Whites DFX Users Classroom Forum

How accurate is the Signagraph? Because if one can rely on it, no other detector I've ever tried can ID targets in the ground as well! 5 other machines gave me a dig signal on the same unknown target in my yard. It was in the gold range and out in the field I would dig that target in search of gold jewelry with those machines. Only the DFX graph gave a smear pattern indicating junk. And it was! Is the DFX that good in the target ID department?

Its very accurate, but you have to watch it because some smearing is to be expected the deeper you get on good targets

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Western SD
E-Trac,X-1
Sovereign GT,S-1
Ace 250

The DC phase is what I used to pay the most attention to on deep targets.If not turned on you need to. Yazoo

Although the TID is very good it is not foolproof. The TID on any detector is just another tool to help you deside to dig or not. I too used the DC Phase more than the Signagraph and the audio is always #1.

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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

The audio is #1 but then on deep stuff you really have to learn the language of the audio. Best thing to do is take a area that produced good stuff deep and dig all iffie sounding targets past say 6 inch mark that have any positive DC phase #'s Then you will begin learning those strange but good target sounds. Good Luck Yazoo

Only thing was this odd shape coin size piece of aluminum junk was only around 4-5 inches deep. All the other machines said dig, including an FBS! The DFX indicated it was junk by smear and I did not check DC Phase at the time. This seems remarkable, because I have read here on the forums, how many do not dig gold range targets, in fear of too much trash recovery- they concentrate on sweet coin sounds. Obviously target recovery on land is more difficult than at the beach or in the water. Water hunting, I recover all target tones above iron.

In my yard the DFX clearly seems to ID targets better- mostly trash. There is 1 high tone target I have not recovered yet. Every machine says coin range tone at 5". But the DFX shows a slight wide smear, and audio that would suggest multiple targets/rust or a longer than coin target. In the field I would be inclined not to recover this target using the DFX. I guess I'll have to dig it up and find out if there are multiple targets, to explain the DFX response?

In my yard my Explorer nulls every few feet... I guess iron junk. The nulls repeat with low sensitivity. Every now and then it locks onto a gold range target and gives indication to dig. Over the same target the DFX indicates foil with a poor response on these shallow targets to 5 inches. Hunting for gold jewelry with the Explorer I would dig such responses. With the DFX I might pass in search of better responses. Not sure if I can rely on the DFX this way, but will have to dig several such targets to find out. What's interesting- with various buried gold rings on fishing line, the DFX gives a more solid hit and always indicates ring... sometimes in combo with tab or foil... but each ring has the ring icon and tighter graph pattern. The tone ID is different for each ring, but all the rings respond better than the other possible junk gold range targets.

If the Spectragraph can be relied upon on shallower targets, that could save quite a bit of digging junk? I'm liking the DFX more and more and it just might become my land machine. It's fast, light, balanced, versatile and provides good target info. My main concern is how sensitive the DFX seems to be to electrical interference. More so than any of my other machines. Hopefully this will not be an issue in the field- because I sure would hate reducing DFX sensitivity lower than average!

The DFX is one of the best jewelry hunters for sure, I paid for my DFX 10 times over with jewelry finds.

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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

Just a reminder that all jewelry will ID in the..... foil Range......Nickle Range.....Pull Tab Range...... Zinc Range. ..... Also Junk aluminum is a jeweler hunters worst nightmare....... it is impossible to ID with any metal detector........last week I was hunting a ball field that had lots of can slaw (aluminium chopped up by the parks lawnmower ) I just kept digging it up, because In the pass I have found Rings here. Well it paid off as I found a Gold/diamond Ring behind 3rd base

I Love The DFX

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Long Beach ca,



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/09/2011 08:27PM by Rob in (Ca).

hello to all of us in France, we are more a screen audio.
It is true that with the dfx or Explorer there some waste that are easily removed, such as aluminum foil cigarette but otherwise you have to dig! because some of our currencies are lead alloy of copper and tin (Gallic coin) and the other is silver alloy and copper (medieval coin) the signagraph often indicates a figure at around 10 to type currency

On shallow targets the Signagraph just seems to be telling me more about the target than any other detector I've tried. Perhaps for real world hunting it's instilling a false sense of confidence, but when testing my other machines without the SIG, it almost feels as though something were missing in the target ID department! The Signagraph concept really impresses me at this point. Obviously this is nothing new to you DFX users, but I find the Signagraph delightful! Actually the entire DFX display is easy to read and interpret.

I know the DFX is older technology, but as mostly a water hunter, I'm very close to choosing the DFX as my land machine. I'm sure I've mentioned this too often, but I've been testing several machines side-by-side to find the right compromise land detector right for me. This has been difficult, because I like things about all the machines! But the DFX is getting more and more of my attention. I believe the final Show-Down will be between the DFX and my Explorer XS. I think the XS hits a bit deeper in my ground and I do like FBS technology. But the DFX seems to give me more/better target information, and is a much faster machine than the XS. In the water I'm forced to hunt slower, but sometimes on land I'm in the mood to cover more ground and feel the DFX is better suited for that. So, I'm willing to give up a bit of depth with the DFX in exchange for better target information and faster sweep speed. Really, the possibilities of the DFX Signagraph impresses me!

Would someone please tell me about the DC Phase. What exactly is it and how is the best way to use it? Thanks.

Quote
seahunter34
On shallow targets the Signagraph just seems to be telling me more about the target than any other detector I've tried. Perhaps for real world hunting it's instilling a false sense of confidence, but when testing my other machines without the SIG, it almost feels as though something were missing in the target ID department! The Signagraph concept really impresses me at this point. Obviously this is nothing new to you DFX users, but I find the Signagraph delightful! Actually the entire DFX display is easy to read and interpret.

I know the DFX is older technology, but as mostly a water hunter, I'm very close to choosing the DFX as my land machine. I'm sure I've mentioned this too often, but I've been testing several machines side-by-side to find the right compromise land detector right for me. This has been difficult, because I like things about all the machines! But the DFX is getting more and more of my attention. I believe the final Show-Down will be between the DFX and my Explorer XS. I think the XS hits a bit deeper in my ground and I do like FBS technology. But the DFX seems to give me more/better target information, and is a much faster machine than the XS. In the water I'm forced to hunt slower, but sometimes on land I'm in the mood to cover more ground and feel the DFX is better suited for that. So, I'm willing to give up a bit of depth with the DFX in exchange for better target information and faster sweep speed. Really, the possibilities of the DFX Signagraph impresses me!

I use my DFX in the wet up to knee deep. It's a killer on gold, to the point I dont use my PI at all anymore. Just purchased a V3I was looking at e-tracs but a friend who has both likes the V3i much better.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2012 08:23PM by oneon.

Did you read the post on DC Phase at the top of the list? The DC Phase number is the raw All Metal VDI before filtering.

You also have the search feature (above) which comes in very handy looking up past posts by subject.

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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