Whites DFX Users Classroom Forum

well,,Im trying hard to get to know this DFX..Im trying Jim's program,from at the top of the page.Want to get the best of it,because some of the places,I get to hunt,is a one time deal..some in fields before grass,or crop start to grow..just want to fell,Im searching the best that I can...I do listen to my MD.. just want some good settings for here in Illinois..thanks guys...will keep trying.

What part of Illinois are you from? One of the big problems with the DFX is the preset programs are rather lame and need to be turned up to get better depth. The High Pro with the gain and AC turned up does pretty good, but the Larry's program at the top of the page is what I used for a lot of years in Illinois ground. To make it run more stable, reduce the gain from 4 to 3. I ran it a little too hot, but that is the way I liked it.

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Bells and whistles are nice, but nothing will substitute for the basic understanding of the hobby.

CTX 3030, V3i, M6 W/Bigfoot coil, Cibola/modified

LOL. Deja Vu.

I used the Eagle Spectrum for 18 years before I got my DFX and I felt exactly the same way you're feeling right now. Trust me when I say, if you stick with the DFX, you'll laugh at this thread later. While the Eagle Spectrum is a great detector it can't hold a candle to the DFX in experienced hands.

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Detectors used: E-Trac, AT Pro
Last few years: CTX 3030, V3i, DFX, XP Deus, F75 LTD, V3i, MXT, Explorer SE, X-Terra 70, Sovereign GT, Omega 8000, Compadre, Silver uMax
The real treasure is in the hunt...

Well thanks Jim,and Larry !! So you said something about this book!..Is it really worth reading..??I mean,,does it help that much. I have been all over internet , youtube,and ect. trying to find out people secrets on this metal detector..Getting a lot of money in these,and not working for me. I feel like I'm missing coins..Been in a lot of places,where no one has ever been,and nothing but junk. ha, just my luck..I got my daughter into it (11 years old) and bought her a Ace 250 for a starter..I'm just not finding anything,and she is getting bored.with it..just going out and not coming home with anything..I used too all the time with the Spectrum..and didn't do any programing.I know how much fun it is.but just not having any luck..tryed some different programs... Getting ready to go look at an old mid 1800 town..now grown up in woods. and see what we can find. just found out about it.SO Ill let you know.maybe,I'm just were there is no coins.ha thanks again..will keep trying,,and Ill do a search on that book.

i feel your pain after using my dfx hard i went to v3i and for the first few weeks i wanted to throw it in the trash can but now i couldnt live without it. with the dfx start with jewlery beach and work from there that program is close to good to begin with.

I used the old spectrum for about a year , it's a pretty good detector thats for sure. The sensitivity / depth to the medium larger coins was ok,. The smaller stuff though i think it was no where near as good as my dfx which i have used now for about 7 years. What i have found is that i do much better on most sites with the 5.3 eclipse on the dfx , the 5.3 is the secret . Those egg shaped coils eliptical coils suck for pinpointing i avoid them.

Personally i don't think it's possible to tune a dfx internally as it's digital , not like an old analogue detector which do need tuning inside the box and out side.

I think a dfx works as it should or it does not work , no in between if you know what i am saying.

Bought my Spectrum new and have logged a lot of hours with it, but I can't beat the coil options of the DFX. I have a great backup though.

For a time, I had a Spectrum Eagle and a DFX. Then an opportunity to buy a nearly unused Beach Hunter ID for $400 presented itself. I sold the DFX for $700, got the Beach Hunter, kept the Spectrum Eagle, and the $300 cash. So, I still have a dual frequency Whites that also goes in saltwater, plus the Eagle. That works for me.

I have and still use both machines and for me the spectrum is a great backup but the choice of coils and program options make the DFX the winner for me.

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Whites DFX w/ D2, 950, 5.3, and super 12
XLT Hipmount, and Spectrum.
Garrett Master Hunter 7 and ACE 250.
USAF Retired

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Ks Coyote
I have and still use both machines and for me the spectrum is a great backup but the choice of coils and program options make the DFX the winner for me.

+1

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XP Deus w/WS5 and WS4 phones, Technetics Eurotek Pro w/11" DD coil. Propointer. Lesche Groundshark and hand digger.
Oldest coin 1700's Chinese coin, Oldest US Coin 1892 Barber Quarter, Dime and V nickel

I know that the Spectrum is a good machine. Bought one in 1994, a pristine trade in from a dealer in Southern Illinois, for $450.

I had used a Bounty Hunter Red Baron and loved it in the early to mid 80's. I was able to keep up with the Whites guys and then some. Had to whip it like crazy, but I didn't mind it at all being a 30 something back then. Then, due to sales and sales management positions, as in being promoted into station management and having to go into to the groups really sucky radio station and having to make them profitable,. I had absolutely no time, day, or, weekend to hunt. So, I kind of got out of it, especially when a dealer talked me out of my RB-7 and into the new, but really, really sucky Red Baron 10, with auto ground balance. I wasn't finding a thing.

Then, in 1994, I bought the Spectrum, got out some, but it didn't seem to do as well for ME, as the Bounty Hunter Red Baron 7. Then, I got hired by a couple of other groups to go turn around their sucky radio statioins, and, once again, had no time to hunt.

I still have the Specrum, however I rarely use it. I have a Mindlab Safari, and an Xterra 705, a Tesoro uMax, a Garrett 550TAX, a $30 Goodwill Bounty Hunter 101, a Minelab Excallibur 1000, a Tesoro Stingray, a Whites SL, and, just for fun, a D-TEX something, that was another cheap Goodwill find.

I am still trying the time to hunt. Last year, in southern Missouri, we had a drought, and several over 100 degree days. That, plus, trying to get the farm organized, left me with no time to hunt. I did get to hunt my old 1960's boyhood farm one afternoon and found a 1943 quarter in our yard where the house had been. That was a kick to see silver again. I found it with the Safari.

I probably have not been fair to the Spectrum, and didn't stay at it long enough, after getting horridly busy with the readio statons and their turnarounds, but, it just seemed to me th at my old Red Baron 7, was far better. Perhaps, I had more experience wit it, but I just lacked confidence in the Spectrum after not finding much at all with it.

1 big thing that the DFX will always have on the Eagle Spectrum, and its upgrade (the XLT) is coil selection. I have the 10x12 SEF coil on my DFX. Ever since I've bought it I have rarely taken it off. My brother, and a friend of mine both have XLT E-Series detectors, and my wife used to have a Spectrum XLT. We've compared these detectors time and time again. The XLT has never found a coin that the DFX hasn't been able to pick up. Whereas almost all of the deeper coins (7 + inches) that the DFX easily finds won't even make a tick on the XLT (with the stock coil). I know that the DFX is a much better machine in my ground conditions around here.