F-70 observations............

[Elton]

I like many others have always liked Fisher detectors..going way back to the 1260 model.

I also have been guilty of thinking I had to have the flag ship model of any Fisher released. 1200 series, CZ series etc.

Now don't get me wrong......... The F series 75 models have all been top performers..Not without a few glitches though... EMI being the biggest culprit in some areas you use them.
It didn't hurt performance , it just hindered it some..

I will also at this point throw in the Teknetics detectors. Their also made by First Texas now.. Very close with slight differences...

As stated above I always wanted and had the top dog ..Well at least the top expensive model LOL

The F-70 has taught me something... It's less money..I think still in production per the Fisher line up, and it is a sleeper..

The F70 will amaze you if you ever try one. It's as deep and "Maybe" deeper than the F75 standard model.. and seems as deep as any LTD Model I ever owned. It's more stable too.
It has better notch control operation............ The ID is most certainly better in my dirt... and it is extremely fast on the reset mode..

The 10" coil is awesome....... A lot less rusty pop top hits....The optional 75 11" DD performs better on the F70 as far as smooth operation and does ad a little more depth and coverage ability.
The little 5" DD is deadly for hitting targets on the F70..It's almost like a little power house dynamo on the end of the stick.. Seems like the power is concentrated, and shoots straight down in the ground.

The screw cap ID is one of the best I have ever seen,, or used.. They ID differently depending on the cap.. Not all lumped in as one Id. You soon know what is under the coil after just a few digs and then you can ignore them if you want to. It does up average very old 7 and 8 inch original 60's pull tabs. That is fine..It could be a deep silver so a few digs will not kill you...

I am very impressed with the F70 ..........I am finding good targets in hunted out areas.... I would like to see a new model F-70 though. Exact same electronics ..no boost, no changes ..Just put it on a rod configuration like the F-75 series ......... Then I would have to say it would be the perfect detector at a great price..

Back to teknetics for a second.. The Omega in the Tek line is also a sleeper of sorts.. It's an awesome coin detector that a little boost in power would make it more awesome..

Anyway. If you get a chance. Want a really good deep detector. You want to spend a little less money ( A LOT less really) ..grab up a F-70... I do believe you too will be impressed. It will serve you well..

 

[ez4sure]

i used to have a f70 i really liked it but it did not like emi it was a chatter box, upgraded to the f75 ltd thinking it would get alot deeper and in most cases it did not, but my new dst f75 well it does get deeper just because it handles emi so well. if fisher would do a dst and fa upgrade to the f70 i would get one hh

 

[JimmyCT]

Thanks Elton for your honest review. I truly enjoyed reading it. The F70 kinda has been in my sights and this whole "sleeper" thing has me intrigued. Ahhh decisions and decisions.

 

[mudpuppy]

Nice report Elton, coming from you it holds some weight!...Its a sleeper rig for sure...It would take a guy a life time to get familiar with all the various settings and where they really shine, (thresh, notch, tones, coils, HZ shift) good thing basic and half power are about all a guy can handle right out of the box, with room to grow if needed! ....

If Fisher ever came out with something like a waterproof to 20' F70 kind of contraption, it would be an AtPro Killer! Unfortunately, the standard coils are so light, they tend to float, even in the air, hard to keep down and on the deck in the water...(and those damned fins!) I cannot imagine anything faster or more accurate on the dirt, a guy simply cant out run this rig, (Ive tried) and I challenge anybody that wants to go head to head against this thing on speed and target separation with any alternative stock rig out there today!...

That one write up Dave J did on the F70 is a must read...since he designed the thing, a guy should pay attention and heed his advice as a master wizard, akin to Gandalf, or that damned guy Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films....we all know what his depth of skill and understanding of this Sport and its gears technological performance! So I think he slipped a fast one past corp management with the 70.....Hufflepuff!

I think the big thing is that the F70 was overlooked as a serious machine to most top end buyers, perhaps an overlooked stripped down bastard resulting from a 'volume parts' buy due to marketing the higher end 75 rigs that garnished a better profit margin?....Understandable and forgiven.....I'm just glad I got one, and not a whole lot of hunters in this area do!

One thing about 'stripped down unappreciated bastards', they tend to be fast and tough performers in field with a loyal hard earned following! Do not discount them to your peril! Look at what that bastard John Snow accomplished on 'Game of Thrones'!...

(Gosh, it sure would be nice to find a dragons egg someday and hatch it out!....just to put those fancy designer dogs that people walk in front of my house in their place, and to keep them from crapping in the Wife's pachysandras unopposed)! The dogs that is...Most fancy dog owners are too constipated and full of themselves to dare crap in the Wife's pachys......Those folks probably run 75's, or Techs, or Deus' undoubtedly a Minelab, and probably golf too!...a 70 runner will definitely crap in somebodies front yard, or on their porch, or on the hood of their Audi or BMW, just on the principal of the whole thing, as well as ransack, and all of this in about 5 minutes tops! ....

Mud

 

[IBdiggin]

.
.
.a 70 runner will definitely crap in somebodies front yard, or on their porch, or on the hood of their Audi or BMW, just on the principal of the whole thing, as well as ransack, and all of this in about 5 minutes tops! ...

Oh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well I'd give at least 2 junk rings and a mint Wi. Dells token to see that----------------------IB

 

[Elton]

I have a high end Gifted student neighborhood school directly across from my house that has Dish net works.. antennas bringing in all kinds of programs for the Talented/gifted children ..etc in abundance.

I had trouble with every F75..All Whites machines, and others with serious EMI.. Just about renders them useless.. The F70 runs quiet and stable and maintains it's depth .......
hmmmmmmmmmmmm that is interesting.......
I am getting a solid 6 7 inch depth on coins with the 5" DD coil too.. Or at least that is as deep as I have found so far with it..
The 10" runs really well too. The 11" DD does give me a little feedback if sens turned up to 90's range..Just a few pops and clicks. Nothing one could not live with..

 

[Elton]

I also forgot to mention in my post about the Threshold double duty mode. It takes small pieces of junk out in the minus settings , and ramps up the sens, like the JE mode does on the F75... if you go positive..
A Very impressive feature .

 

[REVIER]

Elton, I believed I mentioned most of this stuff in your first thread when you got it.
Pop tops on the 10", no problem telling them apart for sure but use the DD's and it us just about as easy.
Just turn the disc down to about 6, do the wiggle thing and pull back the coil.
Coins won't drop, rings won't drop, nothing good will drop when you pull the edge of the coil over them but pop tops will.
Most of them will, anyway.
The really rusty flattened ones might stay high, but most of the crowned caps will drop way down 20-30 numbers sometimes but several will drop down to iron to the 6-7-8 area.
If you get a drop from the coin area down to tabs, foil or iron dig it up and more often than not it will be a pop top.
I dug hundreds of these stupid things figuring g this out.
Watch out for a good target a few inches in front of one of these things, the effect will be the same and this happened to me once.
I still dug the wheatie in front of the pop top...something about that tone made me even though I saw the by now for me classic drop, but that was just instinct.
You will understand what I mean when you hear enough high tones, or maybe you already know by swinging the other Fusher's.

I also mentioned the word sleeper.
Some products and descriptive phrases match up perfectly...this is one of those.

Lots more for you to observe and learn to understand.
You will see.

 

[TP63]

I just ordered an Omega..should have it by Friday.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[JimmyCT]

(record screeching) back that F70 back up again Elton. Am I understanding correctly what you are stating here? Please correct me if I am wrong.....

Dropping the threshold into negative settings ignores / nulls small pieces of junk and at the same time the F70 increases in sensitivity?

Thanks - Jim

I also forgot to mention in my post about the Threshold double duty mode. It takes small pieces of junk out in the minus settings , and ramps up the sens, like the JE mode does on the F75... if you go positive..
A Very impressive feature .

 

[JimmyCT]

Mr. Revier,

I like your tip on how to decipher pop tops from good targets. I also have noticed many times you reference this detector as a "sleeper." For some reason (from what I read and observe) is this model almost quietly "sits out" while many of the others are mention profusely. I suppose this is a good thing!

Elton, I believed I mentioned most of this stuff in your first thread when you got it.
Pop tops on the 10", no problem telling them apart for sure but use the DD's and it us just about as easy.
Just turn the disc down to about 6, do the wiggle thing and pull back the coil.
Coins won't drop, rings won't drop, nothing good will drop when you pull the edge of the coil over them but pop tops will.
Most of them will, anyway.
The really rusty flattened ones might stay high, but most of the crowned caps will drop way down 20-30 numbers sometimes but several will drop down to iron to the 6-7-8 area.
If you get a drop from the coin area down to tabs, foil or iron dig it up and more often than not it will be a pop top.
I dug hundreds of these stupid things figuring g this out.
Watch out for a good target a few inches in front of one of these things, the effect will be the same and this happened to me once.
I still dug the wheatie in front of the pop top...something about that tone made me even though I saw the by now for me classic drop, but that was just instinct.
You will understand what I mean when you hear enough high tones, or maybe you already know by swinging the other Fusher's.

I also mentioned the word sleeper.
Some products and descriptive phrases match up perfectly...this is one of those.

Lots more for you to observe and learn to understand.
You will see.

 

[Elton]

You missed the end. I stated if you go positive + on the threshold. Functions more like the Je mode it appears to me.. while your still in the de mode on the 70..
Please understand that is my opinion only..It for certain makes it hotter on targets... my experience with the 75 is my reason to reference to it being like the JE mode.. Others may not agree.

For the record There is no Je mode on the F70...

 

[mudpuppy]

When REVIER got his 70 a few years back he did a very long and detailed post in which he included a lot of Dave J's thoughts, the history/tech behind the design and market...etc.

It was interesting, gave a guy confidence in what this thing can do....hope you can find it and perhaps repost for discussion?
Mud

 

[amberjack]

good read guys, I don't own a F70 but do have a F19 and although not the same machines, I had to have a giggle I try and turn beer caps into coins, the little fisher 5 doesn't hit them at all for me but the NEL does and I still try making them coins, but yeah they are not coins and do react differently that's for sure they screech and ping and don't pop like coins.

neg GB will also turn down the small stuff to a degree but I still want to hear coin size objects if that's what I am looking for

I really need to use the big O more often but can only swing one at time hey !!

gotta like Dave I like he sniffs around and posts when fitting a real nice guy !!

AJ

 

[zeekeys]

Elton thanks ... It is great that this is happening. If you go back about 5 years, my posts started with: me and F70. No one wanted the F70 or if they got one it was only kept a short time and gone for something new and deeper. Posts were hard to come by with the F70.
The thing I like about the F70 is the balance. It is not nose heavy like most light detectors. It stays up right when set down most of the time. It is easy to grab when on the ground just by bending down and grabbing the the foam handle. When carrying the F70 to and from the site it is well balanced, just under the housing and to the front just a bit. Where the headphones plug in is just great. The cord is not swinging all over the place. If you are right of left handed it works and the cord for the headphone is out of the way by your side. You can get in a rhythm very easily moving along at a quick pace because there is nothing to bother with when being set down to dig and nothing to bother with picking it back up and moving on. Everything just floes. It is a great stabbing machine. Thanks for reading and Happy Trails ......Z

 

[JimmyCT]

ok, I was correct in understanding the first part of your statement (not just junk but all small targets) and just misunderstood about the positive + statement. Understand now. Thank you - Jim


record screeching) back that F70 back up again Elton. Am I understanding correctly what you are stating here? Please correct me if I am wrong.....

Dropping the threshold into negative settings ignores / nulls small pieces of junk and at the same time the F70 increases in sensitivity?

Thanks - Jim

No Sir.dropping the threshold allows less small targets to be detected.. Blanks them out.. Increasing the threshold into the positive numbers seems to add sensitivity and it then picks up tiny pieces of metal..
You missed the end. I stated if you go positive + on the threshold. Functions more like the Je mode it appears to me.. while your still in the de mode on the 70..
Please understand that is my opinion only..It for certain makes it hotter on targets... my experience with the 75 is my reason to reference to it being like the JE mode.. Others may not agree.

For the record There is no Je mode on the F70...

 

[shadowulf]

Elton,
Very happy to hear that the F70 is working for you.
I always considered it a "workhorse" machine. It does about 90% of what an F75 will do, right out of the box. A little finessing, and you start popping up all kinds of goodies.
Interesting point on the Threshold. I'll have to remember that next time I'm searching for pickers in the gold fields.

And mud, if they ever do make a shallow water version, I'd be there with you on getting one.

 

[Elton]

I have used the F-70 a few more times now. Including in areas I have pounded... yet I am finding deeper coins I missed. Yes mostly pennies I admit..but pennies in the early 60's dates that I missed before.
A few stray pieces of silver too. Along with some trinkets.
One of my better discoveries has been the F-70 runs very stable.. Has excellent depth using the 5" coil 6 to 7" range..and is awesome in heavy trashed parks.

I have noticed something else too. This machine does not air test that great... Yet it hits deep coins in the ground.. The GB is really good with all coils..though maybe a little less accurate using the 11" coil. If you reground balance the Number is almost always different when using the 11" Coil in a smaller area of land. The 5, and 10 does not alter much or at all in smaller spaces your detecting.
The 10" is dead on.....and using the 10" one hits far less rusty bottle caps. As far a screw caps ..yes it hits them, but separates them by number ID so you soon know after only a dig or two that it's screw caps..

I am really pleased with the F-70 and wish I had used one prior... In many ways it is better than the unstable F-75 series..I really believe it is because of the nifty threshold dual function that works in discriminate and all metal modes in different ways.

I know I keep touting this detector...but darn it works so well in so many different ground conditions one has to respect, and appreciate what Fisher built.. So if your tired of hearing it just tell me to " Knock it off "...

 

[mudpuppy]

Dont knock it off! Its important you share your F70 observations since you've run a lot of rigs in your time, and many of us have not...
Mud..