Fisher F5 came back from Fisher Labs

[fg121798]

Hi:
Strange-I never received a call but the delivery truck came and I thought it was for my wife.
When I looked at the box it had my name and I was surprised to say the least.
Inside was a note from Fisher Labs that said they reviewed the F5 and determined it was in need of repair and apologized for the inconvenience.
They said they replaced the Label,Reprogrammed the unit and calibrated it and then Field tested it.
They didn't even charge me.This is incredible.I know they are selling fishers and I expected to pay a good price.
they didn't even charge me to ship it back.
I think Fisher deserves applause for this.
Thank you Fisher Labs
the Software now says 62.
No explanation--NaDa
I do notice that I can turn the gain all the way up in the house-I couldn't do that before,it would just about touch the black and numbers would flash all over the place.
David

 

[woodwizard]

thats great - now ya need to go find some treasure

 

[upstatedetector]

David,

that is good news. I hope to hear of your findings. I am a little curious though, when you say you couldn't turn your gain up before as it would get erratic, where was your threshold and disc at (or was it in all metal)? I am usually running my F5 hot with a high gain and high threshold and hardly any discrimination (disc mode). When I am swinging the machine it is pretty stable. When I set it down to dig a target it gets pretty noisy but this I believe is normal. I have not been digging many deep coins and most of the signals I get and pinpoint are in the 2-4 inch range (even though I am working early 1800s sites). On the other hand though most of the targets I dig are large and iron which I know will throw off the pinpointing as its calibrated for coins. I have bench tested coins at 7-9 inches so I really don't think there is anything wrong with my machine, more likely the user.

In all metal mode I can get a smooth threshold hum but only with a low gain (30-40) and moderate threshold (1 or so), again I figure this is normal. I personally find all metal mode very hard to use.

I am just a little weary because I have read about some problems with these Fisher machines and my headphone jack is a little loose and overall I find the build quality suspect. I bought my machine brand new a few months ago and have been away from detecting for years but have gotten back into it in a big way. The software in mine is a 61. Just thinking it might be worth it to send it in this winter (get it looked at and have the headphone jack fixed and maybe have the software updated) when the Upstate NY winters won't allow me to be using it.

Hopefully some of the experienced users of these machines can tell me this is all normal and I need gain more experience with the machine. I also find that the areas I have been hunting hard have pretty mineralized soil.

 

[fg121798]

upstate
Before I sent it in I couldn't get a low threshold It was like scratchy and still is, but much better than it was.
I could not turn the gain up very high at all-If I turned the gain up to where the black starts it would become very erratic and I had to turn the threshold down. You could not have both the threshold and the Gain touching the black. you could have the gain just inside and the threshold just barely outside. I did have one deep dig on a shirt button snap.I can tell you right now I think this is a much better detector now than it was before. I want to see if it is accurate because I didn't see dimes come up before and now it said there were two and the sound is different.
I will let you know tomorrow.
David

 

[fg121798]

upstate
I took it out today-One thing I noticed right away is that it seemed deeper or let me say it is deeper.
Whoever said 8" is wrong look at the photo.
I am going to sell this in the forum so I'm not going to lie about it. That nail is a square nail that said junk but also was giving me dime reading t 92 .
That's what screws me up when it flashes those numbers which says it could be a nail or it could be a dime.
most of the time it's the nail and I have a ton of them in my yard.
look-that is a minelab digger it is deep so I went in to get the camera and showed how deep it was and measured it.
So if anybody says eight inches -this is deeper and I think it can go deeper I;m sure.
Maybe it's because it's been set up by East Texas.
Yeah I know I can dig the hole and then put the digger in but I didn't. I did find one penny at 3" and it seems very accurate but as it goes deep it confuses me.
It gives you good signals mixed with the bad.
I found the keys about six inches down,again it would say dime and the flash 17 or 16.
I'm beginning to think it it flashes those numbers at all, don't dig. I like it and I think it's a great detector but I have the XL Pro so I will sell this in the forum soon.
This detector finds everything but it isn't that accurate at the deeper stuff. I think it is a superb relic machine.
David.
BTW you asked what mode I was in when it jumped all over before---it was either mode disc or all metal.
Fisher did a great job with this detector.

 

[upstatedetector]

thanks fg for the updates. I use that same Minelab digger (pretty good tool). I have been hunting a site infested with nails myself and have also noticed that the depths don't always seem quite accurate. Again those depths are calibrated to coins and even though nails are not much bigger than coins I don't know what that does to those numbers. I have dug horseshoes and axe heads close to a foot in depth that rang up at 5 inches or so. Seems that is the nature of the machine. I haven't dug enough deep coins to know exactly the difference between a nail and a coin at the same depths. I have certainly noticed that the tones that come up for nails at closer depths are unmistakable. I am just going to keep using the machine until I learn it like the back of my hands and hopefully good finds will come.

Steve

 

[marcomo]

David - I'm the one who said 8", and that's the deepest I've ever dug a coin with the F5.

That's not to say someone else can't or doesn't find deeper coins with the F5. Many others are better at this hobby than me.

Still, I've found that when it comes to depth people lie, exaggerate or just plain make mistakes - and that happens A LOT!

Don't be offended, I don't think you're lying or exaggerating. I sure don't think you dug a hole just to put the digger in! But judging by where your digger is in the hole, I don't think that target was that much more than 8".

Especially considering that to make the blade stand up like that you have to stick it into the compacted dirt in the bottom, so the target wouldn't have been as deep as where the bottom of the blade is sticking.

As far as the 92 reading on a nail - with the F5, that's not a surprise. Readings in the 90's are usually iron falsing. The smallest coin that will read in the 90's would be a half dollar. 92 is definitely not a dime reading. From what I've read on this forum, that's a trait of many other Fisher detectors as well.

 

[fg121798]

That digger is not stuck in the ground but just setting there in the hole which isn't very wide.
That nail was 101/2 inches and it gave a real high pitched ding and flashed dime.
I never heard that sound before I sent it in.
almost like the sound of a ding from a fine crystal glass but much higher.
Also it found a shirt snap button from the fifties at an even deeper depth.
That also said dime if i remember right. I am going to regret selling this machine later on and I know it.
It dings all over my yard but it just isn't right on the readings after 3 or 4".
I am beginning to think that most machines are the same way under a certain price range
Also I noticed that the detector knobs were very stiff to turn or I mean tight.
They must have tightened them.
David

 

[woodwizard]

I agree you'll probably regret it but mines for sale simply cause I've got too many detectors and instead of gathering dust I'd rather sell it to some body and let them enjoy this fine machine- keep swinging and digging its the only way you'll know for sure

 

[last12know]

hmmm... seems i can't post and i can't email.... if this post goes thru....was wondering if you still had your detector and was still interested in selling it?

brian

last12know@yahoo.com

 

[fg121798]

Sorry-I haven't been here in awhile but I sold it and I know I will regret it because when I got it back from fisher I could turn it up almost all the way before it became erratic.
also I am beginning to think this depth ID is the same with all of these detectors except maybe the more expensive ones can identify a little deeper.After that you just have to know your machine really well and understand what it is telling you.
That little fisher, the way I got it back from fisher was a great machine and I stupidly got rid of it because I was on this spree of buying them and trying them out and then selling them with the thought in mind that after I satisfied my curiosity I would buy the brand I thought was the best. I bought it used and sent it in and consider it one of the best buys I made. I had the silver Umax and the bandido ll umax.
To me the Fisher was better,much better but the silver umax was easier to operate.Just turn it on and go.The fisher gave you much more information.
I know I will buy another later on. the pictures I posted were true and I know someone out there has one just like it. Lots of depth.

David
Right now I have the high tone Cibola and a New T2 with the 5" extra coil.(not the LTD).