ColonelDan

ByTheLake, did you press any button while the RC was in the process of doing the scan? If not, we now have yet another cause of the lock up. I’ve done frequency scans indoors without incident. XP has a challenge on its hands… diagnosis and software update…soon. I’m sure their engineers can and will find the fix.

In an earlier post I addressed the issue of my remote control locking up but I thought I’d expand on it and provide a video link that talks about this frustrating event. Causes: There have now been multiple reports of the remotes locking up after at least one of two actions were taken which caused the malfunction. 1) Taking the remote beyond the range of the coil and then doing a frequency scan (noise cancel). 2) Pressing one of the buttons on the remote while the unit is actually in the scanning process. There may be other actions that cause this lock up situation but those two in particular have been directly linked to this malfunction. Prevention: Do not take your remote beyond coil range and try to do a frequency scan. However, I have taken a remote beyond coil range and conducted other actions without any adverse effects such as adjusting settings or creating a custom program. Secondly, DO NOT press any other button on the remote while the unit is actively engaged in the scanning process. This button pushing action seems to disrupt or “confuse” the software. Fix: In the event you experience a lock up you won’t be able to shut the unit down or activate any action at all. Your remote will be totally frozen. Since I always prefer the simplest fix, just allow the unit to completely run down the battery until it shuts itself off--mine took around 20 hours to shut down. After it shuts down, plug it into the charger and it will return to normal operation...at least mine did. Now I’ve read about another approach wherein the user took it upon himself to remove the back of the remote, disconnect and then reconnect the battery. He reported that this also served to return the unit to normal operation. However, following Dirty Harry’s sage advice, “A man has to know his limitations” I never considered doing this myself because I’m fully aware of my technical limitations! A Word of Caution: I've heard that disconnecting and then reconnecting the battery may cause or did cause the loss of custom programs. I didn't lose anything by just letting the battery run down on its own then connecting it back to the charger. Now the ultimate fix is for XP to address this in a future update. I have reported this to the right folks at XP and I’m sure they’ll analyze it and take the appropriate action.

Took the D2 out to the beach at Cape Canaveral this morning. It’s first real run since the freezing incident and it ran perfectly…to include multiple frequency scans. 👍🏻😉

One additional and positive point. By letting the battery run down instead of disconnecting it, I didn’t lose any of my custom programs. I did read that those who chose to disconnect their battery lost their custom programs. I can’t personally verify the loss of custom programs after disconnecting the battery but I can verify that I didn’t lose anything. 🙂

It worked!!! My Deus 2 remote is coming back to life👏🏻 I let the battery run all the way down then hooked the charging cable up to it and she sprung to life after 20 hours of being frozen. I’m just thankful that I didn’t have to disconnect the battery.

I don’t run Windows. For updates, I take it to my hunting buddy’s house. I’m still waiting for the RC’s battery to run down.

Thank you very much Chase! I’ll keep y’all informed as this drama unfolds. Yes, XP must address/fix this in the next update!!!

I was attempting to diagnose a problem for another Deus 2 user in that his unit would not go into frequency scan mode. As I experimented with mine, I thought he might have taken his remote out of range of the coil. I took mine beyond the coil range and began a frequency scan and this is when my remote screen totally froze up. I couldn't power it down and it wouldn't respond to any button I pushed...and it was not locked in diving mode. I also noted that the headphones were also frozen. I couldn't power those down either. I read on the internet where another Deus 2 user had the same frozen issue during a frequency scan. He finally decided to disconnect and reconnect the battery which solved the problem. Instead of going immediately to disconnecting the battery, I decided to try running the batteries totally down and see if that would allow the unit to reset. After a few hours, the headphones and coil shut down. The remote, with a much longer battery life, is still on and frozen since 8 PM 7 April. I intend to let this go until it too runs totally out of power. If that doesn't work, my next decision will have to be to disconnect the battery as the other man did. I really don't want to do that since it requires removal of the back plate....a potential warranty issue? I'll contact XP America to ask about that. I notified XP HQs in France of this in hopes that a future update will address the repeated frequency scan problem. I'll keep this forum updated as this "crisis" unfolds. Advice: don't try the frequency scan when the remote is out of range of the coil and or headphones.

Given how rugged and waterproof the control box is, I agree with F350 Platinum, I don’t use one. I did however put a piece of non glare screen protector on mine….

I think you may be right…hope so anyway. Having said that, I have found some pretty nice recent drops in that 2 inch area. I’m sure they too will find some keepers as they clean out the trash. Given how small of an area the robot can handle and how slow it goes, I don’t think they’ll be able to afford and employ the numbers they would need to cover our large beaches. Can you say “boondoggle” 😅

Brevard county extends from Canaveral National Sea Shore to Sebastian...which includes Cocoa Beach. On top of the ongoing re-nourishment projects, this is all we beach hunters need to further "help us out." Fortunately, they only have one of these robots...so far...and it can only clean a relatively small area. But more are coming I'm sure. https://www.wesh.com/article/beach-cleanup-robot/39578241

I have to say that I have not experienced this flex problem with my Deus II. Now I haven't taken my D2 in the surf yet and I never extend the lower shaft beyond 4 so more of it is into the upper shaft and my cam lock is solid and tight. I guess I lucked out.

Since the massive re-nourishment projects, I've been down there only a few times and the beaches that I visited are "sanded in" by dozens of dump trucks at each beach. I'll wait until I see some improvement made by nature before driving that hundred mile round trip again.

If you set both tones of the 2 tone option at the same kHz you essentially have a 1 tone configuration.

I used a similar configuration on my Equinox which proved somewhat popular so I thought I’d post my Deus version. Keep in mind that everything below is just my personal preference. Rationale: Over more than a few years, I tried numerous ways through a combination of Target Identification (TID) and tones to better identify what was under my coil. It didn’t take long to discover that trying to cut the tone and TID distinction too fine in an attempt to accurately identify all targets was unproductive. Thru tedious trial and error, the obvious became clear. TID is not an exact science by any measure. TID can be affected by numerous variables such as depth, soil composition, the metallurgical make up and orientation of the targets in the soil. Expecting a consistently exact value for each possible target was unrealistic. I finally concluded that what I wanted was only an indication of what might be under my coil rather than expecting or trying for a precise ID. Can TID and tones do that for me? Yes After realizing what I wanted or needed from of a TID/tone combination, I settled on a 3 tone option. Below is a summary of my rationale for adopting that 3 tone solution. ~ My attempt at using full or 50 tones proved impossible for me...information overload! I then tried 5 tones and although more understandable, I felt that 5 tones was unnecessary and might even be overkill...for me. Why? ~ ALL targets fall within 3 conductive categories/zones--Low, Medium or High. So it made more sense for me to focus on those 3 zones and align the tones accordingly. The tones provided information on what zone I was dealing with while the TID gave me some rough indication as to where the target fell within the range of that zone. ~ I also wanted a system that wasn't apt to cause me to ignore good targets because they were similar in make up to worthless targets. Example; gold and aluminum are both mid level conductors and generate similar TID within that range. Yes, I'll dig aluminum so as not to pass up potential gold and dig other high conductive targets such as copper pennies so as not to pass up silver. Then as I was just learning the Deus II, Calabash Digger cautioned me that a too high discrimination setting could cause a good target to be masked by junk...and ol’ Calabash was right! I didn’t want to risk that either. ~ The question: How to get around junk that ranged from 0 to 20 or 25 on the Deus scale without risk of masking the good ones because of a high discrimination setting. I simply converted the 4 tone option to 3 tones using a combination of selected tones and tone breaks. Solution: I tested quite a number common targets of varying size and metallurgical composition and came up with some common TID ranges that I see on our beaches for each of the conductivity zones. This 3 tone configuration suited me just fine for the beach hunting I do. For the lowest conductive junk targets ranging from 0 to 7, I set tone level 1 at 100 kHz using a discrimination level of 7. (Disc setting of 7 seemed to prevent the masking of a good target even with reactivity set at 1 or less.) For other low conductive targets ranging from 8 to 20, I set tone level 2 at 100 kHz also. (Using 100kHz for both tone levels 1 and 2, I get the iron grunt for those junk targets which range from 0-20) Mid level conductors ranged from 21 to 85 so I set tone level 3 at 450 kHz..a nice mid tone. High conductors ranged from 86 to 99 so I set tone level 4 at 993 kHz I prefer the volume level of each zone to be at maximum--including ferrous items...personal preference. ~ In my work with a local museum however, I could use the 1 or 2 tone option. When digging museum quality artifacts, iron could be a valued artifact so I dig everything. I also dig it all when detecting along Florida's Treasure Coast as remnants of the ships fall within the iron or low conductive range and are periodically found along our beaches. Just one solution that works for me…your solution could be even better! 😉

When I say “uniform”, it does change very slowly and only a little at a time….uniformly throughout the area. There are no major or erratic deviations in the level of mineralization so tracking works very well…and I like it. 😉

I’ve used tracking twice along Cocoa Beach Florida and it works fine. The mineralization there is very uniform so tracking is a good option.

This is what I learned from Chase Goldman: Gotcha, Dan. FWIW - those first two programs are in custom slots - they are completely modifiable and can even be deleted or replaced by the user unlike the stock programs. They are simply variants of their parent stock programs. I believe they were created during the field test phase and it is unclear whether they will survive beyond the "Beta" update phase (firmware versions prior to ver 1.0; e.g., 0.6, 0.7 etc.). Beach P is a customized version of Beach (Program 12) but with Pitch tones (vice 3 Tones), Silencer at 2 (vice 0), Salt Sens at 7 (vice 9), and Reactivity at 1.5 (vice 0). Fast 40 is a customized version of Mono (Program 7) with Disc at 6.6 (vice 6.1), 2 Tones (vice 3), Frequency at 40.4 khz (vice 16.5 khz), and Reactivity at 3 (vice 2). So you can modify or delete them as you wish.

I am a full time beach hunter and I had the D1 a few years ago. It wasn’t nearly up to the challenge of a salt water environment so I sold it. I now have the D2 and it is far and away much better. In fact, It’s a great beach machine. So in my case, the answer to your question is a definite yes…the D2 is a most welcomed replacement for the D1 on the beach. Just the view from my beachy foxhole.

Great explanation Chase! I would have expected such detailed information to be included in the manual but so be it. In any case, it wasn’t clear to me what these programs were. Thanks again

Chase, yes, just like that but with all programs including Beach P and Fast 40. I should have a been mite clearer on that point. Thanks for posting that. I made a chart on my own that does show all the information to include the Max frequency for each program...except the Beach P and Fast 40 on which I didn't have any information.

CPT, thank you for the kind words. The add ons I installed weren’t really a function of need other than Steve’s great shaft. It was a matter of convenience and what I thought was a design improvement on the product. I never regretted any of the add ons but you’re right, they weren’t “needed” Thanks again.

GB, With the aftermarket equipment i.e.shaft with compensating weight, metal arm cuff and removable control box mount coupled with the 11" coil, mine weighs in at 4.4 lbs. So ..."around 5 lbs" was a pretty accurate guess on my part. 😉 Thanks for the note

After several days of research, testing in a controlled environment and then actual operation on Cocoa Beach, my simplified bottom line: The Deus 2 is a better detector than my Equinox 800. Summary of my conclusions by area: (In the interest of brevity and simplicity, I did not include the detailed values/numbers/results from each of my individual tests…..boring!) Build Quality: Deus 2 by far. I don’t see the potential for broken coil ears, no wobbly shaft, better water proof characteristics/capability, more solidly built control box, better arm cuff and better overall design of the total unit—excellent compact travel capability. I do think the arm cuff stand could/should be wider to provide more stability when laying it on the ground. Simplified use: Equinox—-but only initially. Admittedly, the Deus 2 menus, locations and option functions have a steeper learning curve...but only after a day or two. I quickly became very comfortable with it. User manual: Deus 2. Comprehensive, better layout and easily understood. An update is needed however as the manual doesn’t cover the Beach P and Fast 40 programs which are available in the Remote Control. Another feature I think XP could add that would help flatten the learning curve would be to provide a detailed menu tree in the user manual showing where to find each function and what role that function plays in the overall operation of the unit. I would also like to see a graphic, in spreadsheet form, that shows all the factory settings for each program...just as a quick reference which allows you to see and compare the settings of each program in hard copy form. The one they do show on page 46 omits Beach P and Fast 40. Sensitivity at depth: Deus 2. It’s simply the latest and improved/better technology. Clear and more accurate target ID at depth throughout the spectrum of target size and composition. Depth: As we know, depth is highly dependent on many factors unrelated to the detector itself but overall and in general, the Deus 2 can detect targets at greater depths in most cases than other detectors I’ve used. Stability: Deus 2. More and better options to quiet the chatter even in challenging salt water environments where I do most of my detecting. The Salt Sensitive adjustment is a game changer for me as a beach hunter. I can leave the main sensitivity setting alone and quiet the detector with the Salt Sens option which only neutralizes the sensitivity to the mineralized salt! Initial Cost: Equinox…. However, in my opinion, one gets what one pays for. When you add all the after market equipment to rectify the wobbly shaft, weak coil ears, fragile arm cuff, control box cover etc, the final cost of the Equinox quickly approaches that of the Deus 2. Ergonomics; Weight and balance--Deus 2 by far! Around 2 lbs beats around 5 lbs everyday, all day. Personalized programs: Deus 2 provides slots for 12 personal programs and are easily added. Charging: Equinox. Single cable vs 3 pig tails and somewhat fragile coil clip is much simpler and less vulnerable to ham handed use. Having said that, I do like the totally wireless design of the Deus 2. Under water: Deus 2 has the edge here even though it requires the manual addition of an antenna since blue tooth just doesn’t work in the water. But I’d much rather take the time and effort of installing that wire than risk the real possibility of flooding we all know is an unfortunate chapter of the Equinox history. Pinpointer and Headphone connectivity: Deus 2. I really like how the MI-6 pinpointer pairs with the remote and can be controlled by the remote. I also appreciate how the headphones automatically connect with the remote when the remote is powered on and off. One final thought regarding the Deus 2—the back phones. I don’t like them. On-the-ear design just doesn’t make it at the beach. Ambient noise such as wave action and the crowd over comes the back phones by a wide margin. To me, they’re uncomfortable to boot. Yes, I tried the after market full cover headphones on my Deus 1 a few years ago wherein you slide the WS-6 “puck” onto the headphones. I just didn’t like that set up...I guess I’m just more of a purist in that regard. So I’ll be among the first on the list for XP’s WSA II XL over-the-ear headphones when they become available in the May-June time frame. I do like the fact that if you wanted to, you can control the Deus using just the WS-6. I much prefer using the remote however. So what does all this mean for me? The Deus 2 will be my primary detector...but I won’t be selling my Equinox 800s any time soon. The Equinox is still a very good detector...and much better since I modified it with Steve Goss’ outstanding shafts. Please keep in mind, that as I always say, these thoughts of mine may be worth just as much to you as you paid for ‘em. In the end, it’s only the view from my foxhole….

I got an email from Philippe of XP yesterday. He told me that the XP WSA II XL full cover headphones will be available in the May-June timeframe. I will have a set of those as soon as I can get my hands on them.