Vaquero on Gold

[jangles]

Can anyone tell me how small of a nugget the vaquero would hit on. I was thinking about the whites GMT but I don't want to dig for gold I can't see, I figured the vaquero at 14khz would be higher than most vlfs but lower than most gold machines.
Thanks.John

 

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[Sandman]

I've never tried the Vaquero on gold so I don't know how small a nugget it will detect. I can however tell you that set up with proper GB, it will find small split shot. Also a lot depends on the shape of the gold.

 

[stoney56]

I ran an air test on the Cibola, which operates on the same base frequency, with Supertune and was picking up this little gem at 4-5". The sens. was turned down just a hair to stabilize and it was picking it up from min disc to iron. It would also pick it up at freq 14.3, 14.5, and 14.7. Without the Supertune, it would just barely click and with the Supertune, it came in loud and clear.

BTW, the nugget is about half the thickness of a dime.

 

[jangles]

Thanks stoney,
that's what I was looking for. I did not want a full blown gold machine in case nugget hunting wasn't my thing. It appears the vaquero will do better than my IDX pro though!
John

 

[bakergeol]

At one time the Vaquero was listed on Steve H's guide for metal detectors suitable for nugget hunting. It's frequency which was great for nugget hunting was the main reason.
http://bb.bbboy.net/alaskagoldforum-viewthread?forum=2&thread=349

However it is not listed there anymore. I suspect only the top detectors from each manufacturers are now listed.
Tesoro's Lobo ST is the sole detector on the link for Tesoro which is great for nugget and coin shooting.

There are rumors(Yep we hear a lot of these) that Tesoro will come out with a LCD version for the Vanquero. This would be the logical next step to compete with the MXT for nugget hunting and coin hunting. For nugget hunting having a VDI meter(such as present in the MXT)makes it far easier to ID iron from deep gold.

George

 

[nuggetshooter323]

If your going to be doing a lot of nugget hunting, then save for an LST. I have a Vaquero and an LST, and it's really worth it to have a dedicated nugget machine. But if your an occasional nugget hunter, then the Vaquero will work. I have friends in AZ that have found pin head sized nuggets with the Vaquero. Get a widescan coil for the nugget fields instead of the 9x8 concentric. If I'm not nugget hunting, I'll take the 10" elliptical widescan off of my LST and put it on my Vaquero. The Vaquero becomes totally silent, and completely stable. About every 15 minutes, if I haven't hit a target, I'll readjust the GB just to make sure the batteries haven't died.