Name that detector.

[CliffHanger]

A couple of months ago I was in a park I often hunt when I spotted a gentlman who I'd never seen before. He too was detecting. I approached and introduced myself. I told him about the large metal detecting club we have in the area and gave him one of our cards with the website of the club on it. I asked if he'd mind if I detected near him and when either of us finds something the other would check it with his detector to see what the target is identified as. He said "sure."
I was using my Fisher F2 and he was using .. (and I can't remember exactly what).. a detector I think was a Bounty Hunter. I know the word 'Treasure' was on it.
I really like the F2 but it likes screw on bottle caps. It registers them from 'zink' to 'dime' so, I dig a bunch of them. Pry off bottle caps are always in the 'Iron' area and not dug. Foil is foil and nickles will sometimes jump a little higher than 33.
I had an Ace 250 and as far as I am concerned the F2 is on another plane when it comes to detecting. It is extremely fast at target seperation. I have never owned nor seen a better machine in heavy trash than the F2 with the small coil. Copper pennies always ID as dimes.
I want over an area I'd detected many times before with the Ace 250 and a LoboST. I went over a spot and in about a five inch diameter area I got 5 distinctive signals in random order. 3 'zink,' 2 dime. I dragged the coil across the spot from another angle and 3 'zink,' 2 'dime'. Whatever direction I got 3 zink and two dime. Three to four inches down where 3 zink pennies and 2 wheaties. That impressed the H*** out of me! I could have had Zink notched out and still hit the wheaties that close to them.
Okay, back to that gentlman's detector. I think it was at the far right on the face of his detector that said 'Coin.' It didn't sperate them as zink, dime, quarter, etc. it just said 'coin.' But what it did do that my F2 cannot do, was say 'Bottle Cap' and bingo ... it was a bottle cap!
I had to leave and thanked him for his time and told him I hoped to see him at our monthly meeting. He never showed up.
What kind of a detector did he have?

All the best and thanks for your time.

CliffHanger

 

[jmaryt]

that truly is amazing!..that is exactly the type of performance required in the "crap"..it is also equipped with tonal id and gets sufficient depth too!..really what is NOT to like about this little "nut buster!"..well balanced,light,and affordable!..

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[Bozack]

Great post Cliff-Hanger. The F2 is like no other. You almost have to baby it, due to the fast recovery speed; especially if the sens is maxed out. But for the most part you have to be willing to "stick with it" during the learning curve. Whenever my F2 starts bleeping erratically, I always pause and ask myself "what is this thing trying to tell me". That's when I'll "stick with it" , reevaluate, slow my swing, and ultimately make the find! You are right-on about the screw caps. And wheaties registering as dimes. I've also noticed that the VDI will sometimes register older pull tabs under 35. But it's the lower "bass" tone that seperates them from the nickle. That took me several outings to realize. I'll tell something else. I buried a couple of liberty-head nickles about 5" and swung over them. With "full metal" setting, the tone was erratic, the F2 flip-flopped between nickle and tab, and the VDI displayed several numbers between a low 29, to a high 35. Sounds frustating doesn't it? However, when I notched out tabs, I got a solid higher tone, the VDI never went over 33, and it clearly showed the liberty nickles as nickles! So that's what I'm saying about "stick with it". You have to take the time to learn your equipment. And for the most part "be willing to learn".

 

[CliffHanger]

As I was driving to the store yesterday afternoon I noticed that the front portion of a vacant field that once had a house on it had been mowed of the two feet tall weeds that had covered it. I've eyed this place for years and always wanted to detect it but the vegetation was the prohibiting factor. Now, some of the weeds were down to just 3 or 4 inches. This place is only half a mile from me. It was getting late close to 6:30 PM with sundown at about 7:30. I raced through the store like a kid, raced home and grabbed the F2. I should have take the few seconds to change to the 4" coil but I didn't.
I couldn't believe the trash! Worse than I have seen, even compared to well used park picnic tables. I had nothing notched out and on every three foot swing it hit on ten or more objects. I got a ZINC signal at 2 bars deep surrounded by trash signals. I narrowed it down as best I could because I couldn't pinpoint with all that trash so close to the target and using the large coil. Yep, it was a zinc penny. That happened twice more. Then I got a 90 + signal at 2 bars deep next to IRON and TAB and FOIL signals, all mixed together. As I waved the coil fast I got constant signals (bam bam bam bam bam) one immediately after the other with different tones and VID's from all the different types of junk in the ground. But along with all that trash the 90 + signal wouldn't go away. Again, I couldn't pinpoint because of all that junk so I best guessed and out popped a 1964 Kennedy half dollar. 90% silver 10% copper. It's the first one I've found. I would like to see the other detectors on the market that target respond so fast. I'm sure there are some. I want to know which ones they are. Please let me know.

Thanks and all the best

CliffHanger

 

[thompy]

teknetiks t-2 and f-75 come to mind

 

[jmaryt]

could be in a class by itself!..man!..lightening quick!..congrats on a great wilver find!..hell!..this is gonna be fun!..maybe open everything up again!..got 350 years of trash around her in new england!..gotta be some good stuff mixed in!

 

[jmaryt]

not to worry!..screw caps sound good on just about every detector!..even the top of the line stuff will squawk on 'em!..extremely difficult to take out of the circuit!
they ALL love 'em!..interesting observation by nothching out "tabs"..if it narrows the i.d. down,and sounds good,then all the info is there that ya need!.great info!
thanks!

(h.h!)
j.t.

 

[bill(de)]

Hey Cliffhanger,

Congrats on your very nice finds and appears your excited about using the F2 as i am and feel it's a hot number for hunting trashy sites,especially the trashiest where target masking is the worst and few detectors and coil combinations combined with the tone id and meter can compete with the F2 and it's extremely quick recovery speed which is awesome in my opinion, especially for the small investment. The meter does help pick through the mush on the shallow stuff. Still haven't recovered any coins below 6" but mainly using the F2 at heavily trashed older sites using the 4" coil and very very pleased with the "bulbous one" that tips over easily which is my only complaint. Congrats on using a detector that provides some exciting finds and fun times on the cheap . HH Bill

 

[Cal_Cobra]

[quote CliffHanger]. I would like to see the other detectors on the market that target respond so fast. I'm sure there are some. I want to know which ones they are. Please let me know.

CliffHanger[/quote]

The Fisher Coinstrike does, but it's also much more $$$.

I have the F4 and (big brother to the F2) and I agree, it's a fast processing machine, and you can use a fast sweep speed on it and not miss much if anything. Also the DD coil is a coin rake, great for hitting a big athletics field to cover a lot of ground in hopes of finding jewelery.