Whites MXT - Learning My Machine - First Detector

[Goldfleks]

Hi Guys~

What can I add to my MD collection?

All I have is the detector, the 950 coil, and a 10x6DD coil.

I was thinking of getting a Garrett Carrot and some other accessories. What is my MUST have?

I'll be moving to Nevada soon, so I'm not really concerned with beach detecting anymore, so I will be more interested in coin shooting and prospecting.

 

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[Twinkletoes]

I have the White's TRX pinpointer and I really like it. The programmable sensitivity is useful and cool, really good depth. I also own a Garrett Propointer and have had difficulty with the switch and chattering. I've heard other people have had the same problem with the Garrett. Other than that they are both nice pinpointers. Tt

 

[Goldfleks]

Ok so I hit the beach today again, doing my best to work with what I have. I know this isn't a strong wet sand beach machine.

I found some change in the dry sands and other metal trash and foil as expected. I hit the damp/wet sands about 5' above the tide, buried the dime I found earlier about 4" down and ran the coil over it and barely got a signal. It picked it up, but i feel like ONLY because i knew where it was buried. It wasn't the crisp high tone dimes make at the park. I feel like had i not known it was there, I would of walked right passed.

Is that typical for what i should expect in the wet/damp?

 

[wingmaster]

Did you ground balance in the wet sand? I would try the dime with different settings as well, like try and run lower gain then see if it picks it up better or try locking tracking after you ground balance. Once you have the dime there try and see if you can pick it up better with a different gain setting or try locking tracking after ground balancing in the wet sand, what gain setting are you trying to run in the wet sand and what coil are you using? HH

 

[Goldfleks]

I have the 6x10DD and the 950, I've tried both at the beach.

I'm pretty sure I ground balanced on the damp sand, i pumped the coil. I was running coin/jewelry. I tried messing with relic and prospecting. I guess I just need to fiddle with the settings more and bring some practice targets. So far I've only found a penny once in the wet/damp above the wave line. And nothing else. In the dry it works just fine with factory settings, but the salt water + black sands really makes it hard to use.

 

[yardgoat]

Tt : Give Garrett a call about the switch on your pin pointer, they sent me a new rubber button free of charge and solved the switch problem.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Tt : Give Garrett a call about the switch on your pin pointer, they sent me a new rubber button free of charge and solved the switch problem.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give them a call. Tt

 

[Goldfleks]

Ok, back to the beach!

I did find 1 quarter in the damp/wet area today, but it was only 3" down and was probably lying flat. That was the only clad I found today.

I was doing the tests again, I brought a quarter, nickel, dime and penny. It really feels like these things just disappear in the sand for my machine. Tested a bunch of different gains/discriminations, coins/relic/prospecting, etc. Had a really, really hard time getting it to sing.

The quarter had the nice high tone PING that I'm used to hearing. The dime, when buried a few inches down, was basically silent.

I need to invest in some new headphones, as the pair that came with the machine broke. Suggestions on headphone brands that work well with the MXT? I'm going to re-test at the beach again once I get my headphones sorted out, as I don't think I can rely on the loud PING at the beach with all the interference.

Anyone use the MXT at the beach that can give some extra advice. Or in SoCal that would like to get together for a hunt and share some tips of the trade? Beach or Park.

 

[wingmaster]

Whatever headphones you choose make sure it's a quality set as those cheap headphones will miss those real deep whisper targets that are almost always the good old deep coins. HH

 

[beerguy]

As far as what you need, a pinpointer, good headphones, a good digger and a proper pouch will get you going.

I also use a kneepad and gloves, my personal preference.

For park hunting, I take a small towel to put the dirt on when digging plugs. It helps get all the dirt back in the hole when I am done.

Additional coils are good to have as well, they all serve a purpose. I like the 10" DD coil on that machine.

The MXT is a good machine. Keep in mind that the ground tracking circuit is very active, and can 'tune out' weak signals if you are not careful.

What this means is that it can treat weak/small signals as mineralization. Once you find a weak signal, turn tracking off.

This is why the trac has an off setting. I am not sure if you have it, but the Pro model has a Ground Grab button that is very useful.

Once balanced, you can turn tracking off and hit ground grab once you sense the GB is off.

 

[Goldfleks]

Yeah no ground grab on the original, but you can lock the ground balance. Pretty sure it serves the same function, just better designed in the PRO with the push button instead of flipping the switch.

 

[Goldfleks]

Ok! Back to question time!

So I put the 950 coil back on for better pinpointing as I don't have a handheld pinpointer yet. I was attempting to coin pop today on some grass across the street from my apartment. I successfully poped 1 penny lol. The other 4 targets I was unable to pop. This soil had a lot of rocks in it so I was having difficulty feeling the coin. I was only attempting to pop solid shallow signals with the probability bar filled to 100% so I'm pretty sure they were clad.

When pinpointing using the MXT and it's doing the screaming sound (lack of a better term) I scan north to south until the number gets the lowest, then east to west until it's the lowest and the object "should" be in the center of the coil correct? Since it's concentric?

Just trying to figure out why I was having so much issues poping the coins up. I know I need to practice, but still!

Suggestions?

A garrett carrot or other brand pinpointer is on my list, just haven't gotten around to buying it yet.

 

[chowder]

Practice...practice...just stick with doing what you're doing. Takes a bit of time to learn the machine. Coins can be give weird signals when they are at different angles in the ground. Then you have hot rocks, halo effect and ground minerals to deal with. All contribute to "odd" signals.
Yeah, a pin pointer will help out a lot. You may even want to consider purchasing a book by Jeff Foster titled "The MXT Edge". It helped me learn the ins and outs of my MXT Pro.

 

[Goldfleks]

I would have bough that book if it was digital download.

 

[mntnflyr4fun]

For wet sand beach hunting you might try running the gain down a bit and using the all metal Prospecting mode so that you can adjust the SAT speed to help handle the wet salt.... I would favor the 6x10DD coil also to eliminate as much mineral under the coil as possible...no disc. doing this, but it might get you smoother running at the beach and with easy sand diggin, hitting a bit of trash might be worth it.

 

[luvsdux]

Went to the park later today, found my first pull tab! And a bunch of cans and foil. I'm amazed how much trash there is mixed into the dirt.

It's pretty disgusting and frustrating. Especially when a high number of tabs were designed to remain on the can. I've also dug smashed pop or beer cans that were buried in parks where it would have taken much less effort to just drop them in the trash containers.
luvsdux