I have a Xterra 70 that has started going bonkers for no apparent reason. The last two times I hunted, it started wildly toning off with numbers jumping all over. Initially I thought I was too near electrical wires, but I moved back to the area I started where the detector ran fine and it kept going crazy with all the tones. I tried noise cancelling, backing down the sens, ground balancing, and turning off the detector. I also checked the plug connection on the back of the box. Today, I started the detector by noise cancelling and ground balancing. I hunted for a half hour in all metal with no problems. I found a wheat penny and within 10 feet of that, the detector started with all the noise again. I went 100 feet away and turned the detector off and repeated the start up. The detector was acting just as bad. I went to where I started and the problem wouldn't go away. When this happens, it does it with the coil on the ground or in the air. Today, I went back to the spot where I found the wheat penny and the problem with erratic noise was still there. I turned the detector off and headed back to the truck. For kicks, I turned it back on it worked perfectly. I am baffled. Bad coil? A short somewhere? It is a very frustrating problem. Today I drove 20 miles and had a great winter day to detect, but I only brought one detector. Also, I have hunted these exact spots with many different detectors so electrical interferance is not the issue. Any help would be appreciated. R.L.
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Xterra 70 Problem
- Thread starter RLOH
- Start date
Horsesoldier
New member
Have you trie a different coil? How about fresh batteries?
christopher-ohio
Active member
I have been surprised that I haven't seen more posts about it. Maybe it's just a Northern Ohio phenomenon 
I didn't have my cell phone with me today. I also double checked my handheld pinpointer to make sure it was off. I have had three Coinstrikes and they never did what the X70 is doing. What baffles me more than anything is I went back to the exact spots where the detector ran just fine. I have never had a bad coil on any of my detectors, but it almost seems that there is a bad wire somewhere. The X 70 is a great detector, but if it behaves like this it is useless to me. R.L.
nero_design
New member
Hmmm. My own X-Terra 70 would occasionally sound off loudly and refuse to cancel the sound out until I hit a button.... although this was usually in all-metal-mode. I think I remember reading in the manual that in certain modes it will try to ground-balance itself and if the detector head stops swinging, it can align itself with that patch of soil in a short amount of time. If that soil is mineralized or of there's a lot of targets under the surface and nearby during the auto-ground-balance phase, then the detector will just continue to sound off.
In the rare event that the detector may have a defect, return it to Minelab who seem to be pretty god at sorting these things out.
I heard of one guy who'd gotten metal or iron particles sandwiched between the skid plate and the coil and this did a similar thing to hat you are experiencing. I have noticed that when my own detector would sound off, my wife was either standing or walking too close to the coil and the steel nails in her cowboy style boots was what was setting the detector off. Another time it was a mini-shovel on her hip when she stood to close. Occasionally I had to switch modes to cancel the noise and then switch back to the mode I was using.
In the rare event that the detector may have a defect, return it to Minelab who seem to be pretty god at sorting these things out.
I heard of one guy who'd gotten metal or iron particles sandwiched between the skid plate and the coil and this did a similar thing to hat you are experiencing. I have noticed that when my own detector would sound off, my wife was either standing or walking too close to the coil and the steel nails in her cowboy style boots was what was setting the detector off. Another time it was a mini-shovel on her hip when she stood to close. Occasionally I had to switch modes to cancel the noise and then switch back to the mode I was using.
Randy, I called Minelab today and talked to Bill in tech support. Not much he could tell me. I thought I would ask the forum members before I send it back to the factory. I hate to send any detector back to the factory. I had two Fishers, one Excel and one Coinstrike that I sent back to the factory for faulty touchpads. These detectors were brand new and they came back to me with scratches on the screen and scratches on the housing. I was hoping that someone here had a solution before I spent any money sending it back. It won't be new once it's worked on. This is just par for the course on the way my recent luck is running. I bought a brand new 8000.00 tractor last fall and it blew a head gasket with 20 hours on it. I did not want a brand new motor tore apart and some so called factory tech putting it back together. It will never be like the original motor after that. I retired Nov. 1st and on Nov. 3rd I woke up from a sound sleep with a tremendous abdominal pain. I had a bowel obstruction in my small intestine and pancreatitis. The third day of retirement and I feel like I'm dead. The surgeon schedules surgery to remove my gall bladder only to find the retirement system enrolled me in the wrong health insurance. I had to wait one month to have the surgery because of this mixup. I had my gallbladder removed on Dec. 13th and the bellybutton incision herniated. Now I can hardly bend over, but I will go detecting come hell or high water. Other than that, I'm the luckiest man on this earth. In Oct. of 1991 I had a brain aneurysm that was bleeding. The doctor in Cleveland Ohio gave me a 50% chance to live a week and if I did live, I would have deficits(loss of sight, hearing, paralysis) I beat the odds and only lost my short term memory. In Nov. of 1980 I had a bad motorcyle accident and my best friend was killed. I broke almost every bone in my body. I was in the hospital for three months. I could never do that pain again and I am still reminded of it daily. I guess a broken detector won't bother me too much. Metal detecting is by far and away the greatest therapy that anyone could ever do and it, along with a great wife keeps me going. Life is great! R.L.
Gosh R.L., sounds like you've had more than your share of bad luck. Hope you get your health back ontrack and are able to enjoy some of that retirement you worked hard for.
As to costing money to have it fixed, I'd take that up with the dealer I bought it from. Explain to him that it has never worked properly and you are concerned with getting back a "used detector" before you ever got to use it the way it was intended. If he is worth his salt, he should offer to replace your X-70 with a new one, and work out the details of what to do with your old one, with Minelab. If he won't replace it, he should at least offer to pay the price of shipping to get it to Vegas! In fact, since it never worked properly, Minelab may even send you a call tag to have it picked up. I've had to send a few detectors in for repair, during my 36 years of detecting. And I have to say that Minelab has always been good to work with. So I wouldn't worry about getting back one that was scratched or banged around. If by some strange circumstance that it does, I'd be making another trip to the dealer! JMHO Best of luck to you and my 2008 be a great year for you. HH Randy
As to costing money to have it fixed, I'd take that up with the dealer I bought it from. Explain to him that it has never worked properly and you are concerned with getting back a "used detector" before you ever got to use it the way it was intended. If he is worth his salt, he should offer to replace your X-70 with a new one, and work out the details of what to do with your old one, with Minelab. If he won't replace it, he should at least offer to pay the price of shipping to get it to Vegas! In fact, since it never worked properly, Minelab may even send you a call tag to have it picked up. I've had to send a few detectors in for repair, during my 36 years of detecting. And I have to say that Minelab has always been good to work with. So I wouldn't worry about getting back one that was scratched or banged around. If by some strange circumstance that it does, I'd be making another trip to the dealer! JMHO Best of luck to you and my 2008 be a great year for you. HH Randy
I'm not 100% certain, but it sounds like a bad coil to me. I had the exact same problem with my White's Eagle Spectrum. The machine all of a sudden went nuts with numbers jumping and noises I never heard before. I sent it in and they replaced some electrical parts. I turned it on and ...same thing with the erratic behavior, so back it went. In the meantime, I bought an XLT as a backup and just to be able to detect because it's a 2 week round trip to the factory. It turned out to be a bad coil. So the machine was tied up for 4 weeks total and I paid shipping twice both ways, but I got a new coil when the old one was out of warranty.
Try wiggling the coil wire along the whole length and see if the sound changes. Make sure the coil connection on the control box is good and tight and not cross-threaded. If you could persuade your dealer to put a new coil on it or even a used one and just try it in the store, you could save yourself some hassle or at least eliminate the possibility of a bad coil. Sounds like you have been through enough already. Ron
Try wiggling the coil wire along the whole length and see if the sound changes. Make sure the coil connection on the control box is good and tight and not cross-threaded. If you could persuade your dealer to put a new coil on it or even a used one and just try it in the store, you could save yourself some hassle or at least eliminate the possibility of a bad coil. Sounds like you have been through enough already. Ron
I would be happy to send you one of my coils to test on your detector. Then, if it is your coil, you could simply have your dealer (or Minelab) send you another. On the other hand, if my coil doesn't "cure it", you would only have to send the control box back for rehab. Send me a PM if you would like to give this a shot. HH Randy
stewartlittle
New member
[quote Digger]If you haven't, here is their number..... 702-891-8809. Like you said, it is useless as it is. HH Randy[/quote]
I called this morning with some questions ,and asked about a 1-800 number.It's 1-866-517-2066.
I called this morning with some questions ,and asked about a 1-800 number.It's 1-866-517-2066.
nero_design
New member
Could be a bad coil. The Minelab coils are handmade and tuned manually so it's rare to get a dud. If it's a problem, return the coil for replacement ASAP.
RLOH,
My machine is at Minelab as we speak. I have been having the same exact problems that you are dealing with (eratic, ground or at waist level to the point that I would have to shut it off). I would hold it at waist level and give it a little shake and it would give steady eratic tones which led me to believe that it was a coil problem.
I have been working with Sandy at Minelab and I couldnt be happier. She also thought that it may be a coil problem and told me to send the coils in. They checked them out and they were ok, she sent me two new coils anyway and wanted me to try them. The machine still acted up so she told me to send the box in for a look. It got there today so I will be waiting for them to check it out. She put a rush on it for me and I will let you know as soon as I find something out.
I was reading thru the replies and noticed Horsesoldier's comment on fresh batteries. You know, I never even thought of that. I only had two hunts on the batteries but there is a chance I had some bad batteries. You might try that before you call Minelab.
If you need a number, try Sandy Burton at 702-891-8809 ext. 21 or email her SandyB@minelabusa.com. She is the customer service manager and will help you with this.
This may save you some shipping costs on the coils.
My machine is at Minelab as we speak. I have been having the same exact problems that you are dealing with (eratic, ground or at waist level to the point that I would have to shut it off). I would hold it at waist level and give it a little shake and it would give steady eratic tones which led me to believe that it was a coil problem.
I have been working with Sandy at Minelab and I couldnt be happier. She also thought that it may be a coil problem and told me to send the coils in. They checked them out and they were ok, she sent me two new coils anyway and wanted me to try them. The machine still acted up so she told me to send the box in for a look. It got there today so I will be waiting for them to check it out. She put a rush on it for me and I will let you know as soon as I find something out.
I was reading thru the replies and noticed Horsesoldier's comment on fresh batteries. You know, I never even thought of that. I only had two hunts on the batteries but there is a chance I had some bad batteries. You might try that before you call Minelab.
If you need a number, try Sandy Burton at 702-891-8809 ext. 21 or email her SandyB@minelabusa.com. She is the customer service manager and will help you with this.
This may save you some shipping costs on the coils.
Well Sir..You are certainly an inspiration................After some of the things you described I would imagine a faulty detector would be just a very minor annoyance to you. In fact after re-reading your post not much would compare to all you have overcome. Keep the great attitude and have fun and enjoy all you do. May your next 50 years be happy and full. You have earned the right to happiness. Happy hunting...................