Curious about the VX3 ............

[Elton]

Has anyone gone from V3i to VX3 and found it a better experience ???

I know a V3i can be a VX3 and not VX3 a V3i... Just wanted to know if VX3 operated better with less complicated settings...

 

[Rob (IL)]

Since a V3i can operate like a VX3, then the question is answered. Of course why operate a V3i like a VX3? The reason to buy a VX3 over a V3i is it is cheaper. That is if you don't need the D2 coil, the rechargeable batteries and adjustable tones. The lack of adjustable tones is the deal breaker for me.

Just because the VX3 has fewer options doesn't make it easier.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Same detector Elton just less features and hardware.

 

[Elton]

Guess I was just disappointed in my self with the poor understanding I seemed to have on the V3i..Wondered if the VX3 did more internal adjustments set up through factory settings..

Again thanks guys.... appreciate your responses..

 

[Rob (IL)]

The V3i and VX3 are the same inside but the VX3 has a different user interface which limits your options.

 

[Wayfarer]

Elton, yes, I am someone who went from the V3i to the VX3 and had a better experience. I recently sold my V3i because I wasn't using it. But a funny thing happened, as I was researching selling my V3i and suddenly spending time on the forums, I got the bug again. I was about to give the V3i another try but it sold in less than a day after I posted it for sale, and I was already somewhat regretting it. Anyway, long story short, a few weeks later I bought a VX3 for a great price and have been using it quite a lot ever since.

Here are my thoughts: the best feature of the V3i for me anyway was the three frequency pinpoint. The VX3 has this. There are only about 25% of the adjustments on the VX3 but they are the ones you really need, RX Gain, disc/am sensitivity, etc. I never really liked the Tone ID on any detector, I just use the spectragraph anyway, so the lack of Tone ID wasn't an issue at all. In fact, I prefer the single tone. I used my V3i in various conditions in different parts of the country, and the 5 Hz bandpass filter was always the best, so no big loss on the lack of filters either. The menu system on the VX3 is far simpler and easier to negotiate. Polar plot and analyze don't really give you any more data than the spectragraph, it's just presented differently, so with the VX3, all the raw data is still there for the user via the spectragraph. I rarely used TX boost except to escape EMI, but with the VX3, all I do is turn down the RX gain.

Overall, it does just as well as my V3i without the nagging thought in the back of my mind that I could be adjusting/tweaking something better. Yeah, I know you can setup a V3i to be like a VX3, but without the extra adjustments, I'm not even tempted! There's something that just sits better in my mind knowing that I haven't messed up the machine with too many adjustments. How many times have you checked your settings with the V3i and found that you adjusted something and forgot (filter, span, correlate, etc.)? Well, with the VX3, there's just a lot less to mentally keep track of and that gives me peace of mind. So far, my VX3 has been doing JUST as well as V3i in actually field use, without the worry that something is adjusted out of whack. And it's not because I don't understand the settings of the V3i, I have been detecting for over 30 years mostly with White's machines and understand very well what the settings are for. I am a technical oriented person, and am a ham radio operator and do all my own repair work and adjustments, understand electronic theory, etc. It just comes down to mental overload with the V3i without any significant increase in actual performance.

So for me, I am definitely having a better experience with the VX3. Super detector! If detecting is about having fun, then I am having more fun with the VX3 knowing that I am getting at least 95% as much out of it as I was my V3i with a whole lot less hassle or worry.

P.S. The only feature I am having a hard time not having is manual ground balance (aka Loctrac Offset). After many years of hunting with my XLT using the manual course GB adjustment, I really miss being able to do that with the VX3. As a workaround, I have learned to "trick" the machine into balancing slightly positive or negative by either pressing the coil to the ground during balance, tilting it, or timing the release of the enter button, to get the desired balance, but it SURE would be easier to simply go up or down a number or two on a Coarse GB adjustment, like I used to with the XLT, but I can live with it.

 

[Rob (IL)]

I guess that is why they make both. As I stated the lack of ID tone is the deal breaker for me. The one thing I don't understand is what settings do you have to make on the V3I that you don't have to make on the VX3 to get performance.

 

[yowow#1]

I traded my VX3 for a V3i because of the adjustable tones on the V3i, just did not like the 1 or 191, outside that i really liked the VX3, much simpler, nothing really to tinker with outside your program settings, i think for any person who likes to tinker and tweak and play with their machine they will be in Detector heaven with the adjustability of the V3i. personally i like it so far and i'm not really a tinkering type person.

 

[sayvor]

Elton, yes, I am someone who went from the V3i to the VX3 and had a better experience. I recently sold my V3i because I wasn't using it. But a funny thing happened, as I was researching selling my V3i and suddenly spending time on the forums, I got the bug again. I was about to give the V3i another try but it sold in less than a day after I posted it for sale, and I was already somewhat regretting it. Anyway, long story short, a few weeks later I bought a VX3 for a great price and have been using it quite a lot ever since.

Here are my thoughts: the best feature of the V3i for me anyway was the three frequency pinpoint. The VX3 has this. There are only about 25% of the adjustments on the VX3 but they are the ones you really need, RX Gain, disc/am sensitivity, etc. I never really liked the Tone ID on any detector, I just use the spectragraph anyway, so the lack of Tone ID wasn't an issue at all. In fact, I prefer the single tone. I used my V3i in various conditions in different parts of the country, and the 5 Hz bandpass filter was always the best, so no big loss on the lack of filters either. The menu system on the VX3 is far simpler and easier to negotiate. Polar plot and analyze don't really give you any more data than the spectragraph, it's just presented differently, so with the VX3, all the raw data is still there for the user via the spectragraph. I rarely used TX boost except to escape EMI, but with the VX3, all I do is turn down the RX gain.

Overall, it does just as well as my V3i without the nagging thought in the back of my mind that I could be adjusting/tweaking something better. Yeah, I know you can setup a V3i to be like a VX3, but without the extra adjustments, I'm not even tempted! There's something that just sits better in my mind knowing that I haven't messed up the machine with too many adjustments. How many times have you checked your settings with the V3i and found that you adjusted something and forgot (filter, span, correlate, etc.)? Well, with the VX3, there's just a lot less to mentally keep track of and that gives me peace of mind. So far, my VX3 has been doing JUST as well as V3i in actually field use, without the worry that something is adjusted out of whack. And it's not because I don't understand the settings of the V3i, I have been detecting for over 30 years mostly with White's machines and understand very well what the settings are for. I am a technical oriented person, and am a ham radio operator and do all my own repair work and adjustments, understand electronic theory, etc. It just comes down to mental overload with the V3i without any significant increase in actual performance.

So for me, I am definitely having a better experience with the VX3. Super detector! If detecting is about having fun, then I am having more fun with the VX3 knowing that I am getting at least 95% as much out of it as I was my V3i with a whole lot less hassle or worry.

P.S. The only feature I am having a hard time not having is manual ground balance (aka Loctrac Offset). After many years of hunting with my XLT using the manual course GB adjustment, I really miss being able to do that with the VX3. As a workaround, I have learned to "trick" the machine into balancing slightly positive or negative by either pressing the coil to the ground during balance, tilting it, or timing the release of the enter button, to get the desired balance, but it SURE would be easier to simply go up or down a number or two on a Coarse GB adjustment, like I used to with the XLT, but I can live with it.

I am pretty sure you can manually gb the vx3. lifting it up 3-4 times when you press on button?? I know the old timers here definitely know how to do it.

 

[Elton]

n/t