Vision or V3 Users Sitting on the Fence

[david1962hd]

I studied and researched the Internet for several months prior to purchasing my 1st and only metal detector the Spectra V3. I told myself that if I was going to purchase a metal detector I wanted the best so the Spectra V3 in my opinion was the best, Boy was I Wrong!!!
I studied the manual made several adjustments and did all the things you could do to make my purchase a more enjoyable experience, some things helped, some things didn't which is too be expected. I just could never get the thing where I really wanted it, it was too noisy, too much EMI, Faulting, etc.
I was "Sitting on the Fence" trying to determine if I was just going to sell this thing and/or get a different brand or send it in for the upgrade to the V3i.
Well I went ahead and bit the bullet and sent it in for the upgrade. Whites service center received it on Thursday afternoon and shipped it back to me on Friday afternoon. Because of the weekend I received the unit Monday morning. WOW!!!! What a wonderful and quick turnaround time.
While the unit was gone I downloaded and printed out the manual for the V3i and read over it several times and I also read forum posts so I wouldn't be "Shooting in the Dark" when my unit returned. I was still "Sitting on the Fence" and was not sure if I would be satisfied.
After receiving my unit back and getting it all together with the wireless headphones and stock 10" coil, I headed into the front yard and started testing this thing out. After about 30min of playing around with it, I know NOW that I have my "Dream Machine". WOW, what a difference the upgrade made!!!!
The "Stereo Headphone Mixed Mode Audio" is Wonderful, I really like that.
The "Polar Plot Analysis Screen" is Great, I can see using that alot in the near future.
The "Embedded Quick Reference System" is the answer to all your questions and they are right in your hand as you are detecting. I can see that to be a good thing.
The EMI, noise, faulting, etc. that were giving me problems with the stock 10" coil were not completely gone but I feel with a few minor adjustments will be almost eliminated.
I'm no "Seasoned Veteran" or "Expert" at MDing, I am just a "Beginner" to this wonderful hobby so I can't claim to know it all, but I do claim to know that if your "Sitting on the Fence" and want to make your Vision or V3 a "Dream Machine" 125.00 is well worth the money to capture that dream.

 

[Rob (IL)]

As long as you are happy that is all that counts. Rob[attachment 171436 Reading.gif]

 

[Hunt4Fun]

Hi David,

My original Vision behaved as you described ... lots of noise, falsing and flashing on the display. Like you, I made all of the adjustments following forum advice that should have calmed the Vision down but did not. In addition, I own a bunch of coils for my MXT so I tried them all on the Vision. None of them calmed the it down so I knew the problem was not just a bad coil. The MXT coils are not V rated but at very low RX and DS they should have worked just fine but to me the Vision was not ever really stable.

The year before all of this I had bought a DFX which I never warmed up to. I tried really hard to like the DFX. I found things with it but I never felt comfortable with nor enjoyed using it. I found myself drifting back to my comfortable MXT and eventually sold the DFX to a fellow club member. BTW, he likes and is doing very well with the DFX.

Considering my history with the DFX, I assumed it was me that was not doing something right with the Vision. I struggled along with it for months trying everything I read about many times over. Then one day it dawned on me that even though I had opportunity to go I had not been detecting for over a week. I realized that frustration with the Vision had caused detecting to no longer be fun. For the first time in months I took my MXT for a hunt and had a great time. The next day, as a last chance effort, I sent the Vision for the V3i upgrade having little faith it could help all that much.

When the Vision returned I took it to the back yard for a test run. Within a minute I decide White

 

[Schrecky]

Wow, I wish I had your success. The upgrade didn't help with my unstable, noisy signals. I have to play with frequency settings, gain settings, etc to get it to settle down even a little. I'm on my 3rd 10" DD coil. They caused a lot of problems too. I'm also finding myself doing less detecting with the V3i mainly due to the frustration with the machine and doing more detecting in the water with my Excal. I don't give up easily and even though I've had it for 14 months I enjoy taking it out and trying to get the most out of it.

 

[Hunt4Fun]

Hi Schrecky,

I gave up using the 10

 

[pointer80]

Hey guys, Let me get this strait. Your saying it cost you 125.00 for them to FIX your machine so it was usable? That does not sound right to me. Did'nt the V3 have three software updates and major coil issues and then to get it to run right it still cost the customer money! I know guys I had to pay 25.00 return shipping on mine and 25.00 to ship it to them. That is the major reason I sold mine and bought the other brand. I really think whites dropped the ball on this one.

 

[nw1886]

Haven't evidenced any "ball dropping" with my machine. My Vision worked fine, V3i upgrade even better.

 

[Southwind]

No pointer80 that is not the case. You sound a bit bitter. What everyone has said is that they feel the upgrade(s) have improved the V3's performance. Big difference. My Vision worked just fine and in fact was able to run head-to-head with my other top detector. Now my V3i performs BETTER than my other top detector.

My Vision was noisier than my DFX but probably still not as bad as the F75 or the MXT. Now it is more stable than my Vision was.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Pointer80, you made the right choice for you. I hope you are happy. My V3 is still great and my V3i is better, but my V3i is a NEW detector. Now when I get my V3 updated, NOT FIXED, I will have a second NEW detector for a $125. That's a bargain in my book. Just because you don't understand is no need to be bitter. Now go off to your other forum and learn your new detector.

I'm going to sell my second V3 soon because Whites service is SO GOOD. I really don't need a back up for my V3i. On the other hand, I know people who have the other brand and haven't got their detector back from repairs in 3 months. Rob