I just got my new F75. I think I might have got a bad one. HELP! (long)

[JOHND84094]

I have read the manual cover to cover two times and the parts about ground balancing, sensitivity, tones and settings another two times. I have also been reading your posts with great interest for the last two months. I am new to metal detecting, but between the manual and all of your posts I think I understand it just fine.

I started out with the factory presets and ground balanced it. I was getting ground readings of mid to high 80's in our sandy soil. I did like it said in the manual and held the coil about six inches above the ground while pumping the coil up and down between one and six inches, one to two times per second for maybe eight pumps. Then I released the trigger. The FE graph was reading quite low between .01 to .03. I did this over the grass in my front yard and also in the back yard. My F75 was totally unstable. I was getting ID readings that where in the high 80s and 90s then down into the ferrous range and everywhere in between with almost every pass of the coil. Then I would go back over where I just got the "hit" and I would get no reading. I adjusted the discrimination from between 5 to 20 and turned the sensitivity down to 40 and it still was very erratic. I was using the 3H tone setting mostly. I tried the All Metal Mode with the sensitivity between 40 and up to 60, with the threshold around 0 to 1. I reground balanced it each time I changed the mode.

I thought I would try a test garden. I dug a hole seven inches deep and put a quarter flat in the bottom of it. I ran my coil over the hole before I buried the quarter and my detector wouldn't even read it. So I gave up on that idea. After all that I thought that it must just be all the electrical interference around a house that I have read some of you mention in your posts.

I then decided to go to a city park and try it out on the turf around the soccer field. Again the ground reading was mid to high 80s. I tried discrimination mode again with the discrimination around 5, sensitivity between 30 and 60, 3H tones and DE and BC processes. I also tried the All Metal mode there in the park also. It was a little more stable in the park, but still unusable. This park is maybe twenty years old at the oldest and has all sandy soil. I was getting "hits" all from high to low and most wouldn't repeat. I was getting "hits" almost every pass of the coil. I was keeping the coil approximately one inch off of the ground and keeping it level at the end of each pass. I found two beer cans that read like silver. They were about two inches deep. I also found a newer penny about one inch deep. That's all I found after about a half hour. I felt like wrapping it around a tree.

I called Fisher yesterday morning and they had me talk to John Gardiner. He wasn't much help. He just said to check and make sure that the coil wire connection going into the back of the display housing was snug, which it was. He didn't really recommend much else. Does it sound like I have a bad one? Does anyone have some suggestions of something that I might be overlooking? I really like the F75 and I want to be successful with mine. You guys make it sound like it's the best one out there now and it probably is.


HH, John

 

[jeff@middlesex]

sounds like you need more pratice. you have to get used to hunting by the sound first not with the meter.

 

[Mark in NC]

At either one of the two sites mentioned, do you get the same erratic audio when holding the coil stationary, either on the ground or in the air?

Have you tried switching frequencies?

"To shift frequencies:
1. Hold the MENU button down. Do not release the button.
2. Push the trigger forward to decrease the frequency
Or pull the trigger back to increase the frequency.

Each frequency change requires a push of the MENU button.
Each actuation will shift the frequency by one value."



While in your yard, hold the 75 coil up about waist high. Push forward and hold the trigger and take note of what kind of audio you're getting. (smooth, erratic, etc.)

Let us know the answer to some of these things and the folks on here will do there best to help you out. (Pretty cool bunch over here in the F-75 forum )

 

[Bill Ladd]

Take every post you read on that web page with a grain of salt, as MANY of those "reviews" are done by 1 of 2 type folks....

1) Somebody who tried it for an hour & didn't really take the time to learn it so they go to that web site to blow off steam...

2) Other "brand loyal" people, or rival brand dealers who don't even own an F75, but who fear the F75 outselling their detector & see eveybody switching to it. So, they go in under fake names and states and slam it & give it 1 star in an attempt to mislead people like yourself....

Now, I think a "consumer reports" type site for metal detectors is a good idea......but the way this one is done does not really work. There's no way to verify anything. Too easy to fake a name & e-mail address, & you don't know weather to believe the "reviews" or not. I've seen sales pitches for other brands in Fisher "reviews"They need to get honest, unbiased folks in the hobby to give real reviews. But, there lies the problem.....find me someone in the hobby that's NOT biased. Instead of relying on fake "reviews", the best gauge of a new unit is reading all the big forums. Look & see how many folks are switching to the F75 & talking about how great it is, etc. I don't see any bad reviews....mostly all good with maybe some learning curve type issues like you have.....

Anyhow off my soapbox about so called detector reviews.....

There have been a couple posts that mirror yours, so I don't think you have a problem unit. First off, stay away from all-metal mode. That's a mode you will hear everything and just get more confused. Try to remember your a beginner....& not only that, a newcomer with maybe the "hottest", or most sensitive ID detector in the entire hobby. Therefore you have your work cut out for you, & your going to need a ton of patience.

Ground balancing is VERY important, & turning your sensitivity down will also be nessisary until you get alot more comfortable. Don't be afraid to put the sensitivity on 20 until you get several coins under your belt. That's plenty deep enough to find some modern coins. You could have ground balanced too close to a house with electronics, or even set the balance over a metal object. Also, your mineralization readings are kinda high too (alot higher than my soils). This can make the F75 seem "chattery". Another thing I like to reccomend to beginners is to try maybe 1 tone or 2 (low/high). The more tones you use the more confusing sights & sounds you hear. Try one tone & dig solid repeatable signals. BC or DE process are fine. Try putting your discrimination up to cancel or minimize the amount of trash signals & chatter. Just go get the coins for now. Cans will always fool the ID on any detector, so don't worry about those. You had the right idea. Go back to a ballfield with some higher disc & lower sensitivity & dig some coins. They should "lock" on with a nice solid number & repeatable signal. Leave the "jumpy" numbers or one way signals alone for now. Watch for that tiny ground balance message when you fastgrab balance. Make sure it does not say "cant GB"...

Some folks need 30-40 hours in the field with a new & complex unit like this, so keep your chin up.....
Good luck,
Bill

 

[Rick(ND)]

I agree with both Jeff and Mark being you are new to detecting. See what the detector will do with the coil in the air to see if you notice any interference, if there is change freq and turn down the sensitivity to see if it will get better. Now if there is no interference while the coil is in the air, pull the trigger so it is in all metal and lower it to the ground and see if there is any metal under the coil and find a spot there is none, then push the trigger forward and ground balance. Pump it up and down a few times until the threshold don't change much from when the coil is 8 inches to 1 inch above ground. Now you are ready to detect and you will hear some different signals come and go, but the ones that are repeatable when swinging the coil over them from right to left and left to right are the one to check out with the meter, but until then you go by the audio.
A coin buried in fresh ground you may not pick up, or even in a hole, but in actual hunting condition you will see some deep ones. Don't be worried about running high sensitivity until you get to know the detector well and I was talking to a guy I just sold a F-75 too and he was running sensitivity at 15 in a well worked site that was trashy and still picking out coins in the 5-7 inches deep.Ran higher sensitivity and it was not stable as just too much trash there.
Experience with the F-75 will help out a lot as the more you use any detector the more you will understand it, no detector is perfect and the more powerful one the more you will see some of the chatter the less powerful ones may not have. Beginners should run less sensitivity and pick out area that are not worked out or very trashy during the learning of a detector as it will only make the learning curve harder and longer. I have been detecting for 33 years with different detectors and the F-75 even with the hours I have on it I am still learning this detector and I get a lot of chatter too, dig a lot of trash too just to see what it is as it is part of the learning of it, but been finding a good target will lock on the tone and the numbers better after I see it is a repeatable signal. I also see some great depth on actual targets in the ground verses the test gardens too.
Patience, practice and experience is what is needed with any top of the line detectors to become good with it.

 

[Des Dunne]

Bill,

That's a fairly broad statement!

While we both agree with some of what you say there are some folk out there who do know what they are doing, posibly even participated in the development of a particular machine who might be in a fairly good position to point out the new features and explain the differences say between the Mk1, Mk2 and so on.

Good Hunting

Des Dunne
Minelab

 

[Tabdigger]

I have used Bounty Hunters for several years and the problem you decribe is what happens when the coil wire is loose on the shaft and wiggles when swinging. Try rewinding the coil wire around the shaft securly and see if it cures the problem.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

John,

Have you set up a test spot (or even a cleared ground balance spot) that was well and truly cleared using a "test horse" of a prior and dependable detector? Lots of folks walk outside the back door and stand in the middle of 1,000 old iron and or aluminum roofing nails and bits of clipped off aluminum siding and wonder why their detector is so noisy.

Couple more thoughts - did you completely turn off you cell phone (not just in idle or standby) and have any seperate pinpointer off while using the F-75?

This is nothing to do with you, John, but regards the metal detector reviews site.

I noticed two of the three bad reports on the F-75 are by a person of the same name and state but different cities in FL posted on the same day (4/27/2007)??? He bad mouthed it and then gave it five stars the first time. He doesn't know where he lives and doesn't remember he already posted similar comments - how can you trust his competence? He can't even submit a simple review. Perhaps we've only demonstrated it is not idiot proof?

 

[Bill Ladd]

To have someone from Minelab reading into my posts and then even responding If anything, I expected the owner of Detector Reviews to challenge me....not Minelab (what's next "The button daddy" or "the Mayor" gonna show up?) Really I'm flattered, and perhaps I need to watch what I say since all the other brands must be tuning in to see what all the fuss is about. You guys must really be looking at the F75 very very closely to read into my personal opinions of a web site? Thanks for showing everyone we have got your attention. But, I don't blame you guys since it's the world's hottest selling detector right now, and they can't build them fast enough....
Where in there did I say nobody knows what they are doing? Maybe you misread into my post & don't not know of the particular web site I was refering to? Sure, there are many professional detectorists worldwide with years of experience, but all seem to have favorite brands (or notions like 12 arrows are better than 1). My rant was really just speaking up on that sites fake "reviews", and detectorists who write them to sound off after a 1 hour trial (my pet peeve).
Now, you may not agree with my "everybody's biased" bold statement, but as someone who has particpated in R&D, I 100% disagree with your last paragraph. Those who help in detector designs & get free detectors like you gave out have no bias? I freely admit often I can't help MY Fisher bias in many of my posts when folks ask what they should buy. If you sent me one of those free XTerra-70's to test against the F75, I would already have the clear winner in mind before even trying yours. Same story if the F75 was handed to a long time Explorer user. Old habits are hard to break....That is human nature, & again all just my personal opinions....
HH,
Bill

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Please if anyone can help i would appreciate help with settings as i went out the other day and all i got was chatter and faulse signals, dont get me wrong i love the machine i found a roman ring in hertfordshire but i dug forty holes to find it as the rest were mostly faulse signals i guess or to deep, tell me what am i doing wrong?

This was from the owner of a new Explorer voicing his frustration with the Minelab. Sounds vaguely familiar.

There should be a law that you can't review a detector until you've owned it a month, used it a minimum of 12 hours, and some portion of that time is more than 60 feet from your home, or at least outdoors.

 

[Bill Ladd]

we are hitting on alot of gripes in the hobby, biases, & ideas on possible changes. Like I said, a web site dedicated to consumer views on metal detectors is a very noble undertaking. Perhaps the first web site to try it. I suggested having a tighter proof reading system or something? Have a "reviwer" use his real given name...verify it's a real e-mail address, verify ISP locations match the state they claim they are posting from. No weird screenames, and set some clear posting guidelines. How about even making a mandatory box that says: "Hours Used"? That will seperate out the "1 hour experts" If a "review" reads like an obvious slam session, or the person starts advertising Whites on a Fisher review for example, delete it No agendas allowed. It should be thoughts/ pro's & con's of THAT particular unit...don't allow the plugging of a totally different brand.....
HH,
Bill

 

[brassos]

hello,
Got my 75 a few days ago. I own a dfx and a gti 2500.
Went to front yard and just like the writer my machine was erratic. Tried to settle it down for about an hour.
Came to forums and read about frequency switching. As i dropped the freq the chatter got worse. I reversed and when i went 2 steps above stock it got quiet.
Long story short it now runs everywhere. I do play with the sensitivity once in awhile to see how high i can go before it starts to false high tones.
Seems to be ok now..Nice machine.
I like the memory of last settings, really helps get me going quicker.
Take your time, it will work for you too i suspect.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Makes sense to me. I own and love a Minelab (Musketeer Advantage Pro), but I am open to all. I looked, researched and dug for months before I decided to try the F-75. I have already planned out and buried a test garden in a well cleared (at least I think so now ) section of my yard.

My club is having a group hunt on the 20th this month, and I've kind of resigned myself that I won't be ready with the F-75 by then. These are shallow copper numbered tokens and some silver coins for flavor, but I wouldn't set myself up for failure with a new and unknown detector. (Guess I should mention I have just ordered one and will not have it for a week or longer).

I fly R/C airplanes and many, many times I have tried to help (or stop) new pilots who show up with hot P-51 Mustang ARF's (almost-ready-to-fly) that they bought days before and want to fly. For every one person that successfully teaches themselves to fly there are 20 who crash and burn in the first seconds. We're a very impatient society that wants instant results and gratification. Who wants to spend hours flying a slow, boxey looking trainer that teaches you the basics at a speed you can react to when you can go buy a hot warbird for a few dollars more?

I expect the F-75 to be fairly sensitive, fairly hot, and so I am going to take it slow and work into it. It would be foolish to think I can pick it up and be proficient in a day.

Though it damned well better do the basic taxi, takeoff and landing on "low rates" or I'll be out with barred fangs.

 

[MattR]

[quote JOHND84094] I am new to metal detecting, but between the manual and all of your posts I think I understand it just fine.

I started out with the factory presets and ground balanced. I was getting ground readings of mid to high 80's in our sandy soil.

The FE graph was reading quite low between .01 to .03.

I did this over the grass in my front yard and also in the back yard of my house. My F75 was totally unstable.

I adjusted the discrimination from between 5 to 20 and turned the sensitivity down to 40 and it still was very erratic.


I thought I would try a test garden. I dug a hole seven inches deep and put a quarter flat in the bottom of it.
I ran my coil over the hole before I buried the quarter and my detector wouldn't even read it.
So I gave up on that idea.

Disappointed, John[/quote]

Dear John, I'm sorry to read of your disappointing experience with your new F75.

You tell us that you are new to metal detecting. I hope we can help you through the first stages.

From your account of matters, I would recommend only one course of action.....TAKE IT BACK TO THE DEALER, or SEND IT BACK TO FISHER.

DON'T WASTE YOUR VALUABLE TIME ANY MORE. YOU APPEAR TO HAVE DONE ALL OF THE RATIONAL TESTS.

The problems you describe indicate a fault, so please return it for replacement or check-over.
First Texas are very sympathetic and responsive regarding problems.

Do that now and let's hear from you when matters have been resolved.

By the way John, here is your first lesson of many which you will learn as you discover the vagaries of the hobby.

DON'T test your F75 over coin lying at the bottom of an OPEN hole in the ground, especially an F75 in motion Disc.

Your ground readings in the 80's is indicating a DRY, SANDY ground matrix...which is compounded into a 'hell-hole' if you also have the Fe readings you've quoted.......

So John, get that F75 into Fisher 'Medi-Care' for a health check, and let's know how you get on..........Best wishes from all of us...MattR.UK.

P.S.
Here in the UK, we are having a great time discovering the strengths and weaknesses of the F75. No detector is perfect for all situations, but discovering the right set-up for each, is the challenge I enjoy the most.

The F75, like the T2, is HOT. So learn not to 'over-cook' the sensitivity settings and she will talk sweetly and deeply to you.

[attachment 55542 lastPost2.jpg]​

 

[Mike Bearden]

I've been flying RC since the age of 12 and have destroyed more than a few in my days ... hey ... if you're flying .. you're gonna crash a few and pay your dues ... it's a given.
Hell man, I like to do a little bit of everything, fly planes (including real ones) hunt, fish, ride motorcycles,water ski,gold prospecting, metal detecting,build computers along with keeping up with all the grown kids (one in Iraq) and family matters ... well it's enough to make a grown man smile and go crazy.
I also agree that with any NEW technology also comes a LEARNING curve.
Even as ADULTS everything is NOT a simple as we would like to believe, same with detectors and especially with new software/technology in today and out tomorrow.
Yeah it's taking me some time to get used to this NEW Fisher but well worth it IMO too. It's fast,well balanced,deep and fun to use.
Have over 6000 hours on Explorers and still use them too, they are great machines but the learning curve is NOT for anyone that doesn't want to spend the TIME to learn it.
Would I sell my Explorer ? ... Nope, as it's proven itself to me many times over ... as only a few have since I started detecting in 1974.

Also believe that anyone posting a review should have some real time with whatever is being discussed. I don't know HOW one could control or moderate that because anyone that would purposely post a BAD product review out of brand loyalty, bias or whatever is going to find a way to do it irregardless. It then becomes our job as adults to wade through the BS and investigate before we spend our money and complain.
Does that mean that EVERYONE that field test new detectors are biased brand loyal liars .. of course not. I'm sure there are a few that are like that but not all. I've been given machines for testing even in the R&D stages and it's a lot of work. But, you can bet your last cent that I'm gonna voice my opinion when asked ... good or bad.
I guess the worst a feller could do with buying a high end detector would be to get frustrated, sell it or quit using it all together instead of learning it's language. Nothing wrong with wanting the best as long as the want includes learning how to use it.
These forums have been great to me and many others over the years, I don't mind asking or answering questions, it's what the forums are here for right
Bottom line for me is that there are MANY top end detectors on the market and I own and hunt with most of them.
Each one has it's own niche, time and place where it'll do something better than the all others in my arsenal. I admit without reluctance that the F75 is a true keeper and has fast became one of my favorite GO TO machines.
Just my 50 cents worth
Mike

 

[Richard@BackwoodsDetectors]

1: Make sure that your cable coming out of the coil is secure around the lower and upper rod. Movement in the coil wire can cause a lot of falsing. 2: Unscrew the coil wire at the machine and make sure that it is seating properly. 3: Try ground balancing manually in AM....
4: After doing factory default, turn you sensitivity down to about 20, elavate the coil off the ground and pass a coin/coins under it.
If none of these work and you have eliminated electrical interference, you may have a bad coil. Let us know what happens. Richard

Fisher

 

[Mr.Bill]

Please, go back and re-read this original main post. What Bill was referring to was the mention in the starting post from, JOHND84094, about the 3 bad reviews on the Detector Review forum. (It

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Each one has it's own niche, time and place where it'll do something better than the all others in my arsenal.

Agreed!

There are some with definite bias for against a particular brand. If those people would really give a new detector a proper trial they would see that they are not necessarily "bad" just more suited to a particular task.. Those one hour guys sure miss a lot of good machines.

Tom

 

[Tom E IL]

n/t

 

[JOHND84094]

I understand that someone could fictiously write up bad reviews. No one checks to prove that you actually own or have ever even used the detector that you are writing the review on. I can see where unscroupulous people could try to sway peoples opionions by doing that. I was in no way trying to do that. I really like the F75 and I enjoy reading of your successes with it. In looking mine over, I think that it is built using very good materials and that it has quality craftsmanship.

There were some issues with the T-2 at first. Andy wrote a truthful review (his first review of the T-2) on that Metal Detector Reviews forum that ranked it low, because it had a bad coil that he didn't know it had. Since then he has bought another T-2 and this one works great. Andy then wrote a very good second review for it on that same forum. By reading those new negative posts on the F75, then the problem that Tagamet (I believe that is his name on this forum) had with his F75 and the prior initial negative posts on the T-2, it did leave some doubts in my mind that First Texas might have had a few bugs still in the F75.

The problems that I had were probably from my own inexperience with metal detecting, since I have no experience with one except for an inexpensive thirty year old Bounty Hunter. I haven't used that one in years. Using a metal detector isn't rocket science, but I'm sure that there is a learning curve. The more that I read your posts and the more I get to know what my F75 is telling me, the easier it will become.

I still haven't had a chance to get out and try some of the things that you guys have suggested. I only have been out the two times.

Thanks to all of you that took the time to offer suggestions, John