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F5 and a few coils...decided which one I will be using...

REVIER

Well-known member
So I got the F5 a few weeks ago as an experiment.
My dirt is...difficult, mineralized red clay soil and an insane amount of extra iron from tiny to huge including so many rusty nails and screws from minimum rust to extremely rusty.
Depth is pitiful but most targets usually aren't that deep, the clay stops them from sinking very far and 4-7" has a nice layer of existing targets. ..a few I have found at 8" but not many.
Masking is our greatest challenge, if it wasn't that nice layer of good targets wouldn't exist.
My Nox works well, unmasked like a dream but not thrilled with the compressed target range.
My F70 does too but with some very jumpy behavior.
I hoped the F5 would work better here, be more stable than my F70 and accurate at the depths I need to hit plus unmask with superior skill as the Nox can do without the compressed range.
Sounds like I am going backward, if I was still in Kansas everything would be different but here in the south my devil dirt is the great equalizer...a whole new playing field as it were so with the F5 at $299 I decided to experiment.
It was now cheap enough to give it a try, got it primarily to hunt for jewelry but it shocked me at how good it was at coinshooting...in this strange dirt I am forced to hunt in.

As far as coils two great ones came with the F5, a concentric sniper, not super deep but I have hundreds of hours using on the F2 successfully in both Kansas and this dirt and the 10" elliptical concentric that I know well after so many hours using it in my F70 again in both kinds of dirt .
At that low price I had room to purchase on extra accessory so I thought it prudent to also buy a Nel Sharpshooter coil for the F5 as I have one for the F70 and it works shockingly well in all areas important to me in both good and bad dirt.
Especially my bad dirt.
I wanted the F5 frequency for that coil, I need optimum performance if I really wanted the best shot at success...here.
I also have the F70 11" DD, the 5" round Fisher DD sniper that will fit on the F5 but at 13.5 kHz neither is close enough to the 7.8 kHz F5 for my comfort.
I also have a 13.5 kHz larger Cors Cannon coil but that has not been tried as of yet, I hid it somewhere but it will get its turn, eventually.
I mounted the Nel at first, had several hunts to realize that if the F5 was a good choice to use in my dirt the Sharpshooter might have been even better.
On this tool hunting in my kinds of sites and conditions.

In the last couple of weeks all the coils listed above have had their turn in a couple of different sites except that Cannon coil, and I think I have enough data to determine which coil I will be using going forward for my best chance of and in most of the sites I hunt.
A big DD Nel or Cors might be in my future with the matching frequency, someday, but for right now I think I am good.
I know this is a discontinued model and not exactly at the forefront nowadays with all the older and newer very capable tools available to us but several still use the F5 so at the very least I thought my experiences could be of interest to them, maybe others, also.
I have a running log on another forum where I am posting all my experiences with the F5 but you can't link to it from here so I copied this post from that forum about these coils.
Here are my thoughts on this tool and this subject hunting a few different park sites plus one neighbors lawn I am currently in the process of cleaning out.



So the last few hunts I tried the big 11" F75 DD and yesterday I threw on the F75 round 5" DD coil.
One worked just ok, the other much better.

The big DD I had hoped for good results, great depth, good coverage, good sensitivity and decent stability and normal behavior compared to it mounted on my F70.
I got some of that but not all of it.
Can't say I was shocked at that, mismatching frequencies can be a crapshoot, at best.
I took it to another park close to me that I have hunted for years, found some coins, the coverage was great but overall not a super fun experience.
Stability was ok, I could turn it up some but even at lower settings not as quiet as the Nel coil or the two concentrics the F5 came with.
Neither of those concentrics were quite as quiet as the Nel, either, but they were better than this one.
Pinpointing was ok but I was off a little on a few targets, not a lot but some, not sure why.
The depth was, meh...could be I just never scanned anything decently deep but I checked depth all over the place on targets and I wasn't impressed.
I came home and hit that lawn across the street for a tiny bit, found a couple of coins I missed but that silver locket came in solid and nice although not real deep.
The wiggle pull back method over crown caps watching for a drop to iron on this coil worked sometimes but sometimes it didn't which seemed weird to me.
On the F70 It always works with all coils and the F5 with the Nel I could count on this everytime.
Maybe I will buy a bigger DD that matches the frequency sometime for extra depth which I assume will work better but this 13.5 frequency DD coil will probably not be mounted on the F5 again.

Now on the 5" F75 DD round coil was a whole different story.
It worked pretty darn good all day at a different park and I found several coins there and even more at that lawn when I returned home, found another wheat in that lawn, a few dimes I missed before, a few zincolns and one or two copper cents.
Also that gold looking earring in the pic below.
That was in a hole with a high tone coin, a mixed signal and a little choppy but enough of it for me to go after it.
The obvious signals are getting scarce in this lawn, time to start going after the not so obvious ones but we need more rain before I hit this lawn again.
I got the coin out with the round Fisher F75 sniper, rescanned and got a real solid 25-25 on that earring and it came up clean.
Just below nickel, a perfect signal for an open gold target like this.
Couldn't wait to test it, hoped for gold, but at 10k the scratch stayed for a short time but eventually got eaten up.
At the most this thing is plated but I am sure we will find solid gold together, eventually.
Hopefully sooner than later.

Overall the round sniper coil was pretty good, not super deep on this one either, not like on the F70 but it was easy to pinpoint accurately because of the small size.
The wiggle and pull back thing over caps worked most of the time but one thing I didn't like was it seemed unusually solid over tabs, both sta-tabs and beaver tails.
Don't recall the Nel being as stable over these things, could be mistaken or it just could be the tabs in this part of the park in that dirt just do that...need to bring the Nel there and see what happens.

All the targets in the pic below to me says I had a good hunt considering I hit the areas I hunted many times before.
Will this be a coil I use in the future, probably not because the Nel seems to do it all a little better and deeper but nice to know I have another option to try at sites where it dries up with the Nel.

So where am I with all the coils I have tried so far?
Still need to try the bigger Cors Cannon coil but I hid that somewhere and need to look for it.

The sniper concentric was ok, not the same experience I remember having on the F2 but it found targets.
Not remarkably deep but it might come in handy in some heavy iron, trash or sites infested with a million crown caps.
I can deal with all that with the Nel, however, and that coil seems to get much deeper on the F5 without trying hard.

The elliptical concentric was nice, pretty decent tones in multi-tones...not exactly the same super sweet ones I hear on the F70 but they are two different detectors, after all.
Depth I am pretty sure would be more than adequate in real nice dirt but here in my dirt not spectacular.
Deep enough for the 5" level, maybe 6"-7" and that is where tons of my targets hide but I never saw anything that knocked my socks off in depth where that Nel, again, did better.

The 11" DD at 13.5 kHz was a good try but nothing I feel the need to explore a lot more.

The 13.5 kHz round Fisher DD was better, if I didn't have the Nel Sharpshooter it would probably be my coil of choice for most situations but I have the Nel which in depth and maybe a few other areas seems a bit better so redundant for my use going forward.

The Nel Sharpshooter...so glad I got this coil.
It works great on the F70 but maybe even better on the F5.
Keeps it very quiet and stable, even at very high settings, seems to find all targets with no problems, deals with iron and crown caps with very familiar and normal behavior I am used to in my dirt and the depth it gets here does shock me.
I assume other, smaller Fisher DD coils in the correct frequency might work pretty darn good here too but the Sharpshooter seems to fill all my needs.
For jewelry hunting, anyway, most normal depths on older coins also, and the important thing here is unmasking and it seems pretty great at that in my dirt, too.

As I mentioned one day I might consider a bigger DD coil in the matching frequency just to see how deep I can get, probably in the Nel or Cors lines since I had such good experiences with them, but super depth isn't all that important here and the smaller Nel seems to get me where I need to go and more.

For now the Sharpshooter will be my go-to coil for most sites going after most targets...I guess.
Done very well for me so far with limited use, found me a ton of masked coins including a Barber dime and I think I lucked out getting the F5 to hunt in my dirt, and it has done well, and I was just as lucky choosing the Nel sharpshooter as an optional coil out of so many others I could have bought.
Love it when a plan comes together.
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My original first impressions with the Nel coil.
 

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Great write up Revier. The F75 is my favorite machine hands down. If I could only have one machine that would be it.. I had a f5 and put alot of hours in it. Loved that machine too. In my Pennsylvania soil the f75 has found my deepest coins time after time. I'm talking Honest 9 inch coins.
I also have a nox 800, sold it to a local friend who returned it short time later. Wasn't his cup of tea either for the same reasons you stated,,the compressed ID. . I think it's a good relic machine but for strictly old coin hunting I'll grab a f75 everytime.
Just something magical about fishers,I see people who ask for a multi frequency Fisher but for me in my ground I'm good with the single frequency. I've always considered simultaneous multi frequency machines more for the beach and extreme mineralization than anything.My Pennsylvania soil is mineralized but not nearly as bad as other parts of the country. Multi frequency doesn't benefit me here.
The F5 and f70 have one thing I miss when running the f75,, they can run a threshold and gain independently to work together. I miss that feature the most and wish the f75 had that .
I couldnt say enough good about this company,and Felix is very good at getting things done when there's a problem. .
 
Great write up Revier. The F75 is my favorite machine hands down. If I could only have one machine that would be it.. I had a f5 and put alot of hours in it. Loved that machine too. In my Pennsylvania soil the f75 has found my deepest coins time after time. I'm talking Honest 9 inch coins.


I also have a nox 800, sold it to a local friend who returned it short time later. Wasn't his cup of tea either for the same reasons you stated,,the compressed ID. . I think it's a good relic machine but for strictly old coin hunting I'll grab a f75 everytime.
I got my hands on a Teknetics T2 when they were released in 2006 and. for some applications, I liked it. When the Fisher F75 came out I gave it a try, but preferred my T2. I got another F75 SE a couple of years ago in a y=trade deal to check out again. I had other makes and models and a T2 I favored. As for the Fisher F5, I had handled them when someone had one and asked me to check it out or help them with it, but I never owned one until I just bought several brand new detectors to do a Multi-Model Review of units that sell for $550 and under.

I am not a fan of 9V powered detectors these days, and I much prefer a unit with the headphone jack located at the rear of the package, near the arm cup. However, I do like some of the quick-access control functions, the lower Ferrous / Non-Ferrous break point, and the performance with the round 7" Concentric coil for the frequently littered urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting locations.


Just something magical about fishers,I see people who ask for a multi frequency Fisher but for me in my ground I'm good with the single frequency. I've always considered simultaneous multi frequency machines more for the beach and extreme mineralization than anything.My Pennsylvania soil is mineralized but not nearly as bad as other parts of the country. Multi frequency doesn't benefit me here.
I agree, there are some things that just seem 'special' or 'like-able' about several Fisher and Teknetics models. That's one of the reasons I always like to at least check out any of their products, because I like them and they have performed well for me as a general rule. I do look forward to any decent future offerings that are a Simultaneous Multi-Frequency design just to see if there are any performance enhancements I see that work for me. I've used SMF's since the mid-'90s with Fisher CZ's, and have owned several White's DFX's and Spectra SMF's as well as some of the Minelab BBS, FBS, and Multi-IQ offerings

Currently have a Vanquish 540 in my outfit as well as a new Garrett Apex I like them, in several ways and for certain applications, but I have, and still do, enjoy some excellent in-the-field performance, for both urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting as well as Relic Hunting eremite places that have an abundance of ferrous debris to deal with. I visit some mellow ground environments, but the bulk of the sites I hunt in Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Nevada are quite mineralized and that adds an extra challenge to detector performance. I don't always see any 'magic' in what the SMF's can do compared with an excellent Single-Frequency model.


The F5 and f70 have one thing I miss when running the f75,, they can run a threshold and gain independently to work together. I miss that feature the most and wish the f75 had that .
I couldnt say enough good about this company,and Felix is very good at getting things done when there's a problem. .
I like those F5 control abilities, and that the F5 is not that bad in EMI environments. If I had a wish for it, that would be to have the audio response be a bit more saturated and not modulate so quickly, and I also wish the F5 had a 'Boost' or 'Deep' mode function. But for what it is and the excellent price thy cn be purchased for, they are a very decent value for most anyone. As a primary-use unit or a 'back-up' unit.

Monte
 
Great write up Revier. The F75 is my favorite machine hands down. If I could only have one machine that would be it.. I had a f5 and put alot of hours in it. Loved that machine too. In my Pennsylvania soil the f75 has found my deepest coins time after time. I'm talking Honest 9 inch coins.
I also have a nox 800, sold it to a local friend who returned it short time later. Wasn't his cup of tea either for the same reasons you stated,,the compressed ID. . I think it's a good relic machine but for strictly old coin hunting I'll grab a f75 everytime.
Just something magical about fishers,I see people who ask for a multi frequency Fisher but for me in my ground I'm good with the single frequency. I've always considered simultaneous multi frequency machines more for the beach and extreme mineralization than anything.My Pennsylvania soil is mineralized but not nearly as bad as other parts of the country. Multi frequency doesn't benefit me here.
The F5 and f70 have one thing I miss when running the f75,, they can run a threshold and gain independently to work together. I miss that feature the most and wish the f75 had that .
I couldnt say enough good about this company,and Felix is very good at getting things done when there's a problem. .


Thanks!
I do enjoy using the Nox, it finds targets here pretty easily and deals with my masking issues well but that compressed range takes a little of the joy out of hunting for me...I am so used to my full range Tesoro and Fisher detectors and learned to use that larger range to my advantage in understanding target behavior.
Especially useful in dirt that isn't so great.
It would be much closer to perfect if it had an expanded range but I will deal with it as I do with everything else in this hobby if I can't change things to my liking.
The F70 has that complete control over the gain and thresh and I loved that and learning to use them, so many combinations I have tried and found out in some cases, at some sites, it matters.
Add in the disc control and those three things working together in certain combinations can do some amazing and shocking things.
The F75 has no thresh control, not actually needed all that much but if it did wouldn't that be wonderful, again it would move this fine tool that much closer to perfection.
When I got the F5 with dual controls over the gain and thresh I was very happy, most everything I could do on the F70 manipulating them seems to work on this one too.
If the F70 is the rat-rod version of the F75 I think the F5 is the rat-rod version of the F70.
I now have experience using three Fishers, the F2, F70 and F5 and I seem to have had a great affinity for all of them.
I was lucky to find a brand I love to stand behind so much and that have found me so much treasure.
I have always said a little of the good stuff, the great DNA Fisher has, seems to run through all of them from the entry level up to the flagship.
Hobbies are supposed to be fun and after thousands of hours using Fishers I can't remember one moment where that wasn't true for me...no matter what I have able to find or even not find in our adventures together.
 
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