Metal Detecting Articles
Review of the
Tesoro Tejon, then and now
njminerals.org is mainly about [what else?] mineral collecting,
but Metal Detecting is somewhat related, so here goes...
After originally having tried the Tesoro Tejón for only a couple of months, I told myself (back then) that it was my favorite detector.
Then, later, I read a bunch of different comments on the forums and thought perhaps there were better detectors out there for me.
I tried fancy digital machines. At first, I assumed they really did provide more information. I soon found that notion to be debatable. Doubtful, even.
Looking back, there is and was really no comparison. The Tejon is still, without a doubt, the best detector I ever used.
Single vs. Multi-Pitch Audio
Yes, the Tejon is a one-tone, beep-dig machine. No, that kind of detector is not for everyone. Some people want LCD displays and multi-pitch audio. However, after having put in plenty of time on the multi-tone audio machines (ranging from Minelab, to Teknetics and Fisher, to Tesoro's own Golden uMax), I have decided something:
I neither need nor want multi-pitch audio, especially on a Tesoro. A Minelab Explorer wouldn't be right without tones, while a Tesoro Tejon just wouldn't be right with them.
Thanks to the dual discrimination on the Tejon, I believe that I can correctly pick out "good" targets with as much accuracy as just about any metered machine on the market. In fact, I've found multiple audio pitches to be distracting, and I find them to be misleading on the deeper targets due to what I call "iron shift" (a subject I'll discuss later).
People who prefer analog devices-- radios and phonographs, for example-- often say that analog has subtleties a digital device cannot re-create. I would have to agree.
Although the Tejon circuitry does make use of some IC's (which are digital), it relies heavily on analog potentiometers-- the control knobs-- and other features. Just as real tractors are red, so real metal detectors are analog. That's because oscillation and coil tuning are inherently analog features.
Above: ONE CENT, and she's a big 'un. To me, this is what makes a great day. This was five inches deep and gave a loud signal, even when the coil was held a good five or six inches off the ground.
The Deepies
There is nothing about a digital-style machine that inherently reaches deeper into the ground than an analog-style one. Digital target ID's (etc) are layers placed on top of the core functionality of the detector. As targets become deeper, these additional layers of information become less reliable. The detector will still find the deep targets, but what it tells you about them becomes less useful.
Deeply-buried targets begin to sound more and more like iron, the deeper they get. When they're deep enough, they might as well all be square nails or iron washers, as far as you can tell. I call this "iron shift"; the deeper the target, the more its conductivity seems displaced toward the iron end of the spectrum. Its actual conductivity is the same as it always was; what matters is what the detector tells you.
Those targets that yield obviously good "high tones" on (say) a Minelab are generally going to yield an obviously good, solid tone on the Tejon. That's great news, because I can't afford a $1500 machine anyway!
Conversely, the "iffy" targets that yield only a partially good "high-tone" response on other machines will also tend to yield "iffy" or broken signals on the Tejon. However, the Tejon user has the advantage of simply thumbing down the discrimination knob and now getting a smoother signal.
If it's deep and it comes in above "iron", dig it. That's what relic hunters do. Watching ID's bounce around on a digital meter is just going to make me not want to dig something.
It's worth making note, however, that the Tejon's discrimination does in fact reach down to the edge of detection depth, or close to it. Just keep in mind the "iron shift", though. The net result is that, if you get a signal that seems deep and is still giving you a smooth tone with the knob at "Tabs", then you ought to dig it. The Tejon can disc out deep pulltabs, but some of the better targets-- such as silver dimes-- might not give a really good "silver" signal until you dig a few inches of soil out of the way.
One night I felt struck with the detecting bug. I grabbed the Tejon and suited up in warm clothing. There were easily three inches of snow on the ground. Ridiculous, I know. So, after 'tectin for a little while, I got a slightly broken signal and started digging. I dug out the sides of the hole; it was still down there. I checked everywhere in the hole with a pinpointer. Nope, still down there. I kept digging. It was actually pretty miserable, because my gloves got soaked with wet, freezing mud. Everything was covered in the slimy mud. If I didn't have plastic bags over the Tejon and my pinpointer, they'd probably be toast. Cold toast.
It proved to be a square nail, fully twelve inches below the soil surface (to this add two or three inches, thanks to the snow). It was an isolated drop, with no other signals nearby. Who gets excited about a deep nail? Well, think of it this way: that could have been anything down there.
On another occasion, I once dug up an early pewter brooch or buckle at fourteen inches. It was way down beneath some rocks, down in the muddy clay layer. It gave a smooth but rather subdued, coin-like signal.
I don't even want to think about how deep the Tejon will hit on lead and brass. I'd tell you the story of the freakishly deep .20 caliber airgun pellet, but you wouldn't believe me anyway.
So, Does It Find Coins, Or What?
I have read stories in which some people (beginners, I guess) have not had much luck with the Tejon.
Then, conversely, there's a guy on one of the treasure forums who found over 10,000 coins with his Tejon... in one season. Read that again: ten-thousand coins.
The sites I frequent don't have many coins, so I can't claim any impressive totals like the one above. I poke around and dig relics. I like to keep all the history together, so I will hunt a site for as long as it takes, even if it means only finding one flat button in two or three hunts. That's just me.
This detector, though, will certainly find the coins if they're there. When I have taken this machine to places where there are a lot of coins (around the edge of a sports field, for example), the Tejon proved to be a coin magnet.
I was detecting across a cornfield one afternoon, and after having dug one too many pieces of aluminum scrap in search of flat buttons, I happened across a very nice signal that didn't break up or clip on my high Disc 2 setting. "That has to be a coin," I thought. Judging from its signal quality and loudness, I figured it was a larger coin.
It was. A quarter. Not old, but it could have been. When you get good with a Tejon, you will get that anticipation for certain targets before you dig them.
The Tejon was designed for the relic-hunter's style of detecting; however, once you have it mastered, this thing is a coin monster as well.
Perhaps your favorite machine will end up being something different; but for me, the Tejon is positively, no question about it, my favorite metal detector of all.
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