The Relichunter
New member
Hi All,
Got my new XP Deus from Bart (Thank you Bart) last week. I took it out for the first time to do do some relic hunting yesterday. All in all, it was a very, very successful day considering the site I hunted has seen hundreds of detectors over the past 40 or more years. I was actually quite surprised by how much stuff I did find considering this was the first time out with the machine and the area had been hunted so hard. That is a real credit to the capabilities of the machine.
First, I am very new to this particular machine as it is a bit different than those I have previously used. I know it will take me some quite a bit of time to learn exactly what the machine is telling me. FWIW, I usually don't bother with displays to identify the target. In fact, I put the Deus remote control in my pocket only using it to change sensitivity between 80 and 85 as the minerals in the ground required to minimize false signals. I do know enough that too much sensitivity leads to far fewer finds and the XP Deus has more than all of the sensitivity I need for my particular type of hunting.
I read the manual several times over and set it up for what I thought would suit me. The sheer number of finds, musket balls, grapeshot, jews harp, melted lead, etc. (including a small button about 1/2 the size of a dime at 6" or so deep) in a worked out area convinced me I am on the right track. BTW, this was a F&I war camp site dating to 1755.
All in all, the XP Deus is going to be one heck of a machine for me compared to the many others I have used in 40+ years of detecting. Just the light weight of the unit made swinging it for 5 hours effortless (at least on the arms, can't say the same for the ankles over the rocky grounds
Sensitivity is far beyond what I had imagined. I didn't dig a single "I wonder if that's a target" since everything came in loud and clear and ground noise was easy to pick out because it didn't repeat at a second or different angle of sweep.
Since I do hunt iron as well as non ferrous metals, I have to pretty much accept all iron and run with an iron volume of 5. The problems occur with small nails or bits of wire. I can usually pick them out by the double beep. But it would be nice to reject them and null out the sound. On my CTX 3030, I found that small nails can be ignored by setting a discrimination area in the high FE content and mid to high CO range. That way any iron objects such as a flintlock hammer, or even a simple round iron grape shot would give a "good" signal. On all of my other machines I have used, I pretty much rely solely on target tone. Those machines range from the F75, Whites Spectra, Minelab SD2200d, and many, many more
Yesterday, I was detecting in what was for all purposes "all metal" mode. I found near a dozen pieces of iron grapeshot. I checked them on the conductivity scale and they came in at a solid 1. Obviously using the factory programmed "relic mode" would have put a null tone to these items with iron volume set to zero.
Just curious if anyone has ever notched out small nails and wire with any success.
I have around 40 years of detecting experience starting with the old TR and BFO type detectors and have literally over a ton of iron and relics from the F&I through Revolutionary Wars. (Canon and Mortar shells are heavy
However the Deus is quite new to me and I am wondering if the notching of small nails and bits of wire would work. Again, I can pretty much tell by the double beep in one direction of sweep and single beep at a 45 degree angle sweep. But, anything someone can add from their experience is invaluable to me.
Gosh, I sure do love that Deus. It made a convert out of me in a single day
Got my new XP Deus from Bart (Thank you Bart) last week. I took it out for the first time to do do some relic hunting yesterday. All in all, it was a very, very successful day considering the site I hunted has seen hundreds of detectors over the past 40 or more years. I was actually quite surprised by how much stuff I did find considering this was the first time out with the machine and the area had been hunted so hard. That is a real credit to the capabilities of the machine.
First, I am very new to this particular machine as it is a bit different than those I have previously used. I know it will take me some quite a bit of time to learn exactly what the machine is telling me. FWIW, I usually don't bother with displays to identify the target. In fact, I put the Deus remote control in my pocket only using it to change sensitivity between 80 and 85 as the minerals in the ground required to minimize false signals. I do know enough that too much sensitivity leads to far fewer finds and the XP Deus has more than all of the sensitivity I need for my particular type of hunting.
I read the manual several times over and set it up for what I thought would suit me. The sheer number of finds, musket balls, grapeshot, jews harp, melted lead, etc. (including a small button about 1/2 the size of a dime at 6" or so deep) in a worked out area convinced me I am on the right track. BTW, this was a F&I war camp site dating to 1755.
All in all, the XP Deus is going to be one heck of a machine for me compared to the many others I have used in 40+ years of detecting. Just the light weight of the unit made swinging it for 5 hours effortless (at least on the arms, can't say the same for the ankles over the rocky grounds
Sensitivity is far beyond what I had imagined. I didn't dig a single "I wonder if that's a target" since everything came in loud and clear and ground noise was easy to pick out because it didn't repeat at a second or different angle of sweep.Since I do hunt iron as well as non ferrous metals, I have to pretty much accept all iron and run with an iron volume of 5. The problems occur with small nails or bits of wire. I can usually pick them out by the double beep. But it would be nice to reject them and null out the sound. On my CTX 3030, I found that small nails can be ignored by setting a discrimination area in the high FE content and mid to high CO range. That way any iron objects such as a flintlock hammer, or even a simple round iron grape shot would give a "good" signal. On all of my other machines I have used, I pretty much rely solely on target tone. Those machines range from the F75, Whites Spectra, Minelab SD2200d, and many, many more
Yesterday, I was detecting in what was for all purposes "all metal" mode. I found near a dozen pieces of iron grapeshot. I checked them on the conductivity scale and they came in at a solid 1. Obviously using the factory programmed "relic mode" would have put a null tone to these items with iron volume set to zero.
Just curious if anyone has ever notched out small nails and wire with any success.
I have around 40 years of detecting experience starting with the old TR and BFO type detectors and have literally over a ton of iron and relics from the F&I through Revolutionary Wars. (Canon and Mortar shells are heavy
However the Deus is quite new to me and I am wondering if the notching of small nails and bits of wire would work. Again, I can pretty much tell by the double beep in one direction of sweep and single beep at a 45 degree angle sweep. But, anything someone can add from their experience is invaluable to me.
Gosh, I sure do love that Deus. It made a convert out of me in a single day