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Well I did make the statement that the Patriot paid for itself and that’s probably an exaggeration. I would struggle to get 260$ for the chain! I based that on what they are selling for as listed right now. Obviously that’s new condition and not broken and dug up. So yes, for the silver content alone it’s just shy of 3 oz. so about 75$ in silver. The chokers themselves are listed upwards of 500$ In some instances. Realistic? Probably not. But exciting non the less! Just having some fun with it
www.findmall.com
Man, excellent post. Thanks for sharing!I bought my F70 brand new for $400 from a club member that won it in a contest but didn't want it on Thanksgiving day 2013.
Same price as a new Patriot today and it only came with the 10 elliptical coil which I used for several weeks until I received a gift package from a forum member that had a small round DD coil and the 11" DD coil in it.
Both had a heavy coating of JB Weld on the bottom because he was a NE rocky beach hunter and he liked to scrape the surface, hard, so they got wrecked but he kept putting patches on them that held them togethger.
He sold the F75 he mounted them on but he still had the two coils because even though they worked just fine they looked in really bad shape, he noticed I bought the F70 and thought I would appreciate the gift.
He was correct, I did appreciate both of them highly and used them in rotation with the concentric coil for a long time after as I was learning that F70.
Still have them, I still use that 11" DD coil here and there even today.
I found a tiny silver charm on my first hunt on that Thanksgiving day, found a huge gold ring on my fourth hunt worth about $150 at melt value at that time, over the next few months I experimented with tons of settings over most targets and those coils and dug a ton less than usual but still gathered up a bunch of clad and other cool stuff.
By spring of 2014 adding up the clad I found and that gold ring I was getting close to paying off the $400 price tag.
In May of 2014 k found my second gold ring, by June I had a good handle on that F70, much more understanding than when I started and quit fooling around so much with settings and just went hunting.
By that time I probably found enough to pay off that F70 totally...for the first time.
In the 6 years following I probably found enough clad, silver and gold to pay the thing off 2-3 times again...or more.
2014 was a learning year for me, half of it anyway, but by the end of that year all I missed by messing around so much came back to me in spades.
Below are the coins and jewelry highlights for only 2014 and 99% of all of it was found by the F70, as the years went on it got easier to find great things and my treasure like grew exponentially.
I learned way more after that first year but those first few months were critical, I learned things that still help me understand this hobby this day.
All it took was a little time and concentration learning my craft with that F70 which still continues to this day.
Not really work for me, it was fun discovering all that little tool could do, and it can do so much.
All of this is just to say that paying off the F70/Patriot is extremely doable, as you continue to learn it things get easier and easier and the more you understand the more you will find.
At first I was fumbling with my F70 for weeks, I couldn't get the numbers to calm down and be stable in a smaller range but I still found stuff.
As I got a handle on manipulating the coils better finally getting those more stable range of numbers I found more.
One by one I learned new things on almost every hunt and even though I found so much in those first months it was very little compared to my usual totals for hours spent hunting.
The last six months of the year was different...I learned what I needed to learn or at least enough to find most of what you see in those pics below.
It was a learning year for me, if you had told me I would have found all that with a brand new tool I would have called you crazy.
As the years went on it only got better as I continued to learn.
I noticed you mentioned your confidence and stability issues.
All I can tell you is it took awhile for me to wrap my head around the depth thing, we are so convinced you need higher gain to go deeper into the earth I had some confidence issues myself.
If running smooth is important to you just adjust it down until it is smooth to your satisfaction no matter how low you need to go.
These things are way, way overpowered out of the factory so you are way higher in sensitivity than that 1-50 region in the gain will lead you to believe.
Thresh in the negative helps but you can turn the gain down to 40, 30 or even lower and still get shockingly deep.
I heard that about this one for awhile but I never believed it, then this happened.
How low can we go? With the F70 it appears pretty low!
Sense and depth... Yesterday I had chance to hunt a few hours last night before it got dark. A Jr. College right near my house. Been here a million times, took a ton of clad when I first came here but not a whole lot left, 3 gold rings from different areas so far too. Just wanted to see if I...
Years later and several more very positive low setting experiences have just increased my confidence levels to heights you don't have...yet.
Congrats on the chain, however just a drop in the bucket compared to future finds as you advance.
You will see.
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