I own a Tesoro Outlaw (my first Tesoro). If I put the 5.75" coil on that came with it, will it perform just like a Compadre as far as being able to detect small gold? Has anybody made this comparison with these detectors side by side? Is there an advantage to the Compadre over the Outlaw for certain situations? Ground balancing an Outlaw is easy, so don't count that against it. I have considered buying a Compadre just to see if it performs as well as everyone says but don't want to spend the money if I essentially have one already in the Outlaw with the small coil. Thoughts?
This has been asked many times in the past, mostly using the Cibola and the Vaquero with the sniper coil on board as subjects, a couple times the Outlaw.
In my opinion, formed with testing experience when using the Vaquero to compare, the short answer is no, the Outlaw will probably not pick up gold in sizes down to the smallest that the Compadre can, the second part to that answer is I wouldn't worry about it.
The size of a gold target I am talking about would be so small and so rare to come across that it would be a non issue.
I don't know for sure but I assume the Outlaw would pick up a tiny gold stud like the back of a pierced earring, probably as small a target as you are likely to come across and it could probably do this in all metal and maybe even in disc with minimum discrimination, but you will have to test that to be sure with yours.
There might be a gold chain out there that is so thin and so small that has such a tiny clasp that the Outlaw won't see it using any coil, I used something like that in testing my Vaq and my Compadre, but again a very rare target to even encounter in this world so a non issue.
The size of objects the Compadre can see and beep over can be considerably smaller than that stud although gold targets in this ultra small class the Compadre won't detect them super deep... but it will see them at shallow depths.
Some people have trouble understanding or believing just how super sensitive the Compadre actually is.
My Compadre beeped loud and clear over a lone bead off a chain the size that comes on a common nail clipper.
One bead.
Couldn't hardly believe that when it happened, even my Propointer wouldn't go off on this thing while I held it in my hand unless it was physically touching it.
Sllingshot has stated several times that his Compadre once found him the ball that is in the very bottom of the assembly off a common ball point pen.
Not the whole assembly...just the ball.
How he could even see something this small in his hand using his old-fart eyes is a wonder in itself let alone the fact that any detector on the market can find something this tiny.
Maybe one of the $5000 Minelabs can find the tiniest bits of gold that most of our regular detectors can't, but they are set up to do that and look at the price.
The reason why the Compadre can do this and most of the other Tesoros or any other brands or models usually can't is while many of the Tesoros are similar they are not built the same, the Compadre is unique.
It is a true 180 ED unit, Expanded Discrimination, that means it accepts ALL metal from the iron range on up in disc, my Vaquero is supposed to be 180 ED also but in real life it won't get some of the really small iron at the end of this range unless in all metal...the Vaq is more like 160-170 ED.
I believe your Outlaw is 120 ED.
You have to look at the Tejon for another Tesoro that in the real world is a true 180 ED unit in the current Tesoro line up.
The Compadre also has different electronics than the other Tesoro models, it does not have the high gain-low noise programming that most modern detectors have gone to in order to reach the greatest depths possible.
Add it all up and use one in the field to see some of the jaw dropping things it can actually do and find you will understand why some of the people that work at Tesoro have stated that they now realize and admitted that by accident they made the Amigo, and its modern counterpart the Compadre, too good, it actually does cut into sales of some of the higher priced units which in sales is something that most companies would rather not have as a choice of product in their lower lines.
To answer your second question about any certain situations that would be advantageous to use the Compadre over the Outlaw I can say there is at least one, and the biggest reason I suggest that everybody, and I mean everyone, should consider having a Compadre in the arsenal no matter what they swing or how many detectors and coils they own even if they only pull it out when this one situation presents itself.
That situation would be something I call doing the double beep on targets near, next to or even as close as leaning on other large metal objects like fence poles, bench legs and big iron legs holding up most tot lot equipment.
If you swing at just the right speed the Compadre will always double beep when swinging next to these big iron objects...one beep on the large metal the other beep on the target no matter how small that target happens to be.
It will actually triple beep if the target is shallow..one for the large object and 2 as each end of the coil passes over it.
All the Compadres will do this, the smallest coil, my 7" coil model and the newest 8" coil model too.
My Vaq can't do it at all and I can tell you I have tried.
Even using the sniper coil and experimenting with every setting I could think of the Vaq can't do this at all in all metal or disc.
The Compadre can do this task as easily as it can find a shallow coin in the open and I know of no other detector on the market that has this ability.
The tot lots I hunted when I lived back in Bama were full and productive.
I moved to Kansas and more than 90% of the tot lots I have hunted here are not the same, they are suspiciously and unusually clean...there should be way more targets to find than I do in most of these so I know someone, maybe many other hunters, target these things and clean them out.
However, in every one of these way to clean areas I still mange to find targets, in a few a whole lot of targets, right next to the big metal legs that evidently these other guys can't come near or find anything close to using whatever detectors they own.
My Compadre is set up really hot, the sense is turned up to the max internally and I can't come any closer than a foot to any big metal before it beeps, but it always double beeps on a second target if I do the swing correctly even if I swing that coil 1/8 of an inch away from the big metal.
I found a Looney in the chips at 4" deep and about 1" away from a huge metal leg in one tot lot this way, many other coins and kids junk jewelry right next to big metal too, and many other targets in other sites and also around fence poles, a few metal bench legs, also.
One day I hope to find something great like a nice gold mommy ring or other adult jewelry next to some big piece of metal that all other detectors wouldn't have a hint of a clue was even laying there.
That would pay for the entire price of the Compadre, and in the 3 years I have had mine, bought used from Skiwhiz who added a little of his magic to it before he sent it, mine has paid for itself 10 times over in the clad, silver and gold it has sniffed out for me.
Not to mention how fun it is to swing.
I love hunting with my Vaq and find a ton of great things, but using the Compadre is actually a bit different because I might be wrong but it feels to me that as sharp as the disc is on my Vaq, the Compadre disc is actually a few degrees sharper.
I use the disc ability on my Tesoros and the technique of manipulating that disc knob to give me valid and accurate information in determining the difference between trash and treasure in the field and help me make decisions on what to dig or leave in the ground on every target I come across.
I have never set any Tesoro at a certain level and dig everything that beeps above it, I have always tried to figure out each and every target before I dig and I have done it this way since I started and I have gotten fast and efficient and pretty darn accurate in my guesses.
If this is what I do and the way I do it, using the sharpest and most accurate disc with the the best surgical precision possible makes sense, and the Compadre fits into this category exactly.
There is a huge following for the Compadre, we got a church because of the religiously fanatical way most that own these think of them...there is a reason.
Some newbies get into the hobby and this is the one they start with and even if they upgrade they usually keep it for the arsenal.
Read the Church of the Compadre thread and notice how many more own these but also own a slew of others, too.
You don't go golfing with just one or two clubs in your bag, most pro baseball players don't use just one bat, pro bowlers own way more than one ball to use because lane conditions can change, and many of us in this hobby own more than one coil for our main detector, but some also use other detectors for many reasons from time to time and the very smartest ones have a Compadre always within grasp if and when it is ever needed to perform its magic.
Then I got the thing and set it to where it would just reject the iron flakes in a playground I'd searched for 30 years and underneath a set of swings EVERYONE had searched I got the soft, tell-tale round signal-4 times in 4 different places and came up with 4 nickels at 3" deep in some nasty iron ore soil. I was hooked for good when the gold started coming-especially the 14k necklace that NO other detector picked up irregardless of the size of coil. I mean it was unbelievably thin.
