Upgrade detector or not

[Cole55]

Right now I have an whites XLT. I was thinking about the V3i. My father has one and I only played maybe twice with it. We have always had whites. Was wondering if I'm missing out on others..minelab or garrett? Or is whites still the top one

 

[Terry Soloman]

Many of us have used Whites machines in the past. I want to suggest you switch brands. Your Dad has a V3i, so get a Minelab Safari or Explorer. Try a Garrett AT Pro, or a Fisher F75. You could get a Tesoro Vaquero, or Cortes.

Look at ALL of the machines available to you. I did, and ended up with Minelab and Tesoro machines.

 

[patpall22]

I was whites all the way and bought a dfx, used it as my only detector for ten years. Just recently I decided to upgrade to a deus and then found myself a good deal on a etrac. I have only 15 or so hours on the deus but I love the minicab fbs technology. Im so happy to have gone with a minicab as it truly is a different machine than the xlt. I love whites but I can now hunt wet saltwater sand and bad ground with ease. From only knowing whites, i had no intention to make a ml switch and only got it bc was good deal and it totally brought the passion back.

 

[Cole55]

Yea I have a feeling I'm missing my only two have been whites. I really enjoy coin hunting old home and parks. But then I love deep field hunting two and ML will give me what I'm looking for?? Cause v3i is same price as the ML one so give it a shot?

 

[Peyton Manning]

it isn't the tool, it's how you use it

 

[Cole55]

That is true.

 

[patpall22]

I never tried the v31 but I sure sent allot of time tweaking my dfx before i got going

 

[RobRieman]

I own both the V3i and the Etrac. They both have their pros and cons. The V3i can be tweaked for most any situation if you take the time to learn it and it does take time. V3i is much faster than the Etrac but I think every detector made is faster than the Etrac. The Etrac has incredible ground balancing with the FBS, the V3i needs to be manually ground balanced occasionally to get the best depth. I think they both go about as deep. The V3i's spectrograph is amazing once you learn what it is telling you if you like displays and cherry pick a bit. The both are similar in weight...too heavy...but I guess I got used to it. The Etrac has a more stable VDI on targets, especially at depth. I have been using my Etrac lately the most, it's just simple and fun to swing.

 

[Murray8144]

My friend who got me into detecting has owned several detectors in the less than a year he's been md'ing. F2, couple tesoros including the vaquero, and some others. Hes done very wellwith all of them cause he knows what he's doing and where to go. But he's settled on the at pro, as have I. It's likely the last detector I'll ever need unless I hit the lottery and my wife lets me have some of the winnings.

 

[Mifarmer]

I like my at pro so much I bought another one! Now my friends enjoy going out too
Kyle-

 

[Bquamb]

In order I would recommend (Finances are of no concern...)

Minelab CTX 3030 - If you have a buttload of money to spend after Xmas
Xp Deus - Slightly cheaper and an AMAZING machine - still wanting to get one myself
Minelab E-trac - Comparable to CTX but far less features and lacks some others (No water proof)
Garrett AT-Pro - Cheap option, Very good response time, minimalistic, beep and dig basically but quite accurate and good depth
Fisher F75 - Everybody that has one that I know like them very much but not the cheapest (Still cheaper than XP and CTX)

just my $0.02 - These guys have all suggested great machines so far, so here is my top 5 for you =)

Good luck!

 

[Cletus]

i have hunted right beside the Minelab E trac and the fisher F75.
I will be keeping my ATP.
my buddy wanted to run my ATP for a while (just to check it out) so i used his Minelab.
after 2 hrs i finally got my ATP back lol. Now he is getting ready to buy one.

 

[Jason in Enid]

it isn't the tool, it's how you use it

No, it's not. I was a die-hard Whites user for about 20 years. To say that I knew my detector would be an understatement. I made a leap of faith one day and bought a Minelab. My finds immediately skyrocketed. Hunting the same locations, the same amount of hunting but 10x the good finds.

I'm not saying that anyone should run out and buy a detector because I did, but the old argument that a pro hunter with a crap machine can out hunt a new hunter with a high quality one is ludicrous.

 

[dirtscratcher]

No, it's not. I was a die-hard Whites user for about 20 years. To say that I knew my detector would be an understatement. I made a leap of faith one day and bought a Minelab. My finds immediately skyrocketed. Hunting the same locations, the same amount of hunting but 10x the good finds.

I'm not saying that anyone should run out and buy a detector because I did, but the old argument that a pro hunter with a crap machine can out hunt a new hunter with a high quality one is ludicrous.

You are exactly right. The detector you use wouldn't matter if you hunt Virgin spots with goodies at 3 or 4 inches. But when you are hitting places that have been detected for years it matters what detector you use then. Imo opinion fbs is top dog at getting the tough ones.

 

[Bquamb]

i have hunted right beside the Minelab E trac and the fisher F75.
I will be keeping my ATP.
my buddy wanted to run my ATP for a while (just to check it out) so i used his Minelab.
after 2 hrs i finally got my ATP back lol. Now he is getting ready to buy one.

It's all in the hands of the hunter really - you can bust out 11k for a GPZ-7000, but will you really find more?
If you like what you like and the ATP is very simple to read and works very well, keep at it and change your game everyso often and hunt with different settings, can become a whole new machine!

 

[Cletus]

You are exactly right. The detector you use wouldn't matter if you hunt Virgin spots with goodies at 3 or 4 inches. But when you are hitting places that have been detected for years it matters what detector you use then. Imo opinion fbs is top dog at getting the tough ones.

i live in Virginia and would love to find one of those easy spots lol.
most if not all of my digging ground has been hunted hard since the 1960's.
i hunt with several old timers that tell me about the hay day. walking to the truck just to empty there bags
and then fill them up again. those days are long gone. i'm just digging scraps now that some how was missed dozens of times lol.

 

[dirtscratcher]

i live in Virginia and would love to find one of those easy spots lol.
most if not all of my digging ground has been hunted hard since the 1960's.
i hunt with several old timers that tell me about the hay day. walking to the truck just to empty there bags
and then fill them up again. those days are long gone. i'm just digging scraps now that some how was missed dozens of times lol.

Door knocking and finding one that hasn't been hit is about the only chance around here anyway.

 

[Cole55]

Well boys decision was made. I chose the to stick with whites... after 15 years of whites ..looks like I'm going to stick with em..iv watched lots of videos and read a lot to make the decision and it seems that the minelab and whites are extremely great machines and seems like they both are close to the same so I took whites it's what I know and why change it now. Thanks for all the suggestions though

 

[RobRieman]

Well boys decision was made. I chose the to stick with whites... after 15 years of whites ..looks like I'm going to stick with em..iv watched lots of videos and read a lot to make the decision and it seems that the minelab and whites are extremely great machines and seems like they both are close to the same so I took whites it's what I know and why change it now. Thanks for all the suggestions though

Did you get the V3i?

 

[Cole55]

Yea just got it in today.. hoping for a clear weekend to try it out. I've had two other whites this is my third so high hopes