Fisher F5 or AT Pro for first new detector?

[hihosilver]

Hello,

Am still pretty new to the Forum, I joined so that I could read posts and ask questions to help me decide on a metal detector. After alot of reading I think I have narrowed it down to either of these two machines. I am not totally new to detecting as I owned a nice Bounty Hunter back in the 80s. I thought I was pretty set on the ATP but am reconsidering in light of what I am reading about the F5. I would love to hear from some of you more experienced guys who have used both machines. I plan to hunt mostly parks, and older home sites, maybe a beach every now and then. Getting into waist deep water sounds like fun to try, but not sure I would do this often enough to warrent the NEED for a water proof machine. The ATP does not have the Gain/Threshold control which I am really wanting. The ATP has the proportional audio and the iron audio. From what I have read both machines get comparable depth, and both have good optional coil choices (I'll need some help with those as well). Both seem to handle steel bottle caps w/the DD coils (although differently).

I'm really looking for a good coin hunter that is not afraid to sniff out some gold jewelry (when it is there) at a mid ranged price. I can really only afford one machine but plan on buying at least two coils when I make the purchase.

Your insight would be greatly appreciated, especially those who have owned/used both.

Thanks.

 

[flyin-lowe]

I have never used the F5 so I can't say much. I started with an F2 and was really pleased with it. I ended up getting a deal I could not resist on an AT Pro so I bought it and love it as well. Either machine will serve you well. I have never dealt with Fishers customer service but I can tell you that Garrett has the best customer service in the business. The machine I bought was used and the guy I got it from cracked the coil. It was his fault and I knew that when I bought it. After getting the machine home I called Garrett to order another coil. I explained to them I bought the machine used and the coil had a slight crack in it. The coil still worked but it would not be water proof. I called Garrett to have the warranty switched into my name and was talking with the guy on the phone about the coil. At the time the AT Pro was less then 2 years old (they had only been making them for a year and a half) so all of them were still under warranty. Even though the crack was user error and not a defect he sent me a brand new coil at no charge. He said a crack is a crack and we warranty against cracks. I was impressed by that and hear similar stories all the time about the way they handle their customers.

 

[John LA]

I like your subject but can't offer much. My F5 is on the way. I too am a coin hunter. Currently I use an Omega and ATPro.
I can't make up my mind which I like best. I'm going to try the F5. Hope others will join this thread.

 

[mudpuppy]

I think Mike Hillis got an AtPro last year...and we all know what he thinks and knows about the strengths of the F5...so maybe he will chime in and compare the two? Forgive me if I'm wrong on this Mike...I do understand what you want...gold/silver jewelry and some coins along the way...I have an F70 and the AtPro, the F70 is my go to machine on the dirt or beach and in the shallows,, and I'll use the AtPro out deep, and in the rain...I cant really give you a good comparison, I have too many hours on the F70 and not enough on the Pro to give a good account...I sure do love the '70 though, it may have ruined me for any other machine...
Mud

 

[hihosilver]

-- moved topic --

 

[azsh07]

I probably am more of a person biased to Fisher/Teknetics machines first off. More so for practical reasons and less for personal prejudice. Meaning the Fishers have a faster recovery rate for me and I tend to gravitate to that for what I hunt..mainly celar holes etc.

Now with that said I do think the AT Pro is very good machine. It has options that the F-5 does not but then again the F-5 has options the Pro does not have so in the end you kind of need to have an idea which of the unique features between the two you may require. Maybe waterproof is a big plus in which case the Pro is that. Or maybe you want a wider variety of coils and the F-5 has that plus the N.E.L coils and SEF coils....where the Pro does not.

I think the F-5 has the Pro beat on faster recovery speeds and well I know it does. I have used both in heavy trash and the F series detectors work better for me in those situations. Now was the AT Pro bad in trash...well no it was pretty good...just not the better of the two.

On the other hand some of the iron audio options on the Pro were more informative than the F-5 will have. Does that make it better in iron...well not really....just different.

Now when it comes to depth...and I do not want to step on AT toes but sorry...the F-5 would have a slight edge in that area if we compare both machines with similar coils. Now that was in my area and it is also the opinion of several people I know who have owned Pro's and Fisher F-5's and F-70's. Not a huge difference but a noticeable one on certain targets.....maybe 1/2" to 3/4". So nothing monsterous but it can be a difference.

My main complaint with the Pro was the meter was too small. I wear glasses to read and I just can't see the screen without them and I am not wearing glasses in the field. I actually ahd to put the Pro right up to my face to see what the iron audio numbers were set at and several times I thought they were set at one number and come to find out I was off....when i got home and looked with my readers on. I never could see the VDI ever...not that I rely on it but I gave up trying to see it.

So there is an example of where one fairly simply feature is a huge difference for a particular person. May seem minor until you can't see what mode you are in...and I am not that near sighted..rather the display is that small for a near sighted person to read especially in low light in the woods.

But overall they are both really good detectors. I will say the AT Pro was a very very stable machine...no chatter even at max sensitivity so that may be a bonus for some. The Fishers can be twitchy at higher gains...although the F-5 os nowhere near as bad as the F75 or even F-70.

You would do well with either one...personally I like the F-5 better but I would happily use either ( just give me a pair of 2.5 readers with the PRO..

 

[hihosilver]

I probably am more of a person biased to Fisher/Teknetics machines first off. More so for practical reasons and less for personal prejudice. Meaning the Fishers have a faster recovery rate for me and I tend to gravitate to that for what I hunt..mainly celar holes etc.

Now with that said I do think the AT Pro is very good machine. It has options that the F-5 does not but then again the F-5 has options the Pro does not have so in the end you kind of need to have an idea which of the unique features between the two you may require. Maybe waterproof is a big plus in which case the Pro is that. Or maybe you want a wider variety of coils and the F-5 has that plus the N.E.L coils and SEF coils....where the Pro does not.

I think the F-5 has the Pro beat on faster recovery speeds and well I know it does. I have used both in heavy trash and the F series detectors work better for me in those situations. Now was the AT Pro bad in trash...well no it was pretty good...just not the better of the two.

On the other hand some of the iron audio options on the Pro were more informative than the F-5 will have. Does that make it better in iron...well not really....just different.

Now when it comes to depth...and I do not want to step on AT toes but sorry...the F-5 would have a slight edge in that area if we compare both machines with similar coils. Now that was in my area and it is also the opinion of several people I know who have owned Pro's and Fisher F-5's and F-70's. Not a huge difference but a noticeable one on certain targets.....maybe 1/2" to 3/4". So nothing monsterous but it can be a difference.

My main complaint with the Pro was the meter was too small. I wear glasses to read and I just can't see the screen without them and I am not wearing glasses in the field. I actually ahd to put the Pro right up to my face to see what the iron audio numbers were set at and several times I thought they were set at one number and come to find out I was off....when i got home and looked with my readers on. I never could see the VDI ever...not that I rely on it but I gave up trying to see it.

So there is an example of where one fairly simply feature is a huge difference for a particular person. May seem minor until you can't see what mode you are in...and I am not that near sighted..rather the display is that small for a near sighted person to read especially in low light in the woods.

But overall they are both really good detectors. I will say the AT Pro was a very very stable machine...no chatter even at max sensitivity so that may be a bonus for some. The Fishers can be twitchy at higher gains...although the F-5 os nowhere near as bad as the F75 or even F-70.

You would do well with either one...personally I like the F-5 better but I would happily use either ( just give me a pair of 2.5 readers with the PRO..

Thank you azsh07 for your indepth comparison and reply. I especially appreciate the depth capability comparison, I had been told by others that the Pro was MUCH deeper. I do like the features of the Pro but for me the big drawback is the lack of a true all metal mode. When I was a teen I usedowned a Bounty Hunter 840 (not a slouch for its day) and it had the all metal option and I liked hunting in that mode for the increased depth. The F5 has this. Also, I hope others chime in on the recovery speed and trash separation. I got the impression that the AT had this over the F5, you seem to indicate the F5 has this feature but performs it differently.

I do hope Fisher manufatures a larger concentric eliptical as well as a larger DD (perhaps they will release that new 15" DD for the technetics/greek series and then the F5 could use it as well). But I am really learning from reading alot of the posts that target separation and ID are much more important than depth and it seems from what you have said and what others have said, the F5 does these things well, especially target ID.

Thanks again, please keep the posts on this thread coming.

 

[azsh07]

I do not know for sure but I have a guess that there were some really hot AT Pro's when they first came out. Hey I knew guys that were digging deep bullets down in VA...and depths I don't even get air testing. I know these guys and they do not lie....that much

So I think it is quite reasonable that they detuned them....or changed something...too many people raved over the depth when they first came out...so who knows

Anyway I only say that as I know people who see both ends with their Pro's...and many are in the same areas.

Also unless you are the upper end of the detector scale I just don't see huge depth differences in most modern mid level detectors. Hey I tried most of them and they are all good...all of them but I don't know of any that really stood out in depth...and to say that it has to be noticeable. Now I know for sure that the F-70 with a similar sized coil is deeper than my At Pro. I had both at the same time and tested them on same targets and the F-70 clearly was deeper...no question. But we are not talking about the F-70...although it really is more in line price wise with the At Pro

Now as far as target seperation I would ever have a hard time agreeing with ever saying the PRo was better than the F-5. At best it is a tie....to me the F-5 is better. Now we can all interpret that differently too....so again we could say it is close enough that neither blows the other away.

As for coils I would not think the 15" coil is needed. Anyone I ever read that had one got rid of it. It is too big for most anyone. Now...a 13" coil is good. I have an N.E.L. 13 tornado on my F-70 and I like that but would not want anything bigger. I know they make the same coil for the F-5. Then again the Fisher 11" DD coil is just about as deep as the 13"...maybe a tad less but not by much if any.

What do we have then....a close race...too close to call....it is a personal preference here. Either one will find the same thing as the other. If you and I hunted side by side I doubt we would ever see a huge difference in targets seen or not seen. Maybe big differences in how each detector responds but your not going to walk one behind the other and find things the other kept missing.

 

[surf n turf]

So now azsh07 you got me thinking, as im reading your post does anyone know if the Pro was detuned and why???
Thanks, Dale

 

[marcomo]

I've used both more than I've used any other two detectors. The F5 was my #1 detector for close to three years and the AT Pro has been my #1 now for over a year and a half.

Personally I like the AT Pro better, although I think the F5 is a very good detector.

The things I miss the most on the F5 are the 4th (nickel) tone and the interface. And I'll give the F5 the edge for not being the brand used by a couple of buffoons on TV.

As far as detuning the AT Pro, Brent Weaver who designed the AT has said no and that Garrett would never do that. Of course if they did, they surely wouldn't admit to it.

My feeling judging by the quantity of 7-9" coins I've dug with each is that the AT is slightly deeper than the F5, but it's close. The deepest coin I ever dug was with the AT - it was a 1959-D penny at a measured 10" in very moist ground. Kind of disappointing having to say my deepest coin ever was a memorial penny...

My perceived slight AT depth advantage may be from me getting more experienced at detecting and more skilled at listening for deep targets, I don't know.

Additionally the AT Pro is way more stable than my F5 was increasing the amount of areas I can get maximum detector depth. With the AT, using less than 8 bars (maximum) sensitivity is the exception. No doubt there are many areas where the AT would benefit if I could crank the sensitivity higher than what is now the max.

One thing I've noticed more with the AT than any other detector I've used is how much deeper it goes in wet soil than dry. All detectors are said to get more depth when the ground is moist, but with the AT the difference seems pronounced.

I prefer that the AT uses four AA batteries compared to the F5 using two 9V batteries. The AT works great with LSD rechargables which makes it really cheap to run and keep fresh batteries in. I know you can get rechargable 9Vs too, but they are more expensive and a lot less widespread. An AA charger was a no brainer for me to buy considering not only the detector but a lot of other things we use that take AA batteries.

The AT audio is more nuanced to my ears and the AT is the most "honest" detector I've ever owned. By that I mean that when the AT is saying good target it almost always is. Falsing is minimal with the AT. I still dig a lot of deeper iffy targets so some trash is inevitable, but the percentage of trash I dig since I've learned the AT language is way down from any other detector I've used and the keepers are up. I've had detectors that were deeper than the AT Pro, most recently a 12" Dankowsk1 tuned CZ-3D. That thing was a depth monster but it iron falsed so much and I dug so much trash that I just couldn't enjoy using it.

A respected longtime detectorist I corresponded with recently says he and his wife have had multiple Omega 8000 detectors and the one he just got is the first one he's gotten that has licked the EMI issue. Since the F5 is a first cousin to the Omega built on the same platform, it would probably make sense if you get a new F5 to get the most recent software version you can get. The first four digits on the F5 serial number are on the box and they tell the month and year of manufacture.

I've got nothing but good things to say about both companies. I could go into detail about how good, but I'm getting tired of writing and you're probably getting tired of reading this. I'll just say that when I've had repair issues, I've gotten great service from both and .

 

[kayden]

Will the F5 work in water?...theres your sign!

 

[tabman]

A respected longtime detectorist I corresponded with recently says he and his wife have had multiple Omega 8000 detectors and the one he just got is the first one he's gotten that has licked the EMI issue.

The quote above has really caught my attention. I really like my Omega, BUT there are lots of places that I detect where I can't turn the sensitivity up to where I want it. The 'gain' and 'sensitivity' are both controlled by a single knob. So, when I'm forced to turn down the sensitivity because of lots of EMI, the gain becomes so low that I can barely hear the high tone pitch. Now I need to find out what the upgrade to the new version is going to be.

I sure it won't be a lot since that didn't get it right to begin with. Yeah buddy.

tabman