F44 or F75?

[Woodsy]

Both look like nice detectors, but what makes the F75 $300.00 better?

 

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[Phishfindr]

I have an F44 with about 10 hours on it. Fisher replaced my fried F22 with it last August. Not long after that I got a gently used AT Pro from a fellow T-Net member. Not long after that I got the Equinox 600. If you decide to go with the F44 PM me. I'll give you a great deal on it. It's practically new.

 

[Loco-Digger]

I jumped from the F4 to the F75LTD even though the F4 would have hit on about 80% of my keepers. The newer F75 comes with the FA process which is great for trashy sites. It's like someone overclocked the processor, granted it is more susceptible to EMI but it gives great target separation. As for the F75LTD it also comes with the boost process and cache mode. Boost gives more depth.
I am a huge fan of the DD coils and the F44 normally comes with that weird shaped concentric coil. I have been swinging the same machine for over 4 years now. I vote you go for a newer F75 vs the F44. I'd rather have more functions, just in case I find a need for them rather than to go cheaper and not have the additional options/processes.

Good Luck in whatever you choose.

Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[Woodsy]

Any thoughts on the F5?

 

[Rookster]

I jumped from the F4 to the F75LTD even though the F4 would have hit on about 80% of my keepers. The newer F75 comes with the FA process which is great for trashy sites. It's like someone overclocked the processor, granted it is more susceptible to EMI but it gives great target separation. As for the F75LTD it also comes with the boost process and cache mode. Boost gives more depth.
I am a huge fan of the DD coils and the F44 normally comes with that weird shaped concentric coil. I have been swinging the same machine for over 4 years now. I vote you go for a newer F75 vs the F44. I'd rather have more functions, just in case I find a need for them rather than to go cheaper and not have the additional options/processes.

Good Luck in whatever you choose.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I have the older F75LTD and although I don't use all the bells and whistles it is nice to be able to have a choice in certain situations.

 

[Loco-Digger]

Any thoughts on the F5?

I find it ironic that the F5 was my 1st choice (back in 2014), but I waited a day to long to pull the trigger on it and it sold on craigslist, so I found and bought a used F4. I sold the F4 6 months later, soon after I bought the F75LTD. I do have an F2 as a back-up/loaner, I have had and used both the F70 and older standard F75, yet I never used an F5. How crazy it is that I have owned almost every one of the older F series yet never owned my 1st choice, the F5.

Both the F2 & F4 run at 5.9 khz, the main difference between the two is the F4 can be manually ground balanced in all metal mode.

The F5 runs at 7.8 khz, the same as the Technetics greek series machines (Alpha, Delta, Gamma, & Omega) I prefer that frequency over the 5.9 khz of the F2 & F4, but since my primary machine is the F75 platform I wanted a simple machine as a backup/loaner machine that allows me to have a noob up and running in a few minutes, thus I keep an F2 for that purpose.

After detecting for 5 years now I still think the F5 looks great and has plenty bells and whistles by my personal opinion is the F5 was pretty much designed for those old analog guys since they prefer dials in lieu of pressure sensitive switches.


If you are serious about this hobby, buy the best you can afford.

I have bought almost all of my machines used and have never had an issue. If you are patient and stay vigilant you can find a deal. I have seen and bought F70's and older F75s for as little as $250 and F5's go for under $200.

 

[digger27]

I was in detail for close to 30 years, there are some products that are marked way up artificially then knocked way down in actual price, (many Indian rug stores used to or still might do this), some products are just ridiculously marked high and stay there, (eyeglasses and heading aids), but most products out there are normally priced about the same and smart buyers know to ask questions and do a little research before they buy.
We call those types informed consumers.
The best way to get a real world idea about any product's value we buy is to compare two things....features and benefits.

In this case the F44, as good as it is, does not have all the features the F75 has so it costs less.
In most sites I believe most normal capable detectors can probably find 80% or more treasure out there but the detectors with more features can make a difference in the more difficult sites when extra adjustments could be an asset and also in the area of shear depth.
There is no bigger fan of the old F2 than me, we spent a lot of time together and were shockingly successful but when I switched to an F70, (close cousin to the F75), my world opened tremendously and I moved into another detecting level.
More finds, older and higher quality finds and extremely hidden finds came out of some very challenging sites I never could make a dent in previously with the F2 and a couple other detectors.
The lower priced F2 just didn't have the ability to do what the more feature rich model could.

Compare the Patriot at $399 to the F75's it is a rebadged F70 with a way lower price than what it replaced and has a huge amount of features, settings and abilities.
The F75 is the flagship with even more features and settings, not long ago you couldn't touch an F70 for less than $650 or an F75 for less than $900 but FTP adjusted their prices and lines in the last few years.

I saw at least 1 New F44 for sale online for $309 and I know some dealers were selling a new F75 for $500-$550 at one time so actually more like a $200-$250 difference between the two so is it worth it?
Yea, it is.
If you are a casual hunter that hunts his own lawn or a few parks here and there rarely you don't really need to go crazy but if you want a shot at more and deeper targets at difficult and more challenging sites more adjustments are worth their weight in gold.