Tesoro Tejon or fisher 1270

[dwmedic]

Has anyone ever compared these two detectors with eachother. What would the pros and cons be for each?

 

[EasyMoney]

The 1270 goes deeper in bad soil than the Tejon.

The 1270 runs more smoothly in bad soil.

The 1270 discriminates better than the Tejon.

The 1270 likes silver and nickels much more than the Tejon.

The 1270 has an iron blanker but it doesn't work as well as expected.

The 1270 works ok on the salt/iron beach. Not perfect, but acceptable.

The 1270 is toughly built.

The 1270 has a fast discriminate AND all-metal retune.

The Tejon LOVES nails and pulltabs.

The Tejon makes more noise than 1270.

The Tejon has a hard time in bad soil.

The Tejon has a squeaky rod. Very annoying!

The Tejon canNOT be completely ground balanced in SOME soils!

The Tejon (sometimes) goes deeper in gentle (low Fe) soil than the 1270.

The Tejon is lighter than the 1270.

The Tejon has too slow of an all-metal mode to operate well in bad soils.

The Tejon has a fairly fast auto-tetune in discriminate.

The Tejon really sucks on high iron/salt beaches.

Both have a decent battery life, 20-30 hours, depending on battery brand/type.

 

[Sandman]

This is like trying to compare apples to oranges. Both are two fine detectors designed totally different and not meant to act alike. One reason the Tejon is more unstable on saltwater beaches is it is much more sensitive than the 1270 with more gain built in. This causes it to see more salt and black sand and report it.

The main difference is the Tejon is a Tesoro with a fantastic track record and a lifetime warranty if you should ever need it. Fisher is not the same company that designed the 1270 and service has much to be desired according to many past Fisher owners that wanted repair. Just look at the CZ21 that was supposed to be out early Sept. and it is now mid Oct. and no new detector, and the CZ21 is just an upgrade. I am not putting the Fisher detectors down, I own about six myself.

 

[EasyMoney]

I want to share a bit of info with you Sandman..

It will turn into a scroll. Sorry

The 1270 has more gain (RMS power) to it's coil than the Tejon. It just does. It also puts out higher voltage than the Tejon to it's receiver coil

The Tejon was designed primarily as a relic detector.

The Tejon was (also) primarily designed as a relic detector.

The 1270 in an air test has the same depth as a Tejon. I've matched them both. Both get 15-18" on a coin of the same size as a nickel. Each individual detector sometimes gets a different depth though. I have tested them both side-by-side. Air depths usually but not always depict performance in the ground because many other factors determine that too.

The 1270 has a faster auto retune to GB, both in all-metal, and discriminate, hence, the very important reason it gets better depth in highly minerlaized soil than the Tejon. Other than that they operate a lot the same, save for some differences in bad soil.

Many old detectors made by Compass Electronics back in the 80's and clear up into the early 2000's have more or equal depth, better discrimination, and use less power than any brand new VLF detector on the market today (save for the Nexus and it's ultimate depth, and maybe a Nautie), and especially the X-100, X-200, original X-80 it now termed the Scanner Relic and Coin, and before that the Goldscanner Pro. The are all premium relic hunters too.

I repaired a lot of detectors from 1980 to 1990. Most of them were Garretts and Tesoros that went bad, but some were C&G's, Compasses, Gold Mountains (Garretts sub-division), A.H. Pro's, some Whites, but Whites wouldn't let their circuits go so they were tougher to repair. Bounty Hunters, and occasionally a Fisher also broke down, but not often, plus others. I also worked building much of White's circuitboards in a little town about 70 miles N. of White's because they farmed their work out to a manufacturer, just as most detector companies still do. Most of our new detectors are offshoots of the original work done by George Payne. Phase shift technology common in ALL modern detectors was initiated by the same man George Payne. Jack Gifford designed most of the work on the Tesoros, but EVERYBODY plagerized the work and inventions of both George Payne and A. H. Pro which invented the very first ground calcelling discriminator ever made. Where do you suppose the three-position switch came from on the Tejon? That's right, it came from the Fisher 1200 line. Compass Elecronics invented the Wide-scan (DD) coil, and guess who designed that one? Yes it was George Payne, he designed much of the Compass line of detectors. Minelab uses it too now. Everybody borrows from the Master.

I used to get 12-14 inches in very nasty salt/iron beach soil with an original Garrett Deepseeker in all-metal. I got the same with an old Fisher 440 discriminator in all-metal. There is absolutely zero detector on the current market that will match those two old beasts for vlf depth. Even a Compass or Baron can't do it. I have tried them all, and they just can't beat those two old detectors, regardless of what someone might claim. Incidentally, the hokie claims of Ace 250 owners are often some of the biggest BS on the planet. I know, I owned one of those too.

I beat the pants off any Minelab I ever encounter anywhere with my Compasses, any time, any day, any soil, be it an SE, Expl II or a Sov of any stock specification with my 2000 Compass R&C. I sometimes beat on old Treasure Baron too. After all, the same person designed all three detectors.. With this in mind, even though the original Compass company is now out of production, it's perhaps still one of the most premium detectors in it's performance over all the new ones on the market today. It just doesn't have as many toys though, and it only has an analog meter. They are still premium detectors though, especially the x-200 with it's selectable search freq, and the Barons.

I wouldn't let an out of production line of detector slow me down, or one that was sold to another company. A new Fisher F-75 beats any Minelab SE, II or Sov and everybody knows it too. I have found more gold and silver with an old Bounty Hunter 800 made in 1984 than with any other detector I've seen, used, owned, or repaired, guaranteed. Yes though, that was then and this is now and I mostly I used it because it was so light.

Look at the Treasure Baron for example, one of the deepest detectors ever made, matching or beating any vlf Minelab, Fisher, White's, Tesoro, and Garrett for depth too. In fact, only the Garrett 2000 and Compass x-200, and Goldscanner series ever matched it for depth. But where is the Baron company now? Do we ever hear of it? Not really.

A Minelab SE, Expl II or Sov has never beat an old Baron for depth. They won't beat my Compass either, especially since I put more gain it it just to show off when a Minelab owner comes around to show off.. Even when it was stock I could smoke any Minelab owner that ever wanted to make a bet for depth and target discrimination, especially with iron. They don't make Minelabs any better, they just make them different, that's all.

A defunkt company often makes a better detector than new companies now in existence, much like Ferrarri is now owned by Chrysler Corporation, yet it is still THE most prefered super-exotic car ever made.

The Tejon and the 1270 are not "apples and oranges" at all, they are (nearly) the same detector with suspiciously similar circuitry and some small but marginally important differences, depending largely on one's soil conditions and search techniques. And yes, plagiarism was involved there too, and guess who borrowed from whom?

Today was a good one. I got my Buck. Just a spike, but weighed about 150. Not bad for a blacktail.

You all have a good day.

 

[Sandman]

What you say about the older detectors are true, but those companies aren't in business selling at the volume the newer companies do. It's mostly about the marketing and PR isn't it?

Still the Tejon and 1270 are still like two different beasts, similar, but still slight differences as you said. They are apples and oranges still.

Glad you got your buck. I'm still looking for my whitetail buck. What broad head do you perfer?

 

[EasyMoney]

Actually Sandman I don't bow hunt. I sometimes use a shotgun with 00 buck, sometimes my 58 cal Hawkins black powder, or my 44 mag Taurus, and sometimes my 338. I've mostly gotten one with buckshot though, all one shot stops. 15 equivalent 22 shells all in the same spot at 30 yards doesn't make for much suffering at all, you think? A 310 grain 44 does a very nice job too.

I am trying to decide which detector I'll get next. An Infinium seems like a good idea, or maybe a Garrett 1500 so I can have some new toys to play with. Maybe I'll just wait to see what comes out next. It's all a bunch of fun and who knows what's around the bend. You have a fine eve Sand, I will too.

BTW, have you ever watched a couple of old buzzards pecking at a road kill..? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? He he he...

 

[dwmedic]

Hope I didn't cause to much friction. Just trying to decide on a new detector.Been reading lots of reviews here and other places. Both these detectors seem to have gotten good reviews. so hard to decide. Have an old BH, looking to get something I will not outgrow in a few months. enjoy relic hunting the most.I really do appreciate all the help from you guys here. Thanks for the replies and opinions.

 

[EasyMoney]

Hey, check out Metaldetectorreviews.net.

Lots of interesting stuff in there. The Vaquero got good reviews, maybe even better than the Tejon, and mostly because it runs smoother and at times gets better depth in some soils than the Tejon. The Silver uMax and Compadre did well too. Also, the one that really surprised me a bit was the Fisher 1236-x2, almost straight 5's across the board. The cz-5 also got rave reviews. it seems that the Garrett 1350 did well too as did the White's Surmaster Pulse and the Compasses.

Enjoy

 

[Sandman]

Hey EasyMoney, our firearm season doesn't start here till Nov. and I don't do black power.....yet.

I have the GTI 1500 and I am not impressed with it. Oh, it's easy to operate, and the Imagining is OK, but the Fisher's have the overload signal too. When I wanna play with coins I like my CZ6a or the older 1235.

The Infinium LS is a nice detector for a PI, and I almost got one one time but the van broke down and repairs took all my spare money. As you know, I mainly like to water and beach hunt now and the thought of digging them huge deep holes PI's have you dig even for a gold ring, wear on my old back.

Take care,
Sandman

 

[EasyMoney]

That's what I was wondering, whether the big Garretts would be worth the xtra $$ just to see how big something was on a screen. Maybe not.

Currently I've been using my 3" coil and in the ground it gets as good of depth as a 6 incher plus finds stuff so fine sometimes that I can barely see it in the dirt and have to sift it like flour to isolate it by pouring it over the top of the coil. I have found magnets the size of 1/8th inch and small wire less than 3/16" in length. #8 shot is a breeze at 5-7" except for actually seeing it, so maybe I don't need an imagining detex after all because the little coil shows that the target has a very tiny width pattern. Maybe the infinium would be a good one for all this awful high-iron garbage here on the salt beaches. In some of this soil here I have pulled 1/4 a cup of iron filings out of a cup of dirt and that's a whole lot of iron to deal with.

So far, the cz and the Scanner work the deepest and the Minelab the smoothest at the coast here. I don't know, maybe I'll just wait a bit and look around at what's new on the horizon.

Thanks, and don't get caught out on a bar somewhere with the tide sneaking up behind you. I did just about that as a kid at age 19 in a little 50 yd cove in an 8 ft wooden boat and had to go in a circle for 6 hours before the tide would let me out again enough to shoot across the whirlpool to freedom.

 

[allanw23]

Dwmedic call me if you want the 1270 or Tejon. 1-405-685-3130 I have them both. Allan

 

[Jason in TN]

The 1270 does not have a adjustable ground balance that concerns me. Should it.

 

[BamaBill]

Yes, if your ground in E. TN is anything like central TN you're going to need it.

 

[EasyMoney]

The 1270 DOES have a ground balance control, a 0-10 single turn "all metal ground adjust/disc" adjustment knob. You can see the control box close up at KellyCo. The Tejon has a 3-turn GB.

It's top dead center of the control box. It also has an additional "iron discriminate" level knob, to change the (range) of iron discrimination, not just the level. It also has a (mildly effective) noise blanker, but reducing the sensitivity helps too. The Fisher 1236 has a better noise blanker than the 1270 though.

Both the Tejon AND the 1270 use an automatic ground balance in discriminate but the 1270's is faster, and they both also have an all-metal knob adjust ground balance and the Fisher's recovery time in all-metal is faster than the Tejon. Tesoro made a few changes (not good ones) to the Tejon perhaps in order to not infringe in patent rights of the 1270. You can do the math from there. I'm not making any written claims here because I don't want to cause someone to sue me, but some things naturally seem obvious.

The Tejon is a near electronic copy of the 1270 (the 1270 was here first, YEARS before the Tejon), and the 1270 ground balances better with it's single turn control and works better in many more soils. The Tejon (again suspiciously) has the same type Fisher trigger switch configuration again, seemingly appearing to be borrowed from the Fisher 1200 series. It reminds me of an alien movie where aliens look and act suspiciously a lot like humans.

The 1270 weighs more because it has more circuitry for more gain and power, and it DOES have more gain and power than the Tejon too..

The Tejon cannot balance any closer than 2" from some soils. That automatically loses me two inches of depth in bad soil.

If there is one thing that I don't like about my Tejon, the p00r ground ground balance is it. It truly sucks in bad soil. I have to leave it in the van at times and use my cz or some other detector, especially on high salt/high mineralized beaches. It is very lightweight and goes very deep in gentle soil though and that's the only reason I keep it. I'd gladly trade it for a 1270 and pay a little extra for the exchange.

Oh, and incidentally, the variable sound on the Tejon? My Compass RM7 has it, but it's more pleasant to listen to, much like an analog cz. Pleasant and a little bit fuzzy sounding. That was invented by Compass, the first to use it in a detector. Talk about copy-cat.