Field test by Andre Bulter

DFX E-Series FIELD TEST REPORT
By Andre Bulter

I finally received my DFX, the new White's Spectrum DFX from my local dealer Detection Systems Holland. As an XLT fanatic (being hooked on the White's XLT) I was very excited about how it would perform and compare to the XLT.

Opening the box I found that the DFX was well packed, to ensure no harm or damage during transportation. The DFX looks like an XLT only the labels indicate that we have the "newest and most advanced" detector from the Whites Clan!.

The DFX comes in 4 separate parts: The Armrest with the meter and control box, the upper and lower rods, the 25cm Multi Harmonic Widescan coil. Other parts included are dry cell battery pack (no batteries), rechargeable battery, charger, loop cover, arm rest foam, velcro cable ties.

The DFX is easy to put together and feels very solid and light ­ which is no more than we are used to from White's. The charger instructions advise the user to give a first time charge of 22 hours on the rechargeable battery, however being an impatient human being I put in 8 alkaline batteries and off I went.

Turning the machine on, I notice the brightness of the screen. The XLT screen was good but the DFX is even better and clearer to read. The information the screen gives me during my search, as an old XLT user, a lot of confidence. The DFX software has more items than the DFX, I will go into this in more detail, later in the report. The information "flies" over the screen so its obviously a higher clockspeed than the XLT. Loading and/or changing of the programmes also happen a lot quicker. The DFX has 5 factory preset programmes and four custom Eeprom programmes. The latter 4 can be altered to the searchers own ideas.

I am fortunate enough to have a good test/search area close to my house. Fields that are mineralised due to it being an old 15th Century dumping place for rubbish from Amsterdam.

Initially I tried out one of the Eeprom programmes and I conclude that these are, in my opinion not suited to use on European soil so I reprogrammed the detector with the programmes given by my dealer and tried it out again.

Stopping briefly to rest during my first outing with the DFX - I asked myself if the machine works well and to assure myself I sweep my shovel over the coil. A loud and clear beep tells me all is well.

During searching clear signals are coming in and after some digging, I detect a small silver dime. A couple of metres further on again a clear signal and on a depth of 20" (50cms) I find a piece of aluminium of 8 x 8 cms. Slowly it occurs to me that after searching for some time there were no Œfalseš signals to be heard at all. Something I found very interesting was that occasionally I heard an audio signal and when I looked at the screen two diagrams were visible, one in the iron part and one in the non iron part. After digging I found a small piece of iron lying beside a piece of lead. The display really gives you excellent information - tone mask on iron but still detecting the piece of lead and both to be seen on screen! The DFX was very stable and quiet. No Œbadš sound was heard. The discrimination of Iron and minerals is more than excellent. I did alter the AC up to 80 (was at 75) with the result, still stable and quiet.

Having searched in two frequencies BEST DATA which means that the DFX sends two frequencies inside the soil - 3kHz and 15kHz. The processor then shows the best data on the screen with an audio sound in the headphone. I then tried to use only the 3 kHz frequency but on this type of soil (heavily mineralised) the DFX was unstable and began to sound like a "normal" detector. A lower frequency gives more depth with the detector being very sensitive on metals such as copper and silver but it has a tendency to be less stable whereas a higher frequency is better for metal like gold, is more stable less false signals but you do tend to lose a bit of depth. I would recommend therefore with 3 kHz lower the AC sensitivity but on 15 kHz sensitivity can be increased.

The programmes given to me by my dealer are four good Œturn on and goš ones which makes things easier for beginners but professional users will have endless fun with all the permutations available, and able to be used in a very personalised way.

The DFX has 44 different adjustment possibilities, with interaction between them so really the variety of adjustments is almost unlimited.

New options as compared to the XLT are "Hot rock reject" (complete rejection or acceptance of minerals) 2 Frequency best data, 2 frequency correlate ­ the detector comparing data from the two frequencies and if the information is not reasonably predictable will be automatically rejected ­ VDI normalised, basically same reference numbers as the XLT. The DFX original filtration giving you the possibility of using six filters (normally on detectors only two are available) with greater depth ability on mineralised soil. Having now appreciated this function I don't think I could detect without it any more.

Many times I detect on archaeological sites and was very keen to try the DFX on one particular site that I know had been searched several times with various makes of detectors and which I was assured there could be nothing else to find. Accepting the challenge and adjusting discrimination nearly to its lowest limit I ventured forth and very quickly had a good signal which turned out be a very small pieces of copper at about 18cms a few steps further and an iron nail at 38cms. I was truly amazed at this depth capability and will be recommending to our local Archaeologists that the DFX could be very useful in their searches.

I then moved to a very heavy mineralised site, in fact a place used frequently by horses with all that entails! Loaded my bad ground programme but because of mineralisation could not get the detector to stabilise, the remember about ground filtration, adjusted from 4 to 6 a key and hey presto - a quiet and stable detector. Immediately the finds started to appear, buckles and other horse brasses, keys, old coins etc. etc.

In conclusion I think Whitešs have another winner on their hands ­ a light weight, stable, deepseeking detector with the different frequencies and filtration process a great asset. Certainly a good buy for both the beginner and the experienced but I do stress that the user read and re read and re read again the more advanced parts of the manual and donšt expect to become an expert overnight. Many long time users of the XLT say that after years of use they are still learning what can be achieved with all the options available and I donšt expect the DFX to be any different.