Tejon vs 1236x2

[dwmedic]

Help, new to the game. Which would be better for a newbie, the tejon or the fisher 1236x2. mostly relic hunting some coin shooting. live in south central kansas

 

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[EasyMoney]

Between the two, if you want one with some of the BEST depth on the planet but a tougher machine to operate and to discriminate with, get the Tejon. If you want a MUCH better discriminator and one that is easier to operate but gets less depth than the Tejon, get the 1236-x2. Both are lightweight. Apples and oranges comparison between the two detectors though. Neither is like the other, something like a HumVee is not like a Half-track, both mean SOB's in what they are designed to do. For coins, the 1236-x2 absolutely L-O-V-E-S nickels and silver coins. The Tejon likes pennies best.. It's because of the difference in search frequencies. The cz-5 likes silver and nickels too. In fact, it alone may be the best nickel finder on the planet with the 1236 being a close match.

The 1236 is mostly a coin hunter/iron killer, the Tejon is mostly a relic hunter. And the 1236-x2 will handle bad ground better than the Tejon, even though it is an auto ground balance detector. The Tejon cannot be completely ground balanced in really bad soil.

Go to Metaldetectorreviews.net for a complete breakdown of both detectors.

 

[dwmedic]

Thanks for the help,have been leaning towards the tejon.But I wonder if the vaquero would be better for someone just starting out. Thanks again.

 

[EasyMoney]

The Vaquero (often) goes deeper than the Tejon on certain items, especially coins. Lots of people have noticed this too. And it's not as noisey either. It seems to have a faster auto retune and was designed more for coin hunting than relic hunting. Maybe that's why.

 

[birdman]

I dug an IH at about 8 inches the other morning with my vaquero. I was pretty shocked.

 

[EasyMoney]

My case...

8" on an IH is really good, and ND is in the "iron belt" too.

 

[birdman]

The neat thing was that the IH put out a pretty fair signal.It it not blow my ears off but it was nice and repeatable.

 

[Sandman]

Easy Money is right on of the differences in the two detectors. All detectors have pluses and minuses. Picking out a first one can be hard on the brain. I suggest you go to the field tests to see which one fits you for starting out. You can always upgrade later.
http://losttreasure.com/fieldtests/

Have a goodn'
Sandman

 

[JOE(USA)]

dwmedic,

You've got a lot of good advise from these guys. (Easymoney, I'm still trying to figure out why the Vaquero goes deeper than the Tejon sometimes, could it be the response time?) My two cents on the matter dwmedic is being a beginner you may be better off with the Vaquero. The Tejon is an awesome detector but can get a bit "squirrely" at times, which for a beginner can be daunting. As Easymoney said, go to Metaldetectorreviews.net and check out what they have to say. Joe

 

[BamaBill]

Putting in my 2cents, you'd definitely be better of with the Vaquero. Once you get better with the Vaquero I'd consider the Tejon if you need a relic machine, but if you're mostly doing coins and jewelry the Vaquero ought to be good for quite a while. Just be aware that the Tesoros (for the most part, couple of exceptions) are one tone machines that have subtle differences in how they respond to different metals. With practice you'll learn the differences between junk and good stuff. I consider this as one of the strengths of the Tesoros, as well as the precise pinpointing and light weight. Great machines that just require practice to learn and make the most of.

 

[dwmedic]

Thanks for all the help. I was able to get a good deal on a fisher 1270 and a tesoro silver umax. I'm having a blast with both of them, it's just now starting to get cold here,looking forward to spring already. Learning a lot from the forum,it's nice to have a place to go for answers.Thanks again.

 

[EasyMoney]

Joe I did a bit of research on that subject and here is what I found:

A detector running at full gain all the time like the Tejon, 1270, and the Vaquero, all have their ground canceling set up differently. As we all know, the detectors run at a slow or fast auto-retune or somewhere in the middle. The Vaquero seems to retune in both all metal AND discriminate faster than the Tejon. This would make it handle bad ground a bit better. In other words, the faster the retune to null the better it does in ground that is rapidly changing in composition, especially with extra iron in the soil.

The Tejon however, is not normally designed for use in real bad ground, it is instead designed for the utmost sensitivity in less mineralized ground. You can see this when it finds iron or brass, relics, etc. deeper than a Vaquero does in much of the deep south. It is however often suffering tremendously in harsher soil such as in the Rockies or the western USA. Here the Vaquero does much better. If the Tejon would just regroup faster it would work better here in this nasty soil, but it won't unless it gets mods.

The Tejon beats the pants off most other detectors in relic hunting save for the Nauties and the 1270 and a couple of European detectors in which all pretty much match each other for depth. The 1270 is too heavy and sensitive for a lot of use though and the Nauties still have a bit of an edge on it for depth. When I mention Nautilus to the White's factory here, they sort of grimace and say things very quietly so customers won't hear them like ("those things go AWFULLY deep").

Here is something to think about:

A faster retune looks a lot like this;


' ' ' (+)
' ' ' ' ' '
------------------------
' ' ' ' ' ' (-)
' ' '


A slower retune looks more like this;


' ' (+)

' ' '
----------------------------------------------------------------------
' ' ' (-)
' '
'

The first one oscillates at a faster, shorter rate, and the second at a wider positive and negative rate. This gives the one detector (Tejon) more time to analize and read in gentle soil, and the Vaquero to do the same in harsher soil because it can cancel the iron better this way, hence see targets better than most detectors through all the iron (and especially the iron in the soil).

BTW dwmedic, if you get a small coil the 1270 will behave almost EXACTLY like the 1236-x2. The extra noise will quiet down too.

 

[dwmedic]

Easymoney, thanks for the tip. a new coil was going to be my next purchase just could not decide on which size. dwmedic

 

[TomNWMI]

1270 tip for easymoney and dwmedic

When you run into a noise problem with the 1270 at high sens settings simply turn down the volume setting on the detector (around 4-ish) and re-adjust your headphones... noise gone!! AND no loss of targets!! A Fisher tech once told me that the sensitivity on the 1270 is like a noise blanker not a conventional gain type control. How or why the 2 controls act together like they do I don't know. What I do know is, it works!


Tom

 

[BamaBill]

EasyMoney, would you say that in Moderate ground that the Tejon goes deeper than the MXT? I've been able to get some awesome depth on the MXT. If I thought I could do better with the Tejon I would change in a heartbeat. I like Tesoros and the MXT has already taken a toll on my right shoulder this past summer. I've switched over to my left arm and I'm hoping it doesn't wear on my left shoulder the same way. I tried one of the swingy things and it works, but the thing tends to get in the way.

 

[JOE(USA)]

EasyMoney,

Thanks for the info on the ground re-tune on the Tejon, 1270, and the Vaquero. It makes sense to me.
That's what makes metal detecting so great, we can have it as simple or as technical as we wish. I love comparing detectors and talking about them. I believe in the Tesoro machines that's why I became a dealer. Joe

 

[EasyMoney]

Bama.

Yeah I would say that in moderate-to-mild ground the Tejon beats the MXT by nearly 2" in all-metal AND disc. The Tejon was designed for that particular type of soil and primarliy for relic hunting. In really bad soil though, leave it at home and try a magnet instead. I almost HATE the Tejon in really high iron or salt soil. It won't even completely ground balance in it, regardless of what I try. I thought about going inside and adjusting the sensitivity pot but that would only cut down on depth a bit. It runs on full gain all the time and that is the big problem.

The MXT on the other hand seems to weigh about the same as the Tejon because of it's nice balance. It does have a lot of trouble with high minerals though, especially hot rocks, and this is because of the 9.5 (950) stock coil, not the detector. Toss the 9.5 over in the corner somewhere and strap on a smaller (or) DD coil and it will make you smile the rest of the day. If you lose any depth with a smaller coil it will be minimal at best.

I currently use a 3" coil on my prefered Compass and it gets only 1/2" to 1" less depth than an 8" coil, and sometimes it gets the same depth or more. It does find even smaller items like smaller than BB's, but the pinpointing is still the same and so are it's cherry-picking abilities. Internally, the windings on a 3" are little less than the diameter of a 6", and besides that, it's a Compass with it's atavistically best design for cherry-picking and discrimination anyway. This is also true with Tesoro coils. There is no difference in depth between a 5" and an 8" Tesoro coil, I've tried them both side-by-side and with two different detectors switching back and forth.

If you try a smaller, lighter White's coil you will like the lighter weight at the coil. If you live in a high iron area, keep the MXT, but if you want even better performance get a Fisher or a Minelab, but the Fisher will make you a lot happier in the end, and you won't wind up selling the thing for 1/3 the original KellyCo price like many people do with Sovs and Explorers. The F-4 is a real mean SOB, but the MXT is a better nugget hunter, by far. The MXT is an offshoot of the infamous GMT, a very good nugget hunter. The Fisher F-75 beats the MXT though, in almost every way, including nugget hunting and absolute depth..

Another really nice one to consider is the Lobo Super Traq, maybe the best overall detector now made in it's price range.. If that's a bit too heavy, think about a Silver uMax. That detector is simple, has really decent depth, especially with an eliptical coil, and weighs hardly anything, 2.2 pounds. It doesn't have a lot of toys but it is a superior coin hunter and can be used to hunt BB sized nuggets and bigger. It handles bad ground fairly well, but not as well as the Lobo Super Traq. The new F-2 is very light too, and quick and has good depth and disc abilities, but it's not as light as the Silver.

Just a few ideas to play with.

 

[BamaBill]

EasyMoney, really appreciate the information. Gave me a lot to think about. I'm thinking I'll keep using the MXT and do as you suggest, with a smaller coil, as least through till late next Spring, when the relic hunting season will effectively end for me (poison ivy and snakes get more active again). Then, I'm going to work on getting the moola together for an F75. You're not the only one that's been suggesting it might be a better relic machine. I also have a Tesoro Eldorado and been playing with it as well. In all metal with the stock coil, I'm finding that the Eldorado is almost the equal of the MXT. I have a repro CW buckle buried in my test garden at 11" and the MXT registers it with sound but no readout and the Eldorado will pick it up in all metal, but in not in disc. mode. Proof to me, at least, that disc. robs the machine of depth.The ground in my test garden is moderately mineralized soil and about half of the places I hunt are like that, with the other half being in the bad ground range. I have a 6X10 DD for the MXT and I think I'll need to practice with it more. Thanks again.