Tesoro Vaquero purchase.

		Quote:			Posted by golddustcarl
	Looking at buying a Used (only 5 times) Tesoro Vaquero metal locator. Has all the accessories + 2 coils 8" and 10" for $345 US. from a member of a local prospecting club that I belong to. My plan is to use it for nugget hunting in the desert. My question is am I wasting my time and money with this detector?

Yes Carl I think you are ALTHOUGH they are good Machines, Most of the Pros Use the MXTs The Gold Bug is good but not as Deep as the MXT, There are quite A few using the AT Pro (duel purpose Like the MXT}, Or The AT Gold, The Fischer F75 is another good one But they have Had many changes in circuit Boards due to issues, The Lobo is another good machine although they are Pretty out Dated,

Hope this helps

AU

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Thank you gentlemen for your wise and tenured opinions. The seller told me the factory rep told him that for nugget hunting a 5.25 widescan coil works best for nugget hunting with this model. Yes AU you are quite correct in your remarks and that is why I posted here, as I had suspected the same. However BA has a valid point with the location. They regularly test these machines in the same mountains that I prospect in. Also, their factory is quite near and if it should ever break down it would not take as long to get it repaired. (not that I wouldn't probably try it myself.).

Never the less, I went ahead and purchased as it was a boxed unit with the manual and was not all banged up. I have a five inch coil that might work with  it as soon as I find out the coil pinouts. If it does not work the well, there is always Fleabay, plus I have another detector. Or, I can use it as a backup.

On the plus side, it is light weight. It has an all metal mode and a pinpoint function.
I will keep you posted as to what happens, and thanks again for letting me pick your brains.

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A bad day at gold prospecting or metal detecting is better than a good day at work.

I wasn't arguing with your opinion AU, because I respect them and it was helpful.

Todays update: I took the Tesoro to the worst park I know in the city. It is overhunted, tons of trash, and mostly used by low income people that don't have that many coins to lose. The last five times I was there I found nothing. This morning I set a goal. 81 square feet test area, max 1/2 hour sweep time. I followed the directions in the manual on how to ground balance in the field. I put it in discrimination (Silent) mode, and selected pull tab level (no iron, no nickels, no pull taps). About 15 minutes in I got a solid signal (awful quiet up to then, was getting bored). I pulled out a Lincoln memorial penny about 2 inches down. It was corroded pretty bad. See the photo. I got no more hits after that.
I then went over the same area in the all metal mode. I got so many hits every few inches I gave up. This park is so junky they should call it a junk yard.
Next Stop:  The Gold Fields

Whoops! almost forgot the attachment

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A bad day at gold prospecting or metal detecting is better than a good day at work.

Sound like you got a good machine Goldustcarl now show us some gold tomorrow and I'll believe you LOL

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Xavier

Yeh I know and I also know that his problem was equipment related but now that he has it I also need to put the pressure up a bit LOL

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Xavier