White's Spectra V3 Field Reports

Lowjiber said:

Don't want to beat a dead horse, but SLOW is really slow. I've found that taking about 4-5 seconds for each direction of the swing works well.

I also try to keep the arc of my swings down to about 4' with the 5Hz filter...both in Jack's correlate program and the deep silver program.

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This is exactly right. This is my pace. I go about a second a foot. I generally hunt a 3 foot arc and cover the same ground on the back swing. My overlap is half the width of the coil.

V3 Battery Life?

The battery life on my V3 seems to be rather short - maybe 3.5 to 4 hours.

What are the rest of you finding with yours.

Are you running with Tx Boost on? That is a battery sapper for sure.

samarai said:

The battery life on my V3 seems to be rather short - maybe 3.5 to 4 hours.

What are the rest of you finding with yours.

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My average hunt is about 4 hours. I only charge my batteries about every other hunt, but even when I do the battery voltage is still in the high 9's.

However, as Rudy says above, Tx Boost will pull the batteries down very quickly...about 4 hours and you're ready for the charger.

Single frequency 2.5 kHz will also run down the battery faster. Not using headphones is another way to shorten battery life. If you are just starting out with your V3 then the first few charge cycles will be shorter lived. It should be up to full capacity by the the 4th or 5th charge cycle. If you would like more life than the Factory battery that comes with the V3, try using the 2700mAh NiMH Rechargeable POWEREX AA Batteries in the alkaline battery case that also comes with the V3. These are quick charge capable and really pack a wallop.

Keep Swing'in
Jack

Also turn down the wireless transmitter 5 or so. Rob

rcasi44 said:

Also turn down the wireless transmitter 5 or so. Rob

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That is a great tip! Thank you.

Soil mineralization level

I was reading that the MXT has a GND function thatdetermines the soil
mineralization level of the area you are hunting in.

Does anyone know if the V3 has a simular function??

Dirt Diggler said:

I was reading that the MXT has a GND function thatdetermines the soil
mineralization level of the area you are hunting in.

Does anyone know if the V3 has a simular function??

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The MXT has the ability to show you the ground VDI reading, simply by momentarily switching to prospecting mode. However, it doesn't tell you how strongly mineralized the ground really is, just the VDI number.

Thanks for all the battery tips. I'm sure they will help extend my battery life. The screen on the V3 probably eats up a lot of battery juice also.

Since my hunting usually entails two or three short hunts in a day, I think I will have to make sure and have a 2nd battery unit with me.

Can the spectra V be used with a waterproof coil?

would the spectra v be able to be fitted with a waterproof coil to detect at the water line of the beach? or is this a no no for this machine
do i need a seperate machine for this

sp1173 said:

would the spectra v be able to be fitted with a waterproof coil to detect at the water line of the beach? or is this a no no for this machine
do i need a seperate machine for this

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The coil on the V is already waterproof.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks John

sp1173 said:

would the spectra v be able to be fitted with a waterproof coil to detect at the water line of the beach? or is this a no no for this machine
do i need a seperate machine for this

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As a follow up question along the same lines, how does the machine perform in wet (ocean) sand? I know it has a preset for salt beach, but is that more for dry sand? I've only stumbled on to one post in the beach section on the topic (it was more about finds) but was wondering about the wet sand capabilities. Thanks and HH

Video showing two pulltabs in analyze mode

Thought this little video might be of interest to the V3 owners or those thinking about buying one.

Good video Rudy... helps with pinpointing. Initially, I was pinpointing with the leading edge of the coil (?) I am not sure why... got that straightened out (Cybersage) and working fine... the video should help new V3 owners. RickO

Vision Beach Program Report

nwohio said:

As a follow up question along the same lines, how does the machine perform in wet (ocean) sand? I know it has a preset for salt beach, but is that more for dry sand?

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Well, it just so happens that I took my V for a test run today at one of the toughest beaches you can ever imagine...Santa Cruz, California.

I've been wanting to see how it handled the heavily mineralized (black sand) beaches since buying the V in the early spring. To give you an idea of the black sand, here are two pics I took early this morning...

This is what the black mineralization looks like on the beach. For those who may think this is some kind of oil spill, it's not. It is very clean mineralized sand that is mixed in with the tan colored sand of the beach.

Here's a shot of the "normal mix"...


Here's a concentration in a runoff...


Now for "the rest of the story"...

Initial turn-on: I activated the Beach program and balanced the machine in a "normal" spot. The recommended gain immediately afterward was 5...I set it at 7. The machine was fairly stable and I was hitting targets down to about 7". I did have some falsing as I went along and dropped the disc sens down to 80, which seemed to clear it up considerably.


During hunt: As you can imagine, the black sand shifts around on the beach quite a bit. I checked the probe recommendation about every five minutes, and it varied between 1 and 6...never higher.

Wet sand: The tide was very high this morning and it was not my intention to get in the water anyway (I'd have brought a waterproof machine if it were). However, I ventured onto the wet sand in front of the surf line just to check the stability. The machine was very stable with the probe recommendation remaining at 5 and my gain setting at 7. I attribute most of this to the smooth surface...no "peaks" as shown in the first picture.

Changing programs: As we headed for lunch, I switched the program to the stock Coin & Jewelry program. This removes the "subtraction method" from the balancing/tracking associated with the Beach program...as I understand it. The detector actually ran at least as well, perhaps even smoother, as it did with the Beach program installed.

I was able to run a gain of 7 with a probe recommendation remaining around 5.

Bottom Line: Given my one test, I think the machine is very "useable" in both dry and wet mineralized sand. My hunting partners were both using MXT's and the V worked at least as well as their machines.

I can't say that the Beach program is really that big of a deal. The C & J program performed equally well...maybe even a "tad" better.

Great post John, sure enjoyed watching you work the "V" thru the sand!

Thanks for the nice write up Lowjiber! Great information. Now if I could just find a beach up in the Rocky Mountains.

Keep Swing'in
Jack

Looking back, I think I need to try the V on the beach with a concentric coil instead of a DD. What do you think?

My logic (?????) is that the DD is very sensitive to everything along the center line, whereas a concentric coil might add a bit of a "buffering" effect. Does that even make sense?