Minelab X-terra 705 General Tips, Advice, Questions

[DaBilda]

G'day Justine, I've got the 705 Dual pack, have only been out once for gold but found it great on the test targets taken. Gold prospecting in SA is very limited so I'm hoping to get over to Vic where there are much more options in the not too distant future.

As has been said there are many video's on you tube about settings and using it, also a lot of tips on minelab.com/aus/community, has a dedicated section to the Xterra range.

I would also suggest , if the place you bought it from does course days (most do), get on one of those. You'll pick up more in a few hours than being out by yourself for a month.

Happy hunting.

 

[goldbug]

Hey Justine..

I'm another happy 705 owner..
Yes it will find gold, you can count on that! Its a very capable machine. You may not hear many reports of it finding gold, but it can and does.

I tend to use the 6 inch DD (18.75khz) most of the time as it perform best in areas of high mineralisation and at trashy sites. With the 6 inch coil the 705 is a very sensitive gold machine. There has never been an occasion where it would not ground balance and stability has never been an issue. The 6 inch coil is waterproof and is an ideal size for detecting in creeks. The 10x5" is a good all round coil, but its not waterproof, which is a shame..but its still a very good coil.

The 705 has lots of handy features, but one which I would stay away from (until your experienced with its use) is the ground balance tracking, as it can loose you targets. Also in prospecting mode its best to keep your iron discrimination to level 5 and no higher, again because you could loose valuable targets.

Be prepared to toggle between the target ID mode and prospecting mode. Once you have found a target in prospecting mode toggle to ID mode and check it out again, for gold null all targets below -2 and above 46, that way you can avoid digging up iron junk and focus on the gold and coins.

The most important factor in finding gold with the 705 or any other VLF detector is the more remote the location the better.. You can be sure all the easy to get to spots have been well and truly gone over with a find toothed comb.. If your in an area that has highly mineralised soils dont run your sensitivity at max, that will reduce the depth you will be able to achieve, only run at max in low mineralisation areas.
A good idea is to buy a little nugget off ebay and practice detecting it at varying depths..

Hope that helps a bit

Cheers James

 

[justine]

Thanks All! Esp thanks to Goldbug for the pointers Looking forward to getting hunting

 

[Beno&Sars]

Thanks Goldbug. We have just purchased a 705 - eagerly awaiting delivery!! Can't wait to take it out!!

 

[justine]

I'm yet to use mine as the coil has a crack which needs fixing. I do want to say that minelab have been awesome and are going to fix it under warranty (even though I am the second owner). Thumbs up minelab!

 

[wickedlester]

G'day

I have recently bought my first detector and am loving it. I have been doing a heap of research on ghost towns, a bit of beach work and a trip to Clermont.
I have a million questions but will start with 1. The place where I bought my detector told me to only use the prospecting mode for all detecting. Even though this seems more sensetive and as i am new i basically dig everything because i worry about missing something. Is this right or should I only use prospecting when looking for gold ?

 

[Diggerdude]

I don't do much coin detecting (mostly gold ) but my golden rule is dig everything. Some of the relic hunter blokes may be able to give you some tips on discriminating.

DD

 

[G0lddigg@]

Dig everything untill you are confident you can differentiate responses from your detector. Use a small nugget to practice and get to know the right noise, you will learn what sounds like junk , lead etc good luck

 

[Ozjono]

If going for coins I use AM mode with tracking on

 

[kemjak57]

Dig everything untill you are confident you can differentiate responses from your detector. Use a small nugget to practice and get to know the right noise, you will learn what sounds like junk , lead etc good luck

Great advice there GOlddigg, it doesn't take too long to sort it out when you have dug up all off the ringpulls and lawnmower shrapnel in an area that you are in

 

[ANGRE7]

Although I have an Xterra 70 i use prospecting for coin/relic hunting then switch over to AM for the target ID

 

[wickedlester]

Thanks for the feedback, i guess the main thing i wanted to know was should i be doing evrything in prospecting mode, is it more sensative and better to
start using it for all detecting and getting used to it. When in prospecting, i was in AM and tracking and dug everything

 

[petesabout]

Hi guys,
just joined as i'm moving to Australia from the USA next April,so i thought i'd start picking everyones brains in advance.
How does the X-terra 705 stack up to the victoria gold fields?
I have the 18.75khz 10x5 DD elliptical and a 18.75khz 10.5 round DD coils.
Do i seriously have a chance with this setup or do i literally have to be able to see the object on the floor before the detector sees it?
What kind of depth and size could i expect out there.
Thanks.......Pete.

 

[loamer]

Pete - these VLFs can have problems on the Vic Fields with mineralisation. The DDs are a must but you have that base covered. Depth is a relative issue. On a beach/sand/coin hunting in parks they can run at their maximum predicted depth. The VLFs on mineralised ground have to sacrifice sensitivity etc to gain a quiet threashold. There are 705 users on this forum who will be able to give you a better idea. Most prospecting on the Vic fileds is with PIs (Minelab generally and some Whites TDI series). This is due to the nature of the soils. Some areas are worse than others - Moliagul/Talbot for example. There is no benign ground as such - its all fairly mineralised. The VLFs are effective on quite mullock heaps (usually white pipeclay) and reef dumps. The reef quartz dumps are everywhere and range from deep lead workings to shallow reef workings. White mullock heaps are about 5% (very rough estimate) of the total given that much of the white pipepclay was either taken and washed or over 150+ years has simply washed away. (Not wishing to be patronising - mullock heaps are best defined as the circle of dirt surrounding diggers holes - looks like a doughnut - its the stuff around the holes you see on old photos). These too have different layers of mineralisation - depends on what the diggers were digging through. You will be amazed at the 1,000s of diggers holes you will see. People still persist on detecting them for throw-outs and relics. (and some nice stuff they still get).

Having said all that, you may wish to contemplate hiring a PI and/or attending one of the training days run by the numerous dealers on the Goldfields (@ Bendigo, Maryborough, Dunolly). I still have an Xterra70 that I use with my GPX4500 so I consider they are still a very serious machine and certainly not a toy. Finally - yes you are a big chance - depends what you want.

 

[petesabout]

Thanks Loamer, you pretty much answered everything and more. There was a couple of things you mentioned i was saving for another day.
This whole gold/nugget detecting will all be completely new to me as i'm mainly a beach hunter. Can't see my beachcombing skills being of much use in Melbourne!
Good description on the mullock heaps, i was wondering what those were as they're mentioned quite a lot.
I have got plans to do a training day but i was thinking of actually using my own detector rather than a GPX 5000, because the 705 is all i have and i think i would end up one sad bunny having to give it up and the end of the day
Still,l i do have a considerable amount of time before we leave here and a used GPX 5000 can be had for under $3000 US. Can't see it, but i can dream of finding something nice to pay for one.
Do you go out and about detecting often? I won't be working in Australia, that's my Wifes domain, so i'll have plenty of spare time.
If you ever think you may need a complete idiot tagging along behind you, maybe you could look me up.
BTW, i'm actually English, but moved here to the states 3 years ago... Following the wife again

 

[petesabout]

Here's what i do.....
Beach = loads of trash (foil wrap in little balls,pulltabs,bottletops & soda cans) Use AM mode with preset number 1 and then notch out all til zero. Turn on beach mode also. dry sand = 25 sensitivity, damp = 15 & wet 12.
Trying to use prospecting mode is nigh on imposible when you hit the damp & semi wet. You'll get a squeal on one direction that will just about hide any signal.
Park ground can vary, but generally i can go straight out running hot. You're pretty much only coin hunting with a chance of a gold ring in parks,so notch out anything in the "undesirable" range.
Prospecting, well there's a thing.
You'll probably only manage sensitivity up to about 15 in most areas.
Keep tracking on, just don't swing over a potential target to much, you'll make the tracking think it's hot ground and cancel it out!
BTW, the numbers i have given work for me and that may or may not work in your environment but as a heads up, if the beach settings work here amongst southern California black mineralised sands,they'll sure work in Oz.
Now go get some

 

[daver4x4]

Thank you Justine for your post, I too have just purchased a 705 and you asked the question I wanted to. Goldbug, Thank you for your reply, i have printed it off and am now scouring youtube.

Thanks again

 

[Sa_bogan]

I finally bit the bullet and bought the 705 gold pack from bendigo gold. I live in sa and getting a good used detector isn't easy to find. I called them and were able to sell me one at a good price and still has 2 years warranty. The only downer was my headphones weren't in the package, but a quick call had them sending it express post. Now I'm looking forward to my 4 days off coming up! Any adelaide detectors keen to meet out in the hills hit me up

 

[Nugget]

I'm surprised none of our 705 owners or Adelaide guys have responded yet :/

Anyway, best of luck with your new detector mate, you've picked yourself up a great machine. Now all you have to do is get out there and find that gold..

 

[Sa_bogan]

Thanks nugget, did a quick swing in the backyard and found a bottle top lol The soil is so hard and there are 2 high number signals I'm picking up but can dig them out, any ideas on how to soften it up?