Any new info?

goodtimecharlie

Jr. Member
Aug 11, 2012
57
133
winfield,ks.
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 600-Tesoro Mojave-Tesoro Tiger Shark- TRX pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
I can't speak to the Sand Shark however I have owned a Tiger Shark for many years and have used it hard. During the time I've owned it I only had one issue a coil went bad probably from me banging it against rocks and such. Bottom line Tesoro Sharks are built like a tank and very simple machines to care for. I wouldn't be to concerned about a lifetime warranty after all most detector manufactures offer only a one to five year guarantee. There are people out there who do service Tesoro i.e. Frank Sander's on Tesoro's digger forum does mods and repairs and I'm sure there will be more step up to repair any issues. Judging from your location in Ohio you may be better off with a Tiger over a Sand Shark. Tiger's do great in fresh water Sand Sharks will be hard to operate in freshwater due to all the bits of iron and such. Hope that helps happy hunting.
 

curious2

Jr. Member
Sep 30, 2017
30
23
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Any new info on the status of Tesoro. Trying to decide if I should buy a shark. Without the life time warranty I'm hesitent.

At present, I wouldn't buy any new Tesoro without a steep discount that takes into account that the "lifetime warranty" may not be honored.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
At present, I wouldn't buy any new Tesoro without a steep discount that takes into account that the "lifetime warranty" may not be honored.[/QUOTE]

I have to disagree, it has to be considered in a possible purchase of a new Tesoro; but....they are not overly priced to begin with and VERY rarely do they have problems....Not to pick on Minelab, but i would bet my pickup truck that you can buy a new Vaquero and a new Equinox today and that Equinox is goin to have problems first. And probably after the Minelab warranty runs out.....just something to think about.
 

jmaryt

Sr. Member
Feb 6, 2007
280
189
i agree with this assesssment,NOT because i own a tesoro ,but as a direct result of many owning
them,and NEVER having an issue with them after years,and years of heavy use!..their build quality
is amazing,quality control superb.just a tough a*s little detector.

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 

A2coins

Gold Member
Dec 20, 2015
33,807
42,606
Ann Arbor
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
3
Detector(s) used
Equinox 800
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
garrett is your best bet
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I like my Garrett machines also and have made some good finds with them. But I have broke my AT pro two times.... Garrett fixed it at no charge both times.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I can't say much for the newer style (mx sport, mx7) Whites machines, but the older mxt, tdi style whites with the metal box are also very durable machines and will last for years with reasonable care. Whites has a good reputation for taking care of their customers also. And another important thing to me is they are an American company just like Tesoro and Garrett. If at all possible I like my money to stay here.
 

dgerst

Jr. Member
Dec 9, 2008
81
120
SW Kansas
Detector(s) used
Multi Kruzer, Teknetics Patriot, Bandido II μMax, Tejon, Deeptech Vista Warrior, Treasure Baron Cointrax 2.2
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro's are fine machines but if you're looking for a well-built do-it-all waterproof detector take a look at the Makro Multi Kruzer. About the same MSRP as a Shark. Excellent audio (Dare I say as good as Tesoro) plus target ID. Insanely fast recovery and as deep as most anything on the market. Nokta/Makro has a reputation for outstanding customer service as well, although I haven't needed it yet.
 

jmaryt

Sr. Member
Feb 6, 2007
280
189
I like my Garrett machines also and have made some good finds with them. But I have broke my AT pro two times.... Garrett fixed it at no charge both times.

did your issues happen after the 2 year warranty was up?

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
did your issues happen after the 2 year warranty was up?

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Not sure about the first time but when I broke the armcuff off it was well out of warranty and the lady asked no questions...just for my address. Mailed me a new one right then.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro's are fine machines but if you're looking for a well-built do-it-all waterproof detector take a look at the Makro Multi Kruzer. About the same MSRP as a Shark. Excellent audio (Dare I say as good as Tesoro) plus target ID. Insanely fast recovery and as deep as most anything on the market. Nokta/Makro has a reputation for outstanding customer service as well, although I haven't needed it yet.

I'm not gonna start trashing certain brands here, but after my experience with the Fors Relic, I will never buy another makro or nokta. I will stick with the bigger name American made companies. There are plenty of choices out there that are made right here. Only exception would be a minelab.
 

HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I would never swing a Garrett detector even if it was given to me but their pinpointers and customer service are outstanding IMO.
 

Hihosilver

Full Member
Jan 2, 2013
235
189
Eastern Ohio
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Mojave, Tesoro Outlaw, Tesoro Golden micromax (present machines), Past: once upon a time, long, long ago... a Bounty Hunter 840.
Coils: 5.75 concentric, 7” black concentric, 7" widescan,
Primary Interest:
Other
I will still buy a Tejon, sometime in the future. I would like to re-acquire an Outlaw as well.
 

HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I will still buy a Tejon, sometime in the future. I would like to re-acquire an Outlaw as well.

Tejon is a wonderful machine but the battery setup stinks. 8 double A's and those should be changed every 15-16 hours if you want that great depth. Definitely a machine needing rechargeable batteries! Lol.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I agree that the battery set up on the Tejon is not the best but it is my favorite relic Hunter. But the battery sucks on the gpx5000 also and it costs near $5000. Just shouldn't be that heavy at this day in time
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I would never swing a Garrett detector even if it was given to me but their pinpointers and customer service are outstanding IMO.

If I had never owned/used a Garrett AT machine I can say I probably wouldn't buy one just because of the bad reviews they get from some people on the forums and on youtube. But I can tell you that 7 of my 10 best finds were found using the AT pro or AT gold. Two of my civil war plates were found with the old "weak" AT pro. One of those plates was extremely deep for any vlf machine. The AT machines are just very easy to learn in my opinion. To some the sounds on that deep plate would have been a "no dig" but knowing that machine really well and knowing the history of the area I dug it. This all goes back to the fact that really knowing your machine is more important than what machine you have most of the time.
 

OP
OP
H

Honeyman

Jr. Member
Apr 5, 2015
77
96
Cleveland OH
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 600
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well, I decided to go with a Garrett Sea Hunter. It's on the way right now. Just didn't want to buy a detector from a company that for all intents and purposes seems to be out of busness! A real shame because I wanted to be brand loyal to Tesoro after a very positive experience with my Silver uMax.
 

HighVDI

Silver Member
Feb 16, 2017
2,765
4,594
Pa
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
If I had never owned/used a Garrett AT machine I can say I probably wouldn't buy one just because of the bad reviews they get from some people on the forums and on youtube. But I can tell you that 7 of my 10 best finds were found using the AT pro or AT gold. Two of my civil war plates were found with the old "weak" AT pro. One of those plates was extremely deep for any vlf machine. The AT machines are just very easy to learn in my opinion. To some the sounds on that deep plate would have been a "no dig" but knowing that machine really well and knowing the history of the area I dug it. This all goes back to the fact that really knowing your machine is more important than what machine you have most of the time.

Sounds like you put most of your time into the AT series. Makes sense that you would find your better targets with one. People often get defensive when one doesn't care for a machine they swing. I just personally don't like them. I've hunted beside them quite a few times and was never really impressed. I will say the AT Max is a deep seeker....about all I can say.
 

DiggerinVA

Bronze Member
Sep 16, 2013
1,669
1,661
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
Detector(s) used
GPX5000, AT Gold, AT Pro, Whites TDI, Bandido 2 umax, Tejon, Vaquero, Deus 2, ORX and Legend
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
You are right...I have a lot of time swinging the AT machines and probably would have made most of my good finds with other machines. But for the last two weeks my son has been hunting with me swinging the AT pro and I am using the Tejon. We have been comparing signals and the only targets I have found that he can't hear are really tiny targets like P-caps and .22 bullets at any depth. But I do believe that people tend to be partail to certain brands even if they don't realize it. Usually if a person uses a whites when they really learn to metal detect, they may be partial to Whites machines. Same goes for Garrett guys, Minelab guys, etc. All of the big name manufacturers have and do make machines capable of making the find of a lifetime given the right situation. People put to much faith in YouTube videos that show this machine being sooo much better than that one. I could make any detector look superior in a video if I wanted to.
 

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