Minelab Xterra 505 or Fisher F5

[atomicscott]

Hi Everybody!
Hoping for some informed opinions on this: I really like my Fisher F2, and was looking to upgrade to the F5 with 11" dd coil. I have also been looking into the Minelab Xterra 505 (705 is a bit out of my budget). I want a detector that works well on coins, jewelry and relics, and will work well for occasional prospecting (3 grain+ nuggets or so). I really like the fact that the Minelab has multiple frequencies with coil changes, but it seems pretty complex, especially coming from an F2! Which would give better depth Xterra 705 with stock 7.5 khz coil or F5 with 11" DD? Does one have more stable or accurate target ID? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Scott

 

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[Longhair]

The 505 will handle EMI way better and will tend to run more stabilly (read "less chatty") than the Fishers. And a 705 has the option of running in a more "automatic" fashion if desired, making it more user friendly as you learn it.

 

[atomicscott]

Hey Longhair thanks alot for the input. I have heard the Fishers can be a bit noisy around EMI. I wondered if the GB adjustment on the 505 has enough adjustablity to handle the various mineralization in the gold bearing desert areas, or would I need to move up to the 705 for nuggetshooting? I know the Fisher F5 has 1000 settings of GB adjustment.

 

[Longhair]

The 505 has sufficent GB range, but the 705 is the berries for gold with it's Prospector Mode.
Check out this video. It's a 70 but the 705 does this the same way.


The 705 also has GB Tracking, which is a huge advantage if mineralization changes fairly quickly at a given site.

 

[LuckyLarry]

The 505 runs quieter, and the F5 almost matches the depth of an F75, eTrac, and it (does) match the depth of a Sov GT and Omega 8000.

The F5 has a whole lot more options to control its performance - than the 505 does..

On a .02 gram nugget an F5 will match the 505. BUT, the 505 most assuredly searches a little bit deeper than the F5, about 1/2" in deeper in the ground.

A Fisher Gold Bug Pro will more than double the nugget depth of the 505, easily, and work a lot better on your California salt beaches for finding small gold jewelry too..

But the Fisher F70 w 11" DD (and) 6 1/2" concentric beats the 505 coin hunting depth - like it's whipping a red-headed stepchild. The difference is almost other-worldly: Where the 505 gets 10", the F70 gets 16. It beats the snot out of a 705 too.

 

[dirtscratcher]

I've been detectong alot latelly with a gut with a f5 and another with a 705. the 705 where I detect is atleast a couple inches deeper. We compare signals alot. My buddy with the 705 finds nuggets every summer on Libby Creek here in western Montana. I don't beleive the f5 would find a nugget unless it is really big.

 

[ZR2guy]

Go Minelab or go home empty handed!

 

[atomicscott]

Thanks so much Larry that is some great info. I still am leaning toward the Minelab I think, I just really the idea of changing frequencies by changing coils. From what I've been finding out, the X-Terra 505 is deeper than the F5. I'm still not 100 percent convinced yet, any more opinions would be great!

 

[Longhair]

Really Larry?? A Russian video is the best that you could come up with?
Now if you know Xterras at all you can spot the 10.5" DD coil he's using, but you don't have any idea which frequency, which of course means that he may well not have had the optimal coil on for the targets sought. As a matter of fact, when that video was made there were no 3kHz DD coils, and Coiltek makes two now, and they would be best for silver.

 

[atomicscott]

I've been detectong alot latelly with a gut with a f5 and another with a 705. the 705 where I detect is atleast a couple inches deeper. We compare signals alot. My buddy with the 705 finds nuggets every summer on Libby Creek here in western Montana. I don't beleive the f5 would find a nugget unless it is really big.

Actually Mike Hillis is real knowledgable on the F5 and found a pretty small nugget, (maybe 2-5) grains with his F5. I still think with the right coils in the arsenal, the 505 is hard to beat for the price!

 

[LuckyLarry]

Well Longhair, yes, you won't find much of anything to show any (exact) item by item capability differences between these detectors, they are entirely different birds. As far as comparisons go, I have not seen more than 2 1/2" difference in (any) soil anywhere between a $300 metal detector and a $2500 metal detector, unless it is a PI, or which coil they use, although surrealists, dreamers, and whopper story tellers say differently. I used to build them, worked in designing them, repaired them, and diagnosed problematic ones too. Metal detectors are actually rather simplistic compared to some of the complex command control modules we were designing for nuclear weapons when I worked for the feds as a nuclear torpedo electronics technician, but the detectors are more fun to play with in some ways, but in other ways the brain modules were. I built my first three metal detectors, not from a schematic, but from my electronics education background, and they somehow did work. I even found coins with them. That was back in 1972. This is exactly why I have no brand favorites and I try to only post truth as best as I can find it. I have no brand loyalty either. To me, whatever works is going to serve me the best. If someone is a metal detector electronics tech or engineer he would immediately recognize that there are similarities (and) discrepencies between Russian, Italian, American and other coins, but their metalic makeup is still similar, so precise testing between detectors does not dictate that every test must involve exact coin for coin tests. Size (diameter and thickness) makes the difference more than anything else. So yes, to a technician Russian or Bulgarian or Czechezlovakian or Italian tests are very indicative of what a detector is capable of. To help answer your question about Russian or other languages videos, I speak 5 languages plus American Sign, so Russian isn't that hard to sift through and neither is Italian, German, or Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, or English, know what I mean?

As for the 705, it (is) superior at nugget hunting over the F5, no question about it, but the 505 is a watered-down 705 version, that's all. But in no way will the 705 surpass a F70 or F75 for coin or relic hunting, or a Fisher Gold Bug Pro for nugget hunting, regardless of which (comparable) search coils they use. They simply lack the power, and like most other Minelabs, it and others are still in the experimental stages of development when they go on the public market, and that's why so many different search coils are tried so as to make them work better. This is common knowledge among seasoned detectorists. The bottom line is that a 705 is incapable of outdoing the F70 for depth, and the 505 is incapable too. Neither of these two Minelabs are depth demons, because if they were they would be out stomping the other detectors at the Annual GNRS, and they aren't, the old Nautiluses then the new Teknetics and Fishers are, and especially the T2. .

Larry

 

[Longhair]

Well Larry, my point is that he wants to do many things with his detector....coins, jewelry, relics, and gold prospecting. Other than buying more than one machine, his best "one machine does all" option is one of the Xterras. I never said that they were "depth monsters" or even "the best" at anything, but they are the most versitile tailorable machines out there.

 

[dirtscratcher]

It always stike me funny when someone asks about two detectors on a head to head forum, and someone starts in on all the better choices instead of the two asked about. By the way the minelab is the way to go pretty much always in my opinion.

 

[atomicscott]

Well Larry, my point is that he wants to do many things with his detector....coins, jewelry, relics, and gold prospecting. Other than buying more than one machine, his best "one machine does all" option is one of the Xterras. I never said that they were "depth monsters" or even "the best" at anything, but they are the most versitile tailorable machines out there.

Exactly! I want to be able to use it for prospecting maybe 15% of the time. I would be hunting coins, jewelry and relics the bulk of the time.

 

[LuckyLarry]

It's a bit humorous when someone asks about one detector vs another. Ultimately everybody does, as dirscratcher says, bring in others to compare it against. I'm not really sure about this, but I think everybody in these kinds of sites have a natural propensity to guard one another against possible mistakes and blowing their money on the wrong detector. Some people view the Garrett At Pro as the best overall, some the MXT, some the 705, some (like Monte) seem to favor the Omega 8000, My best overall has been my Compass Goldscanner Pro, and it's about 30 years old. It goes deeper than most of the above, and is a better nugget shooter than (all) the above, even deeper than the aforementioned dedicated nugget hunters. The video of the 705 finding a tiny nugget at about an inch or so, may not have fit the discussion, but much of the rest of the other posts didn't either, my posts included. But that's how we learn folks, by word of mouth, comparative reasoning, and tests. We are all a bunch of renegades anyway, but would rather be doing this than sitting at home watching TV....

 

[atomicscott]

Ok guys thanks so much for your help! I have a gently used X Terra 505 with additional 6" 7.5 khz coil on the way. Got a great deal on a very clean unit on fleabay for $360, including weather cover for the control box. Can't wait to try it out! I will be sure to do a little review here on my first hunt. Gonna run it over the spots I've hit with my other detectors and see what I missed! lol. Thanks again.