Deleon or Cotes?

[INRelicHound]

im wanting to purchase a new or slightly used ID machine,id like to stay with tesoro. what is the major difference between the deleon and cortes? in reality the deleon is more in my price range as of now since i just bought a new machine a few weeks ago but would it be worth it to wait until i have saved the funds to purchase the cortes? it will be used more as a back up type machine and somthing i can pick up when i just want to go hit the local parks and tot lots since my tejon is what i call to sensitive to hunt with in high trash areas such as parks and the cibola would work but id prefer somthing with either a tone ID or visual ID for that type of hunting. what are the pros and cons of each machine? hows the depth and how do the VDIs preform in high trash areas?..are they steady/reliable? any info will be greatly appreciated. thanks.

 

[SkiWhiz]

Like you I love the Tesoro's. I got a new DeLeon in November and I just got a chance to try it out (we had a warm spell up here in northern N.Y.) To be perfectly honest I did not like the DeLeon at all. It was very chattery and the ID was very inaccurate. In the DeLeon's defense I found that the factory set ground balance was way too negative for my ground. I could of sent it to Tesoro along with some of my ground but I didn't want to take the chance and have it the same or worse. I like a machine that works right out of the box.

I sent my DeLeon back to my dealer, and I decided that I am going to try the Tesoro Golden uMax. I had the Silver uMax last summer and I loved that machine. So I am hoping that the Golden will be as good or better.

Like I say I really like Tesoro's and will continue to use them but if I was forced to have a TID machine I probably would look into another brand. But you can not beat Tesoro "beep & dig" detectors. Steve.

 

[INRelicHound]

thanks for the reply skiwhiz{dont i know you from another board?...did ya buy the deleon from Tony?} ive also looked into the whites M6 and also the MXT but im not a big fan of whites,ive owned the XLT and also the QXT pro. they where both good machines but i have problems with my right arm and the weight of those machines where just to much for me to handle. i almost bought a Golden Umax but decided on the cibola...may look into the Umax again.

 

[zeekeys]

I have a DeLeon and use it for exactly what you are thinking of using it for. I used it as my only detector for one year and got a Xlt for main detector last summer. I use the DeLeon for parks I pass to and from work or when wife goes shopping. It is light compact and ready when I want to do some 20 minute or more hunting in tot lots. I like the bigger numbers on the read out and it fit my budget at the time. I also use smaller coil on it. Hope this helps... Z

 

[phinbolt]

I use a DeLeon everyday I can and am very happy with it I have found my share of great stuff. See my posts w/ pics on page 6-7 of this forum just like any machine you have to use it to get to know it. I am going on three years now with mine and am looking forward to next year last year was my best yet i had several 2 and 3 ring days a mountain of clad and some silver and war nickles to boot. So in my book you cant go wrong with a DeLeon, it is easy to use and will find plenty of coins for a long time.

 

[jabbo]

I bought a Vaquero then later a Cortes. Mainly I search for jewelry in parks. I use the Cortes as my main detector because I like glancing at the screen for a quick clue. The only real help the screen gives me is I can avoid the digging coins when I want to, it knows coins well. Pulltab readouts could be a larger gold ring so I dig most tab readings. Ladies gold rings and other small gold items give a number that is lower then pulltabs, so I always dig those targets. The screen is quite helpful when I search in ALL METAL mode because I can hear every piece of metal, and when the reading is IRON and the number is 00 then I don't dig.

 

[tabdog]

That's an interesting post.

I'm a jewelry hunter also.

You're the first I've heard of that sometimes avoids coins.

I do also. Just mostly pennies because the higher conductive coins could be silver jewelry. Some times I will even avoid those if they are deep. It seems a waste of time when I'm looking for something els.

The iron reading is handy on the Cortes. Lets you know the lower limit to dig at.

I have a feature on my Euro Sabre that tells me that. It's called "Iron ID".

It's just a switch that produces a special sound for iron. As the iron response gets higher on the scale, it starts changing to another distinguishing sound.

I find it handy for jewelry hunting.

HH,

 

[rmptr]

Yah...

Haven't quite heard that before... avoid digging coins...
Interesting concept.

I've heard "I hate clad" plenty...

It might be fun to see someone's tally sheet after a year of following that concept.

 

[jabbo]

Sometimes I avoid coins because they are always clad or zinc pennies. I do dig nickle signals, could be a gold ring. Today I dug up a 14K gold bangle that was hit by the mower and a Zippo lighter, both were 2 - 3 inches deep in a park. Cleaned up the lighter and got the wheel unstuck, letting it dry out, should work, still makes a spark. The Cortes finds me gold 3 - 4 hunts out of 10 now. The meter is right about coins and pulltabs, it gives me a clue, but I still dig pulltabs, hoping it's a mans gold ring.

 

[kdc]

i dont think i ever heard of not wanting to dig clad. i love clad it helps pay for my excessive, compulsive drive to buy detectors

 

[tabdog]

Great find it looks to have some weight to it.

Cool lighter.

There's some other usefull things you can find.

I found a real nice Gerber pocket knife about a month ago.

HH,

 

[tabdog]

When I'm looking for gold in a play ground I can recover targets supper fast. That ups my odds of finding gold.

If I can posetively ID it as something els, I may pass to maintain speed.

One day there were pennies all over the place in a tot lot. Like someone gave some kids a bunch of pennies and let them play with them in the tot lot. It was loose gravel. The pennies had to go.

I recovered 129 coins in 45 minutes and a little jewelry also. But that didn't really slow me down and I had to get the pennies out of they way. See why?

HH,

 

[jabbo]

Finding gold jewelry gives me great satisfaction. No old coins in my local parks anymore or they are too deep. The soil here is real soft when it's damp, I can dig with my bare hands if I want. Most of the pulltabs I dig are 5 - 6 inches deep. Jewelry dropped in the last 30 years is still detectable.

 

[tab-nabit]

I got the Cortes because post's got me interested about the sum mode - I don't use the sum mode, actually don't think of it

But I still like the Cortes - I like Tesoro

 

[Scully]

Both are built on the same platform and have equal depth but the Cortes has more features and an expanded set of ID bar graphs. The DeLeon has five target categories and the Cortes has 9. Both have the same ID numbers and depth reading. The Cortes has a back-lit screen, for hunting at dusk or in basements or caves, and it also has two fixed notch settings to emlinate pop tops and pull tabs. It also has the SUM feature which can help you identify "iffy" signals by a type of signal averaging feature. If you budget is limited, I would go with the DeLeon.

 

[Corteser]

n/t

 

[tab-nabit]

And just looks cool

 

[Corteser]

TOO TRUE, IT MAKES MY UGLY MUG LOOK GOOD!!