Tesoro Compadre
Price: $200
Avg. Score: 
4.76
Based on 50 reviews
4.76Based on 50 reviews
Avg. Durability:
4.85
Avg. Ease of use:
5.00
Tesoro compadre models
July 06, 2013
I have owned the newest model Compadre and the older model Compadre. Both
are great detectors, but the older one gets a little bit more depth. You
can't go wrong with these.
Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Tony from
Oklahoma
123
Broke the mold
July 06, 2013
This detector is an anomaly. It performs as well or better than other, more
costly detectors. Sounds like the same old "line", right? Well, I almost
didn't write the review because it's OK with me. If others can't or don't
want to master this detector, or overlook it and buy an expensive one. I
don't mind less competition. I've owned about twelve detectors, and have a
good amount of experience.
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Tom B from
MN
246
Great for a yard with over 100 years of trash
June 26, 2013
I bought a house built in 1890. It has been occupied since 1890. Were
talking beer can fragments, horse shoe nails, roofing nails, horse shoes,
pull tabs, foil, cookware, Car parts, hundreds of modern day coins and
anything you can imagine. It has been very frustrating. The yard is like
one continuous signal, I have been using the following detectors.
Tesoro Vaquero, Tesoro Pantera, Tesoro Conquistador µMax, Tesoro Bandido II µMax, Tesoro Sidewinder, Fisher CZ5, Fisher CZ7a, Fisher 1236x2, Fisher 1266xb, Fisher Gold Bug Original, I decided to dig every signal. The problem is they all run together.
For my trash infested yard the best detector that clearly separates signals is the Tesoro Compadre. Had I known ahead of time, I could have saved thousands of dollars and just bought the compadre. Some of the other detectors are better machines, but not for my yard. I had sold my new compadre with the 5.75" coil. I recently bought a used one with the 7" coil. I can say the older ones appear to be hotter. It air test a quarter (at) 7" and the newer compadre air test a quarter (at) 5".
I just bought a new compadre with the 8" dougnut coil, but I have not received it yet.
Max Depth: 5 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Joe Worthington from
Canton Ga
152
I bought this one for my mother for x-mas
October 15, 2012
Well, she is 79 years old and had not been metal detecting in years and
thats why I picked this one, very light weight. It arrived and I put it
together for her and noticed the quality is first rate. One 9 volt battery
powers it and one control knob for trash rejection. She loves it and finds
coins in her back yard and also takes it on trips in her car. I would
recommend this one for most first time buyers most of all.
Overall Rating
Crawdad from
Albany Oregon
201
Tesoro compadre, the chubby king!
May 06, 2012
Theres one coin most of us Brits like to find, "the chubby" (pound coin)
and when using a "tesoro compadre" I turned the disc to just after pull tab
while detecting a popular bootsale field! After three hours, apart from
some copper pennies and twos, I had found, 144 pound coins and 8 two
pounders! Numerous bits of junk jewelry and one gold ring! It gave an
amazing return in three hours for a little £90 secondhand machine!
So my serious message to you all is this! After detecting for over 25 years, and using just about every machine on the market, if I had a choice of, an xp deus, xlt, explorer etrac, CS r1, and every other 500/600/700 pound plus digital, I would, believe it or not, pick the compadre!
As I hear you laugh, DONT, WHY? Because 9 out of 10 coins are within the first 5 inches of the ground anyway, well within the compadres range! Power consumption? 1-9 volt pp3 that lasts for ever! So no outlay, super super light, so no fatigue whatsoever! One knob that does it all, switch on, set disc, away you go, detecting in seconds, so no confusing programmes to have to set up and fanny about with!
By the time my friend had set up his etrac, I had 10 chubbies in my pocket!
And, all of you out there must all admit, if you get a half decent signal, and no matter what the meters telling you, you will dig it anyway, just in case its that gold ring! Even if the meter says pull/tab, you'll still dig it! True? So, there you have it, the little tesoro compadre, an awesome little detector that will easily keep up with the big guns and still find all you want it too! Happy hunting!
Overall Rating
Harry from
Redcar, england
663
Compadre - I had to try one
April 18, 2012
My first Tesoro was a Conquistador uMax. I now have a Vaquero, Tejon,
Cortes and an older Bandido uMax. Outside of the Tesoro line I own a
Fisher 1266XB. I had to try one to satisfy my curiosity. I'm rather pleased. In comparison the depth is about 1 inch less than my Cortes or the Conquistador. This is because of the coil size and I guess the sensitivity is internally set to about 8. This comparison is in DISC mode.
It's easy to identify a target rather quickly by moving the DISC setting. It's easy to reach with you thumb.
Pinpointing is not that bad with the 5. 75 coil.
I wouldn't mind the machine costing $10 more and have a coil jack so you can change coil sizes.
It's a great machine. I may find myself using this one a lot.
Overall Rating
Joe from
Canton Georgia
191
Tesoro Compadre rocks!
April 13, 2012
I bought this unit for my wife for her 33rd birthday, she had been hounding
me about starting the hobby in tandem to my mushroom picking in the
spring/fall. . I researched for a week or so and decided on this unit. . .
Boy are WE glad we bought a Tesoro. . . This unit works great, simple,
light, accurate and durable. Day one in our front yard my wife and 2 children ages 7/3 recovered some coin and two vintage matchbox cars, one of them a near mind VW Sirocco model. . . (pretty sweet). . Haven't scored anything monetarily valued yet but of the 3x she and the kids played with it its value is priceless, a great family hobby that I'm thankful I'm part of!
Overall Rating
Travis K. from
NE Pa.
113
Micro Gold
April 12, 2012
This and the older "Sidewinder" Tesoro and the newer Silver Umax Tesoro
Detectors find the real GOLD Pieces Better than the others. . pieces the
size if a B. B. cut into 4 pieces! Caused me to write a Book,,on "Finding"
MICRO-GOLD at the Beach and Out in the Gold Fields that have already been
Hunted to Death!. . so what. . get yourself a bottom of the line TESORO
Metal Detector. . . It's ALL you'll ever need! Period. . . 57 Years this
week, of my Metal Detecting Most Every Day. . . . Since 1955 with some
metal detector I've used/owned most Units Every Mfg. indystiles(at)yahoo.
com Thanks.
Overall Rating
Norman Stiles from
Ogden, Utah
263
Tesoro Compadre
April 06, 2012
Just got my Compadre, went out for my 1st. huntfound 93 cents not bad considering the temp was 30 degrees the ground frozen and or muddy 2 quarters, 2
Nickles, 2 dimes 14 pennies,1 child's snap on earing
1970s 30 caliber bullet that used to hang on a chain
1 key 1 bottle cap one zipper one chunk of metal very small all with the discrimination just past iron I have used other machines with more bells and whistles and they did not do as good right out of the gate . . and I'm sure I'll do better once I learn the machine, but so far I'm in awe. looks are very deceiving don't be foolled by this little Giant!
Overall Rating
Steven J from
Canada
123
Great for the beginner
April 03, 2012
The Compadre is super simple to use and even a first timer can figure it
out quickly. My only complaint is that pinpointing your target is a little
difficult. It relies on movement to get a good signal and then tone.
Constantly having to swing that unit back and forth can sometimes be a
little confusing especially when there are 2 targets close together. There
is not a constant tone as there are with other detectors when you're over
top of your target.
Overall Rating
Jim C from
Iowa
87