stewart73
Forum Supporter
Had a crappy hunt today so allow me to vent.
I bought a Whites DF a while back thinking that it would be the perfect complement to my Excal...the DF would hoover up all the goods the Excal couldn't reach and I would also use it on beaches relatively free of trash. With the DF I wouldn't miss anything.
While in theory I suppose this is true, I'm starting to wonder if, practically, I really need this machine. I have had some success with the DF this past year, finding deep gold and platinum, but whether these were targets the Excal couldn't have reached I'm not sure. No doubt the DF is deeper but I just wonder if the time/target (and trash) ratio is worth it in my particular detecting situations.
Contrary to what I perhaps originally thought, I don't really have too many beaches that are totally hunted out (ie. all that's left is too deep for the Excal) OR beaches that aren't very trashy. By the time I get round to hitting the 4 or 5 beaches I rotate another year has passed and summer replenishing starts (and they're all trashy beaches). I'm starting to think that the DF really is only a tool for VERY specific situations, none of which I find myself in very often. So is it worth it to keep it in the closet for those one or two times a year where it might make sense to use it over the Excal or not?
And when you take into account it's not the most fun machine in the world to use (flappy, floaty coil, harder to pinpoint than Excal) I just don't know if I want to keep it. Yes there might be situations where it's 'better' than the Excal but not really in my situation (yet anyway).
As an example, I have pulled over 40 rings in 2 hunts at this one location (one of the hunts just earlier this week). I also pulled hundreds of coins over those two hunts. I figured maybe the gold and platinum was down deep so I hit the same area (in the same conditions) today with the DF. There were, as expected, targets on every swing but I ended up with ZERO coins and ZERO rings (granted, I only hunted 2 hours). With the Excal I probably would have had 10 rings and 50 coins in that same time. What went wrong? I think 3 things. Firstly the targets tended to be deeper so of course they take more time and effort to retrieve. Secondly, I find the DF much harder to pinpoint with so I often end up digging huge holes "chasing" the target around. And thirdly, of course there's the iron that has to be dug that I wouldn't be digging with the Excal. With the Excal it takes me anywhere between 15 seconds and a minute to retrieve a target....with the DF it was taking up to 5 minutes and I gave up on several holes. Is this simply my lack of experience with the machine? I don't think I took less than 5 scoops to retrieve any of the very few targets I managed to pull up.
I dunno...I know that if I pounded that area for weeks on end with the DF I would find gold that the Excal wouldn't...but would that time be worth it when I could be hunting with the Excal and finding way more? Or was it not time for the DF yet (ie. this place has so many targets I need to pound it with the Excal a lot more before bringing in the DF?) I just can't believe the difference in my finds and the difference in how much I enjoy hunting with the Excal and the DF. The DF is a royal pain in the butt (except of course when you find gold ) and the effort to reward ratio is nowhere near the Excal (for me). More often than not I just end up tired and frustrated (and find much less) with the DF. To be honest I was actually relieved when I finally snapped my scoop handle today so I could go home...first time in a year and-a-half that's happened!
Here's a few days ago with the Excal:
And here's my take today with the DF, same spot, same conditions (yes it was working correctly!):
What do you guys think? Ditch the DF? Learn how to use it more proficiently? Keep in the closet for those few times it makes sense to use it? Stop whining?
I bought a Whites DF a while back thinking that it would be the perfect complement to my Excal...the DF would hoover up all the goods the Excal couldn't reach and I would also use it on beaches relatively free of trash. With the DF I wouldn't miss anything.
While in theory I suppose this is true, I'm starting to wonder if, practically, I really need this machine. I have had some success with the DF this past year, finding deep gold and platinum, but whether these were targets the Excal couldn't have reached I'm not sure. No doubt the DF is deeper but I just wonder if the time/target (and trash) ratio is worth it in my particular detecting situations.
Contrary to what I perhaps originally thought, I don't really have too many beaches that are totally hunted out (ie. all that's left is too deep for the Excal) OR beaches that aren't very trashy. By the time I get round to hitting the 4 or 5 beaches I rotate another year has passed and summer replenishing starts (and they're all trashy beaches). I'm starting to think that the DF really is only a tool for VERY specific situations, none of which I find myself in very often. So is it worth it to keep it in the closet for those one or two times a year where it might make sense to use it over the Excal or not?
And when you take into account it's not the most fun machine in the world to use (flappy, floaty coil, harder to pinpoint than Excal) I just don't know if I want to keep it. Yes there might be situations where it's 'better' than the Excal but not really in my situation (yet anyway).
As an example, I have pulled over 40 rings in 2 hunts at this one location (one of the hunts just earlier this week). I also pulled hundreds of coins over those two hunts. I figured maybe the gold and platinum was down deep so I hit the same area (in the same conditions) today with the DF. There were, as expected, targets on every swing but I ended up with ZERO coins and ZERO rings (granted, I only hunted 2 hours). With the Excal I probably would have had 10 rings and 50 coins in that same time. What went wrong? I think 3 things. Firstly the targets tended to be deeper so of course they take more time and effort to retrieve. Secondly, I find the DF much harder to pinpoint with so I often end up digging huge holes "chasing" the target around. And thirdly, of course there's the iron that has to be dug that I wouldn't be digging with the Excal. With the Excal it takes me anywhere between 15 seconds and a minute to retrieve a target....with the DF it was taking up to 5 minutes and I gave up on several holes. Is this simply my lack of experience with the machine? I don't think I took less than 5 scoops to retrieve any of the very few targets I managed to pull up.
I dunno...I know that if I pounded that area for weeks on end with the DF I would find gold that the Excal wouldn't...but would that time be worth it when I could be hunting with the Excal and finding way more? Or was it not time for the DF yet (ie. this place has so many targets I need to pound it with the Excal a lot more before bringing in the DF?) I just can't believe the difference in my finds and the difference in how much I enjoy hunting with the Excal and the DF. The DF is a royal pain in the butt (except of course when you find gold ) and the effort to reward ratio is nowhere near the Excal (for me). More often than not I just end up tired and frustrated (and find much less) with the DF. To be honest I was actually relieved when I finally snapped my scoop handle today so I could go home...first time in a year and-a-half that's happened!
Here's a few days ago with the Excal:
And here's my take today with the DF, same spot, same conditions (yes it was working correctly!):
What do you guys think? Ditch the DF? Learn how to use it more proficiently? Keep in the closet for those few times it makes sense to use it? Stop whining?