Came home with a new oldie yesterday Tesoro Bandido the original one!!

[bigtim1973]

Well I went over and hung out with a good buddy of mine yesterday. He had an original tesoro bandido that takes the 2 9 volts and hangs under the handle. Of course it looks well used, but it is not abused by any means. I did not know it but, instead of the 8" brown or white concentric normally found on these, it had a wide scan with it. I have never had a tesoro wide scan coil. After tinkering around a bit, it seems to have the 10 turn ground pot. I went out and ground balanced it and flip her over to disc mode. All functions work great and I am thrilled to get it. He had never messed with it other than to make sure it worked and sat it aside. He is more of the ID type detectorist and it had been laying around the shop for a couple of years. Well anyways, these old tesoros sure bring back the memories for me as these hit the market about the time I was in high school when I did not have a job and just drooled over them in the old lost treasure and other treasure magazines. Anyways I thought I would just share the excitement!!

 

[Cameraniac]

Nice find, Tim!

 

[nagant]

I'd love to find something like that, have fun and good luck to you.

 

[Monte]

now you have one with the 'original' Bandido.

I have several Tesoro models that I pick from to travel with me along with some favored TID units, and an original Bandido and Bandido II [size=small]micro[/size]MAX are among that group. I pamper all my detectors and have a choice condition original Bandido I've had as a back-up listed on my AHRPS site for sale. The Bandido was the first popular-use model Tesoro released that introduced the ED-120 Discriminate circuitry, and I have owned and used several through the past twenty-four years since their release [size=small](produced from 3/'90 to 6/'93)[/size] and enjoy great success.

By the way, they are wired up in parallel and not in series, so if you ever happen to get stuck away from having battery access and your working batteries go bad, you can operate the Bandido [size=small](as well as the Bandido II and Silver Sabre II)[/size] using only 1 single 9-Volt battery! Run-time might not last as long as operating with two 9-Volts, but I know it saved the day for me the first time I had to do that as I was in a desert ghost town about 100 miles from home when my batteries died.

I had been evaluating different batteries and timing how long they would work. I headed out after grabbing a sack off the counter at home that I thought had my extra batteries as I knew those in the detector were getting close to the end of their life. When they quit working I discovered the sack had food in it and not batteries, so I 'borrowed' a 9V battery out of one of my sons' electronic devices and continued to hunt while powered by just a single 9-Volt battery. That was in my all-time favorite ghost town and the Bandido continued to serve my needs well.

Just remember to adjust the Ground Balance to be spot-on in the All Metal mode, and if anything it is best to be GB'ed just slightly negative and not positive, especially if you are hunting any very mineralized environment. Also, if you work trashier sites you might find that the smaller-size coils can handle the conditions well, and I keep a 6" Concentric coil on all my Tesoro's, with the exception of the Mojave with the new 7" Concentric I leave mounted. Matter-of-fact I have a 6" Concentric coil on my Tesoro Bandido at this very moment and it is loaded in my Tahoe for an early morning hunt.

I'll head out with it and some other favorites I tote in about 8 hours for some early morning, pre-heat detecting at a littered CCC encampment site that was later used during WW-II as a Japanese Internment Camp. Just working the weedy dirt around the fringe area that is a little reluctant to kick loose an older coin, but it does come through now and then. The Bandido & I will then go put in a little hunt time for modern coinage before the heat can get to me.

They are difficult to find, at least in the condition mine are in, and the Bandido can serve you well. Just remember, they are a slow-sweep/quick-response circuitry design, especially in pea gravel, rocks, or other very mineralized ground.

Monte

 

[bigtim1973]

Good to know that Monte on the one battery thing. I knew the older whites classic 2 and 3 models that had the control box under the arm rest would do similar things. Also on some of the Fisher 1200 series would do similar things with just 1 battery. Thanks for the heads up on this one though!!

 

[UtahRich]

Congrats on the original Bandido. I have a Bandido as well.

Rich (Utah)

 

[bigtim1973]

Cool and thanks. I will probably hold on to it. Heck I have had all of them in the past one way or another. The only bandido I have not owned was the first uMax with the fixed threshold. I would still not pass one up if I came across one.

 

[Walknstik]

Bigtim I think the Bandido you just purchased is better because it has the external threshold adjust. I like to change coils sometimes and the external threshold adjust allows you to reset threshold easily if needed. I also have an original Bandido and really like the modulated audio along with the older quieter circuitry which is a great combination to have when hunting trashy areas...especially with a small concentric coil!

 

[bigtim1973]

You know I have had a few of these in the past and people say this ones disc circuit is a little better than the newer disc circuit. I do notice it is not as chirpy while set up into the red zone on the sensitivity. I guess I really have not paid too much attention to comparing one with a umax style. Hopefully that will be changing soon. I believe I will be getting another umax set up soon.