yammy
Jr. Member
- May 19, 2019
- 22
- 18
- Detector(s) used
- Equinox 600, Golden Mask One 15 kHz, Whites DFX300mm, Quest Q40, Nokta Impact, Makro Racer.
- Primary Interest:
- Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Not seen any mention of the Quest X5 or indeed the X10 and as I have the X5 I thought I would share a few first impressions. Might help someone looking for a starter or backup machine.
I was originally going to buy the Q40 but on looking at the spec and talking to a dealer here in the UK there didn't seem to be any great reasons for buying it over the Q20.
Having decided on the Q20 I then thought I would take a look at the new X5 because on the surface at least it seemed not too far off the spec of the Q20 and, generally speaking I was right. Certainly in terms of value for money anyway. Not having a Q20 to compare it with I can't say if one is more sensitive than the other but what I can say is the X5 works great and is pretty much a switch on and go machine but with more user control if you want it.
Build quality on the X5 is pretty good. Feels very solid and no concerns that anything is going to break any time soon....unlike the Minelab Go Find 44 which is roughly the same price. Good entry level detector but not as well put together as the X5.
The X5 and X10 stem is not as adjustable as the Q series which have fully adjustable telescopic stems. The Q series are also a little more refined in the build department and have a more expensive slick look and feel to them. But we are talking aesthetics here and for the price the X5 is fine.
Like the Q series the X5/X10 have water resistant control boxes. So you can definitely detect in the rain without a cover but you can't submerse the control box in water. Not going to test that myself though! Detecting "after" it rains is a great idea but I really don't want to be detecting in the drizzle. Coil is fully waterproof.
I have only used the X5 very briefly on the beach and it worked great in the dry sand. Depth is quite impressive for a detector that cost so little. Price here in the UK is ÂŁ169/$213 although I think they are cheaper in the states? I was picking up targets down to around 8-9 inches in the dry although most were a lot closer to the surface. Discrimination seems to be pretty good too although I tend not to have it set too high on any detector. Pinpoint mode also works great. I have done air tests and the figures were very good but I think these sorts of test are pretty meaningless and just for fun so won't publish those results here.
In the wet sand well it is pretty much what I expected although it was better than some high end detectors. Had to back the sensitivity off a a little before it was useable but it did the job and was able to pick up a few targets down to around 5-6 inches. Maybe it goes deeper but I didn't find anything to prove that. I did try it in the water but couldn't get it to settle so left that as a no go. Others may have better luck but I would say this is not a salt "water" detector.
What else can I say about it? I like the charging port on the back of the control box. No batteries to worry about and you get around 20 hrs detecting on a charge. The X5 doesn't have wireless (X10 does) but I use a pair of cheap bluetooth headphones with a dongle in the headphone port and they work fine. There is also a built in flash light on the back of the control panel. Can't see why I would ever use that. Would rather have a backlight for the display but you need to move up to the Q series for that little refinement. The X5 is also incredibly light weight. Less than 1KG or for our US friends that's just over 2lbs. So you could swing this thing all day and not get tired.
Anyway, all in all I think the X5 is a great budget detector and definitely worth a look at this price point.
Hope that helps anyone looking for a budget machine? I should be out and about with it again next week so if anyone has any questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them.
I was originally going to buy the Q40 but on looking at the spec and talking to a dealer here in the UK there didn't seem to be any great reasons for buying it over the Q20.
Having decided on the Q20 I then thought I would take a look at the new X5 because on the surface at least it seemed not too far off the spec of the Q20 and, generally speaking I was right. Certainly in terms of value for money anyway. Not having a Q20 to compare it with I can't say if one is more sensitive than the other but what I can say is the X5 works great and is pretty much a switch on and go machine but with more user control if you want it.
Build quality on the X5 is pretty good. Feels very solid and no concerns that anything is going to break any time soon....unlike the Minelab Go Find 44 which is roughly the same price. Good entry level detector but not as well put together as the X5.
The X5 and X10 stem is not as adjustable as the Q series which have fully adjustable telescopic stems. The Q series are also a little more refined in the build department and have a more expensive slick look and feel to them. But we are talking aesthetics here and for the price the X5 is fine.
Like the Q series the X5/X10 have water resistant control boxes. So you can definitely detect in the rain without a cover but you can't submerse the control box in water. Not going to test that myself though! Detecting "after" it rains is a great idea but I really don't want to be detecting in the drizzle. Coil is fully waterproof.
I have only used the X5 very briefly on the beach and it worked great in the dry sand. Depth is quite impressive for a detector that cost so little. Price here in the UK is ÂŁ169/$213 although I think they are cheaper in the states? I was picking up targets down to around 8-9 inches in the dry although most were a lot closer to the surface. Discrimination seems to be pretty good too although I tend not to have it set too high on any detector. Pinpoint mode also works great. I have done air tests and the figures were very good but I think these sorts of test are pretty meaningless and just for fun so won't publish those results here.
In the wet sand well it is pretty much what I expected although it was better than some high end detectors. Had to back the sensitivity off a a little before it was useable but it did the job and was able to pick up a few targets down to around 5-6 inches. Maybe it goes deeper but I didn't find anything to prove that. I did try it in the water but couldn't get it to settle so left that as a no go. Others may have better luck but I would say this is not a salt "water" detector.
What else can I say about it? I like the charging port on the back of the control box. No batteries to worry about and you get around 20 hrs detecting on a charge. The X5 doesn't have wireless (X10 does) but I use a pair of cheap bluetooth headphones with a dongle in the headphone port and they work fine. There is also a built in flash light on the back of the control panel. Can't see why I would ever use that. Would rather have a backlight for the display but you need to move up to the Q series for that little refinement. The X5 is also incredibly light weight. Less than 1KG or for our US friends that's just over 2lbs. So you could swing this thing all day and not get tired.
Anyway, all in all I think the X5 is a great budget detector and definitely worth a look at this price point.
Hope that helps anyone looking for a budget machine? I should be out and about with it again next week so if anyone has any questions let me know and I will do my best to answer them.
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