Larry--IndianaHVAC
New member
I finally got some time in with the Xterra 30 today as the weather was nice and no work. The site I chose was the local University campus as it dates back to the 1800's. I new there would be plenty of new "stuff" and the possibility of finding something old. This area is an area of heavy mineralization and creates havoc with a lot of machines. The Minelabs I own have all handled it very well compared to other brands I have. I don't know how Minelab set the pre-set ground balance but they sure did it right for my hot soil.
I won't bore you with writing the xterra's manual here but will tell you the 30 surprised me and handled the soil great for not having a GB. This was a major concern for me but proved to be no concern once I started detecting. I made the usual finds of clad and junk but dug a lot of the junk signals just to see what would pop out. The 32's were the ones that I decided to stop digging unless they were deep. They would always end up being a screwcap or a zinc penny if they were shallow. All my dimes ended up coming in at a solid 36 along with the 3 wheat pennies I found. The quarters were a solid 40. The medallion was only 3 inches deep and also read 40. Unfortunately, this trip out would prove to be a no silver hunt. I did have a couple finds of 8 inches deep. One was a copper cap about the size of a quarter which read a healthy signal of 32 and the other was a part of something that read a strong 36 and was also 8 inches deep. The mineralization didn't seem to affect this machine which as I said earlier, was surprising to me. I could only run the sensitivity at 6 to maintain a quiet machine. When I bumped it up to 7 and 8 I would get falsing and some chatter. I would guess this to be, because of the mineralization, as I was able to run the 50 at 18 sensitivity in this same area.
I can say this machine was a pleasure to use as the 50 was too. A very simple turn on and go machine for sure. I should also mention that I hunted in the discrimination pattern. I normally prefered all metal when using the xterra 50, but thought it best to use disc for this report as thats what a higher percentage of people use.
I know some people have mentioned this already and I will give my views also. Minelab needs to make the arm strap about 3 inches longer. On my bare arm it works fine, but add a coat sleeve and its too short. The stand could also use some modification as I would like to see a wider spread. This was not a problem today as I hunted on park type lawns and the machine didn't tip once. However, hunting fields or in the woods, I'm sure it would tip over. As far as the lower rod, thank you Minelab for thinking of us tall guys on this one. Maybe the engineer was tall who designed these two machines? I'm 6-3 and every machine I've ever used posed a problem of having too short of a rod. I was really greatful to see Minelab come out with a longer rod for the Explorer. I really think all companies should include a shortmans rod and a tallmans rod with all detectors, problem would be solved. As far as the headphone jack cover, I have experienced no problem as of yet.
For the person who wants a simple turn on and go machine which gives good depth, discrimination and my favorite, its light, I would certainly recommend this detector.
I won't bore you with writing the xterra's manual here but will tell you the 30 surprised me and handled the soil great for not having a GB. This was a major concern for me but proved to be no concern once I started detecting. I made the usual finds of clad and junk but dug a lot of the junk signals just to see what would pop out. The 32's were the ones that I decided to stop digging unless they were deep. They would always end up being a screwcap or a zinc penny if they were shallow. All my dimes ended up coming in at a solid 36 along with the 3 wheat pennies I found. The quarters were a solid 40. The medallion was only 3 inches deep and also read 40. Unfortunately, this trip out would prove to be a no silver hunt. I did have a couple finds of 8 inches deep. One was a copper cap about the size of a quarter which read a healthy signal of 32 and the other was a part of something that read a strong 36 and was also 8 inches deep. The mineralization didn't seem to affect this machine which as I said earlier, was surprising to me. I could only run the sensitivity at 6 to maintain a quiet machine. When I bumped it up to 7 and 8 I would get falsing and some chatter. I would guess this to be, because of the mineralization, as I was able to run the 50 at 18 sensitivity in this same area.
I can say this machine was a pleasure to use as the 50 was too. A very simple turn on and go machine for sure. I should also mention that I hunted in the discrimination pattern. I normally prefered all metal when using the xterra 50, but thought it best to use disc for this report as thats what a higher percentage of people use.
I know some people have mentioned this already and I will give my views also. Minelab needs to make the arm strap about 3 inches longer. On my bare arm it works fine, but add a coat sleeve and its too short. The stand could also use some modification as I would like to see a wider spread. This was not a problem today as I hunted on park type lawns and the machine didn't tip once. However, hunting fields or in the woods, I'm sure it would tip over. As far as the lower rod, thank you Minelab for thinking of us tall guys on this one. Maybe the engineer was tall who designed these two machines? I'm 6-3 and every machine I've ever used posed a problem of having too short of a rod. I was really greatful to see Minelab come out with a longer rod for the Explorer. I really think all companies should include a shortmans rod and a tallmans rod with all detectors, problem would be solved. As far as the headphone jack cover, I have experienced no problem as of yet.
For the person who wants a simple turn on and go machine which gives good depth, discrimination and my favorite, its light, I would certainly recommend this detector.
