Wayfarer
Member
I love my MXT, but wanted to see what all the hype was about so I bought a Minelab CTX 3030 last fall. With the early spring weather I've finally been able to get it out and have now hunted with it about a half-dozen times now as well as played around a lot with it in my backyard test garden.
The CTX is very nice. It balances perfectly, the ergonomics are the best of any detector I've ever used. It's smooth and I live the tones and audio qualities. No question I like it better than the V3i I finally gave up on. I hunt in old parks and schools mostly, and have been on a mission the last several years to get the last deep coins out of them that I can. The parks I hunt have been cleaned out for decades, by numerous hunters, clubs, even dealer detecting classes, but as we know, nothing's ever totally hunted out. In fact, these parks are the perfect test ground for deep coins since most of the surface (0" to 6") trash has been cleaned out. Even most of the pulltabs are gone now! Pretty much all I dig is deep non-ferrous targets.
I head right to the most hunted out part of the park, right by the big oak trees at the front by the sign. This is where I've hunted mostly with my new CTX. In about 20 hours of hunting, I've pulled 13 Wheaties, 12 of them dated before 1930, and they were all DEEP. Every one was carefully measured at between 7 and 8 inches. I really got the feeling I was reaching a whole new layer of old coins. Even an inch of extra depth can make a huge difference in hunted out areas. None of the targets were found near trash except one, that I thought for sure was deep iron but checked just be sure .. and it turned out to be a 1910 wheatie at 8 inches! (By the way, on the CTX, after experimenting with various settings, I hunt with an open screen, combined 5-tone audio, Auto +3 sensitivity, ferrous coin, fast ON, deep ON). I've been thinking I've finally found a detector that can beat my MXT.
So just to be sure I was going to start hunting exclusively with the CTX as my new deep coins in parks detector, I bought a new 10x12 SEF for my MXT, to give my MXT one last chance. First I tried my backyard test garden. Holy smokes! I was getting a solid hit on my 8 inch clad dime (buried 5 years now) and with a good VDI bouncing around between 72-80. With the D2 or 950 concentric I could just barely get a repeatable audio hit but no accurate VDI reading. My 6x10 would give the barest of audio blips about every 10th swing. But the 10x12 SEF was hitting it solid every swing with a good solid VDI coin indication on 3 out of 4 swings, BY FAR the best performance I've ever gotten out of any detector.
So out comes the CTX 3030 with the stock 11" DD coil. No matter how much I tweaked, I could only get a fairly decent audio signal, not as clean as the MXT but diggable, most of the time but with only occasional accurate ID. I would say that this translates into the MXT with the 10x12 SEF getting about an inch more depth than the CTX on deep coins.
Next up was my 7" dime next to a pulltab. Both are down 7" and the pulltab is 2 inches to the right of the dime. No detector I've ever had can separate out the dime from the pulltab. The two targets that close give a strong audio response but ID bounces all over the place. Even my V3i would just bounce all over without any indication of two separate targets - 3 freq pinpoint didn't do much good at this depth. The best detector in this test has been my MXT with the 6x10 elliptical. If I approach from the left (the side with the dime) and wiggle it back and forth right at the edge of detection on that side, I can usually get a repeatable coin VDI, but I have to get the swing JUST right, just the right coil control. No way in the real world without knowing the target in advance would I ever dig the signal though. My CTX will NOT give a repeatable coin ID no matter what settings I try or how I swing the coil. All I get is a fairly strong non-ferrous audio signal with jumpy ID. And forget the "Dual Trace" screen. Judging by the Minelab hype, you'd think you'd get two distinct patterns on the screen, one for the dime and one for the pulltab, but no, all you get is scattering and bouncing tones with no discernible pattern. Enter the MXT with 10x12. It was able to get a solid hit on the dime easily using my back and forth wiggle on the left side. Solid VDI numbers! The 10x12 SEF was both deeper than any of my other coils AND separated better than any of my non-sniper coils.
Fairly convinced now the 10x12 SEF would really bring the MXT back to the cutting edge, I headed out to my favorite hunted out park. I headed right to the same area where I had been using my CTX. In two hours I pulled two Wheaties, both 8", and an 1891 V-nickel at 9"! This particular 20'x20' spot might be the most hunted out 400 sq. ft. of park in Idaho, and smack dab in the center I find an 1891 V-nickel! Granted it wasn't the best signal. VDI'd as iron with an occasional bounce up into ferrous, but the audio was decent and repeatable. This was at preset sensitivity, disc at 3, and in alternate relic mode. Alternate relic mode is great for deep coins, by the way. The iron tone is silenced which lets the non-ferrous high tones sneak through a little better. The Wheaties had good solid repeatable tones and decent, but not perfect, VDI's - but still obvious diggable signals. I spent another couple hours in the same park digging deep trash just for the practice and to learn the new 10x12 coil. This coil is DEEP.
I know I had been over all of those targets with the CTX and did not get diggable signals. There was not any trash nearby, just isolated, but DEEP, coin signals, which is supposed to be what the CTX excels at.
Conclusion: After my highly unscientific and subjective test, I would say that the MXT with the 10x12 SEF coil is deeper in my soil (low iron mineralization) than the CTX 3030 with the stock 11" coil. Not by much, maybe by a half of an inch, but enough that it makes a difference. They say coils are what separates detector performance these days, and now I believe it. The 10x12 SEF made the MXT come alive and outperform the CTX at least on isolated deep coins. With all the great things I've been hearing about how well the 10x12 separates, I expect the performance advantage to be even bigger in the trash.
I was going to use the CTX for deep coins in parks and the MXT for when it's gets trashy, but now I'm not so sure. I may just end up using the MXT for everything and just switch out coils.
The CTX is very nice. It balances perfectly, the ergonomics are the best of any detector I've ever used. It's smooth and I live the tones and audio qualities. No question I like it better than the V3i I finally gave up on. I hunt in old parks and schools mostly, and have been on a mission the last several years to get the last deep coins out of them that I can. The parks I hunt have been cleaned out for decades, by numerous hunters, clubs, even dealer detecting classes, but as we know, nothing's ever totally hunted out. In fact, these parks are the perfect test ground for deep coins since most of the surface (0" to 6") trash has been cleaned out. Even most of the pulltabs are gone now! Pretty much all I dig is deep non-ferrous targets.
I head right to the most hunted out part of the park, right by the big oak trees at the front by the sign. This is where I've hunted mostly with my new CTX. In about 20 hours of hunting, I've pulled 13 Wheaties, 12 of them dated before 1930, and they were all DEEP. Every one was carefully measured at between 7 and 8 inches. I really got the feeling I was reaching a whole new layer of old coins. Even an inch of extra depth can make a huge difference in hunted out areas. None of the targets were found near trash except one, that I thought for sure was deep iron but checked just be sure .. and it turned out to be a 1910 wheatie at 8 inches! (By the way, on the CTX, after experimenting with various settings, I hunt with an open screen, combined 5-tone audio, Auto +3 sensitivity, ferrous coin, fast ON, deep ON). I've been thinking I've finally found a detector that can beat my MXT.
So just to be sure I was going to start hunting exclusively with the CTX as my new deep coins in parks detector, I bought a new 10x12 SEF for my MXT, to give my MXT one last chance. First I tried my backyard test garden. Holy smokes! I was getting a solid hit on my 8 inch clad dime (buried 5 years now) and with a good VDI bouncing around between 72-80. With the D2 or 950 concentric I could just barely get a repeatable audio hit but no accurate VDI reading. My 6x10 would give the barest of audio blips about every 10th swing. But the 10x12 SEF was hitting it solid every swing with a good solid VDI coin indication on 3 out of 4 swings, BY FAR the best performance I've ever gotten out of any detector.
So out comes the CTX 3030 with the stock 11" DD coil. No matter how much I tweaked, I could only get a fairly decent audio signal, not as clean as the MXT but diggable, most of the time but with only occasional accurate ID. I would say that this translates into the MXT with the 10x12 SEF getting about an inch more depth than the CTX on deep coins.
Next up was my 7" dime next to a pulltab. Both are down 7" and the pulltab is 2 inches to the right of the dime. No detector I've ever had can separate out the dime from the pulltab. The two targets that close give a strong audio response but ID bounces all over the place. Even my V3i would just bounce all over without any indication of two separate targets - 3 freq pinpoint didn't do much good at this depth. The best detector in this test has been my MXT with the 6x10 elliptical. If I approach from the left (the side with the dime) and wiggle it back and forth right at the edge of detection on that side, I can usually get a repeatable coin VDI, but I have to get the swing JUST right, just the right coil control. No way in the real world without knowing the target in advance would I ever dig the signal though. My CTX will NOT give a repeatable coin ID no matter what settings I try or how I swing the coil. All I get is a fairly strong non-ferrous audio signal with jumpy ID. And forget the "Dual Trace" screen. Judging by the Minelab hype, you'd think you'd get two distinct patterns on the screen, one for the dime and one for the pulltab, but no, all you get is scattering and bouncing tones with no discernible pattern. Enter the MXT with 10x12. It was able to get a solid hit on the dime easily using my back and forth wiggle on the left side. Solid VDI numbers! The 10x12 SEF was both deeper than any of my other coils AND separated better than any of my non-sniper coils.
Fairly convinced now the 10x12 SEF would really bring the MXT back to the cutting edge, I headed out to my favorite hunted out park. I headed right to the same area where I had been using my CTX. In two hours I pulled two Wheaties, both 8", and an 1891 V-nickel at 9"! This particular 20'x20' spot might be the most hunted out 400 sq. ft. of park in Idaho, and smack dab in the center I find an 1891 V-nickel! Granted it wasn't the best signal. VDI'd as iron with an occasional bounce up into ferrous, but the audio was decent and repeatable. This was at preset sensitivity, disc at 3, and in alternate relic mode. Alternate relic mode is great for deep coins, by the way. The iron tone is silenced which lets the non-ferrous high tones sneak through a little better. The Wheaties had good solid repeatable tones and decent, but not perfect, VDI's - but still obvious diggable signals. I spent another couple hours in the same park digging deep trash just for the practice and to learn the new 10x12 coil. This coil is DEEP.
I know I had been over all of those targets with the CTX and did not get diggable signals. There was not any trash nearby, just isolated, but DEEP, coin signals, which is supposed to be what the CTX excels at.
Conclusion: After my highly unscientific and subjective test, I would say that the MXT with the 10x12 SEF coil is deeper in my soil (low iron mineralization) than the CTX 3030 with the stock 11" coil. Not by much, maybe by a half of an inch, but enough that it makes a difference. They say coils are what separates detector performance these days, and now I believe it. The 10x12 SEF made the MXT come alive and outperform the CTX at least on isolated deep coins. With all the great things I've been hearing about how well the 10x12 separates, I expect the performance advantage to be even bigger in the trash.
I was going to use the CTX for deep coins in parks and the MXT for when it's gets trashy, but now I'm not so sure. I may just end up using the MXT for everything and just switch out coils.
I don't hold myself out as a CTX "expert" 
but I do call my myself an experienced detectorist though, and have owned and used a lot of machines over the decades. (I probably should have called this more "initial impressions of the CTX"
). You can read some of my other comparisons here on this forum and elsewhere on machines I've owned and used extensively (V3i, VX3, XL Pro, XLT, IDX Pro, Gold Bug Pro, Sovereign GT).