signal (.58 cal 3 ringer deep) and could get nothing. The point is, I can hunt in all metal, but if I get into a bunch of nails or barbed wire, a one finger toggle puts me in disc mode 2, and I can either ignore or decide to dig based on the sound. IMHO the dual discrimination is very helpful in trashy sites. the other point (nobody has mentioned) is that a common complaint of the Tejon is that it "loves iron too much." Now I AGREE with that - if you don't want to dig ANY iron! But a true relic hunter is looking for rifle bands, locks, hammers, butt plates, trigger guards, shell fragments (Schrapnel), grape shot, rifle tools . . . well, you get the idea. They're all iron. So a camp or battle site demands that you dig everything. Iron and all. If that's your style, the Tejon is a wonderful machine. I've never hunted a vaquero though, so I'm unqualified to compare. I just know I wouldn't trade my Tejon for TWO of any other machine. It IS however a great idea to find out what guys have to say who hunt in the kind of soil you are hunting in. Our soil here is good. So again, I can't comment on the Tejon performance in highly mineralized soil. BTW: I hunt with my machine "right out of the box." No mods or fancy coils. Just the one it came with. So if you have a good ear and go slow, a site ain't hunted out, until a tejon has hunted it!

 

[U.K. Brian]

"Tall Tales Terry Soloman" strikes again. Now I wonder why you haven't challenged THESE posts.... Lucky Larry (Tejon sucks on bad ground), Oldbill (Tejon was an awful detector in the ground I have to deal with), Vaquero44 had both and decided on the Vaquero. AUDuke (depends where used. Arizona the Vaq. is way better. Those who say the Tejon is better than the Vaquero probably haven't tried to use it west of the Rockies). Sandman agreed with this. This is the results of a ten minute check on this forum.

See your busy trying to cast doubt on anyone making money gold hunting in reply to "Miner Mikes" post. He won't get the value of any gold found (but others who have replied can do so much better than you, why's that ?). Then many who have replied are doing rather well "without scrabbling for a living". Worried that you can't and others can ?

As for knocking Tesoro I never got sponsored by them like you did so have no reason to make things up. Also I recommended getting a Tesoro over a Garrett just a few days back.
I don't like ANY detector company so pick the best from each. They are not charities so make money when they can and this means both good and bad machines get into the shops.

Before I forget. The Dual Discrimination "knocker", as you would no doubt call him, is James Gifford. When the Fisher 1266 was getting very popular and people asked why Tesoro users couldn't have the same he put in print that with a good discrimination system it wasn't necessary. Now get on the phone and ask him.

He also (I think when the Tesoro Laser went up, might be down, by a couple of kHz) did a nice little explanation of why. This was that high sensitivity is more sensitive to smaller targets but don't have as good a ground penetration in higher minerals as lower frequencies. Low frequency not only working better in mineralised ground but are also more sensitive to higher conductors like silver.

I'm very sorry to suggest that Rocky should check to see what works best in his area. If this idea should get out then people with vested interests would not be able to mislead beginners in the hobby.