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How hard is the CTX to learn to use

D

diggerdick

New member
I have been MDing for five years I have got vary good with my MXT PRO and AT PRO I have been reading a lot and watching lots of videos some say it is just impossible to learn I see a lot of used ones for sale and being sent in for repair. Just looking for some honest inputthank you for any input you can give
 
Yea, it's impossible to learn. Stick with your AT Pro. Sounds like you mastered it, and it will help you find Colone, Juice & Roundness :rofl:
 
It is a detector you need to take your time with, basic functions are pretty straight forward.
Learning the language and feeling confident with the machine takes more than a few outings.

Then after a while everything starts to click into place and you actually start programming the machine,... you are telling it
what you would like to find.
And it finds that for you,...

CTX3030... take your time.
 
Ok, I to have an AT Pro and an MXT. I also feel like both of these machines communicate very well with me. I have been detecting fir 3.5 years. I also just bought the CTX 3030.
It is nothing like an MXT or an AT Pro. I purchased the machine because neither of my machines seem to have the depth that the minelabs do. After a week of using the CTX I will guarantee that is true. I expect to find silver coins and jewelry on land and at the beach with the CTX. I have not found many silver coins with my two previous machines. After a week of using the CTX I have not found any silvers yet. Only been out three times. Just learning how to navigate around the controls and the VID and tones.

I absolutely love my MXT and AT Pro. Both are good machines for finding clad coins and a little jewelry. After three and a half years I want a little more than clad. Metal detecting is a fun hobby for me. Being retired, I have a lot of time to detect. I feel the CTX offers me the best opportunity to find more silver, is better in wet sand and again much deeper than my AT or MXT.

Now comes the learning curve. Anyone can learn to use a CTX. The question is can one learn the machine well enough to be as proficient as they may be on the MXT or the AT.
That depends on how much time And desire you have. Programable detectors are much more difficult to learn that the turn on and go machines. I work with my new CTX every day and I think it will take me 4 to 6 months to become good, not proficient, but just good with the CTX. I could always tell what I was digging before I dug it with my MXT and Pro. With the CTX I have to go a little slower because I'm learning a completely new language. Mine labs use Ferrous and conductive analysis to determine what is in the ground. Us Whites and Garrett guys have never delt with that before so our learning cure is steep. Not insurmountable, but steep.

The only way to learn the CTX is to practice, read, practice and ask the experts on this forum. Remember to thank these guys, because if it wasn't for them it would be 10 times as difficult to learn these mine lab machines with our background. I'm serious about that 10 times as hard deal.

At the end of the day I have enjoyed my week wit the CTX. Found a bunch of clad, one ring, a .1917 Wheat but no silver. Rember it has rained most every day for the last week. I
have about 4 hours on the CTX.

Read the posts on the CTX and CTX resource forum by a detectorist by the name of Gone hunting for history. All one word. This guy is the man with the knowledge on the CTX. He has helped me every time I have asked. He is very willing to assist anyone. There are others also, so you will never be alone, or on your own. Itnis a family, just like Whites and Garrett guys.

Last but not least. The CTX is a quality built machine. So well balanced that you can swing it for hours even though it is a heavy machine compared to the Pro. Wireless headphones are the best. .

You will probably use this machine for at least 4 years, so think about that when considering the price.

Good luck-----------Happy hunting
 
Surely GATEKEEPER is joking. He wants all the silver for himself. Say Gatekeeper why don't you take an old guy hunting one of these days. I need to learn more about my CTX.
 
This is my first Minelab detector, I think the directions are not very clear on how to operate the CTX. I got the book ( The CTX 3030 Beach and Water Hunters Guide ) I know this is a Water Hunters Guidebook but after reading the book everything started to fall together on how to operate the detector.
 
:biggrin:
 
sparkster said:
Gatekeeper, what part of the country you in?
Click to expand...

Northwest Indiana
 
It's a great detector that takes a little time to master. Give me a call and I can walk you through the basics
 
With the forum and all the great CTXers on here you will be fine. Some of the dealers will even set it up for you and give you some coaching.

I have been detecting since 1973 but I was having some challenges with the CTX. Mainly remembering where the adjustments were. My own laziness honestly.

With the preset programs you can take it out of the box and start finding stuff.

Your best bet is to find a dealer that will help you after the sale, otherwise you might want to give up and sell it like some have.

I have detected 1000's of hours over the years with just about every detector out there and am going back over some of my old relic hunting sites and just can't believe how many targets I am finding.

Even more impressive is how deep. I am getting depth beyond what a DMC 2B nautilus with a 15" coil will get on bullets and that is the deepest VLF machine in good ground up until the CTX.

We have good ground here so I can't speak for other areas but I dug 21 bullets in 3 hours in a place that has been pounded but some were 16" deep measured, not fish stories either.

I am doing that well and consider myself and amateur when it comes to setting this thing up. I don't know how to build programs and can't find my way back to a target I have marked but I am kicking some serious butt on numbers of finds.

Now all I need to do it get in an area with some good quality targets other than bullets. In the 70's and 80's I had days that I did not find as many keepers as I have been finding in 2-3 hours and in the places we got all the easy stuff 20-30 years ago, no joke.

Now all I need to do is get out more and learn how to really customize this thing. Happy hunting and thanks for findmall and everyone on here for the willingness to share your success.
 
Wildgerman, you are right, the owners manual is vague at best. The pros on this forum are our saving grace. If it were not for assistance from them I would be totally lost.
This machine definitely takes sometime to learn if you are not a prior minelab user.

Any book beyond the user manual would be a great help.
 
The UI of the CTX is not well designed compared to the E-Trac.
I will even go so far and say that it was designed by people who do not personally use a detektor.

The CTX UI simply has too few buttons. There are many shortcomings in realy usage where you have to press 3,4 times and hold buttons to just get something done that needs one button press on the E-Trac.
That whole procedure is only beaten by the Exchange 2 Software that (ok, is a WEB-App and therefore runns possibly on anything) manages to make very easy tasks like importing or exporting a file to a (first time) complicated issue. It just doesn't hold to any standard. After all, on the CTX you have to press too much keys, to "come from A to B". And this is logic, as the machine has more functions then the E-Trac, but less buttons.

Taken these facts aside, the CTX is really usable. All functions are sorted by a logic system, that is understandable for anybody.
You have basically "themed buttons" that bring you either to "Audio", "Sensitivity", or other themes.

Its usable, and even though some shortcomings in the UI, its possibly the best detector far and wide.
If its because of "how to use it", I would say anybody - really anybody - who has ever used a detector, can also use the CTX.

At the end you can start by just switching it on, and it will run ...
 
I am still reading and rereading every book I have on the CTX and I always have the machine beside me so I can pull up what I have been reading about on the ctx so it makes sense to me. Slowly, the books and the machine are making more sense and when the weather warm up enought here in North Dakota and I am able to get out and use the CTX, I'm sure things will come together pretty fast. Was able to go out in the back yard where there wasn't much snow and found a few targets that had very good number worth digging, guess I could get ot the hair dryer and thaw some ground. Hopefully, when the time comes and I want to make my own programs, I will have met up with someone that owns a CTX and is a lot better with the computer than I am so they can teach me how to do it.
 
Thanks for all the info and helping me dside on witch way to go I think I will join the CTX club once agan thank you to all the info
 
NO, TOO MANY MEMBERS IN OUR CLUB! Stay with AT PRO! :garrett: is #1
 
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