hihosilver said:
I really wish Tesoro would bring back the Pantera, but in the micromax housing and with a 3 turn Manual GB adjustment.
I really enjoyed the Pantera, but it wouldn't fit in the [size=small]micro[/size]MAX housing, I don't think, but possibly use the Téjon package. That might allow a 10-turn rather than 3¾-turn GB pot.
hihosilver said:
I know they did not sell well when they were in the metal box and the production run time was short lived.
Only produced for 1 year and 7 months, but they were not in a metal box. They used the same under-rod plastic housing as the Lobo. I think part of their short production life [size=small]
(7/'90 to 2/'92)[/size] was due to a few factors, such as the fact the industry had somewhat peaked around '83-'86 and by '90 you started to see a decline in clubs and local dealer shops, and so many typical 'Hobbyists' were drawn to the simple 'turn-on-and-go' detectors that didn't require manual Ground Balancing. Also, that was at about the time we started to see more attention to detectors with Target ID displays and Tone ID and even some of those were starting to go to smaller packaging.
Evidence that more folks wanted 'turn-on-and-go' simplicity was the Golden Sabre II. That was nothing more than the Pantera circuitry in the same housing, weight and balance, but they eliminated the external GB and kept it an internally preset Ground Balance and separated the stacked Disc. & Notch. to be two separate controls. That's it. Basically a simplified [size=small]
(or easier-to-use)[/size] Pantera version, and the Golden Sabre II had a longer production life [size=small]
(7/'92 to 5/'99)[/size] of 6 years and 10 months.
hihosilver said:
But times have changed, the trash has changed, and I think now that the tone-break feature and the notch accept/reject options would be better appreciated.
I honestly believe the number of people who want a two-tone model like the Pantera is rather small, and mainly whose who had or have and use a similar Tesoro, such as the Royal Sabre, Golden Sabre Plus, Golden Sabre II or the Pantera. This design worked very well with the analog Tesoro circuitry to split the tones and with a single notching ability. Today, more people want to have multiple tones and to get the best performance from multi-notching, it is better accomplished with modern digitally designed circuitry.
Also, you are correct, especially for urban Coin Hunters, when you said "
... times have changed, the trash has changed ..." because we see many more discarded pieces of trash that fall all across the non-ferrous conductivity range. The problem is that way too many hunks of junk mimic the conductivity of desired coins, and that is here in the USA and countries that use zinc, copper, brass, bronze, silver, etc. to make coins.
Other countries, such as Canada and many, many more, have coins made out of magnetic metals such as nickel, iron and steel which add to detection problems. Due to the coin's metal alloy, the targets can produce a more erratic signal. Models with visual Target ID show this with a response that doesn't lock on real tight, but instead is a bit 'bouncy.' Matching that behavior is the audio Tone ID which also makes it very difficult to 'notch' those targets and get reliable and consistent tone responses.
hihosilver said:
Especially in a light detector with Outlaw/Vaquero depth and with Tesoro's current disc. Circuits. The Pantera with its notch accept feature, can be set up to run the way you are describing (the reverse disc thing), as Monte pointed out. Boy, wouldn't that be cool.
Yes, the Pantera and similar performing Tesoro models can work pretty well, and if anyone has a good specimen and likes it they ought to hang onto it. I personally doubt that we will ever see a Pantera type unit with multiple notching design unless they gear up and engineer up to build a more exacting digital circuitry design, as it likely won't happen with analog circuitry.
I do miss the Pantera as I prefer to have more operator control of important adjustments, such as Ground Balance. I wouldn't mind seeing a new model using the Téjon package with the AA batteries, like the Pantera used, and a new name to eliminate confusion. So, my though is to make a
PUMA but with two individual Discriminate controls, one smaller-size knobbed pot with a full-range adjustment, and based on the ED-180 full-range of acceptance. Label the
Primary Disc. control B-U and the
Secondary Disc. control T-D.
With the ED-180 circuitry, your Primary Disc. adjustment starts at the lower end and adjusts upward through the lower-conductive range.
Bottom-
Up so you can reject iron, foil, bigger foil, nickels, etc. Then, use the Secondary Disc, control that adjusts from the higher-conductivity targets downward. The
Top-
Down Disc, control would start with silver dollars and adjust downward through the higher conductive range thru dimes, pennies, zinc pennies, screw caps, etc. That would allow the user to adjust a Notch Accept 'window' to their liking from either end.
You could use a clicked setting knob for the Secondary
T-D Disc. control, like the Disc. control on the Téjon or Vaquero that clicks from All Metal into Disc., but on the
Puma [size=small]
(a rename for Pantera or Panther)[/size] the 'clicked' setting would simply be 'Off' so that the control would not get bumped. It would be for specialty applications. The average detector user would mainly use the Primary
B-U Disc. for traditional ferrous and foil trash rejection.
Oh, that little-sized knob like the centered Tone level knob on the Téjon? That would be a variable Tone-Break knob, and be doing what the Notch Disc. does on the Pantera with Notch 'Off' and allow the user to adjust a Low-Tone / High-Tone break-point wherever they wanted on the full ED-180 range. What if you only wanted to hear One-Tone and not Two Tones? Fine, you take your pick and set the smaller-size Tone Break control fully clockwise and ALL targets will produce the Low-Tone audio. Turn the Tone Break control fully counter-clockwise and ALL targets will produce the High-Tone audio.
All this
Puma package in the Téjon size housing and powered by AA batteries.
• All Metal or Disc. mode select toggle
• Manual GB control using a 3¾ or 10-turn pot
• Threshold control
• Sensitivity control
• Tone-Break variable control small-size knob
• B-U Disc. primary control
• T-D Disc. secondary control
• Pinpoint push-button
Precision 7" Concentric coil as standard
Analog circuitry and use the High-Tone audio like the Bandido II [size=small]micro[/size]MAX. No display. No Touchpads. No fancy stuff. Just a nicely balanced model using KNOBS, and providing all the necessary adjustment features many users might want with the well known and appreciated Tesoro performance.
Food for thought.
Monte
