Tesoro vs. Garrett AT Pro question

[tabman]

Nitnelyons, I have used both the AT Pro and Vaquero. Both are good detectors, but I never did take a strong liking to the AT Pro and I just recently sold it. I guess if I did any detecting in the water I might have kept it. I normally run my Vaquero and Cibola with the discrimination setting just high enough to discriminate out nails.

However, if I find myself at a site that is loaded with pull tabs, I'll set the discrimination up just high enough to discriminate out most pull tabs. I don't like doing that much, because I'm discriminating out most gold rings.

Without looking at both trash piles of you and your brother's, I'd guess that his trash pile is smaller than yours, because I find myself 'high toning' when I use the AT Pro. I'm looking for that silver coin that doesn't have any trash close to it.

At a site that is super loaded with pull tabs, with either my Cibola or Vaquero with the discrimination set just high enough to discriminate out most pull tabs, I'll take on all comers when it comes to 'cherry picking' for silver coins. There may be some detectors out that can beat them that I don't know of, but I know for fact that the AT Pro can't.

tabman

 

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[dirtscratcher]

Nitnelyons, I have used both the AT Pro and Vaquero. Both are good detectors, but I never did take a strong liking to the AT Pro and I just recently sold it. I guess if I did any detecting in the water I might have kept it. I normally run my Vaquero and Cibola with the discrimination setting just high enough to discriminate out nails.

However, if I find myself at a site that is loaded with pull tabs, I'll set the discrimination up just high enough to discriminate out most pull tabs. I don't like doing that much, because I'm discriminating out most gold rings.

Without looking at both trash piles of you and your brother's, I'd guess that his trash pile is smaller than yours, because I find myself 'high toning' when I use the AT Pro. I'm looking for that silver coin that doesn't have any trash close to it.

At a site that is super loaded with pull tabs, with either my Cibola or Vaquero with the discrimination set just high enough to discriminate out most pull tabs, I'll take on all comers when it comes to 'cherry picking' for silver coins. There may be some detectors out that can beat them that I don't know of, but I know for fact that the AT Pro can't.

tabman

It's so annoying when people call their opinion fact. I bought me vaquero looking for results like yours. I have a couple vid detectors that smoke my vaquero and another guy I knows vaquero. I'm not trying to start an argument but some have completely different results. Mine likes iron way to much for my taste buds.

 

[atomicscott]

It's so annoying when people call their opinion fact. I bought me vaquero looking for results like yours. I have a couple vid detectors that smoke my vaquero and another guy I knows vaquero. I'm not trying to start an argument but some have completely different results. Mine likes iron way to much for my taste buds.

I second that! Those videos are not representative of every Vaquero. For me depth was never close to the 13" quarter people raved about, the disc was inaccurate & got more inaccurate the higher I cranked the sensitivity. It went through one 9 volt in about 10 hours. Not to mention, thumbing the disc on every target is horse & buggy thinking. Nobody mentions these things in the videos.

 

[DiggerinVA]

I like Tesoro machines......but my AT pro and AT gold will never leave....i recently acquired a Vaquero on a trade and will let yall know on the depth. There is just so much difference in these two brands. They are two different styles of hunting. But i will admit, the Eldorado has found things the AT pro missed.....i like them all! Even going to try an Etrac! That should be something!!!

 

[jld66]

well dirtscratcher, that guys opinion is the only opinion there is. if you do not agree with him, then you do not know what you are doing. he is gods gift to metal detecting. heck, he owns tesoro. knows their inner workings and more. well, more than he can say. if you do not agree with him, you will be chastised like a 5 year old. even told how to manage your life. he was booted off another forum, finally, because he thought he was running that too. more people are glad to see him gone than not. amazingly it is still active up and running without him. so, just ignore him. thats what i do. i dont open his threads or reply to them anymore and for a good while too.
as far as the vaquero goes, i own one and do think the depth people claim can be a bit over rated. i did dig an intact copper jacketed 45 bullet that was above my wrist deep a few weeks ago. id say 9-10 inches in sandy soil. as far as thumbing the disc . i think im getting better with the sound of the tone. but still do turn the knob and dig most times to make sure.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Whew....is it hot in here, or is it just me?

 

[DiggerinVA]

Very few detectorist's actually carry a measuring device.....so most are "guestimates" and we know all about those....and sometimes this happens: a target is detected, thought to be really deep....so a 10" plug is dug or cut....a silver dime that was at 6-7" is knocked loose to the bottom of the 10" hole and now it is a 10" dime! Any machine that can hit a silver dime at a foot or more in actual hunting situation is very DEEP! Not many machines will do this.....the deepest machines i have owned were: Nasa Tom Tuned CZ-3d, Tejon and F75 ltd....and i dont know if any would hit a dime much over 10" in Virginia dirt.

 

[tabman]

8 inches on a dime is pretty deep for any detector. Most of my silver coin finds are around 4 to 5 inches deep. That is in the range of most detectors.

tabman

 

[atomicscott]

Very few detectorist's actually carry a measuring device.....so most are "guestimates" and we know all about those....and sometimes this happens: a target is detected, thought to be really deep....so a 10" plug is dug or cut....a silver dime that was at 6-7" is knocked loose to the bottom of the 10" hole and now it is a 10" dime! Any machine that can hit a silver dime at a foot or more in actual hunting situation is very DEEP! Not many machines will do this.....the deepest machines i have owned were: Nasa Tom Tuned CZ-3d, Tejon and F75 ltd....and i dont know if any would hit a dime much over 10" in Virginia dirt.

My Lesche has a 7" blade. I know if I go blade deep and I get no signal from my pinpointer, & it is not in the plug, the target is at least 7"deep. The depth numbers on the Omega are spot on for coins, so I use that as a basic reference before digging.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Here is a cool Vaquero video I recently saw on youtube
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_MIkzZySyq0

 

[DiggerinVA]

Another good video....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa1sTRoJDKc.

 

[DiggerinVA]

And part 2....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yeby9MGZsHI

 

[dirtscratcher]

Another good video....
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa1sTRoJDKc.

You mention earlier about maybe getting an etrac. I'm willing to bet after learning the etrac you will find as much humor in comparisons like these as I do.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Here is a cool Vaquero video I recently saw on youtube
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_MIkzZySyq0

Am i the only one who sees a problem with playing with a detector to get a signal and not showing how it effects general hunting? After trying super tuning and watch disc dissappear I have to wonder what this does to overall performance. Once again I'm not trying go pick a fight but there are people spending good hard earned money over videos that imo are shall i say misleading.

 

[DiggerinVA]

I thought about that....probably near unusable with those settings....just hard for me to beleive it will go that deep.
And Dirtscratcher...I hope you are right about the Etrac.....picking it up this weekend. It is an amazing machine and probably the best coin machine out there.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Am i the only one who sees a problem with playing with a detector to get a signal and not showing how it effects general hunting? After trying super tuning and watch disc dissappear I have to wonder what this does to overall performance. Once again I'm not trying go pick a fight but there are people spending good hard earned money over videos that imo are shall i say misleading.

In the Tesoro's defense....i have watched several Etrac videos where the user hovered over a known target adjusting settings to get the best results....the videos are just showing us what is possible with the machines if the right settings are used. If my Vaquero will get that depth with any settings....i will be one happy camper!

 

[atomicscott]

In the Tesoro's defense....i have watched several Etrac videos where the user hovered over a known target adjusting settings to get the best results....the videos are just showing us what is possible with the machines if the right settings are used. If my Vaquero will get that depth with any settings....i will be one happy camper!

Supertuning adds depth, but rendered disc unusable on my Vaq. No matter how high you cranked disc, I was constantly digging iron that should have been dimes or quarters. Some suggest going with lower sens of 6-8. Even my F2 smoked the Vaquero in depth when setting sens less than 9. When you use them back to back like I did, you will see the shortcomings that you do not see in those videos

 

[jld66]

i am by no means an expert. do think soil make up is a factor with the depth. where i dug the 45 bullet and lots of other shooting stuff. nickle plated 38 special casings regular brass ones, mangled bullets, etc. that morning i was in a spot where there were scrub pines and the soil was really sandy without roots. i was hitting a lot of that stuff respectably deep. more than the average i usually do using just the normal settings. i do run my sense at 10 most always. it was said to crank it down to 6-8 on here. but with some stuff i buried on the side of the house. with the sense down to 6, i dont get the depth as i do at 10. i dont super tune either, dont care for it. think sometimes that there is a little luck factor in it also. haha. im just not hardcore with it though. i do it for fun and digging an old silver coin, tootsie toy, or a cool relic is a bonus.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Supertuning adds depth, but rendered disc unusable on my Vaq. No matter how high you cranked disc, I was constantly digging iron that should have been dimes or quarters. Some suggest going with lower sens of 6-8. Even my F2 smoked the Vaquero in depth when setting sens less than 9. When you use them back to back like I did, you will see the shortcomings that you do not see in those videos

The three deepest machines i have owned: CZ-3d(nasa tom tuned), Tejon, and the F75 ltd.....what did these have in common? They all liked deep rusty iron....make you swear you had deep silver! F75 not as bad as others....but i consider f75 and Tejon to be relic or multi-purpose machines. The CZ-3d is proclaimed to be a coin machine....but a really good coin machine has to excell at identifying deep silver from deep iron. The CZ left my house! I had lighter relic machines. But this is what makes the etrac the best coin machine you can buy is its super iron ID.....My point is the Vaquero is one of those generl purpose machines...and it is light and obviously gets decent depth, so i say its a keeper. There again, alot of people love the Cz-3d but i wouldnt trade my Compadre for 2 of them.

 

[Digger]

Depends on your style of hunting.

Beep-N-Dig = Tesoro
Selective hunting = AT Pro

Personally I don't have the time to dig everything that make a sound, and despite what some have posted deep targets are very tough to tell good from bad, so I 'm a Selective hunter. When I bend over to recover a target I want the very best odds it will be worth it. In my opinion the E-Trac is the king of accurately ID'ing the deep ones, but since that wasn't one of your options I'll say AT Pro.