Johnny Phoenix

I have a couple of these: Soil knife They’ve held up well and don’t draw too much attention when in public spaces. They are good for making surgical cuts in turf. Had a Fiskars version, but it snapped at the hilt.

I was diving on a site they called “The Wall” which is basically where the Caribbean ends and the Atlantic begins. I was down around 120’ where I found several 6’ barracuda in canyons pointing out towards a steep 4,000 foot drop. It was about then that I realized anything could rise from the depths and lunch me in an instant. I completed the dive without incident, but have never forgotten that feeling of being the prey vs the predator.

I’ve been using FAST almost exclusively with a variation of the GENERAL program being my “check” program. I guess I’ll have to try general more often. Looks like you’ve made a case!

Let me add one thing to this discussion, if you have a cat, permethrin is highly toxic to them. It’s said to be safe(ish?) once it has dried and bonded to clothing, but in its liquid form it’s a hazard. Dogs seem unaffected. I know birds are unaffected too, as treating feathers of young birds is how they can be protected from avian black flies when working with imperiled species. I spray the inside of my birdhouses prior to nesting season and it significantly cuts dow on parasites in the nest.

I work in and around one of the Lyme Disease epicenters in the US. Having had Lyme perhaps half a dozen times, I’ve done some experiments. My current system is full coverall’s treated with Sawyer permethrin. I also treat my socks. This setup is highly effective. Since adopting it, I have not contracted Lyme. I also use Sawyer picaridin as a spray on when mosquitoes are bad (La Crosse encephalitis, West Nile, Zika…). We also have a recent emergence of Lone Star ticks, which I have personally collected a few. Lastly, in the rare event I find a tick on myself, carefully remove it (duh!) and take two doxycycline as a prophylactic. The system I use has prevented any tick-borne diseases since I fully implemented it.

I did some work for the sheriffs department a number of years ago and it was the worst. Since I was searching for larger items, the amount of junk I dug up was nuts! Did find one item of evidence, but the whole experience was unfulfilling. Thankfully I lived in a low-crime county, and the need for my skills didn’t happen again before I moved. Nowadays I keep my mouth shut when I learn there’s a potential metal object law enforcement is searching for.

Yeah, that FAST program in trash is something else. I'm sure it's not perfect, but I'm left feeling like it hit (and ID'd) every detectable target in a given area. I can't say the same for the Nox. The Nox always left me feeling I need to try again with a different mode or a different coil. With the D2, it tells you there's something there and you need to make the final decision whether to dig it or not. I imagine it will only get better as I gain experience and the firmware is further refined.

My concern there is an insurance company seeing the item and try to recover their loss. I've never found a high value jewelry item, but I'd be inclined to keep it to myself...that is until my wife or daughters discover it, and they choose to keep it for themselves.

I ordered one and it arrived yesterday. It seems well constructed and the XPD2 fits nicely. More of a minimalist design as opposed the the 280, but it will work perfect for my intended use: riding my Yamaha TW200 motorcycle to access remote detecting sites.

Waiting patiently for the group consensus before implementing this update. Feeling more like an immigrant than a pioneer this evening...

Similar observations as well. For me the first hour of use was a bit vague while trying all the different programs. Once I learned what it was telling me, I was on board! I'm coming from the Nox as well, and the D2 is far easier to use now that I have some hours and set up some custom programs. Yeah, the headphones are "different" but I've gotten used to them. I have the Gray Ghost for Deus headphones that I've used once, but I'm okay with the WS6. I can only see my proficiency improving and the software refinements making this a great platform moving forward. Once the additional coils come out, this will be a real beast!!! Now if they ever get that XP Go Terrain app out there, that would be icing on the cake!

Plan on updating this evening when the wind dies down. I'm half worried were going to lose power: sustained 30's gusting into the 50's

I preface by saying I'm in the learning phase like nearly everyone else. I have a program I set up that notches out everything from 8-58 and 66-78. I based it off of a suggestion of another member here, but not the life of me can't remember his user name. Anyway, I call the program PIGBANK and it's based on FAST with the above notches, 6.8 discrimination, 3 Recovery, bottle cap reject of 4(?) That range covers everything from IHP up to large silver. Iron still sounds off, so it's an indicator how contaminated the ground is. If I have any complaint on the D2, its how compressed the 'good" coin area is, 89-95 and more narrowly 91-93, where I've found pennies, dimes, and quarters in. 85 or so for zinc. Has an early wheat come in at a 79, but was using 40kHz due to electric cattle fence interference. Putting it into practice, I look for a small, clean, consistent tone and use the ID do make the final decision to dig. If you slowly pass the coil over a target, you will hear an uneven audio response on junk targets. Since the machine doesn't overload on cans, size and ID in relation to proximity are some clues. A near-surface quarter will not change ID much as you raise the coil several inches. A can, on the other hand will change 3-4 ID points depending on how close you are to it, as well as still sound off with the coil 10" or more above it. Also, a slow sweep will indicate how large it is. Deeper cans are a little harder, and I've dug a 15" hoping for a reward. Nickels are the hard one for me, as they ring up 63-4 but sometime sound broken like aluminum scrap, beaver tails, and some pull tabs. The third part is amplitude. The deeper coins have all been notably quieter, but still gave a usable ID. This is for coin shooting in busy/very busy ground: heavy discrimination; listen for a clear, clean sound; small target footprint; check ID as final step. I only have a dozen hours on this machine due to inclement weather, but I can already tell the D2 is going to be a great addition to my detector collection. I'm not at all concerned if it's the deepest: it's light and super easy to swing, portable, really fast in trash, and highly adaptable. I'm not going to get rid of my other detectors, as they all have their strong points, but the Nox may have just become the new loaner, which was the F75's job until a couple of weeks ago... JP

I've settled into FAST, which is just SENSITIVE with Pitch mode square tones and Reactivity of 3. I'm mostly coin-shooting in modern parks just to learn the D2's nature right now. I've used DEEP HC and RELIC and found a couple of silvers at my roadside carnival, but those modes are only practical on a less polluted site. Get into aluminum trash and you're in for mental overload. I can't tell silver from clad since they seem to ID in the same area. Perhaps with experience there will be some kind of audio tell. JP

I was a windy day; it was a blah day... $1.93 in clad and a tiny buckle. 😐

I found one of those sites close to home, so yeah...

I had pretty good luck with the D2 running Relic mode today. Found 2 silver Rosies and 3 wheaties on a site that I've hit pretty hard with the Nox 800 and Fisher F75, even had a friend out with a CTX 3030. I dug a few nails and other iron garbage, but I more or less knew it was garbage before digging, and only dug them for confirmation. Good targets ranged from 5" (dime on edge) down to 9" on one of the pennies. The more I use this machine, the more I like it. I can't say I have a favorite mode yet, but Fast is working well for me. Now that the weather is improving in my neck of the woods, I hope to get out and see what the D2 can really do for me. JP

Interesting you say that. The 1916 penny came up around 78-79 while using 40kHz on the D2. It sounded clean and had a small "presentation" which suggested a good target. It's yet another example that target ID alone doesn't always tell the full story, especially when working in degraded conditions.

I received my Deus II on Tuesday and took it out yesterday (Friday) for a couple of hours. The first site I've hammered to death with F75, Nox 800, even had a CTX3030 on it. No EMI problems there, only managed to find a single clad dime. Next went to an old schoolhouse foundation with a high-tension electric cattle fence: EMI was off the charts! This site is notorious for this problem and I've had the same issue with every other detector here. I was hoping the D2 would do better, but not the case. At least I answered that question. Now, how did tame the machine somewhat? I tried all the different modes with little change. I reduced sensitivity down to around 60 which helped somewhat. I increased reactivity to 5 which helped even more, but that just didn't seem like I was getting good depth, although I found some ridiculous small foil bits. Finally I put the machine in Mono mode and found the 40kHz frequency to mostly ignore the fence pulses. I searched and area I had been over with the Nox a dozen times or more and found a 1916 wheat cent. Last week, and a park in a nearby town, I had major EMI issues with the Nox and ended up running 40kHz on that to tame it as well. So perhaps not optimal, 40kHz seems to be a frequency to mitigate bad EMI. I plan to try it a several known EMI locations if it ever stops snowing. JP

Mine arrived last evening, and although I've not been able to get out with it yet, I did give it a good shake and it seems solid to me. I have the 9" coil. It wouldn't be all that difficult to line the interior with a section of round CF if I thought it flexed too much. I guess field experience will tell. JP

Got my shipping notification late Thursday for Tuesday delivery: Deus II for Tuesday!!! Of course, we've fallen into fifth winter around here with nighttime temps in the teens and daytime in the 30's. Life on the tundra... JP

Now if the Deus II would just ship out (to the rest of us) we could stop arguing the virtues of the 9" vs 11" coil and just go detecting! Oh, and I sorta need the ground to thaw... JP

Looking at the diving shaft, it looks like a piece of extruded plastic with two end caps. Probably wouldn't take too much effort to pop one end off, cut it to length, and have the perfect custom rod. At least that's what I would do if I ever get my machine... JP

According to, ahem, Calabash, there's a dive-specific shaft in the works: Dive shaft announcement JP

Occasionally a galena specimen and old mining junk. Most are now pastures and the piles have trees growing out of them. I hate to refer to the geology around here as "boring" but it is. It dates from the Ordovician (460 Ma) so its basically limestone and sandstone with few interesting fossils. The topography on the other hand, is kinda cool. It's called the Driftless Area because it remained unglaciated during the last several Ice Ages. Lots of hills and valleys, steep bluffs, a number of trout streams, etc. The only lakes (with beaches) in the area are in state parks and those are off limits to detectorists. In fact most state property is off limits. Some yahoo's were selling Copper Culture artifacts on eBay a number of years ago. They claimed the were from the area near Copper Culture State Park. The park managers we alerted to this and upon inspection, numerous dig hole were found in off-trail sections. This eventual led to restrictions on all DNR managed property, although there was an exemption for prospecting with a metal detector for gold. A copy of that memo was on the WDNR website but I've not been able to find in recently. Dane County, the most liberal and restrictive county as some would say, has a permit system. It's free, and is valid for three years. You can detect their parks and properties, just don't trash the place, and only use a hand trowel. I don't hunt there very often unless I'm meeting a friend that lives in that area. They have a few beaches, but the get hit rather hard by the locals. JP