Do you think whites detectors are holding their own?

[PaulMBurgess]

With all the detectors and technology out there do you think whites detectors are holding their own against other brands and competition ? Yes or No and why?

 

[ronaldj2]

Absolutely. White's has been around for decades, so in order to stay in business they have to be able to keep up with everyone else. Although the v3 is very pricie. I own a Minelab Safari it is a good machine. I also have the spectrum xlt which I have had for the past 10yrs. I have done a lot of relic hunting with it and was very sucessfull. Went out today and located a couple of cellar holes on my mt. bike, 1mile or more into the woods down hill. And then back up hill with the detector and accessories found a bunch of square nails, nothing exciting. I used the safari this time, next time I will use my xlt in the same areas as a side to side comparison. It was a late start and I was running out of daylight, found a couple piles of moose crap and some big tracks. The xlt hasn't changed in 10 yrs, but they make the prism series, and my buddy has a dfx which does him well. You don't stay in business for over 3 decades if you're not doing better than holding your own. I like the fact that White's is made right here in the good old US of A. And their service dept. is excellent. Ron

 

[PaulMBurgess]

I thought i would post this question,after reading other forum sites here and elsewhere.I too have a spectrum XLT and a Prizm V.But seeing how well other brands are doing elsewhere also to I couldn't help but wonder is whites holding its own.Lets here some more comments fellow detectorist guys and gals.your view on the subect.Thanks Ron for your imput

 

[TXcoindigger]

This is a great question. I am using the dfx and really like the machine. However I have some friends that have moved from the dfx to the minlab se pro and say they are getting much more depth.
So while I think Whites is holding thier own in many ways I wonder if they may have lost the battle on depth in some cases. The discussion on how deep a detector will locate a signal has so many variables i realize it is tough to do a comparison.unless you have both and try them side by side on a target in your soil. This is field research I would very much be interested in hearing about.
Until It can be said for certain that another machine has been proven to go deeper, my confidence is in Whites.

 

[BarberBill]

Minelabs seem to have the reputation for the most depth. Never having used or been around one, I can't say. However, unless depth is the only criteria that is important (it isn't to me) there are a lot of other considerations that make a detector desirable or not. Personally I think Whites are holding their own just fine.
BB

 

[ronaldj2]

I have a minelab safari and it is a deep machine, but there are pros and cons to every machine out there. I like the fact that the xlt has a lighted lcd screen, which I have used (minelab doesn't have this feature). The combination of FBS technology and 11" double d coil gives it the depth. The bigger the coil the deeper it will go. So the xlt with the 9.5" coil will find a dime/quarter size object to 9+", also determining factors are ground conditions. Moist soil conducts better signals, therefore better depth. Don't get discouraged with White's, in my opinion the xlt has a faster recovery speed than the minelab safari, I have walked right past targets and had to back track, before the safari would reset and beep again. If you walk and swing slowly then its great. The xlt has the ability to let you walk and swing a little faster. True the minelab won't miss too much but if you're not used to it, all the beeps can drive you nuts. There is a learning curve with all machines, but by experimenting with different settings and trying all kinds of conditions and terrains anyone can get proficient on any machine. I have found silver with both machines, and old copper with the xlt. I have found gold and platinum with the xlt, and no good gold yet with the safari.
On the beach the safari tends to be a little more stable( especially in wet black sand) and can find things 15"+ in depth. Let me tell you about digging so deep, it gets tiresome. The xlt has a really accurate visual ID and the depth gauge is also more accurate than the safari (which doesn't give depth in inches), just a bar graph. See what I'm getting at here? Xlt coil wire wraps around the shaft(can get hung up on tree branches and shrubs) Safari has coil wire inside of the shaft. Xlt has solid coil with one hole in center good for pinpointing, also doesn't get snagged up on ground debris. Safari's open coil design makes it lighter but more things can get snagged up in all the open spaces of the coil. I like both machines and can have a friend come along, especially if they don't have a machine. There are probably some more pros and cons, but hopefully you guys get the point. Ron

 

[Bubby]

Absolutely they are holding their own. My first detector was a DFX and I still have it. My second was a X-Terra 70 and though i liked it being light , always went back to the DFX. I did pick up a CZ-3D because it was analog and just wanted to try and still have it. But Whites service is the best. Sent a 6x10 coil in that I bought used , it failed and Whites replaced it free no charge and a V rated coil to boot. Just bought a V3 this past weekend and love the machine. Whites is top notch .

 

[ronaldj2]

Right you are!

 

[Dan-o]

I say yes.
The DFX has two frequencies that you can use one or the other or both at the same time.
The V3 has three that you can choose to use one or all three at the same time.
Minelab had the FBS detectors with 28 frequencies but you can pick a certain frequency. Whites is the only one who lets you do this without having to change a coil.
Both Whites and Minelab are ahead of the competition here as far as I'm concerned.

Whites has a top notch TID and so does the Minelab Etrac with ferrous and condutive numbers.

Whites has adjustable ground filtering. I don't know if others do.

I also feel that Whites listens to the consumer. They just took the Prizm V and gave it manual ground balance and it became the Prizm 5G.
Whites has detectors that are adjustable to almost no end and they have turn on and go machines and everything in between.

I think Whites is very much keeping up tech wise. They are going to be around for a long time.

I think there are two manufactures right now that need to come out with something significant soon.

Just my two thoughts.

Oh, and yes, I like Whites use of inches on their depth readout versus the bar graph on my Safari, but I just set up a depth measuring device this weekend to figure out the depth readout on the Safari so no problem.

Dan C

 

[BarberBill]

Ronaldj2 made a point that is important to me regarding any detector - recovery speed. A machine with a slow recovery or retune makes pinpointing difficult and is a real handicap if sniping out good targets in heavy trash. In fact, I got rid of 2 different detectors for this factor alone. Other factors such as weight, balance, good disc. good coil selection etc. etc. are more important to me than raw depth. Whites offers plenty of options and performance across their detector line.
BB

 

[Larry (IL)]

Let's see.......The U.S. company has been in business for 60 years, continuing to develop new high end, technologically advanced detectors, has top notch nation wide service, are having difficulty keeping up with demand for the high end equipment, have a strong personal association with the customer...............yea, I think they are holding their own............and then some...

 

[ronaldj2]

Great profile Larry. That is way too cool, being an instructor at the college.

 

[dirt doctor]

Sure they are and will continue to do so .They have a good line of detectors and coils to choose from , prices to fit every budget , a great service dept and they continue to come out with new detectors . Made in the USA and continuing to keep Americans working . Haven't heard any horror stories about White's
ripping anyone off with their policies or not making a wrong right . White's has been around for a long time and I beleive they are going to be around for as long as they choose to be . I have had several brands of detectors and still do but if I was limited to one it would be my White's . Great build quality ,dependability and for some strange reason I seem to find a lot of good stuff I and others have missed in heavily hunted places .

H H ,
George

 

[Critterhunter]

In terms of ergonomics (user friendly hardware for ease in the field) Whites is the best I've used. In terms of telling/smooth audio and VDI some of the Whites are as good as it gets. There is just something about those features on a Whites. But, the many multitones of a Sovereign along with it's wide drawn out audio is better IMHO. Kind'a the long informative/smooth audio of certain Whites (like the QXT Pro) but with the very telling number of multitones of a Minelab. Even the Explorer doesn't offer the best of these two worlds (must shorter audio response than the GT). Now, in terms of depth or unmasking ability the Minelabs are were it's at. I'm sure you can push say an M6 to some very respectable depths with the right large coil, though, but from what I'm reading even with say the 12x10 it's still not getting the depth of a GT with an 8" coil or larger.

As far as recovery speed goes some of the Whites are hard to beat, but that does not mean they separate better than say a GT. Seperation and recovery speed are two different things. It only means on some Whites you can sweep faster without blending targets. By sweeping a GT slow it gives it time to reset between targets and will separate just as good (or even better with say a DD or SEF coil). Unmasking in it's purest form is not really separation or recovery speed, but rather how the coil hits the multiple targets in the ground and then what the detector does with that signal to try to separate the good signal from the bad. Iron mask ON on the GT will unmask coins mixed with junk or on edge that I've never seen done so well with my prior detectors.

Also, when it comes to penetrating heavy ground minerals or iron the Minelabs are better than anything I've used thanks to the FBS & BBS multifrequency techology. A double D coil will help any machine handle rougher ground and get best depth but that's only partly why the Minelabs seem to have no problem with the worst of ground conditions.

No knocking Whites. In fact, the right ones stand out in certain respects to other machines, and I'm planning to get back into the family with an M6 as a backup to my GT when I want the "feel" of a Whites. As far as weight of the GT goes I'm modding it to try to get the weight as good or lighter than the Whites I've owned.

In terms of gold ring detectors I think the GT, MXT, and M6 are the kings in that respect. All three have a reputation on hitting gold hard, and that's also due to the great VDI resolution they have. It's high but not too higher, such as in the case of the Explorer or Etrac which look so close at targets (with higher resolution) that patterns become a blurry mess when trying to split hairs on rings versus say tabs. Then again there's the other extreme, having too low of resolution to split hairs easily (such as on my QXT Pro). I feel the GT and M6/MXT have just about the perfect scale....not too high or too low (to do this).

 

[Butch in Colorado]

The Spectra V3(i) is the example and their recent software upgrade is the proof. Here is a detector that is utilizing C++ for their software coding platform. Older White's detectors (XLT and MXT for examples) were coded in a very clunky and hard to upgrade assembly language. If a major change had to be made, it was, but hardly any successive changes came after that. You can see this today by looking at the software versions of the XLT, MXT, and the DFX.

The Spectra changes this paradigm, blows it out of the water in fact. Just recently White's has updated (the word is out), the Spectra with a package of changes. These changes are small in scope but provide the ability for the Spectra to stay "leading edge" technology and not be locked into a released software version with no hope of ever being updated once the production models hit the market.

One of the new changes to the Spectra is the ability to select, in the software, the coil that you are using. This ability to perform this simple function, while may not seem all that important, provides the detectorist the ability to have a detector that is "tuned" to the coil that is attached to it. (My assumption is that it is provided that it is a White's coil.)

For years White's has "tuned" their machines to the coil that the detector is sold with. So each time you change a coil, there is a suttle difference in the accuracy of the depth of a target with coils that are compatible with the machines. Now the Spectra has the capability to make a change in software and then be able to compensate for the differences in coil size. A simple change but with amazing results. They have also included the entire user manual inside the detector!!! What other detector company can claim that?

Have a problem remembering how a function works? Wishing you had brought the manual with you where you are detecting? Well, click, click, and here is that page being displayed right on your screen for you to read! SMOKIN GOOD IDEA if you asked me!

Hey what happens if someone discovers a major flaw in the code? Bing, bam, boom! Change identified, code parameters adjusted, software version released and made available to the customer within months or even weeks depending on the severity of the fix! What other detector company does that?

However, here is where I am a bit disappointed with White's. They should have followed through with the ability to connect the Spectra to the detectorists computer. They would then have the delivery method for the owners to perform "in the field" upgrades. White's could simply set up a page on their web site for owners to enter the serial number of their detectors and then depending on when they purchased the detector, the software release is either free or offered to download for a nominal fee.

Then the owner downloads the new release, connects their detector to their computer and then downloads the release into their Spectra via their computer. When and if that day comes, and I'm pretty sure it will with future detector versions (and maybe even with the Spectra), then White's will have set the bar very high for other detector companies to attempt to reach.

That simple task makes the Spectra a detector that can be updated for years to come and not be locked into a single production model release with little or no chance of being updated as with past detectors.

This has made me a believer, I'll be buying one real soon!

 

[Larry (IL)]

Patience on the dongle, it's just a matter of time and no you will not be able to download software upgrades with it, too many things can go so very wrong. All V3 upgrades will have to be done by a V3 upgrade center. For the latest info on the V3i, it is posted on the V3 forum.

 

[Butch in Colorado]

n/t

 

[jer4004]

In terms of ergonomics (user friendly hardware for ease in the field) Whites is the best I've used. In terms of telling/smooth audio and VDI some of the Whites are as good as it gets. There is just something about those features on a Whites. But, the many multitones of a Sovereign along with it's wide drawn out audio is better IMHO. Kind'a the long informative/smooth audio of certain Whites (like the QXT Pro) but with the very telling number of multitones of a Minelab. Even the Explorer doesn't offer the best of these two worlds (must shorter audio response than the GT). Now, in terms of depth or unmasking ability the Minelabs are were it's at. I'm sure you can push say an M6 to some very respectable depths with the right large coil, though, but from what I'm reading even with say the 12x10 it's still not getting the depth of a GT with an 8" coil or larger.

As far as recovery speed goes some of the Whites are hard to beat, but that does not mean they separate better than say a GT. Seperation and recovery speed are two different things. It only means on some Whites you can sweep faster without blending targets. By sweeping a GT slow it gives it time to reset between targets and will separate just as good (or even better with say a DD or SEF coil). Unmasking in it's purest form is not really separation or recovery speed, but rather how the coil hits the multiple targets in the ground and then what the detector does with that signal to try to separate the good signal from the bad. Iron mask ON on the GT will unmask coins mixed with junk or on edge that I've never seen done so well with my prior detectors.

Also, when it comes to penetrating heavy ground minerals or iron the Minelabs are better than anything I've used thanks to the FBS & BBS multifrequency techology. A double D coil will help any machine handle rougher ground and get best depth but that's only partly why the Minelabs seem to have no problem with the worst of ground conditions.

No knocking Whites. In fact, the right ones stand out in certain respects to other machines, and I'm planning to get back into the family with an M6 as a backup to my GT when I want the "feel" of a Whites. As far as weight of the GT goes I'm modding it to try to get the weight as good or lighter than the Whites I've owned.

In terms of gold ring detectors I think the GT, MXT, and M6 are the kings in that respect. All three have a reputation on hitting gold hard, and that's also due to the great VDI resolution they have. It's high but not too higher, such as in the case of the Explorer or Etrac which look so close at targets (with higher resolution) that patterns become a blurry mess when trying to split hairs on rings versus say tabs. Then again there's the other extreme, having too low of resolution to split hairs easily (such as on my QXT Pro). I feel the GT and M6/MXT have just about the perfect scale....not too high or too low (to do this).

As far as depth goes the V3-V3i is At the very minimum as deep or deeper then the minelabs and they can do it with smaller coils as far as unmasking goes give us V3 users some time we will figure it out. The V3 can be swept as slow as the minelabs with no depth loss no other current whites machines could be swept that slow this is definitely one of the keys in unmasking deep coins.

 

[Critterhunter]

I don't believe that from my experience and what I've read. The DFX and V3 are IMHO overly loaded with a lot of useless features that will rarely if ever be used. I get the feeling Whites has taken to selling the sizzle and not the steak on their high end machines. I'd be more confident in the depth of an MXT or M6 than I would one of those. My QXT Pro was deeper than the DFX on coins, also. The proof is in the posts. Skim over the "big three" Minelab forums (Sovereign/Etrac/Explorer) and note the depth and quanity of old coin finds. Now do the same in the DFX and V3 forums. The sad thing is I had high hopes the V3 might prove a deadly weapon for gold rings based on it's features. Thus far from what I've seen I feel the MXT, M6, and Sovereign GT will out class it any day for gold ring hunting.

For maximum depth in just about any kind of ground conditions there just isn't anything as deep as the Minelabs. All 3 are pretty well even in depth, too. I'd say the Fisher 75LTD is right there with the Minelabs from what others who have owned both have reported but they still won't cut through as bad of ground conditions and have a few other traits that probably aren't as good (Love for iron being one).

A friend of mine who owned a DFX just researched the V3 and also played with it's depth at a dealer. End result was he came home with an M6, and he like I have owned just about everything out there being made or having been made in the past. If you are going to spend that kind of money and expect depth and max performance then I'd go Minelab. If you want the "best" Whites being made these days then I'd go MXT/M6 for a lot less, and if you want to go out school and still beat a DFX then head over to a QXT Pro or perhaps a 6000 Pro XL. The more you over take the plumbing the easier it is to stop up the drain. That began IMHO with the XLT.

Just my view. Others may strongly disagree and good very well make a very strong and valid argument. We all form our own views based on experience and that's where I'm coming from combined with a little reading/research on the net.

 

[Larry (IL)]

It is a good thing this is only "your view" and not fact................