Not sure about my F5... Any advice appreciated!

[ChrisCoins]

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I'm Chris, been detecting with interruptions for more than 30 years.
When I became serious about it again about 6 years ago, I bought a White's Prizm IV (nowadays it's called Coinmaster Pro) and it's a machine I enjoyed thoroughly and still use.
Because my boys are getting to 'that' age, I thought I'd buy myself a new, better machine and let them use the White's. After lots of browsing on this forum and elsewhere, I purchased a Fisher F5, mainly motivated by the neat user interface and, above all, the Target ID.

We're 3 months later, and I've used the F5 a lot on all kinds of ground, mainly (dry) beach, parks and forests. And as of today, I just don't feel it. It does find things, but I feel I can't rely on its feedback. Let me explain: In 3 months time, I don't think I've had ONE strong, repeatable signal with it, it's all half tones, one direction only, often not repeated past the first 2 swipes... Target ID is, I find, totally unreliable and also changes with every consecutive swipe. As a result, I don't even mind the Target ID anymore, and rely mostly on the target indicator. Not what I was counting on.

Yesterday, I took my son to a tot lot I've worked a lot lately with the F5. He used the Prizm. In places I'm sure I'd searched thoroughly a few days before, the Prizm found several coins the F5 had either ignored, or misidentified... Every time the Prizm gave a sharp tone, where the F5 only emits half tones, if any.

Also, I suspect the standard disc on the F5 only 'sees' what's exactly under the dead center of it. Half inch above or under and you miss it.

Any F5 owner having the same experience, or any advice to tame what would otherwise be a very nice machine? Right now I feel like selling the F5 and never look back...

Thanks for your feedback!

Chris

 

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[-Taz-]

What settings are you using?

 

[ChrisCoins]

What settings are you using?

Gain mostly 85, threshold just under the 'chatter' value, iron disc'ed out, ground balance every time I feel it's needed...

 

[Sandigger2]

Chris,
What is the soil like where your hunting area? Dry or wet ? Highly mineralized?
I suspect you may have too high a sensitivity set and if your ground balance is off,
high or low, the target ID's tend to be inaccurate. Do you manually ground balance?
If you use ground grab, try manual. Also what coil are you using and is it tight at the box?
RG

 

[Phantasman]

Place your threshold in the negative (for coins) first. say, -1 to -3. Then crank the gain to chatter and reduce till it quiets down. You may even do better with -4 0r -5. The threshold is used more to adjust for smaller than coin sizes, like tiny jewelry or pea sized gold nuggets, if you place it positive. Coins don't need the + to be detected, and you should be able to raise the gain to get a better signal from them. (though 85 does seem adequate). Make sure you are in AM (disc knob OFF) when you GB (pumping the coil over a clean spot). Then go to DISC.

My F5 is a killer on coins, good segment and numeric ID at 8". And it displays a world of info to command the ground. I find the stock concentric to be the best coil for it for my area.

 

[ChrisCoins]

Thanks Rustygunn and Phantasman for your feedback!

Rusty: ground here is mostly dry and not that mineralized at all. I GB manually, but Phantasman pointed out I should do that in AM then switch back to Disc. Something I read in the manual but failed to do, I'll gove it a try.

Phantasman: I'll try your tip. Basically, what I do now is set Gain to 85/90 and Threshold to 0 to start with, and adjust until it starts to chatter, then drive back one step. Again, I can't say the F5 does not find stuff, it surely does, but either I don't speak its language or need more months to get used to it. What annoys me the most is the apparent inability to get a sharp, repeatable signal (left to right as right to left) and a consequent ID when I repeat the swipes at the exact same location... Maybe it's just the way the F5 works, but that seems unlikely :-/

Take care,
Chris

 

[Featherdfishead]

Chris, I have a Gold Bug Pro that i use primarily for prospecting but occasionally use for coin shooting. I have never used the f5 but have read that it uses the same type of processes (disc programming) as my GBPro. I had previously used whites detectors and at first found my GB to be very erratic while coin shooting. I found hat it was due to its very fast return processing and that once i understood its processing i was able to ignore the jumpy numbers and zero in on the solid sounds of a target. I love the machine and can now confidently hit targets all day long even in heavy trash and pull tab areas, with coin targets holding solid numbers better than any other detector i've used.
I would suggest that you always ground balance as phantasman said in AM but do it with your gain a 11 or 12 o'clock and then set your gain to 80+ once ground balanced. The threshold should be ran silently. - #rs or all the way left for coins and slightly audible for small gold jewelry excetra.
Do you get solid hits when you test the machine on coins and jewelry at surface level or in air test? Is the ground your detecting extremely trashy? if so your likely picking up allot of signals but should be able to pinpoint a solid target through the eradicate sounds.
A friend of mine thats had an MXT for 10yrs used my machine awhile back and described it as you did until i showed him my understanding of the machine and now he has more confidence in my ID than his own.

 

[mikeraydj]

I own a F5. I have had the problems you have. There is a price that I paid for the power I got with my F5. That is a steeper learning curve. The control of all aspects of the machine is a blessing and a curse. The machine is so customizable. But with that comes a lot of learning which I must confess have come no where near mastering. There is a guide that has been created by a man who is considered a real authority on the F5. His name is Mike Hillis. He has had great success with the F5. Here is a link to what many call the F5 bible. http://www.treasurelinx.com/uploads/Fisher_F5_Tips___Tricks_Apr_2013_rev.pdf

 

[ChrisCoins]

@Featherdfishead: thanks a lot for your feedback! I kind of suspected the problem resides in how you knowingly configure and fine tune the F5, but for that matter, the user manual sucks! And of course, the flight hours you get with it.

@mikeraydj, a big thank you for the link. That's a document Fisher should include with their detector. Lots to digest there, but you all convinced me it's down to how the md actually functions, and me having to learn its language.

Thank you and hh!
Chris