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Just how good is this Machine.

R

Rick in West Virginia

New member
I have never used a Whites machine,is this the best they ever made and if so how is it compared to the Explorer XS I use to own the detector of flute sounds, or any of the other high end Labs and Fisher. If anyone has the newest updates did it make it better?
 
There lots of posts on here to help you answers your questions. I think that certain aspects of the exp could be better at some things, but for me....the v3 is the best all around detector. I like coins but truly.....Im after the mother lode of jewelry. Once I tried the v3...I was hooked!
 
The V3 and V3i has more potential than any other general use machine made, you can look below at my "list" to see what I compare to. It does not have the fluty sounds that I hate (I hardly ever use the SE and if I do I use it in ferrous/multi nadh the E-TRAC I use in ferrous/2-tone) All the top end general use machines I have used are compitent and according to your ground some of the middle of the road detectors are as good as any.
Of course the main thing is getting through the learning curve and getting the best accessories for your type of hunting. Most people prefer the 5,3 coil, some prefer the 950 coil and neither come with the V3. However there is nothing wrong with the stock D2 (10" DD coil) to me it is slightly heavy but my friend who is several years older has no problem with it. I have particular back problems and it will probably not be a problen for you.
As you can also see from my detectors, they all use DD coils so I am not very expetienced with concentric coils and that is probably why I prefer DD coils, that and in my medium to high mineralized soil the DD coils work better, IMO.
For me the Explorer was very hard to learn, mostly because I tried to learn it in conductive/multi-tones and all those sounds drove me crazy. I didn't have a problem with the T2 or F75 because I prepared myself with the knowledge that they were going to make a lot of noise. (I went from my first machine, the SovereignGT to the T2 as my second machine, the Tejon was third) If you have ever used a Sovereign you know how quiet it can be and how pleasant the tones are... the T2 sounds are more like two neurotic wildcats in a box and I used it for three weeks with the connector loose before I finally called the factory, they immediately told me to wiggle the connection. I tighened it and it calmed down.I hunted with it for over a year as my main machine and I found a lot of goodies with it. Right now I use the E-TRAC, F75LTD, and V3 as my main machines according to where I am hunting, what I am hunting, and how muchtime I have to hunt the site. In the best case I will use all three because sometimes one machine will outperform the others but they all will perform. I would probably do better if I just stuck with one machine and another as a back-up... but alas... I love detectors.

I tell you all this to say: If you get a V3 be prepared to learn a lot of new stuff. It may seem overwhenming at first because White's uses different terms for settings and adjustments than ML does and you can adjust a LOT more settings. In fact you can tweak pretty much anything and almost everything you tweak interacts with other settings... so you have to watch all the videos you can find on youtube and you need to read the manual and make notes like you are studying for a test... you need to really understand the V3 to get the best out of it... or you can set it to "coin and Jewelry" lower the sens a little, keep the RX lower, turn tone id off... and hunt. You will make finds.

If you buy one and if you can find one... you'd probably save money if you buy a V3 then send it in for the upgrade to the V3i.... I am not sure about that but you can ask your dealer. White's will be setting up several regional service centers for these upgrades, you may find that you live near one. My favorite two coils for the V3 are the stock D2 and the 4x6 DD shooter and the SEF 6x8 butterfly coil that I borrowed.

Bottom line, be prepared to spend a good bit of time learning. If you are like me you will be frustrated for a while, then everything will begin to click. One problem with learning the V3 is that most people here and other places online just assume that whoever reads their posts has used a White's detector in the past and is familiar with White's terminology but if you don't understand... ask questions and find someone you can hunt with who is already good with the V3. I recommend the WHP, they are a little tight and if I don't stretch the frame a little and wear them slightly toward the back of my head I get a tremendous headache, if they squeeze my temples... but they sound great! If you find an experienced user who is willing to show you how they use it then you can walk with them using the WHP while they use wired phones. You can then hear and see all that they are seeing and hearing and ask questions.

One more thingto say in a PM...

Julien
 
In my opinion the V3 is a great machine, for me I moved from the 6000 Di/Pro that I've had for several years, into the digital triple frequency age with the V3. It has been a wondrous transition that I am really enjoying. I have hunted more in the last month with the V3 than I had in the previous 15 years with the older machine albeit my kids are older and don't consume all of my time as in the past. I can't give a point to point comparison with the other more recent Whites machines so I will just express my overall satisfaction, with it.

Was it money well spent? Yes

Am I finding more stuff? Yes..in the trashy area's it has real advantages.

Am I finding more silver? Nope.. but I think that is more a matter of being in the right places.. I'm a park hunter mostly so these places tend to be picked pretty good.
But I am finding a lot of wheaties, and more Nickels than I have ever found before. So the Silver is bound to come as well.

Depth? I have dug some iron targets 9 inches, some copper wire at 10 plus, and even some buckshot at about 8 inches. Coins deepest for me was about 7 inches. (so it is very sensitive)

It has performed consistently for me in Texas, California, and in Illinois ground balance is excellent, and tweaking the RX values up really helps make the targets come alive.
 
I agree with jbow.....the only thing I have to say is that......and I think he said it too........When I first used it.....I did no study on the v3. I borrowed it and started detecting....pretty easy to use out of the box but of course could be better with time and tweaking.
 
Very informative thank you. I did read everything I could about the Minelab ES before I bought it and it was comforting to me that I really had know trouble with it. I even had people from Ohio come and hunt with me that had the ES and other units. I agree different detectors seem to work better in different environments. One guy even learned a trick from me and I was knew to the ES and he was impressed. But I was impressed when we all really weren't finding anything at this 1890 built closed down high school. One gent whips out an Whites MXT and starts finding nickels like they were being giving out and I mean like 20 of them in about 10 minutes under where old bleachers use to be. I tried like the others with the ES and it was just to hard and some would work with their settings and started turning up a few coins one even found a Barber dime. The the gent with the MXT found a class ring, I whipped the Compass Gold Scanner Pro out and I found 5 nickles a 1909 Barber dime at a whopping 1 inch deep where the corner post of the bleachers use to be set in concrete and lots of iron, I was so amazed that I called everyone over and had them give it a try. The MXT with a sens adjustment found it. The ES no.. then Mine lab guys changed coils to the little coil 6 inch I think they were or are. I had one too. All said and told the numbers were like this. The Minelabs once we all understood what was going on had found plenty of coins. The MXT guy found another class ring and we did find the owners families and they where returned. the oldest one was a 1959 and then the other was a 1977 ring. We had found over 150 coins and 70 of them silver it was a great learning experience. I learned you don't have to max out your power to find stuff. We actually went to smaller coils less sensitivity and did a great job. I really did good here with the Compass because I had confidence with it. I later found a 1980 Class ring that belonged to my neighbor down the road.
I like to learn but new things and I am not a brand man yet but the Flutey sounds from the Mine lab just don't go with my bad hearing. I am thankful for your input Julien.
 
You know, what I hear is a bunch of folks raggin about how the flutey sounds of a minelab are and that makes it tough to learn, but then I hear how hard the V3 is to learn, and boy, ya really gotta study and it has such a steep learning curve.

After 36 years doing this, and having owned numerous machines, Whites historically makes a fine detector.Minelab makes a fine detector. Tesoro makes a fine detector, as does fisher and even Garrett.

ALL of these detectors, in fact EVERY detector I ever owned, was difficult to learn in terms of REALLY making it produce. Here is my best suggestion to anyone.

LEARN to use whatever detector you choose, and that will make you a better detectorist for that machine. In terms of abilities, go to the different forums and look at the finds made with the machine, particularly in the area you choose to hunt. THAT would be the machine for me.

Now I will give you my opinion. If I examine the finds made as illustrated by photos on this site as well as others, I think the Minelab kicks the crap outta anything out there overall. I will take an Explorer, and THEN learn the fluty signals any day knowing I will be diggin coins all the way to china further than other machines.

I do think Whites outperforms Explorers on jewelry when it is finely woven necklaces and such, but I still find plenty of rings, watches, necklaces, etc. with my explorer.

Take the time and look at the photos of what people are finding on the findmall site, and THEN use your own judgment. I did.

Dennis Wynne, owner and master of Explorer XS, EX II, and ETRAC, formerly a dedicated white supremacist ( in the metal detecting sort of way)
 
I agree with almost everything said except the posting part. I know many users of Minelab and White's alike and while most of the Minelab users post their finds, most of the White's users do not. I don't have a clue why that would be so, and I'm even guilty of the same. I posted just about everything found with my SE Pro while I post very little of my V3 finds. Old coin finds by both are about the same and Gold jewelry finds are far more often with the V3. I guess that I don't have to prove myself with my finds on the V3 forum and I did on the Minelab forum. :shrug:
 
I think it's interesting to note that you said you found out that you didn't need to max out the power to find stuff. My experience has been that if you run your detector very hot, you WILL find deeper targets, BUT you will lose a lot of sensitivity to small targets - especially those with low VDI numbers - like gold rings. I use an XLT almost exclusively (till I get my V3!) and although I could run the xmit all the way up to the max with my bigfoot coil, it does increase the chatter a bit and masking becomes a much more severe problem. I have found that I find just as many coins with a power of 4 or 6 as I do at 8 or 10.......and I find a lot more gold at the lower settings. Now, if I was a relic hunter looking for that CSA buckle at 12 inches down, it might be an entirely different story.....
 
Well at the last hunt we were at, the Minelab did not better than the V3. Actually they found the same amount of silver and as usual you don't see the silver posted on this site. I don't know what it is but there just aren't that many posts. On the MXT post everyone posts their finds. It just seems like no one is interested in posting finds. Check out when someone posts. They usually get few replies.

"Dennis Wynne, owner and master of Explorer XS, EX II, and ETRAC, formerly a dedicated white supremacist ( in the metal detecting sort of way)" Come on Dennis who are you trying to convince. Larry is an expert on Minelabs, if I had to look for a Minelab expert I would ask him. We have nothing to prove. I don't bash Minelabs except for their customer service of late. [attachment 160557 ani_einstein.gif] Rob
 
Good advise...........I can't stress enough that all adjustments are a double edged sword, gain something here, sacrifice something there.
 
I have been detecting since 1973, used every machine known to man. Bottom line is I have a lot of time on the Minelab explorer and it is a great detector, goes deep but the V3 will hang in there in most places and better on low conductors leaps and bounds.
When you factor in White's unbeatable customer service my vote goes to the V3. I still have my explorer as a backup but find I am using it less and less.
There is literally no end to what you can do with the V3. I only use the high pro program and have dug mini balls down to 14" with the stock coil and 950 loop.


I also use an all metal program that is working really well. I dug a shell fragment about 16" and it was only a 1" by 2" pc. That is the deepest I have ever dug a small fragment that small even with a 15" coil on a DMC 2-B

The only issue I have had is with electrical interference but all the new highly sensitive machines seem to have an issue with EMI and especially the multi frequency machines.

If someone is new to detecting I would never buy a top of the line detector until you decide whether metal detecting is for you. Someone gave that advice a while back and I thought it was great. These machines are great but complex and you can get discouraged if you don't hit it big with that much money out of pocket.

My Lincoln cents worth
 
Good report and advice. Rob
 
n/t
 
Maybe, but I rarely post pictures. I don't come on here to post finds but to get information. I make finds regularly with whatever machine I hunt with but I rarely take pictures and even more rarely post pictures.... maybe I should but like I said... i'm not here to look at finds or to post finds. I have questions and sometimes I come across some useful information to share.

Julien
 
I posted that I wanted to buy a used V3 and got one reply.
Ended up buying a dealer demo unit.

People that have them dont want to give them up!

Willee
 
It might have cost you a few extra $$, but good dealer support and training is worth the money. Welcome to the V3 forum Willee.
 
I got my V3 late last October and found my 1st gold ring with it early in December. I posted the picture. It was only a small thin band, but meant alot to me. Alot of guys posted comments and were really cool about it, and happy for me. Less than a month..and 300 pulltabs later, I found another one except it had diamonds. I posted it along with the picture too. Hardly anyone said anything except a few guys who know me from another forum. I was shocked and pretty disappointed considering how much I contribute to the forum and especially just after I posted my ring, a newbie found his first silver coin, and had tons of people commenting on it. How often do I or anyone else find a gold ring inland? Not often, I havent since. Sometimes I wonder if some people are just jealous or think some of us are just posting bogus finds. Whatever. You wanted to know, well there it is.
Happy Hunting,
Aaron.
 
Hey, don't take it personal because it wasn't. I mentioned that many times pictures just don't get comments on the forum. Who knows? I remember posting about Larry and I finding over 300 quarters on a weekend. It was good enough for a $100 story but I think it got about 3 answers and one of them was Larry's. :crazy: So what, don't stop posting.[attachment 160802 Reading.gif] Rob
 
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