Are the new F series detectors as good as the older models?

[CoilFisher]

They are both good detectors (as in the F-75 and the CZ series). Both models have their pluses and minuses. Both find coins pretty good and at good depth.
Yet, what I fail to understand is why First Texas did not merely digitize the CZ-3D platform onto the F-75 build. Seems a dual-frequency, lightweight, digital ID, and fastgrab ground balance would have been king.
I would imagine it would have to do something with the patents already existing and the intellectual rights of perspective parties (just a guess) as they merged the Technetics line with them.
Ought to be very interesting what is coming down the path this Fall/Winter.
I think I am in for that game.
~CF

 

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[dmaki1988]

i just dug a license plate in a trashy park about 13 inches down. after i got it out, i did a little air test with the f 70 and i was still getting a solid signal around two feet, no joke!!!

 

[Lowbatts]

Just got back from the sidewalk tearouts, it's on again this season. So far it's only under-the-slab work to do. That and driveway aprons.

So far I've only employed the F70 with the small DD coil. Can run sense to the max, and hit some wheaties and IH's at 6" deep in the cinder and ash matrix. "Hot rock" city. The F70 is definitely not as deep as the CZ's. But the CZ's will read a lot of those nails in that cinder and ash matrix as high tones without fail. So the CZ's will come into play when the landscapers get there to rework the parkways.

One of those IH's, today's 1903, id'ed at 49 and was 6" deep in the nastiest gravel/ash and coal mix. But it was a consistent id and the PP coincided with the spot of the target indicated. A must dig.

Easiest way to avoid deep nails with the CZ series is too simple to miss. Proportional audio. Deep silver does sound faint. Deep nails do not when going off in high coin cats.

So if your meter is pegged (8" or more indicated) on your CZ5 or CZ6, and it's a loud clear high coin audio indication then it's a bent nail, pop can, wash basin, rusty Buick bumper. It's not 100% but it's very close. Familiarity with how to size the target with the PP function is a must. If that needle is pegged and the sound is faint, dig it.

Love 'em both and yes, the guys with me who are using the ETracs can out do me on the parkways. Once in a while, well okay, one of them can. But in the cinder and ash matrix, the F70 is killer with the small coil. The bigger coils bring on the noise and there are a lot of bits of iron and hot rocks to navigate, so I go with the small coil.

Been following this particular street work contractor around for almost 20 years now.

 

[Newfiehunter]

It seems like everyone who has used the old CZ5 or 6 has a problem with nails...I've had my machine since the early 90's..and I have not had that problem...IT IS A MYTH!!! To determine if it is a nail, walk around the target and if the signal disappears, then it is a nail, even if it is jumping between coin and iron. I have used this technique for many years..and have checked the signal many times to be sure, and it always turned out to be iron as suspected....It takes knowing your machine. Also, if it doesn't pinpoint in the center of the coil, and there is an elongated signal in pinpoint mode, then more than likely it is a nail....

It seems to me that the newer F series machines are flimsy. I've seen a demo of the F5..and when the guy touched the screen..it seemed as if he was going to put his finger right through it!!...The screen on my ole CZ5..is hard plastic..and even though it is a little heavy, it is built like a tank...I'm not knocking the performance of the F series because the reputation of these detectors has improved, according to the reviews since they became available.. Why then is the CZ3D still in production? Because it is still a great detector...Just a renamed CZ5 or 6...

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey Newfie,
My F70 HAS to be built like a tank, because I've used it like a drunken Viking sailor might on an island of baby fur seals and it's still working just fine.

Yeah it's only got two years on it but it has delivered the goods where the CZ did not in terms of saving dig time on trash. Not all nails are easy to resolve using pin point either. There's a lot of them in old burn sites that are bent, and they give off great target indications from every angle.

But the easy way to determine that again is if it's a loud signal at depth, it's most likely iron. Maybe you haven't heard the call of the deep silver yet, it's a faint call and once you hear and learn it there's no going back. But again, you would want my F70 over my CZ's if you were going into the sidewalk work I'm heading off to now. It's like speed hunting, the bucket pulls the slabs, you have to get there and then get back again after they do the second scrpae while racing the tamping and forming crews who are followed by the pouring crews.

It's fast work, you need a machine you can trust with very fast and good id's in a terrible matrix of crappy noisy ground. My Minelab buddies still have to study their targets in that environment, they get slowed down (and fooled often enough) and that shows up at day's end. My CZ would slow me down also, a LOT of bad targets sound and pinpoint sooo right in that environment.

But believe me, either the CZ5 or CZ20 is going along in case I get permission to do a few yards in that neighborhood as well. Keeping the 10.5" coil on the CZ5 for that reason. That faint call of the deep silver.

These machines are not interchangeable, they are complimentary. I plan on having CZ's until they or I become fossilized or cremated.
I plan on having that F70 until I get another one.

I could get an F75 or ETrac or V3i but all those flag ship models simply will not cover all my hunt sites. On many sites they are overkill.

But that does not detract from their awesome capabilities at more ordinary sites.

 

[Newfiehunter]

You could be right about your conditions..and yes..I do know the sound of faint silver.....Had my CZ5 since the early 90's and know it like the back of my hand...and do know how to tell the difference between a nail and coin. Anyway, at least we can agree that it was and still is a really good machine...HH

 

[CoilFisher]

I have a CZ-3D and I never had any trouble with iron. I know I have dug some coins where iron nails were in the hole with it.
I agree with LowBatts as mine will become inherited--I won't sell it. It may not have the bells and whistles of the new products, but it simply does the job.
They are no-nonsense coin killers and great on nickels.

 

[Newfiehunter]

Heard that the CZ 3D may soon be discontinued as Fisher is focusing more on the F series and it could happen without notice. May have to invest in a CZ 3D before this happens. A dealer told me he sells only about 1 a year. Guess most users prefer digital machines over analog...considering the CZ series has been on the market for about 20 years now.