more insight on purchase please

I agree with Tony. I've never had the Exp II but I've had the XLT and now have the DFX.

Simply put. The XLT is a great detector, the DFX is better. For me it was diffidently worth the extra $$

I have few complaints with my Explorers. DFX is also a fine machine. It just depends on what bells & whistles are important to you.

If fiddeling with settings is what you want to do go with the DFX it is a great machine but a lot of work. IMHO. If you want to detect and you want a White's get the MXT or M6. You can't go wrong with one of the Explorer's from Minelab depth pretty much comes right out of the box. I have used all of the detectors I mentioned My preferences are the MXT, M6 and Explorer in any order. If finding coins and Jewelery in yards and parks was to be my main concern the M6 just kills. The M6 will use any coil designed for the DFX and MXT as well (this means a lot.)

Personally I feel the Explorers were harder to understand than the DFX. The DFX can be a turn on and go with better pinpointing right off the bat. The M6 is a great detector also.

"fiddling with settings" is diffidently optional on the DFX. For the first month I ran my DFX as a simple turn-on-and-go detector. The depth was great as was stability. I chose to not fiddle with the adjustments for the very reason of testing the DFX's ability as a turn-on-and-go detector.

I found the rumors that the DFX was a complicated detector to be misleading. Yes you can make the DFX complicated to operate if you're set on tweaking the DFX but it is definitely optional.

Look at it like your television set. With the factory preset settings it's as good as any other television. Because it has many adjustments doesn't mean you must use them. But! should you choose to, you can learn to make the adjustments for better performance in far more conditions than most others.

I've never owned, or used a Minelab, and will not slight them in the least. Only thing i know of them is what I have read here on the forum. I own the DFX, and absolutey love the thing. As was said here, it is as simple as you want it to be, or as challenging. I did use the preset programs when I first got it, but now have my own custom program loaded. That makes it a turn on and go machine for me.

hoser said:

I've never owned, or used a Minelab, and will not slight them in the least. Only thing i know of them is what I have read here on the forum. I own the DFX, and absolutey love the thing. As was said here, it is as simple as you want it to be, or as challenging. I did use the preset programs when I first got it, but now have my own custom program loaded. That makes it a turn on and go machine for me.

Click to expand...

Hoser, could you like step me through what you did to customize a program. I have found the directions a little complex because I am not sure what I am doing. If it was a pc I would've had it stripped down and suped up in no time flat, but the terms are confusing to me. If it is no trouble, thanks! I do sandy loam soil and look for coins.

If you want a customised programme then the DFX is the wrong machine. Soil type, your favoured sweep speed, size of object being searched for and its metal content etc etc all mean that performance is being wasted.
Nothing wrong with a custom 'skeleton' programme with audio to suit your hearing and discrimination pattern to suit what your after (where I live that means accepting way down into the minus figures and a few numbers down around the minus 95 mark). But on any new site I expect to do some major tweaking.

I guess I don't understand why the DFX would be the wrong machine. I have two custom programs.

1. My universal program. This is what I start all new sites with. Here in Kansas mineralization is low so the default volume, preamp gain, AC sensitivity and VDI sensitivity can be bumped up from the start increasing performance.

2. My park program. This is a program specifically adjusted for our city park. Our city park(estb 1888) is virtually untouched by detectors except mine. I know of at least 3 other detectorist that hunt the park and find nothing. I can still pull many goodies because my program allows the DFX to get there.

With all do respect, I can appreciate ones ability to explain the technical workings of a device, but it doesn't necessarily give them the skill and ability to say how to use it.

Myself, as a computer tech for over 20 years, can fluently explain how a graphics card communicates with the processor or that a graphics card supporting TL(texture limiting or compression) and 128mb of DDR2 RAM will out perform your basic on-board card, it hardly gives me the skill or ability to tell someone how to draw an animated icon of a horse for a web site.