F2 Or Fe?

[LukeJMG1986]

Hey all,

     So I just figured out that there was an F2 setting, I've been running the machine in FE. I'm in Northern California, with Moderate, to extreme soil conditions. My question is, does F2 perform better then FE, especially when hunting for coins in trash infested areas? I watched a few videos, but had a hard time coming to a conclusion. Any input on these settings would be greatly appreciated!

[JohnnyRox]

Good question.  I can't answer it but there'll be some more experienced guys right along who can.  👍

[Chase Goldman]

3 hours ago, LukeJMG1986 said:

Hey all,

     So I just figured out that there was an F2 setting, I've been running the machine in FE. I'm in Northern California, with Moderate, to extreme soil conditions. My question is, does F2 perform better then FE, especially when hunting for coins in trash infested areas? I watched a few videos, but had a hard time coming to a conclusion. Any input on these settings would be greatly appreciated!

Below is a pretty detailed rackout of iron bias including how F2 compares to FE when I replied to you after you asked a similar question here a few weeks back.  Short answer is the F2 filter is a more powerful filter than FE but it can also has drawbacks including target masking.  Whether or not your soil is mineralized really has no bearing on the effectiveness of iron bias mitigating high tone ferrous falsing.  If your trashy site is mostly non-ferrous junk then you won't really see any beneficial effect from iron bias regardless of its setting.  Anyway, check out my response again below and click on the embedded links in the post for more in-depth info - good luck and HTH:

Post back if you have further questions.

[Tom Slick]

This is my response from another similar question on another forum in regards to Iron Bias Fe vrs F2 :

The higher the I/B setting, the more the detector tries to call questionable targets Iron. This can help in eliminating iron trash targets from being dug. Everything is a trade off - The higher the setting, the more likely the detector will call a masked good target "iron" if the good target is near a piece of iron (or nail). In an iron infested site you can raise the I/B so you don't dig too much trash but you run the risk of missing those co-located masked targets. The Original Nox 800 had an Iron Bias titled FE with a setting of 0 -8. Minelab came out with a software update the included adding the F2 settings or adjustment. They did this while keeping the original FE so you can toggle between FE and F2. The F2 goes even lower than the FE but they kept to same 0 -8 adjustment numbers, but the scale between FE and F2 is different. A setting of 4 on the F2 scale is the same as the FE setting of 0. so you can see that the new F2 has Four settings that are lower than FE - 0, and those are F2 settings 3,2,1 &, 0. Those new to the NOX 800 should probably start out with an Iron Bias setting of about 4 on the FE scale or about 6 on the F2 scale until they find out how much iron they're digging. Then you can increase or decrease the setting as you become more familiar with the detector's behavior. The ideal would be to eventually work your way down to F2 - 0 as you become accustomed to the Nox audio. This will achieve maximum unmasking abilities.
I'm sure others will chime in with possibly a better way to explain the difference between FE and F2. Hope this helps.

 

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[Chase Goldman]

5 hours ago, Tom Slick said:

This is my response from another similar question on another forum in regards to Iron Bias Fe vrs F2 :

The higher the I/B setting, the more the detector tries to call questionable targets Iron. This can help in eliminating iron trash targets from being dug. Everything is a trade off - The higher the setting, the more likely the detector will call a masked good target "iron" if the good target is near a piece of iron (or nail). In an iron infested site you can raise the I/B so you don't dig too much trash but you run the risk of missing those co-located masked targets. The Original Nox 800 had an Iron Bias titled FE with a setting of 0 -8. Minelab came out with a software update the included adding the F2 settings or adjustment. They did this while keeping the original FE so you can toggle between FE and F2. The F2 goes even lower than the FE but they kept to same 0 -8 adjustment numbers, but the scale between FE and F2 is different. A setting of 4 on the F2 scale is the same as the FE setting of 0. so you can see that the new F2 has Four settings that are lower than FE - 0, and those are F2 settings 3,2,1 &, 0. Those new to the NOX 800 should probably start out with an Iron Bias setting of about 4 on the FE scale or about 6 on the F2 scale until they find out how much iron they're digging. Then you can increase or decrease the setting as you become more familiar with the detector's behavior. The ideal would be to eventually work your way down to F2 - 0 as you become accustomed to the Nox audio. This will achieve maximum unmasking abilities.
I'm sure others will chime in with possibly a better way to explain the difference between FE and F2. Hope this helps.

 

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To the OP - All the links to the detailed informational posts in regard to how F2 relates to FE that Tom summarizes above are consolidated in the post linked in my reply to you.  Not going to re-hash it all here again.  There is a treasure trove of information about it if you take the time to click through it and Steve H. has also put links in his comprehensive Equinox consolidated information thread at the top of Equinox forum.  Dig in.

[LukeJMG1986]

15 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Below is a pretty detailed rackout of iron bias including how F2 compares to FE when I replied to you after you asked a similar question here a few weeks back.  Short answer is the F2 filter is a more powerful filter than FE but it can also has drawbacks including target masking.  Whether or not your soil is mineralized really has no bearing on the effectiveness of iron bias mitigating high tone ferrous falsing.  If your trashy site is mostly non-ferrous junk then you won't really see any beneficial effect from iron bias regardless of its setting.  Anyway, check out my response again below and click on the embedded links in the post for more in-depth info - good luck and HTH:

Post back if you have further questions.

I completely forgot I had posted that question. When I posted it, I didn't even know there was an F2 option. I was watching a YouTube video in which I saw

 

15 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Below is a pretty detailed rackout of iron bias including how F2 compares to FE when I replied to you after you asked a similar question here a few weeks back.  Short answer is the F2 filter is a more powerful filter than FE but it can also has drawbacks including target masking.  Whether or not your soil is mineralized really has no bearing on the effectiveness of iron bias mitigating high tone ferrous falsing.  If your trashy site is mostly non-ferrous junk then you won't really see any beneficial effect from iron bias regardless of its setting.  Anyway, check out my response again below and click on the embedded links in the post for more in-depth info - good luck and HTH:

Post back if you have further questions.

Thanks for the info,

     I had completely forgotten that I asked about Iron Bias. Sorry about that. I actually just found out the F2 setting even existed. I was watching a YouTube video, and saw a guy hit the accept/reject button, to switch from FE to F2, which was what prompted me to ask this similar question, as to what the difference was between the two iron bias settings. I definitely appreciate the input, and I'll try and be careful not to post the same question twice. I haven't used it in bias really, as I'm afraid of losing good targets, but given the trash density, and my lack of experience with a device like the equinox, I may want to bump it up a hair. That's where the question came to mind, that if there are two different iron bias settings, what is the difference, and does the newer F2 work any better then the older FE. I appreciate your patience BTW. I'm also a bit of a newb on forums. 

[Chase Goldman]

Luke - no problem.  I would say the simplest thing is to just go with the F2 default settings and see how it goes.  F2 default is 6 across the board for all modes which is like FE = 6 or 8 which seems perhaps a tad high.  I might try F2 = 5 as a fine middle of the road starting point.  There really is no magic bullet for a junky site, frankly.  If you have thick junk or a bed of nails situation, you can try a smaller coil or lower sensitivity to desensitize the coil to big iron and try to pick out some shallower keepers that are otherwise masked by the junk.  Good luck.

[Tmox]

Luke, like you I am in far northern California. Here is a good confidence builder and learning drill.

When you make that swing and get that iron sound and the high sound all at once do the following: start moving your iron bias incrementally higher and note any changes, then decrease it and note any changes. Dig it up and see what's going on.  Soon enough you'll get the feel for what is comfortable for you.

You can do the same thing with the sensitivity, start moving it down, you may be amazed at how how low you can go and still have a nice signal.

If you are getting sensory overload turn the sensitivity down or detect for awhile with the horseshoe engaged.

Cheers!

Tim

[Tom Slick]

I think Fe and F2  relate about like this: Realize that Fe only goes down to zero. I'm only showing a minus number so you can see that F2 goes four steps lower than Fe which equals better unmasking of non-ferrous targets located near ferrous items,. 

F2        Fe

0          -2.5

1          -2

2         -1.5

3         -1

4         0

5         2

6         4

7         6

8         8

[Steve Herschbach]

This was my attempt at putting it is a pictorial form.....

F2 goes both higher and lower than the original setting. The F2 setting of zero is as close as you can get to a true zero setting. The only reason to use the original iron bias setting is you get finer resolution in the mid-range.