CTX 3030 vs XP DEUS

[pepperj]

I might suggest you give a look at the new Nokta machines getting VERY close to hitting the market. I won't believe it till I see it in action, but they are said to have faster separation then even the Deus. Because I hunt mostly high trash and iron infested areas the speed of the machine is my most important feature. This is why I purchased the Deus and also why I went with the 9" coil over the 11" coil. I was happy to sacrifice a tad of depth for better separation. This is what allows you to dig a plug that has a silver dime, a nail and a piece of tin in it. But when you dig it you know there is a good target there.

To research yet another machine is just-just..



Thanks for the heads up on the other option.

 

[Cross Potent]

I just recently switched to the Deus from the CTX. They're both incredible machines IMO. The CTX just destroys my shoulder after about 2 or 3 hours. I kicked butt with the CTX but I feel like I'm doing AT LEAST as good with the Deus. Don't really think you can go wrong with either. That said, I choose the Deus and plan on selling my CTX once I'm convinced there is no loss in depth with the switch. So far, don't think there is.

 

[Cross Potent]

I wish there was a 5" coil for the Deus! The 9 aint small enough. So the CTX 6" has the advantage there. The 6" is EXCELLENT for swinging in stubble! C'mon XP!

 

[thaison]

well i am very into weight training and i know alot of people who have sold thier ctx just because of the weight issue .but you might just be very strong in the arms everyone is differant so .its not just the weight tho .im heavy into electronics so much so that ive spent most my life analysing stuff like robotics and very sophisticated technology and i noticed something that im sure alot of people are going to argue with me about before i even say it .

the problem with the ctx is that when you go over iron it will sense the iron target then it takes approximatly 2 seconds for its circuitry to reset to search for the next target this means if you sweep and go over iron and then go over a coin within 2 cms of the iron its gonna take 2 seconds for the ctx to reset and the find the coin and if you do a sweep and sweep the iron and coin together the ctx will only see the iron .this is fbs tech main problem and its a pretty big one .i couldnt believe i paid $2600 for a machine thats cpu is so slow .i just dont get it i could put a cpu in the ctx and make it 3 times as fast and this would take me about a day to do but i guess it was a cost issue with minelab or something but even then mass brought cpus are pretty cheap so i dont understand why the ctx is so slow .

yes people are saying its faster than the etrac but the etrac is a snail and the ctx is not that much faster i just dont see how minelab justifies that price point .i guess you could say im dissapointed in minelab i have stuck by minelab for 5yrs now and always said they were the best but after 5 yrs ive seen some real major problems with fbs tech .its good tech if you wanna find a target that isnt amoungst iron but this is very rare considering there is alot of iron in most grounds everywhere .so while it can hit a coin by itself there is very few circumstance where this will be a advantage .this is why im a bit bitter over the ctx it almost makes me angry to a point because they release a machine that is supposed to be so much faster yet average vlfs machines are beating it in recovery time .its almost like minelab have overhyped this technology not just that because its fbs it uses multiple frequencys the problem with this is each freq takes up some of the cpu power slowing the machines reaction speed or as minelab call it recovery speed .so the cpu is working overtime and not giving much benefit .

if minelab put a more powerful cpu in the machine i can see it being a monster but as it is now 2 second wait on recovery is unacceptable and i guess this is why alot of my friends have also switched to the deus i mean i was skeptical at first and i didnt wanna believe it but when i tested the machine over and over again because im a perfectionist with anything electronic i wanna push things to the limits and try beat the makers of machines at thier own game i even put the minelab through some of my own cpu tests and programs and it failed a majority of the time i was quite upset over this as you can probably tell because i expect more out of minelab and to pay almost 3 k on a machine that gets dominated by the deus and some mid range metal detectors its a pain .its like minelab slapped all this stuff like gps and full colour lcd just to make the machine cost more and not really improve the overall performance .

i challenge anyone here to get a peice of iron and a coin and place the iron over the coin and if you can hear that coin i will accpet defeat but i aleady know you wont hear the coin cause i know how fbs works .anyway im not gonna argue with anyone people have thier favorite detector and i understand why people dont wanna admit that the ctx has real issues but if i put 6 peices of iron in the ground and i place a coin under them my deus will still ping on a coin with no problems if i do that with 1 piece of iron and 1 coin the ctx will null out and not even give a tone even with a fully open screen and this is the problem with fbs tech its just not fast enough.

 

[Jason in Enid]

the problem with the ctx is that when you go over iron it will sense the iron target then it takes approximatly 2 seconds for its circuitry to reset to search for the next target this means if you sweep and go over iron and then go over a coin within 2 cms of the iron its gonna take 2 seconds for the ctx to reset and the find the coin and if you do a sweep and sweep the iron and coin together the ctx will only see the iron .this is fbs tech main problem and its a pretty big one .i couldnt believe i paid $2600 for a machine thats cpu is so slow .i just dont get it i could put a cpu in the ctx and make it 3 times as fast and this would take me about a day to do but i guess it was a cost issue with minelab or something but even then mass brought cpus are pretty cheap so i dont understand why the ctx is so slow .

.

Absolute Bull shite!

 

[Silver Simon]

Absolute Bull shite!

I don't own a CTX, but I had an E-trac which was quite slow. I don't necessarily agree with this guy, but can you elaborate on your pov?

 

[thaison]

I've owned a Deus now for about 7 months. My hunting buddy Smittyman owns a CTX3030. We have hunted together quite a number of time. What I have to tell you might make you sad. But I honestly feel the Deus, around old home sites with heavy iron out produces the 3030 mainly due to it's extremely fast separation capabilities.

When we've hunted open farm field areas the CTX3030 has outperformed my Deus. Smittyman has that gigantic 18" coil and can cover twice as much ground in the same time and I believe gets more depth for sure then the Deus.

So to summarize: If most of your time is spent detecting around older home sites with iron the Deus would be my choice of machines. If you're doing more relic and coin hunting in open areas or fields the CTX3030 would be the way I would go.

Now, if the weight of a machine is important, meaning you're wanting to swing for days without getting tired the Deus blows the CTX3030 away. It's extremely lightweight and very well balanced. As for charging the Deus, you're simply plugging in 3 things as opposed to plugging in two things with the 3030. Not sure why that's an issue.

IF you truly want the best of both worlds buy one of each and you're all set. Just ask Vino!!!

i totally agree with what you say here my friend but even on open areas the ctx may have depth but the problem is if you in a open area and you have a coin in the ground next to iron the ctx3030 will miss the target 90% of the time so even on open areas its still bad .im not trying to bash the ctx dont get me wrong here but ive studied this machine to the ends of the earth and i can go anywhere with the deus and pull huge amounts of jewellry and coins out of the ground in massive amounts of trash yet i can pull one coin out with a nail next to it because the ctx nulls out over iron even the the ctx is 800 dollars more its rediculas and not acceptable in my eyes .the machine weighs a ton .its not that customizable because if you set up tones you may set up a tone for 12-38 right for coins but your still gonna get a beep on 10-38,11-38,9-38 the same beep because the way the bars are set up for tones which is highly annoying .when i go over a target with the deus i know 80-82 is a coin 90% of the time if the sound isnt cutting out this is another thing that annoyed me with the ctx everyone talks about customisable but the deus has so many programs so many options and its light as a feather and wireless i mean you cant get better than that im sorry but the ctx just cant beat the deus and maybe im being biased here but test the ctx vs the deus for yourself and if you guys can find why the ctx beats the deus ill eat my hat i swear lol .to me the ctx is overpriced has bells and whistles that you wont even use and is only good in open areas that have no trash which most the time most grounds have iron everywhere so it basically makes the ctx useless as a metal detector and i hope im not being to harsh with that comment .maybe because ive got the deus and realised how many hrs i spent on the field finding not much with the ctx only to go over the same fields with the deus and fine $120 in 3 days of sites that i hunted out to death .

i just think minelab has alot of work to do to make this fbs technology better .i mean its good having accurate target id but the deus has accurate target id to just when you get to 8inches it fades but the ctx does the same thing its numbers will go crazy if your looking for deep coins .you basically have to use sound to make a accurate decision weather to dig or not .sorry guys if im being harsh i got the deus 2 weeks ago and i guess im still annoyed at how much time i spent making programs and even reprograming the ctx3030 peramiters to make it even stronger only to realise this fbs tech is hopeless .

 

[thaison]

the problem with fbs tech is its 100 frequencys and that takes up alot of cpu power and slows the machine down hence why minelab recommend a 4 second sweep each way which is rediculas but that shows how slow the machine really is .when you can have a single freq machine like the deus and have lightning fast recovery and you can basically run with the machine and it will still out perform the ctx3030 like the more i think about it the more i just dont see a purpose for the ctx i really dont and im not trying to be mean but every situation i can think of the deus will do and the ctx wont .i know you guys prob think this guy dosnt know what hes on about or hes a deus fan boy but im a tech head from way back so much so that its a obsession of mine trying to solve problems that cant be solved i guess you could say and when i look at the ctx i see alot of problems but these problems might be able to be solved with a faster cpu but it would have to be very fast because the ctx is so slow i dont think people realise just how slow at recovery it actually is its snail slow .but then again a faster cpu is most money so minelab will probably release a ctx4040 make it faster and charge you 3500 which cost them nothing to make which is sad because im 100% sure that 2600 for a ctx3030 is not justifiable .

here is a example say you have a computer right ?
you have a really good harddrive in that computer ,you have a really good graphics card but then you put a average cpu in the computer .whats gonna happen is the cpu is going to bottleneck the whole computer .meaning the cpu will make the graphics card run slower than what the graphics card can put out .

and this is whats happening with the ctx atm .its got 100 freq but the problem is the cpu in the ctx3030 is bottlenecking the machine so even with 100 freqs its to slow to utilize its full potential so basically you get a huge amount of freqs with a machine that has huge potential to blow every detector out of the water but is ultimatly let down by its slow cpu and thats the honest truth guys im not a deus salesman and i loved minelab for many yrs but thats the honest truth the machine has so much potential to beat everything out there but its cpu lets it down big time i mean really minelab a 4 second sweep with a 2 second reset cmon guys we deserve better than that.

 

[thaison]

Absolute Bull shite!

i expected a response like this but thats ok your entitled to your opinion good sir .

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Can someone then please explain to me how I have found silver coins tainted red from being literally attached to iron? I once pulled a merc and had to dislodge the square nail from it. My Sovereign which supposedly sucks in iron once gave me a null and high tone at the same time(I know, I know) and 8 inches down I pulled a handmade colonial knife, all rusted with a brass pommel. The machine actually picked up the brass. With an open screen on my CTX I not only hear both good and bad targets at the same time I can see them both on the screen. People tend to watch TOO many YouTube videos instead of giving their machine a chance and learning it. Mike

 

[thaison]

Can someone then please explain to me how I have found silver coins tainted red from being literally attached to iron? I once pulled a merc and had to dislodge the square nail from it. My Sovereign which supposedly sucks in iron once gave me a null and high tone at the same time(I know, I know) and 8 inches down I pulled a handmade colonial knife, all rusted with a brass pommel. The machine actually picked up the brass. With an open screen on my CTX I not only hear both good and bad targets at the same time I can see them both on the screen. People tend to watch TOO many YouTube videos instead of giving their machine a chance and learning it. Mike

your entitled to your opinion and im not here to argue but one thing i know that is fact atm is that the ctx is being held back by a slower cpu than the machine needs to operate properly .you may be able to pull some good targets out now and again but ask yourself this how many targets have you missed and i know this is easy for me to say but next time your out borrow a deus from someone have it set up and go over the same ground you did with your ctx and i can put any money on it you will find alot of targets your ctx missed and i actually think the ctx looks cool like its got a nice design to it but the weight and performance let it down .

 

[MrMikeJackie]

your entitled to your opinion and im not here to argue but one thing i know that is fact atm is that the ctx is being held back by a slower cpu than the machine needs to operate properly .you may be able to pull some good targets out now and again but ask yourself this how many targets have you missed and i know this is easy for me to say but next time your out borrow a deus from someone have it set up and go over the same ground you did with your ctx and i can put any money on it you will find alot of targets your ctx missed and i actually think the ctx looks cool like its got a nice design to it but the weight and performance let it down .

That's cool man, no problem. You didn't answer the question however.

 

[thaison]

in fact i actually kept my ctx3030 for 3 months before i sold it just because it looked cool but the more i took it out in the back of my head because of the slow cpu i kept asking myself (how many targets am i missing constantly like i couldnt let it go) and i said to myself whats the point of having a metal detector that looks cool and has a nice screen if i know that im missing targets bases on its tech and i just couldnt justify keeping it i tried to make excuses and tried to love the machine but the more i tried to love it the more i couldnt let the fact go that the ctx does miss targets and it misses alot of them .without a slow full 4 second sweep each way the 2 second reset wont reset in time before you go over your next patch of ground meaning you will ultimatly miss coins and whatever other treasures your trying to find .i mean hey if you like your ctx ive got no problem with that by all means enjoy it .but i just think its unfair that minelab charge so much for a machine and your paying for a colour screen and waterproof ( even tho they used a o ring that dosnt actually waterproof the machine because anything with a o ring needs to be pressure tested in order to guarantee a proper seal everytime the cover is removed) so minelab made a real boo boo with that .hence why people are complaining of leaks and sending ctxs back after they submerge them .the thing is your not paying for better tech your paying for extras like waterproof which isnt even waterproof and a colour screen and i just think this is unfair for people who are metal detecting fans .

 

[thaison]

Can someone then please explain to me how I have found silver coins tainted red from being literally attached to iron? I once pulled a merc and had to dislodge the square nail from it. My Sovereign which supposedly sucks in iron once gave me a null and high tone at the same time(I know, I know) and 8 inches down I pulled a handmade colonial knife, all rusted with a brass pommel. The machine actually picked up the brass. With an open screen on my CTX I not only hear both good and bad targets at the same time I can see them both on the screen. People tend to watch TOO many YouTube videos instead of giving their machine a chance and learning it. Mike

can you guarantee what your saying is true because my whole metal detecting club tried this with alot of ctxs setup in all differant ways and none of them could find the coin with a nail on top or above it .maybe if the nail is off to one side the machine will see it simple because it will see the one direction the nail is not when you sweep but if the nail is directly above the coin or even just above the coin like 3-4 inches higher the ctx will not make a sound .

 

[MrMikeJackie]

Take a look at the second post on this thread. I know all about the Deus and it's capabilities. Fact of the matter is this, take the deus to a site you've never hunted before and "hunt it out", now go back with a ctx and I guarantee you will pull finds out. Now flip it! Take a ctx first, then go back with a deus and you will pull finds out. Or any machine for that matter. Does the deus have a faster processor, yes, does it handle iron better, supposedly. But unless the same person with the same skill level is using both machines at the same time on the same target, I don't believe you can compare one to the other. Just my opinion.

 

[thaison]

yes this is a youtube video but this shows you why im angry about the ctx because this is one demonstration of the problem and ive done 100 more like this even with metal and coins underground with fluffy ground and hard ground and it was the same result nothing .this is why i say the processor isnt fast enough cause the ctx cant even see a coin between 2 peices of iron yet the deus can see a coin in 6 pieces of iron .



im just trying to tell you that no matter how good you are with this machine if there is iron in the ground your gonna miss targets plain and simple .

 

[MrMikeJackie]

can you guarantee what your saying is true because my whole metal detecting club tried this with alot of ctxs setup in all differant ways and none of them could find the coin with a nail on top or above it .maybe if the nail is off to one side the machine will see it simple because it will see the one direction the nail is not when you sweep but if the nail is directly above the coin or even just above the coin like 3-4 inches higher the ctx will not make a sound .

Air tests on minelabs mean absolutely nothing to me, sorry.

 

[thaison]

Air tests on minelabs mean absolutely nothing to me, sorry.

this is why i said me and my whole metal detecting club have done ground tests over and over if you dont believe me do it yourself and you will see if the iron is above the coin the ctx will simple not see the target and thats the honest truth .you can deny and not want to admit that id be peed off to if i had a ctx and spent that kinda money which i did at one stage but i woke up and realised that the ctx is not as good as its hyped up to be and to not even be able to see a coin in irono is rediculas and the fact that a air test is not very differant to a ground test in the first place .alot of people just critisize air tests because they dont want to admit thier detector has a problem .as a matter of fact a air test is actually easier for the machine to pick the target up because there is no ground and minerals and metal to distract the machine .so if the machine has problems in the air imagine the problems its gonna have in the ground .get what im saying when you add ground to the picture now the machine has to work harder and if its already struggling in air god help you in ground .at the end of the day you can think what you want but ive been a electronic engineer for way to long and worked with some of the most sophisticated robotics the world has ever seen so i know my stuff but at the end of the day you will believe what you wanna believe and your entitled to that .happy hunting .

 

[MrMikeJackie]

this is why i said me and my whole metal detecting club have done ground tests over and over if you dont believe me do it yourself and you will see if the iron is above the coin the ctx will simple not see the target and thats the honest truth .you can deny and not want to admit that id be peed off to if i had a ctx and spent that kinda money which i did at one stage but i woke up and realised that the ctx is not as good as its hyped up to be and to not even be able to see a coin in irono is rediculas and the fact that a air test is not very differant to a ground test in the first place .alot of people just critisize air tests because they dont want to admit thier detector has a problem .as a matter of fact a air test is actually easier for the machine to pick the target up because there is no ground and minerals and metal to distract the machine .so if the machine has problems in the air imagine the problems its gonna have in the ground .get what im saying when you add ground to the picture now the machine has to work harder and if its already struggling in air god help you in ground .at the end of the day you can think what you want but ive been a electronic engineer for way to long and worked with some of the most sophisticated robotics the world has ever seen so i know my stuff but at the end of the day you will believe what you wanna believe and your entitled to that .happy hunting .

Reconstructed tests in dirt are air tests. Nothing more. Everyone knows FBS technology does not perform well in disturbed dirt and "air" tests. I can only speak from experience. Happy Hunting

 

[thaison]

so who made up that fact about minelab not performing well in disturbed dirt because if that is what minelab engineers are telling you they are having you on unfortunatly lol .fbs is multi frequency tech meaning it sends out at least 100 frequencys in actual fact fbs works better in disturbed dirt and air test because its not a single vlf freq so i dont know who is telling you this stuff but i think they having you on ?.

i know this because i deal with freqs everyday its apart of my job.