I have a T2 (with the latest upgrade) and a X-Terra 705. They are both excellent detectors and I have a hard time picking between them. I bought the T2 and was using it as my main machine (moving my Minelab Explorer XS to backup status). I won the X-Terra 705 at a paid hunt at the end of April. The X-Terra came with the stock 7.5 Khz 9" concentric, a 7.5 Khz 6" concentric, and a 18.75 Khz 10x5 DD elliptical. I bought the 3 Khz 9" concentric to go with the other coils.
Overall to sum it up quickly, I think the T2 is a better machine for relic hunting in low minerialized soils, while the X-Terra is a better machine for more difficult soil conditions, I also think its greater selection of accessory coils give it an advantage for coin shooting, & prospecting. With the stock coils the T2 seems to have an edge on depth which makes sense as it has a larger coil. I haven't used the X-Terra at the ocean beach yet, but it has features which should make it better suited for beach hunting than the T2 (which will still GB on wet salt water sand).
I like the T2's greater TID resolution as its TID range goes from 1 to 99 (including the odd numbers) with 1 thru 30 being just for iron. This is great for relic hunting as you can usually get different target ID readings on nails from other iron targets such as ox shoes, hinges, knives, and other desirable iron targets. By contrast the X-Terra's TID goes from -8 thru 48 but it only uses the even numbers and so it has 28 possible target ID's with only 4 for iron, as compared to the T2's 99 with 30 just for iron alone.
On the other hand the X-Terra has a lot more bells and whistles some of which are important for good performance in more difficult soil. It has automatic ground tracking which you can turn on or off, plus it has an adjustable offset so it you like to hunt with your GB set slightly positive you can use auto tracking and still have the GB set the way you prefer. The XTerra also has 2 pinpoint modes - one is called sizing mode, this mode works just like the pinpoint mode on the T2. The other and default pinpoint mode (forget what they call it) automatically detunes the detector if you move it off the target and then back on to the target quickly. If you keep the coil off of the target long enough it will retune itself for maximum pinpoint sensitivity. I really like this mode as I often manually detune my detectors when using PP mode to help zero in on the target and the X-Terra's automatically doing this is a real convenience for me.
The things I like that apply to both of these excellent machines are that they both have extremely fast recovery times. I thought that the T2/F75/F70 family of First Texas machines had the super fast recovery time crown all to themselves but the X-Terra 705 is just as fast and might even be a little bit faster. They both have excellent tone ID audio systems and in fact I think they each have the same modes as the other one. The audio response modes on each of these machines are so good that most of the time I decide whether to dig or not based just on the audio and only look at the target ID after I have decided to dig. On iffy targets I also look at the meter. They seem pretty equal when it comes to the accuracy of the TID meter. The X-Terra has a target ID stablization mode which you can turn on or off. I haven't ever used it turned on so I don't know how that affects the TID accuracy. The T2 uses both continuous and sampled processing for its meter but switches between them based on what tone ID settings you use. I reckon that the T2's sampled processing is similar to using the XTerra with the TID stabilizer turned on. However I have both the T2 and Xterra set to use continuous processing and so the target ID tends to jump around a bit on both machines but like I said I mostly use the audio system anyway.
I like the fact that the Xterra gives you continuous target Id readings even in pinpoint mode. The T2 switches its display to showing the target depth in inches and so you lose the TID number when it is in pinpoint, though it has a signal strength target ID arrow. The arrow points to a conductivity scale with icons of coins, pull tabs, nails, etc. The arrow can be one of 3 different sizes which shows you how strong the signal is that the receiver coil is getting, the stronger the signal the bigger the arrow. While the Xterra shows target depth even in normal hunting mode (nice feature) and when pinpointing it shows the target ID numbers in the normal place and has a 6 segment depth bar graph with each segment lit up meaning 2 inches of depth so for example if 3 segments are lit up then it is indicating that the target is between 6 and 8 inches. The last segment lit means that the target is 12+ inches. The t2 has a digital read out of depth that goes to 16 inches I think (might be 18 ).
I think the T2 is a tiny bit lighter than the X-Terra but both machines a light and well balanced. I've got a bit of arthritis in my shoulder and so I can't swing a heavy machine all day like I used to but both of these machines are light enough to let me keep going for all day hunts.
The X-Terra has notch based discrimination system so you can knock out some ranges. The T2 is a strictly linear system where you knock out everything below whatever the discrimination system is set at. I hardly use any discrimination at all so I don't use notches and usually hunt in all metal mode with the X-Terra and with the discrim set at 10 on the T2 (which just knocks out some ground chatter).
I really like both of these machines and have a really hard time picking between them when I go out. My solution has been to hunt with both machines. If I hunt a field with the T2 one day, then the next time I go to that field I use the X-Terra or vice versa.
Personally, I would hate to have to choose between them, but at least it is a no lose situation - no matter which one you choose you will be getting a first class machine that will be a pleasure to hunt with.
