Been using a Deus about 7 months now. It's a VERY different machine than my DFX. The Deus has forced me to think about settings and adjustments in a different way also. With that in mind, I might try and tune my DFX much differently than the way I used to run it.
Below are the settings I might try now if I take the DFX to a cellar hole. It is quite possible these settings will make the DFX useless, but I think I will try them.
- Silent Search = ON. I used to always have it OFF, but I didn’t realize how nice it is without it. Deus is silent.
- AC = 75 to 80 depending in EMI.
- TID = ON
- Modulation = ON. I always had this OFF with the DFX. Now I find the difference in volume helps separate targets.
- Auto Trac: OFF. I hated Auto Trac at the cellar holes, it seemed it would glom on to the big iron and get way off track. If I would use Auto trac now, I would try offsetting it by -2 or -3 or more. That way you can turn your AC down a bit and keep PAG low, but the offset would help make up for that loss of depth. Also run Autotrac speed very high. Probably better to do a normal GB, find out what the Coarse GEB, then switch to manual and set it somewhere below that .
- Disc = “0”. Yes, I would run it wide open to find the iron masked targets. Maybe Disc out 94 + 95 to minimize annoying wrap around. No fear of not hitting big silver if using 3kHz and Norm OFF.
- Recovery Speed = 40. Needs to be fast in the iron.
- Sweep speed = 1
- GF = 3 ( I have weakly mineralized soil in my area and most of that is iron mineralization, maybe even try GF =2).
- VDI sensitivity = 90+ Turn down in high EMI.
- PAG = 1. In the iron, PAG is like headlights in the fog….the lower the better.
- Frequency = 3 kHz. Those high conductors will hit better.
- VDI Norm = OFF. Those high conductors will hit lower on the VDI scale and away from the troublesome high end of the scale.
Then I would get a piece of duct tape and cover the screen, swing the coil fairly slow and just pay attention to the audio. It may be noisy to the point of uselessness, but I am curious enough to give it a try![]()