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European Detectors Versus U.S. Style Detectors On Target Masking


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Wow, that is a marathon post, I`m going to have to reread a few times. Way back with the A2B I did a few early 1900 vacant sites, got many copper and silver coins. Bugger all discrimination, dug everything that wasn`t too big a signal. Back to the same sites with a recently acquired Deus, firstly with heavy notch discrimination, get rid of all ferrous targets and lead, bugger all targets and I was very disappointed. Remove notch discrimination, only discrimination at lower end for ferrous and set with 5 tones, 4Khz frequency, and play with reactivity. Now in conjunction with tones and visual ID a little more success, mainly at depth which can be attributed to the frequency.

 

But not the success as back with the A2B, I guess with all the years of tech advance, the notch discrimination etc all the features that sell detectors, but do they represent much in the way of more finds? like the GPZ does to gold. My experience tells me no, lighter and easier to use, but all that discrimination for what. Not knocking discrimination no way, has its uses, but at these sites I`m digging all smaller signals still as back 30 years, next tackle the larger signals, and address the target masking issue.

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I had no intention of it getting that long!

 

If I am not digging everything I am usually just looking for good ferrous/non-ferrous discrimination. For park hunting I like the little 5" DD coils which on my F75 and FORS CoRe punch ridiculously deep in ground with high magnetite levels. I very much would like my F75 to win out over the FORS as I prefer its feel on my arm and various options but the fact is I keep seeing the Nokta do better on certain borderline targets. It is very disconcerting to see the F75 call a plainly visible piece of aluminum foil ferrous. My CTX I may be selling soon as it is overkill for what I normally do.

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Not a drama your initial post being long as it is concise as per your "hot 7000 setting" post. I think my son is heading the same way with his CTX, replacing with or at least acquiring a Deus. Not that the Deus lacks features but it is so light, compact and easy to swing over the CTX. Many hours running them side by side over the same old sites tell the story. Why lunk a heavy detector if there is no advantage? in fact a disadvantage with the slow recovery.

 

I see a few messages to the manufacturers in your post, light to swing, good depth and fast recovery detectors is the way. Now if we could have a GPZ with those attributes...............probably not possible now but down the track?

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I still do not want rechargeable coils but the new DEUS high frequency coil may be enough to cause me to overlook what is admittedly a personal bias. If, and I say if, XP releases a version where I can buy the machine with the high frequency coil as stock as opposed to being an expensive second coil option, then XP just might have a new customer, paid for with funds from a used CTX.

Come to think of it, I bought the DEUS rod assembly by itself on a whim (was considering a Gold Bug 2 conversion) and all I would need to do is buy the coil and control box as separate items to have a complete unit. Hmmmm....

Light, fast GPZ? Even Minelab themselves joke about Minelab being synonymous with "heavy and slow"!

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Yeah, guess I`m in fairyland re. light GPZ, but maybe a light, non-gimmicky  2300................come on ML.

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HI steve

I think you are making a mistake in getting rid of your CTX3030.  As you say its like brand new. Which means it hasn't had much use.  I liken Detectors to learning to fly.  One has to put the hours in to learn the machine. In the case of the Zed you have done this.  Lets take a Rotary Aircraft for instance. One can pretty soon learn to rotate or lift off, gain altitude. Make it go up and down and forwards. And of course land lol.  But it is not until you become one with the machine that you can make it hover. And really do what you want. Kinda like a Detector I reckon.  Now you have had so many Detectors I often wonder how you transition from one type to another.  No offense or criticism   intended Steve. But each one needs many hours to master.  In my humble opinion.  The CTX3030 has so many features, and is programmable to suit the user requirements. I have no trouble with masking. Target trace and the right tones takes care of that for me.  The nail and the dime doesn't enter the equation.  If you haven't got it, I suggest you get Andy Sabichs CTX3030 Manuel, he is the Etrac and CTX3030 Expert.  And you will get a link at the back of the book, that allows you to download Andys retwinked Minelab settings and they are magic, esp the Relic Mode.  Like I said no offense intended. Just my honest opinion. I love my CTX3030 and Etrac. And I have been playing around with a Minelab Gofind40.  A neat little machine.  I gifted it to a 12 year old boy from the corner shop, and his eyes lit up. (his parents own the shop). Now I have a Minelab Gofind60 on the way.  Like you I want more toys lol.  Just gota learn to fly them.

Cheers Trev (New Zealand)

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Hi Trev,

I am probably better with a CTX than most people out there so that it not a concern of mine. I don't need many hours to know a CTX can't get a whisper on targets easily found with other detectors in my ground conditions. Masking is not my problem with the CTX, it is lack of depth on a clear target in the open. Single frequency just packs more punch in my ground, and all the hours in the world won't change that. I can only use one detector at a time and I do rotate the VLF detectors out of the stable for various reasons. Sometimes I reacquire the same model at a later date. I can acquire and dispose of detectors at nearly no cost to myself and technology, unlike grapes, does not age well on the vine. The bottom line is that I know for a fact I will not be using the CTX much if at all for the foreseeable future. If the day ever came I thought I had made a mistake, I would just get another one. But I really do appreciate what you are saying and thank you for taking the time to say so! Hope to see you around here more often.

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Great write up Steve!

You have a talent at putting complicated things in to simple to

understand form.

As far as the CTX goes, I think of it as a park high conductor detector.

I haven't found a detector yet that can identify deep copper and silver coins

as accurately as the CTX in my ground.

It is frustratingly slow and heavy when compared to the Racer and Fisher machines I have owned

but when it comes to coins in the 8"+ range in my tough soil the other detectors start to identify coins as iron most of the time. And like you said. You can't go in to a nice park or yard and dig holes every few feet.

Pulling shallow coins out of heavy trash is a different story.

I would take my racer across the trashy areas after my CTX and pull more coins.

Different tools for different jobs.

Thanks again.

Bryan

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I missed your post above mine wile I was writing it Steve.

What detector are you getting better depth with?

I'm always looking for something better.

So far I have tried the CZ5 (along time ago), F75 LTD, Gold Bug Pro, X-terra 705 and the Racer.

All good machines but none of them have been able to identify deep silver like my CTX.

I would love to drop the 5 lb beast if I could find something better for deep silver.

Thanks

Bryan

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