XT-70 compared to FBS--BBS...

[David]

I wrote this on the Sovereign-Excalibur forum and thought this would be appropriate to post here as well:

Now people with the new E-Trac out will rely heavily on the meter more so (as some people liked to go by tones on the SE but at the same time some also may go by tones on the E-Trac as well.)

Also the 2 big disadvantages of the BBS and FBS units is they are very slow "and" also not sensitive to very small gold.

I was told by Minelab this about not being sensitive to very small gold and also many reports of the slow coverage speed.

Otherwise they are about the best machines(ones with BBS and FBS) out there.

I was told that the extreme depth VLF Minelab Muskateer Advantage found things behind the Sovereign that it missed, meaning deeper(in a black dirt type field if I heard right) and was many times faster than the Sovereign in coverage. So a person may prefer to use a ordinary VLF in black dirt--ploughed fields also to cover many times more ground in a day.

Jack Lange in Australia did tests and said this about the X-Terra 70 as compared to the FBS and BBS units, this says it all, read this:
DEPTH
(The X-Terra 70)This detector goes as deep as the expensive models (Explorer Quattro Sovereign) in dry beach sand, all soils, but does not go nearly as deep in damp beach sand because of the salt effect. Especially when set in

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Someone posted some info from ML on the etrac forum and whoever at ML supplied it more less admitted that the Explorers iron mask is imperfect and the etrac is an attempt to fix it. I dunno, $1.500.00 dollars for a machine that hunts iron better seems a lot to me. So what if the re-alignment of the axis shows more of the ferrous effect on targets. It's almost like the machine has an ego and is telling ya how good it is! I suppose having a screen with more accurate data is some people's thing.. not mine!

Sure some guys will do well with the etrac but for someone like me that is more or less a beep-dig hunter thats a lot of bucks for a machine!

ML should make a stripped down version of the etrac with its new algorithims, more suitable to us beep-dig coins and relic hunters. Put it in the exterra case and make it competitive in price with the new FT/Fishers.

If ML would make a "pro" coil for the Advantage like the new SE and etrac have.. man that would be awesome!!

Oh well, I'll probably catch some flack for this one!

Tom

 

[Digger]

Having that new "Pro" coil for the Advantage might be awesome. It should be better than the TS1000. Not sure how it would compare to the WOT??? Wonder if anyone has made that comparison on detectors capable of using both the Pro and the WOT?????

the etrac's ability to discern a greater amount of iron........... I do have a few spots that it would certainly come in handy. Providing more information to help determine whether to "dig or not" is a good thing for some. But having used the X-70 in multitone mode for the past couple years, I'm not much of a "meter watcher" myself. I consider myself to be somewhere between a "beep and dig" and a "information junky" type of detectorist. Only use as much information as I need, in any given circumstance. And those circumstances change, site by site. In most of the places I hunt, I can dig a target nearly as fast as I can go though repeated steps, analyzing it. So more information carries a high price, in that regard.

As to making a stripped down version of the etrac......... not a bad idea. However, I never really enjoyed using what I considered to be the stripped down version of the Explorer. The Quattro. JMO HH Randy

 

[Jackpine Savage]

When I first got the Advantage I had the TS800, TS1000, 12.5" Excelerator and the WOT. After A couple months I sold the TS1000 and the WOT. About a year later I made a stupid move and sold the 12.5". Since then I have done less land hunting so never replaced the 12.5" and only used yours a couple times while I had it. I know some like the WOT on the Advantage but I did not see enough difference betwen it and the 12.5 to justify the extra weight. The new Pro coil is said to be close to the TS1000 in weight, that I like!

It's been well known for some time and David's post had some quotes stating this also that in milder ground multi-freq has no depth advantage over a good single freq VLF. What interests me in the Etrac is that it handles iron differently than the Explorer.. If it sounds good I'm gonna dig it!

Tom