I have owned every model Explorer, beach, parks, relic hunting have done it all with that machine. The Deus will be a shock to your system at first. The Explorer has far superior target ID accuracy plus the added 2nd axis of Ferrous/non-Ferrous target information the Deus lacks. Even when it provides an ID (on deeper targets it won't even guess) the ID gets iffy and jumps around at depths where ID is still solid on the Explorers. So that's the main adjustment you would have to make Deus vs Explorer. I'm using multi tones which are pretty good with reactivity at 1. Deus sucks ass at dealing with rusty crown caps where on the Explorer they are a non issue, notch them out and done. The crown caps overlay the coin ID on Deus making this worse. So would not be my machine for a site that has a lot of crown caps. Yes there are techniques for figuring out if its a crown cap or not but you would waste LOT of time inspecting crown cap targets vs zero time on the Explorer, slowing down your hunt considerably.
On the plus side the Deus is deep, even deeper than Explorer in highly mineralized soil where I'm hunting now on the west coast. Explorer struggles with this soil Deus pretty much ignores it, just GB and go about your business. I'm using the 9 inch HF round coil. Deus will slam small gold the Explorer won't even touch, again I'm talking the 9 inch round HF coil at 54 kHz. I assembled a bunch of small gold targets for testing, Deus hit them all, Explorer hit none of them even if you rubbed them on the coil. So to trip up the Deus I went over to the we buy gold place and purchased some more difficult gold targets, small gold chains, gold stud earrings, again the Deus hit them all Explorer none of them. I have not tested the Deus on a wet salt water beach, but in the dry sand it should be great.
Alternatively the same 9 inch round coil can be switched to 14.4 kHz which is more in line with the Explorer, reactivity 1. I started off with reactivity in the 2-3 range and it wasn't getting the depth I would have expected vs an Explorer, reactivity 1 fixed that. Also good targets were easier to pick out by ear based on the size of the target as you sweep it being larger, wider, fuller. Where reactivity 2 and above all the targets trash and coins seemed small and the same size. So save the higher reactivity for those rusty nail hell holes, its nice to have that option but I'd be using reactivity 1 when possible as a first choice. Being able to switch between frequencies without having to switch machines or coils that's cool, Deus is more of an all in one detector in that respect you can reconfigure on the fly out in the field.
Deus is light. I'm turning 55 in a few days and just can't swing the 5 lb Minelabs anymore especially after recent hip and back surgeries. I can swing the Deus for 2.5 hours and never notice any pain or soreness in my arm or shoulder its that light. Also loving the elimination of the cord tangle, its all wireless, love it.
Deus is much sharper in iron. If an iron target seems to be 6 inches wide as you sweep it with an Explorer it will seem more like 2-3 inches with a Deus. Ditto for all targets. I swung a Deus for a couple weeks then took my Se Pro out and the difference was so obvious, all targets seemed large on the Se Pro vs the Deus I was wishing I had brought the Deus that day honestly because everything on the Se Pro seemed like a wider gooey blob where everything was clear and focused with the Deus.
Jerry.
