3 Performance Test Videos

[earthmansurfer]

I wanted to get an idea of how fast the E-Trac would be on recovery. I'd say it's much faster than the E-Trac! I also added some nails in between the dimes as a further test.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3pzUe2AUuU[/video]

I know FBS/2 machines don't do great in out of ground tests, but I was curious about running a test with a small 2" square nail 1" above a dime.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylUf0mKzw74[/video]

Same as above, I didn't expect anything great with the Monty nail board test, but like to put all my detectors through this test. I note this at the end.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djaAuDvdWpo[/video]

Albert

 

[SwampeR]

Great stuff !!!

 

[Derrelld]

Thanks for the videos Albert!
I am a fan of the Ferrous coin mode.. Seems like the machine is much smoother with it on. On one particular hunt I could run manual 27 sensitivity with no problems. When I switched to ground coin the machine was unstable, when I switched back to ferrous coin it settled down to normal.
Your video on bottle caps, so far the only time I have had "rusty" bottle caps ID with good good signal and give numbers similar to a coin was while in ground coin mode. I have yet to dig one while in ferrous coin, well I take that back. I have recovered a few, but that's only because they had conductive target in the surrounding area.
I have been switching back and forth between Discrimination and all metal. So far I can only think of two targets that I can honestly say didn't give a digable signal while in discrimination. Ill try switching back and forth between 50 CO and combined next. Be interesting to see what happens.
Keep up the investigation
Derrelld

 

[Tom_in_CA]

thanx. That final video is telling. Perhaps you'd have done better with the small 5" coil. But let's face it: a deep-seeker machine like explorers or this CTX, are simply not going to excell in these ghost-townsy iron ridden environments. That's just the inherent draw-back of having a deep-seeking great TID machine, is that they loose ability to do good at "averaging" and "separating", as well as other units. For example, a silver sabre, or shadow x2, or whites classic (as examples of 2-filter units) would have seen that coin amidst the nails, no problem, while passing the nails (with easily discernable rejection sounds you'd pass, for if the nails were solo). Or a Compass 77b (an all-metal TR) would have gotten that coin even with the nails right on top! (while rejecting/nulling over solo nails) But .... of course .... the 2-filter machines fail in the depth dept, and fail to cut through mineralized soils too tell, and fail to have the great TID features. And of course a 77b, even though it effortlessly sees through nails, has a host of other drawbacks, that make it a bear to operate, lacks any other form of disc (foil and silver dollars all sound the same), maxes out at just 4 or 5" deep, fails in mineralized soils, etc....

But given the "power house" that they are, the explorers, and perhaps this CTX, is "ok" for doing junky sites, if you go slow, switch to smaller coils, etc... I mean, compared to other deep-seeker machines of the past, where they masked horribly, in order to get their fabled depth, anyhow.

 

[earthmansurfer]

Derrelld - I have compared ferrous coin to high trash on a lot of targets (in my somewhat iron mineralized ground) and think ferrous coin hits better on 10% or more of the targets. A bit early to say. But, my ground (being in Europe) has lots of iron in it, so it makes sense. Interesting that you say it is quieter, I will keep an eye out on that - you might have given me an idea on my next investigative video

I wonder about the bottle cap response still. I have dug 7 or so in 5 hours. Knowing what I know now I could have avoided almost all of them but I will still dig them signals to rule out coins in iron, at least for a while. What is your ground mineralization like? I think that might be a part of it. With higher iron mineralization the bottle caps might be more difficult to recognize as they are magnetic as is the ground - know what I mean? So, I wonder why you ran the ground coin mode? I have to play with that one as well, switch to it on targets and see what I get... ahhhh, another video

Great comment about switching between disc and an open screen. I found the same thing on the E-Trac - but I think I would have missed more targets due to audio fatigue/masking with an open screen. Running a little disc was nice. I like running an open combined mode now (and I switch to minimal disc on suspected bottle caps) but really want to have a 50 CO mode with an iron bin (and with an iron volume control to lower).

Tom - The CTX would have killed that test with the 6" coil - no doubt in my mind - you saw the recovery speed in the first video, it has it now. Remember, the Deus has a 9" coil, which is MUCH smaller than an 11" coil. My Jupiter did good at that test with a 9.5" coil as well but it doesn't get great depth. My Jupiter also did great at the dime 1" below the iron nail test but that machine just doesn't have the fun factor the CTX or E-Trac has imo.
I made that video as I just like to check machines with that test but I wasn't really disappointed with the results as I know FBS machines do much better in a ground environment. I love the CTX but am confident enough in the machine already to show that video which isn't a cheer-leading video if you know what I mean. The machine is great.

I am curious the kind of depth the CTX gets with that 6" coil. The standard imo is the T2/F75 with the 5" coil. Those machines go extremely deep with that coil. The E-Trac and the 6X8 SEF was great but that is more a medium sized coil. I really hope the 6" CTX coil gets good depth. If so, it can be a game changer around iron.

Lastly, I will say Tom that I am not positive about deep seeking machines not having great separating abilities. Again, the F75 goes deep (not in my soil though) and it separates great. Recovery speed on the V3i didn't affect depth hardly at all, so it is not a given. The FBS machines imo were not the best at separating due to FBS technology imo. That seems to be changing with the CTX. I think the pre-processing in the coil is helping the time domain function to "speed up" and yet still do what it needs to do to have great TID and depth. Just a theory...

Great posts guys, thanks for the feedback and inspiration,
Albert

 

[niterider_58]

Albert nice job on the videos

 

[Derrelld]

I live in Ohio, most of my hunting spots have black loamy soil with more nails than blades of grass
I went out tonight switching back and forth between ground coin and ferrous coin. My finding were not consistent with my previous post. I believe it was the area I was hunting. Tonight I was back of the road away from power lines and transformers. When I cranked up the sensitivity and switched back and forth between ground coin and ferrous coin the machine gave no erratic readings. It was actually quite stable up to manual 28 sensitivity. I uncovered 7 wheat pennies tonight while hunting in all metal combined. Every signal I changed back and forth between ground coin, ferrous coins, 50 CO, combined, discrimination, and all metal. It definitely appeared that all the the signals I found "that ended up being wanted targets" gave a better reading while running ferrous coin. On a few of them I even switched to every mode on the detector, still got a better reading while in ferrous coin. As far as switching between discriminating patterns, 50 CO and all metal. I found the CTX definitely registered on all the targets no matter what I changed the settings to. But I will say that a few of them without a doubt gave a "better" reading while in combined all metal. Especially when I hit a 6 inch coin that was surrounded lots of trash. In combined mode I have CO line 39 + coming in at 860Hz. It really made the coin reading sound right out of the junk. There was so much aluminum particles surrounding the coin, that while in 50CO it was a little more difficult to hear the high coin sound unearth from the trash.

Why I chose ground coin mode way back in the beginning was merely an accident. When I first got the machine after everything thing I read I knew I wanted to start with ferrous coin. With ground coin only being one button push away I accidental switched over. That's when I noticed the erratic sounds and false signals. I thought I was getting too close to power lines but ground balancing and lowering the sensitivity wasn't helping. Now this is at one particular site and maybe I spoke to soon. When I went back into my settings I realized I switched over to ground coin, when I switched back to ferrous the CTX settled down instantly. Fluke maybe soo... Ill try it again when I go back to the site.
One thing I am certain..... The CTX is definitely a amazing machine and I do not regret paying the $$$$ for the extra bells and whistles as some people call them.
Look forward to more of your videos
Derrell

 

[earthmansurfer]

Thanks for the answers Darrell. LOL with your ground coin mistake! But hey, innovative ideas are often accidents. E.g. - Sticky notes were a mistake while researching super glues! Figure that one out. ehehehh

I'm very interested in your findings thus far - great info, thanks for sharing. I hope others are listening . I'm running combined mode as I think it might unmask a bit better for the reason you stated but I just love the 50 CO sounds - the warble caused by a CO change of just one stands out imo. I would love for an iron bin to be created in 50 CO, problems solved. Till then I'll run it with disc as minimal as possible.

Have you tried comparing the high trash setting to ferrous coin? That has been my area of investigation as I mentioned above. (I can get my sensitivity up where yours is at as well)

Albert