Problems With The Fisher F-Pulse

[Jeff McClendon]

Hi,

I was having lots of weird issues with my Tek-Point like constant falsing and retuning, instability and super sensitivity to any large metal objects even 3 feet away. I was about to send it back but instead I read the manual a little more carefully. I noticed on page 5 - Do Not Use Zinc-Carbon or Heavy Duty batteries. Duh, I had been using some Harbor F. heavy duty batteries. I took them out and put in some standard name brand alkalines. Now my Tek-Point works absolutely fine. Took it gold prospecting last weekend near T. Hoffman's Colorado site and it helped me find plenty of black sand/small gold concentrations crevicing and detected small birdshot at 3 inches! I'm so glad I actually read the manual.

[Dubious]

On 8/28/2018 at 10:19 AM, GB_Amateur said:

If buying now, how do you know you're getting the 2nd version?  Is it simply trusting the dealer to know when you ask?  (Guess that argues for finding a knowledgeable dealer, and then sticking with him/her.)

Hold a coin to the tip while turning it on.  If it goes dead, it is apparently the 1st version software; if it does a beeping overload routine, it is the 2nd version.  Mine is apparently the 1st version, as it goes dead (I tested several times, and twice I had to loosen battery to reset after that). Still not getting along with mine (bouts of insane falsing) but after doing that secret reset will try to give it another tryout this weekend before sending in for repair.

My Whites TRX, almost as deep, has a quirk or two but overall works quite well; so if the F-Pulse doesn't pan out, I'll just stick with it. 

[GB_Amateur]

5 hours ago, Dubious said:

My Whites TRX (is) almost as deep....

Really?  That seems like one more reason to send it in for repair/replacement.  I wouldn't trade my TRX for any pinpointer that I'm aware of, but not because of its depth (which for a coin in the ground is about 2 inch limit for dime or penny; that's in gain 3 out of 4).

[Mike McGriff]

I guess it is worth********SHOUTING********USE THE RIGHT BATTERIES IN THE F-Pulse / Tek-Point pointers!

[Dubious]

On 6/23/2018 at 12:39 AM, Dubious said:

I have been trying out the F-Pulse, but having a lot of trouble with falsing, to the point that I wonder if the unit is defective.  When it begins falsing, I do the touch-to-earth-and-hit-button  to re-balance, but often 15 seconds later the falsing is back.

Due to the insane falsing, I finally sent my F-Pulse in for repair.  Fairly easy process.  Well, Fisher didn't repair, but sent me back a completely new unit (retail box).  So far, it appears to work fine--extremely stable.  It does not seem quite as deep as the first unit, but is deep enough for my style of digging.  It may just supplant the TRX as my favorite pinpointer.

[Sinclair]

I've called the beach season over for this year, so I shot a mail at Fisher because of those R1 hang up problems - they've send me a RMA number, no problem. Checking the shipping costs, I realized sending this thing to texas doesn't make sense (22€+).. so I've sent the unit to my german dealer.. I think and hope to get a complete new unit (with R2 ), too. The dealer doesn't seem to have them in stock, so I am waiting for a week now.. fingers crossed

Other than that, I still think it's a great pinpointer!

[Sinclair]

Got a notice today, that a pinpointer with the newest firmware version is on its way to me..

[Sinclair]

Received a brand spanking new pinpointer today - thumbs up for my dealer!

 

[Dubious]

Good that Fisher stands behind its products.  It also promptly replaced my F-Pulse with one that works properly.

[Jeff McClendon]

I posted earlier about using the wrong batteries in my Tek-Point. 

After using the correct batteries on several hunts I realized that there really was a problem and it wasn't the batteries. I had to retune my Tek-Point repeatedly or just remove the battery cap and do a hard reset so many times that I just quit using it. I sent it to FTP after receiving a return authorization. I had to pay for the postage to get the pinpointer to FTP. No big deal. Two weeks later I received my pinpointer back with a new printed circuit board, a new holster, and a new serial number which I promptly registered. They also cleaned it up really well on the outside. It looked almost brand new. It works great now with no retuning needed so far after several hunts. It seems to function just like I originally expected from this great company. Thank FTP.

 

Jeff