I agree. The deleon / cortes are great id detectors. Put the fun back into detecting for me, when they say it's junk..... It's junk. Doubled my gold ring count from 1 gold a year to 2 lol. I love that tesoro opened up the gold range I'd #'s in the deleon and cortes.
I've been using this technique posted by barberbill here on findmall a few years ago. It works!
CORTES TIP
Even though many gold rings read as pop tops, there is a trick that might help you snag some of them. Pop tops and pull tabs tend to read erratic on the Cortes with each subsequent pass. The numbers will jump around and the bar graph indicators too. With a ring in that exact range, the ID numbers may jump, but only 1 or 2 points at best and the bar graph will be very stable no mater how you sweep the target. Rings will give a much more "stable" meter indication than rings will. So vary your stance when you get a "pop top" signal, sweep and watch those indicators as you sweep the target. If they remain steady, you better dig it. Now it may be the "ring" off a pop top, they will fool the machine, but most of them will show a slightly erratic behavior.
If you watch the confidence bars you will notice they "splash across the screen" when it comes to iregularly shaped junk targets. When they are tight and concentrated its usually a good target...................even if the target is deep..... this characteristic stays. That is quite useful in high junk areas and aids in cherry picking!!
.................find gold rings with the Cortes; don't miss this very important tip!!! Your disc must be set NO HIGHER than the half way point; from " min" to "iron" on the discrimination dial. This will ensure that your detector gets the deeper gold ...not just the surface stuff. In addition sweep with the coil at 3 " above ground and yes...........set the sensitivity to " 4" no I'm not kidding..............no higher than 4!!! Then go out into your favorite park and get ready to be surprised. I'm up to about 30 rings found with my Cortes........all in parks and soccer fields only!!! Final point...... really watch for those tight number sequences.........if the numbers only vary about between 2 or 3 numbers ...it's party time. Example in a really trashy sideline area of a soccer field, most of my pulltabs were coming up 24 to 34 some even flared out to 36........once I identified this "crap zone" as I call it in this case; I stop digging those ranges............my odds of finding goodies go up. Sure enough I find a tight 18 to 21 reading .....screams dig me!!!! So I do.... small ladies 14K ring.......................moments later another reading 28 to 32 fairly consistent....................dig it up ... mens medium 10 K band. Tight numbers on the meter and tight women,,,,,,,these are good things!!! Sweep slower as well. Please give this a try and post your results and exploits but only the one reffering to detecting!!!! LOL LOL
The Cortes is a great unit. I have found lots of "gold " with it. Over 20 gold rings in four months.......not on beaches but in PARKS!!! Here are some tips...........I search for gold rings in pulltab infested areas such as picnic sites.... the rings are there. 1: Do not use too much sensitivity.... hunt at level of "4" you will still get great depth. This unit is quite deep detecting so back off on the dial, 2: Coil should not be closer than 3 inches from the soil........this takes some getting used to. You get better target ID readings more stable and better lock on............... my preplanted !0 K gold ring at 6 inches ; still hits hard with the coil at 3 inches above ground level. Tesoro's do not perform well if too close to soil. 3: Rings and "good" targets lock-on consistently, and the number spread is very tight.,,,,,, in my area pulltabs go from 21 to 34, but rings have a tight 2 to 3 number spread!!! 4:When hunting for gold leave you notch "off" and make sure you do not turn the disc higher than the IRON setting.....let the Meter do the disc" ing!! 5: No fast sweeping if you want deep hits....control you sweep speed........fast sweep is ok for dry sand hunting when looking for recent drops!!! 6: Dig ANY repeatable targets....if they click or tick solidly in the same pitch and sound....... they are often good. I found a 1921 Morgan silver dollar at the base of a tree; and it simply made a very "uniform ticking" from all directions ,,,,,,,,,,,at 8" down.....a Morgan. Try some of these tips and you will begin to see the performance value of this unit............there is more here than meets the eye!!!! Good Luck and dig deep!