Tesoro Cortes
Price: $850
Avg. Score: 
4.21
Based on 24 reviews
4.21Based on 24 reviews
Avg. Durability:
4.67
Avg. Ease of use:
4.33
Cortes vs. Fisher f75
November 24, 2011
Like this detector a lot. As deep as the fisher f75 special edition with a
much better disc. And not nearly as much chatter. Poor display--too small
for my bad eyesight. Who needs target i.d. Anyway? If it gives a good audio
signal you better dig. The cortes is heavier than the f5 but it's still not
bad. I had to sell one of my machines so I sold the fisher. Cortes was the
all around best machine.
Overall Rating
Steve lemons from
Ringgold ga
224
Cortes Tesoro fussy detector
March 23, 2011
I have read the others comments and I can't believe it. Since I've got that
machine last year I never had that much disagreement. Compare to other one
even cheap one work better. The ground balance is to fussy if the ground is
just a little mineralized there is nothing to set up the machine. The graph
lcd write any thing but what you dig. When it sound on a target even with discrimin any thing appear even rocks!!! I don't know if the machine is broke or it isn't good on the river side. But if the company doesn't do anything ( they suggest me to sell it and buy an other brand!!! I will have to say don't buy that machine no fun at all!!
Overall Rating
Denis Billy from
Québec city
1759
Tesoro Cortes
October 18, 2010
I've owned the Tesoro Cortes for 2 months now and have used it as my main
detector during that time. When I first received it via UPS the box it came
in looked as though it had been through WW3. The first thing I did was I
read the manual and then performed air test on it to see if it had been
damaged due to rough handling.I was getting 6.5” on a dime in Disc mode and sensitivity set on 10; a quarter came in at 8” just barely. I didn't think that was all that good especially when you hear about Tesoro's ability to go deep. So I called Tesoro and talked to one of their Tec heads and was told that detectors can go out of tune over time and that since mine was rough handled I should send it in for a tune up. So I did and it came back with a clean bill of health.
Needless to say I still got the same results on my air test after getting it back from the shop. After 2 months of heavy use I would have to say the air test where proven accurate for where I hunt in mild soil.
The machine has many good points. The quality and workmanship are the best. I found that when there's a small piece of iron and a coin in the same hole it will sound off with a good tone and show a good target at the same time showing iron on the segments scale. I found that it will give you a TDI number of what it thinks the target is and by cross checking it with the segment graph it will tell you how confident it is in what it found. If it lights up 2, 3 or 4 segments that means it's not sure. I found you still need to dig any good repeatable sound.
I also liked the fact that the All Metal mode and Disc mode where a thumb switch away. I found I liked to hunt in A/M mode and throw the switch over into Disc mode to check a target. The machine is also light and can be swung all day with little fatigue.
What I don't like about is it doesn't have pin point feature. I never thought to check before buying it to see if it had a pin point feature; I guess I just assumed a detector in that price range would have one. Let me tell you it can be a challenge to pin point. It took a lot of practice before I got any good at it.
The sensitivity setting had very little affect on its depth either in the field or during air tests. I didn't find A/M mode to be any deeper than Disc mode.
Hunting even a moderately trashy area meant swinging very - very slow with the stock coil and Sens turned way down. If you didn't you would miss most targets.
The depth read out was so inaccurate after a while I wouldn't even look at it and would just go off the strength of the sound to determine the depth. Which lead me to wonder if the depth read out is so far off how accurate can the graph and ID numbers be. I never really found the SUM feature to be of any real help in ID'ing a target.
Overall I would say in today's market it's over priced and that a fair price should be in the $350 range.
Overall Rating
Hardy from
NW Ohio
3716
Tesoro best machine
October 21, 2009
I bought a tesoro silver saber..on taking out off the box and set up..I
thought I'd test it out in the back yard over where the old barn was..in
moments I found a 1967 morris minor pick up..not to far down..then 2
nickles, and 15 dimes, not bad, not bad at all as this would buy the gas
for my newly found morris minor..geeeee what a machine.
Overall Rating
Bill bigfoot from
Seattle
553
Fine Detector
December 16, 2008
Bought a Tesoro Cortes december 2007, have been using it consistently 2-3
times per week from then until now (dec. 2008). The only other detector
I've used is a whites 5000d (no comparison). I have dug up eveything from
Indian head cents to an assortment of silver coins from a 1916 mercury dime
to a 1964 quarter, numerous rings to tax tokens. Lifetime warranty
unbeatable also, if you need it (me, not yet). I haven't babied this
detector but I don't abuse it either.
Overall Rating
David Mckee from
Pinson, Alabama
295
Great All-Around Detector
February 26, 2008
I purchased a used Cortes off Ebay a year ago and couldn't be happier.
Depth is great and the target ID is much better than the TID on my prior
Ace 250. It has taken some time but I have been able to find a variety of
used coils at good prices to increase the versatility of the machine.
Highly recommended.
Overall Rating
Jim H. from
Ravenna Ohio
244
Great Detector.
February 25, 2008
Love this detector. The 10 khz is great for deep gold jewelry, artifacts,
and coins. It is more sensitive to small gold jewelry than my CZ-20 beach
machine. The screen ID gives me plenty of info before I dig and it ID's in
both modes, along with giving me target depth. It is light and well
balanced, can swing it all day. I sweep fast, it reacts fast and recovery
is fast too. Pinpointing is exact. The visual ID is small, but not a real
problem. I like the knobs, don't like detectors that have tactile buttons
and menues.
Overall Rating
Jabbo from
Central Jersey
306
Cortes... super disc machine!!!
August 27, 2007
This unit hits real hard on gold rings and really dislikes iron. Reminds
me of the older machines that just wouldn't put up with bottle caps. I hunt
trash infested areas and this is the "go to" machine almost as deep in my
area as the CZ 5.......gave up on it....really poor iron disc!!! The sum
mode; really stabilizes the numeric readings and is a real advantage in the
field. Try this detector ( it's a bit of a sleeper) they really don't push
it that much. It's much better than my brother's Whites XLT, which he sold
after I let him borrow my Cortes for a week!
Overall Rating
Ivan from
Seattle WA
426
Best detector for coin/relic/cache shooting
April 20, 2005
Light, easy to ground balance, accurate, deep (larger coil really increases
depth), lots of info, and the backlit display lets you detect in dark areas
and still see whats beeping at you. Can't beat the lifetime warranty.
Tesoro's customer service is absolutely the best you'll find. For the
price, it just can't be beat in my mind. I liked my first one so much, I
bought another one for my wife to use.
Overall Rating
JimF from
Atlanta, GA
315
Cortes One of the best coin machine on the market
April 13, 2005
This is my second Cortes. The only reason that I got rid of the last one I
had was that I wanted a beach machine, which the Cortes is not. I mainly
used Fishers, but I developed tennis elbow so I needed a lighter unit. So I
Opted to go back to the Cortes, which as usual is still one of the best
coin machines that i have ever used. Pro's :
The Cortes is a very light unit at 2.9lbs even with the 8 AA batteries, its very well balanced. Add a 7" coil and its an all day hunter.
The depth is every bit as good or better then the CZ5, which I also use.
You have a wealth of information in the display.
such as target ID, depth battery level.
The sum mode is one of the best features of the Cortes to give you a better Idea of the target.
Also the needed ground balance when hunting in mineralized soil in all-metal.
Pinpointing is right on the money. It pinpoints better then most machines I have used. I'm usually within an inch of the target.
Con's:
Display could be a tad bigger, but its not a problem. Could transfer over to the 9 volt system such as the Golden Umax.
pinpoint button like on the Cibola or Vaquero would be a plus.
Multi target tone, like on the Golden Umax. Like 4 various tones. It has like 8 or 9 in the sum mode.
All in all, the Cortes is one of the best machines that Tesoro has ever made.
Overall Rating
Mtdoramike from
Central Florida
748