What MD to buy for gold and relics in clay?

eagles9259

Jr. Member
Mar 2, 2009
21
0
Virginia
Detector(s) used
MXT
I've spent the better part of a day looking through the forums and have become more confused the more I read, so I figured I'd post my own question. I am looking to buy a MD in the $1,000 or under range that would be good for locating gold and CW relics in an area with a lot of rocks (quartz) and red clay. This is my own property in Northern Virginia, so I have a lot of time to work it over and don't mind doing a lot of digging. I don't know that there is gold on this property other than the fact that it is very close to numerous old gold mines. Thanks for your help.
 

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thompy

Bronze Member
Feb 19, 2005
1,271
7
Menominee, Michigan
Detector(s) used
T-2,
whites mxt, minlabe xt70, fisher f-70-75, teknetics t-2 are all good for gold and relics, some of the pulse machines would work as well
 

Hoser John

Gold Member
Mar 22, 2003
5,854
6,721
Redding,Calif.
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Tesoro lobo supertraq or the gold bug 2-since your into relics a dig all machine is in your field. Both good on gold-tesoro has great auto traq too. Both AMERICAN made with righteous warranties too-tons a au 2 u 2-John :thumbsup:
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
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M.X.T. all the way! :wink:
 

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eagles9259

Jr. Member
Mar 2, 2009
21
0
Virginia
Detector(s) used
MXT
Thanks for the replies so far. I guess I've kinda narrowed it down to the Tesoro LST, White's MXT, or the Minelab XT70. I like the fact that the Tesoro is American made and has a lifetime warranty, although I know there are many fans of White's. I'm kinda scared of the Minelab from reading some things, it appears that the customer support may be a little spotty. Is there one of these that is better on the "hot" ground or that goes deeper?
 

Jim Hemmingway

Hero Member
Jan 26, 2008
788
1,615
Canada
Detector(s) used
F-75, Infinium LS, MXT, GoldBug2, TDI Pro, 1280X Aquanaut, Garrett ProPointer
Primary Interest:
Prospecting
Hi Eagles,

You said...

"I've spent the better part of a day looking through the forums and have become more confused the more I read"

Well Eagles, welcome to the Treasure Net . It's not so easy to distinguish good and bad advice, further complicated by (a) most members have their personal favourites, and (b) for every question to 10 members, you will receive 10 different opinions.

There are a number of "all-around" units that would satisfy your requirements. MXT would be an excellent choice. Why? Ease of use, solid performance, good selection of coil sizes...both concentric and DD, solid build backed by a no nonsense company that stands behind their products.

MXT is versatile. It offers real prospecting capability, plus coin and relic hunting discrimination modes. The discrimination modes offer visual target ID with confidence indication and excellent iron ID resolution. At a modest 14 kHz operating frequency, it will not signal over the very tiniest nuggets below 0.3 grains (which is quite tiny) with the 6"X10" DD coil, but then again, smaller more sensitive coils are available.

The 6"X10" DD coil is versatile as it can be used with very good target separation in trashy areas, for both nugget/coin shooting. The larger coils, for example, the 12" concentric will add measurably to depth ability over coin size targets, rivalling the F-75 stock 11" coil...except that the 12 inch coil loses sensitivity to small gold that F-75/T-2 stock coils will signal over. The 14 kHz operating frequency will also handle higher mineralized soils better by comparison to the high frequency nugget units. Its ground balance autotracking system is as good as anything currently available in terms of accuracy and speed. Plus it can be "locked" when not needed or wanted, and this feature can be handy when into hot rock patches or over man made iron residues.

The discrimination modes offer you the ability to have conventional discrimination (trigger centre position C&J mode) or to notch out pulltab range conductivity (trigger in forward position) in C&J mode. In Relic mode, with the trigger in centre position, tone ID will follow the disc setting...everything below is low tone, everything above is high tone. With trigger forward position, there is a choice. (a) with disc set to zero, iron will signal with a low tone and all other conductivities will signal with a high tone. (b) with discrimination dialed-in, targets signals falling below that disc setting will be suppressed/eliminated. Trigger squeezed in either disc mode offers pinpointing/depth reading.

The prospecting mode has a subtle % iron visual ID accompanied by an audio iron "grunt" feature (trigger in centre position) when very confident the target is indeed iron composition. The trigger forward position allows the user to hear signals without the iron grunt feature. The trigger squeezed position turns off auto ground tracking when evaluating a target signal. This prevents tracking into the target, ensuring the best audio response is provided.

MXT provides an adjustable Threshold retune rate control (SAT) for varying soil mineralization in Prospecting mode only, in addition to Gain control, and adjustable Threshold control used for all three modes. MXT offers an auto tracking ground balance switch that selects either salt/alkalai, lock, or normal ground tracking options. Auto tracking operates in all modes, and provides enhanced stability over extreme/variable ground.

Jim.
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
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Whites is in Oregon and I challenge you to find better customer service too!!! :wink:
 

arizonaames

Hero Member
Dec 13, 2008
508
25
Michigan
Detector(s) used
MXT, TDI, Whites Dual Field, Goldmaster VSAT, Fisher CZ 21
I am very happy :thumbsup:with my MXT and I am a prospector. The MXT also has a superb relic mode and a coin and jewelry mode. It is a 10 sec detector! It takes 10 seconds to set it up and you are ready to go. It is great for newbs and experts alike..... ;D
 

Sierra Kid

Full Member
Feb 7, 2009
138
3
Mojave Desert CA.
Detector(s) used
White's MXT 300, Falcon MD20
I gotta say I am happy with my Whites MXT. Got it from kellyco. I use it for Prospecting, beach detecting and general searching.
 

Digg Mo

Full Member
Oct 18, 2006
122
151
Texas
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
Equinox 800, Garrett AT Pro,Tesoro Sidewinder,Tesoro Conquistador, Tesoro Tigershark, Troy Shadow X2, Minelab Excalibur 1000,
Primary Interest:
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I'm sort of in the same boat as Eagles9259 trying to decide on which detector to get for prospecting. Just like him I'm also thinking about either the Lobo ST or Goldbug II. I thought about an ML X70 .Even though I now own a MineLab Explorer II and a Excalibur I have keep going back to the Lobo ST or Goldbug ST. I've talked to a few people about the MineLab X70 and didn't like the feedback that received. I have considered the Whites GMT, but I'm not to happy with their out of warranty service. I've had Whites machines that were sent in for repair and the cost for the repair was almost half the cost of the detector. I 'm probably end up getting the Lobo ST because I have owned (since 1982) a lot of Tesoro's and I have been satisfied with the service from Tesoro. I always received the detector back in short time whenever one was sent in for repair. :icon_sunny: Digg Mo
 

kuger

Gold Member
Nov 6, 2007
9,721
2,794
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,M.X.T.& Tesoro Tejon
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Digg Mo said:
I'm sort of in the same boat as Eagles9259 trying to decide on which detector to get for prospecting. Just like him I'm also thinking about either the Lobo ST or Goldbug II. I thought about an ML X70 .Even though I now own a MineLab Explorer II and a Excalibur I have keep going back to the Lobo ST or Goldbug ST. I've talked to a few people about the MineLab X70 and didn't like the feedback that received. I have considered the Whites GMT, but I'm not to happy with their out of warranty service. I've had Whites machines that were sent in for repair and the cost for the repair was almost half the cost of the detector. I 'm probably end up getting the Lobo ST because I have owned (since 1982) a lot of Tesoro's and I have been satisfied with the service from Tesoro. I always received the detector back in short time whenever one was sent in for repair. :icon_sunny: Digg Mo
I cant argue the Gold bug 2 ability for gold but you have to manually ground balance,not hard but takes some getting used to.The G.M.T. has the option for both.I would not use either for relics,unless you want to dig everything.I have had nothing but fantastic service with Whites even a detector that was run over by a truck.....they fixed it,$200.
 

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eagles9259

Jr. Member
Mar 2, 2009
21
0
Virginia
Detector(s) used
MXT
Just wanted to say thanks for all of the advice, especially from Jim... very in depth. Anyway, I bought the MXT as many of you suggested. It came last week and I spent the weekend digging iron trash. I did find a bottle dump, but I don't think the bottles are that old (they were buried in the same spot as some batteries). When I find something good, I will post it. Anyway, I check this forum all the time. Thanks for all the info.
 

ivan salis

Gold Member
Feb 5, 2007
16,794
3,809
callahan,fl
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
1
Detector(s) used
delta 4000 / ace 250 - used BH and many others too
with clay normally you got iron / mineral issues --so you need a good stable ground balancible machine --thats eazy to set up / run with good depth. MXT should do what you want --good luck.
 

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eagles9259

Jr. Member
Mar 2, 2009
21
0
Virginia
Detector(s) used
MXT
Ankh - I called White's and was told that I couldn't order the 6x10 with the Bonus Bucks because the price wasn't listed, so I bought one with the MXT. It works much better than the standard coil, which was making all kinds of noise. I'm planning on using the Bonus Bucks to pay for part of the 10" Double D, even though I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise.

Jim - The ground in my area is reading 50 to 80, usually in the 70s. If there's anything else you want to know, please let me know.

Matt
 

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