thoughts on the outlaw

Bryan V

Jr. Member
Dec 13, 2009
83
17
Washington State
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 800
Minelab Monster 1000
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I just bought a used one for the wife ;) that should be here late next week.
Curious myself about this machine. I have always wanted a Tesoro. I mean my wife;) has always wanted one.
To be honest my wife doesn't even know what a Tesoro is.
Anyway I'm anxious to try it out so I can teach her how to run it.
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Quite a few have had probs with the retune button. If you buy a used one, it will be a $50 service charge if you need the button replaced. Just giving you a heads up.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,424
30,111
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Quite a few have had probs with the retune button....

LOL Scott! :laughing7: Where do you come up with this stuff? :dontknow: You have to be the TOP Tesoro hater on this forum hands down! :hello:
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
LOL Scott! :laughing7: Where do you come up with this stuff? :dontknow: You have to be the TOP Tesoro hater on this forum hands down! :hello:

Cant you read? I just read it from a guy on a Tesoro forum, idxpro. He said he spoke with Rusty over an hour & Rusty told him they had probs with the outlaw. Go ***** at him. I'm not making this up old man. Get off my ass
 

OP
OP
K

keystonecops

Jr. Member
Mar 9, 2014
75
53
salem or
Detector(s) used
Whites XLT-Ace 150
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
WOW! Didn't mean to start WW3. Later Clyde
 

Hobojo

Sr. Member
Dec 9, 2013
344
275
South Orange County CA
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Compadre, Vaquero, Outlaw ,Cibola, Sand Shark,
Minelab Xterra 705, Minelab Safari.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ok this is where I may be a bit more helpful.
I have used the Outlaw since November. The Outlaw is my favorite of the four Tesoro's we own. What is there not to like? Ok if you need a VDI display then look elsewhere, but if you don't then HELL YES the Outlaw is a good machine. The Outlaw does what it was designed to do FIND THE GOODIES. There may be some confusion how to use the button,but it works! Yes there is ALWAYS the possibility that some thing may break , but hey WE Tesoro folks have a LIFETIME warranty to fall back on, good luck some where else!
The machine is easy to learn and use . Everything is laid out where it should be , you can toggle between modes by mind control, the push button is great for All-Metal pinpointing, very accurate! Its got Auto-All-metal and All-Metal just by switching the modes both of which can be very useful in find targets. And what can I say about its DISC mode? It works and works well, yes you will still dig a few nails and pull-tabs, but hey you will also avoid a bunch of other crap. On the other hand just leave it turned down and have fun digging stuff or put it into Auto All Met and sniff out those really small targets ,like earring backings or small gold items, whatever you want. It can be ground balanced, it has sensitivity control and a really nice tone that wont drive you nuts, like QUACK QUACK!
As you can tell I like my Outlaw even more than my Vaq.
 

OP
OP
K

keystonecops

Jr. Member
Mar 9, 2014
75
53
salem or
Detector(s) used
Whites XLT-Ace 150
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Thanks Hobojo. I PMd Terry, both of you give the Outlaw high marks. That's my next MD when I upgrade. Later Clyde
 

atomicscott

Bronze Member
Aug 18, 2011
1,564
1,055
Riverside CA
Detector(s) used
Current: Nokta Makro Simplex+, Teknetics Patriot, Fisher Gold Bug (original), GP Pinpointer (Garrett Clone) Lesche. Owned: Omega 8000, Minelab X-Terra 505, Fisher F2, Tesoro Vaquero, & Compadre, Whit
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ok this is where I may be a bit more helpful.
I have used the Outlaw since November. The Outlaw is my favorite of the four Tesoro's we own. What is there not to like? Ok if you need a VDI display then look elsewhere, but if you don't then HELL YES the Outlaw is a good machine. The Outlaw does what it was designed to do FIND THE GOODIES. There may be some confusion how to use the button,but it works! Yes there is ALWAYS the possibility that some thing may break , but hey WE Tesoro folks have a LIFETIME warranty to fall back on, good luck some where else!
The machine is easy to learn and use . Everything is laid out where it should be , you can toggle between modes by mind control, the push button is great for All-Metal pinpointing, very accurate! Its got Auto-All-metal and All-Metal just by switching the modes both of which can be very useful in find targets. And what can I say about its DISC mode? It works and works well, yes you will still dig a few nails and pull-tabs, but hey you will also avoid a bunch of other crap. On the other hand just leave it turned down and have fun digging stuff or put it into Auto All Met and sniff out those really small targets ,like earring backings or small gold items, whatever you want. It can be ground balanced, it has sensitivity control and a really nice tone that wont drive you nuts, like QUACK QUACK!
As you can tell I like my Outlaw even more than my Vaq.
Sorry hobojo, but Tesoro no longer honors the lifetime warranty on second hand units. That's what I was referring to. The post I read was Re: Vaquero depth vs Outlaw disc, but you wont find it here. I was merely passing on the info I read there earlier. Terry knows exactly where the post is as he is always there.
 

happycamper08

Full Member
Sep 27, 2011
120
35
Maine
Detector(s) used
E-Trac, Racer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I bought an outlaw last summer and I had a problem with a stuck mode switch but tesoro took care of that very quickly and ever since it has been a very fun machine to use. I also have an e trac but that thing is very heavy and if you have a forearm bigger than average the ergonomics are horrible. I use the outlaw way more than the e trac now.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,424
30,111
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
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🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Sorry hobojo, but Tesoro no longer honors the lifetime warranty on second hand units...

Tesoro NEVER offered a lifetime warranty on "second hand units." The warranty has ALWAYS been for the original owner, and is STILL the ONLY lifetime warranty in the industry. Scott is a Tesoro hater. I have yet to figure out if he is employed by a rival manufacturer, or if his girlfriend was stolen by a Tesoro employee, but he NEVER passes up a chance to bad mouth a Tesoro. Sad..
 

digger27

Bronze Member
May 18, 2011
1,506
3,225
I just bought a used one for the wife ;) that should be here late next week.
Curious myself about this machine. I have always wanted a Tesoro. I mean my wife;) has always wanted one.
To be honest my wife doesn't even know what a Tesoro is.
Anyway I'm anxious to try it out so I can teach her how to run it.


:laughing7::laughing7::laughing7:

Loving this!
When I was a kid I bought my mother a catcher's mitt for mother's day hoping she would just give it back to me.
You ain't fooling nobody, I am sure your "wife" will have a great time with it...if she can ever get it away from you!
 

dirtscratcher

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2009
1,877
1,350
Columbia falls Montana
Detector(s) used
Minelab Sov GT Explorer XS Tesoro Vaq t2se x705
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro NEVER offered a lifetime warranty on "second hand units." The warranty has ALWAYS been for the original owner, and is STILL the ONLY lifetime warranty in the industry. Scott is a Tesoro hater. I have yet to figure out if he is employed by a rival manufacturer, or if his girlfriend was stolen by a Tesoro employee, but he NEVER passes up a chance to bad mouth a Tesoro. Sad..
Why do you play dumb when someone says this you know exactly what he is talking about. For any nobody that does not know they fixed them no questions asked until recently. Now they only honor the original owner, which is a great policy still.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,424
30,111
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Why do you play dumb when someone says this you know exactly what he is talking about. For any nobody that does not know they fixed them no questions asked until recently. Now they only honor the original owner, which is a great policy still.

Tesoro NEVER offered a lifetime warranty on "second hand units." The warranty has ALWAYS been for the original owner, and is STILL the ONLY lifetime warranty in the industry. If you feel I am "dumb" because I corrected a false statement, so be it. If you disagree with my opinion that Scott takes every opportunity to bad mouth Tesoro, so be it. If I had said something that was not factual I would cop to it. I haven't.
 

dirtscratcher

Bronze Member
Mar 18, 2009
1,877
1,350
Columbia falls Montana
Detector(s) used
Minelab Sov GT Explorer XS Tesoro Vaq t2se x705
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Tesoro NEVER offered a lifetime warranty on "second hand units." The warranty has ALWAYS been for the original owner, and is STILL the ONLY lifetime warranty in the industry. If you feel I am "dumb" because I corrected a false statement, so be it. If you disagree with my opinion that Scott takes every opportunity to bad mouth Tesoro, so be it. If I had said something that was not factual I would cop to it. I haven't.
You are arguing over wording when you know exactly what he means just like when you jumped all over me for the same thing. If you really forgot go to the search bar and put in Tesoro Warranty and scroll down to the thread Tesoro warranty and read your own words that too many were buying used and sending in for free repairs and they can't continue. Which is understandable and still a great warranty. I don't know why you seem ashamed of the facts as they are.
 

Terry Soloman

Gold Member
May 28, 2010
19,424
30,111
White Plains, New York
🥇 Banner finds
1
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
Nokta Makro Legend// Pulsedive// Minelab GPZ 7000// Vanquish 540// Minelab Pro Find 35// Dune Kraken Sandscoop// Grave Digger Tools Tombstone shovel & Sidekick digger// Bunk's Hermit Pick
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I'm not arguing over anything Dirt, just stating the facts. Glad you agree Tesoro has the best warranty and customer service in the industry.
 

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 spoke with James on the phone a few years ago about a defective used Cortes that I purchased. The jist of the conversation was that he was uncomfortable with having any of their machines in the field that were not working properly. It's true that he was quite generous with the warranty policy even though, as Terry mentioned, it always has been stated that it was for the original owner only. Problem is, you can't run a business with your heart. Those days are gone for good, unfortunately. If Tesoro is going to survive as a company, they had to stop giving it away for free and give people a reason to want to buy new. I applaud Vince's decision to get strict with the warranty policy.

As for Scott, yeah, he doesn't miss any opportunity to say some negative about Tesoro. I had a Couple Garrett's that were real stinkers, maybe I should hang out on the Garrett forum and bring that up ad nausium. Nah, I've got better ways to spend my time.
 

reed88

Jr. Member
Dec 16, 2007
88
12
Detector(s) used
bandido 2 umax
I have an outlaw and i love the thing , You cant go wrong with it , Its just the bandido 2 umaxs big bro , heck i rarely use the pinpoint button ,i just x the spot out and dig the center of the x , Thanks to the bandido 2 umax for getting me started doing that , when i take my outlaw out i just turn it on and go ,,if it starts acting up i just shake it a few times and it starts back acting normal again lol JK the only problem ive really had is this sensitive ga red dirt ,,took me a while but i finally got it figured out , ill go a lil futher < i was hunting a spot where they weren't nothing but hot rocks , man that thing would go off every inch , so i grabbed a bucket full of those rocks and took them home ,, Set up me a test table ,turns out in all metal i can disc them out and still pick up a quarter ever how i done that :) but it worked well for me tho ,,just my 2 cents :)
 

jfeeney

Sr. Member
Sep 16, 2012
295
133
Dayton
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Outlaw
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Clyde - I love my Outlaw. I need to talk mt wife into needing one too. LOL that's not gonna happen. IM me if you have specific questions.

It's light and I've had no issues with mine.
 

mojotrout

Jr. Member
Jan 21, 2013
28
8
Idaho's high desert
Detector(s) used
Tesoro, Minelab
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello Clyde,

Im not a Tesoro hater, I love my Silver uMax and my Compadre. I had an Outlaw, and it DID have the same retune button issue that others had (four that I have counted on the forums so far). I had it checked for FREE even though it was a second-hand machine in March/April of 2013 because Tesoro "honored" their warranties for second-hand owners until recently. Terry uses the word "offers", but that is just semantics--they did not charge me for the check-up and I stated up front I wasnt the original owner when speaking to them on the phone. Very cool of them to do that but totally understandable why they are not continuing to do so. Tesoro made so many good machines over the past several decades that they cant afford to keep tuning all of them up and giving them check-ups for free. That's what you get when you make great machines for so long--they keep getting used and need a little fixing every twenty years or so!

My machine came back from Rusty with a clean bill of health. However, it acted up again a few weeks later. I was told more than a few times on the Tesoro forums that it was "user error" and since it had been recently checked out, I assumed they were right and soldiered on trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the machine. I finally figured that it was smarter than me and traded it for a different machine. I come to find out the new owner had the same problem and he had to send it back in and pay the 50$. I havent heard whether they fixed it ok or not. The retune issue is not a trivial one. If it isnt used correctly or is not working properly, it can reduce your depth by whole lot while disc-ing out favorable targets. Even when working correctly, I found it confusing and tricky to use properly. However, my experience with detectors is fairly limited (the three Tesoros and the Fisher F5 at that point) and a guy or gal who has been around a lot of machines may not have any issues at all with its operation.

So from my experience I can say that:
--the Outlaw is a fine machine when its working--it has a nice sound, wicked pinpointing, acceptable disc (except for those darn bent rusty nails!), and pretty decent (6-7 inches on a dime in moderate soil) depth;

--Tesoro DID HONOR their lifetime warranty on my machine even though it was with a second owner (up until mid-2013 or so);

--They did not fix the issue or even find an issue with the machine when they looked it;

--They did charge a third-hand owner for work on a machine that had likely been defective since it left the assembly line. This surprised me given the age and history of the machine.


Take all of that how you like. I love my Tesoros and am anxiously waiting to see what the new Cazador is all about, but the Outlaw has had several complaints from folks who are not haters. I would take that into consideration. Maybe they have fixed the chronic problems with the retune button by now. Either way I'd buy new just to make sure you're covered. There are plenty of folks who have NOT HAD ANY issues with that button and love the Outlaw, so maybe it was a batch of bad parts or something. It would be cool if Tesoro would let us know if certain serial numbered machines are having the issues while others are not. kinda like an automobile recall?

I hope that helps you with your decision. Im not writing this to piss and moan about the Outlaw or Tesoro or to anger its supporters. Im not even trying to talk you out the Outlaw. I just think honest, objective thoughts and experiences are valuable to both the users and the makers of detectors and that is what these forums do best. Good luck and let us know how things work out.
 

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