Rutus Versa First Hunts & Thoughts

[JCR]

 I received my Versa 10/02. Only 12 days shipping from the UK.  After a few hours of use in the test garden & on the bench it became very comfortable and surprisingly familiar. The UI is fairly simple & effective, the in ground performance is on par with my other top machines. The headphones are the best I have used.   On to the field....

 My first hunt with the Versa was on the site I recently dug a nice local token, 2 Eagle buttons and some other nice older small finds. The ground is red maghemite with lots of small & mid size iron. A 2 wire powerline runs right over the area I was searching.  I used the smaller DD23(9") coil. I hunted awhile in each of the available modes; Field, Park & Beach. I left Disc at 0 but adjusted around on Reaction, Masking, Tones, Iron Volume and Sensitivity. EMI was somewhat problematic in Multifrequency but raising the Masking setting really helped quiet it down with out seeming to lose inground performance. The EMI Preview Screen is very interesting & useful. I was able to switch to a Single frequency then run almost wide open with lower Masking too. The ground changes a good bit in this site, but keeping the Versa properly Ground Balance was not hard to do.  Falseing from the small iron was not a problem. The Versa handles this perhaps better than any of my other detectors. Iron of all sizes was readily identifiable. Big deep iron was easy to tell. It wasn't till after my hunt that I realized that I had not been fooled by a single nail.     Co located target performance is very good. Most all of the targets I dug had iron in the hole or very near under the coil. Some were quite small mid conductor non ferrous items like the 7/16" brass washer and 1" long .84 gram Silver watch bezel piece and plated brass zipper pull. The real eyeopener was a big iron signal that had a consistent high tone "false". It turned up as a large iron Tee valve with a 2" iron pipe stud on one end and a brass coupling on the other with a brass valve stem in the center. That is about as collocated as it gets.  The other unmasking surprise was a smaller mixed signal that was the small handle artifact.  It is an embossed brass covering of a solid iron core, and marked "Eagle Pencil Co. USA  P". As best I can research it is the handle of a pencil sharpening knife sold by that firm. It is quite old and probably was included in someone's writing box.  The other notable find was the strap end of a brass spur, the second one I have found on this site.  The brass frame is from a box camera, also fairly old.  A good first hunt with the Versa.

 My second hunt the next morning was on a different site, close by, where I recently dug the percussion revolver combination tool. It has the same type of soil but the small iron & nails are much denser & in a much more decomposed state. In other words the small iron falsing is constant.  Here, I did get fooled some at first by small crating nails & bits trying to dig iffy signals. In the photo are some examples. Beach mode helped a lot with it's Bottle Cap filter but the EMI is terrible here and Multi frequency really limits usable sensitivity. I ended up running in Field at 7.8 kHz for most of the time.    I have 2,  6" test coins here. They are very difficult targets for all of my detectors. The Versa did as well as any of my other machines. I am still searching for a way to really open sites like this up. More testing is needed.  I did end up with 2 decent finds that I am sure I have been over before multiple times, a .32 cal Rim fire case marked U for Union Metallic Cartridge and a 1945 P war Nickle.  Overall I am pleased with the new Versa. It will be a useful addition to the units I already have The Dual Modes and All Metal mode will need to be learned on quieter sites.  Rutus is already testing some improvements & additions for the Versa.

[JCR]

I went back to the same site yesterday afternoon for a few hours. I used the stock 11" DD 28 coil this time and worked around the edges of the busy area I had hunted this past weekend. I made some adjustment to my prior settings that @EL NINO77 suggested to me. Mainly in setting the Versa's Hot Rock adjustment to +1. This noticeable improved deeper target acquisition, audio & TID in this mineralized Maghemite red dirt.  I have a test bed on this site, planted in June of this year, so not really even settled in yet. 6" & 8" small coins & 10" 2.5"X3" brass clock frame. All hit fair to good. The 10" clock frame hits hard. This is in Field mode, reaction 3, Masking high enough to mitigate EMI so as to run Sensitivity near max. Both Multi & 10.8 kHz, which is what I hunted in. Ended up digging several iron contaminated targets( fired Round Ball, shotshell head, brass strips) that I am sure I have been over before with other units. Also several composite targets(lead headed nail, small thin tin cap w/iron stud) that should have been found already. Each trip I try to dig some interesting sounding big iron. This time included a iron band for a wooded wagon wheel hub that was 16+" down in the red clay soil. That will work for me. I have not even really hunted with the Dual modes yet.

[Rick N. MI]

Sounds like a good detector. Nice relic hunt.

[Van Rijn Stewart]

Any updates on the versa JCR Thanks 

[JCR]

Rutus released new software for the Versa & I updated my unit Saturday 12/02. The Wi Fi update process was very easy & efficient. The new software is NC, version 2.44. The NC stands for New Concept, The detector's behavior & performance in Iron is on a different level than before. It is hard for me to gage the level of improvement yet. The Versa's iron handling & unmasking was very, very good before NC. It is now even better but I have not run it enough yet to know how or why.  There is something very different going on. The update included quite a few new setting adjustments. Some are aimed at Iron/mineral performance, quite a few are audio related. The unit is now much more flexible & customizable for both the operator & ground/site conditions. It will take some time for me to get a good handle on this revised platform.

 Meanwhile, I have about 5 hours in my test gardens and 4+ hours hunt time on the NC 2.44. Both hunts where on my favorite red dirt mineral site with the history back to the 1840s. I have hunted this site for almost 4 years with every machine I have. In fact I purchased the Vista X & Tarsacci for this & similar sites. I have done very well in spite of the tough conditions. I posted above my first hunts here with the Versa & introductory software V1.74. The new NC is going to make the Versa what I had hoped for, if I can master it.

 The photos are the real keepers of 25 additional Non ferrous targets. Also some decent Iron relics to clean up. Only a few bigger/bent nails & flat iron pieces dug learning the new target response. All the iron was deep. Most of the Non ferrous was either small( or very small ) or had some good depth. Most sounded somewhat iffy. ALL had plenty of iron in the hole. Every one was from a hard hunted area.  There is a lot more testing to do, and hunting.

 The button is cuff size, Boy Scout. Lipstick tube & Common Sense cuff sleeve holder(used by Card sharks to hideout a card) Patent date Dec 29. 1885.

DD23 coil, Park mode, Multifrequency FL(low conductor}. mid range(5-6}Reaction speed, Disc 0, Iron Filter mostly 0.

 

[Doc Bach]

Excellent finds JCR....I like the Boy Scouts button very much, but the hideout card sleeve holder is at a diffirent level altogether. It looks very familiar to me and it conjurs up memories that I may have found one sometime in my long career, but I doubt it? Great collectables.

[JCR]

Thanks Doc. The Scout button is pretty neat, probably late Teens, and special for me as I spent a lot of time going to Cub & Boy Scout meetings with my son, who is an Eagle Scout, and my grandsons.   The Common Sense sleeve clip use was a surprise. My wife Googled it and found some exactly like it; For Sale. They must still work.  I enjoy cleaning/restoring the interesting items as much as finding them. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-common-sense-pat-1885-cuff-412324584

The lipstick case is an early one. No markings. Heavy brass with some of the Black Japanning still on it.

[JCR]

I spent a few hours going back over some of the ground where the Versa previously found some additional targets with Disc set at 0, this time in 1 Tone, Disc at -5.  I found a fair number of additional non ferrous targets with these settings including a fire damaged Wheat Cent & very small pieces of a plated watch bezel. The area is a carpet of small to mid size iron at 3-7 inches depth. I was not bothered by any additional tendency to dig unknown iron with Disc at -5. In fact, I don't think I dug any iron by accident. The brass harness buckle with the very corroded iron pin still attached is a good target in my book, as is the shirt size iron backed brass button I dug.  This is really no different than running the Legend in 2 tone with the first tone break at 7. It works very well.   Still more to learn & find.

[George Kinsey]

Glad to hear it works well for you. George

[JCR]

I took a couple of hours late this afternoon to enjoy the fine weather and run the Versa on some well searched ground. I am to the point to where I feel very comfortable with the machine, but I am still trying to learn the finer points of some of the settings. These were dug along & beside the old road on the same site as the previous posts in this thread. Field mode, Multi Low conductors, Hot Rock adjustment maxed out @10. Small target Boost 30, Iron filter 0. DD23 coil.  I dug no unknown iron other than 2 small pieces of thin rusty wire & they were suspect.

Brass latch with Patent dates May 84, 86 & 88, .38 Short Rimfire case head stamped H(Winchester), harmonica reed pieces, .45cal rifle ball & O buckshot. The iron index key is quite old.