Mike Hillis
Well-known member
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What happened to the F-5?
- Thread starter Mosley
- Start date
Jackpine Savage
Active member
We need simple? is that it? 
Tom
Tom
Jackpine Savage
Active member
Thanks for that Brad, I can see where the seperate controls could be handy at times. On the other hand with the Coinstrike I usually just set it up hot... like 8 to 10 sens/-10 thresh and ran it. Since I would probably just end up doing the same with the F5 I will stick with the Omega.
I agree mixing it up coil wise definitely pays off in finds. I'll have the 5"er soon and may just add that 8" round coil to the kit for grins if nothing else.
So far water hunting has been a MAJOR bust this summer!
Tom.
I agree mixing it up coil wise definitely pays off in finds. I'll have the 5"er soon and may just add that 8" round coil to the kit for grins if nothing else.
So far water hunting has been a MAJOR bust this summer!
Tom.
BuckeyeBrad
New member
n/t
BuckeyeBrad
New member
and this isn't directed at you Tom, but I wasn't trying to suggest that anyone should rush out and buy an F-5 or anything else for that matter. By the same token, I don't think the Omega rendered the 5 obsolete either. I appreciate the threshold control more for AM which I virtually have to use in some of the relic hunting I do than in the disc mode. With the Omega at one site in particular, the coupled gain is a little too high for where I need the threshold to be. Not a huge deal by any means. Obviously I get a lot of enjoyment out of using and learning to appreciate a lot of different detectors. I know that isn't a fit for everyone, nor do I think it makes me better than them. It's just one of my "things".
I would think you might be able to luck into an 8" coil at a good price from someone that bought a Gamma or Delta and then bought the 11" coil.
There are several lakes around this area that are literally locked down because of toxic blue green algae blooms. Ain't NOTHIN' happenin' here.
I would think you might be able to luck into an 8" coil at a good price from someone that bought a Gamma or Delta and then bought the 11" coil.
There are several lakes around this area that are literally locked down because of toxic blue green algae blooms. Ain't NOTHIN' happenin' here.
OK, most of this post is observations from yours truly, marcomo. But Dave's name carries quite a bit more "gravitas" than mine so he gets the title!
Going straight to the horse's mouth, no offense Dave, here's what Dave Johnson has to say:
"In terms of performance and response characteristics, the O8 and F5 are very similar. If you do a lot of searching in All Metals, the F5 would probably be the preferred machine on account of its separate threshold and gain functions...The real differences are in the user interface and mechanical package." Dave went on to say that, because of the interface and features, the Omega just clicks with him the way the other detectors have not.
So the O8 and F5 were designed to be very similar performance-wise. But designed to be and real world aren't always the same, so I totally believe a talented dirt fisher like Lawrenzo when he says that the O8 works better in his area of California. After all in different areas of the country, we are talking about different ground conditions and different atmospheric conditions. Not to mention different hunting preferences from one person to the next.
Mike Hillis, who regularly uses the F5 and has done extensive field testing with the O8, prefers the F5. Not because of performance, which he found to be very similar in his area, but because of the features and interface (notably the separate gain and threshold) on the F5.
I've used the F5 for the better part of two years and really like the detector, but have not used the O8. So I can't shed any light on the performance debate.
But based on my experience and things I've read about the O8, I think I can safely say the Omega has improved on the F5 in the following areas:
1. Battery compartment - the F5 has a couple rinky dink little pieces of plastic that hold the 2 9V batteries in place
. You have to be very careful to push the batteries down hard while you're moving them forward to remove them. If you don't, you can easily break one of those plastic pieces like I did. I'd never recommend off-brand batteries anyway, but with the F5 it's especially important, because you don't want a cheap Chinese junk battery that is a fraction too big in there or you risk breaking one of the little pieces of plastic that holds the batteries in place when you replace the batteries.
2. Cramped interface - the F5 has the controls just a smidgen too close together in a way that the O8 from the looks of it does not. I swing left-handed and always wear gloves when I hunt, and several times I have accidentally changed the gain knob, lowering it without realizing it. It doesn't happen often, but enough that I've considered putting an o-ring on the gain knob. With a right-handed swinger, I would imagine it's the threshold knob that accidentally gets changed.
3. Ergonomics with the 11" DD coil - the F5 ergonomics with the stock 10" concentric are excellent - light, well-balanced and effortless. The 11" coil is the same killer DD they make for the F75, 70 and O8. It improves the detector performance, but detracts from an ergonomic standpoint. With the 11", the F5 feels slightly bottom-heavy and unbalanced. Not a major problem, but enough to be noticable. The F5 was no doubt designed to be used with the 10" concentric, someone at FT probably said we've got this great 11" coil, let's make one compatible for the F5 when we get around to it. It was over a year after the release of the detector before the 11" and 5" DD coils became available.
P.S. to Mike Hillis: Which detector is gathering dust at the moment?
Going straight to the horse's mouth, no offense Dave, here's what Dave Johnson has to say:
"In terms of performance and response characteristics, the O8 and F5 are very similar. If you do a lot of searching in All Metals, the F5 would probably be the preferred machine on account of its separate threshold and gain functions...The real differences are in the user interface and mechanical package." Dave went on to say that, because of the interface and features, the Omega just clicks with him the way the other detectors have not.
So the O8 and F5 were designed to be very similar performance-wise. But designed to be and real world aren't always the same, so I totally believe a talented dirt fisher like Lawrenzo when he says that the O8 works better in his area of California. After all in different areas of the country, we are talking about different ground conditions and different atmospheric conditions. Not to mention different hunting preferences from one person to the next.
Mike Hillis, who regularly uses the F5 and has done extensive field testing with the O8, prefers the F5. Not because of performance, which he found to be very similar in his area, but because of the features and interface (notably the separate gain and threshold) on the F5.
I've used the F5 for the better part of two years and really like the detector, but have not used the O8. So I can't shed any light on the performance debate.
But based on my experience and things I've read about the O8, I think I can safely say the Omega has improved on the F5 in the following areas:
1. Battery compartment - the F5 has a couple rinky dink little pieces of plastic that hold the 2 9V batteries in place
. You have to be very careful to push the batteries down hard while you're moving them forward to remove them. If you don't, you can easily break one of those plastic pieces like I did. I'd never recommend off-brand batteries anyway, but with the F5 it's especially important, because you don't want a cheap Chinese junk battery that is a fraction too big in there or you risk breaking one of the little pieces of plastic that holds the batteries in place when you replace the batteries.2. Cramped interface - the F5 has the controls just a smidgen too close together in a way that the O8 from the looks of it does not. I swing left-handed and always wear gloves when I hunt, and several times I have accidentally changed the gain knob, lowering it without realizing it. It doesn't happen often, but enough that I've considered putting an o-ring on the gain knob. With a right-handed swinger, I would imagine it's the threshold knob that accidentally gets changed.
3. Ergonomics with the 11" DD coil - the F5 ergonomics with the stock 10" concentric are excellent - light, well-balanced and effortless. The 11" coil is the same killer DD they make for the F75, 70 and O8. It improves the detector performance, but detracts from an ergonomic standpoint. With the 11", the F5 feels slightly bottom-heavy and unbalanced. Not a major problem, but enough to be noticable. The F5 was no doubt designed to be used with the 10" concentric, someone at FT probably said we've got this great 11" coil, let's make one compatible for the F5 when we get around to it. It was over a year after the release of the detector before the 11" and 5" DD coils became available.
P.S. to Mike Hillis: Which detector is gathering dust at the moment?
Mr.Bill said:
Low-Boy/LCPM
Active member
Thanks very well put.
Man, I feel like I'm in watching the debate on national insurance....... They only asked what happened to the F5? We somehow got stuck on the merrits of the F5 vs the omega! And I was a participant......so what is up with the F5? I think a lot of the obvious questions have been asked/answered in the past. There just isn't any new news on the F5 so the presses have gone silent for now, maybe in the fall fisher will unleash some secret new addition to the fisher line and the "treasures in our grounds will be ours for the taking". Until then, fisher/tek/whites/etc... Will change and improve their md's and we will ugrade, always looking for that edge to help make md'ing easier.twoscoots
Mike Hillis
Well-known member
Marcomo,
I'm kind of enthralled with this new colored girl. She's quite a looker and sings pretty good, too. Never known one with so many different songs. So while I've been dancing with her, the F5 has been standing in the corner. She may clone him and kick him out of the house.
That whole F5/Omega thing....The only one that wins that discussion is First Texas Products since they make them both.
Mike
I'm kind of enthralled with this new colored girl. She's quite a looker and sings pretty good, too. Never known one with so many different songs. So while I've been dancing with her, the F5 has been standing in the corner. She may clone him and kick him out of the house.
That whole F5/Omega thing....The only one that wins that discussion is First Texas Products since they make them both.
Mike
Mike Hillis said:Marcomo,
I'm kind of enthralled with this new colored girl. She's quite a looker and sings pretty good, too. Never known one with so many different songs. So while I've been dancing with her, the F5 has been standing in the corner. She may clone him and kick him out of the house.
Mike
So you're kicking your
best friend to the curb for some flashy 
tomato
?BobbyBridge
New member
What us first timers Mike, Are you putting us in the corner also/
Mike Hillis
Well-known member
I couldn't part with my F5. It works too good for the targets I hunt.
HH
Mike
HH
Mike
I have two Stratocasters.. I need a Telecaster (I have a Telefaker)... and I have an all mahogany Tele with a chambered body and two P-90s.. but I don't have a regular Tele... my first "good" guitar was a Telecaster, a 1967.. I wish I still had it. I had a Silvertone 1485 all tube 6x10 amp to go with it too... it was a monster!!!
Anyway...
It is obvious to me that the Omega-8000 is way better than the F5... since of course I have never used or even seen an F5 but hey.... what does that matter... I have an O8K so it is obviously better!
The Omega-8000 is simply simple. It is quiet, it is deep, it is sensitive, and it has a good TID... did I mention it is LIGHT as a feather and runs on one 9v battery... what's not to like??
I've been in very few places where a FTP wouldn't work well for me.
I think that most of our detecting problems are because we have not mastered our detectors.
If I want easy hunting that is also productive I will grab the Omega. If I want more info coming at me I grab the T2, if I want to push every envelope I grab the F75 LTD. There are places and times when I use other machines but I wont go into what and why here except to say that if I want to get frustrated I grab one of those that I have a love/hate relationship with. I guess everything is not for everyone but I have never used a FTP I didn't love!
My advice to F5 users and to anyone who feels stuck... is to do something different, raise the sensitivity and "work into the noise", go to 0 disc, tweak you GB to slightly positive, use a small coil... do something different from what you've been doing... dig trash and see what it is, how deep it is. is it masking something? Bury a nail and a quater, a nail and a dime, two nails and a dime... have fun and get something new out of your machine.
J
Anyway...
It is obvious to me that the Omega-8000 is way better than the F5... since of course I have never used or even seen an F5 but hey.... what does that matter... I have an O8K so it is obviously better!
The Omega-8000 is simply simple. It is quiet, it is deep, it is sensitive, and it has a good TID... did I mention it is LIGHT as a feather and runs on one 9v battery... what's not to like??
I've been in very few places where a FTP wouldn't work well for me.
I think that most of our detecting problems are because we have not mastered our detectors.
If I want easy hunting that is also productive I will grab the Omega. If I want more info coming at me I grab the T2, if I want to push every envelope I grab the F75 LTD. There are places and times when I use other machines but I wont go into what and why here except to say that if I want to get frustrated I grab one of those that I have a love/hate relationship with. I guess everything is not for everyone but I have never used a FTP I didn't love!
My advice to F5 users and to anyone who feels stuck... is to do something different, raise the sensitivity and "work into the noise", go to 0 disc, tweak you GB to slightly positive, use a small coil... do something different from what you've been doing... dig trash and see what it is, how deep it is. is it masking something? Bury a nail and a quater, a nail and a dime, two nails and a dime... have fun and get something new out of your machine.
J
BobbyBridge
New member
Well I recon beauty is in the eye of the beholder
I'm a Gibson guy myself.BuckeyeBrad
New member
n/t