Quote
jmaryt
hi monte!
when you owned your "Mojave" did you ever do any depth comparisons
with the 7" precision coil on board?..say to your silver saber,or your Bandido
u-max 2 with the 6" coils?

(h.h.!)
j.t.

First, a look at the Mojave, what it was, what it was intended to be, and what happened:

A lot of folks don't know about the Mojave because it was short lived before Tesoro closed their doors. Why? Several reasons, but one was poor marketing / advertising, just like the route White's had been taking for quite a while.

What was is it? A very nicely thought-out model that blended the ED-180 Discrimination of the Compadre and the Sensitivity Level adjustment of the Silver µMAX. Additionally, it had the coil connector like the Silver µMAX for search coil changes. The big difference between the Mojave and all of the other 'turn-on-and-go" Tesoro models, before or current, was that it had a 'Low' and 'High' toggle selector so you could select from two different preset Ground Balance settings. One to handle typically mild ground, and the other to tackle challenging highly mineralized ground. A very nice feature, to be sure!

The Mojave was intended to be a great low-cost / entry-level model to replace both the Compadre & Silver µMAX .... but they didn't promote it well and step up and discontinue those others, then again, they were not doing well overall in the industry.

One other thing they did was to put the new Mojave in a newer or better 'package' by designing a thin-profile 7" Concentric search coil they named a 'Precision 7 Inch.' They put it in the black housing and rod package rather than the long-used brown housing and gold rod design. The Precision 7 Inch coil looks very similar to the Super 7 Inch coil they mad for the Shadow X2 .... but they said it was different.


Models Used and Search Coils Compared:

1.. 'original' Silver Sabre
1.. Bandido II
3.. Bandido II µMAX
2.. Silver Sabre µMAX
1.. Mojave


4.. Tesoro 6" Concentric coils
1.. Tesoro 7" Concentric coil (tho earlier version, thicker-bodied coil)
2.. 8" Concentric coil (modern Brown type)
1.. Precision 7 Inch concentric coil


Test / Comparison Methods:

A.. Side-by-side Air Tests with sample targets placed on the floor
B.. A few coins buried at 'average' or 'typical' depths just to compare responsiveness.


.Results based on My Impressions:

1st.. I usually hunt trashier or more confined areas so I still have very little need for the 8" coils. Tesoro's are not my detector / coil pick for wide-open and sparse-target sites. They do their handy work in more challenging places.

2nd.. Depending upon the particular models the coils were attached to, there were times i noted a slight 'edge' to the thin 6" and times the thin 7" seemed slightly better. On one deeper positioned coin the 7" kind of had a wee bit of an advantage over two of the 6" coils, but the other two 6" coils were essentially a match to the 7" ... at least on a couple of the better-performing models.

3rd.. A lot of times it is a psychological impression we get, looking down at a white 6" or a black 7" coil and considering what they can or might do. For example, with a Nokta FORS CoRe or Makro racer or Racer 2, I know what the 5" coil looks like and what it can do, but I personally prefer looking at the slightly Out-Of-Round 4.7X5.2 'OOR' DD coil instead of the round 5" that is actually a smidgen over that measurement.

To ME, the white 6" coil looked a little funny on the black rod and housing of the Mojave and I liked the look of the black Precision 7 Inch on it instead. And, on my other Tesoro's I didn't really feel all that comfortable or impressed with any difference in performance between the different coils when I switched them all around and checked them out. I probably spent two hours of comparison time with all these models and coils only to finally settle on mounting the Precision 7 Inch back on the Mojave, and putting the better-working 6" coils back on the better-performing detector models.

The Brown 8" and older-style 7" concentric coils went with the Bandido II and original Silver Sabre when I sold them.

I'm sure the 7" Mojave coil is a good general-purpose coil as are the 6" coils I favor, and the Mojave is also one of the better detectors Tesoro produced .... but they were near death and failed to dump the other two models and market the Mojave as it should have been. Kind of sad, but it's also a money game and look at what is available from some of the top contenders in the industry who are still alive and doing well.

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now 'back home' in Farr West Utah monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my chosen makes and models, with the best coils mounted for the tasks I'll take on.F-19 .. Racer .. Vanquish 540 .. FORS Relic .. Silver Sabre µMAX .. Bandido II µMAX .. XLTPinpointers: Garrett AT Pro-Pointers .. Headphones: 'Hornet' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk .. ML-80 *** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***