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Me and my Deus

Larry (IL)

Well-known member
I have spent enough time with the Deus that I feel qualified to render MY opinion in my ground and hunting conditions. This will not be a comparison of the top end detectors even though I'm an avid user of the SE Pro and V3i but I will go so far as to say and agree with Andy that the Deus is a very nice detector in it's own right and should NOT be considered a replacement for the E-Trac, Explorers or White's V series on performance or features. The exception being for those who need a lightweight alternative to the heavyweights, the Deus would serve your needs very well.

The Deus designed for surgical separation of good targets from trash and in iron infested ground does its job well with lightning fast recovery. That and the lightweight design are the major strong points of the Deus and the total wireless concept is a minor selling point, in my opinion. I am a big fan of wireless headphones and I think we will be seeing more of that technology in the future from all manufactures, but the wireless coils is something I just don't see catching on for many reasons. But the Deus is what it is and you will either love it or leave it alone. I do like the concept of making a second detector out of another coil and rod for those who have the need but I'm not one of those.

The wireless headphones gets the job done but XP really needs to put their receiver on a noise isolating full cup headphone like the SunRay Golds or model it after White's wireless design. Users across the pond might not have the noise pollution that we seem to have here. I was using the Deus in a trash infested park again yesterday and the cars, motorcycles going by, the kids playing on the equipment and other outside noise really distracted me from concentrating on the targets that I was after. Even a windy day can be very distracting. That can be easily fixed with a headphone adaptor but that defeats the wireless concept.

I hear the calling for a smaller coil for the Deus but I really don't think it would be needed. The 9 inch DD coil with the adjustable recovery speed accomplishes the same as a smaller coil in my opinion, you just need to slow your swing speed down and you should be able to hear the targets that are just an inch apart without any problems. The Deus has a 11X13 inch coil available and if you wanted to cover a lot more ground faster, this alone might justify the cost but if you are expecting a lot more depth, you will be disappointed, at least I was in my ground. I experienced MAYBE and extra inch but the extra weight more than offset the advantage of marginal depth gain and coverage for me. I had the coil mounted "backwards" which really helped a LOT with the nose heaviness but still my arm got very tired after several hours into an all day hunt. The large coil again defeats the main reason for buying the Deus..... lightweight. I will stick with the stock coil.

That is about the end of my dislikes with the Deus, none of which I consider a deal breaker just some things I don't like for the kind of hunting that I do, mainly coin, jewelry and relics. One more minor dislike is no available custom program slots available, you have to use one or more of the factory program slots for your own program/s.

What I really DO like is the lightweight design, the speed to hunt in the trash and the wireless headphone capability, the main selling points of the Deus. The menu system is also very easy to learn and get used to with enough adjustment to accommodate most users. For hunting in grounds less cluttered, the recovery can be adjusted to a 1 or 0 for a more "rounded" audio and a slight depth advantage and the audio can be set up to 5 for a bit more depth and a bit louder audio on the deeper targets. Another feature the coin hunters might like is the three notch filters of which I use two of them. I use the standard 8 VDI N1 right above the nickel to knock out our most common tabs and I like the setting N2 filter at the zinc cent level 3 VDI wide so I don't have to listen to those in the parks. When I'm in the mood to only listen for silver and quarters, it is a breeze to up the Discrimination to 85 and the Deus becomes a beep and dig coin hunter. I might add that I do like the high visibility of the display in all light levels and the ability to download upgrades as they become available.

I like the accessories I got with the Deus like the backpack which holds everything except my SunRay treasure pouch and Lesche although they would fit if I wanted everything in the pack, and that includes the cigarette lighter charger and the emergency charger which has their own pockets on the backpack. The backpack has plenty of room for the 11X13 inch coil and lower rod as well.

The Deus has it's own market and the other manufactures has little to worry about for those who were concerned about Deus putting White's, First Texas or Minelab out of business. :biggrin: The Deus is an expensive single frequency detector, but it is a lightweight, high tech powerhouse that does what it was designed to do and it is a keeper for me.
 
Good early review Larry and keep us up to date, when you have more to tell about the Xp Deus.:chase:
 
I have taken the Basic 1 slot and made a program I like for coin and jewelry hunting. This is my park program that notches out some of the common tabs and zincolins yet I still have most small gold rings and nickels, larger gold rings and coins from Indian Heads on up.

Frequency 7.7
Sensitivity 95
Ground Balance Pumping
Notch 1 50-58
Notch 2 71-73
Discrimination 30
Audio Response 5
Iron Volume 0
Reactivity 1
Three tone with no adjustments


When hunting in a good location where about anything is possible, I use G-MAXX and the Relic program for relic hunting which is G-Maxx with high power.
 
Looks like you put the Deus through some well thought out test/hunts. Appreciate your plus, and minus points too.

Your very qualified ,and experience level of detecting , makes your field report, and evaluation of the detector real, and reliable.

Myself after reading your field obsevations would make me feel much more comfortable buying a Deus knowing the true facts you made available.
 
I agree on the headphones.
 
Anyone have any ideas how to improve the headphones, i.e, eliminate and/or reduce the outside noise?
 
Larry------Thanks for the very well written & informative report.-----I think it gives us all more insight into the pros & cons of the Deus.-----Thanks also for sharing the park program that you have worked up.-----Very interesting what you said about the coils also.------------Del
 
Would there be any way to put the headphone electronics into a set of Pro Golds or similar headphones with better noise canceling? Sounds like the headphones are one of the major shortcomings as of now?? Looks to be to an otherwise solid detector...
 
While I didn't like the back phones originally..now I do like them. I understand XP is coming out with a headphone version as an accessory.

Any of the vendors know about that?

Regards, Joe (California)
 
I am using Deus with original headphones for some 21 months now and I realy like them. When a new closed version will be on the market I will buy, mostly to use them in the Winter.
 
I'm in the same boat with you Joe, I am getting used to them and the headphones do have their place, the audio is not bad, but they rub the top of my ears which gets annoying. I can see where the backphones would be a welcomed relief when the weather gets hot and they do allow hat wearers to garnish their domes. :biggrin:
 
they (XP)might not put anyone out of business but in the UK ,XP and ML have been grabbing market share from the US brands.
its apparent at rallies ,where XP and ML predominate to the detriment of US makers ,whereas years ago they had most of the market to themselves .
 
No wonder, most US metal detector technology is back in 20th century... and they seem to be complacent.
 
grumpymedic said:
Would there be any way to put the headphone electronics into a set of Pro Golds or similar headphones with better noise canceling? Sounds like the headphones are one of the major shortcomings as of now?? Looks to be to an otherwise solid detector...

There is someone in the UK who has been selling them like that for a while now. I don't have info on it but imagine with a little research you could find it.

If I get a Deus I think I will save 300 Euro/Dollars and buy it without the headphones and I'll just use nice mp3 headphones/plugs - It is available like that in Europe. A big part of the headphone cost, outside of being wireless, is that you can control the machine from them. I don't see me ever doing that as I like to have a VID machine (easily visible.)

You can also use standard headphones but then need an adapter and with it you can't really put the control box on the unit as the adapter will be in the way of your hand. So, just arm mount it.
 
you can fit bigger cups as done by some UK users ,but the backphones are ok ,as you can hear if somebody speaks to you and your not so cutoff as when wearing D cups
 
Question for you....hypothetical.

Do you think at some point they will make a sturdy, wireless headphone without any of the functionality of the current one ? One of the key points of your review that hit home is the headphones. Being a beach hunter, a good pair of headphones where ambient noise is eliminated is crucial. So I was thinking that possibly down the line, XP will provide a pair of headphones that are wireless, more noise resistant, sturdier and more comfortable and not have all the other functions that the current wireless ones have.

Take it to the next level, they could then offer packages that include these headphones instead of the fully functional ones, and possibly a reduced price for the package. Or even a reduced price for just a coil, shaft and control box for those who want to connect a wired pair of headphones to the control unit.

One of the main pieces of increasing profits is increasing market share. XP has the Deus positioned for the USA market, but I think the price point is still a tad too high compared to some of the other higher end units.. If they somehow have a way to reduce the price slightly via offering different set ups, that may be a good thing.

Tell you one thing, if they have the ability at some point, via a software update, to make the Deus have the ability to run dual frequencies and have the user be able to pick which 2, that would be something ! The ability to load a software update via your own computer and then have added functionality, without having to send the unit back in, is a major plus. But it can't be gimmicky, like an update that adds a color to the screen. It has to be something that will increase the performance or make it run more stable in certain environments.
 
Hypothetical answer is.... maybe........:happy:
 
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