little disappointed with my x terra 705

[MEV]

Hello a few days ago i went with my friends for gold nuggets, the three of them had the gold bug 2 , me my x terra 705 18 ,75 khz double d elliptical coil, they found 6 nuggets me zero, i told them to borrow me one of the nuggets i buried it and i passed the coil over it nothing at all, it was about .08 of weight really small, the only way would my x eterra detect was to pass over it really but really slow i mean really slow

sencitivity 30
threshold 6
propecting mode 5
volume 30

 

[Old Longhair]

To detect really small pickers you need a smaller coil. I've tested with a .03g nugget, and found that the 6" HF DD has no trouble seeing it as long as it's shallow.

 

[pulltaber]

Hello a few days ago i went with my friends for gold nuggets, the three of them had the gold bug 2 , me my x terra 705 18 ,75 khz double d elliptical coil, they found 6 nuggets me zero, i told them to borrow me one of the nuggets i buried it and i passed the coil over it nothing at all, it was about .08 of weight really small, the only way would my x eterra detect was to pass over it really but really slow i mean really slow

sencitivity 30
threshold 6
propecting mode 5
volume 30

You may want to use prospecting mode 1. I have done some testing with some thin gold chains,it will not hit till I use mode 1.At that setting it will still null out on a bobby pin.

 

[pulltaber]

Here is a photo of the 0ne of the gold chains I am talking about

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?91,1925274

 

[MEV]

Thanks a lot guys for your information i will try mode one

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

also, go way slower then a 4 second swing speed. That's what the expert from ML told me a few years ago. He said us coin shooters swing our coils way too fast when it comes to looking gold nuggets.

 

[khouse]

The GB2 runs at 71kHz and your ML HF coil is 18.75. This will make a difference searching for gold. The 705 is a more versitile machine but the GB2 was built for finding gold only.

 

[foiler]

I have had no problem finding fine gold chain with the 705. Use an 18.75 coil and be in prospector mode. Most of the jewelry I find is in prospector mode.

 

[surfchunker]

I have had no problem finding fine gold chain with the 705. Use an 18.75 coil and be in prospector mode. Most of the jewelry I find is in prospector mode.

big difference between a chain and a small picker

 

[foiler]

I beg to differ. Fine wire gold chain to a metal detector is invisible to 90% of detectors and can have less mass than a 'picker' or flake gold.

 

[kai_gold]

Jewelry is often alloyed with higher conductors which can make a difference in mineralized ground. Also small gold can drop into the iron range in hot ground. Link shapes versus solid nugget shape or unusual flake shape. Clasps that are larger than links themselves. Enough variables to make a difficult comparison unless the chains were taken to the gold fields and compared possibly removing a link from the chain, but then composition of the gold still would not be the same. Not sure it is worth the effort to make the comparison.

 

[nero_design]

The original Gold Bugs usually operated at a much higher frequency (71Hz?) but the Gold Bug 2 Pro (depending on the coil used) operates at 19Hz which is about the same as the X-Terra 705's 10x5" DD HF 18.75Hz coil. They have less depth but greater sensitivity to very tiny bits of gold. What size were their coils? Was it the little 5" coil that they are coming with right now? Were they walking ahead of you? Were they more experienced than you? These factors may have some bearing on your own success but their detectors are not likely to be better than your own. Different coils will change the effect of the detectors though. You will also find that the 10x5" DD HF 18.75Hz coil will respond to nuggets down to about 1/3rd of a gram. That's about 0.33g. The nugget you referred to was much smaller than this. And remember also that a target in the AIR is going to respond closer to the coil than one buried in the ground. Placing your coil against the surface of the ground will give you the full depth of the detector.

The X-Terra 705 + 10x5" DD 18.75Hz coil has a depth of about 11 inches in mineralized ground and perhaps closer to 14 inches (absolute MAXIMUM on a large target) on non-mineralized ground. The smallest piece of gold it can detect is about 1/3 of the size of a grain of rice if it's right on the surface. Larger pieces can be found deeper. Typically, any gold nugget that is larger than 2 grains of rice in size is much easier to find. You need to use this coil slowly and keep it right on the ground. In the first 6 inches of depth, the X-Terra 705 is about as sensitive as the GPX-4500.... but it does go deeper than 6".

There's also a Minelab X-Terra coil called the 6" DD HF 18.75Hz coil which is easily 4 times more sensitive than the 10x5" coil, but it's so much smaller than it needs to be used more slowly just to cover the same amount of ground... a bit like trying to paint your house with a tiny paint brush. But that High Frequency 6" coil is incredibly sharp. You can find gold (on the surface) as small as 0.02 of a gram with this coil. Remember to adjust the sensitivity if you are picking up on tiny ironstone rocks.

Natural gold nuggets are not as conductive to metal detectors as other metals are...like copper and silver etc. Gold jewellery is always easier to find because the manufactured and refined Gold has copper and silver alloyed with it to make it harder. It also makes the gold 'louder' and more responsive to the electromagnetic field of a metal detector. So whilst natural gold nuggets are going to produce fainter signals, lead will also trigger an identical effect from a metal detector. Anyone who says they can tell the difference between a lead target and a gold nugget is pulling your leg. They sound identical.

If you want to test your detector, get some lead fishing sinkers and crush them into different shapes and sizes with a pair of pliers and place them on the ground. The target sounds will be louder on top of the ground than beneath the surface. To see what gold sounds like in the ground, drive yourself out to the mineralized ground of the goldfields and tape your lead target to the end of a strong stick. Now poke the stick into the ground at an angle so as not the break the mineralised crust on the surface. Push the nugget along under the surface crust at an angle and then see if your detector coil can hear it. If you stick the lead "nugget" straight into a vertical hole in the ground, you will be loosening the soil and also breaking the crust where the salts and minerals tend to form and dry out when it rains. So try to push it into the ground at an angle and leave the surface undisturbed. Using this method, you can easily see how gold will sound to your detector in the area you are in.

Your X-Terra 705 can certainly find gold in Prospecting Mode. If the nugget is quite small, it may not trigger a response in Coin & Relic mode. But that little 6" Coil in the 18.75Hz range is amazing. It's extremely sensitive and will even go deeper than your 10x5" DD HF coil. However it is so sensitive that you might need to turn DOWN the sensitivity of the detector should you start reacting to ironstone pebbles. This 6" coil is also waterproof and will enable you to place it into running creeks and rivers.... all the way up to the control box. Your detector is in pretty much default mode with the settings you gave... which is fine.

Three more tips:

#1. Turn ON the Beach Setting (a little Beach Umbrella symbol will appear on the screen)
for additional ability to screen out the effects of high mineralization in the Goldfield.

#2. Remember to turn OFF your Tracking Mode if in tracking when you find a target.

#3. Use your detector in ALL METAL Mode if you want absolute maximum sensitivity with any coil ...but a Discrimination Level of 5 in prospecting mode is fine.

 

[andyy]

Old thread but I still thought this the best place to add my opinion for other 705 prospectors. Maybe I'll get some advice from others experiencing the same issues.

I've been experimenting with the use of this detector in Arizona Bradshaw Mtns. I've found many areas where the ground is so mineralized that it becomes really difficult to hear a true signal. You swing the detector parallel to the ground (very slowly)and you get a lot of false signals. (very unstable) This is in prospecting mode and with a 18.75 DD elliptical coil. Ground Balance values showing anything less than 9, requires you to have to lower the sensitivity below 5 in order to stabilize the noise. But then of course this really seems to decrease depth that you can see the target. I use a .5g nugget to test and it's nearly unreadable. Larger targets seem to be the only hope in this type of soil. Just curious if others have run into areas like this in AZ and what they've done to counteract this. Thanks.

Andy

 

[brgordon17]

Hi Andy, that has been my experience also. There's nothing you can do to counteract those iron stones except to find an area that has less of them. Try the mullock heaps and old diggings as they tend to be a bit quieter. Alternatively, buy a PI machine. Dont get me wrong, I love the xterra but it's useless as a gold machine in highly mineralized areas. Anyone that says they can cope is using it in an area that isn't so littered with those damn little iron stones.

I should add, that the xterra will find gold in these areas, but only big gold that's close to the surface. Bigger gold will scream in comparison to the soft beeps that iron stone and small gold will give.