Is An X-Terra 70 Worth...

[Relic]

selling my Ace 250 and Minelab Advantage? I have a little mad money burning a hole in my pocket, but not enough to just go out and buy an X-Terra 70. If I sell my two detectors, though, I can swing it (no pun intended). Will I gain enough benefit to justify doing it? Since starting detecting a couple of years ago, I've been hunting in parks, yards, freshwater beaches and a never-before hunted farmstead that I've just barely scratched the surface of.

A number of you have a lot of experience and I value your opinions.

Thanks,
Relic

 

[bfodnes]

I had an ace 250 and i sure can tell you that the 70 is in a different higher league, it should be too.

Some swear to the advantage, I cant help you there cause i never owned one but Ill bet you wont be disapointed if you change machine.

Maybe if you are a hardcore relichunter that doesnt do much else detecting you should keep it but I think the terra 70 can do the same if you use it correctly.

I use my Terra instead of my Explorer and Tejon and with the new 6" DD coil it betters them both for good finds. The 70 is easy, versatile and effective.

If you change, be sure to take your time to learn it. It has great potentional that wont show the first week but you will make finds that force you to sit down to think a bit after a while, maybe after you learn to use the prospecting mode together with your ID mode.

 

[Elton]

Is it worth what..Both detectors??? Maybe..your advantage is a good detector.The 250 best in it's class for the money..The Xterra 70 best in it's class.
You gain meter, better depth maybe, beach mode, coins mode. prospecticing mode, tracking, and the ability for more coils on xterra like yours now.
The advantage I hear is a very deep machine so I do not know if you will gain anymore depth or not....You will gain auto ground balance, auto noise cancel, and notch rejection..In my opinion you will be moving up but thats my opinion I like all the stuff I mentioned.Some people prefer more simplicity.
You will not be unhappy with the xterra 70, unlesss you expect miracles..It's a really good deep reliable metal detector.

 

[Digger]

I won't tell anyone what detector to buy, or use. But, having owned all you mentioned, and still have both the Advantage and the X-Terras, I could offer some "opinions". But I'd need to know more about your hunting style. How often do you go detecting? What type of "treasures" do you hunt for? In the four places you mentioned that you hunt, what percentage of time is spent in each? What do you like about the Advantage? What do you like about the 250? How many different sounds can you hear coming from your Advantage? HH Randy

 

[Relic]

I'm not sure how to define style. I dig most everything above iron except on the farmstead; I dig everything there. The soil is very sandy and I can dig with abandon and not worry about wrecking anything and I never know what I'm going to turn up. Everywhere else I'm meticulous about digging and try to be certain of the target before I make a hole. When I'm done, I don't want anyone to be able to tell I was there.

I get away to go detecting three to four hours or so a week, on average, stealing an hour here, two hours there; some weeks I don't get to go at all, some weeks I can get a full day in.

Like most others, I like to hunt coins, jewelry and relics, the older, the better.

The majority of the time I hunt parks because there are a number of them within a short distance from home and I can hit them for an hour or two in the evening. Several of them have beaches and, since trying beach and water hunting recently, I want to spend more time at that. The farm is 180 miles from home so I get there infrequently, but spend more concentrated time detecting.

The Advantage requires thought; I like that. You have to really get into it to realize it's potential. To my ear, a good target like a coin is a clear, solid, sharp repeatable signal. Less conductive targets have a mushier, less distinct sound. Iron sounds mushy to me, often with a "spit" at the end.

I like the ID on the 250, though I would like the ID to be more refined and definitive which the 250 can't be expected to provide. I realize ID is a best guess based on the algorithms in the detector's software and not foolproof, but I would like a little clearer idea of a target's identity and a few more tools to help with that.

I appreciate your time, Digger. Thanks for your help.

Relic

 

[Digger]

I can tell by your statements that you do have an understanding of the Advantage. As you may already know, the Advantage is one of my favorite detectors. It is by far, my favorite "non-metered" detector. When I first learned of the X-Terra's development, I had high hopes that it would be an Advantage with a meter. Well, it isn't an Advantage with a meter. In some ways, it is even better. I won't say that the X-Terra will go deeper than my Advantage, as I have dug some unbelievable depths with my Advantage. But, some of the things I like better about the X-Terra, in addition to the meter, are the multiple tones, variable frequencies, weight, notch segments, noise cancel and Prospecting mode (for target sizing). I still use my Advantage on specific hunts. But the more I use the X-Terra, the more I like it.

It sounds as your hunting "style" is very similar to mine. Never seems to be enough hours in the day, or days in the week, to hunt all we would like! My climate here varies from long hot summer days to knee deep snow in the winter. During the "off season", I do a LOT of research in an effort to find places others have overlooked. Basically, I hunt for old coins at old sites. Since most of the places I prefer to hunt are corn fields or soy bean fields during the growing season, I "force" myself to hunt parks and yards during the summer months. Living where I do, I don't have access to any saltwater beaches, and only two small freshwater beaches. With that said, my opinion is that you would find the X-Terra 70 to be a valuable tool. Most of the time, I hunt in the all metal mode with 4-tones. For yards, I prefer the stock 9-inch coil at 7.5 kHz. For trashy areas, I prefer the 6-inch DD at 18.75 kHz. The 6-inch concentric is also a good coil. But I like the separation characteristics better on the DD design. For farmsites and "open fields", I like the 9-inch concentric at 3 kHz. As you probably know, lower frequencies are the best choice for higher conductive targets like silver and copper. And, lower frequencies are also better at finding larger, deeper objects. Since most of the old farmsites I hunt are littered with old iron, the 3 kHz concentric gives great response to the silver and copper, and provides better discrimination on the iron. Again, with 4-tones in the all metal mode, this is a big plus!!! If you have trained your ear to hear the solid, repeatable sounds of a good target on your Advantage, switching to the X-Terra and using the all metal mode will be an easy chore. Add the flexibility of having multiple tones, notch discrimination, Auto GB, Auto NC, tracking, beach mode, Prospecting mode and 8 different coil options, I think you would like it. My only suggestion would be to try to find a way to buy it, and keep your Advantage. Never hurts to have a backup detector. I've hunted a couple places that I wouldn't have been able to gain access if I hadn't brought along "a spare" for the owner of the property to use with me. JMHO HH Randy

 

[Relic]

n/t

 

[Relic]

I was thinking, too, that I would keep the Advantage, sell the 250, keep saving the egg money over winter and get the X-Terra in the spring.

Regards and Happy Hunting,
Relic

 

[JohnA]

I think you have made the right decision. I had an ACE 250 and it is a good detector for what it is but isn't in the same league as the X-70. The X-70 is more and more fun with every trip out, new coils, playing with settings,etc.