Air test 4 machines results

[dfmike]

Dfmike, I'm no expert on metal detectors by any stretch of the imagination but I'm going to go out here on a limb and guess that all model f5s would not test the same with being tested in the exact same conditions, maybe that's why my f5 peaks out at 70 gain and yours goes better at 95 gain. Same thing with about any product.

Just out of curiosity, what is the software version of your F5 ?

 

[dfmike]

I've just re-checked the tips and tricks F5 "bible" because I remembered Mike Hillis had a chart where he compared the Goldbug and the F5 on different targets at different gain settings (threshold zero) and his results look more like mine than yours. You might have a very unique F5 there... maybe a super tuned one.

 

[WV62]

Dfmike, I'm no expert on metal detectors by any stretch of the imagination but I'm going to go out here on a limb and guess that all model f5s would not test the same with being tested in the exact same conditions, maybe that's why my f5 peaks out at 70 gain and yours goes better at 95 gain. Same thing with about any product.

Just out of curiosity, what is the software version of your F5 ?

Would you care to post how to check the software version, I am pretty sure neither of us have looked at that and don't know how to get that information. I know it is a older one because it has the push in coil connector.

When I started testing that F5 it was the first one I had ever seen and still is to this day. So I just worked up the chart and started making settings in some kind of order and then putting a quarter in front of the coil and watch for peak numbers and then see where they went over the other side of the hill.

This machine went back to the factory with a big silver problem, it was reading a silver dollar so high it was going past 99 and reading it as iron. They made the adjustments and checked the machine out and sent it back, so any kind of super toning that was done I would think they would have put it back within factory specks.

Post those software instructions and we will get the version and post it.

Not the owner of the F5 just the tester,

Ron in in WV

 

[dfmike]

Ron, to check the version, push the pinpoint button and keep pushing it while turning the detector on. A number should appear and quickly disappear just below the voltage indicator. Since I bought mine last year the number I get is 63 which means version 3 which as far as I know is the latest. My guess is that yours will indicate 61 or perhaps higher since it was sent back to Fisher. As far as I know there is no difference in performance but just a few "adjustments" between versions. Mike Hillis made comparisons between 2 versions that he had and the differences seemed minor. The details are in the F5 tips and tricks compilation.

Before you sent it back, was it reading all silver as iron or just the big silver dollar ?

What computer software did you use to make the charts ? Thanks.

 

[MarkCZ]

If you were running with iron disc out and you went over a Silver Dollar it would pass it right over. It was a known issue with the early version F5, they were other brands and models that would do the same thing over the years.

Mark

 

[WV62]

Ron, to check the version, push the pinpoint button and keep pushing it while turning the detector on. A number should appear and quickly disappear just below the voltage indicator. Since I bought mine last year the number I get is 63 which means version 3 which as far as I know is the latest. My guess is that yours will indicate 61 or perhaps higher since it was sent back to Fisher. As far as I know there is no difference in performance but just a few "adjustments" between versions. Mike Hillis made comparisons between 2 versions that he had and the differences seemed minor. The details are in the F5 tips and tricks compilation.

Before you sent it back, was it reading all silver as iron or just the big silver dollar ?

What computer software did you use to make the charts ? Thanks.

That would be Microsoft Office Excel

It was only the big silver dollar that the F5 wouldn't see. We were on a hunt one day in an area that we had found a couple of half dollars and I brought a silver dollar from home to let my brother see what kind of numbers he would get on one. He was running high disc at the time and he ran the coil over the $ and nothing, what a look came over his face. After the trip back to FT it will now hit in disc on a single silver dollar. But I have a bag with a $100 in face value of silver coins and I would just about bet it go right over it and not detect it. I was doing some testing on my 1270 with the silencer on and it would not hit on a 5oz .999 silver coin, but it would with the silencer off. Just in case you don't know the 1270 it has a silencer switch on it that when it is turned on it is supposed to cut down on the chatter. I think my brother MarkCZ was in on the 1270 testing.

If you have 5 or more dollars in silver coin you may want to put them in a old sock and take them outside a lay them on the ground and see what your detector will do.

As soon as I get the instructions the check the software version over to my brother we will get that number for you.

Ron in WV

 

[still looking 52]

Ok Guys, I checked my version # on my f5 and it is 63 same as yours dfmike. Those guys at Fisher must have upgraded my machine from the 61 to the 63 when I sent it in for that silver dollar problem. They didn't charge me anything for all that they did, that's great customer service.

 

[dfmike]

Thanks still looking 52. If ever I find a buried silver dollar I'll know mine is OK !