Thinking about trading the DFX for a ExpII....any opinions?

[WheatbackDigger]

I have been detecting a little over a year. As much as I love my DFX, I've been thinking about trading it for an Explorer II. I have found tons of stuff, including over 50 silver coins, two large cents, one half cent and six indians. Seems like around here, the "good" stuff is 6+ inches deep. My Merc and Barber dimes have been dug in the 6 to 7 inch range, while the indians are 7 to 9 inches deep. At these depths, my DFX see's a faint whisper. I am thinking I need just a tad more depth out of a machine and the DFX is just not getting it for me.

My concerns, besides depth, is the weight and balance issues. The DFX is well balanced and light enough, that I can swing it all day long. #2 concern is the learning curve. I had no problems learning with the DFX. From the factory presets up to my individual programs. Really hasn't been much of a problem.

Is there any decent intructional books out for the Explorer II? I bought the book "Diging Deeper with the DFX" and it had a ton of information in it.

Last question for now, WOT coils...what are they and were does one get one? I am assuming it's a larger coil than the stock. Is it worth getting and how heavy is this?

Any input would be greately appreciated
Doug

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[Rusted_Iron]

One more thing then I'm off to sleep... I checked out Charles' website and he has a great section on pinpointing with the stock Explorer coil, go to
http://www.detectorgear.com/pagetip1.htm
and scroll down to the bottom. He explains it quite nicely.

HH,
Chris

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

I wanted to get the Sunray but was too impatient to send my machine out to Minelab to get the probe installed. I have a Treasure Mate on the way, which should be cool because I can use it with my other detectors too. Oh well, no tone ID.

Buy an extra upper shaft from Sunray and have them attach the probe to that, the cost is minimal and this way you can continue to hunt until the probe is delivered. Also you can remove the probe for beach/lake hunting.

I second what others are saying. I consider the X1 probe manadatory equipment like headphones. Buy one before you buy anything else. DON'T do a me and stubornly refuse to buy a probe, you WILL recover more good targets per hour with the probe and you WILL take a chance on an iffy signal more often (and be rewarded) knowing you can dig a quick plug, check with the probe, and move on quickly verses spending 15 minutes chasing some nail or trash target off to the side of the hole. You will also avoid slicing the deep sivler coins up with your digger and giving up on deep targets that go silent after you dig a plug. I once dug a 1887 IH, went in with the probe and thought I heard a whisper of something else. Swept the hole with the big coil, nothing. Almost filled the hole in and moved on but that X1 was talking to me. I dug another 4 inches deeper and bang out popped another 1887 IH and a XF-AU 1886 seated dime!

Charles

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Either way, I just feel I can't rely too much on pinpointing with the stock coil.

Today I can pinpoint with the stock coil blindfolded but the first few months I wanted to fling the stock coil frizzbie style into the woods due to pinpointing frustration. The best advice I can give really is that once you think you got a target pinpointed, then check a 20 inch circle around the target for other nearby targets, especially near surface targets that can be picked up off the edge of the Explorer coil from several inches away. At times you will find what appeared to be a deeper coin is really a shallow coin off to the side. OR there is a deeper coin but its being masked slightly by a nearby shallow coin or trash target.

Don't be afraid to raise your coil several inches off the ground when pinpointing. Its a way to confirm a deep target is deep as the signal will vanish with the coil raised just a couple inches. Its also helpful on near surface targets which can pollute a 15 inch diameter area of ground and are damn near impossible to pinpoint with the coil right on top of them. Be advised, while the center of the DD coil is the hot zone DD coils can and will pick up near surface targets on the left and right edges of the coils. You can get a good 2 inches of depth there. Hence the reason to scan the surounding area and know where things are in relation to your target of interest before you dig.

Also, if you think you hear coin but there is a shallow trash target polluting the area dig that trash out of the way first. I'm finding a LOT of deep coins this way. Why dig the trash? Because the trash target can pull your pinpoint off center leading to slicing up a nice deep coin.

Pinpoint mode...I find pinpoint mode useless for hunting deep targets. You lose depth in pinpoint mode often to the point the signal vanishes. On the other hand a neat trick is to use pinpoint mode with the X1 probe at times. The X1 is a hot probe, easily gets 3 inches. The problem can be when your coin is stuck in the side of the hole or right in the bottom and the probe is picking the coin up so strong you can't pinpoint with it. Switch to pinpoint mode, it detunes the probe and presto you can zoom right in on the coin.

Charles

 

[WheatbackDigger]

Sounds like pinpointing is a pain with the EXPII stock coil. With the DFX, I just pinpoint and its there. The deeper the target, the easier it is to pinpoint. I am not going to let this discourage me though

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Charles, thanks for the great info. I have also envisioned that stock coil as a frisbee at times

Illinoisdoug, if you hang onto your DFX you could always double check your signals with it. If something registers on the ML but not the DFX you know it's deeper than, say, 7 to 9 inches.

I have a 5.5" Sunray coil on the way for my ML and figure it should help me out in a couple sites where I otherwise can't use this detector because I can't separate the targets. Once I pinpoint & dig the shallow trash of the way, I can come back with the stock coil. I know there has to be coins there, because no other detectorist would go near that high trash area.

I may eventually get the X1 probe, now that I know I can get it attached to a spare upper rod without sending the machine out

 

[Visionquest]

I ordered my probe that way and it was definately painless. No lost time at all, Just switch upper shafts when it comes in and you are set for much easier hunting. The pinpointing thing is only a pain till you get the hang of it. Don't let that discourage you from buying the machine. Once you get the hang of it, it is second nature and you start getting very accurate with it. I don't miss the center very often any more. I use a 4" X 15" plug cutter and the target most always ends up in the center of the plug. The WOT is definately worthwhile also. Much deeper capability and it isn't any heavier than the 10.5. I pretty much use it and the 8" only nowdays.

Of course I just repeated some of what was already said, just more confirmation to help with your decision I hope.

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Sounds like pinpointing is a pain with the EXPII stock coil. With the DFX, I just pinpoint and its there. The deeper the target, the easier it is to pinpoint. I am not going to let this discourage me though

There used to be a bunch of DFX machines in my area, most of the time they couldn't even get a signal on deep targets I was finding let alone pinpoint them so thats the catch 22. I'm not bashing the machine it has many great features but for hunting the deep targets the Explorers go deeper in our area.

Charles

 

[midas777gold]

With the minelabs, there's no target id meter or depth reading, Right? I tried a friends Excalibur and it has to be swept slooowww. With the DFX, sweeping fast or slow is the same. The DFX can cover a lot more ground in a shorter time. and it pinpoints dead on. With the Excalibur even in pinpoint mode, it seemed to be off the mark quite a bit.

 

[bazinga]

With the minelabs, there's no target id meter or depth reading, Right? I tried a friends Excalibur and it has to be swept slooowww. With the DFX, sweeping fast or slow is the same. The DFX can cover a lot more ground in a shorter time. and it pinpoints dead on. With the Excalibur even in pinpoint mode, it seemed to be off the mark quite a bit.

The excalibur is a water machine and has no target id meter because of this. We are speaking about the Explorer, and yes it does have a target id screen and depth meter.

With the 15" WOT coil on the explorer you can cover ground just as fast as any DFX user. But the difference is that with the explorer we often hear more iffy signals and generally will take the time to stop and investigate these signals, whereas the free swinging DFX user will run right past them.

 

[WheatbackDigger]

I generally don't cover much area...I move extremely slow when detecting...I am sure when I get the funds together I'll by the Explorer. I will keep the DFX for awhile....Just in case...Thanks for the information

 

[bazinga]

I generally don't cover much area...I move extremely slow when detecting...I am sure when I get the funds together I'll by the Explorer. I will keep the DFX for awhile....Just in case...Thanks for the information

No problem at all... just remember not to swing too slowly with the explorer or you will actually lose depth this way. Make a test garden and find the optimum swing speed to find the deepest coins.

Good luck with your purchase!

 

[Rusted_Iron]

I move extremely slow when detecting...I am sure when I get the funds together I'll by the Explorer.

I find the best swing speed with the Expl. to be medium-slow. Not as fast as a White's, not as slow as a Tesoro. You will learn what the best speed is after a couple days out, because you'll find at a certain speed too much either way you'll start missing targets.

If you're on a tight budget, you might consider finding a used Explorer XS on Ebay rather than going for the Explorer II. It's about half the price with basically the same performance, though maybe a little slower tone recovery. I have the XS and love it, despite tonight's complete lack of good finds (I think it's the site, not the machine).