Spectra v3i

[Juice in the hole]

I finally started experimenting with Loctrac and it was like the clouds parted!

lol, I had that moment too. It really does seem to perform better with Loc-Trac. At least in my soil and conditions.

 

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[Juice in the hole]

I run mine mostly in autotrack but find myself checking and re balancing every 15-20 minutes.

See, many people say that and I don't get it. The expert's advice on the Spectra series is to "Run your machine in Auto, but make sure you GB before you start and every 20 minutes or whenever you start swinging over a noticeably different soil type." If you're going to that much trouble, why not just lock the GB down, continue a similar GB schedule and not have to worry whether auto is working properly or not? <Shrugs shoulders> It just seems easier to me.

 

[sproatz]

Yes it works better that way. But still thinking it's struggling in trashy soil. I will not pick up a dime six inches in trashy ground. I think it has trouble with target separation. Reading only discriminated targets in first couple of inches and not what under that. Hard to explain.

 

[RobRieman]

I'm just now starting to use the locktrac more often. Before using the autotrac the best I got in depth was a quarter at almost 10". For coins and jewelry I love the V3i. I'm not convinced the prospecting mode is that great. However, with air testing using a 4x6 coil it is close to the GB2 (on bigger stuff).

You do realize that all the preset modes are just named presets that have tweaks done on the settings? You need to learn what each setting does for you in your particular hunting conditions and soil and change the settings to fit your area. Besides them changing what the screen looks like you would be surprised by how little some of the settings change between the canned programs.

 

[TrinityBigfoot]

I do understand. Prospecting mode is basically all metal. You could tweak the program a little, but I'm still working off the all metal channel. Like I said its a great coin and jewelry detector, but not a awesome gold prospecting detector.

 

[McKinney_5900]

See, many people say that and I don't get it. The expert's advice on the Spectra series is to "Run your machine in Auto, but make sure you GB before you start and every 20 minutes or whenever you start swinging over a noticeably different soil type." If you're going to that much trouble, why not just lock the GB down, continue a similar GB schedule and not have to worry whether auto is working properly or not? <Shrugs shoulders> It just seems easier to me.

That's easier for me too.

 

[TrinityBigfoot]

I just ran a non scientific air test v3i vs. Gb2 on an 1 gram nugget. I varied the settings on the V3i and the best air test I could get was about the same as the GB2. I turned on tx boost, and increased the All Metal. The V3i had the 10" dd coil vs the Gb2 10" coil. When I have been in the field the ground noise makes it difficult to run the max settings on the V3i. I think next time I'm out I will try a few more settings. If I can get close in depth on the V3i as the GB2, the GB2 is going into the GPZ 7000 fund....

 

[RobRieman]

I do understand. Prospecting mode is basically all metal. You could tweak the program a little, but I'm still working off the all metal channel. Like I said its a great coin and jewelry detector, but not a awesome gold prospecting detector.

I agree. I thought you meant the program wasn't that great, not the detector.