Fisher F2 any good?

tesorocazador

Hi,
I'm getting a Fisher F2 for Christmas. I hadn't read anything bad about them until lately. I've read that they don't go deeper than 6" and that the ID is often wrong on deeper items. I plan to notch out iron and zinc pennies on it but I've read wheaties and dimes past 4" read in that range on the F2 signal ID. Anyone with field experience out there?
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mr1931S

i don't know anything about this particular machine so i can't give you specifics but i would be more concerned about the machine's ability to discriminate at depth than the depth readings being accurate. The depth capability of the machine is important but my opinion is that the depth "reading" is not.

i would say that if the Fisher F2 can pick up a dime at 6" in the "all-metal" mode that's not bad. Discriminate as a dime(or penny) at 6" is another matter altogether.Undoubtedly,there are are machines that will go deeper than 6" on a dime in the all-metal mode,and might even be able to discriminate at this depth but they will be priced accordingly.

As an example of what i'm talking about i'll use my own recent experience with my Bounty Hunter Landstar,a medium priced machine. i was in an old park yesterday working a large open area in the all-metal mode.This machine is quite easy to use in this mode but frequent ground balancing should be done so the deeper sounds are less likely to be missed.i was going along and got a fairly weak but "coin-like" sound pattern on my headsets.i probed the item and met that nice solid feel at 7" depth so i'm thinking this target could easily be an old penny or dime.i put the machine in the discriminate mode,after removing the probe of course, and heard nothing.The item was out of range of the discriminator.

I proceeded to dig the item and it turned out to be not a coin but a religious medal, "St. Ignacious Loyola Founder of the Society of Jesus",about the size of a nickel and very thin,thin as a worn dime.It has to be "old", not only because of the depth i found it at,but more importantly,because the item has little "heft" (gold has a lot of heft,silver less than gold,etc.) to it and would certainly not sink into the ground at a faster rate than a gold,silver or copper coin. It took many decades for this item to reach 7" in the ground,in other words.It is made out of some kind of base metal,probably "pot metal."

i'm delighted at making this find not because the item itself is particularly valuable.It's a "cool" find to be sure but the main reason it's "cool" to me is because,considering the size and heft of this object, my machine truly "delivered the goods." I know i'll be able to find those old coins at great depth with my Landstar. A dime at 7" or more is great depth in my way of thinking since I made most of my good to great finds in the late '70's and early '80's at half this depth. In those days,discriminator technology was in it's infancy and practically worthless.The only coins i ever found with my high dollar White's in the discriminate mode were practically laying on top of the ground.Coin gets below an inch and forget finding in the discriminate mode.This White's machine,however,was great at detecting at depth in the all-metal mode. My first silver find with it was a 1907 dime at about 7" depth, and as it turns out an atypical depth to be finding one of these considering that most of my subsequent Barber coin finds were at about half this depth.

My recommendation is that,if possible,you put yourself in a position to field test the Fisher machine before buying it. At the least,visit some metal detecting forums other than just this one and get some opinions from people who have some experience with the Fisher F2 that you are looking at. You owe it to yourself to do this testing or checking around before plunking down your money on a metal detector.

Hope this helps and maybe there is someone else on this forum who can give you specifics on the Fisher F2 based on their experience with it.

Good luck and Happy Hunting to you.

CROCKofCOINS

F2 Reviews: http://metaldetectorreviews.net/detectors/201-1-fisherf2.html

I know a friend that parked his minelab XS and started using the Fisher F5. He loves it.
Last Month he picked up about $150.00 in clad coins. Fisher is doing somthing good ;-)


Jerry

tesorocazador

Thanks Guys. I look forward to trying it out once Santa delivers it. I've used numerous detectors over the years but nothing with a numerical target read out. The closest to digital read out detectors I've own are the Garrett GTAx 500 and 1000 which are both great detectors. I've read the F2 is hot on rings and nickels which I normally notch out on the Garrett detectors due to pull tabs giving a similar signal. I also notch out zinc cents. According to some the F2 will show wheaties and silver dimes in the zinc zone. I hope this is incorrect as I avoid zinc pennies. Anyway thanks for the input.
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ricko

I have seen some excellent reports on this machine over on the www.metaldetectingforum.com site. Cheers, RickO

DUBBA

i have one and used it a couple of times before giving it to a buddy....i found that it seems to be deeper than the ace 250 and worked well at finding clads the few times i used it.....good starter machine....good luck....hh

tesorocazador

Thanks RickO and Dubba. I went to the www.metaldetectingforum.com site and read some reviews and comments about the F2. It sounds good. I look forward to using it at sites that are loaded with trash to see if it can sort through to the good stuff. I hunt a lot of sites where homes have been removed and have to deal with lots of junk. I hunted one site this morning with my Garrett GTAx 500 and dug up a 1937 quarter and 9 wheaties. I notched out nickels and zincs as usual so I'm sure I left some stuff behind for future treasure hunters. I've read several threads that say the Fisher F2 is so good that they retire the more expensive detectors and mainly use the F2 to hunt. We'll see. Thanks again.
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