F70 Settings

[REVIER]

Since there seems to be a lot of experienced F70 users here, I have a question to ask: I've never used any other machines than the 7.8 Khz machines that Fisher/Tek makes. Is the F70 easier to use than either the F75 or T2 (the regular versions, without boost protocols) ? Or in other words, apart from cost concerns, would there be any other reason to choose an F70 over an F75 for example ? I don't really want to start a debate over which is better depth wise or whatever. I just want to know why some people would choose an F70 over other detectors of same frequency. Thanks.

What's not to love?
In my case a brand new in the box F70 came my way for $400 as I was saving up for an F75 and that was that.
Regarding boost don't let anyone tell you we don't have it because we do...and had it first.
It is called SL speed and a slightly different process than the F75 but with exactly the same effect.
Some want all the whistle and bells, can afford it easily, so why not?
All kinds of cars out there and they all have 4 wheels
Others don't mind missing a few things, don't consider them a huge loss....if we never had them we don't really miss them.

The F75 has a few cool extras, it has that trigger feature, you can manually adjust the GB numbers vs auto GB on the 70, the notch system is a little more controllable where you could knock out half of a chosen range instead of all of it, it has a backlight, a few more factory programs and a cache setting.
None of that matters to me the way I hunt, the notch stuff could come in handy in a few tab infested parks but I can live without it.
It comes down to whether you want or think you need all the extras or don't...in my case I don't but others prefer to have all available features at their disposal.
The F70 is built on the same engine as the flagship, uses the same coils as the flagship and pretty much behaves the same using those coils.
Comfort filled or rat rod...unusual that a company would have a choice like this but that is what made the F70 earn the name "sleeper".

Dave Johnson, (woof on the forums), a top respected head design engineer at FTP said this once about these two on another forum when asked pretty much the same question...

"The F70 was the product of a mission-- to come up with a less expensive adaptation of the F75, while incorporating things we had learned meanwhile. Without "dumbing it down". Because the F70 was advertised for a lot less money than the F75, marketing dept. didn't quite dare to say how good the damn thing really was. Some of the secret sauce we put into the F70 eventually made its way into later revisions of the F75 group of machines, as well as into the Teknetics "Fratbros" series and most other new beeps introduced after the F70.

As the top of the Fisher lineup, the F75 including its revisions got all the attention. That's how the F70 became a "sleeper". Guys like Mudpuppy will never have to wonder if they should have gotten an F75 instead.

This is the same sort of explanation I just posted in "another forum" about the approx. $200 category. If you get a Eurotek Pro, you never have to wonder if you should have gotten something else. Get anything else, and you'll wonder if you should have gotten a Eurotek Pro instead. F70 owners never have to wonder if they should "upgrade" to an F75.

--Dave J."

 

[WhatTheBeep]

I've used an F70 for a couple of years, but have never used an original vanilla F75. With that said, I would personally go with the F70. It's newer and I'm sure has some newer technology. I believe it might weigh a little less too. I think I recall NASA-Tom saying that the F70 is on par with the original F75 depthwise when the SL mode on the F70 is used. The F70 is a great machine, and quite a bargain in my opinion.

Now throw the newer F75 LTD with DST in the mix and some things might change a bit.

 

[still looking 52]

I've never heard the first bad comment about the F70 anywhere on this forum, only positive feed back from anyone who owns one. This machine is perhaps the best bang for your buck, I'm using the f5 right now and it's a great machine also but if I ever decide to move up it would be the f70 for me.

 

[shadowulf]

The F75 is the flagship, it has all the presets/programs ready to go at a touch of a button.
The F70 is the workhorse, not as "elegant" as the F75, but will get the job done with the proper settings.

The thing to remember is you have to put in the time for ANY machine to get the best out of it.
Also, you have to "like" the machine. I hear others tout the praises of the AT-Golds and AT-Pros, but I cant stand their tone.
I kinda feel the same about the GBP/G2, but can tolerate them a little better.
About the only other machine, at this time, that I would like to have is the x-terra 705. I like its tones and its "prospecting" mode would be fun to try in the goldfields.
But like Rev, my F70 came to me for less than $400. add a couple coils and I don't feel "under-gunned" in most situations.

There are machines that have more features, but the F70 will always have a spot in my gear bag.

 

[dfmike]

Thanks REVIER for your post and Dave J's . quote as well.

Do you still use your F2 at all ?

 

[dfmike]

The F75 has a few cool extras, it has that trigger feature, you can manually adjust the GB numbers vs auto GB on the 70, the notch system is a little more controllable where you could knock out half of a chosen range instead of all of it, it has a backlight, a few more factory programs and a cache setting.

By trigger, you mean the one underneath the box that is used to ground grab/pinpoint like the T2 ? The F70 has a push button for that I suppose ?

 

[REVIER]

The F75 has a few cool extras, it has that trigger feature, you can manually adjust the GB numbers vs auto GB on the 70, the notch system is a little more controllable where you could knock out half of a chosen range instead of all of it, it has a backlight, a few more factory programs and a cache setting.

By trigger, you mean the one underneath the box that is used to ground grab/pinpoint like the T2 ? The F70 has a push button for that I suppose ?

Yep, seems to work fine even though the buttons are on the face.

I haven't picked up my F2 since I got the F70, but I met two people at my local neighborhood park that have them and don't have a clue about them so I offered my help.

On the other hand I have a friend on another forum, just joined up here,that had an F2 and just got a new F70 like 2 days ago.
I said I will help him get over that initial learning curve with some setting advice but he seems to be doing fine so far.
On his first time out in his own backyard he turned the thing on and swung.
Doesn't really know anything about it at all, not about ground balancing, all the tone options, the thresh or even that it has two programs you can set and switch between at will.
Just turned it on, used factory settings and on his first hunt found an 1875 IH about 5" deep that was loud and clear.
Bodes well....but using a Fisher I would expect nothing less.

 

[Bruinvikes]

The F75 has a few cool extras, it has that trigger feature, you can manually adjust the GB numbers vs auto GB on the 70, the notch system is a little more controllable where you could knock out half of a chosen range instead of all of it, it has a backlight, a few more factory programs and a cache setting.

By trigger, you mean the one underneath the box that is used to ground grab/pinpoint like the T2 ? The F70 has a push button for that I suppose ?

Yep, seems to work fine even though the buttons are on the face.

I haven't picked up my F2 since I got the F70, but I met two people at my local neighborhood park that have them and don't have a clue about them so I offered my help.

On the other hand I have a friend on another forum, just joined up here,that had an F2 and just got a new F70 like 2 days ago.
I said I will help him get over that initial learning curve with some setting advice but he seems to be doing fine so far.
On his first time out in his own backyard he turned the thing on and swung.
Doesn't really know anything about it at all, not about ground balancing, all the tone options, the thresh or even that it has two programs you can set and switch between at will.
Just turned it on, used factory settings and on his first hunt found an 1875 IH about 5" deep that was loud and clear.
Bodes well....but using a Fisher I would expect nothing less.

Thanks for the mention Revier! I am very new to the F70, and I have lots to learn, but I am amazed by this machine. I really shouldn't be too surprised though, I mean I am a huge fan of my F2. I look forward to learning more about the F70 from all of you. Thanks for posting your knowledge and experiences with the F70 for all to learn.

 

[Trailduster]

Awesome knowledge and dictation in this thread. I have been using an f70 for a couple years now after graduating from an f2.

I have a question myself and didn't want to start a new topic as this can fall within this thread.

When using SL, it there a certain technique to use? Swing, slow swing, quick swing, hover, wiggle, pump?

I've mostly used DE but have been running over old ground in SL and finding things I missed so I am highly motivated to learn using the setting.

 

[REVIER]

Awesome knowledge and dictation in this thread. I have been using an f70 for a couple years now after graduating from an f2.

I have a question myself and didn't want to start a new topic as this can fall within this thread.

When using SL, it there a certain technique to use? Swing, slow swing, quick swing, hover, wiggle, pump?

I've mostly used DE but have been running over old ground in SL and finding things I missed so I am highly motivated to learn using the setting.

SL means slow....The processors are faster in DE but SL gathers a bit more info and goes a bit deeper if you move the coil at a very slow pace.
SL might be a bit noisier in certain situations but lately I am using it most of the time and just turning the sense down if I want it quietet and still get clearer signals from deeper depths.
Soil conditions and site conditions matter, in really trashy sites DE and it's quicker response time is better, curiously in heavy iron SL works better for me at picking out the good targets as long as I am moving that coil slow and I mean painfully slow in some sites.
Keep in mind I hunt in very difficult iron tested mineralized soil where SL works well, in much better Kansas soil DE worked pretty good although SL still got a bit deeper.

All targets I acquired I make quick sided to side passes with the center of the coil, any coil, and make sure all positive numbers, tones and behavior repeats, on deeper targets I do the same from a 90 degree angle and if it matches I dig.
I do wiggle and pull back to pinpoint the target using DD coils, hopping up and down over some higher number targets can reveal their actual identity as iron if the numbers drop down to iron continually as you do this.

On thing I do remember is using SL on several hunts for several hours and then after switching back to DE I could really tell the difference in the speed of the processors.

Both have their place.

 

[Trailduster]

Okay. Cool. Sounds about right.

I was sweeping in DE a my usual pace picking out obvious targets, then if I got a faint repeatable signal, I switch over to SL and alternate between pin point, and SL using deliberate slow swipes in stead of sweeps if that makes sense.

Found an unreadable Buffalo and a 1930's Admiral Dewey metal play money from the Mazuma Gum Co. in a place I know I've hit a least 2x before.

 

[REVIER]

Okay. Cool. Sounds about right.

I was sweeping in DE a my usual pace picking out obvious targets, then if I got a faint repeatable signal, I switch over to SL and alternate between pin point, and SL using deliberate slow swipes in stead of sweeps if that makes sense.

Found an unreadable Buffalo and a 1930's Admiral Dewey metal play money from the Mazuma Gum Co. in a place I know I've hit a least 2x before.

A few other observations...
If you get something deep that is a bit iffy swinging over it with really fast sweeps seems to give you some pretty accurate info.
I wouldn't hunt that way because you could miss signals you might not notice at high speeds but once you know target locations it seems to work.

Also, certain type targets will not give off correct signals if very deep even in good soil, some up averaging seems to be going on at very deep levels for some reason.
I have dug a few beaver tail tabs at the 10" depth level that came in at just about a dime in solid audio tones and pretty solid numbers in the 70's...fooled me every time and I am not the only one so this is common.
What tabs are doing that deep I have no idea but those parks where it happened in Kansas were old so I had to check them out.
Even though they were trash I was still thrilled I got such a solid signal that deep especially with the standard elliptical, and very happy something was actually down there when I dug the hole.

 

[After-1-]

Okay. Cool. Sounds about right.

I was sweeping in DE a my usual pace picking out obvious targets, then if I got a faint repeatable signal, I switch over to SL and alternate between pin point, and SL using deliberate slow swipes in stead of sweeps if that makes sense.

Found an unreadable Buffalo and a 1930's Admiral Dewey metal play money from the Mazuma Gum Co. in a place I know I've hit a least 2x before.

A few other observations...
If you get something deep that is a bit iffy swinging over it with really fast sweeps seems to give you some pretty accurate info.
I wouldn't hunt that way because you could miss signals you might not notice at high speeds but once you know target locations it seems to work.

Also, certain type targets will not give off correct signals if very deep even in good soil, some up averaging seems to be going on at very deep levels for some reason.
I have dug a few beaver tail tabs at the 10" depth level that came in at just about a dime in solid audio tones and pretty solid numbers in the 70's...fooled me every time and I am not the only one so this is common.
What tabs are doing that deep I have no idea but those parks where it happened in Kansas were old so I had to check them out.
Even though they were trash I was still thrilled I got such a solid signal that deep especially with the standard elliptical, and very happy something was actually down there when I dug the hole.

----------------Now that happens to me ,hear a good tone ,see that it is the 70s and think -I have a dime-- and the only thing in the hole is a pull tab. A while back I get a sweet tone, in the 70s,pinpoint a small area, this a dime 8-10''deep,out come a full flat beer can.my only thought is how did this get so deep in undisturbed soil.---------Just waiting for AL scrap to go up-----after1----------

 

[Trailduster]

My biggest pet peeve. Copper pennies that come in as dimes in the solid mid 70's. Grrrrrrr.

 

[shadowulf]

I don't remember if it was in the manual or one of Dave J's essays, but the F70 & F75 were designed with up averaging. I have had my F70 down average, but only in some unique areas.

I now search the old threads authored by REVIER when I have a question or issue with my F70. He and Napa Tom are two of the best "experts" that can give one an answer on these machines.

There are others, but many an issue can be solved with a good search

 

[REVIER]

I don't remember if it was in the manual or one of Dave J's essays, but the F70 & F75 were designed with up averaging. I have had my F70 down average, but only in some unique areas.

I now search the old threads authored by REVIER when I have a question or issue with my F70. He and Napa Tom are two of the best "experts" that can give one an answer on these machines.

There are others, but many an issue can be solved with a good search

Yes that up averaging stuff around iron especially is evidently programmed into these things.
A great thing in my opinion.
In good Kansas soil I found a gold ring between two pieces of iron that was 10 numbers higher in the ground than out of the ground.
Not a big deal on that one but when I hunted a super heavy iron site in that same soil all the good coin targets were also about 10 numbers higher which helped me find them.

Here in my crazy southern soil with unusual amounts of iron the deeper you go the higher the numbers.
Everything at 4" or more comes in at least 10 numbers higher than usual, sometimes up to 20 when they are 5-7" in depth.
Even nickels that are deep come in near 90 for some reason.
A silver dollar at 4" was a steady 98-99...something I have never seen before.
As long as I know this I learned to deal with it and it helps me recognize good targets deep around here.

 

[dbax]

Copper pennies that ring up as dimes are real cooper and well worth digging, as it is the older wheat and Indian pennies that are "real" copper.
Last I heard copper in the penny "copper" penny is worth more than the penny. I have a jar full of Wheat pennies because I dig everything that
reads as a dime, even those deep soda cans or beer cans that give that same reading. Diggim, diggum all I say --

One more thought on this. I have hunted some heavily hunted area where others have hunted and it is really noticeable how the other hunters are
going for dimes and above In one two hour hunt I found 2 dimes and 17 nickles and 32 pennies and no quarters -- guess they were skipping over this
coins or had their disc levels set. Now, get this, on two different hunts in two different states I dug a penny that read like a dime then low grade penny, this kind of
bouncy reading happens from time to time but on these two separate occasions I found the penny over the top of a gold ring. Not kidding, true story. I got the penny
in one dig about 5" down, found the penny and put it away but when I laid my pin pointer down in the hole it kept sounding off. A small gold 10K ring with the
year 1930 stamped on it, right under where I had picked the penny. The other time was in a home town local park and I hit this penny sounding in the 67 range, close to the
surface but it kept reading funny so I figured it for a penny and some trash close by -- out of boredom -- not too many finds that day -- I dug it all of 2" and up popped a penny and a super
nice 18K gold ring with a ruby stone. I dig pennies and I have the sore legs to prove it -- of course I never encourage any of the local boys to dig pennies. One I
dug 211 pennies in a very small area -- no rings that time, but a couple of wheat,

 

[Savagehockey03]

Hello Everyone!!

Well I'm looking for some true setting for gulf coast beach sand. I know that I have had some really good luck with beach sand that is dry but when I get closer to the really wet sands the Machine really goes crazy with a lot of false signals.

Can I get some setting help please. My normal setting are as follows.
DE mode
Sensitivity = 67-70
threshold = -1, -2
tone =3H

thanks for some help here.

 

[REVIER]

There have been some posts out there about this in the past for years.
Tinfoil talked about doing it in this thread with an F75....
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?37,617795,618873#msg-618873

"more then likley you will have to G/B to 0 run sen. at 80 max, threshold to -1 freq at 7 and run it in all metal."

If you are using an F70 the manual says it will GB all the way down to salt but I have never been to a saltwater beach to see and it might not go as low as you need to, anyway.
Everything else you can do regarding the settings above except no manual GB adjustment to get to 0 GB...but there is a workaround.
Ground balance over something to get to that 0 or lowest setting.
A small piece of iron might do it, I have some old red tiles on my porch that can get me there.
Out on my grass I GB'd at 62 but when I brought it up on the porch one pump over it that GB number changed to 0 every time I tried this.
Experiment, find something that will get you there and take it with you to the beach.
I have read of a few F75 users that have used these settings and say they worked.
Maybe not as well as a PI or maybe an FBS machine but for a VLF these Fishers can hold their own, get remarkably deep and still have some respectable results.
I have also read most coils can work but the small DD sniper might work the best overall for the best tones.
Some also have tried multi tones instead of all metal and had good results.
Whether in AM or disc hunting on the beach these ways seems to be all about the tones and not hardly anything about the numbers.
One day on vacation I will try this stuff because I am very curious to see what I can do on a wet beach with my F70.

Another thread here...some say 0 GB might not be necessary and up to 6 or even as high as 12 might work depending on the type of mineralization.
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?37,1363435