ctx 3030 vs etrac

[john4840]

Well thanks guys for all your input and comparisons of the 2 detectors.I have been detecting for 40+ years and there seems to be a newer and better detector every year or so,the first detector i had was a garret bfo and did i dig alot of holes with that!nails pulltabs foil bottlecaps and coins but mainly junk,then my friend bought a whites 1db and it had a discriminator i was amazed he was digging coins but it was a tr or high frequency discriminator so he didn't get alot of depth and then i checked out whites detectors and found they were making a 6000di vlf with low frequency discriminator and it worked great on deeper coins in high mineralized soil,well my friend was finding new coins and i was finding old ones.Well then after a while i was reading a treasure magazine and seen the technetics coin computer with target id and i had to have one,so within a week i had it and it was great i could tell the difference between a clad and silver coin by id and the numbers and it was lighter and had an lcd display and did i find alot of coins with that and some were very deep ! I remember finding a dime that was around 9 inches with it,and back then there were old coins every where i looked not to many people had detectors back then.Well and then came notch filters so you could find nickles and some rings without digging nails and tabs,since then i had whites,Garrett,fisher,compass and i didn't notice alot more depth maybe a little on some and then minelab detectors came out so i bought a sovereign and then a explorer 2 and that did get more depth it was different getting used to the sounds but i got used to it and then bought a wot coil and found even deeper coins.One thing i noticed over the years of doing this is when you go back to a spot you hit pretty hard a year or so ago you find more coins and i think the reason for it is the ground freezing and thawing and rain moves the coins that were on edge and now your detector can detect them,just my 2 cents.So sometimes a guy gets a new detector and goes back to a spot he detected and finds more coins and thinks it's the new detector and he probably would have found them with his old one.The one thing i did notice about the etrac was finding coins in the same hole with nails or other metal when other sets wouldn't detect them.The operator knowing how to get the most out of his detector means alot,I seen alot of guys use the preset programs and that's alright for getting used to using it.I had people pick up a set that i adjusted and they said how can you use that and i told them i had it set for maximum depth so i could hear the deep coins and put up with a little extra noise but at the end of the day i had the deep old coins.I may hold off on the ctx 3030 for a bit and see what happens,it may end up like the explorer they had the xs,ex2,and now se,who knows next year it may be the ctx 3030 se,or pro improved model. Advancements in electronics are moving so fast as soon as you buy something it's outdated LOL! Thanks again I'm always looking for better performance but some of the bells and whistles on the ctx i don't think are needed like the gps?I will probably end up with one but i may wait till spring and see if they improve anything. Take care good luck detecting

Amen brother

 

[mainah]

I own two e tracs and Im just now hoping I didn't make the wrong choice on my last order from Kellyco. I owned one for me, then a year later bought one for my wife, and the salesman told me that if I don't care about a gps or hunting in the water, I don't need a ctx.... I believed him.... either way I love my e-trac....

 

[DukeOBass]

I made a mistake trading my Etrac out for the CTX. I no longer own the CTX. I traded it out in January after swinging it from May to November last year. I keep hoping they come out with an Etrac II or Etrac Pro. Increase the speed, put a better more easily readable screen on it, add a probe, just a few small enhancement to an already great machine.

 

[ChicagoJohn]

I want E-Trac2 to be waterproof and vibration phone inside the machine! I am deaf and use vibration-phone. Would be nice to have vibration inside machine for lighter metal detector!

 

[Southwind]

I remember when the first TR's came out and then the VLF's and then *gasp* discrimination. Each time a lot of people held to the idea their good old BFO/VLF/TR was just as good or better than that new fangled detector full of worthless gizmo's. Some things never change.

 

[mike90199]

hmmm well this is really a dilema for me I mean the ctx 3030 seems like a really nice machine but I have read so many people having to take them back for repairs .I mean I love the fact it is more accurate and water proof but im really not sure what to go for now and the etrac sounds good but ive heard from a lot of people its very noisy is there any way of making it quiet when running .im guessing the multiple frequencys makes it pic up a lot of stuff in ground tho .but yeh im so new to metal detecting don't know much about fbs machines I have a xterra 705 so yeh that's how new I am in the game lol.

 

[roadapple]

NOW, after reading all these older post ( before the truth be known), go to the problems section with the constant leaking seal into the battery of the 3030. NOW, you remember what your paying for is a waterproof machine, not one that develops leaks and stops working ! If your a land-lover why pay more when water is not in your world? JMHO

 

[sprchng]

hmmm well this is really a dilema for me I mean the ctx 3030 seems like a really nice machine but I have read so many people having to take them back for repairs .I mean I love the fact it is more accurate and water proof but im really not sure what to go for now and the etrac sounds good but ive heard from a lot of people its very noisy is there any way of making it quiet when running .im guessing the multiple frequencys makes it pic up a lot of stuff in ground tho .but yeh im so new to metal detecting don't know much about fbs machines I have a xterra 705 so yeh that's how new I am in the game lol.

google treasureclassfieds -------there's a 3030 there that might help you with the decision

 

[Nuke em]

I have had the ET for 6 years or should I say ET's ! I had the CTX when it came out and just could not bond with it .
Yes it has better balance but is heavier , yes it has other improvements to the software which I would like to see on a new ET 2 but with the unnecessary GPS and connected stuff and with a 2 piece instead of 3 piece stem , balance to far back so the coil comes up meaning you have to ware the arm strap "yuk" , they even brought out a special bungee " not for me" , a more complicated menu , no paperback manual , only being able to look up the menu if you forgot how to set up on the laptop .
So the CTX went the way of the Dodo and my newest ET will carry on , maybe there are cases where the ET will miss a target but maybe the CTX will and another machine will find it instead ?
The CTX is not any deeper on all targets and in fact Minelab have said that the CTX is not deeper so why the near £2000 instead of the now £1000 for a new ET ?
If you work the wet beach just keep the ET out of the water , if land then either will do the same work if set up right . It all depends on settings and discrimination you put in .
If you need a waterproof machine then the Excalibur or other purpose built machine should be better , all the issues I have either experienced or heard about on forum's about the downsides of the CTX have put me off ever buying another CTX .
Its to heavy , cumbersome " cant disassemble enough to get into a rucksack" , bothersome " don't ever use a arm strap and the machine will fall backwards from your arm" , no manual " very awkward menu which I could never get used too" , a screen that even though colour to a point is still hard to see in bright sunshine , and the GPS and stuff that are really not needed if you detect small areas at a time , expensive to maintain "parts are a rip off " , only a few coils .
Yes there are a few good things about the CTX . Ground balance though I found little difference in using it , 2 target track but unless I look at the screen all the time I would not need , clock "do like" , ability to set a sound to a target or set different sounds to sections of screen " would have been better if smaller areas could have been changed instead of larger blocks".
There are a few things that make the CTX a good machine but there are things that turn me right off again .
I would rather miss a target or two which might be good or bad targets and pay £1000 than buy a machine that you can miss a target or two and pay up to £2000 . No body can find it all, all the time no matter what machine you have . You have to go over the target and you have to be at one with the machine when using it and as said the settings have to be right , you have to go at a set speed , you have to have the right discrim " not to much " .
So is there a miracle machine ? No .
But my ET does this and that's all I want from it.
1 search 4 to 5 hours on a July day on a very trashy beach amongst iron and non ferrous trash.

It would have taken longer with the CTX because of the arm strap issue and I was on a time limit .
Hopefully Minelab will bring out my dream machine but the ET is as close to it as I have found so far.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

Close to a hundred hours under water with the CTX and no leaks but I keep the gasket area spotless like Minelab suggests . Zero Issues of any kind with either machine and I got both the first week available here in the states . And now I am finding coins that both the E-Trac and CTX along with a lot of other machines missed because of iron masking with my Deus No matter what machine one chooses it must be learned by many hours of practice in various types of sites to ever reach its full potential .

 

[Excalibur_2000]

The most important thing is the algorithm process which the engineers of Minelab are using for extracting the coordinates of the different targets in the field.
As I know the Minelab Explorer SE is extracting coordinates in a different way than the Minelab E-Trac and Minelab CTX 3030. When identifying targets, the Minelab CTX 3030 is
using the same technique as the Minelab E-Trac. I prefer the extraction method of the Explorer SE cause Minelab goals a usefull and functional two dimensional discrimination system.
Which can not done by projecting targets on the FE-12 scale.
By projecting targets on the FE-12 scale is a real problematic thing for Minelab,

Regards from Holland ,

rj bakker

_________________________________________

 

[Excalibur_2000]

Why a searcher should consider a deep question about an arm strap...

 

[Excalibur_2000]

This statement is true ..


When engineers are making a detector , than marketing follows...


I never saw a perfect manual. Till sofar the Minelab Excalibur , which I own.