White's DFX 300

[jimmy242]

Ok guys, my wife let me order a new White's DFX 300 for christmas. I've been detecting for several years and have been using the Fisher F4 for about a year. Any advise on setup and use of the DFX. Any tricks i should know to save me the learning curve of this detector. any feedback on this detector would be nice.

Thanks,
Jimmy

[jwebs]

I just recently got a DFX myself. It's one hell of a machine, but it is as you say, complete with a steep learning curve(to get the most out of it). First advice would be to read the manual, then read Digging it deeper with the DFX by Jeff Foster. Clive Clynick has some good books to read also.

http://www.findmall.com/list.php?28 is the DFX user's "classroom" over at findmall forum...the mod there is a former white's dealer, and I just got my new(to me) D2 coil from him. There's a *Lot* of very valuable information in that subforum.

Some people use the stock programs until they can get a grasp on all that the DFX has to offer, but some(like myself) like to optimize as much as possible, as soon as possible. The stock programs are meant to be a "minimal" representation of what the DFX can do. Undoubtedly, you'll do some tweaking within the first few days of use, especially to things like the VDI rejection range in the coin and jewelry(c&j) program, for example(opening up the rejected low + numbers to catch any missed chains or small gold).

I hear that the stock 12" coil on the dfx 300 is probably not a good coil to start with, especially in even moderately trashy areas, but it's apparently better suited for beach or field hunting. I've done really well with the 9.5" coil, and I'm eager to put my D2 through a full day of testing, but already I can tell from short runs that it will probably end up being my main coil.

There's so much that can be said concerning the beastly machine that your wife has so graciously allowed you to receive...I think a lot of what you will learn will ultimately come from taking many hours to learn listen to and how to tweak the DFX to get the best performance out of it in the spaces that you detect in....the literature out there helps a TON in understanding what does what, and when you should probably change something though(although it may not make a lot of sense until you spend some time behind coil).

GL with your new machine, and HH!

[Dirty Money]

Jwebs has some good advice in his post. Jeff Foster's book is a must have, and the "DFX users class room" has a ton of useful information.

Avoid making a ton of changes to the programs, initially. We all want to load in the latest and greatest program, make all the hot tweaks, etc. Experience tells me that making changes without a good understanding of how the adjustments interrelate, leads to frustration.

The preloaded programs are good solid programs. Stay with them as you learn the different aspects of the machine. Then little by little experiment with changes. Surprisingly, I've found the program I've used the most is a tweaked version of the standard Coin and Jewelry program. One of my hunting buddies, swears by the factory C&J program, and he has the finds to back up what he says.

The 12" coil would not be my first pick unless you hunt open fields. There are a number of excellent coils from Whites (the 6X10 and X come to mind) as well as the SEF coils. Careful with the SEF coils. While fine on the DFX, they are not currently suitable for use on the VX3 or V3i. If you think that you might one day upgrade, stay with White's V rated coils.

Enjoy your new DFX. You have a great machine.

HH

[njal]

Jimmy take a look at this site also.

http://www.dfxonly.com/forum/index.php