Vaquero vs Bandido II µmax

[nenadgbeepin]

Hi all,

Long time lurker first time poster.

I recently acquired a Vaquero and am comparing it to my Bandido II µmax which I've had for a while now. I'd like to share a few observations, with a few questions along the way:

1. I much prefer the Vaquero's start up beeps to the ear piercing start up tone of the Bandido.

2. In air testing, with both units Sensitivity set to just below where falsing occurs, the Vaquero has a good 2 inches better depth. 9x8 vs 8" donut difference perhaps?

3. the Vaquero seems to respond better to super tuning, seems to gain a lot more depth. What I have also discovered is that de-tuning really drops the volume on those targets at depth, I can see this coming in handy when you only want to target shallow targets due to hard ground, time constraints or deep trash.

4. I much prefer the look/colours of the Bandido - might have to give the Vaquero a bit of a makeover

5. With the coil up in the air, so no ground effect, when turning the GB knob on the Bandido it doesn't make any noise. On the Vaquero, even moving the gb knob slowly and it sounds off. Is this normal? I can still set the ground balance ok, just the noise when turning the knob is a distraction.

6. Does anyone know if the Vaquero has an internal trimmer for the tone? I'd like to tweak it up just a touch higher. When I first got the Bandido I found the tone to be very harsh on the ears so opened it up and there was no trim pots to adjust.

7. When I got the Bandido it seems to false quite badly but as I had never used one I thought it may have been normal. Then one day I noticed the unit would false a lot with the coil up in the air and just lightly shaking the unit. I suspected a faulty coil and read of others with a loose shield wire. So I opened it up and sure enough the shield wire was loose. I repaired it and put it back together and the coil didn't false from tapping it or squeezing it, but when I did the light shake test, there was still falsing! I even bought a newer white donut coil and it was the same, so maybe there's a loose wire or something in the control box. Can someone with a Bandido please try this and let me know? I tried the Vaquero when I got it and it's stable as a rock I can shake it quite aggressively on 3/4 sensitivity and there is no falsing at all.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

Cheers,

Nenad

 

[Kapok]

I will be following this topic quite closely as I have almost identical questions about the Outlaw (#1, 5, 7).

 

[BarberBill]

I've noticed my Vaq gains considerable depth when the sens is moved into the red "boost" area compared to my umax models. As to air shaking I've noticed some of that from time to tme on my detectors, when shaken somewhat vigoously, but it hasn't seemed to affect performance - may be due to flop in the line. Tesoro can change the tone to a higher tone if desired. When I had it done it cost $15. I've also noticed noise when moving the g balance knob on several machines, but again, no adverse effect that I've been able to determine. I've done some testing on the two coils you mention on the umax detectors and would give a slight depth edge to the round donut, but so little as to not be worth mentioning.
BB

 

[Walknstik]

I agree with what BarberBill stated above. I have heard some of my Tesoro's falsing when held horizontally in the air while walking probably due to high sensitivity setting and/or some type of interference. I have also experienced some noise at times when shifting the ground balance and discriminate control knobs but for the most part I think it is normal and nothing to worry about.

 

[nenadgbeepin]

Thanks for the reply guys. Anyone else noticed a lot of noise when turning the GB knob? As I say my Bandido doesn't do it, so not sure if the Vaq needs a tune up or not.

Cheers

 

[hatpin]

Thanks for the reply guys. Anyone else noticed a lot of noise when turning the GB knob? As I say my Bandido doesn't do it, so not sure if the Vaq needs a tune up or not.

Cheers

Mine screams when the knob is barely moved . I think they all do that because there have been numerous people on this forum who are new to it reporting the same thing .

 

[Kapok]

[Mine screams when the knob is barely moved . I think they all do that because there have been numerous people on this forum who are new to it reporting the same thing .

On my Outlaw, if I move the GB knob clockwise (positive), the audio blasts my ears off. So I usually try to GB my unit with no headphones on.

 

[Monte]

as well as other Tesoro's. You can sometimes get a beep when adjusting the GB control, less noticeable with the Bandido II µMAX if you are in the fast Auto-retune setting. You can also get some 'noise' or 'beep' when adjusting other knobs on different models, such as with my Silver Sabre µMAX I demonstrated yesterday. It can happen turning a GB control, turning a Discriminate control, and might occur with some other adjustments, but... It isn't anything to be concerned about as the units will quickly self-tune that out and you're back in operation almost instantly.