Kicking a not so dead Vaquero horse

[BillF]

First time poster, long time MDer. I've been detecting for 43 years. Used the same Silver Sabre since I bought it in 1983-84. I recently had to send it in to Tesoro for some TLC and spent some time talking to Rusty. Rusty convinced me that a Vaq would be the detector for me. So...found one at a price I couldn't pass up and bought it. Got it around Oct.29 of this year. The weather has been really good here in Spokane so I have been out as much as possible. I probably have 40 or more hours with it so far. I have been going to only parks or schools that have a 100 year history, and an area that is about 1- 1 1/2 miles of homes that have been removed for a new freeway coming through. These homes at one end are from the early 1900s and run to the 1940s at the other. My take so far is 4 wheats and 1 barber dime. And TONS of nails,tabs, bottle caps and just general junk. I spent 2 hours yesterday on 2 house lots and found..... wait for it....nothing. If this Vaq has a language, I certainly can't figure it out. I talked to Rusty last week and told him that this is just sucking the joy right out of the hobby for me. I keep going out, hoping that things will click. I thought with the barber on Friday, that maybe things were clicking, until yesterday. There should have been some wheats or IH on these lots. But I walked away feeling defeated. I know that the new technology is so much different, but as I am not new to this hobby this seems at this point to be a learning curve I just can not get around.
I'll keep trying, I guess I just wanted to share my frustrations with other like minded folks.
Bill

 

[DigDugNY]

When you go out where are you putting your settings? And ground balancing is a big thing with the vaquero so hopefully your ground balancing it correctly. The Vaquero should be performing very well.

 

[BillF]

Bobby,
I set my threshold at 1:00, sens at 7-10, disc at the notch between iron and nickle. My GB is set for either nuetral or slightly positive. I check my GB every few feet as I have noticed that ground conditions seem to change quite a bit at some of the spots I hunt. I would experiment more with the GB settings if I could just find more old stuff. This machine will hit clad coins on the surface like there is no tomorrow, some of the nails I find are at 6-7 inches. I just am not finding any coins with any age. I think what I have found so far is purely by accident. There are way too many vacant lots in the area I mentioned earlier to have been cleaned out. Hundreds of them, and large lots at that. They are packed with trash, so much so when I place my coil down to GB I can not seem to find a relatively clear spot that is metal free. It seems there is a signal every 3 inches. Maybe the coins are being masked by this junk, but I doubt it. Not from the posts I read here and all the Youtube videos I've watched. I told Rusty at Tesoro that when the snows finally hit us I would send the Vaq in to be checked out, maybe there is something wrong with it. I have been so passionate about this hobby that I dont want to give it up. I still have the Sabre, but it isnt going find the deep stuff like this Vaquero should, at least that is what I hear and read.

 

[spellman]

look up,power balancing this has helped me with my vaquero. i dont always do it but when looking for deep targets it helps and also running super tuned helps.I also never liked the stock coil, my fav coil is the tesoro 10x12dd coil, much better, for me anyways, i know alot of people dont like dd coils so what works for me might not for you, dont give up on it. It took me 6 months to understand it but im also new to detecting , about 2 years new . good luck

 

[DigDugNY]

Being in really trashy areas like that might be having an effect on the ground balance if you cant find a clear spot of ground. Sendin it in may be a good option just to be safe, but if you wanna give it another shot, keep your sensitivity at 10 or just a little over and set the threshold to the 3 o'clock position. I havent tried power balancing yet, but that could help you out to. As coils go, the 10x12 DD prolly wont help you inthose trashy areas. You'll pick up even more junk. I would suggest the 5.75 concentric coil because it can still be deep while separating the trash a little better. Also, having the threshold turned a little more than where you set it now should help you hear the deeper signals a little better. That's probably a big thing that can help is having the threshold turned up a little more. I'm sure you will figure it out and once you do, you might have a better opinion

 

[BillF]

Spellman,
Tried the power balancing and super tuning. I really think I need to learn Vaqspeak first though. Most coins in this area are usually no more than 6-7 inches. Usually. It seems to be the average depth of our top soil. I have been to places though where my old $60 compass was Ipicking up at 8 inches or more. The 1916 barber I got Friday was only about 4 inches. I really felt at that time that it was a good target, thats why I was so bummed out about yesterdays hunt. My back and digging wrist were killing me. I can live with the pain for a little silver. Haha.
I've read the posts about the larger DD coils and will be looking at these soon. Also might try the 5.75 for the trashy spots.

 

[GaryF]

Don't give up....I mean unless there is something wrong with it (shrug) even then get it fixed and you will do well with it.

Listen....when using the stock coil I've learned that if I crawl with it I do much better. I know alot of people want to swing the their
detectors like and old XLT where the faster ya swing the deeper it goes but it's not that way with the V.

I'm not sure without seeing you hunt and having a chance to get my hands on your vaquero that I have any other advice for you.

Have faith my friend.
Gary

 

[BillF]

Gary,
I have completely changed the way I hunt from the old days. My sweeps are probably less than 2 feet and fairly slow. If I get a signal that I think may be good then I sweep quickly over it to see if it is solid or chirpy. Now, with that being said, it means nothing from me because I am not having the success the rest of you are having. So I will continue to place one foot in front of the other and sweep from side to side and maybe I can learn this thing.

 

[DigDugNY]

If you wanna learn slow and not rush into power balancing or super tuning, the one thing you should try next time you go out is keep your sensitive where you usually do, but set your threshold at 3 o'clock position. I know it might not seem like much but it can really help you hear deeper targets better. Just my two cents. Good luck

 

[GaryF]

Gottcha....well

Listen...I find a ton of trash to each interesting item I come across...the old stuff and coins just aren't there in the great numbers you can find of new clad.

Keeping the disc low and cleaning out the trash AND THEN going back supertuned and such is the way to hunt and area to get the best results. If you have the time to do
so that is. I tend to only hunt places I am welcome to come back time and time again and that allows me to do it this way at my own pace.
If you are hunting an area and you know you'll never come back to crank up that disc and cherry pick. Unless you aim is to look for rings and such in which case.. good luck.

Ya know...I watch new hunters come and go...they buy a cheap detector...find stuff then buy an expensive one and end up finding that the money they spent is now
sitting in the corner collecting dust. Or they buy the best the can at the start and again some time goes by and the detector sits in the corner. Ether way 8 outta 10 people that start find a little
bit then give up...That's good for us on the equipment side cause we get deals...but bad because those people that quit and did have at least some success at some point and it has removed items
that the rest of us that do this quite a bit and wont stop could have found.

Maybe you've hit a couple places that need some time and attention....or maybe you've found a place that has been hit hard in the past...or maybe you've found a place that scores of new hunters have worn out. I dont know the answer to this but if you can go there a few times you can figure it out.

The biggest part of this hobby that a starting hunter doesn't do is spend enough time doing is research. When finding a place that is at least visually appealing, before I even attempt walking to the door and asking permission I find out everything I can about the place. Not only does this give me a sense of where I should concentrate my search but when I do get to the point where I walk up to the door and engage the owner in conversation I have things in my head that he or she probably doesn't know about their property. That gives me an edge in dealing with them and shows that I do care about what I do and usually impresses them so much that I get welcomed with open arms.

The winter months are the best time to do research and drive around looking for cellar holes and other old spots as they can be spotted quite easily because of the lack of vegitation.

Do your homework....find a place you can pick apart at your own pace and do so in layers. You will find the good stuff if you come up with a system.
Good Luck
Gary

Understand I am in no way intending to insulting hunters that have just started this way of life.... And bud I'm not including you in this...just got off on a tangent...lol

Sorry for the ramble.

 

[BarberBill]

The suggestions above are worth trying. However, it seems to me that you should bury a coin or two at 5 - 7" in a clean spot and see how your Vaq. responds, you did say it picks up nails at similar depths just fine. If it doesn't have a problem you should be able to pick up the targets okay. Then at least you'll know the problem isn't the detector. My other thoughts are the old coins just aren't there or you really do have a masking problem. Have you tried digging it all with no discrimination for a bit to see if some of the trash signals turn out to be good targets? If none of this works it may well be worth sending in to Tesoro for a check up.
BB

 

[BillF]

Gary,
It surely is not like the old days. I could talk about the school yards I have hunted where I found complete rolls of silver dimes, but thats for another thread.We have in the past had quite a few MDers in the Spokane area. I havent been associated with Northwest Treasure Hunters since the early 70s so I am not sure how many current members they have.
I just went next door to my neighbors for 30-40 minutes. His house was built in 1898 and never been detected. I found 2 zincs. Didnt expect to fill my pockets but thought I might at least find one wheatie.
Thanks just the same for any words of encouragment from this forum. I'll keep trying.

 

[BillF]

Bill,
I am sure some of these areas have been hard hit, but there still has to be something there. Unless I was unlucky enough to go to the one lot that has been over hunted. Like I said, there were hundreds of homes in this area, some of the area was 2 or 3 blocks deep. even if 100 MDers came in regularly I dont think they could clear it out.
I do need to make a test garden in my yard, not just for me but to see if I can get my wife interested the hobby. I have tried to explain to her the feeling I get when I pop a walking liberty half, or barber quarter out of the ground.
The barber dime I got Friday was my first. It was a small find, but It felt good.

 

[tvr]

Kind of sounds like one of the 5.75 inch coils may be worth trying. A 5.75 inch coil is wonderful at picking through trash. It was already mentioned above, I second that recommendation.
I prefer the concentric.
Cheers,
tvr

PS You mention running at neutral to slightly positive ground balance. Appears you are hunting in discrimination mode and not all metal. Either power balance it or if you have not gotten the hang of power balancing (or have not read the full procedure here on the forum), then try setting it for a neutral ground balance, then turn the ground balance a little negative (counter clockwise) ... about the difference of between 12:00 and 11:00 on a watch face. For example, if the neutral ground balance has the knob pointing to 5:00, move it to about 4:00. If you get falsing, split the difference between the neutral setting and only go counter clockwise half the distance of what would represent an hour on a clock.

 

[DigDugNY]

Give it a couple more tries and hopefully you will see improvement. I have had some trouble with my Vaquero not really discriminating out iron where it should, but I'm still finding stuff because I dig everything. I think this winter I'm going to send it in just to get it checked on and re-tuned and stuff. That's what I love about the lifetime warranty. Let us know how it goes though.

 

[tvr]

I have had some trouble with my Vaquero not really discriminating out iron where it should

Yes ... it clicks, or maybe a little more than clicks. It does not fully eliminate many iron pieces from detection by making them silent, but it does not make a full round beep on small iron. On a medium to large round washer or a bottle cap the beep can sound pretty good but there is still a sharp edge to the beep. Larger pieces of iron, like a gun or pipe driven into the ground used for property markers may give a good sound off too, but with a sharpness to the edge of the beep and an echoing as the coil passes the target.

Of the older Tesoro detectors, I only have the Compadre to compare to. The Compadre very cleanly discriminates out iron, of any size. I understand that many of the other older designs do too, but I have not had them in my hands to verify. The HOT series can be deeper, but with the high gain circuit, they loose something on the clean discrimination side of over all detector performance. Iron can be identified correctly most of the time, once you get accustomed to listening for the click and edge sharpness.
Cheers,
tvr

 

[DigDugNY]

I have had some trouble with my Vaquero not really discriminating out iron where it should

Yes ... it clicks, or maybe a little more than clicks. It does not fully eliminate many iron pieces from detection by making them silent, but it does not make a full round beep on small iron. On a medium to large round washer or a bottle cap the beep can sound pretty good but there is still a sharp edge to the beep. Larger pieces of iron, like a gun or pipe driven into the ground used for property markers may give a good sound off too, but with a sharpness to the edge of the beep and an echoing as the coil passes the target.

Of the older Tesoro detectors, I only have the Compadre to compare to. The Compadre very cleanly discriminates out iron, of any size. I understand that many of the other older designs do too, but I have not had them in my hands to verify. The HOT series can be deeper, but with the high gain circuit, they loose something on the clean discrimination side of over all detector performance. Iron can be identified correctly most of the time, once you get accustomed to listening for the click and edge sharpness.
Cheers,
tvr

I know what your saying about the clicking and the sharp sounds and stuff. I have been trying to get the complete hang of it, but sometimes I can have the discriminate knob maxed out and it still sounds like a coin. I know it can't be perfect, but I still would like to take advantage of the warranty and just get it checked out to be safe

 

[tvr]

I know it can't be perfect, but I still would like to take advantage of the warranty and just get it checked out to be safe

Absolutely! Either they will find something not exactly right or give it a clean bill of health and you will know for sure either way.

 

[BillF]

I'm not so certain I can do the all metal. Seriously. I should make a video of what it does when I switch over to GB. There are so many hits, I honestly don't know if I can pinpoint one. It makes me want to yell "Are you kidding me?!!!". I liken it to someone taking a bucket of washers and tossing them everywhere. I think this why I want to make sure that the Vaq is OK.
I told myself that I was going dig everything at one of the oldest Parks in town, but after about 20 consecutive pulltabs and nails I kind of give up. If the weather was better maybe I would continue, right now I look like a hockey goalie dropping to his knees every few minutes. Knee pads,gloves, thick coat.The only thing missing is my face mask.

 

[BillF]

I can understand old nails not discriminating out. I don't like it, but I understand it. They've been in the ground for years. Rust halos make huge targets. And these other Vaq users are right. If I can get a nail at 7 inches, I should get coins. But I'm not, I don't understand it. If nails are there it means human habitation, and that means coins. Not in the same concentration for sure, but there none the less. I wonder if someone with one of the very expensive detectors are able to knock these out and that's why the nails are left for me to find. I can't afford one of those detectors and Tesoro is by far a superior detector for the money. I am just going to have Rusty check it out when the weather goes south.
Bill