Looking for advice...new MXT user, moved up from ACE 150

[Jimmy4]

Hi All,
New to the forum, what a great site! I just bought an MXT, and only have a couple of hours on it so far but am finding it hard to get used to compared to my first machine the Ace 150. With the Garrett, I easily could tell the coin "beep"...no such thing on the MXT. Found tons of stuff with the 150 over the last 4 months.
Anyone have any good basic user tips that might help? Watched the DVD, read the manual multiple times. Maybe just time?

[ashleysflyr]

I first want to tell you...have faith in this machine! I came from a $400 Bounty Hunter with 6 months experience...and went back over my old hunting grounds with my MXT and found TONS of silver and buffalo nickels! Here's my tip...the MXT is known for being "chatty". That is good and bad. The chattyness for a novice is distracting, but, if you have her in coin&jewelry mode, swing her and listen to just how chatty she is, and adjust the threshhold (last knob) to an accepatable level. I like her to beep just a little bit near old iron. That's important for two reasons. 1: the lower the threshhold, the less DEEP silver you will find, and also 2: I often find silver colocated with iron. Find an acceptable level of "chatter" and listen for that repeating "beep" that was so comforting with your lesser machine, but much quieter...accompanied with a VDI above 70, and I assure you copper and silver! Good luck, and remember, it's all about getting to know your new machine. Bury some silver, copper, gold, and experiment...it will also benifit you. GOOD LUCK!!!

~Tom

[Jimmy4]

Thanks Tom!
I appreciate the advice and with all the great things I've read about the machine surely I'll find tons of stuff once I get it down!
We've got permission to hit an old school, and an old farm foundation, so looking forward to seeing what we find! Jim

[ashleysflyr]

Good luck to you boss, I have found barbers at 8 inches, quarters at 11, and countless coins and relics at all depths...look for the old sidewalk at that school, and don't be afraid to dig where the outhouse used to be at the farm. Lot's of things get dropped in the toilette! (it's just dark dirt now...lol)

~Tom

[Yellowhouse]

I first want to tell you...have faith in this machine! I came from a $400 Bounty Hunter with 6 months experience...and went back over my old hunting grounds with my MXT and found TONS of silver and buffalo nickels! Here's my tip...the MXT is known for being "chatty". That is good and bad. The chattyness for a novice is distracting, but, if you have her in coin&jewelry mode, swing her and listen to just how chatty she is, and adjust the threshhold (last knob) to an accepatable level. I like her to beep just a little bit near old iron. That's important for two reasons. 1: the lower the threshhold, the less DEEP silver you will find, and also 2: I often find silver colocated with iron. Find an acceptable level of "chatter" and listen for that repeating "beep" that was so comforting with your lesser machine, but much quieter...accompanied with a VDI above 70, and I assure you copper and silver!
~Tom

Do you normally run coin/jewelry or in alternative relic mode?
What coil are you using?

[Jimmy4]

So far have only run it in the Coin/Jewelry mode, haven't even tried the others...figured I better get one down before messing around too much! I do have the threshold set just above silent, and have experimented with some different settings there.
Played around at a ballfield today, found at least 3 pull tabs that read nickel....but did find one nickel.

[ashleysflyr]

I first want to tell you...have faith in this machine! I came from a $400 Bounty Hunter with 6 months experience...and went back over my old hunting grounds with my MXT and found TONS of silver and buffalo nickels! Here's my tip...the MXT is known for being "chatty". That is good and bad. The chattyness for a novice is distracting, but, if you have her in coin&jewelry mode, swing her and listen to just how chatty she is, and adjust the threshhold (last knob) to an accepatable level. I like her to beep just a little bit near old iron. That's important for two reasons. 1: the lower the threshhold, the less DEEP silver you will find, and also 2: I often find silver colocated with iron. Find an acceptable level of "chatter" and listen for that repeating "beep" that was so comforting with your lesser machine, but much quieter...accompanied with a VDI above 70, and I assure you copper and silver!
~Tom

Do you normally run coin/jewelry or in alternative relic mode?

What coil are you using?

I normally run coin and jewelry when I am coin shooting in an old park or farmhouse. I find that...if you understand how the VDI works, you won't miss the good relics. Also, consider that relics 100 years (or more) ago (aside from those awesome old iron tools) were made of metals that will read higher...like brass watch FOBs and buttons, or silver coins made into dog tags for Civil War soldiers, not to mention gold. I found an 1800's tin play tea set, reads high and screams at you in coin and jewelry mode. I do use relic mode when I am in an open field...like a farmers field with a lot of ground to cover. If I am looking for gold specifically, obviously I use Gold mode. I've only used it twice, and found gold both times...once for a tiny earing with a diamond in it...an expensive diamond for a friend. Works well for really small targets.
I have the standard White's coil that came with the machine. I used to use a smaller coil for trashy areas, but I found the best method is to clean the area with the standard coil, and enjoy the depth. I square off about a 10' X 10' area, and dig all iron and pull tab signal first, then I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
......I degress......

~Tom

[bcs123]

ive been using an MXT for 2 years now and love every chance i have to get out with it. like some people said it can be "chatty" for you when you first start swinging it but after while you wont even notice that and will be digging all kinds of sweet stuff.. practice is very important if you set up a test garden as was suggested also try to set up some of the targets (silver gold and modern coins) with some iron targets under them on top of them and beside them and use diff. size iron targets and just swing away at them from all diff. kinds of angles and learn what that machine is telling you. in a perfect world we would be able to just block out iron all together and not have to be subjected to the "halo" that it gives off but if you set up a garden with iron around your targets also (i set up 2 gardens 1 with iron and 1 without so i can see what it reads in both examples) you will see what that same clean target reads with the junk around it and will be able to ID them better in a trashy area.

also hit your garden often.. just because a coin will read the same way 6 days a week in 90 degree weather that 7th day when its only 70 and it has rained that morning you will get a diff. reading. so when theres diff. weather outside i try to hit my gardens even if i dont have time to go out in the field.

[Jimmy4]

Great advice on the "garden", I"ll surely be doing that!
Went out a few more times today to the tot lots and managed to scrap up some clad, so getting more familiar. I feel like I am missing stuff without the coin beep! Watching the display quite a bit.
I appreciate all the replies, thanks all.

[ashleysflyr]

One more thing...reffering to that "halo" given off from old iron in the ground....sometimes you can break up that signal just by sticking your digging tool in the ground momentarilty near or above the iron halo. I use this if I am getting a strong iron signal with an occassional penny/dime signal. I will push my digger into the iron signal, pull it out, and sweep again. If the penny signal dissappears, I will skip it, if it repeats or is stronger, I will dig. Proved that one on tuesday when I hit an iron signal with a penny/dime reading. turned out to be a square head with a 1925 merc below...

~Tom

[bcs123]

im gonna have to try that "halo" trick..

[detectbug]

The mxt is a very good detector, you may already know or someone may have told you on this thread. get the mxt edge, the book helped me alot, has a lot of good info. It look like your getting a lot of good advise, I have a lot of fun with this detector
and know you will also good luck

[Dustyroundup]

Oh boy,
I second that notion,
The MXT Edge,, by Jeff Foster
Got mine on Ebay
It does have a real technical side,
but the tips and techniques, are very valuable to me.
I read it nightly, and dont always understand it all,
then when i'm out in the field, some things will "click'
then i re read, and ,, I got it.
It might take me a LOOOOONG time to get it down,
But ive come to realize , my MXT is much smarter than me.
and I would never truly know its full potential, without the Book.
Just my opinion.
Happy hunting...
Dusty

[kimseyco]

i have a mxt also and i love it and have used it for almost a full year. i also have an ace 250 that i carry in my truck as a backup detector that i have owned for longer than my mxt. yesterday i was checking a 1950s front yard with the mxt and got a few coins but just for the heck of it i rechecked it using my 250. i was stuned at the handfull of coins i got with the 250. and i was ready to leave before i decided to swing the ace over the same area i had just checked with my trusty mxt. i guess that tells me i need to do somthing different using the mxt. i did not expect to find any thing else, but i sure did. good luck out their...

[M-Taliesin]

Howdy Pardner!
My first machine was/is a White's XLT. After about 9 months, I bought the MXT 300.
In the time I had that machine, I found enough gold that I was able to sell it for a
total of $1,682 and used that money to buy a brand new V3 machine that has now
been upgraded to the V3i.

Ergo, by virtue of a great deal of success, I think I can speak on experience about
this being a terrific machine. But before you enjoy success, you must learn what she
is saying to you when she's talking. In order to accomplish this most effectively, and
most rapidly, I'd recommend you seek out playgrounds covered with wood chips. The
reason is because targets are many, and easily recovered, so you don't waste a ton of
time in the learning process.

My settings are always in Coin and Jewelry mode. My RX gain is turned up to 9/9.5
range when I turn on the machine. I keep the discrimination at 2.5 and the threshold
just enough so I can hear the hum without having it being annoying. It is also important
to have good quality headphones with an impedence around 100 ohms. After all, if you
don't hear your targets, you ain't gonna recover your targets.

Now, going to a tot lot as described above, start hunting. I also highly recommend the
6x10 coil for this machine as it seems to be the ultimate coil for it.

Soon enough, you'll get a hit on a signal. A coin will give a solid hit, and the sound will
be repeatable with every swing. The next thing you should do is check out the VDI
numbers.

A nickel will invariably hit between 20/21 on your VDI. Anything from 22 to around 36
is likely to be a pulltab, zipper pull, or the eraser capsule from a pencil! Still, I'll check
them to be certain.

A dime will hit around 75 VDI.
A quarter will almost always be found around 83 to 85 VDI. A flattened out bottle cap
can mimick a quarter, but always check to be certain.

Foil will range from 0 VDI to up around 16. But don't just take for granted that the target
is foil, because gold hides in the foil range. That's true of any machine, really. Check the
target, which is going to be real easy on a wood chip covered tot lot. I have found almost
every piece of gold jewelry between 0 to 10 VDI. Yesterday evening, for example, I found
a 10k gold ring that came in at between 8 and 9 VDI. It twitched between those two
numbers.

Since checking your targets is so real easy on a tot lot, you'll quickly learn to associate
the sounds of the machine with the targets you find. That association between sound
and target is complimented by your learning what the VDI numbers are telling you.
Look at the VDI. Learn the "good numbers". Listen for the solid hits. But there will also
be solid hits on foil, and twitchy ones on gold chains that are spread out rather than
all heaped into a clump. Don't take anything for granted, but examine each target, check
the VDI number, hear the sound, and you'll rapidly learn what sounds good, what VDI
numbers suggest a good target, and whether it is likely a junk item.

There is much to learn, but if you take my suggestions, your learning curve will be
greatly reduced. Save fields and grassy areas for when you have gotten a better
idea of what are good signals and which are not.

Hopefully, you will find this information helpful, and we will soon be seeing some
terrific finds from you.

Blessings,
M-Taliesin

[marinedad]

as usual good advice from mel.