kirklyn said:
Clarification on saying micromax as opposed to umax is that they are the original and do not
have the umax branding on them and I have read the original conquistadors had issues.
Two topics here. One is the use of the 'MAX" terminology, and the other is the two Conquistador models. Let's look at them separately:
• The Micro Term: When Jack Gifford used the TID pod or housing of the Toltec II to make his first smaller-size series of models, it was simply called the Sidewinder. That was produced from 4/'94 to 10/'96 and it caught a lot of interest as a light weight turn-on-and-go model. It was the only Tesoro model using that size control housing from 4/'94 until 1/'96 when Jack Gifford started a series of models using that housing, and also used a catchy name to describe these smaller packaged detectors.
The goal was to use the smaller-size components and fit them into the smaller-size control housing, yet still provide a maximum level of performance. So, the smaller components and smaller control box were a '[size=small]micro[/size]' sized packaging compared with all of the regular-sized Tesoro models or those from most competitors, and the design could achieve a maximum level of performance, thus the blended name reference was '[size=small]micro[/size]MAX' and that was / is a catchy name. I wish he would have just used normal lettering to spell this descriptive term.
Instead, as an electronics engineer, I guess he felt it interesting to use the electronic reference that means
[size=small]'micro'[/size] which is the
µ symbol. Note that the [size=small]'micro'[/size] symbol
µ is similar to a lower-case letter
u except the little 'tail' is at the left-side start of the symbol and not at the right-side end of the letter. It is simply a
symbol and NOT a letter. It is to be pronounced
'micro' for the symbol or term that it is, and
not 'you' for the letter that is isn't. You can do a cut-and-past of the [size=small]'micro'[/size] symbol, or is you ha s right-hand numeric keypad use the
ALT key and type
230 and it will type the proper
µ symbol.
Some people SAY the description as u-MAX or U-MAX and you hear You-MAX .... all of which are incorrect. It isn't you-MAX, it is [size=small]micro[/size]MAX. Therefore I generally use the written pronunciation of [size=small]micro[/size]MAX in a forum post, or or a mix of that and the electronic symbol µMAX.
• The Model Name: The first small or 'micro-sized' housing Tesoro introduced, as I mentioned, was the Sidewinder in 4/'94. There were no more produced in that housing until 1996 when we saw a trend to offer a bigger assortment of models and a change in the naming of the models. Tesoro used three methods of naming them, starting with the µMAX Cutlass in 1/'96, and at that time they started to describe the µ symbol, and how to properly pronounce the name prefix of µMAX as [size=small]micro[/size]MAX to describe the smaller-size control housing that offered MAXimum performance.
Models with that housing, in the order they were first produced, included the following:
4/'94 Sidewinder
1/'96 µMAX Cutlass
2/'96 µMAX Sidewinder
3/'96 µMAX Bandido
4/'96 µMAX Diablo
10/'97 Both the Bandido II µMAX and Silver Sabre µMAX
2/'98 Cutlass II µMAX
2/'00 Conquistador
5/'00 Compadre
9/'00 Golden µMAX
3/'01 Both the Conquistador µMAX and Eldorado
5/'01 Euro Sabre
?/'04 Both thee Cibola and Vaquero
Notice the three differences? Some models have only a name with no µMAX associated with it, such as the original Sidewinder, the first Conquistador, the Compadre, Eldorado, Euro Sabre, Cibola and Vaquero. All of these models used the same small housing, and all operated in a related frequency range and shared all search coils except for the Cibola and Vaquero
When the reference to µMAX was first used, and in order with the 1/'96 µMAX Cutlass, µMAX Sidewinder, µMAX Bandido and µMAX Diablo, the [size=small]micro[/size]MAX reference was at the beginning of the model name. Then starting with the popular Bandido II µMAX and Silver Sabre µMAX the [size=small]micro[/size]MAX reference was assigned to the end of the model name. Also, since then it has been more-or-less a standard custom to refer to all of these models with µMAX at the end of the name.
• About Model Glitches, especially with the Conquistador series: There were some issues with the preset GB Sidewinder series that I noted that caused operational problems, and that was this. If you increased or decreased the Discrimination setting from where it was when the internal GB trimmer was set, you also shifted the GB setting. It could decrease the GB setting, possibly causing a lot of falsing if it was shifted too negatively, or increase the GB level to a more positive setting. So positive that it could possibly no longer detect and respond to higher conductive targets such as silver dollars or half-dollars or even worse.
When the 'original' Tesoro Conquistador was introduced [size=small]
(Tesoro was not the first to use the name Conquistador as that was used by White's in the late '60s to about '70/'71)[/size] it also had that same Disc. control / Ground Balance shift glitch. The Conquistador, without the µMAX on the control face and decal name, was only produced from 2/'00 to 2/'01, and the Conquistador
with the µMAX in the decaled name came out in 3/'01. However, the design glitch was discovered and addressed so the Conquistador µMAX doesn't have that adjustment problem. Prior to the Conquistador µMAX release, some of the latter Conquistador production models were using the new µMAX circuit board which means they worked properly and a change in the Discriminate control no longer made a pronounced shift in the Ground balance adjustment.
kirklyn said:
I mainly hunt old house/farms, parks and some dry fresh water sand. I love my xterra but after buying
the Mojave for my daughter i just enjoyed not pushing buttons and looking at a display for once I just
turned it on and started swinging. I can get a Deleon new at a good price but think I may need to have manual
GB that's why the vaquero came into question.
There are couple of fortunate opportunities. One being able to hunt some old places like that as well as parks and the like. Burt the better opportunity you relate is sharing this enjoyment with your daughter. I hope she continues to enjoy detecting and grows to spend more time together with you out hunting some sites.
kirklyn said:
Then I came across the conquistador and thought for the money and not putting the xterra
down for good it might be a good alternative for those quick outings with my daughter and her Mojave.
As I stated, the X-Terra models are OK, but I much prefer any of my all time favorite Tesoro models, and that includes the Mojave. Very often I grab one to hunt with rather than one of my preferred TID models. There's something about Tesoro's design and function that is just enjoyable and tough to compete with.
kirklyn said:
And yes $200 gets both not each and maybe a little less.
I hope you snapped those up! If not, e-mail me the way to do it and I will.
Monte
