Crutch
Full Member
I bought my DFX used, (4 years old?) at half the price of a new one. Have never regretted it. At first I was a little put out at not finding deep coins however the machine was not at fault. Since then, time a patience have taught me a lot. I have experimented with the different freqs but always come back to dual freqs/best data. Have recently been able to run on a preamp of 4 and AC sens at 75 and up to around 85. I have every bit of confidence i want in it by just making these two changed. I don't run this high in the trashy areas, (seems like most of the placed i go are a bit trashy) but always run up the AC sens. I am guilty of cherry picking quite a bit due to the volume of trash I pass over and the DFX helps me do this with one feature I don't ever want to do without. The signa graph is worth its weight in gold to me. I am trying to learn to ignore the icons however I don't turn them off. When I get one of those iffy signals and am tired of digging so much trash I start relying on the signa graph. Any time I have come across a signal that is almost for sure a good signal (you know that feeling you get) the icons tell one thing but the signal graph tells another or second opinion. A positivlely good target put up one tall solid bar with maybe a small bar next to it. Some times a peice of iron trash that has been in the ground for many years and has created a large halo will also put up a good tone and icon however the signal graph will tell you one more peice of info. The small bars down on the left of the scale tell the story. I am not one of these that digs everything. I simply don't have that much time when I am coin hunting, (were I relic hunting I would dig more or maybe on the beach which I never get to do). For me I have to at least skip the iffy signal that don't repeat. Time and again I have tried to be less picky but the detector always seems to be right. When the signal graph puts up some small bars to the left, sometimes very small and scattered, it is always trash. The good stuff is always showing up good on the signal graph regardless of what the tone or icons say. I do however rely on the tone then the signal graph as a second opinion.
As far as depth, I can't give a definitive answer yet. I just don't seem to be in areas that are clean enough where hunt for the really deap stuff. I do know that when you call on it to really perform you do have to expect to dig some really small peices. Then there is the problem with pinpointing when you are running wide open but in all fairness the instruction manual does tell you that the pinpointing changes the calibration when you run the preamp up on 3 and 4. For the most part I have no issue with that.
I prefer to run only three filters, a very low threshold, AC sens on 76 and ups all the time, preamp on 3 to 4 depending on outside interferance and in the coin mode. If I get to a place where I don't have to work around lots of iron and aluminum cans and chopped up peices of foil I am sure I would be better served to run in a less descriminitive mode. I do rebalance the machine every so often.
The machine is a little annoying at first due to my inability to not tinker with the setting. For any beginner just turn it on and go. Once you know what normal is then start turning up the AC. After that turn up the PreAmp Gain, after that it up to you. I have just recently been able to run on the verge of instability and interpret what the machine is say. I feel like this is a must if you want to avoid passing over the really old stuff. Eventually the extra chatter becomes normal and you can ignore the chatter and when you do pass over a good target it become obvious.
Hope this is of some use to someone. These are my own opinions which may not be worth much but it works for me.
Invisible dog fences are a kill that can't be worked around or near, even in changing from dual freq to 3kz or 15 kz. Power lines seem to affect the machine adversly but not all of the time. I can hunt under them in my yard but have been near the service entrance at other locations and just had to hunt elsewhere due to the instability. I wouldn't part with this machine ever. I have learned recently to be open minded about other machines. The Garretts 2500 is a possibility, the newest troy shadow would be one machine I would love to have for relic hunting and one of the top end mine labs would not be out of the question. For all around what ever kind of hunting the DFX serves me well for coins, relics and whatever else i can work in.
As far as depth, I can't give a definitive answer yet. I just don't seem to be in areas that are clean enough where hunt for the really deap stuff. I do know that when you call on it to really perform you do have to expect to dig some really small peices. Then there is the problem with pinpointing when you are running wide open but in all fairness the instruction manual does tell you that the pinpointing changes the calibration when you run the preamp up on 3 and 4. For the most part I have no issue with that.
I prefer to run only three filters, a very low threshold, AC sens on 76 and ups all the time, preamp on 3 to 4 depending on outside interferance and in the coin mode. If I get to a place where I don't have to work around lots of iron and aluminum cans and chopped up peices of foil I am sure I would be better served to run in a less descriminitive mode. I do rebalance the machine every so often.
The machine is a little annoying at first due to my inability to not tinker with the setting. For any beginner just turn it on and go. Once you know what normal is then start turning up the AC. After that turn up the PreAmp Gain, after that it up to you. I have just recently been able to run on the verge of instability and interpret what the machine is say. I feel like this is a must if you want to avoid passing over the really old stuff. Eventually the extra chatter becomes normal and you can ignore the chatter and when you do pass over a good target it become obvious.
Hope this is of some use to someone. These are my own opinions which may not be worth much but it works for me.
Invisible dog fences are a kill that can't be worked around or near, even in changing from dual freq to 3kz or 15 kz. Power lines seem to affect the machine adversly but not all of the time. I can hunt under them in my yard but have been near the service entrance at other locations and just had to hunt elsewhere due to the instability. I wouldn't part with this machine ever. I have learned recently to be open minded about other machines. The Garretts 2500 is a possibility, the newest troy shadow would be one machine I would love to have for relic hunting and one of the top end mine labs would not be out of the question. For all around what ever kind of hunting the DFX serves me well for coins, relics and whatever else i can work in.
