Played with it today to try and get my arms around it.
Overall build quality---as good as any VLF detector I've had/have (Nokta CoRE, Makro Racer, Minelab CTX, Minelab Etrac, White's V3i, Minelab XS Explorer, Fisher F75LTD2, Xp Deus)
Coil ears look good and beefy
Good connections between rod joints
Coil has no cover---but seems protected fairly well
Coil cable is a bit stiffer than the ones I've seen
Ergonomics
Not heavy or real light
I'm 5'10" tall and rod with its design seems to fit me well. Coil is away from my feet more so than say F75.
There is plenty of adjustment for the unusually tall folks
Swings very well with 11" coil installed--doesn't feel nose heavy say like Deus with 11" coil.
Doesn't feel tail heavy either with 7x9 coil installed like a Nokta Cores does with small OOR coil
Comes with a decent operator's manual---far better than my White's V3i did, will say some of the words/grammar a bit off---but understandable anyway to me
Iron handling
I ran it with a gain of 4 threshold of 5-5.5-----machine seemed stable, power lines overhead
Going to gain of 6 or higher threshold than 5.5 things got jittery
When sweeping over yard--minefield of iron btw, with loads of nails and even some medium,/large iron----with disc set at 4 iron rejection seemed pretty good. On some of the larger a decent tone would come in at times---turning 90 degrees signal would be static to broken
Over the iron machine sorta reminds me of a cross between White's V3i and Xp Deus
Sometimes on the first sweep over iron--tone more desirable, but with a couple more sweeps---signal would get crackly or dissipate
Sweep speed sensitivity
Detector not as forgiving as Deus IMO, but better than White's V3i---when the White's is set to as a deeper seeker
ORE Mode--played with some. Preliminary tests indicate it's no Deus----11" coil vs 11"---recovery/separation
Need to play more with 7x9" coil before I comment
Controls
Detector controls definitely look more intimidating when looking at pics vs in real person
Pots seem smooth---but this is the only detector I've ever had with knobs----take as you wish
The disc depth control---this is a very good feature IMO---based mostly on air testing, did hit my small garden though
It works in conjunction with disc setting
If Xp deus had this control/function---would definitely make the Deus a better modern trash site hunter
The Discriminator switch--going to position 1, knocks out tabs/nickels-----I feel is used smartly with disc depth/disc opens up doors to hunt modern sites looking for copper/silver
One note though I played with a aluminum can with disc switch in position 1---knocks out can but not if can is a long ways from coil say 16"
And playing with the can----I've never had a detector that airtest an aluminum can so far-----with 4 gain and threshold at 5 can could be heard at oh my, I don't know ---with detector's coil on the ground I could hold the can not far below shoulder level and it would signal
Tone clarity--the external speaker is OK, need to run volume pretty high though to hear real well
As far as using headphones--I used the sunray progolds, tone seemed good, and there is some fairly nice nuance when over the iron and when using the discriminator switch to knock out targets
Is it Deus quality???--not quite but remember this is a 1 tone machine, Deus multitone
So far I like it.
Need to get it out hunting and play with smaller coil more. The ORE mode in airtesting seems to give up quite a bit of depth, but this may not transition to in ground performance entirely.
BTW using my high mineral bricks. With 3 stacked with quarter under them---it bangs the quarter,,, Deus with 11" coil barely hits, F75 Iron tone with low VDI
Placing a dime under Bliss squeaks--the others notta
More to come
Overall build quality---as good as any VLF detector I've had/have (Nokta CoRE, Makro Racer, Minelab CTX, Minelab Etrac, White's V3i, Minelab XS Explorer, Fisher F75LTD2, Xp Deus)
Coil ears look good and beefy
Good connections between rod joints
Coil has no cover---but seems protected fairly well
Coil cable is a bit stiffer than the ones I've seen
Ergonomics
Not heavy or real light
I'm 5'10" tall and rod with its design seems to fit me well. Coil is away from my feet more so than say F75.
There is plenty of adjustment for the unusually tall folks
Swings very well with 11" coil installed--doesn't feel nose heavy say like Deus with 11" coil.
Doesn't feel tail heavy either with 7x9 coil installed like a Nokta Cores does with small OOR coil
Comes with a decent operator's manual---far better than my White's V3i did, will say some of the words/grammar a bit off---but understandable anyway to me
Iron handling
I ran it with a gain of 4 threshold of 5-5.5-----machine seemed stable, power lines overhead
Going to gain of 6 or higher threshold than 5.5 things got jittery
When sweeping over yard--minefield of iron btw, with loads of nails and even some medium,/large iron----with disc set at 4 iron rejection seemed pretty good. On some of the larger a decent tone would come in at times---turning 90 degrees signal would be static to broken
Over the iron machine sorta reminds me of a cross between White's V3i and Xp Deus
Sometimes on the first sweep over iron--tone more desirable, but with a couple more sweeps---signal would get crackly or dissipate
Sweep speed sensitivity
Detector not as forgiving as Deus IMO, but better than White's V3i---when the White's is set to as a deeper seeker
ORE Mode--played with some. Preliminary tests indicate it's no Deus----11" coil vs 11"---recovery/separation
Need to play more with 7x9" coil before I comment
Controls
Detector controls definitely look more intimidating when looking at pics vs in real person
Pots seem smooth---but this is the only detector I've ever had with knobs----take as you wish
The disc depth control---this is a very good feature IMO---based mostly on air testing, did hit my small garden though
It works in conjunction with disc setting
If Xp deus had this control/function---would definitely make the Deus a better modern trash site hunter
The Discriminator switch--going to position 1, knocks out tabs/nickels-----I feel is used smartly with disc depth/disc opens up doors to hunt modern sites looking for copper/silver
One note though I played with a aluminum can with disc switch in position 1---knocks out can but not if can is a long ways from coil say 16"
And playing with the can----I've never had a detector that airtest an aluminum can so far-----with 4 gain and threshold at 5 can could be heard at oh my, I don't know ---with detector's coil on the ground I could hold the can not far below shoulder level and it would signal
Tone clarity--the external speaker is OK, need to run volume pretty high though to hear real well
As far as using headphones--I used the sunray progolds, tone seemed good, and there is some fairly nice nuance when over the iron and when using the discriminator switch to knock out targets
Is it Deus quality???--not quite but remember this is a 1 tone machine, Deus multitone
So far I like it.
Need to get it out hunting and play with smaller coil more. The ORE mode in airtesting seems to give up quite a bit of depth, but this may not transition to in ground performance entirely.
BTW using my high mineral bricks. With 3 stacked with quarter under them---it bangs the quarter,,, Deus with 11" coil barely hits, F75 Iron tone with low VDI
Placing a dime under Bliss squeaks--the others notta
More to come