DeLeon or Cortes???

[ohp800max]

Hey guys,

Looking at the DeLeon and Cortes. I currently use the Whites MXT as my primary detector, but I love Tesoro's for their quality and lite weight. After the last few days of swinging the MXT, my surgically repaired shoulder has about had it! I'm looking at these two Tesoro's. Any thoughts, recommendations, pro's and con's on these two units? Any thoughts or suggestions would be great! Also, I have a trade opportunity posted in the General Merch classifieds if anyone is interested in firearms for a DeLeon or Cortes... Thanks

ohp800max

 

[Mojave]

Never swung either, but I've done a good amount of research on them. I would go with the DeLeon if your ground isn't highly mineralized. A lot of people like the DeLeon and it gives plenty of bang for the buck. I also read that the TID is more accurate than on the Cortes. Get the Cortes if you have highly mineralized ground.

 

[amcjavelin]

well thats only if you want to hunt in all metal mode but in disc the ground balance is fixed on both of them i've had four deleons and love m i don't know why but after a month or so i end up selling because of some darn finacial crisis but got a eldo right now so we'll see what we can get with that good luck

 

[Mojave]

^^didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[amcjavelin]

no prob, hey i'm currious though, has anyone tried different coils on either of these machines?

 

[Beale]

I run a DeLeon and really like it. Very easy to use and if the graph and ID# both match it is normally correct. I also like the ease of pinpoint, Beale.

 

[tab-nabit]

I think it' one of those where you have research the both of them and determine which one edge's out for your interest. Although I do have a Cortes, my eyeballs ain't up to par as they used to be and I have to do the squishy eyeball thing to read the labels. It's not as important to me as it might be for most others as I generally hunt by audio no matter which of my display detectors I use. Not saying I don't use screen displays, just saying I generally audio hunt and tend to not rely on the display. So for this reason, I don't use the Cortes as much as my other Tesoro detectors (Tejon, Cibola, Silver uMax, Compadre & Bandido-II). The Cortes works smoothly for the areas I used it (not as hot like the Tejon), but I found the sum mode interesting, so I bought it, but found I wasn't using the sum mode much. I don't use the Notch feature which others may.
Although I do like it's stock coil, I use 5.75 coil most of the time to include my other Tesoro's.
I don't really have strong negatives on the Cortes, just that I don't use the display that much, I don't use all it's features (do the same with my other display detectors), and the labeling is a bit small for my liking. I consider it a nice smooth machine but I just tend not to use it as much as others. Many find the Cortes a great machine and I won't argue with that.

 

[Tfor2]

I'll run through some basics that may or may not be helpful.

Both the DeLeon and Cortes are winners so you win either way.

Both get very close to the same depth in discrimination mode.

Both are factory preset in ground balance for discrimination mode.

The Cortes has ground balance in all-metal mode only. If you hunt in all-metal mode and need ground balance in that mode--the Cortes is for you.

The Cortes has some features the DeLeon does not have (you need to compare the factory manuals).

The DeLeon is considerably lower in cost.

The DeLeon meter (TID) is much easier to see than that of the Cortes.

I bought the DeLeon and absolutely loved it. It found me a small silver ring at a measured 9 inches deep. It was under 5 inches of thick grass sod and 4 inches into the soil below. This is how I knew the depth and it shocked me. Very few machines can do this.

However, the question for you is, if you buy the DeLeon will you always be wishing you had gone and little more and purchased the Cortes? See there this mental thing and it's very powerful. If it's going to bug you than by all means lay out the extra bucks and get a Cortes.

But again, both are awesome machines.

 

[ohp800max]

You know, that mental thing DOES mean a lot, but the cheaper DeLeon totally fits my needs, especially since they are both factory GB'd in Discrim mode. I do 99% of my detecting in Discrim mode, so the Cortes does not add that much bang for me. Lately I've been doing large areas of an old ghost town and my shoulder can only take so much of my MXT. I know the DeLeon is like other Tesoro's in that you can swing them all day and they are nicely balanced. I'm going to have to get serious about this DeLeon. Anyone use the Cleansweep coil with the DeLeon?

ohp800max

 

[BarberBill]

This post started with using an MXT. I have both the MXT and the DeLeon. If I were pushed to chose one on total capability I'd probably favor the MXT. That said, in actual field use I've done pretty well with either. The weight difference really favors the DeLeon and I enjoy swinging it more than the MXT. I've used it with good results with the 5.75, 7"concentric and the stock 8X9 coils. The 10X12 on mine brought up some ground chatter. Comparing to the Cortez, the ground balance issue could be important in some locations, the Cortez gives more into on the screen and has some other bells and whistles. The DeLeon screen is larger which for us older duffers is a plus, but it lumps copper pennies, dimes, quarters and other silver all under one bar with a numerical value of 95, whereas the Cortez ids copper pennies and dimes separately as does the MXT. If you're skipping pennies this can be a pain, but if you're going to dig any coin signal, it's not a big problem. It does have a separate bar for zinc pennies. I've found the TID on mine to be surprisingly accurate on coins, but as mentioned, the Silver/95 indication you won't know whether you're digging a penny, dime or quarter until you retrieve it. Depth in my soil is good and I actually do quite well with the sensitivity set between 6 and 8. I have considered trading for or adding a cortez to my arsenal when my budget allows, primarily for the ground balance feature. Back to the original post - as an addition to my MXT I've been pretty satisfied. If I hit an area where the ground tracking is a problem, I can always pull out the MXT or use my Eldorado. So far in my area that hasn't been necessary. Hope this is helpful.
HH
BB

 

[jabbo]

I've had my Cortes about 3-4 years, great detector for my style of hunting. The meter gives a lot of info and the target depth is always showing, and that's handy. It took a while for me to use the SUM mode but now I use it a lot. Tones are available only when you hit the SUM switch, wish tones were always on. Tesoro got it right by not putting touch pads on their detectors, knobs are so easy to work with.