The Worlds Most Advanced Metal Detector Minelab CTX 3030 Review

Are you looking for the worlds most advanced and high-performance professional level metal detector? Then The CTX 3030 is Minelab most advanced high-performance treasure detector that allows you to find more treasure than any other Minelab machine and you’ll know why once we take a Minelab CTX 3030 review at all the great features.

It has come with a switch on and go simplicity, five preset search modes and many automatic functions that make it easy for the beginner to get started.

Advanced features are easily accessible at the touch of a button for the experienced treasure hunter. The Company has integrated a GPS into the CTX 3030 which enables detectorists to mark in detail locations or finds for future reference.

Additionally, they’ve incorporated a wireless audio option and the most advanced target discrimination available in a sleek sturdy waterproof design. So let’s begin the Minelab CTX 3030 review.

Minelab CTX 3030 Review: Quick Summary

The CTX 3030 is an advanced, comprehensive coin and relic detector that uses new technologies that give you a lot of knowledge about your targets, and it is customizable to your specifications. It is one of the best Minelab gold detectors. Here is a quick summary of what you can accomplish with this innovative product from Minelab.

• You can set up your CTX 3030 to give you information in precisely the way you want to see and hear it.
• You have a choice of 10 customizable search modes, five of which are already preset to get you started detecting quickly. You have coin, beach, relic, silver and high trash modes to choose from.
• You can use the Options and Display menus to customize the display of all the information about your targets and location in a number of different ways.
• You can also use the GeoStore function to record and access your detecting and location data that you save as WayPoints, FindPoints, and GeoHunts.
• You can accept or reject targets with the push of a button.
• When you detect your target, the CTX 3030 uses two-dimensional ferrous and conductivity discrimination to help you detect the targets you want to find and ignore the rest.
• You can map your location using GeoTrail, so you don’t detect the same ground twice and use WayPoints and FindPoints to create your own customized finds map.
• You also have sensitivity, noise cancel, ground balance and audio options to tune the machine to the ground you’re detecting.
• And you have a user-defined button that you can program as a shortcut to one of your favorite functions.

How to Assemble a CTX 3030

The first task you have to do once you’ve bought this detector is you’ve got to put it together, and I’m going to guide you through this rather easy and quick process.

1. Unpack the box. Fit the washers, then push the lead up through the stem. Fit the lower stem to the coil and secure it using the nut and bolt supplied.

2. The next task you need to do is actually to fit the lower stem into the upper stem. There’s only one way this will go. If you have a look at it, you can see it has got a cam and that there is a keyway for that cam. Push the stem up and twist it into the correct position. Lock the upper stem.

3. Take the control box and slide it into the upper stem until it clicks. Connect the data cable to the control box and do up the nut. Now tighten the nut on the coil lead, and then click into position.

4. Fit the arm cup onto the upper stem by sliding it down the rail. Adjust it for your arm, and lock the locking screw into position.

5. Now press the battery against the seal and use the two locking latches to secure it into place.

6. And lastly, plug in the headphone module, do up the plastic bolt and then tighten it with a coin.

So that’s it. The metal detector’s all made up, so all you have to do now is get to your field, extend the bottom rod, clamp it, switch on and start hunting.

​Read also: Garrett AT Pro Review

Features of Minelab CTX 3030

CTX 3030 is one of the best Minelab metal detectors the Minelab have ever produced. There’s also a great range of features to help you find even more treasure. It has includes the CTX 3030 11-inch double D smart coil, lithium-ion rechargeable battery, mains charger, a car battery charger, a double-A replaceable cell battery pack, headphones, and a wm10 wireless audio module feature to enhance your detecting experience. Let’s look at all of its main features.

Search Coil

The Minelab CTX 3030 comes standard with an 11-inch Double-D coil that’s great for all types of ground conditions and all around detecting. You can also use 17 x 13 -inches Elliptical Double-D search coil.

This is an excellent coil for covering vast amounts of ground. It is very sensitive on small targets like silver or copper coins and gold nuggets, but it’s also very sensitive to medium-sized and large targets. The CTX 3030’s search coil can pick metals up to 3 ft deep and it a massive advantage for any hunter.

Discrimination

This detector has the most detailed and accurate discrimination available to determine whether a target is a treasure or trash. The CTX 3030 uses smartfind2 – technology that allows you to see targets on a color 2-dimensional scale.

Ferrous properties are plotted from 1 to 35 on the vertical scale, and conductive properties are plotted from 1 to 50 on the horizontal scale.

Smartfind 2 also provides more target information by showing signal strength as different colors on the full-color LCD.

The CTX 3030 has two types of target purses and accepts the target cursor and a reject target cursor. Targets can be identified by both ferrous and conducting properties allowing you to accept them or reject them with high accuracy.

This allows you to see if the rejected target is close to the edge of a rejected section so that you can choose to investigate further or keep moving.

There are two discrimination patterns for each of the ten search modes. You can quickly toggle between the two discrimination patterns by pressing the detector 5. The CTX 3030 is a great new range of discrimination features.

It has include target Trace, target trace pinpoint, tone ID profiles, errors coin separation and ground coin separation.

Another great thing of the CTX 3030 is the ferrous discrimination with adjustable tone ID profiles. This allows you to detect or accept specific targets and ignore the rest.

Combined with target traits and target separation the CTX 3030 can quickly and accurately identify multiple targets simultaneously.

Wireless Headphones

You will really love this machine because unlike most submersible detectors you have options when it comes to coils and headphones. For audio, you can always use the built-in internal speaker, but with the WM 10 wireless module, you can go wireless from the base detector.

You have just to clip the wm10 wireless module to your belt and then plug in either the supplied headphones or your favorite brand of headphones.

GPS Locating

One of the unique features is GPS locating see where you’ve been and where you’re going by using the map screen and navigation tool. Plot points allow to easily and quickly return to a specific treasure location.

This capability enables the detectorists to identify trends and patterns which give him or her a competitive advantage over others who cannot accurately plot their detected locations.

PC Mapping and Easy Software Update

Lastly with pc mapping upload all of your detector settings and treasure locations to your pc using the exchange – application and even sync with Google Maps.

The 3030 is the only machine on the market that allows software updates from Minelab. All you have to do is plug it into your computer with a simple USB connection with the exchange to program open, and it will take you through the steps to update your machine just like an iPhone.

Most detectors can’t even be on and the ones that do require service for those types of updates. Discover history with the CTX 3030 and discover your treasure finds.

What you will like

• CTX 3030 ready to enhance your detecting skill by allowing you to detect in under water. It is a waterproof metal detector which gives you the comfort to detect up to 10 ft. or 3 m under water.
• It also includes two different coil sizes and waterproof headphones.
• ​The CTX 3030 has an 11-inches waterproof double D smart coil which is waterproof up to ten feet.
• ​The detectors well-balanced design positions the battery wait behind the armrest for comfortable detecting.
• ​It features coupled with Minelabs patented FPS 2, smart find 2, GPSI and why stream makes this the ultimate high-performance treasure metal detector.
• It has to include wireless audio which has the freedom to detect without headphones.

What you may not like

• It doesn’t have ground balance adjustment.
• It is little bit expensive than similar detectors.

Enabling and Disabling the CTX 3030’s Ground Balance

The CTX 3030 has a brilliant new feature which allows you to ground balance in certain situations.

To switch ground balance on, you press and hold the Ground Balance button, you select enable GB and press the Menu button. That puts a little tick in the square box beside Enable GB. Scroll down and select Start GB and press the Menu button again.

Follow the instruction on the screen by bobbing the coil over a clean piece of ground, and, once it’s completed, you get the message “Ground Balance Complete.”

So, now that you’ve done that first ground balance, every time you press the Ground Balance button with a short press it will do an automatic ground balance.

But if you’re in specific fields where you do not want to have ground balance enabled, what you do is to just press and hold the Ground Balance button, then select Enable GB, and press the Menu button to untick the box.

Then press the Detect button to return to the detect screen.

So that’s it — great tool. But nine times out of ten, new users who are having problems, what they’ve done is that they’ve switched on the detector, switch on every possible feature (including ground balance), making this one of the main reasons for falling for new users.

Just make sure until you get used to the CTX 3030 that you do not use the ground balance unless you are on the right site for it.

Getting to Know Target Trace and Pinpoint Functions

Now to provide you an idea of what Target Trace does, what you need to do is to put down two coins on the ground, close together. You’re going to swing over them and then look at what you see on the screen. Thrown down a bit of an international mixture, like a quarter and a 10-cent Euro, and you get a bit of a spread on the screen so you can see that there’s probably two targets.

Target Trace

To select Target Trace and Target Trace Pinpoint, you press and hold the Detect button and press the Menu button to pick those two options. So that’s the Target Trace, and Target Trace Pinpoint features enable.

Press the Detect button again to return to the Detect screen. So as you’ve already noticed, you get to tones. And as you’re looking at the screen, you will be able to see the beginnings of two targets. That’s Target Trace.

Target Trace Pinpoint

Now if you go to Target Trace Pinpoint, you can build those up into something pretty impressive on the screen. Put the Pinpoint on and then swing it again.

You will see the beginnings of those two targets start to build up, allowing you to quickly identify that your CTX 3030 has picked up two coins.

So that’s yet another key feature of the CTX that makes this technology, when incorporated into this metal detector, the best in the world.

​Read also: Bounty Hunter Gold Digger Metal Detector Review

Building a Customized Program Mode

It is quite easy to build a custom mode on this metal detector. But first, here is how you navigate your way through a new mode: Press menu and navigate to modes. Choose one of Minelab’s factory preset modes – Coins, for instance – then press the Menu button to enter the Coins mode window.

Scroll down to Save as New, and press the Menu button to create a new mode. This will arrive at the bottom of the menu list as mode 6. Press Menu, scroll down and select Edit.

Editing Patterns

To edit the patterns of this new mode, select Pattern 1. Press Menu twice and enter the Edit window. So to start with you want to clear the existing pattern. Scroll downand select Accept All. Now you can create a custom discrimination pattern.

Press and hold the Accept button to enter the Edit Frame Size window. Start your pattern by selecting the 5×5 frame size tool, then press Menu to return to the Pattern Edit screen.

You will see a blue frame which you can move up, down, left or right to select an area. Pressing the Accept/Reject button reverses the state of that selected area.

Once I reject an area, I move the frame to continue building a discrimination pattern. Then I press and hold the Accept/Reject button to change frame size so you can fine tune the pattern.

Once you’re happy with your constructed pattern, press Menu and scroll down to the exit, you will be prompted to save your pattern. Select Yes. You can repeat this procedure to build Pattern 2, ending up with two custom patterns within your new mode which you can toggle between via the detect button while metal detecting.

Modifying Tones

To modify the tones you get from your CTX 3030, select Tone ID Profile, and press the Menu button to open the Tone edit option. This is currently set at fifty conductive tones, but you can change this to combined tones.

Press Menu and select Profile Type. Scroll down and choose Combined Tones from the bottom of the list. Press the menu button doubly to return to the Tone ID Profile window, then choose Resize from the list and select a panel.

Use the left-right and up-down buttons to resize it. After that, press Menu and select the next area to be adjusted.

Return to the Tone ID Profile option, scroll down and select Change Pitch. Here we can adjust the tone pitches for each area. This is done utilizing the left and right buttons to select areas within the numeric tone and the up-down buttons to adjust their values. The bigger the eventual number, the higher the tone. Repeat this for each area.

When you’re happy with the tones of each area, press the Menu button and scroll down to Exit. Press Menu and select Yes to save the new tone ID profile, then press Menu again to return to the mode window.

Setting Up Your Wireless Module

If you have the WM 10 wireless module for your CTX 3030, the process for pairing it to talk with the CTX is straightforward. Let’s go through the process.

1. Press the Menu button.

2. Scroll over to Options.

3. Scroll down once to Wireless. Press the Menu button again.

4. Enable the wireless by pressing the Menu again. You see the check mark appear.

5. Scroll down once to connect. Press the Menu button.

6. You will see that you’re on channel 5, but you can choose any channel you want. For example, go to channel 9. Press the Menu button again, and the words “wireless connection in progress” appears on your screen.

7. Power up your wireless module.

8. The pairing light will start to flash. Press the pairing button and hear the pairing tone.

9. You’ll be able to see “wireless connection complete” on your screen.

After that, all the signals from the CTX are going into the wireless module and you’re done!

​Read also: Fisher F75 Metal Detector Review

Using Your CTX 3030 on Beach Terrain

Before going out to the beach to do some detecting, it would probably be wise to set the machine up in the factory presets and choose the Beach mode. Once that’s done, you probably want to make one small change to the Beach mode to discriminate out modern US clad pennies if you really don’t want to find those. And then there’s one more small change you need to consider.

When to Use the Seawater Setting

If you’re not going into the surf where water and sand are washing back and forth across the coil, opt out of the Seawater setting in your beach program.

But if you do decide to detect in the surf, turn the Seawater mode on because that’s what it’s for.

The constantly changing water conditions with the saltwater and sand washing over the coil back and forth will make a lot of machines unstable, but with the Seawater setting, it smooths everything out and makes it a very stable metal detector in the radically changing ground conditions that you get in the surf.

When you’ve set your detector correctly for beach use, you’ll see that the CTX will perform really well on both dry and wet sand.

The stability of the machine means that you don’t mask targets by ground memorization changes that you would with other machines.

Product Specifications

Length	Min 940 mm (37-inches) – Max 1405 mm (55.3-inches)
Weight	5.20 lbs. including Li-ion battery pack
Application	Jewelry, Coin, Relic & Beach (waterproof 10ft)
Technology	FBS 2, Smartfind 2, GPS i, Wi-Stream
Frequency	Multiple frequencies: 1.5 – 100kHz
Coil (standard)	11-inch waterproof Double-D smart coil
Ground Balance	Auto Compensation and Auto Ground Balance
Pinpoint	Non-motion with the modulated audio and visual crosshair on LCD, 2 modes: normal and sizing
Sensitivity Adjust	Auto and Manual (1–30)
Depth Indication	Accurate gauge active in normal detecting and Pinpoint mode
Detect Modes	10 fully customizable, including 5 preset (Coins, Beach, Relic, Silver & High Trash)
Discrimination	Smartfind 2TM 2 dimensional colour discrimination: Ferrous 35, Conductivity 50 – 20 fully customisable discrimination patterns (2 per Search Mode)
Visual Display	Full-color LCD with backlight and adjustable brightness (1–10)
Backlight	Yes
Audio Output	Built-in speaker, standard ¼-inch non-waterproof socket, custom waterproof socket (Minelab accessory headphones only)
Headphones Supplied	KOSS UR30 (100 ohms) supplied with the detector (non-waterproof )
Audio Tone	Customizable Tone ID Profiles – 1, 2 ferrous (Fe), 2 conductive (Co), 4 Fe, 4 Co, 35 Fe, 50 Co or Combined
Audio Type	Normal, Long, Smooth & Pitch Hold
Battery	Li-ion pack with fast charger. 12 V car adapter supplied with Standard Pack only
Warranty	3 years control box & coil

Minelab Accessories

Minelab ensure you some accessories which we present in this Minelab CTX 3030 review. Minelab has put together some great accessories for the CTX 3030, so let’s go through those.

Coil Options: First up are the coil options. The CTX comes standard with an 11-inch Double-D coil that’s great for all kinds of ground conditions and all around detecting. But there are a couple of other coil options as well.

First up is the 17 x 13 Elliptical Double-D. This is a fantastic coil for covering large amounts of ground. It’s sensitive on small targets, but it’s also susceptible on medium-sized and large targets, making this a fantastic coil for covering large areas of the ground like pasture, ploughed field, and at the beach if you’re looking for larger targets like Civil War relics and things like that.

Next is the 6-inch Double-D coil. This is great for getting into areas with a lot of trash or a lot of rubbish targets where you need to get in between the trash targets and find the right targets. It is very sensitive on small targets, as well as medium and large.

Read also: Top Garrett metal detectors review

Battery Pack: The CTX comes with a lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack, but you can also get an alkaline battery pack that lets you put alkaline batteries into it, so you have a second battery pod. If you are out in the field for an extended period of time and your rechargeable battery goes down, you can put this on instead and also carry extra alkaline batteries if you want.

You just pull the battery compartment out of the holder, open it – there are your alkalines. Empty the old ones, put new ones back in, close it back up, put it back in the holder, and you’re ready to go.

Headphones: The CTX comes standard with the UR30 KOSS headphones, but you also have the option of the KOSS waterproof headphones as well. These headphones you want to use if you’re going to get in the water with the CTX because these are completely waterproof.

Wireless Module: Another excellent accessory for the CTX is the WM10 wireless module. This module will take all the signals from the CTX and broadcast them either through this speaker on the front or to the headphone jack. So you can either just use the speaker on the front or plug your favorite headphones into this, put this on your belt, and you’re wholly untethered from your detector.

Detecting Bag: And last but not least is Minelab’s heavy-duty nylon detecting bag. Not only is it big enough for the CTX with the 11-inch coil standard, but it’s also big enough for all the accessories I’ve mentioned today, including the 17 x 13 Elliptical coil. In fact, there’s enough room in the detector bag to have the 17 x 13 coil on the detector with the bag zipped up and all the accessories included. So it’s a fantastic piece of your kit for the CTX 3030.

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Conclusion

Minelab CTX 3030 is the ultimate high performance and the Best Minelab Detector. It is allowing you to discover the history and the treasure finds. Quick menus and language options make it easy to get started.

Enjoy the freedom of wireless audio, and you can use the built-in speaker or your favorite headphones.

You can go detecting anywhere on land or even underwater. You can use the map screen to see where you been and where you are going. The full-color LCD shows more target information than ever before.

And Minelab unique discrimination helps you find more treasure amongst the junk. It records all of your treasure locations and store find points, waypoints and GeoHunts. It’s never been easier to keep track of you detecting avengers and plan your next hunt.

Only Minelab has the world’s best metal detection technologies. The CTX 3030 is no exception with four measure advantages.

So go detecting with Minelab and find the treasure that others have missed. With the unbelievable performance the CTX 3030 your experience the future of discovery.

We try our best to give every single information on Minelab CTX 3030 reviewand hopefully you liked the review. Thank you!

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