X-Terra Pro On Gold

[Wilderland]

I very recently witnessed an air test comparison on small gold with the X-Terra Pro against both an Equinox 800 & 900, a Manticore, an Axiom, and a 6000 & 7000. Let’s just say I don’t think the Pro will stay on shelves once the word is out. The $270 detector gobsmacked several people. Sure, “in the ground, with mineralization, blah, blah, blah.” The truth is out there.

[Steve Herschbach]

5 minutes ago, Wilderland said:

Sure, “in the ground, with mineralization, blah, blah, blah.”

Actually, that matters. But I don’t disagree the XTPro is a fantastic bargain, and without even using it I’d have no problem recommending it as an entry level nugget detector.

[MSC]

Good luck, hope you find lots of gold with it, keep us up-dated as you do find gold. 

[Jeff McClendon]

3 hours ago, Wilderland said:

I very recently witnessed an air test comparison on small gold with the X-Terra Pro against both an Equinox 800 & 900, a Manticore, an Axiom, and a 6000 & 7000. Let’s just say I don’t think the Pro will stay on shelves once the word is out. The $270 detector gobsmacked several people. Sure, “in the ground, with mineralization, blah, blah, blah.” The truth is out there.

I don't own an Xterra Pro. I do own an Equinox 800, Equinox 900, Deus 2 and a GPX 6000 along with a Nokta Legend.

I used to own and prospect with the X-Terra 705 with 18.75 kHz coil.

I did a lot of testing and kept records of test results back when I had the 705 and several other 14+ kHz detectors. Basically the Equinox 800, 900, Legend and Deus 2 using roughly 15 kHz single frequency, stock 11" or 9" (Deus 2) coils and similar as I can make it settings all detect the same 0.05 gram, 0.1 gram, 0.25 gram and 0.8 gram targets that I used for my XT 705 testing with almost the exact same air testing results as the XT 705 to within a couple of millimeters. The same goes for the Whites MXT/MX7, Garrett AT Gold, Garrett ACE Apex, Fisher F75/F70, Nokta Multi Kruzer, Fisher F19, Deus 1/ORX and many other single frequency detectors that I have tested and kept records on that operate between 14 and 19 kHz.

I have no doubt that the X-Terra Pro running at 15 kHz in Park or Field with DP tones and all targets IDs accepted will perform in air tests similar to the Equinox models running at selectable 15 kHz with similar settings.

The "Blah, Blah, Blah" ground mineralization/hot rocks is where things change fast so the "truth" being out there needs to factor in how the X-Terra Pro running at 15 kHz does on small gold nuggets in substantially mineralized ground compared to the other detectors you mentioned both using 15 kHz and compared to those VLF detector's optimum gold prospecting modes and settings. At least from my experience, the GPX 6000 running at manual 10, normal or difficult ground setting with its 11" mono coil will out perform all of these detectors on in the ground gold nugget targets from 0.05 grams and larger.

[phrunt]

What's good about the X-terra Pro is the price, it makes for a cheap detector for someone to get that gives them an all rounder, it can do the beach, coins and jewellery in parks and would be a reasonable gold prospecting detector in the entry level arena I would think not too dissimilar in performance to a Gold Bug Pro.

Yes, it won't be a fantastic detector compared to the dedicated higher frequency machines but it's more than capable of finding a pretty small nugget and for such a cheap priced detector that's great. 

I gave a go with my Vanquish and it can find gold too in my milder soils, I guess not so well in hot soil without ground balance although multi-IQ does pretty well in many situations, I didn't think too far different from a Gold Bug Pro either in it's jewellery mode so these basic entry level type machines are starting to really be quite capable for various purposes for someone on a limited budget.

If someone around here with just enough money to buy a X-Terra was questioning if they could use it for gold nuggets I certainly wouldn't snob the detector and say no way you need something a lot better than that, I'm confident I could find gold with it.

[Rivers rat]

The 2nd market is another victim of this amazingly priced machine!

 

 

RR

[Steve Herschbach]

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

The "Blah, Blah, Blah" ground mineralization/hot rocks is where things change fast so the "truth" being out there needs to factor in how the X-Terra Pro running at 15 kHz does on small gold nuggets in substantially mineralized ground compared to the other detectors you mentioned

One thing you consistently ignore in your analysis is that not everyone has ground as bad as you Jeff, nor needs your level of detector. Alaska has huge swaths of gold bearing land that is near benign when it comes to mineralization. There are many other similar areas. I’m not trying to sell anytime in the Xterra Pro as a nugget detector, but I also bet a guy with only $300 to spend would have a hard time getting anything better. Yeah, everyone should own a GPX 6000, but not everyone can afford one.

[Jeff McClendon]

55 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

One thing you consistently ignore in your analysis is that not everyone has ground as bad as you Jeff, nor needs your level of detector. Alaska has huge swaths of gold bearing land that is near benign when it comes to mineralization. There are many other similar areas. I’m not trying to sell anytime in the Xterra Pro as a nugget detector, but I also bet a guy with only $300 to spend would have a hard time getting anything better. Yeah, everyone should own a GPX 6000, but not everyone can afford one.

I'm not ignoring other peoples ground conditions.

Wilderland wrote: " very recently witnessed an air test comparison on small gold with the X-Terra Pro against both an Equinox 800 & 900, a Manticore, an Axiom, and a 6000 & 7000."

The OP did not mention what test targets were being used or settings used. I just gave the OP information on air tests that may support his experience as far as single frequency detectors running between 14 and 19 kHz. 

You and I both know that these latest simultaneous multi frequency detectors and pulse induction detectors don't appear to do well at all in air tests versus single frequency VLFs unless there is virtually no EMI in the area.

I just base what I have experienced on in the ground targets at the places that I hunt which includes really bad places near me and places in Arizona, New Mexico and Montana that aren't nearly as mineralized as around here.

I hope everyone doesn't go out and buy a GPX 6000. I want competition not a GPX 6000 monopoly. I still would go for a less than 4 lbs less that $2000 gold prospecting competitive PI in a heartbeat over the GPX 6000.

 

[Wilderland]

Jeff, I’m certainly not saying the Xterra is the same machine as the true gold detectors, but it did amazingly well in the test. I don’t own one, but for someone with a very limited budget, I don’t see a down side.
Of course an air test is not the end-all, but it is indicative of potential. For those who carry both a PI and a VLF at the same time, I think it’s an easy button. I will be very interested to hear reports of how the Xterra handles mineralized ground.

[Wilderland]

5 hours ago, Jeff McClendon said:

“ At least from my experience, the GPX 6000 running at manual 10, normal or difficult ground setting with its 11" mono coil will out perform all of these detectors on in the ground gold nugget targets from 0.05 grams and larger.”

No argument here. This past weekend at Rye Patch a couple of 6000’s certainly outperformed the above mentioned detectors. Admittedly, however, their owners were more experienced. I was skunked with my Equinox 900, which I offer as evidence.