Chase Goldman

As mentioned previously, I don't believe there is anything special about the XP charger wall wart as far as being a charge regulator is concerned, just a run of the mill AC to 5 VDC usb converter that can easily be subbed by another similar charger. The regulator is built into the XP components as evidenced by the flashing lights or LCD icons when charge is complete. I rarely use the wall wart, however, preferring to charge from a multi-port usb charging bank that I can position anywhere as desired (as well as allowing me to top off the detector in a vehicle or on the go). My favorite 2-port bank below. Anker PowerCore Solar 10000, 15W USB-C Power Bank 10,000 mAh with Dual Ports, Flashlight, IP64 Splash Proof and Dustproof for Outdoor Activities, Compatible with Smartphones and Other Devices https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BRC7SCY I also prefer the tether (alone) for the reasons NC mentioned above. I like to remove and stow my remote when transporting it (or when charging) and I find the resistance of the stock mount to be fine, relatively easy to mount and unmount the remote with firm force but enough give to keep from snapping any plastic in the event of unplanned significant impact. I suppose if I was routinely in rough surf or something like that, the locking mount would make a lot of sense, because even with the unit tethered, who needs it constantly being knocked off the mount by the waves or similar forces regularly encountered in your specific detecting environment.

Bingo. You nailed it Aaron. The audio is and always has been the Deus secret sauce coupled with its iron performance. D2 with FMF has brought some much needed enhancements to the UI, physical packaging/water tightness, stability in salt, more stable and accurate TID, and improved iron/bc filtering making it even more versatile. But it all comes back to the nuanced audio and the D2 even improved on that with the additional audio options associated with the equalizer and square audio. If you can master the art of subconsciously integrating the audio nuances coupled with the TID info and the ferrous/non-ferrous horseshoe graph, you can reduce your sole dependency on the TID numbers which can only reveal a fraction of the target information contained in the audio. You'll still dig your share of aluminum, just to be sure, but the audio will flip your expectations from possible gold ring, to likely aluminum and the occasional pleasant gold surprise.

Tom D is a smart guy (I mean you can tell because, you know, he's from NASA), and a prominent detectorist with a website 😉, but geez, he really makes some off the wall statements at times that make other engineers like yours truly, just roll their eyeballs. The quote is a typical example. I mean there is some truth here but there also is some serious mumbo jumbo tech speak going on here, and he is just simply mistaken regarding the mysterious physics principles limiting Nox maximum target separation capability to 3 unless he is referring to the fact that there is only so much you can do with any given coil. Or, quite possibly, I am totally missing his (legitimate?) point because a lot of the context of the post is missing. Anyway, his "'maximum-tuned" "Electric Quiesence" reminds me of the "Retro Encabulator" video and like Jeff said ignores the "physics" effects of varying soil mineralization, but also: magnetic field shapes afforded by different coils; co-located target shape/composition field effects; and most importantly the variable signal processing speed capabilities of the Equinox detector, itself, especially in its different modes of operation. Yes, a Recovery Speed setting of 3 in Tom's treasure coast detecting world may give him Electric Quiesence Nirvana, but doesn't give me the detector response or separation needed in the hot dirt, iron hell patches I encounter in Culpeper Virginia, the Northern Neck, and SE Pennsylvania. And do you really think ML would snake oil it's customers and violate "physics principle[s]" by setting the Nox 800 default Recovery speed settings at between 4 and 7 (depending on mode) if "3" was really "maximum-tuned"? Call me skeptical, but I doubt it.

Thanks for that link, but from what I can tell they are using a UK bronze half-penny which is like a US zincoln cent, I suppose, in terms of conductivity. That is. neither a mid nor a high conductive target (about 3/4 on 4 point conductivity scale or about a 75 on a 99 point scale). You can't draw absolute conclusions from a single target type, so who's to say whether Relic, GF, or Deep HC might hit harder on higher conductive or even lower conductive targets than what was used in the video. As a long time Deus user and instructor, I am well aware of the power of Gold Field and its minimal filtering. It is still a processed signal, however (especially in FMF), with IAR, notch, iron audio, reactivity, and (dynamic) audio response options, so not true all metal. Relic is simply using a slightly different (lower weighted) FMF profile than GF on the D2, that's the only difference, so lower conductivity, smaller profile targets are favored by GF vs. higher conductivity, larger profile targets by Relic, as a general rule, hence the "Relic" designation. But remember, on Deus 1 GF is switchable single frequency and can be used anywhere from 4 to 80 khz depending on the Deus 1 coil that is used. IMO, XP needs to explore providing a selectable single frequency variant of GF/Relic on the D2 as a future update, similar to the D2 Deus Mono Program 7 for the "Discrimination" modes, to give GF/Relic some additional capability for specific target groups such as sub gram gold and high conductors. For smaller target sensitivity and tight spots, a 5x10 coil would also be a welcome addition. In my experience, Relic gives me sufficient depth for general searching (especially in hot, mineralized ground) and Deep HC (or Sensitive/General/Mono) in Pitch and Full Tones gives me additional interrogation information to perhaps better characterize the target from the audio nuances in that modes tone options (which are not available in GF and Relic) after I have acquired it in Relic. I will certainly look closer at GF, but I think Relic still provides a better Middle of the Road option vs. GF and Deep HC in pitch to hit with sufficient depth and separation on a broader spectrum of targets that best suits my hunting objectives. In fact, since I am usually dealing with iron patches that are the telltale remnants of human habitation, I am more concerned with target separation and TID accuracy than raw depth. FWIW.

I think that Relic is generally deeper than Deep HC except on the deepest high conductors where Deep HC has the edge due to it's lower top end frequency vs. Relic (14 vs. 24 khz). Relic and Deep HC are generally deeper than Gold Field except for small mid-cobductive targets. Mono frequency at 45khz has the best micro target sensitivity of any D2 program but the max detection depth is less than 2 inches on pinhead-sized targets.

As sly says, 00 typically is displayed for ground or deep, weak targets pulled down to ground ID in high mineralization or other ground anomalies such as concentrated mineralization patches, ferrites and other hot rocks. If reading 00, you COULD have a weak, down-averaged deep target or one of these ground anomalies. Chances are high that it's a ground anomaly. Since the detector can't differentiate a ground anomaly from a legit target, if you notch 00 then yes, you will exclude the audio of a 00 target (you will still see 00 displayed as notch only suppresses audio) and there is a small chance you could pass over a deep legit target. But unless you plan on digging every 00 target, you wouldn't know for sure. Based on the number of 00 hits that I typically encounter in the Relic program, especially in mineralized ground, I couldn't possibly dig them all and would simply be digging any given 00 at random. Every 00 in Relic basically behaves the same way and as there really is no other way to interrogate a 00 target hit to differentiate one 00 from another 00 (most every 00 in Relic is silent in a "discrimination" program such as Deep HC (i.e., any program other than Goldfield or Relic)) I'd simply rather just notch 00 out and be done with it. Thus giving my ears a break. I also typically run with (Iron Audo Reject (IAR) at 5 in Relic. IAR does not silence 00 or ferrous IDs above 00. so that is why 00 notch is great. With IAR engaged, I still get "iron" volume for targets that ID above 0 and less than about 10. Oddly, even with IAR, 00 hits still sound off with non-ferrous pitch audio in Relic (and also presumably also in Gold Field). Why IAR doesn't make 00 audio sound off as iron audio like the other ferrous IDs ABOVE 00 is weird, but 00 notch takes care of it so I don't really care and can ignore that quirk. HTH

I do use permetherin - it works well to repel ticks and you don’t have to put poison directly on your skin. When I need to apply repellant directly to my skin I use Natrapel which uses Picardin. I don’t have experience with Deep Woods Off V Ticks, sorry, but if it contains between 20 to 30% DEET by volume as advertised, it should be a very effective repellant. See this “Prevention” article for more info on effective repellent active ingredients (DEET, Picardin, Eucalyptus Oil, etc.) and suggested products. Note Off Deep Woods Insect Repellant V (essentially the same product you mentioned above), is highly rated for effectiveness in this article. https://www.prevention.com/health/a22095155/best-tick-repellents/

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. 😉

Hey, don’t sleep on those dollarcoins either DD. Pulled one the other day that I thought was going to be a quarter. Nice surprise, (though I would have preferred gold, but the beach was having none of that. ) Hope you caught the comment above, but just a reminder to call out the built-in program (e.g., General, Sensitive, Deep HC, Beach etc.) that serves the basis for whatever custom program settings you are creating and sharing as two programs with identical custom user adjustable settings can behave very differently depending on whether you are using Deep HC or Beach starting point, as an example.

Yep. Like I said, I prefer my eyes and ears to do the notching, not the machine. I like the Deus 2 BC filter implementation so far, but it’s not a notch, you can still hear the jacked up audio it produces and make the determination yourself whether to scoop it or not. Bottom line, the Deus 2 gives you a lot of options to use as you see fit to suit your particular needs and style. At this point, I applaud D2 and other modern detectors that give you the capabilities and options to allow you rather than the manufacturer to decide on what filter features and enhancements you want to utilize.

Just to clarify, it’s not Aaron’s program it’s a a YT guy named Diggin Dude. His notch only goes to 40 (7 to 40 w/disc at 7) so all the above targets would have been captured if they rang up the same on Sense FT with the above lower notch settings. If you’re using Beach or Beach sense in saturated salt sand the TIDs above might be different in Sense FT on a non-salt beach. Experimentation is key. DD set Upper Notch from 84-93 which I agree would filter out chunky gold and also small silver. I’m really not a fan of high TID notches of any sort for the above reasons. Also wary of low notches too. Just set your visual discriminator to filter out scooping TIDs less than 40 unless the FT audio is really good. DD’s BC reject @ 4 is a bit aggressive, too, IMO. BC at 3 pretty much takes care of business and minimizes the risk of pushing smaller deep gold into ferrous audio. FWIW

Yep. Neither will I. 0.71 seems like a keeper. But it's a good safety blanket in the event something pops up weird like with ver .70. Screenshot might help someone else who doesn't know they can roll back like drive-by poster kriticalj above...

So when you click that down arrow, 0.6 doesn't show up like below?

Looks like he is using Sensitive FT (P3) as his base program based on the screenshot below: Kind of an important factoid to leave out after DD went to all the trouble to make the video. Personally, not a fan of the upper notch. Potentially leaving smaller silver jewelry in the ground. Otherwise, glad Aaron posted the link.

Strange. I just updated to 0.71 on another machine today and I still had the option to revert to 0.6.

From p.43 of the manual. 9" 345g, 11" 470g, 13x11" 570g

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.

Testing for learning optimal settings and especially “day of hunt” tuning to local conditions is a lot different than the ad nauseum comparative testing to determine detector superiority (in my opinion mostly a waste of my time to do and a waste of my time to watch). I agree with testing and experimentation to advance proficiency with a machine’s capabilities. Since F350 is my frequent detecting partner, I know EXACTLY where he is coming from with his “I’m not big on testing…” statement. Detecting time to me is like valued treasure in itself. Since some people do value my opinion on newly released detectors, I will begrudgingly do controlled testing to collect performance data if asked, but it bores me to tears. My reviews on detectors are more informed by in the field swing hours and natural conditions than by test garden tests. I utilize a test garden primarily for operational go-no go hardware checks, new detector familiarization, and tuning; to determine if updates have gross performance bugs; or to do crude comparative testing. In the field, I’ll use test targets for tuning of some settings, but that’s about it.

Agree, no need to hear it all if you simply want to hear that you are swinging over "typical" iron. In Full Tones (FT), -6.4 can be overkill and will result in hearing micro iron and ceramics and perhaps even ground noise (but if you need to hear that stuff, that's why -6.4 is available). And as noted, if you set disc too high (above 3 to 5) you will completely lose iron tones in Full Tones. There is no disc iron volume above that maximum disc setting unlike when using Pitch or Multi Tones (2,3,4,5 tones). When using Full Tones in a program, I set disc anywhere from -2 to +2 to limit the iron "noise" and impact on non-ferrous TID down-averaging but still enable some iron to be heard to know I am near a former structure or place of human habitation In vers 0.71, XP enhanced the FT non-discriminated iron volume and allows you to adjust that volume but you can only hear the iron you don't discriminate out. Really wish they implemented iron volume in FT the way they did it with Pitch and Multitones where you can adjust the vo.ume level of the discriminated iron. Still experimenting with optimum disc settings in full tones. I use PCM full tones more as a target interrogation tool than as a pure search mode because the FT audio is so expressive and reactive to the nature and shape of the target, it gives you a good feel if you are swinging over non-symmetric, non-round targets like can slaw, high tid aluminum cans (distorted, "hollow" audio compared to the PCM FT "Sonar Ping" sound of a coin, button or ring), bent tabs, etc. that can ring up with gold or silver coin IDs and that sound pretty good in multi tones, or pitch (especially with Square wave audio). HTH

It's all spelled out on p. 24.

Agree with using a BT adapter to make the lite setup wireless. However, the specs for the Ugreen BT adapter you are using in your photo do not appear to support APTX low latency or any other comparable low latency codec (e.g., LLDC)). I would highly recommend only using a BT receiver/transmitter and BT wireless headphone pair that supports APTX LL (low latency) which tops out at 40 ms latency or a functionally equivalent low latency BT codec or a proprietary low latency wireless audio system (from Garrett, Quest, or Minelab to name a few brands) designed specifically for metal detecting. Higher latencies (>40 ms) in wireless audio are very noticeable when swinging the coil at normal rates and show the target signal linearly offset from its actual position due to the wireless audio signal delay (latency), making them basically unsuitable for metal detecting use. FWIW

Read p. 24 of the manual for the process for resetting any of the 4 custom user profiles to factory default settings.

Updated Legend twice with no issue using an AMD Ryzen CPU laptop.

Well I wholeheartedly agree with you. Erik. Foil is evil and it is a cruel joke of the detecting gods that aluminum and gold sound and ID so similarly. I also agree this is not about which detector is better, Erik. I have both D2 and Equinox and the both excel at different things, that's why I have and continue to use both. Definitely not trying to retrace any path. I simply misunderstood in your post when you said "it sounds good" as meaning you had trouble differentiating foil from gold audibly and were looking for tips. Not just simply lamenting about having to dig Easter candy foil wrappers. My bad. I was just trying to throw out some suggestions on settings that I have recently discovered to be of benefit in this regard. Just thought I would provide my thoughts based on a very recent beach run where it was very noticeable to me the stark difference in audio feedback and TID diffentiation in the mid conductor range between two popular detectors and, in fact, the difference between discrete 5 tone audio, pitch audio, and full tone audio settings on the D2. Was digging it all and after the most recent update and was blown away by the experience because I have relatively little beach experience with anything other than my Nox and it was very apparent full tones on D2 contained very expressive audio information on foils and aluminum vs any other audio mode on the D2 or Nox. Well I am embarrassed to admit that I can't easily tell foil from gold in terms of audio or TID on my Nox detector (foil freshness seals are especially troublesome as they sound great and ring up a solid 7 on my other detector and there are a hell of a lot more freshness seals than gold rings but a lot of gold rings show up between 7 and 12 on my Nox). The expanded TID range on my other detector gave me more differentiation as I was digging it all and comparing trash to actual gold ring test targets of various sizes and weights. At the end of the day, for me, those trash targets were noticeably easier to call with one detector in full tones vs. the other detector regardless of its settings. With generally lower IDs and gnarly audio than the good targets, the D2 excelled. I mainly search in Beach with pitch tones which will give a good sounding, attention grabbing tone when acquiring just about any non-ferrous target while walking about. If the target is in the foil/gold range I shift into the adjacent custom program which is also Beach with all settings the same except tones are selected as full tones. This target interrogation approach results in audio that gives me a better sense of tonal nuance and distortion that might indicate foil trash vs. gold treasure. At least at that point I can make a dig decision that is informed by some additional clues and can decide to play the odds (if pressed for time), or Scoop it and move on. If you don’t scoop it though, your absolutely right, no detector audio or TID scheme can give you 100% assurance you didn’t just leave gold in the ground. If I’m going to scoop it no matter what, at least I can set expectations accordingly put myself in the frame of mind that what I am scooping is likely trash, so I’m less prone to disappointment. 🤔 FWIW So kudos to you Erik that you are able to call and pick out the foil with both detectors (but still don't leave it up to chance by digging it all anyway despite the frequent frustration). I'm not an avid beach detectorist. Mostly a land hunter for relics on sites that don't typically have a lot of modern non-ferrous trash unlike beaches and parks. You’ve probably dug more rings than I’ve dug beach foil trash since the beaches of your island are available day in and day out. I have to drive an hour to get to a bay beach and nearly 3 hours to get to an ocean beach. Guess I'm more reliant on the beach newb assist features of the D2 than more skilled and experienced beach detectorists such as yourself. If not helpful for you, Erik, maybe the post of what I personally found to give me an edge on dreaded beach foil will be of use to someone else who is also struggling with foils. Cheers and Happy hunting.

I find APTX LL Auto Noise Cancelling (ANC) do a good job of knocking down wind and surf noise on the beach. Here are some options: I use these APTX LL noise cencelling headpones and they are excellent under windy conditions due to their switchable Automatic Noise Cancelling (ANC) and have great audio fidelity and tonal range. A little pricey but you get what you pay for. Avantree Aria Me Personalized Audio Noise Cancelling Bluetooth Headphones with Charging Stand & Microphone, aptX HD & Low Latency, Enhanced Volume Clear Voice Wireless Headset for Music, Call, Seniors https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083FTNG3Z/ Great budget ANC APTX LL headset with not quite as effective ANC as the Avantree with decent audio FALWEDI Active Noise Cancelling Headphones Apt-X CVC8.0 48H Music Playtime Wireless Bluetooth Headphones with Microphone Type-c Fast Charging Deep Bass Over Ear Headset for Travel/Work, Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085DKHY5K/ Middle of the Road APTX LL ANC Phones, priced accordingly: Paww WaveSound 3 Bluetooth 5.0 Headphones – Active Noise Cancelling Headphones / 16-Hour Battery Life with Precision-Engineered Sound/Foldable Travel Headphones & Over-Ear Headphones (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IEHIMLY/