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.
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.
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.
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.
