Golden Mask Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE – our review of a deep metal detector! (Settings and tips+)

Cop with a deep-digger – is it an easy task? And why do you need a deep metal detector? I think that for most diggers who search with VLF (Very Low Frequency) ground metal detectors, they should know that VLF devices have their limitations and quite serious ones. That is, if a metal object lies at a depth of more than 30 cm, then difficulties arise in detecting it. Or if the object of your search is a large metal object, then how to find it among the tons of small metal debris that lies on the surface and interferes with the search? For these purposes, depth probes produced by GM Electronics LTD – Bulgaria are used.

Basic video overview of the capabilities and demonstration of the operation of Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE:

It's interesting to see this device in person. 🙂

Deep Hunter PRO 3 and PRO 3 SE – what is the difference?

The Golden Mask Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE metal detector is a logical continuation of the Deep Hunter PRO 3 model. If you are looking for reviews of this metal detector on the Internet, you have seen that on other sites would-be reviewers write that SE means “second edition”. No, SE is a “special edition”, that is, a special version. Why is it special and what are its differences from the Deep Hunter PRO 3 version? There are many differences and they are quite distinguishable – In the simple version 3, the ground was adjusted only automatically, which is not always an accurate setting, especially for working on complex soils. But with this depth finder you can also search for gold nuggets on very complex and highly conductive soil! Therefore, in the special version PRO 3 SE there is a manual ground adjustment and is regulated by the AGEB > MAN switch. G.B.

Control unit Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE

Another notable difference is that if you are using the PRO 3 SE version, even in Auto Ground Balance mode you can adjust the ground using the Tresh potentiometer – which has 10 turns, but on the first turn there is an additional and more precise ground adjustment in Auto mode .

And here the main thing is why this is needed – in the manual soil adjustment mode, the device receives at least a 15% increase in depth (on average).

Deep Hunter PRO 3 control unit

Another, no less important difference lies in the electronics. It's a little difficult to explain, but I used the PRO 3 version for a long time and when I started working with the special PRO 3 SE version, I noticed changes in the operation of the metal detector, they are visible from the first day of use. The name PRO 3 and PRO 3 SE should not confuse anyone; in fact, we are dealing with the top-end version of the deep dive. As you can see, the manufacturer has been working towards this for a long time, starting with the very first version of Deep Hunter PRO and going through a whole evolution to the special version PRO 3 SE. It became clear from the work that the device became less susceptible to interference and operates stably in any conditions. In fact, the device also received additional operating modes, which we will write about below.

Design and equipment

The depth finder turned out to be very functional, thanks to the ability to combine it with different coils on the rod or search frames (so-called frame coils). Currently this depth finder can be used with the following coils and frames:

1. A 20 cm coil is mainly intended for searching for gold nuggets in difficult soil.
2. Ellipse coil 28×42 cm – a highly sensitive ellipse for reconnaissance, search in the forest and difficult places.
3. The 42 cm coil is the search coil for all search tasks. A certain golden mean.
4. The 58 cm coil is, in my opinion, the best coil for searching in militaria (cop in war); it can be used to check dugouts and positions. And treasures, of course!

Framework:

• The 125×125 cm frame is the smallest frame available, you can work alone (but not for long), it allows you to search for treasures and check war positions.
• Frame 180×180 cm – the main frame for searching for large metal objects. You need to search together, it helps to find large objects – helmets, boxes with metal contents, it will work well for a dugout stove at depth (if you are looking for a dugout or want to enlighten it about what’s inside). He will also find treasure, if there is one in the field or forest.
• A frame of 300×300 cm is good for checking legends on the topic “there is a tank/plane/truck in this lake.” These legends are not always true, but it also happens that there really is a tank in the lake! (I saw it with my own eyes). It's also great to look for meteorites – an iron meteorite the size of a football will be about 5 meters deep in the ground. What other device can produce the same results?

Important point! With coils of 42 cm and smaller in diameter, it is best to work in manual soil mode, thus achieving the best result in terms of performance. With a 58 cm coil and frames, the automatic ground mode should be used due to the larger scanning area and the difficulty of picking up the ground. Don't forget that reels and frames are created with this factor in mind!

The metal detector itself is nothing more than a control unit in a case. The bottom line is that the case with the block is put on the neck, and then you combine everything yourself – connect the coil and search using a rod, or call the comrades and connect the block to the search frame and carry the frame together.

The control unit also contains a built-in 12.0V/2600(3700) mAh NiMH battery, which allows you to search all daylight hours, or even more. There is a reserve of charge; not once during the day of searching did I put the battery at the very minimum. I recommend fully charging the battery before searching.

The standard rod from the Golden Mask company fits the metal detector.

Metal detector control and settings

The controls here are quite simple – using potentiometers and a few buttons. In fact, all you need to do is set up your metal detector once and you can dig all day with these settings without changing them. I periodically edit the settings, adjusting this device to the search tasks, which may change over the course of the day.

Attention! It is better to press the RETUNE button more often. I do this every three to ten minutes, depending on the conditions, this is necessary in order to constantly keep the pulse metal detector in full combat readiness. Also, this button must be pressed every time you make changes to the settings!

The control unit has the following potentiometers:

TRASH/GB – setting for cutting off small metal debris (when working in the AGEB automatic ground balance mode), and manual adjustment to the ground is also carried out here. The TRASH/GB potentiometer has 10 turns, count each time you adjust! As an option, turn it up to the maximum (10 turns), and then reduce it by two or three, this will make it easier not to get confused.

Audio Tone (On/Off) – nothing more than selecting the tapping frequency (the device periodically makes a “knock-knock” knock from the speakers), this helps to find really deep objects, if you notice changes in the tapping frequency, then the device has found something . The device signals signals closer to the surface with a drawn-out static sound. As soon as the coil is above the target, the sound will be the strongest and loudest. If you turn off AUDIO TONE completely, you switch to a less sensitive mode, in which the device discriminates even better between non-ferrous and ferrous metal targets.

Sensitivity – the so-called sensitivity of the metal detector. The higher the value, the greater the sensitivity and depth.

Volume (On/Off) —turns the metal detector on/off and sets the sound volume level on the speakers. It's simple.

RETUNE button – as I wrote above, this is a very important button. If you hear tapping and then it disappears, it is better to press RETUNE again.

Switch button AGEB > MAN. GB – actually, switching between automatic and manual ground balance modes. With which coils and how to use it is written above.

The battery charge can be checked by pressing the Battery Check button – the signal level indicator will show the corresponding battery charge.

The BOOST button is especially important – when you press it to the ON position, the device receives an increase in depth of 20%!

And there are three connectors on the block – one for connecting the coil, the second for connecting external headphones and the third for connecting a charger to charge the battery.

Depth explorer search modes

Now one of the most interesting things is what search modes you can search and work in. The device has two main modes – quiet and static.

Quiet search mode

If you turned on the device and adjusted the ground, set the sensitivity, but realized that your search area is full of small metal objects, then it is better to use this mode. It is also good for working in very difficult soil. How to enable it? It's simple – don't turn on the AUDIO TONE setting. The device will signal only large metal objects and discriminate them – a high-tone signal will signal a find made of non-ferrous metal, and a low-tone signal will signal a find made of ferrous iron.

A good mode for searching for large objects on the surface of the earth or at shallow depths, because a high search depth will not be achieved in this mode. Good for searching on battlefields or in fields if you want to find cannonballs, for example, which often lie no deeper than 50 cm.

Static search mode

This is the main search mode and the most sensitive. As soon as there is a metal object under the coil or frame, the device will begin to respond by increasing the signal from the object (you will hear it). The sound will be loudest and the signal will be strongest as soon as the object is exactly in the center of the coil – in this case, the device does not need any pinpoint; in static mode the object is heard best.

In this mode, you already need to set the AUDIO TONE setting; you set it based on your search tasks and personal preferences. I usually set it to 3 or 5. Then you decide whether you need BOOST or not, set the sensitivity to the desired level and adjust the ground.

An important diagram on the effect of settings on the performance of the metal detector:

As you can see, using the AUDIO TONE (On/Off) setting and the additional BOOST mode, you can adjust the search depth. Of course, sensitivity settings also play an important role, but the picture is ideal for understanding the general combination of settings in the device.

Cutting off small metal debris

One of the key features of the Golden Mask Deep Hunter PRO 3 series depth drills is the adjustment of cutting off small metal debris in the ground. A similar function is also available in Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE and is regulated by the TRASH/GB potentiometer. Yes, if manual ground balance is turned on, then this function will not work, but this is a logical solution, because with coils of 42 cm or less in diameter it is very difficult to cut off any metal debris, this is due solely to the size of the coil. For more productive work in littered areas, it is better to use a 58 cm coil or search frames, with which you can more effectively cut off metal debris. This is especially useful in areas of plowed tracts, littered fields, so that the device responds only to large objects in the ground and does not react to various nails, buttons and other finds that the depth surveyor is not looking for. Yes, when you turn on high TRESH modes, the depth drops, but in a littered area you still won’t be able to work effectively at the maximum depth settings.

Also, with a frame and a high Tresh level, it is good to dig in war positions, cutting off all shell casings and other metal debris and reacting only to large objects – helmets, bowlers, boxes.

This value must be set purely individually; there is no secret here; it can only be learned through practice.

Experience and tips for use

Many may say – why such a device if it only reacts to large objects? It also catches small things and you can even search for coins with it, it depends on your settings mode and what you want to find. Of course, it’s better to look for coins with a regular VLF metal detector, which makes digging simpler and easier, but this depth detector was created for other tasks.

For example, this depth guy is just great to use for digging in positions. I have repeatedly seen the pits of other diggers in positions and each time I called the pit site with a deep-seater – and found objects that those guys simply did not find! And they didn’t get to the bottom of it. With this device it is much easier to decide whether to dig a dugout or not. If he reacted to the stove, then it is necessary to dig, most often the dugouts with the stove were abandoned in a hurry and they need to be dug. Also, the device responds perfectly to a helmet at a depth of up to 2 meters in the ground without any problems!

Another point of the search is ancient medieval objects and cannonballs. Many of them lie in fields at a depth of up to 50 cm, but diggers ignore them because many objects give a weak deep signal to the VLF metal detector, which is easily discriminated and cut out by a conventional device. It’s a pleasure to search for cannonballs with a depth detector – you take a 42, 58 cm reel or a 125×125 frame and clear out the entire field of cast-iron cannonballs. Each place turns out to be practically unbroken, because earlier during the battle, guns could fire up to 100 cannonballs per hour when firing a salvo from a regular battery of cannons.

The third important point is the search for meteorites. It is no secret that meteorites can cost quite a lot and the search for meteorites is not prohibited in almost any country in the world. The meteorite is an interesting find and with this device you can easily lift deep metal meteorites, which can lie at depths from the surface to 5 meters.

It is interesting to walk along the beach with this device. A simple example is that there are many sunken ships and vessels in the sea, from which metal objects have been swept away over many centuries. They are washed ashore by waves and storms, then covered with sand. The sand may be salty and a regular soil tool will not find this object because it will be blinded by the difficult soil. With this device, since it is an impulse device and has a large selection of coils, you can completely take the beaches back to the old days.

I most often search in static mode, but quiet mode is also very good, especially if you are digging in a place where there used to be battles or positions, there was a military camp and the whole ground is strewn with metal debris. Thus, we managed to find two new deep German trash cans from the Second World War with good “swag” in a broken/broken place. It’s hard to say how many diggers with VLF devices passed over them, the place fought for 20 years without a break!

A short video of reconnaissance of the battlefields of one marine brigade in 1944. Place knocked out almost to zero:

The device is useful specifically for solving certain specific problems and allows you to reach a new level of search where conventional soil tools simply cannot cope.

One small morning “run” through the positions of the SS troops not far from my house. The place is completely knocked out, but something else comes across. I’m thinking of going for a walk with the frame there later with a friend.

Also, don’t forget about searching for treasures and little boxes, pawns with coins. Treasures are also an array of metal objects that are buried to depths of 30 cm or more, depending on the location and available time for burial. How many treasures with deep-dwellers were found – only God knows, because not a single digger will voluntarily tell about it. But we guarantee anonymity, so email: By email, you can send a photo of your treasure found by a deep-digger from a fake account. It would be interesting to see!

A separate point must be made regarding the price. Depth hunters with frames and coils have been known for a long time, but their price is very high compared to even the Golden Mask Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE. If you don’t believe me, you can google these models: PULSE STAR II PRO or depth probes from Lorenz. In fact, the Golden Mask Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE is not inferior in its search and depth qualities to these famous devices, but has a significantly lower price.

Where can I buy?

The main point is where to buy. Not every metal detector store sells such serious equipment, so you have to try a little to find a seller. This metal detector is imported into Russia by the official distributor of GM Electronics LTD Igor Malyshev , currently the owner of the Svarog brand. This depth detector is also presented in the store “At Grandfather Mitya’s”: Depth metal detectors .

If you are from another country and you do not have a seller of these metal detectors, you can contact the manufacturer directly: GM Electronics Ltd, e-mail: gmdhpro@abv.bg

Hope this helps!

Summary of Deep Hunter PRO 3 SE

Of course, in a regular review you can’t just go and cover the whole topic with this deep dive. The device requires study, experience, and this is not just a thing for entertainment and family recreation, no, it is a device for serious search work. It is doubtful that an ordinary digger would suddenly need a depth explorer.

But if suddenly you want to move to a new level in your search to start mastering and working with deep technology, then it’s worth it. Everyone's tasks are different.

The Glubinnik is also perfect for search teams, because soldiers often lie among large piles of metal, such a harsh truth of a cop. So far, I see that this metal detector justifies itself when working for quite specific search purposes – I’m slowly passing through cleared-out fields and tracts, beaten positions and dugouts with it, I want to walk along the beach soon, because there can be a lot of interesting things there!

And if you have this device, you can write in the comments about your experience and successes, I am sure that our readers will be grateful to you!

No fluff!