I made a big decision sad but true

[G. E. Edwards]

Well guys and gals,

I'm going to be moving over to the whites detector forum. Last week I bought a Whites dual field PI, as you know I do 98% beach and salt water here in southern California, My CTX is heavy with the 17'' coil but a must for such a large areas. well in five day I found more gold and silver rings and change then I did in two months with the CTX. The difference is I dig every beep dry or wet sand that the PI sounds on, and to my surprise those slight whispers were all gold rings, very deep. My gold buyer was leaving town for a week so I did a quick sale with him before he left and didn't take any pictures to post, bummer! In the dry sand I have been digging quarters at nearly two feet, and they are green so others and myself missed many dollars worth. Before I moved to California I lived in the Gulf of Mexico, I used nothing but PI machines and made a killing on gold rings and chains. I love the CTX but for beach hunting the PI rewards me with gold, silver and lot of coins. So I'm going to put my CTX up for sale soon, with all three coils, new harness, wireless, and the box it came in. For land hunting , and I use to have one I'm getting a Whites beach hunter ID 300 with the 12'' coil it will punch down there real nice. I will still read all your posts and hope you come to the whites page to see all my goodies. Thanks for listen, Your always friend Gene

 

[hershey1]

I hate to see you move but the truth is in the pudding. Best of luck to you Gene and may the GOLD keep coming. HH

 

[DaytonaGold]

I think I may be heading that way myself soon. I spend at least 20 or more hours every week at the beach and I am not getting the results like those with PI machines. I just think gold isn't the ctx's focus, more of a coin machine at leat it seems that way to me.

 

[DukeOBass]

Believe me, I have contemplating dumping the CTX for many reasons - lack of balance, weight, flimsy arm cuff that torques the wrist and forearm. The only things I love are the speed and firmware flexibility. I have had to purchase a harness to be able to detect with this thing - my wrist and forearm have been killing me since the switch from the E-trac. You shouldn't have to buy anything else to help with the handling difficulties of this machine for the price they charge. I wish Minelab had come out with an E-trac Pro with all the features of the CTX (except waterproofing and the slow, inaccurate GPS). The machine package of the E-trac was much easier for me swing. They are also rewarding people who waited to purchase the machine with free coils and pin pointers, but nothing for their loyal customer who have owned multiple machines over the past years. Now, they'll come out with the E-trac Pro and I'll have to buy that to get back into a more comfortable package. I'd like to see a solid "V" shaped elongated cuff for the CTX as a free option to current owners who experiencing physical issue due to the current flimsy arm cuff.

 

[G. E. Edwards]

I hear what your saying after a few hours my arm had had it with the 17". Plus in the water it's like pushing a truck. I'm most likely going to put mine on consignment where I bought for$1500 or $ 1600. That will include all three coils, a new unused harness, the wireless thingy. I know for sure my finds will triple, they already have. Gene

 

[INSAYN]

GE, good to hear you are staying in the hunt just picking up a different gun.

I love seeing your great finds, and lust over the amount you recover.
We don't have warm beaches for the folks to deposit on, so I live vicariously through you.


Have you ever used a Minelab Excalibur?
I wonder how it compares to the Whites PI for finds?

 

[chadwick]

Noooooooooooooooooooo Gene my wife and I will miss you. As for minelab the days of customer service is over. It would be nice to be treated like a VIP on everything we buy now days but let's be realistic. Don t ever trust a man that doesn't say please or thank you as well as company's.

 

[G. E. Edwards]

Insayn, Yes I have used the excall II it's still under my bed broken, I had it hip mounted and we to dig a target it pull to hard on the battery wires and shorted out the board, they want $800 to fix it. so I just bought the CTX which is up for sale now. If the dealer I bought it from doesn't sell it in a month, I'll post it in the want ads here. I liked the excall but again the weight with the 15'' wot was heavy. I'm going to part it out soon on the want ads page. The PI dual field is light and deadly on deep gold, and as I said for trashy wet sand I'm going to buy the Whites beach hunter ID 300.

 

[robinb]

Early on I had a PI machine did not like it.

I tried one again a month ago for several sessions, it was too tiring, there is far to much iron in the water to dig, I also tried one again last friday, i don't think PI is for me.

I use the 3030 sand excalibur II in the sea.

The excalibur when I want to go deep and know I might have waves crashing over me.

 

[Nes (south Coast-CA)]

Basically what it all boils down to is what pleases you when detecting. Gold sinks in wet sand of any consistency and some of the best targets are too deep for most machines. It takes a storm to bring them to the surface again. The areas that Gene searches may be a lot different than the places you search. It's an individual choice. Good luck in your hunting... nes

 

[G. E. Edwards]

Nes is right, your area might be completely different then mine and your choice of detector as well. They all find stuff and each company hypes their detectors. so with that said I won't be posting anymore just gonna do my own thing. Good luck to all, Gene

 

[INSAYN]

Nes is right, your area might be completely different then mine and your choice of detector as well. They all find stuff and each company hypes their detectors. so with that said I won't be posting anymore just gonna do my own thing. Good luck to all, Gene

If you're not going to post on the CTX forum anymore, please get a GoPro rolling and put up some digs on YouTube to keep us drooling over your finds.

 

[SAGITTARIUS]

I have enjoyed all your posts and I would like to see more. I like to see success. I am way inland in west Texas and use my CTX for parks and houses. I am not going to sell it as I have sold two of them before but couldn't find a better land detector so I came back. However I bought a Whites Dual Field after reading your post and doing a lot of research. Being retired I will be making trip to the Texas coasts for fishing and surf hunting. Thank you for your posts. Don

 

[G. E. Edwards]

Hi guys and gals,

I was going to sell my CTX and get a Beach hunter ID 300, to go with my Dual field PI, but a good friend saw my post and warned me not to, said it's sucks in southern California, he would know he has one and it was awful on these beaches. So I'm keeping my CTX for land, parks, iron infested beach areas and detecting with my new found friend Peggy H. if we can ever coordinate a hunt together. I'm thinking that this heavy black sand really does a number on the depth of the CTX, but on land it is a killer machine. So I've been using my PI mostly so I'll be on the Whites forum for awhile. If I work up against the bank areas where there are lots of target mixed with lots of trash, you can bet that CTX will be in my sweaty little hands.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Interesting post. But this is simply going to go back to the debate of standard coin machines, versus pulse machines, on the beach.

Because there's no doubt that pulse machines can go deeper than standard coin/relic machines. No one is disputing that. However, the window of depth difference, over the years, has gotten very negligable. I remember in the old days (1980s and early '90s), the first beach pulse machines did indeed get more depth (especially if you're talking nasty minerals) than standard coin machines. However, in recent years, machines like the solvereign, excaliber, explorer, etc.... have closed that gap. So now, for example, you can find coins with "standard coin machines" to depths of 12" with regular coils. And even 14" or so with the Sov/Wot combo. Compare that to depths with beach pulse machines, and you'll see very little difference.

So then, assuming minerals aren't a big factor (that your beaches in question aren't gun-powder black/grey), then the truth is, you ought to be able to have gotten as much depth with your CTX on rings, as any pulse (within an inch or so anyhow). So that tells me that either a) your beaches have black sand that only a pulse can cut to get deeper, or b) that you're talking dainty fine thin rings that pulses are better on than standard coin machines.

And you make an interesting statement when you say that all those gold rings were "very deep". So therefore it's not a factor of the CTX's ability to find those rings, but rather, the depth they were at (which as I say, could be a factor of the particular sand/minerals you were on). In other words, we're not talking tinsel thin chains or earing studs here, as the pro/con factor.

So with all that said, here's the downsides to your abandoning your CTX in favor of a beach pulse machine: HEAVEN HELP YOU when you get on a nail-riddled beach. Maybe you're just working Baywatch clean touristy beaches *now*, and specifically one in which black sand was perhaps a problem. But if you ever get into good beach erosion where targets are everywhere, and depth or black sand is no longer the issue, you may just end up hating life with your pulse machine. Because if a bunch of sand gets stripped off and nails start being 50% or 70% of the targets, you will spend 50% to 70% of your time digging nails, while the guy with the CTX passes up all of them, and get 3x the amount of keepers you did (yes, rings included).

I don't know about your particular beach (the amount of iron nails and/or minerals), but up here where I'm at on Monterey bay, there has been no shortage of guys who .... just like you .... went out and bought pulse machines. And they are quite smug knowing they can cut any type of black sand, go deep or deeper than others of us with standard coin machines. And in addition, get tinsel fine chains we'll miss. They give us the smug superior machine nod, and head down to the beach along side of us. Imagine their surprise when they've dug 10 nails before they've even found their first coin or conductive target. I've seen so many pulse guys tuck their tale between their legs, leave nail riddled beaches, "in search of greener grounds" (cleaner beaches).

I realize that for something super touristy like some hawaiian or So. CA beaches, nails may be less of a factor (and black sand may mandate pulse). But just trying to bring balanced comment to your post.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

You may want to do some research on that "beach hunter ID" before you get one for wet salt ca beaches. I suppose you think you're going to keep such a machine on hand in case you run into an iron-riddled beach, eh? But in that case, why didn't you just keep the CTX around for such occasions? Because the beach hunter ID has gotten poor reviews for mineraled wet salt beaches. And I'm not talking "gunpowder black/grey" amount of minerals. But even just cinnimon tan/brown colored sand (moderate minerals). So you might want to do your research on this.

 

[stasys]

If CTX has Constant like all FBS try to use it on the clean beach without discrimination, CTX will work like PI. Once I compared my Explorer with Minelab SD Pi and I dint found anything special.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

that was my thought too, but I didn't go into that option. Because I don't know what type all-metal mode the CTX has. But ... for example .... if it's anything like the sov. or excal, then you're exactly right: If a person is wanting that extra little umph of depth or ability at odd or deep targets, presto, they can just put it in all-metal. On the Sov and excal, for example, it very much mimics a pulse (even in the sound as well). But no, it won't cut the minerals that a pulse can. But in almost every other way, it does seem to mimic a pulse's ability.

But it depends on the machine's all-metal mode. Some coin-machine's all metal mode (like the Exp. II, for instance) is very wimpy and monotone, and DOESN'T get deeper than disc.

 

[JimmyCT]

Gene,
I wish you the best of luck in your hunting expeditions! - Jim