Minelab X-terra 705 General Tips, Advice, Questions

[burkenotwills]

Hi everyone, Starting to think the 705 was not a wise choice to find gold after reading a lot of things on the forum especially in hot areas. that it is better suited to coin/relic hunting.
I have the two standard coils that come with it as the gold pack.
Would a different coil change the result in finding gold? If so what would people recommend?
Should i just keep experimenting/learning with what i have to get more adept at what the machines/coils capabilities are before getting extra coils?
Going for two weeks to Buninyong on the in-laws property to have my first real swing for gold as there are lots of old diggings around.
Any suggestions on settings or just start with the pre sets to train my ear to the different targets? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Still a newbie to it all and don't want to let things i have read put me off. I am keen as to learn all i can about the machine before i make any rash decisions.
I have watched heaps of video's read lots of things and still think for my budget this was the best purchase for myself.
Will post some pics in a few of days to show some of the area i have to play around in.
Cheers K.B.

 

[Digginholes]

Mate I have the 705.. I have a small .23g nug that I have used to test on and it finds it, I did find the 705 picking up a lot of hot rocks but my guess is once I get to know the machine better it will produce the goods, on the plus side it seems to work great on coins

 

[KarlS]

I have found 0.16grams bit of gold with X-terra 705 about 1 cm down. If you walk over gold and it is not too deep, 705 will find it. Use 10x5 elliptical coil.
Karl

 

[Roscoe]

The problem with any VLF detector is that you have to interpret all the ground signals from the good signals and that takes a lot of concentration and patients.

 

[burkenotwills]

Thanks for the responses guys again much appreciated.
Thanks DH will definitely do some testing over the next couple of weeks whilst I am away. I will have to buy a small nugget to do this the wife gave me a strange look when I said I wanted to bury some of her jewellery(like I was mad). Like yourself just have to get to know the machine better, and it's capabilities.
Thanks Karl will use the 10x5 while out there in the next couple of weeks.
Thanks Roscoe I am retired so have plenty of time too learn all the different signals the machine gives off just have to travel a bit for gold bearing country. I am sure all the parks around my area will help me with learning the junkie stuff from the coins and jewellery that is waiting to be found.
Will be taking a note pad to write stuff down when I find things to help remember numbers and just have to train the ear to the sounds.
Thanks again guys.

 

[Goldpick]

The x-terra will be best suited for sniffing around mineshafts surrounds, spoil piles, tailings, white pipe clay, quartz, and where bedrock is predominantly shallow, and hot rocks are fewer. The signal from hot and cold rocks should diminish if not disappear as the coil is lifted from the ground surface, whereas true metal signals should still be audible.

Some hotrocks will sound off only on one swing of the coil, and will not be consistant or repeatable like metal targets.

Attach a rare earth magnet onto your pick to extract any of those pesky magnetic hotrocks that tend to sound off just like metal targets and be repeatable.

You will find some areas will be next to impossible to detect with a vlf, either from excessive ground mineralisation, or areas of abundant hot rocks, so best to detect in areas that give you the highest chance of success like mentioned above.

Also be wary that some ironstone can contain gold, so if the signal does not diminish when the coil is lifted, there may be gold within the actual ironstone.

Don't expect to have your head blown off by a gold target, most good targets can be nothing more than a slight waver in the background threshold.

Don't go too heavy on the sensitivity trying to achieve maximum depth, the idea is to gain a smooth and stable background threshold to hear faint targets, even if it means dropping the sensitivity by half to suit the ground. If your threshold is wavering or falsing all the time, it is most likely that you have a too higher sensitivity setting. Some extreme mineralisation will require a major drop in sensitivity to remain stable, often at the expense of depth, but this is an inherent issue with most vlf detectors in hot ground.

Stick with the stock eliptical coil for now until you are confident of the detector's capabilities, as mentioned, using a gold or jewellery target will help in gaining confidence in interpreting what a decent target sounds like compared to undesirable targets. You can also use lead shot as a test target, but it has now been suggested that aluminium has a more similar response to gold. This will also show you what depth you machine will be capable of, but will vary depending on ground mineralisation in your local area.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[burkenotwills]

Thanks Goldpick for the info much appreciated. Have now had a day in Buninyong where I have access to ground littered with old shafts and the like. So far have picked up plenty of old junkie stuff. Learning the different signals for all of these quite well. I have a good set of headphones so learning all the different sounds without outside noise is also helping. So far not a lot of ironstone, lots of quartz and all the other things you have mentioned around. Will be getting a full week next week to learn more. Looking forward to it. I am keen to prove this machine can find me the yellow stuff in the area I have available. Will try to get some pictures up soon of the area.
Cheers K.B.

 

[speedyg9]

Gday from a fellow Mildurian...

 

[Windigo]

Purchased an X-terra recently and am abosultely loving it.

Just wondering what are the best settings and discrimation pattern to use in coin & treasure mode.

I've found a lot of iron scrap. Did find a 1975 1 cent coin in the middle of the bush last night. :8

What do people set theres on?

Thanks.

 

[Danmuss]

Not used a 705 in long time but I do rememeber to have your sensitivity low like 10-15 till you get use to it, Try this video mate see if it helps you
http://youtu.be/LIqPldhaju4

 

[treasureman]

Just remember your sensitivity. I made the mistake gunning too many areas on low sensitivity. Realising later that im going to do those areas again on full sensitivity for deeper reading.

 

[Danmuss]

Just remember your sensitivity. I made the mistake gunning too many areas on low sensitivity. Realising later that im going to do those areas again on full sensitivity for deeper reading.

Different opinions, When I used mines I was advised to have it low till I got use to it, when I first used mines on high it was making it go crazy and was picking up everything so I dropped it back to around 15

 

[Windigo]

Yeah, I'm running about 15-24.

I get a signal and then i try to pinpont but no matter how deep i go it never reads as getting closer on the depth indicator. And It seems to be buzzing in random spots in pinpoint mode.

Are these false signals?

Thanks.

 

[Windigo]

Just remember your sensitivity. I made the mistake gunning too many areas on low sensitivity. Realising later that im going to do those areas again on full sensitivity for deeper reading.

Different opinions, When I used mines I was advised to have it low till I got use to it, when I first used mines on high it was making it go crazy and was picking up everything so I dropped it back to around 15

Yeah, usually run between 15-20. Any higher and it starts going a bit crazy.

 

[Danmuss]

Yeah, I'm running about 15-24.

I get a signal and then i try to pinpont but no matter how deep i go it never reads as getting closer on the depth indicator. And It seems to be buzzing in random spots in pinpoint mode.

Are these false signals?

Thanks.

Have you ground balanced before you start? Im not really an expert on xterra only good with the AT Gold

 

[treasureman]

Ivsuppose different machines. I find mine reacts badly when im near somewhere close to thecwater table. When i go from that area its not so bad. Also i need to lower the thresh hold when it makes crazy noises when sensutivity on high. Its a learning curve. More hours you put in the more youll sdjust to work with it

 

[AngerManagement]

Purchased an X-terra recently and am abosultely loving it.

Just wondering what are the best settings and discrimation pattern to use in coin & treasure mode.

I've found a lot of iron scrap. Did find a 1975 1 cent coin in the middle of the bush last night. :8

What do people set theres on?

Thanks.

Depends on WHERE you are and what your looking for...

Sensitivity is the one that you get better with over time.

Get your swing correct and do not rush...

Then get a few coins and place under one of those thick coir fibres doormats and play and get to understand the 705 and PIN POINT mode....

Once you can stab a coin with a screwdriver; your at a level that you could do a park...

 

[Danmuss]

Also I found starting on a beach is best before parks, Beaches have way less iron and junk objects, get use to the sounds, Also use 4 setting sound if you use 99 you will get confused lol.. As anger says swing slow and about 2-3 inches of ground, As you say its a learning game, I can still remember my first few months starting off haha Memories

 

[kuskus]

Hey everyone.

Looking at getting the 705 at anaconda while the sales on.

Just wondering if anyone's used it in the gold fields around hill end and wattle flat? And how did it go with the ground out there? And Has anyone found gold nuggets with it, anywhere?

Cheers.

 

[condor22]

I have the 705, I got mine at a detector shop and bought the duel pack

The basic 705 comes with a coin coil and is a concentric pattern, the gold coils are DD and of a different frequency.

I am still to use it in the goldfields and have only used it once on the beach without success.

I put that down to still learning to use it and that I have a GPX 5000 that I use in the goldfields.