Cortes and Deleon - Thinking about getting one of them . . .

[SaginawIan]

I love my Silver Umax. I love my Tejon. I love my Stingray II. Want to try another Tesoro.

I'm thinking of shaking up my detectors and trading for a Cortes or Deleon. Can anyone tell me which one they like better of the two and why? Also, what accessory coils work best for these? I assume the 5.75".

Ian

 

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[Dan B]

I have a Cortes, but have never tried a Deleon, so my comments are probably not going to be anything you don't already know.

The electronics are pretty much the same, except the Cortes gives you a back light, wide and narrow notch, and the SUM mode. All of these, in my opinion, make the Cortes a better machine. The display is smaller than the Deleon, but it does offer more information. There are more bars to display the conductivity, but both machines use the 0-95 range. The words that appear on the Cortes aren't very useful. Tesoro's next ID machine should keep the depth, battery level, ID number and bars of the Cortes, but drop the text, and increase the size of the display. It seems like the size was sacrificed to fit in the text, but the text is the least useful of all the info presented.

I have used the 5.75" coil a couple of times, and it works well. Most of the time I have used the stock coil. Depth is good. I dig dimes at 8" regularly, and have dug a few coins at 10" and 11". Mind you, to do this you need to keep the disc very low. I prefer to keep the disc down at iron, and use the screen to decide whether to pass a target, or stop and dig. It takes a bit longer to cover ground, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Hope this helps,

Dan

 

[Michigan Badger]

I love my Silver Umax. I love my Tejon. I love my Stingray II. Want to try another Tesoro.

I'm thinking of shaking up my detectors and trading for a Cortes or Deleon. Can anyone tell me which one they like better of the two and why? Also, what accessory coils work best for these? I assume the 5.75".

Ian

If basic coinshooting is what you have in mind, the DeLeon is the better machine. The readout is bigger, it's lower cost, and it's just as deep as the Cortes (same guts),

My best year in 40 was when I used the DeLeon. I should have kept it.

Badger

 

[BuckleBoy]

If basic coinshooting is what you have in mind, the DeLeon is the better machine. The readout is bigger, it's lower cost, and it's just as deep as the Cortes (same guts),

My best year in 40 was when I used the DeLeon. I should have kept it.

Badger

I almost got a DeLeon instead of another Fisher--but sided with the tried and true.

Hey Ian--did you get my PM about where to take the 1266 to? How's it working out for you?


-Buckles

 

[SaginawIan]

Deleon it is. I think it should work like the Silver Umax with slightly more depth (due to the 9x8 coil) and target ID. Badger, is that about right? I love the Silver Umax, and nothing would replace it - I just want to see how Tesoro TID works - never tried one.

How accurate is the depth meter, if you recall? Ian

Will - PM'd you about that legendary 1266 - it's working out well and I'm sending it off to get refurbished!

 

[Dan B]

I forgot to mention the manual ground balancing the Cortes has for the all-metal mode. The Deleon doesn't have that.

I find the depth meter fairly accurate. It maxes out at 9", but you may find the occasional target deeper.

Good luck with the Deleon.

Dan

 

[Michigan Badger]

Deleon it is. I think it should work like the Silver Umax with slightly more depth (due to the 9x8 coil) and target ID. Badger, is that about right? I love the Silver Umax, and nothing would replace it - I just want to see how Tesoro TID works - never tried one.

How accurate is the depth meter, if you recall? Ian

Will - PM'd you about that legendary 1266 - it's working out well and I'm sending it off to get refurbished!

You're right. The Deleon is deeper than the Silver with 8 inch coil. The depth difference will surprise you. The new 9x8 web coils are a lot deeper than the old round 8" coils. I'd say as much as 3 inches deeper. One day I got a loud signal I knew was good so I very carefully dug it. I even measured the hole. The silver kids ring was almost exactly 9 inches deep.

The Tesoro TID meter gets blasted all the time. It's called outdated and many other things.

Don't listen to all that negative stuff.

But you should know the DeLeon meter is not like other meters.

The TID will sometimes be right on but usually it's target patterns (numbers) you're looking for. After practicing on lots of digs you'll begin to see the patterns.

Some advantages are it'll give an idea of depths, and also IDs iron and silver. Knowing depths can save a lot time digging tiny pieces of trash caught in the sod.

If I keep this up I'll be getting another one.

But I'd look for a mint used unit. I've seen them go for $275.

 

[SaginawIan]

Dan - so how does that manual GB work - you flip over to all metal and then have to balance it? Do you ever use that feature? Seems like that would get you tremendous depth in low trash areas. Also, how is that sum mode? I hear that's a great feature. I'm shopping for the Deleon right now, but if I can find a Cortes reasonable I'll grab that. Whichever I can find the best deal on I'll buy. I have to beleive that either would be great.

thanks for the replies, Ian

 

[JOE(USA)]

SaginawIan,

I don't want to butt into your conversation without asking permission. I use the Cortes and have a few points I would like to mention. Joe

 

[Michigan Badger]

The Cortes is also a very good machine but diffinitely over priced as brand new. At that price you could have a Minelab Sovereign GT or that new Minelab X-70 or the Whites MXT and all would be infinitely superior to the Cortes.

Personally I wouldn't pay over $300 for a DeLeon and over $350 for a Cortes. On today's market with all the competition out there that's all they're worth new. Tesoro's Silver uMax is priced right and is actually a bargin. But I've bought 3 and all were used at $150 to $170.

Also, the ground balance on the Cortes only works in all-metal mode. Discrimination mode is factory preset just like the DeLeon.

The meter is too small to see easily.

I'd buy a Cortes used but not new.

If you have $700 to spend I'd look the direction of Minelab.

 

[SaginawIan]

Badger, I know what you mean about used detectors. I've noticed that detectors are going cheaper lately used than I ever remember. In fact, it used to be that if a Tesoro showed up used, say a Tejon or Cibola- it would be snapped up right away - before I could even PM the person. Now I'm noticing they are hanging around and prices lowered and then lowered again. So I will keep my eyes out for a used one.

Joe - by all means chime in! I always love to hear your thoughts on these things, you definitely know your detectors, especially tesoro. I'm curious about the notch feature, I've never used it on an analog type machine - how does it work? I've used notch on the DFX - but the notch on the cortes looks different. How exactly does it work?

Ian

 

[JOE(USA)]

Badger, I know what you mean about used detectors. I've noticed that detectors are going cheaper lately used than I ever remember. In fact, it used to be that if a Tesoro showed up used, say a Tejon or Cibola- it would be snapped up right away - before I could even PM the person. Now I'm noticing they are hanging around and prices lowered and then lowered again. So I will keep my eyes out for a used one.

Joe - by all means chime in! I always love to hear your thoughts on these things, you definitely know your detectors, especially tesoro. I'm curious about the notch feature, I've never used it on an analog type machine - how does it work? I've used notch on the DFX - but the notch on the cortes looks different. How exactly does it work?

Ian

Ian,

Thanks for the invite! Hey Badger, good to see you in there posting again.
I tend to agree that the prices on used Tesoro's (and all makes) are dropping a bit. I think $ are getting tighter given the state of the economy. Ian, the notch on the Cortes is pretty straight forward. The toggle has an off,wide and narrow position. Narrow eliminates most pull tabs, wide eliminates most tabs and screw caps. There are two typical settings of the Disc. control that is used with the notch toggle. The Disc. level all the way counter clockwise,which gives you notch only or a slight clockwise on the Disc. which will give you the notch elimination plus iron elimination. The amount of notch discrimination "N" or "W" shows on the screen when toggled in. Remember the Disc. control overides and works WITH the notch so it is necessary to set IT also to properly use the notch.
Ian, I'm not sure what you mean by " I've never used it on an ANALOG type machine"? Joe

 

[SaginawIan]

Joe, by analog (maybe wrong term) what I mean is that it looks like dials control the width of the notch - where as with the dfx you digitally eliminate certain VDI's. I was thinking in terms of various pull tabs. With some of the parks I hunt they are littered with a certain pull tab that the DFX may read say 33-37 VDI. I would then just reject those VDIs. So are you saying on the Cortes that it is more like a setting that knocks out all readings mid range - or can you customize it to be as narrow as you want.

Overall, how useful do you find the notch feature and and sum mode? I was wondering how many times in a hunt you use the sum mode. I think I would be tempted to use it on every target. Also, is the Cortes tone ID all the time or just when in sum mode?

Ian

 

[JOE(USA)]

Joe, by analog (maybe wrong term) what I mean is that it looks like dials control the width of the notch - where as with the dfx you digitally eliminate certain VDI's. I was thinking in terms of various pull tabs. With some of the parks I hunt they are littered with a certain pull tab that the DFX may read say 33-37 VDI. I would then just reject those VDIs. So are you saying on the Cortes that it is more like a setting that knocks out all readings mid range - or can you customize it to be as narrow as you want.

Overall, how useful do you find the notch feature and and sum mode? I was wondering how many times in a hunt you use the sum mode. I think I would be tempted to use it on every target. Also, is the Cortes tone ID all the time or just when in sum mode?

Ian

Ian,

O.K., you mean control knob verses touch pad. Yes, you are correct that on the Cortes it eliminates in mid-range and has two preset positions, narrow and wide. No custom settings are possable.
I'm glad you mentioned the Sum mode. It is my experience that a lot of Cortes owners are not using that feature.
What a shame! The Sum mode further refines the target response to eliminate digging targets such as nails. Often nails will initially give a low iron number AND a high 95 number. Toggle in the Sum mode and if it's a nail, bingo! No more 95 ID! I use the sum mode on all mixed ID's, It saves a lot of digging! Oh yes, the tone ID works only in the Sum mode. I really like the way the machine is set up. Ck. out my double silver photo in "My Gallery". Joe

 

[Michigan Badger]

Well Ian did you take that deal on ebay?

$300 BUY-IT-NOW for a mint DeLeon wasn't too bad.

I was going to take it if it didn't sell by 1:00 EST. I logged in at 1:20 and it was gone.

Good thing for me, I spent about $600 the last couple weeks and I think this would of put me out of the house on my ear!

The wife is a most knowin woman!

Badger

 

[Dan B]

Hi Ian,

Yes, flip to all-metal and ground balance, the same as you would any other Tesoro. I use the all-metal to pinpoint occasionally, but only on targets that I suspect to be too big to be a coin. I ran across an area on my last couple of hunts that had a lot of what appeared to be melted
steel chunks. They registered a 95, but looked a little fishy on the graph. I could have gone to the SUM mode, or just flip to all metal and see how big the chunks were. I did a little of both. The nice thing about all-metal on the Cortes is that the ID still works. I'm sure it probably does on the Deleon too, but I don't know for sure.

I didn't buy mine new, I saved about $150 on a slightly used one. It had some problems, but Tesoro fixed it up as good (or better maybe) than new, at no charge. On the subject of pricing, my opinion is that pretty much all the detectors are over-priced. When you can buy a pretty powerful laptop computer brand new for $700, it's hard to imagine why a single purpose machine, with a fraction of the electronics costs the same or more. Electronics have been getting cheaper for the last 30 years or so in every area is seems except metal detectors. I know that there is research and development that goes on, but how often do you see new, revolutionary machines? Okay, forget revolutionary, how about just new machines? Tesoros' "new" machines are a good 5 years old now. Other industries have R&D too, but that doesn't jack up the price of the product beyond what is reasonable. I'm afraid that the Chinese will probably make serious inroads into this market too, because they will (are) pricing their machines more realistically.

Having said all that, I will still spend the money because I love metal detecting. But if there is a bargain to be found, I will take it, as will others too from what I see.

Dan

 

[RJH02]

I made the jump from the Silver umax to the Deleon. I like the the 9x8 coil but it doesn't pinpoint as well as the 8" doughnut coil on the umax. The target ID is nice , and it does work in AM on the Deleon . You do feel the difference in weight between the two.

I think if you like the Silver umax you will like the Deleon also.

 

[mastereagle22]

I have used both and own a Deleon. I didn't read the other posts because of short amount of time.


The only two differences I saw that were really worth mentioning was the Ground Balance on the Cortes and the Backlight, I like to hunt at night.

The numbers on the Cortes are smaller than the Deleon too.

I found relics and coins with the Deleon and will tell you that it is a solid machine.

Either one would be good.

 

[RJH02]

The Deleon is a 12 volt machine and the Silver umax is a 9 volt machine. Doe's higher voltage mean more depth?

 

[mastereagle22]

Don't think so. I think it has been established that a detector is only allowed to put out a limited amount of power due to govt regs.

I have dug a silver coin at 9 inches with the Deleon before, only an inch deeper with my Explorer II. So I would say the Deleon has a good record. If you are going to be hunting in heavily mineralized soil a manual ground balance would be a huge benefit.

Basically with my Deleon I ran the discrim just above Iron and dug anything that was above a 15.