My two gripes with my F-75+.

With a brief break in the heat to work a small park with renovation the 3 1/2 by 6 1/2 concentric coil worked fine, as did the F-75+. I was using 3 Tone, actually 3H, and since this area didn't have a lot of Ferrous junk I wasn't annoyed. No EMI issues, no Iron junk, no problems hitting on coins in close proximity to scattered litter. Just good oldfashioned performance.

Monte

So is your F75 your main go-to machine?
I love the light weight of my F70!

metaladdict: said:

So is your F75 your main go-to machine?
I love the light weight of my F70!

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Notice the nine (9) detectors in my Signature below. They all work quite well, they all have their 'purpose' or 'specialty' purpose for when I grab them. Also, they each have a preferred search coil mounted that I like best for the applications when I grab them. None of them have a larger-size coil.

The ORX has a round 9" DD HF coil which is the largest coil I usually use. Most of them keep a smaller-size coil mounted full-time, and I keep a mid-size coil on the F19 and Apex for places with minimal trash. Some are more for tot-lots, some are primarily for old Relic Hunting locations, some work well for various renovation sites or sidewalk tear-outs, and others are for typical urban Coin Hunting places. A lot depends upon the anticipated debris I will encounter.

As a rule, my first two detectors to grab would be my Fisher F75+ and Garrett Apex, and then it would be dependent upon a sparse-target open area or a very littered site to deal with. This would apply to most urban areas I would likely select.

Monte

By the way, the F70/Patriot is a good detector and I have a pristine condition, well pampered Patriot to sell, if you know anyone interested.

Monte said:

No EMI issues, no Iron junk, no problems hitting on coins in close proximity to scattered litter. Just good oldfashioned performance.

Monte

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35 years ago, I could hunt any park and walk out with my 1266 on one side, and a bagful of silvers in my pouch on the other side.

Now? Well let's just say that I hunt very differently than I did 35 years ago.

Digalicious: said:

35 years ago, I could hunt any park and walk out with my 1266 on one side, and a bagful of silvers in my pouch on the other side.

Now? Well let's just say that I hunt very differently than I did 35 years ago.

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Yes, and I remember those days well. It is different today, to be sure, but for quite some time I have still been satisfied with my efforts, and I acclmplish most of my successful days with a good old single-frequency, well built detector.

Monte

Monte,
I see you have a racer 2 on your list.
How do you compare the two in a nail embedded site.
I just hit a couple different homesteads and used the racer at one the F75+ at the other.
Right now I'm leaneing toward the Racer.
But I didn't compare them at the same site cause one was at home and one was at work 100+ miles away.
Now have them together and going to compare them against each other.

Just seems the racer hits harder on coins etc in trash.

took both detectors out today for a side by side comparison.
I'm far from an expert so my test may be faulty.
I tried to set the detectors up for very similiar response.
75 in Fa 3h no disc
r2 in 3 tone no disc

very trashy nail imbedded site
the response to targets was very similiar
very rapid machine gun responses to targets.
I've already hunted this so didn't find any coins
the one thing I'd give the R2 an edge over the 75 on was the tone when a rusty piece of tin was under the coil.
the 75 had a nice smooth tone similiar to coins and the only way to tell it wasn't was to look at the vdi. it jumped around at a higher number.
With the racer it gave off a raspy high tone and you could tell without looking it was rusty tin.

I'm sure when you get to different situations, one might start standing out more than the other.

Just another uneducated observation after using the two back to back at old trashy homesteads.
The F75 appears to be better at unmasking wheat pennies and the Racer 2 seems to be better at unmasking the silver.
V nickels seem to be about the same on both.

the F75 is definitely lighter and more comfortable to use.

The F75 LTD was one of the few detectors I could not click with. I believe it was the chatter. I had not used, until then, any detector that had a constant chatter, and it drove me nutz. Now I used the Deus, NOX 800, and currently my Simplex+ which all seem to have a bit of chatter but I've grown used to it.

Times have changed from the days when having a rock-solid threshold was essential.

Semtav: said:

Monte,
I see you have a racer 2 on your list.
How do you compare the two in a nail embedded site.

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If you noticed, I have updated my Detector Team to include a Time Ranger Pro which is the same circuitry as the F-19 Ltd, and they are a pair of models I likes to use in ghost towns and homesteads and similar old-use places with a lot of Iron Nails and other ferrous debris along with my Racer 2 and F-75+.

How do I compare these units for Iron Nail contaminated sites? Well, like this, including places with other ferrous and non-ferrous debris.:

Sometimes I like to use 3-Tone and both the F-75+ and Racer 2 feature that. They both work very similar in Racer 2 and 3-Tone and F-75+ in 3-Tone. I reserve 3H mainly for urban-type sites and Coin Hunting. For Relic Hunting type environments I favor the 3-Tone and generally I am in the De process. So, of the two that provide a 3-Tone mode I favor the Racer 2 for Relic type tasks in Iron conditions because it offers Iron Audio Volume that functions in all Disc. modes.

If I choose to use a 2-Tone mode approach, then all four of my models are competitive. The Time Ranger Pro and F-19 Ltd. are 2-Tone only designs and the Racer 2 and F-75+ offer a 2-Tone option. Here there is one more difference between them in that the Time Ranger Pro, F-19 Ltd. and Racer 2 all feature a fully adjustable Iron Volume Control from full-volume on down to a lower-volume with more variable adjustment. The F-75+ only offers 2F for full-Iron volume, 2H for sort of a half-volume setting, and 2L for a low-volume setting. In order, I have that Iron Volume set at '12', '12', '2' and '2L'.

There is one additional thing to consider when comparing detector performance other than search tone mode, Iron volume level, and other settings, and that is the size, shape and type of search coil used when comparing the detectors. I've been at this for over fifty-seven years, avidly, and long, long ago I determined that smaller-size coils seem to work quite well in many or most places, and when trash gets heavy, especially nails and any ferrous debris, smaller coils generally rule.

In modestly littered to hardly littered sites I usually opt for a mid-size coil more than anything larger. My TRP sports a 5" DD, the F-19 Ltd. an elliptical 5X10 DD The Racer 2 keeps a 4.7X5.2 'OOR' DD attached but I have a mid-size 5X9½ DD open-frame mounted on a spare lower rod. On my F-75+ I have a 3½X6½ Concentric attached, but I also have their round 5" DD handy and a 5X8 DD MGC mid-size coil on a spare lower rod.

Semtav: said:

I just hit a couple different homesteads and used the racer at one the F75+ at the other.

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An educational experience but unless they are compared together, at the same time and over an unrecovered located target, with similar coils and settings, it's just not going to be a fair comparison.

Semtav: said:

Right now I'm leaneing toward the Racer.
But I didn't compare them at the same site cause one was at home and one was at work 100+ miles away.
Now have them together and going to compare them against each other.

Click to expand...

That will be good, but which coils are on each of the units?

Semtav: said:

Just seems the racer hits harder on coins etc in trash.

Click to expand...

In 3-Tone I have experienced a similar result, at least quite often compared side-by-side. That said, I run my Sensitivity on all detectors at maximum and only reduce it if needed to regain stability if there is EMI.

My current observations: Overall, all four of my models work well and I could grab any of them for any Nail infested site. I like the comfort and feel of the F-75+ the best. I like the way the Racer 2 handles common rusted tin, both audibly and visually mainly in 3-Tone. A lot of the time I prefer to use a 2-Tone mode, and for that I like to grab the TRP or F-19 Ltd. depending on the site and coil mounted.

But when Iron debris is very heavy, it is small-coil time and I always hunt slowly and methodically for best site coverage.

Monte

Detector: said:

The F75 LTD was one of the few detectors I could not click with. I believe it was the chatter. I had not used, until then, any detector that had a constant chatter, and it drove me nutz. Now I used the Deus, NOX 800, and currently my Simplex+ which all seem to have a bit of chatter but I've grown used to it.

Times have changed from the days when having a rock-solid threshold was essential.

Click to expand...

The F75+ is a model I definitely 'click with' and mine is quite less chattery than many others. In most hunt sites I run very high to max Sensitivity and the unit runs smoothly, but many of my detectors do. I have ten models I use and get great performance without operating with too much noise, if any.

Monte

Monte said:

there is one additional thing to consider when comparing detector performance other than search tone mode, Iron volume level, and other settings, and that is the size, shape and type of search coil used when comparing the detectors. I've been at this for over fifty-seven years, avidly, and long, long ago I determined that smaller-size coils seem to work quite well in many or most places, and when trash gets heavy, especially nails and any ferrous debris, smaller coils generally rule.




That will be good, but which coils are on each of the units?

Monte

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I do this so sporadically that I forget most stuff by the time I get around to doing it again. I think that's why just using simple programs is working so well for me right now.

because 99.9 of the stuff is within 2" of the surface, I'm wasting my time worrying about depth.

both are in three tone, one is 3H and the other is Fa
altho 3L would probably make them closer on nickels, I seem to find good ones with both.

included a picture of the coils I'm using

I do have a small coil for the racer, I tried it on an area that I found the silver and V's in and came up with nothing. came back later and found another V with the F75. Just too time consuming to cover any ground with it and too easy for me to miss little spots. (that's on me, not the coil)

Monte said:

The F75+ is a model I definitely 'click with' and mine is quite less chattery than many others. In most hunt sites I run very high to max Sensitivity and the unit runs smoothly, but many of my detectors do. I have ten models I use and get great performance without operating with too much noise, if any.

Monte

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I could get along with the F75 today because Ive gotten used to the chatter. I realize chatter today is how they get more performance out of a machine. Like the Minelab FBS. When I first got the Explorer SE Pro I could not handle all that noise. It sounded like a flute. That was because I had come from years of Whites and Garretts. I forced myself to get used to the FBS and how to use it, and now I love my E-Trac.

I really liked the Racer 2. Didn't care so much for the Racer, but I'd take another Race 2 anytime.

May be just dumb luck, but I keep finding wheat pennies with the F75 behind my Racer 2.
I like the racer better for hunting in old homestead trash. and as long as it keeps finding the silvers, nickels and IHP's, I'll be happy. I'd hate to go back and get skunked every time with the F75 !!

Hunted a plowed field with the Racer2 and it did good finding the bobbles even tho my coil was so high.
Have another site on the other side of the field. Gonna try the F75 first in it in PF mode and see if its as deep !!

Gonna pick up my AT Pro tomorrow, so I'm gonna follow all these sites with it and see if it'll find anything I missed.