I got my F5 today. Some questions?

[cyclerider]

Hey guys,
Yup, I am a newbie to MD. I just got my Fisher F5 today and have a few questions. I apologize if they have been answered somewhere else. Anyway, when I am in AM mode, the detector appears to work as normal. It picks up everything but the kitchen sink. If I go to disc mode and say, put it on 10, after a short time, I sometimes end up getting two, I believe errors. One is "d" and the other is "pp". They don't go away unless I go back to AM mode and back to disc mode. I have no idea what these are. I am also confused with the Gain and Threshold. I have been reading a lot about the F5 on this site. Great information, but I am still a little confused. Is there a good place to start and what does it mean when I move the knobs either way? I live in Central Pennsylvania. My Fe304 os reading 2 bars. I was only out for about an hour today, and I know it will take tons more time but I think I just need a starting point and then go from there. Your comments are very much appreciated. Have a great day.

John

 

[woodwizard]

there should be a 1-2-3-4-after that d-its the amount of tones picked for iding finds .pp stands for pinpoint READ THE MANUAL-THEN READ IT SOME MORE

 

[cyclerider]

Woodwizard,
I have read the manual several times. Sometimes we just miss things. No need to YELL.

 

[autopilot42]

John, the "d" coming up in the main part of the display is for the mode you are in. This machine has three. d=discriminate, pp=pinpoint and At=auto tune mode. On my F5 these only appear briefly when modes are changed ie: if in auto tune and push pinpoint you should see a brief pp and when done pinpointing back to At. Some times when I power my machine up in discriminate mode the "d" will display when until I hit my first target and an id # is displayed. My machine was one of the first out and they have updated firmware. Mine is a 61. Yours if new might be 62 . To find what rev of firmware the machine has, with it turned off hold the pinpoint button down and turn machine on and in the lower left you will see a number come up momentarily and go away this is the rev installed, this might make a difference in the way the acts. One thing I found out with mine is the batteries have to be at the same voltage level or it acts crazy. I spoke with one of the FT techs and he said when your batteries between 7 and 7.5 volts the machine will act up and become unstable. I also had a problem when I grabbed what I thought where two knew batteries and one was new at 9.4 volts and the other was at 8.7 volts and the machine after a few hours acted up. If in doubt get two new batteries and if you have a way to check them make sure they are close to the same. With two good alkalines my machine will go until one bar left representing 6 volts. The batteries are always above 7 and usually about .5 volts apart. I hope this helps and let us know what happens. I truly enjoy my F5.

Take Care

Bob

 

[Terry in PA]

Welcome cyclerider ! Where in Central PA are you ? I'm about 40 miles south of State College. The manuals for the F5 seem to be confusing at times. Use the search tab at the top of the page and look up post by Mike Hillis he has a lot of good info on the F5. I to have the F5 and it will go get the coins. I pulled pennies and dimes out at 8-9 inches and that's no b.s. Good detector that can hang with the big boys and even blow a few out of the water. Also you can go to the www.detectorstuff .com web site and talk to Mark about the f5.

 

[cyclerider]

Hi Terry,
Thanks for the reply. I am just south of Lancaster. I have read the manual quite a few times and yes, it is a little confusing. I have gone back and read quite a few posts by Mike Hillis. Very valuable information. I am sure I will get it sooner or later. I'm gonna go out today for a few hours and see what happens. Thanks

John

 

[marcomo]

I thought they had corrected all the mistakes in the manual but if they didn't, or if you bought the detector used and got an old manual, there are some serious errors starting with how to ground balance. When you're looking up Mike Hillis' posts, he has one around late 08 or early 09 where he gives all the manual corrections.

Excellent detector, lousy manual.

 

[cyclerider]

Marcomo,
I purchased the detector new. It has the updated manual. I went out yesterday and mainly found junk except on clad quarter. I have been reading on how to adjust the gain and threshold along with how not to find junk. Gain and threshold are just confusing on what settings to use. I guess that is just something that will take time and figure out what not to dig. The ground balance works great. Notch, discrimination also no issues. Just figuring out what to leave alone. Thanks

 

[Joe_TNTX]

John,
You willl get it figured out. I love my F5 and believe me its easier to use than my new f75 ltd. I was just out hunting in an old school yard and had the threshold at -2 and varied the gain from 40 to 70 and get real solid hits on coins. I disc out iron and foil. No notching. I just ignore the tab hits, but if I thought there was any jewelry there, I would dig them.
You can get a feel for the interaction of the gain and threshold adjustments with air tests. I think the default threshold is about 0. If you go positive, it seems to go deeper but the noise might get worse. The default gain is about 50 and more gain will generally let you go deeper, but if you go too much it gets less reliable on the target id in my opinion. As someone else mentioned, read some of Mike Hillis recommended settings from this forum.
Today I used a $7 pair of headphones that I picked up from Big Lots (from F2 Youtube reviewer idea). I have others, but these really work well with the F5.
Also, if you havent done some air testing with various coins, that will build your confidence. I'm still learning the F5 and prefer the 3 tone which gives a high tone for dimes, qtrs, and larger. You will find that the F5 doesn't need a lot of gain to get good results.

 

[Alimo88]

Rome wasn't built in a day. Read, Research, Practice then Repeat.

 

[cyclerider]

Hey Joe,
Thanks for the information. That actually explains things more clearly. And thanks to everyone else for your input. Now, let's hope the weather gets nice enough to continue hunting.