Tesoro Silver Sabre II

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The Tesoro Silver Saber is still a very sensitive detector that is good at finding small gold chains an earring backs along with the bigger stuff. Go to http://www.tesoro.com/index-manuals.html for the manual.

good luck,
Sandman
 

D

dugupfinds

Guest
I swear by the Tesoro & the silver sabre is my back-up machine. The Cortes is far better but the sabre is good at pin-pointing small objects & is a good mid-range starter machine. Happy hunting from the UK.
 

ernie

Jr. Member
Jun 11, 2004
86
4
i still have two silver saber11's my son and i used to hunt together when he lived at home i think they are one of the best of the saber series great coin hunting machine pinpoints right on.
 

dahut

Hero Member
Nov 6, 2004
809
54
Lee's Tavern Road
Detector(s) used
21 years behind a coil

Fisher F70
Bounty Hunter Lone Star
Tesoro Tiger Shark
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
My very first detector was a SS II and it was a goodie. Still is. The only one I like better is the SS uMax. Or the Bandido, or the Eldorado.... okay, any uMax format!

Here are some tips that will help you with your SSII. They were written for the uMax series, but they directly apply to the SSII, as well:

- Keep the SENS down. These units are deep enough for 80% of usage and will sound off cleanly over good targets - and will get squirrely over trash if you drive them too hard. You dont need it as high as you think you do. You'll find 7-9 is adequate for most uses.

- Save the upper limit SENS Boost for cleaner areas.

- Dont bother with the pinpoint mode. All you need is to slow down and pinpoint in the DISC mode, as it works well at pinpoint speed. When they say "slow-motion VLF" at Tesoro, they mean it. This saves time and is another benefit of using a Tesoro.

- The DISC is razor edged, as are all Tesoros and with a little usage, you will learn where things ID at.
Practice this with a nickle, a square and ring pull tab and a zinc cent. When you learn where your machine cuts out on each of these, mark the spot on the DISC dial. Now you have a reasonable TID detector! This is the way I learned before I had my first TID unit and this ensured I dug more, instead of peering at some screen.

- For general hunting, set your DISC at a bit below nickel. Test this on foil bits and balls. For relics go lower to iron or even all metal. It is very good at overlooking small iron bits up to bottlecaps.

- However it will signal on large iron, and seems to love steel washers. But it gives a scraggy, chop-edge sound, not at all like good targets - which always sound smooth. With practice, you'll get it.

- Slow down to "process" signals as you pinpoint sweep over them in DISC. We're not talking a hover or crawl here, mind you. It's going to be about half to a third of normal hunt speed.
Trash will come through with choppy edged sounds as mentioned above and the DISC, when thumbed up as you do this, will let you know what the target ID range is. When done as a sequence, it is very "flowing," and improves your efficiency.

- You will find the the SSII is tonally subtle, with a lot of nuance to the tone - but, you have to slow over targets and "process" them as told above to learn what it is telling you. All long-time Tesoro users understand this and do it instinctively, but it can be lost on a newcomer if no-one tells them.

- Finally, you have the ability to "SuperTune" your SSII. I first learned of this in an article by Bob Stricker, some years ago. Here's how to do it:

Set the threshold at the usual low hum, per the instructions. This control is on the rear of your SSII. Once you've done that and have established the normal "hum", crank it up into the higher ranges, all the way to max if you want, and then switch back into DISC mode.
Once "SuperTuned" this way, if you get over a really deep target, the detector will overcome the DISC lower signal limit and signal on that deep target.
Of course this will kill the ability to pinpoint in AM or even use the feature, so it may not be right for all settings. And it may blast you on shallow targets, so it isnt really needed all the time. But when you are in clean areas with the potential for deep targets, as in farmfield relic hunting or in the dry sand at the beach (this is an OPTIMUM place for it), it can be a help. Also, if you arent sure about an "iffy" target, which might be deep, you can go into this mode and check it out. Cool, huh?!

And here is my final tip to you...

- Buy the best, long trowel you can afford and make it your goal to wear it out.

The Silver Sabre II is great. You can find lots of stuff with it and you have a nice useful detector at not a lot of money (in your case, none). Plus, Tesoro will repair it free, should it need some TLC.

Happy Hunting,
David
 

alduro

Greenie
Apr 13, 2007
10
0
The SS II is the only machine I have at the present. It performs great. I had a high end machine that I traded off because this machine worked so well and was so comfortable to use.
 

ernie

Jr. Member
Jun 11, 2004
86
4
the saber 11 is one of the best tesoro ever made in fact the whole saber series is good.i still own two of them and my son learned on one.it's everything David said and more.and the nice thing is tesoro will always repair it. unlike some of the other manufactures who state they no longer have parts for certain models.i have five tesoros and like them all.
 

Michigan Badger

Gold Member
Oct 12, 2005
6,797
149
Northern, Michigan
Detector(s) used
willow stick
Primary Interest:
Other
dirtydude said:
Any of you guys had one of these detectors? My dad got one in a trade, and he asked me about it, but I don't know much about it.Is it a decent detector? It didn't come with a manual, anybody know where to find one online? I did a search, but only found a manual for the uMax.

I know this is an old post but I'm an old poster ;D

I've been away fer a spell and just found this.

I'd just like to say (write) that all of a sudden it seems like just about everybody is talking about the old Silver Sabre models...especially the original Sabre of 1983.

The talk is very favorably for the old horse. Some say it's the best yet!

Anyway, just thought I'd pop in and make trouble.

Badger ::)
 

dahut

Hero Member
Nov 6, 2004
809
54
Lee's Tavern Road
Detector(s) used
21 years behind a coil

Fisher F70
Bounty Hunter Lone Star
Tesoro Tiger Shark
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Can you still get coils for the older Tesoro's?
I know you can get them on the used market from time to time. You have to be persistent and keep your feelers out. Tesoro will fix them, too, but I do believe they also keep some of them on hand for sale. Call them and ask.

IMHO, the best coil ever was the Tesoro 8" brownie.
 

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