Will it be a Tejon or a Vaquero???

[Hihosilver]

well, I have that January itch to buying a new detector. Had this itch last January and bought the Outlaw, but had to sell it last fall. Back then I was considering the Vaquero as an alternative to the Outlaw.

Now I am looking at the Tejon or the Vaquero. I had read the Mastering the Tejon and Vaquero book about three times now and will purchase one or the other (unless a new model is announced before spring). So, I just can't decide, there are things about both that I like. Scannerguys video on the Tejon seems to smoke the Vaquero, but the Vaqs depth with a little GB negative adjustment is astounding.

I mostly have only parks to search in, and some older homes with permission. Won't really do much relic hunting but want the Tejon depth. I am really interested in the deeper older coins and the Mastering book I mentioned seems to favor the Tejon for this... so please, your thoughts gents.

By the way, I own the Golden umax, so the park hunt for shallow coins and gold jewelry is pretty well covered with this machine. I really want something reliably and consistently deeper for coins.

Thanks in advance.

 

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[Welgund]

I own both And the depth is comparable on both. If the majority of my hunting was ristricted to parks like you say I believe I would go with the Vaq. With its operating frequency more in the all purpose range it is a much better park hunter for coins and jewelry imo. Tejon is more geared for relic hunting in old sites. Not saying you can't make it work in the park just in my experience the Vaq handles it better and is just as deep. The high tone mod on the vaq makes it all the better.

 

[fltacoma]

I fully agree with Welgund.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I swing the CTX, and my hunting buddy swings the Tejon. Many variables there, he digs much faster than I do, I swing slower than he does. So he covers a whole lot more territory than I do. Being a concentric coil on the Tejon, and the DD coil on the CTX, he has a much easier time pinpointing the target.

And he ALWAYS kicks my butt in finds.

 

[digger27]

I think the dual disc on the Tejon is neat, I could see it saving me a little time figuring out targets before I dig which I like to do on every target...always did.
Plus the true 180 ED on the Tejon supposedly makes it just as sensitive to tiny gold, chains and stuff as the Compadre.
Still, I have and use a Compadre and I have swung a Vaq for hundreds of hours in trash filled public parks for years and it seems to fill most of my needs including depth.
These are all I know but for me they seem to make a great team.

 

[Honest Samuel]

Do not waste your time waiting for Tesoro to come out with a new detector this year. Maybe not even next year.

 

[pinenut]

Do not waste your time waiting for Tesoro to come out with a new detector this year. Maybe not even next year.

Who's waiting..? I'll be out for a while this afternoon, if I can find a spot of ground not frozen or covered with snow dummies... Taking the two favorite Tesoros, as usual.

 

[pinenut]

Vaquero for all-around...

Hihosilver, if you have an eye on only Vaquero or Tejon... Vaquero; it's more of an all-around machine and uses the single 9v battery. Easier to swing than Tejon (though Tejon is well balanced), with nearly as much disc range. I'd pick a high-tone Vaquero and of course, a 5.75" concentric to run on it. That's IF I were considering only Tejon and Vaquero.

 

[doggoneitdignit]

Hihosilver, if you have an eye on only Vaquero or Tejon... Vaquero; it's more of an all-around machine and uses the single 9v battery. Easier to swing than Tejon (though Tejon is well balanced), with nearly as much disc range. I'd pick a high-tone Vaquero and of course, a 5.75" concentric to run on it. That's IF I were considering only Tejon and Vaquero.

Yes maybe not a bad idea if you are swaying not to get a Tejon and do get a Vaquero Black along with a 5.75 concentric, can put your money towards that 5.75 Vaquero coil or even look at a Compadre 8" that can pick up good on fine gold jewerly like the Tejon...questons since the Compadre is a 12 KHz machine the Vaq is 14.3,5,.7 KHz machine, and 17KHz on the Tejon why am I hearing the Compadre picks up best on the baby fine gold would not the higher Tejon 17KHz hit it better or is it because of only the 180 circuitry? Can someone explain why this is as I hear the Vaq is really somehting like 165 is this right..either way I would put my money towards the Compadre then as a go to detector, this is something that I want to do this spring if Tesoro does not release something by then.

 

[Tnmountains]

Can not tell you which one to buy but will say I love "Tesoro's".!!!

 

[Hihosilver]

Well, actually at this point I am leaning towards the Tejon, black with 11x8 RSD coil. I would add the 5.75 concentric and 8" doughnut coils later (although I am not sure if it should the 8" or the 9x8 OOR).

I like the duel discrimination... there are multiple possibilities to set up for IDing within a specific range, and the trigger switch for quick activation of the second disc, as well the AM for pinpointing or for just seeing how a target sounds in AM, these features really sound attractive... not to meantion that almost nobody disputes that the Tejon is the deepest Tesoro.

Any additional thoughts or comments would be most welcome... thanks to you gents who chimed in already.

I do have a question though on the Tejon... can you completely disc out a zinc penny without turning the disc all the way up?

 

[pinenut]

...since the Compadre is a 12 KHz machine the Vaq is 14.3,5,.7 KHz machine, and 17KHz on the Tejon why am I hearing the Compadre picks up best on the baby fine gold would not the higher Tejon 17KHz hit it better or is it because of only the 180 circuitry?....

It's a combination of the higher frequency, the ED180 and the high gain.
Tejon has all of those, so should also be hot on small gold...not that I've found any with mine yet..

 

[pinenut]

...I do have a question though on the Tejon... can you completely disc out a zinc penny without turning the disc all the way up?

Yes, you can. It discs out pretty high up though.

 

[walnut]

The Vaquero is stable and smooth and deep. I wouldn't sell mine for what I gave new for it.

 

[Hihosilver]

Another question about the Tejon.... is there a difference between the black and the gray? I've read somewhere that the early Tejon were very unstable and kind of hit or miss on being deep. Have these issues been resolved? Or were they never really issues at all.

 

[pinenut]

Another question about the Tejon.... is there a difference between the black and the gray? I've read somewhere that the early Tejon were very unstable and kind of hit or miss on being deep. Have these issues been resolved? Or were they never really issues at all.

No difference between black and gray from what I understand.
I've read that earlier ones could be a bit less consistently made than current production.

 

[digger27]

Yes maybe not a bad idea if you are swaying not to get a Tejon and do get a Vaquero Black along with a 5.75 concentric, can put your money towards that 5.75 Vaquero coil or even look at a Compadre 8" that can pick up good on fine gold jewerly like the Tejon...questons since the Compadre is a 12 KHz machine the Vaq is 14.3,5,.7 KHz machine, and 17KHz on the Tejon why am I hearing the Compadre picks up best on the baby fine gold would not the higher Tejon 17KHz hit it better or is it because of only the 180 circuitry? Can someone explain why this is as I hear the Vaq is really somehting like 165 is this right..either way I would put my money towards the Compadre then as a go to detector, this is something that I want to do this spring if Tesoro does not release something by then.

Not so sure the Frequency has a whole lot to do with it.
pinenut had some good points, plus it could be testing head to head both would pick up pretty much the same difficult targets with the Tejon more successful on the way deeper ones.
Using math it could be a lot more simpler than that.
I assume there are just way, way more Compadres out there that are being used than the much more expensive Tejons so there are just many more posts and reports about the really tiny targets, the many chains and everything else that is being found by the Compadre.
Way more...this is how legends are born.

Both seem great at what they can do, capable, sensitive and mind blowing.

 

[Hihosilver]

Thanks for all the input... was wondering how the Vaq does when the disc is set high, just above zincs... does the Vaq keep its detection depth? That was the one thing I did not like about the Outlaw, it lost noticeable depth when the disc was set high.

 

[digger27]

I believe most Tesoros lose a bit of depth as you turn the disc up but it usually isn't all that much most of the time.
There seems to be a bit of a difference between the same units from low disc to high reported by different owners, some hardly noticeable some they did notice for sure.
Could be a soil thing, could be a calibration thing in the factory.

To be safe I usually hunt in low disc and thumb that knob up then back down to figure out targets to get the best data on all signals both shallow and deep.

 

[Hihosilver]

Well... leaning towards the Vaquero now. Hoping to join a nearby club and that frequency shift will be handy I think.