Yeah, there's something to learning how to do things the "old school" way. It helps you appreciate the newer technology and does make you a better master within that trade. For $160 if it does 1/4th of what users claim, it's worth a shot. You guys haven't steered me wrong yet. Lifetime warranty so kid can beat the hell out of it, and daddy can get some enjoyment for years to come. I like changing things up anyways, to keep the hobby interesting, so why not...I'm in!
Let me look around and see what I can find...
Do you recommend just the standard Compadre, or would you advise a different model?
They all work more than well and similar in most circumstances.
My older version 7" coil model is my baby, after spending hundreds of hours with it I would choose that one over any others because I just know it well.
It has been said that some of the earliest models, the ones made shortly after they evolved from the Amiga series might just be the hottest and sparkiest of the bunch but they are all so close that unless you spend a lot of time with all of them it will be hard to tell a difference.
My unit seems to work remarkably well in clean sites, iron infested sites, mineralized soil and in heavy trash filled sites I have never used the small coil model but I find it hard to believe that one would be any better at target separation than what I experience.
It seems to me my 7" coil does not pick up targets right at the edge of the coil...it is like the wires in that coil are situated about 3/4's of an inch in from the edges so if that is true when they switched to that 5.75" smaller coil there wasn't much of a change at all except that Tesoro was able to save a few bucks by using a little less material in the coil manufacturing process.
I tried an 8" coil model for a few weeks and it was just as much fun, just as productive as mine but there were a couple of differences.
That one was slightly deeper, I could get to the 6-7" depth area with mine easily but the 8" coil might beat that by an inch or two.
Hunting in heavy trash that larger coil did not seem to be at any disadvantage at all, while adding that extra dimension of a little more depth.
The one thing I was not thrilled about was the 8" coil seemed to be slightly different in its discrimination abilities which I assume is an effect of using that donut coil.
Not a deal breaker at all, unless you had hundreds of hours using mine and then switched over you might not even be able to tell a difference if there even is one and it is not in my head.
On zincolns I came across on mine the way they behave as they disc out, or come in in my case as I thumb down, I feel the disc is Hattori Hanzo sword sharp, they act in a uniform matter and the same on all that are in good shape and not eaten up and disc out at that 3:00 area 99.9% of the time.
This is my calibration point, zincolns and not nickels because there are so many more of them out there and nickels are just naturally weird in their behavior IMO.
On the donut coil these same type of targets were still sharp but just a hair more sloppy, some came in slightly above and below that dead on 3:00 area I got used to on mine.
Again, not a huge deal and on the bigger coil the tones and behavior is so close to mine on all other targets I came across and dug it is not worth worrying about at all.
I am just a creature of habit and got used to a certain way of experiencing things after acquiring, examining and digging thousands of similar targets.
The good thing is the best and most important superpower is inherent in every one of them no matter what coil model.
They all will double or triple beep on any and all targets that are near to or even leaning on big iron like tot lot equipment, fence poles or bench legs.
There is absolutely no difference between the two models I tried this on in the slightest.
There is no other detector or coil combination or settings I have ever used that even came close to the effortless way this one can find targets in this situation...and I have tried many.
This ability above all is to me the prime reason everyone should have a Compadre in their arsenal in addition to all the others.
If you hunt mostly wide open areas and want to cover the most ground efficiently the bigger coil makes more sense.
If you live in a state with good soil and tend to have older and a bit deeper targets the big coil I have read has gotten down to the 8" area and sometimes even a bit deeper.
For hunting in predominantly iron or trash infested sites the small coil will be the most logical choice.
For 50-50 hunting in both types will work fine but using small coils trying to cover larger areas might tend to be a bit frustrating for some although I use sniper coils a lot and it never bothers me because I just got used to it.
That is why I love my 7" model...it seems to be the best of all worlds.
Fantastic as a sniper and in my head very comfortable using it to cover larger more wide open areas also.
There is no wrong model, really, most enjoy all different configurations no matter which ones they use.
, but I'm not joking.
