First a few general notes - this guide is for inspiration only and everyone will find room for their own modifications or simplifications. During the production of the prototype, emphasis was placed on maintaining the original quality of the Minelab guide rod design as the CTX 3030 certainly deserves J. That is, no metallic structural elements were used, and an effort was made to maintain minimum manufacturing tolerances so that the rod, when unfolded, would be rigid and free of play (uncomfortable wobble in use)...
When I bought the CTX3030 detector, it changed my search life forever. My confidence grew, the number of finds multiplied manifold...and the depth at which we searched...well, let's just say Australia wasn't that far from the bottom of my dug holes.
If you are one of the meticulous ones, using xChange2 to record your findings. You may find it useful to use a simple application to sort collections in xChange2, export to KML and KMZ including FindPoints and photos. KML and KMZ files can be opened directly in Google Earth, but many other applications can be used.
I traded my Ctx for an Etrac about two years ago, at first of course I was hesitant to keep the Etrac, but eventually I sold my beloved Etrac and paid extra for the CTX. The main reason was mainly curiosity, which overcame my doubts about whether I should invest the money in another detector again.