705 users

[gambler13]

Am thinking of upgrading from my Fisher F4 to the Xterra 705. Need some honest input. First off, I like the F4 except for some quirks, the pinpoint audio locks on sometimes, by this I mean when in PP and the audio indicates the target, sometimes moving away the audio keeps going off even if you lift the coil up in the air directly out in front of you. The other thing is that the F4 is very chatty, how is the 705? Give me your pro's and con's about your 705's.
Thanks

 

[7centsworth]

Well I have a 70 same as a 705 without a couple of features. Fishers are good detectors but known to be chattery. The 705 has auto ground balance auto ground tracking , 1, 2,3,4, or28 selectable tones. It also has two pin ponit modes regular and sizing. I have never used a f4 , but the 705 i spretty deep in my part of the country (kentucky). I have done pretty well with my x-terra . I have used several bounty hunter detectors and A fisher 1270 . The 1270 was a good metal detector but chattered alot. It would actually give me a headache. You can find a used one pretty cheap. Indian nation detectors have new ones at a good price right now also. Also do not over look the x-terra 505 .

 

[Digger]

I have owned them both. I still own a 705. To be honest, comparing the 705 to the F4 is not anywhere near an "apples to apples" comparison. I can't think of any area where the 705 would not dominate. So I won't spend a lot of time trying to "sell" you on the functionality of the X-705. I will, however, address a couple of the issues you posted about your F4.

The electronics of the F4 are decent, considering the price point. But I could never get past the build quality. It is just tough for me to take a metal detector seriously when the coil cable plugs in to the housing and doesn't have a screw on connector. But, that might just be me! I also believe the X-TERRAs are deeper seeking, more sensitive to small targets, separate targets better, have better discrimination cirtuitry, more stable and less succeptible to outside interference. In regard to the 705 vs the F4, The 705 is far less "chattery" than the F4. When I had F4, the detector got noisier the more discrimination I used. It almost seemed as if the software automatically increased the Sensitivity as the discrimination was increased? I've read where some manufacturers feel they must do this in order to keep people from noticing a decreased depth in discrimination modes. I know the F4 manual says to run the detector in all metal (auto tune) if you are getting chatter? By having an adjustible Noise Cancel channel, adjustible Threshold, adjustible Sensitivity and an adjustible Ground Balance, you are able to finely tune your X-TERRA for almost any hunting situation. Some adjust automatically. (e.g. NC, GB and tracking modes) And VFLEX technology reduces the effects of outside interference. With my X-TERRAs, I've not been able to tell any difference in detecting depth comparing all metal to full discriminate. And when I change discrimination levels, I do not have to tweak the Sensitivity or any other setting.

You mentioned a problem with your F4 pinpointing.....the 705 provided you two modes of pinpointing. Normal and Sizing. With Normal pinpoint, the target area gets smaller with each pass over the target. And you can detune it to make it even more precise. Sizing Pinpoint does not get smaller with each pass. I like sizing pinpoint as it allows me to approximate the size and shape of the target, while continuing to provide the TID. JMHO HH Randy

 

[Beale]

Nice to see you on here gambler. You will not be dissapointed withe the 705! Beale.

 

[mapper65]

I've had my 705 for about 3 months. I sold an old Tesoro Cortes that I bought used for next to nothing and only had it out 3 times. I knew that was going to like detecting but felt that modern technology had way surpassed the model of the Cortes that I had purchased. I come from a big family of Tesoro users and after doing a lot of research felt that for me, the 705 was going to be the best choice. Of course at first I was the rebel of the family but after everyone seeing the results in the hands of a newbie, something tells me that they will greatly consider Minelab should they decide to buy a new detector.

Last week I found my 500th coin with the 705. Depth has been very good ranging from unseen coins on top of the ground in high grass to a depth of about 8 inches. Prior to buying the 705 everyone that I knew that didn't own one said that the 705 had a high learning curve. After my first 3 weeks with the detector I felt that I was comfortable using nearly all of it's features. Shortly after that I ended up buying 4 additional coils for it and have found uses for each and every coil. The factory concentric coil is a great coil and there is nothing wrong with never buying any additional coils. What I have found is that certain coils will give you a little better results under the conditions that they were designed for.

If I would have to pick a con of the unit and this is stretching it a little only because you asked, it would have been nice if they would have used words on the display instead of symbols for Volume, Sensitivity, Ground Balance, etc.. I've gotten comfortable with them now but every now and then I have to take a second and think about the symbol that may currently be on the screen and what I'm trying to adjust.

 

[wizzo86]

I absolutely love my 705. IF it tells you it's a dime (36) it's a dime or a quarter (42) it's a quarter. Love the tdi numbers along with the sound. Have a garrett freedom 3 and upgraded to the 705. The 705 goes deeper and gives me more info, no comparison between the two. I have never used the F4 so can not answer that question. I just got a 6" concentric coil and the machine is the bomb in trashy areas with it. Picks out the goodies when trash is right there as well. Had a bleacher area that i could not do because of all the trash, no problem with the small coil it works around the trash. By and large I don't see how you could find a better machine for the bucks.