Ctx3030 my review

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im1badpup1

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2017
Messages
90
Hi i just thought it may come in useful posting my experience with the ctx3030 for ppl.

It was my first metal detector ive owned and cost £1900. Not cheap.

Its light in weight and the battery lasts a few days before needing a recharge. It sits comfy with the armrest. Its waterproof (yay) its best to get a cover n prevent it getting sh itted up.
You can plug it into the pc and upload maps etc and use satellite tracking to mark location of finds and store them. Also its great to mark locations what look promising from data youve researched online on the map before you go because for example that medieval village site there is no visible remains when you get to the field, but if youve marked it on the map it takes you right there.

Its awesome at finding roman bronze, debased silver and hammered silver coins.. to be fair it belts out a clear signal for coins in general. Artefacts like bronze brooches and oddly iron ones it gives great signals. Half and quarter cut silver hammereds pick up great too. Rings are clear double blips.
Ive found coins upto 10inches eg victorian half pennies.

It depends on ground conditions but for depth there are deeper machines out there. Its picking up small roman bronze the size of a new 5p at 7-8inches for me. Hammered silver pennies too.
When the programs set right iron isnt an issue it might still signal a hit on rusty cast iron but turning 90degrees and sweep over again the tid number will be inconsistant with iron. I think all detectors have this issue with rusty iron.

What it doesnt detect well. Thin Gold wire. Fine link gold chain. Rhodium precious metal alloy fountain pen tips . The search coil has to almost be touching. Now small gold-electrum. I went over an area what someone with a garret machine had been over previously and hed picked up a couple gram of small gold a fewmm in size. I found only lead. It finds larger gold fine. Ive found gold rings and coins both over 6inches deep in mineralised contaminated ground.

For my first detector working out how to use it was a bloody nightmare. Lol.
I think if you was buying a metal detector first think about exactly what your using it for. A specific job in a specific area? Certain item? Theres other detectors out there more suited for certain items and conditions i feel.
When it comes to coins the ctx3030 is a hoover. Ive been over ground thats been absolutely hammered by detectorists for decades and walked away 3-4hours later with 20+ coins.
It works well in wet clay river sediment 7inches.+

Never underestimate the power of a small 5-6inch sniper coil either. On that ground i described as hammered by detectorists there was a small unbelievably trashy patch full of iron hob nails n lead allsorts of crap as if someones repeatedly burnt stuff with metal debris in it. Id been over it with a large coil unsuccessfully. The small coil produced my first ever silver hammered and two half cut silver hammereds all early medieval and several roman bronze. There was just too much interference with a large coil.

I often find both roman and medieval coins in the same areas because i concentrate on old roads pathways and rivercrossings trying to imagine where people would tend to stop and congregate and rest. It works well. When i arrive to search an area thats what i think for the first few minutes, where would i stop to rest or sleep. And im most often to find things more or less straight away in little hotspots like that.

I check riverbanks what are eroding for areas where heavy debris accumulates very similar to how you guys look for gold and find hotspots too where things accumulate and concentrate.

Hope this helps be lucky!
Back of a commodus silver denarius i found in river worth several times its weight in gold!20171106_092709.jpg
 
Nice review and awesome find!

Have you ever tried the 3030 on a black-sand beach ? Ground that is magnetic + conductive. My X-Terra 505 doesn't even try to work, wondering if a more expensive machine will do the business.
 
Yes ive tried the ctx3030 on a black sand beach thats the spot where someone else was using a garret i dont know which model and picked up the small gold bits
My detector was either missing them or the other guy had found all the gold. Id say my detector was missing the gold. It was finding small lead the same size as the gold without a problem.
Larger objects like coins n rings it could find ok. Them victorian pennys or half pennies as deep as the probe i use a minelab one. (The garret probes better btw i didnt kniw till id already got mine. ) It starts getting a bit iffy does the signals at that depth ie probe deep.
But the first 6inches the coin signals are usually unmistakable and the TID usually right on for what coin it is. Or lead or bullet etc.
Its not always accurate predicting depth though. It seems to say an inch or two lower than the target actually is. Sometimes a large coin deep might register as a small coin shallow or vice versa.
The ctx has beach settings for saltwater but i also use them when in the estuary or river as it can start falsing.

All the settings for ground mineralisation etc i just leave the machine on auto and let it do it itself. I set the accept-reject program myself its almost a clear screen except the bottom right corner what indicates iron. If your in an area full of say ringpulls you can go over them and take the tid number then reject that square. Thats sometimes handy. But bear in mind when rejecting a certain tid that you could be rejecting things you want to find with the same tid.
 
Excellent, I might see if I can hire one somewhere and give it a go before committing to the expense. They literally mine iron from the beaches around here which would probably challenge the best detectors.
 
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