slingshot said:
I have always wanted to ask this question, since I can't afford the more "advanced" machines:
Is there that much difference in setting the Tesoros at iron reject-where it just gives a broken signal-and searching with the fancier models - say pro mode with the AT Pro- in finding targets mixed with iron? Thanks.
In my case I can tell you what I experienced and still do because I still pull out my Vaq and Compadre from time to time.
I will never let them go because they are too much fun to hunt with, satisfies my urge when I just feel like a change and they still find me many great things when I use them.
However...
When I started to use my F2 I found I liked those VDI numbers, something you don't have on your Ace, and they gave me a bit more information on targets than just audio and the more info you have the better I think.
As the hours passed using it I got really into the language and behavior and eventually went beyond the normal indicators into a more hidden language that I now think most detectors possess, even the so called entry level types, but it takes some keen observation to realize it is there and plenty of hours to really get to understand.
I spent those hours doing exactly that and went on to find way more than I ever thought possible using such a simple machine and many others saw what I was doing and told me they were amazed at what I was doing with a unit that costs so little.
Many people bought this thing because of that long blog I kept adding to on another forum where I posted my finds and thoughts and theories about its behavior, I don't know exactly how many but Bart at Big Boys once told me Fisher noticed and they knew who I was.
At least 3 if not 4 members bought F2's in the md club I was in back in Kansas because even though they all had some higher end units, MXT's, Fisher F75's and more, they kept seeing me win contests at our meetings month after month like most coins found, best jewelry, best relics and more..if a meeting went by where I didn't bring in something gold to show off or something just as stellar they seemed surprised, that was funny to me.
A lot of that was luck but not all of it, I really believe it was that deeper understanding I acquired over time of that hidden language I began to understand by observing the behavior of those numbers on the screen and listening to those tones which also had much more information in them then most realized that helped me do all of this with such a simple machine with very little possible settings except notch, disc and sense to play with.
As much as I love my Tesoros in my case using a screen unit helped me find more and more great treasure while I was on a mission to dig less and less trash while doing it, something I needed to do because digging a ton of trash was just not something I wanted to do anymore like I did at the beginning of my career.
I am good with my Tesoros and have learned to tell trash from treasure most of the time too, I think, but running the numbers for me I discovered using a screen unit did help me reduce that trash digging way down while keeping my volume of great finds high and even raise up to a higher percentage if you can believe that.
I started to think if I can accomplish all this with that simple F2 what could I do with a higher end screen unit with even more features and possible settings.
I planned on maybe getting a V3i because you can tweak almost every setting possible on that thing and I love to tweak and experiment but eventually I set my sights on another Fisher but higher end than the F2...why waste all that knowledge gained learning the Fisher language and I assumed or at least hoped what I knew would at least partly transfer over if I upgraded.
The F5 was in the running, the F75 was the ultimate goal but a fire sale price on a brand spanking new in the box F70 that never even saw dirt passed my way for $400 so I sold a little of my gold hoard and bought it...best decision I ever made in this hobby.
I knew this was a more advanced machine but at first I didn't realize how advanced and exactly how capable it was or exactly how much it would raise my game and abilities to a whole new level, a level I had no idea was possible.
The first thing I noticed was the depth, a major improvement.
My Vaq can reach deep too but I seem to get a bit more information with the F70 on the really deep ones and eventually started finding and digging more and more at deeper levels.
I started to live at a deeper level than I had ever been before using this thing and there were things down there that I learned to find over time fairly easily.
The huge amount of settings are a tremendous asset to me, I experimented and tweaked for months and discovered with the right settings anything and everything at any site was possible if you set it right and definitely if you really started to understand the hidden deeper behavior patterns that I eventually realized this one also possessed.
Depth, mind boggling with any coil, trash, no problem no matter how much, but what I finally learned to do in extremely heavy iron was the most eye opening.
I have written much around here about my adventures in crazy iron infested sites in both Kansas and now here in my mineralized southern dirt I now hunt in and all I can say is I am doing things I never thought possible and finding great things in sites that have been hunted for decades and getting deeper in this devil dirt than most I have talked to...all thanks to the F70.
As good as I am with my others and as much as I know I can guarantee that I just couldn't do the things I am doing now in such difficult sites I hunt and find all the things I am finding while digging a relatively small amount of trash.
Believe me I have tried using my others in the same sites that never produced the results I have seen with this one.
Digging it all I can find a ton with all my detectors I am sure but there is no way I will do that nowadays.
The screen unit gives me so much great and important info about the targets in the sites I hunt, both audio and visual info, that I know I am doing more, finding more, enjoying the hobby more using the F70 than any other machine I have ever swung.
Still learning it too, that will never end.
Sling, you don't have to go to flagship levels and units to get mind boggling performance of this I am positive, but just getting to even mid level or so whether it might be the F5, F70, AT Pro or anything else just might make a difference in iron and who knows where else with more settings, power and the possible combinations using both...and time spent learning to understand and use it all to your advantage.
For me it surely has.
