TESORO CORTES QUESTIONS

[joe dirt_1]

I'm looking at trading for a tesoro cortes for coin hunting and was wanting to know about the pros and cons of the machine. I have been reading some field tests and they seem to like the machine alot. i have read that it isn't a real deep machine and wanted to know what kind of depth are you guys getting in good soil. if it is capable of hitting on a dime at 8 inches or so i think it would work fine for me. most of the coins i find average maybe 5 to 6 inches deep and the soil is pretty good here in mid western illinois. i have the 5.75" coil already for my silver umax, so maybe the 12x10 coil would be a good coil to buy. would like to hear what some cortes users have to say about the machine. also could someone explain the notch on the cortez for me. as i understand it the narrow width discs out the round and square tabs and the wide notch takes the tabs out plus zinc pennies.
wouldn't learning where the tabs id on the machine be better than notching them out plus risk losing indian head pennies and any gold jewelry that falls in that range? only reason i can see for the notch would be in a new park where all the coins are going to be new coins. thanks .........roger

 

[jabbo]

Been using a Cortes about 3 years. I like it better than my other machines because all the meter info is always on, including target depth and I like having knobs rather than pushpads. With the 8" round donut or 8 x 9 coil, will ID a dime buried in my test garden at 6" max, same as my Fisher ID Edge. Both machines seem to be about the same for depth and ID. I had the 10 x 12 coil, didn't like it, is heavy and too much ground chatter, dime depth was the same, quarter was 1" deeper. I don't use the notches. I use the SUM tones to check certain iffy targets, but the SUM mode can't give any info when the target depth is at the fringe of the regular Disc mode, I think the extra processing is too much to handle when the signal is very weak. None of my machines can hit a buried 8" dime in Disc mode, but all do in All Metal. Hope this helps. Jabbo

 

[joe dirt_1]

jabbo, thanks for the information on the cortes. i'm kinda surprised that it will only get a dime at 6 inches max though. is the soil pretty bad in your area? i read that the cortes meter was accurate. i had a fisher id edge and it did ok for depth, but i didn't care for the weak volume it had. i like to hear a strong hit when a target is detected. i have never used the 10x12 coil before, but always read where it makes the silver umax alot deeper than the standard coil. seems odd you didn't see any increase in depth with the bigger coil. could it be the cortes isn't set up from the factory with the right fixed ground balance for your soil conditions? i doubt i would use the wide or narrow notches on the cortes, seems to be a wasted feature to me. much rather have a ground balance control for the disc mode on the cortes. the sum mode has like 9 differen tones the way i understand it. does this
help to tell a silver coin from a copper coin or do they both have the same tone? i'm thinking of trading my cz 70 for the cortes. the cz seems to get heavy after hunting a couple of hours, but it sure is a depth monster on coins. i think it would hit a dime at 6 inches easily with sensitivity set low as it will go. i really like my silver umax and think the cortes would make a good machine for the type of hunting i do. is the cortes worthy of trading my cz for in your opinion? it sounds like i would be giving up lots of depth on coins, but probably 90% of the coins i find aren't that deep. i know the tesoros are responsive to gold jewelry and would imagine the cortes would make a good gold jewelry machine with its accurate meter. just gotta figure out if the cortes will do what i need it to do in my area. thanks again for the information on the cortes.............roger

 

[jabbo]

Roger, The soil in my area seems to be mild. My CZ7aPro will go deeper, but won't ID any deeper than the Cortes or the Edge. The Edge has weak volume but my Killer B head phones boost it. The 6" max is in Disc mode. Others have said hardly any increase in depth using the 10 x 12 on coins, but does better on larger coins, as I noticed 1" more on a quarter. The SUM tones help ID a quarter from a dime or penny. The Cortes is good for gold jewelry, found lots, but have to dig tabs. The meter is a little small but easy to read, for me The labeling under the bars is not easy to read, so I relabeled the bars using Microsoft Excel and glued the label in place under the bars. I tested targets for SUM tones, counted 12. I would say the CZ 70 is worth more than the Cortes on a trade.

 

[jabbo]

Roger, My CZ7aPro gives an iron low tone buzz on a dime 6" or deeper. Does your CZ70 give a high tone at that depth?

 

[joe dirt_1]

jabbo, yes, my cz 70 gives a high tone on a 6" dime. i have never had a silver dime give a low iron buzz before. maybe i missed a few coins because i thoughtt it was iron, but all i have dug gave a high tone. good to hear that you can tell coins apart with the different tones. i agree that the cz is worth more than the cortes in a trade especially since i have all 3 coils for my cz 70. not sure what to do about a trade, but i can try the cortes out before making a trade so that will help. the cortes i'm thinking about is just a few months old and should be like new. what would a good price be on a cortes like this with just one coil? sorry for all the questions but i didn't want to trade my machine and regret it later on.
thanks........roger