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Has anyone used a vaquero for nugget hunting? If so, how does it do?

I'm helping an Arizona Archaeologist search for artifacts. The favorite detector used is the Tesoro Lobo Super-trac since it is simply a turn-on and go detector. Nearly any volunteer on the project can grab the Super-trac and be productive. I am refurbishing some of the failed detectors. Does anyone have an alignment procedure for the Super-trac? I notice about 6 potentiometers (variable resistors) on the PC board and I'm wondering if alignment checks might be useful. Thanks for any help. Ed, Tucson, Az.

If the cover is missing or the plugs which fasten it are missing or broken, you can make a simple panel with appropriate holes to line ump with the holes on the case. Then you can get some of these - Amazon has them. I also have them because I needed two of them and they come in a bag of 20!

Just curious what anyone thinks was the best of the Tesoro Umax detectors? I had a Cutlass II Umax years ago and it was really fun to hunt with when I just wanted to beep and dig. Bill

I leave some pics of my tesoro outlaw 😆 , i´m waiting for some DD coils i order from Belgium, they are very hard to find for this model in europe, needs to have a 5 pin plug. I´m wainting too for Compadre to try out, orderer from the Netherlands. Thanks to ebay 🤣 Tesoro´s in europe are very rare. Some pics of my companion.

Any way to download one. Thanks

Has anyone tried the little 4” concentric on a mojave or silver umax or actually any other model? These are still available and I was wondering if anyone’s tried it and what specific applications they used it for. I was thinking it may have a place for densely polluted areas where a good find wouldn’t be very deep.

I have a mojave and have always been interested in the silver sabre micromax. There’s a silver sabre with the brown 8” donut coil for sale on the friendly forum and was wondering if it has any advantages over the mojave. I’ve read about how good the SS umax is and it intrigues me enough to consider buying one. However, if it’s similar in performance to the mojave, I can’t see any justification in buying one.

Are they concentric or Double D? One for sale sort of close by and has a NEL hunter coil too. It's the purple one and has Garrett head phones. Never ventured to the Delta side of Tesoro. Golden µmax and compadre in the past.

Hello everyone, I’m a new member and I’m looking for a battery door for a tesoro lobo supertrack. Any help would be much appreciated! Thank You.

I started out today Detecting by myself on a rather large property. After about 1 hour I decided to call it quit's. A little discouraged, I figured I needed a partner who could help me out with this daunting piece of property. So I decided to try and find someone to give me a hand. I was looking for someone who had a fair amount of detecting experience and was proficient with the 800 and a Tesoro machine. I called everyone I could think of and they all were busy. So back to the house I went, As I pulled into the driveway I noticed a fellow detecting my yard !!!! What the hell, I ran over and confronted him. He reached out to shake my hand but something was wrong. Something was off. After a few minutes of banter I realized maybe this fellow could help me with the big property and maybe I should ask him to help me. After all I was desperate for help. He told me he has been detecting for many many years and was very good at detecting. He has a Tesoro umax and runs a Equinox 800. So what the hell I asked him to help out, He agreed but on one condition. He would help BUT he could only help till October 31st and then he had to leave. We shook hands (kinda) and off we went. HAPPY PRE HALLOWEEN ALL !!!!!!!!

Usually after a vacation I schedule one day after my return home to ready myself for the return to work. After hunting with Bob at Virginia Beach I really wanted to go to a park I have murdered the silver at, But the lawn needed mowing. I told my wife my plans and she said why don't you go detecting for a bit the lawn can wait ( damn I married a good women). I have hit this place hard for two years, me and my buddy have pulled over 100+ silver coins not including rings and charms out of the ground. I packed up the Tesoro silver u-max and the 800 and off I went. I always use the Tesoro for clean up so figuring finds were getting harder to find I started with it first. Quarters and dimes were on the found list, but nothing tone wise that peaked my hearing. I decided to check a place close to the parking lot and my truck. After a 100 yards I got a tone that was a touch different. I would have dug it straight up but there was a strange guy walking back and forth. Not sure what he was up to, so I walked a few hundred yards away. At this point the big coil was killing me and I decided head to the truck and swap to the 800. I fired up the 800 and went to my park 1 5khz program. I did pretty well on some pocket change and decided to roll back to the spot where the Tesoro tagged a good tone. The 800 said 28-29 with a nice tone, I was sure it was silver, but I've been fooled before. Well after digging I pulled a silver ring, not a fancy one but I'll take it. I decided to take a run at the other side of the park but was thwarted by blood thirsty mosquitoes and I forgot the Permethrin. After 10 minutes and a 100 bites later I was gone. I figure I can always make another trip. Overall I had a nice 4 hour hunt.

I stopped using alkaline batters few years ago and use lithium 9v on my pinpointers and Cibola. For some reason the 9v batteries are a little too tight inside for the Cibola box and covers won't seem to close. I extended the box area just a bit and improved the upper tabs so they close better. Step file and print ready stl in zip. Any tweaks needed just give me a hollar. Cibola-Vaq fat bat box cover.zip

Good friend Joe D tossed me a 8x9 coil for one my Tesoro's. Coil was never used but was missing a cover. I had made a cover previously but for some reason it didn't fit that well and was too tight. After measuring again I noticed there was a variation on the other coil. I believe the older coils may be a little different so I redid the cover for those that are looking to replace ones they have or have none. Models should be printed on an FDM. I used ABS and works fine. Zip contains a step file for those that want to fiddle with it and an stl that is ready to be sliced. New Tesoro 8x9 coil cover.zip

Hi everyone, I wanted some info on a classic tesoro detector, the lobo supertraq; to begin I would like to understand from which series the tesoro has made the last modifications, I ask this because I believe that already the version with rod and gray box and 10x5 inch coil should have the latest electronic modifications; I saw that in 2018 a series called HT was released which has a 12x10 inch coil and the electronic box placed behind it; having found a version with a small 10x5 plate I wanted to know if it already has the latest changes, because the ht version is not found; another question, on the online manual I read that the automatic balance (I read around that it works very well) performs it only on all metal, so when it goes into discriminate it stays on the last point recorded in all metal, or it only refers to the fixed balance of the three-position diverter of the ground ??? last thing how is this detector on saline beach, even near the water, and in areas with dark volcanic sand? Thank you Hello

Hello everyone, I'm a user of The Legend and Xp Orx. I want to do a manual and sound-only search and have some nostalgia, but I want a device that is resistant to minerals and has good discrimination, do you think it can be tejon or vanquero?

Since Tesoro has been out of business for quite a while is it possible to acquire the pot settings on the Micro Max? Or for that fact any board information on some of the detectors.

Just curious if anyone has/still uses a Pantera? I know very little about the detector except that it had exceptional notch discrimination in its day. Bill

I have had my Golden uMax for years and only used it lightly as I have other detectors as well. Anyway I have recently been able to get back to detecting due to some improvements in my health. I finally have had time to appreciate the notch settings on this machine. Nickels no longer hide from me. It is just like a new machine and I have noticed that you can't hardly even find used ones for sale. I think I will be hanging on to this detector for sure!

With all of the new machines out or coming out, I was just wondering how many of us Tesoro fans still use them on a regular basis? Also if all these new machines are so much better, Why so few Tesoro's for sale? I own a NOX 800 and NM multi kruzer and like them both, But seem to find myself drifting back to the low Khz Tesoro's. I'm a coin guy and love silver and copper coins. Gold to me is a welcome surprise but it's not what makes me smile. Running my Umax over the 800 as of lately really seems magical. I feel like I'm much more in tune with the tones vs blended audio of the 800. I'm also a big fan of concentric coils, they just perform so much better in dense trash. I know everyone chases depth, but I do not. Most of my coins rarely go beyond 7'' with the exception of big silver (oddly) Ha Ha. Beginner detectorist's IMHO rely to much on their screens and discard the fundamentals of detecting for a machine that they trust without knowing what that means. Something awesome about a 1 tone machine with a hundred nuances.

My last coin and silver of 2021 was a barber half. Since that day I have not been out, Here in PA we had some really cold days and some snow. I thought my next hunt would be in April. Well today we had a high of 47 and the ground crust thawed enough to try a hunt. I kept having the feeling that I left something behind last time out, So back to the park I went were the barber came from. The first coin out of the ground was a clad dime followed by 2 quarters. My next great tone was by an OLD oak tree a mere 10 feet from where the barber was found. Roots galore but still no coin at 7 inches, having a feeling it was something good I slowly excavated another 2 and out jumped another 1/2, This time a really nice 1945 Walker. I ended 2021 with a total of 47 silver coins 5 of which were 1/2's, So starting out 2022 with a 1/2 might/ (hope) be a good omen.

Christmas day I was climbing the walls to do a little detecting, so with little time to hunt before dinner I decided to hit my neighbors 18th century house. After two wheaties and some modern clad I got my first good target. It was an odd piece of copper/bronze doo dad. Looks familiar but I just can't put my finger on it. My last good Target was what I thought to be a key of some sort, Well not so much. After I got home I cleaned the (key) off and found it to be an odd medallion. A date of 1876 and a liberty bell and some people shaking hands emerged. After a little Google research I found it to be a 1876 Philadelphia Exposition medallion. It was the first worlds fair. It was called the International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and products of the soil and mines. Kinda cool since I found it in the soil Ha Ha. 10 million people attended from 37 countries and was held in Fairmount Park. I believe only 2 buildings that were constructed are still standing today. It's a nice find for me, but I sure wish it had the rest of the pieces. It's funny how the detecting gods throw a little important history at you from time to time.

I've been playing catch up with detecting ever since the rotten lyme got me. So I've been running hard and hitting some new spots and a fair amount of my old ones. The weather a day before new years decided to rain like cats and dogs. I was feeling like I was going to miss out on some silver if I didn't get out soon. ( I always feel like some of my good spots are going to turn into a housing development or soccer field). I guess my wife could feel my anxiety and said why don't you go out for a little bit. She said go enjoy your time off and gave me a smooch and wished me good luck. Well I headed out to the Park of plenty with an hour to play with, and a plan to focus on a small spot that has produced coins from the 40's/50's and some from the early 1900's. Tesoro silver U-max in hand with the new 10x12 concentric, I raced to the park. I started finding some wheaties right off the bat, mostly from the 40's. Time was closing in and I decided to hunt a break area where I have found some older silvers. I ran my disc 1/2 way between zinc and max to try and punch out some of the coppers. Nothing good was showing up and I only had a few short minutes before I had to go home. Walking back to the truck I saw piece of asphalt in the ground and gave a swing by it, Boom I got a loud signal and thought at first it was a smooshed can. I then realized my switch was on all metal (oops) back to disc. I still got a big sound and started to dig. At 9'' I was doubting anything good but being my last target to dig for the day I said lets see what it is. I gave a good push on (kac's) digger and pushed hard and out popped what I thought was an aluminum token until I saw the stars. At 11'' the 1902 Barber 1/2 dollar showed it's wonderful design. This is the second of 2021 and a perfect ending to a crazy year. This is the best 49 minute hunt I ever had.

I have a modified Monte's Nail Board that I used recently to compare the Equinox 600 to the Fisher F2, Garrett AT Max and Vanquish 340. You can see my post discussing my results here. I recently acquired a Tesoro Cibola and Tesoro Vaquero. Both are in great shape and both have the stock 8x9 "monolithic" coils (are these concentric?). I tested both on the same Modified Monte's Nail Board using the same parameters as my previous test. Just as a refresher: Coin Position 1 (Up) = the dime is in the middle coin position, but the dime is on the same plane as the nails. Coin Position 1 (Down) = the dime is in the middle coin position, but the dime is below the plane (about 2.5 inches) the nails are on. Coin Position 2 (Up) = the dime is in the side coin position, but the dime is on the same the plane nails are on. Coin Position 2 (Down) = the dime is in the side coin position, but the dime is below the plane (about 2.5 inches) the nails are on. 4 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would definitely result in me digging the target. 3 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would likely result in me digging the target. 2 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would likely result in me NOT digging the target. 1 = The metal detector gave a tone and/or VDI response that would definitely result in me NOT digging the target. Here are the Equinox 600's results and settings: The Equinox 600 was set up in Park 1 where everything was stock, except I adjusted F2 = 0. Sensitivity was at 10 (out of 25). The Equinox 600 was using the stock (11") coil. Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 3 Sweep 4: 4 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 2 Sweep 3: 2 Sweep 4: 2 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 1 Here are the Vaquero's results and settings: Discrimination nob was set to Iron, sensitivity was set to 4 and I was using the stock 8x9 coil. Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 4 Sweep 3: 4 Sweep 4: 4 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 3 Sweep 3: 4 Sweep 4: 3 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 2 Sweep 3: 4 Sweep 4: 4 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 2 Sweep 2: 3 Sweep 3: 4 Sweep 4: 3 Here are the Cibola's results and settings: Discrimination nob was set to Iron, sensitivity was set to 4 and I was using the stock 8x9 coil. Coin Position 1 (Up): Sweep 1: 4 Sweep 2: 4 Sweep 3: 4 Sweep 4: 4 Coin Position 1 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 2 Coin Position 2 (Up): Sweep 1: 3 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 3 Coin Position 2 (Down): Sweep 1: 1 Sweep 2: 1 Sweep 3: 1 Sweep 4: 2 Pretty impressive, eh? Yet the Equinox 600 had clearly superior recovery speed. But what I found interesting was that when I compared the Equinox 600 and Cibola, they were similar in regards to target masking. Here's my rough test: The Equinox 600 was set up in Park 2, F2=0, sensitivty was 10 and I notched out everything below 17 (everything else was stock). I placed a Zincoln between two modern aluminum can pulltabs. I placed the Zincoln between the 2 pulltabs in a straight line with equal distance b/w the pulltabs and coin. I then swung my Equinox coil over the line and saw if it detected the coin and discriminated out the pulltabs. I then moved both pulltabs in closer to the Zincoln while keeping all 3 pieces of metal in a straight line. There was a point where, during the swing, the Equinox failed to beep on the coin. I'd estimate this was when the pulltabs were about 5 inches (maybe?) on each side of the coin. However. if I honed in the on coin and did those mini "wiggle" swings, the coil could detect the coin (so the separation was there with the coil, but the recovery speed wasn't, apparently). Anyways, I did the same test with the Cibola and sets the discrimination so that the coin could be clearly detected and the pulltabs not detected (discriminated out). When I did the same above test with the Cibola, it performed virtually the same as the Equinox 600, ie the pulltabs masked out the coin at almost the exact same point and the coil could still be "wiggled" over the coin only and still detect it, but not during a "full" swing. I still need to test the Tesoros more, and I'll be selling at least one of them (if not both). But I wanted to hear your thoughts as to what I could do differently to get better results with either the Vaquero, Cibola or Equinox 600. Don't my results with Monte's Modified Nail Board seem a little...too good to be true for the Tesoros? What am I missing? Is it b/c I'm using a "monolithic" stock coil (is this a concentric coil?) and the coil is averaging the nail and coin values, which still come up above iron? I think I answered this question; see below/updated post. And same for the target masking when comparing the Cibola to the Equinox 600 using the Zincoln and pulltabs. I'm not surprised by the Cibola's results, but the Equinox 600? What could I adjust on the Equinox 600 to reduce this target masking (besides getting a smaller coil)?

Through most of 2020 I detected a large park which had been previously detected but still produced decent old coins for me. In one post I told of a well used path to a small waterfall which confused and frustrated me. The path (approx 150-200 m long) is right next to a creek ('stream' for you New Englanders 😉) and it was likely used for watering cattle in the late 19th and early 20th Century. The path was hard packed gravel and crushed stone, occasionl larger pieces of limestone, with soil filled in between all that aggregate. This path gave thick iron response to the Minelab Equinox and produced almost no coins. (I do remember one Zincoln -- I would.) Back then I tried both the 11" stock DD coil and the 6" DD with similar results. With both coils I recovered shallow (meaning mostly within the first 1" depth) lead bullets as well as brass casings. Most were 22 cal. but a few were larger and those in particular I was able to date at over 100 years old. My conclusion is that this path was used by hunters prior to it becoming part of the park. So in summary, lots of small iron (nails and wire), as many bullets and casings as I cared to recover, but no coins. And the recovered targets were mostly located in the top 1 inch. Some time after my report, kac suggested returning with the Tesoro Vaquero and 8"x9" stock concentric (the only concentric I have for it presently). He and dogodog recommended setting the threshold to where Zincolns just break up. I found out from the park caretaker that the path is scheduled to be covered over completely with a boardwalk so if I was ever going to return, I better make it quick. A week ago I took his advice as well as kac's and doggo's. But in two hours of hunting with the Vaquero I recovered almost nothing. One lead bullet somehow snuck past the threshold and I think I got an aluminum can base, but specifically no coins and practically no trash either. I had been committed to using concentric coils only and took my Fisher F75 with its tiny 3"x6" concentric as a backup. Returning the the vehicle I swapped out the detectors and returned for 2 more hours. I only use silencing discrimination (and silencing masking) when I have no choice so I set the F75 up in Default process, 4H (4 tones with nickel zone joining the high conductor coins in the highest tone). Low tone is 0-15 which is nominally the entire iron range. With this detector I decided to dig anything 'interesting', at least at the start. As was the case in 2020 I immeditately started recovering lead bullets and brass casings, all very shallow as before. Two more hours and still no coins. I gave up. At the far end of this wooded path there is construction of a new paved path in the open area of the park. (I've bitched many times before that I hate these backfilling-party upgrades!) For the last hour of this session I decided to search near that path, also at or close to where I had hunted previously. All the coins found that day (just two clad dimes and two copper Memorials) were found in that last hour with the F75 and its tiny coil. Here are the coins I found that day and the next day (described below): The next morning I returned to search several dirt piles -- the dirt having been removed ("scraped off") so they could backfill the walkway with crushed stone before paving with asphalt. That 2.5 hour hunt was exclusively with the ML Equinox 800 and 11" coil with my standard park/school coin hunting settings. The dirt piles produced only a clad dime -- what a disappointment. For the last hour I just searched part of the park I had hunted previously. One wheat penny was in the ground up trunk of a recently cut down tree (not surprisingly with damage from the blades of that tool). The other Wheatie was in along a path I'm pretty sure I had detected previously, but was less than 2" deep and thus sounded like a shallow Zincoln. (Lesson to self: Be careful what you mentally reject digging....) Oh, what's that other thing? Near the end of the first day in a dirt pile I got a signal in the nickel zone of the F75 (25-35 on the 0-99 scale) and thought maybe it was in fact a nickel. Imagine my disappointment when it turned out to be a 10kt gold child's ring weighing 0.43 g. (still about $10 in gold content at today's price). That's my first gold jewelry find since December of 2018. Ignoring the foil and pulltab ranges has its advantages... and its downsides. Finally, the non-valuable non-ferrous finds over these two days. The finds along the 'noisy' path to the waterfall (4 hours of the 7.5 hour total) are the lead bullets and brass casings, the aluminum bracket at far upper left corner, the chrome plated strap clamp (off womens clothing?), and the two items right above it -- one a small cap (but not bottle cap) and the other a small gear, possibly from a clock. To the right of those, also found along the wooded path, is heavy gauge copper wire wrapped around a fine gauge copper wire -- something electrical I guess. Everything else was from the rest of the (open) area I hunted over those two days. The tag with printing is religious and not old. Note the interesting toy cannon from a WWI(?) playset. I have no idea what those two embossed mating pieces (pot metal?) to the right of the toy gun are. That rectangle at the lower left is some kind of nametag, etc., not a buckle. Lower far right is a thick amber glass jar piece, probably part of a canning jar. Crown cap is pre-plastic liner era (I seldom find those as they rust away over 50+ years). Upper left is a decorative knob off of a piece of furniture. Finally the upper right -- what this was doing in a pile of scrape-off dirt at a park I have no idea. Here's a picture of a nearly identical piece I found googling: And some info on the company that made it: I'd much rather be showing you pictures of early coins, especially silver, and I'm sure you would, too, but the earlybird detectorists got those worms, leaving the decaying insects for me.