The very neutron-deficient isobars 179 Pb and 179 Tl have been produced using the fusion-evaporation reactions 104 Pd( 78 Kr,xpyn), where x 1 and y 2. The gas-filled separator RITU was employed to transport and separate the recoiling nuclei of interest from the scattered beam and unwanted products. The GREAT spectrometer was used to study the decay properties through α-α and α-γ correlations, which has allowed the ground state of 179 Pb to be assigned as I π = 9/2 − . The decay of 179 Pb was measured to have an α-particle energy and half-life of E α = 7348(5) keV and t 1/2 = 2.7(2) ms, respectively. A search for a νi 13/2 state in 179 Pb was performed, but only a limit of excitation energy and half-life was obtained. In 179 Tl a t 1/2 = 114 +18 −10 ns isomeric state, likely at an excitation energy of 904.5(9) keV, was identified and is tentatively assigned to be a 9/2 − proton intruder state.