Can't wait!

[Cedar-Acres]

I placed my order for a V3i yesterday evening. Just checked, it is in "Pending" status. Can't wait for it to be shipped! Until then I am reading up on everything in this and other forums to learn all I can about it.

 

[nw1886]

You'll enjoy this machine. Like you, a friend of mine has experience with an Eagle Spectum and has swapped with me on a few hunts. Without getting too deep in the menus, he does real well in understanding the basics and is planning on getting a V3i when funds allow. In a lot of hunting, we both find good stuff but there is this one place we go a lot (It is about as tough as it can get due to being an old bulldozed townsite), and the adjustments with the V changes the game so much it isn't funny....or fun for the person who is using the Eagle! You are in for a real treat and congrats on taking the plunge. Did you end up getting the headphone too?

 

[Cedar-Acres]

Yes, I ordered it with the wireless headphones. My question about the headphones was to determine if I could also use wired at the same time as wireless for training my 10 year old son. If it wasn't going to work I would have had to get 2 sets of the wireless and wasn't too excited about laying out the cash for a second set if I didn't need to.

I am really looking forward to trying the V at a couple old bulldozed home sites on the family farms. I had tried the Eagle there and didn't have much luck because of all the iron and trash. I also have numerous old sites to visit that have been picked clean over the years. The V should allow me to go deeper for the old items still hidden there. There has also been a fair about of construction/renovation at some 100+ year old sites I have access to, can't wait to see what was stirred up.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I answered the phones question.

Just remember the V3i is a Very Good Multi - Frequency VLF IB Detector, it is not a magic wand. It can only do so much and it can't do its best until you learn how to adjust it to your hunting sites. Rob

 

[nw1886]

As a primary set, there is such a huge convenience and quality of audio with the wireless, you will appreciate them long after the initial cash outlay. But....would not buy them as a secondary set either!!!! Operator tethered and trainee wireless is the way to go. It is a great training tool that helps teach exponentially. You will enjoy the experience with your son.

 

[Cedar-Acres]

Finally got my V3i yesterday afternoon! Got it put together and the battery on the charger. Was just tickled to find the spare battery pack came already stocked with alkaline batteries so I could power it up and play right away. Took it out into the 98 degree heat and 90+ percent humidity and almost died playing with it. The heat was bad enough but the ground was so hard it was like trying to dig in cement. As I expected I didn't find anything other then snippings from the aluminum flashing/sofits/gutters and nails/screws from when the house was built about 12 years ago. It is built on the corner of a farm in what was farm field that had not been inhabited since the native indians left centuries ago. I have found numerous arrow heads but no metal artifacts on that site. I dug (more like jackhammered) the targets to verify they were what was indicated. At least the yard is a little cleaner now.

I really need to get out in the morning when it is cooler so I can do some real hunting. The forecast shows a little cooler temperatures and a chance of rain going into the weekend and more of the same into next week. Will probably take my son out in the mornings this weekend and see what the V3i can really do.

My initial impression of the V3i is that it lives up to the hype and more.

 

[nw1886]

Right on! One of the best things to do is to look at learning the V3i as two different projects.

First one is coil to the dirt and digging a lot of different types of signals at first. (This is a huge deal as the different types of "garbage" are going to have specific patterns that you will avoid/dig in the future.) Have fun,learn basic adjusting, pinpointing,cross sweeping etc... and aside from finding some good targets.....your learning here will "open things up" for you down the road.

The other is sitting down with "just" the control box (No rods or loops.) and navigate away through that menu. Learning that alone will teach you not only "where things are" but will teach you some of the relationships they all have with one another. (Don't let all this adjustability lead you to think it's complicated...eventually you'll realize that you won't be messing with things in volume...just bumping a few adjustments here and there.) Sitting down and making a complete program for specific use will come later...but for now, stick close to factory programs and do the basic balancing and adjusting in those. Have fun!

 

[Cedar-Acres]

Thanks for the advice! I had used a White's Eagle Spectrum for a little over 10 years and was just itching to get the V3i out to see how it compared. What a difference, but then again there was a comfortable familiarity to it. I spent the 3 days before receiving it watching the online White's V3 video manual and reading up a bunch here and on the White's forum. I believe I have a basic grasp of the machine and just need to get it in a target rich environment to see how it does on the stuff I am looking for. Tomorrow evening I will take my son to a nearby school with a ball park that is used for the annual town picnic. The picnic was a little over two weeks ago. The last time I checked that site was about 14 years ago and I found a bunch of clad change totaling more than $25 worth. Hope the trip this time is at least half that! After I have used it awhile and feel I am ready I will tackle the expert menu settings, for now the stock programs will work fine.