digger27
Bronze Member
- May 18, 2011
- 1,506
- 3,225
First hunt with the F5.
I know this thing is discontinued, has the old school big head design and uses two 9 volts but I am going to review it anyway because the company I got it from tells me they still have tons more in stock and it comes with two coils for not $500 like it used to or $450 or more with only one coil like some are still trying to get but for only $299.
Not obsoleted, despite all the new kids on the block and all the whiz-bang tech, including multi...yea, I said it, this thing can more than hold it's own especially hunting there in my insanely bad mineralized, iron infested southern hot dirt.
If it can hunt here pretty sure it can hunt everywhere and do it well.
A park site I have hit a million times, tons of trash and iron so I wanted to see what it could find.
Didn't use the concentrics, another time, today was the Nel Sharpshooter because I know how well that one deals with my dirt.
Set it up for jewelry hunting ala Mike Hillis's advice...thresh at 5, gain up to 80-85 with no chatter, disc at 8, phase locked in the mid 60's and 2 on the mineralized bars constantly bouncing to 3.
First target a bouncy signal in foil and it was foil.
Second the same, bouncy by at least 5-8 numbers and can slaw.
Exactly the same behavior I saw when I used the F2 over trash, usually could get the numbers down to only a 3 number jump over good targets most of the time.
Nice to know, maybe I can settle in and use this thing the same way.
My F70 bounces trash too and it can find good targets well however not always in that 3 number range.
Next targets the same, a couple of tabs, beaver tail, can slaw and a nice sounding high tone at 71 that didn't jump but it was a bit too loud.
I figured can so I dug it and came up with a crushed can.
I got a very solid 80 on one target from several directions, hoping for my first quarter but instead an old crown cap comes up instead.
I didn't use the wiggle pull back method to see if it would have dropped to iron but I did the rest of the day on high tone quarter signals and it worked fine.
I know that when I switch to either of my concentrics they won't be an issue at all.
I got another solid hit like that but at 90 on a bit deeper target, maybe 5", crown cap, my dirt up-averages most targets the deeper you go so normal.
I move to another area I haven't hunted much at all, dug a few more pieces of trash that I called trash before I dug them and then it happened..an 80 from more than one direction, solid no jumping, and I got my first quarter...so yea.
Found a dime too a few feet away, a solid 70 about 3-4" deep... I started to smile.
Eventually moved to another area at the end of an enclosed dog park I have only hunted once.
It was under trees so not baked and easy digging so I switched over to coin mode.
Thresh 0, able to get the gain up to 85 and pretty stable but once I turned the thresh down to -1 it got quieter and at -2 dead silent... could get the gain up to 95, even 99 but I left it at 95 so surprised at all that.
No chatter, ultra quiet so silent search indeed, I credit this to the Nel coil, much better shielding than Fisher coils.
However...on this whole hunt this thing was way more stable and quiet than my F70 iwith this lower frequency, or whatever is giving me this greater stability.
Switched to D1, Mike says D1 and D2 will get the deepest in disc so I used those for awhile and then moved up to D3 and D4 a bit later trying to get a feel for all the tones in disc.
Didn't stay long and I didn't find any coins there but acquired plenty of targets some fairly deep.
One tab that came in at 90 at 8" .
Normal for Fishers to do this on deep tab targets so that's fine.
Big headlines here were it actually saw something at that depth and called the depth accurately.
8" here is remarkable in the land where any decent hit past 5" is a gift.
Got tired but had to try one more area.
Drove to another part in this large park, a small area next to an open building with a grill that was built long ago.
Hunted to death for years and I have hit it a million times but nothing has come out of here for me for awhile.
I avoid all the jumpy trash but I get a very solid at a 77-78 in I believe D2, maybe 3...showing 4" on the pinpoint.
I dig down and find a copper cent from the 70's.
Nice!
Seconds later a few feet over the exact same numbers and a super solid hit, I dig down and find a 44 wheat cent.
Alright, I find them around here but they don't pop up all the time so digging wheats for me is very satisfying.
I was tired and hungry so I was done, picked up some lunch for me and the wife and went home.
So pros and cons...
CONS...
The pinpoint button is in a good spot but right between the thresh and the gain knobs which a little too close to each other, I use gloves so every time I but the pinpoint I moved both knobs and I had to readjust.
Not great but I just switched to using the wiggle-pull back method to pinpoint.
The phase lock pad you push to GB is above the GB knob so you have to crawl over that knob with your thumb to hit it.
Every time I did it I knocked the GB setting out of whack.
The tones pad is below the GB knob in a much better place...they should have switched those two when they designed the interface but nobody asked me so I will just deal with it.
In D1 tones and D2 tones especially the iron sounds so loud, annoying really, I wish I could lower down the volume some of in case I use them and I hunt with iron in...I do that a lot and I have so much iron.
Not as bad in multi tones for some reason, it gets lost some in all the tones, but still annoying.
Not that I would use D1 or D2 for jewelry hunting but be nice to have a less annoying option.
Eventually I just turned the disc up to get rid of iron, good for coinshooting but not so good looking for small gold or silver jewelry or tiny chains that come in at iron.
But that's a pretty rare thing so again, it is what it is and I will deal.
Iron...it wraps around and gives me high hits in the 90's all over the place since I am blessed with so much iron.
Supposedly version 1 didn't do this so much but by this version 3 they expanded the target range a bit and the results are lots of wraparound in iron heavy sites.
The good thing is I don't believe there are hundreds of silver dollars lost around here and all those high tone hits don't sound right, every one a bit squeaky and nothing like actual coin targets so I will easily learn to ignore them.
Pros...Lots of them...
Sensitivity great, dug just the tiny tip of a stay-tab and it was fairly deep and one of the more solid hits.
Mike says this thing can see small chains, not just the clasps but tiny straight chains and I believe him.
Tones, nice...Not quite the same as my F70 but close enough and I got used to them pretty quick.
All metal tones...4 different pitch options and I definitely like one of two more than the others to avoid fatigue if I want to hunt in all metal.
Depth...I suspect it can hit deep here, hopefully as as deep if not a little deeper as my F70 and maybe the Nox with pretty darn stable ID's, a little more stable than my schizophrenic F70 so easier to notice the good ones.
Depth isn't all that important here, no way can we get much past 8" with anything especially in the bad stuff but there is a layer of great masked targets that still are hiding at the 4-8" level so good, stable accurate ID's at depth are most important and this thing seems to do it well.
Modulation...this thing has it in spades.
Deep, shallow, midrange targets...it paints quite the picture of what is happening below the coil.
As good in this area if not better and more accurate than anything else I have ever used.
Unmasking ...I have no idea because I didn't come across anything good in the same hole as iron or trash but I will eventually and F2 was pretty good at this, my F70 better so I assume the F5 will do it too.
It did find those two copper coins I missed so many times very easily and that were severely masked by just my devil dirt.
Target behavior....Jaw Dropping great.
Over most garbage it jumps like my F2, over good targets it locks in solid like a laser with stability I haven't experienced since I hunted out west in Kansas and Missouri dirt.
This is what I was hoping it would do most of all.
I got this thing for several reasons.
Set it right and supposedly it has enough control to be a Compadre level jewelry sniffer.
My F2 is stable and accurate here in this dirt with a lower frequency but not really deep, my 13.5 kHz F70 has found me a ton at a higher frequency and some at pretty remarkable depths but nowhere near as stable, might also has lot to do with its massive power but who knows.
I find great things with the F70 but I had to learn a whole new language and behavior pattern to do it.
I was hoping this thing at 7.8 kHz would be a combination of both...stable and normal acting and yet accurate and deeper than the F2.
I was also hoping to get back to my old way of hunting with my F2 and avoid most trash while still finding all the treasure I deserve.
Jumpy over trash, locked into good targets just as both of my Fishers did back out west in way better dirt.
Honestly, just one short hunt and it seems to be hitting all the high spots I wanted and was hoping for...so far.
A bonus is I got the thing for hunting jewelry, primarily, but it's ability to see coins with such deadly accuracy in my messed up dirt was a surprise...a great one.
Who knew it would like and play in my dirt as nice as it seems to be?
I was hoping but I didn't expect this.
The Omega is supposedly the same thing or real close in a modern package but it's not absolutely 100% the same according to some that have used both and still costs more.
Again, just a short introductory hunt but I suspect me and the F5 are going to become good friends and have some great adventures together.
But we will see.
I know this thing is discontinued, has the old school big head design and uses two 9 volts but I am going to review it anyway because the company I got it from tells me they still have tons more in stock and it comes with two coils for not $500 like it used to or $450 or more with only one coil like some are still trying to get but for only $299.
Not obsoleted, despite all the new kids on the block and all the whiz-bang tech, including multi...yea, I said it, this thing can more than hold it's own especially hunting there in my insanely bad mineralized, iron infested southern hot dirt.
If it can hunt here pretty sure it can hunt everywhere and do it well.
A park site I have hit a million times, tons of trash and iron so I wanted to see what it could find.
Didn't use the concentrics, another time, today was the Nel Sharpshooter because I know how well that one deals with my dirt.
Set it up for jewelry hunting ala Mike Hillis's advice...thresh at 5, gain up to 80-85 with no chatter, disc at 8, phase locked in the mid 60's and 2 on the mineralized bars constantly bouncing to 3.
First target a bouncy signal in foil and it was foil.
Second the same, bouncy by at least 5-8 numbers and can slaw.
Exactly the same behavior I saw when I used the F2 over trash, usually could get the numbers down to only a 3 number jump over good targets most of the time.
Nice to know, maybe I can settle in and use this thing the same way.
My F70 bounces trash too and it can find good targets well however not always in that 3 number range.
Next targets the same, a couple of tabs, beaver tail, can slaw and a nice sounding high tone at 71 that didn't jump but it was a bit too loud.
I figured can so I dug it and came up with a crushed can.
I got a very solid 80 on one target from several directions, hoping for my first quarter but instead an old crown cap comes up instead.
I didn't use the wiggle pull back method to see if it would have dropped to iron but I did the rest of the day on high tone quarter signals and it worked fine.
I know that when I switch to either of my concentrics they won't be an issue at all.
I got another solid hit like that but at 90 on a bit deeper target, maybe 5", crown cap, my dirt up-averages most targets the deeper you go so normal.
I move to another area I haven't hunted much at all, dug a few more pieces of trash that I called trash before I dug them and then it happened..an 80 from more than one direction, solid no jumping, and I got my first quarter...so yea.
Found a dime too a few feet away, a solid 70 about 3-4" deep... I started to smile.
Eventually moved to another area at the end of an enclosed dog park I have only hunted once.
It was under trees so not baked and easy digging so I switched over to coin mode.
Thresh 0, able to get the gain up to 85 and pretty stable but once I turned the thresh down to -1 it got quieter and at -2 dead silent... could get the gain up to 95, even 99 but I left it at 95 so surprised at all that.
No chatter, ultra quiet so silent search indeed, I credit this to the Nel coil, much better shielding than Fisher coils.
However...on this whole hunt this thing was way more stable and quiet than my F70 iwith this lower frequency, or whatever is giving me this greater stability.
Switched to D1, Mike says D1 and D2 will get the deepest in disc so I used those for awhile and then moved up to D3 and D4 a bit later trying to get a feel for all the tones in disc.
Didn't stay long and I didn't find any coins there but acquired plenty of targets some fairly deep.
One tab that came in at 90 at 8" .
Normal for Fishers to do this on deep tab targets so that's fine.
Big headlines here were it actually saw something at that depth and called the depth accurately.
8" here is remarkable in the land where any decent hit past 5" is a gift.
Got tired but had to try one more area.
Drove to another part in this large park, a small area next to an open building with a grill that was built long ago.
Hunted to death for years and I have hit it a million times but nothing has come out of here for me for awhile.
I avoid all the jumpy trash but I get a very solid at a 77-78 in I believe D2, maybe 3...showing 4" on the pinpoint.
I dig down and find a copper cent from the 70's.
Nice!
Seconds later a few feet over the exact same numbers and a super solid hit, I dig down and find a 44 wheat cent.
Alright, I find them around here but they don't pop up all the time so digging wheats for me is very satisfying.
I was tired and hungry so I was done, picked up some lunch for me and the wife and went home.
So pros and cons...
CONS...
The pinpoint button is in a good spot but right between the thresh and the gain knobs which a little too close to each other, I use gloves so every time I but the pinpoint I moved both knobs and I had to readjust.
Not great but I just switched to using the wiggle-pull back method to pinpoint.
The phase lock pad you push to GB is above the GB knob so you have to crawl over that knob with your thumb to hit it.
Every time I did it I knocked the GB setting out of whack.
The tones pad is below the GB knob in a much better place...they should have switched those two when they designed the interface but nobody asked me so I will just deal with it.
In D1 tones and D2 tones especially the iron sounds so loud, annoying really, I wish I could lower down the volume some of in case I use them and I hunt with iron in...I do that a lot and I have so much iron.
Not as bad in multi tones for some reason, it gets lost some in all the tones, but still annoying.
Not that I would use D1 or D2 for jewelry hunting but be nice to have a less annoying option.
Eventually I just turned the disc up to get rid of iron, good for coinshooting but not so good looking for small gold or silver jewelry or tiny chains that come in at iron.
But that's a pretty rare thing so again, it is what it is and I will deal.
Iron...it wraps around and gives me high hits in the 90's all over the place since I am blessed with so much iron.
Supposedly version 1 didn't do this so much but by this version 3 they expanded the target range a bit and the results are lots of wraparound in iron heavy sites.
The good thing is I don't believe there are hundreds of silver dollars lost around here and all those high tone hits don't sound right, every one a bit squeaky and nothing like actual coin targets so I will easily learn to ignore them.
Pros...Lots of them...
Sensitivity great, dug just the tiny tip of a stay-tab and it was fairly deep and one of the more solid hits.
Mike says this thing can see small chains, not just the clasps but tiny straight chains and I believe him.
Tones, nice...Not quite the same as my F70 but close enough and I got used to them pretty quick.
All metal tones...4 different pitch options and I definitely like one of two more than the others to avoid fatigue if I want to hunt in all metal.
Depth...I suspect it can hit deep here, hopefully as as deep if not a little deeper as my F70 and maybe the Nox with pretty darn stable ID's, a little more stable than my schizophrenic F70 so easier to notice the good ones.
Depth isn't all that important here, no way can we get much past 8" with anything especially in the bad stuff but there is a layer of great masked targets that still are hiding at the 4-8" level so good, stable accurate ID's at depth are most important and this thing seems to do it well.
Modulation...this thing has it in spades.
Deep, shallow, midrange targets...it paints quite the picture of what is happening below the coil.
As good in this area if not better and more accurate than anything else I have ever used.
Unmasking ...I have no idea because I didn't come across anything good in the same hole as iron or trash but I will eventually and F2 was pretty good at this, my F70 better so I assume the F5 will do it too.
It did find those two copper coins I missed so many times very easily and that were severely masked by just my devil dirt.
Target behavior....Jaw Dropping great.
Over most garbage it jumps like my F2, over good targets it locks in solid like a laser with stability I haven't experienced since I hunted out west in Kansas and Missouri dirt.
This is what I was hoping it would do most of all.
I got this thing for several reasons.
Set it right and supposedly it has enough control to be a Compadre level jewelry sniffer.
My F2 is stable and accurate here in this dirt with a lower frequency but not really deep, my 13.5 kHz F70 has found me a ton at a higher frequency and some at pretty remarkable depths but nowhere near as stable, might also has lot to do with its massive power but who knows.
I find great things with the F70 but I had to learn a whole new language and behavior pattern to do it.
I was hoping this thing at 7.8 kHz would be a combination of both...stable and normal acting and yet accurate and deeper than the F2.
I was also hoping to get back to my old way of hunting with my F2 and avoid most trash while still finding all the treasure I deserve.
Jumpy over trash, locked into good targets just as both of my Fishers did back out west in way better dirt.
Honestly, just one short hunt and it seems to be hitting all the high spots I wanted and was hoping for...so far.
A bonus is I got the thing for hunting jewelry, primarily, but it's ability to see coins with such deadly accuracy in my messed up dirt was a surprise...a great one.
Who knew it would like and play in my dirt as nice as it seems to be?
I was hoping but I didn't expect this.
The Omega is supposedly the same thing or real close in a modern package but it's not absolutely 100% the same according to some that have used both and still costs more.
Again, just a short introductory hunt but I suspect me and the F5 are going to become good friends and have some great adventures together.
But we will see.
