Threshold?

[Rebel1]

Ok, i am new to Tesoros and hope to have the Compadre back from Tesoro soon but have some questions about the other models. I am thinking i may want to get another one but don't know what i really need. The Silver Umax has a sensitivity control the Compadre doesn't. What is the advantage, if any of that. I know the Compadre works at a higher freq. than the Silver and is supposed to be a better small gold getter. The Cibola has sensitivity and threshold. Isn't threshold about the same thing as ground balance? If not, what is the difference, and why would the Vaquero with ground balance be better than the Cibola? I mainly hunt for coins and jewelry inland but would like to be able to also go to the beach and use it in wet sand. Will any of the above work for that? Thanks for any help.

 

[BarberBill]

The Compadre runs in full sensitivity all the time. Machines with a sensitivity adjustment can be turned up or down (usually down) for conditions that warrant it, such as reducing the sensitivity when encountering high mineralization, electrical interference or hunting close to an iron fence etc..

Threshold is NOT about the same as ground balance. The Threshold hum serves as a background sound level to enable one to hear slight variations in signal (deep and/or small targets) when in all metal mode that are not strong enough to be heard when in discrimination mode.

Ground balance is the adjustment of the machine that lets it ignore the minerals in the ground. Where mineralization is a factor, proper ground balance can increase the depth and sensitivity of the detector. The Compadre, Silver umax, Cibola and many other Tesoros have a factory preset ground balance that can't be changed without opening the box. They're set to what is (hopefully) a workable average that serves quite well in most areas. The Lobo Super Trac (in all metal) and many competitors machines now have a true automatic ground balance that adjusts as the coil goes over different areas.

The Vaquero with the manual ground balance has the edge over the Cibola because it can be easily adjusted to the changing mineralization from one area to another - for instance mild farm soil to rocky, mineralized mountain areas. Preset machines can and do work well in many locations, but manual or auto ground balancing enhances the usability of the machine in difficult ground. For most of the hunting I do the presets work pretty well and i've found a lot of goodies, but I do have one machine with manual GB and one with Auto. for the times I may need that feature. The thing is, manual or auto ground balance never hurts as long as the setting is correct, even in the milder ground. .
Hope this helps,
HH
BB

 

[Rebel1]

Thanks Bill, but since the Cibola has a threshold control, but doesn't actually have a true All Metal mode, what good does it do?

 

[AUDuke]

The Cibola has a all metal mode accessed by pushing the pin point button.

 

[Rebel1]

Yes but don't you have to continue to hold the pinpoint button down to keep it in all metal?

 

[sqwaby]

Don't confuse auto GB tracking with pre set GB. If you want to hunt wet sand at salt beaches you really need to consider getting a auto trac GB or manual GB machine

 

[Rebel1]

Well to tell the truth the beach hunts would be few and far between. For the most part i want a machine that i can hunt coins, gold & silver jewelry with here inland and around the river and lake shores.

 

[JHM]

Good question. I would guess it is to set the threshold volume when the pinpoint button is pressed. The cibola can be supertuned by turning the threshold wide open. It works sorta like increasing the gain. But you can't use the pinpoint when supertuned.

 

[BarberBill]

JHM is right - threshold knob sets the hum for the pinpoint/allmetal.
BB

 

[Hightone]

Good answer, BB. I would add that it is the salt at the beach that gives the VLFs the problem (also why PI detectors do so good) and detecting in fresh water doesn't really affect performance. Actually, a detector can detect deeper in moist soil.

Dan

 

[AUDuke]

You can hunt in all metal by holding the pp button down, or you can do as I did , replace the button with a toggle sw.