Learning the V3i

[daddyflea]

I hunted most of the day today and did not find Squat. Not even a zinc penny. I was very seriously considering trading for an etrac. Got home and taped a Penny (Zinc) and a Nickle to my Wife's size 7 Flip Flop. I disconnected my Coil and started playing with settings. The reason I used a Zinc is that a lot of the Wheat Pennies I find hit in the Zinc range.

I learned the following. I need to quit using the 10X12 SEF all the time. It provides way too much Iron Masking in most of the areas i hunt. Unless it is a real clean area. I need to use the 6X10 most of the time.

I am not happy with the V3i slow Recovery. I had to set it to 20 to 25 to get it to hit reliably on both the Penny and the Nickle as they passed together under the Coil. I had my Recovery set at 35 to 45 most of the time. I want to hear both targets as I pass over them.

The sensitivity level from 1 to 15 does not have near the effect on depth that the Disc Sensitivity does. To get really good depth this setting needs to be around 95. If it is too noisy, the regular Sensitivity needs to be dropped, since it does not effect depth near as much.

I watched a Video that was pushing the ability of the Minelab to show two targets on the Display at the same time. I discovered that if I slow down the Fade Rate the V3i does the same thing in three frequency mode. I saw the Nickle and the Penny both on the Spectrograph at the same time. The more I study this Spectrograph the more I like it.

I sped up my Ground Tracking and I am not sure this was good move or not. My V3i was real Noisy today and I off set to -5 Frequency and this seemed to help.

I can not blame the machine for not finding anything though, the Weather was nice so I hunted out of the way areas where I have not hunted. I did find one of these areas that had a good bit of trash, so I believe that is the spot I need to investigate the next time I hunt.

Comments?

 

[Larry (IL)]

I would slow down the ground tracking or better yet, lock it. Mine runs a lot quieter in loctrack but I don't have the need for tracking in my ground. I have got into the habit to manually GB about every half hour or so.

 

[PostalTwo]

Try running consistency instead of intensity i think u will like it

 

[quicksilver]

Can someone explain the difference between consistency and intensity? Thanks

 

[PostalTwo]

Consistency – Spectragraph shows consistency of VDI number.
Max - 1 – 50 – Adjust the Spectragraph height (number of specific VDI
indications to generate the maximum size of the bar.
Intensity – Show the intensity of each VDI number indication.
Base Threshold - 0 – 90 – Bottom of graph is this % of the strongest
signal.

consistency- show how many times the machine sees the target for the bars to build height
intensity - show the signals strength based on what u set the base threshold to . eg if set to 80 only the strongest signal and those that are 80 percent as strong as the strongest signal will be shown . everything else will be ommitted

 

[PostalTwo]

I hunted most of the day today and did not find Squat. Not even a zinc penny. I was very seriously considering trading for an etrac. Got home and taped a Penny (Zinc) and a Nickle to my Wife's size 7 Flip Flop. I disconnected my Coil and started playing with settings. The reason I used a Zinc is that a lot of the Wheat Pennies I find hit in the Zinc range.

I learned the following. I need to quit using the 10X12 SEF all the time. It provides way too much Iron Masking in most of the areas i hunt. Unless it is a real clean area. I need to use the 6X10 most of the time.

I am not happy with the V3i slow Recovery. I had to set it to 20 to 25 to get it to hit reliably on both the Penny and the Nickle as they passed together under the Coil. I had my Recovery set at 35 to 45 most of the time. I want to hear both targets as I pass over them.

The sensitivity level from 1 to 15 does not have near the effect on depth that the Disc Sensitivity does. To get really good depth this setting needs to be around 95. If it is too noisy, the regular Sensitivity needs to be dropped, since it does not effect depth near as much.

I watched a Video that was pushing the ability of the Minelab to show two targets on the Display at the same time. I discovered that if I slow down the Fade Rate the V3i does the same thing in three frequency mode. I saw the Nickle and the Penny both on the Spectrograph at the same time. The more I study this Spectrograph the more I like it.

I sped up my Ground Tracking and I am not sure this was good move or not. My V3i was real Noisy today and I off set to -5 Frequency and this seemed to help.

I can not blame the machine for not finding anything though, the Weather was nice so I hunted out of the way areas where I have not hunted. I did find one of these areas that had a good bit of trash, so I believe that is the spot I need to investigate the next time I hunt.

Comments?

I agree with you on the disc sensitivity having more of an effect on depth . I have actually found better clearer more consistent signals in my ground using lower rx gain settings. I suspect this is because I am getting less ground return. A couple things jump out at me.....correct me if I am wrong but u use a faster swing correct? If so your recovery delay settings are scary fast imo ,it would be very easy to miss a target sweeping fast with that kind of delay. I would recommend using a slower delay. I use around 60 for my delay and it seems to be a happy place for me and it's still quite quick for rd. I also use discrimination on my machine now as I find it doesn't affect depth much and helps quiet the ground in a trashy area. I'm a coin shooter and disc out everything 45 an lower with good success. I have found coins with iron in the hole several times. Threshold is another player I run mine at 1 it seems to help with EMI for some reason. My Gb is allways at 0 offset and tracking speed is 5 .if it's trashy I find a clean area gb and lock trac. Try those setting out and see if there's any improvement Gl hh

 

[daddyflea]

I hunted most of the day today and did not find Squat. Not even a zinc penny. I was very seriously considering trading for an etrac. Got home and taped a Penny (Zinc) and a Nickle to my Wife's size 7 Flip Flop. I disconnected my Coil and started playing with settings. The reason I used a Zinc is that a lot of the Wheat Pennies I find hit in the Zinc range.

I learned the following. I need to quit using the 10X12 SEF all the time. It provides way too much Iron Masking in most of the areas i hunt. Unless it is a real clean area. I need to use the 6X10 most of the time.

I am not happy with the V3i slow Recovery. I had to set it to 20 to 25 to get it to hit reliably on both the Penny and the Nickle as they passed together under the Coil. I had my Recovery set at 35 to 45 most of the time. I want to hear both targets as I pass over them.

The sensitivity level from 1 to 15 does not have near the effect on depth that the Disc Sensitivity does. To get really good depth this setting needs to be around 95. If it is too noisy, the regular Sensitivity needs to be dropped, since it does not effect depth near as much.

I watched a Video that was pushing the ability of the Minelab to show two targets on the Display at the same time. I discovered that if I slow down the Fade Rate the V3i does the same thing in three frequency mode. I saw the Nickle and the Penny both on the Spectrograph at the same time. The more I study this Spectrograph the more I like it.

I sped up my Ground Tracking and I am not sure this was good move or not. My V3i was real Noisy today and I off set to -5 Frequency and this seemed to help.

I can not blame the machine for not finding anything though, the Weather was nice so I hunted out of the way areas where I have not hunted. I did find one of these areas that had a good bit of trash, so I believe that is the spot I need to investigate the next time I hunt.

Comments?

I agree with you on the disc sensitivity having more of an effect on depth . I have actually found better clearer more consistent signals in my ground using lower rx gain settings. I suspect this is because I am getting less ground return. A couple things jump out at me.....correct me if I am wrong but u use a faster swing correct? If so your recovery delay settings are scary fast imo ,it would be very easy to miss a target sweeping fast with that kind of delay. I would recommend using a slower delay. I use around 60 for my delay and it seems to be a happy place for me and it's still quite quick for rd. I also use discrimination on my machine now as I find it doesn't affect depth much and helps quiet the ground in a trashy area. I'm a coin shooter and disc out everything 45 an lower with good success. I have found coins with iron in the hole several times. Threshold is another player I run mine at 1 it seems to help with EMI for some reason. My Gb is allways at 0 offset and tracking speed is 5 .if it's trashy I find a clean area gb and lock trac. Try those setting out and see if there's any improvement Gl hh

Thanks you are right on. I actually changed my RD last night have not tried it yet. Tracking speed I am not sure of. I was thinking it was too fast and changed it to real slow. Last night I was getting all kinds of false signals and eventually switched to SALT and that seemed to solve it. I will try your tracking speed. Thanks for the reply

 

[timber]

A computer friend of mine once gave me this sagely advice. "Default is a wonderful thing"
Which is where I find myself on many hunts after getting lost with all the tweaks available on this machine .
I have had my V3I three years now and still really have not gotten my head around it .
This is a really good thread for my learning curve.

 

[daddyflea]

One thing really jumped out at me. I saw your tracking speed was 5. I noticed the factory default was 25 and Max out much higher. I have not tried anything that fast. I do like to listen to my Threshold. Very faint but there. My problem is I get a lot of false signals then when I slow down they go away. I did increase my SAT to 20 which is also the Default setting. I was at 16. I am trying to get Maximum Depth without slowing my swing or getting Noise. I have a killer place to hunt but the Stubble is 4-6 inches so I need all the Depth I can get. Newest Coin I have found in this spot is around 1945.

I hunted most of the day today and did not find Squat. Not even a zinc penny. I was very seriously considering trading for an etrac. Got home and taped a Penny (Zinc) and a Nickle to my Wife's size 7 Flip Flop. I disconnected my Coil and started playing with settings. The reason I used a Zinc is that a lot of the Wheat Pennies I find hit in the Zinc range.

I learned the following. I need to quit using the 10X12 SEF all the time. It provides way too much Iron Masking in most of the areas i hunt. Unless it is a real clean area. I need to use the 6X10 most of the time.

I am not happy with the V3i slow Recovery. I had to set it to 20 to 25 to get it to hit reliably on both the Penny and the Nickle as they passed together under the Coil. I had my Recovery set at 35 to 45 most of the time. I want to hear both targets as I pass over them.

The sensitivity level from 1 to 15 does not have near the effect on depth that the Disc Sensitivity does. To get really good depth this setting needs to be around 95. If it is too noisy, the regular Sensitivity needs to be dropped, since it does not effect depth near as much.

I watched a Video that was pushing the ability of the Minelab to show two targets on the Display at the same time. I discovered that if I slow down the Fade Rate the V3i does the same thing in three frequency mode. I saw the Nickle and the Penny both on the Spectrograph at the same time. The more I study this Spectrograph the more I like it.

I sped up my Ground Tracking and I am not sure this was good move or not. My V3i was real Noisy today and I off set to -5 Frequency and this seemed to help.

I can not blame the machine for not finding anything though, the Weather was nice so I hunted out of the way areas where I have not hunted. I did find one of these areas that had a good bit of trash, so I believe that is the spot I need to investigate the next time I hunt.

Comments?

I agree with you on the disc sensitivity having more of an effect on depth . I have actually found better clearer more consistent signals in my ground using lower rx gain settings. I suspect this is because I am getting less ground return. A couple things jump out at me.....correct me if I am wrong but u use a faster swing correct? If so your recovery delay settings are scary fast imo ,it would be very easy to miss a target sweeping fast with that kind of delay. I would recommend using a slower delay. I use around 60 for my delay and it seems to be a happy place for me and it's still quite quick for rd. I also use discrimination on my machine now as I find it doesn't affect depth much and helps quiet the ground in a trashy area. I'm a coin shooter and disc out everything 45 an lower with good success. I have found coins with iron in the hole several times. Threshold is another player I run mine at 1 it seems to help with EMI for some reason. My Gb is allways at 0 offset and tracking speed is 5 .if it's trashy I find a clean area gb and lock trac. Try those setting out and see if there's any improvement Gl hh

 

[PostalTwo]

I use a 5 tracking speed because my ground is not very mineralized and it doesn't change much. So I don't want bits of trash throwing it off. The slower speed make it so the gb has to be out more and for longer before it will adjust it.

 

[PostalTwo]

One thing really jumped out at me. I saw your tracking speed was 5. I noticed the factory default was 25 and Max out much higher. I have not tried anything that fast. I do like to listen to my Threshold. Very faint but there. My problem is I get a lot of false signals then when I slow down they go away. I did increase my SAT to 20 which is also the Default setting. I was at 16. I am trying to get Maximum Depth without slowing my swing or getting Noise. I have a killer place to hunt but the Stubble is 4-6 inches so I need all the Depth I can get. Newest Coin I have found in this spot is around 1945.

I hunted most of the day today and did not find Squat. Not even a zinc penny. I was very seriously considering trading for an etrac. Got home and taped a Penny (Zinc) and a Nickle to my Wife's size 7 Flip Flop. I disconnected my Coil and started playing with settings. The reason I used a Zinc is that a lot of the Wheat Pennies I find hit in the Zinc range.

I learned the following. I need to quit using the 10X12 SEF all the time. It provides way too much Iron Masking in most of the areas i hunt. Unless it is a real clean area. I need to use the 6X10 most of the time.


I am not happy with the V3i slow Recovery. I had to set it to 20 to 25 to get it to hit reliably on both the Penny and the Nickle as they passed together under the Coil. I had my Recovery set at 35 to 45 most of the time. I want to hear both targets as I pass over them.

The sensitivity level from 1 to 15 does not have near the effect on depth that the Disc Sensitivity does. To get really good depth this setting needs to be around 95. If it is too noisy, the regular Sensitivity needs to be dropped, since it does not effect depth near as much.

I watched a Video that was pushing the ability of the Minelab to show two targets on the Display at the same time. I discovered that if I slow down the Fade Rate the V3i does the same thing in three frequency mode. I saw the Nickle and the Penny both on the Spectrograph at the same time. The more I study this Spectrograph the more I like it.

I sped up my Ground Tracking and I am not sure this was good move or not. My V3i was real Noisy today and I off set to -5 Frequency and this seemed to help.

I can not blame the machine for not finding anything though, the Weather was nice so I hunted out of the way areas where I have not hunted. I did find one of these areas that had a good bit of trash, so I believe that is the spot I need to investigate the next time I hunt.

Comments?

I agree with you on the disc sensitivity having more of an effect on depth . I have actually found better clearer more consistent signals in my ground using lower rx gain settings. I suspect this is because I am getting less ground return. A couple things jump out at me.....correct me if I am wrong but u use a faster swing correct? If so your recovery delay settings are scary fast imo ,it would be very easy to miss a target sweeping fast with that kind of delay. I would recommend using a slower delay. I use around 60 for my delay and it seems to be a happy place for me and it's still quite quick for rd. I also use discrimination on my machine now as I find it doesn't affect depth much and helps quiet the ground in a trashy area. I'm a coin shooter and disc out everything 45 an lower with good success. I have found coins with iron in the hole several times. Threshold is another player I run mine at 1 it seems to help with EMI for some reason. My Gb is allways at 0 offset and tracking speed is 5 .if it's trashy I find a clean area gb and lock trac. Try those setting out and see if there's any improvement Gl hh

U know sat is for metal only right? Good for when your using mm. I think mine is at 5 or 10 I'd have to look. If it's too high it can adjust out a target.

I have a few questions....what are your sensitivity numbers,txb on/off ,what filter are u using, what is your ground like (high/low % minerals) ,are u using mm,how fast is your swing from left to right in seconds ? Also is your site free of emi? What is the trash density like really trashy?

 

[daddyflea]

U know sat is for metal only right? Good for when your using mm. I think mine is at 5 or 10 I'd have to look. If it's too high it can adjust out a target.

I have a few questions....what are your sensitivity numbers,txb on/off ,what filter are u using, what is your ground like (high/low % minerals) ,are u using mm,how fast is your swing from left to right in seconds ? Also is your site free of emi? What is the trash density like really trashy?

I try to target a RX of at least 10-12 TXB is off I try to use 10 band Pass but usually wind up using 12 High. I never use MM. I use 3 Freq, Best data, Consitency set about 25-30, and i swing fast. I like to use my SEF 10X12. My ground is low minerals. I always have high trash. I hunt old houses and fair grounds. I am sure I have a little EMI but not much.

SAT set to 5 or 10 would be very quick and I only use All Metal to PP. I saw that 20 was Default and mine was set on 16. It is hard to get a good steady threshold across ground like this.

Your Tracking set at 5 would be very quick. I am trying to get a good quiet machine but I know I have to keep my Disc set at 90 or above to get depth. I have been as low as RX 6 before my machine was quiet. I sometime have to hunt in SALT mode when it is really wet.

 

[PostalTwo]

U know sat is for metal only right? Good for when your using mm. I think mine is at 5 or 10 I'd have to look. If it's too high it can adjust out a target.

I have a few questions....what are your sensitivity numbers,txb on/off ,what filter are u using, what is your ground like (high/low % minerals) ,are u using mm,how fast is your swing from left to right in seconds ? Also is your site free of emi? What is the trash density like really trashy?

I try to target a RX of at least 10-12 TXB is off I try to use 10 band Pass but usually wind up using 12 High. I never use MM. I use 3 Freq, Best data, Consitency set about 25-30, and i swing fast. I like to use my SEF 10X12. My ground is low minerals. I always have high trash. I hunt old houses and fair grounds. I am sure I have a little EMI but not much.

SAT set to 5 or 10 would be very quick and I only use All Metal to PP. I saw that 20 was Default and mine was set on 16. It is hard to get a good steady threshold across ground like this.

Your Tracking set at 5 would be very quick. I am trying to get a good quiet machine but I know I have to keep my Disc set at 90 or above to get depth. I have been as low as RX 6 before my machine was quiet. I sometime have to hunt in SALT mode when it is really wet.

Sat does not affect pp or disc. It for all metal motion modes. Tracking of 5 is slow not fast. SAT of 5 is also slow. Mm is a good idea if u wanna detect deep or sort out the false signals

Rx6 txb = on is my deepest setup. Even with txb off I still get great depth at rx 6

 

[daddyflea]

Sat does not affect pp or disc. It for all metal motion modes. Tracking of 5 is slow not fast. SAT of 5 is also slow. Mm is a good idea if u wanna detect deep or sort out the false signals

Rx6 txb = on is my deepest setup. Even with txb off I still get great depth at rx 6

That may be part of my problem I thought a ground tracking value of 5 was extremely fast. I knew i needed to slow it down but apparently I was going the wrong way.

 

[PostalTwo]

Sat does not affect pp or disc. It for all metal motion modes. Tracking of 5 is slow not fast. SAT of 5 is also slow. Mm is a good idea if u wanna detect deep or sort out the false signals

Rx6 txb = on is my deepest setup. Even with txb off I still get great depth at rx 6

That may be part of my problem I thought a ground tracking value of 5 was extremely fast. I knew i needed to slow it down but apparently I was going the wrong way.

Yes lower number equals slower tracking. Lower sat equals slower self adjusting threshold. Best of luck let us know how ur doing with it. It sounds like a difficult site for any machine cheers

 

[daddyflea]

Your right this Site is about 15 Acres which is very big. It has not been maintained for a long time. This means the Stubble left from the Shredder is 6" high in a lot of places and the Stubble is actually small trees that were cut with the Shredder. This was an old School, Fair Grounds, then a Skating rink which closed in the early 60s. I have found coins there from 1800s to late 40s. I got this place by asking to hunt and after hunting a while the Owner came and checked on me. I had a White Plastic Bucket about half full of Junk and the Owner went ballistic after he looked in the Bucket. He said every item in the Bucket potentially saved him a Hundred Dollars because they cut his Tractor Tires. He told me he would allow me exclusive access until I got through hunting. There is one place that always produces coins but since this has turned into the Monsoon season it has been under water for a while now. Problem is my machine has to really see deep to get under the Stubble. Every Coin found here is a keeper. I found a V Nickle last week which is only my second V Nickle. I got really excited a while back when I found a large Woman's Broach. It came up Gold. It was Gold until the air hit it then the places where the plating was thin started rusting through. Found very little silver. Just a Barber or two and a couple Mercuries. Most finds are Nickles. Most are Buffaloes. I figure this is because of other Metal detectors that went over the site years ago just did not see Nickles like the New Modern Machines do. There used to be a lot of Metal Detectors in the area. Now I can not get anybody to hunt with me.

Sat does not affect pp or disc. It for all metal motion modes. Tracking of 5 is slow not fast. SAT of 5 is also slow. Mm is a good idea if u wanna detect deep or sort out the false signals

Rx6 txb = on is my deepest setup. Even with txb off I still get great depth at rx 6

That may be part of my problem I thought a ground tracking value of 5 was extremely fast. I knew i needed to slow it down but apparently I was going the wrong way.

Yes lower number equals slower tracking. Lower sat equals slower self adjusting threshold. Best of luck let us know how ur doing with it. It sounds like a difficult site for any machine cheers

 

[PostalTwo]

What we do on sites like that is bring in a gas powerful weed Wacker with the solid blades and cut down the vegetation. We do an area about 20 by 20 and grid the he'll out of it. Then move on and cut down another section . A little extra work. But worth it I think

 

[daddyflea]

What we do on sites like that is bring in a gas powerful weed Wacker with the solid blades and cut down the vegetation. We do an area about 20 by 20 and grid the he'll out of it. Then move on and cut down another section . A little extra work. But worth it I think

Man that is dedication right there.

 

[PostalTwo]

What we do on sites like that is bring in a gas powerful weed Wacker with the solid blades and cut down the vegetation. We do an area about 20 by 20 and grid the he'll out of it. Then move on and cut down another section . A little extra work. But worth it I think

Man that is dedication right there.

Oh yeah buddy we go hard . It can be the difference between finding and leaving empty handed lol