I have only been out 4 times with my new V3i and two hunts were very successful and i used one of the standard programs but on my 1st hunt i didn't have a clue what i was doing with it and wasn't ground balanced right. I did find a little over $4 even not ground balanced properly. The 2ND hunt was a bigger disaster because of emi's. I couldn't figure it out until i was about finished. Then i noticed not only overhead lines but buried power lines as well. With the help of this forum I now know what to try next time i go back to the spot with buried power lines.
In a nutshell I have found over $15 in clad in 3 hunts not counting my experimental hunt just to use my new v3i. I have only dug one bottle cap and less than 5 tabs. I did notice the v3i is a battery hog and when it goes dead there is no warning however I didn't notice any performance issues just before it went dead. It's too cold and the ground is frozen right now to go out again until i get back from my vacation in March.
A cpl of the things that don't impress me at the moment. I am not all that fond of the pin point on the v3i because the target never seems to be in the center even when I cross directional the the sweep. For the most part i seem to get the max signal when the target is at the edge of the coil. This is not a big issue with me because after I get a 100 hours or so on the v3i I won't think a thing of it. I also find the detector a bit heavy but later on I may invest in a smaller coil because i have some very trashy parks i want to hunt. I also notice the arm cuff is a bit cheesy but as long as it don't break I am OK with it. I am one that uses a detector like a tool so i don't baby my tools nor do I abuse them.
I tend to swing about 3'- 4' in one direction in about 1 second and then 3'-4' back the other direction in about 1 second. So a complete swing is 2 seconds or so. I may be swinging a little too fast but when I slow down I see no difference.
The amazing thing is the depth of the targets. I been finding all kinds of clad at 8" and never found much at 8" with my other detectors. In one athletic field I have found over $50 in clad along with plenty of junk trinkets. That tells me there has to be jewelry there as well and i am certain I passed over with my previous detector. I am going to try a set a program for jewelry only once I get more familiar with it. I also like when you discriminate a vdi out there is no signal from it and I love that.
I read everything i can and even though most of it don't sink in unless i am using my detector every lil bit I retain helps.
I am taking baby steps with it right now until I get used to mastering the menu without thinking about what i am doing. I can see the potential is limitless with the V3i. I am not so naive as to think i won't miss anything because that is so easy to do unless one has gps tracking but even then you can miss a target by not over lapping your swing properly. I hunted and area that i previously hunted with my ATP and I didn't find anything i missed with my ATP other than a cpl pennies i may have passed over with my ATP.
I didn't buy it to see how much more I could find over my ATP in depths 1"-6" deep because I know most likely I won't. I bought it because of the depth and the programmable options it has.
I am happy as heck so far and have less than 8 hours on it. I hope that by the end of the year i may be proficient enough with it that i can add helpful hints to this forum. Thanks for this forum it is priceless.
In a nutshell I have found over $15 in clad in 3 hunts not counting my experimental hunt just to use my new v3i. I have only dug one bottle cap and less than 5 tabs. I did notice the v3i is a battery hog and when it goes dead there is no warning however I didn't notice any performance issues just before it went dead. It's too cold and the ground is frozen right now to go out again until i get back from my vacation in March.
A cpl of the things that don't impress me at the moment. I am not all that fond of the pin point on the v3i because the target never seems to be in the center even when I cross directional the the sweep. For the most part i seem to get the max signal when the target is at the edge of the coil. This is not a big issue with me because after I get a 100 hours or so on the v3i I won't think a thing of it. I also find the detector a bit heavy but later on I may invest in a smaller coil because i have some very trashy parks i want to hunt. I also notice the arm cuff is a bit cheesy but as long as it don't break I am OK with it. I am one that uses a detector like a tool so i don't baby my tools nor do I abuse them.
I tend to swing about 3'- 4' in one direction in about 1 second and then 3'-4' back the other direction in about 1 second. So a complete swing is 2 seconds or so. I may be swinging a little too fast but when I slow down I see no difference.
The amazing thing is the depth of the targets. I been finding all kinds of clad at 8" and never found much at 8" with my other detectors. In one athletic field I have found over $50 in clad along with plenty of junk trinkets. That tells me there has to be jewelry there as well and i am certain I passed over with my previous detector. I am going to try a set a program for jewelry only once I get more familiar with it. I also like when you discriminate a vdi out there is no signal from it and I love that.
I read everything i can and even though most of it don't sink in unless i am using my detector every lil bit I retain helps.
I am taking baby steps with it right now until I get used to mastering the menu without thinking about what i am doing. I can see the potential is limitless with the V3i. I am not so naive as to think i won't miss anything because that is so easy to do unless one has gps tracking but even then you can miss a target by not over lapping your swing properly. I hunted and area that i previously hunted with my ATP and I didn't find anything i missed with my ATP other than a cpl pennies i may have passed over with my ATP.
I didn't buy it to see how much more I could find over my ATP in depths 1"-6" deep because I know most likely I won't. I bought it because of the depth and the programmable options it has.
I am happy as heck so far and have less than 8 hours on it. I hope that by the end of the year i may be proficient enough with it that i can add helpful hints to this forum. Thanks for this forum it is priceless.