Whites MXT review
By Garys detecting
I have been a little slow on the uptake where the Whites MXT is concerned,
perhaps owing to the bad press some of it's competitors have been giving it and
indeed comparing it to the DFX.
The
high frequency corner has been flooded by the introduction of the Tesoro Tejon
and the XP Gold Maxx power, leaving the MXT somewhat left out.
Users have reported this machine as being very noisy but sensitive to small
targets, there has been some very good reviews on the net especially helpful
notes on Toddy's
Whites owners
forum
which covers this machine and all other Whites models very
well.
I made contact with Colin from Scotland and had a deal with him for his MXT
after talking to some other owners.
Buzzerman an old friend has made some very nice finds in mineralised soil
and reported it as giving the Gold Maxx a good run for it's money.
The MXT arrived as promised well packed and in immaculate condition the manual
may have been written in another language for all the sense it made, luckily I
had notes from other users, it appeared there is only 2 ways to run the MXT for
maximum performance in our UK search conditions.
1. Relic mode with the trigger forward set disc to 0 low tone Iron High tone Non
Ferrous.
2 .Relic mode with trigger in the middle a mixed mode all metal and discrim
running together.
Some discrimination can be used but only to reject nails No2 on control
In the field
Conditions : Hard worked Roman site ploughed and left to
settle, very muddy bad Iron contamination.
MXT set up : 10x5 elliptical coil, Trigger forward disc to zero rejecting
nothing, sensitivity set to
preset mark, adjust threshold to a faint hum.
Ground control Switch into
ground, then lower and raise the coil until the threshold settles then flick it
into the fixed position...ready to search
The MXT was indeed a noisy machine there was plenty going on and I found it
difficult to settle down, one thing I have noticed with high
frequency machines is if you are not in the mood or something is not
quite right these detectors will punish you to the point of madness.
Results
I found 2 small Roman coins along with a crotal bell but it was hard
work, after a short break I went out again with a different set of
headphones these made a world of difference, the ground noise
appeared to be in the background while the high and low tones
sounded much clearer, unlike before everything apeared to be loud
and mashed together.
This did the trick because my finds rate tripled I dug very little
Iron, the non ferrous high tones were jumping out at me with no hesitation.
Then something strange happened....I actually smiled (very rare).
Was I enjoying myself or had the noise finally pickled my brain ?
Conclusion
This brief test is based on one day's detecting which I
absolutely loved .
The MXT is on the top shelf along side the other high
frequency machines it is a real good workhorse with one advantage over the
others.....it has a meter....dont forget the whites superior build
quality and after sales service.
Is the whites mxt a deep seeking metal detector ?
I found the MXT to have satisfactory depth for the coil size but nothing
impressive.
What I did like was it's precise audio response, it is not the ideal machine for
everyone but if you are considering purchasing a high frequency machine the
whites mxt would be in my top 3 choices.
Tejon MXT
GoldMaxx
Notes
The sensitivity (punishment control) adjusts the receive signal.
High settings past +1 will be ok for the hard of hearing but for those with
sensitive ears this level will punish you.With the trigger in the middle
position the mxt runs more stable at higher sensitivity I have no idea why.
I would advise you to use compatable headphones and start with the
discrimination set at 2 with the trigger forward in the Relic mode, then lower
the discrimination as you become more familiar with the machine. Then when you
are fully confident run the discrimination at zero ignoring the low tones and
digging the high.
Some targets gave the high and low together with further investigation 99%
turned out to be Iron.
Poor picture 9 Roman coins a rose farthing, a Jetton and other metal detecting
artefacts.
MXT Note: Big Item reading on display
On 2 occasions suspect signals were located, also very faint in pin point,
the screen could not identify the targets and read "Big Item" probably because
they were to deep. Both occasions small non ferrous were dug so if
you see the words "Big Item" on a suspect signal have a go.
Second test
Conditions : Pouring with
rain on a Pasture field these days very few finds, has been productive over the
years.
MXT set up : 10" std polo coil, Trigger forward disc to zero rejecting
nothing, sensitivity set to
preset mark, adjust threshold to a faint hum.
I wanted to try the original polo coil on pasture to see how it would perform.
The MXT was very well behaved and again I really enjoyed using it deep targets
gave a very faint high tone, Iron was very easily identified.
I found several pieces of non ferrous, the best find was this Edward hammered at
around 6" deep.
I believe the best headphones for the MXT are the OADS lightweight
Thanks to Glen, Colin, Toddy, Buzzerman for your help |