info,,,xt705,,,sov.g t <<

[comcat]

hiya lads,,,wanted to ask,,on a straight comparison,,of the above,,because i fancy another machine,,,and the safari,looks good to me,,but so does the x-terra 705,,,its less expensive,,but is it less of a machine ?? i use a sov,gt,,its great,,but would want a tone disc improvement if possible,,but at what cost? depth maybe?? or something else possibly?? i dont know,,but your advice will be valuable,,on both the machines in question,,the problems that you have discovered , and the benefits you have enjoyed?? i am all ears (prince charles),,,comcat

 

[TURNMASTER]

I think the XT705 is a good machine. I suspect that the 3 machines would excell at somewhat different tasks. Seems that over on the Sov forum many of those who have upgraded or changed to different models have gone back to their Sovs. Word is the XTs are just plain fast. I don't have much frame of reference though. My other machine is a Bounty Hunter and just ain't that great especially in build quality and discrimination.

I am thinking about another machine... but, to compliment the XT705 that I have now. My wife will crap, cause she thought 150$ was a bunch to spend for a coil (the 3rd). I haven't told her yet that a 4th coil is on the horizon.

The question for me will be Sov or Explorer or Safari or E-track or water machine or one of the Garretts that will accept a two box coil (for caches).

I'm sure Digger or BB will weigh in with some good info. Probably some of the others as well!
Good Luck
Jeff

 

[Digger]

Without going into all the features and functionality, I'd encourage you to take a look at the new Minelab website. One of the features at the website allows you to pull up two or three detectors and make a direct comparison of their features. Nice! In a nutshell, and in my opinion, the Safari is a very quick responding detector, compared to it's predecessor the Quattro. However, the 705 is very fast as well. The Safari is good for coins, jewelry, relics and beach hunting. The 705 does all that plus has a prospecting mode. Although the Safari offers ground compensation, the 705 offers tracking, and even allows you to offset the ground phase for those who like to tweak their detector's performance. The 705 is lighter weight, better balanced and has a backlight for those times when you just don't want to stop swinging the coil. The Safari has an automatic Senstivity option. And although I have to admit I like that on my Etrac, the 705 is very easy to set up. They both offer notch discrimination, allowing you to accept or reject virtually any level of conductivity or ferrous properties you desire. They both offer TID numbers for targets ranging from the most ferrous to the most conductive. One is a VLF detector and the other is an FBS detector. They both have a lot of features. But features are not important if you don't use them. I judge my detectors on performance and functionality. The lightweight 705 offers plenty of both. And for the price difference, you could have enough $$ left over to buy a couple accessory coils for that new X-Terra. JMHO HH Randy

 

[comcat]

thanks for that randy,,feel better now i know that he saf or 705 are xcellent,,,just gotta compare the depth??? rgds ,,comcat

 

[Digger]

I don't have a Safari. I do use an Etrac, the X-Terras and my XLPro. Different tools for different jobs! I can't vouch for max depth of the Safari, but I can say that I've never found a coin with the Etrac that was too deep to find with the X-Terra. And vice-versa, as far as that goes. Not in my moderate soil. But I'm convinced there are more old coins hiding out there due to target masking instead of being too deep for any Minelab.

Like I said earlier, for performance, you won't go wrong with either. I'd suggest you go to a dealer, try them both out and get the one that feels right. JMHO HH Randy

 

[Jackpine Savage]

I would think that would give you depth at least equal to a Safari. Don't put too much faith in tones and iron disc when it comes to the deeper stuff.

Tom