Some X-TERRA 70 vs ADVANTAGE questions

[Czech]

Hello guys,

I am the Musketeer Advantage owner since 2003. I have to say I love its depth and its capability to recognize the ferrous targets. I dislike its weight. Sometimes I would like to know what am I diging... because Advantage is one single tone detector and I personally can't to hear difference between non-ferrous metals by hear. Yes I know there are some techniques - to increase the speed of coil or change the disc value... I also have to say it is not lightweight detector.

I wonder about buying the X-Terra 70.

Couldn't anybody to tell me, if does the X-Terra 70 go as deep or deeper as the Advantage can? And what about the large ferrous items? Doesn't the XT70 has problems to recognize them? And how can you compare the masking the small non-ferrous items by ferrous?

Many thanks for your comments.

 

[Digger]

Czech, I have also been an Advantage user since 2003. And, I love mine for the same reasons you mentioned. One thing I would tell you is that by moving the housing control back under the armrest, you will "lighten the load" of the Advantage. Doing so makes it much better balanced. You can accomplish this by either buying a separate mount kit (similar to the Sovereign Elite) or you could do it yourself by simply drilling out the two rivots holding the mount and reattaching it below the armrest.
The 9-inch concentric coil of the X-Terra vs the TS800 and TS1000 DD coils of the Advantage make it difficult to compare them for raw depth. You know that each coil has it's benefits and by the two models using totally different coil types, you can only base the answer on results. And, as you know, results will vary depending on the type of hunting you do and the mineralization of the sites you are doing it. Coinshooting in a moderately mineralized portion of the Country, I will say that I have dug deeper targets with the Advantage (over the years) than I have yet with the X-Terras (during the past 6 months). Keep in mind that I have dug dug thousands more targets with the Advantage simply due to the length of time I have used it. Generally speaking, coil differences set aside and making sure the detectors are both properly ground balanced, I believe that the X-Terra will hunt as deep as the Advantage. I found that I have to sweep a bit slower than I do the Advantage, or I will pass over small targets. I also prefer to hunt with quite a bit less discrimination with the X-Terra than I do the Advantage. The X-Terra doesn't reset as quickly as the Advantage and I am able to separate the ferrous and non-ferrous easier with audio tones on the X-Terra. A smaller coil for the X-Terra should help with that.

If you are wondering about buying the X-70, here are some of the benefits that I am really enjoying! Adjustable threshold audio, automatic GB mode with manual over-ride, easier access to the controls, very light weight, excellent balance, large visual LCD, variable tone settings, changing the frequency by simply changing the coil, notch discrimination and the ability to save Patterns and settings. It is not an Advantage with a meter. It is a whole new detector. But it is a detector that is filling a need for many of us who have done this for a long time! HH Randy

 

[Czech]

Hello Digger, thank you for your advices!

You mentioned the Sovereign armrest kit. I already bought one few month ago. Balance is really much better but its weight isn't so good. The whole detector with 10'' coil, straight shaft, nimh battery pack, protect hip-mount bag has around 2.2 kg. That's quite much. But I'm not wondering about selling my Advantage. I believe it could have some benefits over the 70.

Just one question for you. If you set up one-tone only on the X-Terra 70, has the X-Terra 70 the same sound response as the Advantage does? Or it produces digital sound? The Advantage has specific language capability and it produces a lot of various sounds but however I'm not able recognize type of non-ferrous targets.

How do you like the multi-tone on X-Terra 70? Are they so nice like on the Sovereign?

Thanks for the comments.

 

[Digger]

Czech, I don't use the X-Terra tones to identify specific targets. Just target ranges. The X-Terra sound is digitized and simply alerts the user that the coil is passing over something. Depending on what you are passing over, and how many tones you have it set for, determine the tone you hear.
The X-Terra 70 has the capability of producing a 450Hz tone for all targets, OR a 130Hz tone for ferrous with a 700Hz for non-ferrous in the two tone mode, OR the 130Hz for ferrous, 450Hz for nothces 2-24 and 700Hz for the remainder of the non-ferrous targets in the three tone mode, OR the four tone mode duplicates the three tone mode with the exception of having a 950Hz tone for notches 42 - 28 in the upper end of the non-ferrous targets. In addition, there is also a multiple tone mode that varies the pitch of the target (99 tones, depending on target ID) from the low end of 130Hz to the high end of 950Hz.

Personally, I like the three tone arrangement, like standard on the X-30. It makes very little sense to me to have silver dimes and silver quarters coming in at two different tones, (as on the 4-tone) while having copper cents the same as silver dimes. I realize that the conductivity of the coin determines where it falls in the notch segments, and that the tones are assigned to the notch. But for coin shooting with the three tones programmed into the X-70, I simply dig the high tone and watch for a 12 to appear on the medium tone. (nickels) I haven't gotten use to the 99 multi-tone yet. I give it a try everytime I go detecting. And I keep it on more each time. Who knows? Maybe some day I will be able to determine what it is telling me and prefer it over the others! HH Randy

 

[Czech]

Randy, many thanks for informations! Now I have to try the X-Terra somewhere.