One of my favorite Old fishers.......the 1236 X2

Ive ran one of these for 17 years...

Wont dig iron and yet will pull stuff out of iron with eerie ease if set up right..

put the 5 inch on it and it will unmask Very Very well..

Put the big 10.5 on it and it hits my 10 inch dime with a beautiful sweet faint tone...

Wish I could loacte another nice los banos one like this for a backup if this one ever quits..Hint Hint!

I've dug relics in iron that super high dollar machiens left behind....Fishers best old school unmasker by far!!!

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Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Had one years ago also. It had a very sharp pin point mode. When started this great past time I would always buy my friend's machine as he up graded. Poor guy died of cancer at a early age. hh

oj/bc

Time for a new specialized planted hunt machine - 12” coil (maximum usually permitted) - no excessive depth to confuse things - razor sharp pinpoint - maybe with big hole in middle and laser dot for the less clever.

I’d buy one. Could make the price beach in a couple of hunts.

I sent Fisher the same thoughts a few minutes ago - hope they read emails.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

Sorry to hear of your friend Guv..

Rick alot of people dont know but that large 10.5 coil is very unique in the center receive coil is elliptical..and separates very well for such a large size since the receive area is from heel to toe hot zone..very unique coil..

I find that at times I believe it to be a better unmasker than the stock 8 inch....may show a video one day on it on Monte's nail board with that big coil..Yes it can pass the whole test..


Yes the 1236 was touted as a comp unit...but its so much more..has that 12xx series serious depth...and with the factory set ground balance its still sees deep in mineral as long as you turn the silencer off which run's it in 2 derivative filter...turn it on and it losses a lot of depth in mineral...it's the first machine that ever got me to see what Bleedy filters can accomplish.. yet 17 years ago before we have what we have now in terms of bleedy reports I did not quite see it..looking back now I see how far advanced the Old fisher was in terms of allowing Bleed through of disc'd targets or even soil Noise!! I can run it across my thick mineralized brick and about any machine with a concentric will never see a coin under it..but not the 1236 X2...turn the 3rd filter option off and it pops the coin as well as any ground balancing DD rig...to me with silencer off which is using the 2 filtering option only its very informative and I can tell where nails are with ease and slow down and investigate..its a single tone unit but off you listen close there's so much info in that tone..jsut listen to snap crackle pop and hone in one the sweet round hits...

I broke it out yesterday for a old site hunt and thought I would share...

And hear's a couple of foot deep items that was still lurking in a hunted hard spot..

seem's to be some sort of brass case with gold overlay...maybe a picture frame of sorts???I can barely see a woman's face stained in the back of the case looks like it was maybe a painting of sorts..




And then a brass hinge of yesteryear see the iron rust attached to the front...??

2017-11-05_11-29-54 by Keith Southern, on Flickr


Very good old school hunter with excellent depth and excellent disc...with the right coils attached it's a pleasure to use.

I would like to see FTP take that unit and add a meter to it..leave it in that excellent box since it's also hip mountable and works well in saltwater great wader when mounted on chest..Yeah FTP should bring back a revamped 12xx series...Nothing like that modulated sweet buzzy Fisher old school audio

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

How do the 1266 and 1270 compare to the 1236? My dad still has his 1265 but he put a 1266 lower rod on it with the spider coil on it. I had the 1266 and couldn't tell any difference between his 1265 and it, as far as depth was concerned. That was back when I first started detecting in the early to mid 90s. I never ran a 1270 or 1236. A friend of mine did have the 1270 and brought it to my bullet site but couldn't get it to hone in on any bullets. He swapped it out for his X-terra 705 and I didn't see any more of the 1270. Have thought about snagging one of the better 1266s off eBay when they come up but always back out.

Keith

The X2 found me as much gold jewelry fresh water hunting the couple years I used it as all the rest of the machines I have used for that purpose combined. Fresh water iron hides a lot of gold but the 1236X2 sniffs it out. I think I might have tried the silencer once but never used it again so big is the difference in performance.

Have one setting here but it's on loan from Rick. Need to get out to that lumber camp with it and do a cleanup. Thanks for the reminder!

Tom

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a democracy, it is difficult to win fellow citizens over to your own side, or to build public support to remedy injustices that remain all too real when you fundamentally misunderstand how they see the world.

I think that's an old makeup case Keith

I've found em just like that with hard caked powder/makeup still inside

never tried the x2 -- had a 1266x like 25 yrs ago for a season or 2 --- always liked the 2 disc knobs/settings but when the CZ came out I quickly opted for one because of the 3 tones (like many others did)!

You just missed a nice one reasonably priced on classifieds from a good trader...

Keith,

Talking about old 'Fisher's', I found 2 old Instruction Manuals, perfect condition for the 1260-X and 1220-X.
If anyone wants any I'll mail Free of charge. ( but not to TexHunter Lol...)

Des D

Never had the 36. I got the 66x when it first come out. Still have it and it looks like new. The deepest detector I ever used. I am getting to old to dig that deep any more.. KEN

Two Tesoro Compadres, One Silver uMax, , and one Whites Surfmaster 2 , Fisher 1266x
I had others I wish I did not sell.

Hey Tom!!

Yeah I remember back at the turn of the century us (You & Me ) talking about the 36 in iron and how well it did over on Findmall....cant believe its been that long ago already...

Im sure it will snag you some goodies over at the Lumber site!!Good luck for sure!!post up what you find..

Daniel

The 66 is deeper for sure but alot more noisy ...always found the 66 was just a 65 with spider coil added and sensitivity push/pull reversed..the 36 is deep in its own right but it has more usable depth in terms of Disc accuracy...the 65/66 seemed to disc for about 6 inches or so then everything sounded good past that...not so on the 36...If you want an airtest reference the 36 will whisper a minnie ball with silencer off with 8 inch coil at about 12 inches and with 10.5 at about 14 full gain nail reject...And I've dug 11 inch minnie balls with it repeatedly in 3 bar dirt...but not alot of 11 inch nails...Seems the 66 would airtest a minnie ball at about 14-15" or so with the 8 inch when set pretty stable and not overdriving it...And I know a early 2 component board inside 66 ( the ones with white spider coils and white lower rod) will dig a foot deep minie ball in 3 bar dirt with 8 inch but also alot of iron too...so for me the 36 is the right balance of depth and dsic ability..its deeper than a Bandido or the likes from the period disc Vs disc in the 3 bar dirt and unmask along the lines of a Bandido in iron once you get to grips with the sounds..I think it was Fishers reply to tesoros unmasking strength...maybe not quite as good in iron but also a tad bit deeper when both are in disc mode...you just never dig iron with a 36 unless you want too..

Wayne

thanks for the ID...man they used to make EVERYTHING heavy duty didn't they??

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Keith,

Did you ever open it up and turn the ground balance neg like on the Lobo? Could a ground balance be added to it?

My 1236 the cable wrap and fell apart. I put silicon all around it and taped it up with electrical tape. Worked fine for Tom in the water.

Rick

Rick yes there is a ground adjust along with iron preset pot and threshold pot inside...

Yet I wouldn't mess with the ground adjust..the 1236 was analog to digital conversion machine and when you mess with the ground range on it the disc circuitry especially when the silencer is off it can become overly noisy..I believe the machine is set to best perform at factory predetermined setting.Heck it hits my 10 inch dime in bad soil the way it is..and that with a preset balance and concentric coil as long as the silencer is in off position..If you mess with the G.B. pot you will find that the disc range moves..and then the silencer also will allow more in than you may want when in off position....i say don't mess with what aint broke..

your cable come unwrapped ??? you must have a two piece rod model with the big control knobs??there was some bad cables made around 03 or so..Minelab got them and Troy X5s x3's and fisher's..

Only lasted a little while...

luckily if need be you can buy new coils still...most of the new ones available still in all sizes have the shiny insulation like on the F75 Biaxial...

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

A bit off topic, but about that coil insulation...I have a couple of Detech FBS coils that have had that insulation crack and break off (including one of your favorites, Keith, the Detech 4.5x7!) Is there anyone out there that can do a "coil repair" where that outer sheath is replaced?

Steve



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2017 04:58AM by steveg.

I had one for a while and while it was a decent machine I just never thought that it measured up to a 1266x or a 1270. The battery compartment design was a pain in the arse if you ever had a battery swell the least little bit. You had to beat the crap out of the control housing in order to get them out.I sold the one I had for a lot less than what I paid for it new. After I sold it I bought a Vaquero and the Vaquero was twice the machine and a lot deeper in my test bed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2017 12:37AM by 88junior.

I filled a crack on one my coils with epoxy glue.

Rick

most coil shells are ABS I believe - Acetone is the stuff - welds (or dissolves if you're careless).

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

Sorry guys, I meant the sheath on the coil cables...the black "rubbery" outer coating, that covers the two white detector wires.

Is there a way to replace THAT.

Steve

Just picked one of these up for a fair price. It is in super great condition too. The one I got has the 8 inch and 5 inch coils.

I like the tone of the 1200s series. Always have. However, I was a little disappointed in the performance. I can only get about 7.5 inches air test on a 3 ringer. Sens wide open, disc at minimum, silencer off. In the ground, it fails to detect all but 1 of the targets in my test garden. The 1265-X is for sure deeper but I agree that the 1236 is more stable and smoother sounding. I tried swapping coils out with the 1265 to see if that made a difference for depth but it did not.

It reminds me closest of the Minelab Musketeer but the Musky is much deeper...possibly due to the manual GB ability of the Musky vs fixed for the 1236X2. I'm gonna take it wading with me to the lake and see if anything turns up with it. Not just in this thread...but in others over the years, I've noted several people saying similar things about its jewelry hunting ability...and how odd it is for a low kHz machine to do so well with it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2018 11:43PM by Daniel Tn.

Was lucky enough to pick up a duel board 1266 couple years back...deepest 66 I have ever owned... regards joe

I have had every CZ made but never tried a 1200 machine. Maybe someday if I live long enough.

Here’s a recent quote from Dave Johnson who designed the 1266

“It had good sensitivity to deep coins in low mineral ground. Otherwise not so great.

The fan club comprises users who are looking for deep stuff in non-trashy areas, and who spent a long time learning its language. For those folks, the 1266 advantage is that it has great potential depth, and the challenge is to get that depth out of it. A machine that doesn't have that kind of depth to begin with, there's nothing you can do to give it that depth. ”

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

It does seem to be a machine ahead of its time. I can squeeze a little more depth out of it by clicking it out of the preset iron mode on the disc knob. But not much.

I can definitely hear the ground noise coming through when sweeping the coil...which is always the indication that it needs ground balanced and that the balance point is off from where it needs to be.

I've gotten so use to swinging 11 inch coils, that the 8 inch looks TINY. I May keep it around a bit. I'm still tempted to buy an X5 just for the heck of it. Especially since there are aftermarket DD coils for it now.

Hey Daniel You ever air test a Silver dime with it? Just curious what it would do.

Harold -- Just finished checking that for you. My 1236 at zero disc, full sensitivity air tests a silver dime at 8 inches if you really strain to hear it.

Thanks, I guess Ole' Keith Southern has a hot one.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/10/2018 07:59PM by Harold,ILL..