Heres a video I did of the X-terra 705 Gold pack on recovery speed and separation

I have been impressed with the 705 probably more than any other minelab in the last few year's..

One of the deadliest machines they/minelab make for iron unmasking...

When properly learned they are a force to be reckoned with...believe me after in field testing for the last couple of years they dont leave much in iron or at depth either...

Also run's exceptionally stable and quite...this set up with the 5 x 10 DD will airtest a nickle with a chirp at 17 inches...I actually dig a .58 caliber civil war bullet today at a good 13 inches with it using this high freq coil...

Also the prospecting mode on this machine is capable of jaw dropping depth....

Till I used the DEUS I was little leary of the coil change for freq adjustment on the X-terra...I thought in my mind it was a way to make money...Now after the DEUS I know how wrong I was...

The DEUS is a great machine but the coil on the DEUS is not exactly aligned except on 12Khz...The X-Terra aligns as it should when coils are swapped...
Nothing wrong with the DEUS it just showed me how I misjudged the engineering design of the X-terra ...

The xterra is truly an all rounder..

Its awesome in iron too...

Like I have stated there are alot of good detector being made in todays market.. from garrret to XP's and anywhere in between ....

What I am showing here in the video is a simple Deck test anyone can perfom if they have a deck...I have a couple of more vids showing the same scenario ..And for the most part it's something anyone can do...Not a sterile/scientific test but something people can relate too as most decks are built about the same...

What has to be done is to place a dime between the boards of the deck on edge with the nails in line on either side..let the dime rest on the cross member of the deck...

Then set the disc to low tone the nails or silnce the nails if you have a mono tone machine or a machione that does not tone break on user selected disc...

Most machines like the Gold Bug pro..G2. GMP with user tone set point needs to break from low to high right at the nail to hear the thin dime on edge...the T-2/F-75 needs to go to 1 tone since the tone on 2 wont break till much higher than the nail but the nail pulls the dime below the factory break,So 1 tone option is needed to get the nails to go silent then signal the dime right past the mark...


Well the 705 will signal the dime on edge with the tone breaking at a factory setting of 0 the nails read -6 -8 so you can see that most all of the iron is silenced on zero yet the 705 with High freq coil can still hit the dime with ease...

I think you can see the benefit of such razor edge response...

Not bashing any machine but showing strength's when credit is due no matter what make or model...

The X-Terra will surprise you in iron like alot of other if you learn it...

Lot of bang for the buck...

Ultra fast yet not aggresive ground tracking also should be mentioned , best I have ever encountered...

Ok enough talking ..Maybe someone will benefit from the video ...

[youtu.be]

Keith

Thank Keith - another great video. As some may have noticed been think about another detector to complement my GT - well you have justed add another to the list. I have seen some great deals on these used - another person says if you really do not need the prospecting mode the 305 is one great detector that will do almost everything the 705 will do but for less. What kind of depth have you been able to get out of the 705. This is the one area that seems to get mixed reviews my guess is heavy mineralization kills her depth. Another plus is I have had one in my hand a few times boy is she light to swing

Thanks

Impressive Keith. These gold prospecting units are eye-openers. Wonder how the Gold Bug-2 (71-Khz unit) would perform on your deck.

Keith, I knew the Xterra 70 with small HF coil was really good in nails but I sold it off after I had a bad
experience with ML repair shop (this was right after the new company took over and they cut jobs).
In your opinion, is the 705 superior to the 70 in nails?
I might have to try one out yet.
I agree with you on the prospecting mode, it was deep in my ground and I used it to determine size on in-ground targets.
Bryannagirl, don't bother with the lower priced Xterras, if you want one get the 70 or 705.

What does "the coil is aligned or not aligned" mean??? You said that the Deus coil is "aligned" at 12 khz. Would you recommend that I search iron/nail laden sites with 12 khz? I have already worked them over with 18 khz on the Deus. I don't really want to leave that site. I want to find that other cuff-link. And I just know that there are nails and iron globulets blocking it and other goodies/coins/buttons/ etc Great video. That makes me want to go buy a 705!!!

Hey Bryanna thanks for the compliment on the video...

The 705 is the flagship of the X-terra line and it shows...

Not sure I would opt for the 305 if I was serious about doing more than coin Shooting...Why you ask...

the 305 is a nice detector but only has the use of the 7.5 Khz and the 18.75 Khz....The 3Khz is a silver killer at depth...So if you want old silver at depth you will need to opt for the 3Khz...

Also the 705 offers an unequalled ground tracking system...And when coupled with the HF coils it makes larhe iron I.D. alot easier than fixed ground bal..Trsut me on this I have usedthe auto ground tracking for years to help I.D. large iron on the 18.75 coil that gets fooled when in manual ground bal...

But also the ground balance feature is not overly aggresive like on some unit's...it does not over track the ground then have to back up to get back in balance...it tracks quickly for the first few sceconds it's activated then slows down with the auto adjustment's...

Not sure Where you heard the X-terra is not deep...I find it very deep even in my mineralized ground...But Minelabs are made for mineralized dirt..And none of them have ever had a problem with depth..Her's a bullet .... A .58 caliber William's cleaner to be exact I dug yesterday with the 5x10 DD coil at 18.75 Khz.It was a little past the 12 inch mark...HArd to tell inthe pic but it was quite big hole to get to it..




The depth coil on this machine is the 10.5" 7.5 Khz DD coil...It looks like the Stock explorer 2 coil...It a very deep coil in disc mode...will easily get past a foot on civil war bullet's with nice audio ...Likes buttons too at depth...I have dug flat buttons with that coil at the foot mark at they sounded good..A flat button reads like a Copper penny..


The prospecting mode is awfully deep and it is a true all metal mode in every sense..It is treashold based...But it has a unique feature built in also...It offers iron mask...Which is you can adjust the iron mask in all metal to blank on iron...works great on nails...at depth it will not work well but once the target get's close enough to the coil for it to work it will null out on iron...works alot like the GPX pulse machine in the audio sense...
It allows you too hear it all at depth then once you get in close enough give some help on if it's iron or not...Great for relic hunting for extremely deep items.

One other thing I want to mention about the X-terra is in the last couple of Month's they have tweaked the V-flex technology..Notice in the video how quite My 705 is...Well the 705's have always been mostly immune to EMI anyway but the newest ones are truly amazing at the lack of external noise...I was on my back deck with 2 air conditioning unit's runnig right beside me and broad band cable connection...Very quite wide open..and the depth has been helped witht he tweak they have done...used to that same coil ona 70 or 705 would do 15 inches max on a Nickle on wide open sens...Now it will get right at 17 with the same type response it used to give at 15"...Not sure what they Did but it is noticable and is talked about on the minelab website in a news release..[www.minelab.com]

Also the V-Flex platform that I was always leary of for certian reasons till I got the DEUS and it changed my outlook on the importance of exact coil freq design is very much needed to get pure performance edges in the aility to change freq's...

I thought if a Whites or an DEUS can do it on one coil why cant a X-Terra do it on one coil instread of multiple coil's...I thought it was a marketing ploy..ut now i know it is not it is the best way to get exact freq performance...

the Guy who invented the design is Dr. Laurence Statmatescu He is the inventor of VFLEX technology. He worked as a nuclear physicist in a nuclear research institute in Romania before coming to Minelab...I read he desinged Vflex in his garage in his spare time...

Keith

Steve I think the first 705 and the 70 were awfully close but the new tweaked 705 is the betterr of the 2 I beleive.

The newest one have the Holographic image on the side of the contol housing...

Keith

Hey Tom!

Not sure on the GB-2....It ought to do well if the disc does not break through with such high gain's being used?

Might try one one day...

Thanks

Keith

He Kevin dont read too much into what i said about that coil aligned on 12Khz...I beleive it is centered on 12 at then electronically manipulated to get the other freq's....

Now this is all in my mind and really dont know but every thing on the DEUS seems to work more flowingly on 12...ever so slightly and I suspect that's where the coil is wound...Tom Might Know for sure...

But again Dont read too much into it... it's an awesome machine...And behaves accordingy when other freq's are selected...I just sense alittle bit of restriction for lack of better word's when you gravitate off 12Khz...but hardly noticeable...

Keith

P.S. the Newset 705's are very nice unit's Kevin LOL!!! But dont buy one On my account you have a great machine...I just have to satisfy my own goals with Multi brand's..

Thanks Keith - did not know the upgraded the Xterra's now it looks like I need to look for a new one or can they upgrade older ones. - can not even be sure one on the shelf is new unless you buy from a volume store like Kellyco. Anyway great info - sure makes me want one to complememt my GT.

Bryanna

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Nice vid on the 705.

Maybe they have tweaked them to work better than they did when they first came out. But I ain't buying any more to find out.

My experience has been that they are slow, false alot in my minerals and iron, and have a poor ground balance range.

Everytime someone, like yourself, came out with a glowing report, I would think I must have been missing something. So I'd buy another one and find out nope... I got it right the first time. My ground conditions say no.

My xterra ownership =Three xterra 70, two xterra 50, one xterra 505, two xterra 50, one xterra 305.

HH
Mike

Hey Mike...

I dont think the upgrade would help you on the ground problem's you were having or the slowness...

It does more in the area of noise reduction from what I can tell..Cleans of extrnal noise...


I guess I should of stated that the 705 is a instrument to run also...and it might not be the first pick for everyone...

Thats how we ended up with the Etrac over the explorer....The explorr loves hot rocks the etrac does not...they are still there they just become nulled...

Thats why the die hard explorer guys like the explorer it hit's hot rocks but thats also where the fringe depth comes into play...the etrac silences the hot rocks with a null even on a wide open screen and there in lies the difference in the last bit of depth..

the X-terra does like hot rocks but like on the explorer once learned they are noticeable...but a machine to get great depth I have found in bad dirt needs to hit on hot rock's to some degree...

There is subtleties to run the xterra in bad dirt and iron....the HF coil tames the machine alot on the ground issue,, and the falsing in iron ...I love that...it's another way to get target's out of nails....( On a side note if I may...It will false on medium/large iron but is more easily recognized of you leave the ground tracking on dont ask why but it makes a big difference)

Again it might not be for everyone...My video was to show the seperation offered....And I do find it deep ( better with the 10.5 DD on 7.5 Khz) but I have tuned my ear to tell hot rocks/ground noise from legitimate target's.....

The ground bal works for my dirt...it goes from salt to magnetic ...I think the 305 and 505 might be more limited though...???

Is it the perfect detector ? nope!!

Just another tool...But it will surprise you in a site worked down to nail's...

Thanks for the input..

Keith

Correct me if I am wrong but i think the 305 and 505 have manual ground balance - the 705 has automatic ground balance and has accutrack ground tracking witch I do not believe the others have - the 705 also has prospecting and beach mode again I do not believe the others do - but aside from those and that the target ID is divided up they are more similar then different. But the ground balance issue in some areas would be a killer. I lived in the mountains near areas of gold and silver mining i was using a whites at the time and boy oh boy did I dig a lot of hot rocks..

Bryanna

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Hey Bryanna...

I look at the problems Mike had with the xterra and it seems He might of been using the stock 9 inch 7.5Khz coil....If thats the only coil I had I would wrap the machine around a tree...

The HF coils especially the 5x10 DD HF coil really makes it a whole different machine...I live in the North Ga. Gold Belt and My dirt is red clay and very mineralized...

I remember my first xterra 70 with the stock coil was one poor performer for the reasons He list...

The Xterra perfoms completely different with DD coils when comparing to concentric coil's....the only concentric that works well is the 3Khz ..

Maybe He will chime back in ...

You miss alot by not utilizing the DD's on this platform...

Keith

Well since the new 705 is somewhat similar to what my old 70 was like, I will chime in too.
I really hated the 70 with the concentric stock coil as I can relate to what Mike said about it.
With mine I got the 6" DD HF and actually that was why I bought it in the first place.
I can honestly say that I think its performance in nail ridden areas, like old farm houses, filled with all sorts and types of iron
was really good.
In fact I was able to eek out some finds missed by a multitude of other detectors, mostly older ones, such the 1236, ML Advantage
and Whites IDX Pro. Mind you, I have respect for each of those detectors so aint sayin nothin bad about them but the 70 did better for me.
Now how the X-terra with small coil compares to all the newer whiz bangs from FT, I don't have a clue since I haven't tried any of them.

Now there is one extremely large plowed field where I did a lot of relic hunting, using every detector I had.
Since this field has been plowed almost every year for as long as anyone can remember and on top of that fertilizer has been put down almost every year,
machines would false like crazy there on iron of all kinds and especially nails, giving the indication that non-ferrous items were everywhere.
Well I had very limited success there with most machines since they false so much but I was able to run my old Explorer and needed another machine
to check behind it.(Fertilized plowed fields with nails are a sob to detect in)
With the 70, it was impossible to use the stock coil.
And I thought I wasn't going to be able to use the small 6" coil but like Keith, I learned to judge the falses and what really helped me is using
the 4 tone option and discerning the length of the high tones, I was able to discern falses to those items that might be good.
Was my discern a 100% right? Nope as I dug bent nails and so forth but that small coil is a killer but one has to take it slow.

I had the mid freq 10" coil also but unlike Keith, I never really saw anything that made me want to use it a lot, I would always use
Explorer with it stock coil. Perhaps I didn't use it long enough to get to know it enough, I don't know.

So for me, it does really well in nails(with small 6" DD), and I am talking about nail city....like you can't move a 6" coil without being over one or more nails
at the same time and many of them close to the top of the ground.... these are areas I enjoy detecting in....simply for the challenge....no stock coil will work in those kind of places since
it is seeing too much at one time, I don't care how fast the recovery is...ain't gonna happen.

So from my perspective the stock coils sucks and sucks hard but some of the DDs can make it a decent detector...
but it ain't no Explorer IMO.

One can use the stock coil if the ground is mild and not a concentration of trash.

Now like I said, i don't know how it stacks up to the FT detectors, I'll leave that to others to figure out.
All I know is with the DD, it does a lot better and with those coils, it is like Keith mentioned a well mannered detector.

I had two XTerra 70s....neat units but buying the different freq coils for it can get expensive. I had a couple for mine and a buddy of mine had one also and owned the coils I did not have so I eventually got to try them all....except for the newest one that's after market design. The red dirt at my bullet site shuts them down no matter the coil size or freq. You'll not get a reading on a bullet there deeper than 5 inches. That's been proven with the two that I had and the two my buddies had/have as well..although only one of them has the 705. The prospecting mode was the deeper mode BUT everything sounded the same to me in it....couldn't tell bullets/buttons from iron in the red dirt junk. I was like Mike...got one when they first came out and a few years later, got another to try. Same results for both units for me personally. As well as the two others my buddies have/had. One of them still has the 705 but he doesn't relic hunt as much as the rest of the folks I know. He probably ain't had it out of his closet in over a year.

I will be looking for a lite weight machine to buy this winter. Thanks!

First has always amazed me how detectors in different hands (and I believe more important different locations) can have such different results. Like has been said before the only way to really compare detectors in in the same ground on real targets with each detector getting a chance at the targets and all doing from the same angle. But if you have different dirt then the old saying - "Your Results May Vary" will apply.

Keith I remember your similar video on the Musky - watching both the 705 was without a doubt better - but the Musky was not bad just the 705 is better.

Bryanna

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Bryanna
It is the soil differences in most cases, followed by personal expectations.

Keith,
My local dirt is high in magnetite, or black sand from decomosing granite washed down from the Sandia mountains. It is almost like caliche but its not We bring in fill dirt and lay sod down on top it to grow grass or we have no grass. The only thing that likes the dirt is sagebrush and it's lying. It don't really like it either. The sand that used in the playgrounds also contains high levels of black sand. For many sites my detection depth is limited to fill dirt depth as penetration below that level is very poor. Often when jewelry hunting some of these sites, I will place a normal BB on the ground and raise my sensitivity settings until the BB no longer responds due to ground masking, then back it back down until it comes in good again. That is how I know the ground signal isn't going to mask the targets I'm after. I have some places where I can't hear a dime on top of the ground. Not because the detector can't see it and report it, but because it is reporting it as iron, which I probably have discriminated out. In some of the sand play grounds, I can push a dime down into the sand up to the middle knuckle of my finger and lose it. One place I dig all the iron grunts because those are quarters.

(A good detector in this type of dirt is the CoinStrike. The CoinStrike will not wrap a coin around to iron and will ground balance spot on).

Regards the Xterras, I have used them with stock coils, 5x10 HF DD coils, 10" Conc DD coils. Sometimes I'd have more money in coils than I'd have in the machine. But they just don't work well in the dirt I talked about. I saw where someone brought over one of George's articles from JB(MS)'s Discovery page. When you read his articles you can start to understand why ground cancellng ranges in the magnetite mineral ranges are so critital. Cancellization of the high mineral ranges has an effect on high conductor responses. If the range is poor, like on the Xterra's and Garretts, then thier operation in high minerals are going to be poor as well. (Garrett did develope a new ground balance chip to extend the high end mineral ranges of their GTI units but you have to ask for it as I don't believe it is stock and they didn't put it in the new ATPro/Gold)

Field test reading tip...if the tester says, "it needs a smaller coil to unlock its full potential", translated that reads "slow recovery speed and poor target separation".

Now with all that said, When I get down into the river bottom silt sites, well then, now we are talking different dirt.

HH
Mike

Thanks Mike!!

Sounds Like My North Ga area LOL!!!

Most fo the entrenchment areas from the civil war around here are on tops of ridges as would be expected ...but thats where the Granite outcroping's are at..combined with laterite red weathered clay no top soil it makes for a hard time to hear a .58 caliber minnie ball lying on top of the ground.....Then the low areas areloamy but black sand..but I am in the gold belt here so to be expected...,..Also a few 19th century copper mines right here in the county...and a some iron furnaces scattered about the local area..

But after a decades of hunting it you become accustom to it I guess..All metal hunting with alot of patience is a must...The P.I.s have also helped open alot of sites back up around here for me...

A p.i. is amazing in areas you think are dead,..you might want to look into one, alot of my iron signals turned into bullet's and buttons LOL!!!

Take care Mike.

Keith

I will be soon selling my Quattro - deep but too slow. I originally considered to get a Tesoro Tejon. Then, XP GMP or CS6MXi. Somebody advised a Rutus Jupiter as well. Then I found the 705 Gold on the trade list. Your video makes me think about the 705 - here it is regarded as a slow machine, but it does not look slow at all in the video. I am searching for a sensitive machine which would identify iron as well as possible, would be sensitive to small low conducting coins (medieval silver), deeper on newer Copper/Silver coins. I need as good iron unmasking as possible. The 5 machines fit my budget and are supposed to work well for what I need.
It is a tough decision. Which one should I choose?

Anyway, if I go for the 705 gold, which of the available Minelab/aftermarket coils would be best for deep coin searching? I would be really satisfied to get 12" on a 2 cm coin, but the more the better
Would the 705 gold work well for competition hunting? I used Tesoro Silver uMax for that until now, but I need a second unit to lend to my brother who is taking part in the same competition this year (10 coins on 8 x 8 m field at less than 10 cm depth, quite clean from the past years' competitions).

Dont know about the after market coils other than the Minelab manufactured one's..

Now to get the dime on the deck the oly coil tha will do that on the 705 is the 5x10 DD ...its the tightest coil they have but it's also 10 inches long...
The 6" round H.F. DD will not hit the dime....it's not as tigth yet it is smaller footprint...

I would like to see a tight small football coil on the xterra like a 4x6 H.F. DD to really unmask,,,

As it is the unmasking is lagging behind other high freq machine's..

The video was just to show that it can be done but it takes a TIGHT DD to do it...

DEUS does it with a large DD round...But it's more processing than super tight coil...Imagine both!!!

I would love to see a small tight DD on the DEUS...but I dont think it will happen...

The Europeans hunt iron artifact sites differently than we do... they are able/want to get depth on the roman sites and like bigger coil's..

Their iron has mostly dissolved after 2000 years..

We have to pick through 19th century larger iron for our artifact's and small coils make a difference...and the tighter the better...

Our iron is still here with us in solid form and 19th century iron implement's around houses are quite large

You can thell the DEUS and the GMP are designed to work only small iron with their approach....

I wish American manufacturer's would concentrate on a 19th century relic site for us...or give usan XP with a small coil ...smaller than the 5x10 the GMP offer's...

But back to your question the dime unmask only works on the 5x10 coil...

I will tell you to look into a AT-PRO with small coil DD (5x8) option it's an eye opener also and like's coins better than the Terra in iron...At least thats the way I find it...

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2012 08:27PM by Keith Southern.

Hello Keith, thanks for the very useful info. That kind of excludes the 705 from my list. Here in CZ we have not only old iron, but also modern bolts, nuts, washers, machine parts from the tractors, etc. I have already found a few pieces of medieval (hand forged) iron, but no medieval coin so far. I suspect that some of the coins are hiding in the discrimination - I try to keep it as low as possible not to dig all signals - there is really a plenty of iron.

The 705 must be a good all round detector and respectably deep. NEL from Ukraine do make large 12" and up coils for X-Terra series, and so does DETECH (S.E.F. coils) and Coiltek - some of them are reported to be really deep but if they are masking, they are of no use for me at the moment. You are right about the depth, we need it - and unmasking at the same time.

if you remember, several months back you and i spoke (email) regarding this little heater.
well last month, when the ctx3030 did not work out all that well for me in the sea, i traded it back to the dealer for a new excal. and i got a new 705. only tired it once about 3 weeks ago and only stock coil until this wed. and then i got a new 3 kHz coil for it.
sounds like i need to invest in one of the DD jobs.

thanks for your advice back then - i had kept it all in the back of my old feable mind.
good luck out there
thanks
max

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Hey Max I remember the exchange..

If you are going to beach hunt....the 5x10 dd and the 10.5 dd are not waterproof...they are just water resisitant...would not chance saltwater on those DD's..the small 6 inch dd is waterprood but it's too small for beach work..

I believe if you want to utilize the dd's you will have to go aftermarket..NEL coil's...

just a thought,,

Good to hear from you

Keith

one guy who hunts wilminton, nc has a wot on his.

he says it works fine, JUST HEAVY.

god i hate heavy - ctx....

yea, i know the other coils are just resistant - i tried the 3kHz today - for a short spin - i saw little difference.

raining like cats and dogs here now.

see ya - good luck

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