Most of my md'ing currently is beach detecting but I want to be able to detect parks, wooded areas and yards for mainly jewelry and coins. I have found over the years that I really enjoy the k.i.s.s. Detectors that give at least two tones. I am using the Tesoro Sand Shark as my main detector right now, and I am happy with it but there are times when I would like to be able to throw in more discrimination than whatever I can get from the single tone sound of the Sand Shark. Now to the question: I am very interested in the Vista detectors. They seem to fit what I want but I am having trouble deciding between the Gold, the Smart, or the Warrior. They are close in price, seem to be pretty close in features. All seem to have very good recovery speed. Would the Gold be better at the salt water beaches? Like the ability to reduce the volume of the iron tone on the Gold. Are they pretty close in depth? I subscribe to the idea that you should dig everything if you want the best finds, so the limited discrimination is not too much of a concern. Until I came across these detectors I was really leaning toward the Tesoro Vaquero but also considering the Makro Racer or Fores Core. Florida beaches are hit hard so depth is probably my biggest consideration. Thanks for your opinions!
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- Thread starter Flbchbm
- Start date
I wish I could help you but I don't know a thing about the Vistas work in the wet sand. Richard
Dertnc
Member
Multi-frequencies and PI machines tend to work better in the wet sand. The Detector Pro Underwater works pretty good in wet sand for a single frequency machine. I have tried the Tesoro Vaquero in the wet sand with the old 9x8 coil and it didn't do to bad, I am curious about how the Deeptech machines will do.
Sven
Well-known member
I think the lack of response is mainly due to the fact the few owners in the US do not live near any saltwater environment.
Most hunt relics inland.
The only one I know is Stuart, he may not be online at the forums all the time. I will PM him to come to the forum and view this thread
as you probably do not have PM privileges at this time (lacks of posts).
Most hunt relics inland.
The only one I know is Stuart, he may not be online at the forums all the time. I will PM him to come to the forum and view this thread
as you probably do not have PM privileges at this time (lacks of posts).
[size=large]When working wet or dry sand, the machines behave normally but with the coil under water, there is some falsing. Richard[/size]
Search and recovery
New member
Sorry to be late to the discussion. Had not been to the forum in a couple of days. That being said, I do have a Vista Gold and an RG 1000 V2. The gold is 25 khz and the RG 1000 V2 is 12.5 khz. Both are very deep machines. The Vista Gold is slightly better on gold rings and jewelry and much better on the tiny gold chains. The Gold is really hot on small brass cuff buttons for relic hunters also. At 25 kHz the Gold is amazingly stable around high EMI areas such as power lines. The iron volumn control is a great help in old nail infested sites.
The RG 1000 V2 is an all around hunting machine. Slightly more depth on a nickel, about an inch in my soil and a good two inches better on a dime and a quarter. It is a bit smoother and more forgiving in changing soil conditions.The RG 1000 V2 would be closer to a Smart. The Smart is 15.5 kHz. I have not gotten to use a Smart but would think they are fairly close in reactivity to targets. The basic rule of thumb should be, the higher the KHz rating the better sensitivity to small gold and lower conductors,and smaller metal objects. These are all great coin and jewelry machines on dry land and in the dry sand at your beach.
Now in the wet salt sand. They are single frequency machines. There are far better options for wet salt and water hunting. I tried the Vista Gold on the wet sand at Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach in S.C. They have some moderate black sand on both beaches. The Vista Gold will not work on either beach. Again the higher the frequency the closer to the conductivity of the wet salt sand you are going to be and the more erratic the machine will run. If I am wrong on this point then please correct me because this is my opinion and nothing more through my experiences and what I have learned so far in my detecting learning curve, and I have a lot to learn.
On the wet salt sand the dig it all pulse machines are great if there is not too much iron on your beach. Of the pulse machines that I own, the Sand Shark, Whites Dual Field, Whites TDI, and the Mirage PI made by Sven, all are good machines. The TDI and the Mirage are the only machines that run as low as 10us thereby making them much more sensitive to small gold.But the Mirage is by far my favorite for beach hunting. First and formost it is waterproof where as the TDI is not. Also the Mirage does not hit on most of the deeper iron that the TDI does. This is a great help at the end of the day. How he gets that out of the machine is a mystery to me still, but you will dig less iron with the Mirage. And last, the Mirage has a small gold or large gold setup switch to make the machine more sensitive to lower conductors and small gold or higher conductors and larger gold. It has some descrimination, but is not an Excal or CZ 21which have full descrimination, but they will not find small gold chains and gold crosses like a Mirage PI. I hope this helps....Stuart
The RG 1000 V2 is an all around hunting machine. Slightly more depth on a nickel, about an inch in my soil and a good two inches better on a dime and a quarter. It is a bit smoother and more forgiving in changing soil conditions.The RG 1000 V2 would be closer to a Smart. The Smart is 15.5 kHz. I have not gotten to use a Smart but would think they are fairly close in reactivity to targets. The basic rule of thumb should be, the higher the KHz rating the better sensitivity to small gold and lower conductors,and smaller metal objects. These are all great coin and jewelry machines on dry land and in the dry sand at your beach.
Now in the wet salt sand. They are single frequency machines. There are far better options for wet salt and water hunting. I tried the Vista Gold on the wet sand at Virginia Beach and Myrtle Beach in S.C. They have some moderate black sand on both beaches. The Vista Gold will not work on either beach. Again the higher the frequency the closer to the conductivity of the wet salt sand you are going to be and the more erratic the machine will run. If I am wrong on this point then please correct me because this is my opinion and nothing more through my experiences and what I have learned so far in my detecting learning curve, and I have a lot to learn.
On the wet salt sand the dig it all pulse machines are great if there is not too much iron on your beach. Of the pulse machines that I own, the Sand Shark, Whites Dual Field, Whites TDI, and the Mirage PI made by Sven, all are good machines. The TDI and the Mirage are the only machines that run as low as 10us thereby making them much more sensitive to small gold.But the Mirage is by far my favorite for beach hunting. First and formost it is waterproof where as the TDI is not. Also the Mirage does not hit on most of the deeper iron that the TDI does. This is a great help at the end of the day. How he gets that out of the machine is a mystery to me still, but you will dig less iron with the Mirage. And last, the Mirage has a small gold or large gold setup switch to make the machine more sensitive to lower conductors and small gold or higher conductors and larger gold. It has some descrimination, but is not an Excal or CZ 21which have full descrimination, but they will not find small gold chains and gold crosses like a Mirage PI. I hope this helps....Stuart
I had no idea but some second-hand info... Thanks for the information.. Richard
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New member
Richard, glad I can help. I am no expert by any means, but have learned a lot from some great detectorists over the years on some of the forums and by hunting with some of them. I have relic and coin hunted for over 28 years and beach hunted just a little over 3 years seriously. I love beach and water hunting. It always seemed as if relic hunters were very secretive about their detecting secrets about their machines and understandably their hunting locations. Where as, water and beach hunters are more willing to share their knowledge about their machines and hunting techniques.
Florida Beach Bum, their are many beaches in Florida with no mineralization ( black sand) at all, so a PI machine offers little or no advantage in depth on those particular beaches over a multi frequency (CZ ) or BBS ,FBS machine (Minelab Soveign, Excall, or CTX 3030) except for the ability to find the thinner women's gold rings (the rings with the more valuable stones usually) and small gold chains, and gold crosses. Gold crosses have so many odd angles that most machines will never read them at all or only as a very weak iron signal.
Once on dry sand or in parks and woods, or on fresh water beaches the Deeptechs are awesome machines that will hunt with the best of the VLF machines in depth and target unmasking. Maybe AMC Javelin can chime in as I believe he had used some of the Tesoro's in the past.
I would really like to try the Vista Warrior out myself, and it may be my next machine. At 18 kHz and the gain control added to it, it may go even deeper than the other Deeptech machines. Looks very interesting.
Sorry for the long posts. Guess I get carried away when talking about my favorite hobby (addiction). Thanks...Stuart
Florida Beach Bum, their are many beaches in Florida with no mineralization ( black sand) at all, so a PI machine offers little or no advantage in depth on those particular beaches over a multi frequency (CZ ) or BBS ,FBS machine (Minelab Soveign, Excall, or CTX 3030) except for the ability to find the thinner women's gold rings (the rings with the more valuable stones usually) and small gold chains, and gold crosses. Gold crosses have so many odd angles that most machines will never read them at all or only as a very weak iron signal.
Once on dry sand or in parks and woods, or on fresh water beaches the Deeptechs are awesome machines that will hunt with the best of the VLF machines in depth and target unmasking. Maybe AMC Javelin can chime in as I believe he had used some of the Tesoro's in the past.
I would really like to try the Vista Warrior out myself, and it may be my next machine. At 18 kHz and the gain control added to it, it may go even deeper than the other Deeptech machines. Looks very interesting.
Sorry for the long posts. Guess I get carried away when talking about my favorite hobby (addiction). Thanks...Stuart
[size=medium]Stuart, I sold out of the Warriors and will be getting some back in a couple of weeks.. I have limited time beach hunting and pretty much use an FBS machine when I do get to go. The Warrior is deep and I found some mini balls in an area that hadn't produced a lot in a long time. Rosi was telling me that the Relic is the deepest Vista, running single at 8hz.. Hopefully I can get it out in a few days and go back to the area where I had the Warrior and see if I missed anything.
Thanks Again, Richard[/size]
[size=large]BTW, love the SMART, too. 2 tone with that synthesized audio. ..grows on ya[/size]
Thanks Again, Richard[/size]
[size=large]BTW, love the SMART, too. 2 tone with that synthesized audio. ..grows on ya[/size]
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Florida Beach Bum. Let us know how the Fores Core does. I hear they are good machines but have never had the chance to try it or the racer. I too like analog machines over bells and whistles machines. Target ID machines tend to make you leave too many good targets in the ground because of partial masking by iron or poor ID because of depth or target on edge. Less digging does equal less good targets in my opinion.
Richard, thanks for the information. I would have thought that the gain on the Warrior might make it the deeper machine. I have got to get my hands on one of them soon. I would like to try the Relic out as well. At 8 KHz it should really be hot on old silver. The entire line up of Vista machines with their various options of controls and Khz ratings are all top of the line detectors at a very good price without all the fancy bells and whistles that so many manufacturers dream up to sell their next latest and greatest model at far more cost. Not many machines can match the Deeptechs on depth or seperation abilities, no matter the price, and the Deeptech ID very well at depth farrous or nonferrous targets reliably once you learn to use the coil to just touch the target signal with only the edge of the coil instead of sweeping completely over the target.. Iron falses as a good signal in the center of the coil when deep and fairly large, but backing the coil out until the signal just barely dissapears and then just moving the coil until it gives a signal will often give a good nonferrous or iron signal pretty reliably. Great to know. Gunnar , on this forum, made a video on that trick that helps to dig a lot less ferrous. Thanks to him for that bit of information. All of the Vistas do have very telling audio that I really appreciate. I have found like many others that the cheaper Calrad headphones actually give more "nuanced " telling audio over the more expensive brands on the Vista machines.
Please tell us how the Relic does on your site Richard. Being a different a Khz than the Warrior I bet it will hit on a few more good targets. Maybe you could make a video or two if you have the time and equipment. Not for everyone I know and time consuming to make and edit. Always good to see what a detector can do in the U.S. For us locals on the fence as to what to buy for our next machine...Stuart
Richard, thanks for the information. I would have thought that the gain on the Warrior might make it the deeper machine. I have got to get my hands on one of them soon. I would like to try the Relic out as well. At 8 KHz it should really be hot on old silver. The entire line up of Vista machines with their various options of controls and Khz ratings are all top of the line detectors at a very good price without all the fancy bells and whistles that so many manufacturers dream up to sell their next latest and greatest model at far more cost. Not many machines can match the Deeptechs on depth or seperation abilities, no matter the price, and the Deeptech ID very well at depth farrous or nonferrous targets reliably once you learn to use the coil to just touch the target signal with only the edge of the coil instead of sweeping completely over the target.. Iron falses as a good signal in the center of the coil when deep and fairly large, but backing the coil out until the signal just barely dissapears and then just moving the coil until it gives a signal will often give a good nonferrous or iron signal pretty reliably. Great to know. Gunnar , on this forum, made a video on that trick that helps to dig a lot less ferrous. Thanks to him for that bit of information. All of the Vistas do have very telling audio that I really appreciate. I have found like many others that the cheaper Calrad headphones actually give more "nuanced " telling audio over the more expensive brands on the Vista machines.
Please tell us how the Relic does on your site Richard. Being a different a Khz than the Warrior I bet it will hit on a few more good targets. Maybe you could make a video or two if you have the time and equipment. Not for everyone I know and time consuming to make and edit. Always good to see what a detector can do in the U.S. For us locals on the fence as to what to buy for our next machine...Stuart
[size=large]I am going to try and get the RELIC out Friday and hopefully film it.. thanks Richard[/size]
amcjavelin
Active member
If your looking for info on the RELIC I can tell you its a super machine but the recovery speed in iron is slow it really excels on silver brass bronze and copper, musket balls and and lead in general superb field hunter with the 11" DD stock coil also the round 5" and super 6 are my coil favorites I have a bunch of live digs on youtube with this machine too so go type in TravelinJavelin is my youtube channel also Keith Southern uses my machines in his soil down south but do keep in mind these are first generation machines without the coil updates if you guys are liking your Tesoro's or older fisher 1200 series then you will fall in love with the deeptechs ..................you can try one its ok we now have a warranty center here in the united states that is a personal friend of mine with over 35 years of electronics knowledge so don't be afraid talk to Richard today!
Hello, guys 
And Happy New Year to all
In connection with your questions - here little video not published until now. During our summer vacation, in September, we tested Vista WARRIOR on the beach on Black sea. So, the little movie was not made with advertising purpose and it's in Bulgarian.
Oh, yes One of the coins found there was USA coin, you will see this
Here the movie:
https://youtu.be/YW3ZWZ5TlyM
Plamen Rashkov's beach settings during this tests you can see on this image:
[attachment 325146 settings.jpg]
The result of two-three hours beach hunting:
[attachment 325147 IMG_20150909_154300.jpg]
[attachment 325148 IMG_20150909_103214.jpg]
And Happy New Year to all In connection with your questions - here little video not published until now. During our summer vacation, in September, we tested Vista WARRIOR on the beach on Black sea. So, the little movie was not made with advertising purpose and it's in Bulgarian.
Oh, yes
One of the coins found there was USA coin, you will see this Here the movie:
https://youtu.be/YW3ZWZ5TlyM
Plamen Rashkov's beach settings during this tests you can see on this image:
[attachment 325146 settings.jpg]
The result of two-three hours beach hunting:
[attachment 325147 IMG_20150909_154300.jpg]
[attachment 325148 IMG_20150909_103214.jpg]