Any advice for a newbie on these?

[renderit]

I should be receiving my main unit today with remote and 11" coil. I have no knowledge about this stuff at all. I got the 11" because it was bigger and presumably more powerful? I got the WS4 headphones but a set of Grey Ghosts that will work with it as well. The aqua kit, hard case, extra hardware for head, headphone adaptor, wrist band for WS4, book by Andy Sabish, Emergency Charger, spare coil clip, and Makro pointer as well as a few digging tools. Hope that's about all I need other than a bunch of help getting started with all this kit. I got several options on headphones because I use hearing aids and have some pretty unique problems in that area with cookie bite hearing.

My wife and I have always wondered about what's underneath us, particularly when we go camping up through the mountains. I guess now we can look. I think we are more interested in history and will be happy with horse shoe nails and such. First task will be de-nailing the back yard actually. When they replaced the roof they were messy.

So what's the quickest way to become an expert? Can somebody explain the pros and cons of various coil sizes? I understand there may be a 6x9 coming out? What is the point of that?

 

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[HuntinDog]

No Quick way to become an expert...
Start out slow with the pre-set programs.
Basic 1 is an easy one to start, it is nice and quiet operating.
I started hunting Tot-Lots, you know the sawdust around the swings and jungle jims to learn what the Deus was saying.
The Deus is more of a tone machine with all the other info to help instead of the other way around.
As you get better with the sounds and controls try Deus Fast and then when better... adjusting the different settings.
READ the manual and Andy's book front to back and again.
This site has a lot of well explained info.. XP Deus Program Settings, Features and Modes
Watch these Videos he has ten of them and is very informative....
Good luck out there and have fun...

 

[renderit]

Yeah, those videos are a good percentage on why I went with the unit. I thought they looked like the unit was set up in a good fashion with a good interface. And I wanted to talk like that guy...

 

[Tedyoh]

Don't use 18 kHz in trashy areas, you will dig a ton of big iron and tiny aluminum.

Bigger coil is better in "cleaner" areas, like when you go camping up in the mountains, I'm guessing this is a remote area. Also get a tad more depth and can cover more square inches per sweep.
Smaller coil is better when separating the goodies from the junk (when they are close together). The 6 x 9 (elliptical in shape) is smaller than the 9" so it will in theory do a better job separating, I also hear it may be able to run multiple frequencies at one time, many benefits if it can do that, hoping it will kill the bad EMI issues the Dues has.

 

[renderit]

I was wondering if that was the reason for smaller coils! I have not had enough time to do all the homework I usually expend, but that was my guess. And the sacrifice is the depth? And would the 6x9 be as deep reaching as the 9 round?

 

[Tedyoh]

My guess is yes, all depends on your settings - there MAY be a .5 to .75 inch gain in depth with the 11" compared to the 9".

 

[renderit]

And does (generally) making it smaller in one dimension really not hurt the depth?

 

[HuntinDog]

A 6 X 9 coil in most cases will have a 9" sweep coverage and a 6" depth.
XP Deus coils have (for me) had better depth.
Elliptical coils (6X9) have a sort of half of a football shape that is a very narrow wiper shape.
Where the conical coils have a cone shape going down to a point.
It is my understanding that all of the Deus coils are elliptical.
The 6X9 is a smaller coil and will get into tighter places and should have superior separation.
It's a wait and see on the depth of the 6X9.
Xp has said that it will have new operating system in version 4.0 and will be able to run in more than one freq.

 

[corpsman]

my advice would be to not over-think it. like someone said above, start out in the basic 1 and see how that works for you. once you get a feel for it, you can tweak a few settings to meet your needs. there are some really good videos on youtube that helped me a lot. the main one that helped me was called something like... XP Deus Beginner's guide. it was a British guy, and he does a really good job of explaining how to operate the deus and make changes to the settings. it's a really great machine, but I think most people over-complicate it.

 

[renderit]

Yeah, I have been watching that vid and reading the pdf manual for a few days now while waiting for the machine. I read in another spot that in clean ground (which we probably have a lot of out here in the West) the larger coil helps you cover more ground. I don't have a clue about mineralization though so all my thinking at this point is a crap shoot. I suppose the saving grace is the smaller coils cost less for the Deus so I can pick up one cheaper than buying my 11" later.

 

[CMan1]

Read watch videos swing and dig. First day out on beach wet sand awsome unit. Adjust your settings to learn and try your own programs. Great unit will buy another unit soon.

 

[corpsman]

yeah, if you're not in a trashy area, the larger coil will help you cover more ground, and will go a little deeper. it just doesn't pinpoint quite as well.