Looking for advice about my F70

[lookindown]

The final straw so to speak. I have a house that was built in 1910. With my ace 250 I cleaned out pretty much every target that wasn't in the iron/foil range. I found 2 silver dimes and 5 IH's with a handful of wheats. Most of my time with the F 70 has been gridding out my yard again. It did find some stuff that I missed with the Ace, mainly because it does have better separation. At the end of the day all I had really found was a handfull of clad and a 1898 IH. I had also spend the last 10 days or so in 2f with sens and thresh cranked as high as I could digging just about everything that came in over 20. Got ALOT of trash and a couple of nickels. After I was pretty convinced that I had cleared out every possible target I called the etrac in to see what it could do. In about 6 hours he recovered 2 barbers, 4 mercs, and 1 IH. I checked out the spots and every time I would get a peep or two but mostly just low tones and nothing that was ever repeatable enough to dig.

Oh well, just not the detector for me I guess.

You should have used his E trac. Just because he made those finds, don't mean you would have. I bet he could used your F70 and you could use his E trac and he would still make the best finds. Not putting down your ability, just saying its hard to beat experience. Confidence is everything and after the experience you had hunting with your friends, you were never going to be confident with your F 70. You will learn your new E trac and make great finds. Good luck.

 

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[DeArmitt Pa]

I hate to say it but the more experiance the user has the better the machine. The general rule of thumb is that it takes about 100 hours for a detectorist to know his machine. Some are less and some are more, but thats about average. I have used a lot of machines, I think that the E-Trac is the best out there, same with the Explorer series. I use the SEF 12X10 on my E-Trac, an excellent coil. I got a scrap piece of copper, (between the size of a half dollar and a dollar piece), at a measured 13" in a iron infested area. My digger is 12" in total and the hole was deeper than it was tall by a thumbs width. The signal was loud, crisp, and the VDI numbers were fairly accurate for the depth. I know sometimes these depths are hard to believe but it is possible. This was actually the deepest hole I have dug with my E-Trac, so it was even a new experiance for me. I was blown away by the depth.

The best thing to do is learn the machine. You have to learn to ignor those VDI numbers. Sound is your primary identifier. However, I know that sometimes you just don't synce up with the machine, just not the ONE. E-Trac is the ONE for me, I know that for sure, .

John,
Fort Bedford Metal Detectors
www.fortbedfordmetaldetectors.com

 

[dbax]

Well after about a week with my F70 I've started to figure things out. The only problem is that the guys I'm hunting with have Minelabs (explorer II and an etrac) and they are kicking my butt. We are hitting very old parks that have been pounded and pounded for years.

Yesterday for example the etrac pulled a barber dime, SLQ, and an indian head, the exp II pulled a barber, merc, and an indian. My haul for the day a 1941 wheatie... Everything that we found was in close proximity to trash and at varying depths from 4-8". Now I got the F70 because I was looking for something that had good target separation. Now I know that my mid range detector just isn't going to be in the same league as the etrac but was kind of hoping that I could hold my own against the exp II.

So my questions for some of the more experienced F70 users are.

1. When hunting in a trashy area (pounded or not) what kind of set up do you use. I tried running it in All Metal and I was digging deep targets but they all ended up being trash (15 steel bottle caps). Then I tried discrimination out iron, then iron and foil. Obviously it quieted down ALOT after that, and I covered more ground alot faster, but I wasn't locking on to anything that wasn't completely isolated.

2. Pinpointing - I'm using the 11" DD coil and I've got the pinpointing down. The problem I'm having is when I have a questionable signal and I'm sure that there is trash mixed in or within a couple of inches. Any tips or tricks for keying in on what I want to dig and not the trash?

3. Probe - I've got the sunray probe and for the most part I love it. I'm just a little curious how much I can trust what it is telling me as far as VDI goes. Thus far every coin I have found came up right when I was using the probe, but there have been several instances where I am getting a decent deep signal and after digging 6-8-10 inches or whatever and still finding nothing can I trust the probe when it gives me the 9,10,11,12 VDI.

4. Bounce - This is probably more the fact that I wasn't over solid targets, but I was having a big problem with targets never locking on to a solid VDI (I would consider solid being in about a 6 number range) and more often than not would bounce from the 30's to 80's. Really the only targets I found that didn't do that were shallow clad. Found a couple of deep wheaties and an IH that locked on in a range of about 60-77.

5. Bottle caps - Nearly every one of the bottle caps I dug I would have sworn was a coin. They locked on in a narrow range usually mid to high 60's. Is there anything I can do to keep from digging these?

6. Program. Downloaded the manual and figured this one out.

I appreciate any help that you guys can give me. After yesterday I've started saving my clad to upgrade to a minelab, so here is the chance for somebody to convince me to stay with Fisher.

Hi I have an F70 with DD Coil
Item # 5 -- I have used my new Fisher F70 for about three weeks now. Used hard in two camp ground over 5 days at 2 hours each day. Four parks one visit each for 2 hours each. total take - two cheap rings, $24 clad - one 1975 Kennedy half, two hot wheels and 100 bottle caps. The bottle caps are a real problem. Not all bottle caps are equal. I see your reading for bottle caps is in the high 60's? That stumps me as my readings are quarter readings, not penny readings. The bottle caps read high 80 and sometimes jumps into the 90's, but the sound is a solid quater tone and is too good and hard a hit to ignore. Just when I thought I had it figured out I discovered not all Bottle caps are equal. The new caps would sometimes give themselves away with a small double crackling sound as the target moved off the end of the DD coil. then I started hitting the older, rusty caps and those sound off as quarters -- driving me crazzzzy. Your readings still confuse me? I have never had one of the many caps I have dug from on top of the ground down to 6" ever give such a low reading. I wish my readings on these caps were that low I would skip them as the only thing I would miss in coin would be penny's. The wheats sound off like dimes, so I would be good, but that is not the case on my F70 --?? The quarters sound of solid quarter with proper Id as do the dimes, the pennys bounce around from penny to dime. The half dollar Id solid, low 90 as 50 cent. Quarters are not as solid as a real quarter except for the rusted caps -- I have to dig them and that can be tiring. I wrote Fisher about this problem and received no answer -- I have searched the internet and found a couple of answers but when tested in the field they failed to be reliable. If anyone has a solution to this, a special secret setting, a trick, anything, please post your email and name your price. I love the machine, it handles great, and the battery life is fantastic and I have found coin in areas I and my buddy have search out and I am finding nickles again. Forget the other detectors as you are comparing machines costing well over $1000 with a half dollar machine. The price of some of these detectors they should brew your coffee for you too, with sugar and cream. Still, it seems to me that you have made some good find. Also, and I know this probably is not the case, but I have heard of some shooters salting their finds when in competition with their buds -- you know, winning is everything for some really nice guys -- I'm just sayin' Curse those bottle caps -- my F2 ignored them?