First hunt, F5...Review and log...

DIGGER27

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Alabama, by way of Detroit, Tampa Bay, Alabama and
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First hunt with the F5.
I know this thing is discontinued, has the old school big head design and uses two 9 volts but I am going to review it anyway because the company I got it from tells me they still have tons more in stock and it comes with two coils for not $500 like it used to or $450 or more with only one coil like some are still trying to get but for only $299.
Not obsoleted, despite all the new kids on the block and all the whiz-bang tech, including Multi-Q...yea, I said it, this thing can more than hold it's own especially hunting there in my insanely bad mineralized, iron infested southern hot dirt.
If it can hunt here pretty sure it can hunt everywhere and do it well.

A park site I have hit a million times, tons of trash and iron so I wanted to see what it could find.
Didn't use the concentrics, another time, today was the Nel Sharpshooter because I know how well that one deals with my dirt.
Set it up for jewelry hunting ala Mike Hillis's advice...thresh at 5, gain up to 80-85 with no chatter, disc at 8, phase locked in the mid 60's and 2 on the mineralized bars constantly bouncing to 3.
First target a bouncy signal in foil and it was foil.
Second the same, bouncy by at least 5-8 numbers and can slaw.
Exactly the same behavior I saw when I used the F2 over trash, usually could get the numbers down to only a 3 number jump over good targets most of the time.
Nice to know, maybe I can settle in and use this thing the same way.
My F70 bounces trash too and it can find good targets well however not always in that 3 number range.
Next targets the same, a couple of tabs, beaver tail, can slaw and a nice sounding high tone at 71 that didn't jump but it was a bit too loud.
I figured can so I dug it and came up with a crushed can.
I got a very solid 80 on one target from several directions, hoping for my first quarter but instead an old crown cap comes up instead.
I didn't use the wiggle pull back method to see if it would have dropped to iron but I did the rest of the day on high tone quarter signals and it worked fine.
I know that when I switch to either of my concentrics they won't be an issue at all.
I got another solid hit like that but at 90 on a bit deeper target, maybe 5", crown cap, my dirt up-averages most targets the deeper you go so normal.
I move to another area I haven't hunted much at all, dug a few more pieces of trash that I called trash before I dug them and then it happened..an 80 from more than one direction, solid no jumping, and I got my first quarter...so yea.
Found a dime too a few feet away, a solid 70 about 3-4" deep... I started to smile.
Eventually moved to another area at the end of an enclosed dog park I have only hunted once.
It was under trees so not baked and easy digging so I switched over to coin mode.
Thresh 0, able to get the gain up to 85 and pretty stable but once I turned the thresh down to -1 it got quieter and at -2 dead silent... could get the gain up to 95, even 99 but I left it at 95 so surprised at all that.
No chatter, ultra quiet so silent search indeed, I credit this to the Nel coil, much better shielding than Fisher coils.
However...on this whole hunt this thing was way more stable and quiet than my F70 with this lower frequency, or whatever is giving me this greater stability.
Switched to D1, Mike says D1 and D2 will get the deepest in disc so I used those for awhile and then moved up to D3 and D4 a bit later trying to get a feel for all the tones in disc.
Didn't stay long and I didn't find any coins there but acquired plenty of targets some fairly deep.
One tab that came in at 90 at 8" .
Normal for Fishers to do this on deep tab targets so that's fine.
Big headlines here were it actually saw something at that depth and called the depth accurately.
8" here is remarkable in the land where any decent hit past 5" is a gift.
Got tired but had to try one more area.
Drove to another part in this large park, a small area next to an open building with a grill that was built long ago.
Hunted to death for years and I have hit it a million times but nothing has come out of here for me for awhile.
I avoid all the jumpy trash but I get a very solid at a 77-78 in I believe D3, maybe 4...showing 4" on the pinpoint.
I dig down and find a copper cent from the 70's.
Nice!
Seconds later a few feet over the exact same numbers and a super solid hit, I dig down and find a 44 wheat cent.
Alright, I find them around here but they don't pop up all the time so digging wheats for me is very satisfying.
I was tired and hungry so I was done, picked up some lunch for me and the wife and went home.

So pros and cons...

CONS...

The pinpoint button is in a good spot but right between the thresh and the gain knobs which are little too close to each other, I use gloves so every time I hit the pinpoint I moved both knobs and I had to readjust.
Not great but I just switched to using the wiggle-pull back method to pinpoint most of the time.


No depth meter, not necessary but nice to have at a glance.
I would gladly exchange that confidence meter for a depth bar meter but if wishes were horses we would all be riding ponies, so...


The phase lock pad you push to GB is above the GB knob so you have to crawl over that knob with your thumb to hit it.
Awkward, and every time I did it I knocked the GB setting out of whack.
You should move the GB knob to match the phase lock number after you get it anyway but still didn't like it.
The tones pad is below the GB knob in a much better place...they should have switched those two when they designed the interface but nobody asked me so I will just deal with it.

In D1 tones and D2 tones especially the iron sounds so loud, annoying really, I wish I could lower down the volume some in case I use them and I hunt with iron in...I do that a lot and I have so much iron.
Not as bad in multi tones for some reason, it gets lost some in all the tones, but still annoying.
Not that I would use D1 or D2 for jewelry hunting but be nice to have a less annoying option.
Eventually I just turned the disc up to get rid of iron, good for coinshooting but not so good looking for small gold or silver jewelry or tiny chains that come in at iron.
But that's a pretty rare thing so again, it is what it is and I will deal.

Iron...it wraps around and gives me high hits in the 90's all over the place since I am blessed with so much iron.
Supposedly version 1 didn't do this so much but by this version 3 they expanded the target range a bit and the results are lots of wraparound in iron heavy sites.
The good thing is I don't believe there are hundreds of silver dollars lost around here and all those high tone hits don't sound right, every one a bit squeaky and not exactly like actual coin targets so I will easily learn to ignore them.


Pros...Lots of them...

Sensitivity...great, dug just the tiny tip of a cut sta-tab and it was fairly deep and one of the more solid hits.
Mike says this thing can see small chains easily, not just the clasps but tiny straight chains and I believe him.

Tones, nice...Not quite the same as my F70 but close enough and I got used to them pretty quick.

All metal tones...4 different pitch options and I definitely like one or two more than the others to avoid fatigue if I want to hunt in all metal.

Depth...I suspect it can hit deep here, hopefully as as deep if not a little deeper as my F70 and maybe the Nox with pretty darn stable ID's, a little more stable than my schizophrenic F70 so easier to notice the good ones.
Massive depth isn't all that important here, no way can we get much past 8"-9" on coin or ring sized targets with anything especially in the bad stuff but there is a layer of great masked targets that still are hiding at the 4-8" level so good, stable accurate ID's at those depths are most important and this thing seems to do it well.

Modulation...this thing has it in spades.
Deep, shallow, midrange targets...it paints quite the picture of what is happening below the coil.
As good in this area if not better and more accurate than anything else I have ever used.

Unmasking ...I have no idea because I didn't come across anything good in the same hole as iron or trash but I will eventually and F2 was pretty good at this, my F70 better so I assume the F5 will do it too.
It did find those two copper coins I missed so many times very easily and that were severely masked by just my devil dirt so, hopeful.

Target behavior....Jaw Dropping great.
Over most garbage it jumps like my F2, over good targets it locks in solid like a laser with stability I haven't experienced since I hunted out west in Kansas and Missouri dirt on more than just shallow targets.
This is what I was hoping it would do most of all.

I got this thing for several reasons.
Set it right and supposedly it has enough control and ability to be a Compadre level jewelry sniffer.
My F2 is stable and accurate here in this dirt with a lower frequency but not really deep, my 13.5 kHz F70 has found me a ton at a higher frequency and some at pretty remarkable depths but nowhere near as stable, might also had a lot to do with its massive power but who knows.
I find great things with the F70 but I had to learn a whole new language and behavior pattern to do it.
I was hoping this thing at 7.8 kHz would be a combination of both...stable and normal acting and yet accurate and deeper than the F2.
I was also hoping to get back to my old way of hunting with my F2 and avoid most trash while still finding all the treasure I deserve...including a lot more jewelry.
Jumpy over trash, locked onto good targets just as both of my Fishers did back out west in way better dirt....deep, stable and not schizophrenic.

Honestly, just one short hunt and it seems to be hitting all the high spots I wanted and was hoping for...so far.
A bonus is I got the thing for hunting jewelry, primarily, but it's ability to see coins with such deadly accuracy in my messed up dirt was a surprise...a great one.
Who knew it would like and play in my dirt as nice as it seems to be?
I was hoping but I didn't expect this.
The Omega is supposedly the same thing or real close in a modern package but it's not absolutely 100% the same according to some that have used both and still costs more so I went with this one to get that frequency I wanted.

Again, just a short introductory hunt but I suspect me and the F5 are going to become good friends and have some great adventures together.
We will see.
 
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Thanks for the review. I personally am not going to get one, however this sort of post reminds me of the reviews in the old detecting magazines which was my favorite part of the issue when they had them in there.

It was a fun read. I wish you well with your new F5. HH Tim
 
Thanks man, old school review for an old school detector.
Do I think a million people will go out and get one, nah.

Do I think in some situations it can still be relevant and should be considered, sure...especially now that it is still around, still has that 5 year warranty, still attainable and it's cheaper than ever before.
Still very capable and productive.

I just got mine for a specific purpose and more importantly to scratch an itch, I wanted the sensitivity to jewelry of my Compadre, the stability of my F2, the depth and unmasking ability of my F70 and Nox and still be able to handle my extreme red dirt displaying a normal, understandable language and behavior.
Plus balanced and light with several coil options and fun to swing.
The fact that it appears to be another extreme coin hog is a bonus.
For me it seems to check off all the boxes so I really lucked out.

I won't retire my others, got many and I love switching between them, but way fun swinging and learning a new one and revisiting all my old sites to see what I might have missed and to see what she can do.
For awhile I think I will do exactly that.
 
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Excellent review, and this unit is ever more appealing. Glad it's meeting your expectations thus far.

I'm imagining a momentary toggle trigger wired to the pinpoint and phase lock buttons... forward to pinpoint and back for phase lock, or vice-versa. Would void the warranty of course.
 
Excellent review, and this unit is ever more appealing. Glad it's meeting your expectations thus far.

I'm imagining a momentary toggle trigger wired to the pinpoint and phase lock buttons... forward to pinpoint and back for phase lock, or vice-versa. Would void the warranty of course.

Easier, but ham handed me would break off that trigger eventually, I think.
Yea, I am that clumsy.
Never into the F75 or T2 for a few reasons but that one is near the top.
 
dad gum.. , now thats a review. thats what i would like to see others do. i am not a Fisher person in Georgia soil, but would jump on an F5 in a minute with a review like this. '

all units seem to have things too close or wrong place if they have more than two knobs. the only perfect unit to me is the original Tesoro Silver Sabre Plus, my favorite, hangs underneath, and can be easily adjusted on the fly.

Now on my Simplex, i experience the same thing with pushpads. they are hard to work and the pinpoint in the wrong place to me.

the AT pro is friendlier with the odd shaped buttons but crowded.

i do like the looks of the f5 and based on your review will be on lookout if opportunity knocks.
 
The F5 actually does show depth if you look closely ;) – it’s above the numbers, if I remember correctly. Anyhow, it’s there, just not real clear until you are very used to the machine.

Nice write up, as usual! This makes me wanna go out and swing but the temps are still way up there here in this armpit of a state.
What were your general settings for best use?
 
Thanks for the review Digger. I've been an F5 owner and fan since they first came out. Ive had an F2, F70, F75, ATpro, Simplex +. I find myself using using the F5 most often, unless I am water hunting. It is not as deep as some of my other machines in my soil (TN), but the audio is so sweet, and I love the 4 tone mode for park hunting. My ears lock onto that nickel tone. When I hear that, I always look for solid TID numbers. It has found me many gold targets in the dirt.

I love stable TID's, and I think that is why my F5 and ATpro get the most use.

Stick with it, I would love to hear more about it from you. I am always learning more, and your in depth reviews and setup information will be helpful to many. Now that Mike Hillis is no longer using the F5, you can carry on with the great kind of info that he shared.
 
The F5 actually does show depth if you look closely ;) – it’s above the numbers, if I remember correctly. Anyhow, it’s there, just not real clear until you are very used to the machine.

Nice write up, as usual! This makes me wanna go out and swing but the temps are still way up there here in this armpit of a state.
What were your general settings for best use?

Where?
Don't see it in the pic of the interface...I will turn it on and look again but something I don't usually miss.

I have been out twice again, I will take some time to write them up soon and there are a couple of things I have noticed.
I have tried Mike's jewelry settings...for now.
Thresh at +5, gain high just before chatter, mostly D3 and D4...I like the higher tone nickel tone in 4.
Mike says this thing can see a tiny thin chain at these settings...not the clasp, not balled up but just a straight piece of chain.
That's Compadre level sensitivity in a more powerful package and the real reason I got this thing.
Love to find one and see if it is true.

For coins mostly just normal settings again using D3 and 4 but 1 and 2 are supposed to be deeper.
I am trying to see if I can get it to not jump more than 3 numbers over good targets like my F2 could do while avoiding more jumpy trash.
Still digging trash at a little wider range because still learning, but most trash I call before I dig and yesterday I started to get those numbers down to about 3 pretty consistently with the Sharpshooter.
Once I did coin after coin started jumping out of the dirt and only was fooled on a couple of crown caps.

This is interesting...
On my F70 I came up with something called my Silver Slayer Settings.
Disc all the way maxed and just notch in one, or at the most two regions.
Most of the time nickels and one other depending on if I am looking for Indians or jewelry.
At some sites just one works, two makes it noisier, but most places I can choose two.
I found that just as the thresh and gain has a huge effect on chatter and noise depending how you set them on the very sparky F70 the disc actually does too.
Not many ever mentioned this in posts about using the different thresh and gain settings to mitigate chatter.
Using this method for the last few years I found I can push the thresh up really high, sometimes to positive max, and the gain way up there too into the 90's or even maxed and the thing stays eerily quiet and pretty darn stable...for an F70.
No way can I get it to act this way and this quietly using lower disc without lowering the thresh way down and/or the gain real low to or below 60 most of the time.
Always low that way in high EMI saturated sites.
Found a lot over the years doing it with this method, too.

Well yesterday I tried this on the F5 near the street at a park with electric wires.
Freakin' method worked extremely well on this one too using the Sharpshooter.
Disc to 65, notched in nickels and I believe zinc for Indians and I was able max the thresh to +9 and the gain to 99 and it didn't make a peep except over targets...but I moved the gain back down to 95 cause I got a little scared. :lol:
Useless for me now as everything is still rock hard and I can't get deep yet, still have to literally chop my way down to just 2-3" , but when things soften up this will be extremely useful.
I got some pretty deep good signals but left them there for now and I found several coins surrounded by trash with great tones that triggered me to dig.
So good to know for future hunts looking for old coins and deeper jewelry.
 
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Oh! I remember now. It’s active only when using the pinpointer. Once you hit that button the numbers you see indicate depth of the object in question. I, too, would rather see a full-time meter somewhere on the screen, but that’s where it is on the F5.
 
Oh! I remember now. It’s active only when using the pinpointer. Once you hit that button the numbers you see indicate depth of the object in question. I, too, would rather see a full-time meter somewhere on the screen, but that’s where it is on the F5.

Yea, that can be useful but I always use gloves and every time I go near that pinpoint I move the knobs out of whack cause they are a little close.
As a matter of fact all my knobs move way too much way too many times on my hunts and I don't like that, at all, but I will solve that problem with a little mod I am going to do learned from Tesoro folk over the years.
Silicone o rings.
As I said in a post on another forum I refuse to adapt to this thing to deal with this problem when it is smarter and easier to make it adapt to me instead.
Gonna work great, trust me.

Also I hope to use that great modulation to get good at depth guesses without the pinpoint.
If anything has the ability to do that to a very accurate degree it's this one.
 
I’ll be following, Digger, because my knobs move around like crazy, too—mostly when I set the thing down to dig. I love the idea of knobs, but they should have a little more resistance. Never thought of O-rings. :D
 
Thanks for the review Digger. I've been an F5 owner and fan since they first came out. Ive had an F2, F70, F75, ATpro, Simplex +. I find myself using using the F5 most often, unless I am water hunting. It is not as deep as some of my other machines in my soil (TN), but the audio is so sweet, and I love the 4 tone mode for park hunting. My ears lock onto that nickel tone. When I hear that, I always look for solid TID numbers. It has found me many gold targets in the dirt.

I love stable TID's, and I think that is why my F5 and ATpro get the most use.

Stick with it, I would love to hear more about it from you. I am always learning more, and your in depth reviews and setup information will be helpful to many. Now that Mike Hillis is no longer using the F5, you can carry on with the great kind of info that he shared.

See above talking about my Silver Slayer settings.

Gonna post all I learn and learn from as many others as I can in the meantime.
I am devouring the F5 bible, what a great shortcut to settings and a deeper understanding of what is possible.

BTW, Mike has chimed in on some threads a newbie gal user started over on Finds with some advice.
He loves the F75 with DST but he mentioned all this new talk started him thinking about getting another F5.
If only.
 
I’ll be following, Digger, because my knobs move around like crazy, too—mostly when I set the thing down to dig. I love the idea of knobs, but they should have a little more resistance. Never thought of O-rings. :D

I know...I try to be careful putting down the thing at a quiet 0 thresh but when I pick it up again it changed to a much more noisy +7 or higher.
What's with that, really?
Very annoying.

I am a problem solver...this one was easy.
Called bead stops, jewelry makers use these for charm bracelets and other projects so Michaels and other craft stores might have them but I am too lazy to look for them so online ordering I will go.
Even easier I will make my wife do it.

https://www.amazon.com/Tegg-Bracele...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583589103455624&psc=1

$5.99 for a packet of 100 of these things off Amazon with free shipping...for prime members, anyway.
Will fit the posts perfectly and if they are a bit too thick and raise the knobs too high a few seconds with a razor blade will fix that.
Don't need a ton of friction, just a little will make our lives easier and much less frustrating.
They won't wear out very fast despite all the rubbing and if or when they do I think 100 will be a several lifetime supply.

Since you are a nice guy when I get them if you ask nicely I will put some in a letter and send them to you if this works as well as I think it will.
I think I can spare a few.
Won't even ask for the shipping cost back...a whole stamp.:D
 

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dad gum.. , now thats a review. thats what i would like to see others do. i am not a Fisher person in Georgia soil, but would jump on an F5 in a minute with a review like this. '

all units seem to have things too close or wrong place if they have more than two knobs. the only perfect unit to me is the original Tesoro Silver Sabre Plus, my favorite, hangs underneath, and can be easily adjusted on the fly.

Now on my Simplex, i experience the same thing with pushpads. they are hard to work and the pinpoint in the wrong place to me.

the AT pro is friendlier with the odd shaped buttons but crowded.

i do like the looks of the f5 and based on your review will be on lookout if opportunity knocks.

Thanks.
Rattlehead is from Ga. too, we have conversed some, talked and lamented about our weird dirt where good targets can get masked and lost even only 2" deep sometimes.
Many can't believe how bad it can actually get down here, then they have a chance to visit and then wonder how we even have the patience to do this hobby at all in these difficult southern states.
Because we are not wussie's, that's why.
We both have Nox's, he has the CTX and some others and I have my F70 and a few Tesoros.
Both of us have figured out this devil dirt to a good extent and have been pretty darn successful despite the handicaps.
Still, I got the Nox just to combat this dirt and it works great but the compressed target range sometimes drives me crazy.
The F70 works well, if you learn the language I discovered, but it still can be very schizophrenic.
My Tesoros are great but used mostly for fun.
I got this one as another tool hoping it will have all the attributes and abilities of my other favorite detectors but still work extremely well with much normal behavior...and be real good at unmasking as I know Fishers excel at doing.
Only three hunts and it seems to be doing exactly that but way more time needed to see how good it will actually be down here.

As always it will be fun finding out and it was just too cheap not to take the chance and see.
 
Great review, had two F5's. My first experience with the F5 was in North bay, Ontario Canada after having owned a couple Fisher Edge units. Just found a couple posts I made back in 2012- 2013. Thought I would repost them here in case there was some usable info in them. I did eventually sell the F5 to purchase an Omega. Thought it would be better, only in weight and balance.
----------------------------------
by Sven » Tue Apr 03, 2012 11:16 am
Parcel arrived this morning, grabbed the knife and sliced away at the packing tape, inside was a bunch of bubble wrap surrounding what looked like a metal detector. Peeling away the bubble wrap revealed a new looking used Fisher F5. First thing I noticed, the control box is large,after using small tesoros. A blind man can see the large LCD display screen. The unit balances for my 6'1" stature.
Popped in 2- 9 volt batteries and turned it on. Now mind you I have not read the instruction manual and began to play air test.
I am impressed with response, ID capability, air test depth and sensitivity to silver and gold.
After figuring out the Fisher ID Edge and how to hunt for modern CA clad using the tones and number ID, the F5 is a breeze. And I thought the
ID Edge was a CA coin killer. The F5 I have is so much more accurate ID'ing a clad coin flat or on edge. Know the ID numbers and the tones and your good to go. Loonies and Toonies are a piece of cake if you decide to cherry pick. Loons and Toons on edge will ID as iron, low tones, single blip with -8 to -10 numbers. A square nail may fall in around -10 or -11 with a double blip or a single blip. If the nail comes in as a single blip, rescan from a different angle a double blip will sound, you know you have a nail. All mod clad on edge comes in at iron, low tone, easy to tell. Does very nice on small to large gold rings as well and even a small gold chain coiled up and a small 1/8" gold nugget.
What I like is the choice of single tone, two tone, 3 tones or 4 tones. At this point I may favor 2 tone. Audio coming out of the unit's speaker is very nice, when I use my Killer Bee headset the sounds are more crisp but, do not duplicate the lower base pitch of the F5's speaker as well. I'll have to pull out the headset I made using 600 ohm speakers that headset is just a bit
bassier, will see if that produces sound similar to the F5's speaker.
First impressions at this point, glad I sold the Fisher ID Edge that I regretted selling. The F5 clicked with me right away. I'm also glad I chose the F5 instead of the Tesoro Golden Sabre.
Have to get it out in the field now.................
===========================
In response to a poster saying the F5 doesn't like Canadian Coins.

You need to go out and use it!!
This is a really nice machine.
From my previous posting:
You will want to download F5 Tips and Tricks I complied from numerous posts of various forums. https://www.treasurelinx.com/fisher.html

Do not swing fast. Hunt in two tone mode.
The F2 is a Bounty hunter platform based machine.
The F5 is a Fisher platform shared with the Teknetics Omega. The F5 handles ground better than the Omega.
Search for my F5 posts on this forum.
Keep track of the numbers as you pass the CA clad under the coil, again the coins on edge.
From my other forum posts
Read all of Mike Hillis posts regarding tuning and hunting with the F5, sure learned a lot. Several days ago, played on the bench trying to get a better understanding of the detector. There is a learning curve understanding how this unit will work regarding mod. Canadian clad and using all the info the detector spits out.
I only had about 2 1/2 hours on the detector so far. The ball park hunt last week when I found the silver dime and a short hunt at the worked out beach.
Sunday went back to the ball park, wouldn't you know it was being used. Next best option was the soccer field alongside. Found a bunch of coins before heading off to a small toboggan hill, I saw detectorists holes there. Spend several hours there and at the playground area. Found a bunch more coins, a ring buttons, zipper pulls and the usual junk.
Ended the day with:
Loonies---2
quarters--13
Dimes-----9
Nickels----7
Pennies---63
Game token--1
Silver ring-----1

The F5 is a really nice working detector overall so far, tones are easy to understand (1-4 tone selector), ID works fairly well with CA clad, a bit bouncy. If you go by the tone, listen for the high tone, dig, it's a clad coin so far. I decided to notch out iron and foil, hunt disc mode,
pinpoint in all metal. You know when you have a dime with the threshold-gain settings I used, the dimes gave a weird sound and pinpointed softly. Pennies always 69-70. Some one way signals you just had to check out, they just sounded like coins, they were in many times a nickel. At the tob. hill ran into EMI, followed Mike Hillis tuning tips and knocked it right out.
Ran the detector with a very very slight touch of noise.
Now I don't rely on the meter and Id screen 100% to decide to dig. I listen to the tones and tone width, how it pinpoints for the most part. Then use the screen info to verify and then compare after digging the target. So far I can say this machine is so much easier to master than the Fisher ID Edge I had and happy with it's performance. Slight drawback I am finding in disc mode the processor is a bit slower than the Tesoros I am used to. Forces you to slow down a bit, which is probably a good thing. Had no problem picking up some coins right next to foil that was notched out. If you go slow in trash, the F5 seems to pick out the coins to my surprise, just listen for the high tone. They seems to stand out amongst the trash sounds.
One of the nicest features the F5 has it's ability to use the tip of the coil for pinpointing. You can use the tip standing up or when kneeling down digging the target. The Elliptical coil is narrow enough you can insert it into the hole to locate the target when it's deeper or help locate the very small target you just can't seem to see. I still have lots to learn, this will be my main detector this season. really enjoy using it so far.
Now if it finds gold around here that others or myself have missed, maybe pay for a used car. LOL

What I can do on most of my detectors is use the coil's front tip edge to pinpoint when you can't find the target when digging within a hole. Or when checking the pile of dirt next to your hole.
Works great when the target is really small. A technique I picked up from using a PI machine that works extremely well with the F5.
Probably why I never bought or thought I needed an actual pinpointer.
Not sure if this tip has been posted anywhere.
 

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Well thanks Sven so much for digging that up, a fun and informative read.
And especially for the work you put into assembling the F5 bible...priceless.
Can't thank you enough now that I have one.

I haven't even begun to use the elliptical on it yet, but I know very well how good it is, how it behaves and acts and how much it can find.
Plus those tones, if they sound anything as sweet as my F70 does with this same coil I will be smiling a lot.

I hunt in a similar manner, or want to, with my F2 it was easy.
Never look at the screen, just listen for good tones and when I get one i use the screen to verify.
Works pretty well on the Nox, but still a bit jumpy and iffy, the F70 is ok but I find I have to watch the screen a lot more or I can miss stuff, here.
In Kansas it wasn't a problem.

Several have mentioned this thing needs a slower swing, it's not as fast as my Tesoros or my F70.
I am a naturally fast swinger so I will need to adjust but given enough time it will become second nature.
We change what we need to change to become more successful and not really all that hard if you are motivated.

Now your Ca. coins...
Wish we used more of the dollar coins and two dollar coins would be the best but I am glad I don't have to deal with most of your coins down here, weird as some of the modern ones are.
Also I have a lot of animosity towards all of them because I grew up in the Detroit area just north, yea I said north, of Canada.
Check out a map, look it up.
Can't tell you how many times over the years I wanted a drink or a snack from a vending machine but some idiot before me used some of your coins to jam the darn thing up.
A guy could die of thirst or hunger up there, as far as I know it is still going on.
Also your paper money looks like a large form of Monopoly money to me.
Pretty colors, though.
Then again the rest of your stuff is great, went camping up there once, beautiful country, you guys don't litter near as much as we do and Toronto is a very cool city, Younge street is a trip.
But I digress...

So as long as we got the ball rolling here I think I am going to use this thread to deposit all my thoughts and insights as I learn this thing and I hope you, and others, will continue to contribute.
Many still have, use and seem to love this thing, with this deal going on a few more might get them so one place where we can all learn from each other and together sounds like a good idea to me.
Worked for my F2 thread, time to start a new one about an even more capable detector.

Thanks again...for everything!
 
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............. , the depth and unmasking ability of my F70..........

Digger, I'm a little surprised the f5 isn't a fast machine. :-(
A buddy bought one new and he said it did not have any depth. He even sent it back to Fisher and they said there was nothing wrong with it. He lives near kcks and is very experienced and has/had many good detectors, analog and digital. We both had f70s and they were deep here as you know but he could not get any depth from the f5. How does the depth compare air test wise? Yes I know about air testing but it's the only consistent comparison. As you very well know from experience the dirt here is far better than where you are now.
 
I know...I try to be careful putting down the thing at a quiet 0 thresh but when I pick it up again it changed to a much more noisy +7 or higher.
What's with that, really?
Very annoying.

I am a problem solver...this one was easy.
Called bead stops, jewelry makers use these for charm bracelets and other projects so Michaels and other craft stores might have them but I am too lazy to look for them so online ordering I will go.
Even easier I will make my wife do it.

https://www.amazon.com/Tegg-Bracele...hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583589103455624&psc=1

$5.99 for a packet of 100 of these things off Amazon with free shipping...for prime members, anyway.
Will fit the posts perfectly and if they are a bit too thick and raise the knobs too high a few seconds with a razor blade will fix that.
Don't need a ton of friction, just a little will make our lives easier and much less frustrating.
They won't wear out very fast despite all the rubbing and if or when they do I think 100 will be a several lifetime supply.

Since you are a nice guy when I get them if you ask nicely I will put some in a letter and send them to you if this works as well as I think it will.
I think I can spare a few.
Won't even ask for the shipping cost back...a whole stamp.:D

awww! Too cool! I actually have a packet of like 50 billion from Harbor Freight I've had for years, and I think I’ll try one! If I don't have the right size or they get thrashed quickly or whatever, I’ll hit you up, man! Thank you! :)
 
awww! Too cool! I actually have a packet of like 50 billion from Harbor Freight I've had for years, and I think I’ll try one! If I don't have the right size or they get thrashed quickly or whatever, I’ll hit you up, man! Thank you! :)

Neat...the solution was right there in front of you the whole time.:D

Like I said I don't think a ton of friction is really necessary, just a little bit should keep them in place and not let them move until you need to adjust them.
Tesoro knobs are just a little bit stiffer than these Fisher knobs and despite many that have done this I never saw a need to.
Even with gloves and tossing them around they always stayed in place for me.
 
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