The fate of Tesoro?

I wonder if the fate of Tesoro will drive up the prices of the more rarer models and coils or the opposite?

Lets put it this way....want a Tesoro in your lineup get it now....
That fella from Texas will get a lot of repair business if Tesoro goes under...bet he is stocking up with Tesoro parts...

latest word has tesoro still in the hunt!..they are breathing!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Everybody should have a Tesoro in there arsenal.

Rick

You lay people off because you can't pay them. You can't pay them because no one is buying your product. Nor can you invest in engineering to develop new product because no one is buying your old product.

For someone to say they are still breathing can only mean two things,....they are either engaged in wishful thinking or, long shot here, Vince is moving mfg offshore, which will also kill Tesoro.

HH
Mike

info comes from kellyco as tesoro is still shipping units to them
they have downsized,down,but NOT out!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

jmaryt Wrote:
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> info comes from kellyco as tesoro is still shippin
> g units to them
> they have downsized,down,but NOT out!
>
> (h.h.!)
> j.t.

Is it possible that kellyco is just saying that so they can sell off their Tesoro inventory. If folks know that they are out of business and no longer do repairs it would really hurt sales.

And Tesoro may still have had some inventory in house to dispose of and if so, quite likely Kellyco got a special price for cleaning up Tesoro's remaining inventory. HH jim tn

It was easy to see this coming. After Jack died both sons had to run the business and neither had a professional electronics background. When the brothers decided to end their joint business relationship, Vince couldn't keep it afloat. To survive, you need engineers to produce new products. That hasn't happened for 10 years or more. It's not enough to change the color of current machines and add some new coils. Look at MAKRO, Deep Tech, DEUS, Minelab and Rutus. They are controlling the market place because US companies have become complacent.

I heard a rumor on another Forum some company is trying to acquire Tesoro? That would be cool if it was Fisher,Whites, or Garrett.

jmaryt Wrote:
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> info comes from kellyco as tesoro is still shipping units to them they have downsized,down,but NOT out!
>
> (h.h.!)
> j.t.

They could just be unloading years of unsold inventory.

Harold,ILL. Wrote:
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> I heard a rumor on another Forum some company is trying to acquire Tesoro? That would be cool if it was Fisher,Whites, or Garrett.

Logically (and we know not all decisions are logical to everyone) none of them would make sense as there's no intellectual property to be gained by said acquisition. Fisher can't design a new flagship (Manta doesn't count, they bought that) and already have a massively regurgitated product lineup, White's finally entered the AT market with the MXSport, and Garrett's living on their laurels and excellent marketing. Not seeing anything benefit to these companies that Tesoro technology would bring to the table.

Dave J. Can do wonders with a good Ole' analog design just look at the CZ or MXT.
Tesoro has a lot of loyal customers. I think You are underestimating their following. Just give them the updated I.D. analog they were waiting on and it would boost the Company up. And the others have the engineers on staff who could do it. Not everybody is in love with the overseas Detectors.

Isn't Dave J getting up in years.? Probably salivating thinking about retirement, not more work!

jim tn Wrote:
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> And Tesoro may still have had some inventory in ho
> use to dispose of and if so, quite likely Kellyco
> got a special price for cleaning up Tesoro's remai
> ning inventory. HH jim tn


kellyco says they are still in business.apparently retained some talent,but a much smaller operation.no doubt looking to dump inventory.

(h.h.!)
j.t.

They have been stagnate for years. The competition of a world market is the harsh reality.

I agree with Cal and Harold's statements. I didn't really want to purchase any overseas detectors but after trying several brands I was quite happy with performance, depth and reliability. A well known detector author told me the problem with US companies is that they have very few people on staff that use the machines they produce. For example, the owner of Deus is an avid relic hunter. Every change or update (free) that the company makes is a result of personal changes the owner makes based on his in the field hunting experience.

The current US metal detector companies remind me of the US auto market in the 1980's. No one wanted a poorly built, unreliable vehicle. Honda and Toyota saw an opportunity and now we all know the rest of the story. Same thing is happening within the metal detecting community. US companies have for a long time changed the name of a machine, charged the color, changed the stickers etc. Take the newer machine apart and it is most likely the same machine as previous units. You can't market that before sharp detector owners get wise and shop else where.

Harold,ILL. Wrote:
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> Dave J. Can do wonders with a good Ole' analog design just look at the CZ or MXT. Tesoro has a lot of loyal customers. I think You are underestimating their following. Just give them the updated I.D. analog they were waiting on and it would boost the Company up. And the others have the engineers on staff who could do it. Not everybody is in love with the overseas Detectors.

Sure Dave can do good work, although recent conversations with him seem to indicate he's taken on less of a hands engineering role.


I'm not in love with them, I just use what works the best for me, there's nothing more to it then that. If FTP makes something that obsoletes the rest (no parachute exposé required), I can assure you it'll be in my arsenal, I'm just not holding my breath.

I wouldn't trust KC to tell me if its daytime or not. Anyone with the morals to sell "LRL's" to suckers is someone who will look out for their own interests ahead of everything else.

Champ Ferguson Wrote:
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> I wouldn't trust KC to tell me if its daytime or n
> ot. Anyone with the morals to sell "LRL's" to suck
> ers is someone who will look out for their own int
> erests ahead of everything else.

You mean they don't really work? Ha!

Champ Ferguson Wrote:
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> I wouldn't trust KC to tell me if its daytime or not. Anyone with the morals to sell "LRL's" to suckers is someone who will look out for their own interests ahead of everything else.

Excellent point. They were not very honest about their waiting list to customers when everyone was piling on to the Equinox bandwagon, and let it grow so large that not only was it unmanageable, but they flat out lied to their customers any time they made an inquiry to K Co about their position on the list or anything else related.

virginia digger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with Cal and Harold's statements. I didn't really want to purchase any overseas detectors but after trying several brands I was quite happy with performance, depth and reliability. A well known d
> etector author told me the problem with US companies is that they have very few people on staff that use the machines they produce. For example, the owner of Deus is an avid relic hunter. Every change
> or update (free) that the company makes is a result of personal changes the owner makes based on his in the field hunting experience.
>
> The current US metal detector companies remind me of the US auto market in the 1980's. No one wanted a poorly built, unreliable vehicle. Honda and Toyota saw an opportunity and now we all know the rest
> of the story. Same thing is happening within the metal detecting community. US companies have for a long time changed the name of a machine, charged the color, changed the stickers etc. Take the newer
> machine apart and it is most likely the same machine as previous units. You can't market that before sharp detector owners get wise and shop else where.

I seriously doubt that Dave J is out detecting, does Carl detect ??? The Garrett guys do seem to detect, or at least they do to produce marketing material.

I've used the US auto maker analogy in the past too, and I agree it's a very similar phenomenon.

virginia digger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I agree with Cal and Harold's statements. I didn't
> really want to purchase any overseas detectors but
> after trying several brands I was quite happy with
> performance, depth and reliability. A well known d
> etector author told me the problem with US compani
> es is that they have very few people on staff that
> use the machines they produce. For example, the ow
> ner of Deus is an avid relic hunter. Every change
> or update (free) that the company makes is a resul
> t of personal changes the owner makes based on his
> in the field hunting experience.
>
> The current US metal detector companies remind me
> of the US auto market in the 1980's. No one wanted
> a poorly built, unreliable vehicle. Honda and Toyo
> ta saw an opportunity and now we all know the rest
> of the story. Same thing is happening within the m
> etal detecting community. US companies have for a
> long time changed the name of a machine, charged t
> he color, changed the stickers etc. Take the newer
> machine apart and it is most likely the same machi
> ne as previous units. You can't market that before
> sharp detector owners get wise and shop else where
> .

To the extent manufacturers get away with repackaging the same technology as a "new" detector, it's because the practical limits of VLF technology were reached decades ago, leaving little other than the "packaging" to improve. Even with those "innovative" foreign companies, that's most of what is being done--smaller, better arranged housing and faster speed, made easy by the shrinking size and faster speed of electronic components; better readout and controls; better presentation of information, etc.--while the underlying principles and circuit designs remain much the same. Selective frequency and multi-frequency are the current cutting-edge "innovations" but those machines are still VLF machines using the same principles and with the same limits.

But, I'll take it. If Tesoro (assuming it survives) could bring out some new models based on exactly the same underlying technology but with modulated multi-tones, faster versions of the electronics, and a few other modern innovations--such as li-ion battery, wireless, and a sleek water-proof/resistant design--I'd be interested. I don't even care that much about TID (although it would be easy to add and probably good marketing). The Golden Umax (multi tone) and Deleon (TID) were halting attempts to evolve the line, but never quite got there. Bottom line is, underlying technology can remain much the same, but packaging and presentation of information has to evolve with the the times for the detector to remain competitive.

I do think there's still a place for analog detectors. I prefer knobs, and I like tones. I would prefer buying an American-made Tesoro over a Bulgarian-made Deeptech (I've heard good things about the Deeptech, so not knocking it).

Carl detects.

Carl is nuts about detectors.

Carl used to design microprocessors - then he ditched that to take the job as Whites Chief Engineer and pursue his dream of designing awesome metal detectors.

A while later he left there and headed to First Texas in El Paso.

He also has an amazing detector collection.

Carl is OK.

P.S. - he’s very busy......that’s good.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 11:44PM by lytle78.

Made in the USA? Not important to me. American distributors? Much more important. Service and reliability backed up by an American company. I will use whatever performs the best for the least amount of money.

Tesoro has not evolved both technology and more importantly distribution/marketing.

Whites is next and FTP is on shakey ground. IMO

Garrett is stable but certainly not safe. No company is US or otherwise. Hobby metal is a small niche market in the grand scheme of things.

Except for the UK, Tesoro never had much of a market outside the US and Canada. The world is a big place.

FTP for example has very large sales on every continent (except maybe Australia). The fact that us "extremists" on the forums in North America are disappointed with their lack of breakthrough product probably doesn't say much on their overall profitability.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

detectingMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tesoro has not evolved both technology and more im
> portantly distribution/marketing.
>
> Whites is next and FTP is on shakey ground. IMO
>
> Garrett is stable but certainly not safe. No comp
> any is US or otherwise. Hobby metal is a small ni
> che market in the grand scheme of things.


Agreed.
I live in Prescott (Tesoro's home town) and am not surprised at this at all. They've been dying a slow death for years. The surprise is that they lasted this long.

Dean

lytle78 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carl detects.
>
> Carl is nuts about detectors.
>
> Carl used to design microprocessors - then he ditched that to take the job as Whites Chief Engineer and pursue his dream of designing awesome metal detectors.
>
> A while later he left there and headed to First Texas in El Paso.
>
> He also has an amazing detector collection.
>
> Carl is OK.
>
> P.S. - he’s very busy......that’s good.

Thanks Rick, that's good to know. If the designer also detects, that makes a BIG difference in the products end result, there's just nuances that a non-detectorist engineer would miss IMO. Hopefully between Carl and Dave, we will see something interesting (aside from the Mantis) come along. Carl seems to hint that will be the case

Champ, you are spot on.

Selling LRLs may be the worst thing KC does, but hardly the only shady practice they engage in.