Today's CTX dig's

Hit a spot today and the CTX was pulling civil war relics out of some serious trash....

did not dig any iron yet it was loaded in iron....Did dig some pulltabs and foil and shotgun hulls to a great degree though!

there was 10 guys hunting this spot ...(CONSTRUCTION)

Yet the CTX was the only machine out of all of them to make any finds civil war finds...I think I sold about 3 while I was there today LOL!!!One guy called a dealer right then...He's picking it up in the morning....good for Him!!

even a explorer guy could not believe the CTX was getting target's..

I was running the CTX is combined mode WOW what an awesome mode...the sensitivity of the condcutive and the iron rejection ability of the Ferrous...

I was shocked whe we compared targets and no one had any relics....WEIRD!



Notice the rare Richmond C.S. Sharp's.!

also got alot of camp melted lead...a nice carve with some feathers carved into it...believe it must of been a larger eagle device....got some sort of Picture locket with some engravong onthe front...piece of victorian jewlery. Umbrella top.. pewter spoon handle.PArt of a sword hanger,.Etc...

Keith

Nice finds Keith!!

Awesome!

How deep were some of these finds? Were any 'surprisingly' deep?

Cheers,

Great stuff.

You need to carry 2 in stock and sell them out of your car boot

Nice digs Keith :-)

That combined mode is really something else. The tones are just amazing. I agree with your thoughts on splitting the ferrous section in half. If we could isolate the lower left ferrous with a different tone those targets that are pulled down would be much easier to identify.

The Sharps bullet was around 10 inch's...

the other ones ranged from 3-4 down to about 8 inch's.. 8 being the norm for the heavy lead....

The Conductive has alwasy been the powerful mode on fbs but had to be ran with a pattern..Well not no more...the combined has the best attributtes of ferrous and conduct combined to create one awesome setup....

Whats so weird is how easy i was pulling the targets out of the site...

The CTX is truly the pinnacle machine in trash...

the ability ot see non ferous at depth with iron mixed in and also in a multi layer multi era site is phenomenal...

thank'sfor the replies..

Keith

Keith,
Congrats...great finds. I've had great luck with Combined. The machines just easy to use bottom line. Now, I've had great success running my own Combined settings; would love to see your setup and attributes of how you were running...conductive and ferrous breakdowns/bin assignments and target sep settings...if you have the time.

Randy Kight
Richmond, VA

Awesome Keith!!

Just plain old digging stuff and other people swinging golf-clubs!

HH
Johnb

how would you compare it to the vista gold in iron separation Keith?

Hey Brandon...!!!

Well to compare it to the DTVG or other high freq unmaskers is a very substantial question to ask..

How can I answer that?...Humm let's see..

First off the High freq machine's with tight DD's are awesome in iron laden site's...Yet not so comfortable in multi-period layered site's...

I have put in extensive hours with the CTX in the last few weeks in old sites worked on hard with the high freq unit's..and I have spent considerable time in side by side hunts in modern multi-layered period site's...

what is the verdict...

In trash,,, be it iron or any other modern type.. the CTX is superior to anything I have ever used...and thats alot of detector's...

the ability to find tiny objects in amongst nails is fantastic..I have actually dug more small tragets in iron than I have in quite a while...in heavily hunted sites mind you....I have pulled keepers out of modern trash in heavily hunted sites mind you...

1- The depth is not a problem....just yesterday I pulled a 15" measured .58 caliber 3-ringer out of a site with deep nails scattered about the vacinity...
2- The disc circuit is beyond accurate...it is the apex of reliability..
3- The abiltiy to locate co-located target's...ferrous and non ferrous intermingled is actually PHENOMENAL...
4- The reliability of I.D. at depth is very assuring ...
5- The ground mineral handling capability is excellent...
6- EMI is a non issue wiht this platfrom...even when compared against the Explorer S.E. with same coil same Spot same setting's the CTX is calm the Explorer is quite noisy...

That last statement brings up another question I know is wanting to be asked...

the comparison of the CTX against the other FBS machine's from Minelab...
The CTX is the evolution of the FBS platfrom to the realized product right now....Its the best attributes of the FBS machines on another level...

1-Better ground mineral handling...This is HUGE...
2-Better more precise dead on target I.D.( THE CTX is sure of itself more often...you know on an Explorer when you get alot of tone roll on a good target at depth? Well on the CTX the tones are more precise less fluctuating even to depth)....
3- Better depth I am finding due to the first 2 items mentioned...Plus I know alot fo you seasoned hunters will say the depth of the explorer is the one all other's are judged by and it is.and you wil say the wide open sens and open screen on the explorer ought to match the same setup of the CTX wide open screen and sens.And thats is true in alot of ways yet when other factors like less EMI and the abiltiy to use the HOTTER Conduct in the combined mode wide open screen and couple with less ground mineral noise then you can see depth improvement's...
4-Better ergonomics by far and a longshot...I can swing it 8 hours with no problem..
5- As stated earlier the ability to run a combined screen for the BEST OF BOTH WORLDS at the same instant is an awesome improvement...

I could go on and on about the CTX ....

And I probably will LOL!!

But I got off base with the answer Brandon...At this time for me Personally and for the ways I hunt in iron especially ...I find as much now as ever and I dont have to dig false nail hit's to achieve this....THIS IS A BIG TIME PLUS+.......

With proper setting's in iron the CTX is very very sleuthy!

Whats funny I thought/Hoped the DEUS would be the multi machine replacer and yet the CTX is that for me ....

I have a new found respect for FBS as of now,,,, I used to know what they would leave in iron trash...Now I KNOW what the get in iron trash its been very eye opening..

I know the detector is pricey...but it is the pinnacle of detecting technology right now...and its a multi site unlocker.....

To be honest and truthfull the CTX is all I require as of Now...

Some may argue with the small iron unmasking but till you have seen what I have seen in nail's with small items I have no doubts of it's abilities...
Its looking at intermingled target's very differently from earlier FBS.. or any other detector on the planet for that matter...is all in the setup and the execution.

Back to the price ...yes its steep but it can do what 4 machine's can do for me...
All I have to worry about at the moment is places to hunt...the Equipment is of cutting edge design and if time is taken to appreciate it no site is dead!
Its the first time in years I have not had to struggle to find thing's in heavily hunted sites... it takes care of it's self if you listen...

I wish all eventually get to experince the detector...Its not for everyone but if you are serious about hunting and require the best tool's and enjoy the attributes of FBS technology (NOW ON A NEW LEVEL) and enjoy quality then sell off some machine's and pick one up ...It s a no brainer ...

Not to bash any machine though..theres alot of fine machines being made...the CTX is just the total package in one..!

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2013 07:42PM by Keith Southern.

Well thank you very much for the honest opinion and as much as I would like to have one, I wish minelabs fluty tones were different I tried a safari and just did not have much success at all probably just me but I do like the idea its waterproof, need to start making your own vids man and putting out your own DVD's but for right now I think i'm going back to a vista gold and g-2 or gold bug pro

Thats the beuaty of the CTX Brandon...its a departure from earlier FBS... it can sound like and explorer or it can sound like a T2......it can be fast reocvery or ultra slow recovery...flutey or solid hit's....

The area your in would take well to a CTX...Ocean Beach...Colonial house sites...trashy parks...I have seen the areas you are hunting...The CTX is actually a steal for what you can replace with it and compete with dedicated site machines head on individually...

1 Ocean hunter
2 Relic Hunter in iron
3 modern trash hunter
4 DEEP Hunter

that setup usually takes 4 machine's at 500.00 to 1000.00 a piece...

Get the idea!!!

Very modern instrument...

as for the Videos...

If you make money off it to much criticizing can go on ...Then its more like a Job!!!LOL!!!

And Heck I dont have all the answers .!!!

Just contributing to this fine forum!

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2013 10:23PM by Keith Southern.

how many hours did it take you before you really got comfortable with it and figure all the little things about it?

I had a very good understanding already of FBS and also the limitations of FBS...so the strong points stuck out with me right off the Bat...

as far as getting comfortable with it ...probabaly about 20 hours before things really started to make me go O.K. thats not supposed to really be happening is IT?

I probably hunt little different than some people because of the relic attitude I have developed over the years...I have the mindset that I WILL find a target in a important Historical site that many say theres no target's left...And all that involves is hunting harder and hunting tighter and having your equipment set up to unlock the remaining item's however that may be...

what's the secrets to the CTX...I have found no disc is ALLOWED as with the explorer or etrac...Open screen let the tones guide you....yet the CTX has become less tone busy..and its not because it has less tones its because the snapshot of the target is more precise...

So what I know how to do on the Explorer is the same as the CTX yet it just suits itself to a more of a agressive hunt style...

And in turn the added benefits of being able to slide the tone break and ability to run in the HOTTER conduct mode and having the ability to reject iron cleanly in ferrous mode both at the same time has just enhanced the ability to retrive target's in trash....

I can now dig small low conductors of P-Cap size in iron and larger buckle size brass at the same time with amazing clarity...used to that was not doable with a FBS unless disc was used or you hunted it in separate modes twice for maximum performance....

The best thing to understand on the FBS platrom is the way the non ferous items interact with ferrous items and where they end up on the I.D. screen... then you can begin to combat it more intuitively...

but you can make find's with it on a stock program...but to compete evenly with some of the best at certian scenarios more understanding is neeed..I have problems comprehending alot of thing's so its not difficult to grasp...LOL

and the menus are straight forward...

I will say this high trash setting on the menu reduces the falsing ALOT...

Low trash setting gives a good depth increase !

If you contemplate one Brandon and give it time ...You will Know the machine before your realize it...And will have a ball doing it!

give it 20- 30 hours to soak in..

its like any other machine as I say you cant unlock it's secrets to sucess in 20 minutes...or even full day of hunting...

If you get one I will help you all I can comprehend what is happening...

It will be the last machine you have to buy for quite I while I am certian of that if you learn to trust it....


Keith

Well I don't think I could afford one this year but maybe next tax season and if I can buy my wife a green house at the same time I might be able to have one LOL!

I guess I'm the only guy in the world who thought the CTX was a heavy beast to swing. I do have shoulder issues,But the E-trac still easier for me to swing. The CTX Felt like it was pulling my arm out of the socket! I think if I would have kept mine I would had to have shoulder surgery by now! Also no silver warble like The E-trac and Explorer's. I did find coins with it though in hunted out places. I wonder if they ever fixed the problem with water getting inside the control box? Anyways everbody is different as I can also swing my CZ-3D with out a problem?

GREAT report and fun to boot Keith. You really make me wish I never sold my CTX (Well, at least I got back about what I paid)

Keep up the reports.

Albert

Thanks for the detailed repors Keith. Like I said before, there are only a few people out there that I regard there oponions, and yourat the top. When the ctx first came out, two of the others I hold in high regards, Ron (ca) andPaul got them, but I never heard tthey're oponions except Paul said its the best water machine he's used. You may be giving m the itch, might have to sell a few detectors, and try the ctx.

deathray Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the detailed repors Keith. Like I said
> before, there are only a few people out there that
> I regard there oponions, and yourat the top. When
> the ctx first came out, two of the others I hold
> in high regards, Ron (ca) andPaul got them, but I
> never heard tthey're oponions except Paul said its
> the best water machine he's used. You may be
> giving m the itch, might have to sell a few
> detectors, and try the ctx.


I know Ron was loving his!!!

Good to hear Mascardi...guess he doesn't post on kinzli much anymore...and I don't go to fm much.

Hey harold sorry you had trouble with the weight
...funny thing is I have a bad back and I find the ctx very easy to manage..guess its all in where the pain originates from.

Thanks for the feedback...

Hey earthman dont mean to make you have second thoughts on the sell..but from right now to go back I would not see a requirement...but as long as your having fun thats the main thing..
I do see the CTX though as the evolution of the fbs platfrom in the right direction..and a logical direction performance wise.

Hey Ray if you can do it with some sales its a no brainer..seriously..

Never knew fbs could approach this kind of performance in iron .Depth was never the issue but now we have both

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2013 03:52AM by Keith Southern.

If my beloved sov worked in iron better, I never would of sold it. I know firsthand what the sov and explorers can do in nonferrous trash, but if the ctx can do that AND work the iron..WOW!

Yes Ray they seemed to have combated the iron masking head on....and with proper setup techniques the machine is a joy to use in the densest of iron and be productive..

Keith

Keith does the CTX null at all? I had a Etrac and in thick iron it would do it constantly and I sold it do to that reason!! That's why I love my AT-Gold and Pro with the 5x8" coil attached and I run iron audio on them all the time just so I know I'm not missing a conductive target! I know the Etrac was deeper but if it couldn't unmask the targets in iron what was the since in even trying. The only time I felt comfortable using the Etrac was running it in two tone ferrous but I know it was still not unmasking targets that well, cause I went back with the AT-Gold and pulled several silver coins out of the same site.

hey Morgan!

No the CtX with opne screen pattern does not null in iron...

I am very picky about my iron hunting believe me...

I know the At-Pro and Gold are also very nice iron site machine's..

I have used them and the At-Pro alot...

yet the CTX when properly set up for conditions does very very well at unmasking/unlocking....

I was skeptical of the FBS for good reason from prior experinces...but the CTX with the small 6 inch in super dense iron will surprise you at what you have inadvertently overlooked ...

The CTX look's through iron very differently...

get one=give it time=set it up right and use it right...it will impress you....

On a side note...The 2 tone ferrous in hunted out heavy iron spot is about dead on an FBS machine its not really worth using works well on high conductors but mid and low conductors in iron suffer,,,,the lower conductors struggle to come in like that...it takes the Conduct mode and listen for lower tones on the etrac in all the high rings of nails to unmask ..its best used on beat to death sites..were only the low conductors remain...

theres site's that wont produce keepers or hardly and target's to dig on an etrac if ferrous is used if the site is full of iron and you are after the ramaining lower conductor's......

Conduct is what unlocks a picked clean site on an FBS..that and a small coil and proper sweep speed...

again its all in how the targets show up on the two deminsional screen on which mode to use for the best sucess...if your in 2 tone ferrous alot of the iron tones your are getting are actually good targets but have fallen into the iron zone..Multi tone works better for unmasking than 2 tone like that ..get used to the lowest tone and investigate any tone that is just one tone higher...Slow down circle that tone resweep it till you get to see if it will rise...but if your in 2 tone ferrous its factory set and alot of the subtle tone rises cant quite get far enough up the screen to break high tone beacuse of intermingled iron.Its moving up the scale but not far enough to trigger th only other tone which is high tone.....So as you see multi is better like that...now isolated targets is different...and 2 tone is productive...

now the CTX offers tone slide and combined for an even more informative hunt...

Keith



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 01:32AM by Keith Southern.

Well here I go again. But I have had 5 E-tracs. Two of the earlier made ones in Ireland and 3 of the newer made ones in Malaysia. And I have used E-tracs since one month after they came out. And I will say it tell the day I Die,The newer ones I had nulled a Heck of alot more than the older ones. As a matter of fact if I couldn't have found another Ireland made one in good condition I would have gave up on the E-trac. I know people on the other forum said it was a none issue,But it was for me. I know they are supposedly just assembled there,But there is something different. I don't know what ,But there is! The CTX still nulls a little less than the older ones though.

Hey Harold when you say null in iron on the CTX How do you set it up?

the only way I hear an iron null is from having a pattern installed discing out iron.....

If you are talking about the recovery from larger or surface iron causing the threshold to drop after passing it with a wide open screen...All detector's will do that..its just that you dont notice it unless you have threshold in disc to monitor for such behavior...the drop of thresh for a split second is the recovery and its quite fast on the CTX...it aslo does the same on any item of any conductivity not just iron...but it's just the recovery and lets you adjust your sweep for the trash..Or that's the the way I incorporate it into my hunt.....I actually like hearing the recovery for that purpose ...but I would not consider it a Nulling factor to an extent of becoming detrimental...

Whites 5900's do that thresh drop return but they do have a threshold in disc also...

Other's of the silent based also have recovery rates we just cant monitor..but it's there...

not sure I am followig the Iron null question for the ctx...

But I get no iron null in a wide open screen...Or at least nothing I find bothersome...But I do stay in a bed of wall to wall nails and the noise never stops so maybe I am not paying attention to something..LOL...

[www.youtube.com]

I want to make sure we are talking on the same page ..

Thank's

Keith



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2013 01:37AM by Keith Southern.

That's a pretty impressive video Keith looks like the recovery rate between targets was lightning fast!! Looks like to me a lot faster processor than the Etrac had. I guess I am going to start saving my old green backs for a new machine.

To be honest Keith I don't remember the exact number it was on the CTX3030,But it was close to what I run my disc. on the E-trac which is up to 23. I always use some disc.,But I don't hunt the super heavy iron sites like you do. The sites I hunt have some iron trash,But mostly foil.pulltabs and bottle caps so I try to run a little disc.,But not to much as some deep coins will push up the ferrous numbers and be disc. out if I do.