f70 any down side?

[Idaho hunter]

I am thinking hard about getting an f70 --from what I have heard it
is what I believe I am looking for but wondering if there is any
down side to this machine---any f70 owners have a bad experience
with one? thanks Idaho Hunter

 

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[Sandman]

If you did your homework I wouldn't worry to much about it. You never know if someones bad experiences are their fault or their settings or electrical interference. Fisher Labs is a major company and produce quality products. If a problem develops Fisher will fix it. Remember all detectors have different features which we have to learn how to use just like our car's controls.

 

[Lowbatts]

I really like mine. My only complaint is it has about an 8" depth cutoff. I mean it has a door slammed at that depth. I've used it side by side with my CZ's and with other guys who are using ETracs, Whites, etc. and have been tuned out of targets that were within the ranges of those other rigs.

I've kept it running full on all out for the most part, and it ID's great to that magic door. After that, it usually won't even see a target settings be damned. The exception being the lowly beer can or large iron fixture.

I have not tried the bigger or smaller elliptical coils. I use the 5" DD and the stock 11" DD. Depth for both of these coils seems fairly close as I've dug many 7" targets with the small coil including small targets.

Do a lot of sidewalk tearups and I cannot use the 11" coil in those environments, the cinder, ash or EMF from noisy overhead lines seems to turn it into a chatter box unless the thresh is at +5 or better but the small coil rocks in those places.

So I don't sound like a one note organ, Saturday I was walking through an old farmfield on the way to an old site and turned it on, the 11" DD coil on. Got a great barber quarter tilted about 6" deep that rang up clear as a bell in the glacial mix and thick sediment of the field. There is a lot of ground mineralization in most such sites from a huge combination of variables including the glacial drift, farm chemicals, the long gone and now liberally spread bits of barbed wire fencing, etc...

Got two silver geos also that day with the rig, one at 2" and the other almost 7", both rang up the same and pinpointed dead on. Between the Feq options (Hz button) and the thresh settings you can usually get this machine operational almost anywhere with nearly max sense, and with the small coil on that makes it a great tool for noisy ground, trashy parks, demo sites and the like.

Using the larger DD coil and following that prescription the unit is fit for pretty much any open ground application as well including older sites. I really look forward to picking up the bigger elliptical coil one of these days and also trying that big 15" DD coil, once it's been proven out by others.

The down sides I've found were as Sandman states, my application and settings in pretty much all cases. A little crosstalk problem with some ETracs and as usual, most Garret machines but just break your buddies' rigs if they make too much noise and it's all good. If you can't break their rigs, tell them to change their channel settings or hit their noise cancel and it should clear up right away.

 

[longsocks]

Loves my F-70 .. some times i even run it in factory settings and still find lots of things.

 

[Daedalus]

Lowbatts I would send that detector in and have it checked as it may need tuned up ! You should be able to get deeper with the 11 inch coil . They make a fine machine , my friend next door has one and he does very well and I have seen him dig coins at least 10 inches down if not more .

 

[Lowbatts]

Lowbatts I would send that detector in and have it checked as it may need tuned up ! You should be able to get deeper with the 11 inch coil . They make a fine machine , my friend next door has one and he does very well and I have seen him dig coins at least 10 inches down if not more .

I knew I forgot the cons on the F70, FT service. Thanks for reminding me Daedalus!

I wouldn't send them a flashlight to change the batts after my experience with them. Sadly I've adopted the mindset that Fisher rigs are all disposable and when/if one dies out and I cannot fix it then it's off to the recycling center with it.

 

[George (MN)]

The F70 in my iron ground can't be used in SL mode or in DE mode above +1 threshold. The Factory preset is DE mode, threshold-3, sensitivity 60. These settings will be stable in most ground/EMI conditions. At -1 threshold DE sens 60 it can detect coins past 5" in iron ground, so is at least as good as the Fisher CZ-7 I had, for depth. In good ground it could go much deeper.

Air tests are impressive. It can ID a quarter accurately to almost 12" & gets it intermittently to 14", with it turned down from max. Even the small concentric coil correctly IDed a silver half in air at 10".

The negative thresholds have depth loss at pulltab disc, 0 or plus settings don't.
Turning up the threshold in disc often requires turning the sensitivity way down.
This creates modulated audio, weaker on deep coins. Negative threshold settings in disc mode stay at same volume regardless of depth.

There is no threshold sound in disc, but threshold affects target volume at depth, stability, high disc performance. Also, higher thresholds are often unstable but increase detection ability of small targets. So the higher thresholds would be desireable for hunting small gold or dig everything ghost towns, where
steady ID #s are not important. HH, George (MN)

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Get you a good leshe digger and some knee pads! Your gonna need them for all the targets your gonna find!!!

 

[dahut]

Its one of the lightest detectors to use, bar none. All day comfort with this one is a breeze.
Swing one of White's Black Bricks that long and you'll be whipped.

It takes 4 AA batteries. Its not a big deal I guess - unless you have to actually buy them.
Oh yeah, did I mention it lasts forever on those 4 cells? You can make battery money in clad long before they show any decline on the display.

It is ultra capable, with as many modes as you could want to learn. It allows for a near infinite adjustment between coil pre-amp and circuit gain... if you don't know what those are, know that Fisher thought it was important you have them.
If you do know, then you know what they'll do for you.
Go up and read George's(MN) post. THAT is the kind of adjustability and control it gives you, as opposed to the swarm of "pushbutton" detectors out there these days.

It is as deep as you could need in a general purpose unit.
Are there deeper detectors? Yes.
Do they come in at the F70's price? Not on your life.

It can use the now-common coils shared by the "F75" series detectors. Concentric and DD in a range of sizes are available. No proprietary, one-of-a-kind coils are needed.

- It has multi tone audio, a large VDI display and easy to use controls. So do most other units out there.
- It should have come with a wider stance for the base housing - it tends to be tippy.
- It has no pinpoint trigger... every detector should.
- If the audio volume could be turned up more, I'd like it. Id like an audio threshold, too - mostly cause I'm old fashioned.
- When I got mine, it had a 'microphonic' coil. This caused no end of chatter and erratic behavior. FT/Fisher sent me a new one. End of story.

Yeah I like my F70. It is possibly the best general purpose detector available today.