Just bought a V3i, Whats the learning curve

[Normsel]

Just bought a V3i, What's the learning curve

I just bought a one month old V3i and wondering what the true learning curve is. I mean when your comfy enough with it to make your own programs. I have an ATP and I know it well and have a custom setting I use about 90% of the time because it's the biggest producer. In Nov alone I found $102 in clad and 10 rings.

I have been reading about the V3i for about 3 months and i know there is nothing like using it yourself. I am one that likes to tweek his detector to get the most out of it but I know I need to learn the detector before i can use it effectively.

So to keep it simple how long did it take for you other V3i owners feel confident you learned the V3i well enough to start trying to tweek in the expert mode.

 

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[fella]

I had the Vx3 (V3i lite) and I found it quite easy to learn. I took that machine right off and really liked it (found 2 Barbers & a Merc its first time out). The V3i has a few more setting to play with but I don't think it will add to the complexity.

This is the part I'll get crucified for especially from brand faithfuls and from people that have never used either...I like the AT Pro better. I even ended up getting rid of my Whites because wasn't using em anymore.

The V3i is a great machine and you should do well with it. I'll be looking forward to what you think once you get some time on it.

 

[Normsel]

I have an ATP and I love it but I have heard so much about the higher end detectors I just had to try one.
When I say I am good with my ATP I know I am good and that's only because most people don't know their detectors. I pulled over $13 from a park one day after a guy went through the park with his etrac and bragged about the $8.50 he found.

I will keep everyone posted more when I get 200 hours or so on it. I wasn't looking for a detector that you plug and play, I wanted one I can tweek to suit me.

 

[RobRieman]

I think you will feel real comfy at 100 hours. Go to the White's forums and you will learn a lot from hardened V3i users on there. I use my ATPro a lot but there just is no comparison once you learn the V3i. And there shouldn't be at 3 times the price. It's a killer machine that you can tweak into whatever you want.

 

[FreeMindStuck]

Check out the book of jack, and magic's advanced users post. Both books are only compiled v3i users post, but they will accellerate your learning curve.

 

[gsxraddict]

100 hours and you'll really have it figured out.

don't use the AT Pro until the 100 hours is up. Stay focused on it, sticking with one machine forces you to really learn it to its potential.

 

[Normsel]

I used it for the 1st time today and didn't find much only $3.48 when I should have done well over $10 however I spent a lot of time with ground balance and trying to get rid of the humm and constant noises. I am in no way disappointed even though I thought things would go smoother. No matter how much you read you still have to use a detector in real time to learn it. All of our snow melted in the past few days and the ground was soft but wet. So I was excited to get out.

Hopefully I can go out tomorrow and start learning it a lil more. As of right now I don't feel i learned much because the tones are different and I mainly focus on tone so I have to tune my ears to what is good and what isn't. The way i see it i have 97.5 more hours in my learning curve.

 

[gsxraddict]

I used it for the 1st time today and didn't find much only $3.48 when I should have done well over $10 however I spent a lot of time with ground balance and trying to get rid of the humm and constant noises. I am in no way disappointed even though I thought things would go smoother. No matter how much you read you still have to use a detector in real time to learn it. All of our snow melted in the past few days and the ground was soft but wet. So I was excited to get out.

Hopefully I can go out tomorrow and start learning it a lil more. As of right now I don't feel i learned much because the tones are different and I mainly focus on tone so I have to tune my ears to what is good and what isn't. The way i see it i have 97.5 more hours in my learning curve.

get rid of the hum, you mean the threshold? You're going to want that, that will really help you.

 

[RobRieman]

Threshold is your friend! You will soon find you will use it to your advantage to help find the deep signals. As far as the tones go, you can change them to anything you like per individual VDI and group them also. When you ground balance be sure you do it over an iron free area of ground. Use the lowest filter available that doesn't cause falsing for added depth. You will also find good info on the Whites forum, get the advanced users guide and start weeding your way through that also. After you get a feel for it in 3 frequency you will pick up your ATPro and feel like your missing out on the good stuff. I still use my AT when it's wet but wow what a difference.

 

[Normsel]

I read a lot on the Whites forum and although I have learned a lot there is nothing like real time application. I am not into test gardens. I rarely look at the vdi until I pin point so I can learn as much about tone by throwing coins and jewelry on the ground and sweeping listening to the tone.

I went out again today and I had a little better luck. I plucked $4.31 in clad. the best part is I found most of it at 6"-8". I was almost wore out from digging. I love the depth. I am using the stock programs at present and will try something new each day until I get the feel of things. I got the ground balance down now and that was my biggest problem yesterday.

My battery went dead in a flash. I probably had 6 hours of swinging on it and luckily I was close to my truck when it went dead.

I plan on working on the signal in a cpl days when it gets to cold to hunt again for a few days. Right now I have no serious complaints other than my lack of experience. I have about a 200 acre sporting complex I want to hunt when I feel proficient enough not to miss much.

I won't even attempt to use my ATP until I feel confident in my V3i

 

[RobRieman]

Sounds good Normsel. The batteries do go until the hit a certain voltage and the machine shuts down instantly. The wireless headphones work the same way. There's no doubting when you need to swap batteries.

 

[Johnnoh]

If you haven't already, turn the back light on the display down to 1 - that should help extend you run time. You can do a bit better than 6 hours on a fresh stock rechargeable pack.

 

[Normsel]

It was cold as heck out yesterday more due to wind more than anything so I tried some settings in the coins and jewelry mode and had great success. I was only out for about 20 minutes and I dug $5.15 in clad and only hit one piece of foil buried about 9" and was no bigger than 1/4" in diameter. This thing is amazing. I knew this field had a lot more to offer and as it turns out it does. I am going to use standard menus until I understand the different settings better. Like I have said I don't do test gardens or anything like that I like real time. I am working on target tones next then I will expand to other settings. The more I read and watch the more user friendly I am finding this detector to be. I did over $400 with my ATP last year in about 4 months of steady detecting. In Oct and Nov alone i found over $220. I have no major projects going on this year so hopefully I can get in a good solid 8 months of 2 - 5 hours per day detecting. I won't make any predictions but I can see a banner year ahead.

 

[RobRieman]

I'd give anything to detect 2-5 hours a day! You will have your hundred hours in no time and be teaching us how to use the V3i.

 

[McKinney_5900]

The factory setting for the wireless HPs comes set to max @ 4. I set mine down to one, along with the backlight setting. It helps in battery drain. Don't forget to deselect TX Boost if you turn that on. It eats batteries too. I forget sometimes and find a dead battery.

Are you using the D2 coil? I miss lots of targets with it, and other hunters come along behind me and pluck a 4" quarter I shoulda found. That irks me to no end! A smaller coil was my answer. I went to an 8x6 SEF. The D2 just seems to get swamped with peripheral/bad targets close-by.

 

[scott9050]

It was cold as heck out yesterday more due to wind more than anything so I tried some settings in the coins and jewelry mode and had great success. I was only out for about 20 minutes and I dug $5.15 in clad and only hit one piece of foil buried about 9" and was no bigger than 1/4" in diameter. This thing is amazing. I knew this field had a lot more to offer and as it turns out it does. I am going to use standard menus until I understand the different settings better. Like I have said I don't do test gardens or anything like that I like real time. I am working on target tones next then I will expand to other settings. The more I read and watch the more user friendly I am finding this detector to be. I did over $400 with my ATP last year in about 4 months of steady detecting. In Oct and Nov alone i found over $220. I have no major projects going on this year so hopefully I can get in a good solid 8 months of 2 - 5 hours per day detecting. I won't make any predictions but I can see a banner year ahead.

If you think the depth is good stock, turn up the heat a bit and you will be amazed.

 

[Normsel]

Thanks for all the input guys. I am retired so I can hunt when I please unless of course I have honey do's. Last year i had plenty of them including a new kitchen, bathroom and I put up a pergola so I missed the prime hunting months of April -Aug. This year I am pretty free other than Feb for vacation and a cpl short vacations of 10 days or less.

I pick up on so many hints from guys on this forum just like turning up the heat and coil size. I had an 8x6 on my ATP and that was 2 times better than the stock coil. For the time being I am going to concentrate on learning the settings well enough I don't have to do it step by step from the book

Was to cold to go out today so I just read about it and watched videos some more but there is nothing like using it in the field. After finding so much yesterday in about 30 mins I am really excited about going out again.

 

[adikd2spd]

iv had my V3i for over a year, don't get out near enough I'm a mechanic for a race team so my weekends are almost non existent in the summer so a lot of my time is winter or after work on late summer days. i still haven't learned all the tricks to the v3i, i do have to say i love it myself, i prefer the 950 coil mostly because i hunt more beach than dirt and the 950 seems to be more stable in "high iron" sand.

depth is never an issue with the machine, in fact i did my first park in about 7 months (had to hit the sleigh hills) i actually needed to try to figure out how to dumb/weaken the machine. all the targets that i was aiming for were 0-3 inch and i was hitting 9+ and not bothering with them. in about 90 mins i had 62 clad coins all in all good day.

HH Brian

 

[wingmaster]

Try magic's program from the whites forum, I've detected with him a lot and he really knows the V3i. He can get 10"+ dimes and has dug some at 12" before when we was detecting, he was one of the first to have a V3i in his hands so he knows the machine for sure. You might have to tweak the program to suit your ground though but being he is in Indiana the ground shouldn't be a lot different in IL. HH

 

[Normsel]

Sounds good.

What amazes me is how little trash i dig with the V3i. I hit lots of coins and dimes at 8+ inches but most of the places i hunt I find them at 1 - 6 inches. I have been out 6 times this year and have $32 in clad so far.