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First Texas Value - Fisher F44, Teknetics Eurotek, Patriot, Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro, Etc.


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Note: thread was split from this previous thread  Tone By TID Selection Option?

Thanks for posting that reminder on the Fisher F44 Mike. I had forgot about it, and added the chart page to your post. To my mind for coin and jewelry detecting I simply have no interest in owning machines that do not allow me to customize tone ranges and tones. My current stable of coin/jewelry machines are the White's DFX, Minelab CTX, Nokta Impact, and XP DEUS, and all four offer this capability (the ability to customize tone ranges and tones) in one form or another. It really is a killer feature on the F44 at such a low price, only $349 these days. If all I could have is one detector and had to buy a new one under $400 I have no doubt the F44 is what I would end up with. Funny that it gets so little interest on the forums but I guess that reflects the fact most of us tend to be using higher end product. This is a case where Fisher may have sold more by pricing it higher! People may snicker at that but there are sound sales reasons for why that may be true. Look at what you get in a Gold Bug Pro and you would think it should be $349 and the F44 should be $649.

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Fisher F44 metal detector

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Gee, thanks, guys (sarcasm).  I've been working on an Excel spreadsheet detailing features/properties of detectors I'm considering for my next acquisition, with a list of candidates.  It just got longer....  :unsure:

If it just had audio mixed mode to make Mark G. happy.

Question (hope I'm not sounding like a broken record):  Is the all-metal true, single filter (auto-tune, first derivative) or phony disc in sheep's clothing?  (I looked in the manual but couldn't figure it out from the wording there.)

 

 

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3 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Gee, thanks, guys (sarcasm). 

 

Always happy to help......:biggrin:

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Its motion all metal, however it also has visual TID like all the Fishers.

Good headphones are a must with the F44.  

HH
Mike

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Nice review of F44 by Keith Southern at Link deleted since Findmall Forum update broke all old links

He indicates the all metal threshold is tied to the gain control. That is a bit odd but I have experienced it before in other machines. In the cases I have experienced it is not so much a threshold but the fact that at higher gain ground noise appears and acts as an effective threshold. Not quite the same thing as having a threshold control but it generally works well enough. Having not used the F44 however I don't know. Anything you can add there Mike?

I wonder if anyone has done a side by side with the Land Ranger Pro and F44? They appear to be based on the same platform designed by Jorge Anton Saad and Yi Yang. The manuals even look the same.

Fisher F44 Owners Manual

Bounty Hunter Land Ranger Pro Owners Manual

In general the F44 offers more ability to customize tones (and is rain resistant) while the LRP has a finer degree of notch control and the V-Break function (ability to adjust ferrous tone break).

 

Jorge Anton Saad, First Texas Products Senior Design Engineer. Designed or supported design of: 

Teknetics’ Alpha, Delta, Gamma, Omega, G2, G2+, Eurotek, Eurotek Pro, Digitek. 
Fisher Research Labs’ Gold Bug, Gold Bug Pro, Gold Bug DP, F19, F19 LTD, F5, F11, F22 and F44.
Bounty Hunter’s Platinum, Titanium, Gold, Land Ranger Pro, Quick Draw Pro and Lone Star Pro.
Among other machines.

fisher-f44-metal-detector-display-controls.jpg
Fisher F44 LCD display and controls

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My only beef with the F44 was the poor modulated audio volume.  The modulated options start out too low and just go downhill from there.  With good headphones, in good ground, nobody would care.  In bad ground even good headphones don't help and I couldn't get it improved.  The main reason someone would purchase the F44 is for the custom tone mode and when that can't be used the detector doesn't really meet the design intent.   Perhaps they have improved it after release.  I dunno.

I really like those Triangulated (teardrop) coils though.  I use them on other units like my F75 and F5 quite happily.

Speaking of headphones, the Whites ProStars seem to help with all the newer 1st Texas unit's audio modulation issues.  If I remember right, Jackpine recommended them to me and I bought a pair and they work really good.

I bought a Land Ranger Pro (LRP) because I wanted the Disc 3 mode with it's Notch feature, however the LRP couldn't handle my minerals and wasn't usable.  That really bummed me out as I really wanted that Notch feature.

The Eurotek Pro (ETP) even with its preset ground balance, is the keeper unit of the three.  I begged them (literally)  into letting me keep my last ETP prototype unit and then bought the production model.  It operates like the Land Ranger Pro's Disc 3 mode with the inclusion of a iron volume control instead of a Disc function.  It is great!   But even though the final production model ETP has a slightly different feature set from mine, the basic performance is much better than the F44 or LRP.   I can't run the ETP sensitivity any higher than 6 most places but I love it.  

So enough with the Hillis chronicles....

HH
Mike

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13 minutes ago, Mike Hillis said:

But even though the final production model ETP has a slightly different feature set from mine, the basic performance is much better than the F44 or LRP.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "basic performance is much better?"

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The ETP can keep its depth potential longer which means you can run it with lower sensitivity settings, allowing it to run quieter but not dead in high minerals, which in turn allows the use of larger coils. 

The F44 modulated audio goes dead pretty quickly in high minerals which required a higher sensitivity settings to try an keep the audio alive longer which in turn activates more ground and becomes self defeating. 

HH
Mike

 

 

 

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Really great info on lower price FTP machines which which I have no familiarity at all. I use the 13 kHz and 19 kHz models which tend to cost more. It explains why they had to keep the price so low on the F44. Really appreciated. What are your thoughts on the new Tek Patriot /F70 variant as a value proposition at only $399? Seems like a heck of a lot of detector for the price. Tempting.....

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Side comment with some info I haven't seen here (but maybe just missed it):  The F75 Black price has been reduced (see Ebay for example) so currently every one of First Texas flagships is discounted, and in an interesting $100 sequence --

F75 black @$799

T2 black @$699

F75 gold @$599

T2 green @$499

Teknetics Patriot (F70 clone?) @$399.

The top two have the extra processes (Boost and Cache) and each of those additionally comes with an extra coil (5 in round DD) along with the stock 7x11 in^2 DD that all the above have standard.

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