Ray in CA
Hero Member
- Oct 11, 2007
- 983
- 16
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Safari with SEF 8x6; coming soon: FORS Gold+
Hi folks,
Well it's been almost a week since I received my new Silver uMax and just wanted to give you my first impressions.
First of all, I want to say that I've completely forgotten just how much of a pleasure it is to swing a Tesoro! I've used many detectors but Tesoro uMax's are just wonderful to hold in your hands. One can swing it for long periods of time with the stock coil and not get tired. Put the 12x10 coil on there, however, and you do begin to feel just a tad weighted down after about an hour of hunting. But then again I'm a small guy so swinging anything with a large coil for an extended time will eventually be felt by me. But even so, the larger coil isn't all that heavy when compared to other brands.
My first look at the controls sent me reeling back to the days when I used a Bandido II uMax, but in this case I was dealing with far fewer knobs and toggles. On the left there's the discrimination knob, on the right is the sensitivity. In between is the mode switch–battery check to the left, discrimination in the middle, and all metal to the right. Simple! In addition to this, the built-in mineral rejection left me free from worrying about having to ground balance. Just turn on and go. This is a very appealing feature even for a seasoned metal detectorist like myself. It should be even more so for those who are just starting out.
Day 1
My first experiment led me out to my own front yard. My house was built in '59, so I figured there just might be a silver rosie out there somewhere, perhaps even a '64 quarter. What I wanted was silver. After all, I did get a Silver uMax! So, I set the disc to 1¢ZN and the Sensitivity to 8 and had at it. Within the first ten minutes of use I landed a nice little .925 silver ring (some of you may have already seen my posting of this). Talk about getting the blood pumping! I quit right after that because I had other things to do that day, but one thing I did notice is that even with my disc set to 1¢ZN I was still picking up a few memorial pennies here and there. It seems one has to go a little ways past this to mask them all out without knocking out silver. By the way, I was using the stock coil when I found the ring, and it was buried approximately 4" in my lawn.
Day Two
I decided to hit my next door neighbor's vacant house, for which I've already gained permission to hunt when I had my MXT. The house was built in 1929 so I was certain there were some older silver coins on the property. I kept the stock coil on, kept the disc setting the same, and proceeded to first hit the areas between the sidewalk and curbs, then the side yard, then the back yard, and finally the front yard. I did a pretty thorough search but only came up with a bunch of clad (again, including many memorial pennies), a couple sprinkler heads, and a few odd pieces of metal, but no silver. I was somewhat disappointed, but knew I still had a chance with the larger coil I had yet to use. Finishing my search, I gave the clad away to a little 8 year old girl we know from down the street, who had been watching me metal detect the whole time (three days later she still had all that clad in her pockets! LOL).
Day Three
I returned to the house next door, but this time with my Spider coil on and same disc settings. I was determined to nail a piece of silver. I covered all the previous places I had detected a few days earlier but with the same results. No silver!! I did, however, get more clad and a tin can down about 10". Not too exciting. I couldn't believe this house wasn't giving up any silver! But that's how it goes sometime TH'ing. So, my next plan of attack is to drop the disc down to less than 5¢ and see if I can at least pick up a buffalo nickel or, perchance, a gold ring. Once I finish with that, I'll drop the disc down to iron and dig all targets to see what I can come up with.
Day Four
It's back to my front yard again, this time with the Spider coil on. Didn't get any silver but I did manage to snag a 1966 Canadian penny and what looks like a Chinese coin with a 1 on the backside. Can't read Chinese so I don't know what denomination or year it really is. Will try to post it in the What Is It forum for ID. I also found an old toy car that was only about 1 1/2 inches long and missing a wheel. All finds were about 5 inches down.
To sum up my first few experiences with the Silver I would have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by its performance. I do have to fiddle with the disc knob a bit more to find out just where different metal targets actually do mask out but in time I'll get it down. I didn't seen any real advantage in setting the Sensitivity past 8, as that seemed to do the job while keeping the detector running smoothly. Pinpointing with the stock coil is fairly easy and accurate; however, the Spider coil will take a bit more practice. On one target I actually ended up digging an 11" hole only to find that the target was 1 1/2" south of my hole and only about 3" deep. I am taking my pinpointer along with me now to help when using the 12x10.
One other note about the 12x10–on day four I did an air test with a silver rosie, and found that with the coil going over the flat side I could only get about 6" max. I then put it in a hole at around that depth and pushed some dirt on top of it to simulate a buried coin, and the spider coil did not even let out a whisper. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience because I was told that using this coil on the Silver uMax would give me great depth on silver coins. I don't consider 6" great depth, as that is what I was digging silver coins with my B2uMax and a 7" dd coil.
Despite this, I still think my first few times out with the Silver uMax was very encouraging and I expect my finds to increase as I assimilate myself back to using Tesoro detectors.
Stay tuned for another review in a couple of weeks as I diversify my hunting.
Ray
Well it's been almost a week since I received my new Silver uMax and just wanted to give you my first impressions.
First of all, I want to say that I've completely forgotten just how much of a pleasure it is to swing a Tesoro! I've used many detectors but Tesoro uMax's are just wonderful to hold in your hands. One can swing it for long periods of time with the stock coil and not get tired. Put the 12x10 coil on there, however, and you do begin to feel just a tad weighted down after about an hour of hunting. But then again I'm a small guy so swinging anything with a large coil for an extended time will eventually be felt by me. But even so, the larger coil isn't all that heavy when compared to other brands.
My first look at the controls sent me reeling back to the days when I used a Bandido II uMax, but in this case I was dealing with far fewer knobs and toggles. On the left there's the discrimination knob, on the right is the sensitivity. In between is the mode switch–battery check to the left, discrimination in the middle, and all metal to the right. Simple! In addition to this, the built-in mineral rejection left me free from worrying about having to ground balance. Just turn on and go. This is a very appealing feature even for a seasoned metal detectorist like myself. It should be even more so for those who are just starting out.
Day 1
My first experiment led me out to my own front yard. My house was built in '59, so I figured there just might be a silver rosie out there somewhere, perhaps even a '64 quarter. What I wanted was silver. After all, I did get a Silver uMax! So, I set the disc to 1¢ZN and the Sensitivity to 8 and had at it. Within the first ten minutes of use I landed a nice little .925 silver ring (some of you may have already seen my posting of this). Talk about getting the blood pumping! I quit right after that because I had other things to do that day, but one thing I did notice is that even with my disc set to 1¢ZN I was still picking up a few memorial pennies here and there. It seems one has to go a little ways past this to mask them all out without knocking out silver. By the way, I was using the stock coil when I found the ring, and it was buried approximately 4" in my lawn.
Day Two
I decided to hit my next door neighbor's vacant house, for which I've already gained permission to hunt when I had my MXT. The house was built in 1929 so I was certain there were some older silver coins on the property. I kept the stock coil on, kept the disc setting the same, and proceeded to first hit the areas between the sidewalk and curbs, then the side yard, then the back yard, and finally the front yard. I did a pretty thorough search but only came up with a bunch of clad (again, including many memorial pennies), a couple sprinkler heads, and a few odd pieces of metal, but no silver. I was somewhat disappointed, but knew I still had a chance with the larger coil I had yet to use. Finishing my search, I gave the clad away to a little 8 year old girl we know from down the street, who had been watching me metal detect the whole time (three days later she still had all that clad in her pockets! LOL).
Day Three
I returned to the house next door, but this time with my Spider coil on and same disc settings. I was determined to nail a piece of silver. I covered all the previous places I had detected a few days earlier but with the same results. No silver!! I did, however, get more clad and a tin can down about 10". Not too exciting. I couldn't believe this house wasn't giving up any silver! But that's how it goes sometime TH'ing. So, my next plan of attack is to drop the disc down to less than 5¢ and see if I can at least pick up a buffalo nickel or, perchance, a gold ring. Once I finish with that, I'll drop the disc down to iron and dig all targets to see what I can come up with.
Day Four
It's back to my front yard again, this time with the Spider coil on. Didn't get any silver but I did manage to snag a 1966 Canadian penny and what looks like a Chinese coin with a 1 on the backside. Can't read Chinese so I don't know what denomination or year it really is. Will try to post it in the What Is It forum for ID. I also found an old toy car that was only about 1 1/2 inches long and missing a wheel. All finds were about 5 inches down.
To sum up my first few experiences with the Silver I would have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by its performance. I do have to fiddle with the disc knob a bit more to find out just where different metal targets actually do mask out but in time I'll get it down. I didn't seen any real advantage in setting the Sensitivity past 8, as that seemed to do the job while keeping the detector running smoothly. Pinpointing with the stock coil is fairly easy and accurate; however, the Spider coil will take a bit more practice. On one target I actually ended up digging an 11" hole only to find that the target was 1 1/2" south of my hole and only about 3" deep. I am taking my pinpointer along with me now to help when using the 12x10.
One other note about the 12x10–on day four I did an air test with a silver rosie, and found that with the coil going over the flat side I could only get about 6" max. I then put it in a hole at around that depth and pushed some dirt on top of it to simulate a buried coin, and the spider coil did not even let out a whisper. I'm wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience because I was told that using this coil on the Silver uMax would give me great depth on silver coins. I don't consider 6" great depth, as that is what I was digging silver coins with my B2uMax and a 7" dd coil.
Despite this, I still think my first few times out with the Silver uMax was very encouraging and I expect my finds to increase as I assimilate myself back to using Tesoro detectors.
Stay tuned for another review in a couple of weeks as I diversify my hunting.
Ray
