Whites V3i

Been doing a good bit of reading here since i joined up and can say for sure that i have learned a lot but at the same time i have learned that i have got a long ways to go.


Anyway i went back to 8 pages reading various threads and i have not seen anything on the V3i. Is there a reason for this?

I am wondering how the V3i stacks up against some of the other top machines you guy talk about the most?
Depth
Accuracy
Separation


Thanks Pac Man



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2013 02:04AM by Pac man.

a friend of mine had 2 summers ago and i tried it out thinking i might buy one and well its a nice machine but you got to put in alot of time in it to learn the programs and the graphs to customize the way you want it

A guy I hunt with has one, he uses it on the beach and does real well. He goes right from the wet to the dry no problem even up here on the northeast beaches with moderate to high mineralization.As AMCJAVELIN said above there are more bells and whistles (settings) than he knows what to do with, he is still learning the unit. He says you can set the machine up to handle many different sites and is very pleased with it.

I have the V3i and the Etrac. If I had to choose one it would be the Etrac for sure. The V3i has a lot of nice features and can be customized many different ways but in my area the Etrac works better for me. Using the single frequency I can get the V3i setup to go deeper than the Etrac but the TID is not as stable and tends to jump around a lot more. I do not like the way I can not setup the V3i to use a slow sweep speed like the Etrac.

I hunt with v3i and I love it....can't really compare/contrast to others b/c I've only used whites machines for about 30 yrs now....more about the operator learning the machine - than the machine only....learn that 'tector and she'll hunt with the best of 'em....gl and hh

wjs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have the V3i and the Etrac. If I had to choose
> one it would be the Etrac for sure. The V3i has a
> lot of nice features and can be customized many
> different ways but in my area the Etrac works
> better for me. Using the single frequency I can
> get the V3i setup to go deeper than the Etrac but
> the TID is not as stable and tends to jump around
> a lot more. I do not like the way I can not setup
> the V3i to use a slow sweep speed like the Etrac.

I tend to agree here, at least in moderately mineralized ground. The E-Trac was deeper even when the V3i was in single frequency for me, the VDI was all over the place on the V3i at depth (with non silver).

ON deeper COINS - I have quite a few videos comparing the V3i to the E-Trac. Check my channel - [www.youtube.com]
(Note - I stayed away from the E-Trac for years as I hated those finds pics and didn't think it was as good as they said. Well, it was and is on coins. And the funny thing is, as long as you give it enough sensitivity - which isn't much - you can't get it NOT to go deep.)

On jewelery and in certain situations the V3i might be better, but I'm a coin hunter (to be fair). The V3i has some great aspects - just loved 3 freq pinpoint.

The V3i is a far better relic hunter than a coin hunter. This carries over to the VX3 as well. I had the opportunity to test the prototype for the i upgrade and I took it to quite a few places. One of the harshest soil types you will find in the US, is the iron dirt belt of northern Virginia. I had the chance to hunt with the V3 up there on 3 different farms. I had to do quite a bit of tweeking with it, but once I figured out what it was wanting, I was able to start digging relics with it...even out of the clutches of the Pulse machines that dominate that soil type so well. Some were decently deep too. For an ID machine for relic hunting, it was/is one of the best ones out there. In the worse dirt I could find for it, it still handled well. And it works extremely well at IDing in better dirt....BUT not really for coins. Putting it in single freq and all metal audio worked wonders for it in bad soil...yet it retained its ability to give a raw ID on the screen...so after a while I was able to tell non-ferrous from ferrous just by the signatures it was giving on the screen, even though if you had it in disc mode, the objects would all ID as iron except for a few spikes...with it being in all metal, you got an idea of the size/depth of the target and gathered a lot of info on it before ever digging. Result was...digging a lot of Civil War relics in ground that other VLF machines really struggle in.

Cons...it CAN be a little intimidating with the menus. The audio also takes a bit of getting use to...with the wireless headphones anyway. I like the ability to customize the audio itself....but you can spend a LOT of time tweaking it to your personal preferences. To some that's a plus...to some it's not worth the trouble. I like a turn on and go machine...the V3 would let you have it however you wanted it....with the essential settings easily accessable on the go without scrolling...or you could scroll to your hearts content. Haahah.

Whites makes good detectors and service after the sale is better than most and well learned they excell...Seems like this unit never took off like the XLT and DFX but many Whites guys swear by them....I guess some like user friendly and some don't and have heard they are a bit heavy from previous Whites models...

I havent owned one but from reading stuff seems like the V3i can id junk better but just doesnt go as deep as the ETRAC.

Which if you can tell better what is junk you wont dig as much junk and you will dig more coins. Simply put.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2013 03:23AM by Huntindog1.

Huntindog1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I havent owned one but from reading stuff seems
> like the V3i can id junk better but just doesnt go
> as deep as the ETRAC.
>
> Which if you can tell better what is junk you wont
> dig as much junk and you will dig more coins.
> Simply put.

The V3i, in SOME soil, does go as deep as the E-Trac and maybe deeper (I at least have read reports of that). But, not in my moderately mineralized soil.

I think regarding jewelery what you said might be true, but it is still VERY difficult to reliably differentiate the good from the bad. On non silver coins I didn't find that to be true and if the ID all but cut out at 8" (on non silver), that 6" or 7"-8" range is usually jumpy (and the audio broken at the far end), then it really doesn't matter as your forced to hunting shallower targets and those can be dug quickly anyway. Co-located objects (e.g. trash and coin) still are hard for any machine as they tend to average and you still have to dig imo.

I'm back to an E-Trac from a CTX but I would say the CTX did a better job of discing good from bad COINS than any other machine I've had. That said, it is a bit "scary" to overly rely on some of the CTX features as it can be wrong. But, when you are short on time or cherry picking, it is great to have. Also, it is sometimes just plain fun to use those V3i or CTX features to see if you are right - I often enjoyed that.

I had to ajust mine all the time. I really liked it for park hunting when I had it programed right which was rare it did really well but I got tired of it freaking out and programing it when my friend was already hunting. At some parks there was nothing I could do to get it so stay stable.
So I sold it and never looked back.

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Earthmansurfer, you sold the ctx??I just watched a video of you saying it got deeper coins in hunted out areas with the etrac... What's your reasoning if you don't mind me asking because I'm in the process of selling my F75 SE for a ctx..

D-Tone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Earthmansurfer, you sold the ctx??I just watched a
> video of you saying it got deeper coins in hunted
> out areas with the etrac... What's your reasoning
> if you don't mind me asking because I'm in the
> process of selling my F75 SE for a ctx..

I liked the CTX, actually loved most aspects of it.

It didn't get deeper overall, but I can't argue that I pulled more coins from 9" than with my E-Trac and in much less time. A big part of that imo is due to the CTX being better but another part of that is due to me being familiar with FBS machines.
There was one spot lower in mineralization and with more iron that the CTX just pulled so many deep coins that I couldn't have missed with the E-Trac. But outside that spot, the CTX pulled up just a few extra coins.

I basically sold it because it is bulky and weighed 5 pounds. The balance was perfect though. Regarding the "bulk" - it is a bit large and worse for me is that it only breaks down into 2 pieces. I get around on a bike and occasionally trains and that wasn't so nice. I loved how quick the screen refreshed on the CTX. The speed was great. The sounds were ok, but the E-Tracs were better (most agree). Loved the menu (some don't). I didn't like the GPS on the CTX, the iron recognition on the screan (smear) was really a nice feature. Just a great machine but not without drawbacks. I can't believe they didn't put a boost mode or the like on it, don't get that.

I may get another one some day though, it is a great detector. But it isn't 2X better than the E-Trac (like the price). I know you can't put a percentage on things, but looking at my finds I'd say it's like 10% better, +- 5%.

I'll say this, Minelab missed the boat. All they had to do was make a water resistant and faster E-Trac (ideally with a boost mode), make it weigh 2 pounds or so, and the coin hunting game would have been over for most competitors imo. Anyway, I'm working on a lighter E-Trac mod, should have it out in a month when things get warmer, so I'll let you all know how the weight/balance part goes.

Now, when you put the 13" Detec coil on the E-Trac, I'd say the E-Trac is right there with the CTX in most cases... so that is what I will do

Hi Daniel, I will be going to northern Virginia next month to hunt relics with my V3i. If you could give me any specifics about how you set up your machine or how you tweaked it, I'd really appreciate it. As you say, the soil is really ferocious up there. Thanks for any help you or anyone else can give me!

The V3i is incredibly adaptable. It can be overwhelming, all the settings...but, once you dial it in for an area & save the program, it's as easy as any other detector. I agree the stock programs aren't very deep but some of the custom programs you'll find on various forums will make it a deep machine...even on coins. There was one program from a guy who went by "magic" that was especially impressive here in North Carolina dirt (on coins)

I don't have an Etrac so haven't compared..but it will hold its own (around here) with an Explorer 2. I agree that the Explorer is "easier" though.