Questioning between AT PRO and a Tesoro

[hughmaster10]

I have narrowed it down to the Garrett at pro and a Tesoro detector.. One question I have about the Tesoro detectors is about pinpointing..
How can you tell the depth of a coin or anything that comes up as a solid read? From what I've seen on YouTube, you can't really tell how far down an object is in the ground from this brand, unless they just aren't specifying in the videos..
Seems like It would be very frustrating and time consuming to me.. And I know no maching is perfect at depth perception but something is better than nothing... Your thoughts?

 

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[HDRK11]

You can get an idea of depth on the strength of the signal. Pinpointing itself with a Tesoro is spot on.

Also, a good pinpointer is a good tool as with any detector.

 

[Adrian SS]

Short sharp big signal = target close to the surface = 0 to 8 inches.
Strong broad signal = Big target = 0 to 8 inches.
Weak broad signal = Deep large target. = 0 to China
Weak narrow signal = small target close to the surface.
Short sharp double blip = Bobby pin, Nail , Fish hook, bit of steel wire, Boot tack, Small lead sinker, Piece of small foil etc.
A broken chattery signal = target below the range of the Disc setting = Anywhere from deep to shallow.

 

[rainyday101]

Depth is easy. Lift the coil while sweeping over the target. The higher you get, the shallower the target. If you only get an inch or two up, she's deep. As a general rule, check the surface first with a Garret Pro Pointer. No beep, it's deeper. Cut a 2-3 inch deep plug and check plug and hole. Follow the pin pointer and retrieve the coin. Strength of audio is also an indicator. To use a Tesoro you have to listen to the audio and learn. Once you do it will become second nature.

 

[Ronzie]

My Outlaw's pinpointing is spot on like HDRK11 said. No more big plugs and finds in the side of the hole.
Nothing worse than digging a hole and the target is still to one side of it.

 

[luvsdux]

The above responses pretty well cover it. Myself, I seldom to never pay attention to depth even on a TID detector, in fact, TID detector displays aren't generally reliable past 6 to 8 inches even though the detector may still give an audible signal on a target a fair bit deeper. If the signal/discrimination etc. point to a good likely hood the target is a coin or other desirable object, I'm going to dig regardless, so why be concerned with depth? Granted, depth guesstimations can be helpful at times, but I seldom use it.
luvsdux

 

[hughmaster10]

I appreciate every response! I definitely have some thinking to do.. I am very impressed with tesoro's lifetime warranty! But I'm also impressed with the at pro being completely waterproof and also a very versatile machine.. But I'll most likely get a Tesoro.. I've heard WAYYY too many good things about the brand to pass it up..
Ill let yall know how my first hunt goes in probably a month or so when i get it.. Thanks and HH!!!!

 

[Odds]

Which Tesoro you looking at?

I have tried the Compadre, The Silver Umax, and a Tiger shark. And this is just my Noob opinion.

The compadre is great little detector for parks/tot lots, and other areas that can be trashy. I like mine with 5.75" coil easy to pinpoint, Light weight and really has pretty good depth on coins in the park. Its not the best in sand (fresh water) or in the water. It works, but the AT pro will out shine it here.

The Silver Umax to me was pretty much Like the Compadre, only it works better on the beach, and has slightly better depth, but that might be because it came with 8" coil. For me I had heck of time Pinpointing with this Machine, there was often times I dug big pugs just to find the item in the side of the hole it was frustrating at times. On side note, my best find so far was with this machine.

My latest one is the Tiger shark, So far I'm just loving this machine, Its great on the Beach and its great in the water (fresh) since its fully water proof, Its a bit heavy after awhile, but mounting the control box to your belt solves that problem.
I know its a water machine but I use it on land and in parks more than the water, and man is this thing sensitive in all metal mode. Today I was hunting some farm land looking for relics, And got this light chirp from it, The Tiger seems to have 2 tones to it. A Light tone, which usually means the Target is deep or really small. Or a loud tone, which means its something like a coin and with in 6 inchs of the surface.
Any way I was getting a lite chirp from it, and I thought maybe it was deep coin or shell case-sing. Turned out, about 4-5" down in the dry dirt, it was 1 super small bb pellet from a shot gun.

For me the Tiger is supper easy to pinpoint, just lift the coil up, and you can get idea of the depth and pretty much nail it on the head where the item will be, works well for coin poping.
My only complaint about the Tiger shark so far, is it Loves tin foil, and them little tin tips pencils use for there eraser. You can kinda tell when its tinfoil most of the time, because the tone wont be clear in all directions, but if its smashed right it chimes just like a coin. School yards can be a nightmare with it, until you really learn it.


Just my 2 cents so far, hope it helps.

 

[Ronzie]

Good to hear more good stuff on the Tiger Shark. I'm getting one for Xmas to use in fresh water and am also looking at both the Tejon and the Golden UMax.
I love the 3 coil package with the Outlaw as the same coils would work on the Golden.
I've got 52 hours on my first 9 volt battery and it's still strong, which is another big plus.

Out of the 12 Tesoro models and having an Outlaw, getting the Tiger Shark it's the Tejon, Golden, Vaquero and Cibola.

 

[hughmaster10]

Which Tesoro you looking at?

I have tried the Compadre, The Silver Umax, and a Tiger shark. And this is just my Noob opinion.

The compadre is great little detector for parks/tot lots, and other areas that can be trashy. I like mine with 5.75" coil easy to pinpoint, Light weight and really has pretty good depth on coins in the park. Its not the best in sand (fresh water) or in the water. It works, but the AT pro will out shine it here.

The Silver Umax to me was pretty much Like the Compadre, only it works better on the beach, and has slightly better depth, but that might be because it came with 8" coil. For me I had heck of time Pinpointing with this Machine, there was often times I dug big pugs just to find the item in the side of the hole it was frustrating at times. On side note, my best find so far was with this machine.

My latest one is the Tiger shark, So far I'm just loving this machine, Its great on the Beach and its great in the water (fresh) since its fully water proof, Its a bit heavy after awhile, but mounting the control box to your belt solves that problem.
I know its a water machine but I use it on land and in parks more than the water, and man is this thing sensitive in all metal mode. Today I was hunting some farm land looking for relics, And got this light chirp from it, The Tiger seems to have 2 tones to it. A Light tone, which usually means the Target is deep or really small. Or a loud tone, which means its something like a coin and with in 6 inchs of the surface.
Any way I was getting a lite chirp from it, and I thought maybe it was deep coin or shell case-sing. Turned out, about 4-5" down in the dry dirt, it was 1 super small bb pellet from a shot gun.

For me the Tiger is supper easy to pinpoint, just lift the coil up, and you can get idea of the depth and pretty much nail it on the head where the item will be, works well for coin poping.
My only complaint about the Tiger shark so far, is it Loves tin foil, and them little tin tips pencils use for there eraser. You can kinda tell when its tinfoil most of the time, because the tone wont be clear in all directions, but if its smashed right it chimes just like a coin. School yards can be a nightmare with it, until you really learn it.

Just my 2 cents so far, hope it helps.

Awesome info! I was looking more towards the Deleon, or Outlaw.. But I'll take as much info as possible!

 

[HDRK11]

The Deleon is an excellent option as well. Do you want a TDI = Deleon Not worried about a screen = Outlaw

 

[Scanman]

It would be awesome to be able to go to a MD Store and be able to try out the whole Tesoro line, but thats no option for me. Youtube helped me narrow down my choice. My LST has pinpointing and I like it, its a quick flip of the switch and its dead nuts. With the Golden I rely more on my pinpointer.

 

[rainyday101]

Odds, I get exact pinpoints with my Silver. I cut very narrow plugs like Ronzie and am dead on the target. I X from to directions. With a small target like a coin, when you are centered from X'ing the detector is silent and the target is right in the middle of the 8 inch donut. The only time it is not silent when centered is if it is a surface coin or real shallow, but that's what the Garrett pro pointer is for.

You are right on the disc on the Tiger. Bear in mind that this is a fresh water ring finding magnet. To get rings we can't disc out pulltabs. Try to do an air test discriminating out a pulltab. You will have the disc almost maxed out. The disc on the Tiger is setup for water hunting. Now, if you are a dig it all kind of guy, the Tiger on dry land is one depth demon! In all metal this thing will easily hit coins at 10 inches plus, at least in my mild soil. Don't mess with the sensitivity pot on circuit board as Sandman has said before, you can screw it up real quick. I have never touched mine and see no need to. This detector leaves the factory set spot on.

Like Luvsdux said worrying about depth readings is over rated. If it sounds good like a coin, you are gonna dig.

Some thoughts on the Garrett ATP- I tried a friends for about 30 minutes and hated it. I thought the display was hard to read and the ergonomics on it were a disaster. Now bear in mind, I didn't say it wouldn't find coins, because it did find coins. It just wasn't a good fit for me. Ergonomics wise maybe I wasn't to fair because I am used to my feather weight Silver Umax. Now my friend loves it and does well with it, so I am not saying it is a piece, it just wasn't for me and that may be because of what I am used to. Lots of people like them I am just not one of those people. I guess in some ways I am brand loyal because of the great success and performance I have gotten from my 2 Tesoro's. To each his own, life would be pretty boring if all used the same detector.

One thing to remember is don't buy to much detector for a beginner. You want to like going metal detecting and finding stuff. Messing with all kind of controls and menus when you are beginning will just leave you frustrated. If you have highly mineralized soil you will need/want ground balance to get good depth, if not consider the the Silver Umax, Compadre, Deleon or Cibola. If you need ground balance look at the Vaquero. The Outlaw is good also but might be to much of a learning curve for a beginner. In other brands consider the Teknetics EuroTek Pro or Fisher F2. Do your research- some brands are more sensitive to EMI than others. You will find some detector reviews that are consistently good and positive, these are the ones to consider.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Awesome info! I was looking more towards the Deleon, or Outlaw.. But I'll take as much info as possible!

Deleon and Outlaw are both single tone for all targets where ATP give multiple tones providing quite a lot of info on id.

 

[Odds]

Odds, I get exact pinpoints with my Silver. I cut very narrow plugs like Ronzie and am dead on the target. I X from to directions. With a small target like a coin, when you are centered from X'ing the detector is silent and the target is right in the middle of the 8 inch donut. The only time it is not silent when centered is if it is a surface coin or real shallow, but that's what the Garrett pro pointer is for.

You are right on the disc on the Tiger. Bear in mind that this is a fresh water ring finding magnet. To get rings we can't disc out pulltabs. Try to do an air test discriminating out a pulltab. You will have the disc almost maxed out. The disc on the Tiger is setup for water hunting. Now, if you are a dig it all kind of guy, the Tiger on dry land is one depth demon! In all metal this thing will easily hit coins at 10 inches plus, at least in my mild soil. Don't mess with the sensitivity pot on circuit board as Sandman has said before, you can screw it up real quick. I have never touched mine and see no need to. This detector leaves the factory set spot on.

Like Luvsdux said worrying about depth readings is over rated. If it sounds good like a coin, you are gonna dig.

Some thoughts on the Garrett ATP- I tried a friends for about 30 minutes and hated it. I thought the display was hard to read and the ergonomics on it were a disaster. Now bear in mind, I didn't say it wouldn't find coins, because it did find coins. It just wasn't a good fit for me. Ergonomics wise maybe I wasn't to fair because I am used to my feather weight Silver Umax. Now my friend loves it and does well with it, so I am not saying it is a piece, it just wasn't for me and that may be because of what I am used to. Lots of people like them I am just not one of those people. I guess in some ways I am brand loyal because of the great success and performance I have gotten from my 2 Tesoro's. To each his own, life would be pretty boring if all used the same detector.

One thing to remember is don't buy to much detector for a beginner. You want to like going metal detecting and finding stuff. Messing with all kind of controls and menus when you are beginning will just leave you frustrated. If you have highly mineralized soil you will need/want ground balance to get good depth, if not consider the the Silver Umax, Compadre, Deleon or Cibola. If you need ground balance look at the Vaquero. The Outlaw is good also but might be to much of a learning curve for a beginner. In other brands consider the Teknetics EuroTek Pro or Fisher F2. Do your research- some brands are more sensitive to EMI than others. You will find some detector reviews that are consistently good and positive, these are the ones to consider.

Your a pro I'm a Rookie For me of the 3 machines The Silver was hard to pinpoint and I don't have a pinpointer. The other 2 are piece of cake. As for the Tiger I meant tin foil, not pull tabs, I have excepted that you just have to dig them or risk leaving the good stuff behind.

I agree with the internal settings, I played with mine and regretted it, took me quite a while to retune it right. And wireless routers, in the house was not helping. My only other complaint on the Tiger is I can't seem to find a dust cover for it, and would stay on it in the water.

I thought about maybe getting some rubber spray and spraying the bottom of the coil, but I'm not really keen on that idea. I all ready put part of pool noodle on the shaft, so it would float. I din't like the Idea of it sinking to the bottom of the river while I'm trying to dig something out, even though u still had the head phones on. I don't go in real deep water with mine waste deep is about the limit.

 

[Dtektor]

You can't tell the depth accurately on the AT Pro either! Certain targets, large ferrous ones for instance, may show a strong signal, shallow depth on a VID machine. The same is true of beep and dig machines. You may dig and dig and dig only to find that a large chunk of cast iron drain pipe 12" down was ringing like that rare artifact or coin we all pursue. My point is that, unless you spend the time in the field with whatever detector you decide on, those numbers and sounds will never tell you much. Tesoro detectors are top notch machines that demand a little learning. I noticed that one of the folks on the new TV show Dig Fellas that aired last week on the Travel Channel, was swinging a Tesoro Tejon, a super beep and dig relic machine. Good luck in your decision!!

 

[jfeeney]

Good info all around. I'll throw my two cents in about the Outlaw. As others have said - I use raising the coil and my Garret propointer to estimate depth.

As far as tone goes. While the Outlaw is a single tone machine. You can make out differences in the tone even in the all metal mode. A sharp tone is an indicator of a coin - especially sharp is silver. A drawn out tone means iron. By the time I am switching to discrimination mode, I've usually got a pretty good idea of what's there. Then it's trying to discriminate the trash out - can slaw, pop tops, etc.

 

[Dtektor]

One final thought, the Tesoro Tejon and the AT Pro are at the same price point. The nice thing about the Tejon is the dual discrimination which doesn't have to be used until the user is more skilled and experienced. Also, the Tejon has adjustable tone pitch to fine tune the tones to individual ears. The Tejon is my next machine and I have arranged a swap with a Tesoro dealer in my general area. He takes my Vaquero for couple of weeks and I use his personal Tejon, a good test drive basically.

 

[myrtlebeach]

I have had my AT Pro for about a year, I also own a Tesoro Outlaw. I like both machines and both have good points. If I am going out relic hunting I hands down use the AT Pro. It does have a little better depth over the Outlaw. The fact that its waterproof is also nice, you never have to worry about rain or water. I have had it completely submerged in saltwater. Pinpointing with it is also pretty accurate once you put some hours into it. I have found the number readout for discrimination can be a bit jumpy but for relic hunting I dig pretty much everything. If its a big target the depth may read 8 inches when its really a foot. Or a very small object may read 6 inches when its really 2. The option to use either standard or pro mode is also nice. You can learn in standard and then move to pro once you get better. Auto ground balance is also nice. Overall its a great machine and I am glad to have it.
The Tesoro is also a great machine and for coin hunting I use it with the 8" concentric coil or in trashy areas the 5.75 concentric coil. The large wide scan(DD) coil I don't particularly like, you seem to lose depth with it, especially compared to the AT Pro. The all metal mode with this detector is great for coin hunting and it will easily will find a coin at 8+ inches. Its pinpointing is right on and easy to learn but I can do the same with the AT Pro it just takes more practice. The discrimination is very good with the Outlaw and it has a fast recovery speed. The fact that it comes with 3 coils is also very nice, even though I don't use the DD coil. It is also noticeably lighter than the AT Pro.
If you're new to metal detecting the machine that in my opinion is easier to use right out of the box is the AT Pro. The Tesoro does have a bit more of a learning curve. If I just did relic hunting I would go with the AT Pro. Where as if I just did coin hunting the Outlaw. If I had to pick one over the other I would probably go with the AT Pro. They are both good machines for the price but what it comes down to is hours in the field. The more you use your machine and understand how it works the better you will do. Hope that helps.

 

[atomicscott]

If you want new technology, waterproof, and ALOT of info, go for the AT PRO. If you want old school and lightweight and you have ALOT of time to learn it, go for the Tesoro. Life is too short for me to waste time trying to learn my single tone Vaquero.