Deus vs Minelab CTX/Deep Silver Coins

CharlesUpstateNY said:
Gene yes there are a few tricks to crowncaps on the Deus, the problem is when you are on a site when there is a crown cap every 1-2 swings this wastes a lot of time, on my other machine I simply reject crowncaps and that's that.
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I reject crown caps with silencer but during a hunt can really just mentally reject them by tone which sounds more "hollow" than the "ping" of a coin. This became very apparent during a recent seeded hunt I attended where they were using painted crown caps as tokens. I could easily audibly tell the difference between those and the seeded coins without silencer or hf. Also, at 28.8 khz they sound like crap without silencer. I usually run into crown caps at the beach where I hunt, so going to 28.8k or using silencer does not noticeably affect depth in my case. In parks, its usually pull tabs, and I have not found the magic bullet for those, yet. Not saying crown caps are not annoying, but I feel I am becoming more adept at tuning them out, especially since I got the HF coil in July.
 

I have both with probably over 500 hours on the CTX, I got it well before the Deus and I thought the Deus was hype, so I ignored it for a long time.

That said, it depends on the situation if I need to cherry pick out of a junky yard I might only get to hunt once then the CTX might be better for target IDs.

If I need to pick relics out of iron trash then it's the Deus every single time.

That said, I haven't used the CTX in years now because I like the Deus so much better, the depth is about equal.

I'd sell the CTX but my wife likes it, she's familiar with it and not the Deus.
 

gsxraddict said:
I have both with probably over 500 hours on the CTX, I got it well before the Deus and I thought the Deus was hype, so I ignored it for a long time.

That said, it depends on the situation if I need to cherry pick out of a junky yard I might only get to hunt once then the CTX might be better for target IDs.

If I need to pick relics out of iron trash then it's the Deus every single time.

That said, I haven't used the CTX in years now because I like the Deus so much better, the depth is about equal.

I'd sell the CTX but my wife likes it, she's familiar with it and not the Deus.
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Thanks. This is very helpful.
 

I hunt with the deus mostly now.. I had an Etrac and in Tennessee soil it slams silver up until 9 inches. But it also.. like most machines deep rusted iron can sound good too.

I’m awaiting on the equinox gonna get it when it comes out.

All machines when coins get really deep struggle. The mine lab (Etrac/CTX) does have a distinctive tone in conductive that is very unique to silver.. this I miss.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

thanks - looking forward to the Equinox's release
 

I myself own a CTX 3030/Etrac/and an XP Deus. If I had to do it over again, I would never have bought the CTX 3030. Yes, it’s a great machine. But if your goal is strictly deep silver coins, I would suggest buying both an Etrac and an XP Deus w/ the 9” coil. You would have the best of both worlds, and the cost of both together new is about the same as the CTX 3030 new. Plus, the Etrac has WAY more coil options than the CTX 3030 for 1/3 the cost. It’s also lighter - I can swing mine all day with little arm fatigue. The 3030 starts to fatigue me after about 4-5 hrs.

I also suggest going on YouTube and watching videos by “Cutaplug Metal Detecting”. Watch his videos and the depth he’s pulling silver from with the Etrac. I use the Ultimate Detech 13” coil with mine and pull wheats/Indians/Silver from between 8-10” no problem. The XP Deus is the machine I use 80% of the time now though because like yourself, most areas I hunt have been pounded to death over the last 50 years with detectors, and target separation is the name of the game in areas such as this. The XP Deus separates better than any detector I have ever owned, is light weight, takes very little time to clean up in between hunts and is an all around joy to use regardless of your site conditions. Hope my input helps :)
 

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thanks, that's really helpful
 

I relic hunt so I'm no help with the original question. I have owned ctx didn't keep it long because of testing it I couldn't find any performance advantage over the deus for relics. It did handle emi better and its waterproof but depth and separation no advantage over the deus in my soil. I will also add the ctx made my shoulder and neck hurt after a few hours and I'm a big dude , I always here about how balanced it is and how that makes it feel lighter, 5 pounds is 5 pounds no matter how you slice it... The ctx is a top performer I see coin shooters knocking it out the park with it and finding silver too. The weight of that machine is the MAJOR problem I see with it , I could NEVER go back to a heavy detector after swinging the 2 lb deus, will have a go with the equinox when it comes out and see how it does, hope you find what your looking for.









T
 

DigDeepNow said:
thanks - looking forward to the Equinox's release
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The problem I see with the Equinox is the coil sizes that are available. There is nothing in the 8 or 9 inch range. Have you checked that out? May not be a problem for you but I like a mid-size coil like a 9 inch coil.
 

Actually, no coil sizes are available right now for the Equinox. Lol...

Seriously, I am not too worried about the smaller coil sizes if they deliver on what they are advertising on recovery speed (which is adjustable). Besides, if the detector becomes as popular as its specs and value would suggest, then I am sure that third party coil manufacturers will come through with smaller coils even if Minelab themselves ultimately do not.
 

You are not kidding about the weight of the CTX with the 17" coil- I got tendonitis after about a day swinging that monster. I bought the Minelab harness, and now all is well with the big machine, aside from the fact that I feel like I'm going SCUBA diving with that thing on. I have a Deus as well, only a couple weeks of experience with it. It's super light, really slick electronics, but it seems to love junk targets especially crown bottle caps.
They both have their place, but if I had to choose one it would be the CTX. Looking forward to trying out the new Equinox 800.
 

The crown caps take care of them selves once you get used the tones and don't over rely on visual target ID. If you ever want to invest in one of the HF coils, that also makes them go away too. If you want more specific hints on how to filter out crown caps let me know or search the Deus forum. CTX is a great water/beach machine and target ID is very accurate but the Deus, besides being light weight, excels at target separation because of its recovery speed and the HF coils make it a mid-conductor vacuum machine. Yes, large and round iron and intact aluminum trash (unbent pull tabs, pull rings, and screw caps), but high conductive coins and most mid-conductive round keeper targets have tones that are unmistakable and, as I said, crown caps, bent tabs, cans, and can slaw have distorted tones that give them away once you have that committed to your brain's muscle memory (which basically takes swing time and recovery of trash in the beginning to make the brain/tone connection).
 

I was hunting a city park with my Deus using the standard coil it comes with, 9". I did not dig iron, did not dig bottle caps, did get a lot of coins, like one after another, most dropped within the last two years but got into two patches of wheat cents and this included buffalo nickels and Indian cents and a couple silvers. The one Indian was down about 8". When I go to the beach, it ignores the bottle caps and gets the gold and those new titanium rings. Relic hunting, it is sucking stuff out of the ground that has been pounded for 40 years plus now. I like it because it is featherweight and I can swing a Mack truck. Even a machine a pound heavier is problematic for me these days. For a field without much trash I also like my Tesoro Vaquero with the big loop and dig most anything.

I almost always get SOMETHING and have a good time. It's all about the quest, the adventure. Hopefully not the arthritis.
 

vferrari said:
The crown caps take care of them selves once you get used the tones and don't over rely on visual target ID. If you ever want to invest in one of the HF coils, that also makes them go away too. If you want more specific hints on how to filter out crown caps let me know or search the Deus forum. CTX is a great water/beach machine and target ID is very accurate but the Deus, besides being light weight, excels at target separation because of its recovery speed and the HF coils make it a mid-conductor vacuum machine. Yes, large and round iron and intact aluminum trash (unbent pull tabs, pull rings, and screw caps), but high conductive coins and most mid-conductive round keeper targets have tones that are unmistakable and, as I said, crown caps, bent tabs, cans, and can slaw have distorted tones that give them away once you have that committed to your brain's muscle memory (which basically takes swing time and recovery of trash in the beginning to make the brain/tone connection).
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I have gotten better with crown caps but the deus but it still loves them. Especially rusted round flat ones. Sometimes the wiggle back full tone to grunts works some times it doesn’t.
 

Hugh, I think the Equinox will be challenged in an area where there will be 4 or more targets under the loop at one time. I have some places where I'm pulling out 2 good items next to the 4 bad ones in the same holes. House sites. Having that big loop sometimes is a disadvantage. With My Vaquero it was great with the big loop in the hot Virginia dirt, not so good on sandy soil house sites. The coil covered too much ground and those big coils can get confused.
 

smokeythecat said:
Hugh, I think the Equinox will be challenged in an area where there will be 4 or more targets under the loop at one time. I have some places where I'm pulling out 2 good items next to the 4 bad ones in the same holes. House sites. Having that big loop sometimes is a disadvantage. With My Vaquero it was great with the big loop in the hot Virginia dirt, not so good on sandy soil house sites. The coil covered too much ground and those big coils can get confused.
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Agree, that's why I plan on eventually getting the smaller 6" coil, if I like what the thing is doing depth wise and separation wise with the stock coil. Of course will be sacrificing some depth for separation, but we'll see how much is lost. The little 5" round DD coil that comes with the F75 was surprisingly deep for its size and pinpoint separation.
 

I saw some guys swinging trash can lid sized coils at a competitive hunt a couple years ago. I think they needed an ambulance after about 2 hours. Things must weigh a ton.
 

Yeah its crazy to swing large coils at competitions. The key to contest detecting is not how fast you detect the target but how quickly you recover it. Better to have pinpoint accuracy and a detector with high recovery speed to enable you to swing fast, pinpoint, and recover quickly.
 

It's not fast you detect, it's how you detect fast? Couldn't resists although that one is getting worn out. And as you know "recover quickly" in a frozen field is a myth.
 

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