Help with Minelab buying decision...

[TreasureHawk]

Thinking seriously about buying a Minelab detector.

Looking at Safari, Explorer SE Pro or E-Trac. Maybe a X-Terra 705.

Any thoughts/reviews both positive and negative would be appreciated.

I was concerned about the recovery speed. Any thoughts about recovery speed.

Would you buy Minelab again?

I have been using a Whites Eagle Spectrum since 1992.

Thanks.

Robert

 

[Bryannagirl]

OK I had an Eagle Spectrum and a DFX both great machines but with lots of Options. I think the best Turn on and Go ( well Almost ) machines of the ones you listed are the Xterra 705 and they Safari. Both do not take much to be up and running and performing well. It was my experience with both the Spectrum and the DFX some adjusting was necessary to get them to perform well. The Safari is the easiest in that you turn it on select a program, noise cancel and start swining. The Xterra has the added step of ground balancing. It also has a lot more options then the Safari. I have read comparisons of Xterra vs FBS and some say it is a tie for depth but my gut tells me the FBS technology will go deeper but the Xterra are no slouch. Alos new a 705 can be had for less then $729 at your door. The Safari is $999. Also the Xterra is lighter and if you want small gold will do great with the 18Khz coil. The Safari loves Silver but is not super on small gold.

That is what I know.

I have a Safari thinking about adding a Xterra to the family. Best of both worlds. In that with some careful shopping I can have both a Safari and Xterra for less then an Etrac.

Bryanna

 

[kschae4]

Bob- I found the recovery speed not to be an issue. Lots of archived comments here will tell you to slow down your swing to take advantage of the safari's impressive depth capabilities. IMO, the resetting time between each target is minimal as I tend to hunt slow,in low density (better target id & depth) using just the stock 11" pro coil.

 

[Hotzone]

I own a quattro and it has a slower recovery than safari. I notice that the numbers may be slow to update while I was able to hear the change in audio alerting me of two objects. Pause, swing back over to see the other number of the adjacent target. I am going to slow down whenever I here something good anyway. It might be a problem if I used a lot of discrimination though. I like to hear what I am missing and only block the most persistent pull tabs if at all. I want an explorer too. Uses same coils. Quattro would b a great backup.My deLeon really doesn't contend with hot rocks or junk as well when my battery's need charging in the quattro.

 

[Prep1957]

When I was on vacation went with 2 new guys to buy detectors.Bought 2 Safari's in the box in Bargain Cave $739 a piece both were Irish models.Manager said getting rid of old stock because newer detector models coming out this fall.