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Anyone take the F5 in the field yet ? first impressions

I've had the honor of using the 5 for some time now..... and while its not a F75.... its a great little machine in its own right. Considering its HALF the price of a new F75....it a fantastic deal.
GREAT separation....very very good depth (pretty much matches a Shadow X5), and an easy Gb system thats take the pain out of Gbing for those of you that are ground balanced "challenged". It makes the F2 look like a piece of crap.
The elleptical concentric coil it comes with is very much like the F70 coil..although its a different freq. Seems very hot on coins and such.
It also has a confidence meter like the f75...........AND a FE meter.
One of the neat newer things about this machine.........is the phase readout......along with a "phase lock" button that matches the GB setting to the phase reading. makes it simple and easy to get an accurate Gb on this machine. While the F75 may intimidate you a bit......the F5 is an easy and powerful machine.....that a novice should be able to use sucessfully right away. I figured out a GB precedure for the machine that works real easy.........and is very accurate. If you get an F5......I'll send you the procedure. I'm not sure if its in the revised manual or not.
another thing thats really cool about the F5....is the modulated audio...that changes intensity with depth!!!! its really cool..............and should provide a nice way to "get the feel" of the depth of a target by audio alone........not to mention the additional audio clues (should I DIG this target?) it makes available for the user. it also has a very very very good auto tune all metal mode. you can hunt in this mode as easy as you can hunt with most machines in disc!!!
All in all........I think its a really nice little machine for the bucks. Linda LOVES it.........and I'm pretty sure her Classics ,X5 and MXT will gather a lot of dust from here on out.
As far as depth goes...it will get a 12" quarter in my test garden with an inch or two to spare. Keep in mind my soil is nice and mild, but a lot of machines I have WONT get it!!!
If you need any other info...feel free to ask. Streak!
 
A quick question or three, does the modulated audio carry over to all tone modes or is it just in single tone? Any problems with hot rocks? Oh yeah, how does it compare to the Classics on small low conductors? I really liked the ID Edge's ability to hit on the small stuff and hope it compares favorably.

TIA

Tom
 
the first tone is a single tone.....and the second (the default setting) is a dual tone similar to 2F on the f75. There are also 3 and 4 tone selections too.
As far a the low conductor sensitivity goes.............its definately better than any of the classic series detectors. Dont get me wrong........I've always LIKED the classics.and considered them 'sleepers". A very good bang for the buck...especially with Bills mods. we have 5 of them..................in various configurations. :)
The modulated audio is going to be a GOOD tool for gleaning more info about the target under the coil. A few hours "ear' time...and the user will get the hang of it real quick.
I use the two tone pretty much exclusivly, as it sounds most like my F75 in that mode.......................BUT............it gives you more audio clues than the 75 does. Ought to be interesting once a few guys get a few hours under their belts. The combination digital and analog controls put everything at your finger tips, and that makes it easy to use and intuitive. should be a REAL easy machine to learn and use...............
If you like or are forced to hunt in AM from time to time..your gonna really like the autotune mode too. I remember when I first got the 5....and took it in the back yard for a spin.......I just threw it together and tried it out....and didnt even peek at the manual yet. I put it in AM... ground balanced it.......and hunted for nearly 5 minutes before I noticed it was STILL in AM. :) DEE DEE DEE
It sounded soooo good I didnt even realize it was still in AM!!
Nice and smooth....... Streak!
 
n/t
 
The audio "language" makes it great for low disc hunting around iron.... ?

I just gotta ask... does normal disc give good adjustability down in the small iron range? That was the one thing that turned me off on the X5.. it was all or nothing at small iron no sweet spot at all on the one I had.

Thanks Streak

Tom
 
When you say its "all or nothing" with the X5....do you mean the way it abruptly cancels targets when a specific point is passed with the disc control??
I kinda like that feature.......and it was specifically designed to do that. It also has a fairly decent low end resoultion on the disc as well.
As far as the F5 is concerned...........it will gradually disc targets out as you raise the disc setting. No abrupt thresholds. The target will kinda slowly dissappear over a range of 4 or 5 numbers.
the F5 also seems to have a bit more low end resolution than the F75 has........at least from what I can see here with my comparison tests. You have to go about 4 or 5 number higher with the 5 to cancel out a target that you will lose with the f75. If a target is gone at 30 with the F75..it seems to stay till about 35 with the F5. (everything else being equal).
If you meant something different.........................let me know. I'm kinda thick sometimes!!! :crazy:
 
I havent really had a lot of time to pound the F5 in my iron infested cellar holes due to tons of work......but will try to give it some time tomorrow at a couple of them. I know my F75 has a kind of unique sound over small to meduim iron.....and am curious if the F5 has that telltale signature.......and if maybe its enhanced by the audio modulation. I'll have to get back to you on that tom.......
too many things to do............NOT enough time!!! Streak!
 
But I think you covered it. Having decent expanded low end iron resolution is what I was after. Maybe not like the 1270.. nothing has the expanded range of that one at least nothing I have used. I prefer a machine that lets you set the disc so that small iron bleeds thru with the pops and clicks, You know.. the noisy ones :biggrin: Thats what I meant. I don't trust detectors that totally silence the response on nails as they tend not to recover fast enough to see the co-located targets and if its a silent search machine to boot, well that make it even worse.

Tom
 
Great info Streak, thanks for sharing your experiences on the F5. I'm considering getting either the F70 or F5 (or a used F75)...but am really liking what I'm seeing and hearing about the F5 thus far.

How is pinpointing and separation on the F5 with the 10" elliptical concentric coil ?

Is the F5's modulated audio similar to the Minelab Sovereigns ?

Thanks and HH,
Brian
 
since the stock coil on the F5 is a concentric pinpointing is very good, and the elliptical shape helps too. (can pinpoint off the toe). The separation qualities are suprising. Frankly.....I didnt expect it to be as good as it is. All in all I feel its a really good bang for the buck.
I had a Sov a two or three years ago...and although I didnt keep it too long......I dont remember it sounding like the F5 at all.
 
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