Hunts with the V3i

[MackDog]

So the last couple of days I've been going to some extremely hunted parks, mainly because my favorite parks are loaded with homeless and drugged out people sleeping everywhere. I've been trying to change my settings to improve my finds but keep going back to what I started with. Some people ask does the V3i go deep and is it sensitive? Here's my answer from the last 3 days of hunting. First off is a 1936 S Merc from 7" was a solid VDI and tone. Next is a carrousel token (not from 1909 but recent) it was also a solid tone and VDI. The cuff link is from turn of the century or Victorian area and gave a solid tone and the VDI was steady even at 9". The button turns out to be a fashion button and it was also a solid tone and VDI from 7". The gold plated earring from 7" inches was a good signal and the VDI jumped little but I would usually dig this signal. Got an 1901 V and 1937 nickels from good depths and new right away that they were nickels before I dug them. The railway token is from 1920 to 1926 came in at solid steady VDI and good nickel tone. The silver ring is 926 and has a small diamond chip in it, it had a good silver tone showed green freq but had a 62 VDI but I dug it because of the freq and tone. Silver heart was also a good sweet tone and the VDI was about 72 and it was in the green freq. Lastly the white metal cross was a good signal from the nickel range and sounded good for a nickel but showed a deeper depth. My point is all these are shown on approx 1" pieces of paper so you can estimate the size and the V3i found all of them with solid hits (good tones, good VDI's and good target freq"s). So when I hear I can't find anything more than 4" with my V I'm thinking you need to get out there and learn your machine. My main settings are 7 RX, 72 AM and 85 Disc. I always run mixed mode stereo even in high trash. It's like a machine gun and you wait for that high tone and dull thud for a nickel. I use the U13 coil all the time. Thanks for looking and happy hunting

MackDOg

 

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[Sleepy]

Knowing your machine like the back of your hand makes all the difference in the world. I have a DFX and an XLT. The preset programs are nice but learning how it all works and experimenting with your own custom programs designed for the soil conditions for the area you're hunting makes a huge difference and will give you depth that the preset programs can't touch. Good job!

 

[trapperart]

Congrats

 

[victhedog]

The V3I is a great detector
great finds

 

[Professor of Engineering]

The V3i in the hands of an experienced user is deadly! The key is to learn how each adjustment affects each other and when to change a setting. That is the real fun of the machine. Sadly, most people sell it before they learn the beauty of the machine.

 

[MackDog]

The V3i in the hands of an experienced user is deadly! The key is to learn how each adjustment affects each other and when to change a setting. That is the real fun of the machine. Sadly, most people sell it before they learn the beauty of the machine.

Got mine off EBay for almost half price, it was still a V3. White's upgraded it to a V3i, fixed a couple of loose tapes, updated and upgrade the WHP for free. The detector wasn't used more than a couple of hours then became a closet queen. Some days I have my doubts with it, but then it hits some real deep targets. Guess it's true you have to be over a target for it to see it.
Anyway enjoy and happy hunting

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello MackDog,

We have very similar stories about the V3i. I was able to purchase a new (2-3 hours) V3i for $ 485 dollars. The owner said it was to hard to learn and he couldn't find anything. I offered to show him how to operate the machine and teach him a few detecting techniques, but he said "just get it outta here", so I did!

I also use the RnB 3100 battery pack; a great improvement over the standard rechargeable pack (time) and Alkaline batteries (time and cost). If you hunt as long as I do, 10 hours plus, is no problem. In fact, you can go just shy of 28.4 hours depending on your setup.

Regards,

Doc

 

[tomhighland]

Very nice finds. Better job of knowing your machine. I've run into several people that just can't get that. Your post would probably make a good sticky for any machine. One guy just couldn't slow down, even after I showed him that he was missing more than half of the ground he covered. Thank you for sharing.

 

[Deft Tones]

I'm glad to see another V3i post.There are not enough of them Good hunting there.

It's an outstanding machine when it's learned. Without a coach, it takes many, many hours in the field paying attention and digging thousands of targets.

Today I hunted a park with the 12x15 SEF, was sweeping quickly for two hours trying to cherry pick for jewelry. V3i hit a signal that bounced 5" 70's to 3" 40's. Got a brief high tone blended down to mid-tone. Opposite tones sweeping the opposite direction. Spectragraph lined up tight followed by smearing/smearing to tight. Quick polar plot check from the high tone first direction indicates a coin, and I'm thinking colocated penny/trash, or hopefully a pendant and chain. Cut a plug and recovered a dime near the bottom of the plug and nothing else pinpointing in the plug bottom or the hole. Shrug, replace plug, stand, sweep....another target in the plug. Aluminum can slaw wad at 2- 2.5" 1/2 the size of a penny and no more than one inch off the side of the deeper dime's location. And all done in 6 to 7 sweeps. Just outstanding!

I find more bouncy (16-22vdi) on edge nickels with the V3i... it's mindblowing.

It's overall the best detector I own. I'm keeping mine for life. In fact, I'm considering dumping the other two towards a CTX just to upgrade my back-ups. It's becoming apparent to me that those other two machines combined are half as good as the V3i in my hands.

Anyway, keep the Spectra posts coming and good luck!

 

[MackDog]

Glad there are some happy V3 I users. All I hear are complaints. My back up is the At Pro and I love that one too

 

[Deft Tones]

Glad there are some happy V3 I users. All I hear are complaints. My back up is the At Pro and I love that one too

I see lots of complaints too.

I had a suggested you tube vid I watched on the V3i last week.It was a park hunt, and watching without audio, just spectragrapg and pinpointing I was calling most of his shots trash or coin denomination accurately. My wife comes downstairs and says, "Who are you talking to"? I tell her and she says, "Just get out of here and go be annoying at the park"!

I think she's jealous I communicate with my machine better than I do with her.

 

[sutphin]

NICE FINDS MACK DOG .

 

[Professor of Engineering]

MackDog,

I believe the complaints are from the user not spending the needed time to learn the machine. The V3i has a long learning curve due to the shear number of operator available settings. As you know, many are deeply connected to each other and maximized operation is determined by the proper combination. This very fact, is the reason the machine is so powerful in the hand of a skilled operator.

IMHO:
This is a hobby that requires effort to be successful and learning your machine to its fullest potential is just one of the components. Sadly, many people give up on a machine (any) when they are actually very close to success. I love buying many different metal detectors and play around with all the settings in my test bed. The "bed" is where I really learn how everything works; just part of the fun of the hobby.

Doc

GL & HH

 

[Diggitdaddy]

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So the last couple of days I've been going to some extremely hunted parks, mainly because my favorite parks are loaded with homeless and drugged out people sleeping everywhere. I've been trying to change my settings to improve my finds but keep going back to what I started with. Some people ask does the V3i go deep and is it sensitive? Here's my answer from the last 3 days of hunting. First off is a 1936 S Merc from 7" was a solid VDI and tone. Next is a carrousel token (not from 1909 but recent) it was also a solid tone and VDI. The cuff link is from turn of the century or Victorian area and gave a solid tone and the VDI was steady even at 9". The button turns out to be a fashion button and it was also a solid tone and VDI from 7". The gold plated earring from 7" inches was a good signal and the VDI jumped little but I would usually dig this signal. Got an 1901 V and 1937 nickels from good depths and new right away that they were nickels before I dug them. The railway token is from 1920 to 1926 came in at solid steady VDI and good nickel tone. The silver ring is 926 and has a small diamond chip in it, it had a good silver tone showed green freq but had a 62 VDI but I dug it because of the freq and tone. Silver heart was also a good sweet tone and the VDI was about 72 and it was in the green freq. Lastly the white metal cross was a good signal from the nickel range and sounded good for a nickel but showed a deeper depth. My point is all these are shown on approx 1" pieces of paper so you can estimate the size and the V3i found all of them with solid hits (good tones, good VDI's and good target freq"s). So when I hear I can't find anything more than 4" with my V I'm thinking you need to get out there and learn your machine. My main settings are 7 RX, 72 AM and 85 Disc. I always run mixed mode stereo even in high trash. It's like a machine gun and you wait for that high tone and dull thud for a nickel. I use the U13 coil all the time. Thanks for looking and happy hunting

MackDOg

Great informative post. I use the White V3i for about the last 2 years. Its super machine, I usually run relic mode because I think it goes deeper than coin and jewelry. 10.0 or 7.5 on the filter, around 80 Disc. What mode do you usually run in when going after coins and jewelry ? Nebraska is home , there are still great sites around here and lots of history.

 

[Digger RJ]

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So the last couple of days I've been going to some extremely hunted parks, mainly because my favorite parks are loaded with homeless and drugged out people sleeping everywhere. I've been trying to change my settings to improve my finds but keep going back to what I started with. Some people ask does the V3i go deep and is it sensitive? Here's my answer from the last 3 days of hunting. First off is a 1936 S Merc from 7" was a solid VDI and tone. Next is a carrousel token (not from 1909 but recent) it was also a solid tone and VDI. The cuff link is from turn of the century or Victorian area and gave a solid tone and the VDI was steady even at 9". The button turns out to be a fashion button and it was also a solid tone and VDI from 7". The gold plated earring from 7" inches was a good signal and the VDI jumped little but I would usually dig this signal. Got an 1901 V and 1937 nickels from good depths and new right away that they were nickels before I dug them. The railway token is from 1920 to 1926 came in at solid steady VDI and good nickel tone. The silver ring is 926 and has a small diamond chip in it, it had a good silver tone showed green freq but had a 62 VDI but I dug it because of the freq and tone. Silver heart was also a good sweet tone and the VDI was about 72 and it was in the green freq. Lastly the white metal cross was a good signal from the nickel range and sounded good for a nickel but showed a deeper depth. My point is all these are shown on approx 1" pieces of paper so you can estimate the size and the V3i found all of them with solid hits (good tones, good VDI's and good target freq"s). So when I hear I can't find anything more than 4" with my V I'm thinking you need to get out there and learn your machine. My main settings are 7 RX, 72 AM and 85 Disc. I always run mixed mode stereo even in high trash. It's like a machine gun and you wait for that high tone and dull thud for a nickel. I use the U13 coil all the time. Thanks for looking and happy hunting

MackDOg

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!