Minelab Explorer XS vs. Tesoro Tejon

[Michigan Badger]

Some very interresting reading:

http://njminerals.org/metaldetecting-shootout.html

 

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[gregl01]

Hmmm.... You keep talking Tejons and I'm might have to try one!!!!!!
Greg

 

[Michigan Badger]

Hmmm.... You keep talking Tejons and I'm might have to try one!!!!!!
Greg

I don't know which is better but that doesn't even matter to me. I do know that I'm extremely happy with the Tejon. Hunting with it is pure joy. It doesn't kill my back and is rock stable (rarely needs to be re-balanced) and all good targets are obvious. It's actually fun to detect again! 8)

Badger

 

[EDDE]

there you go again bashing detectors AGAIN
badger you callous remarks have been reported
wow HH great find you suck

 

[Michigan Badger]

there you go again bashing detectors AGAIN
badger you callous remarks have been reported
wow HH great find you suck

LOL!

 

[Don in SJ]

I have over 6.5 years experience with the XS, and I bought a Tejon to have a lightweight backup detector.

I got rid of if after a couple months. Lightweight is great, but a detector with no display is hard to get used to after having using a display for awhile, BUT, no tone ID is what the killer was. Yes, it went deep, but with no tone ID and no visual display. I got rid of it and got a Fisher Excel ID for a backup. I would have gotten a Garrett Ace 250, but they were not on the market yet.

I believe there are some good points in his test, but I also think it was biased. A Tejon is a good machine for the money , but it is not a top of line detector to compare with an XS or later models in my opinion.

Don

 

[Gribnitz]

A Tejon is a good machine for the money , but it is not a top of line detector to compare with an XS or later models in my opinion.

Don

LOL, this is a loaded comment. The VID detectors have thier perks, but they also lend people to trust waaaaaay too much in those displays. Top of the line in what capacity ? Hunting for civil war relics, park coin shooting, beach hunting ? I would stack the Tejon up against just about any other machine in the relic hunting category. It is very hot on low conductivity targets and finds them very deep. You may dig more junk, but you aren't going to pass over something a VID tells you is trash when it's really treasure either. In the park, it will find coins just as well as any other machine, just no ID to tell you if its a dime or quarter, plus it is hot on coins on edge most machines would pass over for trash. On the beach it is a no brainer, get a beach machine, the Tejon won't cut the mustard. If you can live without the doodads and the whizbang factor, the Tejon gets the job done exceptionally well. It also doesn't cost close to $1000 for all the extra gizmos a person really doesn't need AND has a lifetime warranty to top it all off.

Now, it would be Christmas everyday of the year if a company could come out with a machine that had VID that ACTUALLY could ID targets at max depth, but currently that isn't here, and probably won't be for my lifetime.

 

[Don in SJ]

Without Tone ID, the Tejon missed the boat for being a big seller.....Tone ID is most important, and it IS accurate on an XS when you know the machine and so is the Smart Screen, when you combine how that acts with the tone ID......Experience is paramount If it had tone ID I would have kept it as a backup...............

 

[l.cutler]

I would have to agree with Gribnitz. I don't miss visual ID or tone ID on the Tejon one bit, once I learned the sounds of the Tejon it gives me all the info I need. Definitely top of the line performance without the bells and whistles.

 

[EDDE]

TOLtop of line

 

[Michigan Badger]

I've owned tone detectors as they have been out for a long time. I find the tone pitch thing irritating (fingernails down the blackboard) and no more accurate than the sounds made by the non-tone machines. Non-tone detectors speak just like tone detectors only they don't raise their voices as high. The sounds made by my Tejon are smooth and distinct. Many times I laugh out loud when it tells me it's a coin type of object at 5+ inches deep. With my Tejon and my ears it's obvious. No fingers down the blackboard needed.

And like the poster above wrote, when it comes to finding coins on edge I've never seen it's like before. In fact the last couple Indian cents I dug were on edge. It's easy to tell this with a Tejon. How would take too much space here but Tejon experts know what I'm talking about...don't you guys?

Every detector made speaks a language of its own that is learnable. The really important things are depth and target separation (pinpointing and discrimination). In these two categories I personally have not discovered a better machine than the Tejon and it costs several hundred less than anything else that might come close.

One final thing is the weight factor which really isn't a little thing. What good is a detector that makes your life miserable after about 2 hours hunting time? I can still recall how my low back used to kill me after a days hunt with my Minelab or Nautilus. It always felt so good to stop hunting. Personally, I don't need dirty coins or even gold rings. I can afford all those I want and there are dealers with piles of them for sale. I'm in this for the fun of discovering and this fun includes freedom from physical pain.

Badger

 

[gregl01]

Amen Badger!!!
Greg

 

[cryptodave]

I have an XS and love it. Weight is not an issue for me... However, I will say that it is amazing how much weight the Sunray probe and the coil cover add to that machine. I went to the beach this weekend and removed them both since they were not needed and WOW! Like a whole different machine!

I like Tesoro products, I've heard nothing but good stuff about them and got to play with a Tejon recently. I liked it, weight was light and it went very deep... But I wouldn't trade it for my XS. Reason? Weight doesn't bother me, and its treated me good, I know the machine well and have my own custom programs that I like alot.
Its all about what you like and get used to. One day I'll get the SEs replacement and be put back on a learning curve...

At the end of the day its if you had fun, not what machine did what... Unless it digs the holes for you, and if it does that I want two!
Seriously, I've used quite a few machines and settled on the ones I use now. They work tremendously well for the environments I use them in, and thats all that matters to me.

 

[Rowdy]

I've owned tone detectors as they have been out for a long time. I find the tone pitch thing irritating (fingernails down the blackboard) and no more accurate than the sounds made by the non-tone machines. Non-tone detectors speak just like tone detectors only they don't raise their voices as high. The sounds made by my Tejon are smooth and distinct. Many times I laugh out loud when it tells me it's a coin type of object at 5+ inches deep. With my Tejon and my ears it's obvious. No fingers down the blackboard needed.
Badger

Badger,

I almost bought a Tejon, and wound up getting another detector that has tone I.D. instead. This is my first detector, and I was worried about being able to have some idea what is in the ground before I dig.

If I understand correctly, the Tejon has a single tone. Can you try to explain to me HOW the sound varies, that you can tell the difference in targets?

Thanks!

Rowdy

Oh, Dave or anyone else, your welcome to jump in on this to!

 

[U.K. Brian]

If you set the Tejon audio around 3 (it varies slightly between machines) you do get a distinct snap sound on rubbish rather than the nice smooth repeatable from every direction sound of good items.
You do need a good set of phones and its more limited (in theory) than the various tones of the Minelab but more accurate and runs to full depth just getting softer and softer.
I prefer the option on the XP Goldmaxx of the choice of running in normal mode with one tone or selecting two or the maximum three at the flick of a switch. Gives the best of all worlds.
The Minelab and some of the Whites models can overwhelm with the sheer number of tones they produce.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Badger,

If I understand correctly, the Tejon has a single tone. Can you try to explain to me HOW the sound varies, that you can tell the difference in targets?

Thanks!

Rowdy

Brian covered this better than I could but I'll take a shot at it. The single tone detectors produce distinct sounds that are a form of communications. Those of us from the old days can relate to this much better than those without experience with the TR machines of the 60's.

Basically, the sounds vary depending on the level of discrimination and type of metal. The thing that makes a single tone detector talk is the discrimination control. The higher the discrimination setting, the more distinct the talk.

If I run my detector on all-metal mode the talk is still there but it's far less distinct and takes a considerable amount of time to recognize and interpret.

If I run the Tejon on FOIL discrimination, some sounds will be clicks, chirps, smooth, snap with a smooth center and snap off, blunt, etc., there are many different words I'd use to describe this talk but others would use different words. But the important thing is it's not just one constant hummmm like some people think.

In my opinion the thing that makes the single tone machines better than the multiple tone pitch and meter machines is like Brian mentioned; the single tone is more reliable and accurate. The machine just lets you know exactly how the object in the ground is responding to the transmitted signal. You're getting the target info direct with no middleman (so-to-speak). With the TID, VID, and multiple tone machines you have a middleman inside the detector (the circuitry) that takes the raw info from the ground and translates it into the talk it thinks you should hear and/or see. But as we all know, meters don't always make the right decision.

How many times does a meter and/or tone say "Silver Coin" when it turns out to be a beer can? But those who use simple single tone non-meter machines say "this signal is very loud and when I lift the coil 12 inches I still get a loud signal and the the area of the target is too large to be a coin and the sound is sharp/blunt and not at all like silver ....it's a beer can!" But chances are all the time a meter or tone machine will be screaming SILVER DOLLAR DIG!

But like cryptodave wrote, we all have different styles and likes. The important things are to learn your machine and get out and hunt.

Badger