MINELAB F1A4 ex military metal detectors - tips, settings, questions

[Tathradj]

Thanks for that.
Starting to think about getting one.
I can do the minor mods my self.

 

[downhalo]

Well I can tell you, they're worth the $... hard to get a good PI for under $1000.

 

[Darryn]

Hey downhalo

I'm thinking of getting one of these detectors myself. If I pm you would you have pictures or diagrams of the mods you have completed on your detector so I could put them into this new unit. I currently have a garrett at gold and I think one of these units would be a great asset.

Thanks regards
Darryn

 

[downhalo]

Which mods?..

The extra frequency mod..
Coil plug mod
headphone mod
?

I've never messed with timings..

 

[Darryn]

The headphone plug
The frequency mod
And the ground balance

Would you recommend any others for a std unit

 

[downhalo]

Honestly, I wouldn't recommend Timings or Frequency mod (unless you're a very steady hand with a soldering iron, and have proper test equipment)

 

[nuggethunter]

i notice you have a spreaker in there, is that factory? do they remove this for level 2 mods?

 

[downhalo]

Yeah, they have to remove it, not much real-estate to work with on that front panel..

That photo is of a machine i modded for someone a few weeks back..

I might have these posts removed, Feels like I'm pulling off a thread hijacking.

Will make a new post. in DIY

 

[nuggethunter]

your still relating to the F1A4.
i do see the issue?

 

[downhalo]

Doubt anyone cares, but still..

Made another post in the DIY section

 

[nuggethunter]

i would try keep all F1A4 info here.
for me i keep watching here for any new info mods changes for these machines.
im loving my one, though yet to find any gold in 40ish hours

 

[downhalo]

Took me a while to score my first bit.. Very nice half a gram chunk in a dry creek bed..
I tend to target dry creeks, gullies, shallow bedrock, I'm quite lucky, not many people swinging detectors down this way.

 

[Darryn]

Hey downhalo

Thank you very much for that information it's very helpful

Which detector would be the better one the Garrett AT Gold or the F1A4 minelab with those few mod's done to it

Regards
Darryn

 

[downhalo]

Not so easy to compare PI vs VLF..

The AT gold is a great detector its comparable to most of the top end VLF machines on the market. they all have the same issue, hot ground = game over..
the constant noise and chatter makes it pretty hard to pick out the good signals from the ground noise.

If i had to pick one machine, It would probably be the Whites SPP lol.. Its new, it has a warranty..

Really, I'd pick the F1A4... its sensitive to small gold, good depth.. less ground noise/chatter..

AT Gold is brilliant on sub gram stuff (and smaller) but I can't get past the VLF chatter..

 

[qldnuggytom]

OK Hi all I have had the F1a4 for months now picked it up for $650 and had it on the gold fields twice now found no gold to be honest but have tested on nuggets out there from others and the machine works Great was running on very mineralised grand and was great NOW to do with the mods I think Mods are great but can break I believe in running the stock machine with adapters if something breaks you can run it stock again but with a tweaked Sound output set up it it gives it almost double the depth in air tests.... What I have done is grab the Adapter cable off ebay to run other mono coils But have decided the stock 8 inch coil is a monster and want to keep running it BUT after getting the adapter cable I realised ill just get an adapter made up for the earpiece I got that for $130 and the stock mono coil adapter cable for $130 also.. so we are upto $910
then I bought the B&Z Booster exactly like a rooster booster but runs its own triple AAA battery's for its power so the earpiece adaptor goes into the booster and you can run a speaker or headphones and with the volume control on the booster you now have a volume knob AND it helps a lot with the thresh hold tone as well you have to use the B&Z booster though because the earpiece doesn't produce enough voltage to run a speaker or headphones BOOSTER was $195 with speaker so im in for $1105 for a good PI detecting gold machine BOYS it really is the way to go Before the F1a4 I had a modded sd 2000 and this IS better FULL STOP

the earpiece adapter runs the stock Mill-spec plug to a 6.5 female mono

 

[downhalo]

Indeed... hard to beat it for the price, (maybe the whites SPP) ..

I've got both, modified and unmodified, I prefer the modded machine (just because)..

Kind of wish I had gone your route of buying the B & Z booster, built my own, and they work great, but I have about 8 versions and I spent more than $195 on the prototypes before i got it just right lol..

oh well next time! then again, $195 for $30 in parts.. maybe not..

Also, Minelab do not service or support the F1A4 any more, so i guess if you do let the magic smoke out, you're screwed (unless you're me) I can put it back in.

 

[nuggethunter]

Indeed... hard to beat it for the price, (maybe the whites SPP) ..

I've got both, modified and unmodified, I prefer the modded machine (just because)..

Kind of wish I had gone your route of buying the B & Z booster, built my own, and they work great, but I have about 8 versions and I spent more than $195 on the prototypes before i got it just right lol..

oh well next time! then again, $195 for $30 in parts.. maybe not..

Also, Minelab do not service or support the F1A4 any more, so i guess if you do let the magic smoke out, you're screwed (unless you're me) I can put it back in.

do you have 1 of them special smoke making tools?
i lost the smoke outside but couldnt catch it before it got away, it will need some smoke made up first.

 

[downhalo]

Its magic! don't question it lol.

Also, I just got done putting an F1A4 back together, that was supposed to be modified to level 2... everything looked good from the outside..

Toggles were in the correct places, volume threshold and tone too, however the guy noticed right away that flipping the switches had no effect on the detector, volume knob worked fine, but nothing else..

he dropped by at 8:14am this morning, opened the front panel (none of the "mod" components (toggles, pots) were connected.. so basically the guy charged $650 to open the case, drill some holes in the front panel mount some toggle switches, and pots and apply a few labels...

none of the coil plug wires were soldered properly, and actually had to be de-soldered from the PCB and replaced as half the plastic sheath was melted off the wires.
also he had hooked up the speaker to headphone jack.. (uses more power)

Anyway, pro tip, use someone with a good rep, not a cheap price..

 

[Goldtarget]

Use someone with a good rep not a cheap price...amen brother. I hope the world is listening. .. This goes for all things.

 

[nuggethunter]

That is wrong.
I would be taking it back to the guy with a please explain this crappy work.
Im unsure who done mine. it hasnt failed or faulted in anyway so far. (Touch wood)