Coil for the F11

[KZ2088]

Is the Fisher F11 even powerful enough to work with a Nel Tornado or 13" Ultimate? I'm set on getting one of those or maybe even the Mars Tiger once I get the F11. (Cringe, I know) But that's literally all I could afford. I found a used F11 in my budget and I will have enough left over to get the coil. I contacted Fisher weeks ago about this but they never responded. I'm guessing f11 questions aren't even worth *their* time But yea, F11 with a Tiger/Ultimate/Tornado coil. Thoughts?

I'm going on a two week trip to the desert out west and will be mainly hunting for larger nuggets. The reason for the coil upgrade is for more coverage and depth. Any input will be greatly appreciated!

 

[dfmike]

I just checked Fisher's PDF manual for that detector and from the assembly diagrams it almost looks like the coil connector on the control box is a push-in type but the text mentions threads. I guess it's a screw on connector just like the F22 or F44 and the coils are shared between all those models as they work at the same frequency. Yes a Tornado or Ultimate or Tiger would work as long as the seller specifies it is for those models. The triangular concentric from the F44 would work very well too if you can find it somewhere. I really like both the Ultimate and the Tiger that I have on my F5 and F19. The Ultimate goes deeper than the Tiger but is not as well balanced. It would make your F11 front heavy.

 

[KZ2088]

dfmike I appreciate the fact that you took the time to check that. And good point... being compatible with the F22 and F44. Also, I will definitely look into the coil you mentioned on the F44 before I make the purchase. My main concern was just having that big of a coil on such an inexpensive machine. Kinda like how a high-end 1000w speaker could fry a 200w amplifier

 

[KZ2088]

Sucks you can't edit or delete your posts once someone has answered your question. No wonder forums get littered.

 

[Dave J.]

The reason why many forums are done that way is because if someone responds to a post and then the original post is changed, it makes the response look stupid. Not everyone who posts on forums plays nice.

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But back to that other subject. I stayed out of it until now expecting other folks would get the subject matter covered pretty quick. Which didn't quite happen (but thanks to dfmike who did contribute).

The F11 is not intended for gold prospecting. I won't tell you that you can't find gold nuggets with it, but finding gold nuggets is hard work even with a metal detector designed for that purpose. I realize that for you it seems like it'd be a fun thing to do, but you really are at the bottom of the learning curve. I'm not criticizing you: whatever it is that any of us do well now, once upon a time we were at the bottom of the learning curve.
This http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/DavesGoldbook-reders.pdf won't put you at the top, but it'll pull you up a long ways from the bottom.

The F11 should work with any searchcoil that's designed for the "Fratbros"/"Greek series" and equipped with the proper mating connector. Large searchcoils don't take any more battery horsepower to drive than small ones do. However large searchcoils will take a lot more arm horsepower after a few hours of work than a small one will. Bigger isn't necessarily better: my personal favorite is the one that comes standard on the F22. When it comes to aftermarket searchcoils, "should work" is as much as I can say, since we obviously can't tell you that an aftermarket searchcoil not manufactured by us is going to work properly. I'm not knocking aftermarket coils, some have a good reputation. But the claim that they'll work has to come from the manufacturer.

If it's actually plain old desert ratting you have in mind (and not gold prospecting specifically), the F11 with its standard searchcoil is fine if that's what you've got. Any place miners have been (and darn near everywhere you think they haven't been) there's metal objects they left behind either intentionally or unintentionally. Very few such objects will have any material value, but if when you find them you try to piece together the story of how it got there, you're making yourself a history buff right there on the spot and it's all about the fun you're having doing it.

Enjoy, and good luck!

--Dave J.