Used compadre or new compadre?

I bought a used 7" coil Compadre, had at least 2 owners before me and maybe more, and for 5 years I have used it, enjoyed it and it has paid for itself many times over with not a hint of problems.
No matter how many others you have in your arsenal and use everyone should also have a Compadre as far as I am concerned.

The big advantage of buying here in this part of the world is the lower price and the lifetime factory warranty but in your area that has a lot less value or none at all.
I don't believe the lifetime warranty is actually in effect for units sold outside the U.S. even if you did buy new off Amazon.

If it were me I would check out that 7" coil model, make sure it is working good and get that one if it is because that is my favorite model out of all of them.
The 8" coil might go a little deeper, the small coil model is great around trash and working in iron and in finding targets next to big metal but the 7" coil seems to be the best of both worlds...
Decent depth but still every bit of hyper-sensitivity of the small coil versions with all of its superpowers.
Also some say the 7" version might me a little hotter with that slightly older circuit board available here used only but the Euro versions I think are the more modern circuit board with a throwback 7" coil.
I do like that 7" coil better than the 8" I tried once, a little sharper on the disc.


If you want one, get one, and that 7" coil will get you one as cheap and as fast as possible.
Then you can get out there hunting immediately.

I would choose a good working Compadre all day, every day over all those others you have on that list.

DIGGER27 said:

I bought a used 7" coil Compadre, had at least 2 owners before me and maybe more, and for 5 years I have used it, enjoyed it and it has paid for itself many times over.
No matter how many others you have in your arsenal and use everyone should also have a Compadre as far as I am concerned.

The big advantage of buying here in this part of the world is the lower price and the lifetime factory warranty but in your area that has a lot less value or none at all.
I don't believe the lifetime warranty is actually in effect for units sold outside the U.S. even if you did buy new off Amazon.

If it were me I would check out that 7" coil model, make sure it is working good and get that one if it is because that is my favorite model out of all of them.
The 8" coil might go a little deeper, the small coil model is great around trash and working in iron and in finding targets next to big metal but the 7" coil seems to be the best of both worlds...
Decent depth but still every bit of hyper-sensitivity of the small coil versions with all of its superpowers.
Also some say the 7" version might me a little hotter with that slightly older circuit board.

If you want one get one and that 7" coil will get you one as cheap and as fast as possible.
Then you can get out there hunting immediately.

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Thank you for a quick response.

That's what I was thinking, to get the 7" and even if it's used I still get the 6 months service from him. I've read your posts and guides, they are excellent source of knowledge. My brother owns a garrett ace 250, but I really dislike the sound and there's something about LCDs that make me feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I know Compadre is made for the US standards, so I was thinking of modding it to fit my needs with the sensitivity knob. Have you ever done that to any of yours?

Just like this

Vix said:

Thank you for a quick response.

That's what I was thinking, to get the 7" and even if it's used I still get the 6 months service from him. I've read your posts and guides, they are excellent source of knowledge. My brother owns a garrett ace 250, but I really dislike the sound and there's something about LCDs that make me feel like I'm doing something wrong.
I know Compadre is made for the US standards, so I was thinking of modding it to fit my needs with the sensitivity knob. Have you ever done that to any of yours?

Just like this

Click to expand...

No, I like mine just as it is and mine has the sense turned up to max internally also.
If you are careful it is fairly easy to change the preset sensitivity level pot on the circuit board to a setting that works for you in your sites
I have no issues with chatter, noise or anything else so I don't need a sensitivity adjustment and probably would leave it maxed out all the time if i did have one.
Some do add one but mostly because they like to tinker, if it works quietly in your sites I see no need for this mod.

Check out that coil on the 7" model.
Here they are all sold with concentrics, everything you read on all the forums regarding the Compadre have to do with concentrics too.
In Europe this company in the UK says that coil sold new is a widescan...a DD which is good for mineralization and hunting in heavy iron and trash.
I prefer the concentrics on my Tesoros because on the Compadre it is all I have experience with and I have no idea how a DD would work on a Compadre but since it is sold this way in Europe there is probably a good reason and it would be interesting to try one.

http://regton.com/tesoro-compadre-metal-detector.html


A few opinions from UK owners using different coils...


http://regton.com/tesoro-compadre-metal-detector.html

http://www.metaldetectingforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=83296

Seller states it's a 7 inch concentric coil. The detector is unmodified, not repaired, original and never tweaked with. He used it on beach and used it as a backup.

Photos:



I just bought it

Congratulations. Over the years I've had many Tesoro detectors, used them for relic hunting in the woods, and not one of them had any issues.
It does not look abused at all. Many of the machines made 20 years ago are still working just fine.

Looks great. One good thing is it's never been tweaked. It's easy to get the g/b too positive or negative if you don't know what you're doing- and there's 3 trimmers.

Nice grab! I have one I bought new and one I bought used (and turned into a waterproof machine) and they both work great!

Happy hunting!

Thanks everyone. I'm very excited to try it out. Should be here by friday.

sllingshot47 said:

Looks great. One good thing is it's never been tweaked. It's easy to get the g/b too positive or negative if you don't know what you're doing- and there's 3 trimmers.

Click to expand...

I think this one as it's older version with 7" coil will have only one potentiometer, not 3 like the newer ones.
I'm probably not going to touch anything yet since it's easy to screw something up
And I "overpaid" already (seeing how I paid $200 for a used one).

If air tests are disappointing, I will consider tuning sensitivity up
But I hope they are solid!

Czesc

This one looks exactly like mine,if it works as well you should have no trouble paying it off in just the modern coins it will find for you if you hunt parks and sites like that.
Silver and gold will be the icing on the cake if you run over those targets, no slouch in the relic department either.
Nobody says these are depth demons but mine can get me to the 6-7" area where 98% of the targets I have found seem to be hiding...less than that at 4-5" most of the time even on the old stuff.
I don't use mine all that often but when I do I have a huge amount of fun and always find things...sometimes great things in some unusually tough conditions.
I will never let mine go.

There have been a few revisions over the years from the Amigo boards up to the modern units.
The top pic might be yours with the sense pot in the red box, the bottom one is more modern.
All of these boards I have seen posted had sense, disc and GB pots.

To adjust the sense find the correct pot, ground yourself so no static electricity problems, use a small screwdriver, plastic if you can find one and just a slight adjustment on the sensitivity pot counter clockwise will increase sensitivity...a very slight adjustment.
Most turn up the sense to the chatter point and then back down till it is silent.
Mark your pot position before to do this, be careful because these pots are very fragile.
Stay away from the other GB and disc pots because no good usually comes with messing with these and you can screw up your detector extremely well if you do.
Hopefully this thing will work just fine when you get it and you won't even need to try any of this.

Here is a mod that is easy to do, won't hurt your detector or mess with any warranties and I have done it to most of my detectors.
Can't buy this part, you have to find it but the effort has been more than worth it to me over the years.

DIGGER27 said:

Here is a mod that is easy to do, won't hurt your detector or mess with any warranties and I have done it to most of my detectors.
Can't buy this part, you have to find it but the effort has been more than worth it to me over the years.

Click to expand...

Haha
I will definitely try this one. I haven't found a four-leaf clover in a very long time, but I will try to find one before the Compadre arrives. That will be my first rare find

I just got a message that the package has been shipped. I expect it to be here this Wednesday or Thursday.

My brother owns a Garrett ace 250 and recently he finds old austro-hungarian hellers and military badges from 1799 to 1912 in random places. I live slightly closer to the old border of Prussian and Austrian Partition.
I may not live in the most interesting place but I hope to find something worth of historical value.

There's been a lot going on here for the past two hundred years, starting from Partitioned Poland in 1795, through WW1, 2nd republic, WW2 and communism until 1989.

Maybe I can find some hellers, Austro-Hungarian krones, Prussian thalers, gold marks or pfennigs. Many XX century coins were silver, some even golden.

I'm so excited to dig all kinds of bottle caps out

Hi...i am a new user here. As per my knowledge The big advantage of buying here in this part of the world is the lower price and the lifetime factory warranty but in your area that has a lot less value or none at all.If it were me I would check out that 7" coil model, make sure it is working good and get that one if it is because that is my favorite model out of all of them.The 8" coil might go a little deeper, the small coil model is great around trash and working in iron and in finding targets next to big metal but the 7" coil seems to be the best of both worlds.

Myself for the price difference I would go with the new one for $218. You never know how a used detector has been used. I have had some used ones in good condition and a few others I have my doubts about. Not all warranties carry over when sold.

joee5 said:

Czesc

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+ 1 , congrats HH
Joee , WB