the minelab exterra 30 or 50

[Lobo2]

Hi,
I am a middle aged woman moving to new mexico this coming summer. I am thinking of buying the minelab30 or the 50. Could someone give me some feedback on how the two of these units will work out there. I have been leaning towards getting the 30 because you don't need to ground balance. lobo2
thanks

 

[JBM]

Dont lety the ground balance worry you its so very easy.
The detector overall is simple to use.
If you could meet a user for a hands on demostation you would see what I mean.
Have you seen the free DVD as that will help you.?Jerry.

 

[Joe of South Jersey]

I think you may want to go with the 50. It will allow you to do more for the small increase in price. Also coil changes, if you decide to find a hunting partner that may gold hunt or prospect.
Just a few thoughts.

 

[wpaxt]

I've field tested both & like both very much. Personally I don't think you can go wrong with either one, but your type of hunting will determine if the 30 will do the job sufficiently or if you will need the additional features of the 50.

Bill (S.CA)

 

[Digger]

Don't let the manual GB intimidate you. It is very easy to set and maintain. I will be happy to provide you with some tips on setting yours, if you decide to get one.
Both detectors operate in a very similar manner. Although the X-50 has two discrimination patterns and an all metal "short cut" button, the X-30 accomplishes the same thing with one pattern and an all metal mode. The X-30 has no separate "short cut" button. Quite honestly, I have found myself hunting in all metal and letting my ears and eyes sort out the trash. Both offer notches, but the X-50 segments are a bit "tighter". Both offer tones, but the X-50 has 4 tones opposed to the 3 tones of the X-30. With that said, I like the way the X-30 provides a high tone on all silver coins. The X-50 has some silver coins in the high tone category and some in the medium high tone category. The X-50's scale of 1-20 (as opposed to the X-30's 1-10) offers more "fine tuning" on both volume control and sensitivity.
As I said, both will hunt similarly, just different setups to get you there. Even so, I would chose the X-50 for three reasons.

1. The X-50 allows the implementation of different frequency coils. You may not currently have a need for the higher frequence 18.75 kHz coil. But who knows what may lie ahead in the way of accessory coils or what your future requirements may be?

2. The X-50 has manual ground balance. Depending on the site I have been hunting, I have had my X-50 Ground Balance set anywhere from 6 to 11. That don't sound like a lot of variance. But when it is not set properly, the detector will not respond as it does when the GB is set correctly for that site. Therefore, a fixed GB detector would not have provided the optimum setting for these sites.

3. The X-50 has a "noise cancel" feature that allows the user to switch the channel to one of three different settings. This may be an important feature if you are hunting in an area with radio frequency interference, AC interference or interference from another detector.

You won't be disappointed with either. But if the extra $ is not an issue, I think you will be glad you bought the X-50 for the reasons I have mentioned. HH Randy