Metal Detectors Recommended

Update: Tesoro Electronics closed down in 2018. We recommended Tesoro detectors for years and stand by what we wrote about how they performed — plenty of Tesoro machines are still working New Zealand ground, and they turn up regularly on the secondhand market. But the company is gone. The factory lifetime warranty no longer exists and nobody honours it, there is no factory support, and there are no new machines. Read the reviews below as a record of why we rated these detectors, not as a current buying recommendation.

Metal detectors find gold nuggets without spending days sifting through mountains of gravel. They are the ideal gold prospector tool for the weekend gold fossicker.  They also make a great tool to fill in hours at the beach, or a public park, while the kids are playing – you can search for lost treasure to pay for your holiday.

Choosing The Right Metal Detector

Metal detectors come in many shapes and sizes.  They also have wide range of price tags.  When it comes to choosing the right metal detector you have to consider a number of different things.

• What metals are you primarily going to be searching for?  If gold is going to be your primary target metal then you want a metal detector that is able to accurately tune into gold – or more importantly, tune out the other metals.  There is nothing more frustrating than constantly digging up rusty nails and shotgun pellets when you out gold fossicking.  The moral of the story is that spending the money for the right metal detector will save you many hours of frustration.

• What locations are you most interested in exploring?  If you are searching parks, or exposed river banks for flood gold, then you do not need a water proof metal detector.  However, if you are searching in rivers, or in salt water, then you will need a very different head on your metal detector. Again, match the detector to your gold fossicking requirements before you purchase one to avoid heart ache.

• How serious are you about finding gold?  If you want to maximize the time you spend out looking for gold, rather than just hope to get lucky with a nugget or ring sitting near the surface then you can get away with a much cheaper model of metal detector.  If you want to explore to greater depths, or you are searching public beaches where many other people have searched with the cheap detectors, then you will want to spend the extra money to get a quality gold detector.  It doesn’t take many gold nuggets, or lost rings, to recover the difference between an amateur metal detector and high quality metal detector.

One Brand Of Metal Detector We Recommend For Finding Gold

One brand of metal detector that we have found to perform well in a variety of locations is the TESORO.

Not only is it well suited to gold fossicking because of its high sensitivity and ability to tune into gold specifically, it has excellent range enabling you to find gold that many cheap brands have missed.  At the time, the difference that really set Tesoro apart was the factory lifetime warranty — which ended when the company closed in 2018 and is no longer honoured by anyone.  There is a reason that the other metal detectors come with no – or at best one to two year warranties; they are only designed to last that long!  Tesoro built metal detectors to last a lifetime and stood behind them for a lifetime — while they were trading.

Tesoro Lobo SuperTRAQ

When it comes to finding gold with metal detectors nothing beats the Lobo SuperTRAQ discrimination circuitry.  Fast scan ability for maximum area coverage lets you maximize your time prospecting. No matter what soil type the Lobo SuperTRAQ ground tracking is accurate and reliable keeping you tuned for any precious metals present.

The biggest problem with inferior metal detectors is ground balancing.  Lobo SuperTRAQ computerized ground tracking system solves this problem for you.  No more frustrating spinning dials constantly trying to adapt in the changes in ground mineral levels.  When you want high level pinpointing from a metal detector the Lobo SuperTRAQ discrimination circuitry gives you the advantage – find the gold and treasure other people miss.

 

Features

• SuperTRAQ Computerised Ground Tracking System
• VLF 17.5 kHz Frequency
• Silent Search Discriminate Mode
• Three Ground Tracking Modes: Normal Soil, Alkali, Black Sand
• Ultra Smooth Operation in Extreme Mineralization
• MAXBoost Sensitivity
• Pole or Body Mount
• 3-Piece Knockdown Pole
• 10″ Elliptical Widescan Coil
• Lifetime Warranty

 

Your local Lobo SuperTRAC shop

 

Tesoro Tiger Shark

The Toreso Tiger Shark has the highest possible recommendations as a gold finding metal detector.  It has all the superior features of the Lobo SuperTRAC plus it is a genuine dual function machine for those wanting to prospect in wet conditions.

The Tiger Shark does not fail in salt water conditions like so many of the others that claim to have water detecting abilities.  Tesoro have overcome salt issues by using a completely different set of internal settings when Salt Mode is selected – it is all handled automatically and does not require the operator to learn how to reset the metal detector for the conditions.

In true Tesoro attention to detail the Tiger Shark comes with the ability to interchange searchcoils for underwater or dry prospecting.  The factory lifetime warranty that once set Tesoro apart ended with the company in 2018 — assume any secondhand machine comes with no warranty and no factory support.  When Tesoro was trading we rated the Tiger Shark the best multi-purpose machine on the market for underwater work. It is no longer in production, so if you want that capability today you are either buying secondhand or looking at a current manufacturer.

Features

• Interchangeable Coils
• 12 kHz Frequency
• Normal and Salt Operating Modes
• Expanded Discrimination
• Eight AA Alkaline Batteries, Drop-in
• Ground Balance Control
• Waterproof Coil
• Built-in Headphones
• 8″ Waterproof Coil
• Lifetime Warranty

Tesoro closed in 2018, so there are no dealers and no new machines — any Tiger Shark you find now is secondhand. Read our guide to buying a used metal detector before you buy one.