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XP detectors are one of the few makes
manufactured in Europe - in this case by XPlorer s.a.r.l in France.
Most people are familiar with the GoldMaxx and the GoldMaxx Power,
since these have become, justifiably, popular machines for
iron-infested arable fields, here in the UK.
Less familiar, are the lower frequency
detectors that XP make. There are 4 of these: the ADX 100 - a great
little starter detector; the ADX 250; the Adventis 2 and the GMaxx
2.
This review is about the Adventis 2, which is
basically very similar to the ADX 250 - the only difference being
that the ADX 250 has not got the "ground" control.
The Adventis, like all other XP
detectors, is very light and quite well balanced - if anything, it
is a little coil light. It is well built, with neat little ideas
like the fully waterproof coil connector plug. However, I do have a
couple of gripes with the design - the XP range in general seems to
have been geared towards hip-mounting, which is all well and good if
you are the type of detectorist that likes to hip-mount the control
box. If you are not, and that includes me, then be prepared for some
hassle when you first put these detectors together. The coil cable
is very strong, very thick and very long! This poses problems when
trying to wrap the cable around the stem - note the 5, yes 5! cable
ties in the photo above - this was the only way I could get the
inflexible cable to stay put.
Gripe two - the supplied
hip-mount bag/control box cover is again geared towards
hip-mounting, along with the use of XP's own battery charger with
rechargeable batteries (This charger plugs in to the coil cable
socket). If you don't want to use rechargeables, or you do but not
with XP's charger - plus you want the control box mounted on the
stem - you again come up against hassles. The supplied hip-mount
bag/control box cover will only fit on the control box when it is
off the stem - you therefore have to fit it prior to attaching the
control box to the stem. No problem there, I hear you say! But - and
it's a big "but" - you then cannot gain access to the battery
compartment. So to change batteries, you have to remove the control
box from the stem - not easy with XP's silly clip system - and then
remove the control box cover to get the battery compartment cover
off. No problem if you are using XP's charger - just put 8 x AA
rechargeables in and leave them in - recharge in situ via the coil
cable socket.
But if you want to use a
different charger, or alkaline batteries - you have to forget using
the supplied hip-mount bag/control box cover. XP no longer supply
the alternative control box cover that they used to. However, all is
not lost, since Maz has very helpfully made a perfect control box
cover for the XP range, that allows access to the battery
compartment - excellent! (This is shown in the photos above and
below, and is available from Detecnicks - see links page).
Why not use XP's charger? I
hear you say. Well, it is one of those old-fashioned, stupid
chargers that takes 16-18 hours to charge up your batteries - and
woe betide if you leave it much longer and "overcharge" your
batteries - have these people never heard of intelligent chargers?
My charger for NiMH batteries takes 2-3 hours and intelligently
switches to trickle charge when it senses that the charging is
complete. XP are not the only one's at fault here, however - Minelab
and White's still supply these silly, old-fashioned chargers aswell.
Anyway - complaining over -
let's continue with the review. The Adventis 2 is a 4.6kHz machine -
this gives good depth, especially on larger, more conductive targets
along with decent iron discrimination. The lower frequency can leave
the Adventis open to interference from power-lines - however, I have
found it to be fine so far on smaller power-lines and no worse than
a lot of other machines when under larger pylons. Certainly an
improvement here from the original XP low-frequency machines (The
ADX250, Adventis 2 and the GMaxx 2 have all been entirely reworked,
with new circuit boards and other advancements over the original
range.)
The Adventis is very easy to
use and very sensitive, considering it's lower frequency (Not in the
GoldMaxx class, but this machine excels in other areas and is
ideally suited to pasture and other grassed areas, where the
GoldMaxx is not the best choice). The Ground setting is simplicity
itself - just set it to the preset, 12 o'clock position and see if
the detector is stable - if it is, try backing it off a little
towards 11 o'clock - this will give more depth. If there is a
problem with stability - unusual, but can be caused by bad
mineralisation - just turn it slightly to the right until you have a
stable machine - bear in mind that turning the ground control to the
right - 1 o'clock - will affect depth.
Sensitivity has a preset
position at 3 o'clock. This is generally ok for most sites.
Sometimes you can get away with increasing into the red zone, but
don't be afraid to turn it the other way if conditions dictate so -
this machine has no shortage of depth.
The Adventis 2 (along with the
ADX 250) offers 2 discrimination circuits - D2, which is a standard
discrimination control, plus D1, which discriminates only iron and
is the preferred setting. These are selected by the switch to the
left of the discrim knob. You can also select the All Metal setting
from this switch. Iron discrimination is very good, signalled either
by no audio at all or a broken or clipped audio - depending on the
setting chosen.
The audio is single-tone, but
it is a nice, relaxing tone - not too strident (like a lot of single
tone machines can be!) and it gives a nice, clear tone on all good
targets.
The Adventis 2 gives another
switch that has 2 functions - it can alter the detecting frequency
slightly if you are working close to another XP 4.6kHz user, and
this switch also changes channel for the optional XP wireless
headphones - this circuit now being built in to all XP machines.
The standard coil on the
Adventis 2 (aswell as all other XP machines) is the 9 inch 2D
wide-scan. This is an excellent coil, offering good ground coverage,
good sensitivity and good performance in mineralised soils. It is
also a good size and shape for use in stubble without catching too
bad.
Other coils are available - an
11 inch 2D wide-scan, a 5 x 10 elliptical wide-scan coil and an 18 x
15 elliptical wide-scan coil.
Overall, the Adventis 2 is a
light, easy to use machine that offers good sensitivity, reasonably
quick recovery speed and decent iron discrimination.
Pro's: *
light and well balanced detector - * sensitive with decent recovery speed - *
excellent depth - * easy to set up - * good discrimination
- * good choice of accessory coils.
Con's: * if you are
not hip-mounting the control box, be prepared for some initial
hassle.
Gary, 2007.
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