Wayfarer

Wish they would bring back the Spectragraph. That's one of the best features of the ol' XLT/DFX. Just imagine how deadly that would be in conjunction with today's fast processors.

Hi RR, yes, well, I'm 6'4" so it was barely adjustable to be long enough as it was without tripping over the coil. Ergonomics should be easy right? There's no engineering trade off, just thoughtful design. Otherwise it checks all the boxes. Maybe I can whittle down my detector collection and focus on one machine. I can't dig everything like I used to, so good target ID and communicative ID are a must. Totally agree V3i/MXT. Could be the bad ergos are a result of the marketing department.

I just hope they got the ergonomics right. I sold my Nox after a short time because the nose heavy torque was causing my wrist and arm fits. I've had all kinds of heavy detectors like CTX, V3i, old blue box 6000's, and none of them did a number on me like the Nox. Maybe Manicure will have an optional battery pack for mounting under the armcup for those that want better balance/battery life? Otherwise it'll have to be lead weights and duck tape. As airplane pilots will tell you, it's weight *and* balance that matters.

I still think the V3i is the best advanced SMF detector ever made, primarily because of this ability. The newer detectors all do their analyzing via a “black box” of secret algorithms while the V3i gives the power over to the user and lets the user decide. For example, I love how you can identify multiple closely spaced targets by watching how the response of each frequency changes in all metal pinpoint mode as you slowly sweep the target. Subsequent designs dumb this down and try to do everything within the “black box.” Good for beginner users who don’t care to bother to understand the underlying tech. The V3i demands more from its user but the reward is worth it. That said, my MXT is still a great performer and is single freq. It was a sad day when White’s killed further development of the V3i.

The thread Steve linked to is a great discussion and explanation of the ground balance systems and differences on different machines, particularly the V3i, DFX, and MXT/GMT. Anyone who is confused on the difference between Auto Tracking, Lock, Ground Grab, and Offset, should read that thread with Steve's usual easy-to-understand explanations. Reading that thread reminded me again how I so very much wish White's would have included a true manual ground balance control on the V3i and MXT. Wishful thinking, but maybe Garrett can re-release these models with all the various improvements we've all wanted. The V3i would be a beast with an updated faster processor and a handful of other minor tweaks. As for the original question, as a former user of the DFX, I found it pretty good but not great for small gold jewelry hunting (never used it for nugget hunting), but the V3i is better ... better than either of them is the MXT. But the DFX is still pretty good especially once you learn it. And learning all the adjustments will help you learn how metal detectors work since with the DFX you have control over many more parameters than with most other detectors, and you are "forced" to learn what each of the adjustments do. It's an underappreciated detector. Good luck and have fun.

I’m ready to buy a new flagship coin detector as soon as it comes out. Minelab, Nokta, and Garrett/Whites are all due for a new flagship release. I’ll probably wait until all three have their new model out to choose which one, but based on my experience with all three manufacturers, I’ll likely go with the new replacement CTX 3030 model. That is, unless the Equinox 1000 that comes out incorporating enough of these good suggestions in this thread and then I’ll jump on the new Equinox instead. For the time being, my V3i is doing just fine and nothing impresses me enough to make a switch. We've been waiting a loooong time for the next generation of flagships to be released, and I've got my fingers crossed they'll be worth the wait.

#1 better balance. Being light is not such an advantage when the detector is so nose heavy. Maybe move the battery to under the arm cuff or short of that, enable the installation of counterweights that could be attached under the arm cuff. My CTX 3030 is much more comfortable to swing than the Equinox. Despite the extra weight, the balance on the CTX is almost perfect, which makes all the difference for comfort. #2 extra coils. The ones I’d really like to see are a 6x10 elliptical and a 7” round. #3 true all metal mode with true threshold As good as the Equinox is, I sold mine because I couldn’t stand the nose heavy balance and didn’t want to deal with the hassle or expense of aftermarket rods and weights. Seems this is the most common complaint and begs for improvement. As soon as Minelab comes out with the improved Equinox, I’ll be the first one in line to buy it.

Excellent points El Nino. I've wondered the same thing myself. The V3i was a brilliant design even though it could have used just a bit more polishing. All it *really* needed was a more stable/less finicky ground balance system. That was the big one. With the V3i, you had to be very careful with keeping it properly balanced otherwise it would get wonky losing depth and I.D. accuracy quickly even when just slightly out of ground balance. The more difficult the soil, the worse this problem became. But it was not unmanageable, just required a lot of operator skill to keep it properly balanced and working properly. Users who couldn't master the finicky ground balancing eventually gave up in frustration without really understanding why the detector didn't perform for them. It seems to me this is a difficult engineering problem but not one that couldn't be accomplished with enough engineering attention to that specific shortcoming. There have been many other good suggestions on how to improve the V3i. Including USB/PC programming capability, faster processor/more communicative audio especially in disc., ability to select two out of the three frequencies for simultaneous use not just one or all, and ability to use Bluetooth instead of proprietary wireless headphones ... just to name a few of the many good suggestions from users. Even with the shortcomings, the V3i is a truly brilliant design and still yet unmatched by any other manufacturer. By finishing that last 10% left undone by White's, Garrett has the makings of a truly spectacular flagship detector.

Let's hope they at least cherry pick some of White's best design ideas. Ideally, I'd love to see a V4i. Short of that, a Garrett design that uses the best ideas from the V3i, like true simultaneous multifrequency.

The number one change I would like to see, is a pinpoint trigger instead of the button. I have arthritis in my thumbs, and the pinpoint button is too painful for me to use after pinpointing just a few targets. Other detectors' pinpoint buttons aren't as hard to press, but the Simplex takes a very strong press to operate. A pinpoint trigger would solve this problem. Yes, this would increase the manufacturing costs a little (like most of the suggestions on this thread), but it would make the detector much more comfortable to use. As it is now, the pinpoint button makes the pinpoint mode unusable for me.

The Signagraph is one of the most useful visual signal indicators ever devised. It's a very logical and elegant solution. On analog metered detectors, the operator can watch the needle "flickers" over a bad target and mentally keep track of where the needle pauses for a split second as it passes over the target, which is a trick I learned with my 6000D back in the 80's. The Spectragraph basically does this trick for you. When I upgraded to the new XLT, I immediately took to the Signagraph because the logic was the same, just presented a whole lot easier The V3i I use now, has the Spectragraph - a direct descendant of the XLT's and DFX's Signagraph. As far as I know, the V3i is the only detector on the market ...er, recently on the market ... that has this Signagraph capability. The MXT has the probability indicator, which at first glance is similar, but it actually operates on an entirely different principle. One of the upgrades to the MXT that I badgered White's to do, was incorporate a true Signagraph into the MXT, which would have made the MXT even more killer. The Signagraph was and is a great idea, and one of the many reasons I will never part with my V3i. With the V3i, you have so much control over the way Signagraph presents the information, which makes it even more useful and fun to use. I wonder why the idea never really caught on with other detector models/manufacturers?

That's the way I feel about my V3i, Steve. Never going to get rid of it. They have proven to be quite reliable, so hopefully none of those unobtanium parts will ever need replacing. Plus I baby mine anyway. It's the Pinnacle of complex but well thought out detector design. The engineers actually had faith in the end users to appreciate and learn it's features. Thank you White's engineers for giving us nerds such a detector. When I just want to go out and find stuff, I grab my MXT. But when i want to experiment and play around with different settings to learn more about how detectors actually work, I grab my V3i. It's like a piece of high-end test equipment in the form of a metal detector. Too bad the VX3 was discontinued, but it makes sense why. It has the same manufacturing costs but sells for a lot less, so smaller profit margin. But the real shame is that Geotech wasn't able to stay to finish his work on the V4. To me, that is the saddest "what could have been" in detector design history.

Thanks Steve. Yep, that was a good review. I agree with almost all of it. I even agree with the observation that the grip is angled just a bit to far forward. I also agree with the observation that the buttons are really stiff, except that I would go even further and say that they are so stiff, I can't even use the pinpoint button after about the first 20 targets. My thumb gets worn out quickly and I simply revert to "X-ing" the target in disc mode. My strong suggestion would be to reprogram the software to allow a toggle of the pinpoint instead of having to hold it down continuously. Overall the Simplex is an amazing machine for the money. It has great audio and lightning fast recovery speed. So good, you almost don't need a smaller coil to work the trash. The gauntlet has definitely been thrown down by Nokta and the other manufacturers are going to have a hard time scrambling to match the price/performance ratio of the Simplex.

V4i ... (hint, hint ?)

White's does offer absolutely fantastic customer service. While Minelab is improving and Makro is already very good, White's is simply far and away the best in the industry and the gold standard for customer service. This is coming from someone who has used most makes and have experience with each. But I agree that they really need to come out with an updated V3i. They were really onto something great with that detector and they just need to take it over the finish line and make it into a near perfect flagship with just a few improvements. They don't have to make it super light weight either. If they can keep the weight down to around 3.5 lbs or so, that would be perfectly OK so long as the balance was good. I actually found my CTX to be easier to hunt with for long periods than my equinox because the balance was so much better on the CTX. (I'm 6'4" and I've heard that the equinox balances ok for shorter guys, but certainly not for me.) One idea for future detector design I've had is to put the battery under the arm cuff and make it so it can be slid forwards or backwards a couple inches to aid in finding a good balance. This would not only accommodate for height differences, but would also allow adjustment for different size coils to keep the proper balance point. As long as weight is kept reasonable, balance is actually more important for the ability to endure long hunts. Put the new V3i in a modified MX Sport enclosure, add aptx low latency wirelesss headphone capability, update the processor, improve the ground balancing system, keep the color analysis screens (Spectragraph rocks!), simplify the controls some, and I bet White's would soon regain dominance of the flagship market.