Tesoro Tejon
Price: $700
Avg. Score: 
4.49
Based on 43 reviews
4.49Based on 43 reviews
Avg. Durability:
5.00
Avg. Ease of use:
4.25
Insane response and discrim
October 22, 2017
Definitely not a machine for a beginner. You need to be ready to work
especially with its sick depth. It will hit hard on a good target even when
discriminating out something beside or on top/below it. If it's good, you
will hear it. It does like iron. Great machine but it has a big learning
curve. If your into relic hunting and targets are deep, this will perform
well.
Max Depth: 12 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Dirt Burglar from
Vancouver Canada
100
One terrific detector
February 09, 2017
I have used a Tejon with an 11X8, widescan coil for a little over a year
now and am very pleased. There is a learning curve to the Tejon but once
you understand this machine, watch out. There is no target ID, but I don't
dig any more false targets than with an expensive TID model of another
maker.
Some complain the unit produces too much chatter. That has not been my experience when the unit is set up correctly. Some also claim it is no good in heavily mineralized ground. Again, that is not my experience as I have used mine in some heavily mineralized sites of our gold fields here in California.
Perhaps other locations are worse, all I can go on is how the unit has performed for me. It will detect very deep targets and I have taken the Tejon to some locations that I hammered with other detectors in the past and found coins at deeper levels. Did I just miss them before? Possibly, but one site yielded 8 additional coins, too many for me to think was due solely to sloppy detecting on my part.
One coin, a 1914 S Barber Dime looked to be 8-9 inches down. I had another very expensive detector in my truck and it would not hit on this target at all.
The Tejon is lightweight, powerful and when fully understood, it is a wonderful detector. I would recommend if you purchase one and are new to the design, purchase the Kindle book "Mastering The Tesoro Tejon and Vaquero Metal Detectors", by Christian Thorsten.
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Chris B. from
Porterville, California
132
The definitive machine for relics
January 30, 2017
If you are looking for a real metal detector, buy a tejon, with its two
discriminations, light weight, and great depth you can not ask for more.
Max Depth: 13 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, it's too complic
Albert Hort from
North America
81
I like it... i like it a lot
November 12, 2015
I started hunting relics in VA with nautalis, wilson and then purchased a
Badito II. Loved the Bandito and could outhunt those with fancier machines
because I learned mine so well. I'm back in Texas now and have been hunting
sites with relics in deep sand, mineralized earth, leaf litter etc.. Tesoro
came through but I decided to try Whites 6000 because I got a great deal on
it. I was happy.
I recently switched to Tesoro Tejon and took it out to a field where things are getting hard to find. I immediately found (at about 12 inches) an Enfield bullet it the footprint of my buddy hunting with an older Garrett. I then found a flower button with an iron back amongst square nails- also in his footprints. This machine really sounds off on small targets at a greater depth than I'm used to. I'm finding buck shot and percussion caps at several inches deeper than I'm used to and larger iron pieces at a depth uncomfortable to dig.
There is a little chatter in highly ironed area and mineralized ground but if you know your detector you can hear the good through the bad. I don't care for screens and find them a distraction or an expensive addition to the overall weight at best. If you have a keen ear and can become one with your detector then the Tesoro Tejon is for you. I give it 2 thumbs up.
Max Depth: 12 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Dusty from
Se Texas
183
The tesoro tejon
January 11, 2015
Just used my Tesoro Tejon on a schoolyard hunt and let me tell you, that
thing LOVES to detect the heck out of iron, even small pieces. I found it
does not detect deep (AT ALL) in these iron-rich, highly mineralized soils
of the Piedmont. It may do good in the loose, black soils of the Midwest or
up North and in some parts of the South, maybe even out West but these
soils are very tightly pack with 100 percent solid red clay. Terrible soil
for digging in too. Like trying to dig into wet PlayDoh (don't know if I
spelled it right,sorry). The wet PlayDoh analogy was no exaggeration. Quite
literally that hard to dig in. So people would do better to use a Fisher
1270x, CZ-3d, or a number of other brand detectors but NOT a Tejon when it
comes to the Piedmont. VERY lousy detector for this region....
Max Depth: 8 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Greg from
Advance
2325
Tesoro has a rival!!!!
January 10, 2015
Actually when you do the typical air test, you are restricted by things
like EMI from stray electrical house current. So in the (real) world, your
depth can be lopped off by having to turn the sensitivity down to just
above 3/4 turn on the knob to be able to air test unless you think you can
hear the actual beep of the target underneath all that chatter(sounds like
the Tejon is laughing at me). But long story short, I got appx. 12" on a
quarter in the air test. But wait, there's MORE! Do you boys and girls want
to know who the rival is? How about a Mikron NRG-110 (ditto on the screen
version, the NRG-150). My Mikron NRG-110(looks like a Tesoro knock-off),
(air-tested) at 16.5" on a quarter. NOW you can imagine how this translates
into depth in the real world on a quarter-size target that's been in the
ground 10-infinity years. This is a very little-known MD company out of
Bulgaria where they have to have (VERY) deep detectors, much more so than a
Tejon so they can find single coin-size targets a foot or two(or more) from
the (8000) year-old Thracian Empire which is older than Rome. A little
trivia, who makes the deepest detector in the world? Not Minelab but Nexus
with the Nexus Standard SE Mk. II. Where's it made? Bulgaria.
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Greg from
North Carolina
2034
Depth is incorrect here...
August 27, 2014
This machine goes way deeper than anything I've owned, the average depth
here is incorrect. On this same site, they are saying the F75 is getting
16" on a quarter....Ok. I got a measured 18" on a 3 ringer. Anyway, there
is none that I have tested that are deeper than the Tejon. And oh by the
way, it's pronounced Teh Hone, trust me, not Tay Hawn, or Tee John and all
the other rubbish out there... It's Spanish for Badger. Anyway, the maximum
depth is BS on these reviews, do some research and check it out!
Max Depth: 18 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
John from
New Mexico
2626
Hot and deep detector
October 07, 2013
I have hunted with my Vaquero for a few years and loved it. Always wanted
to try a Tejon and finally this summer I got one. I was worried the Vaquero
and Tejon would be too similar to each other... Let me tell you this is not
the case. The Tejon is at least 3 inches deeper in my mild dirt here in the
Midwest with stock coils. My old sites are producing coins again with the
Tejon.
Super deep detector and very sensitive to tiny targets. I found the Tejon very similar to the Vaquero to operate, but suggest you ground balance the Tejon in disc mode with the trigger held back. This lets you ground balance with a fast retune mode and makes it a snap to ground balance. Make sure you have a good digger cause you are gonna need it with the Tejon...
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Roger from
Midwest
374
Tejon goes Deep !
November 15, 2011
Well I have had my Tesoro Tejon for four months now. I am very impressed so
far with its ability to go deep for the smallest targets like shrapnel from
bullets, and pieces of iron. If properly grounded the Tesoro Tejon cant be
beat!! I have been detecting for 32 years and have owned other name brand detectors, but this Tejon really impresses me. The only problem I have experienced is the threshold goes ballistic once in a while even though I ground balanced it and put it a barely audible threshold setting. If I give it a minute or two it calms down a bit and goes back to normal threshold mode. But, I can live with it as this machine is so sensitive and punches down deep missing nothing if the coil is over it!
If it just had Lobos auto tracking it would be an excellent nugget detector. I bench tested the Tejon with lead pellets and bbs and got readings at 10 inches!! For the first time buyer realize there is a small learning curve, but its worth the effort!!
Overall Rating
Fred from
Mariposa
566
Tejon #1
April 10, 2011
I've been hunting for 35 years and used many machines. The only machines I
know of that will hang with the tejon is the fisher 1266 and the ground
hawk. My first month with the tejon was good 22 cw bullets, 3 cw buttons, 6 silver dimes, and a 52 franklin half, and that was worked out spots and it just keeps getting better.
If you want pure power and depth go with the tesoro tejon. After awhile the you will be able to tell what your digging before you dig just from the tone.
Overall Rating
Darkwing from
Alabama
517