The darndest thing happened

[knarfj]

[No message]

 

[mudpuppy]

HaH! Thats great! I've done that before too! only its been in the vehicle, and even with the headphones still attached, a guy can hear some whining coming out of somewhere as he's trying to drive...whatsthat? D'OH!

Yeah, I dont know why Fisher made the F70 with an on/off switch in the first place! These things go forever, sort of like a smoke alarm, change the batts once per year!...I run the batts right down to zero...it takes some time to sort of get to know when you need to start carrying spares, unless you dont mind 4 AA's rattling around in your pocket for extended periods...It could be weeks before the thing finally gives up the ghost. I dont know how the F70 circuit is designed to just sip a little power and run for so long, yet put so much to the coil?.....you sure get a lot of hunting for the operating expense of this thing...F70 has to be THE top contender if detectors were judged based upon... Ergonomics, weight, power, batt life, tone choices, coil options, settings avail..Anybody know if theres anything else that comes close? Not by a long shot....

I run brand new AA's elcheapos in my water rig, (diff mfg) and when it says they are dead, one bar, the signals are dropping and going squirrel, I put those batts into the F70 and get another 10-15hrs out of them....I dont know if this matters, but I dont hardly ever use the PP button either...not that I'm out to save battery life, just dont hardly ever need it if I hop coil over the target...centers it right up.
Great post there Knarfj!
Mud

 

[knarfj]

Yes I found it pretty amazing.

The present F70 looks to be so frugal power wise Fisher could design into there next upgrade a small photocell mounted on top of the control box that would automatically switch over to sun power on sunny days, extending battery life even more!

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah! No doubt, they probably could! Or like one of those watches that is powered by movement? Lord knows we sure sling these things. Heck, we would probably generate so much power, we could feed it back into the grid and actually make money just off of net metering! Keep our whole block running on a govt. grant for green energy
One of the other posters ( I cant remember who, timmysis maybe?) a few years back, modded his 70 to be waterproof...if this dang thing was waterproof to 20', now we would really have something! If I ever get the chance, I'll pick up a used one, cut the fins off the 11"dd, for better hydrodynamic effect, waterproof the box, drop the batts in a long waterproof tube under the arm rest, activate power and volume with a sliding external mag switch, and be sound as a pound baby!?
Mud

 

[knarfj]

Yeah! No doubt, they probably could! Or like one of those watches that is powered by movement? Lord knows we sure sling these things. Heck, we would probably generate so much power, we could feed it back into the grid and actually make money just off of net metering! Keep our whole block running on a govt. grant for green energy
One of the other posters ( I cant remember who, timmysis maybe?) a few years back, modded his 70 to be waterproof...if this dang thing was waterproof to 20', now we would really have something! If I ever get the chance, I'll pick up a used one, cut the fins off the 11"dd, for better hydrodynamic effect, waterproof the box, drop the batts in a long waterproof tube under the arm rest, activate power and volume with a sliding external mag switch, and be sound as a pound baby!?
Mud

Yes, all excellent ideas! Given enough leeway and some effort we could be looking much like a One Man Band while out swinging.

 

[mudpuppy]

Well? Right knarfj? We know what this F70 is capable of on the dry dirt and fresh water wading...its only "drawbacks" are its lack of waterproofness and working the wet salt...One would suppose Fisher could make huge money with a 'Pro killer' for the mid range generic hunter of the dirt and fresh, not a "me too" but a whole diff monster! And then brother it up with a similarly designed multifreq product for the wet salt? Just a minor step down from the CZ 21 platform would suffice... Just saying...who dives 250 feet? Aquaman? The 'Pro has some design drawbacks that can be capitalized on, but only RIGHT NOW!
Mud

 

[SteveP(NH)]

The F70 like most other quality metal detectors has a regulated power supply which basically means that as long as the batteries are still providing the minimum threshold voltage that the power supply is set for it will perform the same regardless of whether the batteries are at 100% or at 5% of their capacity. Once the voltage drops below the threshold the machine will shut itself off. So it doesn't matter how many bars of battery power are displayed the detection depth and other functions of the detector will remain the same.

 

[dbax]

Great info on the battery life. I have been going chicken and when the bars are at two I tease myself into thinking it is not going full out. Now I know better. Even then, I am using rechargeable copper tops that I picked up in a Safeway Store for $21 which included the charger. Takes an overnight to fill them up but they just keep on going and going and going. It is really good info on how the power management works, someone put a lot of thought into this, good for us. I stopped carrying the backup batteries in my pocket, which I had to do with the 9 volt machines. Great info, thanks, Dan

 

[knarfj]

The F70 like most other quality metal detectors has a regulated power supply which basically means that as long as the batteries are still providing the minimum threshold voltage that the power supply is set for it will perform the same regardless of whether the batteries are at 100% or at 5% of their capacity. Once the voltage drops below the threshold the machine will shut itself off. So it doesn't matter how many bars of battery power are displayed the detection depth and other functions of the detector will remain the same.

Thanks! Much appreciated information. I believe that bit of info just made the cost of my batteries 25% less.