For the record, I don’t consider myself an expert with the XP Deus but I think I know my way around the machine pretty well. I’ve been hunting with the XP Deus for over 2 years now. My coil of choice of late has been the 9 inch round High Frequency (HF) coil. Previously, I used the 11 inch stock coil. Both coils have shown me great success over the last couple of years. I am a really big fan of this machine.
“Notching” Out Those “Junk” Targets.
The Deus has this incredible feature built into it called “Notch”. Notching allows you to cancel out targets you don’t want to hear in your headphones (only). It doesn’t take away from the performance of the machine so this feature gives you a great way of canceling out those junk targets that you don’t want to dig. However, if you decide to use “Notch” you need to know that there is the right time to use “Notch” and there are times or conditions when I wouldn’t use it at all. A lot of Deus owners “Notch” out 97, 98, and 99 because they have been told that 97-99 is considered the “junk” range. No one wants to dig junk right? Well depending on the type of hunting you are doing, I’m here to tell you that you might be missing some targets. There is an important thing to know about notching out 97-99 that many new and some experienced XP Deus owners aren’t aware of.
What Were You Taught in School?
I attended one of the XP Deus Boot Camps a couple of years ago and one of the recommendations that was given during my class was to notch out 97 – 99. Looking back, I realize (now) why the instructors gave us that advice. During my XP class, we had to identify which type of hunting each class member preferred (relics, coins, beach etc.) I remember that most of my class was focused on relics and/or coin shooting so as a result, our class was tailored to our type of hunting based on the information we gave the instructors. 
It never dawned on me to ask about hunting for civil war relics and I assumed the settings and programs that were given to us would work well for finding 3 ringers and other lead bullets.Turns out, those settings do work well for finding civil war bullets except for 1 specific setting they gave us which was notching out 97-99. It took me about 6 months before I realized this was something I probably shouldn’t do. But up until that point, I wasn’t digging at any civil war sites so I wasn’t affected. Luckily, a friend of mine clued me into this information and I was able to catch the mistake before I went digging for civil war relics.
“Notching” Out 97-99 On a Civil War Site And What You Need to Know.
If your are hunting civil war sites, notching out 99 on your XP Deus effectively removes your ability to hear certain civil war bullets in some circumstances (not all). However, ground conditions and your coil will play a big part in whether that statement is accurate or not. Your ID Norm setting also plays a part. Here in Maryland, a 3 ringer will ring up 99 (most of the time in my permissions) but I’ve seen them hit 93 in different soil conditions and underwater so the ground plays a major role on how civil war bullets ring up.Again, just to be clear, I would highly recommend using restraint when using the notch, specifically, notching out 97-99 on a civil war site. “Notch” is a great feature to use to cancel out some of those targets you don’t want to hear in your headphones but if you are hunting sites that provide the opportunity to dig up a civil war era bullet or two you may want to think twice about notching out those higher numbers or even at all. Lucky for me, I was told about this information right before I went on a hunt that turned out to be one of the best civil war hunts I had in 2017 (see the picture below the video).
In summary, I hope this helps some of you out there. The XP Deus is a great machine that is packed full of features and tools to help you get the most out of your permissions. Thanks for reading and now check out the video (below) to get a real world example from the field.
