Fisher F-70
Approximate price: $650
Number of Reviews: 13
on 2 pages.
Also in this price range:
GTAx 1250
Bounty Hunter Time Ranger
Wilson Coin Select
Minelab X-Terra 50
Ground Hawk
My Settings (hope this helps)
Patrick in Texas -The F-70 is my second metal detector. My first is a Garrett 250 which paid for itself in two months. Though I love the 250 it's my belief that I was leaving gold in the ground due to the low frequency. So I bought the F-70 that uses 13 kHz.
Getting used to the F-70 has been quite a challenge for me and maybe so for others. So before anyone puts theirs on Ebay please read the following trains of thought.
The best place to start is double checking the F-70 against established benchmarks. In the 80's they called it, “Trust but Verify”. I looked up a chart (highly recommended) at metaldetectingworld.com that shows the conductive order of metals. Then I bench tested the F-70 with these very items. The F-70 results were VERY similar. So my machine is running correctly.
With confidence in the F-70 I kindly asked my wife to test any gold rings she my have. Eight of the ten read between 21-25. The two others were 28 & 29. Men's class rings are 58 by the way. I figure men's rings are so huge they would be hard to loose so I set about notching out everything except 16 though 25. Then set DISC to 20. So between the two I was only looking at 21-25 and anything above 65 (silver, dimes and quarters). This could also similarly done with other gold sections if you want to focus. You need to run very hot though.
Settings
DISC 20
Notch out everything but 15 though 25
Speed = dE
Sensitivity = 85 or up to 99
Threshold = 6 to 9
THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A KILLER SETUP. I bench tested and the readings came out perfectly at about 5 inches. In the field though it didn't work out as good as I wanted. Ground testing showed that a number of inches are lost due to the ground as opposed to air. So I was only getting accurate numbers on a 14K gold ring at 2 inches but new something was there at 4 inches. The farther aways from the target the higher the number got. At 3 inches it read about 32 and 4 inches a 36. Not satisfied with this outcome I had to switch to All Metal mode. There you gain back an inch or two but loose the DISC. For some reason All Metal Mode just has more power.
Settings
DISC = 0 = All Metal Mode
Speed = dE
Sensitivity = 85 (don't go lower)
Threshold = 6 Gold rings are a good size but there's a lot more gold earrings and charms.
If the display reads anything under 16 I don't dig because it's either foil or iron. If it's above 16 then I dig. I try to average some find every two to three minutes.(most will still be trash tough). Remember I'm going for gold, coins and silver (not relics).
I don't want anyone to loose heart and give up too early. Try these settings and modify if needed.
What's down there you ask? Let's go find out!
Patrick
PS. The best places to dig are local swimming pools (kids, teens, parents) and apartment complexes (people moving in and out every weekend) with plenty of earth around them. Both will need permission but O' the finds. Also remember drought conditions tend to help us.
Sep 04, 2011
16 Yes
0 No
Take Your Time...
Scott in NE USA -
...and learn your machine...
This Fisher F70 is proving to be an excellent finder. Deep, 10", hits on things that I couldn't get to with my two dollar garden trowel because of hard ground...snapped the handle right off of it...and, the machine is very light and well balanced in hand...it seems to discriminate very well...I'm just overall happy with the F70...but, it DOES take a little time to learn...
Apr 06, 2011
13 Yes
0 No
fisher f 70
Paul in Sonoma,California -
I have had this f70 for a year and I don't like it much.It has a long learning curve. It does a lot of different things,it will even work on a mineralized beach. It is not as easy as a Garrett thats for sure! At least I could ground balance with it. The depth is unimpressive. My ace 250 is just as good!
Mar 29, 2011
4 Yes
15 No
Better and better!
Eric Dagostino in Warren ri -This is my fourth review now on the fisher f-70. I must say the reports are only getting better. Since my last report I have unearthed six more silver coins in the same old trashy "worked out area" This time I scored a Half reales 1779,.... 1909, 1912-D , 1937, 1943, 1950, SILVER DIMES. Not bad! This with a 11-inch dd coil, discrimination on 52, threshold -2, sensitivity 90 , Dp tone. I also dug up a silver spoon, skeleton key, colonial button .
Sep 20, 2010
17 Yes
5 No
More practice and faith
Eric Dagostino in Warren ,Rhode Island -This is my third review with the fisher f-50. Its getting better. I went over the hunted out spot which I reported on about two weeks ago. This time I hunted for an hour and unearthed a 1905 barber dime, 1902 barber dime, and 1944 merc. two wheats, and one corroded indian cent.
All were 5 inches and more. I am convinced THAT THIS MACHINE IS REALLY HOT IN TRASHY AREAS WHEN SEARCHING SLOWLY WITH AN 11 INCH COIL. Persistence and practice with a little patients pays off. Oh, by the way my settings were 54 discrimination, 90 sensitivity, -3 threshold, dp tone.
Sep 15, 2010
3 Yes
1 No
Practice, practice, and a little luck
Eric Dagostino in Warren Rhode Island -I have an update since my last review. I've been hunting an area where I always believed there was coins in between the trash.
Well I have been rewarded Three hunts, slowly moving in this area with an 11 inch dd coil produced an 1876 seated dime, a 43 merc. two indian cents 1908 and one unreadable, 4 wheat cents 1909, 1913, 1928 1943, a 1946 rosey, silver. Not bad for a coil that large. I hunted with good ground balance, -3 threshold, 90 sensitivity, 54 discrimination. I'm very satisfied. Oh, all coins were 5 inches or better.
Aug 31, 2010
3 Yes
1 No
practice, practice .......results
Eric Dagostino in Warren , RI -I have been out about 6 times now. I found that this machine takes getting used to. I have found one silver 1920 standing quarter first time out. Already unearthed 30 quarters, 15 dimes, many pennies and a silver ring.
All coins were clad and mostly 3inches down. The areas I've been hunting are old sites I had great luck with in the past. I think my lack of deep coins has nothing to do with the machine but that they are just not there. I think this machine with practice and some new spots to hunt will be well worth it.
Jul 09, 2010
6 Yes
3 No
Good Depth - Easy to Use - Practice !!
Syed Ali in Alta Loma, CA USA -The Fisher F70 is my first real quality metal detector. At first I was a bit hesitant to buy this machine because of the reviews of unstable and erratic readings but I went ahead and bought it because my friend has a Fisher Gold Strike and swears by Fisher.
I received it from kellyco for $649 in just under a week. I put it together in just under 5 minuets. Immediately out of the box I took it in my backyard and began swinging it with the factory settings. And unfortunately after the ground balancing procedure it was just as the reviews said it would do. This machine beeped non stop while I was searching. I decided to mess around with the sensitivity and the threshold for a bit. It took me awhile to get it set up correctly with all the Radio frequency interference in the area I live in.
I don't have over head power lines which is nice for the scenery, but was terrible for my detector because the lines ran underground. What I did was turn the sensitivity down and the threshold way up. I also used a pretty high discrimination mode with the Notch feature to un-cancel the 5¢ zone. The machine was virtually silent except for the occasional "blip" from the high mineralization in my area. Sure enough after about 15 minutes of searching I was digging up coins all over my yard with out any problems.
I can see why people get so frustrated with all the noise the machine can make when it is not set up right. trust me, I was really frustrated to see that I just payed all this money to have a machine that didn't work like I expected to. With a little of practice, things started to fall into place and started acting much more stable.
All in all I think this is a great machine, the pinpoint is amazing, and the controls are simple and easy to use, the interface is really user friendly and the unit was really light.
Mar 19, 2010
26 Yes
3 No
Jackrabbit Machine
digger68 in Michigan -A friend wrote me many times to tell me about how totally awesome his new F70 is and how much more he was finding with it.
After hearing this over and over I decided to buy the F70.
I found right off that some dealers would come way down on the price. Others will give you lots of extras like quality name brand headphones, etc., if you pay the regular price for your F70.
I ended up with a brand new F70 shipped for $500. I heard of someone else getting one for $475.
One dealer told me “the bottom has dropped out of sales on these…I have lots of them on the shelf both new and used.”
My first day out I dug 30 holes with nothing in them.
My 2nd day I finally did find a piece of junk copper.
I took it down south to a 150-year-old house site and only found a few modern coins and several modern 30-06 rifle shells. Again I dug about 15 holes with nothing in them.
I sought lots of help all along the way from experienced F75 and F70 users.
I tried all possible settings and the thing only seemed to be somewhat stable when used it in factory-preset mode (learner mode). Other than that it constantly chirps and gives solid signals where there is nothing.
However I did find that it worked much better in plowed fields where there was little trash and not much by way of iron dust in the soil. I tested the depth in that soil and it was good but not exceptional. I could get a decent signal on a nickel at 7 inches deep. That was with the 11” DD coil. .
But I must say this is the jumpiest machine I've ever used in my 30+ years of metal detecting. The Minelab Explorer is a simple to learn machine compared to the F70. The Tesoro Tejon set on maximum sensitivity while hunting an extremely trashy site is a dead silent machine compared to the F70. This thing is noisy and gives false signals like nothing I've ever used before. It will find every single hot rock that comes anywhere near the coil.
I purchased the 11”DD coil because I was told it's much better than the stock concentric coil. I will say it did run a little smoother but was still extremely jumpy and highly effected by electrical interference.
After ruining several nice hunting trips with zero decent finds I decided enough is enough.
I didn't want to sell the F70 on ebay due to fear of the buyer wanting his money back so I made a deal with a dealer for another brand machine.
Now I'm happy again.
Conclusion: If you hunt wild areas with little trash like SOME Civil War sites, woods, or plowed fields, you'll probably like the F70. It's extremely fast in recovery and has decent depth (average about 8 inches on coins). But if you hunt trashy/iron soaked house sites, parks, or places with high electrical interference--this is the last machine you want. Shop around for the best deal.
Apr 05, 2009
48 Yes
24 No
Good day with the F70
Western Washington Hunter in Longview Washington -I finally got my Fisher F70. I played with it for several weeks until decent detecting weather finally broke. I learned how to navigate the menu. Vary Easy by the way. I tried many targets and different settings. Thought I understood the machine very well. When I actually got to take it into the field I found out I didn't know as much as I thought I did. There is nothing that will take the place of actual hunting with a metal detector. You can do all the Air testing you want and it will help, but you need to get the detector on the ground to really see how it performs.
The place I hunted was fairly high in mineralization, as it was fill from the 1980 MT St Helens Volcano eruption. It took me some time to find the correct balance of Sensetivity and Threshold to make the machine run stable. Even then, I still had a little background chatter. I could have eleminated that by lowering my Sens. even more, but setteled on 65. I ended up running the Threshold at +1 and sometimes 0. I ran in DE mode with tones at 3H. I started out with the F70 standard coil. The targets were fairly spread out with light trash. After an hour, I chose to remove the stock coil and I installed the F75 11"DD Coil. WOW. What a difference. The chatter was gone and talk about Target Seperation. That F70 was spitting out signals like Machine Gun Bullets. That's when the real fun began.
I could do almost anything I wanted with the F70 after installing the F75 DD Coil. It ran vary quiet and stable. I was finding coins that were hidden by trash so easy. The big 11"DD Coil helped me cover allot more ground, and even more targets were isolated. Target seperation is fantastic. Pinpointing was another matter. It really is not that difficult but I still have a ways to go to be always right on when pinpointing with the Big 11"DD Coil.Only problem I had was when I unplugged my headphones to demonstrate to my partner the target separation,the internal speaker would not work. I do not know what that is all about, but I am sure the warranty will cover it.
Overall I had a total blast yesterday and learned much about the F70. Oh by the way, the F75 DD Coil didn't seem to add that much noticeable weight to the machine. The F70 weighs 2.4lbs with the standard coil, and maybe a couple more ounces with the 11"DD Coil. We started hunting at 10:00am and never quit until 4:00pm and my right swinging arm felt just fine. Can't say the same for my Knees though. Next I am going to see how the F70 does with some Gold Nuggets. Thanks for taking the time to read my review.
Jan 16, 2009
33 Yes
3 No
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