Found a New Blog - CoinRelicDownUnder

I am always looking for more information with regards to the Minelab CTX 3030 and today I found this blog - CoinRelicDownUnder. Mark keeps the Blog well up to date and makes for great reading.

He is Australian based which is exactly what I am looking for. Keep up the great work Mark.

Garrett Detectors - Rumour

I was able to attend last nights BMDC meeting as my working hours have been all over the place this week. We were lucky enough to have Garrett Australia attend the meeting. It was good to meet both Adrian from Garrett Australia and David from The Open Range.

Now this is just a rumour but it seems there may be a couple of new detectors from Garrett mid year. Don't quote me on timings because we all know how things keep getting pushed back. They are giving very little away but one of the detectors will be the top of the range for Garrett (possibly a competitor for the Minelab CTX 3030). I asked if it would be wireless but did not get a response. I don't think it will have GPS as I overheard this in another conversation.

It also looks like we will start to get our own (Australian) advertising with Garrett products too. Look out for changes mid year.

Garrett Detectors at Next BMDC Meeting

This Thursday (Feb 21) is the next meeting of the BMDC (Brisbane Metal Detecting Club) and will be held at the Clubhouse at Bertha Street, Woolowin, Brisbane.

David Lobwein from Open Range (Toowoomba) will be bringing along Adrian Kelly from Garrett Metal Detectors to the meeting.

This will be an excellent opportunity for any new members who have not yet purchased a detector to get some information on the Garrett detectors.

WS5 Headphones for the XP Deus

http://www.xpmetaldetectors.com/blog/en/news/

Suggested Price: 349 Euros

Think I made the right choice in going with the Minelab CTX 3030.

About to Bite the Bullet

Just returned from a 2 week working trip and I am about to bite the bullet. After months and months of research, chatting to experienced detectorists and emails to dealers on best prices, I have decided to purchase a Minelab CTX 3030.

What a tough decision, when I first started researching I was going to get the Garrett AT Pro. Then after a bit more research, it was going to be the Minelab Safari. After speaking with people, they suggested the Minelab E-TRAC over the Safari. When I started to research the E-TRAC I then started to get interested in the XP Deus. Then it just followed the natural progression to the Minelab CTX 3030.

For the last couple of weeks I have been comparing the CTX 3030 to the XP Deus (not physically, but that would have been great) by reading reviews and checking out all the forums. I tried not comparing the prices as I know the XP Deus would have won easily.

What swung it the way of the CTX 3030 is the following:

• Local dealer who is also a BMDC Member (very important)
• Australian product and therefore, suitable for our conditions
• Waterproof (rain proof is important for me + I am an hour from the beach)
• Wireless module (no headset wires)
• GPS locating
• PC mapping (Mac compatible would be perfect, hurry up Minelab)
• Upgrades
• Colour display
• Target trace and Target seperation

I know that the XP Deus has some of these features plus others (that the CTX 3030 hasn't) but having a local dealer close-by is really what won it for me.

I will keep the XP Deus links and reviews in the Sidebar because if I can get the wife (or kids) interested, that will be the next purchase.