Question for Tesoro owners......

[DiggerinVA]

After hearing much hype about the Tejon and other Tesoros i have become interested. My question is how to use these machines in trashy or even semi-trashy areas. With no read-out of any type including depth and only 1 tone for nails all the way to silver, how would u hunt a park or an old home site with this machine? I love the "simplicity" , the depth, the warranty, and the looks of the tejon, but i must be missing something or you guys just love digging iin the dirt! I have seen this machine compared to the F75 Fisher...Can u compare these machines? Its like comparing an iron-sighted civil war musket to a modern AR-15 with modern optics......

 

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[Rusted_Iron]

I use 'em in trashy areas all the time. Didn't get around to it tonight but I have a post on the way with some finds, no problem locating goodies among iron junk.
The digital machines try to do everything for you... in high trash areas that doesn't work out so great. Just my opinion, but I prefer the Tesoro type of detector in these places by far.

 

[DiggerinVA]

So how do u find the "good stuff"? Do Tesoro owners dig everything or is there a way to tell a good target from junk with these machines that i am missing? I spent 2 hours the other day at a local park that has provided me with alot of coins and several silver rings. I decided to only try for gold rings and jewelry, so i dug every good signal with vdi's of 48-70 and also digging some clad coins as i went.....well i ended up with a pouch full of pull tabs and about 2 dollars in clad but i did get 5 nichols witch was a rare thing for me. Anyway, how would you hunt this park with a Tejon if you were looking for coins and jewelry? This park is covered in pull tabs, peices of foil and can slaw....

 

[DiggerinVA]

Also ....Cibola versus Tejon.....what is the differences and which would be best for me? I do hunt parks alittle but my passion is old homes and old school houses.....so mostly iron junk but some times alum. junk aswell.....my problem is that i cant find a Tesoro to hold/try out......

 

[digger27]

So how do u find the "good stuff"? Do Tesoro owners dig everything or is there a way to tell a good target from junk with these machines that i am missing? I spent 2 hours the other day at a local park that has provided me with alot of coins and several silver rings. I decided to only try for gold rings and jewelry, so i dug every good signal with vdi's of 48-70 and also digging some clad coins as i went.....well i ended up with a pouch full of pull tabs and about 2 dollars in clad but i did get 5 nichols witch was a rare thing for me. Anyway, how would you hunt this park with a Tejon if you were looking for coins and jewelry? This park is covered in pull tabs, peices of foil and can slaw....

I have a Compadre and a Vaq and hunt trashy parks and other sites all the time.
I also use an F2 with a screen and I got very good with that, but I also got pretty good using those Tesoros with no screen and I believe I am now to the point that I can tell trash from good target about the same with both types of units.

They say Tesoros are beep and dig but this is not true at all.
I consider them beep...figure it out ...then dig detectors, and there are plenty of tips and techniques you can use to quickly tell what you are swinging over more often then not.
Nothing is 100%, even the best machines are just making a guess and nobody knows what they are scanning till they dig it, but learning the language of your chosen detector can definitely increase finds and help you dig less trash.

Here are 2 posts I have on another forum about hunting with Tesoros.
One was in answer to a newbie with the same question about figuring out targets, the second is how I figured out how to use my no screen machines the best way possible...for me.

Hopefully, these will give you an insight about how we use these, why they are so much fun to use when you get good with them and guess right before you dig, and why owners just seem to love them so much.

Below are pics with just some of the "good stuff" I have found with my Tesoros.


----------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------- --------------------------------------


Reply to a newbie just starting out with a Compadre...

Look at the picture below.
Here is where metals will show up on your dial.
Study and remember their locations.


The way you figure out what you are digging before you dig it, which is never 100% by the way, is to "thumb" that disc knob and figure out where the metals in the range you see in the picture go away or "disc out".


*Tip*....It is more accurate to turn the knob way up and then turn it down slowly as you are swinging over the target and stop at the area where you hear a tone come in, than to turn it up until it fades out.


Now you have done this and lets say it was silent till you got to the zinc mark.
Now you have a clue, and this hobby is all about taking all your clues and putting them together to make an educated guess.
From studying the picture, you remember that this zinc area should sound off if you have a zinc penny or other zinc item, an Indian head penny, a screw-cap or gold.
Might be some other things like can slaw, but it could be one of the first four, too.
Maybe you want to switch closer to all metal, now, and run your coil around the target area and try to size the target.
Where does the tone sound loudest and then fade out?
Hit it from a different angle and try to get a picture in your mind on how big it is...coin size, maybe a little bigger?
In all metal or turning it back below zinc on the disc knob, how loud does it sound when you scan it?
Really loud, maybe medium loud or softer?
This gives you a clue on the depth.
Another depth trick is lift the coil and swing over it.
Do you lose it at 3 inches above the ground, 4-5?
If you know your limit of your detector, and subtract the height of your coil above the target where it goes silent, this can give you approximate depth.


Now you decide to whip your coil over the target real fast and see if the tones stay solid from all angles or breaks up.
If it breaks up it could be trash, if not, still might be a good target.


All of these techniques are aimed to give you clues, and those clues will lead you to an educated guess and that will lead you to digging a hole...or not.


As you put in your time, you also start to hear slight differences in that tone.
A zinc penny might sound very solid and full and the same all the way through, but a screw-cap might not sound so full.
Maybe you noticed after locating and scanning hundreds of these that a screw-cap doesn't stay full, but maybe breaks a little right at the end.
It gets a little fuzzy.
You never could tell the difference at the beginning, but now, after much practice, you can hear that difference, and so you have another good clue as to what you might have sitting in the ground below you.


Solid tone, rings true, no breaking of the signal, small like a coin, really loud tone, can raise the coil pretty high before it fades out...I think this is a zinc penny that is about 1 inch down...then you dig it...and it is.
Or maybe not, like I said, not 100% in this hobby...ever...but you cut your odds down some on digging trash, and you made a good guess.


It's a process.
As you progress, your guesses get better.


The universe must be laughing at us that do this hobby because it made so many bad things ring up in the same areas as so many good things.
Aluminum hangs out where the high tone coins do.
Nickels and gold live in the same neighborhood as pull tabs...as a matter of fact, gold seems to live in almost all the neighborhoods.
Nobody is perfect, we all dig lots of trash, but the better you get the less trash you dig and the more treasure you find.


Study the picture, know your metals and where they line up in relation to your disc knob.


Then practice, practice practice.
Really listen and try to remember that tone you hear before you dig a target, then remember what target you dug after that specific tone.
It takes time for your instincts to kick in and this stuff becomes second nature, but it will eventually happen.
Once you dig enough holes.


That's how I do it.






----------------------------------------- ---------------------------------


How I hunt using my Compadre and Vaquero in trash...








This is what I have learned about dealing with trash using Tesoro detectors.
I am usually a dig it all solid signal hunter but late last year I got real tired so for about a month I stopped doing so much of that and at the end of some long hunts do it still, and I have worked very hard at trying to figure out trash even better and more accurately so those "what if" feelings don't drive me insane when I am in that kind of mood.
I think I might be a little crazy compared to others because so many try to avoid digging tons of trash and I seem to be the opposite where I love digging it and the trashier the site the better I like it.
Well, maybe not like so much as long ago I decided this is the best way to hunt...for me, and I do this for the exercise as much as finding treasure so there is that reason, too,
I suspect the real reason I got to this point is among all the trash signals I have dug I have also had some major surprises along the way...very huge and delightful surprises... and I just can't seem to wrap my head around the idea of ever missing anything good let alone great...so I dig and I am fine with it.
For those times when I just don't feel like digging every blasted thing I come across I have read about and use some well known tips others have posted like whipping the coil over a trash target quickly and noticing if it breaks up, or lifting the coil as I swing over a target and listening to see if it breaks up at the edge of the scanning field or just fades out, and these techniques work.
I have also done a lot of experimentation discovered something else.
On every target I come across, and I mean every one, I got in the habit long ago of NOT just turning that disc knob up till the signal fades out to see what area the knob is pointing to figure out target types like all the manuals say, but I always turn all the way past the area till the target fades out completely and then slowly turning down the knob to the point where the target comes in .
Except high tone targets like quarters that don't disc out, of course.
After several zillion targets acquired and dug I am convinced this is a much more accurate way to figure out just about every target.
I get so much more information out of not only seeing where that disc knob ends up when the signal is solid and full, but more importantly I get even more info when I hear precisely HOW that
target comes in.
I noticed that and most good targets like coins, definitely on others like rings that are full and not broken, and surprisingly on most chains too, when I turn down that knob most good targets will just "come in"...solid and full...there is very little crackling or fuzzyness in that signal most of the time, not even one or two clicks.
Trash on the other hand usually does have much more crackling and clicks in that signal before it firms up and I assume this is because most detectors are designed to home in on solid round objects like coins and not irregular shapes like trash or objects with holes like tabs.
Now this is not true 100% of the time because the universe and life just doesn't work this way for us in this hobby.
There are some trash targets that do act like good coin targets and will come in full and solid and with no clicks.
Some beaver tail tabs with that tail folded over, foil that is thick like a coin, compressed and formed into a round coin shape, some small coin shaped pieces of can slaw and even a few sta-tabs do fool me me from time to time because there is virtually no difference between some of these and a real coin signal.
If those kind of targets are laying completely horizontal and flat in the ground this can compound this problem, but luckily most trash is not horizontal but turned slightly on edge to almost vertical, in my experience, and react accordingly with much crackling and clicks.
Conversely, sometimes good targets like coins do act weird and have some fuzzyness and at least a few clicks before solidifying, too.
I noticed this happen on a few zinc pennies and nickels can be totally weird, sometimes.
Yesterday I was using my Compadre and dug a nickel that was a little iffy and didn't even disc out till close to the tab section, and another nickel that came in at the correct area on the disk knob but still acted very crackily just like trash.
Even though I was a little tired at this point and was not digging all trash I still dug both of these signals because I heard something in each signal that triggered my digging impulse...a slight solid tone that rang true even though they were very short nowhere near the very solid type signals that most good targets I dig emit.
Exactly why I dug those is hard to explain but I just chalk that up to an ability I have acquired over the hundreds and hundreds of hours swinging my Tesoros...something most Tesoro owners can attest to once they accumulate
enough time and experience in listening and learning the Tesoro language and quality of the tones.
The good thing about all this is that even though I do this thumbing knob thing on all targets to figure them out I also dig most targets too, and I can proudly say I have gotten good enough to correctly determine trash from treasure about 90% of the time.
On hunts where I don't dig every signal I still do check myself and dig many of the trashy ones throughout every hunt just to make sure...again those what if feelings will mess with my head and destroy me if I don't...and this is no matter how tired I am.
The best thing is my greatest targets I have found like gold rings, silver coins and silver bracelets and chains, this technique worked 100% on those type of targets every time.
Don't think this thumbing, listening figuring out thing takes a whole lot of time either.
I have had so much time in doing this and so much practice I have gotten extremely fast at it and usually beat out any and every hunting partner in shear volume of targets dug even though I take a few seconds to do this on every one, and still seem to hit those correct guesses somewhere around that 90% number most of the time.
I am not saying I never leave any good target in the ground doing it this way, after all if I never dug a trash sounding but still good target how would I ever know, but I can tell you that I have had a few hunts where I was avoiding digging as much trash as I could and still walked away from 2 in particular with a pretty empty trash pouch but a couple of really great treasures.
One was a nice silver necklace that came in as foil, and another which was a gold ring that also came in as a higher foil signal but below nickel.
Trash targets both in a site filled with other trash targets that came in at exactly the same positions as many trash signals at these sites and yet still sounded good, and more importantly met my criteria of coming in solid with very few if, any, clicks at all.
I read all posts on several forums about techniques using the Tesoro detectors and try to remember and use them when I need to, but I have not read many that talk exactly about this sort of technique of turning past the fade out point and back, or if they do at the very least using it as much as I do.
On my Compadre I know this works tremendously, on my Vaquero it seems to work just about as well, especially when using a concentric coil over my DD which has a slightly sharper disc ability.

 

[Ronzie]

Tesoro's are amazing in trash filled areas and have the best discrimination. Once you've used it for a short time it'll be hard to go back. Absolutely eats my Explorer and GTI 2500.
You don't rely on certain tones or numbers and get quite good at predicting what your digging.
Also impressed with the AT Gold at picking out the good stuff in loaded iron areas.


My next 3 machines over the winter are the Tejon, Tiger Shark (for diving) and the AT Gold for wet weather & fresh shallow water.

I'd suggest the Tejon with the killer depth. I love my Outlaw and if you want different tones the Golden UMax has them. Once "you get" a Tesoro you'll be laughing at amazing they are. Bells and whistles are just a waste of money imo. My Outlaw out performs any machine I've owned.

 

[Terry Soloman]

If you are hunting in "trash," you need the Tesoro Outlaw, operating at 10.6 kHz. It comes with three coils, and has great depth. The Tejon at 17.6kHz is just too hot in super trashy areas, even though it does have superior dual discrimination. It is super deep, but is really built as a relic hunter.

 

[Dan B]

Technically a Tesoro (with the exception of the Golden µMax) is a single tone. While it's true, it's also an understatement. There are so many subtleties in that tone that it's akin to likening a language to sound. Sure, technically language is sound, but the sounds are manipulated to provide a message. The "single" tone of the Tesoro is exactly like that. Once you learn it, you can tell what is under your coil with amazing precision. Like has been mentioned, it needs to be experienced first hand to be appreciated. When I watch videos of people with e-tracs, or whatever, I can't believe the noise they listen to in order to pick out a target. I'd rather poke myself in the eye with a sharp stick. :-)

Dan

 

[Sandman]

Telling about the Tejon would take to long so I suggest you check out this link. Tesoro Electronics Tejon | Lost Treasure Online - Official Website of Lost Treasure Magazine

Digger27 gave a great post. I like my Tejon lots better than the ATP, but they are in different classes. I use the Black Widow headphones with mine and I should get a sniper coil for it. The Clean Sweep Coil also works wonders. With the two disc modes you can set one for iron and the second for pull tabs.
You have to dig pull tabs if you want to find gold rings and some white gold are in the foil range. There are different variances of the sounds and you just have to learn them as you would any detector.

 

[Rusted_Iron]

All this talk about Tesoros makes me want to go out detecting right now!

 

[atomicscott]

After hearing much hype about the Tejon and other Tesoros i have become interested. My question is how to use these machines in trashy or even semi-trashy areas. With no read-out of any type including depth and only 1 tone for nails all the way to silver, how would u hunt a park or an old home site with this machine? I love the "simplicity" , the depth, the warranty, and the looks of the tejon, but i must be missing something or you guys just love digging iin the dirt! I have seen this machine compared to the F75 Fisher...Can u compare these machines? Its like comparing an iron-sighted civil war musket to a modern AR-15 with modern optics......

Yes very good analogy. Digital software, etc.. has really helped with the performance of todays detectors. Tesoro's can be used in trash but with ONE tone, you either have to use enough disc to knock out the iron, foil, etc..and risk masking out targets adjacent to the iron, or you can run wide open & 'thumb the disc' until the target drops out. One more option that many revert to is to dig everything. This it very time consuming and should not be necessary with any detector made in this century. It is a waste of valuable detecting & recovery time. It takes MANY hours to discern between trash and treasure by the nuances of a single tone. I could never go back to it.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Yes very good analogy. Digital software, etc.. has really helped with the performance of todays detectors. Tesoro's can be used in trash but with ONE tone, you either have to use enough disc to knock out the iron, foil, etc..and risk masking out targets adjacent to the iron, or you can run wide open & 'thumb the disc' until the target drops out. One more option that many revert to is to dig everything. This it very time consuming and should not be necessary with any detector made in this century. It is a waste of valuable detecting & recovery time. It takes MANY hours to discern between trash and treasure by the nuances of a single tone. I could never go back to it.

Weird you just wrote exactly what I was thinking!

 

[Ronzie]

Metal detecting technology isn't rocket science. It is pretty basic. By the 50 hour mark on a Tesoro you should have a handle on the machine and have a very high % of predictability on what your digging. I've gotten WAY more gold & old coins with my Outlaw than I ever did with my Explorer. Half of that is in ground I've already covered with my SE. Yes the Explorer has a higher learning curve but I got to know that machine inside out.
Best move I ever did was to have an E-Trac for a week while a guy was on holidays because I was almost positive that was going to be my next machine. I didn't have it down 100% but I had read Andy Sabisch's book multiple times before hand (which is a must imo).
All as I can say is I'm glad I got to try a Tesoro before making my purchase. Saved me $1000 and I can do everything it can do. I'm happy at getting quarters at 11" and dimes at 9". Plus the Outlaw can pick up really thin gold chains that both my Explorer or GTI 2500 couldn't. Pretty amazing considering it runs at 10.6kHz.
If your digging lots of trash (high %) with the Tesoro, you just haven't got it down yet. Every beep makes you think, is my motto.
Tesoro keeps it simple, because it works. I'll admit at one time I laughed at Tesoro thinking they were a dinosaur company.

 

[dirtscratcher]

Ronzie my experience was completely the opposite. Have a detector you can run with little or no disc and still have tone and visual id just makes more since. If you can tell that much with one tone why would'nt multi tone be even better. Tesoro guy are always saying visual id is not accurate but turning a knob until a signal drops out is. I guess it make a lot of since if you don't think about it.

 

[Sandman]

Even with one tone, the sound can change like scratchy or breaking up. Its hard to describe a sound.

 

[jfeeney]

That's true. I can hear differences with rusty iron, clad and silver. Usually maxing out the disc will leave a clad quarter sounding clean. But if it's a halo from the rust it sounds clipped. Now if it's silver it's more like the clad but sharper. That's the best way I can describe the differences.

Even with one tone, the sound can change like scratchy or breaking up. Its hard to describe a sound.

 

[luvsdux]

For quite some time I didn't get what these folks were talking about concerning the differences in "one tone". After I got enough hours in, I realized I had started to hear what they were talking about. For the most part, I couldn't describe the subtle differences so that someone else could hear them sooner, but I now know and recognize them while detecting. It takes quite a few hours on the detector, but knowing your detector well is essential no matter which one you use. The beauty of this skill is the fact that once you've developed it, it's also useful with VID detectors as another bit of info to help decide to dig or not. Keep in mind that whether you're using a beep and dig detector or the latest super duper lots of bells and whistles machine, utlimately all it really does is respond to a metal target and make a machine's suggestion of what the target may be. The only way to know for certain is to retrieve the target and see for yourself. I like to keep in mind that when you think about it, being able to so easily determine that there's metal object a few inches underfoot is actually remarkable in itself.
luvsdux

 

[Tnmountains]

One thing I will say about a Tesoro. Once I have my machine set I hear the signals and hunt way faster and with a lot of confidence . I am always looking at the display of my other machines. You will always be looking at the screens of other machines. Get a good signal but what does it read?

That being said I have pounded an area for years with a Tesoro and gone back with my other machines and squeezed out a few I missed. Would I have gotten them with my Tesoro ? Maybe.....

I almost always carry a Tesoro in my truck in case I come across a spot. I like my old machine with freq shift that had poor reviews lol !!

 

[mybackhurts]

i was in the hobby for a few years around y2k with a cutlass 2 umax and a tiger shark i sold when i quit. i came so close this past week to buying a id machine but some of these replies brought back too many memories. the outlaw has just been ordered.

 

[jfeeney]

Did you get all three coils? Or just the 8" concentric? While I primarily use the 8" - the other ones are great to have at the ready when needed. I hope you're as happy with the Outlaw as I am with mine.