First few days with the V3i

[jwebs]

So, I got the V3i in on Friday, and I went out to one of the oldest(and most hunted) parks in the city, expecting to turn on the machine and instantly start nailing 10" silver quarters previously missed by others...Boy was I mistaken! First outing, the weather was rather uninviting--it wa a chilly 40

 

[BeachCleaner]

Don't change too much too fast, a lot of people have and had negative results. To check if a coil is good you turn rx=15 and hold it out at waist level and it should not overload, if it doesn't your coil is good and the null of the coil matches the v well, if it passes the rx=15 tx=on you have a very good null. Keep plugin away at the old park, You will find the silver the other machines missed.

 

[jwebs]

I've been logging some hours, and I've found that the high trash program is a really great program for some of the places that I like to hunt--old parks, abandoned, empty lots, easements in old parts of town, etc. This machine is totally awesome, and while I had my doubts about spending the money on it during my first few days out(that frustration was heart wrenching), I'm seeing more and more how much more powerful the V3i is than the DFX. As far as the coil goes, the null on it was amazing--I think that it only got up to about 25% signal loss with Rx @15 and tx boost on...the only problem was that it falsed anytime anything touched...I'm guessing the windings were loose or something.

 

[Daugela]

Thanks for the info. I'm considering a V3i.

Out of curiosity, how much experience did you have with your DFX before upgrading? I ask because I'm wonder how steep the learning curve is.

Are there other recommended coils? Why would the D2 make a difference?

 

[Rob (IL)]

The D2 made a difference because his other coil was bad.

 

[mortamus]

The coil that comes with the V3I isn't the one you want to use in a park..its good for the beach and thats about it at least in my world..

Go get a sniping coil a 4x6 and also a 6x10 they are incredible on the v3I it will open up a whole new world for you. Pin pointing is a perfect breeze

You can do anything you want with the V3I its a very easy machine

 

[Rob (IL)]

Actually for most guys the 950 or 12" concentric is the best beach coil.

 

[jwebs]

Thanks for the info. I'm considering a V3i.

Out of curiosity, how much experience did you have with your DFX before upgrading? I ask because I'm wonder how steep the learning curve is.

Are there other recommended coils? Why would the D2 make a difference?

I got my DFX late 2011--around november or so if I remember correctly. I'm guesstimating here, but I'm certain I got over 300 hours on it. I ended up getting an 8x6 SEF shortly before I got my V, and that seemed to give me the perfect option for what I like to do--normally I hunt pretty trashy lots where old houses used to stand, older areas of town, and trashy sidewalk strips.

I felt like the 4x6 was way too tiny when I had one early last year, but I may end up getting another now that I can really get a sense of how much stuff is TRULY in the ground--I modified the High trash program to my liking, and I've been running Magic's modifications to tones(5 as the tone for -80 all the way to 10) and accepted - VDIs all the way down to ground mineralization level, and all I can say is HOLY MOLY!

For instance, just today I pulled a couple of nickels, running with the 8x6 at an empty housing plot--nothing special, but the TID and VDI weren't absolutely locked like a nickel(or any other coin, really) normally is in pretty clean ground, but the **incessant** iron 5 tone grunts being interrupted consistently by a VDI spread of about 6(from about 17-23), in both situations, prompted me to dig. Experiencing this gives me much more

There's a LOT to customize and tweak, and it takes some time to get used to knowing what each site might require changing to get the *most* out of the V3i(I'm still learning, of course), but it gets a lot easier with time--I've only had the V for a month, and I already feel much more comfortable with it than I did the DFX--even after a few months with it.

I've got to mention that I got a 12x10 SEF last week, and I'm THOROUGHLY impressed. I happened to get a good one(I can run it at RX gain of 15, tx boost on, and signal loss is only a little bit over 20%), so I don't think I'll be going back to using a D2 anytime soon...it's lighter, much more coverage area, and much more stable than the D2, and it seemed to get deeper as well.