Tesoro Daleon vs Fisher F5

Suckerpunched

Full Member
Nov 15, 2008
110
0
Ogden, Utah
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver Umax
Hi all.....nother dumb question,,,want to upgrade from my silver umax next season and have been researching different models. I love the silver but would like to get abit deeper and with a TID. I prefer the thumbknobs over the touchpad. Both are in my price range, just wondering if anyone has any opinions. I mainly coin and jewelry hunt in Northern Utah.
Thanks in advance........HH.....TC
 

Dan B

Sr. Member
Sep 16, 2007
341
143
Windsor Ontario
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Vaquero. Whites MX Sport
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I had the Cortes before getting my F5. In my opinion the Cortes (and Deleon) are not in the same league as the F5. The F5 has features not available from Tesoro such as tones or the ability to ground balance (in disc and AM). The F5 is the clear winner in my opinion.
 

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
13,398
3,992
In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
The ground balance setting on the Fisher is only adjustable on for All Metal and is then set for the Disc mode. It can't be set for both differently.
You are better off with the Tesoro's also for depth and ease of use. Multi tones only report on the conductivity of the target. IE, a screw cap can give a high silver tone. If you ever need repairs, First Texas hasn't been on top of things lately due to trying to run cheaper.
 

Dan B

Sr. Member
Sep 16, 2007
341
143
Windsor Ontario
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Vaquero. Whites MX Sport
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
True, the GB can't be set separately, but it is GB'd in the disc mode. My Cortes relied on a pre-set GB for disc, as does the Deleon. With the F5, you have a constant read out on ground mineralization, and the ability to tweak the GB as you go. It's as simple as making sure the number on the left matches the number on the right.

As for tones, I guess I don't really understand the comment that they only respond to the conductivity of the target. Isn't that how it's supposed to work? Iron has a very low tone, all the way up to a high pitch tone for copper/silver (In 4 tone). I've dug very few bottlecaps with the F5, but lots with my T2. I'm still trying to figure that one out. The Cortes has a sum mode which will give you tones while you hold the switch, but I never found that real useful.

Either way, you can't really go wrong. The trick is to learn your machine and what it's telling you.

Good luck,

Dan
 

Phantasman

Gold Member
Nov 24, 2006
15,894
24,068
NE Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Nokta Simplex, Land Ranger Pro, Quick Draw Pro, Deteknix XPointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I had a Deleon for a few years. I got my F5 a few months ago. Finally let the Deleon go. The F5 has more abilities and hunts just as deep and retunes as fast as the Deleon. The Deleon is built a little better, but the F5 can hold it's own. I think the F5 is a sleeper because a lot of people don't want to learn the sensitivity/threshold setting. It definitely has more options of designing the unit for the metal metrics you chose to hunt. Both allow the TID to work in AM. Both handle EMI the same. It's easier for me to use the confidence meter and segments on the F5 than the graduated 5 segments on the Deleon. The tones (option of single, 2,3 or4) is nice to have on the F5 over Tesoro's single tone. If you like to hunt in AM, the Deleon wins out for a stable hum over the F5. The display on the F5 has so much more information and is easier to see than the smaller Deleon screen. 2 nine volts power the F5 and 8 AA's power the Deleon. Both weigh the same. The Deleon has more coil options. The F5 has only 4 coil options right now. The coils for the F5 will only work on the F5. Coils for the Deleon will work on any of Tesoro's uMax line.

Personally, I like the F5 over the Deleon.
 

Shortstack

Silver Member
Jan 22, 2007
4,305
416
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Bandido II and DeLeon. also a Detector Pro Headhunter Diver, and a Garrett BFO called The Hunter & a Garrett Ace 250.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Spd. I have a DeLeon and love it. Fisher was on the leading edge of the hobby detector development years ago, but I've heard that when they were bought out a few years ago, their quality suffered. I don't know for sure if that is so. But, a qualifying PLUS to me is the Tesoro's are manufactured in the USA by the same folks who've done it all along. It's my understanding that Fisher has farmed out the manufacture of their circuit boards to an overseas company; China or South Korea.

I'm like you. I really don't like the touchpad setup because the slightest speck of dust or water will mess them up.

I don't know about the Fisher, but the DeLeon TID shows all targets detected in each swing; including the ones discriminated out. I have used that fact to penpoint a coin in the middle of a "nest" of pulltabs. It helped to figure out which signal belonged with the "right" bar.
 

OP
OP
Suckerpunched

Suckerpunched

Full Member
Nov 15, 2008
110
0
Ogden, Utah
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Silver Umax
Thanks for all the inputs,,,, has really helped, I think I'll try the fisher and see how it works out, won't part with the silver umax as it is still a workhorse and spot on coin finder.........
HH......TC
 

vaquero44

Bronze Member
Dec 6, 2009
1,264
329
Maine
Detector(s) used
Deep Tech Vista RG 1000, Deep Tech Vista Gold, Deep Tech RELIC, Garrett prop pointer.....bazooka gold 36" gold trap, Angus MacKirk Grubstake sluice, my version of mikes trommel, echo crevice vac, Gold
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
i've owned 4 deleons and found my firsts with each one unfortunatly every time i aquired one i had to sell it about a month later do to finacial situation or some other darn thing, with the last deleon i had the tone of the signal on iron was no mistake it had a very slammed sounding tone compared to a smooth tone on a coin then i would check out my screen if numbers were locked then i could bet the farm thats what it was! and the f-5 well never owned owned one but i like the features but i 've watched on you tube and numbers seem really jumpy unless there sensitivty is up to far maybe?
 

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