Garrett Grand Master Hunter CXIII
Price: $800
Avg. Score: 
3.8
Based on 5 reviews
3.8Based on 5 reviews
Avg. Durability:
4.50
Avg. Ease of use:
4.50
Still going!
February 01, 2018
I bought a Garrett MH CX3 new over twenty years ago, maybe closer to 25
years now! Still works as advertised, "Ready - Motion Mode - Coins" voice
greets me every time I turn it on. LOL Have found some really good finds,
again I use Coin mode to help with trash, and watch the LED readout when it
beeps. If steady and repeatable - usually a good target. Skippy half tones
with LEDs jumping around - trash. Pretty simple.
Scenario of my best finds with CX3 - On a peninsula into a hand dug (by slaves) lake at the bottom of a hill where a mansion was that entertained heads of state, and rich folk of all sorts (Livingstons, Rockefellers etc). Was finding shotgun shell after shotgun shell (seemed like 100s). Round, coined sized etc was tricking the CX3. Dropped one on the bank, let it chirp over it, and hit the Discriminate button, and the chirp was gone! LED's would flash but no more digging the shotgun shells! Went along another 50 yards or so and then heard the annoying chirp followed by a high pitch weeeep sound. LED's said a dime at 12 inches (yeah right, I'm thinking). About 6 inches in the black muck was a shotgun shell head. Yep.. Swung over the hole and now nothing but the high tone and "Dime" designation! Dug down another couple inches and found a silver dime sized coin, dated 1776, Hispania! One side worn smooth from I'm guessing the ice rubbing on it for hundreds of years. Other side barely readable, but clearly a piece of history!
At another site, a cornfield in middle of nowhere, a friend said he found coins or buttons just laying on the ground after plowing the field. We hit it hard with our detectors and found numerous (25+ easy) English coppers! Most were just worn wafers, but some you could make out the bust and GEORGE on them. Some of these we down 10 inches or so in the plowed soil.
Rumor/story has it there was an old fur trader who had a shack out there and must have buried some $ instead of carrying it from place to place to trade furs... Still have my CX3 and still use it!
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Terry from
Upstate NY
113
Bad rap, think not!
January 25, 2015
I don't understand why some people are upset when they find "junk". Digging
junk is part of the game. That is where the gold is! Sometimes yes, you
have to hunt an area clean before you can really get deep! I have 3 of the
garrett CX machines. The first space ship plastic model, the Garrett Grand
Master Hunter, the Master Hunter, and the CXIII talking detector.
The first two have VU meters as opposed to the digital readings on the GMH CX3. (with max power). I have to say the Master Hunter, which is the lower level unit, has found me more silver coins than probably most any other detector and I keep it now, after purchasing the other two units, just because it has found me so much stuff from gold chains, rings, etc. I have a favorite area I hunt and when I got the 1st unit, the Grand Master Hunter(they did not call it the CX at this time), It was even more sensitive and was going about 1-2 inches deeper. Then I got the CXIII and I have the 12.5 coil and it eats up 12 inches of ground, I have dug quarters at 14 inches. But if you are finding foil, pennies, clad, pull-tabs, you are on the right track and eventually a ring will pop out of the ground that pays for the detector in one find.
So... Hard to try and beat that! If it's there, you'll find it. In trashy areas, because of the high sensitivity, you need to clean up a bit of ground with the 4.5 coil. Yeah, you can consider yourself a conservationist using one of these detectors, but good things come. It has to be there for you to find it. Bad targets do cloud good targets, even on much more expensive machines. You need to get them out of the way. I found listening to the CXIII is efficient, in that I can pay attention to my surroundings rather than staring at the ground.
I also think the VU meters are really good on the older models, to see how the needle jumps around, is the language of what it's trying to tell you is in the ground. If it jumps around, it's a wild card, it could be junk, it could be a thin gold ring that's twisted up. You can also adjust the discrimination on the older models via the 2 knobs (ferrus/non ferrus on the side).. The CX3 is done in the program. (just to note, there are several models, I think they go, in this order, the GRAND MASTER HUNTER. Grand Master Hunter CX2, CX2plus, Master Hunter(my first unit I was telling you about and the lowest priced in the series) the CXIII, then the CXIII with the Max Power. It's really confusing but I I think they are overall a good dependable unit worth the money and effort.
Just don't get confused which model you are buying and over pay. You need a lot of patience finding great stuff, but when you are about to give up, or least expect it, it happens, at least that's what happens to me. Be creative where you search, and of course, patience is a must. I also have a Whites PI(Salt Beach/Surf), a TESORO STINGRAY 2,(Fresh Water beach/surf) a Whites Eagle Spectrum (with "signature" identification). I have them because I like switching things up. They have ALL paid for themselves. They all work at finding valuables. I can't say how each reacts to how a particular object is sitting in the ground, but I have the others to double check an area (When I think a detector is not working because it isn't finding anything, I use another detector and most of the time it confirms there's nothing there and the detector is fine. Unless of course I put on the 12.5 coil, I won't get down over 8-10 inches. I use the other machines to clean up, the go in with the deep seeker.
Good unit, have no fear buying for first time users, or someone who doesn't want to spend the bank. Great easy to carry compact size, easy storage/breakdown, better than most detectors. Some say they are heavy but I don't notice weight, I just think of what I'm about to find. Pennies are good! Especially the indian heads, they are actually bronze so hold up better than pennies. If you ignore a zinc penny, it could be an indian head!
In one day I found a 5 indian head pennies that brought me $300 on ebay. They had nice green luster, very sharp coins. Walking down a path near a bridge I found a gold ring that brought me $250. At the local park 2 gold chains worth about $800. Yeah, and so much more. I dug a ton of pennies and pull tabs and foil, bullet casings. After a while you figure out the cans and bottle caps and bullets. If you want to go very simple, just the "MASTER HUNTER", (it's in the CX family but it doesn't have CX on the side of the machine). The VU meter, though seems like dark ages, is actually neat to use. When the needle stays on the same spot, it's on the money. Pinpointing is good. Practice in the woods because you don't want to put 1000 holes in the local park. If you do at least do it discreetly and try not to tear the place up. Go back after a rain and "touch up" your holes. Sorry to ramble.
Max Depth: 10 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
Yes, absolutely!
Steve from
Boston
183
Cx lll slow brains! expensive mistake
January 21, 2015
I bought everything available in 95' that went with this detector including
the two box depth multiplier. I tried and tried to use this machine to be
effective as I was led to believe it would be. I never have found so many
modern pennies and so much junk in my life! It's target recovery time was
so poor it couldn't find anything worth digging EVER unless it was
completely isolated from bad targets!
It was after this I decided to throw in the towel and give up on the hobby for years!!! The exact opposite of this techno blunder is what I am buying to get back into it with and so far it seems that would be a XP Deus.
Max Depth: 6 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Roger Ruliffson from
Fargo
87
Garrett cx3 review.
September 01, 2014
I have owned 2 garrett CX 3 models since they were introduced to the UK
market some time in the early 90's. I think for style the CX3 looks very
nice and sleek probably one of the best looking detectors I have seen for
pure style. The talking feature I found to be really not much more than a
gimmick and I often wondered what the heck am I doing listening to this
voice telling me information I can already see on the display. The novelty
factor of the talking is just great but it's something very annoying at
times.
The detector is heavy but pretty well balanced and by design you really can't sweep too fast with this machine or you may damage your wrist, it's a slow machine with regard to sweep speed and target recovery speed, you absolutely need to avoid the motion discrimination mode and go into all metal mode to stand any chance of getting small hammered coins. The motion mode just does not seem that sensitive to small coins but for medium or large coins it will find to around 8 inches approx.
I found on trashy sites it found every bit of can slaw and pull tab there was buried, it seemed to love junk, basically it was no good for trashy sites, I never liked it under those conditions. The notch discrimination feature worked pretty good on sites that were loaded with pre - decimal coins as you could select which coins you wanted to find, I once set it to detect brass 3 penny pieces only and I found plenty of these and dug no hardly junk at all. Same for £1 coins cherry pick the coins on some sites. OK so finishing the review I will say in all honesty that the CX 3 is a marvel of electronic engineering - a pure work of art, in the field though it's basically just an average performer and nothing special. Yes you can find things with it but expect to dig tons of junk!
Max Depth: 6 inches on US quarter
Overall Rating
Durability
Ease of Use
Would you recommend this to a new user?
No, not really.
Kingspin from
UK
84
Nice detector
May 01, 2012
I bought one of these as my first detector. I was probably over my head
with its complexity, but I learned a lot. Garretts are bright green, and this one had a space age look, and it talked! I was always surrounded by kids. It taught me to use headphones.
I went whole hog and bought several coils, and the first time out with the biggest coil was overwhelming. It picked up everything and it was impossible to separate.
I think it was this detector that started the rumors that Garretts were toys, because of its bright green, toylike color, and its talking mode. But, it was and still is a first rate detector with a lot of useful features.
Two things I have noticed with Garretts detectors. They are easy to use, and have excellent discrimination with coins. If it says dime, its a dime, and so on.
The Grand Master Hunter CXIII was ahead of its time by a large margin, and other manufacturers could not compete, so they mocked it.
Overall Rating
Brian in Baltimore from
Maryland
295