Ctx3030 V E-trac

[bazza]

Hi Forum
Owned the E-trac for 5 years and am very familiar with it so I would like to offer my thoughts on the new CTX3030 as a comparison the the formidable E-trac
It appears they both use the same sort of FBS technology and the menus aren't too dissimilar.
I have noticed quite a few differences between them however when in the field, i'll put them down in no particular order in dot points


The ergonomics of the ET is better than the CTX and feels lighter (need to have the arm strap to get proper balance using CTX, not so with ET)
The build quality of the CTX is far superior than ET
There is more places to get sand caught up in CTX
Battery strength seems to affect the wireless transmition quality of the CTX
There is a notable increase spread of tones across the CTX giving better separation of close sounding signals eg, $1, and $2 coins used to sound very similar with ET, they are better separated now and have a much higher pitch
The CTX seems like it is running on fast and deep as compared to ET,
Runs very well in automatic (never used it before on beaches, do now)
Love the pinpoint trigger, best option for me so far as I use PP for sizing deep targets
Locks on very quickly and reliable repeating tones


One bad point
CTX finds more iffy twist top targets than old ET, really notice the increase in my finds bag (please look at pictures to give an idea)

Yesterday I took the CTX out looking for gold rings on the wet hard stuff, I dig deep high tones and all low and iffy tones
The result was 3 rings (2 silver) one 18ct gold bangle and 14 plus twist tops
I will add to this threat once I become more familiar with programming it and I invite you to add your comments and questions
Cheers
Bazza

 

[bazza]

-- moved topic --

 

[scubadetector]

Those bottle tops seem to give any machine a hard time. I actually think Budweiser might make them give a good signal on purpose! They did make a metal detector commercial for their beer. Anyway, I dig all because they also mimic Canadian coins here in Michigan and most all Canadian coins including pennies which they just discontinued are made of steel.

I also think boaters have nothing better to do than to break the tabs off the new cans just for us. Well you have to dig the trash to get to the treasure anyway. I have found plenty of rings close to trash and will keep digging any signal above iron. I even dig the iron overload signals to find great items.

Thanks for the comparison. I am sure both machines are deadly in the hands of capable seasoned detectorists.

 

[bazza]

Cheers for that Scuba
I can fairly easily tell a twist top with the Excal by the ramp up and down (not smooth and ends wrong), the E-trac seemes initially to be confused on deep corroded ones but after a few sweeps it usually always figures them out and gives a null however the CTX (only had it 2 months by the way) keeps it on the audible range and throws it into my iffy deep gold on edge or broken band sound group. It nulls only when I disturb or surface it
Just noticed a marked increase of these twist tops in my finds bag, with the E-trac maybe 4 a month, Excal 8 a week, CTX maybe 20 per outing!
It could simply require a bit of bench editing or closer inspection of where the tone coordinates are hitting, but Im sure that in a year from now i'll have it sussed
By the way I'm from Down Under and we are just finishing off our summer (bagged 9 gold rings so far in 2013) heres a picture of my latest ring find with the CTX, 18ct weighed in at 15.6g
Please enjoy
Cheers
Bazza