Upgraded to the best!

[Stever0812]

Hello everyone,
I've been on the Etrac forum for a few months now, but with all the amazing finds you all have gotten, reading reviews and seeing the capabilities of this machine, me and my detecting buddy decided to splurge. Bart at Big Boys Hobbies had a great deal on the machine that probably cannot be beat. We were not disappointed. Although my friend got the good finds of the day, we are blown away by this machine. He got a 1876 CC seated dime from a park that my Etrac missed, and a 44 washington in another park that the etrac also missed. He also got a nice silver ring and then a total surprise from a park, a 1787 2 reales coin!!!! It must have been fill from another old site somewhere, because the area it was found in wasn't even used til the early 1900's and we didnt find any other traces of colonial settlement. In one day I pulled 15 dollars in clad including a surface find of an '71 Eisenhower dollar! We are just beginning to redo all the sites we hit before, and already we are seeing great results. I did have one question about depth. It seemed almost every single target was 2 inches less deep than what was indicated. Even surface coins showed 2 inches. Anyone have the same issue and is it fixable? I am using Gonehunting's settings, combined / ferrous coin.

 

[unearth]

Congratulations on all the finds with the CTX Remember, unless you're scraping the dirt with the coil, there may be a difference in the depth indicated and the actual depth of the target.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Glad you like it. The depth indication is a really good guess. Dont get to caught up with that. Audio is you best friend!

Holler if you have questions!

 

[GKMan]

Congratulations on all the finds with the CTX Remember, unless you're scraping the dirt with the coil, there may be a difference in the depth indicated and the actual depth of the target.

Like Unearth and Bart said.... I rarely look at the depth indicator. You can turn your gain down a bit to give you a decent audible indication of depth.

 

[Stever0812]

I do like to use the depth as an indication of possible age. The wheats,indians and silvers we got were all 5-6 inch indicated and ended up being nearer that depth but some indicated 4 inch coins ended up being only 1 inch deep. That seems like way too far off. I will try the gain setting and see how that goes. I wasn't sure if iron in the hole might add inches to the gauge, but there isn't iron under every target that was 2 inches shallower than indicated. Thanks for the info!

 

[carver]

That probably includes the height of the grass under your coil and the height you are holding the coil above the grass.

happy hunting

carvwr

 

[Stever0812]

when I pinpoint the tone will be the max tone for a surface find, but the display says 2 inches. I squish the coil down into the grass, still says 2 inches.

 

[Digger]

First off, welcome to the World of the CTX 3030. As to depth displays......The depth indicator is based on an "average" sized coin. Obviously, the Ike dollar you found is much larger than the seated dime. Somewhere in between those two sized coins is what the engineers came up with for an average sized target. It shouldn't be any different than your ETRAC was. But if it is, next time, before you dig the target, check it out with a different Separation mode like Low Trash or High Trash. One that you may have used with your ETRAC. I ain't saying it will be any different. But it would be interesting to see if that is the reason your depth numbers seem to be off a bit. JMHO HH Randy

 

[wildherre]

ground balance..
Make sure that your ground balance check box is unchecked.....wildherre

 

[Stever0812]

ok i will try those things. the ike dollar was an eyeball find, i didnt even sweep it. the coins just under the surface were pennies and dimes, but still said 2 inches. what i am wondering tho, is if others are seeing this too.

 

[Greek2Me]

Yes, I get that on almost all of my 1 to 2 inch deep targets. I can't tell you how many coins I dug yesterday that showed 4 to 5 inches only to be 2 to 3 inches deep. My 5 inch deep coins were coming in at 7 to 8 inches deep on the readout.

G2M

 

[Stever0812]

thanks G2M! i tried lowering the gain but I still had some memorial pennies showing 5 inches that were only 3 inches down, and I didn't hear any difference in the audio from before. I will play around more this coming week.

 

[Stever0812]

I can finally hear some audio difference for depth. I also switched over to the Silver program to hear what it sounds like, and the depth is actually accurate. Maybe FC combined is what causes the depth to be screwy. Anyone else see this in other modes?

 

[wildherre]

I have always gotten very accurate depth readings in all modes as long as the unit is in auto track or is properly ground balanced with ground balance enabled. .wildherre

 

[Detecting History]

Depth accuracy sucks. Target desperation does not. Prepare not to to cherry pick.

 

[wildherre]

Depth accuracy sucks. Target desperation does not. Prepare not to to cherry pick.

That is simply not true. Its a shame that a new user or prospective user would see such a statement and believe it...

If the CTX is ground balanced and the target is pin pointed properly, the depth readings will be very accurate... In watching one of your videos it is apparent that you never developed any pin pointing skills and rely on the wiggle back method, a relic shovel and a plate sized hole for your recoveries... When you develop your skills to a level that you can use a small hand digger, dig a 4" diameter and your target is in the middle of that hole you will also find that your depth indications will be correct... wildherre

 

[Detecting History]

Guess again. I have given up on pinpointing with the magic button and turning 90 degrees to make sure it was a good target. The depth accuracy sucks on the Ctx and so does the pinpointing accuracy.

Don't even get started on my choice of diggin tools or hole size or pinpointing choice. The Ctx is a winner on target seperation. That's it.

If you actually ground balance the machine (I have GB off) you will miss a lot of targets. I'm not interested I getting into a discussion about your opinion of my hunting. I am happy with my no show holes and with my silver count.

If you are the only person with accurate depths on the Ctx on targets under 5" then you have been very fortunate. I have over 1500 hours on the machine and stand by my statements.

Target seperation is the strongpoint.

Thanks for your opinion.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Detecting History

I would not give up on pinpointing, something is obvious wrong. I use Target Trace, Auto +3 and consistently get within 1 inch of the target regardless of the depth, many times, right on the money. I also find the depth gauge very accurate beyond 3 inches, the first three is quite iffy for me. I know many CTX users who also get similar results so I would say your results are not normal for CTX.

Pinpointing off of the toe of any coil is not very accurate for pinpointing at depth and certainly not for depth readings if that is what you do, I would suggest pinpointing with the center of the coil. Toe pinpointing is fine for the first three inches but anything deeper than that will bend more toward the center of the coil due to the search pattern also bending. The front and rear search pattern does NOT go straight down.

Once your problem is fixed you should be able to cut 4 inch holes and not miss a thing.

 

[Stever0812]

Yes it seems as though only the first 3-4 inches are affected. The manual says not to use GB in low mineralized areas like parks/beach/sports grounds. Wildherre please be more respectful in your statements. I use the small relic shovel too in the park because it can cut a nice clean hole without the prying needed from using a hand digger. Groundskeepers have seen me with it and commented that they see I am cleaning up my plugs properly. Everyone has their ways of target recovery, and I use both wiggle back and pinpoint on targets very successfully. I was just looking to see if anyone saw the same depth readings as me, and I have my answers now. Thanks guys!

 

[Detecting History]

I was talking to Gonehunting after that nice post I recieved and he think my machine might be messed up. I do PINPOINT over the middle of the coil and have run into the same nightmare depth issues. I use the wif=ggleback lately becuase I am in some "hunted out" spots and turning the coil gets me an iron signal with no target . Those have been the silvers on my latest videos. I have a ton of hours on the CTX and am really not interested in being attacked on an anonymous forum by an anonymous expert.

I appreciate the stick uo Stever.

I got a new standard coil because I wore mine out (aka blew it up) and since then its been a mess. I have been really Pi$ $ed with the performance of the unit since then. I will make sure to roate 90 degrees on my next few decent targets and update you on the change. Its been useless for at least 3 months, since I got the new coil.