How does a 1270 stack up to the competition?

[Joe in austin]

Competition being, say, a Tejon or other "hot" Tesoro? Intended use is hunting relics in the woods.

Been reading you Fisher guys and it got me re-interested in Fishers. Tried a couple CZs but urban trash drove me crazy with those things!

Appreciate any comments, especially from folks familiar with the "T" machine from the "T" company...

Joe

 

[Bill Ladd]

by someone "un-biased". I have been asking for this to be done since the great "T" came out & I have yet to see it. Everything has been X-5 vs "T". I feel the bigger 1270 control box turns off people, but it could be just as deep or deeper? I firmly believe the 1270 will hold it's own. I had a 1270 & really never should have sold it. It was the deepest airtesting unit I ever saw & I'm looking for another one.....

 

[Joe in austin]

Well, I got a 1270 coming in so I can check out half the comparison.

The 1270 appears to have more disc control than the Tejon, which some people complain has a knob with poor resolution on low end disc settings (and that's where control mattters).

On the other hand, the "T" has disc mode ground balance while the 1270 is fixed. The 1270 seems more dialed in for serious all metal searching or "search in AM, check in disc" type hunting.

Ground Balance capabilities of the two machines can play a large role depending on soil conditions, I'd assume.

Of course, none of this abstract spec/features type comparison means squat...we need to know the scoop with the coil put to the soil!

I am a big Tesoro fan and I got to try a Tejon for a few minutes and thought it was real interesting, good audio, but it is hard to get info on this unit unclouded by...well you know what I'm sayin!

1270 fans sing high praises of the unit but they are a little less visible on the forums than Tejon swingers.

I suspect the answer is that you really need BOTH!!

Joe

 

[Bill Ladd]

I don't still have a 1270 now is that it liked the black hot rocks we have here, & I just plain have too many Fisher detectors. When some guy in England made me an offer I couldn't refuse I let her go...
But, Like I said I'd love to have (& will have) another. My buddy has the T, so I can probably get some serious side by sides done when I get one again....
I would have liked to see the 1270 hipmountable like the C$ style.
Like I said, the 1270 was unreal in airtests. One of my favorite things to do was to toss a penny on the ground & show other detectorists how high above my knee I could raise the coil & still get a signal.....

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Bill, if you could detect the penny above your knees in an air test with the 1270, how deep do you think it could go in average soil to hit that same penny?

Do you have a coin garden? And if so, what is your deepest coin at and would the 1270 hit it real good?

 

[Bill Ladd]

I tried one once, but my house is old & yard is fulla trash. I'd have to clean out a section of the yard first.
Anyhow, I remember finding lots of real deep musketballs with the 1270. Like I said, I probably should have kept it as it would have been good for wooded areas or hunting Civil War stuff in VA. For the fields I was hunting, the C$ showed the hot rocks as +51 which just seemed to work out better, & I like chestmounting the C$ too.
HH, Bill

 

[Anonymous]

The Tejon has a slightly coarser discriminate control than the 1270, and the 1270 has an iron discriminate mode that does not affect the conductive side. There is no competition when it comes to pure depth-the 1270 stands out. Many past models of Tesoro had a certain amount of iron rejection built in, so '0' discriminate was not truly zero. But people could hunt at '0' and not be bothered by iron. The people in the UK like Tesoro because they are simple and have better iron rejection-but what they do not realize is the depth they give up.
If you had trouble with a CZ in trash, you will have more trouble with a 1270 simply because it gives you less audio and visual information than a CZ.
All you need to do with a CZ is keep the discriminate control on '0', and it will properly identify iron, and the iron won't be squeaking through in higher notches.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

if only it had adjustable GB in Disc it would be nearly unbeatable. But that problem can be gotten around fairly easily. Set right those hot rocks are easily identifiable by their sound in my ground.

Tom

 

[Joe in austin]

I had trouble with CZs in the park because the only info I could get was those three tones. Bing Bong Bing BONK. In another post you mentioned that "aluminum will eat you alive" with a CZ...that's what I mean.

I'm sure the CZ pros out there didn't get stuck at my level with the machine, but I just could not relate to the audio.

I preferred to hit that junk with my old original Bandido, which only had one audio frequency, but the info was there in subtle inflections of the single tone. I got half-decent at telling ring tabs, foil, etc. from good stuff. I would never mistake foil for a nickel, for example.

The Tejon, in my very limited experience, has the nice sweet distinctive sound on brass and lead and so on. I think this is part of their appeal for the serious digger.

I'm hoping the 1270 packs some distinctive sound characteristics in either disc or all metal that will allow reasoned judgements to be made about probable ID...crackles on iron, sweet sounds on lead, etc.

If I'm going to be digging holes deeper than knee-height--like Bill Ladd promised -- I want to know if it is a Mountain Dew can.

I like the concept of tone ID and I use a two-tone Cobra II and multi-tone Mark 1 to get some of that, but what I'm really looking for for woods hunting is a deep machine with some TONE CHARACTERISTICS --even if only one audio frequency.

I'm hoping this is what the 1270 will deliver. Reading between the lines on other threads, it appears that it just might do the trick...

 

[OldeTymer]

I've never used a Tejon, so I can't comment on it's capabilities. I have used a 1270, and can say that it is one of the deepest seekers I've ever used. There may be the ability to distinguish subtle differences in target "tone", but I wasn't able to do it. I have to blame that on age, and natural hearing loss that comes with that age. I have also become spoiled with tone-id, and have a hard time using a single tone machine anymore. I do remember digging 16-18 inch 45-70 cartridge cases with it though. That was with one of the first models of 1270 that had some problems with the disc, but that was resolved by Fisher years ago.

OldeTymer

 

[Anonymous]

The aluminum I was referring to was with the 3D with the notch windows changed. Between tones, meter and depth I still believe you come out ahead with a CZ, other than a 3D.

 

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't it be amazing to have a 1270 with a metering circuit and meter?

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder if maybe there could be an internal adjustment pot. for ground balance of the disc. mode, like on the 1266?

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Mine was set too negative for my yard and most of the fields around here. I mainly use the 1270 for shallow fresh water wading and having and adjustable GB in disc is an absolute neccessity for the lakes around here due to varying bottom types.

Tom

 

[DavHut]

....I agree, joe, The Tesoros Ive had were very "tone rich" and expressive. You hadda work the speed and that DISC knob a bit, but it could talk. I hope my Vaq has the same.

Ive never hunted with a 1270 but my 1266X had a taste of that, especially on foil and tabs. Foil would "whiny buzz" and tabs would "sputter & cut" at just one spot on the dial.

Overall though, the Fishers Ive know weren't real harmonic rich. The best thing to do is trust them and dig. Come to think of it, that aint a bad plan.

David