Jump to content

Minelab CTX 3030 & XP Deus


Recommended Posts

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 11:04 PM, Don71 said:

Steve,

How is the XP Deus working for you? Is it really a worthwile addition for a CTX owner with small 6" smart coil for unmasking?

Don, I'm not Steve, and I haven't really put much time in with the XP Dēus other than some simple side-by-side comparisons In have done with Dēus owners.  However, I have also come across four avid detector operators who own two to five different detectors, one being the XP Dēus.  Of them, one has decided to hang onto the Dēus for a while and work it more as he learns his newer detectors, but he is favoring his Teknetics T2 Classic w/5" DD in trashier sites, and that has taken a 2nd place position to his new Nokta Impact.  The Impact is his current favorite detector and the Makro Racer 2 and Dēus are sort of a second pick now and then.

One of the other three is keeping his Dēus as a 'back-up for friends to use.  The other to?  They sold off their Dēus' because they preferred their newer detectors.  Why?  When I asked they said they didn't care for the battery charging system; didn’t like the audio sound; wanted to have a smaller coil option; and felt the unit was kind of ‘busy’ and not so simple and straight forward.  They both have a Nokta Impact, and one also has a Makro Racer 2 and the other a Nokta FORS Relic.  They are keeping all of their Nokta and Makro detectors and search coil assortment.

All four of them are Relic Hunters, mainly working old western USA sites primarily in a search for older era coins, trade tokens, and other small artifacts of interest.  About 85% of the locations they hunt are old RR oriented town sites that abound in dense iron contamination.  A couple of then also engage in Coin & Jewelry Hunting in typical urban areas and have, or have had, one or more of the Minelab FBS models to include Explorer II’s, E-Trac and CTX-3030.  They like them for more open, sparse target sites with well spaced trash for hunting older higher-conductive coins (mainly silver) that might be at mid-to-deeper depths.  They like other detectors for places where gold jewelry is most likely to be encountered.

 

Since they hunt iron littered sites they tried the new 6” Minelab coil and were left unimpressed when their Nokta FORS CoRe, FORS Relic and Racer 2  models all easily out-performed them using just about any smaller-to-standard coil available for them.  I tried three Minelab’s with the 6” coil and I was very unimpressed with the performance in very dense iron nail littered sites.

 

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 11:04 PM, Don71 said:

I tried the Nokta Relic. I wanted to like it but too many false signals had me digging tons of trash.  Some iron gives high signals even just 2 inches down in my dirt, out of the hole it goes low signal. I don't have time for that. Coins go into the upper nineties for target ID so a nail & coin look the same. I understand it's different in other States with milder soil.

I have owned over a half-dozen Minelab FBS models and I can appreciate them for their strengths, but for me, my health limitations, and the vast number of older sites I prefer to hunt, I want and need top-end performance in a dense iron debris situation.  Very dense, and that calls for a detector to unmask fully or partially exposed coins, tokens, metal buttons and insignia, and other desired keepers while handling a dense iron challenge.

I've been a very Avid Detectorist for over 52 years now and my Regular-Use Detector arsenal includes three (3) Nokta Relic devices, each with a different search coil mounted, and I can recommend them highly.   Some iron targets can produce high-reading numeric VDI read-outs, but that can happen with almost any detector, with  rusty tin and similar sheet-iron objects being the biggest offenders.

But it is also a matter of using and learning the detectors to know them better.  Most of my hunting (95% or better) is with a low Disc. setting where I hear iron nails and most ferrous targets.  I usually use the Iron Audio Volume control and keep it set low, at '2' which still lets me hear a low-tone audio response just before, just after or both when I sweep my coil over low-reading iron junk.  Use of Double-D search coils does make it more difficult to deal with iron, but using a proper slow and methodical sweep I can audibly classify iron-based metal targets over 95% of the time.  That is in a wide-range of mineralized ground conditions.

         

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 11:04 PM, Don71 said:

I finally bought a new CTX instead. These machines work here!

The CTX-3030 is a good detector for some people and some types of hunting locations, especially for many urban sites where you are dealing with grassy sites that do not have a lot of iron debris and where trash is more spaced from desired targets which allows less good-target masking.

Question:  Where is 'here?'  If you provide a general description of where you live it might help let readers associate the typical ground mineral environment you generally deal with.

 

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2016 at 11:04 PM, Don71 said:

I never seem to be able to get away from a Minelab. (Fisher has been good as well. Accurate target ID)

Good, 'functional' TID can be very important and useful, and I'll credit many FBS Minelab models for producing somewhat better-than-average TID info on mid-depth and deeper targets than most of the competition with comparable sized search coils.  But not always better, and yes, ground mineral make-up can have a lot to do with it.

As for you reference to the Fisher brand, again I will say it depends upon the specific models, coils used and ground mineral make-up.    I have had a few F75's and was never impressed with the TID where I usually  hunt, which is in Oregon, Eastern and Western, as well as Utah and Nevada.  I prefer the Teknetics T2 to the Fisher F75, and they both operate at 13 kHz and can use similar search coils, but the T2 'Classic' and small 5" DD coil can provide me the best, tightest TID response.  The 'standard' 11" BiAxial (Double-D) has not locked-on very well for me on any FTP product I have owned and used.

Time and again, when on detecting outings with friends and family I have been asked to compare a target response on something they have located and repot the audio and visual TID I get.  ALL of my Nokta detectors have been very reliable and lock-on quite well to targets at almost all depth ranges.  They are in my arsenal because they do that and provide other performance that out-classed the detectors I owned at the time or compared them with afield.

The XP seems to work fine and be a 'fit' for some users, and the Minelab CTX-3030 finds favor with others.  Some have one of each because they can complement each other with different in-the-field performance.  I'm simply adding my 2¢ here that it sure wouldn't hurt to try a different and newer brand and model that brings us solid, well engineered design, in a well-balanced physical package, and offers a nice range of search coils.

Monte

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites


I am lucky enough to have both and they really compliment each other. When I'm in the proper mood to hunt an average site the right way I use the CTX, low and slow and analytical. When I just want to cherry pick I have programs set up on the Deus that allow me to do that, or I can also use it low and slow but with tones instead of looking at the screen. The subtle tones are where the Deus is at. Deep ID is where the CTX is at. Perfect pair.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...