Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!



Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

Some Recent QXT Pro Finds...

critter hunter its about time you resurfaced, Ive had 2 qxts and a number of other machines and the only one i like better has been the t-2, at the time little info on the qxt was available, but plan on another soon, great machines. looking forward to your posts
 
Depth was near surface to 6 or 7" on most of my recent finds.

I've recently bought a Sovereign GT as no larger coils exist for the QXT to maximize depth on coins. I know the Hot Shot exists but I couldn't get two brand new ones to function with the QXT Pro I had at the time. Forced with the decision to get a second machine that can handle larger coils for max depth on coins I decided to try one of these. So far so good. Didn't want to go back to the Explorer. Several things I didn't like about them, including the unbalanced weight with no ability to hip mount, which you can do on the GT. Depth is pretty much a toss up between either the Explorer/GT anyway. The one thing I don't like about the GT/Explorer is the slow recovery speed, but the iron mask feature is impressing me with it's ability to pull a good coin ID out of a coin laying with a nail, so that somewhat compensates for the slower recovery speed.

Currently I have no plans to sell the QXT Pro, as even hip mounted the GT is more of a workout to swing around in the woods. The 10" coil seems to snag every little twig as I go. Having to slow down to a crawl to hunt with it properly also limits my ability in some areas, such as scouting new locations. For those reasons, combined with liking to have an ultra fast recovery time in heavy non-ferous trash, I plan to keep the QXT. I plan to scout new areas with the QXT and then hunt it slower later with the GT, or as said use the QXT in really heavy non-ferous trash where the GT might have some problems unless I use a 5" coil or something. In iron it's kind'a a toss up in my mind right now...The fast recovery speed to sniper out the coins, or the Iron Mask GT feature to ID them that way while ignoring the iron. I guess either has it's purpose.

As long as I'm here, I thought I'd pass along a QXT Tip to anybody new to the machine. You can tell differences in coins by watching the display and listening to the audio. zinc pennies will mostly stay in the zinc zone. Copper wheats/indians will bounce evenly between the zinc and coin zones. Clad dimes will mostly stay in the coin zone but will hit into the zinc zone every 4th or 5th sweep or so a bit. Quarters will stay in the coin zone and have a much more fuzzy/warm sound to them than dimes. Silver dimes will stay in the coin zone but have a slightly higher pitch than a clad dime. Silver quarters will still act "warm and fuzzy" but also have a slightly higher pitch. You'll get good at this over time. It helps me to avoid zincs/wheats when I just can't stand to dig another penny, and also avoid clad dimes in favor of quarters or silver.

Interestingly enough, although the GT has a VDI that goes up to 180, it still lumps most coins into the 180 number much like the coin zone on the QXT. Copper or zinc pennies will tend to drop down to the 173 to 178 range or so. However, the meter's resolution with everything below coins is what most of the scale consists of, and it gives you much more ability to split hairs on things like gold rings, avoid certain trash targets, and so on.
 
Hey Critterhunter. I just received your old QXT that I purchased from your buddy Jim. Everything looks fine w/it. A little shaft wobble at the upper cam-lock but that's to be expected in a machine that's been used as much as I can see this one has. In any case I'm sure I can tighten it up w/some elect tape to shim out the upper s-rod where it slides into the top control box rod. I plan to get out asap and was just brushing up on some of your tips when I ran across this thread with your great finds.Thanks a lot...now I can't even concentrate after seeing what you've found with this unit. I plan to hit it hard all weekend so I can start to learn the machine. I only hope I can do it justice after what you've accomplished with it. Watch for my post If I find some good stuff. Good luck and HH.
Scott
 
Great. Please keep us informed. The wobble at the top. I think (?) that's being caused by the arm cup. A friend told me he had the same problem and just switched which hole the bolt for that goes through but I never bothered with it. If anything you could remove it and re-bend the cup or whatever so that it's tigether when put back on and then could use the same hole without switching to another one it has. Check closely and see where the slop is coming from. I kept meaning to fix that but never got around to it. Should only take a minute.
 
I checked and it's definitely at the joint between the s-rod and the top rod. It appears the cam lock on the upper bar is worn. No complaints here, it's an easy fix/adjustment. I've been in the trades for a long time and I like to make and work on my own equipment It just shows that it's been worked in battle, as it should be, and that it really has been as good of a machine as you've been saying. Actually the unit looks to be in great cond. for it's age and use. I can't wait to get out there and pick up where you left off. ( Dream on ! ) In fact I'm going to go out right now ! Stoked !!!
Scott
 
Good luck. Glad all is well with the machine. Keep us updated. Remember, don't linger over targets. Use a medium to fast sweep speed and sweep fast over deep targets to try to pull a better ID out of them.
 
Hey Critterhunter,
I finally was able to get out with the QXT yesterday for the first time. I'll admit it's a lot different to interact with than my MXT but I think with some patience and a lot of practice, it will be an exceptional machine as you've said. If I didn't have some notes I'd written from your "Tips and Tricks" articles, I'd have been totally lost. Many thanks ! Rain and storms here through the weekend so I won't be getting out with it but after only 1 time out I've cleared up a lot of (self-imposed) confusion with the settings and am now much more familiar with navigating and setting the options. I do have a couple questions but I'll wait to get out a few more times to see if I can figure the answers out myself before I pester you. In case you're wondering, my first signal dug with my "new" QXT was a zipper pull ( I'm cool with that, it goes in my zipper/button/snap jar), second signal was a clad dime at 2-3 inches. The third signal was a round pull tab (that didn't take long). I'll keep you posted and if I still have some questions I'll hit you up for your expertise, hope you don't mind.
HH
Scott
 
Don't mind at all. Ask away. Remember, load the coin program as that will set most stuff up right. Don't turn tracking on. Sensitivity at 16 to 18. Volume where you like it. Accept ALL zones, even ground and iron. Assign high tones to the targets you are interested in and lows to the others. VCO on. Pinpoint sensitivity at 16. Think (from memory) that's all that needs adjusted after you load the coin program. SAT and other stuff should bet set right once you load that program. It will save the settings so you don't need to do that every time out. Soon as it goes into ground balance on power up pull the trigger and release to stop it. Now sweep around and find a clean spot to ground balance (no bars on screen or sound). Move the coil up and down with a medium pumping and not quite hit the ground with the coil. If you move it too slow when balancing the threshold will reset and you'll be tricked into thinking it's balance. You want a steady/even threashold from up in the air to the ground and back again. Once you've got that pull the trigger. It may take up to thirty seconds to get the right balance as the machine takes some time to adjust it while bobbing the coil.
 
I'm writing that down right now, thanks ! 2 quick questions, should I load the "Coin" program, as you said, instead of "Coin/Jewelry" even though I'm hunting for both most all the time ? Also, should I load "Beach/Jewelry" program whenever I'm on the sand, ? just at certain times ? or should I load a different program ? I have found a couple of features specific to this model that I already can see I'm going to really like. I just hope I don't get addicted to the dual Hi/Lo tone alert and ruin myself on other machines. ( I'll never part with my MXT though ! ) Thanks again CH.
HH
Scott
 
One other question CH. Do I need to set threshold or leave it at pre-set ? Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but when I was using it I was playing with the threshold level and I never was able to hear a continuous hum while I was searching. Am I doing something wrong or does the machine just run that quiet ? Thanks again.
HH
Scott
 
I always leave it at preset that COINS puts it at. I found it curious to that that function seems to do nothing for me. The QXT is considered a Silent Search machine in that it doesn't need a threshold tone to get max depth.
 
Just remembered, the threshold setting should be for all metal. Shouldn't affect discriminate as it's a silent search machine and won't lose any depth because it's built that way. I never really use all Metal or Mixed Mode because this machine goes as deep in discriminate as it does in all metal. The only advantage of running in Mixed Mode would be now you've got three tones....Disc Low & High and then the All Metal response. If you assigned high and low tones to targets in discriminate and edited any targets out they will sound off in all metal, so that makes 3 modes. I never used it, though, since I don't edit out any targets (even the ground signal, which a deep coin might initialy appear as) and just assign high tones to what I want to look at.

I think the beach/jewelry program will change mainly the SAT speed (Self Adjusting Threshold) to a faster response. What this means is the machine will re-tune it's self faster after passing over a target. That's useful on beaches or in some bad ground where you are experiencing some falsing, as the machine will reset faster when it falses on something. I''ve never used that except rarely. I prefer the slower speed it's set at in the coin program because too fast of an SAT speed can cause really deep targets to vanish on you. In fact, you might want to try setting that function to it's slowest speed and see if you can hear coins a hair deeper. I didn't really see that but that was years ago when I played with that off and on. Like I said, I'm mostly happy with SAT set to the number the COIN program has it at.
 
The info is very much appreciated. I still get confused with all of the different terminology. I am going to try and set it up just as you said. If I can figure out how and what to do to set each parameter, It'll be a good reference point to start from if I want to tinker with the settings. I just want to be confident that I'm starting off in the right spot so I'm not disabling myself before I even start. ( stupid newguy!). Once I get a chance to set it up and put some time in I'm sure I'll become familiar with all the terms and what they mean and do. Thanks again Tom.
HH
Scott
 
If you want load the COIN program so it sets most stuff where it needs to be. Then write me a list of each setting and it's value and I'll tell you what to change those things to. I think I covered all that before but might have missed a setting or two from memory. In fact, that's a good idea. List what everything is set at once the COIN program is loaded and we'll go from there. You don't need to list the 8 zones settings because like I said that's a matter of preference. I don't edit any of them out, including ground and iron, and instead assign high tones to the targets I'm looking for at a specific site.
 
Thanks for the help Tom. I will do that as soon as I'm able.
HH
Scott
 
Top