Vista Gold Field Test

Hey jim ..I have had machine's that will worry you death on small stuff...the DTVG does see small stuff yet is not overly reactive to it like a dedicated high gain gold machine ..I find that pleasing for relic hunting....

I have ben thinking about the DTVG's depth in bad dirt...

And I think it has alot to do with the ground balance system is it using...it's a inconventional type for the most part..Work's well and actually cover's a wide area.yet I dont think it will work on saltwater beach?....I think it takes alot of the GMP idea's into the design...yet the audio is a bit more conveying more analog to me, but I like both ...

But the depth seems to be had in the dirt were the GB setting is critical .....a hair either way and it will tone change on you....It could very well be that the object in the ground throws the tone reading high low by the ground setting touchyness...the more range you have in the mild ground before the tone moves like mild dirt does,It might not alllow for the subtle alert's... too much dead band...

Does that make any sense at all?

Probably not, But something is happening for me to see the 12.25" dime and the 13" nickle and be hot on the 2 ft cache...those depths are unheard of in my dirt for the most part...

I even went to my buddys house in some dead red clay and checked his decade old test Garden...same thing I was nailing the deep stuff and his Explorer S.E. was struggling on a deep bullet the explorer we are not sure was hearing the bullet or the noise of the ground.. it was running wide open disc and sens..so it gets talky like that..The bullet is 13 inches...


But I know what I see here in North Ga ...and it's the Honest truth..

But I did not want the DTVG for depth I was looking for unmasking in iron..and thats still the strongpoint..The depth here is a by product it seems...But its quirky depth...you have to Know when and where to run boost and slow together to get the most out of it depth wise...

But goes to show dirt changes everything ...sometimes not textbook ways either,,LOL!!

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 10:11PM by Keith Southern.

I wish there was some way to "rent" detectors instead of buying them, trying them out, and then selling them. I would like to give the Smart and Gold a go. I could take it to two places and be able to tell whether I would keep it or not. With these newer detectors from overseas, it's kind of risky to buy one with hopes of reselling it if you didn't like it.....you just about have to find someone wanting a niche detector in order to move them. Then you just don't know about the longtivity of the machine and such too. Could be here today and gone tomorrow. Then you're just stuck with a machine you gave $800 for but can't even sell for half that with it still new.

Hi Keith,
I'm very much following what you are saying about the GB .....I know that I take a deep breath when GBing with this pot that's in the Gold .....It's not even one turn from negative to positive GB !!!....VERY sensitive ....See if this makes any sense to you .....You were involved in the Cibola GB mod .....What would stop us from installing a GB pot like the one that was used in the Cibola for more turns left / right ? ....... That pot was 3 1/2 turns Left to Rght wasn't it ? ....... The nice depth on the Gold , the nickels , Pull tabs , and other targets in that range ( Pennies on down ) makse complete sense ... ......The Silver ? .......Silver is what makes me go hmmmmmmmm !!!......Going deep on Silver, or anything else in that range just makes no sense to me at all ....... I've owned a lot of machines , just as you have , but NONE of them have made such small targets seem "Larger than life " like this machine has .....at least not in my experiemce with the machines I have owned ...... This machine is going to end up making a 1/2 _ _ _ relic detecorist out of me yet !!...... The thing that sold me on this detector is EXACTLY what you said ....I mentioned it in an earlier thread .....MASKING !!!....That's what has kept me away from many of the forums .....I felt like I was saying the same thing , in different ways , over and over ......Rebadged machines, nothing new except the control order , or a different sounding bell , or whistle ....... Then this new crop of machines from Europe came about with a FRESH /NEW way of looking at targets !!..... Don't the American companies have this kind of knowledge ? ..... Maybe rebadging is a lot more profitable ???....... Switching from Analog to Digital surely is !!!!....... Very few new CZ's .......Very few Sov's .....All the good machines are getting fazed out ....... As I said way back a few months ago ...I'm going back to the older Amalog mentality ....Back when detectors were tools and not toys !!...... Jim

I do know one thing, I get tired of digging .22 bullets at 8" that sound like they are on top of the ground!!!. A 3 ringer at 10" sounds like a can too, maybe I need to turn down the sens? I run it at max gain..............Mark

Thats the way I like to run mine Mark wide open sens...

Yes a 10 inch bullet does bang out......

I am glad you said that...I was starting to worry people might think I was off my rocker talking about the depth...LOL!!

I have dug some 13"-14 " that were pretty sweet sounding....

On the ultra small stuff it is not as hot as the high gain fast sat dedicated detector's...But it is hot on the 22 Hulls and p-caps at depth..And

Stuff we the relic hunter encounter's everyday....it as hot on small stuff as I want it to be...Depth would fall off quickly if it got too sensitive to the wire gold...

and yes it will dig .22 lead very deep and they will sound like a deep large civil war bullet...till you get used to the audio then you can tell its a small deep object....it takes awhile to become accustom to the way the audio sizes..


Hey Jim...

Yes i have thought of replacing all the pots with metal post..but they are working for now...a 10 turn like on the cibola would be sweet for the bad dirt ....

But for now I am just going to enjoy the hunt...LOL!!

Its nice to go back to spots and dig stuff you have missed wiht some other machine's...Very encourahing...

Not sure why the American manufacturer's wont build us a machine like Europe does...I guess they think no money in it..

I think they underestimate the hunter...

I thunk they need to look past it as a simple hobby and more as a life long pursuit for us the detectorist..

Still though I buy what works till something else does better...Its a tool not a toy!

Keith

Nice post JIm. The US co's are dumping the good ones for cheap digital and it makes me sick. I can't speak for the gold but I had a chance to play with the smart for a little bit earlier and so far I am impressed. The US detector mfrs need to take notice of what's getting imported now. They might all learn (or relearn) a thing or two. I can't see myself spending any more $ on another rebadged high dollar US unit. I can see the smart taking over for the deus as my main squeeze in the heavy iron. No mental fatigue, fast, powerful, simple, great audio, and most of all I ran it full sensitivity and not even a hint of chatter under power lines!
should make for an interesting year in this hobby.

Gentleman this is why i love these deep tech machines simplicity............ with tones that are very easy to at least my ears to understand now i've probably asked this question before but tone and depth quality how would one rate against a machine like a nautilus? i've yet to try one but i've had some guys tell me there not a silver hunter really, don't know?

Brandon, From my experience with the Nautilus, IIB & IIba, any of the 2 tone Vistas are light years ahead. With that said, Nautilus would be a great company to get on board with this new analog tech from overseas. Never did understand why Nautilus never had a DD coil, they would of been awsome with one for bad ground....Mark

The nautilus prefers good dirt ...It will get excellent depth on all condcutor's....

if you have hot dirt the all metal side will blow back on you constantly...

The depth comes form the all metal running in unison with the disc mode....

The faint all metal hits that jsust barely ping on the disc side or stay quite is where the extra depth comes from...it lets you know theres signals there at the edge of depth or just out of range of the disc...

its a battery hog...4 nine volt's last about 10 hours....

It has great audio...

goes deep in good dirt

you can tell the condcutance of a target by how early the all metla side comes in before the disc side...

all metal one ear, disc other ear...low conductors signal earlier than the disc beep and last after the disc beep..
High conductors are more in unison wiht the all metal and disc about happening at the same time...

mid conductor's come in jsut right after the all metal start's and end jsut before the all metal ends.

not the best picker in iron even though it's on 14kHz...Not anymore anyway's..
The coils have a tendancy to go out of tune about 12-18 months...the neeed to be retuned at the factory...

they are temp sensitive...pull it out of a warm car and hunt in the cold it will false till the temp stabalizes..and vice versa..

also hunt on a hot day in the shade then get the coil in the sun it will act up till the temp gets right on the coil..


Its a full control analog machien wiht a lot of modes like non motion and such..

you tweak on it till you get it running right ...

If coil goes out it wont run right no matter what..
Good to keep extra coils around...

still love them though...but I cant run them but in certian placs in my dirt..you can run them in bad dirt but the power and sens has to be turned back and by that time a lighter less battery consumption machine does better...

I hear they are working on a new light weight version...

No DD's they wont work on the Boost platform...thats what the b means on the model number...and yes it's alot hotter than a standard dmc 2....get the dmc 2b

I dont like the 2ba it has auto coil tune and theres no way to monitor how far out of balance you coil is getting like you can with the manual coil 2b....it has a R & C control that you can watch....2ba does not its auto coil tune...plus the 2ba does not have the sepaerate sens controls for all metal and disc...they are factory set inside...I like to be able to control the sens on each channel...for more specialized hunting needs at time's...


Keith

I'm enjoying the gold too. But ran into a situation today. Could not find a spot clea enough to ground balance. Yep, I have some serious iron sites. I could get a good ground bslance for a small area of the site, the part of hammered the hardest in the past. But as soon as I moved away, the ground changes, and there is not a clear spot to be found. My hunt was cut short before I could figure out a solution.

I would suggest you get a piece of ferrite and find the spot on the VG where this sounds off as bad or does not sound off at all. If you encounter places like you described, put the ground balance in this position and you should be fine, you could also lower the sens a little in combination.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm enjoying the gold too. But ran into a
> situation today. Could not find a spot clea enough
> to ground balance. Yep, I have some serious iron
> sites. I could get a good ground bslance for a
> small area of the site, the part of hammered the
> hardest in the past. But as soon as I moved away,
> the ground changes, and there is not a clear spot
> to be found. My hunt was cut short before I could
> figure out a solution.

Hey Keith and Mark thank you on the experience with the nautilus

love2detect - thanks. I have watched most all of them, especially on the Vista Gold, but Tom and I share very similar beach conditions and I value his recommendations. If it's not hot on small gold earrings, it wouldn't do a good job on gold chains either, or at least it's highly doubtful. Dry sand ... of course....I wouldn't even try any of these high frequency detectors on the wet sand as the salt would mask most small gold targets anyways. This would be primarily for dry beach sand and inland hunting only. My Troy hit on a tiny silver earring yesterday, probably and inch or two, didn't check, but I doubt most of the other detectors I own would have picked it up at all. Found many gold post backs, and they hit fairly well even at an inch or two. That's the kind of sensitivity to gold we're looking for on micro gold. Especially to catch those elusive gold chains....

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2013 12:04PM by Gary in Daytona.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love to detect...your talking microjewerly and the
> vista barely hits on the one grain...not
> impressive for that use...plus the guy making the
> videos is the same guy trying to sell the vista.

Yep, I agree.

Love to detect ,
I have a Tesoro Compadre that will hit the small gold chain in DRY sand as well as the " Vista Pushers" video will , & it cost $160 ! Are you a seller of the Vista ??

Do alll the beaches in Fla have the same low mineralization, or the same mineralization ? ......I can go from one beach , to another beach 10 miles away in NY and one beach I can GB on , and the other one I can't ....... I would think that there would be a variety of conditions on the various Fla beaches too ....I can hit a gold ring at over 12 inche in some wet salt sand with my CZ6A , while other beaches I can barely hit it at 6 inches ....... I seem to remember a guy who hard wired a 15" coil onto his Excal , and he was in Fla getting down well over a foot and reaching close to 1 1/2 ft and hitting Gold jewelry ...... Surely there has to be SOME beach in Fla where the Vista Gold will work well in dry sand .....Jim


Keith ,
Give me an example of where your GB knob is set when you hunt that Red Dirt down by you ......Thanks ....Jim

Absolutely NOT.......I am a BUYER of the Vista.

Just like Tom doesn't sell Fisher's or GMP...
And Aaron doesn't sell the Deus....



Esteban Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
Are you a seller of the Vista ??

Synthnut: [www.dankowskidetectors.com]

""Then another blip that sounded more defined turned out to be the backing off of a gold earing ...I did not locate the rest of the earing, but at least I got my first gold !!...YAY !!!!...... ....""

We're not talking the "earring stud" that the Vista Gold finds in over 3" of sand as proven for all to see in the video...we're talking the backing...heck - I can't even help my wife get one of those things onto her earring let alone find one in the dirt.......

Video and unbiased independent results - now that's what I'm talking about......

Love2detect, I'm not exactly sure what your point is, however the DEUS is not the only machine I use. I consider the DEUS a "niche" machine and use many other machine for various facets of detecting.

you look like a smart guy to me so I figured if anyone - you'd get the point...

it seems that anyone who "defends" this vista machine is either selling it or accused of being that guy barryny the dealer...but say anything about some of the other machines that are talked about here...everyone jumps down their throat but no one says they got any interest in those machines.......it's a one way street here...that's all.

my post was directed to pablo but i threw you in for some drama......

but i'm gonna keep posting some video until someone tells me to stop....so people can see and hear with their own eyes/ears...no need to take anyone's "word"...for anything...


Aaron Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Love2detect, I'm not exactly sure what your point
> is, however the DEUS is not the only machine I
> use. I consider the DEUS a "niche" machine and use
> many other machine for various facets of
> detecting.

gotcha. ; )

And more Vista Gold testing.

Spent considerable time in more carpets of nails with the Vista Gold... (the last few days)...... since this is where it attributes the best. At two different sites (two different towns)..... the Grnd Bal was required to be deep into the red zone .... at 3 O-clock. These particular sites in Florida... have virtually no dirt mineralization......... so the primary function of the Ground Balance has nothing to do with dirt mineralization; rather, the Grnd Bal is utilized for falsing mitigation. (Same with the GMP). It's unfortunate that all of the audio falsing is 'high-tones' exclusively on this Vista Gold........ and nothing would/could change this..... with the available featureset. I would much prefer the falsing to report as a low tone. This is true with many different brands of detectors. The fortunate thing is....... it's fairly easy to know the audio reports are falses. The Vista Gold is only a 2-tone unit (at most)......... so....... with the most tones selected (only 2 tones); you have low-tone and high tone. The low tone is not dedicated for only iron; rather, the Discrimination knob/control dictates what reports as low tone or high tone. ((( This is called adjustable 'tone break' ))). A critical tool for the relic hunter.
Once again....... in all of my testing........ the Vista Gold and the GMP are extremely close/nearly identical in performance at pulling non-ferrous targets out of carpets of nails. In addition.... the GMP is exceptionally accurate at ID'ing coins in carpets of nails..... with it's 3rd (coin) tone.

If only more folks could "head-to-head" the GMP with the Vista Gold; otherwise, the bias 'looks' to the Vista Gold...... due to the GMP not being available in the U.S. (There may be a GMP dealer in Mass...... can anyone help with better data/confirmation?).

I do not like to compare the Vista Gold with Explorers/CZ's/MXT's/V3i's/F75's ...... because the Vista Gold can ONLY differentiate between ferrous and non-ferrous. A very specific/discrete/niche target-market. Even comparing the Vista Gold to X-5's/Gold Bug SE's/AT-Pro's ..... and the like...... due to the fact that these detectors are still more of a 'general purpose' detector. The Vista Gold is dedicated/exclusive specifically for 'relic hunting absolute'.

The U.S. Mfr's are 'aware' of these Euro units; yet, due to the lack of some of these models/units being in the U.S. ........ and subsequent lack of U.S. customer 'demand' (mostly because we did not know they existed..... nor did we know their performance capabilities) .................. not much attention has been given to the Euro unit accolades.................. until now.

----------------------------------------

I did take the Vista Gold to the dry sand beach (will not handle the wet salt.... as to be expected) ........... just to see if there were any 'eye-opener' unforseen surprises. No. The Vista Gold will acquire a clad dime to just beyond 10". Steel bottle caps were a bit of a challenge for the unit; yet, could be audibly discerned. For micro-jewelry, the Gold Bug-2 is still the trump card. When/If the GB-2 is discontinued...... than the GMP or Gold Bug SE would be the next choice. For micro-jewelry testing..... do NOT test the unit (or any unit) on gold PLATED silver jewelry..... for validity. There is a world of difference between a gold PLATED single post earring (or its retention clasp) ......... vs ......... a real/solid gold single post earring. The Vista Gold is a extreme niche detector....... and micro-jewelry is not it. The testing performed is to find EXACTLY what 'niche' [ or niche(s) ] the unit performs extremely well (((possibly...... up to...and including...... 'trump card' status))). For example: The Gold Bug-2 is a very good prospecting unit........... and designed specifically/exclusively for prospecting; yet, it has another 'trump card' nirvana niche status of being the worlds best micro-jewelry hunter (in dry sand)................ a function (by-product) for which it was never 'per design' intended/targeted. It is the 'iron Disc' switch on the Gold Bug-2 that edifies/makes this unit.

In summation, the Vista Gold is exclusively a relic hunting platform (more specifically... in carpets of nails). Yes, it could be used for prospecting ... and perform very well. (on small nuggets..... but not micro-jewelry gold).

I e-mailed the GMP company yesterday asking about the unit, here is their response;

Dear Sir

Sorry but we don't sell this machine (previous range) in USA, I suggest that you to take a look at our new model DEUS available from Detector Electronics Corp.
Thanks a lot.

XPLORER Sarl
8, rue du développement
ZI de VIC
F-31320 CASTANET-TOLOSAN
FRANCE

" It's unfortunate that all of the audio falsing is 'high-tones' exclusively on this Vista Gold "

Tom,
I don't think that I have ever heard anything BUT high tone falsing on any machie that I have owned .......The beauty of the falsing on the ETrac was that the falsing was confirmed by te wonderful matrix display ....It would sound like Silver , yet would not register on the matrix anything like it ...... After a while you don't even have to look at the matrix ....You could hear the difference between falsing and Silver .....

As far as comparing this machine to any other machine except the CMP is probably wise .....It's specialty is dealing wtih masking in which none of the other machines can hold a candle to ..... Surely none that I have ever owned anyway...... I guess too that since the GMP is a machine that cannot be obtained here in the USA, it kinda makes the GMP a moot point ...... Too bad it's not available here ..... It sounds like a very interesting machine .......Thank you so much for these comparisons .....I was looking for a machine that would deal with masking , and I found it !!....Come on Spring !!......Thanks again !!......Jim

synthnut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> " It's unfortunate that all of the audio falsing
> is 'high-tones' exclusively on this Vista Gold "
>
> Tom,
> I don't think that I have ever heard anything BUT
> high tone falsing on any machie that I have owned`


Yeah I did not understand this....what machine gives a low tone false ?......iron always gives a high tone(non ferrous) false.....because if it gave a low tone(iron) false it wouldn't be false........it would be the correct iron tone

Since the Vista Gold only has 2 tones which are low(iron) and high how could it give anything other than a high tone false......maybe Tom can explain what he means here and what machines ever gives a low tone false on iron?

An Explorer SE with give you a low tone false on a salt water beach.

Dew

dewcon4414 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> An Explorer SE with give you a low tone false on a
> salt water beach.
>
> Dew


Yes but I think we are talking about falsing on iron.

Yes..... to be extremely specific............ ferrous iron (usually nails) 'falsing' to the non-ferrous 'high-tone' audio. Not sure how I can state this any more clear. Also......... switching to 1 tone (monotone)..... the low tones are then eliminated; yet, this does not mitigate the problem of all of the high-tone falsing in carpets of nails.

And yes,,,,,,,, since there is no GMP available in the U.S. ....... all interested folks must purchase a Vista only. (Or the $2K Deus). And if you choose to purchase a Vista from a U.S. dealer........ it must (at this time) be exclusively through BarryNY..... for those of whom are so inclined.

In any case, , , , Keith, the Vista Gold is back in the UPS mail system to you. THANK YOU for sending it........ letting me test it (for all interested parties)........ and again THANK YOU for including a pre-paid UPS return label.

I may share more Vista Gold collected/documented data in the near future.......... as time permits.

NASA-Tom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> And yes,,,,,,,, since there is no GMP available in
> the U.S. .......


A couple of years ago, I contacted a dealer in the UK about a Gold Maxx Power or a G-Maxx II. I don't recall now who I contacted, but was told that legally he couldn't ship either of these units to the US, but there was a way around this. I can't remember all the details now, but I was told the wireless headphone system could be disabled to make it legal. I was also told, that while a new unit couldn't be shipped to the US, a used one can. He even told me, if I would buy a new machine, he would "use it" for a few hours to put scratches on the unit and then it would be a used machine instead of a new machine and he would ship in another non XP box to get past customs. This didn't sound right to me, sounded like he wanted to make a sale and then when it hit US Customs, it was my problem then.

"A couple of years ago, I contacted a dealer in the UK about a Gold Maxx Power or a G-Maxx II. I don't recall now who I contacted, but was told that legally he couldn't ship either of these units to the US, but there was a way around this. I can't remember all the details now, but I was told the wireless headphone system could be disabled to make it legal. I was also told, that while a new unit couldn't be shipped to the US, a used one can. He even told me, if I would buy a new machine, he would "use it" for a few hours to put scratches on the unit and then it would be a used machine instead of a new machine and he would ship in another non XP box to get past customs. This didn't sound right to me, sounded like he wanted to make a sale and then when it hit US Customs, it was my problem then. "


Just wonderful isn't it?

As long as is it isn't an ITAR violation or something similar, I see no reason why that should even be an issue, and yes I am well aware of FFC type acceptance regs.

Good Day Kindred Spirits

I am about a week out on getting my XP Gold max power V4.
It was shipped yesterday . Also from another source I bought the 10x5 DD eliptical coil.
I do have a XP Deus that i do like as it is a neat lite kit with many detectors inside in a small package . I do have a Deeptech Smart ....the build is OK I have seen far worse and borderlines on Good new out of the box...... and from my hunting with it in my 1699 hurricane lots it is a trash finding son of gun .....my personal thoughts I do like the coil and feel it may better as a water hunter (15 Khz) in Ikelite case like my barrcuda.. other than that i like the deus with the 3rd tone for snagging bust coins out of the nails.....I have watched these machines (XP) since they swam across the channel like viking ships raping and pillaging the seaside . I have always wanted the Goldie it is easy to see after studying many videos that the goldie does have more punch even though it can not be made into a 4,8 , 12 ,18 Khz unit ....but there in lies the beauty of doing one thing so Well ....and it to has a third tone....So thanks to Tom and Keith ole jim had an excuse to add one more to the arsenal.....make's saving french nails exciting again for testing purposes of coarse .....Sorry to hear about Norfolk Wolf (John Lynn) passing .
Good to lurk in the shadows and enjoy the Play

Happy Trails
jimpugh