Anyone using the new Minelab CTX 3030?

[nuggethunting]

Hello All,

Been playing around with Minelab's new CTX 3030. Curious if anyone else is using it and what are you thoughts? I'm impressed with this unit, but I still have some time before I can say I really understand everything about it.

I really like the fact you can see good targets around trash. I'm taking the unit to Virginia to hunt the "Meadows Farm - Mine Run Campaign" for about a half day, so hoping I might be able to get some Civil War artifacts if I'm lucky enough.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[fredm]

Good luck on the relic hunt Rob...

many years ago I was detecting in Chino Valley, az...I dug up a belt buckle that had been slightly melted on one end...CSA in big letters...stupidly, I threw it away because I didn't think...nor realize what CSA meant.

never throw anything away until you are certain it is worthless...

fred

[whylee]

Messed with one alittle, there is alot to learn on them and I just have not had the time to get out with one yet.

[Reno Chris]

I dug up a belt buckle that had been slightly melted on one end...CSA in big letters

Fred - you probably dont need to feel bad - there have been about a zillion copies of these made over the years by various makers, some in plated pewter and some in brass. The fact that it was melted - I am guessing it was one of the pewter copies. The copies are not worth much.

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

What I really like is when you get into a very trashy location you can use the "target trace" or "pinpoint target trace" to show both targets. I've never seen anything like this before. I placed good targets such as silver coins next to a bunch of different iron rubbish targets and it picks it up right next to the trash. Pretty amazing, but I still have a bunch to learn on it. I have all the basics down pretty good, just trying to really understand the full potential of this unit.

Just my thoughts so far,

Rob Allison

[beepinpete_WA]

few blokes over here using the 30 to pull Gold Sovs from the old digger camps among the trash Rob.

best i know of is 3 gold sovereigns in one day found in Vic, Verified find.

Think they are worth roughly $1500 each

Havent heard of raw gold found with one yet.

Pete

[Steve Herschbach]

Awesome detector Rob. I found two gold rings with mine already. It is the GPX 5000 of VLF detectors with a price tag to match!

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday!!

Steve Herschbach

www.detectorprospector.com

[fredm]

The 3030 seems like a huge step up from others but there is too much tech on it (for it ) that I question the need for; for instance a gps, WHY? $2300 is big bucks for a casual detectorist.

Chris, the buckle was diffinitely original equipment as it was found among 100 year or older stuff...I was just stupid...no excuse.

fred

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Fred,

The CTX 3030 has features for those that may want them. It surely is not for everyone. If someone does not want waterproof, does not need GPS, then they can get an E-TRAC and get similar performance. Me, I wanted waterproof with interchangeable coils so sold my E-TRAC and Garrett AT Pro and replaced with the CTX. And very happy I did.

I think the GPS is aimed more at the European market where they hunt HUGE fields. The ability to log finds over time would be very useful for locating habitation patterns and make it easy to return, since you have no landmarks to speak of in the plowed areas. Could be useful for the Civil War crowd for similar reasons. Me, I have not even turned the GPS on and doubt that I will since it does add to the load on the battery.

Now if Minelab would just put the GPX 5000 in the CTX package. GPS and all. That would be one sweet detector!

Steve Herschbach

www.detectorprospector.com

[highbanker58]

How good will it work in the highly mineralized Arizona ground? Dave

[fredm]

Thanks Steve, as usual, you bring concepts to the table that donot occur to my simple mind...one of the reasons I always follow your comments!

fred

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Dave,

How good will it work for what? The CTX is not a gold nugget detector. In fact out of all the things it does nugget detecting would have to rank as the least applicable. I am sure I could go find a nugget with the CTX and someplace like Ganes Creek, Alaska one might do very well with it. Even then it is too heavy for my liking. I have several detectors and the CTX is probably the last one I would grab to nugget hunt.

For coins, relics, etc. it will work as well or better than any other VLF units out there. That is what the CTX is designed to do. The Minelab Explorers, E-TRAC, and CTX 3030 all use the Minelab FBS technology. Any amount of Internet forum cruising will reveal the FBS units are very highly regarded for their ability to work in mineralized ground.

Steve Herschbach

www.detectorprospector.com

Fred, you are one humble guy! Hope I bump into you nugget hunting again someday.

[Ron (CA)]

I have been an FBS (Explorer) user since 1999 and have owned and used most new machines regardless of brand. I always reverted back to the Explorer 2 as my choice of machine for relic and coins. The E2 has been a killer machine in all parts of the country. I hunted Colonial stuff in CT, Civil War/Rev War in VA, GA, NC, SC, MS. etc and Gold Camps in CA. Killer machine.

I bought the 3030 and now the Explorer 2 is collecting dust. The 3030 is not deeper than the Explorer in my CA soil but it out performs in the separation dept.

It is heavier, but better balanced and it is waterproof. I am not happy with the choice of coils at this point but the Stock coil is a pretty solid all around coil. And some of the bells and whistles are OK but rarely used. The Target Trace in concept is pretty cool but in highly mineralized ground I find my cursor always reads like a coin under the coil.

I have gone back to several sites, that I had gridded with Explorer 2 and have abandoned, just to see if the 3030 would impress me. Yep, the E2 is sitting now!

The first 3 pics are from areas that I and buddies pounded with the Explorers. There is a reason that these bigger coins were still left. They were all masked by other junk items. If I would have only found a dime or two I would have written it off as simpy "more targets in an area" that were missed. But to find these larger coins in areas that we had written off was pretty impressive.

The last picture is of relic sites that are loaded with iron from old structures. Almost always 2-3 square nails in a hole when you dig. But the CTX gives you enough of a signal to know that a good target is mixed in. I have not had the 3030 back east yet but I am looking forward to my next CW relic hunt.

But I grab the 5000 like I did yesterday for the gold.

just my two cents

Ron Swenson

Ron (CA)

[fredm]

Wow Ron...finding quarters, halves and dollar coins in hard worked areas is a testement to the 3030 and your skill!

Steve, you are welcome in my camp anytime and anywhere...and George too.

fred

[Steve Herschbach]

Ron, those are awesome finds! I would have more fun digging those than nuggets. Hate to say it but nuggets are a bit old hat for me. Some beauty silver like that would be a welcome change.

I think a lot of the CTX difference boils down to a much faster processor and therefore the ability to process more data more quickly. Long sentence that boils down to better target separation. Depth is less an issue these days than target separation in my opinion. Arguing about the depth of the Explorer versus E-TRAC versus CTX is like arguing about the GPX 4000 versus GPX 4500 versus GPX 5000.

For me the CTX was worth it just for the better balance and for being waterproof. Good enough reasons for me to ditch my E-TRAC.

My only beef on the CTX accessory coils is I can't seem to get either a 6" or 17" as they are on backorder and the dates keep moving back. Must be a lot of demand. Rather irritating to have a new detector and can't get accessories for it. The underwater headphones were on backorder so long I was able to cancel and get Gray Ghost underwater phones instead. Those also are selling like crazy according to Gary at DetectorPro so I was lucky to get a set.

Steve Herschbach

[Jonathan Porter]

Steve, I plan to hit some gold areas this summer with my CTX using the 6" coil, we have a number of reclaimed alluvial plant trommel oversize sites scattered around the gold fields in QLD that have yielded some pretty decent specimen gold to E-Trac and Sov users, the amount of ferrous trash in them is a big hurdle for any detector operator so I'll be curious to see how the target separation goes on these spots. Not interested in depth so much but the on-screen target separation could be very useful.

JP

[Ron (CA)]

The 6" coil is pretty sensitive and should work in a high trash area for larger nuggets.

In an air test it will sound off on a 4-5 grain flat nugget and a 4 grain BB nugget. Only about 3/4" but on gram+ stuff, it hits on it pretty good.

The smaller stuff will hit far left on line 1 or 2 and most sub 2 dwt stuff hits between foil and nickel. The larger stuff is all over the mid conductor range.

I did try the CTX in a gold field where we were finding nuggets with the GPX machines. I just wanted to compare it to the Explorers in the highly mineralized ground. It did perform better than the Explorer due to the fact that you can manually ground balance so I was getting a little better depth with the CTX on freshly buried gold nuggets. The ground killed about 40% of the depth vs air test.

But I was still able to get 4" on a 1 dwt nugget. Running Manual sens 26) Not great, but in high trash it is just another tool that might find a nugget or two. Plus the falsing is high tones so the low grunts of gold are easy to pick out. (if you set it up that way- I had it in 50 CO tones with some discrimination to knock out small iron)

Good Luck

Ron

[Jonathan Porter]

Hi Ron, thats fantastic information. Would be great if you could set up an exchange program file for it for other interested people who want to try the CTX 3030 for gold based operations, particularly for those unfamiliar with Coin/Relic detector menu systems and terminology. I feel certain the CTX has potential in high trash areas where there is a history of large nuggets or specimen gold. The ground tracking option is definitely a bonus on this detector.

JP

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi JP,

I was wanting to try the CTX with 17" coil in high trash cobble piles for large nuggets versus the more traditional single frequency VLF detectors. But my 17" coil is still on backorder and missed my last trip to the cobbles. And now snow falling so about out of time for this summer. But it is the 6" I really want to get my hands on. I will be very interested in what you find out and again thanks Ron for the great info.

Steve Herschbach

[Judd]

I have given thought to using my GPX machine to locate likely targets and mark their locations so that I could check those targets with my E-TRAC before digging. What do you think?

[Grubstake1]

Whats that about on Bills forum, about Minelab not supporting the 3030 any more? They already stoped making them? Grubstake

I guess I read it wrong. Sorry. Grubstake

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Grubstake,

Minelab is ceasing production of the Sovereign GT and Explorer SE Pro. They are also ceasing to market the CTX 3030 without the wireless headphone module, a slightly less expensive way to buy it called the Starter Pack. Everyone is buying the Standard Pack, with the wireless module.

The CTX 3030 is selling hot and heavy. Minelab has had a hard time keeping up with accessories like coils and underwater headphones.

Steve Herschbach

[nuggethunting]

Hey Grubstake,

I haven't seen the post on Bill's forum since I don't patrol that forum, but Steve is correct. Minelab has stopped making the Sov GT & Explorer SE Pro. The Explorer SE Pro is a hot unit, many still prefer it over the CTX and ETrac.

I have never ordered the Starter Pack for the CTX, always the Standard Pack that comes with everything you need to get up and running. I believe Minelab seen this and stopped the Starter Pack due to it not selling well and most wanting the extra accessories already in the Standard Pack later down the road.

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob Allison