Minelab X-Terra 305 TID's, tips, settings, questions

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Hi all. I was wondering if purchasing a double d coil for the minlab xterra305 will improve finding things on beaches and in parks? I did see a 10'' one recently on eBay. I was also thinking in 12 months or so of upgrading to the 705 so would be compatible.

Thanks in advance

Nev
 
Concentric Coils balance better on beaches, Double D balances better on high iron (both are at opposite ends of balance range) Double D is not as good at target ID as concentric nor is it as deep BUT double D needs very little overlap as it has a blade shaped field whereas the concentric has a cone shaped field profile. Additionally, Concentric coils ID bottle caps (beer) as low conductor and Double D ID them as high conductors.

Personally I prefer Double D because I don't want to think about overlap too much when I am in a park. There is bottle cap ID techniques you can use to help you in that regard, or use Minelab FBS which ID's them bottom right on smartfind ever time even with a Double D.

Next thing - I wouldn't upgrade from a 305 to a 705, all you gain is features nothing in the ID or depth range. But that is just one opinion in a sea of many lol.

Oh yeah, a 10" coil will gain you depth over the stock 8" coil ALL ELSE BEING EQUAL - which it never is!

Ben
 
I am extremely new at this but having a really good time poking around at the beach. I have noticed that results vary a lot depending on how damp the sand is, also when using the X-terra 305 right at the waters edge I get a lot of weird responses.

Should I back the sensitivity off when detecting over very damp sand?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1394016945_altona_beach_march_2014_first_run.jpg

this is my first go... there were also 3 whole cans that I just binned when I found them.
I was 20c richer after 2 hours but who cares - I watched the sun rise and had the beach to myself and loved every moment.

Since then (a few days) I've discovered the swings at local parks actually turn up a lot of $1 & $2 coins - will have to encourage the council to put more in their parks ;-)

Robert
 
I had the x terra 70 and going from sand to wet sand you have to ground balance, keep sensitivty around 12 when doing balance, and each time the ground conditions change you have to re ground balance..Also yeh if it's going a bit crazy turn sensitivity down it should help :D
 
Not sure if the 305 has a 'Beach' setting and 'auto' ground balancing, I know the 705 does.
Check out the MInelab site there is a great article on setting up the exterra, at work so can't find the link, may post it for you tonight unless someone else has it available.
Good to see you're enjoying getting out there .....
Cheers Tom
 
I've got a Garrett Ace 350 and if I hit the wet sand with the coil I always get a false signal. Works well with the sensitivity backed off all the way to about 25%. Worth a try with the 305.

Cheers

Wade
 
The X-Terra 305 have an adjustable
ground balance which helps in compensating
for false signals.

Using the detector in all metal, find a clear
area of ground without any targets.
Hold the coil parallel and 4 (10 cm) above
the ground. Select Ground Balance . A
constant hum known as the Ground Balance
tone will sound when the coil is held steady.
Continuously lower and raise the coil towards
and away from the ground and listen to the
Ground Balance tone. Try to lower the coil
as close to the ground as possible without
touching it.
Adjust the Ground Balance using + and ,
listening for minimum volume which will occur
during the transition from low to high.
If the tone is low, increase the Ground Balance
setting using +, if the tone is high, decrease
the setting using . The menu scale and
numeric ID will indicate the chosen setting.
 
thank you all for the advice. I hit the beach again today (best find was $7 in gold coins all spilled within 50 cm). At the risk of sounding dull I did try to manually set the ground balance but not sure it worked, also turned the sensitivity down but as a result found no real targets on the water's edge. On dry sand the detector works no probs. Will have to just nut it out.

On the upside found 2 hats and nice almost new shovel just with the eyeballs. And a spent bullet, looks like a 222 caliber - on the beach?

Again thanks for the suggestions.

Robert
 
many thanks Tom - I'm just registering on the site now to have a look, I am like a sponge at the moment in trying understand what the detector will & won't do.
 
I found when I had my 305, it would ground balance nicely on the dry sand, but for wet, you simply have no choice but to reduce the sensitivity till the chatter was at a minimum. Probably better off sticking to dry sand a picking off recent drops or deeper coin/jewllery targets, otherwise the chatter will drive you nuts chasing ghost targets (the signals that keep moving the deeper you dig, usually to the side of the hole, or they may just disappear altogether).

As I found with the Tesoro Vaquero on the beach, when using the discrimination mode, it will also tend to reduce the amount of falsing, but also reduce the depth and number of targets found. I used to run all-metal mode in the dry sand for maximum depth (dig everything), but change over to discrimination mode with reduced sensitivity when close to the still damp high tide mark.

One of the most frustrating parts of detecting on beaches with a single frequency VLF detector, is digging in dry sand, only to find the sand gets damp at depth, resulting in false signals. As mentioned above, this is where you get the false signals in the hole, or a constantly moving signal towards the edge of the hole. In this case, sometimes a pinpointer can help out due to its small detection area, it will false to a degree as the sand gets wetter, but still usually effective enough to locate or discount a target. The 305 dectector coil covering a larger area in this case, tends to crack a fruity trying to decipher information from both the wet sand at the bottom of the hole, and the dryer sand further up, resulting in falsing from the conductive salt water. This will often lead an inexperienced detectorist to dig a hole to china, wondering when the hell he/she was ever going to reach the target. :)
 
thanks Goldpick, today I pretty much just had to search well above the wet sand because I just got too many weird responses and then some deep holes were dug to the point where I thought there must be a car buried down there....somewhere! So I just gave up and went for the usual haul of junk with some coins thrown in. Still enjoyed it but wonder what waits out there at low tide. I suppose I'll have to save coin while doing research into what unit will work on wet sand. At least I won't get bored :)
Thank you for the advice.

Robert
 
I have been out a few times with my X-Terra 305 but can't find any thing because when the detector shows a depth I end up digging way deeper than it says. I think I am pinpointing it properly and am getting my Garrett pin pointer and edge digger today so that should help. so is the detector broken or is there something to help it in the settings? if anybody has any info on this please tell.

cheers, Luke ;)
 
Hi Luke,

The depth reading is not always what it seems because there are too many variables one being target size.

Have you buried a $2 coin at say 6" and tested this against the detector?

So get used to the machine and learn how yours operates with certain targets. Sooner or latter you will work out the

305 and basically know in some cases the targets you have under the coil.

The digital guide should only be used as a guide.
 
Mate the depth gauge is a guide only and is the depth from the bottom of the coil so you have to allow for the distance from the coil to the ground ...for example if it is indicating 6 inches and you have grass 2-3 inches high the target would possibly be 3-4 inches below the soil..hope this helps...
 
Most detectors I find are pretty accurate on a US quarter, but many things will factor in that, even the position of the coin in the ground. $1, 2c, halfpenny, shilling and 10c will be close, 5c, 1c, 3d, 6d will be shallower than reported and florins and pennys will be a bit deeper.

Its not unusual to have 2-3" of grass before you hit dirt so keep that in mind too.
 
Once you get the pinpointer things will be easier mate...you'll wonder how you did without it...happy hunting
 
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