Minelab X-Terra 705

[vanursepaul]

Why don't you take the 705 and test it alongside the 2300...see how it hits vs the 2300...on the gold

[argyle]

How's it going Dean.

There is something definitely wrong with your concentric coil I think. I've never had a bad XTerra coil, but have spoken to a few that had a bad coil. It can happen without coil error (CE) flashing up.

The nickle and penny should be hitting in hard at nearly twice that depth with that coil.

In the real hot ground I was in yesterday afternoon, the concentric coil would hit a low conductor 2 gram nugget at past the 4" mark in both coin and prospecting mode (on this exact ground the SDC cruises at 2, with a touch of falsing coming through a level higher)

The ground balance numbers I never look at, they have no real bearing. I notice them though as I have to sight the - and + keys to manually balance, and for perfect balance the numbers will come in anywhere between the same you've been getting on both coils. Sensitivity anywhere between 16 and 24.

I like to run the 705's sensitivity in hot ground at the stage where I'm getting ground noise in the form "thumps" which are very similar to the Fisher/Tek units on that ground (which are totally different to the ground noise of the Eureka platforms pips n pops) at least every four feet or so using 3 feet wide slow swings. It just let's me know I'm still running a touch hot for depth but not over the top to be annoying/maddening or allowing the processor to be swamped. Running in Coin Mode these thumps come in as -8 falseing.

If you ever want a quiet-ride while prospecting, run the unit in coin mode all metal with the Sensitivity set to allow nonrepeatable -8 falseing coming in every 4 to 5 foot forward.

I've probably knocked the 10x5 a little too harshly, as they are a very well balanced coil on the XTerra's and glide along the ground very nicely. Fantastic to use on rounded mullock heaps (tailing piles) and very srnditive on dead quiet ground. They can be a pain in very trashy areas though.

One thing I forgot to mention to Paul also regarding Tracking. When you set the ground balance either manually or auto, the Ground Balance on the XTerra's are extremely forgiving and you can detect quite a distance without falsing or loss of depth at the pre-set you've chosen. On a lot of days I prefer to run them this way with tracking Off.

Another thing you'll teach yourself is when to run the unit in a negative balance to negate ground when you feel it shallow. Same goes for a manually set positive balance in deep quiet ground or conductive moist hot deep ground.

I find manually setting it this way rather than using ground balance Off-Set in Tracking, it runs a touch smoother and brighter (less processing again)

If there was one thing I'd like to see on the XTerra it would be that nice instant GroundGrab button the Fisher/Tek's and GMT's have. Just to save a few seconds of time.

 

[bado1]

Things are going well, Argyle. Thank you. Hope all is well on your end.

 

Thank you for your great response! I believe that you are on to something with the faulty coil. As I stated, I was quite surprised at how much better the DD performed which, intuitively, doesn't make sense. Iv'e been stewing about it ever since. This machine is new to me and has VERY low hours on it. The concentric coil had never been used (new) until I put it on a couple of days ago. I have two of the same the DD ellip coils at 18.75khz. One of them is new. So, unfortunately, I don't have another concentric coil at this time. I am headed out in a couple of hours to the gold fields and ,as Paul suggested, will bring the X-terra with me. I will put your tips and tricks in to play. Thanks again.

 

Dean 

[vanursepaul]

Yaaay....

[scoopjohnb]

Does it matter what kind of mineralisation you get?

Well conductive mineralisation will drown the faint signals into non-existence.

Magnetic mineralisation will alter ID numbers on you.

So in general if the amount of mineralisation is too much that it will throw ID and depth.

When that happens,... just switch on the SDC and dig.

If not well your X-terra with the ground balance numbers and mineralisation amount is a very reliable tool for "tasting the ground". No need to worry about the numbers,... they are just there for informational purposes.

scoopjohnb-

 

Thanks for your reply. What does it matter what type of mineralisation it is? Does the type affect the two coils differently or more so than the amount?

 

Paul-

Good luck tomorrow! I'm heading out with the SDC tomorrow to the spot that has produced nuggets every trip lately. Small but numerous. Sunday I'm heading out with the X-terra and both coils to compare them in real world conditions ( a park).

 

With the experienced guys extolling the advantages of the concentric coils me thinks my testing must be flawed. Or I'm just such a newbie to the coin shooting and need lots more practice. I think the problem is that my targets are freshly planted and, like air tests, don't give "true" in ground results. If this is the case, then DD coils must perform better in planted target/air tests(?). That is my conclusion thus far. In MY yard anyway. Which probably doesn't mean a darn thing... So, off to the parks I go. What fun! 

 

Dean

[bado1]

Thanks scoopjohnb, that makes sense. The whole VID, discrimination stuff is new to me. I appreciate the education.

Went out yesterday afternoon to a nearby area and met my detecting partner who had been swinging for a couple of hours already. He had scored two nuggets already so I had some catching up to do. So I went with the SDC and never let go of it. My buddy has been on a hot streak the last few weekends and yesterday was no exception. He scored four for the day to my one. Needless to say I did not swing the X-Terra out in the gold fields. I am going to do so today in the more urban setting of a park. I am looking forward to trying argyle's tips.

Paul- How'd it go yesterday? A few gold coins perhaps?

Dean

[vanursepaul]

No, no coins for me.. Got a late start after working Friday night..

We went to a gold outing held by AMRA... Met some good people...

One was a 705 guru... He showed me the basic set up in 15 minutes..

I am so much better at understanding demo vs reading.....

So I am going to a tailings pile today after church.

Be blessed out there today.. All of you!

Paul

[bado1]

You as well, thank you.

Dean

[bado1]

Just got back from my park adventure with the X-terra. I used the concentric coil to see if it had issues or not. Seemed to work well enough. I did some some air tests before I went. It picks up a flat to the coil clad coin at 6" and gets them weakly at 7". In-ground at the park seemed to be the same if not better in terms of signal strength. MUCH easier pin pointing with the concentric coil AND a bigger better digging tool than a screw driver. If I were in to the park/grass thing I would get a small pin pointer though. Digging clad coins and trash just doesn't do it for me though. I find the relic/old coin/trashy mining site hunting more appealing. I'm going to have to do some research. Luckily, I live in a very historic area. Learning a new machine and a different aspect of our hobby has been fun. It has given me a better understanding of detectors and made me a better detector prospector. Thanks to everyone who helped thus far. Much appreciated.

Paul, I apologize if I jacked your thread. I hope your hunting went well today. Looking forward to pics.

Dean

[vanursepaul]

No problems.... I love to hear everything i can about this detector...

 

I just got back from a short hunt down near Foresthill CA in a pretty good canyon---looking at some tailings  and checking out a small stream.

 

Tons of float quartz on the top and sides of the canyon walls but no good distinctive hits---i am still having trouble learning how to discriminate out hot rocks---

I would go over them in the coin mode and reject their number but they still sounded off---

I also had a hard time with the burned ground---- it is very magnetic as my pick magnet would have a ball of material on it just by using it as a walking stick....

The ground would sound off like a target in prospecting ....and then i switched to coin 1 or two .......and the sound would be gone....MOST of the time....sometime it was so hot it would keep sounding off--

 

I think i could start to hear the difference in the tone of gold vs hot ground, or a nail, -------but i really expected the prospecting to kill the ground noise better..

 

My buddy was running an AT Gold and it had 3 or four tones that i liked0----it would give the iron grunt----a higher pitch for a coin and an even higher sweeter note for the gold.... when i was detecting near him i could tell exactly what he was hitting....

 

Now i know i need to get a lot more time in---just asking now if anyone can help me figure out how to get the ground noise to quiet down....I will take a video of it next time----

 

I am probably going to go to an old mine a friend of mine had next week and we are going to see how safe it looks now---it has been 4 or 5 yrs since he was in it--

 

We will light it up big time with strings of leds------ it is an old drift mine in the North Fork of the American area and has very concretized river material in it----

The way i understand it is that the miners went thru the hard rock and broke into the river channel to drift it.......

 

Does anyone know if there are any books out that still know how these guys actually mined that way????

 

----- I would love to know their day to day routine at a mine like this---

How did they know where to start the tunnel to get to the ancient river bed?

Did they live at the mine?

What tools did they use and how?

What was the ore/paydirt like?

How did they break it up to get the gold out of the hardpacked material.

How much did they make a day?

What did they eat?

Did they do this in the winter and stockpile material like a lot of drifters did in AK----(then wash in the spring when the water came?)

Where can i get info on the mine itself to see the historic production, etc....

 

Many many questions????

 

BTW, I wasn't too happy with Minelabs cheap build on the 705 today----I am speaking of the coil mounting ears-----both snapped while i was sliding down the hill today!!!!!!

I guess a bent it the wrong way-----

When i looked at the ears i couldnt believe how thin they are----a 1/32 of an inch maybe ===maybe a 1/16th----- but very weak----

JB weld time!!!! I will put some plastic washers next to the broken ears to give me a place to run a bolt thru-----

 

What a pain---- 400 feet down in a canyon and my other coil is up the hill in the truck!!! grrrrrrrrrrrrrr........ for a quarter more they could have made some decent mounts....