Fairly Lightweight Detector that has Auto Tracking GB and All metal ?

[BamaBill]

Does anyone know of a machine that is fairly lightweight (about 3 lbs.or less), has Autotracking ground balancing, and an All Metal Mode?

 

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[Rifleman]

The Minelab X-Terra 70 is the detector you are looking for. The auto GB works great, 2.9 pounds with stock coil, all metal as well as prospecting mode. The extra coils give it great versitility. For the money, I feel it is the best detector on the market. Great depth, signals, target ID and stibility. Give the 70 a hard look. Almost every who has bought one loves it. It has an easy learning curve also.

Good hunting, John K

 

[thompy]

i agree, a very versatile unit, xt 70's are sweet

 

[Old Fart in TN]

xterra 70 is the one that I chose to get. I think it will make you a good machine also

 

[BillyC]

I run the X-Terra70 it has all the features you are looking for. I really like mine, Beale.

 

[JOe L]

ditto on all the above. XT70 user here and I could swing it all day..

 

[EasyMoney]

Tesoro Compadre, (all-metal when you first turn it on at zero discrimination)

Tesoro Silver uMax, (The Tesoros have the best auto-track system made today)

Fisher F-2, F-4, (these two handle bad ground very well)

White's Classic series, (all-metal setting at zero disc, like the Tesoro Compadre, and are really superior at finding relics and smaller iron objects)

White's Prism's, a bit smoother running than the White's Classics, but not as good in all-metal

Minelab x-terra 30, 50, 70, but don't get the x-terra 30. It sucks.

The Silver uMax has the most potential, quickest reaction time and the best success if you are a Pro, and the F-2, F-4, and Compadre will work better for a beginner.

The Tesoros work better in a wider variety of soils than any other brand detector, they have the best auto-tracking and auto ground balance.

 

[JOE(USA)]

BamaBill,

What are you going to use it for? Joe

 

[Keppy]

Tesoro Compadre, (all-metal when you first turn it on at zero discrimination)

Tesoro Silver uMax, (The Tesoros have the best auto-track system made today)

Fisher F-2, F-4, (these two handle bad ground very well)

White's Classic series, (all-metal setting at zero disc, like the Tesoro Compadre, and are really superior at finding relics and smaller iron objects)

White's Prism's, a bit smoother running than the White's Classics, but not as good in all-metal

Minelab x-terra 30, 50, 70, but don't get the x-terra 30. It sucks.

The Silver uMax has the most potential, quickest reaction time and the best success if you are a Pro, and the F-2, F-4, and Compadre will work better for a beginner.

The Tesoros work better in a wider variety of soils than any other brand detector, they have the best auto-tracking and auto ground balance.

What do you think about the Vaquero or Cibola.......I thought that only the Tesoro LOBO Super traq wasthe only Tesoro that had auto-tracking & auto ground balance i am getting a Tesoro next week your thoughts?? Jim

 

[BamaBill]

Yeah, I'm confused. I use Tesoros (besides my MXT) and the Lobo is the only one I'm aware of that has autotracking. I was hoping to find an autotracking machine for a both a backup to the F-75 and for my kids to use (hence the emphasis on light). Occasionally we hunt in pretty bad dirt and the autotracking on the MXT is a godsend in that kind of dirt, but the machine is just a little heavy to swing all day (especially for my daughter).

 

[TimC (North Alabama)]

Hey Bill, I have an Xterra 70 and really enjoy it, it's light, about 3lbs and has all the features you listed, Although for the kids and as a backup detector the Tesoro's can't be beat as I own several and find that any of the will give the Xterra a good run for it's money. I'm located in Cullman and if you would like test one out, your welcome to.

 

[EasyMoney]

Well all, sometimes a lot is left unsaid, so here goes a lot of some really boring info..

Autotrak, or Autotraq, or Autotrack, are all one and the same. All they do is to keep the ground balance within a certain parameter, and that's about it in a nutshell. ALL metal detector manufacturers try to sell something that is no more than what they all have anyway, just using some new play on words to make it appear more fantastic than it actually is.

Let me explain;

There are two functions that cause a metal detector to behave properly in mineralized soil; One is auto retu(rn) to threshold. The other is auto ret(une) to ground balance. These two are NOT the same thing. In fact they are at best only simplifications of terms used to describe the rate and power required to operate a resistance/capacitance reactance or inductance circuit and the amount of voltage and amperage to the coil, nothing more. In other words one does one thing with one circuit, and the other does another thing with another circuit.

There is more;

Your ground balance is nothing more than a (rough) iron and steel discriminator. It is used to get things ready for fine-tuning discrimination (fine tuning ground balance), nothing more. But there is a great deal more information needed in order for it to be understood enough to comprehend it's true function. I will not go into engineering terms or theoretical physics, but let's just say that auto ground balance is probably the most important item on your detector other than the auto-return to threshold.

ALL VLF and multi-freq detectors have an "automatic" ground balance, even those that are termed "Manual" ground balance. Some excell at it such as the LST or the MXT or the cheaper Tesoros and F-2's, F-4's because they do it at a much FASTER RATE than do other detectors, and even within the same brand..

The threshold does return to a hearing level, but the ground balance is regulated within the circuitry (manual AND auto). Simply put, the manual ground balance is used to set the auto ground balance closer to the parameters needed for better control in harsher conditions, that's all. It too is a (rough) control just as is the course tuning on a shortwave radio compared to the fine tuning on a sw radio, nothing more. However, there is a great deal more to it than that. A detector with a very QUICK auto-ground-balance will operate MUCH BETTER than a detector that has a slow auto ground balance, even though it has a manual tuning knob. This high-speed auto return-to-ground balance parameters is commonly referred to as "autotrak". EVERY swinging vlf or lf or high freq detector made past 1980 has it too, yes, EVERY detector, even the Mighty Nexus!

This is why certain Tesoros operate better WITHOUT manual ground balance than do those with seperate manual GB. It's because they get back to the control area much faster and much more efficiently than most. The Cortez is one in particular that has been designed with a slower +/- voltage to the coil in order to give it time to operate all it's toys, a slower auto-gb (slower rate of capitance charge/discharge) to accomplish the task. This is why when for example, when the lady who went metal detecting with me could NOT completely ground balance her Cortez in this soil, nor could I with my Tejon, nor could I with my Classic II in some of our nasty soil here in the Pac NW. The White's III had auto GB, and it did better in bad soil than the high end Tesoros, but not as well as the lower end ones. However, my silver Saber, Golden Saber, and my cz and Sov all ground balanced quite easily in it and ran very smoothly in it too, in spite of it's high iron content. It's because of the capacitance fast rate of discharge and recharge as in the lower end Tesoro's, etc circuitry that makes the difference. It was not the speed of return to threshold that does it.

I hope this isn't confusing to everybody, but for simplification, let's just say that all Minelabs have auto trak (AKA auto-Gb) and they have some real honeys in this regard too, and so do the other detectors I mentioned above although Minelab's processors slow them down a lot in order to process so many frequency changes in such a short amount of time. Yes, multi-frequency detectors DO NOT use all those frequencies all at the same time! If they did, it would be total chaos and wierd noises, something like the impossibility of having true Democracy in America, so many things would be voted on and everything and everybody would be involved in everything and it would become so much that we would never get anything done, and a few of us would go insane. We would have Mob Rule and chaos beyond our wildest dreams, and have to quit working altogether just to be involved in all phases of the decision making in government. This is why we have a Republic, so that we can operate more effeciently , so we elect people to do out thinking and decision making for us instead. Look at a Minelab multi-frequency detectors as the "Republicans" of metal detectors, chosing the best things to do, thinking and deciding for us, because we don't have enough time to quit working and do it ourselves. If we tried the Democracy thing, we would be voting 365 days a year plus attending all the religious, economic, and social conferences in all America, and serious impossibility.

Again though, ALL current Brand-name detectors have "autotrak" inherent in their circuitry. Without it none of the detectors would ever stay ground balanced at all, even the manual ones. The automatic ground balance is always running and always there, and is found in all detectors, even cheap Chinese junk ones, although sometimes theirs are sometimes not very good at it. We just don't and can't hear it running, that's all.

I bought a Chinese detector last week that gets better depth than an Ace 150 or 250, strictly because of this acute and almost immeasureable propensity to stay ground balanced and retuned to threshold simultaneously so quickly and so efficiently. That detector doesn't have all the toys, but it gets nearly the same depth in bad ground as it does in the air (7"), and all for only $49.95. The first day I tried it I found a 1944 wheatie and a silver pendant that quite obviously the Ace 250 nor the White's Classic III didn't see, because I had been over that soil with both of them before hitting it with the $49 one from China. Incidentally, the guts inside the Chinese detector suspiciously look like a clone of a Tesoro Compadre. The pole was a bit lightweight and the coil was a bit too slight for extended use, but it appeared to be a (near) carbon copy of a compadre. I think you get my drift..

You can read my review on Amazon.com. about the Chinese 1 1/2 lb detector. It's called the "Explorer Metal Detector". Since my review the thing has gone up to $59.95

ALL metal detectors currently made have "autotrak" AKA "fast retune or return to automatic ground balance. Some have manual ground balance as an add-on.

Finally, the Cibola and Vaquero and Tejon have very similar circuitry, but the Cibola works better on (some) coin hunting situations than the Vaq and Tej, and that's because of it's faster rate of return to it's (inaudible) ground balance. The Vaq and Tej are DESIGNED as primarily relic hunters and thusly they require a slower rate to reach the very tiny targets we can encounter as relic hunters. This is also why they absolutely EXCELL in moderately to lightly mineralized soils over the other Tesoros. That, and the increased gain they run on all the time. It's a very complex thing, this metal detecting science.

 

[JOE(USA)]

EasyMoney,

Thanks for a great post!! I don't usually get into the GB issue here on Tnet because I don't have the ability to explain it to someone as accurately and easy to understand as you do. Your reply about the GB is the very best I have ever read on the subject! Bravo! Joe

 

[thompy]

i agree a nother great responce EM, if i keep reading you post sooner or later im going to figure out what the + and _ on the batteries are for , no really you do make it easyer to understaned

 

[Keppy]

Easy,..Thanks a lot for that explanation i really appreciated it. Now i understand a lot better...==Jim==

 

[EasyMoney]

Well J Hemmingway, here is some food for thought; Mostly general information though, because few people have actually weighed the two side-by-side in the field. Remember too that test garden or clay or plastic pot tests are usually as worthless as tits on a boar when it comes to comparing one detector to another. It's because all varying detectors view those test as a narrower or wider format than one or another. In other words, the matrix of a 6" clay pot for example looks different for an F-2 than it does to a DFX, for example.

The MXT is a child prodigy of the GMT, meaning that it has a refined-for-coin-hunting circuitry over it's Father the GMT. I would give it a 4 out of a 5 scale for finding tiny nuggets. I would give it a 4.2 for finding larger nuggets though.

The F-75 is in a class all by itself. It is probably better known for it's ability to punch the deepest in nearly every soil on the planet and cherry pick like a pro bean picker straight out of the farmlands of Alabama. Of course, there are a couple of problems with owning a horse like that, one with snot coming out of it's nose, sweat rolling off it's back, and breathing heavily and deeply while it runs 0-40 mph in less than 2 seconds, it requires a very tight reign to keep it under control. It is not the right kind of dawg for an apartment dweller or someone who wants to just go out and run the thing full power and on steroids now and then. I would give the F-75 a 4.2 on tiny nuggets and a 4.5 on larger ones. This machine is not for the faint of heart or someone who is tone deaf.

Neither the MXT or the F-75 are dedicated nugget hunters. The MXT has a near dino type of circuity and the F-75 has an almost new type. I would chose the F-75 over the MXT but as for nugget hunting there is little difference between the two. If I was really serious about nugget hunting I would get either a;

Fisher GoldBug2, it's still the King of currently made tiny nugget hunters

A Lobo Super-Traq, it REALLY handles bad ground well.

or if I was real lucky,

a Compass au52 (the GB2 and these two Compasses can find nuggets the size of a dot on an "I"),

or a Compass au2000,

the latter having a 52Khz AND a 13.77Khz switch for differing types of soil. Yes, I know that Minelab makes some decent, although slow detectors but they run too slow for my tastes and their PI's don't do as well on tiny nuggets, if they can find them at all. The Minelab PI's are great for larger nuggets, but I'm not sure their prices are really cost-effective. Very few people use them in the gold fields about 25 miles from my house. The owners of the metel detecting shop here primarily use GB2's, and they are dedicated nugget hunters.

 

[Rifleman]

Don't give up on the X-Terra 70 too fast. The 3kHz coil is a killer on deep silver and the 10.5" 18.75kHz DD coil gets great depth on the silver and gold. The prospecting mode on the 70 works very good at knocking out the small iron trash and is adjustable. Light weight is something important to me, and the 70 is about as light as it gets. Go to www.findmall.com and look at the X-Terra section. Read the FAQFAQ post. This post will give you a lot of useful information on the X-Terra. The X-Terra excels at finding the small gold in addition to the larger nuggets.

Good hunting, John K

 

[Rifleman]

Hi Jim, The reason I suggested the 70 was the light weight and the iron masking in prospecting mode. For what you are doing, it sounds like you might need a bigger coil. The 3kHz coil for the 70 is really hot on silver and does tend to ignore smaller junk. In prospecting mode, the only thing the display will show you is the changes in ground balance numbers. This can be useful for finding areas of higher mineralization. The type of detecting you are doing sounds very challenging. I would be interested in hearing how your detecting goes and lessons learned along the way. I wish Minelab would offer a larger coil for the 70. As the coils have chips in them that work in conjunction with the electronics in the head of the unit, it doesn't look like there will ever be any aftermarket coils available. You are right, the coils are making money for Minelab. I do like the selection of coils offered, except not having a larger coil. The price of the coils is at least pretty reasonable. If money were no object, I'd have at least 10 detectors but having that many I wonder if I would ever learn the full potential of each unit. Most likely not.
Good hunting, John K

 

[Rifleman]

Hey Jim, that sounds great. I'll be looking forward to your finds and what worked to make them. I've never hunted native silver or silver ore. It's interesting to know that there is such a wide response from the detectors depending on what type of specimen is found. I too don't claim to be an expert, that's why I enjoy these forums. You learn something new all the time. I love seeing some of the unique and valuable finds people make. I can almost imagine their excitement when their treasure sees the light of day for the first time in many years or a nice chunk of gold or silver is unearthed for the first time. I for one will look forward to your posts.

Good hunting, John K