Last Days For Tesoro?

[Swegin]

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I find it incredibly weird that Tesoro refuses to put out a statement on their website explaining what is going on. It’s not the Tesoro I used to know.

Very Strange to say the least.

Quote

Just got my silver umax back from tesoro yesterday. 2 months and 10 days since I sent it in. So glad they are still doing repairs albeit slowly.

I just copied this from the Tesoro Metal Detectors facebook page. That quote was posted on Feb 10th 2019.

I did try and call them but it goes to an answering machine.  I didn't leave a message.

 

[kac]

They might be downsizing and re-organizing. If that is the case I may go ahead and snag a sand shark. I really enjoy the Tejon, just a fun machine to use. Really like the analog no frills machines and smoothness over the vdi machines out there.

[Nuke em]

On 2/15/2019 at 2:51 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

I find it incredibly weird that Tesoro refuses to put out a statement on their website explaining what is going on. It’s not the Tesoro I used to know.

Its not good business sense either . People wont know if they should buy one or not . And i have to say i only know one person who has one . Every time i go to my local dealer that sells them , they say they rarely sell them . 

If Tesoro / Laser is going to get sales going again they need to up date their models considerably . 

With machines like the Equinox , Deus / ORX and new models from Macro etc . Tesoro either have to update or fold. 

I started out detecting late in 2002 and the only machines i remember them bringing out were the Lobo and Wolftrax . And they are old style machines. 

Before Minelab brought out the Equinox i thought Minelab were getting ready to bite the dust Hobby wise but they seem to have woken up again , for now.

Maybe another company "Whites" should look out too , their hobby machines are old mostly except for a few cheap machines but their top end is dated i think.

I think there are too many detector companies out there and i bet there will be a few going to the wall sooner or later.

Maybe they have other business like Industry and Mine and Gold but they are not for most and certainly not in Europe.

Also the Equinox has hit sales of other companies "maybe not Garrett" and look at the secondhand market , an ET selling just before the Nox came out was likely to fetch £650 for a 2 year old mint condition one but now its sub £500 and even then they are hard to sell . And what about the CTX depreciating value from new ! They sell them with extras like the big coil and maybe a probe etc but try selling them after a year .

E.bay is awash with old FBS/FBS2 machines selling for way under their true value . I think they have become very cheap detecting these days .

I for one wont be selling my ET , it wont get a good enough price and is too good a machine to sell in its current condition for Peanuts.

 

[kac]

Tesoro has a niche where they have the old school fans that don't like all the tones, fancy displays and enjoy the clean signals that you get when running these machines. Analog machine I think have better sensitivity but that comes with a learning curve or you will dig a lot of garbage. Their attempt to go to a VDI I think was a little clunky when compared to the Makro, Garrets, and others with their sleek modern designs.

They also have a problem competing on the low end against the many imports and Bounty Hunters that are sold everywhere.

I hope they are just re-organizing. For the market they have they probably don't need the staff they had and could easily update a few machines and slim down their inventory. Even a water proof Vaquero or Tejon would do pretty well for the crowd that hit fresh water areas.

I agree the way they just kicked out employees and not keeping in touch with suppliers and consumers is really poor business relations. Personally I would have done something far more public and gradual. I think the honesty and openness would be much better for business than simply hiding and leaving everyone in the dark.

[Noah (FL)]

It really comes down to them loosing or maybe just not competing in the changing world of marketing.  The companies selling tone and visual ID detectors have sold the necessity of distinguishing a penny from a dime or a nickel from a pulltab.  “Coin shooting” is great and all and the potential for a windfall coin find is out there but none of the forms of ID are of much help in distinguishing a gold ring from a pulltab or a gold chain or earring from a bit of foil.

Don’t get me wrong as I do enjoy using these more modern detectors as well but most of my detecting time is spent jewelry hunting and for that a Tesoro is hard to beat. I have confidence in them and that is the most important thing.  

In a selfish sense I am glad everyone doesn’t have a Compadre.  If they did there would be a lot less gold hiding in the playgrounds for me to find!!!

[kac]

Analog machines have finer sensitivity and don't distinguish based on blocks. This along with the degree of skill and practice it takes does make them less popular. Personally I ignore less and find more with my Tejon because I have more confidence in the sound I hear. I can tell if it is a dime 8" down or a quarter and not a pull tab and can distinguish a nickel or gold ring from a square tab vrs looking at some numbers jumping on my AT Pro. It takes practice that most either don't have the time or commitment to put into their machine. 

I pick up quite a bit of finds in areas where I have seen others hitting with their machines, usually nickels and quarters they skip over. 

It is feasible that they can still have their share of the market but they could never compete on a grand scale in sales as the others. There still is that niche that can carve out a few salaries.

[Mark Gillespie]

9 hours ago, Noah (FL) said:

It really comes down to them loosing or maybe just not competing in the changing world of marketing.  The companies selling tone and visual ID detectors have sold the necessity of distinguishing a penny from a dime or a nickel from a pulltab.  “Coin shooting” is great and all and the potential for a windfall coin find is out there but none of the forms of ID are of much help in distinguishing a gold ring from a pulltab or a gold chain or earring from a bit of foil.

Don’t get me wrong as I do enjoy using these more modern detectors as well but most of my detecting time is spent jewelry hunting and for that a Tesoro is hard to beat. I have confidence in them and that is the most important thing.  

In a selfish sense I am glad everyone doesn’t have a Compadre.  If they did there would be a lot less gold hiding in the playgrounds for me to find!!!

You have a very good point.  Back in the day, I had a Vaquero and a Tejon.  Both had fantastic audio capabilities.  In fact, I did find a lot more gold rings than I tend to find now.  But now, with all the high tech visual ID screens I find myself relying more on what it indicates, rather than a pure audio response and for sure I've walked right over rings thinking they might be junk.

The Compadre is another fine machine for hunting for lost gold items in playgrounds.  Partly contributed by the small coil and the unique audio.

 

 

 

[Noah (FL)]

43 minutes ago, kac said:

 

I pick up quite a bit of finds in areas where I have seen others hitting with their machines, usually nickels and quarters they skip over. 

I love checking out a park or school for the first time and not finding many coins.  Usually means someone has cherry picked all the coins relying on IDs and as a byproduct left the jewelry behind. 

I will make no claims of being able to dig gold without digging junk but I don’t mind digging foil and tabs in a spot that may hold gold jewelry. I will say that with the newer Mojave the audio is the best so far in regards to tone differences between a good ring vs. foil or tabs. But the majority of jewelry found is broken or misshapen and rarely gives a nice “round” tone. 

Either way, finding gold in parks is far from glamorous.  To consistently find it you’re going to dig a bunch of crap. 

[kac]

I was at the beach the other weekend with my AT Pro and went by sound only with minimal settings for iron discrim 33. There was a another guy out there that said he uses his AT Pro there too and was shocked when I said I use zero mode. He relies on the VDI and set his machine to coin mode. 

The chatter and numbers jumping on a VLF in the black sand is exhausting BUT if you listen you can tell if there is a good target and it isn't just noise. As you pass over an actual target will keep toning in whereas noise is random. You have to listen. Big reason I like the Tejon where all is quiet even in the trashy areas. If it wasn't for my old old Bounty hunter and the Tejon I don't think I would find much at the beach with my AT Pro. Just learn to hunt a little differently.

And yes I have dug my share of tabs, was tempting to keep them when aluminum prices were high :)