jonesyct10
Newbie
- Aug 6, 2015
- 4
- 5
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
So, last week I picked up a Fisher F44 from metaldetector.com, but from their retail location. I found out I only live about an hour away, why not just drive there and fondle all the other metal detectors too.
I was set on the F44 from the start, and after dinking around with all the others, I decided to stick with the F44. It seemed to have to most features for the price, and from the few reviews I've seen, it looked to have great depth. Well, I'm not sure who started the whole, "Buy a detector, and receive a bunch of stuff", but I'm glad that pretty much every place has some sort of free bundle. It really helped to get more out of my initial investment. The stuff thrown in included headphones, a really nice zippered detector bag, gloves, and a few other nice little items. So then I left the store and went on my merry way.
As for my initial detector experience, I instantly understood the need for the pin pointer on the very first hole I dug. As soon as I dug, then dragged my metal detector over to awkwardly rescan the hole, I thought, "Okay, I get it, haha. That salesman was zero bullshitting when he said you'll either get one now, or later."
So, onto the detector! I opened the box and put the thing together. First thing I noticed was everything seemed more rugged than what I thought. The first time I held a metal detector, I was probably 5 and my dad got made at me for touching it. Now I'm 31 touching a metal detector for the 2nd time. I figured it would be more fragile, but all the tubing is sturdy and has double locks. It locks once with a pin and once with a collar. I found this made the shaft very solid. Everything looked resistant to water as the box states. The LCD has a membrane over it and the connection to the coil is a solid screw type deal with an o-ring to seal out moisture from the control box.
Once I put it together, I did some air-testing just to become familiar with how this thing works. I waved various coins above the coil to hear the difference and switched modes to hear the differences there. I found that in all metal mode with the volume up, I was able to get the most impressive results with a quarter at about 10-12 inches. Please note I'm new and these numbers are just guesses as I didn't use a ruler or anything, just eyeballed it.
I tried out different notch settings, played with sensitivities, ground balancing, pin point and all the other modes. I like all the modes and they all seem to be specific. Again, as I have never had a metal detector before, I figured the mode thing was more of a gimmick, but there are clear pros and cons to each mode. All metal really is deeper, but you hear everything. Jewelry mode is great for just getting rid of the iron. Coin mode was great in a trashy area. I didn't really use Artifact mode because it just seemed like all metal mode minus the VCO option. And I really like the VCO option. It means "Voltage Controlled Oscillator" and what it does is vary the tone and volume with relation to the type of metal and the depth. It works really well. I created my own custom mode with VCO for just iron, low tone for pull tabs, medium tones for silver and high tones for gold. It really helps to separate the iron without actually notching it out. It's quiet on little iron signals, but loud on big iron signals, and I like digging up the louder iron signals.
So far, I've been in my backyard, the woods, the beach, and for about 5 minutes the park. The beach was the most fun. It was a bit chatty on the wet sand, but I turned down the sensitivity and switched to jewelry mode with just iron notched out and it tightened up. Then down by the water, where the wet sand was, I switched to coin mode and that cleaned up the signals more. The beach was really easy to find the target too. Just scoop up a bunch of sand and look through it. Then shift all sand back into the hole. All in all, I walked away with about a dollar in clad.
I also brought it to a buddy's 30th birthday at a park. That didn't go so well. This was the first time I actually tried it out outside. The first thing that went wrong was that it attracted every kid at the party within milliseconds of the first beep. And there were a lot of kids. A little girl took my shovel the first time I got a good signal, and that was it. The ground was too hard for the kids to break, the parents were getting mad the kids were getting dirty, but when I took the shovel away, they all freaked out, and I had no pin pointer so even if I got the hole dug, I could see it taking way more time than needed without a pin pointer. I closed up shop quickly and put all my stuff away after all this, and learned a few lessons.
Once I got the TRX I hit the backyard. Boy does that pin pointer make a difference. I got the TRX because I really like the detection at just the tip. I couldn't see how the side sensing ones made it easier. I've never used one, but I like the idea of a pointer that looks for stuff like a flashlight. That's the best way I can describe the search area of the TRX. Like a flashlight. The backyard was fun, but I was getting a lot of unrepeatable signals, even though every signal I dug had some metal in them. I found some old iron fasteners and what looks to be an old copper lipstick tube. The ratcheting feature of the TRX is AWESOME. It's range is really good so it can be hard to pin point once in the hole, but with the ratcheting, you just tap the button, and it recalibrates the pointer for that distance. So, I would get closer, ratchet down, get closer, ratchet down, and repeat till the tip of the pointer is touching the object. It made my metal detecting way more fun.
That's it for now I guess. If anyone wants me to review anything specific on either the F44 or TRX or if anyone has any questions, lemme know.
I'm gonna throw in some pics soon.
-Dan
I was set on the F44 from the start, and after dinking around with all the others, I decided to stick with the F44. It seemed to have to most features for the price, and from the few reviews I've seen, it looked to have great depth. Well, I'm not sure who started the whole, "Buy a detector, and receive a bunch of stuff", but I'm glad that pretty much every place has some sort of free bundle. It really helped to get more out of my initial investment. The stuff thrown in included headphones, a really nice zippered detector bag, gloves, and a few other nice little items. So then I left the store and went on my merry way.
As for my initial detector experience, I instantly understood the need for the pin pointer on the very first hole I dug. As soon as I dug, then dragged my metal detector over to awkwardly rescan the hole, I thought, "Okay, I get it, haha. That salesman was zero bullshitting when he said you'll either get one now, or later."
So, onto the detector! I opened the box and put the thing together. First thing I noticed was everything seemed more rugged than what I thought. The first time I held a metal detector, I was probably 5 and my dad got made at me for touching it. Now I'm 31 touching a metal detector for the 2nd time. I figured it would be more fragile, but all the tubing is sturdy and has double locks. It locks once with a pin and once with a collar. I found this made the shaft very solid. Everything looked resistant to water as the box states. The LCD has a membrane over it and the connection to the coil is a solid screw type deal with an o-ring to seal out moisture from the control box.
Once I put it together, I did some air-testing just to become familiar with how this thing works. I waved various coins above the coil to hear the difference and switched modes to hear the differences there. I found that in all metal mode with the volume up, I was able to get the most impressive results with a quarter at about 10-12 inches. Please note I'm new and these numbers are just guesses as I didn't use a ruler or anything, just eyeballed it.
I tried out different notch settings, played with sensitivities, ground balancing, pin point and all the other modes. I like all the modes and they all seem to be specific. Again, as I have never had a metal detector before, I figured the mode thing was more of a gimmick, but there are clear pros and cons to each mode. All metal really is deeper, but you hear everything. Jewelry mode is great for just getting rid of the iron. Coin mode was great in a trashy area. I didn't really use Artifact mode because it just seemed like all metal mode minus the VCO option. And I really like the VCO option. It means "Voltage Controlled Oscillator" and what it does is vary the tone and volume with relation to the type of metal and the depth. It works really well. I created my own custom mode with VCO for just iron, low tone for pull tabs, medium tones for silver and high tones for gold. It really helps to separate the iron without actually notching it out. It's quiet on little iron signals, but loud on big iron signals, and I like digging up the louder iron signals.
So far, I've been in my backyard, the woods, the beach, and for about 5 minutes the park. The beach was the most fun. It was a bit chatty on the wet sand, but I turned down the sensitivity and switched to jewelry mode with just iron notched out and it tightened up. Then down by the water, where the wet sand was, I switched to coin mode and that cleaned up the signals more. The beach was really easy to find the target too. Just scoop up a bunch of sand and look through it. Then shift all sand back into the hole. All in all, I walked away with about a dollar in clad.
I also brought it to a buddy's 30th birthday at a park. That didn't go so well. This was the first time I actually tried it out outside. The first thing that went wrong was that it attracted every kid at the party within milliseconds of the first beep. And there were a lot of kids. A little girl took my shovel the first time I got a good signal, and that was it. The ground was too hard for the kids to break, the parents were getting mad the kids were getting dirty, but when I took the shovel away, they all freaked out, and I had no pin pointer so even if I got the hole dug, I could see it taking way more time than needed without a pin pointer. I closed up shop quickly and put all my stuff away after all this, and learned a few lessons.
Once I got the TRX I hit the backyard. Boy does that pin pointer make a difference. I got the TRX because I really like the detection at just the tip. I couldn't see how the side sensing ones made it easier. I've never used one, but I like the idea of a pointer that looks for stuff like a flashlight. That's the best way I can describe the search area of the TRX. Like a flashlight. The backyard was fun, but I was getting a lot of unrepeatable signals, even though every signal I dug had some metal in them. I found some old iron fasteners and what looks to be an old copper lipstick tube. The ratcheting feature of the TRX is AWESOME. It's range is really good so it can be hard to pin point once in the hole, but with the ratcheting, you just tap the button, and it recalibrates the pointer for that distance. So, I would get closer, ratchet down, get closer, ratchet down, and repeat till the tip of the pointer is touching the object. It made my metal detecting way more fun.
That's it for now I guess. If anyone wants me to review anything specific on either the F44 or TRX or if anyone has any questions, lemme know.
I'm gonna throw in some pics soon.
-Dan
