Tesoro Deleon Goes Deep For Indian Head Penny:tesoro::usaflag:

[tabman]

I got to take the Deleon out for its maiden voyage today. I found a 1896 Indian Head Penny, 1918, 1919, 1925, and 1956 Wheat Penny, some lead bullets and various other stuff. I didn't realize that I had a Indian Head Penny until I got home and cleaned the coins. I thought it was a Wheat Penny when I put it in the find's pouch. Most of the coins were around 4 to 6 inches deep. The Indian Head Penny was around 7 to 8 inch deep. If I remember correctly, the VDI number was around 68 to 70. I can see how someone could become very proficient at identifying targets by using both the bars and VDI numbers once they use the detector long enough to know what it's telling them. I'm just amazed at how hard the Deleon hits deep targets. I ran Deleon today with minimum discrimination and I had the sensitivity set at '10' or a little past at times. The only problem that I had today was false signals. The 8 inch doughnut coil that I installed was making the detector too negative for the soil that I was detecting in. If I do decide to keep using the 8 inch coil I'll have to have the internal ground balance adjusted to make the detector a little less negative. All in all, it was beautiful sunny day and I had a couple of detecting buddies to enjoy it with. Everyone found some really neat stuff today.

tabman

 

[kozyman]

Great finds, indians are always fun. Congrats!!

 

[Hombre]

Nice Indian tabman,

I don't think that your Deleon is negatively ground balanced, just set up a little too hot. Instead of a sensitivity setting of 10, I would just back it off to 7 or 8. I set my wife's Deleon up with the disc. set between minimum and iron, that is the best setting in my soil, and still hit nickels hard. The Deleon is a very sensitive detector, it just needs to be tamed down some, I bet you saw "lift coil" on the screen a lot today. Good luck with it.

 

[tabman]

Nice Indian tabman,

I don't think that your Deleon is negatively ground balanced, just set up a little too hot. Instead of a sensitivity setting of 10, I would just back it off to 7 or 8. I set my wife's Deleon up with the disc. set between minimum and iron, that is the best setting in my soil, and still hit nickels hard. The Deleon is a very sensitive detector, it just needs to be tamed down some, I bet you saw "lift coil" on the screen a lot today. Good luck with it.

Yeah, I got a lot of 'lift coil" messages on the screen today, even on targets that were several inches deep.

I lowered the sensitivity some thinking that would stop all the false signals, but it didn't. I flipped over to the all metal mode and pumped the coil over the ground. It was giving off a strong tone on the uplift and no tone when I pushed it towards the ground. It's probably a combination of me running it way too hot and it having a little too negative of a ground balance.

Thanks Hombre for the advice. I'll raise the discrimination a tad and back off the throttle some to see how it goes.

I really like this detector.

tabman

 

[Topdecker]

Very nice hunt, Tabman! Certainly envious of the stuff you found and the time you had!

I just got in a Deleon today as well, but only had 40 minutes of hunt time I went ahead and tossed a rubber band around the battery pack doors - doubt if it was needed, but I had the rubber band handy.

I was super pleased with how easily I was able to navigate 3 or 4 targets and pluck out the one I liked best while using the default coil. I mean, I turned it on and a few minutes later and I was pre-scanning targets with ease. Most of the targets were at 4" and they all sounded crisp and clean - lots of power. I was at a place that was presenting a lot of targets - mostly tabs, but hey - and I was thrilled with how easy it was to navigate through all the targets. This thing is going to be insane with a 5.75" coil on it - nothing will be able to hide!

Pinpointing, though, felt much mushier than my Golden. Really cool that the target ID and depth info was constantly displayed even in all metal, but I was uncomfortable or unhappy with almost all of the pinpoints from the detector. Maybe it is because it is a lower toned pinpoint? Oh well, hopefully practice is all I need.

I did not really pay any attention to the quality of the audio - I will be doing that later. I dug some junk, nothing with jagged edges, nothing that sounded like trash. It takes more time for the correlation between audio and junk to form anyhow, I guess. I am a long way from saying that I like the Deleon, but the quick first impressions were such that I am eager to get it out as soon as possible.

Top

 

[tabman]

Topdecker, I know you're going to love the Deleon.

I hardly ever use the all metal pinpointing, except to size a target every once in awhile or to zero in on a real weak signal. I mainly use the x method to locate the target.

tabman

 

[Furious T]

Nice hunt Tabman, especially for first time with the D. I agree with Hombre about backing off the sensitivity...round parks etc I rarely have the sensitivity above 4, and still get good depth, and no falsing. I took mine out today for the first time with a 7" concentric coil that I have been using on my Golden. Going to an old area tomorrow, and am taking the DeLeon, so I thought I would test it with the 7" coil. I was really pleased with the way it went....ground coverage was good...better than the 5.75"....and depth was great...kept sensitivity at 4....only 2 bars of battery life left, and the DeLeon was still hitting hard. When I have been playing with my other machines, and haven't been using the DeLeon, I only have to turn it on to remind myself what a powerful detector it is.
Great work with yours....experiment, and you will find settings that suit you and your environment...dont be afraid to keep your sensitivity low, you might be surprised how much more you pick up. HH

 

[tabman]

Thanks guys. I going to throttle back some as suggested and see how it goes.

tabman

 

[pettit]

Tabman i love my d its my go to machine

 

[BarberBill]

Tabman, I agree with Hombre. I've found that setting the sensitivity in the 7-9 range works very well, the machine is more stable, and still gives very good depth. As to tweaking the ground balance, I've never done it, but I understand the D has two pots - one for all metal and the other for discrimination so be aware if you decide to tweak it yourself. The areas I hunt have fairly mild soil and the D has worked very well for me and is one of my favorite detectors.
BB

 

[tabman]

Tabman, I agree with Hombre. I've found that setting the sensitivity in the 7-9 range works very well, the machine is more stable, and still gives very good depth. As to tweaking the ground balance, I've never done it, but I understand the D has two pots - one for all metal and the other for discrimination so be aware if you decide to tweak it yourself. The areas I hunt have fairly mild soil and the D has worked very well for me and is one of my favorite detectors.
BB

That's good advice that you and Hombre gave about the sensitivity. Also, I was aware that there's two pots.

Since the ground balance is also tried to the VDI, I would have Tesoro make the adjustments if needed.

When you stated in an earlier post that the Deleon was deeper than your other

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice job on the finds and great post to read! Good to see you fellows dont have a problem throttling back and hitting deep. That seems to be the hardest advice to give somebody.
Mud

 

[otie]

Tabman glad you like your Deleon, the more you use it the more you will like it. I looked back at some of my notes & vdi #s All 4 read zink 1883 ih vdi 74, 1897 ih vdi 76, 1905 ih vdi 82, 1907 ih vdi 82, hope these numbers help for future hunts good luck & h h otie

 

[BarberBill]

IMHO the only issues of importance with the DeLeon is the ground balance issue if you're hunting mineralized ground and whether or not you want or need an indication on the screen to differentiate a dime from the other silver/clad coins. I've seen it posted once or twice by folks that didn't care for the blanket 95 reading for the dime, quarter, half etc. coin group. Never bothered me because I dig that indication regardless. I've been fortunate that nearly all the places I use the D have mild soil and I've been well pleased with the depth and general performance. There's been several threads lately about Tesoro bringing out new machines which isn't a big deal to me, however, I'd be really tickled to see the DeLeon or Cortes be upgraded to either true auto ground tracking or manual ground balancing that affects both modes. My two bits.
BB

 

[Matt_SC]

Nice find Tabman!

I've been using a 7" widescan coil on my Cortes lately. I really like it. Seems to really cut down on the chatter while still getting good depth. One drawback is I find pinpointing a little more difficult but not too bad. The vdi numbers are a little different with this coil vs the stock 8x9.