Deleon, who has one and your thoughts on it??

[bigtim1973]

Been thinking about a deleon and how it would do. What do you guys think of it compared to other tesoro detectors? You like it or did you find yourself going back to another tesoro or like the deleon better?

 

[Furious T]

I've had my DeLeon for nearly 13 years now, and for me, it is and has been a very good detector. It does have pre-set ground balance, but if your ground is not too bad, you will get good depth. It is a very powerful machine, running on 8 AA batteries. The visual display looks pretty basic (at first glance), but once you get to learn and know it and what it is telling you, there is a wealth of information given in addition to the audio signal. The audio signal is single tone. If you are thinking of buying it as a second (or 3rd or 4th etc) detector, then it would be a great addition to your arsenal. I think some forum members might just own the DeLeon....my preference is to use it in addition to using some other detectors, and the DeLeon doesn't disappoint.

It is great on anything silver, but also good on gold (rings/jewellery) and relics, but I would not say it is a relic machine. It loves coins, and it does take some time to learn its language. If you are searching areas with shallow targets, you can keep the sensitivity below the halfway mark. It is a powerful machine. Good luck with your choice.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I have one fitted with the Troy super 7 coil.
I use it for coin hunting. really alot of info on the display. The graphs are more like "probability graphs" instead of just blocks that display in the areas like on other detectors.
I like mine alot and got it cheap and sent it into tesoro and had the Troy coil rebuilt and the internals tuned to a like new all for a total of a great price

 

[bibelot]

I bought one when undecided between an outlaw or the Deleon.I do well with it, love the RSD coil on it.I am still wanting a ground balance machine although but I don't plan on getting rid of the Deleon.You can find them really reasonably priced on ebay.I bought mine new, wish I had sourced a used one, could have bought another used ground balanced machine along with a used Deleon for what I paid for the new one.Pick up a bottle of Novus cleaner and it keeps your screen pretty well dust resistant.I pulled a second mercury dime and it measured 9" for depth.The signal is unmistakenably soft,sweet and short, I wonder if that is the max depth for the number 7 sensitivity setting ? I pulled another 1943 nickel at 6", strong signal,falls in tab range but will bounce back and forth to silver tab, makes you think you've found a silver ring. Pre '83 pennies will register as 95 silver which is a little annoying but they are usually in good shape so I don't mind digging them.It's a Tesoro single tone, pretty distinguishable between target tones with time to get familiar with it's characteristics.The depth display is seldom accurate, listen to the tone and you will learn the depths of the target better than relying on the display.I run the threshold about a 1/16" into the start of the redmark on the dial, sensitivty at 7-8.It gets chattering above 10 but I need to take the time to use it above 10 to see what I am missing in depth. I leave the disc just below the I in Iron, it doesn't discriminate well at all so I find myself thumbing the threshold knob and sensitivity knob to see if there is a difference for signal strength, trying to seek more optimal depth setting.It is the deepest depth running machine that I have. The 11x8 RSD coil is amazing at target separation at speeds faster than you would ever sweep a coil.

 

[AlanTN]

Personally, I wouldn't be inclined to use them. I'm sure they are great detectors, but, what's the point?

The beauty of a Tesoro is not needing a display, due to the fantastic disc you can be fairly sure of what you're digging anyways.

A Compadre would work just as well as a Deleon and in the end you would waste less time being picky about targets while looking at the display.

A better option overall would be an Outlaw, but, it looks like you already have the predecessor to the Outlaw so you are all set!

 

[dan b]

I have both the Deleon and the Compadre. I'll take the Deleon over the Compadre any day. I've had a lot of Tesoro models over the years, but I still have the Deleon and don't plan to get rid of it. I really enjoy it. As mentioned, it does love silver.

Dan

 

[BarberBill]

I've had very satisfactory results with the D. Granted, it's not the best choice for heavy mineralization problems, but I have several manual GB detectors for areas where that may be a problem. As to comparing to the Compadre in a message above, my D gets a lot better depth than the 7" Compadre I have. All told, the D is one I'll keep.
BB

 

[walnut]

I like the idea of Tesoro analog tones along with the visual ID. I would like a Deleon, but I would feel that I should have held out for a Cortes, which also has the notching and the sum features, which I think sounds worthwhile. Especially since they discontinued the Golden Micromax. I will try to find one on Ebay one day for a good price.

 

[AlanTN]

I think you would be surprised how much better in trash the 5.75 Compadre is, I do think it will outperform the Deleon. Deleon is no depth monster, and the Compadre isn't either, but the Compadre is only $160. We're talking about C&J machines here, and that, to me, means it can sort through heavily trashed areas to pick out good targets and the 5.75 Compadre will win that with a low cost.

And as I was saying he has the Bandido 2, and that has pretty well got him covered to 8" or so as an all-around machine. The 5.75 Compadre prob won't get as deep as a Deleon, but really, it's so good in trash, and so cheap - making it, to my mind, a better choice than the Deleon.

These are just my opinions. We all have our preferences, obviously. I am sure the Deleon and Cortes are both great detectors, I have just never seen the point in them, seem kind of gimmicky to me, I like simplicity.

 

[bibelot]

I have the Compadre with a 8" coil and it really is a great machine but it is so nice to have the display when your coin picking so your digging the corroded zincs or time restricted like only hunting for an hour or so after work.I don't have the 5.75" coil but the 8" coil does well in most situations.I'm looking to add a Vaquero or Tejon before next season but I am really not sure I want to dig any deeper than the Deleon will hunt.

 

[walnut]

I know a zinc penny before it comes out with my 5.7 compadre, the deleon is going to need to bring a little more than that, which I'm sure it does. Tell me a pull tab from a nickle or gold ring, that's all I ask .

 

[bibelot]

I know a zinc penny before it comes out with my 5.7 compadre, the deleon is going to need to bring a little more than that, which I'm sure it does. Tell me a pull tab from a nickle or gold ring, that's all I ask .

I dig a lot of nickels though it is not fool proof but it is a Tesoro with single tone.I might get a pull tab in every 4 nickels.The thing with the penny.I can identify the pre '83 pennies from the post '83 pennies which cuts the junk to a minumum.You're SOL on the gold other than the sustained sweet tone telling you to dig.I think I've dug about 5,000 pull tabs before I found my first gold ring.I still dig tabs, it's habit forming but I bet I'll know it when I run across another gold ring.

 

[bibelot]

Tim, buy a E trac ! stars:

 

[bigtim1973]

Lol.......Well that would be the day way too out of price range at the moment. I did however get a new unit because it was a great deal. I sold my bandido recently because it was just a museum piece for me. It worked great too but my silver sabre umax will be my tesoro keeper.Instill would like a deleon because it is one I have never tried

 

[bibelot]

Lol.......Well that would be the day way too out of price range at the moment. I did however get a new unit because it was a great deal. I sold my bandido recently because it was just a museum piece for me. It worked great too but my silver sabre umax will be my tesoro keeper.Instill would like a deleon because it is one I have never tried

I'm sorry about the Etrac comment.Lol. I hope the F75 does extremely well for you.Keep us posted on your finds.Those of you who have been at it for a while take things for common occurrences while newbies like myself are still reeling in amazement from what we are/were able to find.It seems as though my life is dependant on being able to get out and metal detect, constantly looking forward towards the next time I am able to get out and hunt.

 

[slingshot]

A Compadre can only give an idea of small, large, or coin-sized objects as well as some characteristic trash sounds. No way I'm gonna take it in a trash laden area and be able to tell you it's a coin, tab, or gold ring without fidgeting with the disc knob.Now I may find stuff that others pass over with their ID machine, but otherwise a Deleon is the best choice for these areas. And if you're undecided, you STILL get a beep and can satisfy your fears by recovery.

 

[Mega]

I dont own a Deleon but used the UK version for some time,over here in the UK they are called a Laser Hawkeye and slightly altered internal for our hunting conditions,must admit its one of the only machines that i can recall that show UK coin icons on the screen rather than most that use US coinage ones,which is a total waste of time for us really,of course iron is the same basically across the planet,but just a small niggle that alot of detectors made across the pond show US coinage.

Must admit i dont tend too use screen as in my mind audio is king all the times,screens are really only reliable to a certain depth then become un-reliable but audio will still give a good signal albeit less volume at much greater depth,then of course the audio threshold.

The Deleon or UK version has been around for a fair few years,it was a very popular workhorse on most sites and just seemed to work fine,it does have a fair selection of coils either Tesoro or after market ones,which does make it more adaptable,but the Tesoro machines have fallen out of favour in the last 5-10 years for UK users even including the Laser branded machines.At one time during say the 80s-90s the brand had a very strong following,but these days the No1 machine by the biggest margin i the Deus and No2 slot CTX3030,anything else is just a minority,but the best selling starter machine is the ACE250.

The Deleon although it does have a screen does not appear to have a high amount of users across the pond,not sure why,the Compadre seems to be held in high esteem,if i am honest i do own one but just cannot see what all the fuss is about,maybe great in parks etc but we dont hunt in parks,so prehaps that is why we dont use them here,i converted mine into a pinpoint probe.

 

[AlanTN]

A Compadre can only give an idea of small, large, or coin-sized objects as well as some characteristic trash sounds. No way I'm gonna take it in a trash laden area and be able to tell you it's a coin, tab, or gold ring without fidgeting with the disc knob.Now I may find stuff that others pass over with their ID machine, but otherwise a Deleon is the best choice for these areas. And if you're undecided, you STILL get a beep and can satisfy your fears by recovery.

Well, there's no way any machine can tell you a with 100% accuracy (or even close) what's in the ground unless the target is shallow and has no trash near it, let's be realistic here.
The disc knob on Tesoros is by far the best means of target ID I have ever used for coins, and there is no detector in the world that can tell gold from trash, there are way too many variables to not dig it all if you are wanting to find gold.

The Deleon although it does have a screen does not appear to have a high amount of users across the pond,not sure why,the Compadre seems to be held in high esteem,if i am honest i do own one but just cannot see what all the fuss is about,maybe great in parks etc but we dont hunt in parks,so prehaps that is why we dont use them here,i converted mine into a pinpoint probe.

The hype for the Compadre is justified here. It costs $160 and works extremely well in trash. The beauty is in the price, simplicity and functionality... and it's just a lot of fun to use in a carefree sort of way... it's kinda what detecting is supposed to be, or was supposed to be, before it got so convoluted by marketing gimmicks designed to inspire confidence.

That being said, if I lived in the UK I wouldn't see the point in it either, other than to use as a loner machine - or as you said, converted for pinpointing.

 

[thump7]

Been using the Tesoro Cortes for 2 years. It's a winner.
Used a few different no screen tesoros, still have a 7" compadre that my kids use.