How Consistent Are The ID #s On The Deus? How good is it in Badly Mineralized Soils?

[falconman515]

How Consistent Are The ID #'s On The Deus? How good is it in Badly Mineralized Soils?

So I had these two questions about the XP Deus.

1. I heard from a guy here on the forum (forum sponsor) that the Deus overall is a great machine but the ID Numbers on it are very inconsistent and all over the place as opposed to other detectors like minelab etc.

Anyone have any thoughts on this

AND

2. I live in the California Valley with BAAADDDLY Mineralized Soil .... I know other units excel in this area like the E-Trac etc. ..... how well does the Deus do in this kind of mineralized soil vs. the other guys

I have been researching this XP like crazy and I think after deciding on one, then another, then another , then another detector (of course every-time going up in price) I am pretty well set on this Deus ... but curious about these questions if anyone has any feedback or anything more they would like to provide about the detector.

And really I would like to know how the XP Deus in general stacks up against the highly popular and most recommended overall seems like Minelab E-Trac (that was my main unit I was going to get till I found out how good of a price I could get in the Deus)

Thanks you so much for any feedback or thoughts you can provide.

 

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[Silver Simon]

The ID numbers might be off on targets that are deeper or those that are in a sea of iron, but I rarely concern myself with the numbers. The sound of a signal gives me all the information I need to decide to dig. However, for the most part the Deus is right on the money with the numbers. The E-Trac is known for its depth and ID, but it is heavy and SLOW.

I had an E-Trac and loved it. But the more I researched and looked into the Deus tech, I really wanted to switch. I too was able to get a crazy deal (50%) so I sold my E-Trac to make it happen.

Couldn't be happier. I have found deep coins in my small yard surrounded by iron, where my E-Trac had repeatedly missed. The Deus and its speed have really impressed, and with the 11" coil I'm losing VERY little depth against the E-Trac.

As far as the mineralized soil, I can't provide any input. Everywhere I detect is littered with iron, and the Deus is a shining star in these conditions.

 

[Dave Rishar]

1. The numbers are sometimes incorrect with the Deus, but the numbers are sometimes incorrect with my E-Trac as well; it may be due to the crap soil around here. I don't place too much faith in them either way. I'd say that the E-Trac is more often closer, but I've gotten "textbook" target IDs so infrequently with it that they stand out in my memory. I haven't bothered to really learn them with the Deus because I don't rely on them. The only one that sticks in my mind is 50, as that's what my first gold ring rang up as. Even when the Deus is giving an accurate number, that number tells you very little; it's simply a measure of conductivity. It could be a silver coin, or a piece of can slaw, or a nail - the number doesn't make a distinction between them. I'm much more interested in what the horseshoe and, more importantly, what the headphones are telling me. That means a lot more than a conductivity measurement.

A more useful visual indicator for me is the X-Y visualization screen. It won't work on the really deep targets, but at shallower depths it will identify round targets quite accurately. Pull tabs give a telltale little "squiggle" (that completely toasted zincolns will also give - unfortunate if you like digging those, I'm beginning to see them as just more trash) and can slaw, which the Deus hits hard on, will almost always be easily caught. The only common trash that will evade the X-Y are some bottle caps and those silly little round aluminum seals that are found under the caps of plastic bottles, and there are other tricks for identifying those.

2. I'm another west coaster, albeit a bit north of you. The soil is chatty and often thoroughly infested with iron. The Deus handles this just fine. It will be a little noisy at high sensitivity values, but so will the E-Trac. (If anything, the E-Trac is far noisier.) Another point for the Deus in chatty areas is that if you're only after modern coins and jewelry, you can add a few points of silencer and shut those pings and falses right up; with the E-Trac, you're left with relying on discrimination and reducing sensitivity for a similar, if lesser, effect.

I've found that they require very different hunting styles, and that I prefer the Deus method. I also prefer the flexibility of the Deus - you can go slow and deep (with slow being very relative, as even at reactivity 1 you'll be swinging it faster than you can swing an E-Trac) or fast and shallow, or anything in between - and you can change these modes with literally one push of a button. It also handles EMI much better and has allowed me to hunt areas that the E-Trac simply wouldn't function in - an important feature for us urban hunters.

An important thing to remember is that these two machines were designed for different tasks. The E-Trac is a coin machine, first and foremost; that's what it was built for, and that's what it excels at. The Deus was designed as a relic machine, and while XP has done a wonderful job of making it an all-around detector through software updates, it's still going to hit hard on things that could be easily ignored with the E-Trac. You'll learn to hate blobs of molten aluminum and tightly rolled balls of foil, for instance. With the Deus, I dig more trash than I ever did with the E-Trac, although that amount is slowly decreasing. The thing is, I don't mind digging the extra trash, as I'm also digging extra keepers - those toy cars, buttons, pins, and especially nickels that I would have walked over with the E-Trac. As I said, the two machines call for different styles, even a different mentality really.

Sorry for the long answer, but I've been thinking about this very comparison quite a bit over the last few months.

 

[DurkaDigger]

I currently own a ctx3030 and the xp deus. Both are amazing machines and excel in various aspects. If I am hunting coins in a relatively clean area I live the ctx because it has the Fe-co number system and target trace.

The xp is the fastest machine in the works and very light . I am not as sure that it is as deep as the ctx but in trash it stands out.


If you want a water machine go with the ctx... But if you hunt a lot if trashy home sites the xp is hard to beat. Don't worry about mineralization... The both work just fine... I am in AL and also have highly mineralized soil.

I had an Etrac before the deus and I would recommend the xp over the Etrac any day.. The ctx is more evenly matched


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[falconman515]

I am not as sure that it is as deep as the ctx but in trash it stands out.

As far as depth goes many say it's not as deep but many for years use the 9" coil that comes with it as compared to the e-trac / CTX's 11" coil

I would assume with the new 11" Deus coil depth is easily comparable now right?

 

[Silver Simon]

As far as depth goes many say it's not as deep but many for years use the 9" coil that comes with it as compared to the e-trac / CTX's 11" coil

I would assume with the new 11" Deus coil depth is easily comparable now right?

Generally speaking, they say that the depth is somewhat equivalent to the diameter of the coil, with diminishing returns at a certain point, so I would say that they would be very close. I'm sure there are depth comparison videos for them, but the thing to remember is that the Deus settings can really affect the depth, so unless a video is thorough in showing the settings used, I take the results with a grain of salt. I've been meaning to make my test bed and make some videos, so that I can a better understanding of its depth in relations to the different frequencies/reactivity etc..

 

[falconman515]

Generally speaking, they say that the depth is somewhat equivalent to the diameter of the coil, with diminishing returns at a certain point, so I would say that they would be very close. I'm sure there are depth comparison videos for them, but the thing to remember is that the Deus settings can really affect the depth, so unless a video is thorough in showing the settings used, I take the results with a grain of salt. I've been meaning to make my test bed and make some videos, so that I can a better understanding of its depth in relations to the different frequencies/reactivity etc..

I know I would Love to see those videos .... I would love to know as much as possible and learn as much as possible before ordering my Deus .... I sure look forward to any kind of test you may run or settings you come up with based on your test.

I am just trying to get a good feel and an idea on how well this Deus works as opposed to an E-Trac.

I will be primarilly coin shooting 90% of the time and I know the E-Trac rules in that ... but there so many advantages to the Deus that I think are far superior in every way to the e-trac and would hope I could do just as good with the Deus and 11" coil along with the correct settings as I could with the e-trac.

Sure love to see more if you ever do any kind of tests.

 

[Pointman]

I really still have a lot to learn on the Deus, but I will say on thing; in the areas that I have hit very hard with my Deus, I have found little or nothing left for the CTX and I have hundreds of hours of experience on the CTX.

I am still learning the tendencies of the Deus and I find that I am digging a lot more because I don't believe some of the readings/sounds. This is good and bad. Bad because I dig a lot of trash, but good because I have dug a few more nickels and I have found lower conductive items that I would have missed with my CTX programs that I normally run. My experience with the Deus is that when you have a good target, it will leave little doubt. I detect 90% by sound and it will sound out clearly when a piece of silver is under the coil. I don't rely too highly on the readings even with the CTX, unless I am digging a lot of trash and then I will look at the readings more in order to cut down on the needless digging.

I am only running a stock coil and minimal discrimination. Routinely I am finding coins at the 8-9 inch range. I have to hold the very end of my Lesche handle to reach some targets.

 

[falconman515]

I got kinda lost there I think in that reply.

 

[ggossage]

I will be primarilly coin shooting 90% of the time and I know the E-Trac rules in that ... but there so many advantages to the Deus that I think are far superior in every way to the e-trac and would hope I could do just as good with the Deus and 11" coil along with the correct settings as I could with the e-trac.

This is an interesting point--I have a White's DFX and just ordered the Deus (arrives Monday); anyhoo, I'll add my two cents since I recently decided on the Deus vs other machines. First and foremost I want to find coins when I hunt. Yes, jewelry is great too and even one fine piece could pay for a very nice detector, but I'd rather be finding old coins over old jewelry and other relics. The eTrac is a nice machine and is fantastic on coins as was previously mentioned. But I think in "hunted out" areas where we all know coins remain hidden--presumably on edge, or nestled up against iron, the Deus is uniquely adept at revealing them. In my area where all the obvious places have been hunted hard, I believe the Deus will give me an edge over machines currently on the market. One thing's for sure, I'll be spending the rest of the season trying to prove my point

 

[Dave Rishar]

If it makes you feel better, ggossage, my intent today was to use my E-Trac if the weather was nice. It was. I broke out the E-Trac, fired it up, and began wading out into the field. Some time later, I saw my girlfriend busily digging holes a hundred yards or so ahead of me while I was recovering my third clad coin. The slow swing speed was killing me. I gave up and put it back in the car, got my Deus, and caught up. It turned out to be a productive hunt.

There are things that I really like about the E-Trac and some things that I don't like at all, but the real killer is that slow swing speed. With rx=2 and silencer turned off, I can swing that Deus like a golf club and still get reasonable depth, allowing me to cover much more ground than I can with the E-Trac, which in turn means that I have a much heavier finds bag at the end of the day. The Deus's TID is not as good as the E-Trac's, particularly at depth, but the way to resolve that is to simply dig the iffy deep signals. You'll still cover ground more quickly and again, you'll wind up with more good stuff at the end of the day. It's simply more efficient if you don't mind digging holes.

On ground that's very hard to dig, or tiny yards where I can selectively cherry pick, I'll take the E-Trac. (If it's not raining, anyway.) For basically everything else, I want my Deus. I'm not sorry that I bought my E-Trac, but had I bought the Deus first, I probably wouldn't have felt the need for a second machine.

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Good post guys! Dave I agree but the E-Trac and XP compliment each other very very well. Love them both for different reasons!

 

[charlotte49er]

Hope these "Cheat Sheets" help.

 

[Dave Rishar]

That chart should come with the machine.

That having been said, trust the sounds before the numbers. Numbers lie. (Sounds lie too, but not as frequently.) If I'm not sure what it is, I dig it up. If I'm absolutely positive that it's junk, I still dig it up every so often just to keep myself honest. And who knows? There may just be a surprise under that piece of junk. It happens.