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
Tejon is very unstable, you either like it or hate it!
August 04, 2009
I liked mine when I got it and took a trip to City Park in New Orleans to
hunt with it. It found metal but when I dug the target the Tejon just layed
on the ground and growled all the time. Called Vince at Tesoro maybe 25
times asking questions and still this detector was too unstable. Vince told
me to send it in and they would look at it but I had just bought it! I kept
trying to get it stable. I put the sensitivity low and it would just not
work right. The Tejon would find multiple targets that were not
there.Had to send it back and now have the Tesoro Cibola. The Cibola is very stable and gets just as deep, according to Vince at Tesoro.
Overall Rating
Rick Rogers from
New Orleans
4483
Love my tejon
July 31, 2009
I have been using my Tejon for one year now and love it. As far as
depth.... last week I found a US bridal rosette at about 18 inches. This
machine is great. I have learned to slow down and listen very close for the
small beeps. The spot that I am in right now is producing civil war relics
at an average depth of ten inches. Slow down take your time, sometimes the items are so deep the discrimanter has made me think it was trash but after pulling a 5 to 8 inch plug out of the ground I can quickly realize that its not trash at all. After one year it has produced over 200 bullets, 2 fuses, 7 cannon ball frags and lots of coins and a few buttons. I am not bragging on my behalf only the machines. It finds the treasure I just do the dirty work.
Overall Rating
Mike from
Richmond VA
539
Why I Came Back To The Tesoro Tejon
April 07, 2009
I'm on my third new Tesoro Tejon now. I sold the other two due to believing
negative comments I read on the various forums. Beware of anything you read about any detector! Yes, that includes here.
When I think of all the time and money I wasted jumping from one new super brand to the other it makes me very sad.
Today we have tones and meters and all sorts of big talk about frequencies and all the rest. But the bottom line is finds.
With the Tejon I find everything worth finding at a site. I have completely covered sites with the Tejon and when I rehunted them with the latest super machines I found nothing more worth digging.
As a commenter below implied, the Tejon is a nearly perfect detector for coins, jewelry, and relics.
It has depth like I never found in any of those expensive hot-shot brands and models I bought because some know-it-all convinced me it was vastly superior to any other brand or model.
Most of those other very popular “super deep” brands are so noisy and jumpy they'll frustrate you beyond belief and rob you of finds.
Everybody today is talking tones. I found them to be just as misleading as meter readings can be. Targets masked or buried deep often do not sound or read as they do in air tests. Ground masking can and often does change the whole picture.
So today I hear they now have color TV detectors! My! That should prove entertaining.
Then there are the “it ain't like it used ta be” guys. You know, the older Tesoros were much better. I tried those and while good they don't compare to Tesoro's latest models. Do people really think Tesoro would quit making a better machine in favor of an inferior one?
As for me I like finds. Give me the Tejon and you use what you like best.
Overall Rating
Coinshooter48 from
MI U.S.A.
14519
This Tejon Rocks!
March 15, 2009
This Tejon Rocks! I am a Relic hunter and have used Nautilus IIB's and
Minelabs for many years. When I started looking for a new detector I had a
wish list. I wanted a machine that would go as deep as a Nautilus with the
stability of a minelab. This Tejon passes the test. It is ultra-light,
stable, easy to use, deep and affordable. It's just plain fun to use.
Overall Rating
VaRelics from
Va Beach, VA
4314
Very Solid Perfomer!
November 19, 2008
Having used the Tejon for a few hours in a worked out Civil War camp, I
have increased my finds dramatically. The Tejon was designed to be used
for relic hunting. The operating frequency is almost 18 khz - ideal in
detecting lead, brass, and gold.Can it be used for coin hunting? Of course! Probably not the best detector for this purpose, but it can be used effectively with a little practice. I give Tesoro two thumbs up on this little machine!
Overall Rating
Scott G. from
Southwest Missouri
424
Funny Name - Serious Depth!
August 19, 2008
I'm not going to steer my fellow detectorists wrong on this one - trust me,
this is a butt kicking machine in trained hands. It's a no nonsense deep
seeker. Not so much bells or whistles just power and enough features to
find you old deep stuff. Don't listen to this nonsense about it being too
noisey or just average. Mine was the same way, until I read the manual. I
have many detectors, by far the deepest of which is the Tejon. It wins the
depth per dollar value HANDS DOWN. I get 10" regularly on coin sized
objects in the woods. I'm not one for exaggeration so I'm not going to
give BS numbers like 15" on a dime - expect 10" give or take 1". I've dug
copper and lead BB's (yes tiny BB's) at 5" in the ground that sound off
like pop cans. Get this: I've detected bits of metal so small - that my
pinpointer will not even pick them up. That is how sensitive this can be
if run hot.Now all that power is complemented useful features. The toggle dual disc. is an absolute joy to use. This feature alone makes this a must have detector. You can tell a wealth of information by setting the dual disc. in certain ways. You can also adjust the tone of the detector, which is kind of neat but not necessary. The ground balance is tricky at first, but once used to it - it's quick work.
The 5.75" coil gets nearly the same depth as the stock coil and is a must have. The 8" coil is a take it or leave it for me. Now for a couple of negatives: your headphone cord WILL knock your ground balance knob around and cause you fits in the field. You will dig a few rusty square nails (remember they could be coins) Also, people will disagree with me, but mine seems to lose power with weak batteries - no kidding I can't explain it.
If you dig old deep stuff, get one. These things go used for dirt cheap. Best value out there on a used detector. I'm a Tejon lifer as this is about as perfect a machine as I have seen. Until I see something better - this is a legend in my book.
Overall Rating
Ian Simons from
Michigan
804
Tejon handles the bad ground in OZ
July 01, 2008
Well I have to disagree with some of the reviews here that state the Tejon
cant handle bad ground . I have been into detecting for over 30 years and
was a dedicated Minelab user here in Australia we have some of the harshest
highly mineralized ground you will ever encounter especially in the golden
triangle of Victoria and the Tejon can handle it with ease and I have
several small nuggets to prove it.
I originally purchased the Tejon for coin shooting & ghost town hunting due to its super fast retune speed an dual disc, it has excellent disc performance in trashy sites and seeks extremely deep it can find small targets that my X terra 70 cant ! Awesome allrounder, lightweight extreme depth you've won my vote Tesoro.
Overall Rating
Jim Tolmi from
Bendigo Victoria Australia
634
Super deep and very stable
May 21, 2008
I have owned a pinto guazer detector since Adam was a infant , yep . An
tejons are magical sticks a picking up gold smiddgets and fiddlepops . you
wont be dissapionted with the tejon I have a gollywog taped to the front of
mine and it picks up the smiddgets as we go . So dont hold back buy a tejon
you wont regret it.
Overall Rating
Fudge from
West verginia alabama
3054
Tejon Average in Mineralized Ground
July 01, 2007
I have to agree with Larry as far as depth in bad ground. It's not even
average. In good ground, it's deep. But who hunts in good ground?
Unfortunately not me. I like the features of the detector, especially the
dual discrimination. But in highly mineralized ground it's depth is poor.
I completely understand how to ground balance a detector, having used a
Nautilus IIb for years. While I never hoped for the Tejon to get Nautilus
depth, I had hoped for pretty good depth in any ground. After all, the
Tejon ad says "meets and defeats all soil conditions." Their words, not
mine. As a matter of fact, the Vaquero is a much deeper machine in bad
ground. This may have something to do with the high gain or frequency of
the Tejon, although I don't know for sure. But I will say that the Tejon
is very sensitive to small targets in practically any ground. It just
won't find them at depth. I'd like to love this detector for all of it's
other features, but the poor depth in bad ground is a killer for me.
Overall Rating
John S. from
Manassas, Va.
4924
Tejon
June 14, 2007
Very deep in good ground, average depth in moderate ground but bad ground
kills it. Good target seperation with the sensitivity at a low setting but
at higher settings it has a hard time rejecting rusty iron.
Overall Rating
Larry from
New Mexico
2016