XTerra 70 question

[Paul]

While coin shooting with my new minelab Xterra 70, I noticed something a little weird. After locating a likely target showing a good number on the screen, I often switch to pinpoint the object. When I do this, I noticed the numbers change dramatically. Sometimes they go from a number around 30 to a much lower number, even though it often is a good target.
Does anybody know why the numbers on the screen would vary so much when pinpointing as opposed to the regular hunting mode?
FYI, I normally shoot with the pre-program #1, discriminating both ends of the scale.
Has anybody else noticed this?
Paul

[rip]

Hi Paul,sorry i cant help but i have been looking into buying an exterra-70 myself.I'm hoping someone can answer your question and tell us anything else they might know about it ! Good Luck !

[John's Detectors]

Hello Paul, what is happening is you either have something else under your coil but most likely you just seeing some mineralization or ground noise. Mine will do the same thing and this would be normal. You have a fine instrument there and I have many hours behind the Xterra70 myself. What coil are you using Paul? Ok happy hunting to you and enjoy that X70! God Bless ya.

John Tomlinson,CET
John's Detectors
Blackwell,Tx.
Best Little Detector Shop in Texas!

[TonyinCT]

John makes some good points. Try a few targets on the surface and see what happens. This will help to narrow it down . The X70 is a pretty good detector and I now have a special on them with two coils and 4 years of warranty. Call me if anyone is interested.

[Paul]

I have the stock coil that came with it. I may decide to get a different one when I do some nugget hunting. Here is southern Oregon, there are a lot old mining claims, and some good size nuggets have been found.
Today I am heading off to the beach for a weekend of digging in the sand. The dealer at the mining shop recommended that I stay with the stock coil for the beach. I have checked a few sand volleyball courts, and it seems to do well. I'm curious to find out how much the beach sand and salt will affect it. I will try it in both the beach mode and regular programs.
I am happy with it so far, and find I'm digging very little junk, unfortunately, it seems to have a thing for pennies! Whenever I see a "32" on the screen, you can bet it's another one. I dug 29 of them out of a soccer field yesterday.
I find that nickels give a weak signal, and can easily be discriminated out.
You too?
Pocket full of pennies, Paul.

(I'm heading out the door now, and hopefully I'll make a post in the "Your Finds" area when I get back on sunday!)

[Dick from IA]

You're right, Paul, for some reason (maybe mineralization) in the pinpoint mode the VDI does read differently.

Here is a suggestion I got some time back. Once you've pinpointed the target, waggle the coil over the target in quick short strokes and the VDI will usually match what you read before going in PP mode.

But now, since the reading before pinpointing is usually "right on", I just disregard what it reads, pinpoint and dig it and it turns out to be what is says it was.

[Paul]

I had a chance to try out the X-Terra 70 at the beach. Unfortunately, just above the high tide line, it was littered with junk and so many cans, I overloaded the machine often. Nothing worth digging. Below the tide line, down to the surf, I searched in the beach mode, all metal and also program 1. None of them were very good. Anything below 3" was not discernable, unless it was a LARGE object. I think it would be nearly impossible to find any coins on wet sand below 3". I am very disappointed in its "wet sand" ability thus far. Has anybody else had good luck with this model? I'd be surprised.
I searched the dunes above the high tide line and above the normal use area, and found 1 older pocket knife and 1 star shaped charm. I ended up at a high school ballfield the rest of the time and found a few coins.
Paul

[Hightone]

Getting to know your detector can be discouraging at times. Oregon is a high mineralized state.. And not many detectors do well in wet salt sand. But it sounds like there may be some settings to get used to. When it comes to the beach, I don't know of any "turn on and go" detectors. Most need to set some control functions.

[Paul]

I definitely didn't "turn on and go". I spent most of the time adjusting the settings to find out what would work. I was constantly adjusting to find the best settings, ie. ground balance, (both manual and automatic) track (if targets were far apart as stated in the manuel) beach mode, all metal, pre-program 1, sensativity levels etc. Unfortunately, it performed poorly in all on wet sand unless the target, (my penny or quarter) was on or near the surface. I was told this was a good unit for the beach. I am truely disappointed, considering my $700 investment.

[Hightone]

Sorry to hear that. Maybe you need a different detector. The Whites M6 with a DD coil seems to work good at the beach (according to the videos at Whites site). Or maybe a different lower frequency coil. I wish I had the answer. Maybe finding out what others use and have success with. I thought Minelab was the creme of the crop.