PhaseTech

My experience with the CTX project was mostly positive. As with any new totally new platform it is a long road, and there is always someone that wants something different to you. But there can also be a complete 180 when enough field testers all report the same complaint. One of the most challenging (but very fun) tasks was when most of the features/functions were locked in and Greg Johns and myself had to revisit the whole menu interface and try and simplify it but still make it practical and logical, without reinventing the wheel, in this case the basic framework that was already in the software. There are always limitations due to the number of buttons you can have on the control panel, but I'm kind of proud of the final result. Steve, if you come to Oz again, we'll get Des over and make that campfire happen

Still looks like an awful amount of strain on that cable where it enters the coil. Can you flip the shaft upside down so that the cable enters the top? When flipping my shaft 90deg to put it in the car, I flip my coil upside down, that totally takes the kink out of the cable.

The Relic Hawk wasn't a big success in the market, I think due it being quite expensive, and apart from the large coil, it was based on the Minelab Stirling, which was 1/3 of the price and half the weight.

I used the 10x5" on the CTX and I ran it exclusively for a while for everything except wide open beach hunts. I really liked it, except for one point: it wouldn't fold down flat. Like when you put the detector on the ground to dig, the coil would remain at 45 degrees. After starting to use the Fors CoRe and a little later the Gold+ with 10x5" coil, I decided I would never really need a 10x5" on the CTX, so the stock 11" has been on my CTX ever since. Many years ago I tried a 10x5" on my Sovereign, and it was hot, almost too hot. I only ever used my Sovereign for beach hunting and always came back to the 10" BBS coil.

Nice one! Was always happy to support your group Nightjar, hope they are still looking after you. Regards, Nenad

Mine have arrived in Oz, should get them in the next day or so.

Tom Slick, spot on and exactly what I do, except I'm still swinging a Fors CoRe. That may get replaced by the Racer 2, but my CoRe speaks to me for now. If I know I'm going to be working low tide, and I'm prepared with my beach scoop etc then I'll grab my Sovereign. I took my son to the beach today, and took the CoRe along with the sand castle building implements. Put it in COG mode, did a ground grab, but let it beep a few times and away you go. Your Sensitivity setting depends on a few factors: do you sweep your coil on the sand, or do you hover it above the sand, how fast you sweep etc. On the Dry sand, go DI2 and crank the Sens right up and you get some pretty serious depth, or you can even use the All-metal GEN mode and gain a couple of inches.

The Gold Racer with the new 7.5x4" DD coil would have to be the best fine jewellery machine in existence. In the Disc modes in a park situation, it just behaves surprisingly well, no different to running a 15kHz machine, except for how hard it hits on small low conductors.

Yeah pretty sure I'll be chopping up an old 18" round skidplate to adapt to the 19Z coil. A 12" round GPZ coil would be dynamite. Thinking how deep one might dig a 1 gram piece running Normal (in suitable ground) and HY just boggles the mind. Anyone else wish there was an intermediate ground setting between Normal and Difficult?

Very nice, wish I had more exposed bedrock around my parts to use it in. But do have plenty of thick scrub where it will come in handy.

Good point you mention. I think lots of New Gen coil users are suffering from excess ground noise due to not utilising the Tracking in the GPX, or being too scared to put it to use when the ground dictates. Running Slow Tracking and using wide sweeps it is nearly impossible to track a target out. But it will quickly deal with charcoal, hot rocks and clay domes allowing you to cover a lot more ground in a day.

I can see two possible advantages of the 19" Super D compared to a 18" + monoloop on a GPX 1. Better EMI immunity. I'd use bigger mono's a lot more regularly in my local fields if they didn't pick up so much EMI. The biggest coil I could use in the past has been the 16" Advantage, but the 15" Evo seems to be handling EMI very nicely - not sure why? Maybe a spiral coil thing. 2. Retaining more sensitivity, or to put it another way, a reduced loss of Sensitivity. Partly due to the technology, but also partly due to the fact that the Transmit field in the Super D is still an elliptical or sorts. Will it punch to 3ft on a 2oz lump and still ping 1/2 grammers?? I guess we'll have to wait just a bit longer to find out.

Yeah it'd be very interesting to see if go up against not only the 18 Elite, but also 22" Coiltek Goldstalker, and 20" and 25" Nuggetfinder advantage coils. Re the Salt question, on the SD's and GP's smaller mono's were always better on salt. Conductive ground is like seeing one big target, so going to a smaller coil you are seeing a smaller chunk of it.

I used to have a copy of the 12000 manual in a filing cabinet at Minelab. Used to print copies off for people once every few months. It's probably still sitting there, but since Minelab have moved, it may have been ditched?? I never wanted to throw anything out, was a bit of a hoarder for old stuff that no-one else wanted.

When I worked at Minelab one of my jobs was to put the star ratings next to the detectors for different tasks. I really hated it because there is always so many variables! Like if a category is: Jewellery Detecting. I always had a million questions: Dry sand, wet sand, fine jewellery, large jewellery etc etc Pretty sure it was used on the back of the Product Catalog - not sure if that ever lived on the website somewhere?? Pretty sure I've seen similar charts from other manufactures too

I had a long hard think about the prospect of having to only keep 2 units, and I think I've come up with: GPX5000 and Racer 2 The 5000 with a range of coils pretty much does everything. I need the ability to go near powerlines, and I need a PI for wet sand, and the GPZ can't do it. The GPZ without a small coil is also an achillies heal The Racer 2 would pretty much cover all my other bases: general coin hunting, looking for gold and relics in trashy mining camps, tot lots, parks, dry sand beaches etc If the selection was 3 units, then it may be a little different. Possibly GPZ, CTX and Gold Racer - but my mind is too stressed out after trying to get it down to 2 - thanks a lot Steve

The Minelab Stirling coil was a concentric. Rare as hens teeth these days, but they should work on a Musketeer Advantage

Funny, I like camo on most my gear, but that F19 camo just doesn't do it for me

I watched that whites comparison Video and I have two concerns: 1. This has probably been mention in previous threads, but what is the point of the air testing when different coils were used, and why use Max sensitivity when the units are chattering so bad - you can never use them like that when detecting. 2. Watch from 3:50..to 4:30....as the target is being swept across the coil, how many times does the target simply not respond?? Maybe 3 times out of 10 if I'm being generous. Any one of those times you could be sweeping over a valuable target, but the test is in air with no trash around, so real conditions will only be significantly worse.

Haha Steve busted, I know you haven't watched my videos, as the Audio Boost and Tone are both explained in there

iSat is 1-10, I think you were getting confused with Threshold at the end.

Just wanted to resurrect this thread, as many more users would have swung around an Elite, Evolution or Detech Ultimate coils by now. In the tests I have done I know that a 15" Evo is as sensitive if not more sensitive than a 15x12" Commander (which was my baby for many years), and as deep if not deeper than a 16" NFA. Also, the 12" Evo is almost as sensitive as a Commander 8" mono, and as deep as an older 14" mono. And lastly, the Detech 15" DD Spiral seems as Sensitive as a stock 11" DD, but has the depth of an 18" DD. I think it's in this way of being sensitive and deep at the same time that people are drawing comparisons to the Zed. Be interested in hearing from users who have had a bit of time on their new-gen coils. Cheers

The 19 kHz on the Gold+, iSat, and 10x5" and 5" coils as standard make the Gold+ a very competitive package if gold is a primary target, and it just happens to be a handy little coin and relic unit as well. The Fast mode definitely cleans up a target signal in bad ground but Boost definitely has more depth, so it's great having a choice of two depending on conditions. I was initially disappointed to see the 19kHz Fors Relic not having iSat as it would have in many ways replaced the Gold+, but after some thought, I'm glad Nokta decided to keep the two units separate. CoRe - general purpose coin & relic Relic - hardcore relic hunters machine (and will be kick-ass on jewellery) Gold+ - gold, jewellery and a bit of coin in thick iron, not thick aluminium (iSat means this has the best all-metal search mode) I have no problem with the hand grip now that I've used both the Gold + and the CoRe for some time. I have two fingers under the pin-point button, my middle finger rests on the pin-point button, and my index finger sits under the LED light switch.

Thanks John, Just uploaded the next video where I tweak the iSat and Sensitivity for best response, and a bit on threshold at the end.

Hi all, Just a bit of a video I put together reviewing the Gold Racer. Got a couple more coming.