I've used Tesoro (Silver Sabre II, Bandido IIuMax, Euro) and I'm currently playing around quite a bit with a Fisher Coinstrike and have enough passing experience by a few people with CZs to know that CZs really don't like small iron, especially if there's lots of it strewn about wide and/or deep.
Tesoro has totally excellent separation and discrimination, which is why I'm still a major fan of the brand -- but the Tesoros I've used still snap crackle and pop in lots of smaller iron, while the Coinstrike does not. And **IMO only** the Coinstrike's metering and features are a bit above Tesoro's. But a Coinstrike costs a bit more than a Cortes or a DeLeon. Fair enough. In that case, a Fisher ID Excel gives those two detectors a pretty good run for the same kind of money. Not the same kind of run, but significant enough for what it does do to offset what it doesn't in comparison to Tesoro's metered machines.
And you can't put an unmetered Eldorado (or an unmetered anything) in the same comparison class as a metered machine.
Make no mistake -- you'd certainly find a TON of stuff with a Cortes or a DeLeon, and you wouldn't go wrong whatsoever buying one. Whether it'll get you there as quickly and as trouble-free as a Coinstrike or an Excel is another matter entirely.
Scott
