I've owned quite a few detectors, including XLT, Cortes, DeLeon as well as lower end BH 3300/F4. Usually, I'm dissappointed with the more expensive detectors, I usually feel they don't offer much for the price or are unnecessarily complicated (so you know where I'm coming from). However, I'm definitely happy with the F5, I plan on keeping it for some time. The only drawback is I'm waiting for a small coil to come out, but the 4" does work with it.
I would think the only reason you would pick the DeLeon over the F5 is if you are already a Tesoro fan/user and you only want to relic hunt. The F5 will give you more resolution on the coin range, I think DeLeon just gives a 95 if I recall. It also is as easy as any machine to ground balance, and will tell you when its not balanced. I like the separate gain/threshold knobs and pinpointing with the standard coil is easy. I also like when I go clad hunting I can just turn the beep into a simple beep and relic hunting I can change to a more informative beep in discriminate mode. They both like to "blank out" on surface or big metal. Don't get me wrong the DeLeon is a nice machine. I just find the F5 more flexible, you can set it up like a DeLeon or other machine, performs well, yet still _very_ easy to use. The Tesoro might avoid iron better when you turn it on, but I would believe the F5 can be set up similarly with the right gain/threshold. I haven't tried this side-by-side, so this is purely speculative. If someone has done a side-by-side of iron elimination/discrimination that would be interesting.
