Tesoro Lobo Super-trac Alignment Procedure?

[Jeff McClendon]

18 hours ago, Az_Ed said:

Thank you for the comments.  The Minelab Vanquish 540 has been recommended and looks like a good fit to me.    The current cost is very reasonable (<$400 new) and it is simple.  It apparently has automatic ground balance and 4 modes.  It looks like one can turn-on, set to all metal mode, adjust the volume and sensitivity and go.  This might compare well to past Super-Traq usage.

Some things to think about with the Vanquish models and the 540: 

No, they do not have automatic ground balancing or user ground balancing. They have a preset ground balance range that can internally shift in the background just a bit since they are always running in multi frequency. They do not do very well on high iron mineralized ground. They do okay on salt and moderate iron mineralization.

The Vanquish models do not have particularly good target separation so if your hunt site has a lot of iron or modern trash these detectors are not very appropriate.

Only the 540 has a high/low iron bias switch and even that is not going to help much in thick iron trash. The 440 and 340 have the equivalent of the 540's high iron bias only.

All three models can only run in Multi frequency. There is no single frequency option for a high EMI area.

These detectors are battery hogs. You will need lots of spare throw away AAs or good quality rechargeables.

These models have outstanding depth and outstandingly accurate non-ferrous target IDs on stand alone targets.

They are not very sensitive to sub 0.5 gram targets.

The 540 has 5 tone operation. 5 tones might be a bit much for beginners. The 440 has 3 tone operation and is much easier for most newbies and infrequent users.

The X-Terra Pro unfortunately only operates in 4 different selectable single frequencies. Its 15 kHz frequency is very close to the Lobo's operating frequency. 

X-Terra Pro has excellent audio, number of tones, recovery speed, and ground balance options.

X-Terra Pro has internal rechargeable battery operation so no need for extra batteries.

X-Terra Pro is very good at target separation but not as good as the Vanquish models for target ID accuracy on deeper targets.

[Az_Ed]

Thanks Jeff, that is some good information.  Everything is dug using all metal mode so target ID and discrimination is irrelevant.  Very small target sensitivity is also not as important as depth for larger targets.  I'd guess some good rechargeable batteries would be sufficient.  Mineralization behavior would need to be tested in the field. 

[kac]

Many new machines and all SMF's don't have true all metal mode.