Results of the Brandy Station VA.. Minelab CTX 30/30 performance test

[Woodland Detectors]

By now I now a lot of you are wondering..."OK! OK! How does the new Minelab handle in the highly mineralised soil in Culpeper Va?" "Does it perform well there?" Well, yes and no. sorry, only the honest reports here. The machine was tested along side of the White's MXT, and TDI just for fun, and inevitably the Minelab GPX4800 later in the day... Settings used initially for the CTX, were Greg Johns (Project Manager CTX30/30 Minelab) Great guy by the way. Ok, I'll cut to the chase. We started out with a site survey for a future Culpeper organized RELIC RESCUE hunt in soil that was "moderately" Minerlalized a few miles just east of Brandy Station.. ..The CTX was getting so,so depth, and I recovered some brass, along with some surface ground melted lead We then proceeded to some spots that we had been granted permission for from a local land owner, and Police officer in the community. Maybe 1/4 of a mile from the Beaugard, and Glebe Farms, ( HOTTT SOIL!) where all the organized hunts are held. Soil is dark red, and super incredibaly mineralised. Most machines struggle here getting any depth or stabilization at all. The Ctx remained semi stable, but just couldn't get the deeper depth needed to retrieve Civil War artifacts.. However, . I did dig a couple CW Minne Balls, and button backs in the 5 inch range. NOTE: All the relics dug were in a natural setting, and not planted, or seeded to perform a very accurate WOODLAND DETECTORS field test. After a couple hours, we headed to another adjacent spot. Again the ctx remained stable, and like the etrac handled fantastic under the power lines.(no better machines for that IMO currently) After an hour or so, I decided to bust out the (MONSTER) Minelab GPX 4800 (using the 15 inch Commander coil) , and run it over the ground I had just hunted...Area was marked with flags with the ctx just a few minutes before. The GPX immediately sounded on a 4 inch deep minne ball. I have been to 5 states in the past 2 weeks or so since I got this CTX 30/30 machine. All In all, it has proven to be a so,so relic hunting machine in 90 percent of land tested on. It is a fun machine to detect with, BUT I just cannot justify the high pricetag...It really didn't find any more than what the Exploers could there in the past....There you have it. Honest feedback that you all have come to know us for in the past. I hope this sincere review was useful to you all. A rating from 1-10 gives this unit a 6-1/2 Looks like White's still has the edge in our books. The MXT out preformed the CTX in depth and stability.

The Test was performed with David Willingham, and Rick of the Relic Rescue organized hunts in Culpeper, Virginia USA

Mike
Woodland Detectors
Toll Free 855-966-3563

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[aoyue2702]

Great review, Can't wait to get mine

[lost hunter]

Nice going Mike

[TabWhisperer]

Great report Mike. When you say the CTX was tested along side the MXT did you guys stop to cross-check targets? That is if something looked good on the MXT were you able to also find it (or better ID it) with the CTX and the other way around? Were the machines about on par or did the CTX blow the MXT away in depth and ID performance, maybe 10% better, etc? Thanks for doing the leg work!

[SneadsFerryMD]

Id like to know how it does on the beach and in the water (salt)

[Woodland Detectors]

Just fine on the beach from most of the East coast so far...

[Woodland Detectors]

Bump