X-Terra 70 or Quattro?

[grizzly bare]

Tax refund coming soon. Ready to buy a new detector. Relics, coin shooting, maybe some beach hunting. So is it the X-Terra 70 or the Quattro and why.

Thanks for the help

Grizzly bare

 

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[surfrat96]

I don't know anything about the x-terra, but had a Quattro for over a year and LOVED it! I used it mainly on the beach and dug some really deep holes!

Found it very user friendly and has a small learning curve. If you chose this detector, I highly recommend Andy Sabisch's book "Mastering the Quattro".

I wanted a water detector really bad, so I cashed in all my clad from the Quattro, and traded it in for a Excalibur 1000. Wished I could have kept it. When I save enough from the Excalibur, I hope to get another Quattro for a back up.

HH 8) surfrat

 

[grizzly bare]

Thanks surf,
This is exactly the kind of help I was looking for.

gb

 

[Born2Dtect]

I have had a Quattro for a year. It does find things. Operates well in fields, in wet and dry sand, trashy areas. I like it but do not love it. I would have liked to been able to afford the Explorer II. But for the money I am very satisfied with the Quattro. I found a large cent at 8", a quarter at 12" at the beach, and very small silver jewelry clasp at 12" in a playground area. I may not be the best at using the Quattro but I cannot tell if my doubts or times when I don't find things it is me or the detector. Bottom line is the Quattro good for the money.

Noticed the other day on a for sale detector area that there where a lot more X-Terra 70,50,30 for sell by buyers than Quattros, about 10 to 1 Quattro. This speaks volumes

Ed Donovan

 

[grizzly bare]

That's an argument that even I can understand! Thanks, Ed. I seem to be following in your footsteps here. I have my IDX PRO and love it but am seriously thinking of the Quattro now. Next year, probably a water machine.

grizzly bare

 

[edgemano]

I have a quattro mp i love this detector! i have had it for about a year found some cool goody's from 1890 hat pin a copper baby's ring , silver ring , some old coins.After going threw mastering the guattro book i leared a lot more about the quattro and found more thing wear i allready looked ween i first got the quttro

 

[neilo]

Minelab have ratings of their machines on their latest pamphlets.The X Terra range of machines is rated lower than the Sovereign in performance and the Sovereign is rated lower than the Quatro and Explorer2. So you can see the Xterra range are not in the same league as the Quatro. the Quatro is the one to get for sure.
Good hunting seeya Neilo

 

[Willy]

Depends on what you're looking for. If you plan on prospecting for gold, I'd say the X70. It seems to operate much like the MXT at high gain and over bad ground. It's also extremely sensitive to small targets. Depthwise, it seems to be at least as deep as any other high end detector in bad ground. It has a number of advantages over the MXT insofar as the disc./tone system is much better, has manual GB, is lighter, and has great life on only 4 AA's. When the 5x10" DD coil becomes widely available it should be one HOT prospecting detector. This carries over into jewellry hunting, enabling a person to find difficult targets (fine chains, ear studs) that other detectors will miss. It seems to handle iron much like a Tesoro and, coupled with the fast retune speed and the ability to jack up the sweep speed, lets a person cover a lot of ground while being able to handle trash. ...Willy.

 

[neilo]

The Quatro will handle salty beach conditions and mineralised ground conditions better than the Xterra. The Sensitivity on the Xterra will have generally have to be turned down in these conditions reducing the depth capabilities of the machine.Stick with the Quatro it is better suited to your needs. Seeya Neilo

 

[Willy]

The Quattro also comes with a DD coil, which makes a big difference when hunting over tough ground. The X70 will have DD coils soon. There are a few places taking preorders for the 5x10" DD coil for the X70. Regarding the ground handling capabilities, I can't really comment on the saltwater beach aspect, but mineralised ground is a different matter. Given the same size/type coils on both machines I wouldn't bet the farm on the Quattro handling the ground better. I'd think that the X70 would have a more sophisticated ground tracking system, given that it's much newer and, presumably, Minelab has had more time improve it. There's been much to-do about multifrequency vs. single frequency, but all I can say is that, in my highly mineralized ground, I haven't seen any advantage either way.. both can go deep. As an aside, when I had my MXT, sticking a 5x10 DD on it allowed me to operate it at maximum gain with no problems. Using the stock concentric coil, on the other hand, allowed me to run at about 2/3 of that sensitivity.. a pretty big difference. ..Willy.

 

[neilo]

There are a feild tests done on the Xterra 70 which might be worth a read. I have pulled coins out at over 12 inch in wet salty conditions with the Quatro, In one of the feild test of the Xterra was only able to acheive 8 inches. Mono coils detect deeper than double d coils . But in mineralised ground the double d is quieter and easier to identify signals. I know plenty of gold detectorists who only use mono coils in noisy ground with experience they are able to identify the good signals and take advantage of the extra depth these coils acheive. seeya Neilo.

Hi Willy

 

[Willy]

Hi Neilo. I basically use a DD coil (when available) for all my detecting. The reduced ground response allows me to run the detector at such high gain levels that greater depth AND sensitivity (to small targets) can be had over what can be achieved with a concentric coil. The problem with the concentric coil (remember, I'm NOT talking PI detectors) being used over my ground is that often the magnetite will produce an overload signal, regardless of sensitivity setting or brand. This goes beyond plain ol' ground noise. Successful nugget hunting requires a person to be able to distinguish between ground noise and targets.. at least if high gain levels are being used. It's interesting to see just what is left, at a number of sites I like to play around on, by people who run thier detectors too "stable". Yup, they get a nice, quiet machine; they also leave a lot of deep silver and gold in the ground. If a person is willing to listen to a bit of ground noise, the depths that a mere VLF detector will reach can be quite impressive. So far, despite the fact that my X70 has to be sent in for repair, I've been able to detect targets (coin sized) considerably deeper than 8". Yet again, I must state that this is in highly mineralised ground.. not a saltwater beach. On the other hand, if I want scary depth, out comes my PI. Right now it looks like the Pulse Devil will be in production this summer (fingers crossed) and, given what I've read so far, a lot of these depth discussions will become moot.. unless a person is hunting in an area of low mineralisation. One thing that has not been resolved is the minimum target size that it will detect; there may still be a niche available for a VLF.. really small targets. This basically applies to nasty ground. ...Willy.

 

[surfrat96]

I just received the new Western & Eastern Treasures magazine, and it features the Quattro in it's field test. You might want to read it.

HH 8) surfrat

 

[edgemano]

surfrat can you tell me what the field test had to say , i have a quattro thaks

 

[grizzly bare]

Everyone,
Thanks very much for all the input and suggestions. Have ordered the Quattro and it should be here sometime during the week.
Next question: What extra coils should I invest in? WOT? Platypus? Joey? Excelerator?

grizzly bare

 

[Visionquest]

Just one more point of reference. Just got back from a prospecting trip part of it in AZ. Hooked up with a local for some nugget shooting in a dry wash. We were using a SD2100, GP3000, Eureka, and Xterra 70 with the gold coil. The Xterra was put back in the truck pretty quickly as it wouldn't find the test nugget. It was checked to make sure it was working and it could find bullets etc, but the gold was pretty much invisible to it. It was a couple grains at least. All the other detectors of course could see it fine. For a machine that advertizes itself as a gold detector as well, it didn't impress me much.

 

[gollum]

Someone earlier posted that they would have an Explorer II instead. The Explorer is not a very "Turn on and Swing" type of detector. A fair learning curve and somewhat complicated. Not the Quattro. And as the quote from Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade....."You chose.......wisely" I've got an SD2000 modded, and an Excalibur, and my Quattro is BY FAR the easiest to use!

Good luck-Mike

 

[grizzly bare]

ALL,
Got the Quattro yesterday after work. Putting it together was a snap. Went out to my coin garden. One word. WOW!
Picked up every coin and was accurate on depth and composition. I have a 12' dime (just so I can laugh at myself) Hit it first time! Can't wait to get this jewel out on the fringes of the battlefields and ghosttowns.

A big thank you to all those who advised me to forget the X70 and go with the Quattro.

grizzly bare

 

[neilo]

Hi Grizzly If you want the better all round coil go for the Platypus,it out performs the standard coil being more sensitive to smaller targets and detects deeper giving much clearer signals.They nearly match the bigger 15inch wot coil as far as depth goes, and are much easier to pin point. try this site it will give you Andy Sabisch feild report on the coil and also where to get it. Good luck seeya Neilo

http://www.docsdetecting.com/docsplace/specordr.html

 

[Sandman]

Neilo, you hit the nail on the head with the Platypus coil suggestion.

Sandman