The Mighty Mojave

[Welgund]

In the fall of 1993 some friends and I were looking for something to do on the weekends after a hard work week. I had just become a journeyman carpenter, working in the boom of building casinos in Vegas. We thought we would run down to desert outfitters, get metal detectors and run around the desert looking for gold. Being located in Vegas we had access to lots of areas all around us from Arizona to California to northern nevada to tear it up. When we got down to desert outfitters, my two friends were buying fisher gold bugs but something pulled me to this fine looking Tesoro Bandido metal detector. The guy at Desert outfitters told me it was more of a coin and relic machine than a gold detector but that didn't matter I needed it. We threw our new detectors in the truck along with digging gear and headed to a place near goldfield nevada where we had hunted for quail and saw washes filled with tailing piles from the oldtimers. I will never forget that day, as they were digging up leaf bullets and bird shot, I was digging up period type tools and I found my first V nickel. I was sold on metal detecting and Tesoro had become my best friend. I used the hell out of that bandido for 5 years until Tesoro came out with a new improved Bandido I just had to try. The Bandido2 micromax had become my primary detector and my old Bandido became my backup. The Bandido2 micromax was my first eye opening detector and boy did it not dissapoint. I found so much stuff with that detector, coins and relics abounded. I had gotten several other newer Tesoros after that but not quite the experience as I first had with that Bandido2.

The Tesoro Mojave. Here we are now 23 years later and I can honestly say after a month of using the Mojave that Wow moment has happened again. I have had a wonderful month with the Mojave. I have found 5 silver coins, 1 indian head and around 10 wheat pennies. The simplicity of this machine has made it my go to scout detector, located on the back of my atv. It handles bad ground better than most my detectors in fact I wish tesoro would put that mineral switch on their newer models also. It has very respectable depth even for a 7"coil In bad ground. Whenever I found a new site I never really felt comfortable walking away from it until I hit it with my Deus, Fors Relic, Tejon/Vaquero, and F75dst. Now after seeing what the Mojave is capable of I don't feel comfortable until I have hit it with it also. So, the Mojave gets the distinction of being my first metal detector to hit a new site cause it has become the one I grab first to check it out.

Thank you Tesoro for bringing a memory of my youth back to me and giving us a dynamite detector with the right set of features. I can firmly say that for 251.10 there is no detector sold by any company that can outperform the Mojave in a iron trash laden environment. In fact you have to really get high end to even come close. The seperation and disc top notch.

 

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[tabman]

Nice write up! I love my Mojave. I never will forget buying my first Mojave and who I bought it from. A legend selling a soon to be legend.

tabman

 

[Welgund]

Yes it was a wise decision we made that day. And as they say the rest is history.

 

[tabman]

Yeah, after reading the specs, we couldn't order a Mojave fast enough! The first words out of my mouth was, "hey Rusty, I want to buy of those new detectors".

My Mojave easily paid for itself twice over with a gold coin find! Plus all the fun that I've had with the Mojave is priceless.

tabman

 

[Electricfrontporch]

Great tale of your adventures! I'm sure glad I bought one. Like you guys said its a legend in the making.

Noah

 

[Stoof2010]

I still haven't had the chance to take mine out yet. I have been able to bench test it.... Alot.... Waiting for the weather here to finally settle down.
Will be my first machine I go out with.
Thanks for the great story about your past in MD hunting. Although I'm more or less just starting my career. I too have fell in love with the Bandido II micromax.
Hoping that the Mojave lives up to to all the great reviews for me. I don't doubt it. :-)

 

[Vern2]

In the fall of 1993 some friends and I were looking for something to do on the weekends after a hard work week. I had just become a journeyman carpenter, working in the boom of building casinos in Vegas. We thought we would run down to desert outfitters, get metal detectors and run around the desert looking for gold. Being located in Vegas we had access to lots of areas all around us from Arizona to California to northern nevada to tear it up. When we got down to desert outfitters, my two friends were buying fisher gold bugs but something pulled me to this fine looking Tesoro Bandido metal detector. The guy at Desert outfitters told me it was more of a coin and relic machine than a gold detector but that didn't matter I needed it. We threw our new detectors in the truck along with digging gear and headed to a place near goldfield nevada where we had hunted for quail and saw washes filled with tailing piles from the oldtimers. I will never forget that day, as they were digging up leaf bullets and bird shot, I was digging up period type tools and I found my first V nickel. I was sold on metal detecting and Tesoro had become my best friend. I used the hell out of that bandido for 5 years until Tesoro came out with a new improved Bandido I just had to try. The Bandido2 micromax had become my primary detector and my old Bandido became my backup. The Bandido2 micromax was my first eye opening detector and boy did it not dissapoint. I found so much stuff with that detector, coins and relics abounded. I had gotten several other newer Tesoros after that but not quite the experience as I first had with that Bandido2.

The Tesoro Mojave. Here we are now 23 years later and I can honestly say after a month of using the Mojave that Wow moment has happened again. I have had a wonderful month with the Mojave. I have found 5 silver coins, 1 indian head and around 10 wheat pennies. The simplicity of this machine has made it my go to scout detector, located on the back of my atv. It handles bad ground better than most my detectors in fact I wish tesoro would put that mineral switch on their newer models also. It has very respectable depth even for a 7"coil In bad ground. Whenever I found a new site I never really felt comfortable walking away from it until I hit it with my Deus, Fors Relic, Tejon/Vaquero, and F75dst. Now after seeing what the Mojave is capable of I don't feel comfortable until I have hit it with it also. So, the Mojave gets the distinction of being my first metal detector to hit a new site cause it has become the one I grab first to check it out.

Thank you Tesoro for bringing a memory of my youth back to me and giving us a dynamite detector with the right set of features. I can firmly say that for 251.10 there is no detector sold by any company that can outperform the Mojave in a iron trash laden environment. In fact you have to really get high end to even come close. The seperation and disc top notch.

Wow. After looking over all of your quality metal detectors you have listed, this is quite a testimony for the Mojave. Very moving and inspiring. It's hard to figure out who is the most excited, you or tabman. Ya'll ought to join up with Bill Ladd and create a video of a live hunt with with Mojaves. All of the seniors watching would just have to be sure to have taken their heart and high blood pressure medications.

 

[tabman]

I love my F75-2DST and here lately it has been my go to detector for silver coin cherry picking. Just yesterday I found 4 silver coins with it, but they weren't in highly trashy areas or in places loaded up with nails. I carefully worked both edges of a driveway and service walk to the front door of a house with my F75 until I was confident that I got everything. Then I went back over the same area with my Mojave and I was finding scores of coins that my F75 couldn't detect.

On the other hand, just few days earlier, I thoroughly went over a small front yard with my Mojave and didn't find any silver coins. Then when I went back over the same area again with my F75 I popped a 7 to 8 inch Mercury dime right out in the middle of the yard. There was nothing around it to mask it, but it was just a little too deep for my Mojave to detect with the the 7 inch concentric search coil.

Can the Mojave detect as deep as a F75? Nope, but it can run circles around the F75 and most other detectors in a bed nails and where targets are close together. All I'm saying is use whatever detector you like, but make sure you have a Mojave to be certain that you don't leave anything behind. The Mojave also makes a great gold ring and jewelry detector. To top it all off, the Mojave is just flat out super fun to use.

Just keep in mind, the Mojave wasn't designed for the really deep coins, it shines best at finding those shallower masked silver coins (less than 7 inches deep) that the most detectors can't detect. Most silver coins are less than 7 inches deep. That's has been my experience. So, $251.10 dollars for a Mojave that comes with a lifetime warranty is a hell of deal. You're missing the boat if you don't own one. Also, I'd say that there are a lot more silver coins out there to be found that are masked than those are too deep to detect.

tabman

 

[Honest Samuel]

On the advice of tabman I had purchased a new Mojave from Rusty. If I did not have bad luck, I would not have any luck. I am sick and it snow few days ago, and a Blizzard tomorrow, hope to be out in two weeks. Wish me luck.

 

[pinenut]

On the advice of tabman I had purchased a new Mojave from Rusty. If I did not have bad luck, I would not have any luck. I am sick and it snow few days ago, and a Blizzard tomorrow, hope to be out in two weeks. Wish me luck.

Good luck!

The snow right around my house is gone, but there's a couple feet left, further up the hill...right where I want to go detecting.
I've been having to drive down the hill to warmer hunting grounds.

 

[Honest Samuel]

No using my new Mojave for a while. Got hit by a Blizzard today.

 

[nevets2968]

Is it a good detector for a beginner?

 

[Goldfleks]

So talk me into this. I love my Sand Shark, introduced me to the Tesoro brand. How is this going to work in my modern trash filled park environment compared to my MXT?

I'm looking to pick up another land detector for my friend so we can detect together and I'm digging the hype.

 

[Stoof2010]

Is it a good detector for a beginner?

Like the compadre, the Mojave will be great for a beginner, and seasoned hunters.
It's simple turn on and go. Sensitivity as high as you can without the detector complaining at you, disc on minimum, find a piece of ground with no metal, Bob the coil. If it beeps from bobbing at the ground, switch the ground switch to high.
If not leave it on low, set your disc to what you don't want to beep on and go.
What makes it nice is it's a turn on and go simple detector that has the ground switch which gives it the ability to run quietly and well in ground that other non ground balance adjustable machines can't.

Id say it's a great first detector.
Heck I bought one and although I don't have the experience many of these guys here do, I'm not a newbie and I love it and the whole idea of it.
Can be your first detector or your 10th and you will still have great use for it. :-)

 

[Stoof2010]

So talk me into this. I love my Sand Shark, introduced me to the Tesoro brand. How is this going to work in my modern trash filled park environment compared to my MXT?

I'm looking to pick up another land detector for my friend so we can detect together and I'm digging the hype.

Well you'll have to wait for someone who can comment that has run an mxt.
But I think it will do great. Tesoros have awesome disc circuits and I'd say it should run great. Terry should be along or tabman to comment on this I hope.
Tabman I know has had ample time with his Mojave.
Maybe check out some of his threads on the Mojave. I'm sure you'll find an answer, or just pm him. He loves talking Mojave it seems :-)
Happy hunting!!

 

[Welgund]

I have run both the MXT and the Mojave. The MXT is a great machine with a proven track record over the years. The MXT is deeper than the Mojave but the Mojave has a faster seperation and better disc to handle certain trash sites. For my type of hunting in old sites with discarded flat iron and square nails the Mojave handles it better. If all I had was an MXT though I wouldn't feel I was severely lagging behind other brands because it is a well rounded detector with ability to hunt in lots of scenarios, just maybe not the best. In fact I have an MXT pro right now with 6 x 8 sef and 5.8 eclipse coil I'm thinking of selling cause I don't use it a whole lot but keep it cause I've always had fun using it. I just have other machines that outperform it though like the Deus, CTX, Relic and F75dst. Now on to the Mojave, it surprised me today at a site that I have hunted with all my machines. This site I think I explained in another thread somewhere I had originally found with my Fors Relic and it covers a very small area about 10 x 19 or 15 x 15'. I had gridded this area with all my machines and to keep it short the Relic originally found 2 indian heads and a bunch of other period type none ferrous. The Deus went in there next and found a few more non ferrous, nothing of note though. Then the F75 and it found nothing, no non ferrous hits. Then the Tejon and found 2 more indians and a V nickel. This area is a carpet of square nails. Took the Mojave in there today and found 3 buttons, a large bullet and a large lead disc I think is a dress weight. How did all my other machines miss that large dress weight? Really not sure.lol. it is my firm belief that Khz and coil make a huge difference on all machines and how they see stiff in the ground. The Tesoros I own range from 10khz, 12khz, 14khz and 17khz and all of them see things different. Adjustable frequency detectors lime the Deus and Nokta impact or the future I think if you want just one detector and not many to cover several bases. And even then it's no guarantee.

 

[Goldfleks]

Anyone have an video's they recommend of how the Mojave sounds on different signals?

 

[steve1357]

it's only got one tone

but Keith runs thru a lot of targets

 

[doggoneitdignit]

The only thing the Mojave is missing is a black coil cord. The Black Widow would be a nice Tesoro name for a new detector.

 

[sprailroad]

I've never owned a Tesoro, I've always had Garrett's and Minelab's. But I've got to say, that after reading a number of post from you guys, and more so the one by "Welgund" about the Tesoro "Mojave", It's not like I NEED another detector, but you really do have me thinking. I'm going to the Kellyco site and look it over. Great post Welgund, liked it very much.