Tesoro Cibola questions

[MrMikeJackie]

Today I used my Cibola for the first time on a colonial farm field. There are things I like and some I dislike. Here goes.
Let me first start off by saying this machine probably has THE BEST discrimination I've ever seen. I began by setting the disc to nickel, sensitivity all the way up, pressed and held the pinpoint button and set the threshold to just audible.
I started swinging and heard nothing! At all. Just silence. After 10 minutes I started thinking something was wrong. Waved my ringed finger over the coil and got a nice bang. Ok?
Started swinging again and nothing. Then all of a sudden a bang, clear, crisp, and repeatable. It was a broken corner of a shoe buckle. Cool.
i guess I'm not used to detecting without a constant threshold hum in the background and constant blips from the machine trying to discriminate a target.
It's also super light and depth is damn good for such a small coil(9x8).
I would like to know if anyone has modified the threshold button using a different switch so I don't have to keep holding the button down for all metal. Maybe a three way like on the whites machines? And is it possible to incorporate the threshold into the discriminate mode so I can hear those deep wavers in the threshold, indicating a deep target out of tone range?
One other thing I noticed is when the discrimination was set at minimum the machine would still run quiet. I would then press the all metal button and get a zip zip in multiple places, go over the same places now in discriminate(set at minimum) and not hear anything. Does this machine not hear iron?
Sorry if this post is too long, thanks for listening. Mike

 

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[pinenut]

Today I used my Cibola for the first time on a colonial farm field. There are things I like and some I dislike......I would like to know if anyone has modified the threshold button using a different switch so I don't have to keep holding the button down for all metal. Maybe a three way like on the whites machines?....

Yup. It's a fairly common modification, usually done along with the "ground balance mod".

Many Cibolas now sport a 10 turn ground balance potentiometer to fine tune the GB, and people put that pot where the pinpoint button was (long pot, the 10 turn, and that's where it'll fit), then they add a 3 position toggle underneath, like the Tejon uses. You can switch it into either all-metal (threshold), or disc, and have a spring loaded momentary all-metal for pinpointing, like the red button does. I recently bought a couple Cibolas (one high tone), just to modify. Waiting on the pots and toggle switches, which should all be here in a couple weeks (ebay, shipped from China). The pot and switch came to about $5 a pair, shipped! Of course, most people who bought their Cibola new, may never want to do this; their warranty would be voided.

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Sounds good, but is there a way of adding threshold to the discriminate mode.

 

[pinenut]

Sounds good, but is there a way of adding threshold to the discriminate mode.

Not that I'm aware of. ...You could take your girlfriend along and have her hum for you.

 

[Terry Soloman]

MIke!!!!! Stop thinking about ways to fix something that aint broke! Learn to TRUST the Cibola. I know you are used to a whole lot of Minelab noise, but the silent search mode is HEAVEN. You have already found out how good the discrimination is, just learn to trust it and enjoy the experience!

 

[MrMikeJackie]

MIke!!!!! Stop thinking about ways to fix something that aint broke! Learn to TRUST the Cibola. I know you are used to a whole lot of Minelab noise, but the silent search mode is HEAVEN. You have already found out how good the discrimination is, just learn to trust it and enjoy the experience!

Fine Terry, I'll trust you on this one. Thanks for the shake.

 

[Stoof2010]

Yes I modified my civil with both a toggle and a GB pot. In retrospect, with my mild soil, I wish I wouldn't have. I already have a vaquero.
It is a big risk doing this mod. It works very well, but if I had to do it over again I'd leave it stock.
To check how your unit is set, hold the pinpoint button and raise and lower the coil to the ground from 12"-1 or 2". The more constant the threshold tone (forgot to say to set that to an audible hum first).
Mine was positive and quite a bit which is part of the reason i did the mid, but it worked fine.
I got lucky that I didn't break it.
If you want a modded civil, get a vaquero lol.
Happy hunting!!

 

[smokeythecat]

My Cibola has found thousands of dollars of goodies. Don't worry about the silence. It will SCREAM at you when you pass over something. Put the discriminator very low and dig that big iron, may be a colonial horseshoe or cannon shot or other goodie. Terry is absolutely right.

 

[eyemustdigtreasure]

Today I used my Cibola for the first time on a colonial farm field. There are things I like and some I dislike. Here goes.
Let me first start off by saying this machine probably has THE BEST discrimination I've ever seen. I began by setting the disc to nickel, sensitivity all the way up, pressed and held the pinpoint button and set the threshold to just audible.
I started swinging and heard nothing! At all. Just silence. After 10 minutes I started thinking something was wrong. Waved my ringed finger over the coil and got a nice bang. Ok?
Started swinging again and nothing. Then all of a sudden a bang, clear, crisp, and repeatable. It was a broken corner of a shoe buckle. Cool.
i guess I'm not used to detecting without a constant threshold hum in the background and constant blips from the machine trying to discriminate a target.
It's also super light and depth is damn good for such a small coil(9x8).
I would like to know if anyone has modified the threshold button using a different switch so I don't have to keep holding the button down for all metal. Maybe a three way like on the whites machines? And is it possible to incorporate the threshold into the discriminate mode so I can hear those deep wavers in the threshold, indicating a deep target out of tone range?
One other thing I noticed is when the discrimination was set at minimum the machine would still run quiet. I would then press the all metal button and get a zip zip in multiple places, go over the same places now in discriminate(set at minimum) and not hear anything. Does this machine not hear iron?
Sorry if this post is too long, thanks for listening. Mike

I understand you push the PinPoint (red) Button to obtain that threshold hum, and hunt that way?!
You said you are so used to hearing something all the time.....Anyway - forget it!
All you have to do is listen for your faithful Cibola to sound off, letting you know to stop and check things out a bit more...
All-metal mode would be zero discrimination.
Since this machine has factory-set ground balance, changing ground conditions doesn't mess with you much.
In clayey soils, where extreeme heat of a recent forest fire, the ground effect was terrible for me, but elsewhere, I never had a bad experience - it's a turn it on and GO machine!