Vaquero / Outlaw Battery Management

[Tee1up]

I was wondering if some of the veterans could talk about battery management. Specifically:

1. I understand that running with a weak battery can have a drastic impact on your depth or general operation. Is this accurate?
2. Do you use rechargeable batteries or a fresh disposable? If disposable, do you pop in a brand new one to start your day?
3. Have you ever compared rechargeable to disposable for depth or anything like that?
4. Can you recommend your favorite / preferred brand?
5. Most Tesoros seem to have a built in tester on start up. Is it a good indicator of batter health or do you manually test partially used batteries before going out?
6. Do you repeat battery tests during a hunt to make sure the unit is still operating at it's best?


Thx folks,

Tee

 

[BarberBill]

I'll answer as best I can according my own PERSONAL experience.
1. Batteries that are definitely dying usually case such erratic results that you know you have a problem. As long as the battery power is equal or above the cutoff design of the detector, it usually will work just fine.
2. I prefer brand name alkalines mainly because I'm not able to be out often enough for the rechargeables to be a savings. If battery life becomes a problem for me, I'll be happy because it means I've been able to be out a lot.
3. As I don't use rechargeables I'll leave that to someone else, but I've never seen a reference to it making any difference.
4. I prefer Ray - O - Vac alkalines as they are usually the best price where I shop and so far they have always given me good service.
5. The Tesoro test gives a good indication in my experience.
6. Yes, especially if the batteries have been used enough to be on the decline.

Hope this is helpful, I'm sure others will jump in on it as well.
HH
BB

 

[REVIER]

What Barberbill said and my own comments.

Rechargeables might be cost effective if you hunt a lot, but keep in mind I have read they might not last quite as long as alkalines, and it seems when they die it is very fast and quick so having a spare battery with you would be prudent.

I am not the only one that feels this way, but I do believe you just might lose a little depth as that battery weakens in all my detectors so I usually change them when they are about 1/2 way done or a little less for my own piece of mind.
On my Vaq that would be at 3 beeps...definitely 2.
I have tons of batteries layng around with about 1/2 a full charge and I do not own one thing that they would fit into to use them up, either.
Well, maybe my Propointer, but I think that thing loses depth as the battery depletes, also.

I use 9 volt Energizers from Costco and get great hunting time with them, and keep in mind if you use headphones your battery life doubles or even triples over using the speaker.

Recently, I was at a Battery Plus store and I noticed that even though I am happy with my Energizers from Costco at about $2.15 each, that store has Ray-O-Vac 8 packs on sale, (always on sale the manager told me), at about $1.60 per battery including sales tax...so I am going to try those out next.

 

[BarberBill]

Over the years I've also used Energizers with good results as well, but haven't seen any less satisfaction with the R O Vs.
BB

 

[Tee1up]

Thanks folks. Appreciate your thoughts.

 

[magadan]

Hello,

I have the Vaq for one season (over 60 hunts in different conditions). The 9 V batteries are hard to buy far from big cities, so I am using 6 AA instead - they work for about 6-7 hunts or up to 40-50 hours.

The battery test works good; when I get 4 beeps, it is time to buy a spare hald dozen of the AAs. Vaq works for about a day on 3 beeps, and when you hear 2 beeps, you can have erratic, non reliable signals (time to replace the cells).

Good hunt!

M

==========================

I was wondering if some of the veterans could talk about battery management. Specifically:

1. I understand that running with a weak battery can have a drastic impact on your depth or general operation. Is this accurate?
2. Do you use rechargeable batteries or a fresh disposable? If disposable, do you pop in a brand new one to start your day?
3. Have you ever compared rechargeable to disposable for depth or anything like that?
4. Can you recommend your favorite / preferred brand?
5. Most Tesoros seem to have a built in tester on start up. Is it a good indicator of batter health or do you manually test partially used batteries before going out?
6. Do you repeat battery tests during a hunt to make sure the unit is still operating at it's best?


Thx folks,

Tee