Looking for honest opinions....

[V-man]

Hey All,

I have been metal detecting for just over a decade now... Almost exclusively hunt with the Minelab EXPLORER XS. Haven't been doing a whole lot of detecting over the past 5 years, but recently started up again... He's the question: When I bought the Explorer, I considered it the best all around detector on the market at the time... I've noticed that there are some new additions to the Minelab fleet... How do they compare to the XS? Are they significantly better or just sexier looking? What do they have that I don't? I'm thinking of upgrading, but don't want to be spending money on marginal performance upgrade... Has anyone done a comparison of new machine vs. original Explorer SX? Thanks in advance, V-man

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

I have an SE that is my backup machine for the Explorer II. You heard right, in my opinion the EII is a better machine than the SE. The EII is very similar to the XS but with a little faster processor. I could have got a lemon SE, but I have heard many old timers say the same thing. Keep what you have and avoid spending big bucks on a marginal improvements (at best). I have no experience with eTrac but to me it is the old saying... Fooled me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Unless ML comes out with a markedly better machine, I am saving my money! Shame on ML is all I'm say'ng.

Hope this helps, HH - BF

 

[Hotcz70]

I have and still use the EX2...E-Trac...and SE.

IMHO the SE does have two major upgrades: 1) the fact that the it WILL ID in the all metal pinpoint mode.

No one ever seems to mention that...and I feel it is an invaluable tool and helps me greatly when deciding whether or not to dig a deep questionable target.

3 steps in deciding whether or not I dig a target.

#1 SOUND

#2 cursor flutter or placement

#3 cursor movement and placement when I switch to all metal pinpoint.

The ID'ing all metal pinpoint feature is found exclusively on the SE.

Some feel that the EX2 handles iron better than the SE...but it is just all in what your ears interperet.

I felt the same way for a while but once you spend enough hours on it and get used to what it is saying in the iron...I truthfully feel it is better in the iron for me now

The SE does have a slightly faster processor...but I notice no big difference over the EX2.However I am able to hear a few more good signals coming through the nulls so that might be attributed to the slightly faster processor.

All this being said about the SE handling iron...that is also dependant on what coil you have on it. I hated it in iron with the slimline stock coil but with the newer SEF coils...pro coil...or even the Minelab 1050 coil which came stock on some newer EX2's...it is awesome in the iron for me.

The second major upgrade would the pro coil on the SE pro. It is a 360 degree turnaround from the stock coils on the XS and SE.

That fact alone opens all your old hunting sites again so you can rework them.

Another fact to consider would be that Minelab won't be producing replacement parts for the XS much longer...if they even still are. They will continue to work on the XS but it might become harder and harder to get fixed because of lack of replacement parts.

At this point...you might want to consider either a used EX2 or an SE pro in case the XS goes kapoot on you

 

[RandyNorthridgeca]

Might want to check out the Lost Treasure Magazine website. It has a nice fieldtest section that will give you more details on the differences of each detector.

Good Luck and HH

 

[CSA GHOST]

the 11" Pro coil is a good coil. You might consider adding the new coil to your XS as long as you aren't having issues with your XS.
GH,
David

 

[dewcon4414]

I hunt with Brian Scholfield and a couple of others that use the XS. They do VERY well with the XS. I dont think the XS has Ferr on it does it? I think it just goes to show that bells and whisles dont make the machine better that the last. The Etrac ... well it gave new comers to the party an out of the box advantage over us that had to learn the explorers. Iike my SE... but if i has an XS or II would i have bought one?? To answer that .... i havent bought an Etrac either. Like was mentioned.... get one of the new coils.... if you still have change left get some headphones. They are getting better as well.

Dew

 

[weequay]

V-Man,
I have used an XS since 2001. I,too have considered upgrading to an E-Trac. But I haven't. Reasons include that I feel really confident with my XS. I pretty much know when I have a quarter, a nickel, an indian, an old copper, or a penny/dime based solely on sound and cursor position and flutter.
I do not feel compromised on depth. (I hunt in ferrous, little to no ironmask, with high manual sensitivity, and use a WOT or SEF12x10). My biggest concern for the XS is 'recovery speed"--how quickly the scanner returns to normal detecting mode after sensing an object, esp iron, and also how quickly it locks onto a target. That latter point is subtle, and often requires going slow and rescanning with shorter swings. I suspect that the E-Trac is faster in this regard. So if I am huntin an open field with a buddy who uses an E-Trac, he will likely cover more territory faster than me. Such is life. Will I upgrade: most likely when the new E-Trac2 comes out, someday, hopefully with improved target tone to mimic the sweet sound of Explorer silver. Until then, I know my machine, and have confidence. To me, the biggest determinant to success is #1 finding a good spot, #2taking my time and being patient--which can be hard to do.
Good luck, David

 

[V-man]

Thanks Guys... Good info... I'll look into accessorizing with a new coil perhaps, but feel really confident with the XS... always looking to get better results, but feel I can still tweak and push the XS... Based on the implied marginal gains obtained on newer machines, I'm not willing to shell out $1K while the XS is still a solid work horse. Good stuff! V-man

 

[dewcon4414]

There maybe one huge disadvantage to having the XS in the future.... that would be MLs willingness to repair them. I agree finding a good spot is key to some of those great finds. I also agree those that tend to have a FAST recovery cover a lot of ground. But... a lot of those machine will process out weak signals, which means deep targets may be missed. Thats to our advantage when it comes to moving slow. Many of those fast processing machines cant run at the slowwww swing speed the explorer can without a lot of chatter. You just have to learn you cant cover the whole park, but patience in a good spot will always be on our side.

Dew

 

[Shambler]

Keep it. You shouldn't use pinpoint on a deep iffy target anyway. It's usually iffy because of an adjacent poor target that your pinpoint will inevitably lock on to - then you walk away from a good target. I haven't used pinpoint in over a year on my EXII. When it breaks (and you can't get it fixed), THEN upgrade. Pro-coil, however, is a must.

 

[Dave-IL]

when pinpointing so there would be no need to use EX2 pinpoint feature anyway.on most targets.You can just X the target
The first thing I learned when starting out on the SE was how important that ID'ing all metal pinpoint feature is on the SE and it has worked well for me when trying to get some help on deep iffy targets. The movement and action of the cursor when in that mode give some usable info that the EX2 does not because the EX2 does not ID when you switch to the AM pinpoint feature. I havent used the xs but I think Bryce told me it doesn't ID when pinpointing like the EX2 doesn't.
If you don't want to spend the extra money I would upgrade to an SEF coil ort pro coil if you like that one.
Bryce had both and let me use both on his EX2 and SE. I ended up ordering the SEF coil from kellyco because it was much more stable at higher sensitivity levels for me in IL. The pro coil seemed good and sensitive and is a good coil but the SEF coil seemed more sensitive and stable. Just my opinion but trust me the ID'ing all metal pinpoint feature on the SE is a great upgrade and helps a ton on deep iffy targets.

 

[stasys]

I use xs all the time in ferrous without discrimination and in special places in audio 1 or 2. dont see any point to buy new explorer 2 or Se they are all very slow, with xs i can get allot in iron that others missed but its very, very slow! i think next stop should be etrac, but cant say anything about because dont have it, but generally etrac still explorer but a bit faster--old xs with faster procesor, not new invention. keep your xs and save money for something ells. good luck Stasys

 

[Ed (Upstate NY)]

I upgraded to the SE Pro model this year after about 8 years with my original XS. If you have $1200.00 burning a hole in your pocket then upgrade to the SE. If not, upgrading your XS with the pro coil is a good choice. I haven't dug many more oldies with the SE that I did with the XS. Love them both. Still too heavy though !!!!

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

I get a lot of info from using pinpoint on my EII. Probably the best info I get is when the target sounds like it is say, 5" down, then the pinpoint sound comes on like it is 11" down - I know I have a tiny shallow target (most of the time). The opposite usually means a deep larger target (sounds deep/pinpoints shallow). I also like the EII/XS pinpoint since I can tell depth without even looking at the meter. I cannot remember for sure if I could tell depth by the sound of the SE pinpoint, I guess so by the loudness. I did like the VCO pinpoint on the SE.
Take care and HH - BF

 

[Shambler]

My statement about not using pinpoint on my EXII wasn't to compare it to the SE, it was to say pinpointing is for the most part not necessary in general. If you have a partially masked non-ferrous target at 8" and the ferrous target is above and to the side at 6", you'll inevitably get a strong lock while in no-motion all-metal pinpoint. I've watched SE users claim they don't have to dig because the pinpoint said it was a ferrous target just like they said, then have second thoughts and pull out a non-ferrous target. The same is true of any discriminating pinpointer (IE. F75 or F70).