I have a V3i but.....

Funny you mention this. I have an AT Pro but have been thinking about moving up to something else, along the lines of an Etrac, CTX3030, or maybe a nice whites.

There are a ton of AT Pro users out there because, well, the price point and features list is excellent. It is still a midrange, perhaps slightly upper midrange detector though. It will beep when you move it over metal but is easy to learn.

I just upgraded from a MXT Pro to a CTX. By the time it arrived I already understood the setting just from watching a bazillion CTX youtube videos.

I only had to get some swing time to get used to the sound of a good target.

You have a top-of-the-line machine...watch some vids and it should boost your confidence.

I upgraded to the V3i last month, and I was using a DFX before it. Yes, there are far more settings to adjust on the V3i, but a *lot* of them don't need to be touched to surpass the performance of the V3i's little brothers and sisters.
I got mine, and was excited to fiddle with the settings, but soon realized that until I become more proficient with when to adjust the few **main** settings that should be adjusted, I can leave some of the minutiae on the stock settings.
Say, if you like to hunt trashy parks or lots where old houses once stood, I would load up the Hi-trash program, adjust the RX gain and Disc. sensitivity to get stable performance. Set the Filter to 7.5 bandpass, ground balance, and start swinging!

You could get fancy and play with recovery delay to match the level of trash, or change your transmit frequency to correlate and lower the span to get better VDI stability on good targets, or set a single low tone for all of your ferrous VDIs to be able to hear the amout of iron targets in the ground(it's kind of cool--it sounds like a little geiger counter, but this setting really shines when you can pick a good target out amidst a few nails) etc, etc, etc...but until you're comfortable with and understand how the "important" settings relate to what type of hunting you're doing, you can let those settings collect dust, and you'll still find some good targets.

I would suggest going to Findmall's Spectra V3i/Vx3 forum(http://www.findmall.com/list.php?66) and reading... also, http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/forumdisplay.php?54-Spectra-V-Series has a Spectra section, and this one is a must--full of info and tips straight from the folks at white's and people who have been driving Vision series detectors since they came out.
http://www.dfxonly.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=37 has a Spectra section as well, and is worth taking a read or two.
Sorry for the long-winded post

I've frequented findmalls V3i section as well as Whites and have watched a bunch of vids. I fully understand that it's an awesome machine for those who like to tweak things, I just don't know if that's me. I loved the simplicity of my MXT and I firmly believe in the idea that it's the person swinging the detector that is more important than the detector itself. My father-in-law uses a coinmaster and regularly finds things.

I guess I'm trying to justify all I'm using is the coin program verses the price I paid for the unit.

Personally, I think it's all in your hunting style, or what you like to go for. I like to tweak, and hit a site multiple times with different settings to see what I missed after I make a few changes.
I think that the V *can* be a turn on and go, but for the price, I think that it's meant to be a versatile beast for detectorists who don't have a favorite target type, and those who like to tweak and eek out every cent spent from the detector's various capabilities.
I have no experience with the At Pro or the MXT, so I can't offer any advice in comparison...i can say that I've been tempted to grab an at pro on more than one occasion, based on some of the videos i've seen from people using them.

This sounds all too familiar. I went from a whites XLT (still have and use it) to a V3i. Used the V for a few months but we didn't get along too well. I honestly don't know what kept me from chucking that thing into a lake. Up on ebay it went. I then purchased a ETrac and never looked back. The V3i was just too much machine for me (I am lacking a doctorate in electrical engineering).

My father in law and I would hunt the same land and he would walk out with silver, copper, indians, you name it. He was using an old XLT, I would go over the same spots with my V3i and get NOTHING. It was not picking up coins that were even 3 inches down. I was extremely frustrated with it.

I did receive an email several months later from the fella that purchased my V3i from ebay letting me know that he sent the unit in to Sweet Home because he was having the same issue I was with depth. Whites replaced the coil and control box stating they were both bad. That being said, I kinda wish I kept it and sent it in to whites myself, but oh well...

I have had the mxt and the v3i at the same time, I sold the mxt to force myself to learn the v3i thinking it had to be a better detector if it costed two times more, well I always regret not keeping my mxt. Now I sold the v3i and have a AT-pro, never looked back, I am happy for now.

Were it not for the weight, I would have kept the V3i. I sold it to finance the purchase of my XP Deus. Now that I am understanding the Deus better, I realize I didn't give the V3i the proper time.

The V3i is the Swiss Army knife of metal detectors and all the features can be seen as overkill. However, as you mature as a hunter, those features become more valuable.

As for moving to the AT Pro, that's a decision you won't regret either. Simpler to use and will do 90% what any other detector out there will do.

I've owned both and used both and really enjoyed both.

The Deus is just in a whole separate class.

I've always had a high regard for White's products and still do, but I personally question the logic of the V3i with all the posts I've seen relating to problems from the user understanding the machine to many that weren't working properly until they were sent back to be checked out. The user basically has no way to determine if it is working properly or not. A detector with that level of sophistication should have some built in self tests for proper operation. It's also seems disappointing for a detector in that price bracket has the same old housing design (metal box underneath) as most other models going back approx. 20 years. Furthermore, it's not waterproof either. Had White's designers followed the look of the Prizm/Coinmaster housing look and design, I think the V3i would have been much more popular. Im not sure but with the many complaints of the V3i, White's may have felt pressure to release a new machine to the market. I know I sound like I'm bashing White's but I'm not. I own a DFX which after getting over a learning curve I've been fairly pleased with but I've also got an AT Pro ordered to test against the DFX.

NoIronMan said:

I've always had a high regard for White's products and still do, but I personally question the logic of the V3i with all the posts I've seen relating to problems from the user understanding the machine

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I think a lot of new users pick up the V and feel like they need to learn and understand all of its settings immediately, then they tend to get overwhelmed because of the sheer number of adjustments. The truth is, its not necessary to learn everything at once. The preset programs will perform great in most cases and the user can learn to tweak the settings at his own pace while still finding the good stuff.

I agree with these comments from jwebs and pulltabminer:

Yes, there are far more settings to adjust on the V3i, but a *lot* of them don't need to be touched to surpass the performance of the V3i's little brothers and sisters.

Click to expand...

The V3i is the Swiss Army knife of metal detectors and all the features can be seen as overkill. However, as you mature as a hunter, those features become more valuable.

Click to expand...

The V series isn't for everyone, but for those of us who like a machine that can grow with us, its an awesome detector.

As for the housing design, I actually like it very much. I've owned other detectors with everything built into a single box on an S-Type rod and to me the Spectra's separate control box / under-elbow housing seems much more balanced and easier to swing for long periods of time.

Rattlehead said:

I think a lot of new users pick up the V and feel like they need to learn and understand all of its settings immediately, then they tend to get overwhelmed because of the sheer number of adjustments. The truth is, its not necessary to learn everything at once. The preset programs will perform great in most cases and the user can learn to tweak the settings at his own pace while still finding the good stuff.

I agree with these comments from jwebs and pulltabminer:





The V series isn't for everyone, but for those of us who like a machine that can grow with us, its an awesome detector.

As for the housing design, I actually like it very much. I've owned other detectors with everything built into a single box on an S-Type rod and to me the Spectra's separate control box / under-elbow housing seems much more balanced and easier to swing for long periods of time.

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I guess "if it ain't broke don't fix it"applies here. I realize the design is very functional, it's just that it looks somewhat outdated when you compare it to the AT Pro or new Coinmaster GT.

The design of the v3i was the main reason I loved whites, it looks like the real thing, the other detectors look "cheaper" so to speak. Now I wasn't able to enjoy it as I would have liked to but than again it was my fault not the detectors.
One thing I agree 100% is that it isn't a detector for everyone

pulltabMiner said:

Were it not for the weight, I would have kept the V3i. I sold it to finance the purchase of my XP Deus. Now that I am understanding the Deus better, I realize I didn't give the V3i the proper time.

The V3i is the Swiss Army knife of metal detectors and all the features can be seen as overkill. However, as you mature as a hunter, those features become more valuable.

As for moving to the AT Pro, that's a decision you won't regret either. Simpler to use and will do 90% what any other detector out there will do.

I've owned both and used both and really enjoyed both.

The Deus is just in a whole separate class.

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Great post!