I am an Explorer user but have always been curious about the V3i. Looking for info and feedback from anyone familiar with both. Also, does the CTX3030 blow both of these models away? Thanks!
Both have their issues. The V3i can be difficult to ground balance in tougher soil .This is due to crosstalk between frequencies. Apparently in the "i" update Whites slowed the tracking to get a better ID, so when in changing terrain, of you find that tracking is not keeping up on max speed, the answer is to locktrac with offsets. Those issues aside, it's one of the greatest and most advanced machines ever to be released to the public. It's a metal detecting university, or as it's also been referred to "a make your own metal detector kit."
The E-trac/Explorer has a better ground balance and tracking system. That's about where the superiority ends. It favors deep silver (a capability the V3i also has), but overlooks small gold and micro jewelry due to a poor HF signal. It gives the iron content of an object as well as the VDI, but I find this to be no match for the spectragraph which gives you many cues as to what is garbage and what is not. The V3i can save as many programs as you can create and there's room to copy as many as have been created. Everything is adjustable from recovery/reactivity to the entire VDI and Target ID system.
The V3i can run single frequencies and multi. It was the Equinox before the Equinox was the Equinox. It still does many things the Nox doesn't. You can even decide how multi will run to decide VDI/Target ID. You can select correlate or simply Best data. The E-Trac/Explorer is set in its ways, and although it does overlook small gold and micro jewelry, what it does lock onto is very stable and reliable. The V3i has proprietary wireless audio with no real world lag. It's speed cannot be understated. You can also listen to discrimination mode in one ear and all metal in the other in mixed mode audio.
The V3i is a true 3 frequency machine. The claim that FBS machines, including the E-Trac/Explorer and CTX, are 28 frequency machines is a bit of a marketing ploy. It counts "harmonics" that are not utilized. Rather, the e-trac/Explorer is a dual frequency machine that employs a triangular wave. There's nothing wrong with that. It's actually a very clever system that is difficult to explain and the Magic of FBS is not in how many frequencies that are employed, but how they are analyzed. It's easier to market a half truth that sounds more impressive.
As far as the V3i vs. the CTX-3030, the CTX is obviously superior to the e-trac/Explorer in terms of features. Pinpoint target trace is an amazing advance in imaging brought to a hobby detector. Other than that, it shares the same limitations described above regarding the e-trac/Explorer. The preference for deep silver at the expense of small gold. The limiting to multi with no single option etc. So it basically boils down to how much latitude you want to run the machine the way you want, and how much you want to be limited in the size Gold you can hunt. The V3i is better balanced in this regard in my opinion. How much sense does it make to treasure hunt if you're not hunting gold. Any machine can find silver at a reasonable depth, fairly easily.
Considering all this, why hasn't the V3i been more popular? The majority of people do not seem to want to deal with so many adjustments and complications. Many feel the user interface should be simpler. Wireless updates never came to fruition, and some found the GB issues frustrating. The V3i seems to be a trendy machine sales wise. It sold well to begin with, then died down, particularly when the CTX was released. It is now on the uptick again as the way the Equinox runs has drawn parallels and curiosity. Looking at completed eBay sales for the last 90 days, at this point in its life the V3i sells steadily roughly equal to the e-trac. If you consider that the VX3 is a simplified V3i, and combine sales, it sells slightly less units than the CTX. Personally, I run the V3i and the Equinox. It's a killer combo if you're willing to learn what makes the V3i tick. There are also still many hidden menus yet to be discovered on the V3i according to personnel, which is intriguing.
