X-Terra 70

[Chris4Gold]

Does anyone else own one?

I have never used a detector before, so it took me some time to figure out what everything was for and in what sequence I should do things, but after a few weeks messing around, I thnk the x-terra 70 and I are getting along just fine!

My backyard is covered with metalic objects and was a good test site to get to know it. I did try and take it out a few times before really understanding what everything was about, which was a bit useless, but after learning how to ground ballance and noise cancel in both prospecting and coin & treasure mode, I feel pretty comforatble taking it anywhere and finding fun things to dig up.

I really wanted a Gold detector, but I figured Gold isn't always the most valuable treasure you can find when you are digging around for things from the past, although it does help if the object is made of Gold! So after watching a short film, http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=g7nSiOX9t6Y, I decided to buy 2 X-Terra 70's. I watched the operation instruction video online also before I bought them, so I knew basically how the machines operated which was a help when buying them.

When I first heard of Descriminative Metal Detectors a few years ago, they were well out of the normal persons budget and only really suited to the hardcore prospector who knew what he was doing. Today though, metal detectors are much more affordable and although their are more expensive units on the market, for the size of the punch the X-Terra 70 seems to be a pretty gifted machine.

Not only does it have a switchover from a pure coin and treasure hunting unit to a prospecting unit, but it also has a discrimination capacity to blank out unwanted targets. This is further expanded with a pure beach detecting capacity in both modes which can be used on highly mineralised soils when away from the coastline also.

So far I have tested it on the beach and in bushrock covered areas, but I must admit that this was while I was still learning about how to adjust the machine, so I returned some odd readings and inaccurate tones. But all in all, I am quite happy with how the X-Terra 70 works in general. I'm still hoping to find some gold around the place though, so heres hoping!

Would love to hear some of your settings and tips on using the X-Terra 70 if you own one too.

Good Hunting!

[xtmark]

Hi,

I got an xterra70 for similar reasons, blend of prospecting and treasure hunting. I've only given it a go around my property and a little out in a vic state forest, though am keen to try some beachcombing.

Treasure Hunting/Concentric coil
So far I've found the xterra70 really good at discrimination, mostly using the factory mode 1 or 3 for treasure hunting. The concentric is great at pinpointing too. The deepest i found something is about 5" in heavy clay, was a weird steel disk about 2" in diameter. I find i look at the depth indicator for interest sake but then not pay any attention and just dig, so not too sure how accurate the depth indicator is.

Sensitivity and threshold have to be adjusted occasionally, though the defaults seemed to work ok, i forget my current settings for those though.

Prospecting/DD coil
It seems to have good 'auto' stuff such as ground balancing, which was really helpful in the state forest though i did spend a couple of times digging up mineral rich rocks and not anything particularly great - i think i'll need to redo it as i am sure i ground balanced in IM mode and not All Metal as the instructions ask you to do even still the GB reading was as high as 28, sounds high but i don't know what to expect (at home in heavy clay soils it's only around 8  ). In the mineral  rich ground the detector still had a slight warbling sound (which leads me to believe needs more GB tuning) but still easily found lots of junk! - rifle shells, nails, cans,ring pulls ... out in the middle of nowhere!

The autotracking seems like a helpful feature but i haven't used it yet, might practice a little more before trusting myself with it.

Have you/anyone used the beach mode yet?

- Mark

[oldhorse]

great detectors. Only got a 30 but love it.  Learned it was best to detect beaches in all metal mode or you miss the goodies. Advantage of treasure detecting over gold prospecting is that a 1 ounce pretty gold piece of jewellery is worth more than 1 ounce of natural gold.

[austin]

i   love   my   x-terra30     i  have    found ; everything   from    gold   rings     to   modern    coins   &   very   old   coins

[bowie]

Gday i have an xterra 70 but like you am also learning but i have found that there is a lot of good movies on the xterra on youtube but like all practice is the best cheers happy hunting.

[Grath_728]

i also have the x-terra 30 and find that it is a good machine. lately, however, the sound keeps dropping out. anyone else have this problem? know how to fix it?

[philipml]

Hi to anyone here got an x-terra 705 month ago liked the lightness of it,I live in Melbourne 5 min drive to beaches so I have tested it on a few and found that it is great in dry sand (I use prospecting mode for greater depth)but as soon as I get anywhere near wet sand it goes crazy and I have tried all means of balancing even set the sensitivity to 1 and it still gave a long signal on every swing  that masks any real target signal  and if I go to coin mode it seems to behave eratic so if anyone has any ideas or maybe there is a hidden setting I don't know about,be great to hear from someone who has a 705.
Have had a sovereign for many years and that is fantastic in wet sand and in the water.
thanks for reading this hope I explained it well
Philip

[Snoopy36]

Hi Phil

Used my XTerra 705 for the first time over the weekend. It was awkward at first (like most things  ) but I felt I was getting the hang of it after about 5 hours of use (over three outings). Found about $33 in loose change, an old military button and a couple of copper coins. I found it to be very well balanced and comfortable to swing over extended period of time. It was the constant kneeling and getting up that I found got a bit tiring after a while (and I'm only 35!). My quads were caning last night from all the up and downs...

The sound on my machine kept dropping out in the first hour of use but it seemed to settle now - maybe it just needed to get warmed up. I auto ground balance and also use the tracking mode. But like the instruction says, as soon as I hit a target, I turn the tracking off otherwise it will ground balnce to the target itself after repeated swings over it.

I'm getting better with the pinpointing on it. What I don't get is why the TID number keeps changing when I pinpoint. For example, I might sweep over a dollar coin (32) and then when I pinpoint, the TID goes all over the place from -4 to 32. All good though. I was really good at pinpointing with my old basic machine (Gold Snoop Pro), with which I was able to pinpoint by just swinging the machine over a target repeatedly and being able to obtain a target digging a 4-5cm diameter hole. With the Xterra , the holes are more like 8cm in diameter but I'm sure in no time I'll be able to pluck a target out of the ground through a much smaller hole.

I haven't yet tried the xterra on the beach but mine came with a 5x10 DD coil (high freq) which apparently is great for the beach. Also there is a beach mode on the machine so I am really looking forward to trying that out.

My machine came with a big beautiful well-padded Minelab Bag but it's too much muckin around packing the MD in the bag. Do you use a bag? I might sell mine on ebay...

One last thing, sorry to drag on... How have you found the battery consumption on your machine? I use Energizer NiMH rechargeables and I get only 3-4 hours on them before they die. Had to cut two trips short because of this. I don't use headphones which might account for the short battery life.

Anyway, lemme know how you go - I;m always keen to hear from other XTerra 705 users...

Cheers
Snoopy
Nth Qld.

[bigpud]

Hi Phil, I have used the 705 on the beach and works a treat, i use coin and have auto tracking on with the beach umbrella icon on (beach)

Activating Ground Balance (Beach)
Press Ground Balance .
Press and hold Ground Balance for three
seconds. The beach umbrella icon will appear
to indicate that Ground Balance (Beach) is
activated.
To de-activate Ground Balance (Beach), press
and hold Ground Balance for three seconds.
The beach umbrella icon will disappear
indicating that Ground Balance (Beach) is deactivated

haha Snoopy I hear ya on the quads ouch alright  ,
I will check what batterys i am using but have used for at least 8hrs and still going strong, mind you yours goes beep beep more than mine i think from your pics

[Snoopy36]

I will check what batterys i am using but have used for at least 8hrs and still going strong, mind you yours goes beep beep more than mine i think from your pics

Bigpud - do you use headphones or speakers?

[bigpud]

  speakers mate.

[NewSouthCroweater]

Gday Xterror's,

Phil....as per bigpud said...switch on to beach mode .
Also, you probably need a DD coil for mineralsation and salt.
Nothing will touch a Sovereign on the beach and the Xterra wont come close in the wet stuff.
...well maybe an Etrac or and Excalibur...not sure

Snoop...glad you're having fun...mate, I get 30 hrs out of non rechargeable alkalines .
I too tried rechargeables in the Xt (they were ok in the Ace) but they dont last long enough so I paid the $ and wont go back to re-chargeables now.

Hope this helps a bit .
happy tecting

croweater

[philipml]

thankyou both for the reply pretty happy with the battery life with alkaline but I got some nim re charable that came with the 705 but they don't last long at all so I buy a pack of decent alkaline(not the cheap Chinese ones)and they are fine and I always carry spars,also I have tried the beach mode in prospecting mode and it was still noisy in wet sand but haven't tried beach mode in coin mode yet so I'll keep my fingers crossed but still happy in dry sand in prospecting mode found allot of 80's $1 $2  very tarnished  guess the other people who detect there miss the deep ones and it's not hard to dig sand,I also have a DD hi fr elliptical coil that I haven't tried in wet sand yet so got things to try.
thanks for the advice all
Philip

[NewSouthCroweater]

Phil,

I usually use coin mode/beach in the damp stuff.
But thanks for the tip...I'll have to give prospecting a try on the dry
....When I go to the beach that is (maybe 6 times per year)
Truth is I'm not fond of beach tectin.
Never have done too well.
Everyone here does it so its crowded and competitive
Oh yeah.. hey...don't go wetting that 5x10'' DD - it's not waterproof.

Croweater

[philipml]

tah
    don't know why they would make a coil not waterproof but I guess they want you to buy the 6 inch one that is waterproof so now it's off to minersden to buy that one, might be better than the elliptical for gold prospecting.
And your right about the beach thing Melbourne bay beaches get done to death so you got to go deeper or wait for a serious storm to move some sand.
Philip

[Mick in Dubbo]

 It sounds like the 705 may be malfunctioning. The X-terra's have been known to play up when it comes to the speaker. If the speaker cuts out again (probably a loose conection) then you can get it fixed under warrenty. The batteries should be lasting far longer than 4 hours! You should be getting around 20 hours out of it with normal batteries in it. Might be worth talking to your dealer about that one.
 As for pinpointing; there are numerous techniques that you can apply the the 705. Don't give too much creadence to the pinpoint visual display. It is helpful but not the bees knees. While the standard pinpoint gives you good info via the audio intensity, you can lift the coil a bit to narrow the field. You can manally detune the pinpoint  by going over the target in pinpoint. When you think you have it centred, press the pinpoint button twice more. This will give you an acurate pinpoint. Using the prosecting mode is also acurate. Actually, I find that with the 6in concentric coil on, that when I whip it over the target in prosecting mode, you can hear the width of the signal clearly. You've got the eexperiment a bit to get the right speed though. You also have the sizing pinpoint, but I don't know much about that.
 Mick Evans.

[dtclimber]

I have had the X-terra 70 for 12 months now and found some great stuff along the Melbourne/Mornington Peninsula Beaches. If you do go to the beach and get near the wet sands, dark sands or the exposed rocks on low tide(recomended) do not be scared to drop the sensitivity down into the single fugures. Depth will not be optimum but you will have clearer TID,s. Plug in the DD coil, but as mentioned earlier it is only weter resistant.
Cheers

[gold35]

XTerra and gold fields. I have used the Xterra in both Victoria and SA on old diggings areas. Found some nice little pieces, coins and tokens in both places. I always have the settings in prospecting mode, tracking on and the two key settings I play with are the iron mask and sensitivity. Iron mask generally set a 0 and sensitivity I play with between high teens to 30. Tones etc are a personal choice and I have set mine to hear that magic faint 'woof', usually indicating a small piece of gold or lead - I have picked up small lead shot and small gold in the same mullock heaps and even after all this time still find the sounds can be identical. The readings for lead usually are 4 or 8 but I believe that too ignore them can result in a loss. Off clear mullock heaps (pipe-clay) the terras lose any advantages over a PI detector - they lose depth etc and are very noisy. They are magnificent on clear mullock heaps if you are happy with small stuff.  I have done well on the heaps covered in rubbish that drive my 2200 crazy. I am reluctant to do any Terra searching on ground off the digging sites but although I use the 2200 I have the terra slung on my back - just in case.  Other terra tips are that I use headphones on the terra and for wet weather simply wrap the detector box in a clear plastic bag.