Vaquero help please

[fledge]

Just ended my 5th hunt with Vaquero. I am fresh in the car so frustration may come through my Compadre hooked me back into detecting daily. I bought a Vaquero due to my love of the Compadre. I am having a very hard time enjoying this. I have read the manuals watched videos even air tested and I cannot get this thing to perform in the field. I get constant false signals or sometimes get a good signal dig a nail when it is discriminated out and when I air test it no freakin signal!! I swear this thing passes right over coins I am loosing faith any one have any advice?

[Poindexter]

One thing is vertical nails in the ground will sound off pretty good. Also rusty nails that had galvanizing on them at one time. As it decays it disseminates in the soil making it behave like a good target.

That said, the Vaquero is one of the most stable detectors I've used. It could be the area you are using it in has high EMI, buried power line, or you have a loose coil connector. Lastly it just might be defective. If it performs in air, it should do well in the earth.

[Dorado]

on those tricky places try reducing gain, and don't run the threshold all the way up as most people recommend, a smaller coil could be very handy too

good luck!

[fledge]

Thx guys I will try that I am running the gain at 10 almost every hunt.

[fledge]

Had a much better night. I dug nothing but trash but had no false tones and machine was clean and steady. Hit a 7 cent spill and a pull tab at 11" I have no doubt if the deep coins were there I would of got them:-)

[Dorado]

Originally Posted by fledge

Had a much better night. I dug nothing but trash but had no false tones and machine was clean and steady. Hit a 7 cent spill and a pull tab at 11" I have no doubt if the deep coins were there I would of got them:-)

nice job! the Vaquero is a good detector, but you have to learn his language, a nice set of headphone will help you a lot improving performance

[Dsm_mechva]

Don't give up on the vaquero. It's a great MD. Like the rest said just keep with it and learn its nuances.

[SkiWhiz]

Make sure to adjust the ground balance properly (very important). If you are getting lots of false signals you could have the g.b. set too negative. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L10NQ...e=results_main

[Quarter Digger]

I had a Vaquero for several years. They are very sensitive and deep machines. Mine hit on everything. I spent many a Saturday digging pull tabs, bottle caps, nails, foil, zinc pennies. I was always afraid that I would miss the good stuff if I turned the discrimination up too far. In my first 5 years of doing this hobby off an on I had maybe four or five bucks in clad, a wheat penny and a gold stud ear ring. I tried the trick of finding signals and then turning up the discrimination to see where the signal goes out to guess what the target is.
fun fun.
I recently switched to a VX3. I don't dig trash unless I want to now. I know exactly when I have a quarter under my coil every time. I am 90% sure on dimes and copper pennies. 100% sure if I have a dime or penny just not sure which one. 95% sure about zinc pennies and don't dig them any more. Nickels are still a little bit challenging because they can look an awful lot like a pull tab. I don't dig rusty junk anymore, none. I really enjoyed the Vaquero and even the compadre. But I would not give up my VDI display for anything now. By not digging junk, I move on to the next signal and get a lot more of what I am looking for. Last week I had about 50 quarters, 60 dimes and 25 copper pennies. The only zincs I got were out of boredom or seeing them on the surface. I still have the Tiger shark for the water, but I end up wishing it had the features of my land machine. I get really tired of digging beer tops because it wont discriminate those out. I guess the point is, if you are having a lot of trouble with the Vaquero, don't feel bad I did too. By switching to a VDI machine I have so much more fun in this hobby and am finding much more than I ever did before. good luck.

[Curbdog]

Originally Posted by Quarter Digger

I had a Vaquero for several years. They are very sensitive and deep machines. Mine hit on everything. I spent many a Saturday digging pull tabs, bottle caps, nails, foil, zinc pennies. I was always afraid that I would miss the good stuff if I turned the discrimination up too far. In my first 5 years of doing this hobby off an on I had maybe four or five bucks in clad, a wheat penny and a gold stud ear ring. I tried the trick of finding signals and then turning up the discrimination to see where the signal goes out to guess what the target is.
fun fun.
I recently switched to a VX3. I don't dig trash unless I want to now. I know exactly when I have a quarter under my coil every time. I am 90% sure on dimes and copper pennies. 100% sure if I have a dime or penny just not sure which one. 95% sure about zinc pennies and don't dig them any more. Nickels are still a little bit challenging because they can look an awful lot like a pull tab. I don't dig rusty junk anymore, none. I really enjoyed the Vaquero and even the compadre. But I would not give up my VDI display for anything now. By not digging junk, I move on to the next signal and get a lot more of what I am looking for. Last week I had about 50 quarters, 60 dimes and 25 copper pennies. The only zincs I got were out of boredom or seeing them on the surface. I still have the Tiger shark for the water, but I end up wishing it had the features of my land machine. I get really tired of digging beer tops because it wont discriminate those out. I guess the point is, if you are having a lot of trouble with the Vaquero, don't feel bad I did too. By switching to a VDI machine I have so much more fun in this hobby and am finding much more than I ever did before. good luck.

I hunt with a friend who has and knows his E-trac. I use a Bandido II uMax. Those VDI machines are not the definitive end to digging trash. I have dug coins that when my friend scans with his machine, has stated that he would've passed over that signal. Too much faith in a VDI can cause you to skip some really good finds.

[DirtAngler]

Yep, gold can come in as foil, class rings as zinc pennies, etc, etc., sure you can eliminate junk but you can be missing some good targets. Check your IH penny reading, then check it again by putting a nail in close proximity as an example.