Fisher ID Edge

Fisher ID Edge

Jeremy Daw in Herefordshire, England -
I have been detecting for over 30 years and have used many makes of machines including Minelab Sovereign and X-Terra’s, Whites MXT, Garrett GTP 1350 and Tesoro Vaquero.

I bought a used Fisher ID Edge about 5 years ago which came with the standard 8 inch coil and as with any detector it takes a little time to get used to it. I found the depth was very impressive even with the 8 inch coil. A while later I decided to buy a 10 + ½ inch coil to supplement it and was amazed at the extra depth. I could pull Victorian copper pennies from over 12 inches in pasture land and small Roman coins from up to 10 inches. I dug one target which was so deep I thought it was a large piece of iron and asked my colleague Martin to check the target with his Garrett Ace 250 but he couldn’t get a signal, I persevered and eventually found a small bronze Roman coin at a measured 15 inches, I just couldn’t believe it and neither could Martin.

Here in the UK the pull tab, coins, and jewellery modes are pretty useless so I didn’t use them. I set the machine up with no iron rejection as I like to hear everything that’s going on under the coil. Ignore the low beeps and dig everything over a target ID of about +10. You may dig pull tabs and thick foil but here in the UK this is where you find the medieval thin silver coins.

I could run the machine almost at full sensitivity without any falsing. It’s light and easy to set up and ground balance. The only drawback was the larger coil was fairly heavy and I had to stop and rest my arm every so often, but with the incredible depth, excellent discrimination and spot-on pinpointing it was well worth it.

The only draw back was it took 2 x PP3 9 volt batteries which here in the UK are very slightly larger than the US batteries and as such it’s a tight squeeze to get them in and difficult to extract them. Other than that it’s a brilliant detector.
I sold it after about 2 years as the battery compartment was getting a bit tatty after prizing the batteries in and out. I thought that Fisher had really cracked it with this machine and the newer machines would be at least as good or even better, I bought a Fisher F4 on the strength of the ID Edge, big mistake but that’s another story which is related on this web-site.

Apr 17, 2012

0 Yes
0 No

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ID Edge is my favorite

Dave in NJ -
This detector has all of the desired features built in. Detects a dime at 7" with a high tone signal in mild soil. Pinpointing is precise too. For the price it is a winner. Takes two 9 volt batteries but will operate the same on just one battery. Great all-around detector.

Dec 13, 2010

10 Yes
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A very good all around detector

Tom in MI in Michigans lower peninsula -
I was very happy to see that Fisher upped the performance ante of the ID Edge over the Excel. While a very good detector, I felt the Excel lacked a little in depth compared to other detectors in its price range. While not quite in the same league with top of the line units, the ID Edge has more than sufficient depth in most ground conditions to handle 90% of my hunting needs.

Considerable use at old and new sites proved it sufficiently deadly at picking up those iffy signals in trash/iron to put it in the upper echelon of coin detectors. While hot on coins, I was also pleased to see that Fishers engineers were able to tune it for above average sensitivity to small low conductive targets. This kind of sensitivity to small low conductors is seldom seen with lower frequency "coin" detectors. When compared against another new ID detector to come out recently, in ground useage showed the Edge to read the small bits solidly in the low numbers range without the bouncing readings from iron to foil that the other detector displayed despite its slightly higher operating frequency.

My hunting is split between land sites in spring/fall and shallow fresh water wading during the summer months so it was nice to see that Fisher made the Edge chest mountable, an ability the Excel lacked and was sorely missed by me.

Fresh water wading requires a detector that is able to handle a wide variety of conditions. Whether hunting on deep sand lake bottoms, mixed sand and gravel bottoms or sand/clay the Edge handled it with no apparent problems. On occasion I did find it necessary to reduce the sensitivity to 6 to enable the detector to ground balance in the water. However, after the auto ground balance procedure I was always able to increase the sensitivity to near maximum with the detector operating totally stable.

Fresh water wading requires a detector that is able to handle a tremendous amount of iron. This is an area where I found that the ID Edges big brother the Coins$trike faltered. Iron responses are amplified greatly in the water and the C$ circuits are unable to handle this increased signal strength. The Edge on the other hand handles the same conditions with seeming ease.

Others have pointed out some problems with the ID Edges control interface. The pushbuttons are a little odd in their tactile response I admit. That aside, IMO Fisher engineers did an excellent job where it counts. On land or shallow wading the ID Edge shows it has "the right stuff".

Tom

Jan 02, 2007

66 Yes
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Nice Job Fisher

David NWGA in Northwest Georgia Mountains -
Tone ID, depth readings and it's a typical Fisher

DEEP DEEP DEEP....Easy to operate, light and fun!

And the small ID EDGE coil is available now! Found two Mercs at about 6 inches first outing!

It's fun to use with only iron discriminated out and listen to the tones and not worry about the screen until you hear a high tone!

Relic hunting next...

Dec 12, 2006

15 Yes
2 No

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5 inch coil for ID-Edge

DH in South Texas -
Would be 5 stars if you could get a 5 inch coil.

I've all but given up trying to get a 5 inch coil for my Edge. I spoke to Fisher about it about 6 months ago and was told that it would be out this spring. Well, spring has come and gone and still no 5 inch coil. I don't think they even intend in making one so why would they tell me that they were?

Before I bought it, I asked Fisher if they were going to offer one. The answer was yes. If I had known at the time that it would never happen, I may have changed my mind about the purchase.

Don't get me wrong about the Edge...I love the detector, just the fact that I can't use it in the extremely trashy areas that I usually hunt.

Jul 16, 2006

19 Yes
3 No

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Another look at the edge

not4me in Midwest -
This is just a follow up to the last review. I gave an honest opinion of what I thought of the detector. It had some good points and some bad.

I am not a garrett employee, I have owned and used the Edge metal detector, and yes I have read the manual. I don't believe the ace 250 is anymore of a toy than the Edge. I was just offering my experiences with the detector.

The edge DOES NOT have customizable notches. Yes it does have some preset ones but you can not modify them. It does let you choose your own sensitivity and discriminiation levels but it does not have to ability to pick and choose which targets to notch out.

In my soil conditions it was not able to correctly identify a penny at 4 inches. The nubmers on the id jumped around in the iron range. It was barley audible on a dime. I can run the sensitivity at max with no problems so I know the problem was not with that. I tried the the different modes with no better depth. Maybe someone else will get all togather different results in other parts of the country, it just didn't happen here.

It seems like a well built detector with some good feature but it just didn't work for me.

Jun 25, 2006

11 Yes
9 No

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light weight + nice in iron trash!!

Alan-CA in CAli. -
i was surprised to see only 1 review on this fine new detector. I use the word *review* loosely as reading it its apparent it was all staged by a Garrett shill whos never try it. Sadly others use this forum as a means to sway U to another brand like the much cheaper built Aces. You really can't compare a toy-like ace to an ID edge. First off, if he *really* had a edge-ID or read the manual and learned it he would have seen it indeed has separate notching called CP for tabs* zincs * foil + the presets plus a disc system you can adjust numbers up to hear only what you choose. I *Do* own one and love it's lightweight, iron handeling, depth, mid price, + speed and accuracy of the ID. Some say its just as deep as Fishers top of the line coin strike at like half the weight + price. Dont believe some Garret ace dealer who never tried one saying its only a 4" deep detector. N0 way! read the manual! My edge is stable on 9 or 10 and i can nail a foot deep quarter. My 10 inch coil goes even deeper and my pal just sell his coinstrike just too get an edge. It take more than a toy to replace a coinstrike. its lighter + he hated to hear +51 all the time and the Edge fixed this. I sold my ID Excel to get one. I liked the excel but this go deeper and have notching. Cant beat this mashine for the price. Once the 5 inch coil come out it it will just rock n roll for iron huntin'
dig it,
AL.

Jun 21, 2006

28 Yes
2 No

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Just ok at best

not4me in Midwest -
I tried the edge detector and in my soil conditions (low mineralization) it does not seem any better than the ace 250. Compared head to head it actually did not seem to id targets nearly as well as the ace. It was OK on a quarter at 4 inches, could not really even see the nickel, barely able to detect a dime and had trouble with the zinc penny.

The pros:

1. The pinpoint/depth feature seemed to work pretty good.

2. Seems to be quality made.

3. Lifetime warranty

4. Preset modes

Cons:

1. Does not seem to have very good depth.

2. The target ID is not very good beyond 4 inches on a coin other than a quarter.

3. No notch discrimination other than the factory preset ones. Not customizable.

4. Still sounded off on a pull tab even though it was supposed to be notched out.

5. Without headphones the volume is pretty low.

I am starting to see that you can not rely on reviews by people affiliated with the company or on the companies website. This metal detector to me was just another mediocre detector that would get 4 inches on a coin. The ace is a much better buy at $200 and can be customized.

Jun 09, 2006

35 Yes
35 No

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