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

[flashhunter]

glad I could help twapster I was in the same position not knowing what to buy. Im glad I went with the F1.
Goodluck with the nugget hunt

 

[Jaros]

Can anyone tell me what the "best" DD coil to use on the F1A4 please.
Jack

 

[k man]

Hey flash hunter what settings have you found the best with your nugget finder? I run medium and 2 and gain flat out with threshold on 1/4 turn using nf 14 inch also large and 3.be interesting to see what others prefer once they step away from the stock coil

 

[Jaros]

Can anyone tell me what the "best" DD coil to use on the F1A4 please.
Jack

 

[Guest]

I've got the 10x5 joey DD 11" commander DD neither run well on the F1A4, they work fine.. but sensitivity is awful, even on the little one..
If you MUST run DD, then smaller is probably better.

 

[Guest]

I've got the 10x5 joey DD 11" commander DD neither run well on the F1A4, they work fine.. but sensitivity is awful, even on the little one..
If you MUST run DD, then smaller is probably better.

 

[Jaros]

Hi LT, since placing the post i have spoken to Jack Lang in FNQ and he is testing the F1A4 with Detech SEF Butterfly 10 x 12 DD coil and he is pretty well raging about it. The price is very good as well $180-00. Very low now noise in mineralised grd. with good depth.

 

[flashhunter]

hey Kman
On the small coil I ran S on 1 or 2 and the 17 inch M on 2. It all depends on what size gold your chasing I guess. . I couldnt run gain at full tilt where I was the ground was abit hot . I had it about 3/4 most of the time. I watched ya video on other post, I dont run threshld that high it would drive me crazy, just enough to hear it. I havent had mine spazz out like yours did. How long did it take to figure out it was the speaker. hahaha

 

[Twapster]

So what would be the best setting for a mod 2 level F1A4, im going Friday and would love to know opinions on 'standard settings" that are perfect for standard gold prospecting. Any advice?

 

[k man]

What coil you planing on running twapster? I would suggest if you run the standard proberbly small and 2 and start from there.I try to pump my gain up as high as possible they seem to handle it easy.only once I've had to drop it back a bit due to high mineralization and hot rock city.you will proberly have to play around with it a little bit but the mods area a sinch to navigate

 

[flashhunter]

M and 2 are stock settings I think. It works good on most size nuggets on that setting i found. I would go with wat kman said if using the stock coil. deadly on the small nuggets and there are more small ones than big ones left I think. Dont quote me on that. Will still go bonkers on a big nugget just not at max depth.

 

[Guest]

Hi LT, since placing the post i have spoken to Jack Lang in FNQ and he is testing the F1A4 with Detech SEF Butterfly 10 x 12 DD coil and he is pretty well raging about it. The price is very good as well $180-00. Very low now noise in mineralised grd. with good depth.

Awesome, Glad DD's are working out for someone.. sure not for me..

 

[k man]

That's good.tell jack to put another vid on utube with his dtech trials next time u speak to him.I'm sure it will help boost his sales aswell :lol:

 

[Jaros]

Hi L.T., after a few words with John Morris in Melbourne i have decided to go with the Nuggettfinder 18" mono. It was explained to me that the depth gained by the mono far outweighed any difference the DD coil made.

 

[Guest]

wow 18" mono! that's a big one Jaros.. You'll be digging big holes (hopefully for big gold)..

 

[old hand]

Jaros for a big coil use a hip stick I also use a extra strap from the coil knuckle where the stem bolts onto the coil. Another thing to consider is a solid coil or super light coil just that the solid coils have more shielding than the S/L so on the f1a4 a solid may be the way to go.Think of where you will be doing all of your detecting can you swing a 18 coil close to the ground regards john

 

[Jaros]

Thanks John, i will be using the standard 8"mono coil around tree roots and rocks. I am working on getting or making some form of harness for the back saving properties. I looked up body harnesses on ebay and came up with a variety of devices for people of different persuasions. Interesting.
Cheers Jack

 

[Twapster]

Thanks John, i will be using the standard 8"mono coil around tree roots and rocks. I am working on getting or making some form of harness for the back saving properties. I looked up body harnesses on ebay and came up with a variety of devices for people of different persuasions. Interesting.
Cheers Jack

I wear a small camo backpack when detecting for holding water and bits and pieces etc. I made a bungee clip on the straps just about where your collar bone is and attached it to about the middle of the shaft on the detector. I can now swing with 2 fingers and that mod cost nothing!

 

[Jaros]

Hey Twapster, i went to Aldi this morning and picked up a Crane Cycling backpack with a 2 litre hydration pack inside, also a holder for a chiller block to keep it cool--$24-99. Very well made and lightweight. Pockets for phone/wallet/heart attack pills etc.
It also has a few points from where i will be able to dangle the detector from.
Thanks for the tip mate.
Cheers :lol:

 

[The Nugget]

Hi all, just thought I would throw my 2 cents in.....for what it is worth!

"One" of my detectors is the F1A4, I have used it for around 30 hours or so in the field and have found gold with it, small gold at that too.... 0.23 grams. So, yes it does find trash, it finds very small pieces of lead shot, and it finds gold with the standard fitted coil. I like it, simple to use and quite cost effective. I have since added the audio plug, ground balance momentary switch and coil adapter.
I do have a few coils for it, but I seem to go back and put the standard on a lot!

(Pic is magnified for info)

Chris