Big Boys Hobbies

White's Spectra V3 Field Reports

After reading the questions that were put out there I can not answer any of them as I never really had much luck changing coils and the like while using the DFX so I dont plan on doing all that with the Vision. All of my finds have been made just making adjustments to the machine and not with any of the add on's. I dont plan on going with that pinpointer but that was the only question that really interested me as I do like the probe but the regular hand held works well and I'm just going to stay with that.

I've hunted for a few months now with the Vision V3 whatever you want to call it and its a very nice detector. The headphones are fantastic but I found that only after an hour they get sweaty very fast so I dont use them unless there are a lot of people that may be bothered by the beeping. I have not found GOLD or SILVER with the detector but if there is a target under it I know it. It hits much deeper than the DFX this information was gathered while hunting with someone who had the DFX. I got a solid target at 9" and the DFX passed right over it without a peep. Bottle tops have become a pain using the Vision as for what ever reason I never had to deal with them using the DFX.

The other day I set the Vision to just hunt on one Freq 22 and liked it better then having all three working at the same time and may just use it like that from now on perhaps mid range. Nothing more to add really it's really not all that much different than the DFX except it's definitly juiced up with programs and power. I dont think this is a good detector for beginners but like with the XLT, DFX it took some time to read the machines and dont feel this one is any different.

Good thread looking forward to more info from others.

Jamie
 
Hello Jamie!

Good to see you again. Glad you found the thread. I agree with you on the headphones. I like them when it is cold out, but they are just plain hot right now. I have been using the 2.5 kHz mode for deep coins. I will give the 22.5 a try. Thanks for your post.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
Rudy said:
Jack,

Did you or your wife try rotating your sun glasses while doing the experiment?
I think the V3 screen uses a polarizer to tame glare. It could be that the polarization angle of your glasses aligns just so with the polarizer on the V3, whereas prosise's glasses does not.
Click to expand...

This is a good point Rudy. I use a circular polarizer lens on my camera that will rotate for this effect you are describing. Never thought about this. I will check it out with the camera lens.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
V3 Bigfoot Coil Observations

Well, I have been working quite a bit with the Bigfoot coil on the V3 this last week. I have ran into some interesting anomalies. Thought I would share a few observations.

1. When using the analyze feature of the V3 the front half of the coil works as expected, while the rear half is completely inverted with the base line at the top of the screen and the signal pattern extending downward. It is just as accurate, but mirrored.

2. The 22.5 kHz frequency will identify targets in the 10 to 30 VDI range incorrectly in the 55 to 75 range. All other targets are very accurate. This seems to be random. I have hunted with it working normally for over 2 hours before suddenly changing.

3. The response on a quarter from the 22.5 kHz frequency actually drops slightly below the base line. You can still rake in the quarters with the Bigfoot coil on the V3. They jump up and bite you on the leg, just like on the DFX.

4. Pinpointing is dead on and more accurate than with the DFX. The rear of the coil is switched off, just as with the DFX.

5. Just like on the DFX you can really max out the the PAG and AC (Rx Gain and Discrimination Sensitivity). The coil will null and go into overload with the TX Boost if your RX Gain is above 9. If you set the RX gain all the way up to 15 it will overload as well. You can still run pretty hot though.

6. Other than the occasional 22.5 kHz target ID issue this coil is completely usable in single frequency modes. I am trying to figure out what triggers this problem.

If anyone has other insights please feel free to share them. I will continue to develop a Best Data based program and share my progress.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
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CyberSage said:
This is a good point Rudy. I use a circular polarizer lens on my camera that will rotate for this effect you are describing. Never thought about this. I will check it out with the camera lens.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
Click to expand...

The reason for using a circular polarizer on a camera is because either the internal metering cell and or autofocus sensors, as part of the optical design linearly polarize the light rays going through them.

The circular polarizer avoids the effect that prosise was describing since polarized eye glasses use linear polarizers.
 
interference question>

I posted this on treasurenet as well so that i could cover all my bases.


Woke up early this morn, decided to stop at one of my hot spots on the way to work. To describe this spot, its a fountain in front of a court house surrounded by park benches with nice watered grass. At the corner of each block of grass is a light coming out of the ground. Those flourescent light type that. I used to hunt this spot with my XLT with great success. Now I only had one spot where they had a power line running shallow in the ground that would throw my old detector(xlt) into crazy mode. anyhoo, its 4:30am dark & i pull the V3 out of the truck and when i turned it on on my way to the grass its going crazy, i try ground balance and see the graph oscilating. nothing i could do would correct. So I change to single freq 22k, it ground balances and is a little sensative. I dropped rx down from 8 to 3 and it would read but still picking up false readings. The noise seemed to be greatest on the low freq, some on 10k and a very small amount on 22k. No matter where i walked it was having some kind of intereference. I packed up and drove to work. pulled it out and all was good. I did the usual power of/on a couple times, and changed programs. i had nothing like this with the XLT, is the V3 that much more sensative? was it the lights causing the noise. I was 30 feet from any light and still had issue. DOnt know what was causing the issue, anyone seen this. I used it yesterday evening with good success. Still learning the unit, boy is it powerfull compared to my XLT.

thanks for looking

additional question for you seasoned vets: As I am pretty technical guy and know electronics pretty well, anyone put together any good notes on the analyze function to help out with the learning curve. I think over time I will get used to the analyze function but I seem to feel like im looking at the analyze function with some confusion. Yea I see the coins that I am digging are showing a nice hump, some humps reflecting a coin on edge. But other than that I see so many graphs that I am totally confused about. I am going to put together a test bed to do some homework but would love to hear any helpfull tips, etc.

thanks

prosise (dfw area)
 
prosise, next time you go to that park try the frequency offset mode to move the operating frequency away from that of the interference.
 
tried that..

I tried freq offset +3 and it did not change. sorry for not adding that.. It's something at this site. I have not hunted it with the v3 before today. last time i hunted it with XLT was 6 months ago.. wanted to let it build up again..

prosise
 
CyberSage said:
My wife and I just put this to the test in direct sunlight and in the shade. The display looks great with polarized glasses on!
Click to expand...
I have to agree with prosise on this one. I wear nothing but Maui Jim's (have 3 pairs) and they just don't work well with the V's display...even tilting my head doesn't work very well. I tried another brand that Dana had in her purse an they seem to be alright.

Perhaps it's just the MJ's?
 
I continue to work with the V3 and the Bigfoot and have discovered some not to attractive things about the Correlate mode. My understanding of the correlate mode was that all 3 frequencies would be compared an if 2 of the 3 frequencies fell within the Span Limit the logic of the V3 would elicit a response. Through trial and error what I have discovered is that the logic of the V3 first chooses the highest VDI reading and bases it's Span limit from that reading downward to the next closest VDI reading. So it is not really taking the closest 2 frequencies. On small gold items this could null your target even with a very high Span limit. Bummer. This would still work for coins OK but this is definitely not the mode to use when hunting gold jewelry. On another note, It would appear that for the most part the Bigfoot coil can just not handle the 22.5 kHz frequency. Using Best Data mode the graph will still show the correct response from the 2.5 and 7.5 kHz even though the VDI will be reported about 40 - 45 increments to high on the VDI readout. So it is quite simple to pick out nickels even though they respond at 68 VDI. I think I will end up using the 7.5 kHz with the Bigfoot if I need the coverage.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
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wow, i like stuff like this...

CyberSage said:
I continue to work with the V3 and the Bigfoot and have discovered some not to attractive things about the Correlate mode. My understanding of the correlate mode was that all 3 frequencies would be compared an if 2 of the 3 frequencies fell within the Span Limit the logic of the V3 would elicit a response. Through trial and error what I have discovered is that the logic of the V3 first chooses the highest VDI reading and bases it's Span limit from that reading downward to the next closest VDI reading. So it is not really taking the closest 2 frequencies. On small gold items this could null your target even with a very high Span limit. Bummer. This would still work for coins OK but this is definitely not the mode to use when hunting gold jewelry. On another note, It would appear that for the most part the Bigfoot coil can just not handle the 22.5 kHz frequency. Using Best Data mode the graph will still show the correct response from the 2.5 and 7.5 kHz even though the VDI will be reported about 40 - 45 increments to high on the VDI readout. So it is quite simple to pick out nickels even though they respond at 68 VDI. I think I will end up using the 7.5 kHz with the Bigfoot if I need the coverage.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
Click to expand...

I have gone thru this thread a couple times and really am impressed with the time you have spent analyzing different setups, configs. this is really impressive information. I know in the coming months I will start to get the deer in the headlights out of my mind as I am starting to get the hang of this unit. I wish I had more time, my 3 yr old daughter is a higher priority but I still get out about 3 hours a week. I hunted a piece of land this week what was bull dozed. House was late 60's build so I thought I would see what was in the ground. I tried to dig the better targets but it was so trashy that I was spinning my wheels. I really like the bar graphs on analyze, and the bars on pinpoint. I think that in the next few months I will start to get the hang of it. again, thanks for these informative posts....
what program do you use most & what mods are you changing? I am starting with coin/jew tone id on, adding +95 vdi. I have to drop rx down to 3-4 to eliminate eradic behavior. But other than that all is stock.. and of course Im using the DD.. I still have not made up my mind on this head yet..

Here is a good question for you: Do you think that it could cause any problems if you ran your MD over a underground power cable? I did this not knowing until it was too late and wonder if it could cause any damage to the coil.

Sincerely

Prosise
 
CyberSage said:
Hello Jamie!

Good to see you again. Glad you found the thread. I agree with you on the headphones. I like them when it is cold out, but they are just plain hot right now. I have been using the 2.5 kHz mode for deep coins. I will give the 22.5 a try. Thanks for your post.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
Click to expand...


Good to be here thanks and its good to read some of the info you and everyone has put into this thread I hope it continues.

I was suprised what you had to say about the bigfoot and the V3. This detector is a nickel magnet. I have to say it pulls at a far greater rate than both the DFX and XLT however this first 14K GOLD ring I pulled definitly seporated itself from the field.

Everything was dead on except the % but the graph was enough to send me back to the car for my scoop (see thread stories finds). Nickels come up wider and so does foil this hit with the GOLD had a strong spike at 22.5 kHz with a very tight grouping. I dont think this is the end of Nickels and foil but I sure have a better idea of whats in the gound before I dig.

Jamie
 
CyberSage said:

1. How do other coils made for the DFX work on the Spectra? Bigfoot, Super 12, Eclipse, etc., Share info on the ones you have tried.
[B]Update: So far 950,Eclipse 6x9, Super12, Bigfoot coils all work on the SV3. TX Boost works but will quickly overload on surface targets. Deeper targets [U]sound off fine[/U].[/B]
[/QUOTE]

Is it off or fine? Now that you have had more time to test do you like the Bigfoot Coil on the V3 for relic hunting?
Click to expand...
 
13rannon said:
Is it off or fine? Now that you have had more time to test do you like the Bigfoot Coil on the V3 for relic hunting?
Click to expand...

In my opinion this would be a bad coil choice for relic hunting. I am not a relic hunter, but the Bigfoot is more suited for flat grassy areas or dry sand on the beach. You will not get the depth out of a Bigfoot coil. This coil is best used for jewelry and clad.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
CyberSage said:
In my opinion this would be a bad coil choice for relic hunting. I am not a relic hunter, but the Bigfoot is more suited for flat grassy areas or dry sand on the beach. You will not get the depth out of a Bigfoot coil. This coil is best used for jewelry and clad.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
Click to expand...

Agreed! You’re right on with that one; I'm with ya there .... ;)

Best Regards,
Silver Hawk
 
I recently had a great hunt with the V3...

http://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=32915

This started out a very challenging hunt. I was familiar with the area as I have attempted to hunt just a half a block away on a parkway strip. The EMI is horrible here. I gave up with the DFX. I went to this hunt somewhat skeptical that it would not produce much. Immediately after turning on the V3 the noise started just as I remembered. After dropping the sensitivity way down I ground balanced and decided to try the Frequency Offset adjustment. I started at +1 and worked my way to +4 and BANG! Things got quiet and I was able to crank up the sensitivity to normal levels. The V3 worked like a dream. As I dug coins I noticed very quickly that the Frequency Offset only fixed the discrimination mode and not the All-Metal mode. My pinpoint was crackling and refused to lock. I turned down the sensitivity for All-Metal and was able to get a very weak pin-point audio. I spent the rest off the day doing the 90 degree criss-cross game to pinpoint my finds. It worked fine with the Dx-1 probe. Smaller coil I guess. Anyway, I pulled that Indian at 8.5 inches and could not get a hint of a pinpoint audio. :p Aside from this small issue the V3 Offset worked fantastically. I would not of found 90 percent of these coins with the DFX.

Keep Swing'in
Jack
 
Last edited:
13rannon said:
What is the best relic coil for the V3 so far in your opinion?
Click to expand...

In my opinion, you probably already have it. I see you have an 18x15 SEF. It will work fine with the V3 except you may not be able to use TX Boost. That is something you would have to test for yourself. Anyway, that coil would be killer on relics, but you may lose some smaller stuff like bullets and mini balls.

Dave
 
After years of hitting silver with the DFX (I'm a little slow) I figured out that anything that is really silver hits +80 and up. Sure I have come to realize that I do miss some of the smaller silver rings below that but some sacrafices have to be made. Now after hitting three gold rings this year two with the DFX and one with the Vision I've made the decision that I'm going to miss some rings like I did with silver but the magority of the Gold is Below +20. So Setting up the Vision and blocking out everything else and just hunting within that range I should in theroy pull most of the GOLD based on my finds. I did it with silver and ended up with over 8 troy ounces of jewelry. I just said the heck with the leftovers and my finds increased 100%. Now with the GOLD I'm going to do the same thing and I'm hoping the Vision and its Analize screen will do the rest. It sure is a great detector no matter what you call it.

I'm excited about this weekend I'm going to put my theroy to the test and like silver I hope the GOLD starts jumping out of the ground......

Jamie
 
jcham said:
....the magority of the Gold is Below +20. ....the Vision and its Analize screen will do the rest.
Click to expand...

Jamie,
Sounds like a good plan and it will definitely work. From my experience though you will still be digging a good bit of junk. As you know, foil and small pieces of can slaw fall into this same VDI range. The analyze screen does certainly filter out a lot of the junk, but those small pieces of old foil and pieces of can slaw can give some pretty sweet waves on the analyze screen. Fools me every time.:lol:

Dave
 
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