Looking for advice to assist a newbie.

[Mick in Dubbo]

When I was out swinging my Ace yesterday, I was approached by a local, who wants to get into the hobby. He asked plenty of questions about the Ace, but after I asked him about what sort of detecting he wanted to due, I don't think that the Ace would be his best choice. He wants to hunt old Cob and Co coach stops and old camps from yesteryear for pre-decimal coins and jewellery.
I'm not quite sure of his budget, but if he was experienced at all, I'd tend to suggest to him to get the Explorer, but as he hasn't had previous experience and is new, the Explorer might be more than he needs for now. I'm tending to lean for the X-Terra 30, but given his interest in jewellery, I was wondering about the 70. As I understand, in 99 tones, the 70 gives a flutey tone on pull tabs. Does it do this on rings?
If you can offer any advice, I'd appreciate it as I'm seeing him again tomorrow with all 3 of my detectors in tow, so that he can have some physical understanding of different detectors.
Thanks.
Mick Evans.

 

[Monte]

I'll just pick at a few things in your post:

after I asked him about what sort of detecting he wanted to due, I don't think that the Ace would be his best choice. He wants to hunt old Cob and Co coach stops and old camps from yesteryear for pre-decimal coins and jewellery.... For me, when hunting old stage and coach stops, old freighting stops, ghost towns, homesteads, and all similar sites where there's a good chance for small and/or abundant iron trash, I prefer a slow-motion detector with a quick-response in the Discriminate mode, AND ...most important ... one that can use a smaller-than-stock search coil.

I have hunted with a great many makes and models over the past 4-plus decades and some have done much better than other. I've owned two Garrett Ace 250's, all of the X-Terra models, and a pair, each, of the Explorer XS and Explorer II's. Needless to say, I own and have owned a quite a few more. Of the three you've mentioned I would honestly opt for the Ace 250, knowing that in environments with higher mineralization the performance will be limited due to a too low factory set Ground Balance.

If and when Minelab gets a smaller coil out for the X-Terra series, I'd opt for the X-Terra 70. I prefer it, and the factory-set GB of the X-Terra 30 drastically limits it's usefulness and performance in my higher mineralized ground.
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I'm not quite sure of his budget, but if he was experienced at all, I'd tend to suggest to him to get the Explorer, but as he hasn't had previous experience and is new, the Explorer might be more than he needs for now.... With a smaller coil the Explorer can do OK, but it does take more time and experience to master it, and it needs a controlled, ultra-slow sweep speed for best performance.
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I'm tending to lean for the X-Terra 30, but given his interest in jewellery, I was wondering about the 70.... Even the X-Terra 50 would be better since it provides manual Ground balance. Bad ground and the X-Terra 30 just don't get along well.
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As I understand, in 99 tones, the 70 gives a flutey tone on pull tabs. Does it do this on rings?... The X-Terra 70 doesn't have 99 tones. It has a selector to chose 2, 3 or 4 tone audio sounds or 99, but that's because they couldn't make the LCD say something mike MT for "Multiple-Tones." It has 28 tones. One audio tone pitch for each of the displayed discriminate 'segments.'

There can be a "flutey" sound caused by some targets that do not lock on well or are a combination of two or more segments responding in the TID, but there are really only 28 tones, and the '99' is used on the display to indicate the multiple tone option. Why they didn't use 'MT' or '28' is a mystery to me.
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If you can offer any advice, I'd appreciate it as I'm seeing him again tomorrow with all 3 of my detectors in tow, so that he can have some physical understanding of different detectors.... I commend you on your desire to help a new comer. I think it will be interesting to let the fellow use multiple units, especially if he can hunt for 30-60 minutes with each, and then share his views with us.

All the best of success for both of you!

Monte

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

Thanks for your reply Monte.
I've been around to see him and after using all three detectors, he chose the Ace. After using the Explorer for a few minutes, he was surprised at the difference the weight made. His back isn't what it used to be.
I hear you on the recovery speed of a detector. That in part was why I would have tended to go with the X-Terra, as it has a faster recovery speed than the Ace. I've noticed in some places, that the Ace can get overwhelmed more easily than the X-Terra. I am somewhat puzzled though as to why the Explorer is so commonly used for this kind of hunting. It seems to be the detector of choice, but due to it's very slow recovery speed ( and the Sovereign is even worse) people tend to use these detectors for this sort of hunting! They say that you can hear targets close together better, but I'm either deaf or too inexperienced to pick it up. All I know, it that there is a high probability of target masking because of their slow recovery speeds.
Once this fellow has his Ace, we are hoping to get out together for a bit of a hunt, but I'll post what happens on the Garrett forum.
Mick Evans.

 

[B.T]

The 99 tone thing makes me dizzy after just 5 minutes. 4s sweet as.