Little experiment yesterday

Hunted a site yesterday,,,mowed real nice and short,,,have hunted here before a couple times,,,did have some trees to shelter from the sun when I got hot.

Didn't find much at all.

This site the soil pretty amped up with minerals.

Deus scale over half shaded.

Used CTX,,and Nokta Relic and pounded this place.

Had a friend along who used a Racer 1 and Deus setup.

After we finished,,found a clean spot,,cut a plug and placed clad dime down approx 7".

Tried all detectors we brought.

My Deus with 9" coil would hit the dime,,,best signal,achieved using 12 and 18 kHz reactivity 2,, silencer -1.
Reactivity 0 was a no go,,,reactivity 1 worked,,coil sweep speed a bit critical,,reactivity 3 picked up the dime,,ultra short tone though.
Racer 1 stock coil,,,2 tone with various gain settings,,,dime reporting iron tone mostly--- target IMO easily missed
Going to 3 tone,,target gave actually better signal,,,had gain maxed 99.,,at least gave me better tone info than 2 tone.

Next the CTX with stock coil,,,manual sens 25,,a blazing saddles signal with good actual ID,,12-43,, with a nice round painted with cursor.
Showed depth of target to be 7".
Tried the Nokta relic with smaller coil,,,I didn't expect to get the dime with it due to small coil,,did hear the dime well though using all metal.

So out of all detectors I tried with respective coils attached ,,only the CTX would give ID of dime.

Also should note,,while hunting a little bit,,highest CTX would track in auto plus 3 was 23.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2016 12:01PM by tnsharpshooter.

When I had my CTX I had a place that would have the auto tracking plus three at 13.

That's my problem here, there's some real nice detectors about with cool features but i need to be getting a clean hit at 10'' to have half a chance on 90% of my hunting grounds.
I remember reading an article on garys uk website where he said detectors that had the best air test results had the biggest loss in ground depth, don't know if this stacks up but he's a pretty clued in guy.

Sounds about right for the soil..

bbs or fbs will do better than a vlf in high mineral soil ..till it cant..then a p.i. will come into play

like we were talking a but over on the BBS thread last week..

Keith


.

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

This was just one test,,and ground was disturbed.

CTX actually surprised me,,how good it would hit.

This particular site,,,pretty old,,,and IMO just based on depths of good finds founds previously sink rate LOW.

I have hunted sites close with less mineralization,,and dug far deeper finds--- and ground seemed to be easier to dig in as well.

What I saw with Racer,,,falls very much inline with at least one of Keith's videos,,,,where 3 tone gives the better signal to investigate vs 2 tone.

Also should point out,,,any discernible air gap with coil over this target,,,all iron tone,,both modes.

This area also IMO is prone to EMI and could have skewed results negatively for both Deus and Racer.

I still think,,,the way fbs/fbs2 units are designed,,,their ability to operate in EMI environments,,,,,is one of the reasons they strike peak depth to fringe depth higher conductors it seems better than most other detectors.

I highly encourage other manufacturers to design a system for scanning and identifying the cleanest channels when it comes to EMI.

Still like all my units,,,but do try and report at lest occassionally what I see and hear while using.

My MXT Smoked my Etrac in woodland and in ploughed fields, The trouble with BBS and FBS is they are Blind to small Gold in hot ground and they don't air test well either and on Thin hammered silver coins the MXT see's them at about 70% Deeper and even when the Sovereign GT was fitted with the best coil out there the MXT still beat it by 33%. And even when the Etrac has the 17" fitted the MXT will beat it in and Air Test using the 10" DD,

John.

I Love My MXT, I have never used a MXT PRO, but I can't here tones anyway, is there any else that the PRO has that the MXT don't?

Flintstone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I Love My MXT, I have never used a MXT PRO, but I
> can't here tones anyway, is there any else that
> the PRO has that the MXT don't?

Yes it does, It has the ground grab and when you have the tracking locked you can either ground balance by pressing the grab button or if you are working in Locked and you press and release the Grab button it will update the tracking to what ever the ground is doing because it Monitors the ground even when you are working in locked and if you are in Tracking if you press and hold the button it will pause the tracking while you investigate a target, That button alone turns the MXT in to a full on professional machine and is worth its weight in Gold and it also has 3 levels of backlight and it has an updated Relic and Prospecting Modes and although the haven't installed another software update they have polished it up a little which seems to make a better all round package and with the 5.3 coil fitted it can see bits weighing less than 0.09 grains or 0.00019 ozt when you run it flat out,

But the MXT All Pro / Pro is as good as it gets,

hope this helps,

John.

Thanks John, didn't mean to take over the thread seen you talk about the MXT and I have been wanting a new one, not that mine is bad just old. I don't know weather to buy a new MXT PRO or find a like new MXT. Might check out the PRO. Thanks flintstone

Flintstone Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks John, didn't mean to take over the thread
> seen you talk about the MXT and I have been
> wanting a new one, not that mine is bad just old.
> I don't know weather to buy a new MXT PRO or find
> a like new MXT. Might check out the PRO. Thanks
> flintstone


This thread is certainly not detector "specific",,, by all means I welcome all discussions.

Any and all informations shared I consider worthy,,and folks here reading may indeed learn something.

After my experience with the Etrac I am not game to go down the CTX route, I fell for the dealer spiel about the FBS and BBS and they were blind as a Bat and I know the CTX is blind on small Natural Gold, on the other hand if the Racer 2 had the rear control box like the Relic does I would take a look at it, and I know the Dues is a great machine but I want my detector to look like a Detector

I wouldn't hunt gold with a BBS or FBS..

but there far from pathetic detectors..

By the way I believe Dave says the design of the MXT is comparable to say a three filter unit..


Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Loved my etrac but wouldn't buy another.

Keith Southern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wouldn't hunt gold with a BBS or FBS..
>
> but there far from pathetic detectors..
>
> By the way I believe Dave says the design of the
> MXT is comparable to say a three filter unit..
>
>
> Keith

I agree Keith, but hunting those thin section silver coins really makes em struggle,, It took me 5 and a half years to find one with the GT, and when I changed to the MXT I was finding 5 or 6 sometimes 8 per day, I bought 9 coils for the GT and the best one was the little joey 6x10 or 5x10 from Coiltek, and then the Platypus 8x12 was the next best on those coins The SEF were no good and the round Detech just did not Gel, But those Coiltek Aussie Coils make the GT see smaller things and that joey added and inch and a half over the stock 10" and 2 and a 1/4 over the factory BBS-800 (8") coil.

John

Yes BBS and FBS is awesome when used in the right spots..

When not they can seem lack luster..

The MXT is one of the best if not Best all around unit ever developed ..

that 3 filter helps immensely on tough soil yet still allows for slow trash work too..

reminds you of the older Gold scanner pro by Compass....vari filter...

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Keith Southern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes BBS and FBS is awesome when used in the right
> spots..
>
> When not they can seem lack luster..
>
> The MXT is one of the best if not Best all around
> unit ever developed ..
>
> that 3 filter helps immensely on tough soil yet
> still allows for slow trash work too..
>
> reminds you of the older Gold scanner pro by
> Compass....vari filter...
>
> Keith

Yeah, The MXT changed every thing, But my Etrac and GT were very clever machines,

I have never seen a Compass as of yet but if it is anything like my 5900 it will be an eye opener,

John

goodmore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I had my CTX I had a place that would have
> the auto tracking plus three at 13.


Several years ago, back in a rocky area near the main beach, there’s an area with small and large magnetite rocks that caused the E-trac’s sensitivity level to drop to 1 in a couple of sweeps.
You would hear a soft, hi-pitched target hit with a 01-50 target ID value, and after the second or third sweep, the sensitivity level would drop immediately from the upper teens down to 1. Dug up a few of these magnetite rocks. The largest weighed over 700 grams, while the smaller ones were golf ball size.

There’s are several sandy locations at a park where the CTX’s suggested sensitivity level drops down as low as 3 very quickly. Unfortunately, I haven’t taken the time to dig up what’s causing this on the CTX. But one of these days, out of curiosity, I’ll dedicate at least ½ hour to locating and isolating the mineralized rock, pebble(s), or concentrated mineralized dirt clog.

Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil

Quote

and they don't air test well either

I ran some air tests in my yard the other day with my CTX. I think the results were pretty good and I wasn't even using the headphones. Destroyed my CZ21, Excal, and Whites DF. The CTX got around 2-4'' more but also has a 17'' coil vs the others which are stock:

Settings:

Coil: 17 inch
Sensitivity: 26
Pattern: All metal but last line
Tone: Combined
Deep on
Seawater on
Pitch long
Speaker - no headphones.

Findings:


Mens 10k Gold band: 16 inches
Mens 14k thin white gold band: 14 inches
Womens 14k White gold wedding band: 8-9 inches
Tungsten Junk Ring Mens Wedding Band: 17 inches
Wheat Penny: 15 inches
1oz silver bullet: 11 inches
Silver nickel: 13 inches
Regular nickel: 13 inches
Quarter: 16 inches
Silver ring: 14 inches

As far as finding small gold...there isn't a beach machine that does it

Pic of items tested:



_________________________________

Nox600, CTX, CZ21, Excal II and White's DF with 920i stealthscoop...I live and hunt at the beach in Wilm NC



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2016 07:30PM by adamBomb.

adamBomb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> and they don't air test well either
>
> I ran some air tests in my yard the other day with
> my CTX. I think the results were pretty good and I
> wasn't even using the headphones. Destroyed my
> CZ21, Excal, and Whites DF. The CTX got around
> 2-4'' more but also has a 17'' coil vs the others
> which are stock:
>
> Settings:
>
> Coil: 17 inch
> Sensitivity: 26
> Pattern: All metal but last line
> Tone: Combined
> Deep on
> Seawater on
> Pitch long
> Speaker - no headphones.
>
> Findings:
>
>
> Mens 10k Gold band: 16 inches
> Mens 14k thin white gold band: 14 inches
> Womens 14k White gold wedding band: 8-9 inches
> Tungsten Junk Ring Mens Wedding Band: 17 inches
> Wheat Penny: 15 inches
> 1oz silver bullet: 11 inches
> Silver nickel: 13 inches
> Regular nickel: 13 inches
> Quarter: 16 inches
> Silver ring: 14 inches
>
> As far as finding small gold...there isn't a beach
> machine that does it
>
> Pic of items tested:
>
> [c4.staticflickr.com]
> 17a9e14.jpg

Yeah I saw that, it is an impressive report, I tested my machine and got different results (Non Minelab)

John.

I shot a video of it but the lens was all foggy, i guess because of the humidity, so I was not able to post it - boooo

_________________________________

Nox600, CTX, CZ21, Excal II and White's DF with 920i stealthscoop...I live and hunt at the beach in Wilm NC



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2016 07:47PM by adamBomb.

auminesweeper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Keith Southern Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wouldn't hunt gold with a BBS or FBS..
> >
> > but there far from pathetic detectors..
> >
> > By the way I believe Dave says the design of
> the
> > MXT is comparable to say a three filter unit..
> >
> >
> > Keith
>
> I agree Keith, but hunting those thin section
> silver coins really makes em struggle,, It took me
> 5 and a half years to find one with the GT, and
> when I changed to the MXT I was finding 5 or 6
> sometimes 8 per day, I bought 9 coils for the GT
> and the best one was the little joey 6x10 or 5x10
> from Coiltek, and then the Platypus 8x12 was the
> next best on those coins The SEF were no good and
> the round Detech just did not Gel, But those
> Coiltek Aussie Coils make the GT see smaller
> things and that joey added and inch and a half
> over the stock 10" and 2 and a 1/4 over the
> factory BBS-800 (8") coil.
>
> John

You just know when a unit hunts,.. usually the finds pouch tells you the outcome :-)

Allthough I like my CTX a lot,... wouldn't be without,... there are certain things it doesn't do well.
The Coiltek coil would be my go-to coil for those "foil like" coins, decent ground coverage and enough sensitivity.

But strap on the 10.5" 18.75 kHz coil to the X-terra 705 and those flimsy coins will be jumping out of the ground on farmland.
I've hunted behind 2 CTX users with the 10x5" 18.75 Elliptical on the 705 and nabbed silver they dismiss as ground signal.

Sometimes you don't need a truck :-)

However get the CTX over some firm ground with old targets,... it will HUNT.

HH
Johnb

scoopjohnb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> auminesweeper Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Keith Southern Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > I wouldn't hunt gold with a BBS or FBS..
> > >
> > > but there far from pathetic detectors..
> > >
> > > By the way I believe Dave says the design of
> > the
> > > MXT is comparable to say a three filter
> unit..
> > >
> > >
> > > Keith
> >
> > I agree Keith, but hunting those thin section
> > silver coins really makes em struggle,, It took
> me
> > 5 and a half years to find one with the GT, and
> > when I changed to the MXT I was finding 5 or 6
> > sometimes 8 per day, I bought 9 coils for the
> GT
> > and the best one was the little joey 6x10 or
> 5x10
> > from Coiltek, and then the Platypus 8x12 was
> the
> > next best on those coins The SEF were no good
> and
> > the round Detech just did not Gel, But those
> > Coiltek Aussie Coils make the GT see smaller
> > things and that joey added and inch and a half
> > over the stock 10" and 2 and a 1/4 over the
> > factory BBS-800 (8") coil.
> >
> > John
>
> You just know when a unit hunts,.. usually the
> finds pouch tells you the outcome :-)
>
> Allthough I like my CTX a lot,... wouldn't be
> without,... there are certain things it doesn't do
> well.
> The Coiltek coil would be my go-to coil for those
> "foil like" coins, decent ground coverage and
> enough sensitivity.
>
> But strap on the 10.5" 18.75 kHz coil to the
> X-terra 705 and those flimsy coins will be jumping
> out of the ground on farmland.
> I've hunted behind 2 CTX users with the 10x5"
> 18.75 Elliptical on the 705 and nabbed silver they
> dismiss as ground signal.
>
> Sometimes you don't need a truck :-)
>
> However get the CTX over some firm ground with old
> targets,... it will HUNT.

It's the Iron in the ground that pulls up BBS and FBS machines, The trouble with my sites is the Amount of Iron, hunt in AM is not an option and no matter what coil I used regardless of it's size, I just could not get a clean sweep out of it.

John.

The 3 musketeers, myself and 2 other CTX users went hunting on a Roman field.
Littered with iron,... as you say,... you can't get a clean sweep.

So my brain told me to go and have an adventure,... one of those rare occasions it actually provides me with a moment of clarity :-)

Strapped on the 17" coil to the CTX with my smidgen of iron disc, lowered the sens till I lost the common size of nails high toning.
Away I went digging shell fragments left and right. Concave pieces of iron that sound off just like a coin.

After a few deep holes and my brain telling me,... Pfew this is too much hard work,... finally something was really Deep,...
Expecting some piece of farming equipment to surface or at least a whole shell,... a whopper of a Roman Silver coin surfaced.

Sitting there on my knees beside the hole I dug, I decided there and then that I would dig this field till sundown or they dragged me off it.

Never dug so much Iron in my life :-)

We often get trapped into a specific way of thinking about detectors, their downfalls and the things they excell at.
But often our mindsets are simply "life preserving orientated"!

HH
Johnb

Brilliant post John, enjoyed that.

True words John..

don't let yourself get stuck in a one track mind way of thinking..

Keep an open mind on equipment and such ...one different machine one different setting even with a different coil can make a site produce..

Man to dig a Huge/small Roman coin..I would be on cloud nine for a Year!!

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Yeah John, running a big coil of the ground will get you the deeper targets, There has been a few times that when I have done it, I worked out that because everyone always uses small coils in such sites and I was not having a lot of luck with a 10" coil, So I tend to do the opposite of what others are doing and hopefully find those deeper targets,

My Mate thought I was nuts, But it worked and I also managed to locate possible Roman Villa / Temple, I took GPS Cords but have yet to dig any test pits.

John.

Actually the Roman silver isn't that hard,... I'm more of a beach hunter myself as it takes me a 2 hour drive to get into "Roman country".
There are a few Villa's around where I live, but the farmers are something fierce in our moderate coastal climate.

From harvesting to plowing often only takes a few days, so my window of opportunity is very short.

Now Roman gold as in jewelry,... it exists,... it gets dug,... it has a real wow factor when you hold it in your hand.
That is something that wil send shivers up your spine!

Beach Gold is fine, Blingy, makes you smile and enjoy life.

Roman Gold is Treasure, Indianna Jones, Jack Sparrow,... suddenly 2000 years seems irrevelant and my old truck feels like brand-new!


Keith Southern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> True words John..
>
> don't let yourself get stuck in a one track mind
> way of thinking..
>
> Keep an open mind on equipment and such ...one
> different machine one different setting even with
> a different coil can make a site produce..
>
> Man to dig a Huge/small Roman coin..I would be on
> cloud nine for a Year!!
>
> Keith

HH
Johnb

Afternoon everyone. Been a while since I posted, and hunted for that matter.
This thread has me interested.
I've had various units, starting with an Etrac about 8 years ago. Came back to Minelab as I simply missed the ML language/sounds/ID.
My CTX, where I hunt, has a hard time running more than 12-15 in any Auto setting, usually lower...~10. Most of these places are in town house lots. Best I've seen is when using it down at our old house in Buxton NC, where when running in manual, recommended sens was around 18-19.
I'm not as experiences with all of this as you guys...getting much better at "listening" to what the machine is telling me.
Having said above...
What primarily affects how hot the machine will run from a sens setting? Is it EMI? I've always wondered how some of you guys get such awesome sens settings on Minelab machines...in Auto

Appreciate the thoughts. Sorry if this is off topic. Hope all are well!

Randy Kight
Richmond.


tnsharpshooter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hunted a site yesterday,,,mowed real nice and
> short,,,have hunted here before a couple
> times,,,did have some trees to shelter from the
> sun when I got hot.
>
> Didn't find much at all.
>
> This site the soil pretty amped up with minerals.
>
> Deus scale over half shaded.
>
> Used CTX,,and Nokta Relic and pounded this place.
>
> Had a friend along who used a Racer 1 and Deus
> setup.
>
> After we finished,,found a clean spot,,cut a plug
> and placed clad dime down approx 7".
>
> Tried all detectors we brought.
>
> My Deus with 9" coil would hit the dime,,,best
> signal,achieved using 12 and 18 kHz reactivity 2,,
> silencer -1.
> Reactivity 0 was a no go,,,reactivity 1
> worked,,coil sweep speed a bit
> critical,,reactivity 3 picked up the dime,,ultra
> short tone though.
> Racer 1 stock coil,,,2 tone with various gain
> settings,,,dime reporting iron tone mostly---
> target IMO easily missed
> Going to 3 tone,,target gave actually better
> signal,,,had gain maxed 99.,,at least gave me
> better tone info than 2 tone.
>
> Next the CTX with stock coil,,,manual sens 25,,a
> blazing saddles signal with good actual
> ID,,12-43,, with a nice round painted with
> cursor.
> Showed depth of target to be 7".
> Tried the Nokta relic with smaller coil,,,I didn't
> expect to get the dime with it due to small
> coil,,did hear the dime well though using all
> metal.
>
> So out of all detectors I tried with respective
> coils attached ,,only the CTX would give ID of
> dime.
>
> Also should note,,while hunting a little
> bit,,highest CTX would track in auto plus 3 was
> 23.

Randy,

It's primarily the ground conditions. You (and I) aren't lucky enough to have good ground.

Nothing much we can do about it. Some suggest running manual to override, but I've found that in really bad ground, forcing too high of a sens will very quickly make the CTX too 'nervous' to hunt with.

Good luck, and HH,
mike

jrk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My CTX, where I hunt, has a hard time running more
> than 12-15 in any Auto setting, usually
> lower...~10. Most of these places are in town
> house lots. Best I've seen is when using it down
> at our old house in Buxton NC, where when running
> in manual, recommended sens was around 18-19.

> What primarily affects how hot the machine will
> run from a sens setting? Is it EMI? I've always
> wondered how some of you guys get such awesome
> sens settings on Minelab machines...in Auto
>
> Randy Kight
> Richmond.
>

Down and dirty useless test at best.....If a coin is 7 inches deep unless its fill dirt its been in the ground in most cases for years depending on the type of ground and surely going to react a heck of a lot different than a freshly buried one.