Menu
What's new
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

Thinking About Buying an F5. Opinions Wanted

I have never owned one, but have always liked it. I have ready many reviews on it and you will be hard pressed to find many who didn't like it. One person complained about the knobs getting in the way of the pinpoint button when wearing gloves and another complained that it did not retain previous settings upon power up. I wish it took AA batteries, but that's just me. 9V are fine, they just require a little extra care carrying them around. This one will run on one 9V battery but life is rated at 40 hours on two.

There was a recent post about the F5 vs the F70 and I believe the consensus went with the F70. You might want to look up that post. The F70 sells for about $100 more and is 100% digital circuitry vs the F5 which is a 50/50 mix analog and digital.

diggindad
 
I did have a F5 for a short time, I bought it used and got a really good deal. But at the time I had something like 5 other machines and one was a F75Ltd. I tested it with both the 11"DD and 10" concentric and the machine was fine. I really thought about keeping it but every time I went out the door it was with the F75. So I offered it up to my brother for the same money I paid for it and he jumped on it. Now if I was buy it back I would say he would want double, he loves that machine with the 11"DD coil.

I will add that we hunt together most of the time and he just about overtime is ahead with the silver coin count at the end of the day if we find any. I have also hunted over areas that he has covered with the F5 and he is not missing much.

He will most likely see your post and comment, his forum name is still looking 52 (SL52).

You will not regret getting a F5.

Ron in WV
 
The F5 runs on a lower frequency (7hz) then a F70 or F75 (13 hz).
Lower frequency units are a bit better for silver they say.
The higher Frequency the better for smaller objects and gold. The F19 (19 hz)
They will all find silver but F5 might ID it more concistantly for fringe targets.
The F70 and F75 might see deeper stuff too.

So it kind of depends on what you like to hunt.

I would like to have an F5 in my collection if one came available at a good price. At this time I have other 7hz units of other brand names I won't discuss here. So I have options of how and where I hunt.
 
F5 runs on 2 9v batteries.

If you don't like knobs get the Teknetics Omega. Both great machines.
 
Glad to see this post come up now. I am currently using a F2 and am thinking of upgrading sometime in the future. For some reason the F5 has caught my attention. I am wondering if there is enough difference Between the F2 and F5 for this to even be considered. I have been reading everything Mike Hillis has posted on this machine and he has got my attention just as Digger27 did on the F2. Please keep your comments and opinions coming.
 
I had the F5 and at the same time my F75 LTD. For me the F5 just didn't have the punch that I needed and the F75 did. I totally loved the user interface on the F5, one of the best designs I've seen. I also noticed on the F5 that it tended to ID ferrous targets as non-ferrous, even shallower targets. This was in Northern California dirt, YMMV.

hh,
Brian
 
You can't go wrong with the f5! This machine will go head to head with any detector on the market today, I've had mine for about a hear now and honestly I wouldn't trade it for any other machine. Another sign that it a good rigg is you don't see them come up for sale on the used market hardly ever. Depth is excellent with the 11DD coil and separation on targets is also good, this thing loves silver for an extra bonus. Your question on the original post was ( Is there any reason why I shouldn't buy a f5 detector) my answer is none.
 
Snap On Man said:
Glad to see this post come up now. I am currently using a F2 and am thinking of upgrading sometime in the future. For some reason the F5 has caught my attention. I am wondering if there is enough difference Between the F2 and F5 for this to even be considered. I have been reading everything Mike Hillis has posted on this machine and he has got my attention just as Digger27 did on the F2. Please keep your comments and opinions coming.
Click to expand...

Thought about getting an F5 but a fire-sale deal on the F70 came my way instead.
This thing does everything I hoped it would and much, much more so I couldn't be happier.
 
I live in NM with much sand and rock. There are endless places to hunt and I wouldn't rule out anything on a hunt. There is a lot of history here and many artifacts to be found. I also know of a few places I may find gold. The only thing that doesn't trip my trigger is new coins. I really need a decent versatile detector. I have an old lunch box Bounty Hunter and had very good results in the past. It uses 16 AA batteries and they don't last long. I am so ready to upgrade. I appreciate the replies. I will compare to the F70, but I am reaching the limit of my budget. Does anyone have a good vendor for these?
 
NMPathfinder said:
I live in NM with much sand and rock. There are endless places to hunt and I wouldn't rule out anything on a hunt. There is a lot of history here and many artifacts to be found. I also know of a few places I may find gold. The only thing that doesn't trip my trigger is new coins. I really need a decent versatile detector. I have an old lunch box Bounty Hunter and had very good results in the past. It uses 16 AA batteries and they don't last long. I am so ready to upgrade. I appreciate the replies. I will compare to the F70, but I am reaching the limit of my budget. Does anyone have a good vendor for these?
Click to expand...

I read your post right your wondering about the new coins. I will say the reason nobody talked about new coins is because that is a given, any decent detector will do the job on those. So if that is your hold back I would take that off the list. Neither the F5 or the F70 will pass buy a new drop.

I price is a concern, I would go with the F5 with the 11"DD coil, if you have a few extra $ the F70 with the 11" coil would be a good choice.

Ron in WV
 
Snap On Man said:
Glad to see this post come up now. I am currently using a F2 and am thinking of upgrading sometime in the future. For some reason the F5 has caught my attention. I am wondering if there is enough difference Between the F2 and F5 for this to even be considered. I have been reading everything Mike Hillis has posted on this machine and he has got my attention just as Digger27 did on the F2. Please keep your comments and opinions coming.
Click to expand...

The jump from an F2 to an F5 is really a sizable upgrade and with a good bit of a learning curve too.

Mark
 
Because you will like it too much?

Just make sure, new or used, that you get the latest revision. Call Fisher and find out so you know for sure what to look for and make sure your seller (new or used) checks and verifies it.

I'm saying that because there is (to my knowledge) three revisions floating around. That was a couple of years ago. Fisher may have made another tweak since then. The original (plug in coils), version 1, then version 2 to fix an all metal issue. then version 3 to fix an issue with large high conductors. I am not aware of any other issues than those two with the F5 and they have all be resolved. So new, latest greatest revision is the way to go.

Second thing, The F5 is labeled as a 'professional metal detector' for a reason. The feature set is top notch. The performance is very good and with the right coils for the task it performs way above it's price point. Accessory coils are a must. At the very least you want the the stock coil and the 11"DD. Add the 5" DD later.

The F5 is a great detector. I haven't hunted with mine in a while as I've been busy with other projects and other detectors but I had it out the other day doing some ground balance testing and comparisions with some other units and discovered that the love is still there. To bad I got the "disease" that won't let me live with just one.

Good luck with your choice.
HH
Mike
 
Thanks Mike you answered my question when you explained about the up dates.
I am not ready to update right now. Still learning the f2. But when I do I am sure we will be communicating.
I believe in talking to the right man when you have a question! I have learned there is Mike on the f5 and Digger27 on the f2!!!!!!!!!!!
Again, thanks for all your help.
 
The F5 was my main unit for 6 years. The only draw back is that it needs setting up each time as it is completely analog in adjustment and has no memory (the Omega is the same detector with digital adjustments and memory). The gain/threshold adjustments allow the F5 to adjust to the smallest metals, so the higher freq of the F70/F19 doesn't really matter as the F5 adjusts to small gold with higher gain/lower threshold adjusting.

The F5 has command over ground conditions with all the information of the higher end units displayed in real time. The confidence meter is there as well. The full analog knobs give the best ability for "on the fly" adjustments. Two 9Vs seem to last forever. And when you turn it off, it is off by the click of the knob and being stored uses nothing as far as battery.

My F5 was version 1 and I still loved it. The only reason for giving it up was that as I got older, I got tremors. I needed a detector I could set up for turn on and go with memory and a more open PP button. I did keep the F2 for that ability and the F5 is deeper and much more versatile than the F2. Both use the same ID scale, making the F5 a perfect compliment to the F2 over using the Omega's or F19s different ID scale.

For Coins, Jewelry and gold, the F5 is one of the best. If iron is on your list as well, then the Omega may better suit you.
 
I just won a F5 and it was made in June. Seems a lot closer to the Omega than they used too. It's more adjustable for sure. Does it do the power on pinpoint thing for version check like omega?

Neither save settings but the Omega 8500 does. The independent threshold control in disc is nice. Glad they split them up on the omega 8500 although threshold is only for all metal on it. Which is fine 99% of the time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top