Garys UK metal detecting
Tesoro Compadre review from Garys detecting written by Raymond Pettit

.:.How can a metal detector this simple be so good?

Tesoro Compadre customers field test, how can a metal detector this simple be so good ?

Late last year Colin and myself called at a farm we once had permission to search, it had produced the odd Roman find in the past but sadly nothing in any great quantity, we put this down to the land having not been ploughed since the second world war.
We rang the door bell and a stranger answered, he explained that Mr Jackson the old farmer had retired 5 years ago and he was the new tennant owner. Search permission was granted and sealed with a handshake, we marched off to the fields behind the farm yard. Expecting to find the normal pasture fields it was a real shock to see two of the five were in rotted down stubble, obviosly ploughed and seeded last season, we looked at each other in amazement, let battle commence.

 As we walked across the field we could see tile and the odd oyster shell, Colin found the first coin within the first ten minutes, a small Roman bronze very close to the surface, it wasn't long before I found one to, steady finds carried on for the rest of the afternoon.
 Altogether we had 15 coins, one fibula and a pocket full of what I can only describe as metallic blobs. Although we had a great afternoon something was troubling me, I felt the soil was badly mineralised, the machines were very unsettled due to the constant blanking of the threshold even with a very low sensitivity, Colin was using a similar machine and experiencing the same problem.

I called Gary and asked for his advice, told him about my finds and my very tight budget, I needed an alternative machine for this type of site, he suggested without hesitation thr Tesoro Compadre, light simple to use, great value for money, excellent on junky sites and loves small targets, this sounded to good to be true.
We drove down to look at one the next morning, Gary runs his busines mainly mail order he has no objection to visitors providing they call first. Although we felt a little uncomfortable turning up at someone's house we were soon put at ease with a cup from  Lyn, it was a very pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

 The Compadre was simple indeed, just one switch which operated the power and discrimination, we tested some targets the audio sound was very sharp and clear and Iron discrimination worked well. Gary explained about searching in bad soil and demonstrated the effects it had on machines and target recovery speeds. Originaly we decided to get just one machine and share it as a back up, but having seen what it was capable of Colin decided to get one and pay the consequences later when his wife finds out, it would be an ideal starter machine for his lad.
 The following weekend we called at the farm to test our new machines and theorys, our hopes were high as always with a new purchase, simply switch on then set the rejection to eliminate nails and search, I felt the need for more switches, what would I do between signals?. The little Compadre was working it's heart out, almost like a Jack Russell sniffing out targets, desperate to please its owner, I recovered several small coins and coin fragments in a very short time, Colin was on the other side of the field backing on to the woods, every time I looked over he also appeared to be digging. We met up after an hour or so and compared finds, Colin had 5 Roman and 19 shotgun cases. I had 7 Roman and 3 fragments plus a pocket full of foil and scrap. We are both very impressed with our Compadre's, honest little machines and great value for money,  if I was to sum the Compadre up in one word it would be "Thorough".
Colin took his lad Alex to a local park for some coinshooting, Alex had not shown much interest  in detecting up until that point, they triumphantly returned with a pocketful of coins approx 29, mostly modern but a nice half crown, three threepenny bits, a sixpence and two Victorian  pennies, what a great way for a father and son to spend an afternoon, now the young lad is hooked.

 

Coins found with a Tesoro Compadre

Thanks Gary for your help
Ray and Colin

 

7/Feb/05
Thanks Gary for the Compadre its great little machine we are enjoying retirement even more now we go metal detecting ,may I give a tip to your readers,regarding searching parks littered with ringpulls. Its a good idea to pass a pound coin over the coil and elomonate it with the discrimination, then slightly lower the discrimination so you now get a good signal on the pound coin.This is a good setting to reject ring pulls and foil but still pick up older coins like Victorian pennies,half crowns,threepenny bits etc as well as some modern coins including Pounds.With this setting you will loose a lot of modern 20p's,50p,s and5p,s but it saves so much time digging rubbish.
Thanks again.
Brain and Betty (Guildford)

Good luck guys and enjoy your detecting,Gary.

Remember Sprite and OADS headphones work great on all the Tesoro and Laser range