X-Terra Pro On Gold

[Sourdough Scott]

Air tests are cool, just like air guitars. I've never found a target in the air. But did find a several small nuggets in a blown over tree stump a couple feet off the ground. Maybe that counts as a air test. 

[afreakofnature]

Air tests give a good constant test with no variables to show raw power.  Ground produces variables in testing and we all have different ground.  Its good to have air tests to have a starting point in your own variable situations.

[Steve Herschbach]

There is zero reason for any of you guys to be interested in or care about the Xterra Pro for nugget detecting. It’s not a sales pitch. Use what you already have, which is no doubt better. For those who do have one or are interested in trying one, I’d use the 6” round coil, or 5x10 Coiltek. Best place to start would be Fine Jewelry mode. Reduce the Recovery Speed if in relatively trash free, milder ground. Go slow, keep the coil to the ground, dig all targets unless in heavy trash. I’d stick with All Tones and not be tempted to notch out ferrous, which is the better way to go in the long run, as you are alerted to all targets, and can investigate those suspicious ferrous indications that might turn out to actually be non-ferrous. If you notch stuff out, you’ll never know it was there. Last resort if you have to though, or for those who just can’t stand hearing it all. Hint when using full tones: keep the volume low in target rich locations so as to not flood your ears and brain with too many loud signals.

I found plenty of gold with the 13 kHz Fisher F75 and any detectorist with any real chops should be able to do so with a 15 kHz XTerra Pro. I’m not saying it’s the best option, but I’d not discount it out of hand either. Anything that gives people with limited incomes access to this hobby is fine by me. I do like that it uses coils I already have, and costs no more than just another coil! Be a great second machine and loaner for any Equinox owner.

[phrunt]

That's the idea, for people that only have an X-terra or the budget to buy an X-Terra knowing that it is capable of finding gold to a reasonable level for a VLF is what this sort of thread is about, not demonstrating other more expensive detectors are better.

My cut off point for a reasonable gold detector is 12kHz, anything over that and someone should be able to find some gold if the gold is there and the detector handles the ground.  The bigger gold takes care of itself and someone lucky enough to have bigger gold within VLF depths need not worry, my cut off point with frequency is only as my focus is on very small bits  From what I've seen too sometimes having these lower frequencies handle difficult ground better. 

When I first started detecting I had little idea about anything much so I took my Ace 350 (Euroace) down to a gold bearing river hoping to find gold nuggets, the river is our worst river for black sand where a few buckets of gravels though your sluice and the thing is clogged up with black sand yet my Ace with a fixed ground balance ran perfectly fine there, no response to the ground at all.  I didn't even know that was a good thing at the time.  I was finding plenty of coins with good depth too but no gold, the Ace at 8.25kHz just wasn't ideal for the size nuggets in the area, nor was my knowledge up to par at the time to know the best places to look.  I then upgraded to a Gold Bug Pro as I gained more knowledge and took the Bug to the same river, the Bug even though a ground balancing detector had so much more trouble with the black sand with it's 19kHz frequency, I had to wind back the sensitivity quite a bit to stop it responding to the ground and falsing when the Ace ran full sensitivity dead silent on the ground.   I did actually find some Gold with the Bug though.

So perhaps for some in difficult soils the 10kHz and 15kHz options in it's jewellery mode may work out for them for prospecting and in milder prospecting areas it should do pretty well, it's surprising how small of a Gold Nugget my Teknetics T2 at 13kHz can hit on with it's 5" coil.

The idea is use the tool you have to the best of it's ability, so with a little research and some practice I think a X-Terra owner could do pretty good on gold nuggets without having to spend the money to buy a much more expensive detector designed for Gold Nuggets so I think for someone on a budget that want's a good all round detector that they can do a bit of gold hunting with the X-terra would suit the task, especially with the 6" Nox coil.

[Jeff McClendon]

There is absolutely zero wrong with a person on a budget picking up an X-terra Pro for gold prospecting when starting out. If they have a $300 US or less budget and don't mind using their own 1/8" wired earbuds or 1/8" wired headphones and the stock 12"X9" coil, everything is just fine. The X-Terra Pro in that case is an amazing deal and the new owner can use it very effectively for a lot more than just gold prospecting too.

If they want to get the 6" round coil....add $150 US. If they also want the ML85 wireless headphones that currently are the only wireless headphones that pair with the X-terra Pro....add another $150 US if you can find someone selling them. 

If a person is already and Equinox 600/800 owner with extra coils, great.

If a person is already an Equinox 700/900 owner with extra coils and ML85s, even better.

Not throwing cold water on using the X-Terra Pro in its stock configuration as a gold prospecting detecting. It will definitely work just fine along with all of the other uses for the X-Terra Pro. However, getting an extra coil and wireless audio runs the price up to $600 US. There might be better options in that case.

[phrunt]

Yes I'd be looking for a second hand 6" if it was me and trying to keep costs down, they pop up for sale a bit.

I don't even consider headphones as I don't use them 🙂

My thoughts were more if someone was restricted with money, wanted to buy a detector for beach, coin and jewellery and do the occasional look for gold and be able to have a chance of finding some would their X-Terra do it for them, I think yes it would.   If I recall correctly @RONS DETECTORS MINELAB did some testing with the stock coil on small nuggets and it did very well for him so it maybe possible to just use the stock coil and do pretty good.

If someone wanted to get serious about looking for gold as the primary purpose for the detector they should consider paying more and getting something a bit better. 

[Steve Herschbach]

Skip the wireless headphones, get the 6” coil.

[Chase Goldman]

1 hour ago, Jeff McClendon said:

f they also want the ML85 wireless headphones that currently are the only wireless headphones that pair with the X-terra Pro

My OCD just prevents me from not pointing this out, but for accuracy sakes, the ML-105’s that come with the Manticore also pair with the X-Terra Pro, but as you say, both the ML-85’s and ML-105’s are basically unobtainium as standalone accessories right now, and when available, the ML-105’s price point as an accessory will likely be even worse than that anticipated for the ML-85’s.

Alternatively, a plug in APTX-LL transmitter and compatible APTX-LL phones can probably be obtained for less than half of what ML will likely charge for the ML-85’s if one prefers a wireless configuration for their X-Terra Pro nugget slayer.

But yeah, the accessories will drive the price to the point where other detectors begin to become relevant considerations.

FWIW

[glacialgold]

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

I don't even consider headphones as I don't use them 🙂

Hey, I'm not the only one!

Exceptions would be in high wind or close to traffic...maybe in winter. I just don't like the feel of headphones, nor the loss of situational awareness. Maybe for nuggest hunting to focus in on those whisper signals or threshhold breaks, but that's not really the business I'm in.

[phrunt]

4 hours ago, glacialgold said:

Hey, I'm not the only one!

Exceptions would be in high wind or close to traffic...maybe in winter. I just don't like the feel of headphones, nor the loss of situational awareness. Maybe for nuggest hunting to focus in on those whisper signals or threshhold breaks, but that's not really the business I'm in.

Yes, maybe as I get older and my hearing starts to go headphones may mean something to me but right now I don't believe I'm missing anything not using them, I hate things on my ears too and can't stand not being aware of what's going on around me.