I started out with essentially a Deus Lite which was coil and WS5 phones only. WS5 phones and WS4 backphones have the same amount of user control...
With the phones, one can adjust Sens, Disc, Freq, (manual) GB, Tones, Audio response, and Prog selection. If you start out with V2.0 you will get 9 factory programs which are perfect for most situations. Upgrading to V3.x will get you an additional "Gold Field" program PLUS any other custom prorams which may be on the remote control used for the upgrade. You cannot upgrade to V3.x from V2.0 WITHOUT the phones if you have the coil and phones ONLY...you'll need someone's box to get that done.
Once you get a pretty firm handle on the Deus Lite setup and get some exp with it, the control box will of course enable you fine tune all parameters and you'll get some "enhancements" (I don't know how else to put it) with the added versatility.
Here's how EXPERT breaks down for each setting:
Sensitivity - You can change the output of the coil's field intensity which is "TX" or transmit power, values from 0-3. Most progs run in "2" and do extrememly well at that setting. One may get a tad more depth with TX = 3, but expect coil battery life to suffer dearly!
Frequency - You can slightly alter the Freq in expert to several hundred Hertz either direction from the base freq. This works best if you have more than one Deus user in the vicinity.
G.B. - With the remote you will have several GB options for different styles or hunting situations. Tracking GB works best IMO for "turn-on-and-go" areas with relatively clean soil. If you are looking for maximum stable depth, you'd want to choose "Pumping" or "Manual" which will sample the ground for you after you follow a couple of steps. Setting GB higher or lower is possible depending on what you're looking for. Manual GB is what I've had best luck with looking for 7" plus dimes and such, in moderately trashy conditions. Deus can be set up to be super-chatty and be a depth monster (with a lot of patience) - OR - it can be a stable, less prone to iron falsing, and slightly less sensitive unit for more "turn-on-and-go" applications. This is why the default setting of "90" works well for people just getting started.
On a Deus Lite setup - I believe GB is set to Manual (correct me if I'm wrong!)
Discrimination - Disc values can be set from the headphones anywhere from "0" to whatever...but with the remote you can set breakpoints, notch filters, and make better use of 4 or 5-tone settings. YOU WON'T have notch capabilities with the headphones NOR will you have the ability to move breakpoints NOR will you be able to change the sound freq of VDIs. V2.0 has 2,3, and 4 tone settings while V3.x has 5 tones and FULL tones - the latter seems to be superior to 5-tones and having to set breakpoints, in my opinion.
You can also alter the response to ANY target by changing the frequency of the sound - a custom-made silver program, for example, can be made using the remote control ONLY! You could also use a 2-tone simple setup to make anything registering below a VDI of "85" to a low tone, and anything at or above...an 800 Hz tone. Low tones can be taken down to 100 Hz and I believe you can adjust the sound freq in 2Hz increments...very versatile if you want it to be, but also can be programmed very simply!!!
Iron volume - This is not adjustable with the headphones...
Reactivity - Probably one of the most important settings on the Deus - IS NOT ADJUSTABLE with the phones only!!! Under the EXPERT tab of Reactivity comes Silencer - which helps squelch out large iron and bottlecaps, but also hurts depth. Higher reactivity REALLY hurts depth, but the great upside to this is you can now re-visit your trashiest sites and pull out lots of goodies! When I got started I found that prog#8 (dry beach) worked well for general purpose hunting - it had a reactivity of "2", iron volume of "0", and silencer at "4". At first I dug a lot of bottlecaps but after a while your ear can start to tell the difference b/t caps and coins. With the Lite setup - you need to change programs to change your reactivity setting.
I used Prog #3 (deus Fast) in the trash-laden sites (my yard and sidewalk strips) and pulled many coins and some junk jewelry out from under a lot of nails. Deus Fast can "see through" a lot of iron to non-ferrous targets underneath as well as in close proximity. Other programs work well in this regard too but Deus Fast is the clear winner (factory settings except change to 8kHz) for me in those areas.
Audio Response - Basically a volume control but there's not much difference for most targets. Deep or tiny targets will sound louder with higher audio resp settings...I've dug plenty of 5-7" dimes that sounded like they were only 2-3" deep - this was with Audio at "4". Most programs will use this setting at 3-5. The EXPERT tab allows you to change the "OVERLOAD" volume on large and/or shallow targets (like a whole soda can). factory setting is "1" ...I've found that changing this parameter to "2" makes little if any difference - both are readily identifiable and you'll know in either case when you pass over junk that large!
Additionally, with a remote control you can create custom programs for whatever style of hunting you like - whereas with the phones you are stuck with the factory ones unless you pair with someone's remote.
When you detect a target with the phones - VDI will show in the window (which I didn't know until my third hunt!). The remote will give you so much more info on a target, and you won't have to keep taking off - putting back on - the phones on an iffy target. But, in my opinion, starting off with just the coil and phones is a fantastic way to learn this detector!!! It reinforced something I learned while using a Fisher CZ-5 for many years which is "dig by audio" and not by VDI. VDIs will often jump around and not be consistent...rely more on audio and you will start learning what the Deus is telling you!!!
Happy Hunting!
