Whites v3i in comparison to the 3030

[richrider99]

I respect your views! I hunt with friends who love there V3i. My point is if you look on the Whites site You will not find this type of trash talking. I see a lot of whites owner going to the others sites talking trash about other brands. Whites makes great detectors, But there are great detectors build by other makers also. I have own about 50 detectors over 15 years Garrett, Fisher, Whites, Minelab & Teroso

 

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[richrider99]

I agree with Mole Man 100% Find a detector you love , Do the home work. The issue it not who detector is better, who's wife is better looking, or who's dog is smarter. If you feel Whites is the best detector for you, then stay with Whites. For myself I was ready to take the jump to a top end detector, I do a lot of water hunting so the Minelab CTX3030 works for me. One slip in the water with a E-trac or V3i you have a $1,500 detector down the drain!

 

[norbyx]

I respect your views! I hunt with friends who love there V3i. My point is if you look on the Whites site You will not find this type of trash talking. I see a lot of whites owner going to the others sites talking trash about other brands. Whites makes great detectors, But there are great detectors build by other makers also. I have own about 50 detectors over 15 years Garrett, Fisher, Whites, Minelab & Teroso

I don't think that giving an opinion is trash talking. The title of this thread is v3i vs. 3030. You should expect people with v3i stating that they rather have the v3i than the 3030. Or did you expect all the posts to be in favor of the 3030 The 3030 has to be a good detector from all the things I read about it, but with its cost I would just keep my detector and eventually buy a real water detector if I wanted to do a lot of md in the water.

Sent from my iPhone using TreasureNet

 

[coinster]

Sorry!

My intent was not to degrade/trash a detector brand/model. I was only giving my opinion/findings between two very good well known detectors. My opening statement was, I have the CTX, V3i and the MXT and the CTX is a very nice machine. I think the misunderstanding was stating I agree with Woodland Detectors, howeverafter slowing down and reading woodlands statement several times, I agree with earthmansurfer, there seems to be something personal going on here but they have a right to their opinion as well.
I have used both machines and honestly feel I can give an honest opinion between the CTX and V3i as others. I’m sure the manufacture’s follow these forum/threads. The manufactures can and will expect the good, bad and ugly comments concerning their product(s) from users and I’m sure the comments/ideals help improve their products, there's pro’s and con’s to everything.
Earthman Surfer, thank you and others for your comments/opinions. I really enjoy reading/listening/learning from other people. I’m not much on making video’s but my consider the ideal.
I have several silver coins buried 10” plus in my test garden for approx 2 yrs. Before I read this thread, and early this morning I took three detectors out to this test garden that I have not used for over a year. The detectors were a CTX, V3i and my son’s XP Deus who also owns a V3i. My soil is mild to moderate, not as harsh as yours but currently very dry and very hard to dig (we need rain bad). I ran each detector over a silver quarter (10’’). My findings are as follows; each detector located the target, the V3i was on factory settings under the deep silver program, The CTX modified to recovery deep on, Sensitivity manual @ 30 discrimination open, the XP was modified (my son is not here so I can’t ask what his settings were). Now the V3i gave a good high auditable tone, the VDI’s jumped back and forth. The CTX, a low audible tone (not a high tone as I have set for silver) the TID jumped back and forth. The XP gave high audible tone and again the target ID jumped back and forth. If my soil conditions had been better the results may had been better concerning theVDI/TID. All three detectors settled down giving an Simi-accurate ID, however the CTX had a more difficult time and honestly I’m not sure if I would have dug the CTX findings had I not known what and where this target was. The CTX had a more difficult time concerning TID. These test favored the V3i with nothing modified just factory settings. Now perhaps if my settings were different concerning the CTX the results could have as well.

Happy hunting to all.

Mike

 

[Ism]

While I don't know a whole lot about the Minelab BBS or FBS, one thing I do know is it doesn't process the frequencies simultaniously as stated in an earlier post. Rather it steps through them in sequence somewhat like spread spectrum. The waveform has the appearance of throbbing and is fairly slow which probably lends to the slow recovery of those particular machines.

 

[richrider99]

Lets just say that the V3i & the CTX3030 are equal to each other in many way's But also better than the other in other way's. Both are top end units. Cost big bucks. One may go 1/2 deeper than the other, not worth fighting about! Both have a strong owner base. Both detectors are Excellent machines. Enough said!
Like Rodie King once said " Can't we all get along"

 

[Cxtopher]

As the originator of this thread, I think if you pay 2500.00 for a machine you should try and find out as much as you can about it before buying it, especially if you are considering a different brand than what you are used to swinging. If you look at my original post, it clearly stated that my previous detector was a Whites and since the 3030 is a new machine (my local dealer didn't even have his demo yet when posting) I was looking for opinions from people who have owned both machines on which machine they think is the best bang for the buck. So far the only posts that I have read that have been a wast of my time have been from richrider99. If you read back the majority of comments (good or bad) have all been posted by people who have both machines or people who have used both machines. Richrider99 we get it, you love your machine. If you don't like the comparisons you are reading, Get off my thread!

Thank you to all who have posted your responses regarding my original question! Your help is greatly appreciated! I am still considering the 3030, V3i and yes


Update... I just realized I received a personal message from Richrider99 on July 6th saying "If you don't like the CTX3030 then please stay off the Minelab site! Thereis a Whites site just for you!"

RICHRIDER99- - - -
SLOW DOWN, AND READ THIS POST VERY, VERY SLOWLY AGAIN SO YOU CAN FULLY COMPREHEND (THAT MEANS UNDERSTAND) IT. IF I WANTED OPINIONS ON THE V3I VERSES A DIFFERENT WHITES MACHINE, I WOULD HAVE POSTED MY ORIGINAL THREAD ON THE WHITES FORUM... OH AND IF YOU DON'T FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYIN, THAN ILS RESAYS IT FOR YA SO YA CAN GET ER ALL FIGURED STRAIT IN YUR NOGGIN. IFFIN YA DON'T LIKES DA SIDE BY SIDES COMPARINS UR READIN, STOP THINKIN SO HARD AND GETOFF MY THREAD!

P.S. I will not respond to any additional posts from you Richrider99 so no matter what you post or send me, I won't read it. Good Hunting to all!

 

[stasys]

Cxtopher, my suggestion if you have used Whites buy used white and used Etrac or Explorer and compare them, because what I see Ctx is from old FBS family, but looks like with some faster brains, dont have CTX to say something more, but I will never buy it, I think Minelab got crazy with price tag for item made in Indonesia from ABS plastic with carbon tube.
I have used and use all new-old Explorers and Etrac and they are very similar or the same without discrimination, but price used is different 300-600 for Explorer and from 900 for etrac, but not 2500 .
second very nice detector for relics is Tesoro Tejon with small coil and cost from 300 used. Tesoro will get some small stuff what FBS will miss and FBS will get all deep and you will dig very little Iron with foil.

 

[Realredrebel]

Just an observation... There would not be any used metal detectors unless someone bought and used it first... Most of my life I wasn't able to afford much... Now that I can when I want something and can afford it I get it... Someone has to buy the first one of anything.

Tim

Sent from my iPad using TreasureNet

 

[stasys]

Price is relative thing, if you can afford its Ok, but for me CTX looks a bit overpriced and heavy. maybe you can send me CTX for one month for test? Stasys

 

[Hosensack]

Stasys, Heavy it is not. The only comparison that is truly fair between the Explorer series and the CTX is that it's "functions" are similar. To explain what I mean better it is kind of like comparing the X-terra 305 to the 705 the similarities exist and there would be a degree of familiarity if you upgraded from one to the other. If someone already owned one of the upper end machines I would neither encourage or discourage getting the CTX 3030 unless they were looking for the shallow water advantage. However if someone was in the market to upgrade to a to of the line machine from a mid-upper unit, the CTX would be a large part of that conversation. I have minimal experience with the V3i and for that reason I stayed away from responding on here, but your reply is an example of the misconceptions about the CTX and Explorer series comparisons.

 

[stasys]

Stasys, Heavy it is not. The only comparison that is truly fair between the Explorer series and the CTX is that it's "functions" are similar. To explain what I mean better it is kind of like comparing the X-terra 305 to the 705 the similarities exist and there would be a degree of familiarity if you upgraded from one to the other. If someone already owned one of the upper end machines I would neither encourage or discourage getting the CTX 3030 unless they were looking for the shallow water advantage. However if someone was in the market to upgrade to a to of the line machine from a mid-upper unit, the CTX would be a large part of that conversation. I have minimal experience with the V3i and for that reason I stayed away from responding on here, but your reply is an example of the misconceptions about the CTX and Explorer series comparisons.

Disagree with you about my ,,misconceptions.. about the CTX and Explorer series comparisons. I am sure inside very similar boards, just cant proove because dont have CTX. similar Minelab statement I heard with Etrac----Etrac is not Explorer, but actually Etrac is old Explorer with few differences, everything what Erac has explorers had from the 1999, except faster processor. But I dont say CTX is not good or worst like old FBS,because I dont own it.

 

[Hosensack]

That's exactly what I am referring to. Everyone is comparing them based on the similarities. The unique features on the CTX are what set it apart, in functionality and target ID whether you hunt audibly, visually or both. Are those features for everyone? No. But you have to actually use one and utilize the unique features to fairly compare.

 

[norbyx]

Well My friends, I like this thread, don't get me wrong but after reading and posting on it I think that we should get to a conclusion, and this is the conclusion I got:

Both machines are great machines, V3i wins in some cases, CXT wins in some others.

V3i Advantages, well it has a lower price, it has a superb company behind it, it can and will ID better a find than the CXT

CXT advantades, Waterproof, and you have the new kid in town MD.

Other than that both machines compare pretty much in everything.

Conclusion well every one should make it's own conclusion in regards of what are the needs of each individual. You can't go wrong with eather of them. I stay with my V3i because I don't need a water detector, I rather have separate land and water detectors. But that is just me.

 

[earthmansurfer]

norbyx - I'm not exaggerating when I say in the last two hunts (7 hours) I pulled 7 coins from 8" and 4 from 9" (including two silver) that the V3i wouldn't peep on and that the E-Trac missed on going over that ground countless times. The ground here for me made the difference. I can't say the CTX is better than the V3i or E-Trac, I can only say it is in my ground. I do notice the CTX is MUCH FASTER than the E-Trac, but it is using FBS which still doesn't rely on raw speed - it mixes aspects of time domain in it. I imagine that is how it does so well with in ground targets.

As far as VID, the CTX, again - in my ground, is spot on with VID at 8" -9" (the numbers vary by 2 or so - amazing). At 7" in my ground the VDI on the V3i was all over the place. How can you first say "Both machines are great machines, V3i wins in some cases, CXT wins in some others." and then say the following?

"it can and will ID better a find than the CXT" - You are leaving out ground. I got it on video. check youtube - earthmansurfer69 and see the E-Trac better the v3i in depth and it isn't even close but it's just in my ground. And the CTX is noticeably better with VID than the E-Trac.
"CXT advantades, Waterproof, and you have the new kid in town MD." - new kid in town? What kind of knock is that? I could care less about anything but my machine performing, new or old.

Also, this statement might once have been true - "it has a superb company behind it" - Minelab has certainly changed with regards to customer service. Whites is top notch, no doubt, something for most other companies to emulate.

We can agree it depends on the soil and that the CTX is very overpriced (I don't like the price one bit).
Albert

 

[stasys]

Albert why you looking numbers for finds in Germany? and in iron does CTX makes precize numbers? Stasys

norbyx - I'm not exaggerating when I say in the last two hunts (7 hours) I pulled 7 coins from 8" and 4 from 9" (including two silver) that the V3i wouldn't peep on and that the E-Trac missed on going over that ground countless times. The ground here for me made the difference. I can't say the CTX is better than the V3i or E-Trac, I can only say it is in my ground. I do notice the CTX is MUCH FASTER than the E-Trac, but it is using FBS which still doesn't rely on raw speed - it mixes aspects of time domain in it. I imagine that is how it does so well with in ground targets.

As far as VID, the CTX, again - in my ground, is spot on with VID at 8" -9" (the numbers vary by 2 or so - amazing). At 7" in my ground the VDI on the V3i was all over the place. How can you first say "Both machines are great machines, V3i wins in some cases, CXT wins in some others." and then say the following?

"it can and will ID better a find than the CXT" - You are leaving out ground. I got it on video. check youtube - earthmansurfer69 and see the E-Trac better the v3i in depth and it isn't even close but it's just in my ground. And the CTX is noticeably better with VID than the E-Trac.
"CXT advantades, Waterproof, and you have the new kid in town MD." - new kid in town? What kind of knock is that? I could care less about anything but my machine performing, new or old.

Also, this statement might once have been true - "it has a superb company behind it" - Minelab has certainly changed with regards to customer service. Whites is top notch, no doubt, something for most other companies to emulate.

We can agree it depends on the soil and that the CTX is very overpriced (I don't like the price one bit).
Albert

 

[tnsharpshooter]

Well,my CTX arrives tomorrow. I have 2 etracs and one V3i. Whoever thinks the target ID on the V3i is better or more stable than the etrac hasn't used an etrac. When IDing semi-deep or deep coins in clean ground I have seen the V3i struggle(severely bouncing VDIs, higher than actual, or lower than actual target VDI. And that was with peak V3i setings. The etrac's conductivre number varies very little if at all. With depth the etrac's ferrous number does in fact get bouncy or read high or low. I'm hearing the CTX's ferrous number is more stabilized than the etrac's. Put another way, take a silver dime in the 6inch or deeper strata in undistured ground and one has to bet the farm on if the coin is acually a silver dime I will choose the etrac to place my bet. Now there are plenty of utube videos out there to support the TID at depth differences. To add, to initially hit the supposed dime is a chore for me with V3i as opposed to etrac. Try scanning an 8 inch silver dime in undistured ground and you'll see it's very difficult to even get the V3i to sound off on it consistently. Coil position and sweep are absolutely critical in this process. The etrac will sound off much more consistently with varying coil speeds and coil position. It's all in the FBS versus VLF technology. Depth or better said soil has a smaller effect with the FBS technology. And we are talking operating in disc mode. If the CTX does anything better than the etrac holy moly the silver coin count in this country is fixin to take another big hit. The explorers and etracs have already gotten a bigger slice(substantially) in the last 10 years IMO. And from preliminary CTX finds thus far it seems nickels and IH cents are going to be increasing sucked out of the ground. Time will tell. Just this past weekend my brother and I did a night hunt. He was using his V3i with stock 10dd coil, I was using etrac with 6x8 sef coil. My brother hit a target and it was reading 4.5 inches 17 vdi, he said it seemed small when pinpointing, I went over and scanned with my etrac and 12-35/13-35 kept coming up. I suspecte IH cent and I said someting is wrong normally a 35 conductive on etrac equates usually to around 50-55 ish on V3i. Anyway we dug down around 3 inches and scanned the target again with both detectors this time the etrac read 12-35 consistently with 3 sweeps, the v3i read 17 again consistently with 3 sweeps. After recovery it turned out to be a button. I told my brother to place the button on the ground. The etrac again read
12-35, the V3i read 54. I didn't see any trash or iron around the target. I'm thinking the button was on edge. I have had this happen too when comparing these two detectors on wheat penny finds and not very deep either.

 

[earthmansurfer]

stasys - When I hunt prairies or meadows the VID's don't matter. But when I am in a park or where people frequented for the last 100 years or so (my favorite spots - silver is there), I like to have the good VID to hop over clad and such.
The CTX is definitely more stable with VID's than the E-Trac. Watch my videos and you'll see. In iron mineralized ground with ferrous coin on, I can get coins 1" deeper (around 9" depth) with the CTX and they don't bounce! If I go into high trash it is a bit like the E-Trac with bouncy numbers depending on the metal (zinc yes, silver no).

In iron it is still generally precise but somtimes it gets jumpy, but again better than the E-Trac. I'm working on a video now and will upload it later. You'll see exactly how a coin in iron behaves.

Albert

 

[stasys]

stasys - When I hunt prairies or meadows the VID's don't matter. But when I am in a park or where people frequented for the last 100 years or so (my favorite spots - silver is there), I like to have the good VID to hop over clad and such.
The CTX is definitely more stable with VID's than the E-Trac. Watch my videos and you'll see. In iron mineralized ground with ferrous coin on, I can get coins 1" deeper (around 9" depth) with the CTX and they don't bounce! If I go into high trash it is a bit like the E-Trac with bouncy numbers depending on the metal (zinc yes, silver no).

In iron it is still generally precise but somtimes it gets jumpy, but again better than the E-Trac. I'm working on a video now and will upload it later. You'll see exactly how a coin in iron behaves.

Albert

Thanks Albert for informative Videos More I see ctx videos more I convince its the same etrac but faster a bit, the same small step like before from Explorer to Etrac. you need to found Etrac or Explorer or other brand detector to make side by side comparison Videos on different targets. Plus I think more coins from the same spot can be related to your more experience, but not 100% because CTX. Stasys

 

[earthmansurfer]

Stasys - thx for the kind words and when you find a small spot, maybe 10ft X 40ft and work it with a machine for many hours from every possible direction, overlapping sweeps, etc. When the last hours there don't give you any more targets and then you get another machine and start pulling deeper coins like it's a new spot - IT IS NOT because one is familiar with the spot. Yeah, there can be missed targets, but not 15 or so at depth. And, I'm still learning the CTX, only 33 or so hours or so on it.

No more side by side videos for me for me (no money for an E-Trac). I know side by side comparisons is the best way, but it is not the only way. Evidence is evidence. Enough cirumstantial evidence is still a help, a pointer.

When I hunted this spot with the V3i first, I got nothing beyond 7" (but it did hit on silver at 8" once) - that in 20 hours of hunting. Then I got the E-Trac and started finding deeper coins. First day, no experience, and I had 3 or 4 of the deepest coins in my life. I observed that it was in the same spot I had hunted with the V3i. I was sure of it. A week later after more hunting I started comparing signals and I was right, the V3i just couldn't hit on them well in any frequency and with any setting changes. It is so obvious the E-Trac missed on these coins. For example, the silver dime at 8" was a few feet from a gold ring I found with the E-Trac. I know I had circled that tree many times as trees are prime targets and this one is right in the middle - I worked it many times. Same is true of the silver Dmark at 9" - right next to a tree.

The CTX is very similar to the E-Trac, but it has some ground settings that the E-Trac doesn't have. It seems much faster, not just a bit and the FBS2 unmasking ability is better in iron and better in iron mineralized ground. That is why this old hunted spot has opened up again. If you want to say it's an enhanced E-Trac I won't argue that point, I just wonder how enhanced My guess is around 20% more enhanced for 100% more $$$. OUCH But understand, the E-Trac was solid down to 8" it seemed. The CTX is solid down to 9" in this ground, give or take. So, there can be a lot of coins at that extra 1" - 1.5" of depth I'm not getting. And a lot more coins closer to iron that the E-Trac couldn't hit on.

One difference between us here, I have used both machines and hit this spot hard and am giving an opinion. You have used one machine, never hit this spot, and read posts on the other machine and are comparing past machine experiences to a newer one. Who do you think has a better idea?