Minelab Xterra 505 or 705???

[samuel_schumaker]

I am looking on purchasing a new better detector than my BH, I would like to buy a Minelab Xterra, My question is, should i go with the 505 or 705, i am mostly hunting old homesteads looking for old coing, jewerley or whatever is left behind, i have looked at the side by side comparisons on Kellyco's website, biggest differences are the illuminated backlit display, auto ground balancing, it says the depth is maximized with the 705 but do you really think the depth will be any different when using the same frequency coils on either machine? How hard is it to get use to ground balancing? My Bh has auto and manual, The 705 is 150 bucks more than the 505, i can live without the light up display but dont want to sacrifice much depth if any with the smaller detector, Any advice is very much appreciated, Thanks, Sam

 

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[Woodland Detectors]

Hello Sam

These are the facts

 

[gary in idaho]

Hi Sam, don't know too much about the 505 but I had a 705 and trust me you won't look back if you get the 705.

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Hi Sam, don't know too much about the 505 but I had a 705 and trust me you won't look back if you get the 705.

Agreed. I sell alot them for some reason to the Law enforcement guys around here. It's the one they ask for.

 

[momule55]

Yes, The 705 is worth the extra $150, I have had the 70 & 705 and the 50. The autotrac for GB alone is worth the difference. I relic hunt and the 705 with the 10.5dd in HF or MF are the coils of choice. The 6" DD HF coil is like a laser in trashy areas too. I modified mine for more confort with a straight shaft to offset the little extra weight the 10.5 has.

 

[John (Ma)]

I like a ground balance feature while relic hunting. I to like the options on the 705 over the 505 for what you will use it for.

 

[~MetalDigger~]

Go for the 705, but if it's to much get the 505, you can't go wrong with the 505.The 505 has the same coil options, just minus backlight, and auto ground balance. But the ground manual balance will work just as good just not automatci. Manaul GB is easy, just press either -/+ till it gets to where the low tone/high tone sound, is blended togehter. Not to high pitched, or two low, you want it right in the middle. And thats it. There is a few other features on the 705, that may be handy to some, but for me, a coin shooter mainly, that other stuff is not much of use.

 

[extractor]

705 for sure

 

[Alcymart]

Yes, The 705 is worth the extra $150, I have had the 70 & 705 and the 50. The autotrac for GB alone is worth the difference. I relic hunt and the 705 with the 10.5dd in HF or MF are the coils of choice. The 6" DD HF coil is like a laser in trashy areas too. I modified mine for more confort with a straight shaft to offset the little extra weight the 10.5 has.

how powerfull are the xterra 70, 705 and 505 comparison? Is the 705 as powerfull as the 70 or better?

 

[laralucine]

705. I have the 50, which I love, but the 705 will definitely be my next detector - if I start getting out enough again - the only complaint I have with the 50 is that in my experience it is pretty much useless on wet sand.

 

[seniorseeker]

Essentially the X-terra 505 & 705 are the same machine, with a few exceptions. If you're going to earnestly hunt for raw gold, then you'd want to purchase the X-terra 705 because of the prospector mode and the automatic ground balancing. Other than that, use the exta $150 bucks to buy a small 6" DD coil in 18.75khz. and buy the X-terra 505. You won't regret it.

P.S. I've owned the X-terra 70 and the Safari and sold both and bought a new X-terra 505 and I'm going to love it! It's so much more machine than the old X-terra 50 was and on par with the X-terra 70.

 

[goldseeker4000]

Samuel, I would go with the 705. I own one and it keeps amazing me with how well it does. And when you really learn it, you will pull items out of the ground next to iron trash. there are plenty of features the 705 has over the 505 . I dont agree with seniorseeker on 705 is basicly the same as 505 and the difference lies on the prospecting mode. the coin mode too has features that the 505 does not. the 505 has 4 segments per each tid # and the 705 has 2 segments. this mean that the 505 for ever notch segment it takes up 4 tid spaces and the 705 is a narrower grouping. That means alot if you are trying to descriminate out juck that may be close to a good target id. Bottom line you will be digging more trash with 505 than 705 with out being able to identify target as accurately. The prospecting mode can benefit you as well for looking for coins. If you want to know about that, I will explain it to you. I just found a 1758 Isle of Man Penny in Montana with my 705 on Wed.

 

[Dirty Money]

Sam, for the hunting you want to do, the key issue is discrimination. A backlit display is no biggie, unless you hunt predawn, dusk or at night. Auto ground balance is mighty handy in my opinion, and personally, probably worth the difference between the two machines. Never had a problem balancing my 305, but my DFX spoils me. But, again discrimination is the key. The X-Terra 505 offers a 19 notch discrimination program. The X-Terra 705 offers a 28 notch discrimination program. Just 9 points difference. That 9 points of discrimination properly set up can be the difference between making a find and walking past it. Get the X-Terra 705 for its' better discrimination. And get a good set of headphones to go with it.

 

[Daedalus]

Will the 305 and the 505 are good machines , there is no doubt about this . And you would be able to hunt with them and find items.
But after using the 505 that was loaned to me in till I got my 705 from Mike at Woodland Detectors I did not see how much easier it was to use the 705 to hunt with .

The extra settings and ground balance that the 705 has makes a big difference in finding targets and filtering out the trash !
And the All metal mode that you can use in both the Coin side and or the prospecting side is the option that makes the extra money worth it.
I am glad that I got the 705 and not the 505 that I was going to get , it is hard to explain what the extra settings do for you when hunting . And the 705 is so programmable for many settings that you will be able to set the machine up as you want it with ease.

And it is not hard to learn to use . Take it out for a day and try all the new setups and you will see that you have made a great choice and you will be finding items all over the place .
And one of the best things I did was buy from Mike at Woodland Detectors , you will not be alone as if you get stuck he is just be a phone call away and you will have the help that you need. I know this as I had to call him a few times to teach me what I was trying to do on these new type of detector .
And he stopped and helped me every time I called . And he did not make me feel like I was a bother while helping .

You will have to make your choice on what you buy as you are the one that has to be happy with the machine , but I can say that buying the Minelab 705 was the best thing I did. And I go out with guys that have some of the best top of the line machines and I am able to keep up with them even though my detector is not the most costly of the group .

 

[seniorseeker]

Unquestionably the Minelab X-terra 705 is an incredible machine. My previous statement was made having been a previous owner of an X-terra 70. In my mind, the X-terra 505 is remarkably close to the X-terra 70 in capability. When I looked at the difference financially between the X-505 & X-705 and, keeping in mind the type of hunting I would be doing, it was an easy decision to make to purchase the X-terra 505. The State of Michigan is not plagued with high mineral soil, for the most part, therefore the X-terra 505 would do nicely. No doubt the X-terra 705 has several features that the X-terra 505 does not have but the chance I'll do any prospecting or use an 'extra' GB mode is slim at best. For the most part, I sincerely believe many people purchase more machine than they actually need or, in some cases, can handle. Not for a second do I believe the X-terra 505 is substantially sub-par to the X-terra 705. The bottom line is this: to each his own. If you think you need an X-terra 705 to find the good stuff, then by all means spend the extra two hundred bucks and buy it! As for me, the extra money will buy me the new 6" DD 18.75kHz round coil - thank you very much.

 

[Gold_Striker]

Samuel, I would go with the 705. I own one and it keeps amazing me with how well it does. And when you really learn it, you will pull items out of the ground next to iron trash. there are plenty of features the 705 has over the 505 . I dont agree with seniorseeker on 705 is basicly the same as 505 and the difference lies on the prospecting mode. the coin mode too has features that the 505 does not. the 505 has 4 segments per each tid # and the 705 has 2 segments. this mean that the 505 for ever notch segment it takes up 4 tid spaces and the 705 is a narrower grouping. That means alot if you are trying to descriminate out juck that may be close to a good target id. Bottom line you will be digging more trash with 505 than 705 with out being able to identify target as accurately. The prospecting mode can benefit you as well for looking for coins. If you want to know about that, I will explain it to you. I just found a 1758 Isle of Man Penny in Montana with my 705 on Wed.

I don't see how you are able to avoid iron targets could you explain it to us?

 

[goldseeker4000]

Ok here it goes. I hunted in all metal mode and used 99 tones and I would spend more time passing over the target than I used too. I would make many passes from all directions then switch to program 2 which I opened up all positive notches. the only notches I had blocked out were all neg and 48. then I would pinpoint and watch the tids, then back to AM and listen, if there were more good tones than bad and It would also put up tids that fell in vacinity of a penny, nickel, dime or quarter more than neg then I would dig. thursday I did this very proceedure and I pull 5 coins out of the ground and juck metal also came out of the hole.I think it is reading both targets and not just one, hence I was getting good tids along with bad. I figured if it did it once, maybe it would do it again. Five times I did this and got 5 coins. I even used the prospecting mode and ajusted Iron mask. I just got creative and tried to employ all aspects of the 705's capabilities. I forced myself to take each target slowy and observe the signals and if any doubt I dug. hope this helps.

 

[goldseeker4000]

the 1905 V nickel was bent and I pulled out a small rusty nail out of the hole before the coin. I always double check the hole even when I pull out junk.

 

[seniorseeker]

Hello Gold_Striker,
I'll do my best to explain how I've hunted with my old X-70 being that I haven't done a lot of hunting yet with my new X-505. Having owned White's and Garrett's for many years, I opted out of both and bought the Minelab X-70. At first the learning curve was a bit troublesome but, with time and patience, I came around to understanding the X-terra. Once I understood what it was telling me, I consistently found my share of the loot, so to speak. I found a ton of sterling silver rings, some gold rings, coins & more coins, etc. Actually I found enough the first summer, with the X-70, to pay for the machine. Since then I have sold the X- 70 and my White's M6 and bought a new Minelab Safari. I hunted all last summer with the Safari and having hunted a season w/ it, I've come to the conclusion that I didn't find anymore with it than I did with the X-70. I also learned the depths were about the same between the two detectors. The Safari had a little better target separation but that's about it.

The one thing I did and would advise anyone, using a new Minelab detector, was to use the detector in AM and dig absolutely everything until you had an understanding of what targets produced what numbers, then go to one of the several patterns. It took an entire season to get to know the quirks of the X-70 but, once I did, I could bank on what was in the ground by sound AND numbers produced on the screen. For the most part, iron was no longer a problem.

Now ... fast forward to the capabilities of the 'New' X-terra 505. Having used the X-70 for two years, I feel confident that I will do well with the X-505. Yes ... I'll have to 're-learn' the quirks of the 'New' machine but the learning curve will be much smaller and take much less time to master. It's kind of like riding a bike ... you may get rusty but you never forget how to ride the bike.
It's the same with metal detectors.

Spend the time necessary to know what your X-terra 705 is telling you and you'll become an excellent detectorist and find your share of the 'Good Stuff ' ! So how do you start? Read your manual. Read it agin and ...then ... read it again. Become familiar with your machine. Spend more time doing and less time listening to every Tom, Dick, and Harry's way of hunting. You become the master of your machine!

http://rivercitytreasureclub.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/13098627-the-basics-of-metal-detecting

http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/11043/METAL DETECTOR BASICS AND THEORY.pdf

http://www.minelab.com/usa/consumer/knowledge-base/faq

 

[sprinter]

I've had and used the 705 and yes it's a fine machine ,easy to break down and put in your suit case couple of batteries alkaline or rechargeable make it very versatile ,, so will the 705 attain greater depth than the 305 both using the same coil and on the same size coin , is there a depth difference between all three machines in the Xttera range,,,??