I had the good fortune to be involved in the beach and water hunting testing of the metal detector back in the day, but it took me a while to warm up to the unit as I was a toggles and knobs kind of guy when it came to metal detectors.
During and after testing I quickly learned to customize the CTX 3030 settings to suit my metal detecting needs, a case of learning what bells and whistles helped me to detect what I search for in the areas I search.
Versatility and adaptability are things treasure hunters and metal detecting equipment need to be, it is even more important if you specialize in searching for various treasures in different locations.
I have used many different Minelab metal detectors over the years, but the CTX 3030 has a little of every one of my old favorites in it helping me avoid looking back at my previous favorite metal detectors with rose tinted glasses.
The CTX 3030 has a little of the things I liked about the Sovereign, Excalibur, Explorer and Etrac series all rolled into one metal detector.
I would say the only drawback to the CTX 3030 is the price, but it is worth every darn penny if it is within your budget, a Minelab Equinox would be my second choice after the CTX 3030.
Lighter, less bells and whistles but with a little faster recovery speed in iron infested areas.
Your favorite metal detector should always be the one you feel comfortable using and just as importantly the one you do not hesitate to take with you when faced with a perfect metal detecting opportunity.
I have found some pretty amazing things with my CTX 3030, some you will see on upcoming treasure hunting shows, others I will post at a future date to avoid being followed to the productive sites.
Over the years I put certain customizable aspects of the CTX 3030 to good use to deal with special circumstances, from searching eroded tourist beaches for modern jewelry to searching for artifacts on old sites.
Back in 2012 I recovered 50 pieces of gold jewelry over a seven day period searching a couple of hours before dawn each day to avoid being seen in the hours of daylight and protect the site.
I relied on audio tones and target ID numbers to hone in on just potential gold targets, ignoring clad coins and other obvious non high value targets, not something I would normally do at every beach site.
On another perfect metal detecting opportunity I spotted on a beach webcam I drove 3 hours to detect 12 pieces of gold jewelry, I regret not staying longer that afternoon as I could have recovered more gold.
Site reading skills always pay off when you are armed with the "Dirty thirty" to take advantage of them.
Another thing I like about the CTX 3030 is the range of search coils designed for the metal detector between the Minelab and the Coiltek options, making it easy to go deep, winkle out treasure between the trash or detect in hard to navigate areas.
All in all the CTX 3030 has aged well since its release, perhaps not the lightest and easiest to travel with metal detector out there but I prefer to recover more in less time!
If you would like to know how more about this incredible metal detector check out my Minelab CTX 3030 guides on my website at www.garydrayton.com
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