Whites Dual Field Gain, Threshold and Headphones Questions

[ThaiWai]

I have a new Dual Field. Used it less than a dozen times at two locations. I have a few questions as I am new to the machine. First I notice that the threshhold knob is "sticky" meaning when I turn it to where I want it it rotates itself counter clockwise a few millimeters making it difficult to set where I want it. My other, main issue, is the gain. I expect the setting to be different at both locations I have hunted based on EMI and ground content but I was testing running the gain hot which makes the tone very uneven (which I expected) but it seems there is no consistency at all to the tone and settings. Yesterday I took it out and could not achieve that uneven tone at all. The machine ran with a steady tone no matter where I set the gain. I felt like the gain was not really responding to me turning it much at all. Also the depth was no where near previous hunts. Everything was 8 inches or less and I normally go way deeper at some point during a hunt. After puling target from a hole they would fade out of "view" in only minimal sand covering them. As I said its a new machine, never submerged, fresh batteries and yet every time I take it out I feel like I have to learn it all over again because it feels like a different machine every hunt. Yes I am new to the machine and it is not the easiest of MD's to run but...Thoughts?

Also, I can't hear a damn thing with these headphones over the wind. Yes, I turned up the internal volume knob and I still have to put my hands over the headphones to block the wind noise. IS this normal for a tropical beach with typical breezes?? With a machine that whispers this is not gonna work.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[stevemc]

Seems like something is wrong with it. The knob should not move back on its own. Also you should be able to turn up threshold and get louder noises. Gain increase should cause certain noises to get really nervous, chattery and turning it down should help that. The pulse delay I don’t turn it on unless I am in an area with iron rich rocks and it has a quiet falseing when I go over them. I turn it up just until that stops. Just a tiny bit. Yes, head phones on some underwater detectors are not great, the Dual Field especially. I agree they could be a lot better.

 

[ThaiWai]

Seems like something is wrong with it. The knob should not move back on its own. Also you should be able to turn up threshold and get louder noises. Gain increase should cause certain noises to get really nervous, chattery and turning it down should help that. The pulse delay I don’t turn it on unless I am in an area with iron rich rocks and it has a quiet falseing when I go over them. I turn it up just until that stops. Just a tiny bit. Yes, head phones on some underwater detectors are not great, the Dual Field especially. I agree they could be a lot better.

Yep sent it in and got it back. Took it out today and now the threshold pot is loose but if you start to turn it up or down it runs all the way to max or min on its own. Amazingly the "repair" made it worse. Seems like they gave me a new coil too but the packing slip is not clear so hard to tell what repairs were done. I cant even touch the sand now without the machine yelping unless I turn on the pulse delay which never had to do before. The gain is totally whacked out now. Seems like they sold me a clunker and could care less to make good. I'll never by White's again.

 

[stevemc]

Wow! Strange that it came back from Whites bad. What repair place did you send it to?

 

[ThaiWai]

Straight to Oregon from Thailand. Not cheap. They said it was my only option. They are saying that the DF left the factory perfect after the repair and that all the falsing and erratic behavior is normal and attributable to user error or mishandling and that it does not warrant another repair. They went on to say that since my experience with the DF was with a faulty coil that it is not reasonable to compare my previous use of the device with the current experience so basically my evaluation is invalid. Problem with that is that it worked fine when I got it and used it for about a week BEFORE the coil failed. I got very used to the controls and could easily work it stable or hot and it was smooth as can be. Now it's falsing and ringing and yelping all over the place. I never needed pulse delay before now the coil cant touch the sand without falsing and the pulse below 10 o'clock. They said thats normal with water washing over the coil, problem is I was not in the water. He said the threshold rising and falling on its own is normal as it modifies itself to its surroundings but again why is it modifying its own level when I am standing still coil down and not moving yet the thresh goes all the way up or down as soon as you give the knob a little turn. Then he made a catchall statement saying "hundreds of factors" effect the gain stability basically at that point alleviating themselves of any responsibility that the equipment could be faulty. I got the feeling the really did not like being questioned and took a defensive stance instead of working to deescalate the issue and satisfy the customer. I have no option now basically unless I can find an independent party they trust to look at it and confirm my claims but obviously that's not happening. I really feel like I got conned out of $800 and they could care less. Shame I heard such good things then got screwed for trusting them. My warranty is basically invalid at White's.

 

[ThaiWai]

Well I figured it out. I tried every thing I could think of and the headphones were still screaming at me randomly so I took them off and put them in my hand so I could record the noise and suddenly it was reduced. When I put them on my head it got worse again. IT WAS THE HEADPHONE WIRE. When sweeping normally my shoulder or arm would make contact with the headphone cable causing a loud noise mimicking falsing. I stood the DF up against a tree with the headphones on the forearm mount and made a video showing the headphones screaming loudly every time I touched the wire with my fingers. I sent it to Whites and they actually said that "It was normal unless the headphones were on my head"!!!!! You can't make this up. How the hell do you think I identified the problem in the first place?? Walking down the surf line metal detecting with my headphones in my hand?? Amazing. Shipped it back to White's again second time this month for another $65.