George Fatizzi
New member
Man I gotta tell ya, the X-terra more than surpassed my wildest expectations yesterday at one of the toughest sites I hunt. For the past 10 plus years, (as long as I have been metal detecting as a matter of fact), I have been hunting a favorite old schoolhouse that was in use from around the 1880's to about the 1940's or so. This site is literally blanketed with conductive coil clinkers deposited after many years of wood stove heat for the little school. Needless to say, finds have always been very tough to detect in this environment. The coal not only cuts down on depth, it masks a lot of good targets. Previously, the most effective machines that produced results were the multi-frequency Minelab Sovereign and Explorer. The single frequency VLFs I have used in the past,(and believe me there were MANY), failed miserably as they just couldn't keep up with that kind of mineralization. Until now! Without a doubt, the X-Terra is the best single frequency detector I have ever used, bar none! It's combination of ergonomics, power, weight and user friendliness left me wanting to detect here all day long. Minelab really got it right with this one. First off, all the controls actually work and work well. I have to admit, getting accustomed to a concentric coil on a Minelab took some time but man can it hunt trash! I found it IDs the coal clinkers mostly as iron (-6) but the larger ones will sometimes give a positive (+3) with the worst offenders squeeling in at a high 45 reading. The only time it misread into the teens was when I would get an elongated one. Guess that's just a quirk of the concentric coil. The X-terra made it so easy to hunt in this mess. I hunted wide open only because I like to hear all that is in the ground but it worked fine in the preset disc pattern for coins as well. The seated dime and V nickel (1886 and 1888 respectively) came up together in the same clump of dirt. It was a weird mixed reading. I kept getting the dime reading (36) but when sweeping another way I would see the numbers pulled down into the teens. Pinpointed nice and tight though so I dug as it sounded good. First I saw the brown disc of the V nicklel and thought it must be a corrodded large cent. Then I saw the glint of silver and whooped when I found out it was Seated Liberty. Only my third in 10 years, second one from this schoolhouse and in GREAT shape! Next I dug a couple of IH and wheats then another solid 36 was banging in my ears and I said "no way, not another silver dime!" Sure enough this beautiful 1908 Barber comes to light. Folks, you have NO idea how long it's been since I've dug silver, let alone OLD silver at a POUNDED site like this! I was elated. The X-terra made this site feel virgin again. I hate to sound like Mr. Hype but most of you know I'm a huge Sovereign fan. This machine reminds me of the baby produced by a union with the Sov and Explorer. Some quick tips: 1) turn down your sensitivity! Mine worked great in this lousy environment at 15 2)lift your coil a little in the heavy trash. The concentric coil works to your advantage here as it narrows down and picks out the goodies! 3)don't try to swing it too fast, ya gotta listen to what those tones are telling you and I love the sound of Minelab's SILVER tone! Kudos Minelab! Nice job on this one and mark my words, THIS one won't be hitting the classifieds anytime soon! (Now THAT's saying something coming from me! LOL) HH George Fatizzi
work out. 