Quick run down of the Fisher F44

I was fortunate enough to be involed with the Fisher F44 for the last few months and wanted to share my thoughts on the unit..

NO IT DOES NOT HAVE BOOST MODE>>>>> LOL!!

The first thing one will notice when you remove the unit from the box is the overall finish of the unit is really above par....and I must say its a very pleasing layout and design..very simplistic to operate and very rugged and light...

The box is weather proof..and I actually ran it in the rain back in late Feb for about 3 hours and at times the rain was freezing on the screen.. Never encountered one hiccup...temp was hovering around freezing or below..at times I scrapped the ice off the screen as it would freeze the droplets...

Theres a rubber boot plug over the headphone jack that is placed strategically on the bottom of the control housing..

the unit only uses 2 AA batteries...in a slide in container with rubber seal...

unit is on S pole and feels very comfortable..

Coil is a 11" Concentric of the TEARDROP style.and actually punches ground quite well...

The freq is 7.69khz..and uses all the Greek,Euro-Pro and Gold bug G2 and F19 coils..

it is multi tone...plus VCO option..

the multi tone can be up to 4 that's 1 low tone...2 mids and and 1 High...

The disc system works off Notching in and out segments...There are 3 catagories on the screen Fe...Gold and Silver...FE is by itself...Gold is 2.3.4.5. Segmented,Silver is 6.7.8.9. segmented, so you can notch in or out Fe all the way through 9 in any combo you like..

theres 5 modes of operation

Jewelery
Coin
Artifact
Custom
All metal (threshold based)

Jewerly mode is 2 tone 1 mid and 1 high...Fe is notched out...if you notch it in it will then be 3 tone..Iron be a low grunt..

Coin mode is 4 tone, 2 and 4 is notchced out ..Fe is low tone....3 is upper mid For nickle...5 is lower mid tone for zincs...6,7,8,9, notched in and all high tone...

Artifact is 3 tone....fe Low grunt,,,,,,2,3,4,5, mid tone and 6,7,8,9, all high tone..no notching in use..

Custom Factory is all nothced in and all VCO. with low tone activated on Fe...BUT what's unique about this mode is you can assign any segment a tone of you chosing out of the 4 available plus use VCO where you like....so I could say have a nickle which reads 35 and come up in the 3, I.D. segment be set to high tone and set dime quarters halves and dollars there too...or you could assign the coins as VCO and set the other slots like 4 to low tone for the pulltabs..or plac ethem anywhere you like. the possibilities are endless...

All metal mode is threshold based and still I.D.'s in that mode on the screen...it has a sperate sens level from the disc side..


All the segments cover a 10 point spread so 2 will light up in unison wiht a i.d. number form 20-29 ,,,,6 will light up form 60-69 etc..

the settings are
Volume
Sens
Notch
Light

Volume uses the same volume as the F-19 0-9 is linear on both ferrous and non ferrous tone increasing in unison...10 nulls the iron volume and non ferrous is maxed out...11-20 the non ferrous stays maxed and ferrous increases linear...till maxed out at 20..

Sensitivity goes from 0-20

Notch =9 segments, each10 points wide...

Light =5 intensity levels of red glow..

theres a running depth and Fe meter..

ground grab can be done is disc mode or all metal mode...and theres a pinpoint mode button and when used dispalys in inches....

you can also go to all metal and do a manual ground bal..

the I.d screen numbers are very large and easy to see.

that's pretty much the layout and feel of the unit.. very simplisitc and straight forward....

I at first did was leary of the unit upon trying it...its not the fastest and its not the deepest so I thought well lets see what it'll do since it's my job for the moment ..

and I took it to a site with decent dirt since I was not sure if I could try other coils....the dirt reads about 2 fe bars and grabs at 65 GB..and loaded in iron..I turned it on went to the artifact mode 3 tone 17 sens......and started hunting...well I was in the thick iron and not really finding anything ..so I got over on the edges of the site where more larger iron is at and less nails.. still alot of nails but less than the center of the site..And low and behold I managed to find a few targets...and whats weird is they all were lead...

One was a Deeeeep chewed up .58 bullet 11 inch loose dirt..... one was a deep 10 inch .58 three ringer drop that left me scratching my head...I must of dug 50 three ringers right there over the years and for the last couple of years all my unit swould not get another,, and one was a small poker chip out of the same hole I dug a breast plate out of years ago..Not sure how I never dug than poker chip I've swung that same hole a hundred times...

well after taking it to other sites I started seeing a pattern... this thing loves high conductors..epsecially coins...it really locks up on coins ...round objects it loves..

DD's are nice on it but it really likes the stock Concentric for depth...

The iron tone by the way is of the rolling tone type.. a crown cap sounds awful on it...all over the place tone...

The tones are very sure of themselves are very tight ...the I.d. is pretty accurate and not overly floppy...more like a Omega I.D.


In higher mineral its like any other unit is starts to suffer...

I wish it had a way to move the tone breaks for better unmasking..

But for the market it's aimed at it,,really for the price its in a league of its own...

Its a solid performer..and it has a great wide spread on coins for trash..

People will love the point spread.. for the cash if yuor after say a ace 350 or a coinmaster or something of that nature then your going to love this new contender in my opinion.. it brings alot to the plate...

heres a I.D. number demo..

nickle 35
Dime 66
Copper penny 67
Zinc Penny 54
Quarter 80

so the spread is NICE for the park hunter..

heres some shots of the unit and a rain pic and some finds from back in March..




















Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2015 01:17AM by Keith Southern.

Thanks for Another informative report. Now I are an Xspurt wit de 44. lol

Great report Keith....I was mesmerized for a few minutes there.

Great report. Sounds like it is loaded with features for that price.

Discrimination is the root of all evil.

So segment 3 would be from 30-39 and a nickel hits at 35 that would be perfect. So many times they have the nickel ID right on the break point so you have to leave two segments open to catch the nickels that may hit a bit higher or lower. Will have to try one when they come out. Sound like they have got a lot of features.

Yes as you get lower down the spectrum the target seem to get closer to the middle of the segment...

And yes there's a good but of options for the price...

I may also add I have yet to encounter a EMI problem..

When you turn on the VCO tone its the deepest tone.....Just like on other VCO type units..

I also notice if it makes a sound in disc it shows an I.D. they seem to be running in unison...

It has a good CLEAN disc circuit by the way...Not a sleuth unit in iron by no means.. but its very sure of itself all the same and can have some sneaky depth when you dont expect it.....Just a clean running unit..if you have some coils already then its a great investment to have...Im trying to get my youngeest daughter to like this one ..A machine like this in a first timer's would get them hooked if their hookable,..or even a person wanting to upgrade but not spend an arm and a leg and still stay competitive and have options to tune the machine to the site plus have coil options available...a wide choice of coil options....

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

"Hookable" -------I like that term.

A member of Friendly just started a thread about this thread there. They allow mention of this forum as well as links. Great for all.

A True Threshold based All Metal Mode Keith? I'm certain you've said that, just got to re -check as it's the only reason I'm buying one, plus your mention of it liking round coin-sized objects and a nice tell-tale roughage tonal hint on bottlecaps.

That looks a really well designed machine. When I read that it was "an F4 successor" I was expecting something simpler, but the new machine seems to have plenty of features, possibly too many for the type of purchaser it may attract. I wish they would label the coin mode "US coin", as the 'nickel window' business is no use at all anywhere else in the world.
Interesting that you say it's not that fast - being an F-series machine, I would've espected that to be a guaranteed feature (unless you're comparing it to the fastest high-end machines?)
The weatherproofing is great, and should've been normal on all machines for the past 40 years......

Hi Keith,,Good report but I would actually like to hear how it does in a park type scenario, since it seems to be geared toward that type of hunting.....When you do a manual ground balance in all metal, is it carried over to the discrimination side?....Does it have modulated audio?....Since you are obtaining 11" on bullets can one assume it would air test a penny to about the same distance?.....Is the pin point mode a non motion static type or a VCO type requiring motion etc...?.... More questions to follow?....Thanks Keith.....JJ

What numbers do the trash items come in at?

I'll get a video up maybe Tomorrow..
that will answer questions maybe better than I can tell you..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

possum mo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What numbers do the trash items come in at?

it's build off the new BH pro platform.

1-19 iron
20-29 foil
30-39 nickel/tabs
40-49 tabs/alum
50-59 zinc
60-69 copper cents/dimes
70-79 quarters
80-89 halves
90+ dollar

although maybe they tweaked the high end id a little if quarter is now 80. on the BH pros the coins all hit in the middle of every segment. The recovery on those was a little slower than say ETP/Omega but the all metal depth was hotter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/21/2015 01:14PM by detectingMO.

Thanks for super report on a new product...Just luv these reports that are not proof read by the manufacturer. Looks like a winner in that price range....

Some of them are not even proof read by Keith!!!

LOL

Seriously, keith - great job.

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

As always much appreciated keith. My 10 year Old's getting his first machine for his birthday in Sept. I think the features along with light weight and pinpoint friendly concentric may suit him well. Nice job!

[www.youtube.com]

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Should I sell my Nokta Core to buy it? lol

No...

but for the money and the depth it gets in dirt on coins especially is quote impressive...

remember I said sneaky depth...

well the video shows the SNEAKY depth...hits you when your not expecting it...


Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Thanks, Keith

For impatient viewers, go to 17 minuted in - then the fun really starts!

Keith, have you got a small coil to try the nail deck test with? Maybe a DD?

Rick Kempf
Gold Canyon AZ- where there is no gold

I do...ill see what i can get recorded..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Looks a nice clean and user friendly machine... Hope to try one at some point.

Good video Keith

seems like a fun little machine to play with and also not too bad for depth PLUS it's weather proof too -

good little backup unit to toss in the truck and have on hand

thanks for sharing

Good report Steve, sounds like a more than decent machine for the price.

Thanks!
Paul

I forgot to link this..

Sorry ..

[www.youtube.com]

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2015 03:12AM by Keith Southern.