ColonelDan

The higher the discrimination setting the greater number of targets will register as ferrous.   If for example you set the discrim at 7, targets'TDI that range from 7 or below will  be reported as "iron."

5 minutes ago, Calmark said:

Yesterday while park hunting, two ladies approached and asked questions about metal detecting.  One of them placed a small and thin white gold band with what looked like a small diamond in the center on the ground and asked if the Deus 2 could hear it.  Among some flashes of 9-10 ID#, the ring rand up primarily as a 15! 

I have known white gold generally will give a low ID# on most detectors, but I didn't expect a number THAT low.  I've been missing small white gold like this for sure since I dig few targets under a 40, though I do dig foils down to 32 if I'm in the mood. 

So, its looking like if we want white gold and chains/bracelets, its going to be necessary to dig numbers into the teens with the Deus 2!   

I've known some gold to ring up low like that too so I've set my iron tone break at 10.  Will I dig more trash that way?  Yes, but our beaches don't contain much true iron...aluminum is the culprit here.   Thanks for the report! 

Great review!  👍

I decided to expand the test I posted on another thread in this forum.  The question was raised concerning the TID differences among the various programs.  For this test,  I used a silver walking liberty half dollar and a modern Kennedy half dollar separately scanned by each of the Deus 2's 12 factory programs.  I conducted a frequency scan prior to each program and EMI didn't seem to be a factor.  My purpose was to determine just how much of a TID variance there was among these programs on the same targets.

Program      Max Frequency     Silver Half     Modern Half

1. General:     40kHz                      98                   97

2. Sensitive    40kHz                     98                   97

3. Sens FT      40kHz                    98                   97

4. Fast             40kHz                   98                   97

5. Park             24kHz                   99                  98

6. Deep HC      14kHz                   99                 99

7. Mono            16.5kHz                97                 96

8. GoldField      40kHz                 98                 97

9. Relic             24kHz                 99                  98

10. Diving          14kHz                99                  99

11. Beach          24kHz               99                   99

12. Beach Sens 40kHz             99                    98

Note:  Although the results show a fairly consistent relationship between the TIDs throughout the 12 programs, the silver half TID was solid and pretty much unwavering.  The modern half however had a tendency to vary by a point or even up to 3 points as it settled in on the most common of the TID numbers reported here.

Again, these 12 were all stock factory programs; no adjustments were made to any of the internal settings.  I would hazard a guess that results from the adjusted settings within a custom program might generate somewhat different TID results. 

A more thorough/interesting and possibly more revealing test would be to sweep these same targets with each  of the 12 factory programs and compare the TID.

Half Dollar TID Test Report.  Tests were conducted using factory Beach and factory Park

                                                 Beach         Park

1836 Capped Bust                   99                99

1858 Seated Liberty                99                99

1904 Barber                             99                99

1927 Walking Liberty              99                99

1948 Franklin                          99                99

1964 Kennedy                         99               99

1969 Kennedy Proof               99                99

1972 Kennedy                          98               98

1776-1976 Kennedy                98                98

These results may surprise some, particularly the consistency between the Beach and Park programs.  As I said before, I just report the results.

8 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

The 40% silver half dollars from 1965-70 are clad with an inner layer of pure copper and two outer face layers that are in fact the same composition (90% silver, 10% copper) as the pre-1965 dimes, quarters, and halves.  My expectation is that they should have similar VDI's but someone should check.  I don't have a Deus 2 and I'm not sure I have a 40% silver half handy, either.

I have samples of all and will report on the TIDs…. More to follow.

I’ve found that wet sand is much more conductive than dry sand…same for soil ergo the greater depth as you’ve seen.

1 hour ago, NCtoad said:

It was a silver half dollar that came in at 99.  The Morgan silver dollar came in at 96. I find that strange.  Can someone explain to me why a the larger silver dollar came in lower than the silver half?

Excellent question! 

What I found was that depending on the program used and its settings, the Morgan dollar registered anywhere from 95-99 while the silver half remained pretty steady at 98-99!   

Since I'm, not a software or design engineer, don't expect me to explain it.  I can't interpret the results, I merely report the results. Were I to take a guess however, I would venture to say the variance in TID was due to the different weighting of frequencies and the settings which act as filters within the various programs.  Now that guess of mine is worth just as much as you had to pay for it.😉

27 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Thank you ColonelDan! I'm also struggling to find some reference points for gold so I can hopefully move beyond the "dig everything" phase of learning the D2, or at least learn better probabilty points of reference to be able to do a little cherry picking on occassion.

I’ve found gold to have a wide range of TID numbers as shown on my list due to the wide range of metals mixed with the gold content.  Given that fact of detecting life, we’re all going to be digging a lot.  
I'd be satisfied with a ballpark break point between ferrous and non ferrous or low and mid level conductors.   Right now, I’m giving it my best guess right now until shown a better one.

1 hour ago, Aaron said:

Great job on the categorization, that’s A LOT of work!

Yes, I noticed the gold ring numbers a couple weeks ago when I tested my jewelry. I’m actually disappointed w these numbers especially w the ones in the 80s & 90s. I don’t understand why silver dollars are at 99, usually items that high are in the iron wrap around.

There’s very little differentiation between medium to large silver coins, not good….

Im no engineer, however I do know it’s not a good idea to be intermingling gold targets w silver. Hopefully this will be addressed in a future update…..

Aaron

Thank you….a labor of love as the saying goes.  

If you scroll through the programs, TIDs will change somewhat when sweeping over the same target.  It must be caused by the varying frequency weightings….just a guess on my part though

5 minutes ago, midalake said:

Surprised to see a gold coin at 85, and a large 10k ring at 90. 

Rings are screwy.  I've seen gold rings run a wide range on any TID scale.  I've seen two 10K rings of similar size ring up somewhat differently.  I'm convinced that much depends on the composition and what that gold is mixed with.  If mixed with a high conductor, a TID of 90 isn't surprising...at least that's been my experience. 

17 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Thanks. Got a week long beach trip planned, so I'll get a chance to corroborate your results, Dan.

BTW $1 gold rang up 55 in the "wild" in Deep HC mode, so you can add that to list if you want.  😉

Thanks Chase.  I used my custom beach program that I use most often on our beaches.

I'll add the $1 gold coin to the list!  👍

Let’s ask the question a little differently.

Recognizing that metallurgical composition varies considerably, Where, in general, is the cut off line/number between ferrous and non-ferrous on the Deus2 tone break scale?  Realizing that the demarcation would not be a hard and fast number applicable in all cases, but for the most part, where does that line fall?

What is the lowest TID you've seen for any type of precious metal using the Deus 2; broken jewelry, low karat, small chain, micro jewelry etc.?  ANY type at all but it must be precious metal.

Since 99% of my hunting is on saltwater beaches and fresh water lakes, I have the 11" coil on both my D2s.  If I have a need to detect in a heavily vegetated area for relics, I'll use my Equinox 800 with a 6" coil.

All,  Thank you for those kind remarks.   They're very much appreciated.

Please keep in mind that although those setting of mine may be a good start point on salt water beaches, they aren't the magic formula for universal success.  Every beach is different so you'll have to adjust the settings to the conditions at your specific site.

As I've always said,  ~Predetermined settings serve only to get you in the ballpark. It's up to you to pick the best seat~   😉

Good hunting....

9 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

 

Have not encountered any performance issues with 0.71.  Works A LOT better than 0.6 so far in terms of the improvements to the filters, audio, and the addition of notch to Relic and Gold Field - not missing 0.6 at all.   A number of folks who post here have upgraded to 0.71 and you are the first to report a performance issue.

Air tests are notoriously unreliable benchmarks.  Are you 100% sure the machine was set up identically in both cases (i.e., same mode with the same exact settings for ALL parametes including frequency channel (same EMI situation) for both versions?)  What program and settings are you using for your air tests?  If you are convinced there is an issue, try reloading the update and test again.  If you still don't like it you can still easily roll back to ver 0.6, so no need to wish you hadn't upgraded.

I fully agree with Chase.  I have not had any negative performance issues...only positive performance results.  Updating my other D2 and my hunting buddy's D2 today and hitting the Cape Canaveral beaches again tomorrow. 

I admit to being somewhat  reserved about jumping right in to the latest update, but this morning, I decided to try it on my secondary Deus 2 that I’ve christened the “Test Dummy.”
After following the exact sequence as shown on the XP update screen for a flawless installation, I added all custom programs back in and ran it through my test garden.  Everything worked as designed…..smooth with no glitches!    
The final “real world” test will be Sunday evening at Cocoa Beach…dry, damp and wet sand and surf.  If all goes well, as I fully expect, I’ll update my primary Deus 2 and that of my hunting buddy's.
My advice to those similarly reluctant souls would be to follow the exact procedure on the XP update screen and you should be fine….no shortcuts or deviation. 😊 

Great report!   Wishing you all the best with the Deus II.

48 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Great testing! I'll probably lower it to 3 today, thanks. Going after rings on the beach. 👍 Also looking for a stainless wallet somebody lost.

If you're running version 0.7 update, try B Cap level 4 and 5 on the beach against similar targets then adjust to level 3 to see if you can replicate the ID issue Bud sc describes here.  That will be very intereseting.

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.