X-Terra 705 or Omega 8000?

[mojotrout]

I currently have the 705 and have owned the Fisher F-5 before--which is supposed to be very similar to the O8. I have not seen any difference in performance (depth and separation) between the F-5 and 705 in my ground. If you were strictly a coin hunter, which machine would you prefer -- the O8 or 705 -- and why? Keep in mind that I do not care about either machine's ability to hunt nuggets, jewelry, salt water, or relics. I also do not care about small differences in weight or display features. I am searching for a land based coin hunting machine in light to heavy iron and light to heavy mineralization (but like not a lot of modern trash likely pull tabs, alum foil, etc.). Your opinions are appreciated!

 

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[madforclad]

I can't comment on the performance of the 705....yet, however I did own an Omega 8000 and sold it. It was very good on coins especially silver. Very quiet until it hit a good target, especially coins, and then BANG! Very easy to ground balance. In my opinion, it was better than the F-75 I also sold. The Omega was not as deep as the F-75, but was a lot quieter. Too much chatter for me with the F-75. I sold both to help finance my eTrac purchase. If I had to do it all over again, I would keep the Omega in my arsenal of machines.

 

[madforclad]

Oh and just curious, do you not find the 705 good on coins? Since you can change to 3 different frequencies by changing coils, I would have thought that the 3Khz coil would be killer on silver.

 

[mojotrout]

Oh and just curious, do you not find the 705 good on coins? Since you can change to 3 different frequencies by changing coils, I would have thought that the 3Khz coil would be killer on silver.

I find the 705 ok on coins with the standard 9 inch concentric coil (7.5kHz) with maximum depth around 6-7 inches in my soil. I have the 3kHz 5 inch DD coil and it screams at silver and copper. The problem is that it screams the same for aluminum, zinc, and sometimes even rusty iron as well. It does this more frequently as the targets get deeper, so Im getting more deep high tones that are not good targets than I can tolerate. In addition, once a coin gets to about 7-8 inches, I get an iron tone response with the 9 inch 7.5 kHz coil. The 6 incher DD wont hit a target that deep in my soil. These are a few reasons why Im sniffing around for a different machine. The 705 appears to work better in other areas of the country and a bit better around here with a larger DD coil.

I dont have loads of experience (only a coupe years) but Im not finding the frequency of the coil really matters enough to see a difference in my finds.

 

[Longhair]

Sounds to me like you're driving the 6" coil to hot, and you really could use a 10.5" DD coil. The DD will get better depth if your mineral level is that high, and it will have the added benefit of far better separation.

 

[mojotrout]

Sounds to me like you're driving the 6" coil to hot, and you really could use a 10.5" DD coil. The DD will get better depth if your mineral level is that high, and it will have the added benefit of far better separation.

Hey Longhair, I have seen the 10.5 DD in action and yes, I have thought that it might be the answer for the 705 in my neck of the woods. However, the one that played in my coin garden didnt do much better than my 9 inch concentric. A coin garden is NOT real world hunting though, and I suspect in a real hunting situation the 10.5 DD would impress.

Do you have any experience with those other models --and if so, how do you think they would do beside the 705 w/ the 10.5 DD?

Ive become so specialized in my hunting routine that I was thinking there might be a mid-priced machine that does my hunting style better than the 705, which does a bunch of stuff pretty well rather than one thing really well. Your thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Longhair]

I think that you'll still have more control options with the 705, and the 10.5" MF DD is a great performer in conditions like you describe.
The First Texas machines are good units, but they are chatty, and I don't think that they will fair any better than a good setup on the 705.

 

[madforclad]

I had my new 705 out today and I must say I am impressed. I really like this machine. I hit a twoonie(a $2.00 Canadian coin) at almost 11" down in wet salt sand. This beach gets hit hard and this coin had been there for a while. Off in the woods it performed even better. I'm going to have to get a smaller coil for working in the brush and around cellar holes. Funny thing, I dug every signal even the -6 ones and a few times got coins due to the bi-metals in our currency. Right now I'm using 4 tones but will eventually switch over to multi. Hunted for 6 hours and no issues with pain in my arm.

 

[relicmeister]

I have an Omega 8000 which I love but it needs to get serviced. this hastened my plan to upgrade which I did by getting a minelab 705. So far I think its awesome
and I think once I have the omega back the machines will compliment each other nicely

 

[LuckyLarry]

Mojo, in your soil 6-7" is just about maxed out with almost any detector. And if you are getting bigger hits on deeper items, your sensitivity is doing its job well, they SHOULD be heard better, that's what sensitivity controls are for. You might get another 1/2" with a CZ3D, but that's a gamble. If you can find a CZ5 it may get you another inch there, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. In our part of the world some Whites and some Fishers can handle the bad ground here a bit better than other detectors, but that too is a case of buyer's remorse if you don't try before you buy.

 

[mojotrout]

Mojo, in your soil 6-7" is just about maxed out with almost any detector. And if you are getting bigger hits on deeper items, your sensitivity is doing its job well, they SHOULD be heard better, that's what sensitivity controls are for. You might get another 1/2" with a CZ3D, but that's a gamble. If you can find a CZ5 it may get you another inch there, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. In our part of the world some Whites and some Fishers can handle the bad ground here a bit better than other detectors, but that too is a case of buyer's remorse if you don't try before you buy.

Thanks Larry. Im going to be getting the 7.5kHz 10.5" DD for the 705 and drive that around for the rest of the year. Im thinking it will give me the extra 1-2" Im needing for my hunts in the built up soils of my urban sidewalk strips and parks. I have been tempted to buy a CZ but Ive been told that they do suffer a bit in minerialized ground. A bunch of folks have testified to their depth in good ground though. At some point I'll want to try an O8, a CZ and an MXT-Pro just to check if the grass is greener, but for now I'll continue to learn the 705 -- she's been a good dog so far.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Mojo, the CZ's are (made) for our part of the world, and (made) for high Fe mineralization. In fact Oregon is where Fisher originated, and Whites came afterwards, as did Teknetics, D-Tex, Compass, Minelab, Nautilus, Tesoro, Garrett, and all others. CZ's don't have trouble with bad ground here, in fact they and Whites do best here overall. (Most) Minelabs wind up in the pawn shops here. When the dirt gets nasty, the CZ's shine, but so do Sovereign GT's, especially on salt or fresh water beaches, and partly because of their multi frequencies. The main problem with Fishers and other detectors used here is that people usually turn the sensitivity up too high and consequently read many objects too deep for other detectors to even locate, and especially the higher sensitivity really reads deep iron items better. When doing that many good targets are masked by the broken up iron signals. Fisher recommends running a CZ at 4 or 5, but I like to live on the edge and go at 6 or 7, although that's completely unnecessary. Most other people crank the sensitivity clear up past all heck and back (9 or 10) and then blame the deeper iron signals on "bad ground." An MXT sounds like a chatterbox when sens is cranked too high, but it's hard to get people to turn it down too, they think it gets them more depth that way. It doesn't, and in fact it usually cheats them out of good depth. Mostly, the sensitivity control is there for that very reason, to be more sensitive to iron. If I lived next door to you and was hunting urban sidewalks, I'd use a Silver uMax w a bigger DD coil or a Vaquero with a stock or DD coil. They run real smooth and do quite well under those conditions, and are both as light as things can get considering their power and depth capabilities. I have found more gold and silver jewelry with a Tesoro Silver Sabre than I have with any other detector I've ever used. And I've found more goodies at beaches (fresh or salt) with a CZ than with any other detectors I've had in my hands. A Sov GT is almost as good as a CZ for those uses.. Good luck to you, and I'd reccommend a Silver uMax for those sidewalk strips, I've hunted those types of areas since 1972 when I designed and built my very first detector..Those Silver uMaxes are dirt cheap..

 

[rainyday101]

As usual, great info. LuckyLarry. It's nice to hear from someone who isn't a brand basher. You always point out the strengths in all brands.

 

[ZR2guy]

Thanks Larry. Im going to be getting the 7.5kHz 10.5" DD for the 705 and drive that around for the rest of the year. Im thinking it will give me the extra 1-2" Im needing for my hunts in the built up soils of my urban sidewalk strips and parks. I have been tempted to buy a CZ but Ive been told that they do suffer a bit in minerialized ground. A bunch of folks have testified to their depth in good ground though. At some point I'll want to try an O8, a CZ and an MXT-Pro just to check if the grass is greener, but for now I'll continue to learn the 705 -- she's been a good dog so far.

Just remember that with the X-terra, you have a lot more flexibility with 3 frequency options and a fairly good arsenal of coil choices. I had a Gamma 6000 w/DD coil at one time. It was a "hot" MD but EMI was a huge buzz kill. I know that the Omega is a step up from the Gamma but I have buddies that bought the Omegas back in the day and they no longer have them. One went with an E-trac and the other bought a 705. Neither one has looked back.You have a very powerful and versatile machine there that cannot be beat in its price range(possibly a higher price range in some cases). Have you read Randy "Digger" Horton's e-book? I always call it the X-terra Bible.
I currently use the MF 10.5 DD coil and it is awesome. Great trash/target separation and it goes pretty deep. You will like it. I haven't put my stock MF 9" coil back on since buying the DD.

 

[mojotrout]

Thanks Larry. Im going to be getting the 7.5kHz 10.5" DD for the 705 and drive that around for the rest of the year. Im thinking it will give me the extra 1-2" Im needing for my hunts in the built up soils of my urban sidewalk strips and parks. I have been tempted to buy a CZ but Ive been told that they do suffer a bit in minerialized ground. A bunch of folks have testified to their depth in good ground though. At some point I'll want to try an O8, a CZ and an MXT-Pro just to check if the grass is greener, but for now I'll continue to learn the 705 -- she's been a good dog so far.

funny you should mention the Silver uMax -- it was my first detector and I still have and use it. I have done pretty well in my urban haunts with it but when I get into iron infested sites it has trouble (or I have trouble understanding it) telling the difference between nails and coins, especailly when getting into the 5-6 inch range. However, that might just mean I need more time with it.

 

[LuckyLarry]

Mojo, the Silver can be readjusted at the factory to change its propensity to not cherry-pick very well. In fact, that is a tank circuit if I remember correctly, and all it should take is to readjust a potentiometer inside..in case the one on the control box is somehow set too high. When set to high, it will automatically read the signal a bit deeper and wider, and that makes it pick up more things close to it, and deeper too. Most people set their sens adjustment too high...

Here is a disc. chart for the Silver Sabre: