Looking at getting another Tesoro. Where do i go from here?

[Ammoman]

I saw a post the other day and was intrigued by the thought of having a multi tone Tesoro. Someone mentioned the Golden Umax as a great coin shooting machine but i have yet to find one. Will the Cortes make up for the Golden Umax being taken off the shelf? I currently have the Tejon and its a great machine but it is not multi-tone like my E-trac. Any thoughts or suggestions with the Tesoro line?

 

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[DeepseekerADS]

My hunting buddy, Indian Steve, swings a Tejon, and he's like robot, on dig to another with great finds.

I like the multi-frequency detectors as well, but even with a single tone machine you can hear what the target is saying if you listen closely. Multi-Tone will give you an advantage in sound, as with rejecting or digging targets. I've never used a Golden Umax, but my understanding is that it is 4 tone. I personally believe that with practice, a multi-tone machine will give you greater information about a target before you decide to dig.

 

[Ammoman]

Indeed i like my multi freq E-trac as well. I will also be keeping the Tejon and just adding this new machine to my tool chest. I currently use the E-trac in 4 tone and love it. My recovery numbers have gone way up since i stopped trying to figure out the flute tones on that E-trac.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Get an 8" Compadre. It will feel like you're on vacation when you swing it!

 

[Ammoman]

Get an 8" Compadre. It will feel like you're on vacation when you swing it!

Compadre over the Cortes? Why?

 

[Hobojo]

Get an 8" Compadre. It will feel like you're on vacation when you swing it!

How true.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Compadre over the Cortes? Why?

Because with the machines you already own, you do not need a Cortes. End of story. You need a lighter than air, turn on and go, super machine. The Compadre fits that bill. You will end up using the Compadre more than your E-Trac!

 

[digger27]

As Terry said, you have that Tejon for major depth and 180ED sensitivity, a long range driver if we put it in golf terms...now you want a super accurate putter.
All Tesoros are fun to swing, find the good stuff and have enough different features to keep the boredom away, but something about that Compadre is a little extra special.
I also have a Vaq but when I am in a Tesoro state of mind I pull out my Compadre more often then not if just for the shear joy when swinging it.
To this day it still seems to sniff out the goodies and never ceases to amaze me.
No depth monster but it sure can find great targets in so many different situations and has a few superpowers that others just don't...and that many can't believe.
I have said for years no matter how many different detectors you have in the arsenal, different brands, types, screens or no screens, adding a Compadre to the mix is a no-brainer, even if you only use it in a few situations.

Those superpowers...
Many veteran hunters that use all kinds of top end brands and units go back over their well hunted iron and junk infested fields and other iron infested sites and still find more.
Hyper sensitivity is its middle name and the speed and target separation abilities are legend.
Tiny targets like studs, chains of any type, size or material...I have never swung anything that can find these things so effortlessly.
Below is a pic of the smallest and thinnest silver chain I have ever found.
At the O in iron it was there clear as a bell, at the N it was gone but it still hit hard on the tiny clasp like it was a shallow silver dollar.
Not the end with the ring...the other side.
That small silver ring sitting on that dime for size comparison pic...I found that in a super trashy site next to a picnic pavilion and it was closely surrounded by trash but it still picked it out like a red flag was sticking out of the ground to alert me.
This ring weighs .3 grams...not three grams, POINT three grams.

On one of my first outings with mine I found a target so small my Propointer could not see it unless I was touching it with the tip and this was the first time of many it blew my mind.
A single bead from the kind of chain that comes on a nail clipper and this was no fluke, Compadre owner Slingshot once found the tiny ball that is inserted into the nub of a ball point pen...not the whole assembly, just the ball.

One important reason to have one of these amazing machines handy is for hunting next to big metal...tot lot iron, fence poles, metal bench legs and the like.
In my experience and as far as I can tell there is nothing on the market that can identify targets close to or even leaning...and I do mean literally leaning on big metal like this one can, nothing, and it does this task so very easily and effortlessly once you learn how.
Any Compadre, any coil, any sensitivity setting because I can also do this with my 7" coil model and that sense is turned up internally to the max.
We call this listening for the double beep, triple beep if the target is very shallow and that vid link below with a borrowed 8" coil unit shows how easily I do this.

https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=MmWzTo4GCak

I used to live in the Midwest and even though I did very well in the SE. hunting tot lots when I moved I found just about every tot lot site I visited suspiciously absent of targets.
It was like whoever was hunting in my area targeted these sites often, but at every one I still found more than my share of coins and jewelry between 0-4" away from all that big metal at every site.
Those people hunting these places might have thought they were getting it all near those big metal posts and legs but they were definitely not using a Compadre.

There is a cult built up around this thing and for so many good reasons.
Church of the Compadre... - Friendly Metal Detecting Forums

For the price of a decent coil you get a whole machine with abilities that can amaze.
Plus...did I already mention that fun part?

 

[Ammoman]

Sounds like a great little detector. I guess my biggest concern is ground balance. Some of the places i hunt have pretty nasty soil conditions. So bad in fact that my pin pointer is of no use.

 

[digger27]

I have used mine in the almost heavenly low mineralized soil in the mid west and for a long time and again currently in Birmingham Alabama which has some nightmare soil.
Pretty mineralized red clay but that isn't the biggest problem, iron is.
Because of the geography this area became one of the biggest sites in the country for iron and steel production because all the materials needed to make that exist in our soil and are naturally occurring.
My soil has veins of naturally occurring iron, most everywhere we have tiny nodules of iron infused into it and even the rarer but better black stuff we have in some spots.
As the city was growing back in the late 1800's and into the next century here in the city proper slag and all kinds of iron bits from large to small from the plants were mixed into most of the fill dirt and spread all over in both residential and commercial sites and I mean everywhere.
On top of that several of the public areas I hunt also were used as junkyard and landfills which all kinds of metal hidden but shallow...car parts,motorcycle parts, pieces of old homes that were knocked down from large neighborhoods and more.
It is a nightmare around here, most that hunt in this area, those that didn't give up because of the difficulties that is, are blissfully ignorant because this is all they ever knew.
Me, I have experience in both kinds of dirt...either a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it.

Still, despite it all I have found a ton in both areas of the country with my Compadre, pretty much equally as easily too.
Ground balance abilities never seemed to matter for me, not when using my Compadre considering all I have found under so many different conditions, and I have other detectors that have it if I think it will matter.

Not that I am recommending this but there are 3 pots that can be easily accessed by taking the faceplate off.
One is for the disc range, one is the sensitivity and one is the ground balance...All set at the factory.
These pots can be broken easily if you aren't careful, your detector can be messed up totally if you adjust them wrong too, but this has not stopped many from modifying these settings.
The disc should never be touched, the sense has been adjusted by many and mine has this setting turned up to close to max and I love it this way.
I have read several posts of many owners that have adjusted the GB pot if they live in hot soil sites by doing a technique called power balancing...bouncing the coil up and down while making small adjustments untilyou reach optimum levels.

Again not recommending you do this at all because Tesoro is not a fan of owners doing this, but if you do get one just see how it does before you decide to attempt it if that is what you want because many have.
You might be surprised what that throwback circuitry can do without any adjustments at all.

 

[Ammoman]

Well digger you convinced me. Its on my list of machines to get. For the price one can't really loose. But still, i saw a u-tube Vid with 53 silver talking about the golden u-max and its ability to notch out tabs, foil and even zink pennies but still take home the nickels, dimes, copper pennies and quarters. Looked pretty cool. Will any other Tesoro other than the golden u-max do this?

 

[digger27]

The Golden is a wonder.
Not only multiple tones which is so rare in Tesoroland but notch width adjustment which can be even more helpful in the information and disc areas.

Not sure any other model had even basic notch abilities like this one.

A total winner for some Tesoroheads, but they had some trouble getting some certain key parts that met their qualifications, some say it might have been a programming issue instead but I have no idea about that, for whatever reason they temporarily discontinued them for months and eventually that turned permanent.
A shame...so far no replacement on the horizon but they keep things close to the vest around there information wise.

Lots of owners lament about they are sorry they sold theirs but they are still around if you don't mind buying used.

Not quite the same as the Compadre in the hyper sensitivity area but still has other features that many loved to use.

 

[pinenut]

Ammoman, a couple more to consider... While I've never had a Golden microMAX so can't comment on them, my favorite park detectors are the Silver Sabre microMAX (not the current Silver), the Bandido II microMAX, and the Eldorado (last version). All are easy to swing, have better depth than Compadre, disc circuit is just as rifined, and they have a sweeter sound. Eldorado has really good depth and the full ED180 disc circuit, so it'll find small gold too, like Compadre. SS and Bandido II are also a joy to use, with Bandido II having a true non-motion pinpoint.
Just a couple more (older) Tesoro options to look out for, in case you don't find that Golden. Really though, I haven't tried a Tesoro yet, that I didn't like. ^_^

BTW - taking my SS w/ 8"C to an old park in a few... Been finding a few Wheaties there lately. Must be something silvery hiding there.

 

[Fletch88]

For cherry picking you have the best machine made for that task already! The Etrac excels at this task but I admit the weight of the stock coil is nose heavy. The Sunray X-8 makes it perfectly balanced.