I knew it!

[REVIER]

Parts from a conversation from another place.
Dave J. chimes in and restates again in black and white plain and simple language what we F70 owners already knew.
I would love to have an F75, the extra features look neat, but in actuality the only thing I wish my F70 had that the big guy possesses is manual ground balance adjust ability...not that even that matters all that much with what I seem to be able to see and ID at depth with the F75 coil.
Plus, you can fool the F70 into more positive settings if you really think that will help.

Dave J. is exactly right...I will never in my lifetime wonder if this unit wasn't a good choice for me and the "what ifs" will never bother me about that choice in the area of performance.


He mentions mudpuppy...mud, can I have your autograph?

Ok, the Fisher F70 seems like a really damn nice coin machine but I rarely hear anyone talking about it. In fact, you'd think the T2 and F75 were the latest models but, from what I read, the F70 is actually the latest model. I'm looking for a good coin/park/all around machine (and deep with decent TID)... does the F70 not fit this bill? Everyone keeps pushing me to the ATPro, which I did own and loved, but I'm looking to upgrade from the ATpro. (and btw - Etrac was ike carrying a log around with me - don't want that, though it did perform well) Any help, please?

F70's are great. They use the same coils as the 75 series and the 4 AA batteries seem to last forever. People either seem to love them or hate them though. They can be real chatty till you learn how to use them. They bang really hard on coins and other good targets. Once you get to know the F70 you will feel like you are missing very little of what is under your coil. They are very high spirited and you will need to throttle them back at times. Even with sensitivity set as low as 35 and threshold at -3 you can still hit a silver dime at 6" I have only had mine for a year and use a 10" elliptical coil. Other than wanting to add an 11" DD coil I am happy and I won't be replacing my F70 any time soon. Digger 27, an accomplished F2 user just got the F70 and will have some good info around the web as well--IB

No love? Why, if you look in the right place the rabid feelings for this thing from some owners borders on the pornographic. IBdiggin, me, mudpuppy, dbax and many others discuss this thing all the time over on Findmall in the F series forum, I started a log about all my adventures with it from the day I first started swinging it.
I found silver on my first hunt, gold a few hours later and a mess of clad and other stuff in a few of my well hunted sites. That was with the standard coil, and with that coil I reached 7-8"- regularly on targets with good ID's, and got good tones on targets past that up to 10". Switching to the F75 11" DD coil deeper targets all the way up to the 15" range started to show up in my great soil. More silver in the form of coins or jewelry were found very easily, among other great items. I am so spoiled at this point that if I don't find something great on every hunt or if the F70 doesn't make my jaw drop after seeing and realizing what it can actually do I feel something is weird and wrong. A huge amount of settings available, still experimenting with as many as I can to see what will ultimately work the best for me, and I can't describe how much fun I am having learning this thing.

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.

 

[mudpuppy]

Wow! Good to see what Dave wrote about it...nobody can argue with him...I like what he said about the Eurotek Pro, since that's a sleeper too.....

I'm up plotting a 2000+ mile run beginning Sunday am...zooming around on google earth/mapquest looking for parks and all....drawing up maps, etc...I will be ransacking a few locales around Nashville...over to Cookeville, dropping down through Chattanooga, into ATL (for business Tues, Wed, Thur)...west to Guntersville, up to Huntsville, back on 65 and beelining home...Unless I find a place and get distracted...I got a lot of pent up hunting to do, so I may just dink around a bit...Its fun but exhausting trying to find parks that look good from the air via satellite images..and of course timing everything so a fellow can cover some ground effectively,...i might just shoot down 85 for a bit and ransack Newnan...taking all my gear...

Anyway, thats some good dialog from the rest of the 70 users out there...Zeekeyes really got me straightened out in my early days...still have not even scratched the surface of what this thing can do...Like IBdiggin and Digger27 said, full confidence that you aint missing much with this 70 heater...I doubt any other rig can match the 70 on the dry for speed and production...you get good with those DP tones and you gotta real monster!
Mud

 

[Ayeti65]

Well that settles it for me, I have always wondered if the extra cash spent would mean "better" performance. I can see clearly that I have no need to worry!

 

[WhatTheBeep]

That's great to know, and after reading as much as I found from you guys as well as in other places that was what I suspected. I ordered mine yesterday and it'll be here Monday. I'm excited like I was getting a new car or something! Pretty sure it's going to be exactly what I was looking for, confirmed by reading what Dave J. had to say on it.

 

[shadowulf]

As REVIER said, the only thing lacking on the F70 is a manual ground balance. And even then, there is a work around to get a slightly positive setting.

I really do enjoy that my F70 is stripped down to the absolute minimum. Basic adjustments are there. And if you screw up the settings, it's real easy to reset.

 

[IBdiggin]

Make sure you fasten your seatbelt What the Beep,------You don't want to get whiplash---- Now that we've got this settled all I have to do is decide on my next coil.



PS------ Darnit,I still want F5 TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!----IB

 

[Ayeti65]

I had the F5 before the F70 it's a great machine, the only thing I felt it lacked a little in the depth department. Probably should have tried the 11dd coil, but then I might not have bought the F70.

 

[WhatTheBeep]

Haha! Yep, I think at best there'll be a case of wind-blown hair and at worst maybe some road rash. I've been using the F2 for about a year and while it's a great machine I was ready for something with more settings to play with and especially more depth -- both conditions easily satisfied by the low key, often overlooked F70.

I originally had set my sights on the F5 which is a great machine (and I love those adjustable knobs!), but the extra depth, iron unmasking ability, and a few other characteristics of the F70 and its big brother and cousin tipped the scales. One day I'd still like to have the F5 to use as a second machine, though!

 

[REVIER]

Haha! Yep, I think at best there'll be a case of wind-blown hair and at worst maybe some road rash. I've been using the F2 for about a year and while it's a great machine I was ready for something with more settings to play with and especially more depth -- both conditions easily satisfied by the low key, often overlooked F70.

I originally had set my sights on the F5 which is a great machine (and I love those adjustable knobs!), but the extra depth, iron unmasking ability, and a few other characteristics of the F70 and its big brother and cousin tipped the scales. One day I'd still like to have the F5 to use as a second machine, though!

Think about getting a decent digger with a scoop.
I have to get a new one because as much as I love my Lesche, it slows me down when digging small diameter holes 8-14" in depth...and I seem to be digging a lot more holes like that now.

 

[shadowulf]

Hey Rev, how about a custom sized plug cutter. Say 2 1/2 inch diameter by 12 inches long. That ought to reach some of the deeper targets.

 

[WhatTheBeep]

Think about getting a decent digger with a scoop.
I have to get a new one because as much as I love my Lesche, it slows me down when digging small diameter holes 8-14" in depth...and I seem to be digging a lot more holes like that now.

Sounds like solid advice -- haven't even thought about that. Thanks, Revier!

 

[Ayeti65]

I modified my lesche, it now has a 10 inch stainless T-handle and custom grip. We modified it at work lol I think I turned out great, can post pics if y'all want me to.

 

[jim tn]

when are you going to be around Nashville. Wife and I are going there towards next weekend, 3/22, for a week of dog(s) setting while our son goes to CanCun, or some such place down there. It sounds like you will be there sometime next week, though. I know a couple of spots we could pillage clad, jewelry and a chance of an old coin or two, if we were able to get hooked up. HH jim tn

 

[kaolinwasher]

I like that F-70 and have come very close to buying it just for its slow all metal mode.

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[mudpuppy]

Hey Jim! Why dont you PM that park you intend to hunt next weekend, and I'll see if I can clean the clad out of your way before you get there! Thanks for your kind offer...one of these days we will both be in the same place at the same time...I bet I'll be going North through Nashville sometime late friday night so I can get home sat am in time to check the forums to see what you find!.
Y'all be good!
Mud

 

[jim tn]

n/t

 

[REVIER]

n/t

Sure Elton, as much as some of the F75 guys want to think differently, they are basically the same unit in most ways.
Dave J. said as much...the F75 came out then they learned a few new things and made the F70.
With what they saw that worked so well on the F70 they tweaked all the future "revised" editions of the F75 so if I am reading between the lines correctly essentially at this point in time they are pretty much the same in the area of performance and what they both can do.
Rocket Tom has also stated that he found this to be the same in his testing.
Sure the F75 has that back light and you can adjust the GB settings at will and has whatever other extra features it possesses, but at this point they are built on the same architecture with similar programing so the high performance "engine" that drives both should be about equal if you are using the same coils.
Pretty much whatever you can do with the F70 you should easily be able to do with the F75 and visa versa.
Except maybe hunt in the dark, but I have a head lamp if I want to do that and mudpuppy says he can easily hunt in the dark using DP tones so who needs a back light?

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Ayeti65]

I added the extra stainless handle to get deeper, as well as, being more comfortable to dig with and also added grass cutters on both sides. Let me know what you guys think of my little monster lol