Minelab hunting

[Stred (Steve)]

Hi everyone,
I am looking to buy a minelab, mostly detecting on pasture, occasionally on ploughed and again occasionally on beach.
Will listen to experience on this one

What do you guys reccommend please

[nfl]

hi stred as a minelab user myself {se}i think you cant go far wrong with a minelab if thats what your after for mainly tectin pasture ,,either se or e trac are both pretty good on pasture and plough, im upgrading to a etrac end of year as some people say they are better than the se{not by much in my opinion } im just upgrading as i feel its time for a new tecter ......but it all depends on your budget and your own preferance ,but either of these machines will do well.

[handyman [Alan}]

I've had great depth on pasture with the xterra 50. the key to this excellent machine is to ground balance with the sensitivty set around 8,9, 0r 10 .... then once balanced whack the sensitivity up to 18.

some excellent depth has been reached along with, an easy to read control panel.

i'm sure the xterra 70 is just as good.

cheers

[Chef Geoff]

Hi Stred, As Paul has said it all depends on your budget. And can I ask why just Minelab as a make?
OK firstly no one machine has been made that will do it all, for instance none of the Minelab machines are brilliant at newly ploughed, thats the domain of the XP machines.
For the beach then the Sovereigns are best though the Explorers are up there with them and XP's just won't work on salt water beaches.
For Pasture, woods and ploughed and rolled land then this is where the Explorers and the Etrac score.
As to which model then obviously a newer model is always nice to have, but once again this is dependent upon your budget.
As to performance of the models then there has been improvements in features and recovery speeds (slight) together with a slight cleaning up of weaker signals on the Etrac which makes it more user friendly, but depth wise if you even the playing fields by using the same coils, then there is no difference between the Etrac and the original Explorer XS.
Similarly with the Sovereigns there is little to no difference between the depth of the newer GT and the older XS, XS2a or the Elite.
Technology has gone as about as far as it can regarding VLF machines and the majority of improvements over the last 10 years have been cosmetic. So don't be put off buying second hand.
If you were to take a machine from the early 90's, slap a larger standard coil on it (which most newer machines have) the results have not really improved over the  intervening years.
But to keep sales up the manufacturers have "added" things for us to play with.

[Stred (Steve)]

Thanks guys for your comments.
Firstly Chef, everyone that I have spoken to, the majority have said, go for a minelab
I would not rule out another make of detector.

OK Then which one

As I am new to the hobby, it,s a case of picking peoples brains.
By going for second hand and older model, could possibly buy a cheaper machine and adding a better coil

[Chef Geoff]

OK, Unfortunately as is always the case this time of year (Harvest) prices are on the up. If you are thinking of new then focus on just the Etrac as anything else is (SE Pro and GT) are going to be second best.
If second hand then you have the XS, Explorer II and the SE to choose from in the Explorer range and then buy a Pro coil for them.
The Sovereign are a lot cheaper (XS2a pro £300) but they do take a bit of getting used to, but slap a 12X15 SEF coil on it and there is not much to touch it on the beach or pasture.

As Alan has said the Xtera range are worth a look, S/H  the 50 and 70 can be picked up for £300, but they are not that clever on the beach and you need the extra coils to really make the most of them.
And not to forget the Safari which people have great success with and is a much overlooked machine.

Stred on Saturday I'll be using a Sovereign, Taff will have his Etrac and if Nomad can make it he will be using his Safari and I'm sure someone will have a Xtera, so have a go at them all and see which you like.

[Stred (Steve)]

Chef that is great infomation.
I think you have made my mind up as far as the Minelabs are concerned.

Many thanks for your help.