Quite amazed.....

[Ivan]

with the performance of the Deleon. Live up here on the West Coast of British Columbia ...quite a bit of mineral. Of no consequence to the Deleon. I does air test poor ...especially on our Canadian clad. But "nails it" when it's in the ground. I've found more of our $1.00 & $2.00 coins than with any other detector I've used.....in sites I've detected regularly!!! I have the feeling that manual ground balancing is over emphisized. Something is going on inside the Deleon that makes it fantastic. Also quite hot on gold rings....found a few small, and I mean small..... gold ladies 14K rings in fairly trashy ball fields......with the stock 8X9" coil!!! All I can say is ...this detector is really underated....a sleeper...poorly promoted..secret weapon. One of my friends who uses a Whites DFX just sold his unit...because when I lent him mine for a week he didn't want to put it down. Strange machine this DeLeon ???

 

[BarberBill]

I, too, use the DeLeon and have made many good finds with it. IMHO, a properly adjusted preset ground balance is less of a handicap for most detecting than it is given credit for. Manual ground balance in some soils is certainly a plus, but I've made many deep recoveries with a variety of preset machines. With the light weight and pleasant swinging capabilities, the D is just a lot of fun to use.
BB

 

[jld66]

I know someone who traded a vaquero for the deleon and is very pleased how well it does hitting coins also.

 

[Ivan]

One of the guys up here owns a DeLeon and Vaquero and says that in the great majority of situations ...they are equal in depth. The Deleon doesn't get stuck on micro foil or micro canslaw....that is a big plus!!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

How does gold read on your Deleon?
I like mine but mostly use it for coin hunting.
Curious what gold shows on the graphs.
Happy hunting!!

 

[fltacoma]

I have thought about getting a Deleon in the future, after getting a Compadre and Silver Umax of course how do the Deleon's do out in the field from those using?

 

[Mega]

Over in the UK they are called Laser Hawkeye,basically the same machines but slightly tweaked for our ground conditions and targets that we hunt,so the screen shows our UK coinage rather than US,it was a popular workhorse detector that alot of folks used some years back,but rarelt see them being used these days i must admit.Alot of new detector have come out in the last 5 years and sales of Tesoro/Laser machine have basically dropped off and no one buys them anymore over here.

Although i have never owned one i have used one many times,and it was a very pleasant machine too use,i would not buy a brand new one as other machines can be bought for the same price but with higher specifications,but if a nearly new one came along at a vastly reduced price then i may buy one.

Trouble is folks are spolt for choice these days and unless you produce what the detectorist wants then you will suffer sales wise,the most popular 2 machine here in the UK and has been for the last 5 years is the Deus and CTX3030,but the leader by a massive margin is the Deus,but no one alas uses Tesoro anymore.

 

[Ivan]

You are right Mega, the Deleon is a "workhorse" detector. I can not tell you the amount of times that I've gone out with friends who hunted with me.They used high dollar complicated metal detectors.......and while they were adjusting and fiddling with programs and settings.......I was making finds. Look at the Deleon faceplate........do you see any complication ...I don't. And at the same time the simple screen feeds you so much usefull information. The thing that bugged me the most is that when I beat these guys......on multiple trips...consistently. They said I was just ........lucky. You can be lucky once or twice but when it happens all the time.......I'd say that it had something to do with a simple to use, effective, metal detector. Too many people today have been mezmorized by all kinds of color screens....settings....programs,wireless headphones that pick up cellphone noise,,etc etc......they lose track of the basics. Another thing, some of these high value machines are often going in for repair. Every now and then I'd exchange detectors with my buddies and they were often surprised at how simple and "productive" the Deleon is. It's like a quality pair of jeans.....won't let you down.......just my 5 cents worth!!

 

[hihosilver]

I want a Deleon. If we don't see a new Tesoro by spring, I will probably spring for the Deleon with the new 11 x 8 WS coil.

 

[Ivan]

Just be aware that the coil you are talking about will change the discrimination dynamics.....it will gain more of an appetite for bottle caps and iron.Also the target I'd will not lock on or be as stable. I learned this from Monte....he almost always uses concentric coils......even in nail infested ghost towns. I stopped using DD coils due to his observations. Get the 5.75" concentric coil.......then you Will really be cooking with oil!!! Large coils miss way too much in typical hunting situations. The 4" coils.....too small ....5.75 concentric is the way to go!!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

I agree.
I don't have the 5.75 on mine, but did have a newly rebuilt and retunes Troy super 7 (from Troy x2) put on mine and sent in to have detector tuned to it.
It's a beast.

So can anyone tell me what the graphs look like and how they read when you pass gold under the coil? Does it look like trash? Tabs?

 

[Ivan]

Most of the rings I've found or tested are as follows,,,,,,,,,,small ladies 14k in the (16 to 24) range. Mens 10K bands medium sized (44 to 55). Larger 14-18K bands( 58-70). Hope this helps. Just an interesting side note... a fellow emailed me from Ontario and said that his Garrett AT Pro was front heavy and tiring with the standard coil compared with the Deleon....very light and not mentally draining...total ease of use. He got a great deal on the used Deleon, but said they are hard to find used. Dealer told him that most of the people who have bought a Deleon keep it!! It does really well on our Canadian one dollar and two dollar coins.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Most of the rings I've found or tested are as follows,,,,,,,,,,small ladies 14k in the (16 to 24) range. Mens 10K bands medium sized (44 to 55). Larger 14-18K bands( 58-70). Hope this helps. Just an interesting side note... a fellow emailed me from Ontario and said that his Garrett AT Pro was front heavy and tiring with the standard coil compared with the Deleon....very light and not mentally draining...total ease of use. He got a great deal on the used Deleon, but said they are hard to find used. Dealer told him that most of the people who have bought a Deleon keep it!! It does really well on our Canadian one dollar and two dollar coins.

Thanks!!
Does the graph ever throw you off on gold? I imagine it's all over the place or reading trashy with multiple bars fluctuating.
Thanks again!!

 

[dan b]

I use the Deleon in Canada too. I've had numerous detectors, including many Tesoro's. The Deleon is the one I kept and have no intention of parting with. The Vaquero was a great detector for our coins too, but I found the Deleon just as deep, but I don't have to replace the battery every second or third outing. I also had a Cortes a few years back and it did very well too. I don't recall why I got rid of it but I'm pretty sure that I made a mistake in doing so.

 

[Ivan]

Stefan....don't take the graphs literally.....watch were they....(tend to land). I noticed that when the graph tends to bounce between tab and foil.....it's usually good. Often gold....especially deeper stuff..the graph doesn't lock on. But it tends to point you in the right direction.

 

[Ivan]

Also important to note....when the iron bar comes up on the graph and the number reading is high................usually gold......but strange shape. I got a gold hat pin and a broach both gold both reading a high number in iron. Investigate those they will pay off!!

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Also important to note....when the iron bar comes up on the graph and the number reading is high................usually gold......but strange shape. I got a gold hat pin and a broach both gold both reading a high number in iron. Investigate those they will pay off!!

Thank you for the tip!!
Been hard pressed to find out how gold shows on this detector. In the end digging it all wins, but I'd still like to know how gold rings, necklaces, etc. Show up.

 

[fematrailer]

I owned a Deleon and wanted to see how good it was. I was leaving North Texas and I jumped off at Garland and went to Garrett. In the showroom you can look at any detector they make. I pulled the Ace 250 off the rack and with some help, set it up with the same basic sensitivity and descrimination. The Ace 250 got an extra 3 inches on a dime and almost 4 inches on a quarter. Got home and put the Deleon on EBay and bought an AT-Pro. Never looked back. Just acquired a Troy Shadow X2.

 

[Ivan]

So what we learned here... was that you had a malfunctioning DeLeon. I've tested the detectors you mentioned on a dry sand beach...light mineral and with the standard coil the Deleon would read a quarter 3 " deeper than the Ace 250...................obviously I was using a defective Ace 250!!! LOL LOL

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Yeah my ace 350 couldn't even hold a candle to even my compadre. I'm not here to dog on other detectors, but that was my experience.
Only detector I parted with.
My friend enjoyed it and isn't serious in the hobby. Gave him the whole package with all the accessories for $100 so he was/is happy.