Beginner needs tips about selecting detector

[ccclontz]

I am considering the Tesoro Silver Umax ( 254.00 ) or the cheaper Tesoro Compadre ( 160.00) I have read several reviews at different internet sites. It sounds like both are well liked. Since this will be our 1st Metal Detector & we are inexperienced can someone kindly tell me what extra benefit are we getting by spending 254.00 vs 160.00? The company sounds like a good USA company to deal with, especially their warranty. My husband wants to start with the Compradre since its cheaper but I am wondering about any benefits we would miss. Also, what are some must have accessories we need to go along with it? thanks in advance for your help. Cathy in NC.

 

[tabman]

My first detector was a Compadre and if I had do it over again I'd still pick the Compadre. The Silver would be tempting though.

Either of those two are great choices. Google 'Tesoro Compadre Reviews' & 'Tesoro Silver uMax Reviews" Both get the highest 5 star rating.

You do have one thing nailed down right. Tesoro is a good company. They make very good detectors and have the best customer service on planet Earth.

Two other items are must haves in my book. A Garrett ProPointer and a Lesche Digging Tool.

Also you will need a knee pad, some headphones and a pouch to put your finds and trash in.

It's best to talk with some of the sponsors on this site. They can put some kind package deal together that will save you some money.

Good Luck!

tabman

 

[WV62]

First welcome to the forum.

I think you would be happy with either, but if it were me I would go with the silver. The Compadre has a fixed 5 3/4" coil and nothing wrong with that but for me I like to change coils and the silver you can change coil. The smaller coil has its place like small area, or trashy. The bigger coil will go a little deeper and covers more ground in a bigger area.

I just got my Tesoro and I really like mine.

Good luck,

Ron in WV

 

[pkrska]

As a beginner, I got the $160 Compadre.

By the time you get headphones, digging tool, gloves, pouch, you're looking at $300, don't forget the taxes and shipping!

As a beginner, you could do it without all that extra stuff, as long as someone else does the digging.

I did a test with the compadre and it will hit on small pieces of gold. Just saying!

 

[tvr]

I have not had a Silver yet but do have a Compadre. That said, I think I'd start with a Silver. No advantage to either choice if you decide detecting is not for you. Both detectors return most of their value when sold as used as long as they are not beat up and are working.

The Silver has an adjustable sensitivity so you can adapt some to changing conditions. It also lets you change coils. If you end up hunting areas that are trashy you want a 5.75 inch coil (like the Compadre comes with) but for many areas the standard coil is a good choice and you do not have the option to just connect a different coil with the Compadre.

Silver has a more modern circuit design; not necessarily an advantage, but most reports are that it can detect deeper than the Compadre.

First accessories would be a strong trowel to dig with and a pouch or nail apron to put recovered trash and goodies in. Make sure you fill your holes as neatly as possible and take the trash with you for proper disposal.

Next I would add detector head phones. Don't need to spend a lot. Can use ear buds that have a volume adjustment or detector headphones with a volume adjustment in the $35 to $40 dollar range that do a good job. Headphones help you hear the targets better than when just using the speaker. As you get more experience with the detector you learn to hear differences in the sound that are presented better with headphones. Headphones make it less interesting for for other to just walk up to you to find out what you are doing. Without headphones, the speaker beep can draw anyone in hearing distance to you.

If you stay with detecting you can upgrade to an indestructable digger like a Lesche or Predator digger. Pinpointer is nice but not needed to start. If you stay with it, a pinpointer helps recover targets faster. The ProPointer, is a very good one.

Next I would add that second coil, the 5.75 inch coil.

Beyond that you will be back sharing your observations and asking more questions.

Welcome to this forum!
tvr

 

[joe dirt_1]

Both detectors are great coin and jewelry detectors. They are turn on and go detectors that have factory preset ground balance and should work great unless your soil has heavy mineralization. You never told us where you live and intend to hunt, so before you buy a detector you should give us some more information to make sure either the Compadre or Silver will work well in your area. I owned a Silver for 2 years and it is a blast to hunt with. The advantage the Silver has over the Compadre is adjustable sensitivity where the Compadre's is fixed. As WV62 said earlier, the Compadre's coil cannot be changed.
It comes with a 5 3/4" coil that is super in trashy parks and lawns but you don't have much coverage per sweep of the coil like you do with the Silver's 8 inch coil. If you buy the Silver make sure to get the small 5 3/4" coil for it. It will pick coins out of trashy areas that the stock coil may miss.
A decent set of headphones are nice if you are in a noisy enviroment, and a sturdy digger is a must have item. You can start out with a nail apron from the box stores for your trash and treasure finds and always get something nicer later. Another suggestion is to buy one of each detector because you will be fighting over who gets to swing the detector if you only buy one..... You will pay for both machines probably easily in one summer if you hunt much at all. All it takes is a nice gold ring and they are paid for. Welcome to the Tesoro forum, there is a great bunch of guys and gals here that love to help
with any questions you might have. One last thing, the warranty and build quality of the Tesoro detectors are just awesome. These detectors are warranted for life and are built to last for a lifetime. No other company even comes close to this...............


Roger

 

[Dirtdigger33]

I think all of the comments on here are enough to get you started.my first experience with Tesoro Is the Compadre. It has never let me down. Found some gold , some silver and lots of coins with it. It hits hard on jewelry. Deciding on the perfect detector to start out with can be tough. I do not get to go out very often right now and sometimes not for very long. The Compadre is perfect for that I did not spend much and in less than a year it has paid for itself many times over with my finds. I never come home empty handed and am always amazed. I like the small coil. You might not even need a pinpointer to start out with if you buy this one. With any Tesoro if it says it is under the coil you will find it right in the center of the coil. This is one detector I will never part with. Tesoro has a customer for life. I have not tried the silver but everybody who has raves about it. I wish the Compadre had the option to change coils, but it is a great detector for the price and a great way to start out. Welcome to this forum and one of the most rewarding and awesome hobbies you will ever find. Make sure your first detector is a Tesoro. That is my only regret, that I did not know about Tesoro when I purchased my first detector.

 

[Dirtdigger33]

I think all of the comments o here are enough to get yo started.my first experience with Tesoro Is the Compadre. It has never let me down. Found some gold , some silver and lots of coins with it. It hits hard on jewelry. Deciding on the perfect detector to start out with can be tough. I do not get to go out very often right now and sometimes not for very long. The Compadre is perfect for that I did not spend much and in less than a year it has paid for itself many times over with my finds. I never come home empty handed and am always amazed. I like the small coil. You might not even need a pinpointer to start out with if you buy this one. With any Tesoro if it says it is under the coil you will find it right in the center of the coil. This is one detector I will never part with. Tesoro has a customer for life. I have not tried the silver but everybody who has raves about it. I wish the Compadre had the option to change coils, but it is a great detector for the price and a great way to start out. Welcome to this forum and one of the most rewarding and awesome hobbies you will ever find. Make sure your first detector is a Tesoro. That is my only regret, that I did not know about Tesoro when I purchased my first detector.

 

[Cimmarron]

I am in the market for a detector (wanting to buy one in the next few days) and what I've read about the Tesoro Compadre sounds about what I am looking for. Never had a detector in my hands so I am truly a newbie. I have limited funds so price/value/flexability are at the forefront. My budget is around $200.00 and I know by looking around that's not much, but it is what it is for now.

Any comments are welcome. Lets see. As far as what I will be hunting, I am going to do some traveling this spring and summer and will be in many different kinds of areas but I suspect I would most likely be trying to detect coins and maybe rings and such, With that in mind, could I also use, lets say, the Compadre to search for prospecting for natural gold as well? I mean, would it work for that too or is this machine really not fit for that?

BTW, if anyone knows, is the coil on this detector waterproof?

I'm a heart patient and need to walk and get some exercise and thought this might be a way of getting that accomplished and have some fun as well. Any ideas or suggestions, again, would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hardrockminer]

I am in the market for a detector (wanting to buy one in the next few days) and what I've read about the Tesoro Compadre sounds about what I am looking for. Never had a detector in my hands so I am truly a newbie. I have limited funds so price/value/flexability are at the forefront. My budget is around $200.00 and I know by looking around that's not much, but it is what it is for now.

Any comments are welcome. Lets see. As far as what I will be hunting, I am going to do some traveling this spring and summer and will be in many different kinds of areas but I suspect I would most likely be trying to detect coins and maybe rings and such, With that in mind, could I also use, lets say, the Compadre to search for prospecting for natural gold as well? I mean, would it work for that too or is this machine really not fit for that? If you got your coil over it (gold) & it was'nt to deep, yes. But because of the preset GB it would struggle with the mineralized soil. People prospecting use VLF MDers with adjustable/auto GB or use PI metal detectors for best results.

BTW, if anyone knows, is the coil on this detector waterproof? Yes it is.

I'm a heart patient and need to walk and get some exercise and thought this might be a way of getting that accomplished and have some fun as well. Any ideas or suggestions, again, would be greatly appreciated.

HaRM

 

[Cimmarron]

Thanks for the comments. Uhhh, by mineralized soil, do you mean like beach sand or something like rocky areas? My sister lives in Fort Walton Bch, FL and I'm heading there soon so I was wondering about trying this on the beach.

I'm trying to learn and am basically studying as much as I can so please excuse my ignorance. I am looking forward to learning more but I guess I'm havin' a little bit of cabin fever and am just ready to get out some and try this out.

BTW, what are VLF MDers and PI metal detectors? Short answers are OK. I will look them up.

I live in west Tennessee and I'm sure there are a ton of places to hunt around here to practice before I hit the road this spring. Again, any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

 

[Furious T]

Cathy NC. I haven't used either the Silver or the Compadre, but we did have a Silver which my daughter used when she was younger, and I have used, and still have several other models of Tesoros. I would recommend a Tesoro to anyone who is starting off detecting. The audio signal on Tesoro's is second to none, and by using headphones you can learn (as you go) so much about your detector and how it reacts to the different things you will find, both good stuff and junk. My first Tesoro was second-hand, but I bought it from a reputable dealer, who was able to offer after-sale-service. The machine worked beautifully anyway, so there were no problems there, and Tesoro do stand behind their products. As stated by others, a major difference between theSilver and Compadre is that you can change coils on the Silver. If you haven't started detecting yet, the benefits of this may not be so obvious to you, but having different coils of different sizes can provide versatility for the detectorist when visiting different sites. e.g. in very trashy areas (parks, sports fields etc) the trash may not be visible, but it is there, lurking, and a small coil can help you, the detectorist, discriminate with your ears as you detect in those junky areas...a large coil in such areas can make it almost impossible to decipher signals clearly, and if you are using discrimination on the detector, you may (probably will) miss good targets because they are masked by the junk. I apologise for raving, but am just giving an example of how using a variety of coils can be a benefit.
By considering a "pre-loved" detector, you may find that you can indeed afford to get 2....but I would urge you to buy from someone who can back-up the sale with service. As one of the other members said, if you use your detector frequently, you will get your money back.

Cathy and Cimmarron: The Silver we owned worked well on the beach in the dry sand, but in wet sand and shallow (salt)water, it was next to useless; that was our experience, other people may have different experiences. If you are wanting to use it on the beach, don't expect too much from it if your beach has a lot of mineralised black sand or red sand..this mineralisation will reduce the effectiveness of the detector, because metal stuff dropped on beaches works its way down in the dry sand pretty quickly.
Good luck to you both, and Happy Hunting.

 

[Dirtdigger33]

Cimmaron,
With being on a fixed budget of $200 it will be hard to find someone willing to part with a silver for less than $200. I have watched them on eBay and other places. Tesoros retain their resale value very nicely. I have not seen one sale for less than $200 even used. The going price for a new one is around $254. Says something for tesoros quality and reputation. Fort Walton is a fun place to visit. I have family that live there as well. As for the beach both the silver and the Compadre will have problems. That is the lot of the vlf detectors vs. the pi units. The Compadre runs on a high sensitivity and cannot be adjusted unless you open it up and modify it. It will work in the dry sand area but will chatter and mess up the closer you get to wet sand. If you can shell out for the extra cash for the silver you will be able to adjust the sensitivity and change the coils. The dry sand area is about all you will get with these units. When I was in FL the last time I hunted the schools and parks instead of the beach with a bounty hunter 505. I found enough coins to keep myself entertained for the time there. I found the dry sand of the beach gets pounded pretty hard by people detecting. I received my Compadre just before leaving home and had already mailed my other detector out to FL. You cannot go wrong with the Compadre in good ground. I have found many good finds that have paid for the dector in no time. In less than a year it has paid for itself many times over and helped me to buy more equipment. It is also extremely light weight. It goes with me on every hunt and is te detector I find myself reaching for the most. But if you have bad ground conditions in your area you might want to get something with found balance or a pi unit. With many of the pi units you will not have to worry about falsing, wet sand, black sand or mineralized soil. One of the disadvantages or could be an advantage of the pi detector depending on the way you look at it unless you pay a lot of money is the lack of being able to discriminate out tagets you do not want to dig. So you will be digging everything including all kinds of trash. But you will find some really amazing stuff. It can be very frustrating if you are limited on time you have to detect or just starting out detecting. The Compadre is a great detector to start out with an I guarantee you will want to keep it when you get a new detector. The Compadre is a whole lot of detector for the price tag at $160.00 new. Might help you earn a good pi detector in no time with what you find. Sorry for how long this is. Hope it helps though.

 

[hardrockminer]

Thanks for the comments. Uhhh, by mineralized soil, When prospecting say for gold, you find other minerals in the area to & that changes the GB setting as you MD the area do you mean like beach sand If its wet saltwater sand, yes or something like rocky areas? My sister lives in Fort Walton Bch, FL and I'm heading there soon so I was wondering about trying this on the beach.

I'm trying to learn and am basically studying as much as I can so please excuse my ignorance. I am looking forward to learning more but I guess I'm havin' a little bit of cabin fever and am just ready to get out some and try this out.

BTW, what are VLF MDers and PI metal detectors? Short answers are OK. I will look them up.

I live in west Tennessee and I'm sure there are a ton of places to hunt around here to practice before I hit the road this spring. Again, any suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

I'll try to explain the best I can, I still have alot to learn myself.

Very Low Frequency metal detectors (has some discrimination ability)..(can struggle in some highly mineralized areas)...All Tesoros except the Sand Shark are VLFs, if my memory serves me right, if not I'm sure somebody will jump in & correct me.

Pulse Induction metal detectors (usully goes deeper, ignores mineralisation but does't discriminate well + you can get to dig many fox holes. (Also a more expensive machine) The Tesoro PI Sand Shark is a saltwater machine for wet saltwater beaches & ocean diveing..........good depth/waterproof

HaRM

 

[Marcus Detectus]

The one thing that does not come with either machine is knowledge. And a lot of that can be had right here on these forums and as I have said to other newcomers, those here do not hide good information so they can get all the "goodies" themselves. And get out there with whatever you get and practice, practice, practice. Then "listen" to what the detector is telling you and learn from it. I'm sorry that you're being blindly sucked into this addiction, there is no cure!

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi Cathy, and welcome to detecting! Marcus gave you fair warning, so beware,when the "fever" sets in, there is only a "tempoary"cure you will always be in need of. I've dug in Ice, sand, rain,heat and cold,crawled into places I never dreamed of going,and all for that temporary cure.Fever Returns! Nuff said! Great advice the folks are giving you, so keep at it and learn all you can. There is plenty you need to learn, and much of it is Very important. Not only for your enjoyment but also so that enjoyment won't be hindered by bad experiences. They are a factor and you will need to be aware.Common sense usually solves many of those situations before they develop. There are laws pertaining greatly to the Hobby and you will need to protect yourself from being in error about them.Volumes to be learned about metal detectors and the hobby,so be cool and do not become over anxious as is the case with many beginners.that allow unnessary dissapointments to cause loss of interest. Refuse to go there and you will do well! If you haven't already , order Tesoro's MDI book, or download it. It will answer many questions and of course cause you to come here and ask some more. That works! One last thing I don't recall seing answered was a question about mineralization. In particular, remember that SALT is(one of many) a mineral, and the amount of salt in Sea water is enough to render most ALL, or thereabouts, metal detectors of whatever make, model or price just about useless in some degrees or other. Those not specifically designed to adapt/compensate to the Salt minerals will be limited/hindered in some way or other soon as they "approach" the Wet sand or sea water. Nuff said for now,Hang in and do your research. Research, LOL, that's another subject you will need to embrace, especially if you and your husband are History Minded. That's where the real Goodies are found. HH, Charlie

 

[pkrska]

As a newby also, I have just one real important lesson I have learned. Location, location, location. If you think that you'll find something in any location, that's true. Garbage is found everywhere. But if you're looking for treasure or old relics, then location is the most important part. Do your research to find old historic areas where people might have congregated at one time in the old days.

Good luck

 

[sandtrout]

I'm going to disagree with some here (don't mean to offend anybody) and say that you need a Garrett Propointer. Once you dig a target and crumble it in your hands (over a small towel so you can put it ALL back in the hole and leave no mess) to find the item you'll realize that you could've have just dug the exact area in that clod without destroying the whole clod.

If you're digging relics you'll need a trowel. For starters you can them tham at Lowes or Home Depot for around $12 like an AMES 7 in 1 that has teeth on one side. If you get serious consider the Leche.

If you're hunting parks for rings and coins ($$$$) then get into YOUTUBE and type in COIN POPPING. Most stuff will be less than 6" (all my rings have been at 3" or less) and a screwdriver makes MUCH LESS mess! My wife is magical with a screwdriver.

Keep your good finds in a separate place and only show your junk or torn up pennies, never your good stuff...."did you find my ring yet?"

They're both GREAT DETECTORS in the right hands. You'll know a lot more at first by 1. spending 100 hours on it and you'll REALLY learn it by DIGGING EVERYTHING (at first, anyway). Also, get out there and hunt...a lot. Your coil has to be over the target before you can dig it.

I'd get the Compadre and let it buy you the Silver with coils if you get the addiction. You'll know when it's time to upgrade....it will be when the finds from the Compadre are saved until you have enough for your next detector. I started with an ACE 250 and it bought me the Garrett Propointer, sniper coil, and a Tesoro Vaquero. My Vaquero just bought me a GLoomis rod for fishing.

 

[ccclontz]

Do you just poke it in the ground until it hits something in the target area or are you immediately digging dirt with the screwdriver like digging a hole? I am going to UTUBE now.Cathy

 

[:Left4Dead]

Only one issue with coin poping , you will damage coins if your not carefull. Silver is so soft , scratching stuff stinks. Some use a brass tipped popper, softer metal won't make it as bad.


Mike