Monday, April 13, 2009

Tesoro Metal Detectors

Here is a write up about Tesoro Labs Metal Detectors, who they are and what their products are. This write up is worth reading before you decide to buy a gold metal detector.

In any purchase of a gold metal detector it is always a good idea to know as much about the detector and its manufacturer before you buy.

Who are Tesoro Electronics

Tesoro is the Spanish word for treasure and Tesoro Electronics was founded, like so many successful businesses, in the family garage by Jack and Myrna Gifford in the 1980s.

Before that, however, jack started in the detector field with Bounty Hunter in the mid 1970s and was the designer for the then best selling metal detector Bounty ever made, the TR500.

After an interesting career with Bounty Hunter and later Fisher Research Labs, Jack went on to start Tesoro Electronics and in July of 1980 dealers all over the country received a letter from Jack announcing the founding of Tesoro Electronics Inc.

On the website Jack states, "It has become apparent to me over the past few years that there is a place for, even a need for, a metal detector manufacturer who is dedicated to the independent dealer market. The products should utilize the best of today's technology to provide maximum sensitivity. They should be rugged, but light enough that anyone can use them. They should do their job without "bells and whistles" that only increase the cost. ..."

Jack Clifford picked the word Tesoro for the company as it is the Spanish word for treasure and the Spanish certainly seemed to understand and appreciate tesoro. Never in the history of the New World has there been a treasure hunt like the Spaniards held.

The web site was launched in 1996 and is full comprehensive with detailed information about the products and accessories available from Tesoro.

Tesoro Electronics are based at Prescott, Arizona, USA.

Tesoro Warranty

Tesoro Electronic manufacture a range of metal detectors notable for their specific uses and all are covered by a lifetime warranty. The only other company that offered a lifetime warranty in this field was Fisher and that was reduced to a five year warranty when they were taken over by First Texas Corporation. This means that detectors made 20 years ago are still covered by that same warranty.

Tesoro, on the other hand, increased their warranty from two year in 1981 to the Life time warranty they have now and grandfathered into that warranty all the other detectors they had made. This lifetime warranty covers defects in material and workmanship for as long as it is owned by the original purchaser. The warranty excludes batteries, damage caused by leaky batteries, cable breakage due to flexing, wear of the search coil housing, and leakage cause by the condition of water seals on underwater detectors. Also naturally excluded are instruments which have been abused, altered, or repaired by an unauthorized party.

If one needs to take advantage of the warranty, the web site clearly states what to do
Send, as a minimum, both the coil with its cable and the electronics control housing. Unnecessary items, such as extra poles, need not be shipped. However, the new Cortés, DeLeón, and Tejón (and some very early models) require that the control housing remain attached to the upper pole/armrest assembly.

Include a note for the repair department describing the problem being experienced and under what circumstances. Details such as what mode, what setting, conditions, etc., are always helpful to the technicians, especially if the problem is of an intermittent nature.

Include your physical address (No P.O. Boxes), as Tesoro will return the unit to you by UPS (contiguous states only; HI, AK and Canada will be shipped via the US Post Office). Tesoro pays for the return shipment if within the US and Canada. If you are located outside the US and Canada, they ship via Global Express Mail, and you will then be responsible for shipping costs, customs and/or duties. Also include other contact details such as a day time phone number and email address if you have one.

There are dealers and distributors in the following countries, some of which also service adjacent countries also.

AUSTRALIA
PERU
BULGARIA
POLAND
CZECH REPUBLIC
RUSSIA
FRANCE
SLOVENIA
GERMANY
SPAIN
GREECE
TURKEY
HUNGARY
UKRAINE
ITALY
UNITED KINGDOM
NETHERLANDS

Tesoro Metal Detectors

Here is a list of Tesoro six main metal detectors.

Tesoro Compadre: This is a detector specifically aimed at the novice or new person. It is very economical and has only a combined on/off, discrimination control, it runs on one PP3 and is hard wired with a 5.25 ” Coil. This detector would suit the budding beginner as well as the more advanced detectorist.

Silver Micromax: Slightly more advances in price and capability this machine is very easy to operate. There is a motion discriminator, having discrimination, sensitivity controls along with an all metal mode, lightweight and easy to use with its 8” coil

Tesoro Vaquero: The Tesoro Vaquero (Spanish for Cowboy) has been designed as an all round detector. The Vaquero runs at 14.3kHz frequency and comes as standard with a 9”x8” concentric monolithic coil. This machine has manual ground balance to help improve performance and can also use any of the Lobo, Cibola, Trident or Tejon coils.

Tesoro Tejon: According to Tesoro, the Tejon is one of Tesoro's top detectors, it has a 17.5 kHz frequency which helps to increase the sensitivity on small gold and silver targets. The Tejon comes with a 9 x 8 web coil but the manual ground balance will allow other coils to be fitted.

Lobo Supertraq:
The Lobo is designed primarily for gold nugget hunting. It has a full range of discrimination, together with a rising tone as you pass over the object. The Lobo is very sensitive to small objects,

Tesoro Cortes: The Cortes is the top of the Tesoro range of detectors. It uses digital signal processing to create a target ID meter which is split into two parts, the upper being one of four categories whilst the lower gives a peak signal ID number and a small bar graph.

Last Word on Tesoro
Tesoro state on their website: "As we enter the future, Tesoro Electronics will remain in the hands of the Gifford family, and we will continue to produce the best possible metal detectors based on the words that Jack wrote over 25 years ago. "As the Spaniards were yesterday's undisputed masters of treasure hunting, we at TESORO will always endeavor to meet our goal of making TESORO Metal Detectors today’s undisputed masters of treasure hunting”
- Jack Gifford (1980)."