Looking at Xtera 705 or Minelab Safari Any Suggestions

[Clad Daddy]

I've got a Xterra 305 and want to move up. I love the Xterra and think the options available on the 705 would be helpful. I like the multifrequency of the Safari, though. I mostly coinshoot and old farm place relics searching.. Ocassionally i go to a saltwater beach. Were don't have mineralized soil here and I don't plan on gold prospecting. Your thoughts would be appretiated.

 

[Old Longhair]

Toss up.
The 705 is a great relic hunter and coin shooter that can hold it's own prospecting and beach hunting as well.
The Safari is quite similar in terms of what information it delivers, it just does it differently, and is not as good in certain circumstances, and only marginally better in others.

I like the 705 better overall than my FBS machine for how I can specifically tailor it for different tasks. I'll take it over my FBS for hunting old homesteads due to how it handles iron and it's weight. For wet salt beach hunting the FBS is supposed to be better, but we have a number of members here that post some great finds on wet beaches with their Xterras too, so if FBS is actually better there, than it isn't by a huge amount.

Now I do like my FBS machine, and I'll keep it at least until I get an FBS2 unit, but it's a machine that I take to a site only after hunting it with my 705, and where I think that it might have an advantage in how it sees coins specifically. With the advent of the new Coiltek 3kHz coils for the Xterra, I really have even less incentive to take the FBS unit out.

 

[Clad Daddy]

That's what I wanted to hear from someone with experience on the machines. Thanks

 

[Digger]

Old Longhair made some good points. Both are good detectors and should meet your requirements. But as someone who hunts the same type of sites as you mentioned, I prefer the X-TERRA for several reasons...... It is much lighter weight and far better balanced. The sweep speed of the X-TERRA is far more forgiving than the Safari. By that I mean, in open farm areas, I can cover FAR more ground in a given period of time using the X-TERRA than I can the FBS driven Safari. When you are not really sure of where it is you need to concentrate your efforts, the time it takes to find that spot is very important. The Smart Coil design of the X-TERRA maintains a more stable "communication channel" between the detector and coil, than the Safari. This is very noticeable when sweeping the coil over rough terrain. As I said, both will meet your needs. But since you're already familiar with the X-TERRA 305, you already know the basics. And if you have extra coils, you can use them on the 705. JMHO HH Randy

 

[Clad Daddy]

Would ypu reccommend the gold pack 705 with the 18.5 Khz eliptical coil since I could use the stock coil off my 305. I think the purchase of a digger coil would fill in the low end.
thoughts?

 

[Old Longhair]

Would ypu reccommend the gold pack 705 with the 18.5 Khz eliptical coil since I could use the stock coil off my 305. I think the purchase of a digger coil would fill in the low end.
thoughts?

Sounds like a plan.
I would suggest calling several sponsors, not so much to pit them against each other on price, but what kind of packages (coil options) they'll do. I've heard of some that included Coiltek coils that were super deals.

 

[Digger]

Not a bad plan as that would give you one coil for each frequency. Just remember you can't use the 3kHz coil on the 305. Not that you'll want to, after you get a feel for the 705! HH Randy

 

[therover]

Like the others stated, it is much more lighter, faster recovery, has target and tone ID, and in my opinion, it will be much better coin shooter with the Digger coil on it, especially in sites where there is a lot of small iron.

I have hunted salt water beaches ( wet sand ) with the 3kHz 9 inch concentric ( remember, some of the coils are NOT WATERPROOF), and it did very well. I prefer to use waterproof coils when wet sanding and the Minelab 3kHz 9 inch concentric gives you the piece of mind of it being waterproof, as well as being able to run stable in the wet, salt sand due to it's frequency.

Since you will only be salt water beach hunting on occasion, the Safari would be marginally better in the wet sand. Venture into the dry sand with an 18kHz coil and you will beat the Safari hands down in the gold jewelry department. I have an E-Trac and use that on the salt water beaches on occasion so I do have experience with both the 705 and FBS units.

The only way I would pick the Safari over the 705 is if you would be hunting the wet sand at salt water beaches a lot (75% or more of your hunting time), or if you had bad soil conditions where an FBS unit would run smoother.

I will put a plug in for the Digger coil....it's an awesome coil. Just remember it is only water resistant, do don't dunk it !