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Xterra Specifications

R

Ralph Bryant

New member
Any comments or thoughts on the mention of "standard" vs. "enhanced" DEPTH between the model 30 and 50 in the Xterra specifications ? Most of the comments I've seen from testers seem to indicate a close match in performance between the two. Just curious.

Ralph
 
Hi, Ralph.

It may be due to "high sensitivity gain for improved depth" (higher gain on the 50?) that is mentioned in the specs on the 50, but to be honest I'm not sure myself.

In the field I haven't noticed much of a difference in the depth performance of the machines. Both do equally well as far as I am concerned.

Good luck with your 30 when it arrives. I'll be taking my test unit to the beach tomorrow morning at 10.

Bill (S. CA)
 
Maybe if Dick or Des are reading, they could jump in and explain the differences. After posing my question, I realized that it may have to do with the manual GB capabilities of the 50 in certain types of hot ground conditions, in which case that could be considered an enhancement over a fixed GB. Just a thought anyway.....

Ralph
 
Other than when hunting the more mineralized sites where the X-Terra 50 works well and the X-Terra 30 doesn't due to bad ground and the '30s' preset GB, they have been very, very close in perceived sensitivity.

Perceived, that is, by way of their detection depths and target responses. With both in the more sensitive (to outside RF interference) All Metal mode there have been times I can run the X-Terra 30 at the maximum '10' setting and it is quiet and stable. The X-Terra 50, however, might have to be reduced to '19' or '18' or '17' to regain the same level of audio stability.

One might think that this means the X-Terra 50 has a titch more sensitivity on the upper-end, but so far I haven't really noticed any noteworthy difference in depth of detection. This is with the X-Terra 50's GB set about the same as the X-Terra 30's.

I would still like to think, however, that there will come a time when IO will work a site and realize a little 'edge' in favor of the X-Terra 50. In general, however, their performance is darn close and I even tried swapping their coils to see if there would have been any difference attributed to the coil's dynamics.

I hope you have detectable weather when you get one in your hands.

Monte
 
There have been times and locations where I have experienced similar things using the X5 between the fixed and manual GB settings. In some areas, I can get a perfect to slightly positive ground balance in the manual GB mode, but switched into fixed GB and actually get a better (and sometimes deeper) target response with all other settings on the machine remaining the same. This is in trying to match manual GB to the same level as fixed GB. I always thought that strange.

I've noticed several mentions here of the 30 actually working better than many other fixed GB machines in some more difficult ground conditions, so that got my attention when considering both machines. It's just a matter of putting one to the ground here locally to see how it performs.


Ralph
 
We had our club member outing today and hunted a grassy park. Nothing spectacular, just a grassy park. But I had to use the X-Terra 50 there because the '30' just wasn't able to handle the ground minerals. The X-Terra 30 worked just fine at a park about 3-4 miles away, but not where we were today. The best I could get the X-Terra 50 to ground balance at was '4,' and usually it was at '3.' A few spots I had to drop it to '2' and even cut the sensitivity back to '17' in the All Metal mode.

I guess if I had my way, while I do like the 3-tone audio of the '30' and the good-environment performance, I would rather have either two X-Terra 50's or my X-Terra 50 and either another XS-2a Pro Sovereign or another Explorer II if I am going to tote two Minelabs.

I have had a number of E-mails from people who are quite pleased with the X-Terra 30's performance in their ground. Just wish I had it that good around here. :(

Monte
 
Did you ever get a good "fix" on the pre-set level of the 30 vs. the manual setting on the 50 to compare where each were relative to the same settings, i.e. where does the 50 GB setting read when it is set to approximately the same level as the 30 pre-set ?

I've used many pre-set GB machines in this area through the years, and never had much trouble with any of them. But I know there are areas around you where the ground is a whole different ballgame. We have sporadic areas of very high mineralization to the north of us near some of the CW sites we use to hunt regularly, but much of that land is now tied up by the state and un-touchable. I have a couple of places in mind to test the 30 when it arrives and will see how it does.

I'd also be curious as to what kind of ground phase VDI you get on that ground you hunted today, on the MXT for instance.

Ralph
 
The X-Terra 50's GB adjustment is a course setting and isn't fine-tuneable, but from what I could guess the X-Terra 30's GB is similar to about a #6 or maybe a little towards a #5 on the X-Terra 50. Closer to #6. (I'll E-mail you later about this.) The problem I have is that there are very few places where the X-Terra 30 could be considered to have a 'perfect' GB around here so it's mainly a guess. But it was an educated guess based upon performance in both the all metal accept Disc. mode as well as the Pinpoint mode.

The sites I was hunting yesterday with the X-Terra 50 at #2, #3 and sometimes #4 GB would have been about (I am going from memory recall here as I didn't have an MXT with me yesterday) in the range from 83 to 86 the worst and maybe 77 to 82 the best.

Let me add, too, that I prefer the MXT's ground phase reading to that of the XLT or DFX. I certainly hope that any new model White's brings out will operate with the same coils and be an improvement to the MXT (quieter) yet retain some nice features such as the ground phase reading.

I'll E-mail you in a little while.

Monte
 
Monte,

That is good to hear you feel the 30 ground balance is around 5-6 as this is what my X-Terra 50 showed when ground balanced. This means I should get the same or close to the same performance out of the 30 as I did with the 50 around here.
I find the 30 to be a excellent performer on what I have used it at the same sites as I did the 50, plus I notice the 30 may be faster responding which would make it better for competition hunting like the X3 verses the X5 is.
The little testing I did before we got froze out showed I could swing the 30 faster and get a good ID than I remember my 50 doing.
I feel either will be a winner for those that want to spend the time to understand them and not expect a detector to replace their Sovereigns, Quattros or Explorers, but one to complement them.
 
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