Unexpected results head to head comparison XP Deus, Equinox 600, Tesoro Tejon

smokeythecat

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I was out with several folks digging farm fields looking for colonial items from one spot and CW items from another spot. This is what I found with a side by side with the Tesoro Tejon, XP Deus and Equinox 600.

All will find relics. We stayed close to each other and would call the other guy over to "check out this signal" before digging, to find out what the other machine would or would not do.

The Tejon is the hardest hitting, deepest machine. Excellent machine for finding the target in the hole. Deus also rocks when locating a target in the hole. The Equinox struggled to locate the target. I do not know why, but this was a repeatable effect. It's meter got "confused" and read various numbers even going into the negative range on a mid range target. Most of the targets were brass and lead. No silver coins were found on any of our sites.

Deus and Equinox were about equal in depth, again, with the Tejon going the deepest and giving the cleanest signal. On more than one occasion the Deus would just chirp, indicating it did see the target, but not enough to get the VDI to engage. On a couple targets the Equinox did not see the target at all but on a couple occasions it would also do a little chirp like the Deus to indicate it had seen the target.

Discrimination win goes to the Deus, as it had no issues telling hot rocks from aluminum from iron from good stuff. The Equinox's meter jumped around a lot. Both sites have some iron, but not a huge amount. The CW site has very little iron, compared to the colonial spot. The Tejon has a dual discrimination circuit, but takes no time to switch between them, but came in about the same as the Equinox, as it could not ID a hot rock as readily as the other machines, but it was no slouch.

With both the Equinox and the Deus, a large hand forged iron item might show as a high tone, but this is a known habit of both machines, however, we occasionally get a cannon ball on our colonial sites so you still want to dig it. Same with the Tejon.

Effective use of the coil: The Tejon with the 11 x 8 coil would yell out with a solid signal as soon as the edge of the loop passed over the target. The same thing happens with the Deus. The Equinox for unknown reasons would just chirp or squeak once the coil passed over the edge of the target, sometimes very faintly, and on occasion not at all, and only when you got within 4" of the center of the coil would you get a solid hit. Effectively, this made over half the coil useless. It also had trouble locating some of the brass targets while out of the hole! I can't figure that one out.

Now for settings. For the Deus, we used Deus Fast with the HF elliptical coil and the 31 hkz setting on version 5.2.

On the Equinox we used factory presets and used both Field 1 and Field 2.

The Tejon is an analog machine, so forget setting it like the others.

The best items were found by the Tejon, CW breastplate, minies and some others.

The Deus found a Virginia coat button, minies, buckles and buttons.

The 600 found some flat buttons, and misc lead. I think the finds were mostly a matter of which machine got over them first.

Just an observation.
 

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Megalodon

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You have the Golden Sabre, and I have the Royal Sabre. And, my only trouble with that was the battery holder. The holder fit into the housing too tightly, and eventually cracked and broke trying to insert it into the housing.

Exactly. I think the battery holders are still available and cheap. Good luck finding a battery holder for the ADS. I bought another example for spares like the battery holder.
 

Racso

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Was VFerrari swinging that 600?
 

bleeohio

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Bleeohio, are you me? I had a Tejon a few years ago, it did very well and soon after my local dealer showed me the Deus and I got it and sold the Tejon. I'm going to attempt to try NOT to sell any more detectors from my now enlarged stable.

Ha, maybe, as right now I have my Deus a tejon and an orx just for grins. One would think I'd have learned a lesson by now so I'm gonna hang my hat on those three. (for now)

Wanted to ask also, what was the soil reading in that area? Maybe had some influence on the outcome?
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Rasco, no V wasn't in on this trip. He lives a couple hours from me.

Bleeohio, since I have the Deus I don't think I will try an Orx. And the soil is moderately hot, if I remember right the soil is around an 82.
 

Tommybuckets

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It was an eye opener for me. I became partial to minelabs because I like the tones but the instant response and audio texture of the analog machines is so intuitive for me. I was quite surprised how sensitive to small stuff the Tesoro was and that it went deeper than the Deus or Nox. I have been feeling like my Nox isn't getting me very deep in difficult soil. I cleaned out the cover but need to do a test garden to figure out what the settings are doing with regard to depth. I still can barely find the settings in the Nox lol. I just turn it on multi freq field two and try n remember to ground balance. Unless I m at the beach then its beach 2 in the water.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Tommy, you can't find the settings because you coated every machine you touched this weekend in thick mud! True! I'm still getting it off the Tejon.

The Tejon on both sand mild soils and bad ground was at least a couple inches deeper than the Nox 600.
 

ARC

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Tommy, you can't find the settings because you coated every machine you touched this weekend in thick mud! True! I'm still getting it off the Tejon.

The Tejon on both sand mild soils and bad ground was at least a couple inches deeper than the Nox 600.

I have always heard and seen good things about the Tejon.

Never owned one... BUT if ever the opportunity arises in my face with a thick stack in my pocket... ya just never know.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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I got a rush of cash this past week and bought three machines. Poor thing. Two Tejons and a White's TDI SL. The SL is for one specific site and it's not a very wise purchase, however, it's that type machine or getting skunked, however I did find two Confederate "I" buttons there a few weeks ago, so skunked is relative. The Deus nailed the "I" buttons between holes from Equinox users and A GPZ owner. I think GPZ is right. He went right over it, I was watching the guys and going behind them and between them.
 

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Ammoman

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I had the Tejon and sold it to DeepseekerADS. It is light and well balanced and goes deeper than any machine i have ever had or do own. If i were a relic hunter with permissions to old battlefields i would never EVER give up the Tejon. But, i pretty much stick to old houses in town where coins and jewelry tend to be. It is rare for me to have to dig more than 8 inches for a target so the Tejon is a bit of overkill for me.
I still have the Compadre for those trashy places and tot lots.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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FYI the deepest good target I ever dug was with my Tesoro Lobo, on November 19, 1989. A 3 pound cannonball from the Brandywine battlefield at about 28" deep. I had the dickens of a time getting it out of that hole.
 

Davers

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Thanks Smokey!

And that's why I use the Tejon 90% of my hunts even though I have the CTX and the EQ800.

Another thing about it, with the Tejon it's faster than using the others. I spend more time with the CTX and EQ trying to "interpret" the target when with the Tejon, I'm on my knees almost immediately.

This makes me want to put my Tejon back together & go hunt , 'I sent it in last Spring & Got it back Re-tuned to the stock coil & it should work better with the 12 X 11 Concentric that worked great the 2 times I used it .

It reminds me that when I was having Ear-phone issues ( Bad Grey Ghost Plug ) I put my 1266-X to use , it did get heavy but SCREAMED on the Fired minnies that were 8 inches + Woods ground cover.

My tejon is about the same design as the 1266 -X (the 1266 Has a 10 X 10 or 11 X 11 loop on it 'the way I got it"). So I consider it deeper than the Tejon mostly cause of loop size. (I still need more experience with the bigger loop on my Tejon). Now my G2 + is pretty deep as well 'as in the right soil 10-13 inch Minnies have been found ' BTW We had our 3rd wettest year on record last 2018 & that trend has stayed the same for the first 2 months of 2019 ; I'm sure this has helped with my depth at-least with the G2+ over the last year. I've been spoiled by the VDI on my G2 but like Smokey said 'with a flip of a switch on the tejon & the 1266-x I can check a target, in 2 discrimination settings.'

Again I think ill put the tejon back to use again , after I hit some trashy Hot-spots with the G2 & it's 5 inch coil.
Great info Smokey.
 

Davers

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My camera has 4k capabilites, but I really don't have time for putting up a youtube video. I figure I can clean off mud from the truck, it will take awhile, and dig more or play on youtube. I'll dig. PLUS I found you really can't dig and do videography at the same time. AND some of my cameras are expensive (over $400), well, expensive to me. I do not want to get dirt in one.

I have used all of the major brands except the old Nautilus machines way back in the stone age of detectors and the newer Nokia machines. Been there done that, I am not a dealer, I'm getting too old and creaky to dig but keep going anyway. I won't blow smoke and I'm not brand loyal. Nuff said? I was really surprised the Tejon did as well as it did, especially with depth and speed, and really surprised the Equinox couldn't make up it's mind. I think my next dig will start with the Tejon, as we've hit most of the shallow targets, and I'll see what deep stuff lies there, then go to the new White's TDI SL PI machine for the REALLY deep stuff. No backhoe!

The TDI can be had at good used prices or you can go "Strait GPX Series " & dig to China lol.

I'd take a TDI any day & really want a GPX Series but I just don't have enough dug hard CW sites to take it to , guess a DIV would be a neat experience , but I choose to stay in the 'Green' on cost vs gains in my detecting hobby.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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I went with the White's due to the lesser weight. And it's a lot less expensive. Having sold a few slightly used, they are NOT hard to sell. Seems whoever buys them, well, they pay 90% of retail when on an auction. I must NOT sell any more machines. NOT NOT NOT. I cannot under any circumstances wield a GPX machine. Only way I could, is to PAY someone to swing for me, which takes all the fun out of detecting! Just put the TDI together just now. Going to a PI type battlefield Saturday and trying it out. And the Tejon on this particular site.

Davers, since I can go only so long and hard, would you hit the "dug out" battlefield, which is NOT dug out first with the Tejon or TDI?

There is a lot of aluminum on the site.
 

HighVDI

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I love my Tejon for certain locations. Open farm fields with the primary disc. on the i in the foil range, GB and then a 1/4 turn negative and you got yourself a very deep detector! I run the 10x12 DD.
 

Racso

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The TDI SL is a nice little detector but there’s room for improvement. The one mod I recommend if you decide to keep it is the rechargeable battery pack. With practice you can tell when you have a coin under the coil. If you’re not familiar with The SL your best bet would be to start off with the detector you already know. This was the very first detector I bought when I got into this hobby. Good luck
 

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smokeythecat

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Well, I'm going to carry both into the field, first the Tejon, then the TDI. I'll use one for about an hour, see if it finds anything, and if not, switch to the other one. I'll only be about 200' from the truck.

Rasco, it came with the rechargeable battery pack and one pre filled with "AA"'s. I'm sticking to the "AA" batteries for now. From past experience you get decent use of them, but I think the alkalines throw a little more punch to the coil, not absolutely sure on this, but that's my thinking.

Saturday is coming!
 

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Lunch Bag

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Thank you Smokey for the well written review.

It means a lot coming from one of the most respected forum members.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Thank you lunchbag. Some of the folks I detect with suggest I could find stuff with a pie pan on a stick with a 9 volt battery. Quite the compliment. I was expecting some really deep targets with the 600. And the Tejon won the weekend! Go figure! That's why I got a 2nd Tejon. It came today. I always suggest people "test drive" a machine they want to purchase, even if you have to drive a couple hundred miles to do it. You should not place your faith in Youtube , with the exception of funny animal videos (my favorite), MD results can be engineered if folks want to. Air test are ok. They'll let you know there is air in the room!

Real people, real machines, not sales brochures, and real dirt - outside. That's the ticket for ALL MACHINES. Regardless of brand.

Repeating, I have owned a 600, a Tejon and a TDI SL in the past.

Now if my Deus breaks, depending on the cost, I may ditch it and go with the Tejon. The TDI would be a pain in a park, but as long as you don't mind frustration, it will suck the deep stuff out of the ground. Fortunately, with the exception of two beaches, I do not do parks. So at then end of the day these are the ones I'd keep.

I'm beginning to think the older analog machines pound deeper than our new computers on a stick. For skipping unwanted shallow targets in a park, you will want a computer on a stick to sort targets better.

For deep stuff, go analog or pulse induction, depending on your patience level.
 

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HighVDI

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The Tejon with the 5.75 concentric is fun in iron too!
 

Racso

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How many 100’s of hours did you put on the EQ 600 Smokey?
 

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