Someone Revive Tesoro

[Jolly Roger Blue]

Does anyone here on TN know the owners of Tesoro? Why don’t you talk to them and convince them to revive Tesoro if not through Tesoro why not through another metal detector company. Sort of what like Whites did with Garrett. I absolutely love the simplicity of Tesoro. I own Garrett’s but there are too many settings to fumble with. Tesoro should sell their intellectual property to a company that will continue to produce and improve on what I thing are damn great detectors!!! Sure there are others out there with modern features but Tesoros in my mind are still a hell of a lot better!!!!!!

 

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[Treasure_Hunter]

Does anyone here on TN know the owners of Tesoro? Why don’t you talk to them and convince them to revive Tesoro if not through Tesoro why not through another metal detector company. Sort of what like Whites did with Garrett. I absolutely love the simplicity of Tesoro. I own Garrett’s but there are too many settings to fumble with. Tesoro should sell their intellectual property to a company that will continue to produce and improve on what I thing are damn great detectors!!! Sure there are others out there with modern features but Tesoros in mind are still a hell of a lot better!!!!!!

No one wanted to buy Tesoro, they are now dead and buried.

 

[DannyB1954]

I still use my Tesoro's and love them as well. I see test reviews of other "new and improved" detectors fail a nail board test and think, my 20 year old Tesoro can pass that.
I don't think that Tesoro had any active patents, so other companies did pick up their technology. Mostly Eastern European I think. Golden Mask being one of them, (maybe. they sure look like it).

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Sorry, can't post non-supporting vendor's websites.

 

[Ripcon]

Does anyone here on TN know the owners of Tesoro? Why don’t you talk to them and convince them to revive Tesoro if not through Tesoro why not through another metal detector company. Sort of what like Whites did with Garrett. I absolutely love the simplicity of Tesoro. I own Garrett’s but there are too many settings to fumble with. Tesoro should sell their intellectual property to a company that will continue to produce and improve on what I thing are damn great detectors!!! Sure there are others out there with modern features but Tesoros in my mind are still a hell of a lot better!!!!!!

I couldn't agree with you more. I live and die by my Tesoro. The best machine I've ever owned!

 

[eman1000]

Deeptech makes machines very similar to Tesoro but they are their own design and have their own unique tones. Very similar performance - The also just released a new machine similar to the Cibola/Vaquero line but runs at 30khz.

 

[SusanMN]

Won’t happen but perhaps someone can build a business supplying used Tesoro parts and refurbishing/repairing Tesoro machines. My Tiger Shark is 15 years old and in good working condition and I am sure there are a whole lot of machines out there.

 

[Zincoln Miner]

Too bad their european line the Laser (Scout) could not be revived, and introduced in the U.S. with a few models.

 

[ModernMiner]

Diehard Tesoro fan here too. I have three of their detectors. They all work great. Simple to use. Their customer service was unbeatable. I remember breaking a piece one time and they sent me a new piece free of charge. Rusty was a great guy. Worked at Tesoro doing repairs and also drove a school bus.
I will miss Tesoro.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Early 2000's Tesoro stopped innovating and they never listened to their customers. I think that they were afraid of the internet, they never took advantage of it at all.

 

[Kalvin]

Early 2000's Tesoro stopped innovating and they never listened to their customers. I think that they were afraid of the internet, they never took advantage of it at all.

Does anyone here on TN know the owners of Tesoro? Why don’t you talk to them and convince them to revive Tesoro if not through Tesoro why not through another metal detector company. Sort of what like Whites did with Garrett. I absolutely love the simplicity of Tesoro. I own Garrett’s but there are too many settings to fumble with. Tesoro should sell their intellectual property to a company that will continue to produce and improve on what I thing are damn great detectors!!! Sure there are others out there with modern features but Tesoros in my mind are still a hell of a lot better!!!!!!

Does anyone on here know any of the origin designers/engineers that worked on the circuits?
Are some of the (ex)Tesoro folks members here?

Maybe we could get Tesoro to allow an Open-source type license for their previous products.


I own two Golden uMax units that I have been playing with for a while. Learned a lot about the circuits and
could possibly revive it with a little more effort. Now if this was an open-source type project it could be released and more people could add to it and improve on it. I'm not 100% sure what the legal side of it would be with out some type of go ahead from the original company/designers/engineers or those who might hold the rights to these products.

I guess the first place to start is to find the correct people to talk to. Reading the forums has lead me to believe that some of you may be friends with those who worked at Tesoro.


Under the open-source idea if schematics could be released for other models it would make repairs much easier for most techs. Even better if they had test points and values listed in a repair type manual.

Just a few ideas. I hate to see the Tesoro line die.

On another note if anyone has the original source code or even the binary hex file for a Gold2 or Gold3 I'd be very interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_license​

 

[creskol]

My Pirate Black Black Devil 2 Pro is made very much like the Tesoro .. however.. it is like a Tesoro on steroids! I love this machine! They are made in Bulgaria and not in the US. If you aren't familiar with them just do a google search for Pirate metal detectors.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Sorry to say, the Tesoro line is gone, dead and buried over 5 years ago.

 

[creskol]

Sorry to say, the Tesoro line is gone, dead and buried over 5 years ago.

.... and then enters the Pirate.

 

[Carl-NC]

Does anyone on here know any of the origin designers/engineers that worked on the circuits?
Are some of the (ex)Tesoro folks members here?

Maybe we could get Tesoro to allow an Open-source type license for their previous products.

Under the open-source idea if schematics could be released for other models it would make repairs much easier for most techs. Even better if they had test points and values listed in a repair type manual.

Just a few ideas. I hate to see the Tesoro line die.

On another note if anyone has the original source code or even the binary hex file for a Gold2 or Gold3 I'd be very interested.

It's likely that Jack Gifford designed all of the Tesoro models (they all had very similar designs). Jack is dead.

There are lots of schematics for Tesoros floating around. I personally traced out the Bandido II uMax, the Golden uMax, and the Sandshark. The hex code can easily be ripped from the micro. (Tesoro once claimed they could not produce any more Goldens because they lost the source code; I always thought that was lame because it's so easy to rip.) There is nothing stopping anyone from reproducing any of the Tesoro designs if they want to. In fact, several companies have produced models that are virtually clones of Tesoro designs.

On Geotech there is a public project called TGSL (Tesoro Golden Sabre Light) that many people have built. It's all-analog, but it's not hard to add a micro. Except for the Cortes & DeLeon, the micro was used mostly for audio generation. That would not be difficult to redesign even without ripping the hex file, and rather trivial with the hex file. Anyone who wants to can start manufacturing Tesoro designs right now, today. Heck, they can probably even use the name Tesoro and the logo and all the model names; I'll bet Vince would say "Knock yourself out." But who's gonna pony up the money to do that?

Tesoro died due to a combination of owner disinterest and customer disinterest. There are maybe 20 people who are passionate Tesoro fans who would like to see the company (or products) resurrected but that's not a winning business model. And not a single other detector company had any interest in buying the Tesoro assets, which shows just how valuable those assets were.

 

[nuggetshooter323]

Tesoro had a legacy that they threw away. I can't imagine what was going through their minds.

 

[ken135]

Deeptech has sort of contiued the path of Tesoro with analog detectors. The Deeptech X is better in many ways than my Bandido 2 umax or Mojave. More nuances in the sounds and deeper in my soil. It's my favorite detector, which also includes Fishers F75 LTD and G2+.

 

[Kalvin]

@creskol
One reason I like the Tesoro is the Golden uMax has the ability to knock out the pull tabs when hunting. Does the Pirate have this ability?

@Treasure_Hunter I'm still mourning the death. Do you believe in the afterlife?

@Carl-NC

I was wondering if the the Tesoro line was a one man design. Lots of similarities.

I've tried to retrieve the binary but the Code Protect is set on the PICs I have. From what I understand there are ways to still retrieve the code from a Microchip PIC that is Code Protected, but I haven't found the process....yet. Any tips you can share?

I did find the binary for a Cibola online and spent the time reversing it as an exercise to see if I could.

Is your schematic for the Golden uMax out on the web? I found one. Based on the Gold2.hex with the 16C73B-04/SP.

The TGSL project was good. I learned a fair bit from that project. I agree that the code for the micro should not be too hard to just write. Would be nice to be able to change/test/improve the self written code or the original code. I'd like to get a Golden uMax project similar to the TGSL project set up. I do not want to revive Tesoro, but give the hobby type guys the ability to repair or build Golden uMax units for themselves. Would be nice to have a open source type code that anyone could change or improve.

My long term plan if I can not build myself a working model is to sacrifice one of my factory units. The plan is to add a micro controller to control the analog controls so I can program it to mimic what I do manually to identify items when searching. I hope this makes sense. lol . An algorithm to run the controls to quickly ID items in a faster manner.

@nuggetshooter323

I think Carl-NC above had the answer.... "Tesoro died due to a combination of owner disinterest and customer disinterest." Marketing of flashy bells and whistle machines won out.

@ken135
Same question I asked creskol. Can a Deeptech discrimante out the pull tabs? It's one thing I can not find in another metal detector. Makes the Golden uMax a great park machine. (I'm sorry I keep comparing to the Golden uMax, but it is the only Tesoro I really have had a lot of time on. I'm sure some of the other Tesoros compare better to the Deeptech. )

@All
Thank you for the replies. If any of you know of info I can use or old contacts from Tesoro I ask you to point them to this thread.

I'm not looking to revive Tesoro, but would really like to see information available for owners to repair their machines and if possible a project type setup where DIY builders might be able to even build their own and trade information.

All the best, happy hunting.

​

 

[nuggetshooter323]

If you wanted to talk to somebody who knows the ins and outs of Tesoro, you'd need to find the lead engineer, Rusty. I don't know his last name but he was well-known to be the guy behind the scenes who made the technical aspect of Tesoro work. In the end, he was trying to clear the backlog of repairs to customer machines himself. Around 2012, I found a used Gold Demon from the 90's on E-Bay that needed a diagnostic and some TLC. I was willing to pay because I liked the machine, but even though I didn't have a warranty on it Rusty fixed the machine for free, gave me a copy of the article/review on the Gold Demon from Western & Eastern Treasures, upgraded the older coil attachment hardware to the new nylon ones, and wrote me a personal note. Tesoro was lucky to have him.

 

[Carl-NC]

I've tried to retrieve the binary but the Code Protect is set on the PICs I have. From what I understand there are ways to still retrieve the code from a Microchip PIC that is Code Protected, but I haven't found the process....yet. Any tips you can share?

No, but the older Microchips are supposed to be pretty easy to hack. Lots of info on the Internet. I once needed to hack an MSP430 for a legal case. Places in China will take the micro, hack it, and send you back the hex file for $300-500. The list of processors they can hack is long.

Is your schematic for the Golden uMax out on the web? I found one. Based on the Gold2.hex with the 16C73B-04/SP.

I don't remember if I posted it or not. It's all hand-drawn, never did a CAD version.

The TGSL project was good. I learned a fair bit from that project. I agree that the code for the micro should not be too hard to just write. Would be nice to be able to change/test/improve the self written code or the original code. I'd like to get a Golden uMax project similar to the TGSL project set up. I do not want to revive Tesoro, but give the hobby type guys the ability to repair or build Golden uMax units for themselves. Would be nice to have a open source type code that anyone could change or improve.

I suspect that recreating the Golden code from scratch would not be that difficult.

Same question I asked creskol. Can a Deeptech discrimante out the pull tabs? It's one thing I can not find in another metal detector. Makes the Golden uMax a great park machine. (I'm sorry I keep comparing to the Golden uMax, but it is the only Tesoro I really have had a lot of time on. I'm sure some of the other Tesoros compare better to the Deeptech. )

Lots of metal detectors will discriminate out pull tabs.