New DEUS owner question

[Motherlode Mike]

I asked this question in the metal detecting forum not realizing this forum existed. Sorry for the repost here.

I have found thousands of gold nuggets over the years but have never even held a coin/relic machine. In those years of gold hunting I've come across dozens of miners homes and camps dating to the California gold rush. Some of them in pristine condition with valuable relics right on the surface. Even one where I picked up an 1872 dime shining up looking at me. After years of meaning to pick up a detector for these sites I have finally bought an XP DEUS with a 9" coil.

As an extremely experienced gold detectorist who has zero clue about this type of machine I am hoping to pick up some beginner tips from the generous knowledge of you forum members. I will primarily be using this in iron infested sites. Some will have very hot gold patch like ground, other sites are still iron infested but very mild. I don't mind digging all non ferrous targets as I love relics and most of my sites are 100 plus years old.

My main question is what settings on the machine are the basics that I should learn above all others and be familiar with?

My gold machines I focus on ground balance, sensitivity and EMI (if using a PI) in that order. Above that I rarely play with them much.

Thanks in Advance

 

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[Motherlode Mike]

Now that I've found this forum I'll be busy catching up on the great posts. Thank you everyone who has shared information here.

 

[bmason44]

Welcome to the DEUS brotherhood. I personally don't have a ton of time spent with machine yet. ( maybe 40 hrs. ) A few things I can throw at you. 1. Pick up a copy of Andy Sabisch book on the DEUS...read it a few times. 2. The ability to save custom programs...like 7 or 8 is a huge benefit once you figure the machine out.3 The discrimination on the DEUS is what sets it apart ( in my opinion) from any other machine I've picked up. It is amazing to dig a target...find a rusty nail or any other little piece of iron and then pull a wheatie or merc or what ever good non ferrous target that stopped you in your tracks out of the same hole. Just put time in the machine. I would suggest downloading 4.0 and running full tone of the on set and go play in the diet. There are several way more experienced guys on this forum than me that will lend you tips to help

 

[RustyGold]

Awesome Mike! You've found the Deus forum.

 

[Motherlode Mike]

Thanks for leading me here Rusty.

Thank you bmason44 for the tips. I just ordered the Andy Sabisch book and have been going through the manual trying to impress on my mind how to save custom programs.

What number would you recommend setting the discrimination too in high iron sites where I'm only trying to avoid digging iron, mostly square nails?

I know I'll be digging a lot of larger iron and am ok with that.

 

[vferrari]

Motherlode Mike - Congrats on the new Deus. Regarding discrimination specifically, no problem just setting it at 8 to 10 as a starting point. I think you will find, however, that the Deus excels as a sound machine using full tone ID backed up by a visual display of target ID #. The target ID # only tells part of the story that is why getting the tone thing down is key because you will eventually want to zero out any discrimination and let your brain do the discriminating. Iron grunts sound different enough from mid-conductor tones (gold, aluminum, nickels) which in turn sound different enough than high conductors like pure copper and silver. With full tones and a lot of practice you can eventually audibly discriminate between each of these targets without having to look a the display. That is especially important when the visual target ID's are similar (e.g., a gold ring, a nickel, and a pull tab will all ring up with about the same target ID, somewhere in the low 50's if using 12 khz base frequency) and the tone pitch will correspond to that target ID, but there are subtle differences in the way the tone sounds with leading and trailing edge warbles and audible artifacts that clue you in to whether your target is LIKELY a pull tab or gold ring. There are no guarantees when targets are close in ID unless you did all targets regardless of what you think it likely is going to be, but you increase your chance of success should you have to only selectively dig what you think are keeper targets for whatever reason (limited time, want to limit number of holes dug, etc.). And while you can certainly reliably tell the difference between a nail and silver coin, there are times when a steel washer or crown cap sounds awesome with a sweet high tone and when a deep silver dime will grunt at you. Strive to get to the point (through many hours of Deus swing time) where you are confident using full tones and minimal to no discrimination and you will have great success.

Regarding a starting point for a base program with good depth and recovery speed in iron infested sites, I would go with Deus Fast. Shift the frequency from 18 khz (which is designed for small, mid conductors like small gold jewelry or hammered silver coins) to 8 khz or 12 khz. You can use the default 3 tones or shift to full tones to get a feel for what that sounds like. Be warned if you are coming from a pitch machine or single or two-tone machine, it can get overwhelming. Use a test garden if you can to get the hang of it, then see what you can do.

Ironically, you have come to the Deus from prospecting right when XP has introduced a high frequency coil (14 to ~50+ khz) that is a gold nugget monster. You may want to eventually invest in that coil down the line. Problem is, since all the smarts is located in the "active" coil, the additional coils ain't cheap. On the other hand, if you have two coils a remote and a set of wireless headphones, then you also have basically two fully functioning detectors.

More to follow...just ask the questions and the great, experienced folks on the Deus forum will answer them.

Happy Hunting.

 

[Motherlode Mike]

Thank you for the great tips. I'm one day out from having it in my hands finally. I can't wait to put this information into practice.

vferrari - I will certainly be investing into the higher frequency could fir gold in the future. At the moment I have a Minelab GPZ 7000 and a Gold Bug 2 so I'm starting with the standard coil. My mind has some places thinking about the new coils already though.

I'll be sure to share my experiences here with you helpful folks.

 

[Motherlode Mike]

Got my first day of detecting in with the DEUS (or any non gold detector). I can see I'm going to love. Got a 1911 nickel almost right off the bat. Aside from that my best find was the case. It appears to be gold plated silver and has a makers mark of W Brevete. The case seemed to have a fabric attached to the edges.

I was detecting in tough conditions with very hot ground and most swings had several square nails under the coil.

 

[vferrari]

Was the spoon stainless or silver?

 

[Motherlode Mike]

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure it's pewter.

 

[vferrari]

Nice finds.

 

[Gravelwasher]

Hello Motherload Mike,

Hows your Deus coming along?
I have one on the way and plan to hunt like you on some gold spots.
Any tips, hope it's working great for you!!

 

[TORRERO]

I wanted to put my two cents worth in, as I recently bought a Deus... already I am liking the depth and target separation. That said, let me add a few things here that I have experienced with this machine..
First I have been metal detecting for almost 30 years, so I have plenty of background experience, just not with the DEUS, that said, I bought the 9 inch HF elliptical coil and have the large 11 inch standard and 9 1/2 inch standard as well.
I can tell from my short experience that if you want GOLD, the HF Elliptical coil in the 74 freq. mode is super sensitive and will pick up just about any small piece of GOLD that you wave in front of it, I use the AUTO TRACK for ground balance,
and listen for any signal that is SOLID ... I am accustomed to a detector with a digital numeric readout, that gives me ideas of what a target is... and this can be useful but the DEUS will change those numbers if you change the FREQ.
at the HF 74 freq. all targets of any size get HIGH numbers.. where my Whites DFX puts a nickel at 18-20, the DEUS in this config, puts it at 85. a zinc on the DFX is at 60-65 on the DEUS its at 95, copper pennies come up at 78-80 on DFX and 96 on DEUS with dime at 97 and quarters at 98 respectively. these numbers drop extensively if you use the other coils with lower freq. I was using the DEUS on the beach in COLOMBIA SOUTH AMERICA where there is tons of trash and
iron bottle caps from beer. The HF 9 in coil in this config is the only one that would pretty much knock out those bottle caps.... the other coils would give a solid coin signal of 95 or higher for them.. making in a very big headache to use..
that said, the HF coil in 74 freq. take out almost all IRON, (not all, so nobody shank me for this) but it is also super sensitive to small gold, I have an extensive collection of gold stuff and things my DFX won't touch are, most all gold chains.
BROKEN gold rings, PIECES of gold rings, fragments of chains...
The DEUS in 74 freq. will pick up all of these things and will pick up the SMALLEST shreds of aluminum foil... stuff that will blow in the wind, will blow your ears off... did I say sensitive ??
I have not found gold with the DEUS, but I'm sure its not because it won't see it...
that said... IRON goes to about number 25-30 after that is when you start getting the tiniest fragments of foil an chains... the broken rings or fragments there of.. come in at about 35-40 and bigger shreds of aluminum come in at about 50-60.
Remember Nickels come in at 85. So below that your going to get your small gold rings (65-80) and aluminum fragments.. (DEUS HF COIL IN 74 FREQ ONLY) In playgrounds I have gotten 35's only not to be able to find them... something half the size of a BB.. on GOOD SOUNDING TARGETS.. you will also get good depth from this coil, although IMO it can be quiet noisy... in a trashy area...
I have dug many coins in the last two weeks including two silver dimes, and many DEEP modern coins here and in COLOMBIA.. ( my girlfriend is there)
Hope my opinion helps someone...
not really used the other coils much except on the beach with the 11 inch.
Hope this helps.
Richard

 

[vferrari]

Yes, Torrero, what you are describing is how the Deus changes target ID with frequency. Down at 4 or 8 khz you would get the target IDs you are used to. It's just learning a new scale. The standard (non-HF) coils allow for a setting normalization such that all target IDs are the same, regardless of frequency you are using. Unfortunately, that frequency reference is 18 khz. Also, how a target ID "behaves" when you sweep over a target with two or more different frequencies also tells a story. That is why I set up my custom programs to be pretty much the same except that the frequency is different and I make sure the target ID normalization is OFF (don't have to do this with the HF coil). That allows me to sweep across a target, if I get an iffy signal, I can hit +/- and go to a variant of the same program but at a different frequency to see what the tone and target ID are telling me. But in reality, what most of the experienced Deus users do is listen to the tones and use the target ID as a secondary indication. The tones tell the story more so than the target ID. Target ID will fool you, tones generally will not. Even high tones will sound funky when the signal is junk, it just takes a lot of swing time and recovering junk and keeper targets to get used to what the Deus is "saying" not just "showing". Good luck.

 

[Gravelwasher]

I like the info, good stuff!! I will for sure try 74 frequency and test some gold out.

Excited my detecter should show up today, cant wait to play around with it.

 

[TORRERO]

Yes, Torrero, what you are describing is how the Deus changes target ID with frequency. Down at 4 or 8 khz you would get the target IDs you are used to. It's just learning a new scale. The standard (non-HF) coils allow for a setting normalization such that all target IDs are the same, regardless of frequency you are using. Unfortunately, that frequency reference is 18 khz. Also, how a target ID "behaves" when you sweep over a target with two or more different frequencies also tells a story. That is why I set up my custom programs to be pretty much the same except that the frequency is different and I make sure the target ID normalization is OFF (don't have to do this with the HF coil). That allows me to sweep across a target, if I get an iffy signal, I can hit +/- and go to a variant of the same program but at a different frequency to see what the tone and target ID are telling me. But in reality, what most of the experienced Deus users do is listen to the tones and use the target ID as a secondary indication. The tones tell the story more so than the target ID. Target ID will fool you, tones generally will not. Even high tones will sound funky when the signal is junk, it just takes a lot of swing time and recovering junk and keeper targets to get used to what the Deus is "saying" not just "showing". Good luck.

Maybe you can help me then, how can I set this up so that only the numbers I want, have the HIGH PITCH sound, because with the HF coil, anything above 80 sounds screaming good... but I think it should be able to be adjusted so
that it sounds high only on the targets I choose for it to... I also found that if I use a different freq, other than the 74 freq, then I tend to get iron coming in as good. I don't on that high freq. Thanks in advance.

 

[vferrari]

First of all, are you using full tones?

 

[Geochem]

Great post write ups vferrai - and sharing your valuable expertise!

 

[vferrari]

Just want everyone to enjoy the Deus as much as I do, just don't enjoy it too much around my stomping grounds...just kidding.

 

[TORRERO]

I don't know how to do that, I think I'm using 2 tone or three tone... high, medium and low...