fisher 1266x - still a relic hunting legend?

[SaginawIan]

Everything I read says it is a legendary relic machine and depth demon that others are measured by - but everything I read is from 7-8 years ago. Does anyone still prefer this machine, or has technology caught up with it and passed it by?



thanks,
Ian

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[BuckleBoy]

Good question!

I've used other machines, but the 1266 is the one I can dig a minieball or coin over a foot deep with, and it's a keeper. I could go on and on about it, and I've had one since I was 13 years old, so I know its capabilities and limitations pretty well.

Compared to most Tesoros or the Ace 250, the learning curve is steeper. And I don't think most folks expect that with a non-ID, non-computerized control box.

Now I'm sure that Minelabs and some other machines on the market now could certainly give it a run for its money, and cherrypick with it better due to their ID capabilities, but in my book the 1266 is still a legend. I have been out with buddies that have high-end Tesoro and White's machines, and I hold my own with them. Never hunted with it against a Nautilus or a Minelab though....

Plus, it can do some things that the "smart" machines can't--like for example it can give audio feedback for iron patches, even though it isn't running in all-metal. That is a BIG plus. For CW camp and old housesite hunting, that feature can't be beaten. I think that the 1265 might have even gone a little deeper than the '66.

I think it is a shame that the machine is not being made anymore. Its newer brother, the 1270-X, wasn't half the machine that the 1266 was.


I'm really interested in hearing others' experiences on this topic.


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[BamaBill]

Buckle, I noticed that you're selling your 1266 on the 'bay, so what are you using now?

 

[BuckleBoy]

Buckle, I noticed that you're selling your 1266 on the 'bay, so what are you using now?

Another 1266 (a little newer one)

 

[Iron Patch]

Good question!

I've used other machines, but the 1266 is the one I can dig a minieball or coin over a foot deep with, and it's a keeper. I could go on and on about it, and I've had one since I was 13 years old, so I know its capabilities and limitations pretty well.

Compared to most Tesoros or the Ace 250, the learning curve is steeper. And I don't think most folks expect that with a non-ID, non-computerized control box.

Now I'm sure that Minelabs and some other machines on the market now could certainly give it a run for its money, and cherrypick with it better due to their ID capabilities, but in my book the 1266 is still a legend. I have been out with buddies that have high-end Tesoro and White's machines, and I hold my own with them. Never hunted with it against a Nautilus or a Minelab though....

Plus, it can do some things that the "smart" machines can't--like for example it can give audio feedback for iron patches, even though it isn't running in all-metal. That is a BIG plus. For CW camp and old housesite hunting, that feature can't be beaten. I think that the 1265 might have even gone a little deeper than the '66.

I think it is a shame that the machine is not being made anymore. Its newer brother, the 1270-X, wasn't half the machine that the 1266 was.


I'm really interested in hearing others' experiences on this topic.


Regards,


Buckleboy

I've dug enfields with my Explorer in the 14"/15" range. Coins maybe not as deep as your 1266 quote, but would of course depend on the size. 12" on a Georgie I think would be good for an Explorer.

 

[BuckleBoy]

I've dug enfields with my Explorer in the 14"/15" range. Coins maybe not as deep as your 1266 quote, but would of course depend on the size. 12" on a Georgie I think would be good for an Explorer.

I haven't dug dimes that deep with the Fisher--deep silver ones are tough unless the ground is wet...but LC's and quarters are no problem. Deep IH's are a little tricky at times too--and I can't pick them up as deep.

Of course, the coins on the Explorer probably sound better, due to the "intelligence" of the machine and its capacity for tweaking. When I get past the 8-10 inch range on the 1266, good targets do NOT sound good at that depth. That's where knowing what to dig comes in. You can't raise the Disc past 5 and you also cant run the machine on any less than full open with regard to sensitivity and get goodies that deep. So beware any situation where ground mineralization would require turning the sensitivity down if you want maximum capability in terms of depth. For the maximum performance, the user has to take the 1266 to that level--it won't do it by itself.

It takes lots of relic hunting practice with the 1266 to tease coins from depths like those.


Regards,


Buckleboy

 

[Iron Patch]

I've dug enfields with my Explorer in the 14"/15" range. Coins maybe not as deep as your 1266 quote, but would of course depend on the size. 12" on a Georgie I think would be good for an Explorer.

I haven't dug dimes that deep with the Fisher--deep silver ones are tough unless the ground is wet...but LC's and quarters are no problem. Deep IH's are a little tricky at times too--and I can't pick them up as deep.

Of course, the coins on the Explorer probably sound better, due to the "intelligence" of the machine and its capacity for tweaking. When I get past the 8-10 inch range on the 1266, good targets do NOT sound good at that depth. That's where knowing what to dig comes in. You can't raise the Disc past 4 and you also cant run the machine on any less than full open with regard to sensitivity and get goodies that deep. So beware any situation where ground mineralization would require turning the sensitivity down if you want maximum capability in terms of depth. For the maximum performance, the user has to take the 1266 to that level--it won't do it by itself.

It takes lots of relic hunting practice with the 1266 to tease coins from depths like those.


Regards,


Buckleboy

Have you ever used an Explorer because you nailed it, my favorite thing about it is it's target accuracy at depth. In that regard, my old GTI sounds comparable to the 1266 and was night and day to the explorer. Even the newer technology I find is more a balance between the two (1266/GTI & Explorer), though I will admit I don't have the hours in to say for certain.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Have you ever used an Explorer because you nailed it, my favorite thing about it is it's target accuracy at depth. In that regard, my old GTI sounds comparable to the 1266 and was night and day to the explorer. Even the newer technology I find is more a balance between the two (1266/GTI & Explorer), though I will admit I don't have the hours in to say for certain.

Never used an Explorer. The balance makes sense. Computers can't tell us everything about what we should dig. But it sounds like the Explorer does a good job of making a deep goody sound more tempting.

 

[Iron Patch]

Have you ever used an Explorer because you nailed it, my favorite thing about it is it's target accuracy at depth. In that regard, my old GTI sounds comparable to the 1266 and was night and day to the explorer. Even the newer technology I find is more a balance between the two (1266/GTI & Explorer), though I will admit I don't have the hours in to say for certain.

Never used an Explorer. The balance makes sense. Computers can't tell us everything about what we should dig.

I don't really think of the Explorer that way. To me a detector is a detector, run low disc, high sens., and dig it all but small iron. Some people can't stop playing with newer detector settings and that's no doubt the problem for those having a hard time. I experimented in the beginning but haven't changed my sellings in about 5 years. I think I'm in the early stages of being one of those stubborn oldtimers... but they tend to find the most.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Have you ever used an Explorer because you nailed it, my favorite thing about it is it's target accuracy at depth. In that regard, my old GTI sounds comparable to the 1266 and was night and day to the explorer. Even the newer technology I find is more a balance between the two (1266/GTI & Explorer), though I will admit I don't have the hours in to say for certain.

Never used an Explorer. The balance makes sense. Computers can't tell us everything about what we should dig.

I don't really think of the Explorer that way. To me a detector is a detector, run low disc, high sens., and dig it all but small iron. Some people can't stop playing with newer detector settings and that's no doubt the problem for those having a hard time. I experimented in the beginning but haven't changed my sellings in about 5 years. I think I'm in the early stages of being one of those stubborn oldtimers... but they tend to find the most.

Embrace the Stubbornness. Low disc/high sens means that the detector communicates with you in the most comprehensive way--no matter what you use. And you also get the most performance out of it.


As for me, Non-Metered Analog is the only way I roll.



-Buckles

 

[Iron Patch]

Have you ever used an Explorer because you nailed it, my favorite thing about it is it's target accuracy at depth. In that regard, my old GTI sounds comparable to the 1266 and was night and day to the explorer. Even the newer technology I find is more a balance between the two (1266/GTI & Explorer), though I will admit I don't have the hours in to say for certain.

Never used an Explorer. The balance makes sense. Computers can't tell us everything about what we should dig.

I don't really think of the Explorer that way. To me a detector is a detector, run low disc, high sens., and dig it all but small iron. Some people can't stop playing with newer detector settings and that's no doubt the problem for those having a hard time. I experimented in the beginning but haven't changed my sellings in about 5 years. I think I'm in the early stages of being one of those stubborn oldtimers... but they tend to find the most.

Embrace the Stubbornness. Low disc/high sens means that the detector communicates with you in the most comprehensive way--no matter what you use. And you also get the most performance out of it.


As for me, Non-Metered Analog is the only way I roll.



-Buckles

Let me add I am Non-Metered as well. I don't have a clue what my screen readings indicate.

 

[FisherMan_1266X]

Ok, well it's blazing hot outside today, and I really don't feel like going chasing clad, so I thought I'd put in my 2 cents on this...

Now, these observations are based on me being primarily a coin hunter, but they may be helpful to a 66 used in general.

I've been using the old-school Fishers since 1986, and I have (with all earnestness and humility) amassed quite a collection of great coin finds with both the 65 and 66. BB, in response to your comment about the 65 maybe having a little more depth - I'm not completely certain on that, as I am not hunting in the same places/conditions with my 66 as I did with my 65 - but I can tell you that I got freaky depth on coins with the 65... oddly enough, the deepest coin that I actually measured (I had a big@ss trowel with a ruler etched into it) was a silver nickel at exactly 10"... I do agree with you about dimes, though, however there was one morning that I hunted after a very heavy rain (I was actually recovering coins in water-filled plugs) in which I found 6 Barber dimes on an old school field that gave me nothing more than a sweet, tiny scratch, and it was only due to experience (and the fact that I was just on fire back then ) that I was able to find them. I've air-tested my 66 recently and got as much as 13-14" on a silver half.

As far as an overall consensus on it as a coin hunting machine, it will hunt deep - the only thing (at least for me, anyway) is that I cannot say with certainty that it's the best machine for hunting in urban, trashy areas. If you're not used to it, or don't have the patience for all the noise it can make, it has the capacity to drive you insane. I still reach my threshold for it's noisiness at times, and just have to switch 'er off and find another spot to hunt.

It does indeed have an affinity to iron, and will sniff it out deep. It also has an affinity to the tiniest of objects, which can be a plus, however, you can adjust it to ignore smaller items and focus more on coins. Lately I have been hunting with #1 on 7 and #2 on 10, and I just switch over to eliminate Zlincolns... to me, they are just absolutely worthless, unless you recover it early, or just eyeball it. Plus, even though it's still a coin, I'd rather spend the time recovering a dime or a quarter. They'll always be there if I'm ever that bored, but, I doubt that'll happen.

It also absolutely loves silver, and due to that fact, and that I'm primarily a silver hunter anyway, I don't mind using that combination of discrimination, as even on a setting of 10 it will not discriminate out most any reasonably-sized silver object.

One peculiar idiosyncrasy it has is that at a certain depth (i.e deep), even discriminated objects will occasionally hit as a good target. This can work both ways for you. I have recovered a nice gold crucifix way down deep while hunting at 7. Most times, however, what I end up digging is a small bit of foil or aluminum that is between 4-6", and I don't really mind that, as I will occasionally find good stuff that way too, like the crucifix. I basically use the pinpoint to eliminate the smaller, shallower objects.

[Regarding pinpointing - this is one of the 66's BEST features. A nice feature of it's pinpointing abilities is that you can "shrink" the pinpoint signal down by repeatedly toggling while lowering the coil to the ground. I can usually hit my coin dead-center with my screwdriver - unless the coin is sidways - and in that instance, I usually end up going down to my elbows just to finally notice the Lincoln penny on the side of my plug about 4" down. You can also determine depth with some degree of accuracy using pinpointing, as well as eliminate larger objects by lifting the coil.]

Hunting for gold (jewelry) with the 66 can honestly be tricky and frustrating. Being an analog machine with virtually no ID (built-in), once you've accepted nickel-conducting objects, you're digging almost everything from small bits of foil, can-slaw, screwcaps, and aluminum in general, at any depth. I have not been able to successfully find a dual-disc setting that allows me to weed out the junk. Please, if anyone has any insight on that, let me in on it.

As far as sensitivity settings go, I have not seen how adjusting the sens. affects depth to any viable degree. The main thing that adjusting the sens. settings affects is the size of the objects it's seeing. Most gold jewelry objects are generally at least somewhat coin-sized, therefore finding a sens. setting that eliminates most smaller-than-those objects is advantageous when searching for gold. Also, most of the time I'm a "scrubber" - running the coil right on the ground, but I have found that in high-trash areas, that running the coil a couple of inches off the ground will help eliminate some smaller trash items. Nothing it seems, however, helps eliminate that @%#$@%# pencil erasers.

There are a couple of things that I just plain don't care for about the 66, and those are - its weight, and its tendency toward interference when near power lines and some types of buildings (and, just about any other metal detector or cell phone made - my cell phone makes it go nuts, so I usually don't carry it with me while hunting unless absolutely necessary). I was hunting some old easement in a downtown suburban office area yesterday, and in one spot it was talking to me so bad that I had to leave. It will usually remain quiet in these areas while you're swinging it, but when you stop to dig, it will buzz like a swarm of angry bees, and is just irritating beyond belief.

Regarding it's weight, well, it's just a beast. I'm not sure what the specific weight is, but compared to other machines, it's built like a brick $hithouse, and will wear you out fast if you're not used to it. I can swing it for several hours before I get fatigued, but I still do get there. And unfortunately, given the way it's constructed, there really isn't any pragmatic way of rigging a way to hip-mount it.

So, there's a few of my gleanings from 20+ years of experience with the 126_-X series... I hope it is of some help.

BB, please, don't hesitate to agree/disagree/comment on any of the things I hit on in this post, as it is rare that I have access to anyone else with as much experience (and success) as you.

Long Live the 1266!

 

[SaginawIan]

Great posts with a ton of useful info. I get the sense that loyalty to the 1266 is tremendous. Seems like for good reason. Fisherman, what size coils do you use on your 1266 and how do you rate them? Also, do you agree with what I've been told that the Fisher 1266 is built very well, and will withstand alot of punishment? Obviously the concern being since it's out of production, breaking it would be quite expensive given lack of easily obtainable replacement parts. What, if any, repairs has yours needed? Do you use any other detectors? Also, just curious - given your experience with the detector lets say you go to a mildy trashy OLD park, if you discriminate out everything below say pulltab - can you effectively cherry pick copper and silver? If so, at what loss of depth? I will be using mine relic hunting around old cellar holes, so Iron will be my worst enemy. So how effectively can I keep it from going crazy on the square nails?

Thanks again everyone - lets keep this going. I may be buying one of these old school bad boys very soon!

Ian

 

[BuckleBoy]

FisherMan,

You brought up some great points. Let me add a few comments between the lines here if I may...I think between the two of us, we could add a lot to the instruction manual that wasn't there in the first place LMAO! I wish I'd had someone to tell me some of these things back in 1992. It's a lot to take in anyhow, though...so here goes...

I'm not completely certain on that, as I am not hunting in the same places/conditions with my 66 as I did with my 65 - but I can tell you that I got freaky depth on coins with the 65... oddly enough, the deepest coin that I actually measured (I had a big@ss trowel with a ruler etched into it) was a silver nickel at exactly 10"...

My deepest was a Seated Half at around 14" (may have been just a hair shallower than that, but not much. It was in the last scoop of dirt--and it was the deepest hole I ever dug for a coin, so I went to the car for the tape measure). As I recall, the '65 was a little deeper than the '66 on CW relics--and I assume it was comparable on coins.

I do agree with you about dimes, though, however there was one morning that I hunted after a very heavy rain (I was actually recovering coins in water-filled plugs) in which I found 6 Barber dimes on an old school field that gave me nothing more than a sweet, tiny scratch, and it was only due to experience (and the fact that I was just on fire back then )

I had a similar experience after a rain. I'd hunted an old baseball field close to where I grew up back in the mid '90s, and I'd pulled lots of wheats and some Mercs, plus a SLQ, Buffalos, and some other nice coins out of it...I went back there last summer (at least 12 years later) and hunted it again--and it had just rained. Got 6 silver dimes--all Mercs--from that area I had gridded as a teenager. Now I'm sure most of it could be experience...but here's the thing: There were only THREE wheats for that hunt. So that tells me that the 1266 is hotter on Copper than Silver Dimes. If I'm in a site that is producing old relics and coins, I ALWAYS hunt it at least once after a good rain. The silver Half-Dimes I've found all sounded good on the machine--but that's because they were in plowed fields and more shallow. They read in the aluminum range on the 1266.

As far as an overall consensus on it as a coin hunting machine, it will hunt deep - the only thing (at least for me, anyway) is that I cannot say with certainty that it's the best machine for hunting in urban, trashy areas. If you're not used to it, or don't have the patience for all the noise it can make, it has the capacity to drive you insane. I still reach my threshold for it's noisiness at times, and just have to switch 'er off and find another spot to hunt.

Agreed. This is NO Cherrypicking machine. You must be prepared to take your time. You don't have to dig everything with it--I used to hunt with my dual disc on 7 and 10, as you do--but then I got wise to missing nickels, gold, half-dimes, bullets, relics, brass, etc. So I hunt with Disc1 on 4.75 or just a hair below 5.

It does indeed have an affinity to iron, and will sniff it out deep. It also has an affinity to the tiniest of objects, which can be a plus, however, you can adjust it to ignore smaller items and focus more on coins.

Yes, the machine likes iron--which is part of the reason it can't be beaten for relic hunting! If you're in a park, or hunting a yard, you already know where the site is. If you're finding a spot from a Will, Deed, Map, or Research--you Don't know where it is--untill you hear the chatter of the iron patch on the 1266. On many other machines, an iron patch will cause the threshold (if it's turned up) to "null out." And so you will hear it perhaps due to the Absence of the threshold tone. On the Fisher, the opposite is true--the iron (and other partially discriminated targets--break the audio threshold, and become little "chirps" of sound. I like it. I don't have to listen as hard until I hit the iron patch.

So yes, the Fisher does love Iron--and you'll be digging some Big Iron if you own a 1266--but you don't have to. Iron has a peculiar pattern of what I call "slight decay" in the signal as you thumb the Disc knob...and it is unmistakable. I usually dig anyhow, just to be sure, but it comes in handy.

One peculiar idiosyncrasy it has is that at a certain depth (i.e deep), even discriminated objects will occasionally hit as a good target.

And likewise, sometimes good targets will hit as trash--Especially if your disc is high! That's why I now hunt with it low--and I think that's part of the reason I got those deep silver dimes from the pasture (1940's ballfield) mentioned above.

[Regarding pinpointing - this is one of the 66's BEST features. A nice feature of it's pinpointing abilities is that you can "shrink" the pinpoint signal down by repeatedly toggling while lowering the coil to the ground. I can usually hit my coin dead-center with my screwdriver - unless the coin is sidways - and in that instance, I usually end up going down to my elbows just to finally notice the Lincoln penny on the side of my plug about 4" down. You can also determine depth with some degree of accuracy using pinpointing, as well as eliminate larger objects by lifting the coil.]

LOL I agree with you--although we evidently pinpoint in different ways. I do "de-tune" with the pinpoint, to cut the size down--and you can do it very small which makes the pinpointing dead-on--and the 1266's high-pitched "Whine" will tell you when the target is an overload signal on a pinpoint (took me a year to figure that one out--since it wasn't in the manual. LOL) So yes you can tell size and depth with pinpointing and lots of practice on the 1266. I'd love to go out with a measuring tape and go head-to-head against someone with an ID machine and see if I could hold my own on accuracy.

Hunting for gold (jewelry) with the 66 can honestly be tricky and frustrating. Being an analog machine with virtually no ID (built-in), once you've accepted nickel-conducting objects, you're digging almost everything from small bits of foil, can-slaw, screwcaps, and aluminum in general, at any depth. I have not been able to successfully find a dual-disc setting that allows me to weed out the junk. Please, if anyone has any insight on that, let me in on it.

FisherMan, I think part of the reason you find it hard is that you don't "thumb the knob" while sweeping over a target. You seem to use the dual disc feature more. I use the dual disc sometimes--but only when I'm trying to compare lead and brass on a CW site, or a coin signal from a non-coin anything... Thumb that knob, dude! Iron nails tune out at 4 or so, Nickels at 5.5, Small lead around the same, Brass at 6.5 or so, aluminum at 8 or so, and the rest holds more or less steady all the way up--including Big Iron. I also think part of the issue is that you don't regularly hunt in that disc. range. So you have less practice at that type of hunting. I don't have to dig much aluminum if I walk out in a park and want to dig only Nickels and mid-range targets. Foil, yes. Can-slaw, no.

As far as sensitivity settings go, I have not seen how adjusting the sens. affects depth to any viable degree. The main thing that adjusting the sens. settings affects is the size of the objects it's seeing. Most gold jewelry objects are generally at least somewhat coin-sized, therefore finding a sens. setting that eliminates most smaller-than-those objects is advantageous when searching for gold.

The sensitivity knob I'm sure changes the depth a bit...but you're right. It doesn't change it a huge amount. But lowering the sensitivity Does deprive you of one type of valuable knowledge...and that's tone quality. Yes, the type of beep the 1266 makes changes if you pull the sens. knob out or push it in. Signals are less apt to break the audio threshold, and they start sounding more like the background "chatter" that you're trying to distinguish them from--which is bad news! When you lower the sens., it also takes away another valuable property of the beep which I use to judge depth--and that's the "edge of the sound." A coin signal has a "round sound" always--if it is at average depth or shallower. "Bap Bap" There is a sharp onset and a sharp cut-off in the sound. Other decent targets have this sound. It is one thing to listen for that makes your mouth water when it blurts out of the background chatter. A deep target--even a coin--has a different sound. "Wah Wah" Slower onset to the beep and slower release. All of my belt plates and buckles as well as that deep Seated Half and countless IH's sounded like this. When you approach and exceed the 10" mark with this machine, that is a dead giveaway. And you lose it if you lower the sensitivity. Now will you lose those targets if you lower the sensitivity? Buckles and Plates, certainly not. Will they sound as good? Probably not. Now, the deep IH's? Who knows.

There are a couple of things that I just plain don't care for about the 66, and those are - its weight, and its tendency toward interference when near power lines and some types of buildings (and, just about any other metal detector or cell phone made - my cell phone makes it go nuts, so I usually don't carry it with me while hunting unless absolutely necessary). I was hunting some old easement in a downtown suburban office area yesterday, and in one spot it was talking to me so bad that I had to leave. It will usually remain quiet in these areas while you're swinging it, but when you stop to dig, it will buzz like a swarm of angry bees, and is just irritating beyond belief.

Yes, it does experience some interference--and electric fences and power lines are the most problematic in my experience. I have been on the cell phone with mine and it was fine. I regularly hunt with it around a Tesoro Cibola, Whites XLT, Whites DFX, and Ace 250 and I experience no feedback of any kind. With another 1266, 1265, 1270, or '66-XB you might as well forget it though!

And yes, when you have the sens. cranked it does chatter away when you lay it down to dig. You just have to back the sens. off a bit usually (that's what I do) when you lay it down. Problem solved.

Regarding it's weight, well, it's just a beast. I'm not sure what the specific weight is, but compared to other machines, it's built like a brick $hithouse, and will wear you out fast if you're not used to it. I can swing it for several hours before I get fatigued, but I still do get there. And unfortunately, given the way it's constructed, there really isn't any pragmatic way of rigging a way to hip-mount it.

When the 1266 was made, it was one of the lightest detectors on the market. The '66 weighs 3.9lbs., and the '66-XB weighs 4.1lbs. To put that in perspective, the Whites XLT is also 4 lbs. (The old Eagle Spectrum...now THAT was a BEAST!). I'm sure that the DFX and MXT are around the same weight--all the same as the 1266, even though they are later machines. (I don't know how much those last two I mentioned weigh--it used to be that weight was a consideration on buying a machine--and all brands listed their weights!--but now the White's website doesn't say...) So it's not that bad, really--when ya consider that there are EIGHT AA batteries in it. They were built well, so you'd get decades of use with no repairs needed--just like the Whites machines.

Oh--and one thing you forgot that's GREAT about the 1266--The BATTERY LIFE!! 60-80 hours of hunting time for each set of 8 AA's
I get 40-50 with my rechargeables now.

Long Live the 1266!

Amen.



SaginawIan,

To answer your question, I had my Fisher out bashing it against trees in the woods, with dirt and sometimes light rain falling on it (speaker is pointed up on the 1266, with no cover on it!) for 16 years with no repairs needed--not even the trigger switch. How's yours holding up, FisherMan, and how long have you had yours? I'm selling the machine on eBay now--cheaply--so that someone who wishes can send it back to Fisher (First Texas now ) for an overhaul. The box is getting loose from the pole, and it's just old. I'm getting--guess what? Another 1266. This one is the "B" model, so it breaks down and fits in a box for airplane travel. I'm sure that 2/10ths of a pound will feel heavier on my arm after swinging this one for so long. LOL. Ian, I'll answer your other questions here in a second...I need a break from typing. *whew!*


Regards,


Buckles

 

[FisherMan_1266X]

Thanks...

I only use the one standard coil although there are different size coils for it, but I may someday get the smaller 5" coil since the places I hunt are mostly very trashy. The one I use now seems to work just fine for me - I'm not really a "techie", not to mention that I couldn't afford an assortment of new toys even if I was (I say this not slighting the techies at all - I'm just merely stating that I'm not one).

Like i said earlier, for the most part, yes, these machines are built to hunt, and re very rugged - but also very heavy (most of the older analog machines are, like one of my old hunting buddy's Teknetics Mark 1 - it's even heavier than my 66, and a lot more cumbersome to hunt with). I bought the one I'm currently using on Ebay, and have not had to have any repairs on it.

I have, and sometimes use, an old, cheap ($-wise) Bounty Hunter - in fact, I found my best ring with it, a Tiffany 18K/PT band that retails at $1,400. In fact, I have found more jewelry with it than my 66, which is partly due to the reduced sensitivity I mentioned in my earlier post. Plus, with the BH, you either hear a beep or you don't, for the most part.

As far as hunting older parks, and using pulltab-and-below disc. - yes, with my old 65 that was how I usually hunted, and I found many, many nice old coins and silver jewelry, with no real loss of depth... I have also found a decent amount of old nickels with it as well, however most of those were found in the same plug with either a silver coin or a wheat penny. I have found quite a few silver nickels on their own, however most of them gave me mostly "funky" signals, and I dug them out of pure curiosity (a practice which has also resulted in quite a few unique finds, and should always be front-of-mind).

Now, I'm not a relic hunter, but I do know that most relics are iron, so I don't really know how to advise you as far as avoiding "junk" iron (BB would be a much better one to answer that question) although with my limited knowledge of relics I do know that square nails are often sought after, and can be like wheat pennies to a coin hunter - letting them know they're in the right place to find what they're looking for.

Again,I hope this helps.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Great posts with a ton of useful info. I get the sense that loyalty to the 1266 is tremendous. Seems like for good reason. Fisherman, what size coils do you use on your 1266 and how do you rate them? Also, do you agree with what I've been told that the Fisher 1266 is built very well, and will withstand alot of punishment? Obviously the concern being since it's out of production, breaking it would be quite expensive given lack of easily obtainable replacement parts. What, if any, repairs has yours needed? Do you use any other detectors? Also, just curious - given your experience with the detector lets say you go to a mildy trashy OLD park, if you discriminate out everything below say pulltab - can you effectively cherry pick copper and silver? If so, at what loss of depth? I will be using mine relic hunting around old cellar holes, so Iron will be my worst enemy. So how effectively can I keep it from going crazy on the square nails?

Thanks again everyone - lets keep this going. I may be buying one of these old school bad boys very soon!

Ian

I used only the stock "spider coil" with mine plus the 12-inch coil (which came from a 1265-X). All I did was take a circular file to where the coil fit onto the shaft and it fit the '66. (Attachment is the same.) Then afterwards, I realized that I really didn't have to have that coil on for depth, and that it made the machine quite heavy. It was good at covering more ground, though. And it wasn't calibrated to the 1266, so the pinpointing was a little off--which didn't matter in pastures and woods with a shovel in hand.

If you repair detectors yourself, then you should be concerned about getting replacement parts. If you send them in to the manufacturer, then you shouldn't be worried at all. First Texas should be able to fix a 1266-X, should anything go awry. Although I would send it to Keith instead--because I don't think that parts replaced would be old Fisher parts (and I wouldn't want Bounty Hunter parts in my detector).

If you go to a trashy park, you will be able to turn the disc up to 8 and only dig pennies, dimes, and quarters. I don't honestly know how this will affect depth--Fisherman is the guy to ask that of. When I've done it, any silver I found was well within reach depth-wise. So I'd say that one of your other detectors would be better at that...use one of them and go in there and dig only coin ID numbers that are deeper than 4 or 5 inches. If you plan on keeping your other machines, use one with a depth meter to avoid all the CLAD.

I also use the Tesoro uMax--but my first choice for relic hunts and housesite hunting is the 1266. Period. I enjoy having the light little uMax on my arm once in a while in the plowed fields though... One thing I've noticed about the Fisher is that it's nice to have a heavier detector on your arm in the woods. It'll bash through the brush better. The uMax is always getting caught mid-sweep in the grass and vines.

In terms of small iron, you shouldn't worry. I seldom dig nails, except occasionally when I CW relic hunt (I like to ride the discrimination just a *hair* above iron to make sure I'm getting all the goodies). So with the disc that low, I'm bound to dig an occasional larger nail that had a good halo on it. I also dig more iron at the OLDEST sites--Colonial spots. They're invariably iron-infested anyhow--much worse than the CW-era housesites I usually hunt. On sites that old, many times I dig because a signal is *almost* a good one. This was the case with the 1774 Half Real that I found in January. It wasn't really deep--maybe 5-6 inches--but several large nails came out of the hole too, and they had masked it some. It might've also been on edge--but I'm not certain. It was a plowed field, so anything is possible for a coin that small. As I said in my post up above, you can avoid the Big Iron with a good bit of practice. As long as the house sites you're hunting are old enough, you won't have aluminum or zinc jar lids to drive you nuts.


Regards,


Buckles

 

[FisherMan_1266X]

Man, I'm so happy to finally see a nice, beefy thread on my machine! And I don't mean to hijack your thread, Sag, I'm just excited to finally have a meaningful, running dialog on this machine.

Yeah Buckles, even though it's basically a turn on and go machine, it has tons of nooks and crannies and different things about it that do make it a really difficult detector to use successfully. Hell, I've been using it for over 20 years and I'm still learning things about it every time I use it.

Regarding discrimination, I would hunt at 5 every time, but seriously - there is SO much trash in the places I hunt that it's nearly impossible, unless I want to practically do an archaeological dig, and given the types of places I hunt that is just basically impossible. Yes, I'm aware that digging everything is the only real way to find the good stuff, but again, that is just not practical. So, I have to use my logic and the technology available, and make the best possible decisions that I can. All I can really do is decide if hunting a particular spot is worth it at 5 and use either the "disc thumbing" method (I'm still trying to wrap my head around that method) as opposed to "dual discing"... I just haven't been able to find that notch between tabs and nickels/gold quite yet.

Now, I do know that in some cases if I'm in a particularly trashy area, if I swing my coil a little more quickly, the machine tends to react slower to the trash than it does to the good targets... is there some kind of logical explanation for this?

Also, and this is something I just remembered that also drives me insane at times, is that the 66 will hit good on something, and with subsequent sweeps the object will disc out... I can understand this, however, it just drives me nuts. Again, an explanation of this would help greatly.

 

[SaginawIan]

Great stuff going on here! Please post as much as you can on this machine. The 1266 is one that needs to be brought to the front lines again. (Sick of seeing Ace 250 threads ) I do believe that this is the most information rich 1266 post anywhere on any site, I've been searching for one and this is it.

Buck - Good to hear that the thumbing method works on the 1266, I use that on the Umax. So did you just memorize where the items knock out, or mark the dial somehow? I totally understand what you are saying about the heavy duty machine good for the woods - when I use my silver umax it tends to get caught up in the brush if I try to push it out of the way with the detector (I know, I shouldn't do that ) but sometimes I'm in a hurry. I can see myself loving the heavy duty 1266 - despite maybe a little more weight - but it's balanced well and true - it's exactly the same weight as the DFX. Also, good to hear that it's somewhat impervious to a little rain - environmental cover available? Plastic baggie would probably work fine. I think your old rusty trusty 1266 should be in a museum, buck, maybe have it mounted with all your civil war finds and put it on the wall!

Fisherman - When you get a good signal and then subsequent sweeps disc out the target, do you still dig it? Has it ever been something good?

Ian

 

[SaginawIan]

Could someone comment on the recovery speed of the 1266x ? For instance, it's ability to pick up a coin close to a chunk of iron.

Any examples of iron and a coin in the same hole?

thanks - Ian

 

[BuckleBoy]

And I don't mean to hijack your thread, Sag, I'm just excited to finally have a meaningful, running dialog on this machine.

I agree 100%

Yeah Buckles, even though it's basically a turn on and go machine, it has tons of nooks and crannies and different things about it that do make it a really difficult detector to use successfully. Hell, I've been using it for over 20 years and I'm still learning things about it every time I use it.

So combined, we two have 36 years of experience with the 1266 and counting. That's pretty amazing. You're exactly right. I think that using the 1266 is more complicated than the lower-end Garretts and Tesoros because you hear more. You see, the Tesoro runs so stable all the time (unless you hypertune one that can be hypertuned...) that you don't hear anything much besides the targets that ring above your discrimination setting. And even then, you get one beep. As much as I've used the uMax, I haven't heard much variation in the beep itself. On the 1266, each beep has a personality or profile--which is pretty amazing--and this aspect for me is one of the nooks and crannies you speak of. The fact that you can put the machine down while you're digging and it is still chattering away tells me that it runs on the edge of instability with the sensitivity cranked all the way up--which is where you want a machine to run in order to get the most performance out of it. With that 1266, you hear everything (well, not absolutely everything--but you do hear a good many discriminated-out targets too)...so it gives you the power and choice of what to dig.

Regarding discrimination, I would hunt at 5 every time, but seriously - there is SO much trash in the places I hunt that it's nearly impossible, unless I want to practically do an archaeological dig, and given the types of places I hunt that is just basically impossible. Yes, I'm aware that digging everything is the only real way to find the good stuff, but again, that is just not practical. So, I have to use my logic and the technology available, and make the best possible decisions that I can. All I can really do is decide if hunting a particular spot is worth it at 5 and use either the "disc thumbing" method (I'm still trying to wrap my head around that method) as opposed to "dual discing"... I just haven't been able to find that notch between tabs and nickels/gold quite yet.

I've found that nickels are pretty easy on the Fisher. If you want to dig a nickel, they will 9 times out of 10 disc out at the exact same spot on the disc. knob. It's the gold/tabs and gold/foil that are more difficult--and any detector on the market (including ID machines) has trouble with this--since gold can come in just about any shape or size. Nickels on the other hand, are always uniform (except for the War Nickels), and they almost always tune out the same. I think more practice in the mid-range of the disc. knob will help you--as well as thumbing the disc. (more about that below). And your point about trashy sites is well-taken. It's easy to feel overwhelmed with the 1266 in a trashy site--and I've always had difficulty hunting in those...so to be perfectly honest, that's one limitation of the machine. An ID machine user would fare much better in that situation.

Now, I do know that in some cases if I'm in a particularly trashy area, if I swing my coil a little more quickly, the machine tends to react slower to the trash than it does to the good targets... is there some kind of logical explanation for this?

I haven't noticed this--but I'll be paying more attention in the future...

Also, and this is something I just remembered that also drives me insane at times, is that the 66 will hit good on something, and with subsequent sweeps the object will disc out... I can understand this, however, it just drives me nuts. Again, an explanation of this would help greatly.

I don't have an explanation for this, but I've experienced it too. In a way, I'm glad that the machine gives me the opportunity to decide if something is there--rather than not hearing it in the first place. I've dug many, Many "iffy" signals and been rewarded in the past--so I'd rather hear a good hit first and it disc out subsequently than for the opposite to be true. My philosophy is that I want to hear it, and i want to make the choice.


Let's keep this dialogue going. I'm loving this--and like I said before, I wish someone had told me some of this information when I started with mine in 1992. My mentor had two Compass machines (Man, they went deep!), and nobody else in my area hunted with a Fisher. So I had to learn as I went--because the instruction manual said practically nothing of use. As I recall, it was about five pages long.


Regards,


Buckles