CTX first impressions...

[spdnj]

sorry for the length of this but hope it helps...
I had the opportunity to hunt a ctx for the first time. I took the machine to the shore to see how it would handle the be beach and salt water. Some history, I usually hunt an etrac, gt with wot or excal. The beach is not iron infested but does have some present so the following does not get into detail about finding things in trashy areas, but it does have some good info. I am not an auto sensitivity type of person, I did run the machine in auto for a short time to see how it handled but the following assessment was trying to run the sensitivity as hot as possible to see what the machine can do. For the record when the machine was in auto it ran as solid as can be in all places. I was trying out some different settings including some different discrimination patterns that were successful with the etrac so my settings varied. I will say up front that with this machine you are definitely not losing anything over the etrac. It is equal to or better at everything, I could not find anything the etrac did better yet. As far as depth, in air test is seems very close to etrac, on the beach we are sanded in here and targets were not abundant yet this early in the season. I was digging some deep targets but was not deep hunting as getting to know the machine was keeping me busy.
There are two places the etrac/gt/excal get chatty on our beaches. There is the area at the top of the high tide line where the sand is not as compressed as where the tide covered it completely and the sand is not as loose as the dry sand. The second area where the etrac/gt/excal get chatty is going in and out of the water, basically when the waves are going over and under the coil in the very shallow water, it tends to calm down once the coil is submerged or completely out of the water. So in the upper trouble area the ctx seemed pretty comparable to the etrac. On the rest of the beach I can run 28-30 sensitivity, in this area you need to pull it back one or two clicks or the chattering can get annoying. I never went below 26 and with that there is a little noise. For the record the machine was recommending 20. Once up in the dry sand you could run 30 all day long, down below this line in the wet sand 28-30 all day long. At a setting of 28-30 my etrac/gt/excal can get chatty going in and out of the water, the ctx

 

[aussiedigger]

What treasure did you find... Rings ? details please

 

[Digger]

Good initial analysis. I think when you realize how much information can be acquired by implementing Target Trace Pinpoint Sizing, you'll be able to analyze those "bouncy" mixed targets with accuracy. Looking forward to more of your posts. HH Randy

 

[spdnj]

Good initial analysis. I think when you realize how much information can be acquired by implementing Target Trace Pinpoint Sizing, you'll be able to analyze those "bouncy" mixed targets with accuracy. Looking forward to more of your posts. HH Randy

I agree Randy. It was just a lot to take in while in the dark and only hunting about 3-4 hours. The ctx gives you a lot of information on the screen. It is actually pretty amazing because the screen does not seem over crowded. Once I get more time with those new features it can only get better. I feel as though I was pretty good diciphering them on the etrac and the ctx gives you more information now

On last thing, and I have to say it was the one thing that agitated me today. I can't tell you how many times I went to hit the pinpoint button where it is on the etrac. The trigger button is great but hard habits die hard!! lol

As for finds just some clad and some earrings. I did not even check them yet but I don't think they were anything special.

 

[Blank Planet]

its interesting that i probably only used the etrac pinpoint button a few times but seems if i want the target trace info from the CTX i need to use the pinpoint trigger this is something new for me using a pin pointer on the machine i guess i just got good at knowing the coil and machine and didn't need it anyway thanks for the feedback look forward to more.

BP

 

[earthmansurfer]

With that said the machine seems to identify targets faster than the etrac. With the etrac you would hit a target but not get a reading until you took the coil off of it, with the ctx this is not the case. It puts a target on the screen immediately which is nice.

This is a nice tidbit. Coming from faster machines the delay on the E-Trac was always very annoying for me. I'm glad they fixed that problem.

Thanks for the tidbit about disc'ing out the first two CO line to increase stability on the E-Trac. I'll keep that in the back of my mind should the CTX ever false, as something to play with.

Thx,
Albert

 

[Digger]

seems if i want the target trace info from the CTX i need to use the pinpoint trigger

Not true. If you have Target Trace "turned on", the target trails appear "on the fly" as you detect. Now if you want those trails to linger around on the screen longer, then you "turn on" another program called Target Trace Pinpoint. And the images will remain on the screen until you release the Pinpoint trigger.

Both Target Trace and Target Trace Pinpoint are accessed via the "press and hold" technique of the Detect pad. HH Randy

[attachment 233842 targettraceandttpinpointactivated.png]

 

[earthmansurfer]

Generally, are the target trace features settings you would only use around iron or trash? And if there is a decent amount of iron there, would they generally be preferred? (Seems so from what I see in the threads so far)

Thx,
Albert

 

[Digger]

I run with Target Trace and Target Trace Pinpoint (sizing) all the time. As someone who likes to "hunt by ear" having the trail images on the display just enhances the abillity to properly identify targets. When I am in areas with lots of ferrous trash, I implement Ferrous - Coin separation. If I am hunting in an area with tons of modern trash, I like the High Trash separation. In the more open sites, with my moderately mineralized soil, I prefer Low trash separation. HH Randy

 

[TerraDigger]

"If you plan on using the gps track on the machine to completely cover an area in a tight pattern it is not realistic. On the beach we use a technique where we drag our scoop behind us to grid off an area. With the highest resolution 10x10 on the screen you will miss areas if you use it exclusively." spdnj


As I posted earlier, the GPS is not going to have enough 'resolution' to track coil sweeps. Contrary to others opinions it would. Not a fault of Minelab. Simply not available to civilian GPS at this point in time. Yet, it will have definite value in certain applications, like prospecting in open terrains..eg...desert/Outback.