The F-4.... a cool little detector! (a little long)

[Mark in NC]

I've been having a blast with the F-75 since they've been released. It's one heck of a detector! The ingenuity that has been flowing out of First Texas lately with the T-2, then the F-75 stirred up my curiosity for the F-4. There's been surprisingly little posted about it on the forums, so I thought I'd throw my opinion out here.

The F-4 arrived at my house Friday afternoon. I, of course, immediately tore into the box and put it together. The fit and finish are very high quality... all the poles (very, very familiar to old Fisher users)fit nice and snug, and the control housing seems right at home. I love the fact that it ships with 2 coils, a 11" DD and a 8" concentric.. also, just so you know, batteries are included! It is also very, very light and well balanced.

The front panel has a target ID scale across the top, that my test garden proved to be very accurate. It also has a 3 digit conductivity display in the center of the screen. On the left side is a "on the fly" depth scale, and on the right is the battery meter. Although the digits for the VID are smaller than my F-75, it was still very readable, even in bright sunlight.

Depth was better than I expected from a mid-level detector.. and the accuracy of the ID was VERY good! I took it on its maiden voyage over to a elementary school next door to my house. It's the perfect place for trying out new detectors and is a "target rich environment". Just like the F-75, the F-4 LOVES nickels! I also tried the very cool notching system, which lets you crank up the disc through zinc cents, and notch back in nickels. The detector is uncannily quiet until you hit a target.. then it gives you 4 tone ID (like the C$, CZ-3D and F-75 in 4). The ID remains on-screen until you hit another target, giving you time to check out what you heard.

Overall, in my honest opinion, the F-4 is a definite winner. It is a butt kicking clad/jewelry machine with enough depth to be a old coin hunter. It's not as deep as my F-75, but it has much better "manners" in that it's not as "busy" with the audio.

Sorry for running long with this, but I felt this fine little machine deserved some talking time.

 

[Mark in NC]

Although I'm not a fan of membrane buttons/switches, the F-4 buttons actually give you a tactile feedback in the form of a "click"... (some membrane type buttons don't give you any indication whether or not you actually pressed the thing or not)

Also, the DD coil does an incredible job of ID'ing co-located targets...very similar to the F-75. The processor in the F-4 also has a surprisingly fast reset speed, that compliments the razor edge detection profile of the DD coil very well.

I've only used the F-4 in three locations so far, but I haven't ran into any interference issues. I've been able to crank the sensitivity up to full at all three spots with no problems..

I plan to do some more hunting with it today and tomorrow, so I'll add some more observations later...

 

[RichW]

n/t

 

[Mark in NC]

I've only had it since Friday (4 days as of this post).ID with known targets has been very accurate so far. I also have been mainly using the DD coil. I've played with the 8" coil, but not any serious hunting with it yet. I may get the chance tomorrow though, and I'll let you know. I did notice that the F-4 with the 8" coil is about the lightest feeling detector I've ever used.