XP Deus II
XP Deus II Settings by Site Type: Programs, Frequency and Reactivity
Quick answer
Start every Deus II site in a simultaneous multi-frequency program rather than a single frequency. Raise reactivity in iron and trash to separate close targets, lower it in clean open ground to gain depth, and move to a high single frequency only when small gold is specifically the target.
XP gives the XP Deus II 12 fast simultaneous multi-frequency factory programs and 49 single frequencies from 4 to 45 kHz, which is more configurability than most people need and considerably more than most people use well. The machine rewards choosing a small number of setups and learning them properly.
This page is organised by ground rather than by menu, because the site in front of you is what should decide the settings. The reasoning matters more than the specific positions, since your soil is not the soil these recommendations were written against.
Top pick
XP Deus II
XP publishes 12 simultaneous multi-frequency programs and 49 single frequencies on a fully wireless IP68 body rated to 66 feet, which is what makes genuine site-by-site reconfiguration practical on this machine.
Price was accurate when this page was compiled and changes often.
On this page
What does reactivity actually control?
Reactivity is recovery speed: how quickly the machine finishes processing one target and becomes ready to report the next. It is the single most consequential setting on this detector and the one most often left alone.
High reactivity separates targets that sit close together, which is exactly what you need when a good target is lying beside a nail. The cost is depth, because faster processing means less time integrating a weak signal, so the faintest deep targets get lost. Low reactivity does the opposite: more depth on clean ground, and two close targets blending into one confused signal.
The correct setting is therefore a property of the site, not a preference. Iron-infested old house site: raise it. Clean pasture where you are chasing a deep hammered coin: lower it. Most people would find more if they changed reactivity between sites and left everything else alone.
What settings suit each kind of site?
Program families rather than exact program numbers, because XP revises the factory program set between firmware versions and your machine may label them differently.
The two settings that change most across sites on a Deus II are reactivity and iron rejection, and on wet salt sand a dedicated beach multi-frequency program matters more than either.
| Site type | Program family | Reactivity | Iron handling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mown park, moderate trash | General multi-frequency | Mid | Reject low iron, keep the rest audible |
| Park with dense modern trash | General multi-frequency | High | Reject iron, accept the depth loss |
| Old house site, heavy iron | Relic multi-frequency | High | Keep iron audible at low volume |
| Open pasture, deep targets | General multi-frequency | Low | Minimal rejection. Depth is the priority |
| Ploughed field | Relic or general multi-frequency | Mid | Minimal rejection. Re-balance often |
| Dry beach sand | Beach multi-frequency | Mid | Light rejection. Dig the tab band for gold |
| Wet salt sand and surf | Beach multi-frequency | Mid to high | Light rejection. Salt handling is the real issue |
| Underwater and wading | Beach multi-frequency | Mid | Bone conduction audio needed below the surface |
| Goldfield, small gold | High single frequency | Mid to high | Minimal rejection. Expect to dig foil |
| Highly mineralised ground | General multi-frequency | Mid | Re-balance frequently, lower sensitivity |
XP publishes 12 simultaneous multi-frequency factory programs and 49 single frequencies from 4 to 45 kHz. Program names and numbering vary by firmware revision, so match these families to whatever your machine currently lists.
When is a single frequency worth choosing?
Rarely, and deliberately. XP offers 49 single frequencies from 4 to 45 kHz, and the temptation is to treat that range as a set of performance levels. It is not. It is a set of trade-offs, and simultaneous multi-frequency already covers most of them better by blending several at once and normalising the result.
The honest cases for going single are narrow. Small gold is the main one: a high single frequency responds more strongly to small low-conductivity targets than a general multi-frequency program does, which is why goldfield work justifies it. Severe electromagnetic interference is the other: when a specific frequency is being swamped by nearby equipment, moving away from it can rescue an otherwise unusable site.
The cost is consistency. Your target ID reference set changes when you change frequency, as covered on the Deus II target ID chart, so every single-frequency session is one where your accumulated knowledge applies less well. That is a real price and it is worth paying only when the site demands it.
What goes wrong, and what fixes it?
Working through these in order resolves most field problems without a trip into the deeper menus.
Instability on clean ground is nearly always sensitivity or ground balance rather than a program fault, and re-balancing costs seconds while changing programs costs the rest of your session.
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Chatter with nothing under the coil | Sensitivity above what the ground supports | Lower sensitivity a step at a time |
| Noise near buildings or power lines | Electromagnetic interference | Run noise cancel, then consider a single frequency |
| Good targets masked in iron | Reactivity too low for the trash density | Raise reactivity and slow the sweep |
| No depth on clean ground | Reactivity too high | Lower reactivity, it costs you faint deep signals |
| Constant falsing on wet sand | Wrong program for salt conditions | Move to a beach multi-frequency program |
| IDs unstable everywhere | Ground balance drifted | Re-balance, and re-balance again when ground changes |
| Audio lagging the sweep | Headphone pairing or battery state | Re-pair, then check charge on all three components |
| Machine quiet over known targets | Iron rejection set too aggressively | Open rejection back up and re-test |
Generic troubleshooting order for a multi-frequency machine with adjustable reactivity. Control names follow the XP Deus II manual, which should be your reference for your firmware version.
What else changes the result more than the menu does?
Sweep speed and overlap. A high reactivity setting only pays off if your coil is moving slowly enough for the machine to use the separation it is capable of, and most people sweep too fast and overlap too little. Aim to overlap each pass by about half a coil width and keep the coil level through the whole arc rather than lifting it at the ends. The coil coverage and sweep time calculator will show you what that actually costs in hours per acre, which is usually a sobering number.
Protecting the machine matters too, since the Deus II remote is a separate purchase to replace. A XP Deus II Control Box Cover is cheap against that risk. For recovery, a pinpointer earns its place faster than any setting change, and the Garrett Pro-Pointer AT is submersible to twenty feet with a moulded ruler on the shaft, while the Quest Xpointer Max adds ferrous discrimination in the hole.
For the published figures in one place, see Deus II battery life and specifications. If you are weighing this machine against something far simpler, the F22 settings page covers the same job with four controls instead of a menu tree, and the guides hub covers technique that applies to both.
Sources
- XP Deus II user manual, program selection, reactivity and ground balance sections
- XP published Deus II specification, 12 FMF programs and 49 single frequencies from 4 to 45 kHz
- XP published Deus II terrain guidance, land, beach and underwater use
Frequently asked questions
What is reactivity on the XP Deus II?
Reactivity is recovery speed: how quickly the machine finishes processing one target and is ready to report the next. High reactivity separates targets sitting close together, which is what you need beside iron, and costs depth because there is less time to integrate a weak signal. Low reactivity gains depth on clean ground and blends close targets together. It is a site setting, not a preference.
Should I use multi-frequency or a single frequency?
Multi-frequency for almost everything. XP publishes 12 simultaneous multi-frequency programs, and blending several frequencies and normalising the result gives more stable target IDs and better all-round performance than any single frequency. Go single only when small gold is specifically the target, where a high frequency genuinely helps, or when severe interference is swamping a particular frequency and moving away rescues the site.
Which program should I use on a wet salt beach?
A beach multi-frequency program, not a general one and not a single frequency. Salt water raises the ground signal substantially, and the beach programs exist specifically to handle that. XP publishes the Deus II as suitable for coins and jewellery on wet sand and underwater, with an IP68 rating to 66 feet, so the machine is capable there provided the program matches the conditions.
Do I need bone conduction headphones to hunt underwater?
For genuine submersion, yes. Wireless radio audio does not propagate usefully under water, which is why XP offers the BH-01 bone conduction headphones as an option alongside the IP68 rating to 66 feet. For wading where the control unit and your head stay above the surface, the standard wireless headphones are fine. Below the surface they simply stop working.
How often should I ground balance the Deus II?
Whenever the machine stops running smoothly, and routinely when you move between distinctly different ground: grass to bare soil, dry to damp, one field into the next. Unstable target IDs across a whole site are far more often a drifted ground balance than a program problem. Re-balancing takes seconds, whereas changing programs mid-hunt costs you the reference set you have been building.
Researched, not professional advice. This page is compiled from published specifications, manuals and owner-review consensus, not hands-on testing. Target ID numbers, depth figures and settings vary with soil chemistry, moisture, target size, depth, orientation and firmware version, so treat every figure here as a starting point and verify it against your own machine's manual and your own ground. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.