I have owned and have used the XP Deus metal detector for five months now. I have somethings to say about it.
WEIGHT and ERGONOMICS
The Deus is supremely light, about one pound. You can make it lighter by removing the control box but there is no need.
The Deus is very well balanced with the 9 inch coil. I will report on the balance when I get my hands on the upcoming 11 inch coil.
POWER
The Deus can reach 9 inches with the 9 inch coil. You lose the VDI after 7 inches of depth but that is common even for high end detectors. That’s why I am so excited about the 11 inch coil in the works. I think I will finally reach the 11 inch mark.
I believe the Deus is the fastest detector in the market today.
Oh, and it can handle iron like you wouldn’t believe.
FEATURES
The Deus is almost as feature rich as the White’s V3i. The V3i, in my opinion, is the undisputed King of Features but the Deus packs in the features in a smaller controller box and in a lighter detector.
MEAT and POTATOES
The Deus is the first detector I’ve owned that leaves me wanting for nothing. I am supremely confident that the Deus is reporting what’s under the ground accurately.
The Deus’ speed allows me to hunt a little faster without the fear of missing targets.
After five months, my ears have become accustomed to the tones and more importantly, my ears have become accustomed to the nuances in the tones. Because of this, I dig very few bottle caps. In fact, 99% of the time I dig a bottle cap, I do so knowing full well that it is a bottle cap I am digging. I still get fooled now and again by the occasional rusty and flat bottle cap.
I love switching between programs by simply touching one button. This allows me to check for iron and to check the target at different frequencies very fast and conveniently.
And I’ll tell you a secret; I believe that soon, I will be able to discern gold from trash in the same manner I can discern a U.S. quarter from a bottle cap.
The nine inch coil allows me to pinpoint a target without using the pinpoint feature; although, if I wanted to use the pinpoint feature, the Deus comes with discriminating pinpointing. Yep, it will give you a high tone if you are pinpointing a coin, it will give you a medium tone if you are pinpointing a low conductor, and it will give you a low tone if you are pinpointing iron. Cool uh?
Last but certainly not least, I LOVE. No; I L-O-V-E being able to collapse the Deus for ease of transport.
CONS
I wish that XP made sturdier head phones. I really like the back phones, don’t get me wrong, but I am always afraid I will damage them and they are NOT cheap. I wish XP would make wireless headphones without the little controller in them. I want plain wireless headphones.
I wish the charging clip for the coil had recessed contacts. Right now, the contacts protrude and are at risk of breakage.
I hope that future versions of the software will deal with wrap around a little better, although wrap around is a demon that haunts us all, no matter what machine we use.
Last, I wish for more tone control. Right now, you can assign 4 different tones and that’s cool but having owned the V3i with the ability to assign a separate tone to every VDI, well, it kinda of spoiled me.
Anyway, I expect great things from my Deus in the coming months.
Thank you for looking!
The Dirt Is Good To Me 
Regarding the head phones there’s a school of thought that says ‘,,as they have now made a pucker set of headphones with the headset controller I fully intergrated , eventually the head phones will deteriate not the Audio quality ,but to replace the phones would be then become a major issue compared with just replacing the back phones which cost next to nothing.
chef phones UK make an adaption so the head phone controller fits on to there standard phones which are noise canceling ,and fully encapsulate your ears …
Another option which I use is a good set of Earbud type stereo type phones ,I’ve used samsung mobile phone ones , and higher quality Sony ones ,with a pair of Peltar ear defenders over the top ,,belt and braces really , but you miss nothing , have the Deus controller around your neck in a iPhone case see through bag/case …Peter
Peter, thanks for the advice. I had not thought of using headphones attached to the controller and then putting the controller around my neck. That is an awesome idea which I will try as soon as I get home tonight!
Thanks for stopping by.
The cost of the Deus is not the cheapest ,the controls in the head phone is a bit over kill , nice to have , but here in the Uk you can buy the Deus with or with out head phones or controller or any combination , they call it the Lite version , using just the head phones only is not going to get you all the functions of the controller.
To save a quarter of the cost on the full Deus just buy the controller option and skip the head phones , if that makes sense, use your own…
If you are looking for the best ear buds, perfect tone, under chin..I wear the controller around my neck with these ear buds and stuff the wire in my shirt. really comfortable. Oh the best part around 25 dollars.
Caliber Stereo Transcription Headset with Inline Volume Control and Stereo/Mono Switch.
http://www.transcriptiongear.com/caliber-transcription-headset-by-insight-headsets.html
Grace Digital Eco Pod Rugged and Waterproof Case for MP3 players and Smartphones including the iPhone 5 and Galaxy 3
I use this because it’s ideal for the Deus controller ,it’s submergible ,hang round your neck or belt mount it. Comes with its own water proof head phones/earbuds ,which are good in there selves ,and there’s volume control on the box ,they vary in price ive seen them on EBay for 39 US which is a give away ,use in conjunction with a home made antenna your ready for some fresh water shallow detecting .check out my video on YouTube Peter Abbott XP deus antenna …hope this is usefull…