The new stereo Mixed Mode audio option was one that caught my attention for some of
my relic hunting sites. Almost any site containing relics also contains a massive amount
of ferrous "trash" that challenges any detectorist regardless of the specific detector they
use. If you hunt in all metal, the noise tends to overwhelm you and if you increase
discrimination, you stand the chance of missing a great find due to target masking
(signals from unwanted items over-riding those from god targets). This new mode
actually allows one to hear all metal targets under the coil in one ear and those that are
accepted based on the Discrimination level selected in the other. While it takes a little
practice to get used to, it lets the user be the one that decides if a target is worth
recovering rather than the detector. It also is a great tool when scouting out new sites in
that you can identify ferrous targets which indicate human habitation at some time and
then slow down to find the non-ferrous targets such as coins, buttons, bullets and the like.
I visited three sites to explicitly try out this search mode including one from the early
1800's, one from the early 1900's and a small Civil War campsite. While the specific
settings I selected differed between the sites based on the ground conditions, the stereo
Mixed Mode option worked like a champ. For example, the campsite was heavily littered
with nails and boot tacks; however, the V3i easily picked out several non-ferrous targets
including 4 Minnie Balls, a General Service coat button and several pieces of camp lead
at impressive depths from amongst the iron. Similar results were experienced at the other
sites and I could see that for relic hunting (and possibly coin hunting in areas with high
concentrations of trash that other detectorists avoided), the stereo Mixed Audio option
could be the trick to make some super finds. As a side note, two of the sites were heavily
overgrown with new growth and the advantage of the wireless headphones was quickly
recognized. Having hunted sites like this in the past with corded headphones, I would
have been forced to hunt without headphones had I not been using the V3i's wireless set.
Over the next two weeks I had the opportunity to take the V3i to a few well-hunted sites
(schools & parks) in the surrounding area as well as a pair of old homes that I had
received permission to search from the owners. At one old park in a neighboring town I
bumped up the RX Gain and Sensitivity to the point just below where the V3i started to
false; i.e., "pushing-the-envelope" so to speak. The target response on extremely deep
targets was a bit different than what a coin at say 2" would produce but by squeezing the
extra performance from the detector I was able to find several coins at 8" to 11" from
areas I know I had searched diligently in the past (not to mention 100 other hunters
besides me). On the V3, I had preferred the Analyze Screen over the SignaGraph display
as visually, it provided the information that helped me identify targets and determine
which were worth recovering. The V3i added the Vector Analysis screen as yet another
way to display the information being processed by the circuitry. At an older school a
section of one field was littered with large rusted nails that on most detector registered as
a coin. Opting to see if the Vector screen would help distinguish the nails from keepers
that had to be there, I scrolled through the menu and made the requisite changes. After
digging several nails to confirm the "looping" display in fact indicated a ferrous target, I
slowed down my sweep speed and methodically scanned a heavily-infested section of the
field. After a few hours of working this area, I had 7 wheat cents and 3 silver dimes
which may not sound like much but from this area, it was more than I had found in the
five previous trips with other detectors. At one of the private homes I opted for the Deep
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