The first F5 to be shipped has landed in my hot little hands...

[snh]

thenUPS did not show up until 1/2 hour ago....was getting concerned.
Now I just assembled it, powered it up for a few minutes and need to read the manual and test it out side and on some coins so I don't have much to say.
I will say this though, preliminarily it looks great. The pots they used are nice and tight and have good friction to them...not the cheapo crud used on the Radio Shack BH models. The machine looks identical to the picture and has a beautiful display. Sounded much like the F4 when I turned it on and tried it briefly.
So for the first 5 minutes all is well...and yes it is even packed in a real box and not some white generic thing.
All is fine for now, of course I have to test it out and things could change then....but so far atleast this one powers up and works.
Oh...the coil on it is not the huge version like the 75....it is eliptical but probably more like a WHites 4x6...which is great for my use. Normally I would want a big coil but here nothing is deep and most is mixed in trash. So the small coil would seem better.
I will post more when I can test it out...maybe tonight but if not tomorrow evening for sure.
Scott

 

[pulltab]

good luck and keep us posted

 

[snh]

Well I must say it appears at first use to have alot of potential. Now I do not have my test garden anymore so I cannot test it on known planted targets....all I can do is put coins on the ground and do simple distance tests.

The distance test with coins on the ground was extremely promising. I could easily hit a dime at about 10" and a bit more on a nickel with gain set at 7 on a scale of 10. Now we never hunt coins like this but the again if the air tests are weak in ground will be alot worse. Obviously in ground the depth will drop but hey if it can't even hit a dime at 8" in the air it definately will not hit it at 7" in ground.
So the simple somewhat worthless air tests were great. By the way target seperation was similar to the F4...or maybe like an ACE 250. Not as fast as the F75 but good enough it seems.

Now as for functions.

The display, control knobs and pushbuttons are pretty self explanitory and nothing really that odd.

The control knobs are gain (sensitivity) also turns unit on. Then there is the disc knob that when turned full left clicks into all metal auto tune mode. The unit runs in an all metal mode with TID on the center meter. If this is then turned right out of the click it gradually discriminates out metals just as any disc knob works. if turned right until it just comes out of the full left all metal click you have 0 disc with all metals including iron accepted....the more right you turn the more you discriminate metals on the same scale as any other detector you have used.

The ground balance knobs is just that...a GB...not sure if it affects discriminate mode..could not tell. The GB setting is diplayed on screen at all times unless another setting being made....in which case it will switch to GB after 2 seconds.

Last is the threshold knob and is used to set Threshold in autotune. It does not have a threshold in discriminate that I could tell however it does affect the disc mode most definately....similar to say what would happen on a Tesoro Umax. The more positive of a number you set the stronger the weaker signals will hit on in disc. Setting the thresh to a negative number will make weak signals faint or dissapear. This will be a very important mode to understand and for those Tesoro users who know what hyper threshold tuning did to disc...well you have a leg up. Of course if you have chatter then a high thresh will make chatter worse. In Autotune the threshold change is noticed as well...there is a threshold hum in the background.

Pushbuttons are Frequency which allows you several freqs to use if interference is noted and is similar to the 75's freq option. Tones allows you to choose from 4 or so tone options. First option is single tone mode that changes VCO according to target distance...no iron tone, this is tone 0 I think. Tone 1 is low for iron and another for the rest and then the next couple tones are simply a 3 or 4 tone option...again kinda similar to the T2 and 75 tone options. Last pushpad is notch and that is self explanitory...again simlar to many BH units in operation from what I see..and I never use notch.

The display is a multi function display in some respects. The large center meter displays TID or if pinpointing it displays depth. The far right meter actively displays GB phase and the FE meter above is identical to the T2 and 75.

The meter full left is a multi function meter. If no knobs are being turned it will default to displaying the current GB pot setting. However if you are setting tones or thresh or whatever it will display that setting momentarily until nothing is touched for 2 secs and then it goes back to current GB..

Oh below the center meter is a bar graaph for confidence...similar to t2 and 75.

At the top is the notch meter....easy enough. When setting the disc pot the current disc value is displayed on the left meter and on the top notch graph there is a moving slash that tells you where the current disc setting is as far as what targets are disc out. So if you set disc to 25 the number will be displayed as 25 in the lower left meter and at the top a slash will appear in the icon that coincides to 25. The lower left meter will go back to current GB setting when the disc pot is not touched for two seconds...as stated ealrier.

Overall it seems to one their better thought out machines actually and a nice steup up from the F4. So if the F4 is to weak for you and the 75 is too steep..this may have potential.
Now, I have not been able to hit the road so I can't say how it hunts. I did get alot of interfernec above a gain setting of 7 but then again I now live in the city....friggin city life.

That is all for now. More to come.
Scott

 

[Cal_Cobra]

Interesting first tests Scott, it's sounding like a nice machine so far. The 4x6 DD coil should be great for trashy areas, and that's great they give you a freq option to help with interference areas. I wonder how that really works though on a single frequency machine ?

If I understand what your saying correctly about the threshold, it works a lot like the Coinstrike.

Very interesting indeed, maybe a good time to off the F4 for the F5...but would like the hear about the F70 first

It will be interesting to know if the GB indeed spans all search modes, how well it pinpoints, and that confidence meter sounds very interesting (I've never laid hands on a T2 or F75, so it's a new feature for me). Also will be interesting to see how useful the real time GB data is.

 

[Cal_Cobra]

How is the manual ? Some of the Fisher manuals are pretty lackluster and tidy with info on the detector.

 

[liquid1]

Is it the F5 or F70 that has 2 hunting modes 1 for fast tot lots and the other for slower relic hunts for tighter swings..which sounds like a good feature..
Is the F5 made more for coin shooting or relics.the stock smaller coil would suggest a good trashy coin shooter.

 

[robert roy]

Will be looking forward to hearing more from you.
Go out there and find some good stuff!!!!
RR

 

[robert roy]

"Lackluster" Definitions of lackluster on the Web:

lacking brilliance or vitality; "a dull lackluster life"; "a lusterless performance"
lacking luster or shine; "staring with lackluster eyes"; "lusterless hair"
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Not sure how to understand your reference to the manual?
Are you saying the manuals are not very clear? No really.
Not looking to argue just want to be sure I get your drift.

Regards
Robert R

 

[ShawnP]

I would sure hope that Threshold and GB affects Disc mode or it would be the same as the F4. Sounds like its going to be a nice machine though.

 

[robert roy]

Nice write up Scott.
Keep us informed.
Have you air tested it yet, standing the detector on end
and passing the coin over the coil?
I always use a ruler(without any metal strip on it) and view it at
eye level to get an accurate measurement.
Good luck and happy hunting!!!

Robert R

 

[snh]

Well the Threshold definately does...again you do not have athreshold hum in disc...but the threshold affects targets response on weaker targets. Again the thrshold is there in Autotune.
As for GB...not sure.....since there is no threshold in disc it is hard to tell unless the manual states it as so.....if I find some real nasty ground I will see.
Well now wait.....hmmmm....it must affect the disc now that I think about it. While in disc the active ground phase is shown and you set the GB to match so it has to...it would make no sense otherwise.
Scott

 

[snh]

Not a Thesis like some of the Whites or Minelab manuals are but thorough enough. Really there is not a too much to this detector that would require a huge manual. Just enough controls so you can hunt most applications and a few neat features most won't use but look cool.....as in I never use a confidence meter...but hey...does not bother me either.
I scan the manual and send it to Mike H and maybe he can link to it. The manual explains each and every feature in enough detail it should satisgy most people.
Scott

 

[snh]

Will do that this weekend.
Scott

 

[snh]

Forgot this.
While it does NOT have the ability to store user settings...it does retain some of the last settings when you shutdown. I don't have the manual in front of me as it is in my car ( I am working) so I forget which ones. Gain I think is not stored as that is a 270 degree pot that also turns on the machine and is a 1-10 setting with no increments between each whole number....but I think GB and Threshold and one other are stored...oh I think it is tones.
Also the GB is a continous turn pot...it has no stop. GB goes from like 1-99 or something close to that but the pot has 999 resolution......in otherwords one click of the pot does not go from say GB 88 to 89. It takes several clicks to move one increment...so basically it has good resolution between whole numbers. this would help in achieving a fine GB.
Scvott

 

[snh]

I think I read that in the 70's description but I forget.
As for the F5 and what it may be best suited for...probably same same as any detector in it's price range. Good for coin...good for relics as long as we are not going for 12" deep mini balls...but then again if we were we would have an F75...Explorer,,,Naughty..or whatever. Probably good for jewelry in freshwater beaches...although who know's it may handle salt sand..I can't tell.
If I were back in New England this would fit the bill for my backup mid priced machine. Which is misleading as I don't have it for when my high end units dies. rather I have a machine like this as it usually works better in trashy cramped cellar holes where max depth is pointless BUT......you still need good depth...just not psycho depth. Plus it is small...light...and is good for bushwacking....and if the in ground depth is close to the air tests...it would keep up with say an F75 in most places. Although if I were hunting fields for deep relics I would default to the F75 or a Naughty always.
Very few people actually need the max depth of a high end machine anyway and using those machines frustrates many as they are twitchy when you tweak them up for supreme depth. Heck I used an F75 from day one until I left NH...when I tweaked that up for deep silver that thing would drive me ape with the instability...but it nailed silver at extreme depths. However if I had this F5 I would use it 50% of the time and leave the 75 in the car...simply because I had many areas where relics were never more than 8-9" deep and usually around 7" and this will hit them easily I would assume...plus half of these spots the 75 was too noisy and I would actually only use the F4 there ( back then I had bought an F4 for this purpose).
Anyway I will have an idea after Sunday when I am supposed to go out and hit a few old homes. I like the small coil on it......I need to find out which Fisher or Tek or maybe BH coils will fit it also. Would be nice if it used standard BH coils as they are economic. I would doubt that it uses T2 or 75 coils but I don't know that...just seems like it would not..probably could use the F4's....which again I think use BH coils. I will find out shortly.

 

[rmptr]

Thanks for the write-up, SNH.
HH

 

[BuckeyeBrad]

So is this number changing as you swing the detector, in other words real time phase feedback, or is it only "accurate" if you pump the coil?

 

[snh]

In reading the manual it states that the readout is active as long as the coil "is in motion, however the most accurate reading is achieved by pumping the coil".
While you are swinging the coil the phase angle is active and does change according to the ground. I think what they are saying is the best and most accurate method to sample the ground is to pump it over ground with no known targets...or as we call it clean ground. Since targets can be under the coil as we sweep this would not be the most accurate method to GB from initially, rather the clean ground and pump method is preferred when trying to set the GB pot.
So basically you pump the coil to get the GB phase for setting the pot, however you can keep an eye on the phase number while detecting to note whether your ground has shifted significantly. This is not a bad feature actually since I hunted many areas where the ground shifted drastically in a matter of feet and without anyway of knowing it you would start to wonder why the detector was falsing. Then when you checked your GB manually I would notice a huge change in ground balance had occured.
My infamous Field of Dreams in Maine was notorious for this....it would go from a phase angle of 45 to almost 85 in some areas and that was within a matter of feet. I think was due to shallows in the soil where minerals collected from runoff. ANyway this is an example of how this meter would help people.
Scott

 

[AndyNM]

Thanks for all the info and your time to do the first impression on the F5. I can't wait to get one. It is fun to see how Fisher releases one detector after the other while the other companies seem just to watch how we spend our money for new Fisher detectors.

Andy

 

[snh]

Sorry about that....I misunderstood what the manual had said and what was displayed. None of the soft settings are saved....this would be settings made by a touchpad such asFreq, Tones and Notch...these are reset at pwr off as is GB. My mistake.
What it was saying is that the Threshold, Disc and Gain knobs are an anolog style in that...... there current physical position indicates their setting. Basically like any analog machine with knobs would be. If the Threshold knob is at 12:00 position then the Threshold is at mid point between -9 and +9 setting(which is the displayed range) so..the value of the Thrshold is a displayed 0 or neutral Threshold and will always be so at this pot position. Kind of a duhh statement actually.
So everytime you turn on the machine you have to set GB, tones and notch if you use notch since they are soft settings....while the others will be at whatever setting the pots were left at.
Sorry for the mistake.
Scott