Fisher F19

I am a Fisher Gold Bug Pro fan. The machine is lightweight, easy to use, and very effective for what it is designed for. However, the Gold Bug Pro is somewhat feature limited and the F19 adds some extra capability that many people would welcome - things like a meter backlight or ferrous volume setting, for instance. The main thing however is that if you want the 10" x 5.5" elliptical coil for the Gold Bug Pro you have to get it as an accessory coil, or buy a two coil package. It is odd to this day that the Gold Bug Pro, a machine aimed at gold prospectors, is not available with the 10" elliptical coil as the stock coil.

For this reason I aim people who want that coil at the F19 because you can get it stock with that coil. You get all the 19 kHz performance of the Gold Bug Pro, plus extra features, by getting the F19, and for about the same price as a Gold Bug Pro two coil package.

Either way, this 19 khz model in all its flavors is a very solid performer on low conductors like gold and small targets like ear rings or small gold nuggets. The 19 khz platform is a little weak on silver coins but still does very well as a coin hunter. The main thing I like is the light weight, solid performance, and very simple operation. The 19 kHz circuit is also one of the best I have used for ignoring electrical interference in areas where other machines may have issues.

Finally, do note that the Fisher F19 is the same unit electronically as the Teknetics G2+. The only real difference is the rod and grip assembly and the coil that comes stock. The F19 has the classic "S" rod handle, while the G2+ has a modified "S" rod with pistol grip design some people may prefer. 

I really love the Fisher F19 Teknetics G2+ form factor. I love it so much that I have bought 2 of them in the past 3 years. I used them for gold prospecting in all metal mode and for detecting in tougher ground balance areas and at beaches for coins and jewelry.  I really like the look, operation and comfortable feel of these detectors. They are great for gold prospecting in the .5 gram and larger size range. The 10" X5" coil size both in the stock coil and in some of the aftermarket coils worked very well and provided good depth and stable operation.  I did not like this detector as much with the factory 11"X 8" coil. It was less stable in general and did not provide much more depth since I had to lower the gain in order to detect usually. 

The reason that I no longer own either of these detectors is the lack of audio features and the awkward shifting from all metal to disc mode. Having just two tones and VCO for coin and jewelry hunting in discrimination mode got old fast especially since a large portion of the target range had to be VCO which can sound almost like the low tone on these detectors. No fun constantly looking at the display to figure out the audio response. Shifting from all metal to disc mode and back was really clumsy too since you had to reset your gain or threshold each time. I love the knobs but not for that purpose. 

The F19 and Teknetics G2+ really are fine prospecting/relic detectors especially with the latest feature upgrades. To bad the audio features are still very limited  for the coin and jewelry hunters.