XP Derp (XP Deus)

[Robert Le Mal]

I bought a second hand XP Deus - it arrived Thursday morning.
I am a happy CTX 3030 owner but a friend had been debating the purchase of a CTX or an XP Deus.
I started looking into the XP Deus, primarily for its quick response and light weight. My 'friend' (Hi Andrew) still hasn't bought either 8.(

There are so many things I like about the Deus - except I don't get as much target ID as I do with the CTX, at least that's an initial observation which may change later.

First night out at the old army camp I have flogged. Not much but I did spend most of the evening adjusting settings and trying different things.

Yesterday I did some testing in a box of clean dirt sitting well up off the lawn, and from this got some numbers for various items at 12khz. Then I set ranges over 4 tones, which divided targets into "Crap", "Meh...", "Maybe Baby" and "Nectar Sector".
Last night's efforts at a site I have hunted before.

The "Nectar Sector" tone is bright and gets my attention right off, the ID range is just above ring pulls, which means I don't dig those f*&king things but it does mean potentially I am missing gold rings

I am struggling (even though I just got the machine) because I'm used to much more visual information on the CTX. I am having to learn to just listen more with XP Deus.
I'm hunting in ringpull infested sites - if any XP users have tricks that helps make this less painful I'd love to know.

ps - I am keeping the CTX, but I might part with the large coil if anyone is interested.

Robert

 

[silver]

Must be sort of like the ACE250 then robert ,... no numbers, just bars and tones(sort of),... you'll be right once you get your ear in,... I was tone deaf at first and thought "no way",... but perserveered to become aquainted with the different tones enough to not have to look at the screen(eventually).
Now it's all just normal to listen and only look at depth if I need too, or where the bars are showing if I'm scanning in pinpoint mode and hear a nice strong crisp tight signal that could be a gold ring if it's not coming up on my notched in tones.

 

[rocketaroo]

good first results, look forward to seeing the results, after you have a decent amount of hours on it

 

[Robert Le Mal]

thanks Rocket, I will keep at it, I think it's a very good machine I just need to learn its strengths properly.
Silver there are numbers but the difference in digits between one target and another is not great.

Below are what I got a few days ago, just laid some commonly dug items on the surface. I noticed last night most IDs were pretty close to the dug targets, something like 5 digits variation at worst... but still hard to tell one thing from another with just the numbers.

I've set the machine at 4 tones for now - the colours reflect how I've divided up the target ID's among the 4 tones.

 

[silver]

You just need to play the gueesing game before you dig to see what you think is going to turn up/ versus what does turn up,... the mind will sharpen with the time and experience untill mostly your guesses are correct(letting you know you are mastering it).

 

[Goldpick]

Nice hunt Robert, it is a struggle not relying on the screen so much, sometimes I tell myself to put the remote in my pocket and just rely on the tones, bit like I used to do with the Vaquero.

Can't offer much advice if looking for gold rings other than to just dig all those annoying ring pulls, amongst other mid to low range non-ferrous junk. Gold rings can ring up anywhere from the high 30's through to the 70's, so are always going to be hard to pin down using a vlf with two digit TID's. I guess that is the advantage of using the CTX and Etrac with the ferrous/conductivity readings, with a lot of gold rings falling on the "12" ferrous line.

The ringpulls do tend to have a more abrupt/sharp cut off on the signal tone compared to the more mellow/rounded response of coins and the gold rings that I have tested, and the numbers should also be less consistent.

The area I am currently detecting is being systematically cleared of pretty much all non-ferrous junk targets, so hopefully I will pick up on some gold if my patience holds and the planets align.

 

[Ramjet]

Nice finds Robert. I will be following this with interest. The XP and CTX are on my wish list so to see someone who uses both will be very interesting.

 

[Goldpick]

Another thing to consider with the Deus is varying TID values when switching to the lower frequencies. Though you can select "ID Norm" under "Configuration - Profile" to automatically adjust so they read the same across all four frequencies. Just thought I would mention that if others are comparing your TID's whilst using one of the other Deus programs.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

hey Goldpick - might switch to ID Norm, didn't even know that was an option, thank you.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

attempted some testing today but will have to repeat the whole thing - ground balance was way off, there's EMI from the house and/or the tripod legs may have been too close to the box... and yes I did check the soil before I started.

This will be boring unless you own a Deus or are thinking of getting one.
I wanted to see target separation and iron masking (the Deus is supposed to be super for finding valuable items near iron).

Any thoughts on improving the next test are welcome. Boring video follows - you have been warned.
[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/e7TZIhBCT3k[/video]

 

[Goldpick]

Good video Robert, I watched the whole thing and gave you a like - it wasn't boring!

The Deus is certainly no slouch on the recovery front, though can be a balancing act at times having the reactivity low enough to achieve good depth, whilst still gaining good target separation in trashy ground. You had the sensitivity set pretty high, so no surprise there was a bit of emi coming through in the clip. I haven't gone over 90 in the field so far - tends to get a bit noisy otherwise, though also depends on the level of ground mineralisation or emi present.

Also gave a go running the silencer a bit lower, it should help the response to small coins like the 3p, especially at depth. Probably no real need to run higher than 0 or 1, unless you have a lot of iron in the ground causing chatter. Have a go anyway and see what you think, could add it into the next clip trying various silencer settings on a buried 3p - will it still be heard at higher settings, or will it be "discriminated" out.

You could simulate a buried coin spill of mixed copper/silver pre-decimals to see how the Deus reacts to them, will it be able to separate them or not on the higher reactivity setting - probably a silly idea, but what the heck.

Also bury some coins flat and on edge to see how the Deus responds separation and depth wise, or bury a deep silver coin and some densely spaced though shallow common junk targets as more realistic real world scenario - might need a bigger dirt box for that one. The current tripod set up with the control box screen on the left of screen is nice and clear, a lot better than others I've watched.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Hi Goldpick,

had the silencer off last night since I was running at reactivity at 3 (I think it automatically does that anyway).
When I get a chance I'll see if I can use a different setup that doesnt have steel tripod legs so close to the box and do some more testing.

Anyway last night went out to a favourite spot that I've worked quite a bit. Happy with the results, I'm getting used to the Deus.
Another harmonica!

A lot of British pennies & half pennies, I like that two of them have been modified for jewellery.
I will give them a soak in olive oil and hopefully more of the crap will come off.

Second rising sun from this site.

 

[rocketaroo]

some of you guys get onto the best sites, awesome finds

 

[Robert Le Mal]

thanks man - but so far ... only one florin from this place 8.(

 

[rocketaroo]

rising sun is worth 5 florins to me, so much harder to find (for me it seems)

 

[silver]

The cut out penny would have been a nice surprise when it surfaced,...certainly stands out from the rest(lots).

 

[Narrawa]

Settings
12khz
Discrimination 15
Sensitivity 96
Iron volume 3
Reactivity 2 (then increased to 3 to aid separation)
Audio response 3
Silencer 2
4 tones (modified to enhance targets over 80)

Try this out for better recovery and IDing of targets in close proximity to each other.
18khz will have a better resolution than anything below it....better for unmasking in trashy spots. At a guess, the coils on the Dues would be better tuned for the 12khz frequency, however the higher freq would still have better resolution even with a slightly de-tuned coil im guessing.?

Disc 5
Iron volume just below disc volume...or = too....you want to hear the iron, not disc it out....discrimination is your worst enemy.
Keep sensitivity to a level thats not to chattery for obvious reasons, but mostly so that larger targets dont over modulate smaller deeper ones on the brink of discovery. (not sure of the Dues's ability to modulate or not.?) Also keep an eye on speedy IDs flickering, thats telling you of the other target in close proximity.

The idea is to NOT disc out everything, the game changes when your able to hear both targets above below one another....side by side is an easy task for most makes and models. Too much disc and the lower target be is smaller than the one on top is gonski.....let it through by keeping the disc in check. Drop back on some of the processing the detector has to achieve in order to report as accurately as possible. No need for multiple tomes...after all, there is only none ferrous and ferrous.

Some of the other settings on the Dues may be set to allow more iron through, id be messing with them in order to see/hear it and touch up its ability to process a tad faster with a slightly slower swing speed added.

Be interested to see more testing done.....mostly to save me the agony of having to buy one just to scratch an itch and not finding it any better than that im already using. :/

Top video, looking forward to your next.

 

[Goldpick]

Fabulous spot Robert, a florin would be nice, though the brittanias and rising sun well and truly made up for that. The cut out penny is also pretty cool.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Hi Narrawa,

ok will knock discrimination down to 5 next time. Might try 18khz because (as you say) it's supposed to make smaller targets easier to identify. I went with 12khz because it seems like a good compromise to start with and I suspect (someone can correct me) that the shorter the wave the shallower the penetration. Anyone know about that stuff?

Definitely want to try some more stuff with the dirt box but need a bigger box so I'm not smacking the coil against the edges - and figure out how to move the tripod away from the dirt.

Robert

 

[Robert Le Mal]

thanks Goldpick - I want to head out tonight to the spot where I found the 1862 half penny, but the weather here in Melbourne is rubbish, bucketing down. I don't mind the wind but getting soaked when I'm not diving isn't a fun hobby.