F4 noise

[Shambler]

Hello everyone! I'm new 'round here and pulling my hair out with an F4. I'm hoping an F4 user can help me :)

I've got an Fisher F4 to compliment my son's Ace250. My F4 seems very confused. The manual says when you use ALL METAL mode that you should ground balance it to "just" silent or to a slight hum. No matter which method I use, mine makes a skipping\erratic, static sounding buzz. There's no "hum" about it. Same when you use the pinpoint feature. It's a loud erratic buzz. It does get louder over metal, but prior to the metal it oscillates so much that its hard to tell what's going on. Does anyone know if that's normal? Am I using it incorrectly?

Also, when hunting in disc. mode, it bounces all over even at level 1 sensitivity. If you run over a quarter at 4" (that I buried), it will give you three tones depending on the coil location and it's very difficult to pinpoint. You run the Ace250 over it and its very obvious where it is and what it is... same with my gold wedding ring. At 8" the Garrett catches it but the Fisher only tones every two or three sweeps (like it's just out of reach). Is anyone seeing similiar behavior?

THANKS!!

[Ric-san]

Wow, for a minute I'm thinking you lived by an USAF airfield and there were some old F-4 (vietnam era) aircraft jets making some noise...they sure did back then...but also were retired in the 80's..lol!

[EBCIII]

Welcome to the site! Glad to have you on.

It sounds like for sure an issue with the detector? I guess you have checked all the obivious stuff? Coil connection, batts, that kinda stuff. It may just need a trip back to the dealer? I do hope you get it fixed, Beale.

[Mauthe]

I do believe that when the F4 was introduced they had a recall right away on the machine, check with Fisher and see if your's is one of those.

Brian

[anne]

Welcome to TQ, get back to your dealer as the machine appears to have a fault.

[Shambler]

The dealer wouldn't take it back, the local service companies aren't allowed to work on F4's, and Fisher told me they'd have it 4 days - 3 weeks!

A friend suggested I try new batteries... even though it had 3 of 4 bars, I did it. It's a WHOLE different machine! The jury is still out on wether that was all the problem, but it certainly put me closer to having the great detector I thought I was getting. How embarassing!