Hi Guys,
I promised some that I would report my feelings about the x-terra 50 once I got it in the field. I finaly got the chance to use it last week (UK Colchester trip)and boy did I use it. This will be a quick summary (got to head off to work shortly).
1. It was the only detector I carried and used (for the whole trip).
2. Ground balance (from 4 to 7 on most fields) was critical for decent performance. Sensitivity was set at 17 & 18 and performed best for me at these settings. I hunted MANY various fields, locations, different soils, weather enviroments, etc.
3. Day 1 I hunted in all metal only and used tones to verify non ferrous (diggable) targets. The following days I hunted in mode 1 (ferrous reject) and switched to all metal sometimes to verify some target signals.
4. Good lock (VDI) on targets were the norm until I encountered very wet weather and one certain field (fertilizer maybe) where target numbers jumped around a lot. I even had small pieces of lead and shotgun shell primers pegging "45" on the meter. Not a big problem because all non ferrous targets read as non ferrous (even jumping VDI's) so I dug them. Maybe the 1/2 inch of mud I had built up on the bottom of my coil along with a coil cover that caught water like a bucket, had something to do with jumpy vdi's. Yes I actualy had to turn my coil upside down and drain the water from the cover/coil every few minutes (it was quite wet that day). For those that use coil covers in wet conditions, I would suggest siliconing the top fo the cover openings (something I should have done).
5. Sensitivity to small targets was quite amazing and I dug far more pieces than I wished. Depth was very respectable for such tiny targets also. As for overall depth --- let's just say I didn't feel I was leaving stuff for the others in the group to get. One larger piece of lead was nearly 2 foot deep.
6. On one field I found that targets (once removed from the hole) was very hard to locate. Whether I was in disc. or pinpoint, the signal was quite weak on even a large target which was in the dirt. I thought this was my machine but another fellow using an Explorer was having the same problem.
7. Sweep speed --- not quite as fast as I would have liked (for such large fields, 100's of acres)but when I hit a hot spot and slowed down it was killer in mutiple target areas (GREAT target seperation).
Overall --- I was quite impressed with the x-50 and plan on keeping it. Considering it rained most every day (I didn't use a rain cover)and the mud piled up constantly all over the detector, it kept plugging along with no problems. I even took it to a car wash to rise off all of the mud and it held up fine. I don't recommend this for others but my detector was a total mess and that was the best way for me to clean it.
To have confidence and dependability in a detector gives you back the "Fun Factor" in detecting versus worrying about your machine/settings, etc. all of the time. Now I have that with the X-50.
Al (GA)
I promised some that I would report my feelings about the x-terra 50 once I got it in the field. I finaly got the chance to use it last week (UK Colchester trip)and boy did I use it. This will be a quick summary (got to head off to work shortly).
1. It was the only detector I carried and used (for the whole trip).
2. Ground balance (from 4 to 7 on most fields) was critical for decent performance. Sensitivity was set at 17 & 18 and performed best for me at these settings. I hunted MANY various fields, locations, different soils, weather enviroments, etc.
3. Day 1 I hunted in all metal only and used tones to verify non ferrous (diggable) targets. The following days I hunted in mode 1 (ferrous reject) and switched to all metal sometimes to verify some target signals.
4. Good lock (VDI) on targets were the norm until I encountered very wet weather and one certain field (fertilizer maybe) where target numbers jumped around a lot. I even had small pieces of lead and shotgun shell primers pegging "45" on the meter. Not a big problem because all non ferrous targets read as non ferrous (even jumping VDI's) so I dug them. Maybe the 1/2 inch of mud I had built up on the bottom of my coil along with a coil cover that caught water like a bucket, had something to do with jumpy vdi's. Yes I actualy had to turn my coil upside down and drain the water from the cover/coil every few minutes (it was quite wet that day). For those that use coil covers in wet conditions, I would suggest siliconing the top fo the cover openings (something I should have done).
5. Sensitivity to small targets was quite amazing and I dug far more pieces than I wished. Depth was very respectable for such tiny targets also. As for overall depth --- let's just say I didn't feel I was leaving stuff for the others in the group to get. One larger piece of lead was nearly 2 foot deep.
6. On one field I found that targets (once removed from the hole) was very hard to locate. Whether I was in disc. or pinpoint, the signal was quite weak on even a large target which was in the dirt. I thought this was my machine but another fellow using an Explorer was having the same problem.
7. Sweep speed --- not quite as fast as I would have liked (for such large fields, 100's of acres)but when I hit a hot spot and slowed down it was killer in mutiple target areas (GREAT target seperation).
Overall --- I was quite impressed with the x-50 and plan on keeping it. Considering it rained most every day (I didn't use a rain cover)and the mud piled up constantly all over the detector, it kept plugging along with no problems. I even took it to a car wash to rise off all of the mud and it held up fine. I don't recommend this for others but my detector was a total mess and that was the best way for me to clean it.
To have confidence and dependability in a detector gives you back the "Fun Factor" in detecting versus worrying about your machine/settings, etc. all of the time. Now I have that with the X-50.
Al (GA)
........never......nope.....not ever. Not even my CZ20, which is bomb-proof, sorry Al you can't take her for a walk.