Deus 2 Review For Salt Beach Hunters

Hope not to wander. Going to break it down to the actual machine, working the machine, and conditions. All to be applied to saltwater use.

The physical machine: This machine is not Salt Water usable and users will find several components unacceptable.

Detector rod, D- The only reason it did not get an F is because it is usable on the wet and dry sand. The rod flexes too much with ANY kind of water contact. In larger waves it is completely unusable and will vibrate if the wave wash has enough force. It is almost impossible to center targets in wave wash. Surf hunters will need a different rod.
Detector pod B, seems well built. But could use bigger numbers, which they are working on.

11" coil D, What part do manufactures not understand about rear mounted coils. The rear mounted coil is harder to hunt and is not weighted correctly when the mount is not in the center. The taller you are the worse this condition is. STOP offsetting coil mounts to the rear of the coil.

Wireless WS6 Headphones F- These headphones are the biggest hunk of junk I have ever seen. Uncomfortable, poor fit, wind and noise walks in right into your ears. not one beach hunter will find these acceptable.

Antenna connection, coil to pod ??? While the connection seemed to be fine just after a few days of hunting water seeped into the cable at the coil and a discoloration started [rust colored]

Live environment testing and comparing to the Equinox.
Over 5 days we spent many hours going after the meat and potatoes. Getting the Deus to identify Nonferrous targets the will not Tid. All of the factory Beach programs WILL NOT go deeper than the Equinox. AGAIN, ALL for the factory preset Beach modes will not go deeper than the Equinox.
It was not until the user who is an experienced Deus 1 user started to customize programs did we see equality in nonferrous targets that will not Tid. All of that can be found here: [www.detectorprospector.com]

Other operating important issues to detectorists:

EMI: In both of the beach locations we hunted there is EMI from communication's equipment present. At both places the EMI did not seem to have any effect on the Deus 2. However, with how crappy the headphones are I can not be 100% sure. But pretty sure!

Hunting in active wave wash, air-entrained fast water : Looks like an area where the Deus will excel. I was surprised how the Deus was unaffected by the amount or speed of moving Salt Water. The signal reports were unwavering, and recovery in difficult conditions will be much easier with the Deus. [once a appropriate detector rod is used]

Wet sand/Black Sand: Found the unit to be stable and huntable in the conditions we had at both beaches. Both the Equinox and Deus could run a similar sensitivity settings. Nothing abnormal to report here. The Deus worked like a multi frequency machine should at the beach.

TID function: It seems the Equinox and Deus are close in losing a TID on a target at about the same depth. Users should not expect to squeeze much more out of the Tid function.

Final: It was disappointing that the only time I tested the Deus was in fast water testing. But the incompetence of the headphones was too much for me to overcome [shaft too]. I would of not really been able to learn anything from a new machine with the headphones supplied.
I have big issues with the cost of this detector being what it is and not have a unit be huntable to my standards. For me, hunting the wave wash is important. But it will be sometime before I purchase one as I do not see that big of a separation in machines for the wet sand. Hopefully aftermarket shaft makers can step up to the plate. HH from the beach! Your results may and will vary.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2022 03:44AM by midalake.

141 views and no comments???

Why have we not seen any test videos with the Equinox running in Horseshoe mode? Which is the best and deepest mode to run in on the beach?

Now 414 views.

Repost, for some. Before Tom gets his free detector. For jmaryt, too.

I'm in Fiji with my Deus 2 right now. Waves are a problem with the WS6, because they don't cup your ears and let environmental sound get in. I have never liked them, and agree with how uncomfortable they are, but they do have the advantage of being used with a full brim hat (I like to wear one to keep the sun off of my neck). I'm in line for the WS7 headphones when they come out. I have the WS5 for my original Deus, and they are awesome. I expect great sound with the new ones, when they are available.

I tried using the bone conducting headphones, and they failed miserably. But that was my fault. I did not plug my ears, so all of the wave noise drowned out (no pun intended) the tones. I expect that if I put plugs in, they will work as expected, and I plan to try that tomorrow.

So far, I'm very much enjoying the Deus 2 at the beach. Maybe it doesn't go deeper than they Nox (I love mine!), and the headphones aren't the best for this environment, but it's very compact, light weight, and a pleasure to use on the beaches. No gold yet, but it's just a matter of time, I figure.

Thanks for the review it makes me happy that I chose the Legend instead of the Deus 2. I do still have my Deus 1 and use it from time to time.

It's actually refreshing to see somebody give a formulated review in their own words and findings! So many are just parrots to what they have read or heard other people say...in other words, just repeating what other people have said and then THAT becomes their view also.

I've not had the D2 on salt or even freshwater beaches yet. In comparison to the Equinox, I personally didn't particularly like it on saltwater beaches. I favored the CTX over it. I have saw some videos on the D2 in wet sand and it looked impressive to me but I've not personally had mine on one. I do know on land, the D2 is deeper than what I remember the Nox being which is quite good. I can see the headphones being an issue at the beach. I have the bone conduction headphones but haven't tried them yet. Is your opinion still the same after any of the updates and more time on it?