Going deep With The Vision/V3/V3i

I have been seeing a lot of post regarding depth problems with the V3. I thought I would provide some basic guidelines to getting more depth out of your machine. There is a substantial amount of misinformation floating around the Internet that I believe is leading folks down the wrong path. There are those that would have you believe that rock solid stability is the best approach on the V3. By rock solid stability I mean no falsing, ultra quiet, and no sound except for that of the desired target. This would be nice, but unfortunately all it means is that you have weakened the field of your coil to the point that all you will be finding is shallower targets. The reality is if you want to find those deeper coins, coins on edge and coins that are masked by adjacent trash, you will need to tolerate some noise in your hunt. Lets look at some basic adjustments that you can apply to most any program to get more sensitivity and depth out of your Vision/V3/V3i.

1. Frequency
If you are coin shooting then the 2.5 kHz frequency will get you deep in a hurry. Unfortunately it will have you digging deep iron on a regular basis. If you don't mind digging, this is the way to go. If you want to eliminate a lot of unnecessary digging go with a 3 frequency mode. Best Data is the deepest running 3 frequency mode. It is also very noisy. This excessive noise increases the chance of missing a desirable target. If you move slowly and deliberate in your hunt this mode can be a coin killer. It is just a little to much noise for me. I choose to use the Correlate mode. This will get you plenty of depth with the ability to control the response based on the consistency of a target using the Span setting. If you have moderate to high mineralization strength in your soil then the Wrap setting built into the Correlate mode will serve you well in dealing with coins that are in the fringe area of your coil field. Irregardless what 3 frequency mode you choose to use, the benefit of the 3 frequency pinpoint graph will make life very easy at determining a good deep target. Look for your 2.5 and 7.5 frequencies to be dominant in strength. Your 22.5 frequency should be the weakest in response. (Nickels and 2½ Dollar gold pieces excluded.) There I go dreaming again. :lol:

2. Filter
This one setting will get you better results than any other one setting on the detector. I can not stress this enough. Set your Filter to 5hz Band Pass. Trust me on this one. Not only will it get you deeper, it will have a pronounced effect on quieting EMI. I don't honestly know why this makes such a difference, but it does in a big way. There is a catch when you choose to use this setting however. You must slow your swing speed down to a crawl. This is actually a good thing. Slowing your swing speed will help in picking out those masked coins and coins on edge. To fast of swing and you have a noisy machine again. This also brings us to our next adjustment...

3. Recovery Delay
I have found that a setting of 80 to 100 is ideal for deep coins. This setting is one of great controversy. The school of thought has always been the faster the recovery time the better the separation between targets. While this is technically correct, it comes with a heavy price. That price is at the cost of... you guest it, depth. This is the great double edged sword I have spoke of in other post. To fast of recovery speed can cause your deeper targets to breakup in their response. To slow and targets can be missed due to masking from nearby bad targets. Slower coil movement is a must with a setting this low. This also seems to lengthen the response from a deep coin, which you can agree is beneficial to our cause. So, a slow swing speed is very very important. Relax your hunting style and slow down. If you swing to fast none of the above settings are going to help you out.

4. Discrimination
The best advice I can pass on to you regarding the use of discrimination is, don't use it at all. Use custom tone adjustments to quiet undesirable response from the detector. Simply set the tone for any VDI range you do not want to hear to "0"�.

The Vision/V3/V3i is a great detector and is capable of pulling nice finds out of heavily hunted areas. It has the ability to take you on a medal detecting odyssey that will continue to produce great coins as long as you are willing to swing it. Hopefully these tips will point you in the right direction. Ultimately the best settings are the ones that work in your hunting environment. You will need to make adjustments and experiment. The true beauty of the V3 is it's versatility in meeting your needs. I warn you. Be careful of Gurus on the Internet who seem to know it all. This will always be a learning process. Be open minded and seek information on how to use your detector, just as you seek those old coins buried in the ground. Good hunting and good luck.

Keep Swing'in
Jack

Great info Jack, thanks for posting!! How far do you push the disc sensitivity?? Too much RX gain increases noise for me, not sure of its effect on depth when reduced, any opinions on this. Have you used TX boost when on a deep target to see what kind of signal improvement there is??

Hey xzlr8n!

How you been friend? I have to agree with you on the RX gain. I try to keep my DS between 93 and 95. I adjust down the RX to stabilize things a bit. Unfortunately my moderate soil does not respond well to TX Boost. I have used it to fight EMI in real bad conditions, but that is the extent of my experience with TX Boost. It does not seem to intensify the response on deep coins that I have experimented over before I dug. It does not seem to make it worse either:huh: Air testing shows a gain, but those old coins don't hang out in mid air to often so it does not really matter I guess. lol

Jack

Good post Jack, and Amen on the Gurus. :tongue: Coming from an MXT a little noise doesn't bother me. Just because you hear it on our forums doesn't mean it is so.

I've pretty much come to the same settings on my programs so I have to agree with yours. Ours sure don't match theirs and that is OK. Lately I've been running -94 and -93 at 25 like Yazoo. I switch back between correlate and 3 frequency. Another thing I'm going to try is to put TX boost on my live controls just to see if hitting it will make any difference as a final check on the iffy deep ones. Rob

Good info Jack And Amen to the Gurus. Yazoo

I was checking the modulation setting for the C&J program on my updated V3i and it is set to - 2. So White's must think that is a good # for all around coin shooting...... What do you think Jack.

I think that is the equivalent of a 4 setting on the V3 or Vision. They reversed the range values and went from 1-6 instead of 0-5 on the V3i. I received a PM from Anne at Whites electronics stating that she reversed the order to the following...

V3->V3i
0->6
1->5
2->4
3->3
4->2
5->1


To answer your question the 4->2 setting is where I see the improvement without quiting the coins down to much. I also noticed that this was more effective on the D2 than the 6X9 Eclipse. I have been using the 6x9 lately to clean out a trashy area. Even maxing it out had very little effect.

Jack

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Originally Posted by rcasio44

Another thing I'm going to try is to put TX boost on my live controls just to see if hitting it will make any difference as a final check on the iffy deep ones.

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Sounds like a great idea. I will give it a try as well.

Jack

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Originally Posted by yazoo

...And Amen to the Gurus. Yazoo

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Can I get a Hallelujah brother! lol

Take it easy there Jack you might get following of blind groupies.LOL :interesting: Yazoo

lol lol lol

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Originally Posted by yazoo

Take it easy there Jack you might get following of blind groupies.LOL :interesting: Yazoo

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Now thats funny Yazoo. And great post Jack there is so much bad info out there its nice to see someone out there like you trying to help. I have been running those settings from day one with great success. Like you say the proof is in the pudding. For me personaly if I am going to follow anyones advice its gunna be someone who has at least posted some deep finds :thinkingabout:

Thank you jer4004. I appreciate your input. It's good to learn from the forums, but don't let it be the final word on anything. Your experience and observations with the V3 is important to the progression of our goals as well. There are a vast amount of variables and hunting conditions involved in our quest to find that treasure, whatever it may be. It is certainly far to much for one individual to comprehend. Right now the best we can do is share our knowledge on the subject at hand. I hope I have been not to negative. By far there are more experienced V3 users contributing to the general good of the V3 knowledge base on the Internet. I could start naming names, but I would surely leave someone out that deserves a slap on the back for a job well done. We all have common goals in the craft, and we are all... American Detectorist.

Jack

Well said Jack! The gurus you speak of in my opinion is ruining the Whites name and sending people down the wrong path as you say. If you try to help people and it goes against them...they ban you or warn you as I am sure you know. So much for a free idea place to post as long as it is respectable. I am in the position to where I may be able to do something about one of them. Have to wait and see. I would be honored to post my program up with the others if you want to have it here. My apologies to anyone that I have offended on this forum in earlier postings. Yazoo knows what I have been going through... Sometimes I am wound tighter than a garage door spring. Best of luck to you all and keep them D2s fired up. Dont let the mushrooms grow on them! :grin:
As for the gurus... :beatdown:

Not many posts on this forum but what is here is usually helpful. I have got tidbits of info from all of the forums. I still have the V3 and have had it since May 09. It has taken me till about June of this year to actually trust this thing.Being a CW relic hunter not alot of V3 users. I have found myself using single freq more and more for the depth and I know I am losing the best feature ,the 3 bar pinpoint screen but this has worked for me. The one change that I have made to all my programs, which I got from another forum, is to change spectrograph from intensity to consistency set at 25 and fade rate 7. This has made graph so much easier for me to interpret . I pay know attention to the VDI#s. Also since I have done this and I know it makes no sense but my Programs are much more stabile I use the D2 and 10x12 SEF and have been able to run more gain.Any opinions and has anybody else tried this change? Also any unbiased opinions on the V3i upgrade? Majic and Cybersage I have used info from both of your programs and keep up the good informative posts. Thanks Andy

Andy if you are using the single freq and want the PP ability of the 3 freq. I toggle back and forth when I want a better look at whats there. It doesnt seem to hurt the Ground balance. Good Luck Yazoo

We would sure welcome any information or programs you would like to share with us here Magic. It goes without saying that we must always keep an open mind to new and different experiences with the Vision/V3/V3i. Your experience is certainly welcome here.

Jack

[quote=yazoo;24092]
Andy if you are using the single freq and want the PP ability of the 3 freq. I toggle back and forth when I want a better look at whats there. It doesnt seem to hurt the Ground balance. Good Luck Yazoo

Thanks Yazoo for the response I thought about that and that was my issue with getting a good ground balance I was having issues with that till I started using Majics tip about watching for the tracking arrows to start to switch back and forth before releasing enter

I have a question for you guys on the ground balance when using the D2 coil.I know the manual states to pump it 1-12 inches above the ground,but when doing this in the locktrac mode,I find the threshold constantly increases as the coil approaches the ground (when it comes closest to the ground) and using the negative offset in an attempt to correct this seems to do nothing.Anyone else notice this or am I just pumping the coil to close to the ground? It seems to do this in the last inch or so when coming towards thr ground.

I generally bring the coil right down to the surface without making contact when doing the initial ground balance. I use Autotrac with a speed of 20. The V3 seems to do a great job for me with ground balance in my hunting conditions. I will occasionally re-ground balance, but it is always rock solid and quiet when doing this. Does this behavior change if you swap out coils?

Yes,with a coil other than the D2 this isnt noticed when in loctrac.With the 6x10 the offset definately has an effect.I tried the 6x10 for coinshooting and prospecting and could get a complete reversal with the offset adjustment (that is,going from an increase in threshold towards the ground, to an increase when lifting the coil away from the ground).I have noticed the difference in autotrac with the D2,as youve stated Jack.Its only the D2 in loctrac that the manual offset seems to have no effect on evening out the threshold.

The D2 is sensitive but is my favorite coil. The offset won't help. If you set to +1 and ground balance it will balance sightly positive. I won't help to make the coil balance. Rob

Hi, Jack. I'm confused. If you aren't using discrimination how can you set your VDI tones so that you don't hear the VDI's you don't want to hear? VDI's aren't considered in All Metal mode. Thanks for the help.

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Originally Posted by DirtFisher

Hi, Jack. I'm confused. If you aren't using discrimination how can you set your VDI tones so that you don't hear the VDI's you don't want to hear? VDI's aren't considered in All Metal mode. Thanks for the help.

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I am in discrimination mode. I am just not setting any VDI's to be rejected. By setting the Tone to 0 you don't hear it.

This was a great post. Thanks :)

Thanks, Jack. I understand now.

How do I set up to get the 3 freq pinpoint with the single freq mode? Thanks for any assistance with this.

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Originally Posted by kingskid

How do I set up to get the 3 freq pinpoint with the single freq mode? Thanks for any assistance with this.

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Wouldn't this be a nice feature! Unfortunately this is not possible currently with the V3/V3i. The number of frequencies used for pinpoint mode will be the same as the number used in motion mode.

Thank all. Great post!