Tesoro Fever!

[stevecoleccs]

Getting the Tesoro fever! However which one? I do mostly coin shooting in Georgia & was concerned about the ground here, I notice some the the machine have a set GB - I was looking at the Cortes (because of the GB) or the DeLeon (preset GB?) then there's the Tejon. The meter with the Cortes & Deleon is not a buying decision, or should it be... help!

 

[BarberBill]

IMHO you should seriously consider the Tejon or the Vaquero due to the inclusion of the manual ground balance. They don't have the meter, but with a bit of practice and experience, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of junk versus good targets by use of the discrimination. I have a DeLeon and the areas I hunt with it the ground is relatively mild so the preset GB is not a problem, but then again I have several other machines that have either a manual ground balance or true auto ground balance so I have those options when I need it. The Cortes does have manual ground balance in the all metal mode, but is preset in the discrimination mode. The DeLeon, as I understand it, has two ground balance presets, one for each mode. Bottom line in my opinion is if you're only going to have one machine, either manual GB or a true auto GB is the way to go. If you happen to look at older, used models, the Eldorado umax and the Bandido umax series are two that also have manual ground balance. Due to the lack of weight and the generally simple operation, the Tesoro's have a fun factor that I feel is missing in some of the other detectors on the market. My two cents.
HH
BB

 

[coins]

Very informative, thanks BB! ANy one else?

 

[tvr]

I think BarberBill summarized things pretty well.

The discriminators on the non-metered Tesoros are so consistent that once you get enough swing time on them to learn the talk of these detectors, you can do a pretty good job at identifying coins. The Tejon with the dual discriminators can pick nickles out like crazy.
tvr

 

[slingshot]

Yeah, the discriminators can be set just about any. I installed an extra disc level on my Silver umax-it is preset at the point where tabs break up. You can set disc#2 the same way on your Tejon-since you say you are mostly a coinhunter. Then set #1 at foil or just below nickels. Then when you get a signal in #1, switch to #2. If it goes silent, it's in the nickel range; if it breaks up, it's in the tab range; and if it stays, it's in the coin range. There are many other Tejon owners who have their own special settings-this is the standard coin setting.

 

[sqwaby]

I'm quite happy with my Vaquero. I thumb the disc and have become pretty proficient at knowing what the target is before digging. I still dig when in doubt or to recheck myself on what I think it is. You'll see a consistent pattern on tabs and other junk, whether its where it breaks up at or repeatability on the swing or the signal size(area). The V is a versatile machine, salt beaches with wet sand, relic hunts or just coin shooting at the park.

 

[amcjavelin]

Hello there steve just wanted to say if your looking for coins don't rule out the golden umax, with the four tone feature and notch system to boot it is a real coin killer but i will tell you it's no depth demon, I can get 6 or 7" at best in my ground up here in maine, plus I use the brown 8" concentric coil it seems to work better for me, when you get that midhigh to high tone and it's repeatable, dig!

 

[gmeechan]

Well for what its worth I have been detecting coins and relics in Australia for a few years now. First I used a Minelab Muskateer advantage . Then I stepped up to a Minelab explorer 2. Just recently sold the explorer and imported a Tejon from the States and can honestly say that first impressions are that the Tejon leaves both minelabs for dead. Will be trying in the gold areas in a few weeks time due to its manual ground balance. It is also a good looking detector and not too heavy. Go for the Tejon or Vaquero thats my opinion.