Tesoro Vaquero
Price: $550
Avg. Score: 
4.39
Based on 77 reviews
4.39Based on 77 reviews
Avg. Durability:
3.84
Avg. Ease of use:
4.28
Update to my review
October 22, 2015
My review on the tesoro vaquero I didn't tell you how the people on you
tube are air testing so deep. What there doing is cranking the threshold
and sensitivity up all the way you do that and it WILL air test 12 inches
on a quarter and 10 inches on a dime. BUT its not a real test cause you
cant run it like that in the field it becomes unstable and non stop
chatter.
I have been metal detecting for over 30 years first detector was a garrett freedom I have had all the old beepers and I have all the so called top of the line new ones minelabs which is over priced but you got to have one to be a pro (cough) had a fisher F75 and a teknetics T2 LTD I can still find just as much with a cibola as I did with them. Go watch the air test videos on you tube look at the many replys everyone is saying mine wont test that deep WHY? There is a guy on there scanner guy that shows if you adjust the ground balance a quarter turn negative on the vaquero it will out depth a cibola on a burried 12 inch quarter, well didn't work for me.
Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Slim Pickens from
USA
3223
Re:major problem
October 20, 2015
The vaquero does NOT have nor do they advertise it as having a "no motion"
all metal mode. It's AM mode, including pinpoint, are fast retune all metal
modes.
You have to buy the Outlaw or older Bandido to get that.
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Walt from
US
150
Slimpickens - really
October 14, 2015
Vaquaro is the best machine in is price range period - had them all Whites
Garrets Minelabs all the top line (over $1000) still have my Vaquaro and
the rest are gone - if you give it one or two stars for durability and ease
of use you really know what your talking about - go by an Etrac see if your
finds are slim - talk about smoke - you can buy four Vs for the same price.
Max Depth: 12 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Buck from
Canada
2529
The honest truth
September 29, 2015
I bought this machine cause everyone said it is deep well here is what you
can expect and I have tried 2 of them. If you ground balance it right you
will get in a air test with the threshold at 3 oclock and the sens at 10 a
dime will hit at 7 inches a quarter at 8 inches. Super tune it you will hit
a dime at 8 inches a quarter at 9 inches this machine is a over hyped sorry
loser, why do I say that? I had a tesoro cibola cost less and would air
test better, you can't run the vaquero in super tune mode its too hot it
chatters and you can run the cibola in super tune mode most of the time.
In my test garden the vaquero hit a 8 inch buried quarter and dime but so did the cibola unless I got 2 bad new ones. Here is my opinion, buy the cibola and save 100 bucks its a better machine also to let you know about tesoro they are good machines but if you want the lifetime warranty you have to be the first owner, send in the warranty card THEY WILL NOT WARRANTY a second hand ebay buy so all the guys that blow smoke that they will have been smoking to much, my brother bought a used one they sent it back.
Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Slimpickens from
Usa
3130
Major problem
May 24, 2015
Yes, its well made. Yes, I love Tesoro products. But this thing is a waste
of time for Gold hunting. How can a (so called) no motion ALL mode metal
detector stop responding to a piece of metal in no motion? . Good question,
and it SHOULD NOT, but this one does. No way this should happen. I was very
upset. Beware!
Max Depth: 7 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Curn from
Wa
133
Great machine
April 23, 2015
Hands down fastest recovery time in its price range. Recovery time is how
fast the unit will "recover" after reading a bad target when it is close to
a good target. Those signals have to be processed by fancy ID machines and
their recovery time suffers and bad targets "mask" good ones. You can lay a
nail right on top of a dime and the V will read it every time.
So will a fisher CZ/3D, and the the Excal. They are also 3 times the price. The V will find targets so small it could be considered a micro jewelry machine. In MI ground it is very deep. My shovel has a ruler on it. I regularly dig dimes up to 8-9 inches, nickles up to 10, and quarters up to 12. Old quarters up to 13 on the beach.
Rings fall all through the range depending on size and composition. Will find small fine gold anklets at 3 inches. I also dig more nickles than any of my friends or co workers. That's because of their ID and disc circuitry.
I locate underground utilities for a living and know one or two things about a wide range of detectors. Here are some facts, all ID machines suffer in recovery time because of their circuitry to some degree. Tesoros don't. All the ID machines that I have tested in the shop will misread a good target as iron when it gets to the limits of their capabilities. Its to far from the coil to conduct enough signal to identify it properly. Tesoros don't, they just beep softer when its further away.
All machines, ID and analog lose depth with every increase in disc. Some more than others. If I run the the V up to tabs so I am essentially just coin shooting, I will lose 4 inches. Any tech from whites, fisher, minelab, or tesoro will verify these things. If you balance a V properly, turn the threshold all the way up, run the sensitivity as high as you can without being unstable, and disc just above iron you will have a machine that will perform as well or better than any brand twice its price.
Tesoro has lifetime guarantee and the one time I needed my tiger shark replaced it was smooth fast and painless. My fishers, and my whites are excellent machines and I use them for the things they excel at, but as an everyday no nonsense deep detector with super fast recovery the V cant be beat. I do it for a living and I do it for a hobby I speak the truth.
As soon as time allows I will be doing a utube video to prove every claim I just made. I wish you all the best no matter what you prefer to hunt with.
Max Depth: 12 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
J.G from
Oakland Co Mi
345
Value for the money
March 05, 2015
Have used Vaquero for over a year now it is a very good detector for the
price it sells at. I give 4 stars in durability it is rugged and light and
the material quality is good just 4 star because the coil cable socket on
the control house is a bit too close to the shaft making it hard to attach
and the poles are a bit wobbly but other than that good quality materials
durable design. Easy to use but you have to read a lot to learn it well and
get threshold right otherwise pinpointig will be off target a bit.
And have to regularly check knobs to not accidentally change settings so 4stars here satisfaction 5 stars because although it is not as deep as advertised its sound and recovery is crisp and sharp, little sensitive on deep iron which it does not manage to disc out but for relics its great. Went detecting with a friend who has a 2000+$ minelab ctx3030 with gps color screen, etc and I caught a target called him over he barely could get a signal vaquero loud and clear was 15cm deep silver coin..
Its not the best detector in the world but for 450bucks its worth every cent and more. If you want a solid detector for relics coins and easy use its the best for the money and will still compete with the high end machines.
Max Depth: 6 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Benjamin from
Taiwan
273
Looking for another analog machine
January 10, 2015
After reading the reviews on this machine I am torn on buying one, I was in
the market for a great analog machine but now after reading the reviews, I
think I am going to stick to my original plan and try to locate another cz5
like I had before. I was a great machine but went digital quite a new
learning curve but they work, just in there own way. Other than the cz
loving deep iron it is a beast on depth, just got to get used to finding
some really nice deep nails again, Thanks for the honest reviews fellow
detector guys and gals.
One more note, my last digital machine is a gamma 6000 impressive, I like different machines so I try a lot but always come here first to see the jack and smack about them from the folks that know.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Eddy from
Tyler Texas
625
Goes deep? when?
December 17, 2014
I bought the Vaquero because of hearing everyone speak of how deep it will
go. Yet I never once found anyone who would say exactly how deep is deep.
Well I could not find anything more than 5-6" with it. I even sent it to
Tesoro to check it out because I thought there had to be something wrong,
they said it was working fine. If you want to know what deep really is buy
a Minelab Safari like I did. I love the Safari so much I wont ever let it
go. Was very disappointed with the Vaquero.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Lou from
NJ
3344
Vaquero is great
November 15, 2014
I did a lot of reading prior to getting my Vaquero and I decided that for
the money it was probably the best thing on the market. Well I don't know
if it is the best for the money or not but I love to follow people with the
high $$$ machines with the screens that tell them what is in the ground.
They pass don't dig I get a signal and I do dig. I have found a lot of
things on the beaches where I hunt and people tell me not to bother because
four or five guys have already been over the beach in the past two days.
I bought a 10X12 SEF coil and almost wish I hadn't because I am spending a lot of time digging items that are 12 - 14 inches deep. This past weekend I went to the beach with the stock coil and dug a 1"1/2 metal washer at 16 inches. I don't see any reason to spend the big $$$ on anything else. Love my machine except the minerals on the west coast beach does cause problems some times. Will be getting a PI machine for that problem. If you want a good machine and don't want to spend a lot of $$$ give the Vaquero a try but please stay off the beaches that I hunt. If you buy one of the competitors machines come on down I will be glad to pick up what you leave behind.
Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Sonny A. from
Santa Cruz, CA
266