My Observations

[Mountain Mike]

I bought a Deus to compliment my Etrac and vice versa. I'm having a ball. I recommend having both if you can find a way!!

 

[CO_T\Huntr]

Some interesting reading here to say the least...
And let me chime in on the prowess of the Deus..
I have dug quarters at 12+" in CO and would expect most any worthy machine to do it, even with a nail in the hole not a big deal
I've also been Gold prospecting with it for a month in AZ and it was able to hit whatever the Minelabs hit in our party.
I've detected a CW Battle site in MO previously pounded to death and come away with my own CW treasures....
I'm now in Panama City FL and beach hunting during Spring Break and in the dry sand it's flawless (on par with my buddy's Etrac) the wet sand I haven't had the chance to test and tweak yet, but I'm not concerned, the low tides are always at ungodly hours and it's just too cold for this old body...
I don't care that the VDI isn't as deep... WHT this is an Audio machine, as are all of them, and if you're using your eyes instead of your ears you're missing the boat

I DO know I won't be needing 3 or 4 different specialized machines to do all the various tasks I've managed to do with just this one and I know I won't be needing to buy another for the newest tech advances as they will be providing me current updates for years to come and whatever weaknesses that might be currently "imagined" are certainly being addressed as we speak...
I really see no weaknesses in this machine only the strengths of it's unlimited adaptability... is anything else even close!

I've not run many of the machines mentioned in this post and I can honestly tell you I never will, there's just no need...
I may give up a little here and there but overall I believe I'm way ahead with the Deus...

The most successful Detectorists are those that know their machine the best...

 

[Arthur-Canada]

Some interesting reading here to say the least...
And let me chime in on the prowess of the Deus..
I have dug quarters at 12+" in CO and would expect most any worthy machine to do it, even with a nail in the hole not a big deal
I've also been Gold prospecting with it for a month in AZ and it was able to hit whatever the Minelabs hit in our party.
I've detected a CW Battle site in MO previously pounded to death and come away with my own CW treasures....
I'm now in Panama City FL and beach hunting during Spring Break and in the dry sand it's flawless (on par with my buddy's Etrac) the wet sand I haven't had the chance to test and tweak yet, but I'm not concerned, the low tides are always at ungodly hours and it's just too cold for this old body...
I don't care that the VDI isn't as deep... WHT this is an Audio machine, as are all of them, and if you're using your eyes instead of your ears you're missing the boat

I DO know I won't be needing 3 or 4 different specialized machines to do all the various tasks I've managed to do with just this one and I know I won't be needing to buy another for the newest tech advances as they will be providing me current updates for years to come and whatever weaknesses that might be currently "imagined" are certainly being addressed as we speak...
I really see no weaknesses in this machine only the strengths of it's unlimited adaptability... is anything else even close!

I've not run many of the machines mentioned in this post and I can honestly tell you I never will, there's just no need...
I may give up a little here and there but overall I believe I'm way ahead with the Deus...

The most successful Detectorists are those that know their machine the best...

Your last sentence is the only one that really matters the most. I beat guys with Deus and CTX all the time with my 30 year old machines, but then I was swinging them already when these guys needed a dictionary to figure out what a metal detector is!!