White’s Electronics Prizm 6T User manual

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Prizm™ 6T
Owner’s
Guide
White’s Electronics, Inc.
Manufacturers of the World’s Finest Metal Detectors
Prizm 6T
®

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Prizm™ 6T

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Prizm™ 6T
Assembly .............................................................................................. 4
Batteries ................................................................................................ 6
Getting Started ...................................................................................... 8
Controls/Features ................................................................................. 12
Displays ................................................................................................ 19
Repair Service ...................................................................................... 21
Warranty ................................................................................................ 24
Target Recovery .................................................................................... 30
Guide to this Manual
White’s Electronics, Inc.
1011 Pleasant Valley Road
Sweet Home, OR 97386
USA
®

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Prizm™ 6T
To Assemble
1. Remove all parts from shipping carton (see diagram next page).
2. Use nonmetallic washers (between round search coil and clevis fiber rod),
and fiber bolt and thumbnut to secure search coil to fiber rod.
3. Unlock Camlock on “S” rod, insert fiber rod into curved rod, line up buttons
into one of adjustment holes. Twist Camlock to LOCK.
4. Unravel search coil cable and wind around rods (first revolution over top of
rod). Plug search coil cable connector into control box. Screw finger tight to
secure. Secure cable to fiber rod near search coil (first revolution) with small
hook and loop strap provided. Allow slight cable slack (prior to first revolution)
to allow search coil tilting.
5. Grip by handle, with arm in elbow cup, and sweep search coil over floor. If
necessary for comfort, unlock camlock, compress buttons and reposition fiber
rod. If necessary, elbow cup is also adjustable for comfort.
6. A large nylon strap is provided. When woven through the slots in elbow cup,
physical leverage and control is provided. Insert strap velcro side up through
right and left slots in the elbow cup. The end tab of the velcro strip bends into a
“T-lock”. Pull strap so that the “T-lock” locks firmly. With arm in elbow cup, pull
strap snug and then fold strap onto itself loose enough for your arm to be
inserted and removed without adjusting the velcro contact.
T-Lock
1234567
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Nylon Strap
Arm Cup
Right Slot
Left Slot

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Prizm™ 6T
Assembly Diagram
Search Coil
Handle
Search Coil Cable
to Control Box Connector
Camlock
Thumbnut
Fiber Rod
“S” Rod
Search Coil Cable
Non-metallic
Washers
Fiber Bolt
Large Nylon Strap
Display
Control Buttons
Elbow Cup
Battery

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Prizm™ 6T
Batteries
1. Open battery door by pressing both buttons on sides of battery compart-
ment (under arm cup) and pullling battery tray from unit.
2. Install eight (8) “AA” alkaline batteries taking note of correct (+) and (-)
positions (only fit one way), and close door.
3. Most Prizm 6 T's require an energetic "quick push" to close and latch the
battery door. This is normal, and a part of the design. Please note the
molded seal on the door, when closing and latching the rubber expands
outwardly to form a water-tight seal for the battery box.
Some battery boxes can be "squeezed" and latched, but most require a little
help to flatten the seal and latch the door. This is best accomplished with the
box pulled out about 3”, and energetically closed. The unit is built to take it.
After time, this function will ease.
4. Press ON/OFF button. Listen - good batteries produce beep high pitch for
a few second upon turn on. Low pitched beep upon turn on indicates low
batteries. Low, with a battery icon on center of display, indicates low batteries
during searching.

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Prizm™ 6T
5. Batteries that are weak, or become weak during use, will automatically
indicate Low Batt with a battery icon on the center portion of the display.
Replace with eight good quality alkaline “AA” batteries. A three-beep alarm
also sounds to indicate batteries are too low to operate the 6T.
6. One may expect about 25 hours of continuous searching with new, good
quality, alkaline batteries. Battery life will vary with intermittent use, back-light
use, temperature, control settings, target indications, battery quality, battery
condition upon purchase, and shelf life. One may add or subtract as much as
50% depending upon the above variables. It is always wise to carry back up
batteries when traveling far from home.
7. Good quality rechargeable “AA” batteries may be purchased separately for
use in your Prizm. Typically, rechargeablebatteries will fall short of 25 hour
continuous search time by as much as 30%. Expensive types may exceed this
alkaline life rating. Either way their rechargeable option is desirable for avid
everyday searching. We would suggest common reputable brands and
retailers for such systems.
Prizm™ 6T Low Batt Display

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Prizm™ 6T
Prizm™ 6T Search Display

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Prizm™ 6T
Getting Started
1. Once assembled with good batteries installed, press ON/OFF.
Holding ON/OFF for a few seconds will turn ON/OFF the display’s
backlight. Lightbulb icon, center of display, indicates backlight ON.
2. The Prizm 6T has automatic ground tracking to eliminate false
targets due to ground mineralization. After you turn the detector on, 6T
will automatically balance to the local ground conditions to ensure
proper target identification. The balance procedure is simple and can
be done using either of two methods.
If you simply sweep the loop back and forth across the ground, the
detector will automatically balance to the ground. Make sure there are
no metal targets in the area that you sweep the loop over.
Another way to balance the 6T is to bob or pump the loop from surface
to about 12 inches above the ground. After a few pumps of the loop
from surface to 12 inches, the 6T will then be ground balanced The 6T
will automatically track the ground as the mineraliation changes.
3. Due to the many metals used in modern construction it is best to use
and practice outdoors.
4. Sweep the round search coil from side to side over ground evenly
(near to or touching ground surface) keeping it very close to the ground
throughout each pass and overlapping each pass as if mopping a floor.
About two seconds per pass from left to right, and two seconds return-
ing from right to left is necessary for the Prizm to perform as designed.
Sweeping too slowly (significantly less than two seconds per pass) will
deter good performance. It is also necessary for the round search coil
to be moving (sweeping) for the Prizm to detect and identify metals.
Once an signal has been located, (Step #6) the P/P (pinpoint) button
can be used to allow much slower search coil movement isolating
exactly where to dig. Keep loop near ground when pressing P/P.

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Prizm™ 6T
5. Solid repeatable beeps and
repeatable display after several
passes indicates an interesting
metal target.
6. Broken, sputter, or inconsis-
tent beeps and display, indicates
likely uninteresting metal targets.
Ignore these targets.
7. Once a solid repeatable beep
and display indication are
located, press and HOLD the P/P
button with loop near ground and
“X” area to pinpoint exactly where
to dig. Note target’s depth on left
side of display. Release P/P to continue hunting.
8. Sweeping the round search coil over the ground, recognizing solid
repeatable beeps and display indications from broken or inconsistent
ones, pinpointing, and digging all take practice. Be patient. To speed
the learning curve bury a nail, coin, and other items an inch or two in
the ground and practice locating, recognizing the different sounds and
display indications, and
pinpointing.
9. You must have permission to
search both public and private
property from the owners or
person in charge of managing the
property. In most cases, you can
locate the owner through City Hall
or the County Seat. It is important
for the future of metal detecting
that you take care in digging. Unsightly holes are dangerous to people

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Prizm™ 6T
and livestock as well as detrimental to continued use of detectors. Fill all holes
and remove all trash you encounter. Some areas have restrictions on the size
and type of digging tool you may use which may present additional challenges.
Check with your Dealer, Area Detecting Club, Local Police, or Parks & Recre-
ations Department.
10. Known and marked historical sites are certainly “Off Limits” to metal detector
use. Educate yourself, follow the laws in your area, and always aid Law Enforce-
ment and Archeologists to further promote this great hobby. With research and
thought, there are many areas to search.

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Prizm™ 6T
Prizm™ 6T Controls/Features
1. Press ON/OFF (tap) to turn the 6T ON/OFF. Hold for a few seconds
to turn Backlight ON/OFF. Backlight ON indicated by a light bulb icon
on center of display. Good batteries produce HIGH PITCH BEEP for a
few seconds upon turn on A LOW PITCHED BEEP upon turn on
indicates low batteries. Low, with a battery icon on center of display,
indicates low batteries during searching.
2. SENS (sensitivity) adjusts the responsiveness to metals, ground,
and external electrical interference. The Sensitivity level is continuously
shown on the right-side of the display. The taller the bars, the higher
the selected sensitivity setting. Use the SENS up Arrow button to
increase, down Arrow to decrease SENS. Use the highest level that
behaves predictably. Use lower levels for areas where the 6T behaves
unpredictably or is unstable (false signals without the presents of
metal). Areas of high power electrical lines or extremely mineralized
soil conditions will usually require lower SENS levels. Areas of little
electrical activity, and dry beach sand, usually allow higher SENS
settings. Standard automatic setting works well for most areas. Few
areas will allow reasonable predictable performance at maximum
SENS. A consistent overload signal, low pitch beep and OL on display,
may indicate a lower sens setting is needed to deal with high-mineral
ground.
3. P/P (when pressed and held) activates the pinpoint mode for better
target locating. P/P (when tapping) turns ON/OFF the “All Metal”
search mode, ON indicated on the center of the display. All Metal mode
can be used for searching when the desire is to hear/locate iron and
steel, as well as all other types of metals. Display indicates possible
target ID and depth in both standard DISC and ALL Metal modes.
When P/P is pressed and held, all metal types respond with a beep that
is basically the same. While holding P/P, or while searching in the All
Metal mode, pressing and releasing Tone ID turns ON/OFF VCO

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Prizm™ 6T
Prizm™ 6T Search Display
(voltage controlled oscillator) which aids in both pinpointing and
separating metals near each other. VCO varies the audio pitch with
target strength, pitch increases as the search coil nears the center of
the target. Release P/P automatically returns to the search mode.
Areas of difficult ground mineral may be easier to search in All Metal
mode, watching the display ID for DISC.
4. DISC (discrimination) selects the audio acceptance or rejection of
the nine categories of targets on the display. A reject setting is indi-
cated on the display as a speaker in a circle with a slash through it
directly under each category selected for rejection. To locate jewelry,
(except iron) accept as many categories as you can endure digging.
Pressing upper circling arrow portion of DISC button to cycle through
the available DISC categories/settings. Once at a category press lower
portion of DISC button (with speaker icons) to change that category to
either accept or reject. Continue pressing the circling arrow section to
continue to the next category. Custom settings will hold through ON/
OFF, so long as a good battery remains installed. Battery removal
reverts to initial factory settings.

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Prizm™ 6T
5. Depth Indication -
A. The depth of coin-sized metals is automatically indicated on the left-
hand portion of the display. When in the pinpoint mode (P/P button
pressed and held) the large numerical number, which normally shows
the VDI target reference, changes to show a more specific depth
indication. 80 = 8 inches, 75 indicates 7 1/2 inches. When P/P is
released, numerical number changes back to indicting target VDI
number.
B. Metals larger or smaller than typical coin size will skew this indica-
tion slightly. For example, a pop can will indicate very shallow, how-
ever, may in fact be found quite deep in the ground. A metal much
smaller than a coin will indicate quite deep, however, may be found to
be quite shallow in the ground. Whatever the finding regarding a
particular size, the results will be consistent. If the detector indicates a
target at an inch and after digging three inches the target is not located,
that item is larger than a typical coin.
C. Typically lighter metal targets, like the aluminum pull tab, remain at
fairly shallow depths. A TAB indication that indicates fairly shallow is
likely a TAB. However, gold is heavy (typically sinks more deeply into
the ground) and may also indicate in the TAB area of the display. A TAB
indication that indicates fairly deep should be dug, until it is determined
that deep tabs are also common to the area. Older, more collectable
coins are found at greater depths in the ground. Deep indications that
have questionable tone and display indications are more worthy of
investigation compared to questionable tone and display indications that
produce shallow depth indications.

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Prizm™ 6T
D. Regardless of the metal detector used when searching, you are
going to dig some trash targets. Use the tone, display, and depth
reading, to increase the odds of recovering valued metal items.
E. The depth bar graph indication (left side of display) continuously
indicates the depth of the target from 10 plus inches (lower left) to zero
inches on the upper left. When the P/P is held, the larger numbers next
to the depth bar chart indicates depth more precisely. 40 = 4.0 inches,
25 = 2.5 inches, 85 indiates 8.5 inches.
Prizm™ 6T Depth Display

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Prizm™ 6T
Prizm™ 6T Multi Tone Display
6. Tone ID (Tone Identification) turns ON/OFF Tone ID, which provides
progressively higher pitch target beeps for targets progressively higher
up the nine target ID display categories. Press and release Tone ID to
turn ON/OFF. ON indicated by an icon shown on lower right portion of
display. At minimum DISC (all display categories set for acceptance “no
speaker with slash”) nine different tones indicate the display categories
from iron with the lowest pitch tone to large coins at the highest pitch
tone. Tone ID allows the operator to immediately be aware of the likely
category of metal item without looking at the display. Display categories
selected for rejection with DISC either produce no beep at all or a
broken inconsistent beep. A very low pitch beep with OL on display
indicates OVERLOAD (too much target signal) which does prevent
good target information. Lift the search coil a little higher and re-sweep
that area to see if the large target may still be of interest. When in the
P/P mode (P/P button held) or ALL Metal mode (P/P tapped and All
Metal appears on center of display). Tone ID button turns ON/OFF

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Prizm™ 6T
A. VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) Pinpointing. VCO produces a
progressively higher pitched tone as the target signal becomes progres-
sively stronger during pinpointing.
Press and hold P/P to activate the pinpoint mode. Then press TONE ID
to enable or disable VCO pinpointing.
VCO is a feature that only operates in the Pinpoint and All Metal
modes. When ON, the stronger the target response, the higher the
pitch of the sound.
VCO is an excellent aid to pinpointing. Slowly “X” the loop over the
suspected target area. The highest pitch sound indicates the center of
the target.
At the point of the highest pitch sound, the target depth feature indi-
cates its most accurate depth.
7. Trac Lock (Ground Tracking Lock) locks the ground rejection level
at its current setting, indicated on the right side of the display with a
padlock icon. Unusually inconsistent grounds (spotty bits of significant
mineral among lower or higher mineral base) can cause difficulties for
the automatic system. The ‘average ground” setting chosen by the
automatic system may not be ideal for eliminating ground noise and
providing reasonable stability (few enough signals to recognize metal
targets). Allowing the 6T to track to a troublesome spot of mineral
(sweeping or pumping over it until it no longer responds) then locking
the Trac feature at that level, allows greater overall performance in
VCO audio. VCO audio varies the pitch of the beep as the search coil
nears the center of the target allowing improved pinpointing and better
multi target separation. VCO only performs when operating in the P/P
and All Metal mode. VCO will not function in the DISC mode.

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Prizm™ 6T
Beach Mode Display
some areas. Another option for difficult ground areas is searching in
the All Metal mode. Automatic Ground Tracking provides optimum
performance when the changes in the ground mineralization are
progressive. Trac Locking tends to improve performance when search-
ing highly spotty mineral changes or anytime an average ground setting
doesn’t provide good results. When Trac Locked, 6T continues to
calculate an ideal “average ground” rejection level. Upon Unlocking
Trac, 6T instantly chooses that level.
8. Beach - salt water beaches present a particular challenge for all
metal detectors. Salt, when wet is conductive like a metal target is
conductive. When searching wet salt water beaches, press Beach.
Beach appears on the right side of the display when ON. Beach ON
changes the perimeters of the ground balance and tracking system to
better suit wet salt conditions. Beach is not recommended for non-
conductive ground types. Ocean beaches, desert salt flats or heavily
fertilized farm fields “when wet” are the only common conductive
ground types.

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Prizm™ 6T
1. Nine distinct target categories are listed across the top of the display
and indicate the most common metals found within these categories. It
is important to understand the display information should only be
consulted after a solid repeatable audio target “beep” has been located.
2. When operating in either the DISC or All Metal modes, the larger
numerical number on the right side of the display next to the depth bar
graph indicates a target reference number (VDI Number) much more
precisely compared to the 9 display categories. “ + ” numbers indiate a
target that is non-ferrous (not of iron steel). “ - ” indicate a ferrous target
number. Visual discrimination indication number will be consistently the
same for targets that electrically measure the same.
3. A specific metal category is dictated by the target’s metal content,
size, and shape. The reference label above the display provides a
comparison of known metals. Identical metal items indicate identical
display categories. Similar metal items produce similar display catego-
ries. Different types of metal may, however, share the same category
based on their electrical characteristics (size, shape, exact content).
For example, small aluminum foil and small gold jewelry may indicate in
the same category. The display simply tells you the most common
items for that specific category. One must use this information as a
guide. Consistency is the key. For example, if three or more bullets are
dug at the same display indication, one can assume these bullets are
common to that specific area and further identical indications are highly
likely to be additional bullets of the same size/type within that specific
area being searched. If those particular bullets are not of interest, one
may choose to ignore any further identical indications within that area.
4. Low battery condition is automatically listed on the display as a
battery icon. Low battery indicates you need to replace the batteries.
One may expect about 25 hours of continuous searching with eight
Displays

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Prizm™ 6T
good quality “AA” alkaline batteries. Battery life will vary with intermit-
tent use,backlight use, temperature, control settings, target indications,
battery quality, battery condition upon purchase, and shelf life. One
may add or subtract as much as 50% depending upon the above
variables. It is always wise to carry back up batteries when traveling
far from home. A three-beep alarm sounds every five minutes when
batteries are too low to operate
Overload Display