Fisher versus Fisher: F70 and F75

I found these related threads that might help. I would consider DIGGER27 to be the ultimate authority on your question.

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=203880

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=220208

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=2990591

Huckleberry said:

I found these related threads that might help. I would consider DIGGER27 to be the ultimate authority on your question.

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=203880

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=220208

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=2990591

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Mostly what I know about this platform is posted in those threads.
The T2, F75 and F70 are all based on the same core engine with similar abilities but with programming differences.
The newest upgraded F75 versions had an FA process added which is supposedly faster than DE but with the faster process you will lose a little depth.
DE or All metal is a run and gun very fast reaction time and is very forgiving in the swing speed area, SL or boost takes quick snapshots of what is happening below the coil so a slower speed is required or you can miss close objects due to the slightly slower recovery speed.
I mostly use SL/Boost all the time with a slow swing speed, seems to work the best for me in heavy mineralization, intense iron or trash but it takes a bit of getting used to go be able to notice the sometimes very quick repeatable behavior on good targets in crowded sites with lots of trash and/or iron.

Don't know how much faster you need than DE or deeper than SL or boost mode.
Line up a bunch of targets close on a board and roll over them with a fast sweep in DE and most any tone selection and any of these units should hit them all and report back with a machine gun reaction.
Dp is supposedly fastest out of all of them with tones and screen behavior matching up exactly but if there is any lag using using other single or multi tones I can't tell the difference because it is so close.
99% of the time I have used an F70 in trashy parks and lawns and have done extremely well for years using both DE and boost.
Thousands of coins both old and new popped up and more silver and gold jewelry than you might believe, too...including chains which does not seem to be a problem being noticed on these units.
In great soil DE speed got shockingly got deep, (up to almost a foot), and boost can drop your jaw, (got past a foot on a few very deep targets),in bad soil I got the same although with a bit less depth which is to be expected.

No DST on the F70/Patriot...for those that demand a quieter hunting environment this can be a deal breaker, for me I never had it, never used it and just got used to dealing with more schizophrenic behavior if I use mine on higher, hotter settings which I do most of the time.
Just a matter of what you get used to and learn over time, I guess.

Compared to AT Pros and Maxes I have no idea because I don't use them, I don't like or get along with the tones that are emitted by Garrett products but I have friends that do use them and have done well.
One friend used a Pro, switched to the Max but soon went back to the Pro because with many more hours standing behind it he was used to the behavior and liked it better.
He now mostly uses an 800 Equinox as do I.
In our rotten mineralized soil multi-q just seems to work a bit better and more efficiently when dealing with our dirt issues than single frequencies but we have found great treasure using all of them.

Out of all the detectors I have used the F70/Patriot is still my favorite.
A full and spread out disc range, recovery, separation and depth is way, way up there and I still have the most fun when using it.
Plus a full range of coils, both DD and concentric, available if needed.

Thanks for chiming in Digger27.

It seems like you like your F70 more, but from an objective/performance POV, does your Equinox outperform your F70? I presume so, but just want to double check my understanding.

From my experience the f70 is a great machine but lacks some things that makes the f75 better,,at least for me. Trigger pinpoint and trigger ground balance are one of them,f75 is nice for having that feature.
Weight/ balance also goes to the f75, more programs on f75, imo just a better machine all the way around. Both are good tho,but I prefer the f75

mh9162013 said:

Thanks for chiming in Digger27.

It seems like you like your F70 more, but from an objective/performance POV, does your Equinox outperform your F70? I presume so, but just want to double check my understanding.

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Here in the deep south, land of red clay mineralization and in my area specifically which has an insane amount of iron, the Nox unmasks better than any other tool I have used so far around here.
It just makes things a bit easier to deal with in our difficult conditions, many of the guys I hunt with or have hunted with in the past that live here have traded up to this one for that reason.
A matter of convenience, others work fine, this one works a bit better and as I said just makes things a little easier.
Not perfect, I don't like the compressed disc range of -9 to 40, that tends to have me digging a bit more trash than I want to but take the Nox into an old hunted to death scoured site and it seems to breath life into places like that again...finds severely masked targets and I suspect most coins on edge like a religion and gets seriously deep when necessary.
So a wash, in my mind.

Still, despite that I hunt for fun, what I find is actually secondary to the experience I have while hunting so even though the Nox works great I still bought a new-to-me F5 last summer to see how it would do down here compared to my others.
Surprisingly, the lower frequency seems to work great, better ID's at depth than the F70 in this dirt but with most of the powers and abilities the upper end one posesses.
I have used the F5 more than all others since I got it to have the best shot at learning it and it is a blast to use, plus, I am finding treasure.
$299 for such a capable tool was hard to resist, another great option so a good purchase decision...for me.

I am lucky, right now I can grab a Mojave, a Nox, the F70 or an F5 to hunt with on a whim anytime I want to and they all get used here and there because they are all a joy to stand behind.
Still have a Compadre on backup duty, too.
All have found stuff, all are fun to use but for different reasons.

Honestly, if I still lived and hunted in the fantastic dirt out in Kansas and Missouri I probably wouldn't own an Equinox, never was on on my radar and probably never would have been, either, the Fishers and Tesoros I used worked so fantastically well there in that dirt.
Here the challenges are many and compounded so we look for tools that make our job easier if we can and can ease our burden if possible.
Nothing is perfect, still have found no detector that can do it all leaps and bounds over all others but I have a decent arsenal and every tool and coil combination brings something different to the table.
I found out long ago I love switching around between different detectors and brands, hunting with only one detector all the time would probably and eventually bore me to death no matter how much treasure I found so as I said...I am lucky to have a choice among so many.

DIGGER27 said:

Here in the deep south, land of red clay mineralization and in my area specifically which has an insane amount of iron, the Nox unmasks better than any other tool I have used so far around here.
It just makes things a bit easier to deal with in our difficult conditions, many of the guys I hunt with or have hunted with in the past that live here have traded up to this one for that reason.
A matter of convenience, others work fine, this one works a bit better and as I said just makes things a little easier.
Not perfect, I don't like the compressed disc range of -9 to 40, that tends to have me digging a bit more trash than I want to but take the Nox into an old hunted to death scoured site and seems to breath life into places like that again...finds severely masked targets and I suspect most coins on edge like a religion and gets seriously deep when necessary.
So a wash, in my mind.

Still, despite that I hunt for fun, what I find is actually secondary to the experience I have while hunting so even though the Nox works great I still bought a new-to-me F5 last summer to see how it would do down here compared to my others.
Surprisingly, the lower frequency seems to work great, better ID's at depth than the F70 in this dirt but with most of the powers and abilities the upper end one posesses.
I have used the F5 more than all others since I got it to have the best shot at learning it and it is a blast to use, plus, I am finding treasure.
$299 for such a capable tool was hard to resist, another great option so a good purchase decision...for me.

I am lucky, right now I can grab a Mojave, a Nox, the F70 or an F5 to hunt with on a whim anytime I want to and they all get used here and there because they are all a joy to stand behind.
Still have a Compadre on backup duty, too.
All have found stuff, all are fun to use but for different reasons.

Honestly, if I still lived and hunted in the fantastic dirt out in Kansas and Missouri I probably wouldn't own an Equinox, never was on on my radar and probably never would have been, either, the Fishers and Tesoros I used worked so fantastically well there in that dirt.
Here the challenges are many and compounded so we look for tools that make our job easier if we can and can ease our burden if possible.
Nothing is perfect, still have found no detector that can do it all leaps and bounds over all others but I have a decent arsenal and every tool and coil combination brings something different to the table.
I found out long ago I love switching around between different detectors and brands, hunting with only one detector all the time would probably and eventually bore me to death no matter how much treasure I found so as I said...I am lucky to have a choice among so many.

Click to expand...

I am very well aware of that idea, and that's one reason why I am still considering so many options, like the Tesoro Outlaw, Vanquish series, Equinox 600, F70, F75, almost any FBS Minelab machine and the AT Pro/Max.

Right now, I'm cutting my teeth on my Fisher F2 and am having some success with it. But despite my limited experience, I can still feel the limitations I'm facing and I know any of the above models will serve as a MASSIVE improvement in detecting capabilities over the F2; I'm just trying to confirm the mineralization levels of my soil. That being said, I'm trying to balance the "fun" and "performance" variables. But since the F2 is my first machine and one I'm learning, the F70 and F75 do have the some pull due to brand loyalty and familiarity with the "Fisher interface." Another factor is that I think my son's first machine will be the Vanquish 340. If that's the case, it'll be nice if I also used a Vanquish or Equinox.

I think what I may end up doing is narrowing it down to 2 or 3 machines and just keep an eye on eBay, trading apps and metal detecting message boards until I find a great deal. For example, A few years ago I found an Equinox 600 for $300. Just recently, there was an Equinox 600 sold for $350 or so shipped on eBay. And a few years ago, an AT Pro sold on eBay for around $250.

mh9162013 said:

I am very well aware of that idea, and that's one reason why I am still considering so many options, like the Tesoro Outlaw, Vanquish series, Equinox 600, F70, F75, almost any FBS Minelab machine and the AT Pro/Max.

Right now, I'm cutting my teeth on my Fisher F2 and am having some success with it. But despite my limited experience, I can still feel the limitations I'm facing and I know any of the above models will serve as a MASSIVE improvement in detecting capabilities over the F2; I'm just trying to confirm the mineralization levels of my soil. That being said, I'm trying to balance the "fun" and "performance" variables. But since the F2 is my first machine and one I'm learning, the F70 and F75 do have the some pull due to brand loyalty and familiarity with the "Fisher interface." Another factor is that I think my son's first machine will be the Vanquish 340. If that's the case, it'll be nice if I also used a Vanquish or Equinox.

I think what I may end up doing is narrowing it down to 2 or 3 machines and just keep an eye on eBay, trading apps and metal detecting message boards until I find a great deal. For example, A few years ago I found an Equinox 600 for $300. Just recently, there was an Equinox 600 sold for $350 or so shipped on eBay. And a few years ago, an AT Pro sold on eBay for around $250.

Click to expand...

Your story is very familiar to me.
I had others but when I originally bought an F2 only as a take on vacation tool as I learned it something really clicked...it soon became my prime detector for 3 years and nobody can say I didn't learn it better than just well or squeeze everything out of that thing I possibly could in that time.
This thread is one of the largest and most long running on most forums and I maintained it for years.
338,000 views, close to 1,400 replies, tons of information and advice in this thing about the great F2 from myself and many other owners posted here and a fun read as an F2 user if you would like to peruse it, sometime.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=53930
Evidently Fisher sold tons of extra F2's over the years because of what future owners read in that thread and saw what was possible.

Eventually I got to wondering if I could do so unbelievably well with an entry level Fisher what could I do with an upper end model from the same company with more bells, a few more whistles and much more penetrating power.
I set my sights on an F75, not cheap at the time, but a brand new never used F70 passed my way for $400 and I jumped on it and never looked back.
I probably would have been extremely happy and successful if I had ended up with the F75 instead but that wasn't my fate and looking back over the years reliving all the great adventures we had together and looking at the pile of fantastic treasure we eventually found I am very happy it went down that way for me.
I aimed for the upper end of the Fisher line because I learned the F2 language and behavior so well and I hoped what I learned would transfer over to the new one with the same lineage.
Luckily it did, but there was so much more to learn, understand and take advantage of.
This thread I started on the day I got my F70, it also went on for years with about 44,500 views and over 150 posts and replies from myself and other owners.
Basically I put down all I observed and learned in real time as I experienced it...for the first several months as I was deep into my learning process, anyway.
https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=173474

If you want to see what an F2 user went through after upgrading to a much more capable detector take a look through that one.
I got deep into attempting to learn and understand everything I could after that upgrade, I couldn't have picked a better tool with more abilities to learn on, so many more settings I could tweak and it was so much fun to do it all along the way.
Funny thing is that stuff never ended, I still learn new things about the top end Fishers almost every time I take mine out, in my opinion learning never ends no matter what detector you choose to stand behind.

Now things have changed over time since those early days that in reality was less than 10 years in the past.
So many capable detectors and brands now at such lower to mid end price points like the Simplex, Vanquish and more plus iconic models like the F5, F70, F75 and T2 have come way down in price, too, among others.
Never had there been such a large range of choices for detectors at most price levels that can do so much, has such bang for the buck.
It can get confusing, I guess sometimes there can be such a thing as too much to choose from and I am glad I don't have to deal with that having already gone through several stages of upgrading over the years.
But I can see where that puts you...you want to upgrade but you also want to choose correctly.

All I can say is once you make a decision go all in, an upgrade is an upgrade and you can learn, get deeper, find more and enjoy yourself immensely no matter what move you make if you commit to the learning process and your decision.
I have had hundreds of hours of sheer joy using a low end Compadre and F2 and it was no different using any mid or high end detector I have ever owned...and that continues to this day.
It's all good, this is a hobby, not a job, and the object is to have fun doing it no matter what tool you happen to be standing behind.

Thanks for the detailed reply, Digger27. I'll definitely take a look at those two threads you linked to.