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Fisher F-75

Price: $1000
Avg. Score: 4 stars 4.01
Based on 96 reviews

Avg. Durability: 5 stars!4.94
Avg. Ease of use: 4 stars4.50
Maximum detection depth
Submit your review for Fisher F-75

No need to hype the real deal

October 16, 2010
Sounds like you have a defective machine, John. I would send it to the factory to have it checked. A common source of problems is a poor connection to the coil. This can give strange behavior, so be sure to tighten it well. I love the F75 and I have many friends using the F75 and F75LTD. Other manufacturers make very good detectors as well, but I think F75 is capturing marked share because of its low weight, high sensitivity, fast recovery speed and good price.

The move to First Texas has been a very good thing for Fisher in my opinion. The management there are reinvesting most of the profit into R&D and not like Cohu the previous holding company who wanted to take profit out to the share holders. Just look at all the new products coming out of Fisher these days.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

239

Don't fall for the hype

March 02, 2010
... like I did. This is a review of the Fisher F75 LTD, which is apparently a faster and more powerful version of the F75. I bought this because I read that it is the best relic hunting detector out there right now. Long story short, it's not.

I have been a Minelab user for years, and I don't expect that to change any time soon. I was intrigued by the LTD because of its really fast recovery speed, it's "amazing depth", and its low weight. I took the detector to an old camp that has given me plenty of relics over the years, and I compared it with my Minelab Explorer. I buried a 3 ring minnie ball about 10 inches down. The Explorer produced a faint, yet repeatable signal, while the LTD gave a strong one way signal in boost mode. It also gave some of the Fisher "iron grunting" so I probably wouldn't have dug that signal.

I decided to stick with the Explorer that day, since I didn't have my pinpointer yet (my Explorer has a Sunray probe attached). I used the F75 for the first hour, and I worked through an area that is loaded with trash, where my Explorer has had problems nulling out. I didn't find anything of value, but I liked the recovery speed. I got a few signals that were very strong, and after digging down 14 inches or so and finding nothing, I gave up and decided to come back later and check the holes with my Explorer. According to the Explorer, there was nothing in these holes. I even put the probe down in the hole and still, no signal. The F75 was probably falsing on me, because I have dug some VERY deep relics with the Explorer over the years and if there was something there, it would have told me. I decided to put the F75 away for the day and use the Explorer. I walked away that day with an 1867 Shield Nickel, 2 eagle buttons, over 15 minnie balls, and other keepers.

The very next week, I went to the same area with the LTD and my pinpointer and found very little. I walked away with 3 keepers, 2 minnie balls and one unfired cartridge. The problem I had with the LTD was it was having me chase phantom signals throughout the day. I would get a strong 90 reading, dig down 12 inches, and the pinpointer wouldn't make a peep. Unlike last week, I didn't have the other detector to check the holes, so I decided to keep digging. After 14 inches, I was still getting a strong signal. I would dig a few more inches, and all of a sudden the signal would disappear. Bad news.

I CAN NOT use this detector in my city. It becomes absolutely useless if you are ANYWHERE near power lines, transformers, cell phone towers, or any other EMI source. Fisher did not do a good job shielding these detectors from interference. I run the Explorer in these same areas and I have no problem at all. If you run into interference, you have to drop the sensitivity way down in order to stabilize it, and you can say buh-bye to getting good depth.

No complaints about the build quality. Yes, it feels cheap and plastic-like, but it feels well balanced and comfortable to use.

My advice... save up for a real detector. Buy a Minelab or Garrett high end detector and you will be much happier. Fisher is not the same company anymore since being bought out by First-Texas (Bounty Hunter). Never again, Fisher... never again.

Overall Rating 1 star

6560

Split users obviously

February 28, 2010
I was one of the first to review the F75.
I've used the F75 since they first arrived in the UK (3 YEARS AGO).
Its perfectly obvious by reading all these so called " reviews " that the folk knocking the F75 simply cannot use an F75 properly, and havn't a clue about real detecting methods. If they did, using the F75 would be pretty straight forward.
To use the F75 adequately and professionally you have to know about how detecting works, not just switching one on and waving it, but know what to alter where, and when then it can work properly. If you don't understand proper detecting methods, then you will struggle with the working methods of this great detector.
Believe me, I've been detecting 35 years now and If I am still using it after 3 years it has to be a good detector.

For the new people thinking about buying a detector take note, there are people who "think" they can detect, and there are people who don't have to convince themselves they can detect. They just do it, and it comes natural. Not blame the detector when really they are the problem. The detector is unusable till you switch it on, its then down to the user whether its a good detector or not. This detector will not perform miracles as quite a few dimwits seem to want it to. You have to learn it first. Lots of these Dirt cowboys want instant overnight success. And It simply won`t happen.
Put a learner on a Steinway piano and it`ll sound bad. Put a proficient piano player on a Steinway and listen to the concerto at its best.
nuff said!

Overall Rating 5 stars!

7823

After 6 months ...very disappointing

February 28, 2010
I purchased this machine in September 2009, mainly on recommendation and after researching reviews ( like this one).

On the plus side, it is really light to use and very cheap to operate. It took me a while to work out the discriminatory settings ( which is after all why you'd use this machine) but whilst learning it was adequate on the all metal settings, so I felt comfortable giving myself time to understand it. I found it so unstable in discriminatory mode I eventually sent it out to get it checked under warranty.

When it came back it was fine, excellent in allowing me to focus on worthwhile digs..it had been dud when I first got it.

However after another 4 weeks use, the discrimination functions have deteriorated making it unusable except in all metal settings.

The problem is robustness - the build quality is just not up to anything but the most gentle treatment.

My advise...when it works its great, but it just is not reliable. Mine is coming back from the warranty repairs and going straight onto Ebay, its just not worth having a machine which can't hack being in the field.

Overall Rating 3 stars

3020

30 month review

February 22, 2010
I posted here several years ago and am still very pleased with my F75. I can't add much to Jeb in North Wale's excellent review below and look forward to trying his monotone suggestion. I am still finding tweaks and techniques with the F75 - have been amazed with the iron avoiding ability and have pulled nickels from under iron nails. My Minelab Musketeer (which I still own and enjoy) never came near that ability.

It is lightly built, but what a joy after a long hike into a cellar hole and a few hours of swinging and poking. Like a good four-weight fly rod. Light but capable of 30 lb salmon in the right hands. I sailed a Thistle that was also lightly built - and one of the fastest monohull sailboat designs. Same concept. Sure, you don't want to smash it into the dock, but light and fast has its own rewards. Clubs may be rugged but you get tired and your swing and attention becomes sloppy. Not so the F75.

If you are the type that frequently breaks fishing rods maybe you should find a heavier built detector.

Battery life is outstanding. Four AA Alkalines go 50 plus hours - more if you want to be cheap.

No question it has a learning curve. My suggestion is to do a hard reset every time you start the day and take a minute (all it takes) to punch in your settings for mode, tones and discrimination. I have come to trust the display so I run almost no discrimination (usually 4 or 6 depending on where I can peak the sensitivity that day). And yes, it is sensitive. If you treat the sensitivity like the squelch knob on a VHF marine radio and set it for a quiet operation without crashing static you get the optimum setting. More is not better, just enough is called for. Don't even worry where that might be . . . the depth will still be there.

I plan on hanging onto mine. Just added a 6.5" concentric coil (added a FX-1 probe last year)and have a few trash sites to repound. Pulled a 1906 Barber out of a well hunted town park right beside the pavilion in bottle-cap alley last fall and once the ground thaws I'm all over that spot.

A great tool that rewards patience.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

318

F-75 after year of use

November 07, 2009
Fisher F-75 is a pile of beeping plastic nothing more, I better use XTerra-30.

Overall Rating 1 star

2897

Fisher Price?

October 26, 2009
After searching and searching for a new detector I went with the new F75 LTD. But after recieving it I was disappointed with the overall quality of the unit. For $1200 bucks I expected a "Fisher", not "Fisher Price". The camo paint and thin LCD screen do look and feel cheap. Buyers remorse.

Overall Rating 3 stars

3040

What a joke!

October 13, 2009
I can't believe I spent $1000 on such a unstable and noisy piece of plastic. Im GLAD I didn't sell my old XLT! Don't have to believe it...go spend your $1000 and regret it yourself!

Overall Rating 1 star

2857

F75 with 5"DD coil - WOW

September 14, 2009
Over the last weeks I have been using the F75 with the 5" coil. The fact that I am picking older coins and jewelery on sites that are considered "hunted through" just goes to show the superb signal separation of this system. On these hunted through sites I am finding a lot of small coins and jewelery, but also larger coins that have been masked by nearby iron trash. I dig everything above 20. If the VDI is jumpy I use poinpoint to decide if I should dig or not: If the poinpoint indicates a round target, then it is probably a ferrous bottle cap, if the pinpoint signal is elongated or gives multiple targets then I dig it. In many of these latter instances I find trash and valuables in the same hole.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

379

Fisher f75

July 27, 2009
I recently purchased an f75, this machine is the business, set it correctly and the results are excellent ,it is also very sensitive to thin gold. I used it in a park full of bits of trash ten out of ten for difficulty and managed to retrieve coins, musket balls and bronze buckles using the visual and depth id just digging the deeper targets. No other of my many detector's I've used would perform like this, iron see through.

I read a few people find it unstable(turn it down)for general detecting use de or pf modes, I use single tone or two tone, I also like all metal motion with visual id dig nothing under 20 you will not go far wrong, I've had mini musket balls at depths I know for a fact most detectors would not get near, the f75 does raise your eye brows in wonder. This machine can be very sparky but I like a machine which can be set beyond the boundrys of other machines, I can use it for hours without my arm falling off, battery life is also excellent.

Overall Rating 5 stars!

659

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