Coil for Vaquero

[homebre]

Hi,
I am a relative Newbie with a Vaq. as I have used it aobut a year now. It has a stock coil. I mainly hunt playgrounds, parks, churches and camp grounds. I was thinking of getting a second coil, and was getting confused by all the talk of all the different type coils. I would appreciate the pros and cons for which second coil I should get. By the way, I was reading the discussion about V problems with silver, and I air-tested mine in a crude fashion. I found changing the DISC had almost no effect on detecting silver when it was supertuned, and that in AllMetal mode it was deeper. Without earphones and testing a silver dime, I was getting about 6" in DISC and about 9" in AllMetal.
Thanks,
Andy

 

[SpiritRelic]

It depends on if you prefer concentric or DD.While hunting basic areas i have to admit i like the long signal pattern of a DD.You know how much the 8" concentric is loved by the old timers.This doughnut coil has to be good on the Vaquero.Tabman says it is great.For a DD the 10x5 elliptical is great.This coil is so sensitive to small items.Of course it was designed for the lobo to be.The elliptical is so much fun.So light.The shape and feel is awesome.The shape lets you work around trees and obstacles .And with this elliptical coil trash is no problem.The small footprint will slice right in.And also with this coil you can in good soil crank the sensitivity way in the red,because of the small footprint. :-V

 

[DigDugNY]

It depends on if you prefer concentric or DD.While hunting basic areas i have to admit i like the long signal pattern of a DD.You know how much the 8" concentric is loved by the old timers.This doughnut coil has to be good on the Vaquero.Tabman says it is great.For a DD the 10x5 elliptical is great.This coil is so sensitive to small items.Of course it was designed for the lobo to be.The elliptical is so much fun.So light.The shape and feel is awesome.The shape lets you work around trees and obstacles .And with this elliptical coil trash is no problem.The small footprint will slice right in.And also with this coil you can in good soil crank the sensitivity way in the red,because of the small footprint. :-V

Just to add in a question myself since I'm probably going to get te 10" elliptical, you say it is great on small items, is it the same with coin sized items as well? I'm wondering its depth capabilities compared to the stock coil. I know I've probably asked this before, but it can help answer some questions for the OP as well

 

[SpiritRelic]

Yes the elliptical is very sensitive to coins.I use it on the tejon now and have used it on the vaquero.The 9x8 can be a little much of a search field for areas with trash.You can not beat a DD in trash because of the thin field the coil puts out.Small concentrics are great for trash but a DD can speed things up for me.If i try i would rather work a big 12X10 DD in the trash than a boring 9x8 concentric.The elliptical is not as deep as the stock 9x8 concentric.If you have any minerialization at all a DD will go deeper.But for good ground the 9x8 stock concentric is as deep as it gets for any coil out there including the 15x12 sef.You can't beat a concentric in the depth department.But you can beat it in other departments.Such as trashy areas and more accurate and quicker ground coverage with the DD. :O

 

[atomicscott]

It depends on if you prefer concentric or DD.While hunting basic areas i have to admit i like the long signal pattern of a DD.You know how much the 8" concentric is loved by the old timers.This doughnut coil has to be good on the Vaquero.Tabman says it is great.For a DD the 10x5 elliptical is great.This coil is so sensitive to small items.Of course it was designed for the lobo to be.The elliptical is so much fun.So light.The shape and feel is awesome.The shape lets you work around trees and obstacles .And with this elliptical coil trash is no problem.The small footprint will slice right in.And also with this coil you can in good soil crank the sensitivity way in the red,because of the small footprint. :-V

Just to add in a question myself since I'm probably going to get te 10" elliptical, you say it is great on small items, is it the same with coin sized items as well? I'm wondering its depth capabilities compared to the stock coil. I know I've probably asked this before, but it can help answer some questions for the OP as well

Sorry to butt in, but I remember seeing a post where someone had compared the 5.75" DD and 5 X 10" DD to the stock coils depth. Supposedly the 5.75" was the closest to stock coils depth only being approx. an inch difference. As far as small items, I find sub-grain lead shot (when prospecting) with mine at 3-4" and thats as small as I need or want. I'm sure you cant go wrong with either coil though! Good luck.

 

[smokey63]

Here are some numbers that a couple of us come up with a couple of weeks ago on the Metal Detecting Forum. Hope it helps you out. No two detectors are the same and will have different results. My test was the stock 8x9 versus the 10" Elliptical.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1832380

 

[TC-NM]

When I had my Vaquero, I ran it with the 5.75 widescan coil (DD) about 90% of the time. This little coil had great seperation between good and bad targets in med. to high mineralized soil here in NM. I also had the 5 x 10 (I think that was the size) elliptical coil too. Double D coils are great in mineralized soil conditions.

Good Luck in your decision,

TC-NM

 

[DigDugNY]

Here are some numbers that a couple of us come up with a couple of weeks ago on the Metal Detecting Forum. Hope it helps you out. No two detectors are the same and will have different results. My test was the stock 8x9 versus the 10" Elliptical.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1832380

I saw you say in one of your posts in that topic that you heard some Vaqueros were more HOT than others? I'm wondering why this would be the case. Is it just how they might come from the factory or maybe they stopped making it so HOT in newer made ones to keep things in check? It makes me curious

 

[Topdecker]

There are always rumors of "hot" detectors. Sometimes they come from the factory like that, other stories I've heard involve dropping the detector (and subsquently dropping it again and losing the awesomeness).

I think that there are plenty of folks that sold detectors that they should have kept - sometimes they replace the detector only not to be quite as satisfied.

Top

 

[smokey63]

Here are some numbers that a couple of us come up with a couple of weeks ago on the Metal Detecting Forum. Hope it helps you out. No two detectors are the same and will have different results. My test was the stock 8x9 versus the 10" Elliptical.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?17,1832380

I saw you say in one of your posts in that topic that you heard some Vaqueros were more HOT than others? I'm wondering why this would be the case. Is it just how they might come from the factory or maybe they stopped making it so HOT in newer made ones to keep things in check? It makes me curious

Dont mean to get to far off topic here, but I picked up on the differences that others were having on some previous post. I would think that they would all be fairly close from the factory. My Vaquero runs the same every time I get it out. My opinion for what it is worth is there are many different factors that could be giving folks problems, # 1 being incorrect ground balance, then change in soils, EMI, coil connector not tight, coil is cracked (yes this happens and sometimes is hard to see) and batteries. This weekend I had a new Duracell go down in the Vaquero after about 6 hours use, normally 10 to 12 hours, while it was upright seemed to work ok, but when I would lay it down it would go crazy then could not get it to ground balance or pinpoint. Checked everything mentioned above, same problem until I replaced the battery. Had to backtrack and I had missed three targets that were only about 4 inches deep. As far as air test go, I do not rely on them at all, other than where different targets discriminate out at and to compare the sensitivity of different coils for a particular detector or compare other brands of detectors. If I am going to air test I do it outside away from any form of interferance, but we all know everything changes when the coil meets the ground.

As far as coil choice in my opinion the 5.75, 8" doughnut or the 10" Elliptical coils will serve you well for what type hunting you mentioned.

 

[homebre]

Thanks. Is it possible to give the pros and cons of each?

 

[smokey63]

Thanks. Is it possible to give the pros and cons of each?

To keep it simple the 5.75 is excellent in trash and will get you closer to tot lot equipment and fences. The 8" I usually have to move the coil a little slower and it pinpoints like a laser. The 10" Elliptical is good in trash, ground coverage is good and is very sensitive to small targets.

 

[DigDugNY]

I have NY soil..sometimes I have to turn GB and other times I don't. I guess the 10" elliptical would be nice for the areas that I have to GB

 

[GunnarMN]

Well if youv the stock already, you need a smaller coil, i would get the 5.75" widscan.

 

[spellman]

My favorite coil on the vaquero is the 10x12 dd. It covers alot of ground and is deep also is good in moderate trash. And pinpoints super fast with out pinpoint button. Absolutely a big winner in my eyes. Also liked the 5.75 widescan.

 

[Monte]

We need t start by selecting one or more detectors for our personal detector battery, then learn and master them, and then decide to hang onto them or part away wit them and get something that we might enjoy better.

Next, we need tot then determine the best type and size search coil we will most often used, and that is based on using a detector we like and can trust, as well as making sure we understand the ground environment we'll be hunting in.

In your case you mention only the Vaquero, then said you'll usually hunt in playgrounds, parks, churches and camp grounds and need a good search coil for that.

Okay, here are my opinions:

Metal Detector: I have owed 4 Vaqueros and, personally, they are not my favorite Tesoro model. They require you adjust out of a Discriminate to activate the Threshold-based All Metal mode. I don't like that as I prefer a simple mode-change option w/o altering my Discriminate setting. I do not like the low audio tone. I prefer a versatile model with a true zero-rejection Disc. mode, and although the Vaquero and Cibola are advertised as having an ED-180 Disc. circuitry, they do not adjust quite low enough to achieve that setting. In heavily littered iron nail infested sites, I found them to be a bit noisier than the former Tesoro Discriminators that I prefer.

That said, I have two friends who have a Vaquero in their detector arsenal and they like them for what they feel they need them for.

Search Coils: Personally, I have found very few Double-D (Wide-Scan) search coils that I like or care to use, regardless of the manufacturer. I prefer a decent Concentric search coil.

Further, I mainly hunt older sites that have building rubble and/or iron based trash and/or dense sage brush and other vegetation. To work those sites the best choice is usually a smaller-than-stock search coil. O the Bandido series or El Dorado

 

[tvr]

They require you adjust out of a Discriminate to activate the Threshold-based All Metal mode.

Could push the pinpoint button to activate the Threshold-based All Metal; but to lock it in you do need to come off the discrimination setting. I added a trigger switch when I modified my Cibola; it lets me pull the toggle to pinpoint (with a momentary contact on that side of the toggle switch) and push it to lock in the Threshold-based All Metal mode. I find that operation, with the toggle switch positioned like the trigger on the Tejon, to be more comfortable that pushing the pinpoint button on the front panel.
Cheers,
tvr