Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

[dlugosmi]

Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

Picked up an Xterra 50 a few months ago and have spent a few hours with it in the backyard. Not absolutely terrible performance but, in light of what I had heard about it before my purchase, I am certainly dissappointed.

Created a small test area with pocket change--items burried at a depth of 4-7 inches. Machine was ground balanced properly. With the sensitivity settings on low I could hardly get any signal at all many of the deeper ones it would passover with no response. With sensitivity turned up to 20 and volume cranked the responses were still very weak and the accuracy was okay at best. I then proceeded to detect around the entire yard and only picked up a few nails within an inch of the surface.

The ground in my section of North Jersey is mostly orange clay and perhaps this machine doesn't work well with that. I also planted a penny in 6inches of woodchips and was successful in finding it, but te signal was weak and accuracy was questionable on that one too. I haven't decided whether or not to ditch the machine yet (i'm leaning towards yes) but I figured I'd ask first, has anyone else had a poor experience with the Xterra 50---does anyone have suggestions for upgrades (possibly outside of the Minelab product line)--or suggestions in general?

Best Regards All,
Mike

 

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[Rifleman]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgr

If the 50 is like the 70, with the sensitivity going to 30, you need to turn the sensitivity up as high as possible until you get stuttering. At 20, you are only getting about 2/3 of the sensitivity. Where I live in Arizona, I can run anywhere from 26 to 30 with no problems. Someone said in another post that the sensitivity is fairly liner on the 70. I have made good deep finds with the sensitivity up towards 30. Be sure you are using the correct sweep speed also. At 20, it is not going anywhere near as deep as the machine is capable of. I suppose a lot depends on the soil also. Try turning the sensitivity up and see what happens. Turn it up until it gets unstable, then drop it down a couple of numbers and hunt. Most of the time I can hunt at 30, but not always. You can usually get away with higher sensitivity with the DD coils.

Good hunting, John K

 

[windrun]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

Mike - thank for share the story about X-Terra 50. I got a new X-Terra 50 last Saturday and put all together, then go outside for test. Then I put some coins, metals, foil, cans, etc. on the ground so you try that and hear the sound and see the display, you need to change the setting. John is right what he explained to you.

I have no problem with X-Terra 50 and work real great. Today I found a nice old quarter by two inches below and the X-Terra show two inches and prefect the beep sound, that is correct. Thank you, Minelab!

Richard

 

[dlugosmi]

At 20, you are only getting about 2/3

Thanks for the replies guys.

John
The sensitivity on my Xterra 50 maxes out at 20. So that's probably the equivalent of 30 on the Xterra 70. I've tried it at max (20) and I've tried stepping off a bit as well.

From what i understand concentric coils penetrate deeper than DDs and the larger the coil the deeper the penetration--is that correct?

Hmm...Still don't know. Maybe I'll give it some more time before I make any decision to dump it. Any addtional advice would be welcomed?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

Concentric coils do go deeper, but the width of the coil pattern narrows the deeper it goes so at max depth you are only seeing a small portion of the width of the coil and you have to overlap each pass more and more to get good coverage at max depth.

I have two Sov GT's and both of them have a WOT which is a DD coil and I love it. It is 15 inches wide and I have pulled up some deep targets with it. I have a used 18" EXcelerator (another DD coil) on the way to test at the beaches, if I like it I will buy it.

Good luck and good hunting............

 

[khouse]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgr

No detector picks up freshly buried targets as good as seasoned targets. After you set the GB bump it up two clicks. Run the sens at 18. This should do it. At the lowest sens level it will only go about 2 inches deep. This is the setting to use around the tot lot supports. Then crank the sens up to 18 and hit the rest.

 

[edgemano]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

i just got the xterra 50 and love it iam in up state NY lots of iron ore i have a 1c 10c 25c at 8" in my coin garden and the 50 picks all them up with the sensitivity at 14 and the dime is with some iron and still picks it up in disc, 2. the garden has been there for 7 months.
good luck and happy hunting 8)

 

[Gonehunting]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

Does the x50 have and adjustable Threshold if it does I would raise it some more,,,, I do on my 70 and it really punches into the ground... GH

 

[golddust]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

I resently got an x-50 and i really like it sounds like there may be a problem with your machine

 

[Gonehunting]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

Picked up an Xterra 50 a few months ago and have spent a few hours with it in the backyard. Not absolutely terrible performance but, in light of what I had heard about it before my purchase, I am certainly dissappointed.

Created a small test area with pocket change--items burried at a depth of 4-7 inches. Machine was ground balanced properly. With the sensitivity settings on low I could hardly get any signal at all many of the deeper ones it would passover with no response. With sensitivity turned up to 20 and volume cranked the responses were still very weak and the accuracy was okay at best. I then proceeded to detect around the entire yard and only picked up a few nails within an inch of the surface.

The ground in my section of North Jersey is mostly orange clay and perhaps this machine doesn't work well with that. I also planted a penny in 6inches of woodchips and was successful in finding it, but te signal was weak and accuracy was questionable on that one too. I haven't decided whether or not to ditch the machine yet (i'm leaning towards yes) but I figured I'd ask first, has anyone else had a poor experience with the Xterra 50---does anyone have suggestions for upgrades (possibly outside of the Minelab product line)--or suggestions in general?

Best Regards All,
Mike

Well what have you found out

 

[X-Terra70_TreasureHunter]

Re: Anyone Else Dissappointed in XTERRA 50-(North Jersey)-advice-keep it-v-upgrade

items newly buried will not produce the same ettie current that coins will that have bee
buried for years, the longer a coin has been buried the stronger the ettie current will be
thats why your test garden does not give you the same effect