I started using a 1265 about 7 years ago and currently own both the 1265x and a 1266x. When I temporarily gave up the hobby and sold out my small collection - these two ended up being the only ones that for some reason or other I didn't part with.
As far as depth goes, I'm sure there's a lot of machines out there today that are eaqual or deeper (at least from my limited experience) than these. But, there are some things these 2 detectors can do that are hard to beat. At 4.8khz they make a nice sound on silver especially deep silver. Some might say that they like deep, bent nails and other deep iron... and I think they are right. It can be hard for any machine to identify that stuff very well, but the 1265 that I used most does a neat thing. If you pinpoint the target and then, give it a few quick sweeps - the signal will usually disappear if it's iron and stay if it's a non-ferrous. A good target will not discriminate out even at depth. On a trashy site this might not be helpful, but it still saves me digging a bunch of deep holes with iron in the bottom... on a trashy site, do yourself a favour and just get a Tesoro or something. I'm sure these machines will work there but they not only are they not super great at unmasking, they can be chatty. If there is trash there, it'll let you know... great if you are looking for old homesites.
If the ground is highly mineralized, this is not the go to machine. The depth suffers with any amount of mineralization above 'normal conditions' it seems.
It's the disc circuit, true All Metal mode and 2nd disc toggle that really make this machine a joy to use for me. Between the 3... and with some practice it can make a capable ID detector (more like 3tone but without tones). Oh, and the batteries, these things get like 70+ hrs on a set of batteries..!
Having written all this, I have to admit to myself that I still feel like an amature with these machines. I probably don't use them enough anymore and when I do use them I'm not sure if I'm relearning some things I may have forgotten or if they are teaching me new things I hadn't learnt before. Fun. They are fun machines and they sound nice to my ears.
As far as depth goes, I'm sure there's a lot of machines out there today that are eaqual or deeper (at least from my limited experience) than these. But, there are some things these 2 detectors can do that are hard to beat. At 4.8khz they make a nice sound on silver especially deep silver. Some might say that they like deep, bent nails and other deep iron... and I think they are right. It can be hard for any machine to identify that stuff very well, but the 1265 that I used most does a neat thing. If you pinpoint the target and then, give it a few quick sweeps - the signal will usually disappear if it's iron and stay if it's a non-ferrous. A good target will not discriminate out even at depth. On a trashy site this might not be helpful, but it still saves me digging a bunch of deep holes with iron in the bottom... on a trashy site, do yourself a favour and just get a Tesoro or something. I'm sure these machines will work there but they not only are they not super great at unmasking, they can be chatty. If there is trash there, it'll let you know... great if you are looking for old homesites.
If the ground is highly mineralized, this is not the go to machine. The depth suffers with any amount of mineralization above 'normal conditions' it seems.
It's the disc circuit, true All Metal mode and 2nd disc toggle that really make this machine a joy to use for me. Between the 3... and with some practice it can make a capable ID detector (more like 3tone but without tones). Oh, and the batteries, these things get like 70+ hrs on a set of batteries..!
Having written all this, I have to admit to myself that I still feel like an amature with these machines. I probably don't use them enough anymore and when I do use them I'm not sure if I'm relearning some things I may have forgotten or if they are teaching me new things I hadn't learnt before. Fun. They are fun machines and they sound nice to my ears.