1st time with DeLeon

[Vern2]

This morning I did a 2 hour hunt with my new DeLeon, at a local park that's been around for a long time. This was actually my first time hunting an area other than on my property. I waved at the parks and recreation staff and they waved at me.

I found the DeLeon pretty easy to use. It is spot on for coins. If its a coin at 95 with full bar, it's a coin. Pull tab, its a pull tab. And I found around a dozen pull tabs. I found a pocket full of junk metal, as I was digging everything with a good signal.

The good haul was 2 clad dimes and 8 pennies. Three of the pennies were right on top of the ground.

Threshold? Threshold baffles me. I moved it around from 10:00 to 2:00 at different times. I don't know what kind of difference it is supposed to make. Yes, I have read the owners manual, but it still doesn't make sense. Hopefully somebody can enlighten me.

Sometimes the DeLeon wanted to stay in All Metal Mode. Couldn't get it back to Disc. Later I did figure out if I turn the machine off, set it on AM, turn the machine on, lift the coil in the air, then it would go into Disc. I thought it was supposed to be automatic anytime you wanted to change. No problem going from Disc to AM, just a problem going from AM back to Disc.

Pin pointing from AM is right on the money.

All in all I am very happy with my first impressions of the DeLeon. Being new (30days) to MD, the only other ones I can compare it to is my Garrett ACE 200, which is very entry level, but I did find a ring with it and numerous coins. However, you get what you pay for and the DeLeon is worth the price difference.

Tomorrow I plan to go back over the areas that I have already gone over with the ACE on my property, especially a sandy beach area.
We'll see if I can find stuff the ACE couldn't detect.

 

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[bill from lachine]

Good going on your first outing with the DeLeon and btw it loves gold rings as you can see in my avatar.

The setting between 10am + 2pm is the right range; the threshold just basically controls the signal strength no big deal....I generally just knock out iron and dig everything else but if you're just starting out or have a very junky site you may want to disc out a bit more.

Even when you knock out iron if it's a large piece it generally will come through the discrimination anyway.

Good luck going forward.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[luvsdux]

Threshold should be set to a light hum when in all metal. Its main purpose is to help make whisper signals more audible, but I've heard it does enhance performance a bit, so don't turn it clear down. It is NOT a volume control. DeLeon is one of my favorite and most used detectors. I find setting the sensitivity in the 7 to 9 range, disc. just under nickels gives me a good working settings for most parks etc. Not sure about the switching problem you mention - I have no problem like that with mine.
luvsudux

 

[Vern2]

Hey, thanks to all for your encouragement and advice. It's all appreciated.
With about 30 min of daylight left, I gave the DeLeon another go today. No problem with switching from AM to disc and back and forth again. I figured it out. Going from AM to disc, the coil just needs to be lifted. Not so the other way.
I did find 2 pennys. Right on the money.


.

 

[bill from lachine]

Vern,
One thing to remember regardless of machine is to go slow and do overlaps....this comes from 20 plus years detecting with various machines and the school of hard knocks...lol.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[Vern2]

Threshold should be set to a light hum when in all metal. Its main purpose is to help make whisper signals more audible, but I've heard it does enhance performance a bit, so don't turn it clear down. It is NOT a volume control. DeLeon is one of my favorite and most used detectors. I find setting the sensitivity in the 7 to 9 range, disc. just under nickels gives me a good working settings for most parks etc. Not sure about the switching problem you mention - I have no problem like that with mine.
luvsudux

Bill, from reading a lot of prior posts, what you say is about what I am doing. But I do appreciate the info on threshold. Just a low hum.

Do you ever just hunt in AM mode? As you say, and what others have said, it might find targets deeper. I hunted some yesterday in AM mode, but there is much more chatter and humming going on. Disc is like silent until it targets.

 

[Vern2]

When you say "overlap", do you mean just going over the same spot more than once, several times? I've already discovered that slow is good. Too old to move along in a hurry anyway. Would have to quit in 30 min.

Thanks!!!

 

[bill from lachine]

Vern,
The term overlap basically means to partially go over the same ground twice....let's say you coil is 8" well after you've done a sweep from one side of a site to the other you'd overlap that same path by say 4" so you'd only be covering 4" of new ground it slows things down but improves the odds of not missing good finds.

Regards + HH

Bill

When you say "overlap", do you mean just going over the same spot more than once, several times? I've already discovered that slow is good. Too old to move along in a hurry anyway. Would have to quit in 30 min.

Thanks!!!

 

[Vern2]

Thank you for explaining that, Bill.

 

[luvsdux]

I sometimes check a target in all metal, but don't normally hunt in that mode, especially where small trash is abundant.
luvsdux

 

[bibelot]

The threshold provides the noise to hear the targets in the ground, much like a squelch on a radio. You need to pay attention to where it is if you are looking to pull dimes past the 9" depth with it or your signal is not going to be repeatable and your likely not to dig them. On the Deleon, leave the disc setting to minimum, thumb the sensitivity and threshold to adjust to weaker target signals.I hope this helps.

 

[Vern2]

That does help. Thank you.

 

[bibelot]

For whatever reason ,you can overdrive a quarter, where it will barely read with high sensitivity settings when hunting tot lots. Once you go through and are not seeing a lot of quarters turn up, turn your sensitivity back to 4-5 and go through again and see if quarters appear that you missed the first time. I like threshold about a 1/8" into the red band over the threshold knob since your dealing with replenished clad lots. I think the quarter deal is a pre set ground balance cause. Not being properly ground balanced for the soil and then high sensitivity setting which increases the gain, overloads the bigger coin info.You could look for a 5 pin 7" widescan coil, it will do most anything well for the Deleon. They are not all that expensive, I think I paid $71 for a brand new 7" wide scan coil.

 

[Vern2]

Good good good information. Thanks for taking the time to explain this to me.

 

[pinenut]

For whatever reason ,you can overdrive a quarter, where it will barely read with high sensitivity settings when hunting tot lots....I think the quarter deal is a pre set ground balance cause. Not being properly ground balanced for the soil and then high sensitivity setting which increases the gain, overloads the bigger coin info..

That's what I think as well. Either running towards - (negative) on the GB (which you can't, with fixed GB), or lowering sensitivity, both seem to help. I'd still try the bigger coins with sensitivity up high, though. If getting a solid response on quarters with sens up high, leave it high; you'll get better depth. Each of my Tesoros is a little different. Some give solid quarter signals with sens. up high and some don't. Since I started "power balancing" in disc mode (running ground balance right on the edge in disc), quarter signals come in much stronger than when I just set GB neutral in all-metal. That usually lets me set the sensitivity a bit higher as well, while still getting good quarter signals... Of course, in highly mineralized spots... you still need to run more positive and lower sensitivity some.
Spending more time on each machine instead of constantly switching 'em around really helps.
That's something I have a hard time doing.

 

[Vern2]

There's a ton of stuff I need to learn about MD. About 35 days into my career. When I take on a new hobby I kinda get obsessed. My wife agrees.
So please understand that all of you who have taken the time to help me along, I am really thankful. Much appreciated.

I take written notes on most of what you say, just as a reminder.

 

[Stoof2010]

The best way to learn is go out and hunt.
Remember the readings, no matter what they are and dig just about everything until you get a handle on what the machine is telling you. With your ground being different than anyone elses your machine will react differently than others.
Better for you to just hunt and dig and figure it out :-)
But still take what others say to either reinforce what you learn or help you realize how much learning yourself helps.
Happy hunting and I look forward to hearing more about your hunts and what you're learning!!

 

[Vern2]

Stefan, thanks again for sharing your knowledge. Currently the weather here in SW Georgia is not cooperating with my desires to get out there and hunt.

One thing I have figured out is I like the stock 8x9 concentric much better than the 5.75 concentric. I do like the light weight of the 5.75. The larger coil covers more ground, goes deeper, finds more targets and very accurate pin pointing. The 5.75 is so very quiet, even on max sensitivity. Allen at Tesoro warned me that I would probably find the 8.9 way more useful, as the DeLeon was set up for that particular coil.

What disturbs me is yesterday I did some air tests in my home with the 5.75. Air tests were great, especially in the AM mode. An inch or more difference with every item I tested. My gold wedding ring went as high as 10" with a number reading in AM.

However, with a break in the weather, I went down to a sandy beach area behind my house and tested the 5.75, some coins on top of the ground and some buried. I don't know what the problem was, maybe wet sand, but I found it very difficult at times to get much of any reading, AM or disc. Had to be within an inch or two to get a 95 on a quarter or dime. I buried my ring around 4 inches under the sand and it wouldn't target it. I know its not my Deleon, because in frustration, I quickly walked back up to my home and put the 8.9 on, walked back down, did the ring test again, and bingo, loud and clear. Nothing I tested could hide from this coil.

When the ground dries, I plan to test the smaller coil again. I am wondering if my coil is defective, or just not in harmony with the DeLeon.

?

 

[Terry Soloman]

With a fixed ground balance in Georgia, you are already working at a disadvantage. The coils need to be "tuned" to your machine. The Tesoro rep did you a huge disservice recommending the Deleon. In your case it is no better than a Cibola. You would have been MUCH better off with an Outlaw, or even a Vaquero. I feel bad that you got started with the wrong machine for your area, and worse that a Tesoro employee steered you in the wrong direction.

 

[Vern2]

With a fixed ground balance in Georgia, you are already working at a disadvantage. The coils need to be "tuned" to your machine. The Tesoro rep did you a huge disservice recommending the Deleon. In your case it is no better than a Cibola. You would have been MUCH better off with an Outlaw, or even a Vaquero. I feel bad that you got started with the wrong machine for your area, and worse that a Tesoro employee steered you in the wrong direction.

Terry, I hear what you are saying, but it's all my bad. Nothing would do me but I had to have a DeLeon. After reading so many positive reviews and especially the one on You Tube by John Hainlen, I thought this would for sure the one for me.

I bought mine from Metaldector.com and I told them what I wanted. They knew I was serious so he didn't steer me away from the DeLeon. Also, when I called Allen at Tesoro I discussed the merits of the DeLeon with him and he didn't try and steer me away from what I wanted. So it was all on me.

I do plan on discussing with Allen if I need to send the machine and the small coil to Tesoro for tuning it properly. I have no doubt that he will treat me fairly.

I actually took delivery on a Makro Racer, but returned it immediately after using it for around 30 min. I couldn't get the DeLeon and John's video out of my head, and I just knew this was what I wanted. Like a sickness. When I tried the Racer, it just felt cheap in my hands, like it wouldn't last thru the 2 year warrantly. Or since I was sick and wanted the DeLeon so bad, on hindsight perhaps I was just looking for something to dislike about it. Only the shadow know, I guess.

Anyways, it is what it is, so I better get to know the DeLeon pretty darn up close and personal. Actually, I am quite happy with the DeLeon with the 8x9 Concentric coil that came with the unit.