Looking for a lightweight, basic, yet powerful unit - Any suggestions?

[SpiritRelic]

I don't have a V right now.Do a depth comparison for us.You also have a camera?Lookin to be a movie star?That's why i go with a Tesoro mostly.I don't have a car so i pack mine in a book bag.Go with friends and hit the city bus with some dirty change.All detectors should be getting lighter.With the advancement in surface mount technology and micro electronics there is no reason the control box should be much bigger than this phone i am on.Carbon fiber etc.But some detectors are getting heavier?Here is my outlaw and tejon in compression bags ready for the book bag.We need to start talking more about weight instead of more bells and whistles?Hope to see some finds.

 

[Cutaplug]

I don't have a V right now.Do a depth comparison for us.You also have a camera?Lookin to be a movie star?That's why i go with a Tesoro mostly.I don't have a car so i pack mine in a book bag.Go with friends and hit the city bus with some dirty change.All detectors should be getting lighter.With the advancement in surface mount technology and micro electronics there is no reason the control box should be much bigger than this phone i am on.Carbon fiber etc.But some detectors are getting heavier?Here is my outlaw and tejon in compression bags ready for the book bag.We need to start talking more about weight instead of more bells and whistles?Hope to see some finds.

I have an etrac, AT Pro, and no vaquero. Plan on doing a comparison on all three pretty soon when the weather is nice.

 

[sparkster]

If you check around a little you will find that a lot of the minelab users have the AT Pro also. Why do you suppose that is. In my honest a humble opinion the 4 best detectors on this or any other planet are the minelab CTX, Garrett AT Pro, Whites MXT and a tie for #4, Tesoro Compadre, Garrett Ace 250. These are all around detectors that can do anything you could ever want to do including relic hunting and gold prospecting. Price range fro $160 to $2400.00. All bases are covered unless you want to dive 200 feet then you need the Excalibur. I own them all and each has a specific job they do exceptionally well. If you want to have some cheap fun, go relic hunting or coin shooting wit a Compadre. They sniff out a lot of goodies, for sure.

 

[Cutaplug]

If you check around a little you will find that a lot of the minelab users have the AT Pro also. Why do you suppose that is. In my honest a humble opinion the 4 best detectors on this or any other planet are the minelab CTX, Garrett AT Pro, Whites MXT and a tie for #4, Tesoro Compadre, Garrett Ace 250. These are all around detectors that can do anything you could ever want to do including relic hunting and gold prospecting. Price range fro $160 to $2400.00. All bases are covered unless you want to dive 200 feet then you need the Excalibur. I own them all and each has a specific job they do exceptionally well. If you want to have some cheap fun, go relic hunting or coin shooting wit a Compadre. They sniff out a lot of goodies, for sure.

I agree they are some great units =) Have been doing some air testing with the e-trac, AT Pro, and Vaquero just for fun. In all-metal mode the Vaquero beats the other two hands down, but in discrimination mode the other two smoke the Vaquero, even when I have it supertuned... I was actually thinking about trading the Vaquero off for a Silver umax or compadre. Does the preset ground balance do pretty good in most conditions?

 

[sparkster]

Quit BSing around a get an AT Pro. I would bet 80% of the people that have a CTX, ETrac and Explorer also have an AT Pro. Why do you think that is? Let's count the reasons. AT pro is light with the 5x8 coil, it's simple to learn, it's water proof, it finds stuff if it is there, more features for the price, service if ever required is excellent. Need I say more?

Ok, Whites, Fisher, Tesoro, Minelab, they all make great machines and I can speak for most when I say the have great service. I just don't believe anyone makes a detector in the price range of the AT Pro that will do what this detector can do. I have a Minelab CTX, Excalibur 1000, whites DFX and an MXT. I use them all and they are great machines, matter of fact I believe there is no machine made that is better at coin shooting old deep coins than the CTX. But you are looking for a back up machine that is light. That surely would not be a CTX, not for that kind of money and the weight of 5 lbs +. I'm not the most knowledgable person on this forum, but I read the posts every day. The sharp hunters with the Minelabs and Whites v3I's usually have the AT lurking in the trunk as a back up with a big bang. In closing let me say, I have over 185 rings and jewelry in the last two years that tell me this, the "Little Black Dog" is a great retriever.

 

[SteveP(NH)]

Get a Teknetics T2 or a Fisher F75. Very light, perfect balance with the stock coils. You can hunt all day with them. They are just as deep as any other machine I have used or tested against. I've had a AT PRO too. Both the T2 and F75 are about 2 or 3 inches deeper than an AT PRO and the worst thing about the AT PRO is it is poorly balanced with the stock coil on it. Very coil heavy and is so out of balance you can't even balance it on a couple of finger, it will fall off. You have to scrap the stock coil and get a 5x8 to put it in balance.

I have a MInelab SE Pro and for field hunting I almost always grab the T2 first. I used to use the SE PRO at first then when my shoulder started getting tired from swing it, I would switch to the T2 but I have had such great success with the T2 I don't both with the SE PRO any longer and just use it at the ocean beaches where it can handle the salt much better than either the AT PRO or the T2.

 

[Cutaplug]

Quit BSing around a get an AT Pro.

I have an AT Pro =) Decided to go for the Vaquero with a 10x12" coil for woods use for the following reasons:

1. Lighter than the AT Pro
2. 4.5" shorter when broken down.
3. MUCH easier to break down compared to the AT Pro. The AT Pro plugins drive me crazy because they are difficult to get to and bind up often requiring pliers to loosen.
4. Vaquero has extremely good depth with the 10x12 coil to get down through the leaves and forest floor covering. Since I'll be scouting I'll be using all metal mode often or very little descrim.

I picked up a like new Vaquero for $350 and it included the large coil. For the price I think it's a very powerful machine that's super light and the perfect backpack detector. Don't get me wrong I think the AT Pro is possibly the best all around detector for the money but not ideal for what I want it for.

 

[SpiritRelic]

I think you made a good choice for what you want to do.Very easy to dis assemble and pack up.Very easy to assemble on location.The 12x10 DD is a great coil also.Let us know what you think. :-D

 

[GoVidGo]

i use an Etrac and my back up is an AT Pro. Great machine and the perks to go with the Etrac are:
--that it is a great detector to take if there is a 'chance of rain'
--very light and a great switch from the Etrac when your arm gets tired
--the Pro Mode is amazingly different than the Etrac but very very sweet for finding small objects hidden among iron and other junk
--the At Pro is a tank. I am not easy on my machines at all
--instead of the Etrac's slow-and-low... the AT Pro is lightning quick whick is a fun change
--great beach machine or for shores and streams

 

[shortribs]

The cibola and Vaq are deeper than the silver or the outlaw. The Tejon has a grn bal in disc where other than an outlaw rest are pre set in disc. just a thought.

 

[Cutaplug]

The cibola and Vaq are deeper than the silver or the outlaw. The Tejon has a grn bal in disc where other than an outlaw rest are pre set in disc. just a thought.

Would a silver with 10x12 be deeper than the cibola?

 

[GoVidGo]

LIGHTWEIGHT... + POWERFUL....

go a Fisher F75....

get on KellyCo and compare the weight of them compared to the V3i, Etrac, etc..... you will see light...

the F75's are said to be 'chatty'... that's because they run HOT HOT HOT! which means DEEP DEEP DEEP!

end of story...........

 

[Cutaplug]

LIGHTWEIGHT... + POWERFUL....

go a Fisher F75....

get on KellyCo and compare the weight of them compared to the V3i, Etrac, etc..... you will see light...

the F75's are said to be 'chatty'... that's because they run HOT HOT HOT! which means DEEP DEEP DEEP!

end of story...........

Actually F75 weighs the same as an etrac I think =) Anyway went with the Vaquero this thread is getting out of hand lol.

 

[DigDugNY]

Good choice on the Vaquero man. Besides not being waterproof it's top notch. I was air testing my 5.75 concentric coil on my Vaquero the other day and was hitting a quarter at 14 inches and a dime at like 11". I know it's not ground conditions, but that's pretty powerful for a small coil and a detector that doesn't cost nearly as much as the others. If you hunt in any trashy areas, the 5.75 coil does the trick. I don't know what you were as your target when you did the air test, but the vaquero should still have been close to the others in discriminate

 

[bugg]

take a good hard look at the vista gold. Its a depth monster, awesome iron disc, stable, very good audio, reasonably priced. Build quality is a bit less than the tesoros, but will hold up fine under normal use.

 

[Cutaplug]

I noticed the Vaquero signals off on large pieces of iron, something that the etrac doesn't do and on the AT Pro it's easy to distinguish Iron targets because of the low grunt in the audio signal. Any of you who have used the "V" know how to distinguish Iron from a coin signal maybe could give me some tips?

 

[DigDugNY]

I noticed the Vaquero signals off on large pieces of iron, something that the etrac doesn't do and on the AT Pro it's easy to distinguish Iron targets because of the low grunt in the audio signal. Any of you who have used the "V" know how to distinguish Iron from a coin signal maybe could give me some tips?

Depending on age of the iron it is definitely hard to tell sometimes, especially with old rusted nails. Some things I've heard and experienced is that the V will make a really sharp sound over iron, you really have to listen though. Also, if you swing the coil a little faster over the target iron usually tends to start to break up

 

[Cutaplug]

I noticed the Vaquero signals off on large pieces of iron, something that the etrac doesn't do and on the AT Pro it's easy to distinguish Iron targets because of the low grunt in the audio signal. Any of you who have used the "V" know how to distinguish Iron from a coin signal maybe could give me some tips?

Depending on age of the iron it is definitely hard to tell sometimes, especially with old rusted nails. Some things I've heard and experienced is that the V will make a really sharp sound over iron, you really have to listen though. Also, if you swing the coil a little faster over the target iron usually tends to start to break up

Thanks appreciate the tips =) Dad and I hiked 2 miles out in the woods to locate some old houses that I found on a topo map. Will get a youtube vid uploaded soon and post it on here.

 

[DigDugNY]

I noticed the Vaquero signals off on large pieces of iron, something that the etrac doesn't do and on the AT Pro it's easy to distinguish Iron targets because of the low grunt in the audio signal. Any of you who have used the "V" know how to distinguish Iron from a coin signal maybe could give me some tips?

Depending on age of the iron it is definitely hard to tell sometimes, especially with old rusted nails. Some things I've heard and experienced is that the V will make a really sharp sound over iron, you really have to listen though. Also, if you swing the coil a little faster over the target iron usually tends to start to break up

Thanks appreciate the tips =) Dad and I hiked 2 miles out in the woods to locate some old houses that I found on a topo map. Will get a youtube vid uploaded soon and post it on here.

Lookin forward to see it. One thing you might want to do is just dig everything up for now and try different tips and stuff just to make sure your not missing anything. Then you can start to figure it out as you go. Gotta dig the junk to find the treasure. Masking can be a big issue sometimes

 

[Cutaplug]

Uploaded the vid for the first hunt with the "V" =) Dad and I took a day hike to find some old home sites in the woods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZDeEP9Qqxc