Metal Detectors Super Store

First of all, I want to thank the folks at Minelab for allowing me to be part of the Field Testing team for this new detector. It is an honor.

As many of you who read this forum know, I am a BIG FAN of the Minelabsingle frequency machines. Especially those 5kHz units! And, as many of us have stated over the years, "if they would only incorporate a meter into the Musky"! Well, they didn't just add a meter to the Musky. But I think you are going to like what they have come up with.

Like the other field testers, I received my X-Terra 50 last week. And believe me, it was tough not being able to come on here and tell you all about it then. But, after talking to Dick today, it seems the cat is out of the bag, so I just as well throw my 2 cents worth in to the mix. I won't bore you all with the specifications, as there are many sites that are offering that information at this time. What I would like to share with you is how it has been working for me the past few days.

The first thing I did with my X-Terra was to take it outside and pass a couple hundred old coins under the coil. My findings have been a bit different than some of the others in that I get a wider range of readings on certain coins. For example, silver dollars and half dollars hit a hard, constant 45 on the meter. And, quarters hit a hard 42. Seated, Barber, Standing Liberty, Washington. Mine were all the same. But some of my dimes varied. I passed about 50 Seated, Barbers and Mercs under the coil and the readings were 33, 36 and 39s. No certain type of coin seemed to make a difference. In other words, one merc might come in at 33 and another at 36. The next one might be 39. But what I found was that, if a certain dime read 36 one time, it would always read 36. All the nickels I tested read a solid 12. Shields, V-nickels, Buffaloes and Jeffersons. I guess I forgot to test the 40% silver nickels. Indian cents ranged from 27, 30 and 33's.

I suppose it has to do with the metallic makeup. I didn't compare certain dates to get a fix on that. Yellow gold rings read from the smaller ones at 12, to the middle sized ones at 18 and the larger ones at 24. What I have determined, at least for the type of hunting I do, is to remember the trash instead of the coins, and just don't dig the shallow trash numbers. Pull tabs are 21 and 27. Screw caps are 24 and 27. I know. Some of you are thinking that I will miss some surface gold jewelry. And, you are probalby right. And, some of you are thinking, why don't he just notch out the numbers for the trash? Let me tell you why.
I went to an old fair grounds today.

I have an old picture postcard that shows an old set of grandstands and a horse track, circa 1890. The field is bean stubble now and I have never been able to find exactly where the grandstands set, on previous trips. I imagine that is because I ran my other detectors with enough discrimination to avoid the nails. Fortunately, the X-Terra allows us to run in all-metal mode, and still provides the 4 tones and the digital read out. So today, I wandered across the fields in all metal, and knew exactly when I reached the area where the grandstands were because of the nails.

Low tone and 6, 6, 6, 9, 6, 9, etc. Iron. Then it hit the high tone and read 36. Hmmmmm..Was it going to be a dime. Before I dug it out, I switched to discriminate mode, preference 1 and it still read 36 and was at between 6 and 8 inches deep. Switching to preference 2, it stayed at 36 and the same depth reading. Using the pinpoint mode, I narrowed down the target center. I dug the target very slowly, taking away one layer of soil at a time, to make sure the depth was accurate. Sure enough, it was a 1903 O Barber dime at 7 inches. The all-metal mode worked like I had hoped. The discrimination worked in both preference modes and the depth was right on the target.

I wanted to try a different place, one with more modern trash, just to see how the X-Terra would handle it. So I went to the local park. I hunted in preset preference 2 and hadn't taken 3 steps until I got a 33 at 2 inches. And, to no surprise, it was a memorial cent. A few steps later I got a solid 42 at 2-4 inches. Clad quarter on the nose! 90 minutes and a handful of clad and memorials later, I decided I needed to trust the depth indicator and not dig until it was a deep one. (not a big fan of clad or memorials)

I soon got a 36 at 6-8 inches and dug an 1882 IH cent. Across the sidewalk by an old tree stump, I got a solid 27 on the meter at 6 - 8 inches. Figuring it was too deep for a screw cap or pulltab, and thinking it might be another IH on the low end of the scale, I was surprised to find a solid gold cuff link at a depth of nearly 8 inches. Loud and clear, with no hesitation.

That was my hunt for today. And, I hit the trifecta. Silver, Gold and Copper. I have to say that I am very impressed with both the depth and sensitivity of this detector. Good targets seem to be consistent in sound and location. Trash fluctuates or "moves" in location. If you have any questions, I would be happy to try to help answer them. But it may have to wait until tomorrow night. I'm going to be busy during the day, learning a bit more about the X-Terra and hopefully finding more old coins.

HH – Randy

Late News Flash:
Minelab X-Terra 50 is Successful in Detecting gold nuggets in addition to finding coins, rings, jewelry, relics and artifacts! (Deep Caches Also!)

Click here for more information on Minelab's X-TERRA 50 Metal Detector