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Fisher Metal Detector Lineup Fall 2018


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23 hours ago, phrunt said:

Detectors like the Gold Bug Pro still being sold now so many years after it's release without a volume control is just nuts.

The Fisher F19 is basically an upgraded Gold Bug Pro and it does include a volume control. It can still be found for as low a price as any of the Gold Bugs at a couple vendors. There was a clearance special a while back with a dramatic price drop from $699 to $449. The F19 is easily the better buy for people who can find them at the $449 price.

F19 Owner's Manual page 19:

Volume
Use or to adjust the volume setting when the VOLUME menu option is highlighted. The default volume setting is 7. Press to increase speaker volume. Maximum volume is at setting 20. Press to lower speaker volume. The minimum volume setting is 0, no sound.

With volume set to 0, the Target-ID and Depth Bar Graph will function as normal, but the detector will not emit a sound when targets are detected. The overload volume signal will always sound off in the event of signal overload, even with the volume set to 0.

Because the F19™ is so sensitive to even the smallest iron targets, the detector incorporates FeTone™, Adjustable Iron Audio, a feature to reduce the volume of iron targets to minimize user fatigue. Volume settings 10 - 20 are available to control the volume level of iron targets. As you increase volume from 10 to 20, iron-volume changes from silent to maximum. Note that, depending on the V-BREAK® setting, iron targets may induce V.C.O. tones; in this case, the V.C.O. tones in the iron range (ID 1 - 39) will also have the same reduced volume.

At each of the 10 - 20 volume settings, nonferrous target response is maximum volume. Volume control applies only to motion target detection. Volume changes do not affect Pinpoint volume.

Fisher F19 Information Page

fisher-f19-metal-detector-standard-black

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On 11/24/2018 at 10:15 AM, Jeff McClendon said:

The Fisher latest version of the Gold Bug Pro and the F19 are the only semi-modern detectors in their line-up.

Don't know how you define 'semi-modern', but the F44 is their newest product (still a few years old...) and possibly their best competitive model -- comparing with the competition's price and its features relative to that competition.

Unfortunately you can only rest on your laurels for so long (just ask Tesoro..., oh, wait, there might not be anyone there to answer).  In terms of engineering effort, I doubt anyone has put as much muscle (and total salary compensation) into creating new detectors as First Texas has done in the past few years.  Yet so far, nothing to market.  That has to be a much bigger concern in El Paso than on this forum (or for that matter, all forums, Facebook pages, etc. combined).

The positive spin on this is that, contrary to their recent marketing style, the engineers (and apparently their superiors) aren't willing to put out a disappointing (for example, repainted pre-existing) model just to try and save face in a competitive marketplace.  And some of us are still optimistic they will produce before it's too late.

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Trading in a detector for the Nox was a toss up between the F75 and X-T 705.  Both being equally deep in my ground on coins.  The 705 stayed only because the control pod is removable and I had invested in a coil cable extension which makes a nice back up detector for my fresh water hunting.

Tom

 

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The CZ-3D and CZ-21 have always puzzled me. I figured job one after getting Dave Johnson on board would have been a digital redesign of the CZ into a waterproof housing that more resembles the F44. Replace the CZ3D and CZ21 with one lighter weight model waterproof to ten feet. Dave designed the original, so you would think this would be a reasonable goal, especially with the CZ being an old analog design both expensive and difficult to manufacture. I always liked the CZ. Details here

fisher-cz3d-metal-detector.jpg.d871b55e2
Fisher CZ-3D metal detector

fisher-cz21-metal-detector.jpg.e839b41d4
Fisher CZ-21 metal detector

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5 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Don't know how you define 'semi-modern', but the F44 is their newest product (still a few years old...) and possibly their best competitive model -- comparing with the competition's price and its features relative to that competition.

Hi GB_Amateur

you are correct (I think?) that the F44 is Fisher's latest new detector and it is very competitive price wise.  I think it has a lot of great features like a backlight, manual and auto ground balancing, iron tone, VCO and multiple tones, multiple modes, some customization and a big display.  It has one feature however that severely holds it back (at least for me) and that is its' ten digit notching blocks. I just could not work with that feature at all as a coin/jewelry hunter. A modern almost mid-priced detector should be able to notch in single digit increments throughout most or all of its detecting range. The Land Ranger Pro can do that.............! The F44 has a niche in the $300 to $400 range and competes well I'm sure with some other products made in Texas and Oregon but for being modern it still has a ways to go. The "weatherproofing" is very iffy according to some users and the buttons are really poorly placed and are easy to foul up. I have used one and I was not impressed. Adding to my other dislikes was the detector's transmit frequency of 7.6 kHz.  It won't go very deep accurately in the highly mineralized dirt where I live. In less mineralization I'm sure it would do very well. In my opinion, the recently updated F19/Teknetics G2+ is lacking just two things (besides multi frequencies) that would make it almost completely modern: waterproofing and wireless audio and maybe (could only be me and Phrunt!) an easier way to switch from all metal to discrimination mode. Just don't take away those cool retro knobs please..............

Jeff

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19 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

A modern almost mid-priced detector should be able to notch in single digit increments throughout most or all of its detecting range.

The competitors I see are (Ebay new pricing with free shipping):

Fisher F44 ($309)

White's Treasure Pro ($369)

Garrett Ace 400 ($339)

F44 and T-Pro operate at about the same frequency (7.69 kHz and 8.2 kHz respectively) with Ace 400 transmitting 10 kHz.  I don't know how much the higher frequency of the Ace affects perfrormance.  The F44 standard package has a concentric coil (vs. DD's of the other two) but you can still get the "limited time special offer" of DD coil instead from at least one online dealer (SeriousDetecting) for the $309 price.

Regarding notching, I think all three of these have broad band notching (as opposed to single TID notching capability of higher priced detectors).   None is fully waterproof but rather "weather resistant" or equivalent.

The F44 has true minimally filtered ("all metal" in US terminology) mode as well as customizable tones.  I don't think either the T-Pro nor the Ace 400 has either of these features.  Maybe those would go unused for many, but since I acquired the Minelab Equinox 800 with its customizable tones I personally find it much preferred as it requires less time spent looking at the screen's TID readings.  (True, the Eqx 800 has a higher resolution of tone selection, but, again, it's $900....)

I agree that for my dollar, the (gold prospecting capable) 19 kHz F19 at $450 would be my choice, but to some people the extra $140 really makes a difference, and even the F19 lacks multitones let alone customizable tones.  For a pure coin hunter in less than severe mineralization the F44 would still be the better option and for 70% of the price, IMO.  However, for the more highly mineralized soil you experience, I can understand why it's undesirable.  Mike Hillis mentioned a similar issue for the F44 in this thread from 1.5 years ago: 

 

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