Spectra V3 / V3i / VX3 Forum

i use my dfx for hunting jewerly, because of the good iding it gives me. ive never been able to get depth out of the dfx, like i though i should. thanking about tradeing it in for a vx3 or v3. what can i expect in difference in depth?

I think you should figure out why your not getting any depth with your dfx first. The V series is deeper but its really about you and your settings. Try using a test garden and adjust your filters to match your soil. Experiment with ac and pre amp gain. The V is deeper out of the box but without an understanding of settings you may be disappointed again.

Some of us experience more depth and some say there is no extra depth for them. I think it all depends on the user, their ground and how well they know their detectors. Although the V series is more advanced and you may very well get more depth, most of the jewelry that I find is not very deep.

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

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

Jimmy, I asked the same question not too long ago over on the DFX board. http://www.findmall.com/read.php?28,1761967 There, the general consensus seemed to favor the V3i, but by how much, I dunno. The answers there prompted me to sell mt DFX and buy a V3i. My V3i is on order, so I haven't been able to try one out yet, but I can say that my DFX was deep, noticably deeper than my XLT. So if the V3i is even deeper, than it'll be a real depth monster.

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White's: V3i, XL Pro, XLT, 6000 Di Pro SL Hipmount, Classic IDX, Coinmaster 2DB
Fisher: Gold Bug 2, Gold Bug Pro



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2012 06:10PM by Wayfarer.

i know how to adj. my dfx, which ive had for nine years, its just that it wont beat, many of the other brands not talking about the obvious eather. larry, i agree that jewerly isnt very deep. . thats the only reason i use the dfx, because it ids so good tone an vdi..i guess what im trying to say is the dfx is a fine det. its just not a depth demon no matter who uses it

DFX was a good machine but for some reason White's chose to remove the boost feature of the xlt and previous eagles and spectrums. For the life of me I don't know why just know I could never get more than about 8" out of it.

I do know now that I think about it, it has less than 10 volts of transmit power, think it may be as low as 7 volts.

Contrast that with the V3i and there is no contest. I have a civil war bullet path that I have probably pulled over 150 bullets out of it all over12" but many in the 14" range measured after being pinpointed and slowing dug out with a stick and were stuck in the dirt at the bottom.

In mild ground detectors like the V3i with boost, Nautilus DMC 2-B, and my old tek ST that had 37 volts I believe, they have all been the deepest machines I have used in 40 years.

The ony place the DFX performed better was on the salt beach.

For land hunting in our mild soil the V3i was probably 75% deeper.

No offense but I tried the DFX for some time with every program known to man and was not impressed but many people love it. I know one guy that used a bigfoot and cleaned up on gold rings with it on the DFX but that was due to smooth performance and ground coverage with the bigfoot (not depth)

I am a long time DFX user who recently picked up a VX3, mostly because I was offered the VX3 for $625 which I couldn't resist. My overall impression is that VX3 is slightly deeper than the DFX my maybe 1 to 2 inches. However the VX3 gets good depth without any real setup while I only good good depth out of the DFX by carefully setting it up for thre fields I hunt in. I found that I had to have the DFX setup just right and that meant learning what each of the settings on it, does and more importantly how to tune them for my hunting style (swing speed, etc) and for the ground I was hunting it. I never found another program that any one else had published to do as good as I could set it up myself once I learned what all of its settings did. Once I did learn how to set it up right I could get 10"+ on old metal buttons, musket balls, etc. and could easily hit a mercury dime buried at 10" in my test garden. Never thought much of the stock programs on it either.

The VX3 however can also easily hit the 10" dime but it can do in some of the factory programs and I have created my own program using the hi pro stock program as the basis for it and it can get 12" on targets but without the complicated set up. I really like the design of the spectra-graph main search mode display too seeing what each of the frequencies is doing and having the running depth readout are great features. I am running the 6x10 DD on the VX3 now which was my favorite on the DFX but I have a deal set with a hunting buddy to buy a V-rated D2 coil from him and am eager to see what the stock V3i coil will do on the VX3 and if it is deeper than the 6x10.

Again remember depth depends on where you are located. My ground sucks so I take that in consideration. That's why I don't like to give depth achieved. The V3i will in some situations be deeper than the VX3 because more options to hunt in are available. If you ground is sweet the options will not be needed.

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"Everyone has an opinion, but mine is free"
"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment..."

I have never found either the V3i or the DFX to be the deepest detectors. I have two from other manufacturers that will go deeper, the V3i is still my favorite because there are other advantages that make it a much better detectors than the others.

With the other brand detectors you will spend more time digging what sound like good signals, only to find that it is trash. The ID abilities of both the DFX and the V3i make them far superior...I spend more time digging good signals and less time digging trash. For this reason, when up against these other detectors, I will have more keepers by the end of the day, and less trash to discard.

I also find many targets that are simply missed by these other brand detectors. These targets are too small, or fall into the ferrous side of the scale, or both. (Many small tombac and pewter buttons and small gold chains will read as low as minus 25!)

Too much attention is focused on raw depth. If that was all I was interested in I would just have a beep and dig detector, such as a TDI.

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http://freewebs.com/neilinwestjersey

I think it is not how deep a VLF detector is but how deep it will ID at depth.I think detectors see the very deep coins but not correctly and therefore the coins are not dug. Then we say the detector is not as deep.

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"Everyone has an opinion, but mine is free"
"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment..."

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Rob (IL)
I think it is not how deep a VLF detector is but how deep it will ID at depth.I think detectors see the very deep coins but not correctly and therefore the coins are not dug. Then we say the detector is not as deep.

This is where the V3i and DFX excel.

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http://freewebs.com/neilinwestjersey

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Neil in West Jersey

I also find many targets that are simply missed by these other brand detectors. These targets are too small, or fall into the ferrous side of the scale, or both. (Many small tombac and pewter buttons and small gold chains will read as low as minus 25!)

Too much attention is focused on raw depth. If that was all I was interested in I would just have a beep and dig detector, such as a TDI.

Excellent conversation!!! I recently opened up my V3I I've been hunting in all metal and have been finding this to be the best way to hunt. I decide what to dig or not dig and have been getting very surprised as to what's been coming up. It has enabled me to dig in places where those other detectors have pounded and boy I wonder if they realize what they missed. When I first got my DFX (not long ago) I thought it was a fascinating machine, now with the V I am entranced. I feel as though every day opens a new chapter. It will be amazing to finally realize all this machine can do. Beep and Dig? Not for me!