X-50 depth readings --are they correct??

[Dimeman]

My brother bought a used X-50 and has read the manual a few times and has been out for 6 or 7 times, a few hours each time, practicing with the detector and its abilities.Has has gotten some shallow clad coins and some junk items. So the detector is pinpointing and working ok.

At 4 inch and less, the targets are pinpointed and he can retrieve them fine. But when the depth shows 6 inches or more and pinpoints, he marks the spot. When digging the spot he can't locate the target.He has tried digging deeper than the depth shows and scans the dirt he has dug out of the hole.Even has tried feeling in the bottom and the sides of the hole in case the object was there ....dig a bit more, scan the hole, target still shows, and his hands in the hole feeling for the target. He just can't find the target...it still shows at the depth.

The problem is only at the 6 inch or more depth, he has no problems getting the targets at 4 inches or less.( He also has a PI detector and he has no problems getting shallow or deep targets dug up, at the beach)


Has anyone had this same problem, with the Xterras ?

( and I know some of you will want to make some smart alec comments, but please try to be constructive..he started detecting in January, you don't want to scare him off this early do you?)

 

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[DigDugNY]

Are you talking about normal ground, or at the beach? Because It works fine in soil, but at the beach his sensitivity might be off. i kno in the manual it says to use 10 or somethin like that, but if u look at the field test i looked at the guy said "I did try increasing the sensitivity from the preset of 12 to 20 & found that I could work the dry sand fine but had to back off to a high of 14 in the wet sand"..hope it helps

 

[Dimeman]

Are you talking about normal ground, or at the beach? Because It works fine in soil, but at the beach his sensitivity might be off. i kno in the manual it says to use 10 or somethin like that, but if u look at the field test i looked at the guy said "I did try increasing the sensitivity from the preset of 12 to 20 & found that I could work the dry sand fine but had to back off to a high of 14 in the wet sand"..hope it helps

This is dry dirt in city parks. Tried adjusting the sensitivity up and down and still the readings at 6 inches or more he can't seem to find the target after digging.

 

[DigDugNY]

Idk..mine seems to be working fine..are u sure its ground balanced right?. does he eventuallly find the target in a different spot or he doesnt find them at all? He might want to try to reset it back to the factory preset....its hard to tell since it doesnt happen to most others. If all else fails I'd have him call the person who had it last and ask if the same problem happened to them

 

[Dimeman]

Idk..mine seems to be working fine..are u sure its ground balanced right?. does he eventuallly find the target in a different spot or he doesnt find them at all? He might want to try to reset it back to the factory preset....its hard to tell since it doesnt happen to most others. If all else fails I'd have him call the person who had it last and ask if the same problem happened to them

He tries ground balancing and you go up the numbers until it beeps...well it never beeps.....up to the maximum number. Tried numerous times to do it and it doesn't get it set.....do you think that might be the problem...but he usually sets it at the average.. I think it is 16 and the detector does work..it senses a metal pole sticking out of the ground (playground swingset)about a foot away, with the stock coil..

How would you reset it to the factory preset??

 

[DigDugNY]

Well when u ground balance u have to have it in all metal mode and then hit ground balance. The number should come up for wut its at and he should hear a continuous tone and when he moves the detector up and down but not touchin the ground hes gonna have to set the numbers until he hardly hears the tone. As for setting it back to factory reset..it tells u how in the manual, cuz i dont have mine here and I dont remember.

 

[Dimeman]

Well when u ground balance u have to have it in all metal mode and then hit ground balance. The number should come up for wut its at and he should hear a continuous tone and when he moves the detector up and down but not touchin the ground, hes gonna have to set the numbers till the lowest tone is heard. As for setting it back to factory reset..it tells u how in the manual, cuz i dont have mine here and I dont remember.

It never makes the tone when ground balancing no matter how high he goes up on the numbers, and he does it in the all metal mode, as he "pumps" the detector up and down.
From what you have suggested and your insight,on this detector, It looks like he might have to do a reset. And it IS in the manual.

Thanks for the great replies.

 

[DigDugNY]

Yea I would say do that and if it seems to keep messing up, just have him take it to a detector place near him because I know that the x-terra 50 should perform a lot better than that. I didnt want him to have false hopes about it either because it is a great machine, but takes time. Im still getting use to mine. Your welcome, I hope it works out well for him, keep me updated on what happens.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Something to remember is that a detector is a marvelous instrument with a lot of technology going for it, but it is still a dumb machine. It measures conductivity and sensitivity to magnet fields. That's it. The depth display is based on an "average size" coin. Smaller objects will read deeper than they actually are and larger objects will read shallower. Your detector has eight or so icons/bars to identify the gozillion different bits of small metal that are in the ground. Consider the display and tones clues instead of facts and interpreret the targets by gathering as many clues as you can. Lift the coil, sweep in several directions, etc.

A handhelp pinpointer will help a great deal in finding buried coins. The ones I dig are always dirt colored after years of being buried in the local silt/clay soil. If a person is looking for a coin instead of a round, flat, dirt colored disc they would be easy to miss hereabouts.

I had a bunch of mystery targets that I could detect but never find. Finally I noticed the bits of glass and bulb bases in the area. A carnival had set up and apparantly tossed the dead golfball-sized lightbulbs from the midway lights in one spot, and then the park crew had mowed over them. I was hitting little 1/2" to 3/4" pieces of the nichrome wire that were all but invisible but gave great signals.

 

[Dimeman]

My brother and I went out a couple of weeks ago and went to a parks playground area to test the X50 again. He has dectected a few times in the past using my detectors ,but decided to get his own this year.

I had my M6 and got a dime at 7 inches, so I called him over to scan the target with his X50.
He got a reading of 8 inches so his detector is reading the depth correctly, and we figured he was either not digging deep enough or missing the target upon digging the hole. The pinpointing on the unit is very accurate on every target so far.

He felt better about his detector and actually found more coins than I found that day.

Thanks for the suggestions and replies.

 

[DigDugNY]

glad to see that it is working better for him...The x-50 is a good machine, you just have to get use to it....HH to both of u