CTX 3030 - Balance and coil choice

[gsitexas]

Hi Randy,

First of all, thank you so much for your time and patience answering all the questions on this forum! It really is helpful to have an experience user such as yourself provide information regarding how the new CTX performs in real world conditions and what features of this new machine are likely to be most advantageous to the detectorist on this forum who shall we say "have been around the block a time or two".

I have seen several forum post where the weight of the CTX was discussed and many have complained that it is too heavy without even getting input from someone such as yourself who has actually spent time with this machine in the field.

I personally would be interested in your comments regarding detector balance and how much that balance changes as you implement the various optional coils. From a weight and balance perspective, how does this machine "feel" to use for for 6-8 hours compared to the E-trac? Does the balance change considerably when using the 6" and 15" coils or is this balance shift easy to offset or compensate for without wearing out your arm in short order?

Look forward to your reply and again, many thanks for your fantastic support in this forum!

Best regards,

Keith

 

[Digger]

Thanks. As someone who has endured the frustrations of a spinal injury for many years, I can attest to what neck, shoulder and back pain represents....... 24/7. As mentioned in the brochure, the balance of using the stock coil is far superior to any other detector I've used, with a similar size coil. The "extra weight" that some are complaining about is actually a bonus, from my perspective. By design, the CTX 3030 can have perfect balance with the stock coil. Since the armcup is adjustible (front to back), you can maintain that balance with the smaller coil by simply moving the armcup back a bit, or making the rod length a bit longer. I found that, when using the small coil, I needed to lengthen the rod for a more effective sweep pattern. And, although I've not used the larger 17" x 13" CTX coil, considering the design of the detector, I would think that moving the armcup forward, or making the rod length shorter, you should be able to offset the additional weight a larger coil provides. I'd encourage those who speculate this detector will exceed their ability to use it, consider balance and not weight. JMHO HH Randy