As I mentioned, it took to long for them to bring out at 6" coil and as soon as they did I was at the point I parted with my X-T 70 and all the coils I had. Just too many quirks with it and I had other models that out-performed them. I worked with a Dealer and had the opportunity to borrow detectors and other frequency coils, so the X-Terra 705 and different coils got used. But at the GPAA shows I did with him, and having a lot of makes and models on display, I compared all the gold nugget hunting models on a table for folks and, once again, the X-T 705 failed to excite me, or the folks who stropped by for some comparisons.

In "theory", the lower frequencies tend to be more responsive for the higher-conductive coins, but I favored the mid-frequency. The higher frequency did okay, and it was a little better on lower-conductive targets, but not like a lot of the other detectors on the market then. I like a few detectors with operating frequencies higher than my normal favorite range, and one or two at lower frequencies, but overall, for day-to-day hunting tasks, I still prefer detectors that operate in the 10 kHz to 15 kHz range.

Detectors like my two 10 kHz Tesoro's, 13 kHz F75+, 14 kHz Racer, 15 kHz FORS CoRe, and my Selectable Frequency Apex with both 10 kHz and 15 kHz. To complement them I have my 6.59 kHz XLT, 19 kHz FORS Relic, and again complimented by the Apex with 5 kHz, 20 kHz and of course the Multi-Flex frequencies, whatever they are.

But final performance is still tied to Frequency choice .... sometimes.

And still associated with Search Coil Size and Type (Concentric or DD) ....sometimes.

Example of an affordable 'test' for a potential hidden 'stash' or coins. Only costs $11.25 plus an empty pill bottle. Anyone can try this with any detector and any search coil to see what combination they might have, if any, that responds with a good audio hit and, if a TID detector, a reasonably tight VDI read-out. Most 'stashes' I have found have been stacked, coin-on-top-of-coin and hidden in a vertical position, such as around a window, a door frame, or similar place. Also, most 'stashed' coinage is NOT going to be the lowly penny, and seldom a Nickel. They will be Quarters or Halves, and occasionally Dimes.

Let's use Quarters for this 'test sample'. 45 of them, to be exact, and that's $11.25 face value and you can use modern clad coins for this. Stack them up in a pill bottle, then stand them on a floor or on metal-free ground so they are straight up. Remember to sweep the coil's center axis over the pill bottle with any Disc. mode or Frequency or Disc. level you want to find out what you have on-hand will give you a good audio, or perhaps a good audio and visual ID response.

ALL of my seminar-use detectors perform quite well on this test, and a few of my current, more modern detectors can ... with the right Coil, the right Frequency, and the right Discrimination and Ground Balance. Check out your X-Terra's and different coils. It might be interesting. I'll have my short-stack of silver coins and my Quarter Stack along on the WTHO for folks to try, if they want to.

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now 'back home' in Farr West Utah monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my favorite makes and models, with the best coils mounted for the tasks I'll take on.F75+ .. F19 .. Apex .. Racer .. FORS Relic .. Bandido II µMAX .. Silver Sabre µMAX .. XLT .. ORXPinpointers: Pulse-Dive Pointer and AT Pro-Pointer .. Headphones: 'Hornet' & 'Wasp' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk*** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***