Questions for you guy's with a Mojave

Working in iron a number of things to consider, one of which is recovery speed.

I will say preliminary observations, Mojave is pretty darn quick with a very fast sweep lined up on 4 linear targets, giving four distinct audio hits. Price could be another consideration here as well.

I'll let some of the others chime in since you're asking comparisons here (more worms in the can).

Is the trash at your sight nails, pull tabs, bottlecaps? I think that might be a factor. I've read that the Mojave is excellent in iron, but I haven't heard much about how it works where the ground is thick with pulltabs. I suppose you could disc them out, but bye bye gold.

I would be interested in hearing some input about non-iron trash and how the Mojave works in that situation.

Dan

Dan B said:

Is the trash at your sight nails, pull tabs, bottlecaps? I think that might be a factor. I've read that the Mojave is excellent in iron, but I haven't heard much about how it works where the ground is thick with pulltabs. I suppose you could disc them out, but bye bye gold.

I would be interested in hearing some input about non-iron trash and how the Mojave works in that situation.

Dan

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Yes, the site does include non iron trash and has been in continious use since the late 1700's in a very historical area. So I am also curious about how it performs.

Garbagepicker said:

I have never used a Tesoro product but have heard a lot of Buzzing lately about the Mojave. I have searched the net and the forums for as much info as I can find.

Is the Mojave a single tone detector?

Am I correct that if I disc out iron anything above iron will give the same tone? I have a rather large area that I can detect that is very trashy and I have the rest of my life to do it.

Because I am use to multi tones on my AT Pro giving me an idea of what the target could be made of would I be better off getting a small coil for my AT Pro?

I currently hunt with the stock AT Pro coil at the moment and it does well in areas not so trashy but it doesn't seem to be doing so well in the high trash areas.

I'm not here to bash any other brand of detector and I'm sure the Mojave is a great detector at $250.00.

I'm just trying to educate myself and spend my money wisely.

Could the Mojave benefit me in anyway that the AT Pro won't do with a smaller coil or would the Mojave be taking a step backwards from using the AT Pro with a smaller coil?

My gut feeling says smaller coil on the AT Pro and stick with what you know and that the Mojave is maybe too basic of a detector for me but I just have to ask the people in the know.

Thanks in advance.

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I'll attempt to answer your question based off what I think you are asking.

Yes the Mojave is a single tone machine (beep/dig). Some say that you can distinguish nuances with more experience, but I cannot confirm or deny that (I just got one yesterday).

I think what you are asking is how do you interpret what is under your coil above what you have discriminated for. So with the ATP you have rolling tones and VDI to give you an idea. With the Mojave a technique (Tesoro experts correct me if I am wrong) would be to set the discrimination just above iron nails. Then when you get a hit (tone/beep) you can roll the discrimination knob up to where it disappears or almost disappears then observe where it is. So if it is in the 5 cent range then it could be 5 cents or any target that falls within that conductivity level (or above)...or if it's at the pull tab range it could be a pull tab or anything else that would fall within that same range (or above). So it's kind of like an analogue VDI using a knob to determine conductivity.

Tesoro guys correct me if I'm wrong.

jadocs said:

I'll attempt to answer your question based off what I think you are asking.

Yes the Mojave is a single tone machine (beep/dig). Some say that you can distinguish nuances with more experience, but I cannot confirm or deny that (I just got one yesterday).

I think what you are asking is how do you interpret what is under your coil above what you have discriminated for. So with the ATP you have rolling tones and VDI to give you an idea. With the Mojave a technique (Tesoro experts correct me if I am wrong) would be to set the discrimination just above iron nails. Then when you get a hit (tone/beep) you can roll the discrimination knob up to where it disappears or almost disappears then observe where it is. So if it is in the 5 cent range then it could be 5 cents or any target that falls within that conductivity level (or above)...or if it's at the pull tab range it could be a pull tab or anything else that would fall within that same range (or above). So it's kind of like an analogue VDI using a knob to determine conductivity.

Tesoro guys correct me if I'm wrong.

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OK, I think I get what your saying. You would have to move up the discrim higher and re scan the area for foil or aluminum and bring the discrim up again to isolate what the target could be in a process of elimination sort of way. Thanks for your input.

I have the small coil on my atpro its nice. If you slow the sweep speed in high trash you can find some goodies but that tesoro may find even more.

I wrote this for a Vaquero, but the discrimination settings would be the same for a Mojave. I don't move the discrimination knob unless the situation calls for it. If you're after gold rings and relics, it's best to set the discrimination low and start digging.

The best settings that I've found for my Vaquero.

Threshold - Use a very slight audible hum on the threshold. If it's set so low that you can't hear it you will lose depth and if it's set too high you will start losing the audio modulation which helps you determine the depth and size of a target. Once you find the sweet spot, mark that location on the discrimination dial with a 'tick' mark. If you change that setting your ears will be thrown off and will have to become familiar with the new setting. A good set of headphones is a absolute must! I use Killer B Wasp headphones with the 'limiter' switch in the on position.

Sensitivity - I set mine as high as I can without the detector becoming unstable in the discriminate mode. Most of the time it's set at full sensitivity and very seldom will I have to dial it back some. Even when I do, it's still in the red. The Vaquero detectors and Cibola that I use will lose noticeable depth as the sensitivity is decreased.

Ground Balance - It's very important to have a slight negative ground balance. Too negative and the detector becomes unstable and too positive and the detector will lose depth.

Discrimination - There are '5' very important points to know and mark on the discrimination dial.

The first point is where a common iron nail just barely discriminates out. I use that setting the most because it's the most effective at unmasking good targets at nail infested sites and will hit hard on very small gold jewelry.

The second point is where a Gatorade Sports Foil Cap just barely discriminates out. Any higher and you will start to lose very tiny baby size gold rings. I use that setting when I'm digging a lot of foil caps or lots of tiny pieces of foil. If you're after small gold rings, never ever go any higher than that point.

The third point is where a modern day pull tab (square tab) just barely discriminates out. That point is very useful at newer parks that are loaded with square tabs and there are no older style beaver tail pull tabs to contend with. At that setting you can still find gold rings, but not the smaller ones that are the most numerous and overlooked.

The forth point is where the older beaver tail style pull tab just barely discriminates out. This setting can be used at older parks that are loaded them. Even at this high of a discrimination setting you can still find the larger gold rings and find plenty of silver coins. You really should never go any higher on the discrimination than this. Just dig the zinc pennies and screw caps.

The fifth point is where a modern zinc penny just barely discriminates out. I very seldom if ever use a discrimination setting that high, because all hopes of even finding large gold class rings are gone. Now, if you're not into digging a lot or can't and still want to find silver coins and modern day coins this setting may suit you.

It's best to use as little discrimination are you can, because you will lose gold rings at higher discrimination settings and you will have less masking of good targets. You really should start off detecting using the lowest discrimination setting until you see what you're up against at a particular site. At the point where nails just barely discriminate out, dig 20 targets. If I only dig 2 beaver tails and 18 modern day pull tabs, I'm going to set the discrimination at modern day pull tabs and dig the occasional beaver tail because I want to stay as much as I can in the gold ring zone.

A discrimination setting depends on the site conditions and how much a person wants to dig and give up.

Tesoro has by far the best discriminators in the business. Use them wisely.

beephead

I don't much about detectors , but I would purchase a smaller coil for the AT Pro. You are use to the AT Pro .

Pastor said:

I don't much about detectors , but I would purchase a smaller coil for the AT Pro. You are use to the AT Pro .

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I second that.

Garbagepicker said:

I have never used a Tesoro product but have heard a lot of Buzzing lately about the Mojave. I have searched the net and the forums for as much info as I can find.
Is the Mojave a single tone detector?
Am I correct that if I disc out iron anything above iron will give the same tone? I have a rather large area that I can detect that is very trashy and I have the rest of my life to do it.
Because I am use to multi tones on my AT Pro giving me an idea of what the target could be made of would I be better off getting a small coil for my AT Pro?
I currently hunt with the stock AT Pro coil at the moment and it does well in areas not so trashy but it doesn't seem to be doing so well in the high trash areas.
I'm not here to bash any other brand of detector and I'm sure the Mojave is a great detector at $250.00.
I'm just trying to educate myself and spend my money wisely.
Could the Mojave benefit me in anyway that the AT Pro won't do with a smaller coil or would the Mojave be taking a step backwards from using the AT Pro with a smaller coil?
My gut feeling says smaller coil on the AT Pro and stick with what you know and that the Mojave is maybe too basic of a detector for me but I just have to ask the people in the know.
Thanks in advance.

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Good Question I have an AT Pro and I also have a NEL snake coil on it. I also own a Mojave and I love it is a beast in Iron and it love nickels too. I'll be keeping the Mojave.

What did you decide?

I think you should get a small coil for your ATP. You will do OK.
I dont want you to learn a new detector and find all that gold and other good items in the trash areas. You will not have a screen to look at. Just some beeps that you get the hang of. Them beeps will tell you a lot once you learn them. You dont get all them tones or music. It would be hard to use a Tesoro. You can not tell you are swinging a detector because it is so light weight. You will still have to dig just as deep. I would hate for you to have fun.
Gee, I hope I helped.. KEN

I have the small search coil on my AT Pro. For large open areas that doesn't have a lot of nails and trash the AT Pro is great. The small search coil makes the AT Pro a little better balanced, but you lose a little on depth and it's doesn't cover ground quite as fast as the larger search does. The AT Pro is also good at searching in water and detecting in the rain.

Rather than buy a smaller search coil for the AT Pro, why don't you spend a little more money and buy a Mojave. Then you'll have two detectors that excel at doing different things great. The best of both worlds! VIDEO

beephead

I've never used a Tesoro product, but I can tell you I did extremely well with AT Pro at iron infested sites using the 5x8 coil. Ran it wide open, Pro mode, and very minimal iron disc.

The only reason I changed to the Deus Lite was weight and getting a little more depth than AT Pro.


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The whole idea behind the Mojave is to separate finds masked by iron so as to obtain an audible signal that would otherwise be nulled out with detectors of slower recovery. Although Tesoro has skips, crackles, hesitations, and other learned responses to aid in probable identity of the target, the main thing is to be able to even get separate signals in such an iron laden environment. The primary way to use this ability is to set the discrimination where small iron/iron flakes just break up and let Tesoro's unique fast reset pick up the more solid target signals masked by this iron. The single tone feature is preferred because the large presence of iron causes confusion with tone id detectors. Also, in milder environments, this reset ability is valuable when an iron trash object is near a valuable object, say at bottlecap reject.

The next detector that I'm going to give a try will be a Deus to see how it fairs in nails. I heard some really good things about it. Trust me on this, the AT Pro can't hold a candle to the Mojave in a bed of nails. The AT Pro's iron audio tone leads one to believe that it's doing a great job in nails. All those low grunts aren't just nails. I'm only going to be using my AT Pro for water hunting.

People should do their own testing. It sure was eyeopening to me.

beephead

A small concentric coil like the Mojave is great for seeing inbetween nails but not so good at seeing around nails like a DD, so what you gain on one hand you lose in the other.
Both have their strengths and both can trump each other in certain tests.

ghound said:

A small concentric coil like the Mojave is great for seeing inbetween nails but not so good at seeing around nails like a DD, so what you gain on one hand you lose in the other.
Both have their strengths and both can trump each other in certain tests.

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I have a 7" DD wide scan coil that can be used with the Mojave, don't think a person is stuck with just concentric coils.