Tesoro Cortes

I bought a nice used mint condition Cortes to use with my Cleansweep coil for woodchipping gold and finally got a chance to use it.

The Cortes has much more available power than any of the older Tesoro units and runs well with the Cleansweep coil. It is plenty sensitive if you run the discrimination low. No problem picking up little stainless steel earring studs. No doubt if there had been a gold one I'd of found it. No problem with large trash as long as you profile in all metal.

This one is a bit different from the other four (or is is five) I've previously owned. It seems to have more available sensitivity, but it also has less available negative threshold range. The Discrimation circuit is different too. Max discrimiation doesn't show any significant decrease in high coin depth (dime/quarter) that I have experienced with them in the past. Increased discrimination has the normal affect on Nickel depth, but Max disc didn't exhibit the normal high coin decreases that I consider as normal for Tesoro. I found that very suprising. Tesoro may have made a slight change in the circuit or maybe is just a normal variation as they do vary from one to another. I dunno.

I find the single tone mind-numbing as always. I wish there was a way to change the pitch ever so often. This one aspect of the Cortes tends to make me dislike them enough to part with them just as readily as I buy them, but if I can find a way to overcome this I will be all right. I think a headphone change will help. Might need to hunt it in All Metal more as well as the VCO is easier on my mind than the single pitch of the Disc mode.
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I always have, and still do, think the Cortes is one of the best looking detector. The color scheme, the knobs and switches with the little display.

Another thing that made a difference was I have an armstrap on this one. Made it much more comfortable to swing.

HH
Mike

Yes wouldn't a second tone be awesome. Can a mod be created to make this happen?

Hi Mike,

I know you are a tone junkie,

why couldn't you make a little mod like change out the Mode switch with a three way toggle where you could put in SUM Mode ?

I'm pretty sure there's a micro brain inside the Cortes, and that is responsible for the audio tone pitch, so 'hacking' it is not possible. On more basic machines, it would be fairly easy.

I cant run a Cortes in my dirt....

tried a couple and they false in disc mode constantly in my mineral..

I wish they would allow the ground bal in all metal to carry over to disc...but the the I.D. would mess up for the Simple circuit they use..

they are hot on low conductors though in the right spots ...

I actually prefer the Toltec 2 to any of the Tesoro Visual units..I can get them to run well in my dirt and still keep and decent I.D.they had a pot on the back of the housing for ground bal adjust that works in disc mode...



keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

You could " alter" the tone with one of these.

[loudvibes.com]

Thanks for that link, Esteban. I will try one of those.

Hombre, you are right, I am tone junkie. I have thought about locking it in Sum mode, I will try that and see how it works out. I also remember that there was a headphone that allowed you to change pitch that came out 6 or 7 years ago. I think it was a Rat brand??? I was thinking about one of those.

Keith, I used a Cortes as a primary machine extensivly back in fall 2004 and spring of 2005 and I had the same issue with ground noise. The design is such that Disc is for light to moderate minerals and anything beyond that requies the user to use the All Metal mode. And it likes a larger air gap between the coil and the soil than man would like.

But...that is also why I have regulated it to strict use on a Cleansweep coil for woodchips.

The real issue is that I really like the Cleansweep coil for certain applications and no one else makes anything like it. Wish I could get one for my F series.

HH
Mike



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2015 03:13PM by Mike Hillis.

Mike just my personal opinion but Tesoro hasn't made a good ID unit since the heavy Toltec 100 and a remake in a lighter version with a larger meter and better battery useage would be welcomed...Heck any Tesoro seems to do well on small gold especially the small stuff and wish you luck as many excel with them. Gosh those Tesoro people must have excellent vision as all their meters are small and most of us old timers would welcome larger meters. Yep I bet a cleansweep type coil would do well on my F5.
PS : when they went to a VCO pinpointing mode they killed my ability to cut down the odds gold ring versus junk as with regular pinpointing I can usually tell a ring from tabs or foil as of course the ring is much heavier...

Dan,

I think the secret to target profiling with a VCO all metal mode is in a negative threshold adjustment. The ramp up/ramp down from the peak signal on high gain detectors is so broad that its hard to get a real profile. A negative threshold setting allows you to remove unwanted ramp audio and get a clearer, cleaner profile. Use the all metal threshold setting like a noise filter when you profile and see if that doesn't help.

HH
Mike

Mike Hillis Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I also remember
> that there was a headphone that allowed you to
> change pitch that came out 6 or 7 years ago. I
> think it was a Rat brand??? I was thinking about
> one of those.

> HH
> Mike

Sorry to say the VTF Ratphones were short lived. They worked great on the Tesoro detectors. I had one of the first pairs Rick Viola produced back in 2005.
Think only a very small number were produced. For some reason folks didn't gravitate to them. Rick stoped making them and concentrated on the reg. Ratphones without the tone controls.
Which were excellent headphones and many buyers loved them, many didn't like them as they were a bit bassier than Killer Bees, Sunrays, etc. Rick stopped making the Ratphones
as the demand from what I saw was low. Too bad, as they were great headphones, these days folks are looking for them.

Now if anyone is interested in attempting to make their own, I have the Schematics drawn up by Rick Viola that I can distribute along with pictures of the insides of the headphones.
If anyone is interested PM me your email address.

========================================
Anouncing RaTPhones VTF ---2005 Forum Post
It is finally here! Headphones that can change the tone frequency on your machine!
RaTPhones VTF (Variable Tone Frequency) can actually vary the tone of your metal
detector to your liking. What is more incredible is that they do this with no battery.
You heard right, NO BATTERY! The energy already present in the machine output is used
to power the circuitry. We use advanced components that did not even exist a few years ago
and have taken advantage of new technology to achieve this amazing feat.
Detect USA has done it again with innovative ideas that have never been done before.
RaTPhones VTF are in limited production, but we could not wait to make the
announcement and welcome you to email us about this exciting new product.
Will they replace your regular RaTPhones? Are they for everyone?
No.
Most machines are fine the way they are, plus RaTPhones VTF work best on machines that
do not have modulated audio, that is, if your machine has low volume audio for deep
targets, you will hear the regular tone of your machine for those deep targets at a lower
volume than you are used to. Medium to shallow targets will have the new tone that you
have selected. You can use the RatPhones VTF to zero in on the medium to shallow targets
to cherry pick. On machines without modulated audio, all depths will have the same
volume as usual, but now you can change the tone.Were you ever on an early morning hunt and find yourself not paying attention to your
tones? Well, dial in a different frequency and your ears will perk right up!
RaTPhones VTF can be just what you have been looking for. Love your machine but don’t
like the sound? Get a pair of RatPhones VTF and change it.
RatPhones VTF look exactly the same as Regular RaTPhones that are becoming quite
popular and are getting great reviews. The VFT use the same speakers, muffs and
innovative replaceable cord. The VTF have two controls. One is for volume and the other
for frequency that can be varied between 200 and 1100 Hz.
Again, we are in very limited production and would like to hear from you.
Rick Viola
Detect USA

===========================
V.T.F. - RATPHONES- FANTASTIC--- FIELD REPORT
Date: August 03, 2005 04:58AM
THESE HEADPHONE WORK ON MOST DETECTORS,AND HAVE GREAT FEATURES,
VARIABLE TONES,PINGPONG-BELLTONE.
yes the vtf ratphones are fantastic,i cannot believe the clarity of target sounds,also the ability to select
tones,and finaly the best feature of all the pingpong belltone mode.
this feature gives a nice belltone sound for shallower targets and normal sound for deep targets, so you
have an excellent idea where and how deep the target is, before you start digging.OR YOU CAN
BYPASS THE EXTRA FEATURES BY THE FLICK OF A SWITCH AND JUST USE THEM AS
STANDARD HEADPHONES.
not me though i love the belltone feature.
GET A PAIR THEY ARE FANTASTIC HEADPHONES.
i was a bit unsure what advantage i would have getting a pair as i have the tejon which allready has the
variable sound frequency knob. BUT BELIEVE ME THEY ARE GREAT ON THE TEJON.
a great advantage is LESS POWER DRAIN on the tejon as the circuit for variable sound isant needed
so you leave it in the off position.
the sound produced by the V.T.F. headphones is more suttle giving a nice tone difference choice,and
when switched to the belltone mode,gives fantastic depth perception,and as mentioned before shallow
targets give the belltone sound,and normal sound for deep targets. setting the threshold sound on the
tejon is a breeze,as you can get the sound of threshold just so you can barely hear it purring BUT IT IS
CRYSTAL CLEAR AND STABLE.
whereas before the threshold would motorboat irregularly.
i bench tested the tejon with the V.T.F ratphones connected
and found i can easily recognise a change in sound at 17inches useing my gold wedding band, or a
20cent piece,which is about
1-inch round. SO DONT HESITATE TO GET A SET AS THEY ARE BLOODY GREAT. and believe
me i do not exaggerate and all info here you can take to be rock-solid reliable. Regards

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

Thanks Sven.
I sent an PM.
Mike

Rat phones are my ears favorites. When I find a pair I get them.....