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Deciding on a detector

Trigger82

New member
Hi guys, well im pretty new to the hobby, basically this year

I use the bounty hunter IV since dad upgraded to the x-terra 705 we run parks and stuff looking for modern coins etc (Australia here) and running beaches

Now today been my first day gold hunting I was handed the 705 as dad has the GPX5000 for this work, so for a few days ive been playing with it getting to know it, nice machine but for prospecting it still is a little noisy in our hot area. plus the iron discrimination isn't that good even flicking to treasure mode tiny iron still gives a very random reading bouncing all over the shop in numbers and sound more so in the negatives but me been curious still dig since im learning (plus with my luck I know the time I would leave it it will be junk next to something of value)

So my main question is ive been looking at the E-trac and CTX-3030, I know either will be absolutely great for our coin running and probably overkill but none of these have the prospecting mode but kinda hoping either machine compared to the 705 with the 18Khz DD coil running prospecting mode might be better anyway. I know I generally wont find tiny nuggets but I only want one machine and the gold will be its secondary function.

any feedback would be very much appreciated
 
Sorry you are out of luck. One thing that the CTX doesn't do well at all is prospecting. Neither does the E Trac. And for modern coins you don't need to spend the money on a CTX. There are other forums that deal with with prospecting here. I'm sure they can help you.
 
thanks for that, would the e-trac or ctx be able to detect nuggets in the 2gram + range maybe up to 4 inchs max, honestly id probably be happy with that, as mainly I just enjoy going on the outings with dad and his friend and happy to just swing a detector
 
For a multi-purpose detector used for nugget hunting as well as coins, the 705 is one of the top two or three. Here is some good info compiled by the moderator of the prospecting forum on many different detectors and what they can do. http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-guides/steve-guide-gold-nugget-detectors.htm
 
I haven't checked lately, but there used to be a few inexpensive Minelab gold detectors other than the super expensive ones. They would probably work quite well for your situation... nes
 
Just an update I decided to send an email direct to the Australian support guy with the same question, I also forgot to mention in the OP that even having the sensitivity down to 5 its still giving a lot of ground feedback but anyway here is his response



If ground conditions are not taken into consideration, the X-TERRA 705 will detect smaller gold better than both the E-TRAC and CTX.
However, as the ground gets more mineralized, the Sensitivity level on the 705 needs to be reduced, and the unit can become erratic, so this will significantly
reduce its "sensitivity"
 
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