I'm loosing my enthusiasm for the CTX

[PokerShark]

I have the feelers out Shark, give me a couple days. I know about where you are, my brother lives in Upland.

Indeed you do know where I live! Upland is not far at all.

 

[LTimedigger]

LT...I’ll ask a silly question that needs to be asked. Did you do a factory reset?
Also...have you tried taking the headphone module OFF the machine to see if it behaves then?

IDX sorry it took awhile. Some other issues going on. About the phones. I've had the same problem completely regardless of phones. I can remove them and still have the problem. I can even run my watch over my coils and no audio. I have not done a reset because I only have custom programs installed down. I talked to the service center and they will do a reset sometimes only if necessary but they know to download the programs first. Talked to the supervisor who indicated we may have to replace the main panel. The dealer who I bough it from has it now and is trying to service it first. I still believe FBS technology is still the best thing to hit the MDing business but is prone to mechanical/software failure and costly to repair( like buying a Mercedes hehe). Will keep yall poasted.

 

[IDXMonster]

IDX sorry it took awhile. Some other issues going on. About the phones. I've had the same problem completely regardless of phones. I can remove them and still have the problem. I can even run my watch over my coils and no audio. I have not done a reset because I only have custom programs installed down. I talked to the service center and they will do a reset sometimes only if necessary but they know to download the programs first. Talked to the supervisor who indicated we may have to replace the main panel. The dealer who I bough it from has it now and is trying to service it first. I still believe FBS technology is still the best thing to hit the MDing business but is prone to mechanical/software failure and costly to repair( like buying a Mercedes hehe). Will keep yall poasted.

Sounds good LT, good luck!

 

[Explorer.se]

It's funny you write this, as this weekend I was two fisted detecting... my ctx and my etrac, a sort of head to head test. I'm convinced that I do dig more trash with the etrac, but I find more good targets too. Right now my opinion is the ctx is overrated: everybody loves the machine they have, and if they put out a lot of money for it, they'll love it more. Fwiw-- my kid rocks with his ATPro; my hunting buddy nails it with his F75.

Case in point this weekend, the etrac gave me that screaming silver sound on a site that I've been over before with the ctx. I just knew there was something tasty down there. Putting the ctx on the same target, it was pretty iffy, and if at the end of a long day of swinging, I might have passed it up for a memorial. There were two nails and a roof staple in the hole.

I've started going over areas with the etrac that I thought I cleaned up with the ctx. Anyway, I'm thinking about putting the latter up for sale. The couple pros for keeping the ctx: wireless and I pinpoint better with it.

I have to agree about the Etrac. I dug up a bronze cross this past weekend at a depth of 12" and i dont think i could have found it with any other machine. Great choice Jkline. It is terribly difficult to sell my Etrac or my Explorer.

 

[Clodhopper51]

I hear you when it comes to knobs and I agree - we don't want that. I want to realize the promise of of the CTX - and I have heard it called "user friendly" but that has definitely not been my experience. In a nutshell I want it to be predicable. The GTI and V3i gave me great dig, no dig feedback and at 60 years old I am not interested in endlessly digging garbage. I am looking for the promised performance that merits the cost and in all this time I have not been able to find a configuration that gives me consistent results and I have done considerable garden testing with known targets. Yet the identification is not what I would consider consistent. And I have used this machine in California and Virginia which have very different soils.

I haven't used it in a year so I may not be 100% accurate with my details (readings and such), but the point should still remain. I want reasonably accurate ferrous and conductivity readings - for example copper pennies should not ring up 13-48 one day and 11-44 (others get 12-43 as I recall) the next day on the same dry ball field. The detector should reject iron when told to do so, yet I find myself digging more iron trash with it than any prior detector. And do understand there are far too many variables for any detector to be perfect - but I'll settle for at least consistent. For example, if the GTI said that's a quarter - 9 times out of 10 it definitely was. When I could still remember the FeCo readings for common items, and I don't now, when I got matching and strong hits I would dig and rarely got what it said unless it was a VERY clean field. Most of the time it was some type of trash ringing in strongly and consistently. And to be very honest, I expect more than that because I can get that with a detector that costs one tenth the cost. I can honestly say this one has been all over the map since I took it out of the box. I chalked it up to my inexperience with it at first so I did a lot of trial and error to see, and used dozens of suggested settings - no luck. Even after a factory reset it is not consistent from day to day and if the coil happens to lightly brush the ground grass or small weeds it chirps a bunch - which Minelabs tells me is normal. I offered to send them the coil and they said if there is noting wrong it will cost you. I don't think anyone should work for fee, but I thought $89.95 quoted for a bench check was a bit much.

You can see my frustration because I have spent a considerable amount of time, just not lately so I apologize if I am not 100% on some of the detail. The tech is there, but I can't seem to get it to work and I am no stranger to tech or detecting. Maybe there has been something up with it from the start. Yes I have found stuff, but also an enormous amount of trash compared to my other machines.

I too am having the same experience. Erratic readings and digging entirely too much junk, especially aluminum. Same target gives several different readings.

 

[IDXMonster]

There’s an easy way to avoid garbage targets for the very great part, including aluminum shards of all sizes with the CTX. You have to make some manual adjustments. If someone is interested in a video on how to do this, and enough interest is expressed, I’ll do one. It’s easier for me to DO than try to explain it in text. This would be for HIGH CONDUCTIVE COIN HUNTING.

 

[jkline]

Would love that IDX. Thanks in advance.

 

[Dan(NM)]

I dug far less junk with the Explorer, Etrac and CTX than I do with the Nox. Of course, I always used an aggressive cherry picking program, going after high conductors only. I've seen how IDX has his machine set-up, looked identical to how I ran mine in combines tones using the bins to set my tones to what I was looking for. If you use the Exchange 2 program, it's a snap to make adjustments and name your programs

 

[IDXMonster]

Will try to do the video this weekend.... You’re right Dan, it’s aggressive. And it works, and I’ll explain more about it and why it seems to do so.

 

[IDXMonster]

Here you go guys, this is just the video of the pattern and short explanation....

 

[BigTony]

Here you go guys, this is just the video of the pattern and short explanation....

Kevin, thanks great video.
One question, the upper right bin is set to two things -ferrous 0 to 26/27 and conductive 32 to 50?
Thanks Tony
PS: dealers are saying that minelab will not give any info on the CTX for this year and two I talked with said they can not order them.
Might as well wait if a new version is coming out but that is wishful thinking.

 

[IDXMonster]

Kevin, thanks great video.
One question, the upper right bin is set to two things -ferrous 0 to 26/27 and conductive 32 to 50?
Thanks Tony
PS: dealers are saying that minelab will not give any info on the CTX for this year and two I talked with said they can not order them.
Might as well wait if a new version is coming out but that is wishful thinking.

That’s correct Tony. Its weird about the CTX availability....hopefully it’s just a temporary thing, or they ARE coming with something that’s updated.

 

[BigTony]

I don’t know which it will be but I remain hopeful. They just released a new gold machine recently but no news on the CTX

 

[sube]

Here you go guys, this is just the video of the pattern and short explanation....

Kevin if your running ferrous coin separation I have a ? for you why don't you give 47 48 49 and 50 75hz tone. This is where you get the double false from them nails when directly over them not like a thrown false that comes in at 40 to 41 .Makes it easier on the ears with less stopping to check these high tones or do you have a reason for not giving them 75hz .I can see in high thrash you would not want to do this but the quarter is the highest conductor in ferrous coin 46 id except for iron which will false higher . sube

 

[IDXMonster]

Kevin if your running ferrous coin separation I have a ? for you why don't you give 47 48 49 and 50 75hz tone. This is where you get the double false from them nails when directly over them not like a thrown false that comes in at 40 to 41 .Makes it easier on the ears with less stopping to check these high tones or do you have a reason for not giving them 75hz .I can see in high thrash you would not want to do this but the quarter is the highest conductor in ferrous coin 46 id except for iron which will false higher . sube

One reason Mike....lazy. Its a great point. You could squash the upper right bin close to the right side incorporating those 3 or 4 numbers(I would keep 47) and give it 75hz. Then make the mid-high bin your high bin. I might give that a try this weekend to see how it is. I do hate the 40-41 falses, but at least we know to be very skeptical when they come up! Thanks for the addition, I’ll let you know what I think.

 

[PokerShark]

There’s an easy way to avoid garbage targets for the very great part, including aluminum shards of all sizes with the CTX. You have to make some manual adjustments. If someone is interested in a video on how to do this, and enough interest is expressed, I’ll do one. It’s easier for me to DO than try to explain it in text. This would be for HIGH CONDUCTIVE COIN HUNTING.

I'll stand in line for a ticket to that show!

 

[PokerShark]

Never mind, its already posted and I thank you sir for taking the time.

 

[IDXMonster]

Let me know if that screen setup and running in Auto+3 helps your situation Shark. If you think the coil is still not acting correctly, PM me your address and I’ll send mine out.

 

[bklein]

Get a can of de-oxit spray and spray the coil and data connector contacts both male and female. Dare to open the detector pod and control panel up and do the same for the ribbon connections with help of cotton swab. Check the internal battery for 3.0V.
If all’s good there it is your setup or bad coil. You need to tweak the setup for your soil and type of targets you want. I would not recommend tweaking to eliminate the junk you get - use your brain for this, dig everything, or pick a different spot. Other machines may be better for certain types of targets and ground. If I am digging too much aluminum it is because there is a lot of aluminum there that day. I need to move away from that area that day.

 

[IDXMonster]

Get a can of de-oxit spray and spray the coil and data connector contacts both male and female. Dare to open the detector pod and control panel up and do the same for the ribbon connections with help of cotton swab. Check the internal battery for 3.0V.
If all’s good there it is your setup or bad coil. You need to tweak the setup for your soil and type of targets you want. I would not recommend tweaking to eliminate the junk you get - use your brain for this, dig everything, or pick a different spot. Other machines may be better for certain types of targets and ground. If I am digging too much aluminum it is because there is a lot of aluminum there that day. I need to move away from that area that day.

“Aluminum” is the 8th dirty word George Carlin could not say on TV! It is indeed TERRIBLE in all of its various forms, and NOT a good thing to have present in bulk when trying to learn a machine. Good advice...