Interested in the F5

[Old Katz]

One of the Forum members wrote a nice report about the F5. What he didn't like was >>>>>What I didn't care for - When coins or other metal objects (even pull-tabs) are close to the surface, the machine goes into an overload mode. I didn't care for this, as anything from a pull-tab to a coin could be under the coil and the only way to find out what it is, is to dig the target. I can understand if there's a hub cap an inch under the ground, but pull-tabs and coins? It does have a propensity to give false positives on small rusty iron, I need to do further testing on this, as perhaps the threshold can eliminate or minimize this phenomenon.<<<<<< Has anyone else experienced this?
Katz

 

[jimmyk]

I haven't, but if I did, I'd raise the coil a few inches to see where it read. It's a very good detector with an outstanding interface. Very user friendly. I like it.

jimmyk in Missouri

 

[zeekeys]

Old Katz
The new is sometimes hard to grasp. It is different. I have an F5 and I have noticed that quirk. The face plate blinks, goes blank, it makes a strange noise. It sure does get your attention. It also happens on cans, bottle caps close to surface. I am thinking, I shouldn't probably hunt at 95+ but maybe drop down to 50 or 60 gain. I don't know? But just maybe it requires a different kind of hunting to get it to work the way it will best perform? I hunt the beaches with it and it is easy for me to dig to see what these targets are. I do know I don't dig as much junk. I still sample but usually it is pretty good when it is signaling junk. I cover more ground and have more coins at the end of the day. With more people using it and giving tips, it should become familiar and a pattern of hunting should develop in using it. (I hope?) I hope this helps....Z

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I'm going to try raising the coil next time I hunt to see if the overload issue is resolved. I seem to recall trying this and it not really working that well last time I hunted with it, but I'll try it again to verify.

I mean even a small pull tab just under the dirt will cause it to go into overload mode, which really sucks. On the flip side, who knows, maybe you'll find a nice freshly dropped gold ring or something you would've skimmed over otherwise

 

[markt]

that's just what I do, if i hit a overload just raise coil till it quits , then read display, listen to sound,....AND, if still not sure, pump coil(but not lower than height that overload stopped at) and watch iron bars... my observation so far, after having noticed this, is that ALMOST unfailingly the iron bars will go up if it is junk even on pulltab, and they will go down on a good target. Let me try to say that a little more clearly. I always start out, and spend most of my time in all metal( just cuz that's what i"m used to and you get more depth no doubt about it) then when i get a hit i'm interested in 1st thing I do is ground balance for that immediate area, at same time notice iron bar readings for immed. area, a feature I'm coming to really like, anyhow like I said above,then I look at every thing the display is sayin (weather it's up in the air or on the ground) then use that iron bar info with what you've surmised and 9 times out of ten for me it confirms it and usually is right when dug

 

[Old Katz]

Not meaning to sound disrepectful to the F5 but it sounds to me like this is
something Fisher nees to be looking at, especially if the screen goes blank as was mentioned above,

I think I'll wait awhile before investing money in this machine.

Does the F2 have the same problems as you were discribeing?

Katz

 

[Cal_Cobra]

that's just what I do, if i hit a overload just raise coil till it quits , then read display, listen to sound,....AND, if still not sure, pump coil(but not lower than height that overload stopped at) and watch iron bars... my observation so far, after having noticed this, is that ALMOST unfailingly the iron bars will go up if it is junk even on pulltab, and they will go down on a good target. Let me try to say that a little more clearly. I always start out, and spend most of my time in all metal( just cuz that's what i"m used to and you get more depth no doubt about it) then when i get a hit i'm interested in 1st thing I do is ground balance for that immediate area, at same time notice iron bar readings for immed. area, a feature I'm coming to really like, anyhow like I said above,then I look at every thing the display is sayin (weather it's up in the air or on the ground) then use that iron bar info with what you've surmised and 9 times out of ten for me it confirms it and usually is right when dug

Hi Mark,

When you say iron bar, are you talking about the Fe3O4 meter ?

I'll be giving the F5 another work out this weekend along with some fresh water lake hunting with my Sovereign

HH,
Brian

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Not meaning to sound disrepectful to the F5 but it sounds to me like this is
something Fisher nees to be looking at, especially if the screen goes blank as was mentioned above,

I think I'll wait awhile before investing money in this machine.

Does the F2 have the same problems as you were discribeing?

Katz

Every Fisher I've used when going into overload mode does something similar, but usually it's on something BIG, like a shallow water pipe, big piece of rusty iron, or such, and that's fine, you know there's something LARGE there (some other non-Fisher machines just blow your ear drums off in similar situations).

The issue with the F5 is that it's doing it on small shallow surface items, which is not useful IMHO. For the most part it hasn't been a big issue, but I have hunted a few places that had a LOT of targets, both deep and shallow, and with it going into overload mode all the time it masked anything around the shallow targets unless you dug them. I'm going to call Fisher today and see what their story is, I need a part for my Coinstrike anyhow.

HH,
Brian

 

[markt]

cal cobra, yes that's what I'm talkin about, I mean if you think about it that is what it's for, to give an indication of iron mineralization and it seems to work very well at showing you iron objects also once you have pinned down a target ,just cuz fisher didn't say to use it that way I don't see any reason not to use it? and as to the overloading on small objects on the surface, I think that just proves the point these new machines are VERY sensitive,and if we want to get all the info machine is capable of giving us, we have to learn how to control that sensitivity other wise it doesn't seem like useful info...eh?
mark

 

[Cal_Cobra]

cal cobra, yes that's what I'm talkin about, I mean if you think about it that is what it's for, to give an indication of iron mineralization and it seems to work very well at showing you iron objects also once you have pinned down a target ,just cuz fisher didn't say to use it that way I don't see any reason not to use it? and as to the overloading on small objects on the surface, I think that just proves the point these new machines are VERY sensitive,and if we want to get all the info machine is capable of giving us, we have to learn how to control that sensitivity other wise it doesn't seem like useful info...eh?
mark

Mark I like your thinking on using the Fe3O4 meter, I'll give that a shot this weekend (and here I was wondering what additional use it had, aside from telling if the ground was really magnetic/bad). It does seem a bit odd that it would work on iron as well as a pull tab though ?

I called Fisher and spoke with Daniel (I've spoke with him before on my Coinstrike and he's a good guy). He said he wasn't aware of the overload situation and wanted to test it out and call me back. He called me back promptly and said he was able to verify the issue and as you suggested, he suggested raising the coil to decrease it's sensitivity for an accurate reading. I could swear I tried it without success, but I'll play around with it on my next hunt.

Now I have a couple of good tricks to try this weekend, the F5 is looking like a really nice machine.

Hopefully I'll have some good finds to post next week.

HH,
Brian

 

[Old Katz]

Does the F2 do the same thing?
Katz

I would REALLY like to know.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Does the F2 do the same thing?
Katz

I would REALLY like to know.

I've never used the F2, but I have the F4 which is almost the identical detector (same brains, but more knobs and features) and it does not overload on small shallow objects like the F5. Large metal objects yes, but it's supposed to (it's giving an audible and visual warning).

 

[BeachBadger]

I've had the Fisher F5 over two months or so and have the same problem. The unit sometimes wigs-out on a pull tabs/bottle caps that are close to the surface. There have been times that it's so bad I've had to turn the unit off for a few seconds, turn it back on and ground balance again to get it to work properly. The major problem when the F5 Overloads or has what I call a seizure, is the target ID scans left to right repeatedly and the ID numbers rapidly change. Also the unit tones jump all over the place making it impossible to use. The only remedy I've found is to lower the Thresh and Gain way down which kills the effectiveness of the unit or remove the batteries and reinstall them again. Even after doing this I feel the unit is not working 100%. It seems when one of these "seizures" happens,leaving the unit turned off for an extended period of time solves the issue and the F5 works 100%. Is this normal? I don't know but I still love the F5 given it's quark. I am curious if anyone else is having this problem.

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

It is not a big deal but my F5 is not different then the CZ3. The F75 is chatty all the time and the F5 overloads sometimes. I guess you have a bad unit.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

I've had the Fisher F5 over two months or so and have the same problem. The unit sometimes wigs-out on a pull tabs/bottle caps that are close to the surface. There have been times that it's so bad I've had to turn the unit off for a few seconds, turn it back on and ground balance again to get it to work properly. The major problem when the F5 Overloads or has what I call a seizure, is the target ID scans left to right repeatedly and the ID numbers rapidly change. Also the unit tones jump all over the place making it impossible to use. The only remedy I've found is to lower the Thresh and Gain way down which kills the effectiveness of the unit or remove the batteries and reinstall them again. Even after doing this I feel the unit is not working 100%. It seems when one of these "seizures" happens,leaving the unit turned off for an extended period of time solves the issue and the F5 works 100%. Is this normal? I don't know but I still love the F5 given it's quark. I am curious if anyone else is having this problem.

Mines never frooze up, I'd say you should send it back to Fisher to have them fix it, it shouldn't do that. I've got about 40 hours on the F5 now, and honestly my only two complaints are the shallow target overload (which looks like raising the coil will resolve) and the propensity to hit like silver coins on rusty iron (which all detectors I've used have a tendency to do, but seems a bit higher on the F5), but it looks like Mark has figured out a solution using the Fe3O4 meter.

IF these two tricks resolve these issues, then it's golden in my book.

HH,
Brian

 

[Old Katz]

That settels it for me;I'll wait for awhile until I see what Fisher does. If I have a choice between a detector that
operates smoothly and another that has all those glitches, I'll opt for smooth.
Katz

 

[tony (Orlando FL)]

n/t

 

[Cal_Cobra]

If I have a choice between a detector that
operates smoothly and another that has all those glitches, I'll opt for smooth.
Katz

All those glitches ?

 

[jmaryt]

kat that swallowed the canary!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[kran0625]

Long time lurker-new poster. I have owned the F5 for 4 months and have not had the overload problems described here. I have been hitting sites that have a lot of shallow and surface targets and the F5 has only overloaded when it should-over shallow cans, etc. Must be something wrong with your machine. Went out this morning to a local football field and hit a hole that contained 10 quarters at about 1" deep-no overload! Very happy with this machine. BTW-can anyone tell me if the 11" DD coil on the F4 will work on the F5? If so is there a big performance drop-off?