I Give Up

Oh man don't tell me that I'm about to buy one!


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Darktower007 said:

Oh man don't tell me that I'm about to buy one!


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steer clear....

Never had one but did some research awhile back. Have heard of some good finds made with them but also heard the learning curve was one of the hardest to master with this machine.

Yep I'm gonna get one but I like learning new machines


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Well, Poindexter, You like wasting your time learning and mastering difficult things? OK...Theres an Inuit village someplace where you can go to work this Summer as a translator, or else you can take up Cross stitch and do a nice sampler to enter into the County fair I suppose, or, you can build yourself a Walrus skin Baidarka in your living room this winter, or inscribe the Bible on a grain of rice with a porcupine quill! Plenty of things like this to attempt!

When it comes to finding metal, default to 'infield results' when looking at procuring a rig...you gotta go with results...Nobody will ever top AquaChiggers 1700 era Silver dollar finds with his first issue AtPro....Legendary video we all have seen a dozen times......

Or even the noobie freshwater beachbabies massive gold finds...or the clad stabbers heap 'O coins per season...Inland gold/Jewelry hunters in field undisputable performance....

Some tools just work better than others for no apparent reason?...this is why its imperative to pay attention to posts and results when making a decision on purchasing terminal tackle preference......Time and Treasures waits for Nobody....You dont see much coming out of the V3i swingers, not even massive clad! Although I'm sure its a good rig in the right hands,...if somebody like that ever comes along, I'm all Thumbs Up!...

I doubt the thing is even a decent totter, dialed the hell down,....I've Just not seen any great trophies posted out of the V3i rig runners?...Maybe they are all busy doing cross stitch or building a Baidarka? Some folks just like to torture themselves I guess, and enjoy attempting the mystery of certain unpossible unmasterable skills for the challenges sake?.....If thats your thing, the V3i is the Perfect machine! Go for it! Nothing wrong with that!

I do have a huge riff of frames and thread and cross stitch needles I will sell you on the cheaply...Plus, I gotta baidarka sitting here in the living room I'll let go at todays Walrus skin Sq/ft cost! Lets make a package deal! You want that grain of Bible rice too? Lets talk!... ...

If you are looking for a challenge, a metal detecting rig you can attempt to master like NOBODY else ever has done, enjoy torturing yourself with no expected in field results, save yourself a few dollars and order up a Cobra Beach Magnet direct from Kellyco!!

Hell, whip out that CC and call today and it will be on your doorstep by Friday! Get a scoop too while you are at it...You wont be needing it, but it looks good, has a resale value and adds to the overall experience of 'not finding nothing' that you are apparently enamored with ......

Actually, its a good strategy!...Lowered expectations! Just having an excuse for getting out of the house and going for a walk of a morning!...Without all the fuss of dirty target retrieval or Wifely explanations!..Yeah! V3I! Or a Beach Magnet is the perfect rig!!

Don't know much about the whites but I can tell you the ATP is a great machine. The only reason I sold mine is I'm in salt water and the ATP was not mad to use in heavy salt surf. IMO the ATP is a tried and proven beast.

There is a reason why the AT Pro and the AT Gold are number 1 selling machines. Sales speak for mounds for Garrett's machines and service

I will never sell my V3i... As far as Im concerned it is the best detector out there. The reason it has a learning curve is because its like having an Intel Core I7 processor running Windows 10 while others are running a Pentium Pro and Windows 3.11 (sorry I was a computer geek)

It is so customizable some people just give up on it. It can adjust to ANY type of ground even salt water (I have had it at the beach back in Cali and it did fine in the shallow surf) EMI is not a problem if you know how to adjust it.

I have hit targets at over 14" but had to stop digging that far down because my body hurts too much to do that (maybe I need a shovel?)

I love the wifes new AT Pro but when hunting on land, I go with the V3i

CaliPullTab said:

I will never sell my V3i... As far as Im concerned it is the best detector out there. The reason it has a learning curve is because its like having an Intel Core I7 processor running Windows 10 while others are running a Pentium Pro and Windows 3.11 (sorry I was a computer geek)

It is so customizable some people just give up on it. It can adjust to ANY type of ground even salt water (I have had it at the beach back in Cali and it did fine in the shallow surf) EMI is not a problem if you know how to adjust it.

I have hit targets at over 14" but had to stop digging that far down because my body hurts too much to do that (maybe I need a shovel?)

I love the wifes new AT Pro but when hunting on land, I go with the V3i

Click to expand...

OK..Once again no pictures or detailed write up about the amazing V3i...prosecution rests...

Darktower007 said:

Yep I'm gonna get one but I like learning new machines


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Hey 007 give me a yell when you figger out how to use it..

I have owned a V3i since 2010. I seemed to always come in last in group hunts. The stock D2 coil is a weak link, and the 6x10 Eclipse never did well in my soil. The eclipse did fine on the M6 though.

I bought an 8x6 SEF and had wonderful improvement,,,my best silver days for a week+. The FBS Minelabs seemed to still hold top rung in digs though. The Whites MXT ALL PRO and M6 machines actually get great results compared to the V3i also.

So, I bought into a MLab SE Pro last year. I had/have a veteran SE user show me the ropes, and it's been a game changer!

I'll keep the V3i. With signals 6-8 inches or less, it saves lots of digging bad stuff via the analyis features. Beyond that depth, you're gonna dig lots of iffy signals and find nails.

What I believe that happens with the V3i is that it's ground balance ain't that good, and the thing gets screwy with just one or two too many adjustments. Many-a times I've been very pleased after a factory reset. How long had I spent hunting with a confused machine before doing that???, nobody knows.

I can personally trust my M6 better, and friends with MXT Pro machines beat out the V3i at the end of most group hunts.

Oh well, I'm using the Minelabs until I have a special need for the features of the V3i. Finding someone's lost gold rings is a great example. The V can really line up on gold rings if you know the general VDI range.

I don't blame anyone for giving up after time.

Mud-puppy said:

OK..Once again no pictures or detailed write up about the amazing V3i...prosecution rests...

Click to expand...

It is no secret that the enormous flexibility of the 3Vi is its own undoing. IF you don't understand how dial "a" affects switch "b", you are in for a long day. I think my one gripe with the V3i is that the ground balance seems to slip quite a bit, and if you don't stay on top of it, things get squirrely. A lot of places I hunt, I have to use autotrack on my ground balance because the ground can be -95 in one place, and 5 feet later it can be -88. I hate having to continuously re-balance. It seems more pronounced when using single frequency (2.5khz in particular).

I will be the first to say that I am not a silver magnet. But, I don't blame the V3i. I am just bad at what I do. I have no patience and the attention span of a gnat. The longer I go in a hunt without finding something interesting, the more frustrated I get, and it spirals out of control to the point I can't focus on doing what I am supposed to be doing. I end up swinging too fast, cherry picking on "perfect signals", digging targets I know I shouldn't be digging just so I can dig something, etc, etc.

On the plus side of the rig, there is no machine that can provide you with more information about the stuff under coil. As a test on a night when I was having a tough go of it, I followed Cellrdwellr around and scanned his deep targets to see if I could see what he was seeing. Out of the four I scanned, I definitely would not have dug three of them based on what my display told me. One was iffy and I probably would have dug it out of curiosity. Of the three deep targets I would not have dug were all in fact trash. The Iffy one was trash too, but, it was iffy and deep so it was worth the time. I have no problem digging iffy deep signals. Really deep silver is going to sound iffy anyway. With the V3i, I don't dig a lot of iron. If I do, it is usually a deep, bent, rusty nail that sounds real good in all directions. I sometimes dig the straight rusty nails as a sanity check to make sure the discriminator of last resorts (that underpowered piece of circuitry between my ears) is exercising proper judgement.

I don't find a lot of silver (by the standards of many here - I think I hit 30 last year). I think much of it has to do with bad judgement over which patch of ground to put my coil over and my other patience related failings. But, the silvers I do find tend to be deep, under roots, and with other bits of iron and/or other conductive metals in the hole with it. Of my meager five silvers for the year, they came in at 6", 8", 9", 6.5", and 10.5". The 8" merc and 8" barber both had nails in the holes with them. The barber had three nails. All of my IH's have come 7"+ as well. The machine can certainly get the depth.

The road to V3i mastery is long and wrought with frustration at times. Too many knobs, buttons, dials, and switches can be just much as a hindrance as they can be beneficial.

The biggest mistakes people make with the V3i are:
1) Running settings too hot for the patch of ground they are hunting.
2) Using the wrong ground filter for the patch of ground they are hunting.
3) Swinging too fast for the set recovery delay
4) Too much discrimination (not DISC setting), too much bottlecap rejection, or too much modulation
5) Not experimenting enough - especially with base threshold and bar thickness
6) Not keeping on top of ground balance settings.
7) Looking for "perfect" signals. (I am so guilty of this one)
8) Not using correlation or consistency when the situation requires it - and when using correlation, it is set too tight.

It took me long enough, but, I am starting to understand the language the machine is speaking and I am finding things deeper in places I have been over before. The V3i is definitely not the machine for you if you just want to turn it on swing the coil, not give a second thought to settings and hope the machine is taking care of the host of factors that can make or break your hunt.

Martin_V3i said:

I have owned a V3i since 2010. I seemed to always come in last in group hunts. The stock D2 coil is a weak link, and the 6x10 Eclipse never did well in my soil. The eclipse did fine on the M6 though.

I bought an 8x6 SEF and had wonderful improvement,,,my best silver days for a week+. The FBS Minelabs seemed to still hold top rung in digs though. The Whites MXT ALL PRO and M6 machines actually get great results compared to the V3i also.

So, I bought into a MLab SE Pro last year. I had/have a veteran SE user show me the ropes, and it's been a game changer!

I'll keep the V3i. With signals 6-8 inches or less, it saves lots of digging bad stuff via the analyis features. Beyond that depth, you're gonna dig lots of iffy signals and find nails.

What I believe that happens with the V3i is that it's ground balance ain't that good, and the thing gets screwy with just one or two too many adjustments. Many-a times I've been very pleased after a factory reset. How long had I spent hunting with a confused machine before doing that???, nobody knows.

I can personally trust my M6 better, and friends with MXT Pro machines beat out the V3i at the end of most group hunts.

Oh well, I'm using the Minelabs until I have a special need for the features of the V3i. Finding someone's lost gold rings is a great example. The V can really line up on gold rings if you know the general VDI range.

I don't blame anyone for giving up after time.

Click to expand...

LOL With a glowing review of the Whites V3i, such as the above, it's a wonder MudPuppy doesn't own 2 of these machines. *laughs*

I'm convinced, for sure. I'm not giving up my AT Pro for a Whites V3i!

Skippy SH13 said:

LOL With a glowing review of the Whites V3i, such as the above, it's a wonder MudPuppy doesn't own 2 of these machines. *laughs*

I'm convinced, for sure. I'm not giving up my AT Pro for a Whites V3i!

Click to expand...

I've owned two V3i machines. The first was replaced free of charge a couple of months after warranty ran out, so there went 2 years. Whites is great to deal with. The second was fun yet it wasn't long before I trudged along behind my other friends in hunts with lighter treasure pouches. I've never mailed this one in for a checkup.

It's possible that I inherited two lame units. The first was a demo I bought from a dealer. Who knows about demos, or if it was really a demo.

The SE and my new Etrac are close to a turn on and go machine, balancing all the time, and when the tone is sweet and crisp in two directions, it is almost always GOOD. Very deep.

I have a phylosophy about all flagship detectors, be it a V3i, a CTX3030 or a Garrets 2500...they are mostly a tool for each company to research their technology via the users feedback.

Whites MXT line, the Etrac and the AT Pro are the most reliable producers, each last-of-line before the flagship. That's just my opinion.

I'm a techy guy and the V3i has been a lot of fun. I know it well after all this time. It simply can't live up to it's claims of great depth with seperation here in my Texas clay.

Where I live...I've only ran across two other V3i owners to seek mentoring. Dallas Fort Worth is huge. Seems odd there wasn't lots more V3i owners. I know that one reason is that Garretts factory is close. Still, ONLY TWO other V3i users over 6 years? That has to mean something.

Like I said, I am keeping mine. Lots invested and it is wonderful for special applications. I would definitely advise any owner to get aftermarket coils for it before giving up.

Then again, I might not be the best detectorist. I'm sure that's part of it

I've had nightmares about that machine.Ive read,almost pulled the trigger,and read some more.And decided no way.

Just get a Tesoro Compadre and be a happy camper

KEN

I did a air test today on the V3i with the stock coil and it was hitting on my 1/2 dollar at 11.5 and my dollar at 12.5" I figure it wont get that in soil but who knows. The soil here in the parks is awesome... my only thing is I really dont like the depth of the little shooter coil, it picks out things close together but at the cost of depth.

I do want that detech 13" coil and maybe the detech 8x6 SEF coil but the wife needs the smaller coil for her AT Pro before I get those..

Newbie Note To Self.... *Steer clear of the Whites V3i".....

Same here can't figure it out just a wast of money


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