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

[user 5286]

Sold my level 3 about 4 years ago, imo they don't compare to even a gpx 4000 let alone a 4500.. very unimpressive detectors. but thats just my experience.

 

[AuMan]

Sold my level 3 about 4 years ago, imo they don't compare to even a gpx 4000 let alone a 4500.. very unimpressive detectors. but thats just my experience.

Just curious, was the one you had done by Detectronics or Detectormods?
Reason I ask is that the Level 3 that I(Detectronics) do and the Detectormods Level 3 are completely different mods. Woody got his "Level 3" to open market just before we did and we had already coined it a Level 3 during testing and presales as it was the next after the Level 2. Probably should have called it a level 4 instead as it was a big jump over the level 2.

I have had many experienced users of 4500's and 5000's who once they got a Level 3 F1A4 were very impressed and mainly use the f1a4 now. The GPX still has a place in the kit however. There is no one detector that does it all. Also there have been numerous tweaks made to the level 3 mods over the last few years.
Another thing that can let the detector down and cause a bad user experience is coil quality. Some coils will work perfectly fine and other not at all. There is nothing I can do about that. It is to do with coil construction. The Nugget Finder Evolution coils will work very well on the F1 and any machine. I have tested many on the bench(and field) and the construction is very consistent across the range.

Cheers Mick

 

[user 5286]

Sold my level 3 about 4 years ago, imo they don't compare to even a gpx 4000 let alone a 4500.. very unimpressive detectors. but thats just my experience.

Just curious, was the one you had done by Detectronics or Detectormods?
Reason I ask is that the Level 3 that I(Detectronics) do and the Detectormods Level 3 are completely different mods. Woody got his "Level 3" to open market just before we did and we had already coined it a Level 3 during testing and presales as it was the next after the Level 2. Probably should have called it a level 4 instead as it was a big jump over the level 2.

I have had many experienced users of 4500's and 5000's who once they got a Level 3 F1A4 were very impressed and mainly use the f1a4 now. The GPX still has a place in the kit however. There is no one detector that does it all. Also there have been numerous tweaks made to the level 3 mods over the last few years.
Another thing that can let the detector down and cause a bad user experience is coil quality. Some coils will work perfectly fine and other not at all. There is nothing I can do about that. It is to do with coil construction. The Nugget Finder Evolution coils will work very well on the F1 and any machine. I have tested many on the bench(and field) and the construction is very consistent across the range.

Cheers Mick

Hey Mick, not sure who actually modified the detector I purchased it from a guy in Canberra, I paid $1600, It had two 3 position switches, and 3 knobs installed on the front panel. other than that it looked completely stock.

My distaste for it came about due to using either of the two switches installed made it very unstable and noisy, to the point where the only way to shut it up was to shut it off. guy i sold it too is still rocking it.

 

[AuMan]

Sold my level 3 about 4 years ago, imo they don't compare to even a gpx 4000 let alone a 4500.. very unimpressive detectors. but thats just my experience.

Just curious, was the one you had done by Detectronics or Detectormods?
Reason I ask is that the Level 3 that I(Detectronics) do and the Detectormods Level 3 are completely different mods. Woody got his "Level 3" to open market just before we did and we had already coined it a Level 3 during testing and presales as it was the next after the Level 2. Probably should have called it a level 4 instead as it was a big jump over the level 2.

I have had many experienced users of 4500's and 5000's who once they got a Level 3 F1A4 were very impressed and mainly use the f1a4 now. The GPX still has a place in the kit however. There is no one detector that does it all. Also there have been numerous tweaks made to the level 3 mods over the last few years.
Another thing that can let the detector down and cause a bad user experience is coil quality. Some coils will work perfectly fine and other not at all. There is nothing I can do about that. It is to do with coil construction. The Nugget Finder Evolution coils will work very well on the F1 and any machine. I have tested many on the bench(and field) and the construction is very consistent across the range.

Cheers Mick

Hey Mick, not sure who actually modified the detector I purchased it from a guy in Canberra, I paid $1600, It had two 3 position switches, and 3 knobs installed on the front panel. other than that it looked completely stock.

My distaste for it came about due to using either of the two switches installed made it very unstable and noisy, to the point where the only way to shut it up was to shut it off. guy i sold it too is still rocking it.

Thanks for clarifying.
If it were one of mine, you'd have 4 green/grey knobs and one toggle switch on the front, a 4 pin sd/gp power plug and two rotary switches on the back for frequency and timing. There are pictures on my website on the F1A4 page.
User experience is completely different I can assure you!

Cheers Mick

 

[PhaseTech]

One of my customers has put up some videos of the modded F1A4 in action. They are on the Nugget Finder Users Group on Facebook.

Stability to me seems like a well tuned 2100 - i.e. a lot more stable than a 2200 which was known for it's "jitters".

 

[stevenj48]

One of my customers has put up some videos of the modded F1A4 in action. They are on the Nugget Finder Users Group on Facebook.

Stability to me seems like a well tuned 2100 - i.e. a lot more stable than a 2200 which was known for it's "jitters".

Thanks will have a look i'm a member on that group.