The Quattros flute music kicked butt on the MXT's pig grunts

[Black Davy]

I took my Quattro to Reno with me on bussiness for its maiden voyage. My brother and I went park hunting on the weekend, he was armed with his Whites MXT and myself with the Quattro. I used his MXT to see how it was, man that is one noisy pig grunting machine, I know it has alot of benifits but the noise from that machine would drive you insane. Any how working the parks were easy as 1-2-3 with the Quattro and I left it in Auto Coin mode. After a few hits it's easy to know what is good and whats not just by the tone and the consistancy of the tones. Man what a great machine. All said in done the Quattro picked out more coins from the trash laiden Reno Parks.

Oh ya you need a permit to hunt in Reno, its free and you get it from the Parks dept and good for 3 years.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Glad to hear you are taking well to the new machine. It is a very easy machine to learn and adjust to and does quite well in Auto sens.

 

[mtdoramike]

it gets great depth, especially with the stock DD coil.

 

[Mirage]

Davy,
I was using a White's DFX for about a year or so and then got the Quattro. I am suffering much less audio fatigue now. I like the Quattro tones better. To me more pleasant tones. In defense to the MXT and DFX - if you can put up with the extra noise having all those tones can be useful.

Bob

 

[Sanddigger]

Had a stress test last week and everything was fine. Thinking about you and how you were doing?

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Glad to hear that your test was A-OK and thanks for asking, I'm doing great. I started running again many months ago and at first was doing a few miles and then 4 miles and then 5 miles and for the last few months have been running a 6.2 mile loop I have mapped out around my area here in Indian Lakes. I do it most every night...just me and my iPod and some good tunes. I'm ready to rack up some serious night beach hunting time in the near future and get back into ending my hunts with some good rollerblading on the boardwalk again. It's a little too cold and a little too windy this time of year for that, so I haven't had the blades on in months. But it's all good. I may drop dead tomorrow, but I'm going to look good in that coffin.

 

[n5pip]

Hi Bob,
I own both the DFX and the Quattro. From your message I'm guessing that you hunted the DFX with the Tone ID on. With that setting, it's amazing that you didn't go bonkers. I always use mine with Tone ID off. It's much easier to operate that way for me. On the other hand, the flute music of the Quattro is very annoying. Why do I keep the Quattro? Because it goes DEEP on the beach. Providing that I'm not in a trash filled area and sweep slowwwww, the Quattro is superior (depth wise). If I'm running into trash, I've found that the DFX reacts quicker, can be swept faster, & has a more "positive" action to it. The DFX, when set up properly, is only slightly shallower than the Quattro.
I'm not "trashing" either machine. Each one is an excellent choice, both have their strengths & weaknesses, and you can't go wrong whichever one you choose.

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Now that's a wild concept...turning OFF the variable tone ID of the DFX...one of the BEST features of the machine.

 

[n5pip]

Hi Mike,
Yep, I hunt the DFX without the Tone ID. I've got the Sov GT, Quattro, & Excal for that. When I hunt the DFX, it's single tone, and I watch the SignaGraph when I get a target. Additionally, I also hunt in the Mixed Mode, so to get hit with all the different tones is very annoying. I feel that the SignaGraph is one of the DFX's strongest pluses and gives far more target info than tones alone.
If I were to rate (and this is just my personal opinion)the different Minelabs for their tone id performance here's my rundown.

1. Sov GT
2. Excal (a VERY close second)
3. Quattro

Until I got used to the Quattro, the flute music just about drove me batty. In the conductive audio mode, it was disconcerting for a ferrous target to give a high conductive tone (see Andy Sabisch's book, pages 44 & 45). Yes, it is easy to cross-save the ferrous audio and/or look at the Target ID conductivity numerical readout, but for a newcomer to the Quattro, it would be confusing.

For those of us with hearing issues (read: Old FuddyDuddies who went to too many rock concerts), relying on tone id alone will cause us to miss some goodies.

Thanks & HH,
Stirling, N5PIP
Daytona Beach

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

I can dig it...if it works for you, that's what matters.

I had a DFX and really liked the tones and the VDI. The Signagraph was also a nice feature. I really thought I had a winner with the DFX but ultimately gave it up in favor of a CZ-70, strictly due to better depth with the CZ. Not nearly as sophisticated or as fun as the DFX but the simplicity and depth were tough to beat.

I agree fully with your tones assessment on the Minelabs. I had an Elite and loved it. It was my beach machine and after a year I gave it up in favor of an Excal. And as you say, VERY CLOSE, but still liked the Elite tones slightly better. But I'm fully endeared to the Excal now. And finally, I had the Quattro and liked it a lot too and did get used to the flute music. I now use the Explorer II and find the tones very similar but with a bit more range and a real sweet silver high note.

I never hunted with the DFX the way you do but can see where it could be very effective.

Oh and I went to my share of rock concerts too and spent a number of years sitting in naval gun mounts listening to BIG explosions. And listen to loud rock today. Yet somehow I managed to retain my hearing. Unless you ask my wife.

 

[n5pip]

Hi Mike,
I also have a CZ-20 which is on ebay right now (unfortunately) so that I can pay off the Quattro. The simplicity and ruggedness of the 20 is hard to beat. In Autotune the depth is fantastic. I hate to see it go. Actually, I'm hoping that it doesn't sell.
To think that less than a year ago, when I started to get serious about this hobby, I was using a Radio Shack Discovery 3300 !!!
Anyway, out of all of my detectors, I like the Sov GT the best. In fact I've found over $35K with it. Unfortunately, not all of that went into my pocket. I've recently posted about that in the Sov/Excal Form here on Findmall. See: "Sov GT Saves the Day (again)".
Happy & Productive Hunting, and if you get down here in the Daytona just give me a shout. We can go dig some sand & swap sea stories.

HH,
Stirling, N5PIP
Daytona Beach

 

[mtdoramike]

For, raw depth, simplicity, ++++ hip mountability.

 

[mtdoramike]

watching him fiddle with it constantly, well, I actually didn't get tired of it, I thought it was rather funny because while he was fiddling with his DFX, I was hunting the good spots and finding stuff with the CZ70.

Give me an Amen brother!

 

[Mike (Virginia Beach)]

Amen, brother! That was my main complaint too...it required a little too much "tuning" for my tastes. I found a lot of stuff with it...definitely a capable machine. But the clincher for me was on a particular outing with two CZ friends, I got my butt handed to me on 3-ringers...every one was about 9" to 12" deep and they were bagging them left and right. The DFX could barely touch one in PINPOINT. In normal hunt mode it got nothing off any of them no matter how it was tweaked. They got about 15 each and I got none. It went on eBay that night and the CZ-70 was ordered.