Some air tests F75 vs Spectra V3

I have both a F75 and a White's Spectra V3. I was stuck inside so I set up a test fixture to do some air test comparisons between the two machines. I got a camera tripod and attached a wooden yardstick to it so it looks like a diving board sticking off the top of the tripod. I taped a cardboard curved 'roof' over the stick so I could slide coins down it without them falling off. It looks like a long tunnel. Then I took a clad dime I had dug up and used it as a target. The shiny silver finish was gone. I used the same dime for all the tests. I set up the detector on a stool so the coil is floating in mid air. This stool is great because it has very little metal in it. I folded the coil back and set it at a angle that I matched with my dime slide. Then I used a ruler and measured carefully so that the coil was absolutely parallel with the slide. Now I can set the height of the slide by simply cranking the tripod up and down. I set the slide so it cut across the coil at a 30deg angle, left to right. Both machines use DD coils.
Results (short version)...
First the F75. Sens at 90. This was as high as I could go without chatter.
At a distance of 8" I was still getting a signal when I slide the dime over the coil. But it disappeared at 9".
Now the V3. RX Sens to 6.
At a distance of 10" I still got valid VDI numbers and the target was detected with some intermittent misses. At 9" it was solid.

Both detectors did something interesting. When they got past the maximum depth they could read, they completely stopped registering anything. This happened in a 1" depth change.
Also the F75 with the Sens at 70 could not detect the dime until it was 6" away. So if you want depth keep the Sens cranked up as high as you can stand it.
As you get into that last 1"-2" range on both detectors VDI numbers start to decrease. I expected this. So keep that in mind on deep targets. Oh and the tone id changes as well. The F75 at 8" had a 58 VDI number for the dime.

Both detectors work very well. The V3 is much quieter and has a slight edge on depth. I did not use it's boost mode for added depth when testing.

Now air testing does not introduce the effects of ground mineralization. Nor does it test how well a particular machine can adapt to changes in mineralization. ie., how well it ground balances and then tracks changes in ground mineralization. You are just going to have to do that test yourself.

And have fun.

These are the kind of tests we are looking for. I like your test-stand. Well thought out.

Was the dime passing in front of the F75 coil.....from left-to-right?.....as you would be sweeping the coil?

In my test-jig, I can air-test a clad dime to 'just beyond' 11" with the F75 at a Sens setting of '90'. This is the older Gen F75. If I pass the dime from coil tip-to-heel....it'll detect the dime to a lesser depth.

8" vs 11": that's a big difference.

Ok I confess it was moving more front to back rather than right to left. But I used the same set up for both machines. Not the best angle but they were both the same setup. I will play with it some more tonight.

Ok I configured things so I could get a perfect 90 deg sweep right to left and dead center over the coil. I re-ran my tests. Same old dime.
F75 90 Sens
8" max depth. No audio or VDI at all at 9".

V3 RX Sens 6
9" max depth. No audio or VDI at all at 10".

The V3 still has a slight edge in depth over the F75.
I have pictures of the setup if anyone is interested.

The problem with the whites for me is that it offers all of this color and peaks and ebbs in color but it really doesn't help you tell a pull tab from a ring or a silver dime from a clad one.

The new F75 LTD has a lot of us holding our breath but for me I am willing to try it because I am so use to the Old F75 but to switch to a whole new concept and at best is a good unit but seems from what I have read does not live up to the hype where the F75 did.

I still would say air test are great but the dirt is where the targets live and hide it is a whole different ballgame in the dirt..best of luck my money is with Fisher where I have found my best finds and saved history from being lost to the dirt!

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Is there any machine that can tell a silver dime from a clad one? None of mine can.
Most will tell a copper penny from a Zincoln.........Oh thank God. Wouldn't it have been cool if all Lincolns were Zinc from 58 on??

The old Sov's with the DTI meter could differentiate. The F75 can also do this. But.....there's a problem. The clad coins vs silver coins better have zero mask....not be too deep.....be perfectly flat and in a textbook scenario.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The old Sov's with the DTI meter could
> differentiate. The F75 can also do this.
> But.....there's a problem. The clad coins vs
> silver coins better have zero mask....not be too
> deep.....be perfectly flat and in a textbook
> scenario.
Also the XL pro will tell the difference. very good target ID...

digitrich Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is there any machine that can tell a silver dime
> from a clad one? None of mine can.
> Most will tell a copper penny from a
> Zincoln.........Oh thank God. Wouldn't it have
> been cool if all Lincolns were Zinc from 58 on??


Hey, the E trac can tell the difference from a clad dime to a silver dime. Clad never reads 12-46,it reads 12-44, but it has drawbacks, as a clad quarter will read 12-46 and so will a large cent. So it will tell the difference between dimes, but as the target mass increases, it will then read like silver. Nothing is perfect, yet!!!

Unless i`ve missed it , you havn`t give your complete settings on the F75 on this test which i would say is crucial for test findings.
I would be interested to know your test setings on the F75.
Was the F75 in All metal ? and if not, why not ?

Saying that,I`ve never been convinced that "test" beds or even in air tests mean anything to go by.

The most reliable test beds are the natural earth in the fields or where ever. This is because you have your natural enemies to contend with such as mineralization , Iron objects . Pylons and all sorts of electrical elements which your up against in the fields or parks. Simulated testing is bye the bye to me.Even objects freshly buried in test soils ,are not the real deal.there`s no metal seepage, or halo or nothing, as you will get in the "real" soil.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2009 10:12AM by Jeb.

For curiosity I just air tested a Garrett's Ace 250 against an Explorer II with the 6" EXcelerator coil. With both machines maxed out, the 250 tested much deeper in my basement.

Enough said.

IT is interesting that the V3 is still doing air test but as soon as the F75 LTD was being tested you had results that it could find targets in a hunted out spot the reason being the boost mode.

The V3 again has a lot of bang for the buck but the buck stops here..I spoke to someone that has one and he told me he never uses the Graphs the headphones are falling apart the battires are not the best for long hunts...

He said if you treat it like just another detector it is great...but then why pay for all of the stuff you are getting if you don't use it?

Anyway for the whites users it is the best thing whites has had come out in a long time...I would still go with the MXT if I were buying a whites but I did have one for a few months and I just kept reaching for the F75 it was my cup of tea...

I think the V3 is not going to reach the sales they wanted but if they come out with a scaled down version they may sell better...I think Fisher did that with the F70 but I didn't like that as much as the F75...


To each his/her own and that what makes theis forum a great forum a lot of ideas and great minds...but for my own take I will stick with fisher..

I do wonder with some of the other compaines that have not had a new detector out in a long time if they will be still be trying to catch up even when a new detector comes out their new machines may still not be an advantage to what we are using now with the F75...PS I gusee I am a fisher fan?????????!!!!!!

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Coinnut, on my Etrac: Most my silver dimes are in the 12-44/45 range. If they have any depth, then they bounce all over. Like 18-44 etc And they take my tones with them. If Minelab could give the next Etrac the SE's tone and ID accuracy, that would be one mean machine. I do enjoy the more spread ID screen, I just wish they took full advantage of it.

My Tesoro Tejon can get better air depth than my SE and my Etrac but put the coins in the ground and the Tesoro becomes stupid in comparison. There actually is something to that "Explorers don't air test well stuff" that people say. I have experienced it first hand.

This one's for lowboy:

[www.findmall.com]

so few finds with it that they're posting things they found 22 years ago

Well now that you put it that way I feel really bad..I know Whites made some great detectors I know a guy that is in his late 70s and he use to use whites and he found it all back in the day. They didn't have a lot of trash and coins and relics were not that deep...I guess we are finding the coins they left behind...

But when the F75LTD comes out I think there will be more stories about guys hunting hunted out sights and finding stuff then there is or will ever be with the V3 and if that does not happen I will be the first to admit that fisher blew it... We may not have color or multy freq or a ton of coils but we sure have the next step in uncovering somemore lost history we missed. Evan Tom says he will only use the LTD and his back up will be a LTD maybe I should by 2????

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!