F5 Review

[marcomo]

OK, my review isn't going to be anywhere near as informative technically or otherwise as Mike or Brian's, but for whatever it's worth here it is as I submitted it to the metal detecting review site with a couple corrections.

EXCELLENT Detector, EXCELLENT Depth
Marcomo in God Bless the, USA -
I read Jerry in Oklahoma's review and I felt compelled to share my opinion of this detector.

Jerry said he can only get accurate target ID down to 4" on a penny. If that's the case, it's one of three things:
1. User Error
2. Really bad (highly mineralized) ground
3. A defective machine

My experience has been that the target ID is accurate on smaller coins to 6". I've found two silver dimes at 6" and both hit solidly in the coin range. My deepest finds so far have been a 8" Mercury Dime and a 8" 1942 (non-silver) nickel. The Mercury was an iffy signal and I thought it was probably junk before I dug it, with ID numbers all over the map from 30's on up and only occasional high tone chirping mixed in with the lower tones.

This is very good depth for a midprice detector. And that's honest depth, not "my Explorer found a half dime at 12 inches" b.s. If that extra inch or so of depth you can get with a high end detector is important to you, you might want to go with the F5's higher priced brothers the F70 or F75 which are considered by many to be as deep as any machines out there.

In my area the Fe3O4 meter almost always reads two bars when I'm over clean ground so my soil is lightly moderate. Except in the trashiest areas I'm able to run the detector hot - a setting I often use is threshold at 0 and gain at 90.

An interesting thing about this detector, and something that takes getting used to, is when I run the detector hot and hold it still it will chatter and the ID numbers will jump all over the place. But when I swing the detector the chattering and jumping display numbers go away. The detector is stabilized by the movement over the ground. I've gotten used to it, but in the beginning it was very annoying when I put the detector down to retrieve targets and it kept chattering unless the controls were turned down or headphones removed.

More important than the excellent depth, the recovery speed and target separation are phenomenal. And the interface is functionally superb with the stubby knobs and a lot of information right in front of you.

Yes, I really like this detector a lot. But here's what I don't like:
1. Fisher markets this as a simple to use detector, no doubt to appeal to the Cabelas shopping newbies. But the F5 has a lot of horsepower so to speak, and a lot going on under and above the hood. I don't think this is the best choice for a first detector. There is a definite learning curve made even longer by...
2. An absolutely terrible instruction manual loaded with mistakes. To get the manual corrections go the Findmall Fisher forum and search for Mike Hillis' manual corrections post. Mike is an F5 guru and you can learn a lot by reading his archived posts. Hopefully Fisher has come out with a corrected manual by now.
3. The build quality is solid enough but the ID display covering is a very flimsy plastic. After about 10 hours of use I was getting enough scratches on it to realize that if I didn't do something I'd be lucky to be able to read the display at 100 hours. So I got a sheet of thin clear plastic, cut it to size and attached it on the sides with gaffers tape. That's worked well to protect the display.
4. No extra coils yet. The stock 5X10 is an excellent all-purpose coil, but it would be nice to have some extra coils available. Fisher says they're coming soon, we'll see.

The more I use this detector, the more I like it!

 

[Terry in PA]

I just bought a F5 and it should be here today or tomorrow can't wait to give it a whip. Will be taking it to a few cellar holes to try it out.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Mike Hillis]

I sure wish they'd update the manual and post it online so we can all get one.

That manual sucked.

HH

Mike

 

[Kos]

Thanks for sharing Marcomo

I agree with Marcomo about that flimsy plastic over the display. I surfed the net for f-5 articles and had found one about making a shield for the display. I had gone to Lowes and purchased a 1/8 thick piece of clear acrylic. Lowes has this acrylic in many different sizes. I had cut out a template made of cardboard to match the shape of the faceplate and traced same onto the clear acrylic. Cutting same was the problem. If you purchase the cheaper acrylic, it would have the tendency to chip or break. After a couple tries, I got it pretty close. Attached it with double sided tape and it has held for many outings and I don't have to worry about nicking that cheap cellophane over the display.

The F5 is my first detector, but after reading all the great posts here. I just can't believe how this unit changes from one cite to the next. I hit my old elementary school yesterday and FeO was 1-2 bars, but display was jumping all over. Freq change would not correct it, so I just cranked it way down to run stable gain 40 threshold -4. Was able to find many copper pennies and a few quarters. One thing I have noticed and can't figure out is that at times I will get a higher tone hit one way only with repeated hits going that one way. When I dig out my plug, Nothing? I cant even get that one way hit from the hole or plug after the plug is gone.???

Still searching for my first silver
HH
Kos

 

[marcomo]

Kos - When you're on a site and the ID #s are jumping all over I'm sure the detector is chattering too. Does it stop when you swing the coil over the ground? That's what mine does, even when I move it only slightly.

As to your other question, hopefully Mike Hillis will see it, I think he can answer it better. When you get that coin signal, is it the very top notch? In the 90's? If it is I think you're getting iron falsing. Is the missing target pinpointing at the strongest spot before you dig the plug?

The silver will come eventually. The F5 is really strong on silver and copper. Not as much on nickels.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Good review marcomo. If your getting mercs at 8", that's terrific!! My deepest F5 target so far was a 14K gold ring at 7". Interestingly the depth reading on the F5 seems to be crap, as it almost always says 3", but the actual target depth is all over the place. I agree that the F5 isn't so hot on nickels. I think the biggest problem with nickels is that often the F5 cannot differentiate between nickels and pull-tabs, I get pull-tabs that come in as nickels, and nickels that come in as pull-tabs. Dang, talk about having to dig everything.

Interestingly my F5 has been super stable until a park I hit with some friends last weekend (of course we were fairly close to the Sutro Tower in SF, so that would explain the instability, which was find when I turned the sens/thresh down). But here's what was really odd, maybe someone can tell me what was happening. The soil was a sandy soil, and when I would hit a target I would get a quick coin blip, but then it would be gone. If I switched to all metal mode, it would be there, or PP mode it would be there, but it couldn't see the target to save it's life after the first initial blip. We moved to another park, and it was running normal. Something was really strange about the first park

HH,
Brian

 

[Kos]

Thank you Marcomo - It would stop chattering when swinging, but the IDs would still be jumping around at times when swinging. I then began listening to the tones only and not rely so much on the target ID. This old school was built in the mid 1800s, so I was trying to run my settings as high as possible to reach the deeper stuff. I agree with you on the nickel subject. I have found only one nickel so far.

As far as the falsing subject goes, I will get high 90s, but not always. Pinpoint does seem to mark a spot which is a little off from where my hits are but I find myself digging two plugs side by side and nothing.

Kos

 

[marcomo]

Brian and Kos - Interesting you say that about the depth reading. I forgot to make any mention of it in my review, but my depth reading on coins or coin sized objects has always been accurate - never off by more than an inch. That sounds like an issue you might want to address with the repair dept. Maybe it's something different with your soil or maybe it's a quality control issue, I don't know.

I have noticed that nickels hit in a tight range - usually 30-31. The 8" nickel I dug jumped around in the numbers but not as much as the 8" Mercury. Surprisingly, the signal seemed to be a little stronger than the dime. I know the nickel is a bigger coin than a dime, but considering that I haven't been finding a lot of nickels with it I was surprised.

As far as the 8" Mercury goes, don't misunderstand - that was at the very fringe my F5's depth. I can't know for sure, but I don't think the detector would have gotten it had it been another inch down. And I thought it was trash - I've dug junk several times that hit the same way at similar depth. It was one of those I'm going to dig it to prove its junk type of things, I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

When I get a target that I can pinpoint at 6" or more I just dig regardless of how solid it sounds or what the meter does.

Little high tone chirps at 5" or less have always been junk for me, usually small rusty nails.

I've found a couple wheaties and an old token at 7". They did some # jumping too, but not as much and they definitely hit more solidly. When I dug that second wheatie at 7" I remember thinking to myself before I dug I think this is a good target.

Any coins I've dug at 6" seem to be tight reading or at least reasonably tight. I dug a 6" rosie that jumped from a low of 58 to the 70's. It was a weaker signal but definitely hit two ways with more than a chirp. That's not real tight, but within the coin range. I dug a 6" wheatie that stayed within a few numbers.

As far as the ID jumping when the detector settings are hot and the coil not moving, when I move the coil over the ground the chattering stops and the ID stops jumping.

The reason I feel very comfortable about the accuracy of my depth #s is because last year I found my first and so far only Barber - a 1908 dime that would have been a VF-XF coin and I put a big old scratch across the front of it with my digger. I was still excited, but really mad with myself for being such a careless knucklehead.

I learned my lesson and now when my Propointer shows I'm close to the target I probe very gently with my brass probe and I almost always see the target before I pull it out of the hole. And I use a Planters Buddy which has graduated numbers on the blade and handle.

 

[Terry in PA]

Have you ran your F5 in all metal much ? They say you can get alot deeper on target's by using all metal. Do you think the dime would have came in alot better in that mode ?
I'm going to give it a try in the woods were targets are fewer.

 

[marcomo]

Terry - I've tried to at the beginning of several hunts, but it fatigues me really quickly. I miss the tones and when I search in all-metal. My relaxing hobby disappears and the hunt becomes way more intense and after a short period of time I find it stressful.

You really have to watch the meter in all-metal which makes me less aware of the outside world which is a negative for me since otherwise keeping aware of my surroundings comes naturally to me. I'll continue to try it when I feel more adventurous and maybe I'll get more used to it.

 

[blacktoe]

Just gave you a yes vote on the review site. Thanks for the review. The F5 is on my short list of next detector. So far it is mainly between the F5 and the exterra70. I am also looking into the whites 6T. Value wise the F5 is on top. I have a F4 but am getting bummed about the jumpy display. I want a detector that is fairly stable and accurate to more than 2 inches.

blacktoe

 

[marcomo]

Blacktoe - You know I like the F5 a lot. It's an excellent detector and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you. As I said before, I wouldn't recommend it to someone buying their first detector. But if you can afford an Xterra-70 the F70 might be a detector to consider in the same price range (actually $50 less) for that extra detecting depth and extra accurate display depth.

People on this forum that have used both seem to think that even though the F75 has some worthwhile extra features, the F70 is basically its' equal in performance and the 70/75 performance is top of the line according to a lot of experienced people here.

The F70 (and 75) was and is beyond my budget.

The reason I was able to swing the F5 was because a dealer had a new one up on eBay for less than usual and it didn't sell so he lowered it even more. I snagged it on the buy it now within half an hour of him relisting it at a lower price plus I had a 10% off on any electronics item coupon from eBay. So I wound up getting a new F5 for $349 shipped.

Personally, I wouldn't buy an F series detector used. You'll save some up front, but you lose the 5 year warranty since it's non-transferable.

 

[blacktoe]

Thanks for the reply marcomo. I got my F4 straightened out and am happy now. That is till I get the fever again lol. Gonna keep saving my coins. Hopefully it will come a time when you can get a DD coil stock on the F5. Then I would really want one!

For Kos. Even tho we have different detectors we both had jumpy numbers. I don't know if this will help but to fix mine I shortened my rod so I had more control and slowed down my swing. I also did a reset on my F4 by removing and reinstalling the batteries. (Don't know if this will reset a F5)

What I read on another forum you don't need to be further from you feet than about 18." I had mine too long because I thought it would make my path wider not realizing it also made my swing faster. Plus it also wore you out faster.

blacktoe

 

[Cal_Cobra]

blacktoe honestly I don't think the F5 goes any deeper then the F4. Keep rockin' the F4 it's a good tector, especially with four great coils available.

 

[blacktoe]

Cal_Cobra,

I guess all the knobs on the F5 turn me on lol. Sunday I went behind the gym at the high school and cleaned up on quarters. Most were between 1 to 4 " down. I knew what I had before digging. This was a place a guy with a MXT told me he had cleaned out. So far in his cleaned out spots I have probably found $50 or more. If he cleaned out anything it must have been rings. No joy on them there. I have found 2 silver rings but none there.

After really thinking about it I am going to try to resist the new detector fever and learn this F4 better. Where else can you get a new detector for $399 with a DD coil? I did buy mine on the special last year and got 3 coils when they were $425. A.M. does not have TID like the F5.

blacktoe

 

[marcomo]

Update from this past weekend - I dug a wheatie at about 5" and I was kind of bummed.

I always enjoy digging wheat, but I was kind of mystified because this one did some serious ID jumping and mostly below the coin range.

I was thinking it's probably trash, the sound was solid enough to entice me to dig but not the solid coin signal I expect at 5".

I didn't actually see the penny coming out of the hole, it was in a fistful of dirt I pulled out after probing.

The penny didn't look any different from most of the wheats I dig and the soil was moderate. And no other metal right nearby.

Maybe the penny was sideways in the dirt?

Any more experienced minds have any other ideas why the target wasn't more solid?

 

[Mike Hillis]

First thing that comes to mind is that not all wheat cents will read in the high coin range. There are some that will read down in the zinc range and I have a 1937 that reads in the old time square tab range both in the ground and in the air

Second, it could be that the coil was not centered over it. The elliptical design allows a target to be picked up in a large area. On the deeper targets I tend to pinpoint it pretty exact with a couple of retunes and then sweep it again for a better id.

Third, dry soil conditions can affect performance. My soil, when dry, can be really hard to get id at depth. I often have had to pinpoint to get the exact location so I can get the sweet spot of my coil over it, and then sweep and watch the confidence bar to see what it said was the best id number.

Forth, any combination of the above along with target lay angle can give you bouncing id.

Aint this fun. We call ourselves metal detectorists or treasure hunters but really we are more like detectives, looking for clues to tell us what is that thing my metal detector is beeping on and do I really want to dig it up

HH

Mike

 

[jim tn]

I have had the same thing happen with my F 75. Some wheaties have read in the 60's, but a good high tone in 3h. And some were not all that deep. HH jim tn

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Cal_Cobra,

I guess all the knobs on the F5 turn me on lol. Sunday I went behind the gym at the high school and cleaned up on quarters. Most were between 1 to 4 " down. I knew what I had before digging. This was a place a guy with a MXT told me he had cleaned out. So far in his cleaned out spots I have probably found $50 or more. If he cleaned out anything it must have been rings. No joy on them there. I have found 2 silver rings but none there.

After really thinking about it I am going to try to resist the new detector fever and learn this F4 better. Where else can you get a new detector for $399 with a DD coil? I did buy mine on the special last year and got 3 coils when they were $425. A.M. does not have TID like the F5.

blacktoe

The F4 has a more stable TID over the F5 IMHO. I like the knobs and display on the F5, but they were starting to go that direction with the F4 already. We have a club competition hunt coming up and I can't think of a better machine then the F4 with the 11" DD, although the 10" concentric is tempting, it's feather light, very accurate and pin-points spot on.