Dan(NM)
Well-known member
I'm impressed overall with the machine, I felt comfortable with it from the get go. I ran an open screen, combined tones, deep on and auto sens. It was a very easy transition from the E-trac to the CTX, I think those who have used the Explorer series definitely have an edge on those who have never used one. I started hitting deep targets from the beginning, the coins at the park I hunted are deep, but, not that old due to top fill. I think the CTX does a better job at isolating multiple targets close to each other than the E-trac. The tones switched from target to target faster than I expected on the CTX, that was a nice surprise. I have my copper and silver tones set very high and is close to what I use on the E-trac.
This part of the park that I went to today was the same place I used the E-trac for about 6 hours on 2 different times prior. I did manage to hit a rosy at 7" with no problem and rounded up 7 wheats as well. The deepest hit that rang high was an aluminum screw top at 9" I really couldn't dig all the mid tone targets because the ground is getting hard and dry again, I'll wait until they give it a good watering and go back to see what I left behind. The weight, it's a Minelab
but, it's balanced rather well for a 5lb machine. The status bar, it's basically useless for me, I couldn't read anything but the battery status. The screen glare wasn't that bad, close to the E-trac I thought, but, I hunt by the tones mainly, so, that's not a big deal. The pinpoint button, I kept trying to press the center keypad for the first half hour. To me, the pinpoint is very close to the E-trac, I had no problem isolating and pinpointing the targets, even with trash close by.
I have the 6" coil coming and I think I'll take it back and see if I can sniff out a couple more coins from the deep iron at the same location. I didn't try the GPS as my time was limited, but, I think I'll be using it more than I thought I would. I think I like the idea of tracking where I was and where I found the good stuff.
If I can get the headphone jack issue cleared up in the next few days, I can focus more on what I'm doing rather than what other might be thinking about the noise I'm making. I'm not sure that I'll keep the E-trac, I took with me, but, it stood near a tree this afternoon and might be hanging around at home more and more.
This part of the park that I went to today was the same place I used the E-trac for about 6 hours on 2 different times prior. I did manage to hit a rosy at 7" with no problem and rounded up 7 wheats as well. The deepest hit that rang high was an aluminum screw top at 9" I really couldn't dig all the mid tone targets because the ground is getting hard and dry again, I'll wait until they give it a good watering and go back to see what I left behind. The weight, it's a Minelab
but, it's balanced rather well for a 5lb machine. The status bar, it's basically useless for me, I couldn't read anything but the battery status. The screen glare wasn't that bad, close to the E-trac I thought, but, I hunt by the tones mainly, so, that's not a big deal. The pinpoint button, I kept trying to press the center keypad for the first half hour. To me, the pinpoint is very close to the E-trac, I had no problem isolating and pinpointing the targets, even with trash close by.I have the 6" coil coming and I think I'll take it back and see if I can sniff out a couple more coins from the deep iron at the same location. I didn't try the GPS as my time was limited, but, I think I'll be using it more than I thought I would. I think I like the idea of tracking where I was and where I found the good stuff.
If I can get the headphone jack issue cleared up in the next few days, I can focus more on what I'm doing rather than what other might be thinking about the noise I'm making. I'm not sure that I'll keep the E-trac, I took with me, but, it stood near a tree this afternoon and might be hanging around at home more and more.
