Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!



Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

TROY X5 OR TERRA 50

harry

New member
How would the Terra 50 compare to the troy x5? Had a x5 and sold it for explorer2. Read all the posts about what a great machine the x5 was when it first came out.Same thing with the fisher coin strike and the whites dfx SHALLOW CLAD GOD OF ALL DETECTORS. The explorer 2 is still the best made. If the Terra 50 is really as good as you all say it is then i will have one. Mine lab makes good detectors. This Terra 50 sounds good enough to buy for a second detector. Sorry if i hurt anyones feelings but every new machine that comes out sounds to good to be true . Harry
 
IF YOU DON'T TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THEM.Buy it load a factory preset,junk it,then bad mouth it.That's where 99% of the X-brand is a bad detector comes from.Dave
 
FACT #1.. There is no single, "perfect" detector made.

FACT #2.. There is no way any detector is going to perform to it's fullest potential unless the operator truly understands many of the basics and principles of how metal detectors work and then spends ample time working with a detector to know both the strengths and weaknesses.

FACT #3.. Just way too many variables out there caused by different ground environments and types of trash for all of us to understand all of the descriptions well from what we read. For example, I often refer to some sites as "iron infested," and I know know what I mean, but others might not. Terms like "works well in iron trash," "slow sweep", or even "lightweight" or "well balanced" can mean something a little different.

OPINION:.. I believe every serious detectorist should own, and use, at least two (2) detectors, and possibly three or four, and have and have at least a couple of coils in order to be able to be best prepared for a variety of hunting environments.

That said, I will tell you that I have spent a lot of time with Minelab's X-Terra 50 since it arrived and have used it with my others detectors to trim up my always ready battery. These are the three detectors and coils I always have loaded in my rig.

One is my modified IDX Pro that I keep a 6
 
Hi Monte,

Great post! But I would add one more fact...

<B>Fact #4</B> We all have differing uses and want our detectors to do different things. Take coin hunting. Some guys go for quantity, filling buckets with coins. Others prefer going after the real quality finds, which generally means they make far fewer finds. Or some people dive into thick iron a lot! These differing requirements lead to differing machines.

I live in Anchorage, Alaska, a town founded in 1915. Most of the old portion of town is paved over, and most of the rest is much younger. You do good finding something in the 30's, 20's is extremely rare, and teens almost unheard of. After many years of coin hunting I just finally decided to shift gears and hunt for gold jewelry.

So my requirements have changed, and hunting jewelry can involve many differing theories and practices. If time allows, nothing beats the Monte "beep-dig" approach. But I have limited time and so prefer to use various discrimination strategies to help boost my odds. And truth be told I have some extra fun bench testing targets on machines and coming up with various discrimination strategies. It gives me a reason to play with detectors, which I enjoy in and of itself.

My latest desire has been for a machine that has good gold sensitivity and that can reject iron, accept aluminum/gold range targets, reject zincs, coppers and dimes, but get quarters and above. Truth be told I'd not mind the dimes but not if I have to dig the pennies to get them. So I'm passing on the dimes also. The quarters pay for the batteries.

Within the gold/aluminum range I want enough target segments reject selectively certain types of aluminum that might be prevalent at any one particular site. Like a particular pulltab.

I want the machine to be quiet. I'd like it to reject the stuff I choose cleanly and quietly. I'm doing this mostly for fun and relaxation and I do not find listening to a lot of noise relaxing. There are times I do enjoy using zero disc and listening for tones, etc. and analyzing every signal. But for my dream machine I want it to beep when I want it to and to shut up otherwise.

Finally, I want this particular machine for parks and areas where I do not want to dig deep hole. For a beach I'll use something else. For this particular machine I want to use a screwdriver to pop targets, and will never cut a plug or dig a hole. I have a Uniprobe that will hit a ring down to 4-5 inches. If I get a signal and the Uniprobe will not hit it, I'll just skip it. I'm after relatively shallow stuff.

Oh yeah, I want to use a small coil also and the machine itself should be light and simple. Is that enough?

Now, many might argue with my desires and tell me they are wrong, that I'll miss this and I'll miss that and so on and so forth. But who cares? The fact is it is what I want to do to have the kind of fun I want to have!

I go into this long winded explanation just to show how one guys desires can really lead to a certain limited number of detectors. My desires run almost 180 degrees counter to what most machines were designed to do. Just wanting to notch out coins eliminates a huge number of detectors, as the vast majority of machines assume people want to dig coins, and so they simply do not allow you to reject coins. There went the Troy! This one basic desire of mine eliminated the entire White's Prizm line and the Fisher ID Excel, to name a few more. I took a look at the new ID Edge but it looks like all or nothing in the gold range when set in its jewelry mode. I wish they'd enable independent notching on the Excel series.

The need for target resolution in the gold range eliminated most of the remaining units. My beloved CZ-70 Pro bit the dust. Only three notches in the aluminum range. And at the high end pennies, dimes, and quarters are all lumped together.

Long story finally coming to an end is that so far the White's DFX is the machine that is doing it for me. Lots of notch ability, smooth operation, great coil selection, etc. In fact, in 15 kHz mode it combines extra gold sensitivity with a much expanded discriminate resolution in the gold range.

Another machine that surprisingly does not half bad is the Garrett Ace 250 for my particular use. Pretty hot, light, simple. An amazing little unit for the price. But the Ace is pretty tight on the notching in the aluminum range.

Enter the X-Terra 50. Now truly, I do not see this machine as replacing top end units like the DFX or Minelabs own Explorer for those that prefer them. I'm not looking to replace the DFX, but to supplement it. The X-Terra 50 gives me better resolution on gold range targets than the Ace 250, and yet retains the simplicity and light weight that makes the Ace a fun little unit.

So that is where I'm at, kind of like you, Monte. Three different units for this one particular little use that I'll be playing with. The DFX is a keeper for this use. The Ace may go and others cycle in but I'm thinking the X-Terra will stay as my lighter weight alternative. Just give me the higher frequency coil, both large and small, and it is a sure deal.

Steve Herschbach
 
which is why I'm interested in the XTerra, like the way gold rings hit compared to foil, leave more foil in the ground. Why was the Troy X5 discontinued, is the Tejon that much better? The Tejon is still in production and the X5 isn't.......I just have to wonder.....John
 
Hi John,

Just my two cents, but in my opinion the X5 was just too expensive for what the "general Joe public" saw in it. What I liked about it was that it was small and simple and powerful. But people these days want meters and target id and such and wondered why all that was lacking in such an expensive unit. So in the end it only appealed to some core serious detectorists who recognized its power.

In case you do not know Troy had Fisher build the units for him. That is like me having GM build trucks for me and then me trying to resell them and compete with GM. Too many fingers in the pie, and Fisher has never been known for producing inexpensive units anyway. Troy is going to have to find a way to get his manufacturing costs down to proceed from here.

Steve Herschbach
 
"I also like hunting for gold jewelry which is why I'm interested in the XTerra, like the way gold rings hit compared to foil, leave more foil in the ground."... Just a little observation about your statement. You said you like the way gold rings hit compared to foil. Yes, as some have mentioned, the X-Terra 50 will definitely be a handy detector to use when hunting sites that are most likely to have lost gold rings as well as a variety of foil. From my testing so far I know I can use the TID to help leave a little more foil behind, if I want to concentrate on probable gold rings.

However, you first said you like hunting for gold jewelry, and that would include rings but also gold pendants, gold neck chains, wrist chains and other gold jewelry. This really points out why some detectors might be advantageous to use for some applications (such as 'selective' gold ring hunting), while other makes or models might make a better choice for some serious small-gold jewelry hunting. For that I prefer to use my Shadow X5 with a very low discriminate setting. As I have stated, it will be interesting to see how the X-Terra 50 will compare when operated at a higher frequency.
*
*
"Why was the Troy X5 discontinued,..."... Troy could give the absolute answer, but Steve mentioned the obvious factors. #1.. the cost to produce and market a product at a competitive price point ... and #2.. the sad fact that way too many people have fallen into the mind set that they just have to have visual Target ID. Most makes and models offered today have TID displays and most of them are also easy-to-use types with "turn-on-and-go" circuitry.

Due to the lack of a possible TID display and the price the X5 sold for, the demand just wasn't there. Models that lack TID usually appeal to folks because they are very low priced and considered "beginner" or "entry-level" models, and/or because they are priced low enough for a beginner to get started.

It's unfortunate that more people didn't get a chance to try a Shadow X5 because, in my personal opinion, it is the best multi-purpose non-metered detector available today.

"... is the Tejon that much better?"... Nope, absolutely not. Matter of fact, I don't think it is "better" at all. The Tesoro Tej
 
It's lightweight and perfect for taking into the woods.But its more of a dig everything machine.Which is basically what I use my machine for since I hunt mostly cellar holes and Rev War campsites.BUT,for the park and school hunter it has drawbacks.A piece of foil,pull tab,square tab,zinc penny,dime,etc all sound the same.I don't hunt schools much,but when I do I can tell with the DFX a difference between a zinc cent,copper cent,dime,silver dime,quarter,silver quarter,etc.I usually only dig the 18-20 and 79-85 targets.My finds are 95% nickels,dimes,quarters and silver.I just don't usually feel like digging screw caps and pull tabs,etc.I know i'll miss rings that way,but digging 100 zincs and a 100 pull tabs gets me bored real quick.If the next X5 has a tone id,i'll probably buy one,the meter's not really a big deal.9 out of 10 times I know whats under the coil just by its tone.Dave
 
You and Steve both explained it very well, hadn't thought about it that way. Hopefully Troy will make a comeback with another X5 type detector but not so expensive, from the posts I've read, he's got one in the works, but just wonder if Minelab beat him to the punch. HH John
 
I can definatly agree with Monte. I've had the X5 and have a Tejon now. If I had two Tejons I would probably trade them all for one X5. There has always been a big rivalry between the two and even to this date, the forums are divided because of it. Of all the machines made...those two go at it hotter than any machines I have ever seen since I've been on the Internet.

For me, the X5 handled hotter and bad ground better than the Tejon. I done side by side tests when I did have them both. In one of my hot ground sites I was getting repeatable diggable signals on fired 3 ringer bullets with the X5 that the Tejon would just pop or click on or not recognize at all. The Tejon is a good machine but in my opinion it is not a great machine. So why sell the X5 that I had and keep the Tejon? I like trading around on machines and I had close to $1200 wrapped up in it with accessory coils and headphones. With so much bad publicity on the forums...they were getting harder and harder to sale them used for what they should have been worth and the trade value dropped with that too. Generally a used X5 with accessories was selling for only $600 to $700....and most of the time people were scared to spend that much on a used unit that wasn't honored by warranty. The Tejon on the other hand, still retained close to its sale price and the demand for them was great. You can still to this day move them pretty easy if or when you ever need to.

As far as the X-Terra goes. Hopefully I'll get to see one in person in a couple weekends. I'm getting things together with Mike B. to come up and do some relic hunting.
 
Hey Monte.Funny you should mention the GMT 1650.Looking at mine up against the wall.What a machine.
I have never used a machine that will work a nail infested area better than the 1650.I Also have the X5 to go with it.But with everybody talking about the X TERRA I will have one by the first of december.
 
The X5 was a great detector and the best non metered detector i have used. The Price was a bit high, but it had quality that was the best. The X5 surprised many people with detector costing much more for coin hunting. When Troy comes out with a new detector i will be in line to get one,
Now the Tejon is a great detector too, but no X5 and I like the Tejon better than any of the other Tesoro as it will hunt.
Now I just got the new X-TERRA 50 and it is new to me and only have a couple of hour on it, so I am still learning and will say the more I use it the more I am getting to like this detector. Like I said on Wednesday when I got it I found a merc and a silver Rosie with a rusted bolt I had missed before, so I think this detector will be a keeper even if I use it for cherry picking.

Rick
 
Top