Is my F5 sick?

[Allan]

Was hoping to get Mike H opinion on this, as I used his guidelines from another thread where someone was having ID issues with the F5?

After messing with the new F5, air test and coins on the ground ID okay, but anything under ground is all over.

Following Mike Hillis thread with another F5 having similar problems I did his test. Ground balanced in a clean area, with the Iron meter reading very low, to low at highest when sweeping. Ground balanced where both GB and Phase were 64. Set threshold to -9 and Gain to 85. Then set disc just above 26.

Coins laying flat at 3in. depth
05. ID was 56-59-61
.10 ID was 79-82-86
.25 ID was 88-89-91

Coins at 5in. depth
.05 ID was 84-86-91
.10 91-97 Hardly detectable
.25 92-94-96 hardly detectable

Coins at 8in. depth
Could not detect at least with out headphones, but no audible noise to ear.

Called Fisher and explained, and said -9 on the threshold limited the depth. To try -1 Threshold and 80 gain. But still did not give me a good reason for false ID's at 3in.

So next test was done same as above although with Fisher recommendations, -1 Threshold and 80 Gain, all other settings the same.

At 3in. depth
.025 ID was 91-92 reburied then got 92-95-99
At 5in. depth
.025 ID was 88-92-93 reburied then got 92-97-98

At 3in.
.05 ID was 74-80-87
Finally quit at a nickle with this setting as something is obviously wrong and no coin detects much past 6in. So the -1 for Threshold did nothing for depth. And ID's are still off, any advice? Thanks

 

[crusher28]

So if no coin detects past 6" whats the problem?? My f5 will detect down to 6" also and most of the coins I find are in the 0-6" range anyway. My settings are around disc. 12-16-/ thresh 0- to -1 or pulse 1/ gain is setting is 55-80. I really do not expect it to go much deeper on coin size objects in this hard Virginia clay soil. But when I detect at the beach it will go deeper because the sand is less dense. But I really do not depend on the ID of any detector I go by the sound it makes on coins.
All detectors can be fooled. I had detectors that coast from $200 to $1500 and found that with a good set of amplified volume controlled earphones you will find coins much deeper

 

[Allan]

So if no coin detects past 6" whats the problem?? My f5 will detect down to 6" also and most of the coins I find are in the 0-6" range anyway. My settings are around disc. 12-16-/ thresh 0- to -1 or pulse 1/ gain is setting is 55-80. I really do not expect it to go much deeper on coin size objects in this hard Virginia clay soil. But when I detect at the beach it will go deeper because the sand is less dense. But I really do not depend on the ID of any detector I go by the sound it makes on coins.
All detectors can be fooled. I had detectors that coast from $200 to $1500 and found that with a good set of amplified volume controlled earphones you will find coins much deeper

Not a depth issue, it is the ID issue. Can't tell you how many times I read this detector is pretty good with ID? Many claim a nickle hits at 30 all the time.

My issue can't even get a nickle to ID correctly at 2-3in. with multiple tries, A nickle should be around 30, mine reads way high if you read my post? No coins ID correctly in the ground, okay no detector will ID correctly 100% of the time. But come on, at least once at a few inches with multiple tries on different coins I tried?

 

[crusher28]

Ok I understand now (I"m old) Mine ids nickles and gold rings @30-35 all the time, will id bottle caps and other junk @30-35 also, but with sound that is crackly.

 

[Allan]

Ok I understand now (I"m old) Mine ids nickles and gold rings @30-35 all the time, will id bottle caps and other junk @30-35 also, but with sound that is crackly.

You say 30-35 all the time? that's my issue, as I read this with many claiming the ID is pretty accurate? Mine isn't accurate at all, nickles have read anywhere from 50's to even 90's? Looks like I'll be sending it back? I only brought up the depth issue because Fisher said -9 takes away depth and to try -1 as I should get 8in. on a quarter? They were also overlooking the ID issue, and were giving advice on depth? Thanks

 

[Mike Hillis]

Allan,

High magnetic minerals will often throw off the id some , but...you state that your ground bars are low, so that rules that out. The reason I recommend testing with the -9 threshold is because that requires a good strong signal for the detector to respond, which should give the best visual id.

When you sweep your coil, are you sweeping completely past the targets by at least a coil width?

Overall, reading your post, I would say that your F5 isn't working right if sweep speed doesn't clear it up. If you can't get a good id at 3" you are never going to get a good id at 6".

Call Fisher and ask to talk to Jorge Anton Saad about it.

Ouch.
HH
Mike