Jeff McClendon

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That is a really good point from Mudwhale and Basstrackerman. I stopped using the remote mounted on the telescopic shaft for most gold prospecting using Deus 1 and the ORX. I would do the same with Deus 2s remote if I had one. It is just too easy for these detectors to roll over and take a tumble on a boulder strewn talus slope or in a hilly forested area where the expensive remote can be easily damaged or worse, completely lost. I would rather damage or lose a $200 to $300 puck than a $500 to $700 remote.

I basically have had to resort to falling back on the ORX if I want to detect small gold with an XP detector at this point. Hopefully that will change. I hated to say what I said earlier but this is the prospecting section of this forum. I know full well that the Deus 2 is an incredible detector and I feel bad about even saying negative things about its performance. That was absolutely not what this topic was about. It was just an honest attempt to illustrate on paper how Deus 2's simultaneous multi frequency small gold performance is inexplicably below standard....that standard being its own Mono program and the Gold modes on the ORX and Deus 1 so that any potential Deus 2 buyers or current owners that also use it for gold prospecting would have a clear idea of what is realistic. The Legend and Equinox results were to show how close they are in performance, not how they blow Deus 2 out of the water. They don't blow Deus 1 and the ORX gold modes out of the water from my experience. I have found some very small gold with both that I was amazed at especially since there were hot rocks and small nail fragments in the scoop with some of those nuggets but there was enough non-ferrous information and tell-tale audio responses coming from the single freq. ORX to make me dig. I know you are fully aware of this so I won't be posting anything else about it. I try to keep it positive concerning Deus 2 whenever I can. It deserves it for sure in every other aspect of its performance from my experience.

I am under the impression that the processor for all functions/battery management, etc is in the coil, not the remote. So, what Gary is saying……you might want to listen to and try.

Garrett has always fixed my under warranty issues PLUS, they paid for shipping both ways when it was a covered repair.

No back light. Notching is limited to one notch instead of three and at least right now notch can’t be turned off. It stops at 00-00. Also, saved user programs are saved next to their original program instead of being saved in slots 13 through 24. Only one saved program per factory program which kind of sucks. Otherwise, WS6 is really amazing.

I have the Deus 2 Lite setup and am very happy with it. I had the full remote setup but realized that I didn’t need it for water work or diving and that only a couple of features were not on the WS6 unlike Deus 1 where the WS4 had a ton of limitations in comparison. I haven’t had any problems seeing the information on the WS6 enlarged display (compared to WS4) and making the target ID numbers be huge is really easy. I don’t like the older style buttons on the WS6, but everything else is a gigantic improvement over the Deus 1 WS4. The WS6 has everything I need. I have two different third party transmitters/headsets from Detech and also have Garrett’s Z-Lynk. I will eventually get the WSA lls. I really like the big remote but sold it more out of necessity than anything else……..I had some emergency home repairs that needed to be done this past summer so the big remote and a couple of other detectors got sold to help pay for those repairs. I figure I can always buy a used Deus 2 RC down the road if things change.

Those air test numbers are almost the same. Both detectors are also very similar as far as ground handling and hot rock recognition.

Sorry about the “Sad” emoji Chase, but I am done entertaining excuses and non-gold prospecting alternatives for a mode that XP decided was good enough to be designated as the FMF gold prospecting mode for Deus 2. I use a gold prospecting capable VLF for scouting new areas and for vacuuming up the sub gram nuggets in areas that I know can have small sub gram gold and in patches that I have worked in the past. They are also great to have around for dry washing and sluice tailings cleanup along with wiry, porous and specie gold. By “half assed” I am referring to the huge amount of sub .5 gram gold that Deus 2 FMF Goldfield simply won’t hit unless it is basically on or very near the surface. That sized gold is exactly the kind of gold I use a gold prospecting capable VLF for. The .5 gram and up size gold is pulse induction territory for me anyway. There is a transition “gray” area between .25 and .5 grams that I depend on my VLF for most of the time. Plus, having such great packability, versatility and superb ergonomics on paper make Deus 2 very appealing for any prospector. Personally, I am really glad XP included the FMF Relic mode which has excellent frequency weighting for most .5 gram and bigger coins and relics. Under .5 gram weight down to .01 gram weight is exactly what Deus 2 Goldfield should have been capable of and where Deus 1 and ORX Gold modes excel. It really struggles on .25 gram gold and smaller so basically, FMF Goldfield isn’t small gold nugget prospecting capable.

Yeah, hopefully they just somehow got the coil connector pinouts wrong. Easy fix if they have plenty of backup parts.

Simon, that is some really bad news for Nugget Finder. It’s not great news for end users either but at least anyone that has prepaid for one for some reason, should be able to get their money back. I am a big fan of Nugget Finder. I hope they can get it sorted out as painlessly as possible.

Thanks Lynk for making the beautiful charts. That would have taken me awhile to do plus my nurses/doc would have been upset with me for not putting my ankle above my eye level for whatever length of time it took me to make gorgeous charts like that. I just don’t know what to think about XP and its Deus 2 FMF gold prospecting mode. Sure, I could find gold with it too as long as there were .3 gram and larger nuggets near the surface using program 8. I could find even more smaller sized nuggets with it using program 7 Mono if I could get it to ground balance well enough. However, Deus 1 Fast (equals Deus 2 program 7 Mono) and Deus 1 Goldfield simply don’t handle hot ground equally well. Other than Steve’s conjecture that this small gold nugget insensitivity is deliberate marketing strategy………..I can’t believe XP’s engineers can’t figure this issue out. I just go back to my original statement months ago. If XP didn’t want Deus 2 to compete with the ORX and Deus 1 Goldfield modes, just don’t include an FMF gold prospecting mode on Deus 2. Instead they include one that is totally half assed……… I will just keep my ORX setup for a bit longer and see what happens with possible future updates. The ORX gold modes will ground balance just about anywhere and the 54 kHz and 81 kHz HF coils will hit incredibly small bits. Putting the ORX in a backpack is easier than putting in a 9” plastic gold pan. I really am not trying to make Deus 2 look bad here. Like others that have used Deus 2 for other tasks besides gold prospecting, I have found it to be an incredible SMF detector and light years better than Deus 1. However, I would hate to hear about a person selling their gold prospecting VLFs thinking (without actually knowing) that Deus 2 can do it all. Right now, it just can’t. So I really was just trying to do a comparison of the latest technology SMF, supposedly gold prospecting capable all terrain detectors along with the ORX thrown in for a direct Deus 2 comparison. Anybody with a Deus 1 and HF coils will get similar results by the way. That XP ORX/Deus 1 single frequency, semi threshold based gold prospecting mode is really excellent. I would have also included the Garrett 24K if I still had one but right now I don’t.

I am definitely not an Excel or Google sheet guy. I can draw a chart by hand......it ain't happening on a computer.

Rick, I generally hunt with some of the iron target IDs accepted and with iron audio ON. Trust me, Deus 2 will false on steel alloy objects depending on the Silencer and Bottle Cap reject settings being used. However, with part or all of the iron target IDs accepted I also hear the iron responses from those targets. On older iron from the 18th century or earlier……..don’t know yet. Check out F350Platinum’s posts above. Personally, the Manticore will have to be ridiculously better than I can imagine for me to dump my Equinox 800, Legend and Deus 2 Lite!

Unless you can get a brand new Deus 1 for like half retail or someone gives you one…..compared to Deus 2 even with its current Goldfield shortcomings, it is No Contest. Deus 2 is a much more versatile and accurate detector than Deus 1. Even Deus 2’s Mono program based on Fast is better than Deus 1 Fast just due to the many other audio features added to Deus 2 compared to Deus 1. If someone already owns and intends to keep their Deus 1, the promised update will be great for sure. Maybe there will be an ORX update too. After talking with Simon, it indeed sounds like he is getting a Deus 1 with both HF coils and both X35 coils in a trade. I would have made that deal too……way to go phrunt!!!!!

Burundi gold coin. I tested 9” Deus 2 FMF coil versus 9” HF round coil on the ORX. The HF elliptical coil runs at 14, 31 and 81 kHz so it is not a good comparison with the Deus 2 FMF 9” and I don’t have one anyway. When Nokta release their 10x5”, I will do another chart versus the Equinox with the Coiltek 10X5”.

Okay, people have had plenty of time to look carefully (or not) at that chart. What are some obvious things that one notices if you believe that I did this testing correctly and fairly enough settings wise and considering coil size differences. Also note that Deus 2 and the ORX are running at sensitivity 95 of 99 while the Legend is running at 25 of 30 and the Equinox is at 20 of 25.....Do the math !!!! Deus 2 FMF Goldfield does okay if the gold target is bigger than .25 grams. It is woefully bad at or below .25 grams.....take note micro jewelry hunters and none of the other higher weighted FMF programs do any better including Beach Sensitive..... Deus 2 Mono setup wide open (-6.4 disc) and using Pitch Tones with the FMF 9" coil at 45.4 kHz slightly out performs the ORX with 9" round HF coil at 54 kHz using its VCO Gold Modes. The Legend and Equinox whether in the simultaneous multi frequency or single frequency setting are neck and neck and are really hot on the small stuff while being really hot on the bigger stuff too. They appear to be slightly better in 40 kHz than in Multi. That is an illusion if you hunt for small gold or micro jewelry in any sort of mineralization. Their SMF tech will make up the difference in the real world and their 40 kHz single frequency will lose stability, depth and ID accuracy fast as targets get smaller/deeper in mineralization. That said, this is why the woeful performance of Deus 2 FMF Goldfield is such a disappointment. If XP had done their due diligence they would have caught this easily. It was obvious to me immediately and I am just a nobody. Their FMF tech should offer gold prospectors a real advantage in higher mineralization over single frequency use. I mean......Minelab and Nokta made that happen with ease......????? So, for now, I will mostly use Deus 2 Mono with Pitch tones (when I can walk someday) and hope that XP will fix FMF somehow for small nugget gold prospecting. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to use a Legend or Equinox anywhere for small gold nugget cleanup or for micro jewelry hunting. When Nokta release the 10x5" coil.........whoopie!

Steve, I would readily pay $40 to $50 for a carbon fiber or other properly sturdy extension that attaches similar to the 3D printed versions that don’t hold up. I don’t need your beautiful shaft/arm cuff upgrade for what I do but I get tired of chasing my XP detectors down hills and over cliffs😀 thanks Jeff

Mine broke months ago. Its was the one in the second photo. Nice idea……..wrong way to produce it.

I am no expert, but I believe the threshold on the TDI is the carrier for the target tone. You can hunt with "silent search" on the TDI but the only target responses will be really strong ones if the threshold knob is set to minimum. If you are just hunting for big stuff....no problem. If you are hunting for smaller stuff like tiny sub gram gold nuggets the threshold needs to be at least barely audible since your tiny gold target may just sound like a slight repeatable waiver in the threshold tone. When I am using a TDI for coin hunting I turn up the threshold until I can just hear it and back it off just a tiny bit. If I am hunting for smaller gold nuggets I turn up the threshold until I can hear it softly but clearly in the background.

My last attempt here. I would take Nokta’s word as good especially if both of your Legends are doing the same thing. No high gain VLF detector that I have ever used is very stable in magnetite that pegs a mineralization meter. The Legend and Equinox are two of the better performers in that situation and from that chart I posted recently that is pretty amazing since they are also highly sensitive to tiny low conductors like small gold nuggets. Next time you go to this hot ground site try doing a ground grab and then do a manual ground balance just to check. Be very gentle when doing a 6” to 1” pumping ground balance in hot ground conditions and make sure the ground balance spot is as free of targets as possible. Do two or three ground balances in a row just to make sure.

I understand that the onboard clock is important to you since you need to take care of a loved one in a timely manner. I had incorrect time keeping on my Deus 2 also. This usually happened to me after one of the three battery operated components got into a low or critically low battery charge situation. So, this may be a power management issue that XP is still trying to fix......... This being the prospecting section of this forum, I will say that XP has other software issues with 0.71 that are prospecting related so I hope they get those fixed too. I wear my watch on the outside of my sleeve or below my cuff when I need to know what time it is for certain......

First, are you using version 1.09 software? Also, when you say "is it normal for the Legend to just automatically drop to zero" are you referring to ground balance numbers and are you using Tracking Ground Balance when that happens? Zero is the default value just like on the Equinox but the Equinox will go all the way down to -9 for ground balance numbers while the Legend stops at 0. So, I absolutely will not use Tracking Ground Balance in places with high iron mineralization from magnetite along with numerous hot and cold rocks. The Legend's ground balance tracking system cannot keep up with that kind of severe ground conditions and it is not recommended by Nokta for use in places like that (page 12 in the manual, last paragraph). Instead, I use the methods outlined on page 12 for Automatic and Manual ground balancing and I do it often when hunting for small nuggets/pickers in high magnetite areas. Like the manual says in the second blue box on page 12, "The sound may not be eliminated completely on certain terrains. In this case, if the ground noise is minimized, it means that the ground balance has been done." The Equinox ground balance tracking system can't keep up either in these type of places so I just use its Ground Grab or Manual ground balance procedures. Sometimes it will completely quiet down if I use good coil control and sometimes it won't quite get quiet. Same goes for the Legend. If I manually raise or lower the ground balance number by just one value, both detectors will let me know real quick that the Ground Grab number was correct. So I often recheck the Legend Automatic ground balance value by doing a quick Manual ground balance check. Doing that Automatic or Ground Grab form of ground balancing in some of the worst magnetite areas I hunt at, usually results in a ground balance number from 1 to 5. I have not seen it be a 0 yet. I have seen my Equinox go into negative numbers occasionally. My own backyard ground balances at 2 most of the time and it is full of small magnetite particles and volcanic ash. My former Simplex ground balanced from 91 to 93 in my backyard. I think GotAu mentioned the Equinox in his post. I have mentioned it too. The Equinox and Legend operate very similarly and the way they operate in their gold prospecting modes is no exception from my ongoing experience currently owning both. I definitely use the mineralization meter and have seen it pegged in high magnetite areas that also have hot rocks under the coil during every swing. My backyard is 8 out of 10 bar mineralization also.

The Legend and Equinox give the opposite ground balance numbers from other VLF detectors. My ORX and Deus 2 ground balance on high iron mineralized ground with maxed out mineralization bars at 86 to 87. The Equinox and Legend on the exact same spot ground balanced with numbers from 1 to 5………

The Legend has done really well for me using the 6" coil in its Gold prospecting mode on Multi. It will ground balance and using a little threshold tone smooths out the audio too. I just use enough sensitivity to get the detector to barely chatter and go with that. I use that tiny bit of chatter to help with hot rocks, cold rocks and magnetite audio recognition. There is zero way to eliminate responses from magnetite while allowing responses from small gold nuggets where I often detect. They can share the same target IDs and the magnetite rich ground will easily mask smaller gold. Running the Legend in magnetite with any iron target IDs discriminated out is asking for trouble and will definitely eliminate some gold responses if your ground is anywhere as bad as it sounds from your description of it.