Critterhunter
New member
I just got off the phone with a friend who has owned a lot of machines over the years. We spent a good hour or more mostly talking about the mysteries of life when it comes to proper settings for his new DFX at certain sites. How one thing affects the other and how those settings can change at different sites based on many factors including ground minerals.
What it comes down to is that most of these "tweaks" that the DFX needs you to tell it to do in order to try to gain max performance are automatically handled by the great technology behind BBS and FBS Minelab machines. What the heck do I need to worry about ground phase for when my Sovereign even eliminates the need for a ground balance. It doesn't have to "walk down that road" and so it doesn't need to be concerned about all the little details involved in walking through it. And you guys thought the Explorer or Etrac had a lot of settings. Let me tell you, they are pretty "basic" in terms of control over a machine's operation compared to a DFX or V3.
That's not a swipe at the Minelabs, it's a compliment in that they handle many things on their own to gain max performance and depth, or don't even need to factor in those controls because FBS and BBS technology just eliminate the need to consider those obstacles to a detector's performance all together. It's like walking versus riding in a car. Some machines can only walk and so you need to consider a comfortable shoe, shortest path to destination, is it raining outside, and all that other painful detail. On a Minelab you are driving there and so there is a lot less you need to even worry about. Who cares if it's raining or my shoes aren't comfortable, I'm still going to get there without all those hassles the guy walking has to deal with, and much faster (or deeper, in terms of metal detectors).
I'm not apposed to computer controls on a machine and do like some of those features on very rare occasions when a very specific situation warrants it, but I'll tell you this much- I've never been in a situation with my GT where I said "Man I wish I had such and such control feature that I used to have on my Explorers to tweak this baby out at this site." Depth and performance is always there with your Sovereign with more than enough controls to obtain it, and even an Explorer or an Etrac is a lot less hassle to get there than it is on other "Flagship" detectors from other companies. Proof is in the finds in the various forums as well as the numerous questions of "What do I do here?" in the "top of the line" Whites forums verus the "Look what I found here." in the Minelab forums. I love to talk technical stuff but truth be known even I have a headache from that conversation.
Here's the clincher....So you've finally built the perfect program for the more complicated (complicated and sophisticated are TWO different things) detector. It's like building a house of cards on the kitchen table. Everything is just "perfect" and it took a lot of time to get there. Along comes somebody and they whack the thing down and say "OK, now build it on this table over here." In a sense that's what you have to do when you change sites with certain machines. Glad for the most part Minelabs build most of the lower levels of that house of cards for you, letting you control the final touch to make it just right.
Yea, I'm pounding back a few. But I've got an excuse....I'm trying to get rid of my "DFX" headache.
What it comes down to is that most of these "tweaks" that the DFX needs you to tell it to do in order to try to gain max performance are automatically handled by the great technology behind BBS and FBS Minelab machines. What the heck do I need to worry about ground phase for when my Sovereign even eliminates the need for a ground balance. It doesn't have to "walk down that road" and so it doesn't need to be concerned about all the little details involved in walking through it. And you guys thought the Explorer or Etrac had a lot of settings. Let me tell you, they are pretty "basic" in terms of control over a machine's operation compared to a DFX or V3.
That's not a swipe at the Minelabs, it's a compliment in that they handle many things on their own to gain max performance and depth, or don't even need to factor in those controls because FBS and BBS technology just eliminate the need to consider those obstacles to a detector's performance all together. It's like walking versus riding in a car. Some machines can only walk and so you need to consider a comfortable shoe, shortest path to destination, is it raining outside, and all that other painful detail. On a Minelab you are driving there and so there is a lot less you need to even worry about. Who cares if it's raining or my shoes aren't comfortable, I'm still going to get there without all those hassles the guy walking has to deal with, and much faster (or deeper, in terms of metal detectors).
I'm not apposed to computer controls on a machine and do like some of those features on very rare occasions when a very specific situation warrants it, but I'll tell you this much- I've never been in a situation with my GT where I said "Man I wish I had such and such control feature that I used to have on my Explorers to tweak this baby out at this site." Depth and performance is always there with your Sovereign with more than enough controls to obtain it, and even an Explorer or an Etrac is a lot less hassle to get there than it is on other "Flagship" detectors from other companies. Proof is in the finds in the various forums as well as the numerous questions of "What do I do here?" in the "top of the line" Whites forums verus the "Look what I found here." in the Minelab forums. I love to talk technical stuff but truth be known even I have a headache from that conversation.
Here's the clincher....So you've finally built the perfect program for the more complicated (complicated and sophisticated are TWO different things) detector. It's like building a house of cards on the kitchen table. Everything is just "perfect" and it took a lot of time to get there. Along comes somebody and they whack the thing down and say "OK, now build it on this table over here." In a sense that's what you have to do when you change sites with certain machines. Glad for the most part Minelabs build most of the lower levels of that house of cards for you, letting you control the final touch to make it just right.
Yea, I'm pounding back a few. But I've got an excuse....I'm trying to get rid of my "DFX" headache.
