New V#

[KYBuzzBox]

I recently purchased a V3 and have had it out about five times. I have it set on “Coin & Jewelry” with no changes to the factory preset. I have found tons of pull tabs and bottle caps and one musket ball. Yesterday I took it out to a park and ground balanced per instructions, and again found lots of pull tabs. I figured I was just hitting unproductive areas. Just to confirm this I pulled out my old Compass Relic Magnum and went back over the same area I had just covered with the V3. I found a fist full of clad coins in about half an hour. I know that it take a bit to adjust to a new detector, but something isn’t right. The V3 should put that old Compass to shame. What have I missed?

 

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[TabWhisperer]

Once you have found a target, scan it with the analyze mode by flipping the switch forward. Two or theree passes about 8 inches wide should do it. Stop for a moment before the analyze scan. The White's DVD will demonstrate what a coin graph looks like. Basically a nice camel hump without a negative curve. The green line highest generally means a dime, red line highest means penny, and blue is gold. They are tied to the frequencies. I also notice during regualr sweeps the junk may shown as green but it will be "smeared" and the VDI will fluctuate. Rescan at a 90 degree angle. Good stuff will generally give you consistent readings from both angles. The D2 coil is great but I found a 4x6 shooter (or maybe the 5.3) is rediculously easy in trash areas. The ID was dead nuts on. I dug some items marked trash because I didn't trust the analysis but it was right every time. Get used to the D2 coil first. Let me know how it goes and what you learn. I'm new to the V3 too.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

I used the analyze mode (trigger forward) and no bell curve on any of the hits. That was my first thought also. what is strange is that most of the hits always show a foil or ring icon in standard mode. I think I am going to reset the mode from the library. There is no way that the old Compass should have out performed the V3. There has to be something wrong in the discrimination mode for the Coin & Jewelry program. I will try the reset this evening and let you know if that worked.

Thanks

 

[KYBuzzBox]

I setup a test bed yesterday and ran the detector over the targets w/o changing any settings. It found the pull tabs and bottle cap but discriminated out the coins and minne ball. I reset the "Coin & Jewerly" mode from the library and a ran the detector over my test bed. It was dead on, I even put pull tabs directly over some of the targets an it found the coin and correctly identified it.

So I took the time and reset all of the programs from the library. The only change to the programming that I had made when I got the detector was to setup the Wireless head phones that came with the V3. I noticied lastnight while I was testing the V3 that if I got with 20 feet of a power line the head phones picked up a chatter or growl. I reset the detector headphone setting to plug-in and used my DP BlackWidow headset. I threw the expensive cordless headset back in the box.

The V3 works great, I can't wait for the weekend to use it.

 

[TabWhisperer]

Excellent. That thing is REALLY sensitive to EMI. It makes it hard to play around with the settings while in the house. Mine flaked out the other day in a field. Then I noticed a power box about 200 feet away. It apparently had underground cables running to the building behind me. I had to avoid that area but didn't have to go more than a few feet to either side.

I was playing around with rings and nickels last night. I made notes of the patterns to help me recognize them better in the field. Just take the learning process one step at a time. That's true for any detector.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

Are you using the wireless headset? I switched back to my DP Black Widow headset. I was getting chatter or growling when I got near power lines with the White's cordless headset. I tried using the freq offset to eliminate the chatter. I was able minimized it, but never was able to completely eliminate it, so I switched to my standard corded headset. I guess the cordless would work well in wooded areas or open corn fields.

Using the V3 lastnight I realized that all of the years I have been using my old Compass I had gotten use to the tone a hit made. With the Compass You could tell what type of target and it's depth by the sound the hit made. The meter display on the Compass was useless with the exception of watching the battery life. I learned not to even look at it when I was hunting, just using the tone. The old discriminator was top of the line in 1986. Using the Compass is similar to using the V3 in all metal mode, except for the sound of the hit tone.

I must have a tin ear when it comes to the V3, all of the hits sounded pretty much the same. I was reading the documentation lastnight and discovered that you can change tones on different target icons. Have you played with this feature?

 

[TabWhisperer]

You're going the same direction I am. I was going to turn on the tone ID next. I had it on for a while as I was using my own custom program and I liked the variable tone. The program worked great for dimes pennies and quarters, but sucked on other stuff. I was just experimenting. The constant tone isn't for me because I don't want to have to watch the screen the entire time. I previously owned a 6000 DI and got used to the bloop sound it made on a good hit, so that is similar to your background.

I think the frequency offset you mentioned is for the coil frequencies, not the headphones. It's more for hunting around other detectors and preventing interference between them. I think the headphones have a channel selection which is defaulted to 4 but can be changed to avoid more than 1 V3 user being on the same channel. I love the wireless headphones and haven't had any problem with the exception of a random beep out of one side or the other. But that has been rare and not a problem.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

To bad White's did not add an external usb port so we could upload and modfiy the V3 programs on our PC's and then download the programs back to the V3. It would make the standard & expert menus a lot easier to use. Not to mention being able to trade programs with other V3 owners.

 

[TabWhisperer]

I was hoping White's would read my post on that subject. I don't think file transfer by bluetooth to/from a PC would be that hard since they do it now between V3's.

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,311565.0.html

 

[KYBuzzBox]

I have been testing the hit tone mode. I see what you mean, some of the tones are not real good. I have been into the expert menu and have been changing the icon tones to ones more familar to me. This is a really tedious process of selecting tones and testing.

I found that if you use the Coin or Coin & Jewelry programs, when you scan a Minie Ball the detector locks it out as trash. The relic mode is dead on. I took my V3 out this weekend to a couple of old homes that were built in the 1850's. A friend who was with me was using a Garrett and he found the Minie Ball I had just passed over. I immediately switched to Relic mode and that embarassment didn't happen again. BTW, the Garrett cost about half of what I paid for the V3. It is going to take a while to come up to speed on this V3.

 

[TabWhisperer]

I took my V3 out this weekend to a couple of old homes that were built in the 1850's. A friend who was with me was using a Garrett and he found the Minie Ball I had just passed over. I immediately switched to Relic mode and that embarassment didn't happen again. BTW, the Garrett cost about half of what I paid for the V3. It is going to take a while to come up to speed on this V3.

There is no embarrasment in "my detector versus your detector". At any given moment given the operator settings on the detectors, ground balance, coil type, etc. one unit may pick up something that the other will have trouble with. I have an IDX that I can simply turn on and wander around picking up coins till the cows come home. I can do the same thing with the V3 and a lot more. The good news is the V3 is very flexible. The bad news is the V3 is very flexible.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

Have you tried a 4x6 eclipse coil? I just ordered one. I figured that it might help the V3 in high trash areas. I should get it today. I can't wait to try it.

 

[TabWhisperer]

The 4x6 is a lot of fun. I've had mine for two weeks. Perfect for the parks and schools. I have not tried the 6x10 but I understand it does a real good job too.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

Any tips on using the 4x6 on the V3? I do not believe it requires any special settings. Where is the pinpoint on the 4x6 coil? For the D2 coil it was just in front of the connection rod on my V3.

 

[TabWhisperer]

Bolt it on and go. The pinpoint is about the center of the coil. It may seem a little off if the coil is tilted so try and keep it level when pinpointing. I also use a Garrett pinpointer. It is really great since the tone and vibrations increase as you get closer to the target. I try to find the target from the surface with the pinpointer held verticle before I dig just to make it go as fast as possible. If you want a cheapo pinpointer Harbor Freight has a simple one for about $15 but it just is either quiet or beeps and doesn't give indication for how close you are getting.

This week I'm going to try some of the RX adjustments mentioned in the manual. I think about page 33. It's my next step in learning it.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

I received a Automax Precision Pinpointer when I bought the V3 thru Kellyco. It seems to do a good job but the darn thing is huge. Lugging it around is a pain. I was looking at Garrett Super Wand Pinpointer. It is lighter and easier to haul around on my pistol belt.

Let me know how it turns out on changing the Rx settings. I remember reading someplace on the Whites forum about making some Rx changes and other changes to some of the V3 programs. I will see if I can find the link(s). Basically it was just tweaks to the standard V3 programs that made them work better (that is subjective at best!) than the standard settings.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

I got to try out my new Whites Eclipse 4X6 DD Coil yesterday in a park where the junk ratio is extreme. That little coil is dead on. It correctly ID all of the coin targets correctly. Found a bunch of clad coins, a small gold chain, and a gold earring. The chain gave a foil/ring reading, the earring (a surface find) gave a pulltab indicator. I think the V3's gold indicator program has a few bugs. You will have to dig every foil/pulltab target signal on the outside chance of missing a gold ring or gold trinket. The Analyzer was really no help on the two gold targets. All of the coins target analyzer readings were dead on (I was using the V3's Coin/Jewelry program). I am wondering if that program can be tweaked a little to help pick up gold targets.

KyBuzzBox

 

[TabWhisperer]

It sounds like you had fun! How deep were you finds? I seem to be getting stuff easily and accurately with the default program around 5 inches in the parks. Last night I set up a target field in my yard. I had junk and coins at 5 inches and could barely hear some and others not at all. Again default settings and I played with the RX gain and TX boost. Not much difference so I'm wondering what I can do to figure out the problem. That was with the D2 and the 4x6. I wondered if maybe it was because my overhead power line was nearby. About 10 feet in the air and 8 feet to one side.

 

[KYBuzzBox]

Most of the finds in the park were 3-5 inches. Some were almost surface. Hey, I found a forum that is just for V3's and I found a jpg with some really good tweeks for the V3 programs. I am attaching it, do want the link to the forum? I can't wait to try them. Maybe it will fix the gold/pulltab issue

 

[TabWhisperer]

Link please and thank you.

The pull tab\gold rings dilemma is a problem with any detector since pull tabs ring up nicely at about the same as a piece of gold jewelry depending on the composition of the gold. I have a 14k gold ring that shares a VDI with pull tabs. That's where the human and machine need to be in harmony with each other. Sounds, visuals, etc all play into whether or not to dig. That is one reason I like the V3 since for me I can have ore options to figure out what the heck I might be looking at. I am not in harmony with it yet. More and more you will get to where things you struggle with now will become second nature. Same for me.