Tesoro
Silver Sabre II
The Silver Sabre II is Tesoro's best selling detector. It has an
all-metal no motion mode, discrimination, ground balance, auto-tune,
battery test, and an eight inch open-center search coil.
Some other good features of the Silver Sabre II are that it gets long
battery life and is easy to hip convert. With the Silver Sabre II's
weight of only 3 pounds and a comfortable arm rest, it can be
operated for long periods of time with out discomfort.
Some bad
features are that it is hard to discriminate bottle caps with it, and
that it lacks some of the "bells and whistles" that some people would
like to have. However the simple controls also bring turn on and go
operation to it.
With the low price and
good features this is a great detector for a beginner or a person with
a limited budget. Also Tesoro is the only brand to give a limited
lifetime warranty on all detectors. I would recommend to anyone
who is is planning to spend $200-$400 on a detector to consider a
Silver Sabre II.
Jacob Hilt
jahilt@carlnet.org
Sidewinder Micro Max
The sidewider Umax is as nice a little machine as I've seen, at 2
pounds,and having a special sensitivity boost circuit, which luckily I
seem to be able to use with little or no interference in my area of
upstate NY, will increase the depth capabilities beyond that of my
Silver Sabre II. It has a very small control box with a push button all
metal pin pointing mode, as well as the togle switch which allows you
to hunt in all metal or discriminate mode, and also retune it. It uses
Tesoro's ED-120 discriminating circuit, which almost always
discriminates small iron and nails. Lately I have been using it with
the four inch coil and using my Silver Sabre with the eight inch,
eliminating the need to switch coils. By the way with the four inch
coil this unit weighs in at about 1 1/2 pounds, making it virtually
impossible to tire out, at least from swinging it. Another good thing
is it only uses 1 9 volt battery, which usually lasts for about 20
hours of operation. Available for 319 dollars at some web sites this is
good a value as is out there. One downside is it is not hip mountable,
which I would rather have for hunting in shallow water, just for the
fact that incase of accidental dropping the detector in the water, the
hip mount would stop the control box from getting wet. (Of course
nothing will help if you fall in) So far the maximum depth that I
have gotten is a penny at 8 inches, I havent dug any coins deeper than
that, so it may go deeper, as air tests will indicate.
JAMES F YATES
jimyce@ix.netcom.com
Cutlass II
I have a three year experience with the Tesoro Cutlass II. You are probably
thinking: Why did he buy such a simple metal detector? It looks like a
children’s detector Although the Tesoro metal detectors are small (you have
to see the new Tesoro Sidewinder!) and may look simple, the results and finds
with these detectors really aren’t.
The Tesoro Company’s strategy is simple. It is not the appearance of the
detector that is important, but what you can do with it. Why should Tesoro
produce a shoebox-like detector, when the electronics just fit in a matchbox?
You just have to compare a Tesoro Cutlass (and the latest Cutlass MicroMax,
which is even smaller) with the heavy and big White’s Eagle Spectrum to see
what I mean. There is no way I’m going to use the Spectrum. I don’t have that
much muscle mass!
My Cutlass II is the simplest detector produced by Tesoro. This means: no
ground reject, no notch, no LCD display, no built-in computer. Gee, you
probably think, are we still talking about a metal detector? Don’t be
afraid, yes, we still do. The Cutlass II has only two knobs: one on-off
switch. One turn to the right until it clicks, and you are in all-metal mode.
The next click means that you are in discriminate mode. One more click and
you may or may not hear the battery test. If you don’t hear it, replace the
batteries.
I’ve used the Cutlass II on different soils, ranging from clean cornfields
to heavy mineralized grounds. I found that the Cutlass performs well on heavy
mineralized grounds, and even on blacksand on the beach! It just depends on
the coil you are using. If you search with the standard open coil, you get
more false signals on difficult spots. This is a signal to use a 8-inch wide
scan coil. This will get rid of most of the false signals! I’m mentioning the
wide scan coil not only for this reason. Have you ever searched a spot where
nice finds have been done, but is now empty due to the fact that half the
people in your city have searched here? Well, then you have to put a
wide-scan under your detector. On a field such as the above, I found almost
twenty-five 16th and 17th coins and other things as thimbles and buttons. Why
did I find that much? It is partly because I always search secure and slowly,
but also because the 8 wide scan coil is more sensitive to coins which are
on their side. In a field test, I was also able to detect a coin which was
under a stone brick! I’m not talking about detecting depths. Why should I dig
a cent which is buried fifty centimetres deep?
What finds did I make with the Cutlass II? Of course, I have found trash like
any other detectorist, but I also take the trash home with me. I don’t like
beach hunting much (although I do it from time to time), so I concentrate on
cornfields, grasslands and sometimes woods. The finds I make are often very
old, since I live in The Netherlands, Europe.
The oldest coin I have dates from 1226-1250, and it is a tiny hammered silver
penny, 9mm in diameter. It comes from the Dutch city of Utrecht. The oldest
thing I have found is a 9th century bronze brooch. My nicest find however is
no doubt a gold coin I found on the 16th June this year (which also happens
to be ascension day, so you could say I was in the seventh heaven!). The coin
turned out to be a very rare piece, of which there were only two officially
known. The coin was struck in the first half of the 16th century. The coin is
now being studied at the Dutch Coin Museum.
Apart from the above finds, I have found much more of course. To name just a
few: thimbles, bookclasps, buttons, medals, WWII ammunition, weights (among
which a very rare medieval one), buckles and many, many other things. Just
with my Cutlass II. Do you still doubt it performs well? Well, then get a
giant, computerized detector. If you think you’ll find more with that (after
hours of programming and studying the manual), then that is your choice. I
just prefer a turn on and go machine. Perhaps the Cutlass (MicroMax) is the
machine you’ve waited for?
Peter Jonkman
peter.jonkman@fotobank.nl
PIranha Pulse Induction
The unit uses Pulse Induction technology, and operates in the all metal
mode only. They is only (1) one control to adjust before using. Turning the knob, the
first thing it will do is a battery check, continue to rotate until the you
have a threshold tone, back it down until you can just hear it, your ready
to find treasure. The unit does not need any more adjustments to operate,
it will stay stable all day.
The unit comes with (1) one user replaceable 8" open center search coil.
There is a larger 10 1/2"open center, and smaller 7", coil available. The
head phones are permanently attached to the power head. The power head can
be removed for belt or chest mounting. Power is supplied by 8 AA battery's.
Field Test:
I live in the Northeast,US. Falmouth, Cape Cod, MA. I am surrounded by
salt water beaches. The closest one is less than 1/4 mile from home, so off
we go. Turn on, enter water, waist deep. First coin, penny at about 6". I
first thought that it would be hard to pinpoint, it was not the case. It is
very easy to pinpoint, because it needs very little movement to maintain
audio contact. You can always get it to within the size of your scoop.
Played with unit a little more that day finding a small amount of clad
coins. I did notice that although I was within 1/4 mile of a 55k FM radio
station, it had no affect on the unit.
It performed flawlessly on the salt beach, of course it found every bit of
metal they was, with no discrimination. The unit is light enough so it make
no difference if you leave the head on the pole, or belt mount it.
I have used it now for about 7 months. It performs better in the water.
There is far less junk than on the beach.
It can detect the small white gold ladies rings at great depths. Most
detectors won't even detect those small rings.
It finds those small gold trinkets that are on bracelets and neck chains.
The only drawback that I could find is it has the habit of finding a tiny
spot of rust at great depths.
If you shop around one should be able to find a PIranha for under $500. You
would be hard pressed to find a underwater machine that would beat the
PIranha. In 1996/97 money it makes it a best buy.
Out of the box, this is a High Performance turn on and go, Underwater
detector. It will run with the best of them. This unit should satisfy the
requirements of any salt water/beach detectorist.
William R. Crabtree
Falmouth, MA.
wcrabtre@capecod.net
Tesoro Bandido II
I have used the Tesoro Bandido II for a year now and I'll tell ya it's
some unit. First I must say the factory has been great to work with. I
bought the unit from a dealer that could not show me how to use it
correctly but the phone calls to the factory soon solved that problem.
Lets talk depth, I have always been told a MT has a depth of about 6 to
12 in, this unit has found pipe at the 2ft 8in level with a very strong
signal I really think 3 1/2 feet were posible or more. The unit is very
dependable light weight and easy to use (once you learn how to use it)
WANT TO GO TREASURE OR CACHE HUNTING get a Bandido II. For small
pieces of gold the unit isn't very good, I'm talking 1 or 2 penny weight
but larger than that it will find what's there with the use of headphones.
Patrick Martin
marteni@coastlink.com
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