Tejon has been a winner for me!

[bulletman]

I have been reading about negative issues with the Tejon for some time now, within the various forums. I have owned a Tejon for a year now, and must admit that it is the best Tesoro that I have owned - and I have owned many. Stability issues seem to be the main complaint with users, "erratic and unstable, or chatty", as I have read many times on the forums. I have also read many posts that state this detector is "not deep" within miniralized ground.

Tesoro designed this detector as a Relic hunting machine, to be used primarily in the fields where civil war campsites and skirmishes have taken place. The high frequency (18 khz) is ideal for brass, copper, and lead to name a few. However, if used in public park settings, the Tejon may seem to be erratic due to the billions of pulltabs, and aluminum shards - as the 18 khz frequency is ideally tuned to that type of metal. I have also noticed, that when I get around high voltage power lines - it can become unstable, however, just turning down the sensitivity helps a lot. I have experienced electrical interference with other brands as well. There is one particular field that I hunt that has an underground power line. I cannot hunt within 10 to 20 yards of that power line with my Garrett GTA 1000 - as it becomes highly unstable.

As for depth capabilities with the Tejon - I must attest that this is the deepest detector that I have owned - even with the stock coil. The ground that I search in, is moderate to high mineral content with lots of clay content. The grounds that I hunt were civil war grounds - where soldiers had campfires - so the ground changes rapidly. I have to check my ground balance frequently, and believe this is the key to the Tejon. It has to be balanced correctly in order to get the depth. When I first purchased the Tejon - I took it back to some old hunting grounds covered by my DFX, and immediately started finding more mini balls, and the buck shot which was in the 8 inch range and deeper. I know that I had covered this area with the DFX thoroughly - it just was not as capable as the Tejon. A larger digging tool was also in order, as I was quickly wearing myself down with a trowel. There have been many signals that were so deep, that I had to give up after digging 20 + inches and could not dig any deeper

So, I write this post to give the Tesoro engineers Two Thumbs Up for the Tejon. It is a great relic hunting machine, and if you have been thinking about purchasing one, then I would encourage you to do so. Don't be discouraged by the negative feedback. Setup correctly, and used correctly, this machine is a real winner out in the field.

Bulletman

 

[marcomo]

Excellent points, Bulletman.

The Tejon is Tesoro's deepest detector and it is not intended to be a silent searcher. It doesn't totally reject iron which is why it does so well unmasking good targets.

A mistake someone new to the Tejon will often make is to set the sensitivity too high for the site being searched thinking they need to do that for better depth. The busier the site and the worse the soil, the lower the sensitivity needs to be for good stability. Even on low settings the Tejon gets excellent depth.

I've noticed nice condition used Tejon's have been selling around $300 lately on that auction site, to me that's a bargain.

 

[tab-nabit]

Chatty? It's language is letting you know it's working. I like the chatty feedback. I think it's a good thing. Sensitive machine it is.

 

[tvr]

Bulletman,
Most places I have come across fire coals or charcoal, the Tejon sounds off on them too well most of the time unless I ground balance to the coals. Do you balance to the coals, or is there a specific audio clue you listen for to pick them out?

I have found the Tejon to be very good on the mid-range conductors. I did struggle with it at first in trashy areas until I got the 5.75 inch concentric. And I really like dry beach or play ground sweeping with the 3.6 x 18 inch coil.

Will have to say that after a number of wet salt sand adventures, it does have it's limits. The ground balance does not have the range to balance to the wet salt. Not really close to it either in many places. That leaves it up to very reduced sensitivity and increased discrimination to get as good use as possible. Some beaches are much worse than others. So in some wet salt beach cases I've tried the Tejon does OK and in others, it struggles.

This past weekend, I grabbed the Tejon from the trunk when the other detector I was using did not handle an EMI issue from an above ground transformer very well. Tejon was happy as could be.

I too think that they are becoming a bargain at the low used prices they seem to be going for recently.

Tejon is a good tool to have ready to go.
tvr

 

[bulletman]

TVR:

When hunting in one particular field that has just opened up to me - I do not ground balance to the coals. I find a clean piece of ground with no metal in the area where I initially ground balance. Just today - I dug a piece of coal flack with the DFX outfitted with the 12 x 15 sef DD coil. Even with a DD - you cannot eliminate the coals or hot rocks. Also - around here I find what I call coal mixed in with lead or other molten metal. Probably where some soldier was casting bullets and dumps the excess lead in the fire. Naturally - I do not want to miss even those lead spills. Iron is also a big problem in these areas. There are many times when I know there were masking issues due to iron being "close" to a good target, so I often dig those questionable repeatle targets. Targets are naturally faint and cleaner in sound both sweep directions - then I turn 90 degrees and re-sweep the target. This target response is what I'm after - it can get your blood boiling. If it is fairly consistant - then I definatley dig. The Tejon is a natural with this tecnique. With the DFX - coals or hot rocks can show up most anywhere on the VDI - and very jumpy. Of course, this depends upon how I have the DFX set up - I try not to run too much hot rock rejection as this eliminates depth.

With the Tejon - I set the disc just above iron and the secondary disc just below foil. If the ground is fairly clean - I rarely check the secondary disc. Deep lead requires low disc. I have dug many bullets and buttons that I know others would not dig primarily due to their machines not even detecting the target.
A good friend who strictly relic hunts, has often told me "dig it all". He is retired now and has a lot more energy than I do, as I still labor at a job. He does dig a lot of targets that the average person would not. However, you should see some of the items that he has dug - and they would have discriminated out just above iron.

Bulletman

 

[tvr]

Thanks for the tips.

Have not yet hit a probable Civil War site but have permission for one home site a couple hours up the road that may be promising. So, in more of a coin / gold mode, I mostly run second disc where square pull tabs crackle. Has given nickles and things like 9 mm shell casings a clean smooth hit on the first disc and cleanly gone on the second disc. No doubt about digging those, it also turns up the occasional piece of gold jewelry.

Come to think of it, I've been running the XL Pro with hot rock reject on. Does a fairly good job of not noticing the coals. Re-reading what you note about the DFX, I may now turn that off too just to make sure I am not missing what I want to find.

Thanks again.
tvr

 

[usmc0351]

simple, turn on a go,,,,and deep,,,,you can have your 75ltd, t2s, and of course, that v3 thing, nothing out there goes deeper than a tejon, if it did i would have it,,,,,,nothing goes deeper,,,,

 

[marcomo]

simple, turn on a go,,,,and deep,,,,you can have your 75ltd, t2s, and of course, that v3 thing, nothing out there goes deeper than a tejon, if it did i would have it,,,,,,nothing goes deeper,,,,

I have an F75 LTD, and this is no knock against the Tejon which I also have and is an excellent and deep machine, but the LTD is in a class by itself. It goes deeper than the Tejon. And the separation is definitely better than the Tejon, which is saying something because the Tejon (and all Tesoros) have excellent separation.

With all due respect to you, USMC, if you think otherwise I'd be willing to bet you haven't used the LTD.

That being said, at around $300 used, with Tesoro pretty much honoring warranties on any machine bought new or used, you could make a solid argument for the Tejon being a better value than the F75 LTD.

How many of us find enough to pay for a $1200 machine? Especially after you consider the other costs like gas, batteries, etc.

 

[usmc0351]

i use to have a ltd,,,,now keep in mind im only talking relics,,,,if i would have thought the ltd was a better machine for diggin relics i'd still have it. the ltd is a fine machine,,but do you really need all the bells and whistles when it comes to diggin bullets,,,i have hunted countless times with folks who have used the ltd and the results that ive seen, im sticking with the tejon,,,,,the proof is in the display case,,,,period.

simple, turn on a go,,,,and deep,,,,you can have your 75ltd, t2s, and of course, that v3 thing, nothing out there goes deeper than a tejon, if it did i would have it,,,,,,nothing goes deeper,,,,

I have an F75 LTD, and this is no knock against the Tejon which I also have and is an excellent and deep machine, but the LTD is in a class by itself. It goes deeper than the Tejon. And the separation is definitely better than the Tejon, which is saying something because the Tejon (and all Tesoros) have excellent separation.

With all due respect to you, USMC, if you think otherwise I'd be willing to bet you haven't used the LTD.

That being said, at around $300 used, with Tesoro pretty much honoring warranties on any machine bought new or used, you could make a solid argument for the Tejon being a better value than the F75 LTD.

How many of us find enough to pay for a $1200 machine? Especially after you consider the other costs like gas, batteries, etc.

 

[marcomo]

i use to have a ltd,,,,now keep in mind im only talking relics,,,,if i would have thought the ltd was a better machine for diggin relics i'd still have it. the ltd is a fine machine,,but do you really need all the bells and whistles when it comes to diggin bullets,,,i have hunted countless times with folks who have used the ltd and the results that ive seen, im sticking with the tejon,,,,,the proof is in the display case,,,,period.

You are aware that you're talking about a detector that's only been out for about a month?

 

[bulletman]

Marcomo and usmc0351:

The major producers of metal detectors make great products (Tesoro, Fisher, Garrett, Whites, Tecnetics). I guess I like the old technology, analog vs digital. As for Fisher, I owned the CZ5 and then the CZ6, both great detectors - wish they were still produced at Los Banos. Oh well - change usually occurs in the spectrum of time whether we like it or not.

Thought of purchasing the Tecnetics LTD primarily due to it's ease of use compared to the F75LTD - just don't know if I want to make the move or not. I will always keep my Tesoros. If Tesoro goes purily digital - then I wonder how many old timers will still buy them. Could cause a rush on the existing analog machines that are still out there. The sound that an analog detector produces is unique compared to a digitized sound. And I have found that the digitized sound is harder to "read". Also, in our world of complexity, it is just nice to pick up a simple detector and have some fun with it. I have made some great finds with an old Fisher 1212 that I sill have around. When I have just a couple of hours to detect - then I sometimes take out "old" technology into the field, and still make some great finds.

These are just a few thoughts on Tesoro. My other detectors still get use, they are just not as easy to set-up and run. I have detectors ranging in age of 25 years and younger. I am the original owner of these machines, and can tell you that not much advancement has taken place in that amount of time. Until the manufacturers can make a detector that can ID a target more accurately, and increase depth significantlly, not much will change.

Bulletman

 

[usmc0351]

im aware theres a neat new camo job, boost and cache features,,,,,,,,its been out a longer than a month,,,,but hey, ill stick to what works for me,,,,,if the ltd works for you,,,,more power to you

 

[marcomo]

USMC, we can both agree that the Tejon is an excellent detector!

As far as the "neat new camo" motif on the LTD, personally I'm not crazy about it. But on my list of important detector qualities, the way a detector looks isn't on it.

 

[bulletman]

I have heard a rumor that Tesoro has something on the burner. Possibly a Tejon with target I.D.?

 

[John (Ma)]

The Tejon is awsome, I love mine. But it is an animal and not for everyone!