Originally Posted by
earthmansurfer link=topic=10188.msg113522#msg113522 date=1338839571
Hey guys. Been patrolling the CTX forums as I prepare to buy a unit. I sent my Deus back in for a refund (we have 2 weeks here in Germany to return online purchases) and sold my E-Trac and coils - all to raise money for a CTX. No, I wasn't wanting the latest and greatest but the balance of the E-Trac took it's toll on me, I actually would have sold it regardless and eventually bought the new Fisher CZ due at years end, but then the CTX came out. I bought a used Jupiter for 300 and that is damn near as fast as the Deus, but depth tops out at 10 in the air. But really really fast, great site machine. Not a great silver machine, just doesn't hit it hard with the 16kHz freq.
Jack, regarding your questions - like I've said I've been reading a ton as well as speaking to a few guys using the unit.
1 - As noted the 17X13 coil is available, or near available. I do have a concern with no aftermarket coils being available - that chip in the coil is a kiss of death to the aftermarket manufacturers. A great aftermarket coil can make a lower priced FBS behave as good as an E-Trac I hear, though the speed won't be the same. I actually hear the 12X10 SEF separates better than the 13 Detech, but I never ran any tests there - hopefully one of them is eventually released for the CTX AND a light version! Regarding depth, I hear the same thing, not relative advantage BUT the CTX runs about 3 levels higher in auto. So, that can definitely get you more depth, especially if the border is around the 24 or 25 level - on the E-Trac that was a clear boost zone. I am curious to see if the manual GB helps those get more depth who have some iron mineralized ground (as I do, but it's not terrible, though deep coins usually bounce a lot on the VID).
2 - A mod (ironhearted_gog) on the MLO site did mention this and said you can weed those false positives out by how or where they jump from/to. Apologize as I don't remember his exact answer but it doesn't appear to be a concern. Running the ferrous coin setting, oddly enough, can cause a lot of false positives. How and why I don't know, but my guess is running it when one shouldn't. Still an area to keep an eye on. Luckily, oh so luckily, the CTX has the software upgrade feature. Not only can we look forward to new features, but to a fix if needed.
3 - There are a few videos from Tombs showing the CTX vs Deus and the CTX came out on top but I haven't seen any head to head videos on real world in ground (naturally) targets.
An online friend of mine has really turned his opinion around, as well as his friend, after hunting some of their hunted out spots. He tells me he got like 14 more silver in 4 or 5 hunts. He was shocked and the first few times he thought he might have missed a few, but it just kept happening and he started to see it was more than maybe missing.
Anyway, I think the CTX judging the early reports is unmasking a bit better than the E-Trac. It appears to have a better ID at depth and the sounds seem clearer, more enhanced. I noticed the cleaner sounds in some videos, it was apparent. Not as much warble there, which I loved, but perhaps the warble wasn't what we all thought ;-) Really looking foward to using the combined audio mode. Hopefully they offer an iron volume for it in the future.
Good hunting all,
Albert