How responsive is the CTX compared to the ETRAC?

[beachdude]

I hunt very trashy parks mostly and am now hunting an extremely trashy water area (with Whites machines). My ETRAC seems to have trouble sometimes processing all the channels or the trash when I hunt super trashy parks and there is a latency or delay sometimes as the detector struggles to catch up. I am swinging really slowly as well.

Does the CTX have more processing power? Have any of you owners noticed any sluggishness or latency with the CTX?

Just wondering.

 

[Smack]

I have many hours on the Etrac, and although it was pretty darn good at picking through the trash I have found the CTX3030 to be better. Even with the 11 inch coil. It is like a laser. I hunted a iron infested area with my white's and then with my Etrac. They both found silver. The Etrac had an edge because of TTF. I went over the same area with the CTX3030 and it sounded off like a machine gun, hitting targets like bam, bam, bam. Iron tones repeating and then I got a high tone. I was set up in Fe Ground two tone. Anyway it turned out to be a War nickle 2-3 inches deep right next to the nails.

I think in those trashy areas using the small coils it will really help but I still got the coin with an 11 coil.

I have found that the CTX3030 in Ferrous Ground settings Two Tone will give me a low grunt for iron and a short high chirp, Falsing. It is a little issue to adjust to, compared to the Etrac it also falsed but not as much as the CTX. The CTX needs a little more time getting it adjusted to how you want to hunt, compared to the Etrac, at least for me. But the processing speed seems to be allot faster than the Etrac.

Good luck and HH.
Smack

 

[etracjoe]

I find ferrous coin will false more than ground coin and high trash. For the detector being "faster" then the Etrac??.......No question in my mind. And that was a good analogy....."machine gun" The processor in the CTX is super fast. I run my screen wide open which helps a little but I have no issue with discrimination either. You have to remember also that the more filters that you have on at a given time the slower the processor will be and also the tid numbers can be skewed a bit. The CTX in my opinion is a way better machine then the Etrac and with that being said....The big E is a great detector. If you are in a not so trashy area the Etrac will perform very well. In the trash the Etrac lags a little but will still pick out 90% of what you will find with the CTX. But I'm going for that 10% because that can mean capped bust or a flowing hair LC or spanish silver at most sites I go. And as Smack said he was still able to reach coins in trash with the stock coil. This is something that IMO was harder to do with the Etrac. And just think of the possibilities of the 6" coil when it is available to us. HH Joe

 

[Tom T2]

Yeah,
These post are very correct. It is faster than the etrac,and the disc is better and when you have 2 targets on the screen,you can tell the good target from the iron target.That's how I found the rare large cent I posted last week......

 

[bik-il]

There is way less lag and the vdi numbers tend not to bounce as much with ctx compared to etrac from what I noticed thusfar.

I sold the etrac to finance the ctx and I most always hunted in ttf on the etrac.
So hunting with open screen with minimal discrimination on the ctx was an easy transition. I'm very impressed so far.

 

[ronfin]

The CTX locks onto coins like no other machine I've ever seen. I loved the ETRAC but it's ridiculous how solid the CTX will scream on a coin at depth. I almost second guess myself when I see how deep it is and how loud it was with solid numbers. It truly is an awesome MD.

 

[grouser]

if you use the "long tone" option the chirps are a non-issue

 

[Smack]

if you use the "long tone" option the chirps are a non-issue

Good tip grouser, I will try that soon.
Smack

 

[earthmansurfer]

Smack - I agree with you that the CTX falses more (or runs hotter) than the E-Trac. I notice it to be MUCH FASTER than the E-Trac. I would be curious to know the different speeds of the two processors they used in the E-Trac and CTX (They are the same processor but at different speeds). A lot of the coins I am finding are just closer to iron than the E-Trac could detect. The CTX is somewhat better in my iron mineralized ground as well.

etracjoe - I agree that ferrous coin falses more as well. But, it seems easy to rule out the falses (just as on the E-Trac). I can't run high trash in my somewhat iron mineralized ground as it sometimes bounces too much (not always). The E-Trac bounced on coins at depth in high trash in my ground. In ferrous coin that doesn't happen. In high trash it does it sometimes but when it does it, it is much harder to detect than on the E-Trac. I think we have to pick the right settings for our ground. The E-Trac might have been more forgiving as it had fewer choices (could also be due to my somewhat iron mineralized ground.)

grouser - Yes, thanks for that tip. I've been wanting to try both long and smooth again.

Albert