Need some advice about Tesoros - looking to buy one

[locusman]

To whom it may concern, I am a little out of the loop with the newer
Tesoro models. I have read some posts on this forum and I've heard about a few models - I guess I have narrowed down my search to these three.

1. DeLeon or Cortes (these two are quite similar I think)
2. Tejon
3. Vaquero

I am mostly a coin hunter (schools and yards) however, I also do some salt water beach hunting - wet sand, dry sand. I have owned about 10 machines - Fisher, Tesoro, Whites, Garrett, etc. No Minelabs yet.

I live in an area that is too new to hunt relics, we are lucky to get items from 1920's. Iron is actually what I don't want to find.

I've owned a Golden Sabre and Golden Sabre II and don't want to go that route any longer (so please don't suggest the golden uMax) - the depth is just not good enough with these machines.

I'm more of a target id guy lately, since there aren't many notch machines left out there. For this reason, I am tending to lean toward the DeLeon or Cortes but would consider others. Does anyone know if these two machines get good depth. When I say good, I am using say a CZ Fisher machine's depth on coins as my yardstick for comparison. Fishers tend to null out good targets too often in junky land spots, which is essence why I am here

Tejon is a little old school (in terms of target id anyways) but sounds like it might be ok for what I do. Vaquero has no target id at all, so unless this machine has fabulous depth, I probably wouldn't consider it very strongly. Depth, Target separation, recovery time, and accuracy of the discriminator are all factors I am considering. Price is not that important.

Can anyone give me the pros and cons of these three machines?

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[superheat]

NICE TO MEET YOU, FROM WHAT I HEARD THE (VAQ) IS A LITTLE EASIER TO USE,MYSELF I GOT A SILVER UMAX AND I LOVE IT. SIMPLER THE BETTER FOR ME SEE YA!

 

[Robby41]

Hey Locusman, these are my votes for you:
1. DeLeon for the meter
2. Vaquero for non-meter
Both will give you excellent info with ease of use and very good
depth and pinpointing.
Good Luck in all your searches!
..R

 

[saika]

I have the vaquero after spending many years as a Fisher kinda guy. I feel that the depth is amazing and has an edge even over the cz5. I was originally going to only use the vaquero until I "upgraded" to a TID unit. I am starting to second guess that thinking. The V does a terrific job of knocking out most iron, large iron washers are the exception, but you can usually ID these when you try to pinpoint them.

What I have noticed about the V is that you will be alerted to any target that is within your accepted range of your disc setting. I have taken a mercury dime and surrounded it with iron nails and even covered it with two. The dime still winked out as a diggable signal. Ths cz5 would walk away from such a setup.

The real beauty of the V is the crisp knock out point on the disc knob. In the case of mine where it says tabs, that is where they go away. There is no fading away as you turn up the disc. This also is a form of TID.

I hunt with the lowest iron setting I can get away with on a given location and day. If I really don't feel like digging questionable signals I will roll the disc knob around to see where the target goes bye-bye and take it from there.

I hunt some pretty junked up parks and the small 5.75 coil is a must for this unit or the Cibola. I ordered the small coil a week after I bought the V and haven't taken it off of the machine since. You wouldn't think that a small coil could go as deep as it does!

My finds are way up using this machine and coil gives an edge too. If you don't want to deal with the GB of the V get the Cibola just as deep and reliable. I have read that the V and Cibola have a depth edge on the Tejon, I don't know for myself.

A friend of mine just bought a Deleon and is very happy with it. The only drawback for me is that it does not have a GB control. I don't know if spending the extra $$$ to get the cortes is worth it, to me anyways. At the end of the day I will be buying a second unit with VDI and that will either be the Whites M6 or the Tesoro Deleon.

I hope that this helps.

 

[rentasquid]

but I'll give it anyway, since I like to yap about stuff.

I've used two of the detectors that you listed. I'll tell you what I liked and disliked about both, then you can do what you want to with it.

Cortes: Lightweight. Good balance and feel to the detector...can swing for hours. Had pretty good depth, as far as I could tell. Good overall detector. Didn't like the inability to adjust the GB in Disc. mode, since that is what I hunted in. So, it falsed a lot in the soil where I hunt(except in the playground, where it did fine). I thought the meter was so-so,which could be from the ground as well since the exterra that I have now behaves the same. I wish they would have spread out the ID numbers on the top end of the scale rather than the low and mid areas(Silver and copper all ID at 95). I also liked the wealth of coils that are available for the Cortes too.

Tejon: Overall, it was a pretty decent detector. I mainly got rid of mine to try something different. Depth was pretty much like the Cortes, for me. Although, it was a lot more jittery around iron than the Cortes, which is because of its increased sensitivity. I didn't like the all metal retune speed....Way to fast for my taste(same for the Cortes). I did like to use the trigger(pinpointer) as a quick GB shortcut. My main gripes were the retune speed and the ground balance adjustment was a little too coarse as well. I could never get it so that it was neutral, which I suppose is ok since I run it slightly positive anyway, but it still bugged me that I couldn't get it neutral.

Out of the two, I would probably get a Tejon before the Cortes, but thats just me. And if I were to choose between a Vaq and a Tejon, I might give a Vaq a shot, just to try it out.

So, thats my two cents. I'm probably missing some good and bad for both detectors, but thats what stuck out in my mind the most.

J.

 

[DavHut]

Tall order, man. Sounds like you want the ultimate detector, perfection in a box. But, let's have a go anyways, shall we?:

1. DeLeon or Cortes (these two are quite similar I think)
2. Tejon
3. Vaquero

I am mostly a coin hunter (schools and yards) however, I also do some salt water beach hunting - wet sand, dry sand.
In schools and yards, the Cortes will be hard to beat.
Dry sand? That's easy - crank 'er up, max 'er out, Dig Everything. Wet Salt? Oooooooh, too bad. Youre gonna play hell anytime this is your hunt site and you are using a VLF machine. Much adjusting is the order of the day, SENS will NOT be at max (Ill guarantee that) and compromises across the board will be endured. Sorry, bro.


Iron is actually what I don't want to find.
Same here...same with everyone reading this. Guess what I was finding today? Yep - iron, and I was DISC'ing it out. Found an nice rusted up clasp knife. I knew it wasnt a good coin, but it wasnt to be ignored. It had steel bolsters and brass separators. See what I mean?

There is NO detector (read that as ZERO) that will completely ignore iron. Fortunately, the Tesoro's are some of the best at small iron. But get into big or deeply buried, smooth-shaped iron and it's a crap shoot.

Golden uMax?
Highly underated for your scenario's. Just enough ID to be helpful, yet not so much that you are always gawking at the meter - as opposed to digging. And it is a great iron IDENTIFIER, to boot. Only thing it needs is a GB, and many add them. Sorry, again.

I'm more of a target id guy lately, since there aren't many notch machines left out there. For this reason, I am tending to lean toward the DeLeon or Cortes but would consider others. Does anyone know if these two machines get good depth. When I say good, I am using say a CZ Fisher machine's depth on coins as my yardstick for comparison.
I had a CZ for a long time and it was sometimes deep, but there were trade offs. Pure depth is a highly OVERRATED and misused concept.
Adaptability to conditions and depth to match is more useful.
Are the Cortez and DeLeon deep? None of us hunt side by side with you, where you hunt to say yes or no. Will you be satisfied with them? None of us can answer THAT, either.

Fishers tend to null out good targets too often in junky land spots, which is essence why I am here
Now you are talking useful. Target separation is often more important than depth, especially in at least some of your stated hunt sites. However, the big coils that are sprouting on detectors these days are not helping. most Tesoros will pick up good cinductivity even in the presence of masking trash, IF you are swingin correctly and give them a chance to work.

Tejon is a little old school (in terms of target id anyways) but sounds like it might be ok for what I do. Vaquero has no target id at all, so unless this machine has fabulous depth, I probably wouldn't consider it very strongly.
The nice thing about the Tejon is its adaptable. TUrn it down and use the mode switching, and you have a fairly good notch DISC system (I used a Fisher 1266X to good effect this way, for YEARS, without knowing any better ). Wind it out and you have one of the best deepseekers out there. DO NOT get one unless you plan to spend 30+ hours with it.

Depth, Target separation, recovery time, and accuracy of the discriminator are all factors I am considering. Price is not that important.
Get a Tesoro. All of these exist in them. Get a Tejon or a Cortez if you want decent small iron DISC, target recovery time and accurate DISC. Id suggest you DO NOT get a Vaq, as its strictly mono-tone and wont hold your interest.
Whichever you get, buy a sniper coil for it, too.

Hope that wasnt too painless.

 

[rentasquid]

but it did have the adaptability of having that second disc trigger to check whether you had a lower conductive target.

J.

 

[DavHut]

Thats what I meant Squid. I hope I didnt cloud the waters. These detectors in the Tesoro line have a good bit of nuance to the tone, but you have to learn it over time.
Jack Gifford once told me over the phone that he didnt expect to see Tesoro ever make a heavily ID-laden unit, as he felt the digging is the important part. Now that his son's are at the hel,. we'll see...

 

[saika]

You mentioned that some are adding a manual GB to the micromax units? If that is the case would this work on the Deleon? Anyone out there have an answer to this?

 

[saika]

There are tones there, just not as pronounced as some other machines, my old fisher 1260 was amazing that way. Man oh man, if they would only add VDI numbers to the Vaquero, I would be one happy digger, that would be a nigh on unstoppable machine.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[DavHut]

AS I understand it, the GB on the DeLeon is fixed. Now, that being said, I assume it is adjusted at the factory with a trimmer - which can be moved to the front panel. This is what is being done with the uMax units that I mentioned.

However, beware - there is some sort of worry about this that I dont know. Just that the Deleon/Cortez dont lend themselves to this modification, somehow. Ask around.

 

[DavHut]

Indeed, I had a 1266 X and I ocul dtell foil by its "weak whine" of a signal. I dont thing its going to be too long before your wishes are granted. The Cortes is getting a little long in the tooth and there is enough demand along the lines of what you say, that it is only a matter of time.

 

[saika]

I have been and am getting nothing but roaring silence. I hope it isn't my breath?

 

[Scully]

I was told Tesoro had to do these two units this way to keep the ID accurate. Something in the electronics.

 

[saika]

n/t

 

[locusman]

Well, I guess I might be closer to my goal. I am down a choice between two machines (Tejon or Cortez). I will keep reading all the responses I got and try to make a decision based on that.

Thanks Guys for all your help.

 

[Richard@BackwoodsDetectors]

Let me throw the Cibola into the mix...same as Vaquero but preset ground balance...if you don't have a lot of hot rocks, then it will work great for you...thanks Richardntn

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