This is what makes the CZ's the best detectors out there...

[Blissterd1]

This is my dream Fisher CZ detector! I would either go with the Guiness or the IPA version! And I'd send it to NASA Tom and have it modded to dig at "ludicrous" speed! But seriously folks, of the MANY detectors I have owned or presently own, The Fisher CZ's are the ONLY ones that go out with me now. Even with their weight issues and age, NOTHING compares! They go deep and are spot on with ID and pinpoint.

 

[Flintstone]

Hi Bliss, I have a CZ7Apro, and only used it a time or two. Can you give me a good setting for coins? I have 7 detectors and the CZ gets used the least. I would like to start to use it more, I have the 5" coil and the 8" coil for it. Thanks flintstone

 

[Blissterd1]

Well Hello there Mr. Flinstone! Older Fisher detectors are some of the very best out there! Most machines are single frequency. We have two being used consecutively. Sad to say I have only seen a CZ7A in a pawn shop once. Among others like White's XLT, VFX, Prizm V, several Classics (I, II, and III) plus old White's "blue box" Coinmaster 5900/6000 Di's and some really old Garrett's, I own a CZ5 and a CZ6A (basically a CZ5 with no speaker) and have lots of experience with them. (Yes, like you I am a devoted dirt fisherman and detector collector!) The CZ7A is a bit of a different beast. Where we CZ5-6-6A-3D owners are concerned, we have an 8 position rotary switch to choose between discrimination modes, from wide open no DISC to coins only mode with options in between to tune out pull tabs, iron and such. That's the main difference. You have notching to do that with. You can "turn off" or notch undesirable metal. I try to run wide open and use my ears to decide which are the desired targets. No DISC allows the detector to search at it's max depth. Knowing where everything is, including iron, gives you more to work with. We have the same two frequency (5kz and 10kz the lower is better for Cu and Ag coins and the higher is better for Au rings and such) search mode. 3-tones. Faint-Target Audio Boost, deeper targets are quieter as long as volume is set at 5 or lower. Above 5 and deep targets ring as loud as shallow ones. I suggest you take advantage of this so that you favor the quiet, deep stuff! Keep volume at 5 or lower. I run my sensitivity setting as high as I can without it chattering. They get unstable sometimes if pushed to hard there. We also share target overload so we can tell if we are over a buried manhole cover or something else huge and usually undesirable. Also, if you have fairly clean hunting grounds where there hasn't been 40 years of tab tops and pull rings thrown around, try running in AUTOTUNE mode. this is an all metal mode that opens your machine wide and goes deeper. You really should try to use your ears, not your eyes on the detector display to determine whether or not to dig. Learn and listen for your tones, search over those targets from multiple directions to see if there is a tonal change or in all metal mode (or just hold down the pinpoint button) you should be able to tell when something is longer that it is wide (this can sometimes be a coin on edge however!) As far as I'm concerned, unless you are "cherry-picking" for coins, I would dig everything that isn't coming in as iron. If you just want to dig coins, notch out iron, pull tabs, beavertails and foil and if I were you I would notch out Zn pennies, unless you want to dig a BUNCH of worthless and usually massively corroded and worthless modern pennies that aren't even worth a penny unless they are double strikes or other odd value adding qualities! That should cover it in a nutshell. Hope it helps at all. HH and let us know how you like that old machine. If you just never get to liking it, let me know, I might be in the market for another CZ that I don't have.

 

[Flintstone]

Thanks Blissterd, I hunt in woods and parks a lot. The parks and flee markets are full of junk, but I find a lot of rings in them. The woods I hunt has a Army camp close and I find a lot of old things, some silver dimes. I will try to start using the CZ more. I can't hear very well, I have aids in both ears and think sometimes that stops me from finding deep targets. If I have the trashole to high will that make it with less depth? I never know it I have that right or not. Thanks for the help, I will let you know how it dose. flintstone

 

[Blissterd1]

Thanks Blissterd, I hunt in woods and parks a lot. The parks and flee markets are full of junk, but I find a lot of rings in them. The woods I hunt has a Army camp close and I find a lot of old things, some silver dimes. I will try to start using the CZ more. I can't hear very well, I have aids in both ears and think sometimes that stops me from finding deep targets. If I have the trashole to high will that make it with less depth? I never know it I have that right or not. Thanks for the help, I will let you know how it dose. flintstone

Get you a decent pair of headphones to compensate for your hearing difficulty and to mask out other noise. That will help a lot! I have also considered putting an audio pre-amp inline with my headphones, nothing too loud, just a bit of a boost, that would REALLY help someone like you that can't hear well. I think you are asking if THRESHOLD affects the depth, I have that on my White's DFX and XLT and others but Fisher detectors don't have a threshold setting, they have a sensitivity setting and a ground balance setting. Hopefully you know how to ground balance. This will "tune out" the Ground and the CZ will only see the targets.Put the Discrimination knob to "Auto Tune" and set the coil on the ground, raise and lower the coil several times and turn the Ground knob either way while bobbing the coil up and down until the sounds are the same going up as it does going down. After Ground Balancing, turn the Discrimination to your choice, from zero up to the last setting which is for clad and silver coins. I personally use the 0 Discrimination setting since the machine can go deeper plus I want to know where EVERYTHING is, from iron (lowest tone) to silver (highest tone) and I use my ear to decide whether to dig or not to dig. Turning the Sensitivity knob up makes it go deeper until about half way then it begins to widen. I think it drains the batteries a bit quicker when turned up plus it can destabilize the machine a bit and you will get "chattering" sounds without even having the coil near the ground. Only use as much Sensitivity as you think you need, 4-5 is usually more than enough but I almost always end up going higher because I don't have much soil mineralization in my area and I can sometimes max it out and it keeps stable. Keep your swing speed low, about 4 seconds per swing in each direction, swing left as you count to four before again counting to four as you swing to the right, that way you don't miss those rings that are being "masked" by nails or some other trash. This is what is known as "recovery speed", every detector has it's own recovery speed, unfortunately the CZ's aren't that quick to recover, however the extreme depth compensates for this and if you swing slow enough, you will be able to pick out the good from the bad targets easily, especially if like me, you have the 5" coil. (I usually use the stock 8" spider coil) I try to use my ears to decide to dig or not, always swing in an X over the target to listen for any changes in the tone, which would indicate that it is long instead of round (like NAILS!!) which CZ's LOVE to find! If you are a meter reader, then watch for signals that show the target as Foil through the Nickel segments of the dial DIG THEM, 77% of gold rings were found in this range!
I can't think of much else to cover with you pertaining to the Fisher CZ. I saw the post where you had offered the CZ7A up for sale, I think you said you had all 3 coils for it? Unless it's trashy, use the biggest coil you can swing! I wish I had the 10.5" coil but I can't really afford it right at this time since losing one of my part-time jobs but hopefully that will change soon!

 

[Blissterd1]

Thanks Blissterd, I hunt in woods and parks a lot. The parks and flee markets are full of junk, but I find a lot of rings in them. The woods I hunt has a Army camp close and I find a lot of old things, some silver dimes. I will try to start using the CZ more. I can't hear very well, I have aids in both ears and think sometimes that stops me from finding deep targets. If I have the trashole to high will that make it with less depth? I never know it I have that right or not. Thanks for the help, I will let you know how it dose. flintstone

Get you a decent pair of headphones to compensate for your hearing difficulty and to mask out other noise. That will help a lot! I have also considered putting an audio pre-amp inline with my headphones, nothing too loud, just a bit of a boost, that would REALLY help someone like you that can't hear well. I think you are asking if THRESHOLD affects the depth, I have that on my White's DFX and XLT and others but Fisher CZ5-6-6A detectors don't have a threshold setting, they have a sensitivity setting and a ground balance setting. Hopefully you know how to ground balance the CZ7A. This will "tune out" the Ground and the CZ will only see the targets. Set the Auto/ID to Auto and turn the Ground Balance knob to 10 and put the coil 6" from the ground, raise and lower the coil several times, to the ground and 6" above where you started and turn the Ground knob either way while bobbing the coil up and down until the volume of sound is the same going up as it is going down. This will make it as though there is no soil almost! After Ground Balancing, switch back from AUTO to ID and decide your Discrimination by notching out or leave it wide open by not notching anything. I personally use the 0 Discrimination setting
on my CZ's (again, the CZ7A's are different) since the machine can go deeper plus I want to know where EVERYTHING is, from iron (lowest tone) to silver (highest tone) and I use my ear to decide whether to dig or not to dig. Keep your swing speed low, about 4 seconds per swing in each direction, swing left as you count to four before again counting to four as you swing to the right, that way you don't miss those rings that are being "masked" by nails or some other trash. This is what is known as "recovery speed", every detector has it's own recovery speed, unfortunately the CZ's aren't that quick to recover, however the extreme depth compensates for this and if you swing slow enough, you will be able to pick out the good from the bad targets easily, especially if like me, you have the 5" coil. (I usually use the stock 8" spider coil) I try to use my ears to decide to dig or not, always swing in an X over the target to listen for any changes in the tone, which would indicate that it is long instead of round (like NAILS!!) which CZ's LOVE to find! If you are a meter reader, then watch for signals that show the target as Foil through the Nickel segments of the dial DIG THEM, 77% of gold rings were found in this range!
I can't think of much else to cover with you pertaining to the Fisher CZ. I saw the post where you had offered the CZ7A up for sale, I think you said you had all 3 coils for it? Unless it's trashy, use the biggest coil you can swing! I wish I had the 10.5" coil but I can't really afford it right at this time since losing one of my part-time jobs but hopefully that will change soon! The 8" stock coil works just fine for me and like I said, I have the 5". I do hope I helped you to understand that machine a bit better and that you find more treasure! Good luck with it and happy hunting!

Rob in Tulsa, OK - AKA Blissterd1