First day with the ctx

[PowerDubs]

Well, I read Andy's book cover to cover and then spent 4 hours out with the ctx today. No idea what I am doing. Found nothing other than 2 pieces of foil and a small piece of scrap.

I miss my AT Pro. I know every sound it makes.

This thing is not user friendly. Ugh.

I may have wasted thousands of dollars. [emoji848]



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[Tradertom]

I don't own a CTX but I do have an AT Pro as well as several other detectors Inc a DEUS. As you know it will take some time to learn all the new settings and sounds of the new box.
I am learning the DEUS and you will learn the CTX if you stick through the frustrations of the learning curve.
I still own the AT PRO which gives me some relief from the frustrations of the new DEUS.
Merry Christmas

 

[Digger Max]

Well, I read Andy's book cover to cover and then spent 4 hours out with the ctx today. No idea what I am doing. Found nothing other than 2 pieces of foil and a small piece of scrap.

I miss my AT Pro. I know every sound it makes.

This thing is not user friendly. Ugh.

I may have wasted thousands of dollars. [emoji848]



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Hang in there..... You will love it!
It's going to take just a little more than 4 hours!!!!! GL & HH

 

[Jason in Enid]

Well, I read Andy's book cover to cover and then spent 4 hours out with the ctx today. No idea what I am doing. Found nothing other than 2 pieces of foil and a small piece of scrap.

I miss my AT Pro. I know every sound it makes.

This thing is not user friendly. Ugh.

I may have wasted thousands of dollars. [emoji848]



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Take a deep breath and relax, it's going to be OK. Every time you change detectors it feels like you don't know WTH you're doing. I know it's frustrating, but you have to give yourself some time to get used to the CTX.

When the E-Trac (brother to the CTX) came out, I switched from a Whites to it. I was SOOOO incredibly frustrated I wanted to wrap it around a tree in the beginning. After a few days, I wouldn't give up that detector for any other (until the CTX was released any way)

Heres the advice I give to all new owners....
1- be patient and give yourself time to learn the detector. It will take a few hours to begin to understand it, and could easily take 100 hours to fully understand it.
2- read the book (you've done that), then play with the detector, then read the book again. things make a lot more sense the second time around.
3- put the detector into a factory mode for your hunting type and then leave it alone! At least for the first 10 or so hours. If you are constantly making changes, it's going to take you a lot longer to get the hang of it's responses. When you do start making changes, change one thing at a time and see how that affects target response. But DO turn on target trace and pinpoint trace. these are very important features.
4- in the beginning, dig it all! It will help you learn responses if you are digging all the positive hits for now. Also, take a minute with each target and scan it from all angles. swing slow. swing fast. Pay attention to the sounds, the FE-CO numbers and the target trace pattern.
5- use it a lot but DO NOT go back to your old detector until you are fully comfortable with the CTX. If you start going back and forth out of frustration then you are going to take a LONG time to understand the CTX.

 

[choppadude]

Don't sweat it, the harder you try the harder it gets. Like Jason said, take a breath and slow down. Read the manual then read it again then read it with the detector in your hand in your own yard.
5 years ago I was swinging a Whites 6000Di then I went to the Ace 350 then the AT Pro then the E Trac then the CTX3030 then the Deus and now just ordered a AKA Sorex pro. At first I was afraid to learn something new because I was so comfortable with what I had BUT I ventured and became frustrated. One thing I have come to realize is when you get frustrated you should also get excited because you are about to learn something.
This machine is a awesome detector and it will find deep coins and relics. I hit 120+ silvers this years with mine and I spent a lot of time running other machines so that is not even a full season on the CTX.
I suggest learning how to set your tones and tone bins to help you audibly decide if a target is worth digging or not. I can almost guarantee that if you stick with it in 3 months you will wonder why you struggles so much at first.
Good luck and if you need any tips feel free to PM me.

 

[MexGT]

You obviously need more than 4 hours of experience, its not that complicated as it seems to be, but its no turn on-and-go machine either. (unless you repeat the same site lol)

 

[IDXMonster]

Follow the above advice! I'm trying to understand how to transfer video and edit and this and that with my GoBro right now...it's f@$&cking FRUSTRATING!!! I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IM DOING!!! Am I going to sell it? HELL NO!! I'm going to figure it out and make it all it was meant to be,I'm not a quitter in ANY sense of the word!
Now,Grasshopper...I also used a 2001 Whites model before I acquired my Explorer and it was culture shock. I started with it at the beginning of 2015. In the previous 5 years with my Whites I'd found 22 silver coins. Last year with the Explorer,hunting the same places,I found 40+ silver coins. I bought a CTX this year just because I could. This season I've gotten 80+ silver coins. Numbers do NOT lie. If you're after old coins you have one of the,if not THE(arguable point here,but not open for argument right now) premier machines for doing exactly that. That's why I bought it. Not to make money,not to be a hotshot or keep up with my buddies...to find old coins...period. I did just that.
Take into account that it isn't the machine,but rather the operator who needs to get to know the machine. If it turns out that you simply do not want to pursue it,there's nothing I'm going to say to change your mind,nor do I feel obligated to do so. It takes time. A lot of time. Many many many many hunting hours are what it takes to learn any machine.
Turn on,select a mode(Coins is what I would do) and hunt. That's it. If that is overwhelming then someone's getting a good deal on a lightly used CTX. And,you will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime if you're a coin hunter.

 

[jimzz977]

Don't give up I know how you feel , I was using a T2 for 2yrs and knew the sounds and knew what's was trash and what wasn't . My friend sold me a etrac and like you I thought I made the biggest mistake and spent hundred of $$. Take the advise given I did and I just love my machine now, the biggest think use factory settings first, I'm barely now starting to explore new settings and got my machine in February, good luck

 

[IDXMonster]

Also...what Jason said about NOT reverting back to your ATP is key,my hunting buddy is making the transition from an ATP to an Explorer2. He hasn't had the best season ever but he stuck it out this season and is slowly beginning to see the enormous potential of the EX2. It will see and report things the ATP simply cannot.
As Choppa stated,don't try TOO HARD. At this point you have to completely trust what the CTX is telling you. Sometimes it will appear that it lied. In time,you will know that it did NOT lie,rather how you interpreted it was OFF base. No worries,it happens to the very best of operators.
While the ATP is a very good unit,the CTX,eTrac and Explorers operate differently via different technology,it takes awhile to get used to. Be confident that if you give it time,you would not think of going back.

 

[Pointman]

I felt the same way. I took both the AT Pro and CTX out together the first half dozen times. I would use the CTX for an hour or so and then switch out. It is just almost like learning a different language. After about 20 hours on the CTX I felt pretty good with it and THOUGHT I knew everything. Even after a year, I was still learning and squeezing just bit more from the programming and settings.

I called Bart (BBH) and asked him what he thought about pinpointing because I had such a hard time. He suggested that I lay some coins under a towel and practice. I took a piece of cardboard out and figured how to pinpoint within 20 minutes and this was after hours in the field with the machine. I also had the program settings that Bart gives to folks who buy from him and it helped immensely. I would suggest that you play around and learn how to program the machine that works best for you and go from there. Take some actual targets and set it up.

 

[mrwilburino]

What helped to ease my transition from non-minelaber to CTX swinger was to use the combined tone profile option to set the bins to the same tones and target ranges that I was more familiar with from using other machines. That, plus an open screen, made it easier to focus on getting the hang of what the fe/co numbers were telling me. Would have taken me longer using one of the pre-set's running 50 conductive and a lot of disc.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

CTX is very user friendly if you make a few adjustments. As stated change your ID profile from 50 tone to 4 Tone conductive combined ...

A trick to learn how any detector pinpopints, tape some coins on one side of about 6 pieces of cardboard in different positions then toss the card board targets coin side down on a piece of ground previously cleaned of targets and and locate the coins on the upside down cardboard.

 

[PowerDubs]

My biggest issue is not knowing what it is trying to tell me. On the AT Pro, as well as my earlier Ace 350, at least it had icons right on the screen- nickel, 1 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, ...

On the CTX there is nothing- and I'm not going to walk around with a clipboard- so I looked at VDI lists online and made a mental note- coins should mostly ring up 12-something.

So I put it in coin mode, and walked around for 4 hours. I had several targets show up in the white area on the screen but none of them were a 12 so I kept walking. None of the targets I hit locked onto a number and I was told the CTX is very good at ID and will hit hard on a good target which is why I kept walking. The few things I did dig for the hell of it were scrap.

 

[Jason in Enid]

My biggest issue is not knowing what it is trying to tell me. On the AT Pro, as well as my earlier Ace 350, at least it had icons right on the screen- nickel, 1 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, ...

On the CTX there is nothing- and I'm not going to walk around with a clipboard- so I looked at VDI lists online and made a mental note- coins should mostly ring up 12-something.

So I put it in coin mode, and walked around for 4 hours. I had several targets show up in the white area on the screen but none of them were a 12 so I kept walking. None of the targets I hit locked onto a number and I was told the CTX is very good at ID and will hit hard on a good target which is why I kept walking. The few things I did dig for the hell of it were scrap.

OK, first, when a detector is giving you icons like "cent, dime, etc." it's dumbing down the info. It's taking a lot of data and averaging it down, making a guess, and you are hoping it's correct. The problem with that is when coins gets deeper or mixed with other targets that guessing often goes completely wrong. This is why we say that you have to give the CTX some learning time. You don't have to carry a clipboard. In time you will know what common targets show as. Also, becuase the CTX isn't averaging the data display, you will see variations. DO NOT expect to see perfect response numbers. An air test of a dime might be 12-44, but in the ground the FE number might be 12, 11, 13, 14 or more. The CO number might be from 42-46. It all depends on the huge number of variables such are ground minerals, EMI, other targets nearby, target position, target corrosion, and others.

Learn to think of zones. Penny-dime zone, quarter zone, indianhead zone, etc. You are brand new to the detector, DIG MORE!!! the more you dig in the beginning, the more you will learn about what the detector is telling you.

Also, do not go use this in heavy iron infested, or super trashy sites for a while. Those are like expert use places. Start out in a simple park, beach or tot-lot. learn the language of the CTX.

 

[Geochem]

Don't sweat it, the harder you try the harder it gets. Like Jason said, take a breath and slow down. Read the manual then read it again then read it with the detector in your hand in your own yard.
5 years ago I was swinging a Whites 6000Di then I went to the Ace 350 then the AT Pro then the E Trac then the CTX3030 then the Deus and now just ordered a AKA Sorex pro. At first I was afraid to learn something new because I was so comfortable with what I had BUT I ventured and became frustrated. One thing I have come to realize is when you get frustrated you should also get excited because you are about to learn something.
This machine is a awesome detector and it will find deep coins and relics. I hit 120+ silvers this years with mine and I spent a lot of time running other machines so that is not even a full season on the CTX.
I suggest learning how to set your tones and tone bins to help you audibly decide if a target is worth digging or not. I can almost guarantee that if you stick with it in 3 months you will wonder why you struggles so much at first.
Good luck and if you need any tips feel free to PM me.

Chappa, you are very helpful to us who are newer to MD instruments learning!

 

[MexGT]

OK, first, when a detector is giving you icons like "cent, dime, etc." it's dumbing down the info. It's taking a lot of data and averaging it down, making a guess, and you are hoping it's correct. The problem with that is when coins gets deeper or mixed with other targets that guessing often goes completely wrong. This is why we say that you have to give the CTX some learning time. You don't have to carry a clipboard. In time you will know what common targets show as. Also, becuase the CTX isn't averaging the data display, you will see variations. DO NOT expect to see perfect response numbers. An air test of a dime might be 12-44, but in the ground the FE number might be 12, 11, 13, 14 or more. The CO number might be from 42-46. It all depends on the huge number of variables such are ground minerals, EMI, other targets nearby, target position, target corrosion, and others.

Learn to think of zones. Penny-dime zone, quarter zone, indianhead zone, etc. You are brand new to the detector, DIG MORE!!! the more you dig in the beginning, the more you will learn about what the detector is telling you.

Also, do not go use this in heavy iron infested, or super trashy sites for a while. Those are like expert use places. Start out in a simple park, beach or tot-lot. learn the language of the CTX.

To compliment Jasons post, he is trying to tell you to imagine this:



This is the coin mode in combined TONES, you can adjust the sections to whatever zones you want (increase or decrease the screen area of a specific tone) to sound once you get a target that falls into that zone it will beep with the tone you designate, therefore you can expect what to dig before doing a hole in the ground.

I have my specific program for the beach and I customized it to my likes and needs, works wonders for me, cant live without it.

 

[PowerDubs]

Just pulled a crusty wheat out of my back yard. First coin with the ctx. Blind luck, had no idea what I was diggin


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[Jason in Enid]

Just pulled a crusty wheat out of my back yard. First coin with the ctx. Blind luck, had no idea what I was diggin


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Congrats! Did you pay attention to the how it responded before you dug it?

 

[PowerDubs]

Just pulled this out of my yard. Haven't cleaned it yet, but it is silver, from 1816, and I think not U.S.?

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[mrwilburino]

Whoa!