3 new F Series of Detectors ?

[Rob in (Ca)]

Just got my Lost Treasurer Magazine Today and saw a full page Fisher ad with 3 New Detectors The F11 F22 F44 ?.

A Search on this forum and a goggle search comes up empty ? Fishers web site is nothing also ?

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Went back a few Pages and found them, but can not find any Spec info on Them.

 

[atomicscott]

F11 & F22 are entry level. F22 is meant to replace the F2 I believe. Not sure but I think they are still 6.59 kHz. F44 will replace F4. They all run on TWO AA batteries (yay!) F44 has Ground Grab, backlit screen. I believe it also has FeTone (iron volume adjustment) like EuroTek Pro and weatherproof (not waterproof) but was submerged in water for 5 hours during testing. Expected release date is May. I can't find any info on price. I am ready to get on the list to purchase an F44 though! Sounds like a winner to me. Maybe Dave J. or Carl Moreland can jump in verify or correct my info.

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

Thanks for the Info, The new egg shape coils are looking interesting

 

[atomicscott]

Thanks for the Info, The new egg shape coils are looking interesting

I believe it is the same 11X5 Bi-Axial coil they use on the F4.

 

[gravityrulz]

OK, I'm looking at the ad in the June 2015 issue of Lost Treasure magazine for the F11, F22, and F44. Some of the statements above are a bit off.

These detectors are derived from the same platform as the Teknetics 'Frat Brothers', i.e. Delta, Gamma, Omega and the Fisher F5. Being 'derived from a common platform' doesn't mean that they are just a 're-packaging job', these do have a different feature set and may perform quite differently. No doubt that the software has been changed a good bit, the physical packaging and user interfaces are different, and they operate off 2 AA batteries in a slide in pack (that's 3 volts instead of the previous 9 volts). Operating frequency is 7.69 Khz, like their 'Frat Brothers' cousins.

The F22 looks like a replacement for the F2. 9 Segment visual ID, numeric target ID, Fe-Tone adjustable Iron Audio (sounds like the EuroTek's feature). 4 'Modes' of Operation: Jewelry, Coin, Artifact, Custom. It is also 'weatherproof' and has a 9" triangulated concentric coil (somewhate egg shaped). If I'm remembering correctly, the F2 was available for about $200 minimum advertised price so I'm guessing the F22 will be priced a bit higher.

The F11 slots below the F22, lacks numeric target ID, Iron Audio, the Custom mode of the F22, has 4 tone audio ID and a 7" coil. It doesn't say anything about it being weatherproof. I would guess it will come in below the F2 in price.

I don't know that the F2/F4 will immediately be discontinued. FTP has continued models in the Bounty Hunter line long after they introduced models that could have been replacments, so it could happen with the Fisher lineup too.

Now the F44 looks like the replacement for the F4. It has all the features of the F22 and adds a Manual Ground Balance as well as Computerized Ground Grab Balancing.
The coil goes up in size to an 11" triangulated concentric. The display shows some interesting features the ad doesn't highlight. For one, it appears to have a display backlight. There is a depth indicator with more resolution that the F22 display. There is a mineralization display. There are 'Boost' and 'Notch' selections (those sound like promising features; perhaps 'Notch' is the variable width notch feature like that on the Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro, which is also built on the same design platform). Another 'Mode' is added to the F22's list, that being 'All Metals'.

I expect these machines are compatible with the previous 'Frat Bros' coils, specifically the screw-on versions. The F44 prototype was definitely screw-on, probably the F22 as well, just not sure about the F11.

Of course the proof is in how well they perform. They certainly seem to be feature rich detectors. I'm looking forward to hearing the reports and reviews as these new machines are introduced.

 

[atomicscott]

Thanks for the info! I got a lot of it right though, lol. I never suggested that they were "a re-packaging job" I was just relating some info that I had not actually verified. I believe the Frat Bros Series operates at 7.8 kHz not 7.69. I just figured that they would keep the same frequency as the current F2 & F4 (6.59 kHz) being as all the Frat Bros.Tek's and F5 are 7.8 kHz & it seems that the 7.69 is very close to that.

 

[gravityrulz]

Hi atomicscott,

There are some folks out there who have been critical of FTP as just re-packaging their existing designs instead of coming out with something new, that's the thought I was addressing, I didn't mean to suggest that was your thinking, sorry if it sounded that way.

The post was largely to answer those criticisms which I think are unwarranted. There is a whole lot that is new here. I believe we're on the same page with the expectation that the F44 is going to be impressive and hard to beat in it's price range.

The Frat Bros do operate at a nominal 7.8 kHz (F5 has 3 frequecies 7731.9Hz, 7810Hz, 7888.1Hz), so 7.69 kHz is slightly lower ... pretty much 7.7 vs 7.8 kHz, if we were rounding off they would all be called 8 kHz machines. The new Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro (LRP) and the Teknetics Digitek (The Digitek is advertised in that same issue of Lost Treasure) are the latest models based on this platform and are advertised as operating at 7.69 kHz; I haven't seen published specs yet on the F44 but I believe the frequency was mentioned in a previous post.

That 6.59 kHz frequency has a long history of use (over 30 years?) and is used in the F2, F4, many Bounty Hunter models, many of the older Whites models.

I'm curious to learn about the details of the 'Boost' and 'Notch' capabilities. Since it is not advertised, I suppose the F44 will not have the variable tone break feature like the BH LRP. It does look like it has the 3 piece rod assembly with locking collars.

 

[Hightone]

The F11,F22 and F44 are Fratbros just as the BH Lone Star Pro, Quick Draw Pro and Land Ranger Pro are, and the Eurotek and Eurotek Pro. The 7.8/7.69 makes no difference since the BH Pros can use the same coils as the Eurotek, early Tek Alpha and Delta and the early F5/ Just plug in and screw on separates those coils from the rest of the Teks.

FTP has gone to a monoplane touch screen on all their bottom to midline units. The QDP is a Eurotek Pro with more options (like segments). The F44 is a LRP with more options, like lit screen, boost, 3 rod design, etc. The conductivity scale follows the same for the F44 and LRP, but not the Euroteks.

The Teks have an Iron scale of 1-39, where Fisher and BH Pros are 1-19. Except for the F19 that uses the Teks scale and is considered a better "relic" hunter for it's defining iron numeric breakdown.

The new Fisher segments are labeled 2,3,4,5, etc and the conductivity numeric follows as well. If 3 lights up the numeric is 30-39. 4 would be 40-49. And on. Personally, I like the conductivity arc of the LRP. 3 segments for iron, 20 for gold and 20 for silver, with a word descriptor like "alum" and "25" cents.

I'm sure the new Fishers will outshine the BH Pros. But I will be curious to see how well they detect to make me want to give up my Pros for one. I know a light, 3 rods and FeTone audio isn't going to do it, since I don't relic hunt or go at night. Plus I like the 11" DD coil better, unless that teardrop shape brings something spectacular to the table.

We'll see, since May 15th is their planned roll out date.