treasure hunter model # xj9-3050. any good?

George (MN)

Hero Member
May 16, 2005
829
98
hissinroaches, I don't know if you made a mistake, really. If you got it for around $200-$250 that's probably fair. I was just making my comments mainly about this seller misleading people. How much of that is intentional & how much is just his lack of understanding of detectors I'm not sure. He claims it has a second higher frequency, a claim not made by the mfr in the manual.

This guy tries to make it sound like they are the mfr and this detector doesn't exist elsewhere. If it could really do everything he said it could, it would be worth $1,000 if not more. It's probably overall competitive with many other detectors under $300.

I really don't know about the durability factor, but think 1 year warranty. When I asked a bunch of questions about detector & warranty, it seems they got kinda nervous about it as I was hearing from the East Coast owner & his West Coast warehouse people & not sure if they knew the other was writing me.

If you have low ground mineralization and no electrical interference, I think you'll get coins with it fairly deep. Best wishes, George (MN)
 

cbiemeck

Newbie
May 11, 2011
1
0
SE Wisconsin
Detector(s) used
XJ9-3050
Hello all.
I'm new to this forum, but thought it would be beneficial to leave a review for this unit as I was searching for information on the XJ9-3050 before I decided to purchase one on eBay a month ago.

I have some prior hunting experience with my dad many, many years ago, and my uncle is a highly successful civil war relic hunter so I am familiar with the basic concepts of treasure hunting, yet I do not possess significant time in performing hunting personally. Please keep this in mind as I try to give an honest review of this unit.

I decided on my purchase by weighting what I wanted to spend ($150 - $300) vs. the available features I would have access to. This seemed to be the logical decision, although in my heart I would have much preferred an American made unit.

I have now logged about 20 hours of hunting and I feel confident in my ability to use leverage the unit's features well.

Features and capabilities:
Overall, pretty decent. The best success I have had is using the Auto-Notch setting along with surface elimination. In this operating mode the machine does a pretty good job eliminating most of the junk, although aluminum is still a problem. I have found that soda cans will register in the 10 cent range. By using the auto notch then switching to all metal and gauging the detect area on the ground, I can now pretty much determine if I have a coin or not. I have dug pennies 8 inches down so far. I have had some false readings though where I have dug iron items that registered in the 25 cent range.
No doubt about it, this unit will detect buried metal. Getting the balance between switching through the different modes on one target takes some patience and practice but after doing it for awhile, I have found a system that is pretty effective. And for this fact, it is most likely worth the $260 I paid for it.

Negatives: There are a few. First, the all metal mode is very glitchy. This unit just loves to hum away for no apparent reason. The instructions will tell you you need to ground balance it for minerals and provides controls to do so. Good luck with that, it takes a lot of fiddling to do so, and when you switch modes often as I do, you need to ground balance each time.
The construction of the coil must be poor, because in auto notch, bumping the unit against sticks or the ground will cause it to indicate. Very annoying in rough terrain where there is a lot of tall grass and growth. In fact, it's so poor I use all metal mode in these cases just because then I can avoid the back to forth motion.

Construction:
Cheap. It's from China, the construction is exactly what you would expect. I lost the right channel in the headphones after two outings. It is lightweight which is nice though.

As I use it more I will post more feedback if anyone is interested. Overall, I'm happy with it for the price. Good features but shoddy construction.

Hope this helps.
 

batcap

Hero Member
Jun 22, 2010
684
131
Baltimore MD
Detector(s) used
AT PRO
l.cutler said:
Hey give it a try it may surprise you. You can always upgrade later. Some people have reported good success with these cheaper Chinese detectors.

I'm with you too. I started with a detector from "Treasure Cove" that was a step down from the one you're getting. It paid for itself in 3 months and I turned around and sold it for as much as I'd paid for it.

So - I doubled my money in one season and had a barrel of fun doing it..

I never had a lick of trouble with that detector, other than the ridicule I heard on these boards. I bought an ace 250, sold it after one year. Bought the AT Pro, but it's currently on it's way to Texas for diagnosis and repair. I wish I had my Treasure Cove back right now.

Go dig up some good stuff and post it in Today's Finds. I wish I would have posted some of mine but I was intimidated by all the trash talk here.
 

gadigger81

Sr. Member
Apr 12, 2011
428
1
Trion, Ga
Detector(s) used
Garrett ATP
Welcome back to MDing! Don't get discouraged, I know how money is. Actually had one of them 50 buck Radio Shack detectors when I was a kid! I loved it! Just wanted to say best the luck to you! :icon_thumright:
 

RGINN

Gold Member
Oct 16, 2007
8,581
10,644
Summit County, CO
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
White's DFX, White's Classic 1 Coinmaster, Nokta Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Well hissinroaches, don't know if you're still here or not. I come up with a little money once and got a White's DFX, and I ain't about to laugh at you. We all get what we can afford and work with what we got. Sounds like a good machine, and it would be nice to get an update and see how you've done with it.
 

adamyang

Greenie
Oct 11, 2011
14
0
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
its a good detector i have it and im 13 so simple for usage yet so much fun. yesterday i found a 1920s ginger beer bottle with it by locating this trash pit my mom and aunt just screamed its intact lol well as long as you had fun den it is worth it
 

knuss

Newbie
Dec 18, 2012
2
0
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
dont be too quick to think mistake, the garrett ACE 250 uses a 16bit processor, yours has a new 32bit processor. That's going to make it discriminate better (opinion). Sure it will use batteries a little faster in some modes, but it might just be better in some ways, who knows?
 

mick4361

Newbie
Sep 2, 2011
1
0
XJ9-3050 metal detector

I'm sure by now your detector has arrived and you've had a chance to check it out. Could you please give us a review of your impressions and test results you found. The specs on it sound good and I'm sure there are others, like myself, that would be interested in your findings. Thanks

I just purchased one of these detectors from ebay. It was back in the box and ready to go back within five minutes. It is Chinese tat. It looks and feels cheap. The control box is big enough to keep your sandwiches in. I gave it an air test, and found it could pick up an old English king George penny at five inches. It picked up a small farthing at 3 to 4 inches. A small nut and bolt did not register. I tried all the settings and the whole machine felt wrong. It is typical of Chinese. They try to copy things, but do it in the cheapest way possible. They may copy an Ipod or a phone, and they look great. When you try them, their quality is terrible. This machine is about the same quality. They are not made by specialists like Garret, or Cscope. One guy is putting these detectors together, and on the next bench, a guy is assembling transistor radios, or sewing a fake handbag. I remember a big Chinese radio that was often advertised in the papers for £90. Buyers were not impressed with the quality, as it was not as described. A guy reported it to a tv program, that dealt with scams. They showed the radio. It was about 2' across and a foot in height. Inside, it contained works from a pocket radio, stuck on one side of the box. The speaker was in a cardboard tube that made sound come out both sides of the radio. I wonder if these people are putting the works from a kids toy, or hand held detector for finding wires in a wall, inside of this machine. I would not be surprised. You can get a detector for £150 (what I paid for this) from a specialist. Total rubbish.
 

liftloop

Silver Member
May 7, 2008
3,140
390
lakelinden mi
Detector(s) used
MXTdeepscan 8by14dd, bulls eye 2, 5900diprosl Maxima1500, Master Hunter cx plus Treasure Hound, surf
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
some time any thing that gets you digging..I seen a cheap bounty hunter pull a Washington Quarter and a walking liberty and a wheat back out of the ground in the same hole location location location...


liftloop
 

pinpointer999

Jr. Member
Aug 22, 2015
30
24
Saskatchewan
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75 Ltd.
Fisher CZ21
Fisher CZ6a
Makro CF77
Minelab Musketeer XS
Whites DFX
Whites MX5
Whites IDX Pro (Mr. Bill mod.)
White's 5900/di Pro Plus (Keith Southern mod)
White's 6000/di Pro
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
hi all! ive decided to get into the metal decting again.(not that i ever was except when i was 15 yrs old i had a $50 radio shack detector.i found a $3000 wedding ring under my great grandmas wooden porch.turned out to be my uncles wedding ring and he took it from me,sold it to the pawn shop and drank it away without even a" thank you"he has been devorced for years before i found it.)ok,back to the main subject....i bought a treasure hunter xj9-3050 and i was wondering if anyone here has used one,and if it is a good one to start out with? it has a 32bit prosessor chip and the extra large coil.any advice or info on this subject would be helpful.i live in northern michigan and am starting to do some research about my area.there are some 100+year old abandoned logging camps with 100 year old apple trees all around where they used to set up camp and get lit after a hard days work.my leads are from a old timer that lives nearby and he is 90 years old.i think this would be a good place to start,since you cannot see any apple trees from the little dirt trail that goes past it and its deep in the forest so hopefully it hasnt been hit by another people with the same idea.

I know this is an old thread, but I want to throw in my 2 cents.

The detector is a 32 bit multi-frequency machine. It definitely beats out any starter machines right there.

YouTube has a few vids of guys in the UK pulling out great targets at decent depths. To mock and laugh at
the machine just because of ignorance is stupid. It looks like a great place to start detecting IMO.
 

TimInMN

Newbie
Aug 6, 2016
2
0
Cloquet, Minnesota
Detector(s) used
XJ9-3050
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I bought this unit from a pawn shop for $90 and for the little time I've had with it (10 small hunts), I've had fair success. I'm not giving a comparison review as this is my first unit. I also can't say that it's missing items because I don't have someone that follows me with a "Garrett" to prove that it's fake or cheap. What I can say is that I've never seen an instruction manual for it (can't find one online) but I think I have 80% of it figured out. I travel all over the country and decided to take it with me everywhere I go. I'm about to head to Salt Lake City, the grand canyon and the Colorado Rockies so perhaps I can find some gold. (Yes, I know the laws and rules.)

The thing is...I'm happy with this machine. I've gotten to where I can determine the coin 90% of the time. I've also mastered the pinpointer function which makes it easy to determine if it's an aluminum can or not. I did up everything and keep a mental note of what my signal was compared to what I've found. Life is good. I also bought a pin pointer from China for 20 bucks and that has been great for those coins sitting in the grass line.
 

Aug 5, 2015
504
648
Detector(s) used
Entry level POS that I found in the thickets along a river.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Oh, I had forgotten this one.

Set your discrimination to comedy gold.
 

foiler

Sr. Member
Mar 17, 2013
395
389
Kansas
Detector(s) used
Fisher, Wilson-Neuman, Whites, Minelab, Tesoro and others I've long since forgotten
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
does it come with a fortune cookie?
 

Kurios1

Silver Member
Feb 25, 2017
3,766
7,383
FEMA REGION 5 North Central Illinois
Detector(s) used
Nokta Impact Whites DFX 300 & M6 Matrix, Minelab Explorer II (2), Makro Red Racer & Racer 2, Garrett AT Pro.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I'm with you too. I started with a detector from "Treasure Cove" that was a step down from the one you're getting. It paid for itself in 3 months and I turned around and sold it for as much as I'd paid for it.

So - I doubled my money in one season and had a barrel of fun doing it..

I never had a lick of trouble with that detector, other than the ridicule I heard on these boards. I bought an ace 250, sold it after one year. Bought the AT Pro, but it's currently on it's way to Texas for diagnosis and repair. I wish I had my Treasure Cove back right now.

Go dig up some good stuff and post it in Today's Finds. I wish I would have posted some of mine but I was intimidated by all the trash talk here.

No place for trashing a serious question. I reckon any detector that identifies any metal has potential to find you a gold ring. Whether you picked it up at a garage sale for a buck or spent $3000.00 on some fancy top shelf model. The individual has more say so in actual recovery of finds than the machine. Dig it ALL and even the cheapest detector should pay for itself pretty quickly if you pick the right spots. I tend to go middle of the road on price with my machines. Some I get used that have some age but, were top shelf when first introduced. So to each his own I reckon. Dig that beep.
 

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