X-terra 705 search coil

lawrence_1md

Full Member
Apr 22, 2013
147
51
Murphysboro, Illinois
Detector(s) used
Minelab CTX-3030, Minelab Explorer SE PRO, Minelab Excalibur ii
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I have the x-terra 705 with the standard 7.5 kHz 9" concentric coil. I have thought about getting a double-d coil to help in trash separation.

I understand there are many factors in detecting and I am fairly new. I have attempted to fine tune the settings and tried the different discrimination modes but i still struggle with false tones or tid's.

If I could link up with someone that has a xterra line metal detector that may help. I live in the southern illinois area. At times I question if this detector is really any quality at all.

You can pm me or email me at [email protected]

I'd be happy to answer any questions you may come up with.

Thanks
 

i dont have and xterra model but i do know this proper gb is very important and if not done properly can cause falsing. machines are sensitive to emi and can give false signals so maby try lower ur sen a bit and see if it helps. lastly swing slow and smooth i know on my machine if i swing too fast or stop suddenly if will false. pretend ur balancing an egg on ur coil nice and smooth. hope that helps cheers HH and GL
 

I am using the iPhone app for treasurenet and it may have posted this in the wrong section.

Any who... I use the auto ground balance. My sweep speed is about 2-3 second from left to right. Is this fast or slow?

Thanks for your input!
 

I am using the iPhone app for treasurenet and it may have posted this in the wrong section.

Any who... I use the auto ground balance. My sweep speed is about 2-3 second from left to right. Is this fast or slow?

Thanks for your input!
personally i sweep slower than that but u should be fine with that. what do u mean false tones or tid's ? are u saying that the machine is getting it worng or are u beeping when there is nothing there?
 

Sounds a little slow to me.
 

I use the 705. When setting up make sure you are in all metal. Check that there is nothing under the coil (no target) go into menu and first noise cancel. Hold the coil about 2 inches off the ground and keep still until it has loaded. Then ground balance. Hold the detector about 6 inches of the ground and pump the coil up and down towards the ground. Then sensitivity back it off to where you have a nice threshold tone. Yoi can ramp it up a few later. Make sure you have ground tracking on and then hit detect and away you go :) souls have no problems then.. And just a question.... Where you beside any electric cattle fences?
 

I'm hoping to go out tonight and try some of the suggestions if it doesn't rain. I'll let everyone know what change occurs.
 

So I just came back in and during my outing I've discovered that my minelab xterra 705 is a hound for aluminium an pull tabs!

I checked and readjusted my:
AM on
noise cancel -good
ground balance. -good
threshold - 3 is tolerable 5/6 is unbearable
sensitivity - 16
tracking on



Here's what I feel is odd, I can get a steady TID (32 or 44) which should be a dime or quarter. I use the pin point to get a location. I dig to find nothing there. I rescan the area and one of two things happen. 1 there is no identified TID or 2 the location has moved over 4 inches. Then the process starts all over. Almost as if it's a ghost coin not wishing to be found!

I went ahead and purchased a minelab dd coil and it is no difference between it and the concentric coil. I get the same results. Could my detector be faulty?

Most of my digs are the depth of 2 to 3 tick marks. (4-6 inches). My detector has indicated items at max depth but I have never dug one yet. I decided to grab a penny, a dime, a quarter and a recent pull tab then headed to my garden. I scanned the area to make sure nothing was below. I tested each item at different depths to see how they read on the TID, buried vs open air tests. The TIDs were the same but the depth the coin was at was no more than 4 inches. Anything deeper it would not detect. This made me wonder how can it detect and display buried items 10 inches or more but my garden test showed different?!

I did discover that my swing speed must have been too slow. Slow speeds did not pick up my buried test coins. I began faster speeds and it worked better.

Now I'm back to my original question, what the heck is going on?

Thanks for your input!
 

I have a 705 and I have had great luck with it. I have found all kind of stuff from colonial buttons to colonial coppers, and gold and silver jewelry. I auto ground balance, i run pattern 1 (target ID 2 upto 46) I live in Connecticut and are soil lets me run the sensitivity in the upper 20s. The rest of the setting are stock. I keep the volume up high to here ever little tone. I run the 18.75khz DD 9" coil. I have found a faster swing works better. And most of all i dig ever thing! There is a lot of help on the minelab wedsite. Look at Randy Horton E book on the xterra it is full of great stuff. Good luck and dig ever thing.
 

There's a video on YouTube for the XTerra by Malcolm Potter.. That's the settings I use.. Couldn't be easier to set up. I love the XTerra. Super deep too
 

I'd like to see that video. I'm trying to find it on YouTube.

Yes I had read that ebook off of the minelab website by digger. It had info in it but it didn't help me fine tune any of my problems out.

Maybe the area is just that trashy, I'm leaning towards a defective detector.
 

Well my 705 has to have the sensitivity set all the way to 30 to find gold and silver over 6 inches deep. This includes rings or bars. I have tried about every different setting on the machine and have come to the conclusion I got a dudd machine. It will not discrimate gold at all either. Turn your sensitivity all the way to 30.. Put it off the ground and do the ground balance then set it on the ground and do noise cancellation. Go to number four on the modes and then adjust it to where it hits 12 14 and everything above 30. Trash everything else. This is about the best coin shooting mode you will have. You wont get many tabs and I have got lots of coins. Of course you will not find gold on this setting but like I said, for coins other than gold it works great...
 

Thanks for the input. I tried your settings and my results were similar to my original post. I think this detector is a flop. Open air tests are dead on but that doesn't do me any good. Wonder what minelab would do if I sent it in for for warranty? Anyone ever do this?
 

I also have a 705 and i have been using it a little over a year now. First off, I never use the ground balance tracking. You can actually ground balance out your target this way. In regards to digging your coin, are you using the pin point mode on your detector to find your target? If so do you have a pin pointer? If you do I always try and locate the target before I start digging my plug. If its within 4" my Garrett pin pointer will usually pick it up. I then just dig my plug around that spot. In case you didn't know when pinpointing you use the center on your concentric coil to find your target. On the DD I use the front tip to find the target and then take a big step to the right and come at it from a 90 degree angle. That way you can visually draw and "X" where the target will be with the front of your coil.


Minelab has an owners forum where you can register for free and they have starter videos for you to reference.

In regards to depth I've dug silver dimes as deep as 8-10". That's using either the 9" concentric coil and or my 10X5 18.75 DD coil.

Some other thoughts...

I've never been able to place my sensitivity above 25 without getting tons of false signals. But I'm also in highly mineralized ground.

I always use AM mode unless there is tons of trash.

I swing fast not slow. Seems to work a lot better!

I never dig nickel TIDs, 95% of the time it is trash.
 

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