Tesoro Cibola
Street Price $450 - Coin, relic
Number of Reviews: 28
on 4 pages.
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Also in this price range:
Whites Prizm IV
Tesoro Bandido II uMax
Tesoro Cibola
Land Ranger
Whites Classic 5 ID
tons of bang for the buck
Trent Nunley in (USA) Stationed in Germany -I bought the cibola for a back up . I thought for the price and all the good reviews I would get a good machine. I really am impressed. The weight is only 2.2 pounds it only takes one 9 volt and it is very stright foward. I had been using a CZ 5 mainly(great detector also) but I wanted a back up/loaner .I bought an ID Excel used and it worked great for about 6 hours . I got it repaired and traded it for a new cibola .At first I did not care for the cibola because I was so used to multi tones of my cz that one tone seemed insufficent. I ended up going back to my main detector for a while. I started woods hunting once the fields all got planted and the grass took over and I found that the cibola really shined ! It has real good depth(maybe just a hair less then my CZ5) is lite,I rarly dig rusty nailswith the discrimination set just below the to Iron mark but I still pick up grape shot and cannon ball chunks. I think for the price this machine is the best detector in its class bare none.You don't have the distractions of some of the higher end machines.Just turn on and go. The low tone took a little getting used to but now I prefer it .I have pulled dozens of musket balls,coins ,(One roman),two cannon balls,several grape shot and other odds and ends. I am very happy with the tesoro cibola.For 340.00 and a lifetime warranty You just can't go wrong. I still am not crazy with the pinpoint. I run wideopen (supertuned) and the pinpoint is pretty much un useable . I have read that they hit hard on hot rocks but I have never dug any(may not be any here). Hope this helps somebody. For the money ,5 stars for sure. HH
Jun 13, 2006
16 people found this review helpful.
just the best
paul in england -i only bought the cibola abought a year ago
as a second machine to my minelab explorer
now the cibola is my first choice.oh yes my
mates laughed at first but not any more, with
my super little hammered/denarius hunter.
JUST THE BEST.......
May 23, 2006
14 people found this review helpful.
Cibola
Hank in Anytown, AT 55555 -Lightweight machine, good warranty, unknown service/support.
Machine is a bit botton heavy. Simple to use and set up.
Uses 9v battery which supposedly has a short life (10 - 20 hours). In contrast the other detector I own (Fisher 1266x), has an extremely long battery life.
Additional coils are proprietary to this machine, the Lobo, Vaquero, and Tejon, and are pricey.
Dec 05, 2005
10 people found this review helpful.
Cibola Review
Jeff Bernard in Flint Michigan -The Cibola runs great at 7-8 on the sens or lower, the threshold works great on depth at 2 o clock,the sens can go lower than 7
Oct 31, 2005
9 people found this review helpful.
Excellent first detector
Chris Brewchorne in Somerset, UK -After reading all the reviews and seeking advice from retailers I bought a Cibola, my first detector, less than a month ago in the UK.
Initially I thought it was a bit plastic, but now realise this is to keep down the weight.
I firstly tried the airtests, and it picked small copper coins up at a good 10" away. Impressive.
Testing it the first day in the garden, I found several interesting items from the previous occupants; a diecast toy car, a buckle, and four modern copper coins at depths of up to 12".
My first field test was on pasture which had alot of mineralised iron in the soil, so the pinpointing all metal mode was confused, but in discriminating mode it could still find objects accurately. I found a huge horseshoe at about 14", a Victorian brooch and several pieces of broken plough and lead. The machine was light, simple to understand and within a short time I started to get a feel for it. Big objects give wide signals, small objects give a small localised blip. Turning up the discrimination after a signal indicates the likely nature of the find, although larger bits of iron and circular finds such as horseshoes will always give a signal.
A session in a friends 15th century garden yielded some tiny Victorian brass buttons at about 8", and later I found an 1862 halfpenny at 12".
Today I bought a bigger spade as I've had to go alot deeper than I thought!.
It won't pinpoint over wet beach sand, but I find having got the hang of the machine that its so accurate in discriminating mode I don't seem to use the pinpointing much anyway, and still easily found objects on the wet sea sand.
The manufacturers 'supertuning' is I think unnecessary, it will perform very well in standard set-up to tiring digging depths.
Overall very pleased, not found anything of great value yet, but when I get the right site I think its up to the job, and seems good value.
Oct 23, 2005
50 people found this review helpful.
One of the Best of the Best
GT in Western Washington -I purchased the Cibola based on correspondences with Tom from Michigan (the previous reviewer.)
I wanted a machine that could sweep moderately quickly, has fast recovery times, was deep-seeking, discrimated well in trash or iron, and was light-weight.
The Cibola hit the bullseye in all these categories (not to mention it isn't a very expensive machine.)
It is the most immune to mineralization and RF interference when compared to my other detectors (the Excel ID, Quattro, Advantage, and Ace 250). Battery life is excellent too.
I can run the sensitivity all the way past 10 without a problem to get extreme depth. In the same soils I have to set my Excel ID and Quattro to 4 or 5 to prevent chattering.
This metal detector is as close to perfect as you can expect from a modern machine for general land use (coins, jewelry, and relics).
This Cibola really doesn't have glaring bad points, only a few minor weaknesses (and I emphasize the word MINOR.) It pinpoints well but I find I'm much more confident with the pin-pointing system on my Excel. On the Cibola, frequency increases as you close in on the target and then the sound disappears when you have centered the target. Often I wonder if I passed over the target when the sound vanishes.
You can easily detect nickels with this machine (a trait given to the CZ-5) but it is difficult to distinguish a penny from a dime however since it has no TID and both these coins discriminate out at about the same spot on the DISC knob.
Overall, I consider the Cibola the pinnacle of 21st century technology. It is a sleek, lightweight, deep-seeking, no fuss, trash-separating machine. I would give it a six-stars if I could.
Sep 15, 2005
34 people found this review helpful.
Preset vs Manual GB... C vs V
Tom in MI -Unless you routinely hunt in high mineral areas where manual GB is a must, or you have a need for the all-metal mode of the Vaquero, do not strike the Cibola off your short list simply because it has factory preset GB.
I tried a Vaquero and found myself constantly re-adjusting the GB every few feet in my mild ground conditions and it had a stupid slow sweep speed requirement.
The Cibola on the other hand gives great depth and sensitivity in MY ground without the fuss and is much more sweep speed tolerant on small low conductive items.
Can less be more? Depending on your requirements in a detector, Yes very definitely.
Aug 27, 2005
40 people found this review helpful.