Xterra 505 or Vaquero

[Longhair]

So here is a question for you Xterra Guru's- Does the xterra give a distinctive sound when it hits silver with either the stock coil or the 3 Khz coil? I am told a silver hit on the etrac is extremely noticeable.

They're liars.
Silver and clad are virtually indistinguishable with both FBS & V-Flex (I have both).
That said, they both also easily distinguish between good coin sized targets and junk.

If you really want to know someting about V-Flex machines, I highly recommend going to the Minelab website and signing up (it costs nothing and obligates you to nothing). Then go to the MEMBERS area and download Randy Horton's FREE E-book, "Understanding Your Xterra". Randy did such an incredible job of explaining the machine's functions and applications that I still can't believe that it's FREE.

 

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[dirtscratcher]

Rainyday you keep saying you want to see the video on the 505, I'm guessing nail board test. These tests have to me have proven worthless. The detector that I,ve done best with is probably the worst performer on the nail board but I dig around 100 silver coins a year at least half from the trashiest places I can find. I used the vaquero for a year and a half before drinking the koolaid and dug five or six silver coins the whole time. My vaquero loved rusty stuff a little to much for me just like atomicscott.

 

[dieselram94]

They're liars.
Silver and clad are virtually indistinguishable with both FBS & V-Flex (I have both).
That said, they both also easily distinguish between good coin sized targets and junk.

If you really want to know someting about V-Flex machines, I highly recommend going to the Minelab website and signing up (it costs nothing and obligates you to nothing). Then go to the MEMBERS area and download Randy Horton's FREE E-book, "Understanding Your Xterra". Randy did such an incredible job of explaining the machine's functions and applications that I still can't believe that it's FREE.

That ebook is awesome!!

Sent from my SCH-R930 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rainyday101]

If you really want to know someting about V-Flex machines, I highly recommend going to the Minelab website and signing up (it costs nothing and obligates you to nothing). Then go to the MEMBERS area and download Randy Horton's FREE E-book, "Understanding Your Xterra". Randy did such an incredible job of explaining the machine's functions and applications that I still can't believe that it's FREE.

Already have done so, that is why I am so interested in the xterra series. By the way, I have read it more than once.

So has anyone used the 9" concentric 3Khz coil? How is it on depth and separation? Also the digger 6" 3Khz coil.

 

[rainyday101]

I have been asking about separation and recovery speed. Found this video that puts that question to rest.

 

[atomicscott]

The ideal way to go would be to get the Etrac. FSB has been the only real improvement I have see in detectors in awhile. Single Freq. VLF detectors have not changed much in about the last 15 years or so. They haven't really gotten much deeper with a few exception that make other compromises to eek out that extra inch or two (F75, Tejon). Their only change has been to add fancy displays, better disc., digital processing, and other bells and whistles. Unfortunately I can't drop the money required for an Etrac. Soooo.... with silver being the primary goal, this leaves trying to find the best of the best in VLF single freq. machines to do the job. As Atomic Scott and Longhair have pointed out, the 3KHZ coil for the 505 is ideal for silver. Price of a new 505 = $550, price for a new 3 Khz coil $193. Grand total $743. For this to happen for me I would have to buy a used Xterra 505 and then get the coil. Things are getting close to the price of a Safari, but I have been told by a dealer that most minelabs require a slower swing due to processing all that info., but the safari is inexcusably slow.

Atomic Scott, yes I also heard the Omega 8000 can get chatty around EMI.

So here is a question for you Xterra Guru's- Does the xterra give a distinctive sound when it hits silver with either the stock coil or the 3 Khz coil? I am told a silver hit on the etrac is extremely noticeable.

The stock coil hits a solid high tone in dime/quarter range. To me its a very distinctive tone. You have to realize, when 19 TONES are used, there is so much 'melody' going on that the good tones are hard to miss and jump out from the junkier tones. Its completely different than having the 4 tones of most units. On many machines, some rusty iron will ring as silver because there arent as many categories (tones) for the iron to drop into. The xterra will bounce between a high silver, and a low iron tone if its iron trash. If its silver it wont drop into the low iron tone, and it will stay in the higher tone/numbers of the silver range. More tones (in all metal) means more categories to separate the metals into, and means you are picking up more of whats under the coil. More categories means a better chance of properly identifying the target as well as less masking and better separation. You should check out Diggers ebook on the ML site 'understanding your xterra'. It explains why this technology is so useful and how the multi-tones can really help.

 

[atomicscott]

Just to clarify, it's not a distinct 'silver' tone, but it is distinct among the other tones, and will stand out once you start learning it. Just like most machines, silver will ring up pretty close to it's clad counterpart, at least this seems true with the stock coil.

 

[louie41]

sorry to resurrect but just read this thread and wondering is there an ending? what did rainy go with yet? I'm researching as well.

 

[atomicscott]

sorry to resurrect but just read this thread and wondering is there an ending? what did rainy go with yet? I'm researching as well.

Hey I was wondering that too. Last I saw, he had still not decided. There is only so much research to be learned by board tests and airtests. As Longhair said, Minelabs hate air. Real world hunting is where the X-Terra's kick ass! Life is too short to spend it digging trash.

 

[rainyday101]

All right guys, I am researching for next spring and haven't bought anything yet. For the most part I am a Tesoro guy, BUT in my next detector I am looking for some pretty specific qualities and will buy whatever brand fits that need. If I had found more gold with my Tiger Shark I would be deciding now and buying now. My wife reminds me of the lack of gold with the Tiger. Nothing wrong with the Tiger, it just seems most of the places I have gone (beaches on inland lakes) have been pounded. Last weekend I as at a 100 year old beach. 3 hours in the water found me one penny, one nickel, a spinner blade, couple of bottle caps, and six deep bobby pins.

 

[atomicscott]

All right guys, I am researching for next spring and haven't bought anything yet. For the most part I am a Tesoro guy, BUT in my next detector I am looking for some pretty specific qualities and will buy whatever brand fits that need. If I had found more gold with my Tiger Shark I would be deciding now and buying now. My wife reminds me of the lack of gold with the Tiger. Nothing wrong with the Tiger, it just seems most of the places I have gone (beaches on inland lakes) have been pounded. Last weekend I as at a 100 year old beach. 3 hours in the water found me one penny, one nickel, a spinner blade, couple of bottle caps, and six deep bobby pins.

I picked up 7 nickels the other day with the 18.75 kHz 6" DD coil at a school that nobody hunts but me (I've dug about $28 here so far, it's getting slim). All were at least 5 inches deep. That was a record for me on nickels. This coil is gonna be very hot on gold, it loves the low conductors! When the time comes Rainyday, I'm just sayin...

 

[mojotrout]

Hey Rainy, I have a 705 with the 9 inch 7.5khz coil on the way. I'll let you know how it does relative to the Outlaw and Silver uMax in terms of separation, recovery and depth. I wont be getting the 3 kHz 6 in. coil until spring so that little experiment will have to wait.

The market is flooded right now with used Vaqs so it might be a good time to buy a used one on the cheap and try it out. If you dont like it, you should be able to get your money back (or close) by selling it once current stock is reduced.

 

[atomicscott]

Hey Rainy, I have a 705 with the 9 inch 7.5khz coil on the way. I'll let you know how it does relative to the Outlaw and Silver uMax in terms of separation, recovery and depth. I wont be getting the 3 kHz 6 in. coil until spring so that little experiment will have to wait.

The market is flooded right now with used Vaqs so it might be a good time to buy a used one on the cheap and try it out. If you dont like it, you should be able to get your money back (or close) by selling it once current stock is reduced.

You will love the 705 once you learn it. I use the '99' tones option exclusively now (19 tones on my 505, 28 tones on your 705) and now I can't go back to 4 tones! If you haven't already done it, be sure to download Digger's ebook, "Understanding Your X-Terra" on the Minelab website. Keep us posted, I'm sure you will uncover more goodies at the spots you've hit before with your other units. HH

 

[rainyday101]

Hey Rainy, I have a 705 with the 9 inch 7.5khz coil on the way. I'll let you know how it does relative to the Outlaw and Silver uMax in terms of separation, recovery and depth. I wont be getting the 3 kHz 6 in. coil until spring so that little experiment will have to wait.

The market is flooded right now with used Vaqs so it might be a good time to buy a used one on the cheap and try it out. If you dont like it, you should be able to get your money back (or close) by selling it once current stock is reduced.

Great Mogotrout, I can't wait to hear your feedback. If it has great recovery speed like the Silver uMax and more depth it will probably be a done deal, but for me a 505. AtomicScott's method of hunting in all metal using all tones, and tones and VID to determine to dig or not is very interesting. It will be interesting to hear your feedback as have a lot of Tesoro experience. Can't wait!

 

[atomicscott]

Not to get into a big discussion of relying on the VID, but if I hear a tone that interests me, I look at the ID# just to see the possible conductivity range. In 99 tones, there is 1 tone to correspond with each ID number segment. So if it ID's a 36 and jumps to a 38 the tone will jump as well. If the tone locks, the ID # will also lock. Its not like most detectors that have different ID numbers that will fall into each tone. So there are 19 ID#s, that correspond with 19 tones. Its really a trip.

 

[Longhair]

So has anyone used the 9" concentric 3Khz coil? How is it on depth and separation? Also the digger 6" 3Khz coil.

To answer your questions, I have all three available 3kHz coils.
The Minelab 9" concentric is a great coil on open ground. It suffers where trash density is high just due to it's size. It sees deep, and as all of the 3kHz coils do, it hammers silver, copper, and other high conductors. Until Coiltek came out with the 15" & 6" DD 3kHz coils, that 9" practically lived on my 705.

The 6" Digger is HOT! That little coil never ceases to amaze me. My initial write up on it from a year ago can be seen HERE.

 

[rainyday101]

Thanks for the article Longhair. Great read.

 

[NeilinFR]

"There is nothing my Tesoro can't do that the double the price Explorer could."

Now you know that's not true if you indeed used the Explorer that long. Have you ever tried a salt water beach with your Outlaw? I think the Tesoros have their place and fill a niche but be honest please. People are reading these posts trying to decide what to buy and bad information can really hurt someone.

 

[atomicscott]

"There is nothing my Tesoro can't do that the double the price Explorer could."

Now you know that's not true if you indeed used the Explorer that long. Have you ever tried a salt water beach with your Outlaw? I think the Tesoros have their place and fill a niche but be honest please. People are reading these posts trying to decide what to buy and bad information can really hurt someone.

Thanks! I did get hurt in the wallet listening these people. No more 'niche' detector for me.