Ok Mike, I had a chance to try my new Vaquero for a couple of hours yesterday evening and here are my first impressions. Before I begin let me say that I am probably not as qualified to comment as others would be, because I am relatively new to the metal detecting hobby. I have had three machines and the Cibola (with standard tone) was the last machine that I had, and had probably put about 200 hrs operating time in with it. I am 48 yrs old and have some total hearing loss in the higher audio frequency range, and so I was first concerned about the higher tone on my new Vaquero, but the tone frequency is well below the range where my hearing loss is (so no problems there). Also, let me say that I am using Killer Bee headphones. The first thing I noticed is that the high tone seems to be much easier for me to hear. However, I did seem to have a little more trouble distinguishing subtle differences in target response intensities. This is only my first couple of hours with the machine, and I think that will improve with use. So I guess what I am saying is that I am probably going to like the high tone much better than the standard once I get used to it. The primary reason being that it is so much easier for me to hear.
I don't want to make this to long, but I would also like to comment on my first impressions of the Vaquero over the Cibola. I did not think that I would see much difference in the two, but I was wrong. I don't know if it is due to being able to adjust the ground balance, (which by the way is very simple and quick) or a difference in cicuitry, but the Vaquero seems to be much more sensitive than my Cibola was and still runs quiet. I live in northeast MS and the soil behind my house is the typical hard red clay found in this area. I don't like to see people make comments that are obviously exagerated, and so I just want to make a couple of honest staements about what I observed during my first test with the Vaquero. I headed out to my test garden and quickly ground balanced the machine for a good neutral response. I had the machine setup in the configuration that I normally use, which is:
1. sensitivity around 10 or slightly above
2. discrimination 1 mark above iron
3. threshold set for just a good steady hum in all metal mode
All objects in my test garden are buried a measured 4 inches deep. I headed into the test garden and passed over the clad quarter I had buried and the first thing that I noticed was "bamm!" how loud the response was. So I moved on over to the dime and again was suprised at how clear and loud the response. Before I finished playing in the test garden I went back over to the quarter and began swinging and raising the coil until I just lost it and the coil was 10 inches above ground which put me 14 inches away from the quarter 4 inches in the ground. This was with the settings listed above. I don't know how others feel, but is pretty impressive to me.
I hope this information helps in some way, and I am sorry for making the reply so long.
Happy Hunting,
Scott
