Pulled the trigger

[Oldhead]

After much head spinning and research I thought I was going with the f44. A little more research and brain smoke I pulled the trigger on the f5. I like the fact that there is no menu to scroll through and it seems to have some more useful features over the f44.

 

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[Roundness]

Good luck with your new machine!!!

 

[Loco-Digger]

Congrats, did you get the DD or concentric coil?

 

[Ammoman]

Congratulations, sometimes the most difficult part of purchasing a detector is making the decision. Lots to choose from out there.

 

[Oldhead]

Congrats, did you get the DD or concentric coil?

It was a decent package deal, It came with the 10 concentric coil, A full size padded bag, a trowel, gloves, magnifying glass, full size headphones with volume control. Also got a free pin pointer and I googled for a discount code and that worked also.

 

[eman1000]

Sound like a great deal. The F5 is a proven machine too. The concentric will serve you well.

 

[sataro]

Congrats on your purchase! Now have fun digging & learning that new machine...

 

[Oldhead]

Congrats on your purchase! Now have fun digging & learning that new machine...

Actually hope it comes before the weekend. Have a 3 day weekend due to being off on Monday for easter. I will head down to my dads to that old house he says used to be on the property. I looked at old aerials and only see his house back as far as the early 50's. I plan to did everything in all metal mode to get used to what the detector is telling me.

 

[against the wind]

Well, did it arrive yet?
Did you get to hunt with it?
Find anything? Any pictures?

 

[Oldhead]

Well, did it arrive yet?
Did you get to hunt with it?
Find anything? Any pictures?

Yes, Yes, Yes and Yes. Posted my finds in today's finds. I want to hunt a permission this weekend but I guess it will depend on the snow.

 

[chub]

I have hundreds and hundreds of hours on the F5 if you have any questions. Google Mike Hillis bible. The box by todays standards is pretty big. Balance with the concentric is superb. The layout is awesome. I only wished they swapped the phase lock (ground balance) button and the tones button....would make it more comfortable to GB. Its not a deep machine. It can be chattery even when laying on the ground. I often wished I could have a F75 with the F5 layout. The knurled nut on the coil wire can be irritating by its lack of grip. Battery life is excellent.
Remember to hit the freq button to find the quietest channel. The pinpoint is super accurate on the concentric. The eliptical concentric was my favourite coil.It balances so well and has good coverage with the shape. Mike spoke of a '9++' depth on the gain by turning the gain hard up against the stop then backing it off a little.
If I was doing it all again I would run much quieter gain & thresh. Listening 'through the noise' was exhausting at times.
It breaks down small and light, a bonus for a backpack. Be gentle removing the battery cover, its a bit crappy. The face is also quite easily scratched.
At the time I only wore headphones from fisher (built in independant volume). the lack of volume was a bit dissapointing considering all the buttons!
Any iron grunt (low tone) amongst the high tones is usually rusty iron. There is a significant loss of depth between 4 tones and one (test drive a coin).
The continous rotating ground balance button was a bit unecessary as I usually just ground balanced anyway rather than try and match the phase by turning the knob.

The ground balance button also has an UNUSED push button feature .Why didnt Fisher use that as the phase button?

I ended up buying a F75 and sold the F5. The difference is astounding. Saying that, I miss the interface sometimes and miss a lightweight back up machine.
I would dearly love another interface like that . Its an interesting and unique machine. The F11,22 etc in my opinion are a bit soul less
Do yourself a favour and use sensible gain settings. Also have realistic depth expectations.

I hope you got a good deal. The teknetics range (also First Texas) represent excellent value.

Keep us posted

Chub

 

[Oldhead]

I have hundreds and hundreds of hours on the F5 if you have any questions. Google Mike Hillis bible. The box by todays standards is pretty big. Balance with the concentric is superb. The layout is awesome. I only wished they swapped the phase lock (ground balance) button and the tones button....would make it more comfortable to GB. Its not a deep machine. It can be chattery even when laying on the ground. I often wished I could have a F75 with the F5 layout. The knurled nut on the coil wire can be irritating by its lack of grip. Battery life is excellent.
Remember to hit the freq button to find the quietest channel. The pinpoint is super accurate on the concentric. The eliptical concentric was my favourite coil.It balances so well and has good coverage with the shape. Mike spoke of a '9++' depth on the gain by turning the gain hard up against the stop then backing it off a little.
If I was doing it all again I would run much quieter gain & thresh. Listening 'through the noise' was exhausting at times.
It breaks down small and light, a bonus for a backpack. Be gentle removing the battery cover, its a bit crappy. The face is also quite easily scratched.
At the time I only wore headphones from fisher (built in independant volume). the lack of volume was a bit dissapointing considering all the buttons!
Any iron grunt (low tone) amongst the high tones is usually rusty iron. There is a significant loss of depth between 4 tones and one (test drive a coin).
The continous rotating ground balance button was a bit unecessary as I usually just ground balanced anyway rather than try and match the phase by turning the knob.

The ground balance button also has an UNUSED push button feature .Why didnt Fisher use that as the phase button?

I ended up buying a F75 and sold the F5. The difference is astounding. Saying that, I miss the interface sometimes and miss a lightweight back up machine.
I would dearly love another interface like that . Its an interesting and unique machine. The F11,22 etc in my opinion are a bit soul less
Do yourself a favour and use sensible gain settings. Also have realistic depth expectations.

I hope you got a good deal. The teknetics range (also First Texas) represent excellent value.

Keep us posted

Chub

I've noticed the chatter, especially while laying on the ground while I'm digging. Depth seems to be pretty good. So far I've only ran with iron notched out and tones on d4. I've had a few strong signals and got to digging, at about 12" down and not finding anything I've come to realize that a few more inches will produce a large target of junk metal. I down loaded the f5 tips and tricks pdf. It's basically a bunch of forum posts but very useful. I'm enjoying it and I'm sure a few years down the road I will probably upgrade. But for now I'm having a lot of fun getting to know the machine.

 

[fishstick]

I have hundreds and hundreds of hours on the F5 if you have any questions. Google Mike Hillis bible. The box by todays standards is pretty big. Balance with the concentric is superb. The layout is awesome. I only wished they swapped the phase lock (ground balance) button and the tones button....would make it more comfortable to GB. Its not a deep machine. It can be chattery even when laying on the ground. I often wished I could have a F75 with the F5 layout. The knurled nut on the coil wire can be irritating by its lack of grip. Battery life is excellent.
Remember to hit the freq button to find the quietest channel. The pinpoint is super accurate on the concentric. The eliptical concentric was my favourite coil.It balances so well and has good coverage with the shape. Mike spoke of a '9++' depth on the gain by turning the gain hard up against the stop then backing it off a little.
If I was doing it all again I would run much quieter gain & thresh. Listening 'through the noise' was exhausting at times.
It breaks down small and light, a bonus for a backpack. Be gentle removing the battery cover, its a bit crappy. The face is also quite easily scratched.
At the time I only wore headphones from fisher (built in independant volume). the lack of volume was a bit dissapointing considering all the buttons!
Any iron grunt (low tone) amongst the high tones is usually rusty iron. There is a significant loss of depth between 4 tones and one (test drive a coin).
The continous rotating ground balance button was a bit unecessary as I usually just ground balanced anyway rather than try and match the phase by turning the knob.

The ground balance button also has an UNUSED push button feature .Why didnt Fisher use that as the phase button?

I ended up buying a F75 and sold the F5. The difference is astounding. Saying that, I miss the interface sometimes and miss a lightweight back up machine.
I would dearly love another interface like that . Its an interesting and unique machine. The F11,22 etc in my opinion are a bit soul less
Do yourself a favour and use sensible gain settings. Also have realistic depth expectations.

I hope you got a good deal. The teknetics range (also First Texas) represent excellent value.

Keep us posted

Chub

Spot on Chub!!! I wish I would have had a 5" coil, I believe it would've ran a lil quieter but still a great machine and I miss it also.

 

[chub]

Spot on Chub!!! I wish I would have had a 5" coil, I believe it would've ran a lil quieter but still a great machine and I miss it also.

I see you have the T2 - pretty much the same as my F75 . Just runs so much quieter and smoother than the F5. Saying that, if you master the F5 then you can pretty much drive anything and understand what its telling you.

Oldhead, please do me a huge favour. Turn on the F5 and hold it with two hands. Quickly push the machine away from you and back towards you , or wave it quickly from side to side in the air...does it make a noise at the end of each abrupt movement? a bit like a falsing sound?

Mine did, the dealer assured me it was normal...but Ive often wondered. Its a great little mid range detector. Enjoy!

Chub

 

[Oldhead]

I see you have the T2 - pretty much the same as my F75 . Just runs so much quieter and smoother than the F5. Saying that, if you master the F5 then you can pretty much drive anything and understand what its telling you.

Oldhead, please do me a huge favour. Turn on the F5 and hold it with two hands. Quickly push the machine away from you and back towards you , or wave it quickly from side to side in the air...does it make a noise at the end of each abrupt movement? a bit like a falsing sound?

Mine did, the dealer assured me it was normal...but Ive often wondered. Its a great little mid range detector. Enjoy!

Chub

I will try to remember to check that for you this weekend

 

[Oldhead]

I see you have the T2 - pretty much the same as my F75 . Just runs so much quieter and smoother than the F5. Saying that, if you master the F5 then you can pretty much drive anything and understand what its telling you.

Oldhead, please do me a huge favour. Turn on the F5 and hold it with two hands. Quickly push the machine away from you and back towards you , or wave it quickly from side to side in the air...does it make a noise at the end of each abrupt movement? a bit like a falsing sound?

Mine did, the dealer assured me it was normal...but Ive often wondered. Its a great little mid range detector. Enjoy!

Chub

Okay, I turned it on and set the threshold just to the point where it was quiet. It did not make noise. If it was set where it chatters (threshold at 0) then it seemed to do what you say.