Great Expectations & X-Terra 705

[klunker]

I've been doing some cleanup work at a site where two historic buildings burned early this year. What more could a detectorist ask for than a known site with lots of history, fenced, and good sized excavator. I'm not a coin hunter but another forum member here forced me to try it so I've been monkeying with a 705 ML. The damned thing works pretty good. I was able to pick out lots of bits of lead and copper, brass screws etc. but nothing even close to a coin. The only item of interest was an old wall mount brass oil lamp in very poor shape and I'm positive that if I rub it with my shirt tail a Genie will come out and grant me 3 wishes. I think I'll wish for a free cell phone, free health insurance and a check every month.

I could use some advise if anyone here has experience with a 705. Or a Genie.

[deathray]

Maybe Keith Southern will see this....hes experienced with the 705

[ddmk6]

Well....I didn't vote for Obama, never seen a genie, so I can't help with those things, but I have very briefly played with a 705.  It seems to me that it's a really capable machine but the menu would drive me absolutely nuts. 

 

A buddy and I kind of informally compared to my AT Gold.  We would find targets and run both machines over them before digging.  I think the 705 may have had a slight edge in prospecting mode when compared to the AT in all metal mode.  The jury is still out, both of us had the book out trying to figure the damn thing out :-)  I think the learning curve on the 705 and the menu system is pretty steep.  Once learned though I think it has some good potential.

 

I know this doesn't help much with any settings, I just don't know it well enough to give advice.

 

I wouldn't give up the AT for a 705 though.

 

Kenny

[IdahoAl]

I have a ML 705 and a Garrett AT  Gold, like them both a lot but I find the AT Gold will hit on smaller gold with the stock coil than the ML 705 with the DD prospecting coil.  Tested at Gerrys detectors in Boise prior to the AT Gold purchase however the reason for the AT Gold was because I float the Salmon River here in Idaho in a 11 foot boat and therefore I needed something water proof...Just my 2 cents worth..........Idaho Al

[Steve Herschbach]

Actually sounds to me like you are doing it right by the number of non-ferrous targets you are digging. That is the name of the game.

Still, you we lucky in that Minelab has made a fantastic book available for free - Understanding Your X-TERRA by Randy Horton at https://www.detectorprospector.com/files/file/139-understanding-your-x-terra/

 

[Keith Southern]

I really enjoy the 705 on the 18.75khz freq....

Its a very good machine in iron ..I favor the 5x10 myself..its the tightest coil...

two tone all metal will be the order of the day for serious unmasking...listen to the tone when the iron gets tight...don't watch the meter...

I find the 705 with 5x10 likes weird shapes more than some others..By this I mean relic shapes not coins...oh it likes coins very well..but its also can pick thin elongated itmes out of nails very well...things like say certain thin suspender clips and jewelry broach type items and small style toe taps and such...

It also has excellent see thrugh with that coil through the types of Rocks and Bricks that will litter an old house site...

Now this may go against what you have learned about ground tracking...but if you leave the ground tracking on in a lot of iron especially the bigger type iron the 705 will tame the falsing down quite a bit...

Now if I'm in the woods and hunting for depth I do not track but in the harsh iron if tracking is left on you will dig far less iron...

That leads to another topic...the 705 with the 10.5 " DD on 7.5khz is a very deep setup for higher conductor's like bullets and one piece buttons and coins...and big brass...it will really get down in the dirt...One thing of note if you use that coil and try some deep hunting is that when in 2 tone all metal or any other tone mode for that fact the machine will choose the tone break points for you...and what you will notice is if say a target is on the fringe depth you will need to watch the targets that read iron and show up around -2...the deepies will end up reading right in there...

the greatest depth to be obtained with the machine is the Prospecting mode...I have dug bullet's of .58 caliber in that mode right at 13-14 inches...and that mode is super stable...but will take a while to learn and is best used in open sparse target area's for a beginner...What's unique about that mode is once the target is close enough if its iron it will null..so say a 12 inch target hits and once you get close enough to it digging wise if its a nail it will silence your threshold (NULL) but if its good it will still waiver your threshold just more intensely...the iron rejection is called mask and is adjustable...I like to use 5 for a nail...it goes up higher for bigger iron but that's aggressive in my opinion...

Never bare more disc on a site than is needed for a more productive hunt when looking for relics especially...so in that case just try to disc or tone I.D. nails...

It will work for depth and unmasking...

It a area chock full of iron debris and nails targets intermingled with the nail's and such can pull down in conductance to right at nail's and even lower at times...so say if you set a disc on foil reject and hunt a site thinking you got it all then the next guy comes in at barely nail reject and finds a seated coin or gold coin you missed because of target averaging of the target's would be awful!!...Scary is it not?

also for depth the less Disc/Filter you use especially in mineral dirt the less depth or improper I.D you will have..a good target in bad dirt can read a nail or lower at times so keep that it mind...

use discrimination wisely!

All info gathered from in field hunt's in my dirt....What works for me may not work for you and vice versa...

Keith

[klunker]

 With information like this , how can I possibly miss?! THANKS! If any of you are in my part of the country maybe I can repay the favor.

[deathray]

yep Klunker, Keith is a gem.

[klunker]

 I went out yesterday fully intending to put Mr. Southerns information on the 705 to use but i got distracted digging nuggets with the GPX 5000. Darned pesky things, those nuggets.

[El Dorado]

Klunker, what are we going to do with you... Always out playing when work beckons! Good luck with the 705 and the great site you get to work on! How old were the buildings?