Minelab vs. Tesoro Tejon

[Boilermaker27]

I have both a Minelab Explorer II and a Tesoro Tejon.

Last year when my Minelab went kaput I went out and quickly bought a Tesoro Tejon until I could afford a new Minelab Explorer. I used the Tejon exclusively for three months at a civil war relic site in Missouri. After I got my new Explorer II I went back to that site and found very little. The Tesoro had found it all. Last week I went back to the same site with the Tesoro. This time the ground was very damp, but it usually was anyway, and I hunted a very small area. This area had been hunted by myself and by a friend using a Whites Eagle, this friend is an expert on the Eagle and outhunts most people. Anyway, in less than an hour I had recovered another seven .69 calibre minnie balls. These minnies were all in excess of ten inches. The depth was incredible. I was amazed because I had not found anything in this area for months. The Tesoro was able to go down and detect these minnies with no problem.

For relic hunting I will take the Tesoro any day. It has a very fast recovery time and can be moved very quickly, plus it doesn't miss any targets. I have found three pre civil war dimes and about ten half dimes with the Tesoro. The Minelab has its place. It is a much slower machine and very hard to pinpoint but it too has great deptch.

For the bucks, the Tesoro Tejon cannot be beat, it can definitely keep up with the newer more expensive detectors.

 

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[l.cutler]

Keep it down, now everyone will know! Great detectors aren't they? I can't believe the stuff I have found in "hunted out" areas with mine.

 

[mag]

Great post, anymore info on the Tejon or tips?

Keep it down, now everyone will know! Great detectors aren't they? I can't believe the stuff I have found in "hunted out" areas with mine.

 

[geckokid]

Check out these links

Tesoro Tejon Field test
http://losttreasure.com/fieldtests/ArchiveView07.cfm?ID=LT20031225

Minelab Explore Vs. Tesoro Tejon
http://www.njminerals.org/metaldetecting-shootout.html

http://www.njminerals.org/metaldetecting-deepcoins.html

http://foundintheground.com/blogs/sample_weblog/archive/2007/07/14/my-axe-hoard-blog.aspx

 

[Iron Patch]

I use an Explorer and have tried a Tejon and seen nothing from the Tejon that would indicate it would get bullets any deeper than what I have dug with the Explorer (probably 14"-15")

Both detectors are deep enough for the fields I hunt because I can always get the stuff that's way down when the plough goes through. So depth isn't the reason I use the Explorer, it's 1) The disc. circuitry allows me to avoid digging all small iron & 2) It's accurate sound ID at depth. All that being said, sites are what count to me and not detectors.

 

[Michigan Badger]

I use an Explorer and have tried a Tejon and seen nothing from the Tejon that would indicate it would get bullets any deeper than what I have dug with the Explorer (probably 14"-15")

Both detectors are deep enough for the fields I hunt because I can always get the stuff that's way down when the plough goes through. So depth isn't the reason I use the Explorer, it's 1) The disc. circuitry allows me to avoid digging all small iron & 2) It's accurate sound ID at depth. All that being said, sites are what count to me and not detectors.

Excellent post IP!

I've never seen it put any better.

I saw this even with my Sovereign GT. Although, I compared the Tejon to the GT and I think the GT is much deeper. So, I would assume the SE would be even deeper than the GT. I'll find that out this spring.

I used the Tejon for several hundred hours. It's a very very good detector. It's much faster than Minelabs and a whole lot more fun to use. And, if one watches the ground balance it will get down there deep.

However, like stated above, Tesoros all have two problems: they love iron way too much and they don't have the target/tone feature. The tones made by a Minelab beat any other method of discrimination out there.

 

[Boilermaker27]

Very good points.

I use both machines, but have not used the Minelab for over a year now. My Tejon has gotten really deep on a few occasions and gotten bullets deeper than I thought possible.

I think for the money the Tejon is probably the best machine out there for relics and depth. You are certainly right about the target tone ID. I really miss that with the Tejon. However, with the dual discriminators I really don't need a meter, which was always a must have previously.

One feature I like about the Tejon and absolutely hate about the Minelab is the pinpoint feature. I dug some really big holes with the Minelab and the Tejon is usually right on.

No machines that I have used lately give the depth of the machines of 25 years ago on large civil war projectiles. I have used both the Minelab and Tejon. Found nothing with the Minelab but found two large pieces of a 200 lb. mortar shell with the Tejon and they were about 18 inches deep, but didn't really sound off that well. In fact they actually had the repeatable tone of a coin at that depth. In the early 1980's I used a Whites Coinmaster IV or maybe V and found a unexploded Reed shell and it was much deeper. Back to the Minelab. Finding nothing with the Minelab doesn't mean the Minelab couldn't find anything, just means that I wasn't in the right place.

So when I go Civil war hunting I always take the Tejon because it is much lighter and really easy to use. I also like it because it does find some of the really neat iron objects that the Minelab will discriminate out. If I were to go coin hunting I would stick with the Minelab because it is a great machine and does have great depth.

They are both really good machines.

 

[Iron Patch]

Very good points.

I use both machines, but have not used the Minelab for over a year now. My Tejon has gotten really deep on a few occasions and gotten bullets deeper than I thought possible.

I think for the money the Tejon is probably the best machine out there for relics and depth. You are certainly right about the target tone ID. I really miss that with the Tejon. However, with the dual discriminators I really don't need a meter, which was always a must have previously.

One feature I like about the Tejon and absolutely hate about the Minelab is the pinpoint feature. I dug some really big holes with the Minelab and the Tejon is usually right on.

No machines that I have used lately give the depth of the machines of 25 years ago on large civil war projectiles. I have used both the Minelab and Tejon. Found nothing with the Minelab but found two large pieces of a 200 lb. mortar shell with the Tejon and they were about 18 inches deep, but didn't really sound off that well. In fact they actually had the repeatable tone of a coin at that depth. In the early 1980's I used a Whites Coinmaster IV or maybe V and found a unexploded Reed shell and it was much deeper. Back to the Minelab. Finding nothing with the Minelab doesn't mean the Minelab couldn't find anything, just means that I wasn't in the right place.

So when I go Civil war hunting I always take the Tejon because it is much lighter and really easy to use. I also like it because it does find some of the really neat iron objects that the Minelab will discriminate out. If I were to go coin hunting I would stick with the Minelab because it is a great machine and does have great depth.

They are both really good machines.

It's important where you have the Iron mask if you want to find med. to large iron. About 5 years ago I found a 12lb cannonball using -14 and my friend (who was ahead of me) got nothing but silence at -8. For every notch of Iron mask dropped I bet you gain an inch or so on how deep you hit iron. I have gone down about 2 feet for a trade axe but suspect that's about the limit before my small amount of disc. would kick in. Having been at this setting for about 5 years I can very easily cherry pick the med. to large iron ...which is something I don't think I could do near as well on any other detetor.

 

[BestAntiquities]

jhettle I spent a lot of time with the Tejon and I also liked it very much. But then I got the notion to try something else and sold it pretty cheap. I should have kept it. Like you wrote it's very deep. I almost never measure depths but one day I got that faint small signal we all love. I was out in the bad lands so I had a full sized shovel to dig with. It took me several shovels full of dirt to reach the find. It turned out to be an Indian cent. I'd hunted that spot many times with several other brands and never even got a beep. I personally think the Tejon is toady's best detector for coins and relics.

Added comments:

When I say best detector I mean best for me personally. I've used the Minelabs and what was written in previous posts here is correct; Minelabs are great machines and in some ways maybe better than the Tejon. But with my health issues the light weight of the Tejon is perfect for me. And too once one learns the Tejon one can avoid a lot of nails and small iron. But it's true Tesoros do hit hard on iron.