Got a DeLeon coming in the mail..

Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Any tips or tricks? Got it at a fair price and thought I'd give it a run and see how it compares to the Bandido II Umax and the Compadre. I doubt it will get the depth of the Bandido but I've heard tell that the target ID is second to none.. I'm hoping it will work well as a park hunter. I plan to use my clean-sweep and dig everything that's in gold range, which I hear is considerably lower than pulltab range for the most part, and even lower than modern nickels. Hopefully this is true.
 

fltacoma

Jr. Member
Mar 6, 2014
80
72
shreveport, la
Detector(s) used
All current Tesoro Metal Detectors including Bandido II Umax and Silver Sabre Umax. In other words, way too many Tesoro's lol
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
It should have a little more depth than the Compadre and a little less than the Bandido II. The cleansweeps give up depth for more ground covered...
 

tabman

Bronze Member
Jul 5, 2011
2,306
7,241
Germantown, Tennessee
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Presently: CTX 3030, Tesoro Modded Cibola, F75LTD-2, XP Deus, Tesoro Mojave, MXT Pro, Tesoro Eldorado, Whites MXT All Pro, Minelab Equinox, Fisher CZ5 & CZ3D
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
In mild ground the Deleon is deeper than the Bandido II µMax.
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
In mild ground the Deleon is deeper than the Bandido II µMax.

Wow thats interesting. Most of where I hunt is mild ground so this should be fun.

I've been reading that gold comes in at around 13-17 and 30-41 and even up in the tab range which is a little odd as I've not been able to get this result with my Bandido.. Ive not been able to get a gold ring (even my biggest 8g) to hit higher than 5 on the disc (nickle range). I need to go buy a big gold ring and then return it after testing lol :tongue3:
And maybe even a super small gold ring too.
 

Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
From what I've gathered looking into the clean sweep set-up is it won't matter what machine you pair it with if you are looking for depth with that coil. I've seen a claim of six inches on a dime max. :dontknow: Maybe someone with experience can chime in on that.

Myself, I bet a Compadre or Amigo w/coil and ground balance mod would get the same results much cheaper. It's the route I will take some day to try it on the cheap.
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
From what I've gathered looking into the clean sweep set-up is it won't matter what machine you pair it with if you are looking for depth with that coil. I've seen a claim of six inches on a dime max. :dontknow: Maybe someone with experience can chime in on that.

Myself, I bet a Compadre or Amigo w/coil and ground balance mod would get the same results much cheaper. It's the route I will take some day to try it on the cheap.

I'm not looking for depth at all with the clean-sweep. With my modded Compadre I can get 6" on a nickel with the clean sweep which is neat and a little more than that with my Bandido, although the signal is much softer as you have better "depth perception" with the Bandido threshold. I plan to sell the modded Compadre here in a bit. Its neat but I dont see it as superior to the Bandido at this point.. not even with the 5.75.

But I do like the idea of hitting some of the older places I hunt with the 9x8 on the DeLeon, where I can dig deeper targets. I mostly hunt parks with the clean-sweep so I cant dig very often if at all in some spots.

This machine was bought for the purpose of sifting through trashy spots where a VDI will make my time worth while. But I didn't expect it to be deep.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Tabman nailed it. A properly tuned DeLeon is surprisingly deep in mild ground. Run your sensitivity in the 7 to 9 range, disc a little above iron and if/when you get bouncing numbers and coin indications that favor coins, but doesn't settle on one denomination, dig and check the area closely as 3 out of 5 times your probably on a coin spill.
luvdux
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Tabman nailed it. A properly tuned DeLeon is surprisingly deep in mild ground. Run your sensitivity in the 7 to 9 range, disc a little above iron and if/when you get bouncing numbers and coin indications that favor coins, but doesn't settle on one denomination, dig and check the area closely as 3 out of 5 times your probably on a coin spill.
luvdux

Thanks for the insight. I've wondered how I would handle multiple targets with the DeLeon. With the Bandido II umax I switch over to (auto) motion all metal and scan a big target slowly listening for multiple beeps. I've found this to be proven way to unmask targets next to crushed cans and other big metal.
 

Deft Tones

Bronze Member
Mar 24, 2016
1,547
2,352
Hawkeye State - Area 515
Detector(s) used
Whites V3i, XP Deus, Minelab Sovereign GT, Garrett AT Pro, Whites TRX (2), Predator Raven, Predator Raptor, Lesche Sampson
Primary Interest:
Other
I'm not looking for depth at all with the clean-sweep. With my modded Compadre I can get 6" on a nickel with the clean sweep which is neat and a little more than that with my Bandido, although the signal is much softer as you have better "depth perception" with the Bandido threshold. I plan to sell the modded Compadre here in a bit. Its neat but I dont see it as superior to the Bandido at this point.. not even with the 5.75.

But I do like the idea of hitting some of the older places I hunt with the 9x8 on the DeLeon, where I can dig deeper targets. I mostly hunt parks with the clean-sweep so I cant dig very often if at all in some spots.

This machine was bought for the purpose of sifting through trashy spots where a VDI will make my time worth while. But I didn't expect it to be deep.

I'm so sorry. My reading comprehension was lacking when I read your post. I'll leave it there and I'll shut up now.
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I'm so sorry. My reading comprehension was lacking when I read your post. I'll leave it there and I'll shut up now.

No need to shut up. When I bought the Compadre and modded it I thought it would be my new park killer. It has dual disc, the sensitivity mod and the clean sweep has been ground balanced to a small piece of ferrite. Its a fun detector to use I just dig a ton of small aluminium with it. So you were right to compare the DeLeon and the Compadre, as thats what I'm going to do. And I should have been clearer on how I meant to compare. I figured it wouldn't get the depth of the Bandido while going deep do to the lack of ground balance.. But seems I'm pleasantly wrong on that.

Sorry for the confusion.
 

Stoof2010

Hero Member
Jul 12, 2016
701
520
S.E. Michigan
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
There's a channel on YouTube called scannerguy1968 and he and I were pleasantly surprised by how deep the Deleon will go.
He ranks many detectors on the same scale and the Deleon beat out many detectors which was surprising. That Deleon is a deep machine, but the TID is not as reliable at depths, but it still will tell just as much through the audio like any other tesoro when it's deep and you ignore the screen.
I'd post the link but I think it has an ad on it. But it's called Tesoro Deleon in depth testing. He's tested a couple other tesoro as well. You can look in the video description to see the rankings according to how many points each earns in his awesome test bed.
Love his videos and I love my Deleon.
Had to send mine in and have the Troy super 7 fixed and the detector set to that coil, but I like the Deleon alot. Best of both worlds.
 

Stoof2010

Hero Member
Jul 12, 2016
701
520
S.E. Michigan
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
And as stated above, as long as it's properly tuned, it's great accurate and deep.

The reason the Cortes has GB only in all metal is because these two share a board and the ground balance is directly tied into how the TID display reads. If it's not right, the screen will be not right as to what's below the coil.

Let us know how you like it when you get it!!! I used mine as a coin shooter.
When it says zinc, it's zinc. When it says silver and reads 95, it's a copper penny, dime, quarter, half, or silver jewelry.
Next year I plan on trying more jewelry hunting with it
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Let us know how you like it when you get it!!!

Indeed I will. And about the tuning.. I know I shouldn't, but I plan to open it up and play with the ground balance. I was told that Tesoro uses a small piece of farrite to set the GB on their detectors. I did this with my clean-sweep Compadre and had to lower the disc some.. gained some depth too. I'll save all my potentiometer resistance values before I make any changes. Maybe even add GB pot for use with different coils? We'll see..

Thanks for the tips and insights all. Should be getting it Monday or Tuesday.
 

luvsdux

Bronze Member
May 16, 2007
1,767
690
Lewiston, Idaho
Detector(s) used
Multiple Tesoros and Whites
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Be carefull with the "do it yourself" tuning as i unsderstand that there is a separate gb circuit for the all metal and one for the disc.
luvsdux
 

Stoof2010

Hero Member
Jul 12, 2016
701
520
S.E. Michigan
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Yes be very careful. You'd have to set the GB for the disc with a separate POT. To me I don't know how you'd do that but maybe you do.
I needed coil work so it was more than worth the $50 to have it sent in, rebuilt the Troy, and tuned the detector to it.
But considering it might just need tuning, not sure if you'd count that as worth it.
You can do some easy bench tests. Try a zinc, and see how the graph and numbers display. Dime, quarter and silver will all show all silver bar and 95 on the TID number.
Chances are if it's still got the stock coil you won't have to worry. Mine came with the Troy so I scored on that. Originally sent it in just for a check and tune if needed and they told me I needed a coil rebuild so they did it. Included in the cost but paid for a new middle and lower rod. They shipped back with part of the $50 I initially sent.
 

Stoof2010

Hero Member
Jul 12, 2016
701
520
S.E. Michigan
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Is the Tesoro Outlaw with 3 coils better then the DeLeon?

That depends Samuel.
I use my Deleon for coin shooting right now but plan to try it for more next season.
The outlaw is good all around.
I ended up with both lol.
But it's a nice detector.
I couldn't pick which is better but as for strictly coin shooting, Deleon is my choice. When it says zinc, it's a zinc. When it's silver bar and 95, it's always a dime, quarter, silver ring or coin, or copper penny. Every time. (Properly tuned that is.) Wasn't like that when I got it and it had the Troy coil on it.
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Be carefull with the "do it yourself" tuning as i unsderstand that there is a separate gb circuit for the all metal and one for the disc.
luvsdux

Ahh that sounds cool.
 

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Gone Detectin

Full Member
Nov 2, 2015
108
60
Tennessee
Detector(s) used
XP Deus, Bandido II Umax,
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Well I got it this morning and I hunted all of about 30 minutes with it (work). I have to say I like what I'm seeing. I didn't read in to the specs on the DeLeon so I didn't know that it has a motion all metal (figured it was non-motion all metal) so I checked. The specs listed on the Tesoros site say that the DeLeon is no motion all metalTesoro Metal Detectors - Official company web site with metal detector models for treasure hunting land or water.. Not that its a problem, I think motion in most cases helps. And I didn't know that the VDI works in all metal! I was surprised by this because all I've seen is the VDI display showing AM in the all metal pictures and hadn't heard any mention of this feature. I hope to try and test this with some masked targets or iffy signals.

My first thought was that the machine may ID better in AM at depth, but so far I've not found this to be true. But the DeLeon will hit deeper than the VDI will show in AM, and also found that the VDI in Disc is excellent all the way to the theoretical depth of the coil (9x8 = 9-10"). I was able to air test a dime at 10" with the VDI reading between 81 - 95 with sensitivity slightly past 10, no falseing at all.

I noticed nickles rang in at around 33 when I did some air tests, and was happy to have dug a couple in my short hunt without digging one tab.:icon_thumleft:

Thanks for the tips everyone. Lord willing I'll be putting this thing through some paces here in the next week. I got permission to hunt a farm house dated to 1880-90 thats been lived in for the last 130 years by the same family that built it! And, its never been hunted. So wish me luck.
 

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pinenut

Bronze Member
Mar 15, 2016
1,024
1,363
where bigfoot roams
Detector(s) used
Various Tesoro - mostly Bandido II μMAX
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Gone Detectin said:
....I got permission to hunt a farm house dated to 1880-90 thats been lived in for the last 130 years by the same family that built it! And, its never been hunted. So wish me luck.

Good luck and be sure to show us what you found! ^_^
 

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