Tesoro Cortes

Cortes... super disc machine!!!

Ivan in Seattle WA -
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!

Aug 27, 2007

37 Yes
3 No

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Best detector for coin/relic/cache shooting

JimF in Atlanta, GA -
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.

Apr 20, 2005

30 Yes
3 No

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Cortes One of the best coin machine on the market

mtdoramike in Central Florida -
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.

Apr 13, 2005

68 Yes
6 No

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cortes

Jerry(Tx) in South -
it isnt very deep

Mar 27, 2005

13 Yes
209 No

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Cortes

Bill in USA -
After using a Garrett GTI-2500 for over a year, I decided to buy a Tesoro Cortes. I bought the Cortes because I read that it was very light and went deeper than other detectors. Both are true. When I first used the Cortes, I fell in love with it and put away my Garrett.

At first, I was worried by the manual ground balancing in all-metal mode. But I found that ground balancing the Cortes is extremely easy -- if you're having trouble, then you haven't read the instructions. It took me less than one minute to do and is much quicker to do than to explain. And it's not even necessary if you use the discrim mode!

It detects much deeper than the Garrett -- I was finding targets at over 9 inches deep (bear in mind that the Cortes will detect targets over 9 inches deep, but the Cortes' display stops at 9 inches depth). Even in trashy areas, the target display didn't jump around that much; I was able to identify good targets easily.

Pinpointing is also very easy; making an "X" over a target a couple times in all-metal mode almost always zeroes in on it. But what really amazed me was how well it performed under high-voltage wires. Power lines always interfere terribly with my GTI-2500, even with the sensitivity turned way down. But the Cortes was totally unaffected, even with the sensitivity maxed.

If Tesoro could make the Cortes any better, I would recommend that they put the headphone jack on the back of the battery pack (instead of the electronics housing), and make the discrim mode multi-tone (to match the 9-bar display).

Even without my suggested "improvements", the Cortes is an excellent value and a pleasure to use. I strongly recommend it to both beginning and experienced detectorists.

Oct 12, 2004

93 Yes
6 No

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Tesoro Cortes

david haynes in USA -
I returned my Cortes to the factory with some problems. They replaced several switches and rebuilt the loop. It took about 2 weeks, not bad. The only cost was shipping. No questions asked. They stand behind their product.

Jul 11, 2004

33 Yes
7 No

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Tesoro Cortes

David Haynes in USA -
I have owned a Tesoro Silver Saber that I traded towards a White Eagle II. I really liked the Whites, but it was getting to be 12 years old.I mainly coin hunt lots, schools, fair grounds and such. I started finding nickels when I got the whites. I liked the number id and the depth read out.
My shoulder has started to bother me and the Whites was quite heavy. I bought the Cortes off ebay about 6 months ago. I was happy with the price and sold the Whites to regain some of the cost.

1st - the cortes is very light, about 3lbs.
2nd - It seems to have good depth, I found a 1916 barber dime last week at about 9 to 10 inches. 3rd - it has notch, but I don't use it much.

The down sides.
1st - I don't like the number id as well as with the Whites. Everything good reads as a 95 then you have to look at a bar graph to try to tell what the find is. The graph is hard to read and jumps around alot.
2nd - it does not use rechargable battery packs. 3rd - I still do not know if I have the ground balance correct.
4th - I have trouble sometimes pinpointing with the concentric coil.

I am trying to get use to the Cortes, I do like the weight, but sometimes I think about getting a White xlt e series. I liked the White id range better.

Apr 11, 2003

81 Yes
15 No

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