Metal Detecting and my husbands folding control arm for Minelab X-Terra

Inna | February 13, 2025 | Review Corner, Promotions | No Comments

This control unit mount has a history. One of our neighbors is passionate about California’s Gold Rush and is a renowned expert in the wagons Americans who were too poor to go by ship used to get to California. His enthusiasm is contagious and, before I knew it, I had collected an impressive number of books about the Gold Rush—everything from diaries to lectures to books on the subject. For a while, reading those books and hiking to sites that used to be speculative camps or coyote holes was enough but after a while I wanted something more. I wanted to relive the Gold Rush.

My husband indulged me—though he warned me that metal detecting while easier than the old-fashioned methods isn’t what you might call easy. He also told me that most of what we can expect to find will be junk. I persisted. So, he did a lot of research and discovered that the Minelab X-Terra Pro is a good introductory metal detector. We got that and it did indeed work.

We tried it out in our backyard and then went to the river near our home. In our forays to the riverbank and the local park and back we discovered a slight problem with our new acquisition. It was bulky and awkward to carry. This was made worse by the fact that you couldn’t really fit it into a backpack. And when you’re coming home hot and sweaty after digging in the dirt for at least two hours, the absolute last thing you want to do is stop and chat with every other neighbor you meet who (quite understandably) wants to know if you found anything by the river. (For the record: no, we didn’t.)

And so, during the hot summer months, when metal detecting was out of the question, my husband set out to remedy the problem. He scanned the Minelab X-Terra with a 3D scanner and spent a good two months designing and designing and designing a control unit mount for it. Design complete, he tested it with different filaments. And refined the design. And designed it some more. And tested it some more. Now that it works, he is offering it to you.

With it, you will be able to fit the metal detector in a decent sized backpack, making longer hikes practical and (best of all in my opinion) ensuring that when you are coming back all hot, sweaty and not a little grumpy you won’t have to talk to your neighbors. Not until you’ve had a shower anyway.