Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!



Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

F70/Patriot users. Is this just dumb thinkin' on my part?

MrDirtyHands

New member
Hey guys,

Think I've FINALLY decided on my next 'tector. The Patriot! BUT... there's just something about that "Fisher" name!
ARE these the EXACT SAME machines? (F70 & Patriot?) ANY differences? I know I can pick up a Patriot for $399
and would add the NEL Sharpshooter to that for an additional $120 or so. (Plus a few extras) OR I could pick up the
F70 (W/11" DD AND a 5" DD) for $499 BUT I'd still want that Sharpshooter too putting it a bit over my budget.

So, that's where my heads at. Any advice or suggestions would be awesome!

Thanks in advance!

Dan

PS. Still haven't completely ruled out the F75. Love the trigger, backlight, pistol grip/ergonomics!
 
I owned the Patriot for about 4 months. I asked the same question and was told by the very knowledgeable people on this forum that it was the same as the F70 but with a different face plate.
I really liked it but decided to keep my Fisher F19 instead which was more stable (maybe because it is underpowered compared to the lively Patriot/F70) in my high mineralized dirt and it could also double as an effective gold prospecting detector as a loaner for newbies. I did recently get a great deal on a 2016 F75LTD with all of the updated features. Even though I am a fairly skilled detectorist, the F75 is a real handful. The learning curve for all of its advanced abilities will be fun and challenging.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the Patriot (can you actually buy a new F70 other than old stock? I thought they were discontinued......) or the newer F75s.

Jeff
 
I have the F70, stood behind it for 100's of hours, maybe over 1000 at this point.
It came only with the 10" elliptical concentric and I used that for many hours. .. loved it and I found a ton.
I then got the 11" DD, used that one for many hours...loved it and also found a ton.
Then I switched to the 5" DD and guess what...I loved it and also found a ton.
As a matter of fact because I tend to hunt sites with tons of trash and an unusual amounts of iron that coil was the one that stuck and pretty much stayed mounted.
I know the coverage isn't as large as the bigger coils but what I need for my sites is the best target separation ability, not coverage, and as far as depth with that small coil I could get at least as deep as the 10" concentric and very close to the depth I could get with the big DD...10-12" in good dirt .
From time to time I switched back to the concentric since it is the best coil made you can use to find jewelry, IMO, and I also used the 11" a lot when I did hunt areas that could benefit from more coverage on that larger coil.
It is rare that I need that bigger footprint but it does happen from time to time.

I thought I was done, I had three coils that that would work and work well in just about any situation I could come across and I was perfectly happy using the 5" DD most of the time.
Turns out here in the SE and this more difficult soil that sniper worked very well here, got as deep as I could with the 11" DD, surprisingly, and as I said even here I found a ton.
I was happy, but then I had a chance to trade away my beloved high tone Vaq to a dealer out in Missouri that wanted to use one and I knew in that dirt it would work way better for him than it was working for me here in the land of iron so I wished a better life for it than just being a closet queen.
It was a lopsided deal, however, my used Vaq and some coils for a new Mojave so I looked for some other product I could get to even it out.
He was a Nel dealer and since he didn't sell much else I was interested in I chose to get the small round sniper, I didn't need it but I heard good things about the this brand and I was curious.
He told me he didn't have them in stock because they weren't that popular, not near as popular as the Sharpshooter according to his sales.
He was happy to order the round one for me but I said don't bother, he stocked the Sharpshooter so I said just send me that one instead and we can call it even.
Serendipity, I was so glad I got this one instead of the smaller one after I started using it. ..so glad.
It was just as deep as the 5" Fisher coil if not a bit deeper , it was just as great at target separation as the Fisher coil and the coverage was slightly bigger so it felt like I was hunting with a much bigger coil.
It wasn't much bigger than the small snipers but it FELT bigger and I loved hunting with it.
However the biggest advantage I saw with the Nel was that it was quieter, and I mean WAY quieter than any of the Fisher coils I owned.
A noticeable difference in every site I used it and that was in really heavy EMI filled sites or those that weren't so plagued with that problem.
I tend to hunt the same sites over and over so I had a lot of experience using the Fisher sniper and the Sharpshooter in the same exact sites.
Quieter and more stable meant I could experiment and use more settings which I happily did and went on to, again...find a ton using some settings that just aren't possible using my Fisher coils.

Better shielding, says the company, whatever it was they did it worked and I started wondering why Fisher couldn't make coils that were as quiet and stable.
In every site the thing could be used with different settings, much hotter settings if I wanted to, and it was quieter and more stable with much less falsing...everywhere.
Wouldn't have been a big issue if either of these things had DST...but they don't do we need to deal with all noise and instability issues as best as can.

I never mounted the Fisher 5" sniper coil again, no need since the Sharpshooter was a much better coil for my sites and for the way I set up my detector.
I have read many like the 6x9" Fisher coil over the Sharpshooter which is fine but I never tried one of those.
Considering I have 3 Fisher coils that are all way noisier, especially on hotter settings, than my Nel I won't be getting one of those.
Quieter hunting environments enable me to notice more of the sometimes very short but better signals which is way more important to me since most everything around here is masked so badly.

Yes, the two units are exactly the same except for the color scheme, the difference is the Patriot is now sold in a different way which is pretty much factory direct while the F70 was a stocking item and dealers that did stock them got stuck with them when they were discontinued so now they need to do anything they can to get rid of them which includes bundling them with other accessories to try to get their money back.
Also the F70 used to come with the 10" concentric only up until near the end where they finally started giving you a choice , if you found a dealer that is including that 11" DD instead they might have been ordered that way or the dealer switched them out before they advertised them with that 5" sniper.

I hunt in the SE as will you, in my opinion the Patriot with the 11" DD and a Sharpshooter as an accessory is going to be the better setup for hunting in our environment.
Plus, the F70 is technically discontinued.
I have full expectations that Fisher will honor the 5 year warranty on the F70 but me, I would still feel better owning new stock and a newer model that the company will probably be making for the foreseeable future.
 
Thanks for the advice guys!!
That "DST" is another reason I'm still considering the F75 but I think the Patriot would give me equal depth.
I will miss a backlight, pistol grip & my beloved trigger though! (Swung Whites forever)

Dan
 
Just keep in mind that the F 75 is the "flagship" detector in the First Texas detector line up.....and for good reason(s)....and being the deepest is one of the reasons. It simply is still one of the best turf detectors going. HH jim tn
 
jim tn said:
Just keep in mind that the F 75 is the "flagship" detector in the First Texas detector line up.....and for good reason(s)....and being the deepest is one of the reasons. It simply is still one of the best turf detectors going. HH jim tn

I know jim tn ~ I absolutely love the ergonomics, the trigger, backlight and that darn simple 1 button 1 knob faceplate. not to mention the adjustable iron audio
which I think should be standard on all decent 'tectors! I don't think I'd be loosing much depthwise with the Patriot though. and for $399 I could actually afford
some extras! (Reading the list of features I just wrote on the F75 sure is compelling though! LOL)

Dan
 
IowaRelic said:
You can get a brand new t2se with 3 coils for 599 right now. Just an idea

I've looked long and hard at that T2 believe me and that IS a great deal! But...
I'm a Coinshooter for the most part & I can't wrap my head around that compressed
TDI scale. I have a buddy that Relic hunts & I recently recommended a T2 or G2
to him. I love how that G2 is set up & if it had an iron cutoff @15 & a lower freq it would
be my next machine.

Thanks!

Dan
 
For how long is unsaid, but overstocked parts of older designs run out, eventually.
The F-70 is a good design but some complain its a little noisy.
 
Top