my x terra is noisy!

[davidg]

hey guys. i just bought an xterra 50 this weekend, and i took it out to an old home site. i didnt find any coins,
but i did find some tokens. one is an old palmolive soap cake token, and the other one is still in the electrolosis cleaning sys.
but anyway,when i swing the coil across the ground, i hear, BOOP-BEEP-BLAA-BEEP-BOOP-BEEP-BLAA-BEEP. WTF?
when i pay $600 for a detector, i dont want it to make a sound untill i go over a NON REJECTED OBJECT.
am i doing something wrong?

 

[Brian(upstateNY)]

<center> I dont have one but this may be of some use
it is a copy and paste from ML website also

X Terra 50 1st and 2nd impressions
Reaney in NH

I was shocked at the size of the box... hard to believe a Minelab could come in such a small box. As stated by others I am very impressed with the light weight and balance. It is a real pleasure to swing for hours at a time with no fatigue.

After assembly I stepped outside and hit the power button... then the G/B... I played with that for a bit and I could not get it to balance... it was either high or low...no medium. I check sensitivity and it was at 18... I turned it down to 14 and tried again. It seemed to balance out ok then. As some may already know the soils in my yard are pretty hot... reads in the low to mid 80's on my old MXT.

When i went to my 1 year old test garden i could hit targets.. but the numbers were jumpy... and I had a lot of pops and clicks. Now, I have had this type of response with every detector I have ever used in my garden... its just the soils.

Anyway... I check all targets and it hit them all except the 9" silver dime and a 10" quarter. I've only seen a cpl machines that can hit these targets.. sio it was no great surprise. After the above tests I gotta say... I really was not impressed... it did not seem to work any better than anything else I had used in my garden. But, I own the machine and I always try to put some time in and find every machines strengths... So Today i went hunting.

First stop... our town green... Very mild soil... hunted hard... but a nice easy place to play around. I G/b... was very easy and it balanced out at a 9.. I hunted there for about an hour and dug about 30 targets and really got to know the ID numbers. I git to where I just knew what was coming out before I dug it. While I was playing I tried cranking up the sensitivity and anything above 17 was really noisy... just like I experienced in my test garden at the lower settings... That got me thinking that perhaps I had it turned up to hot?? Hmmm... I wonder?

So... i packed up and went down the street to an empty house that has some of the toughest soils I've ever worked in. I don't know what it is with the older homes around here... but most have some really hot soils. Anyway... I fired it up... tried to G/b... no way... it wouldn't balance right at all. I turn the sens back to 12 and it was better... so I tried 10... Bingo... It G/b nicely and ran incredibly smooth. I dig and 20 targets down to about 8in... several wheat pennies and a cpl Rosie dimes. I was very pleased... and IMPRESSED.

I packed up and headed back home to my garden... I did the G/b with the low sens... then turned it up to 14 and it was noisy... I turned it back to 12... much smoother... and it hit EVERY target in my garden and locked on with ID on all but the extreme depth targets... I was amazed.

Well... The Above is both my first impression.. Poor!! and my second impression... WOW!!!! All I can say is... Those that are dumping this machine because they thinks its noisy or unstable... Turn it back a little and you will be amazed.

I've only had it out 1 day for a few hours. I found it to be easy to learn and very fun to use. It looks to be a keeper for sure.

I know I rehashed some thing here that have already been said and I'm sorry if some are tired of hearing it. But, I've never had a chance to really speak about something new and thought I would give it a shot .

Happy hunting everybody
Reaney in NH

 

[davidg]

thanks for the reply brian! ive only been out with my xterra once, so i know that i still have a lot to learn.
but when i had an XLT it was soo quiet.
my SENS was at 12 , so i'll try it a bit lower next time.
at one location, i could not GB it at all!
the manual should be more complete, im learning more from forums than from the CO. that built it!

 

[BJ in Okla.]

was told to set the Sens below 10 to GB, it makes it easier to GB, after you have GB set, then you can try and raise the numbers on GB some. HH..BJ

 

[Monte]

While it is certainly possible to have an "out-of-the-box" issue with any detector make or model, I think that it's more likely that you just need to learn the X-Terra 50.

First, you did mention in a follow-up post that you had the sensitivity set at '12.' To me that is very low! I do most of my hunting with my X-Terra set at '20' and, quite often, it might be considered to be a little noisy. On occasion I will reduce it to '18' or maybe even as low as '15' or '16' if there is a lot of challenges at the site, but I prefer to keep it 'at the edge' as much as possible.

You didn't state what mode or program setting you were hunting in and, for me, that's the main reason mine might seem a little noisier. I prefer to hunt most of the time in 'All Metal' which is simply a motion discriminate mode without any rejection.

Hunting in 'All Metal' will cause you to hear a lot more audio because the X-Terra is responsive to any ferrous or non-ferrous metal as well as ground mineral variances (based upon the GB setting and the site hunted), and also more outside RF interference. I only use the All Metal touchpad to shift between the All Metal 'mode' and Program 1, and I only have -9 and -6 segments rejected.

As for the Owner's Manual, I found it to be, for the most part, well prepared. I think the problems many have with the X-Terra 50 come from the GB adjustment. The '50' doesn't provide us with a GB that is similar to what we have been using for the past thirty-plus years. It is a little quirky, to some people, and difficult to establish a good GB setting.

With the X-Terra 50 it is very important to have the GB set as close to 'proper' as possible! Often it is easier to hear the audio changes while Ground Balancing if the Sensitivity is reduced to about '12' to '16'. Once you have a 'proper' GB setting, then you can increase the Sensitivity to the point of where it just gets unstable and the reduce it a number if you wish.

So, on your maiden trip with the X-Terra 50 you told us you worked an old home-site and did find some tokens. The first thing I wondered was do you have a correct GB setting. The next thing I wondered was were you hunting in All Metal? The third thing to quickly come to mind was the fact that you might have picked a dense-target littered site. Naturally, a fourth thought is that is was a combination of all three things.

Put in a good six to ten hours with the X-Terra 50 and get to know it well, then report back. I would think that you'll be a lot more comfortable with it by then.

Monte

 

[davidg]

good advise monte.
i do need more time with it. BTW i was playing with both patterns and all metal (which is very noisy of course).
so a low sens. will cause it to be "chirpy"? i thought the opposite would be true.
is there any way to make it completly silent except for accepted targets?

 

[Mike Bearden]

From your post it sounds like the site has a high concentration of targets (good & bad) so here's a few suggestions.

1. After powering up the 50, go straight into the menu and turn your sens down to 8 - 10.

2. Push the pinpoint button and make sure it goes into a hunt screen and does not stay in the pinpoint mode.

3. Hit the all metal button and sweep the coil searching for a CLEAN area to ground balance in.

4. Pump the coil while adjusting the GB until it's as close to neutral sounding as possible, I prefer a small amount of a positive sound on mine in hot dirt and totally neutral in good ground.
In other words, if your 50 GB at very low numbers like 2-6, set it a bit positive and anything above that, set it at neutral.

5. Go back into the menu and bump your sens back up a few numbers at a time but don't forget to hit the pinpoint button to come back to a hunt screen.

That should get it to hunt unless there is some major electrical interference somewhere in the area, if that's the case, try the noise cancel.
I know this sounds elementary but overlooking some initial set-up procedures can cause big problems. Once you've done it a time or two it's very easy.

You posted that you didn't want it to make a sound until you go over a non rejected object. If the 50 is set up right you will get good results but naturally there is no magic wand in detecting.
Some trash objects will still get through but with time you will be able to tell the difference pretty easy. If the meter locks solid without bouncing dig it. Use the pinpoint button to size the target, if it sounds blaring or wavering it's usually trash.
A good target usually sounds nice and tight, especially anything over a 3-4 inches deep.
Hope this helps, keep us posted
Mike

 

[BJ in Okla.]

is there any way to make it completely silent except for accepted targets? <BR><BR>If you don't run in all Metal and notch out a lot more, then it will be not as noisy, but you will leave a lot of good stuff behind. When I use my X-Terra or CZ, I run in zero disc.,I want to hear everything. When you get in a real trashy area, go slow and swing from different angles. I got a copper penny today that was hiding in some trash.It could have been silver. This was in a area that had been hunted by several and missed. Some people will shy a way from a trashy area. So you don't know whats hiding in the trash until you dig and get some of that trash out of the way. When Minelab comes out with their small coil, that will really help in trash. The more time that you spend learning what your X-Terra is trying to tell you, will help. I don't know of any unit that will ID 100% right every time. You just have to dig and learn. Hope this helps,some..HH..BJ

 

[davidg]

i cant wait to find the time to go beeping again with all this advice.
i guess i was being a bit impatient with it all.where in OK are you? im in ftw, but i have family in tulsa and miami.

 

[Monte]

Did I say that? No time to check as I am out the door in 2 minutes so I can't proof read what I wrote, but ....

Higher sensitivity settings can cause any detector be be a little chirpy and ustable. Reduced sensitivity settings might help eliminate some of that, depending upon what is causing the noisy operation.

My X-Terra 50 hunts silent (except for some chirp due to MY choice to use a high sensitivity setting) until it encounters a target. You'll have quieter operation if you're in one of the Pattern models aieht at least a little low-end rejection (-9 and maybe -6)

Monte

 

[steve herschbach]

Hi Dave,

If you are in a real trashy site, you might want to notch out 45, as large iron and steel will sometimes "chirp high" to 45. If you think you have halves or dollars around this would be a bad idea, but it will reduce chirpiness in iron laden sites.

Steve Herschbach
Steve's Mining Journal

 

[wpaxt]

I've been following this thread since you posted and you've certainly received a lot of very good advice from current X-Terra 50 owners.

If I may, I'll just add to mix a bit. I have received a few emails from folks like yourself who found the X-Terra 50 to be noisy. In each case the problem was that they were running the machine way too hot and then tried to compensate by adjusting the GB. The manual is very clear when it states that most often the machine being unstable is a sensitivity issue, not a GB issue. That's not to say that in certain given environments the GB shouldn't be adjusted, but rather that you should look at sensitivity first. If I remember correctly the manual says that the display will register a "-9" in all metal or two "-'s" in discriminate (I'm at work so I can't verify this) if the GB is off.

From personal experience I can tell you that here in S. CA I haven't had to do much in terms of GB adjustment on my 50 and have found coins at very acceptable depths. If you are still having trouble with the machine being too noisy I would suggest resetting the detector to the factory presets & then 1. lowering the sensitivity 2. noise cancel 3. GB if the first 2 adjustments don't work.

My guess is that once you settle in with the X-Terra you will be just fine. I have found it to be one heckuva machine.

If you have any other problems, please post them or email me directly if you like (wpaxt@aol.com).

Good luck!

Bill