dirtydog
Forum Supporter
Reminds me of the ATX. A very interesting machine Crumble. I'll look forward to your opinion of it.
Got an interesting detector on the way...
- Thread starter Crumble
- Start date
A review of the Vallon VHM3CS ? OK.
On the plus side, it's really a powerful machine. Not found anything really valuable yet, but on the beach, I can find wires as thin as a hair, paper staples, etc. in places I have searched and searched. Its military grade, so it's rugged.
On the minus side... It's designed for soldiers, that means it's heavy, and the handle causes pain if you do not have very big hands. The armrest is awful. The 3 big LR20 batteries makes it unbalanced. The machine can be serviced in the USA by the authorized dealer or in Germany at Vallon. As it's military grade, it's not that cheap. Inspection fees (without any repairs) are 73 euros, more or less the same in USD. I could not get quotes for common repairs or firmware upgrade from Vallon.
You WILL have to mod it for the headset and the batteries. Another point to know before buying one is the version of the firmware. I'm currently trying to grasp how to build a RS232/USB cable with a six pin plug to upgrade my machine.
You can get one of these machines for 250 USD, that is, cheaper than any PI I know. So...
On the plus side, it's really a powerful machine. Not found anything really valuable yet, but on the beach, I can find wires as thin as a hair, paper staples, etc. in places I have searched and searched. Its military grade, so it's rugged.
On the minus side... It's designed for soldiers, that means it's heavy, and the handle causes pain if you do not have very big hands. The armrest is awful. The 3 big LR20 batteries makes it unbalanced. The machine can be serviced in the USA by the authorized dealer or in Germany at Vallon. As it's military grade, it's not that cheap. Inspection fees (without any repairs) are 73 euros, more or less the same in USD. I could not get quotes for common repairs or firmware upgrade from Vallon.
You WILL have to mod it for the headset and the batteries. Another point to know before buying one is the version of the firmware. I'm currently trying to grasp how to build a RS232/USB cable with a six pin plug to upgrade my machine.
You can get one of these machines for 250 USD, that is, cheaper than any PI I know. So...
I sold this machine long ago, was way too front heavy. Then got a Minelab mine detector (Minelab F3), that I liked but also sold that because an 8" coil is useless on a huge beach. Kinda wish I kept the minelab one because it was a beast of a machine.
Tried many different PI's (Sandshark, TDI, Minelab F3, Infinium, CEIA), and the TDI with 14" and 20" Mono is now my go to PI.
Tried many different PI's (Sandshark, TDI, Minelab F3, Infinium, CEIA), and the TDI with 14" and 20" Mono is now my go to PI.
Steve
Forum Supporter
X2 on the tdi
Steve
Forum Supporter
Yup.. a keen ear can tell the difference aswell as the depth
Equinox and TDI are both pretty sensitive to small gold.
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Sandcrab
Elite Member
Gold and Aluminum - Both low conductors...
What do you consider thin??? What is the fascination with gold chains that weigh next to nothing???
Will blow the doors off an Equinox on the beach. Even the "magical" 20+ inches Equinox.
I’ve often read that but on the CTX gold and aluminum don’t share the same space on the VID. The CTX doesn’t pick up the foil bits the EQ does and makes you think they are gold. The CTX senses the clasp but not the chain - often that’s enough. The reason I ask is I just bough a basket case surf DF - now getting a new coil and checkup at Whites, and I’ve gotten a little dismayed with poor gold sensing on youtube vids. Wondering if the TDI is good with chains - but more interested to know how it does with the foil bits. I tried my GP Extreme at the beach and saw it sense 5-8” deeper on a gold ring than the CTX and later realized I wasn’t getting annoyed with aluminum bits. Didn’t try a gold chain though. I am very happy with the CTX but like to give other detectors a go when conditions are bad.
Sandcrab
Elite Member
A Dual Field is poor at sensing to gold... Go back couple years and check threads from myself or Craig. As for the VID, that can change with the sand composition, salinity, or all kinds of other variables. It is a pulse, it picks little bits of everything...
Why don't you just swing your GP extreme for a bit and record the results? As for videos on your tube, I take them with a grain of salt. It is all controlled conditions, you ever see a person swing like that in real life? Going over and over a KNOWN target, KNOWN depth, KNOWN location. It is all set up, mother nature did not bury the target.
Start by understanding the Whites DF, you may hate it, may like it. Don't worry about anyones results but your own. Get the machine that is suited for what you do, not what a tester or anyone else boasts about. They are only comparing it to what they know...
If you are looking for thin gold chains, finding tiny pieces of foil is a good thing. If you aren’t picking up tiny pieces of foil, you won’t be hearing the thin gold chains. Aluminum and foil sound like gold because they share the same conductivity range as small gold, so it is a necessary evil to dig it. I have dug 2 engagement rings that I thought was going to be a piece of aluminum foil. They hit between 1 and 3 on a ID machine, but found them with the sovereign and cz21. However, there is a big difference in the sound of a 1 gram ring, and the sound of a small chain. The former hits hard, the latter is a small scratchy sounding target (like tiny foil).
Honestly, in the end you are better off not worrying about thin gold chains that probably weigh 3 grams total, because you waste so much time digging shredded gum wrappers to find them. I specifically use large coils on my PI because they don’t hear the super tiny stuff. My 20” coil won’t hit a thin gold chain (or tiny foil) but it sees a 1 gram ring at 10”, and bigger rings way deeper, that is the ideal scenario in my opinion.
I used to be super into trying to find thin gold chains, but realized that it isn’t worth it at the beach where we have tons of aluminum trash. The only time I would even try to find thin gold chains is when the beach is down to rocks and all the aluminum trash has been washed away with the sand.
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I will have to try the Extreme more at the beach. I’d pass it right over globs of aluminum foil that the Equinox would sound off on and not hear them. Seems a different experience than the TDI - but it may indicate it isn’t sensitive to small stuff too. Wish the Equinox had a front panel button to switch this sensitivity off - I might have kept it then.
If the extreme isn’t hearing gobs of foil, it needs a checkup at Minelab or is set up wrong.
I’m confused by your Equinox statement. You seem to want to find small gold, but sold the equinox because it was too sensitive? There is no getting around digging small aluminum/foil if you want to find tiny gold. If you get tired of digging small aluminum/foil just don’t dig the scratchy low target IDs, but you may miss a gold chain. The great conundrum of metal detecting, skip digging foil and miss the occasional small gold, skip digging zinc pennies and miss the occasional gold class ring.
Is what you say about the GP Extreme from experience with one? I would expect it to pick up the foil but it definitely doesn't - at least not with the coil I had on it at the time. (I have many coils for it).
Minelab doesn't repair the Extreme any longer. I bought it used with a blown front end and fixed it myself. No settings intended to vary timing to a great degree. I haven't been able to learn just what the sample delay is in fact.
Minelab doesn't repair the Extreme any longer. I bought it used with a blown front end and fixed it myself. No settings intended to vary timing to a great degree. I haven't been able to learn just what the sample delay is in fact.
dewcon
Quality Control Expert
You all just stop looking for them chains...... i got 6 last year in the water. Id like to add...... its not about the weight its about the link in many cases. Very small link chains can have some good weight to them. You dont find them often..... so we dont know we just walked over one. Id also make a bet not as many are lost as people wish were lost. As far as switching off the sensitivity to small targets.... you have the ability on most machines now to NOTCH anything out. Im not a trash hunter.... but the Nox has afforded me a shot at some missed smaller gold which most people could care less about.... in most cases even an earring is a gram..... $30 or $40 a pop is sure better than digging high tones..... and they add up in a months time.
The DF is a 15 uS..... the TDI is 10 so there will be more sensitivity to small targets..... tiny targets but that depends on what uS you can actually run. YOu are missing gold if you dont think foil falls in the same VID on the CTX.
The DF is a 15 uS..... the TDI is 10 so there will be more sensitivity to small targets..... tiny targets but that depends on what uS you can actually run. YOu are missing gold if you dont think foil falls in the same VID on the CTX.
