Was I spoiled with the ACE 250? My time with my new MXT.

[Trescher]

I bought my ACE 250 last July and used it once or twice a week and found lots, and most of it I posted here. So I saved up and bought a White's MXT. I would probably find again what I found with the ACE 250 while using my new MXT, and maybe even more, but I don't think that I would enjoy it as much. I am not doubting the MXT's abilities, but I am really, really missing some of the features of the ACE 250 when I go out and use the MXT.

Some examples:

I very much miss my Garrett Coin tone. I've been told that I can get a coin like tone if I set the MXT in Relic mode, but then all of the IDs read bullet, buckle, etc., instead of Ring, pulltab, 5c, 25c, 10c, etc. In coin mode, on the MXT, there is only one tone ID, beep. Kind of black and white, but maybe I am missing something.

If I run in coin mode, I find that I am constantly reading the screen after each little beep, because some iron targets beep through and I need to check the VDI before pinpointing and digging. It also feels that with the partial identification bars it would beep loudest when it was most certain that it was a penny instead of a dime. But if it wasn't sure it would show a third bar between the two and barely make any sound at all. Only if I was reading the screen would I know that I might want to dig. I would have thought that it would beep loudest on anything to the right of the discrimination point, regardless of how "certain" it was.

I have tried setting the MXT in coin mode and adjusting the Discrimination to Nickel and the Threshold to barely hum, but the MXT is one chatty/noisy son of a gun compared to the ACE 250. Sometimes I just wonder what they were thinking.

I really like the notch discrimination of the ACE 250. Did I use it often, no, but when I did it was great. The MXT only has a single discrimination point, where everything "left of that point" is 'partially muted' and everything "right of that point" is a beep.

It also seemed that adjusting the GAIN was really just adjusting the volume. Now I am probably way wrong on this, but this is what I experienced. My expectation was that if I set the GAIN lower, then only the stronger targets would be alerted, not the weaker targets alerted with less volume. If I wanted this then I would just adjust my headphone volume.

And yes the MXT does have the "pull-tab ignore" toggle (and I was really excited about this), but that is only in coin mode, and I am stuck in relic mode, converting VDIs and civil-war terms to coin and jewelry terms, just so that I can get the extra audio tone ID while in Relic mode.

The MXT came out in ~2002, and might have been a forerunner then with the second tone ID for relic hunting, but shouldn't I expect more from a detector in 2007? The newer M6 has 7 tone ID, and it just came out last year.

So I am thinking about the missing audio ID, non-existent notch discrimination and the heavier weight of the detector, and wondering what did I get for 3 times my money? I did get better beach hunting (I have yet to do that), and the MXT certainly might go an extra few inches for stuff, but I wasn't really looking for coins that are 8+ inches deep. (I have read here that most coins are 2-6 inches.)

So go ahead and flame me, tell me how wrong I am, but please tell me how to make my MXT serve me as well as my ACE 250. Or why it shouldn't, or why I shouldn't expect it to? Or why the MXT is so much better than the M6 (which has more similar features to the ACE 250)?

Help,
Paul

 

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[SouthCarolinaTeacher]

Hey Trescher,

Try this site. The owner outlines the MXT pretty well.

http://nevada-outback-gems.com/MXT_files/MXT_basepage.htm

Ian

 

[khouse]

For coinshooting the notch is great. I have been in places where I was digging tons of tabs in one range or the other. After you dig 10 of the same tabs and your running out of time it's great just to hit the reject button and go on.
The MXT has a progressive disc knob as you know. This works great if you just want to accept everything above a small nail and dig all signals. But then you become a "beep - dig" hunter. If you become a beep dig hunter you don't need a VID screen. Save your money and buy a non metered unit.
You may find that on some ground a no adjustable ground balance detector will false or is so unstable that it won't work well. Then the MXT-M6 can hunt those areas much better.
I usually don't have enough time to dig every signal so the notch is what I prefer.
The m6 has 7 tones if you choose to use them. But for me it is too many and too busy to listen to. If in the correct range I believe 4 tones is enough.
You may want to try the m6 and see if you like it.

 

[Trescher]

Thanks for the link Ian. It goes a long way to better explaining some of my issues. I will even try some of the tips.

khouse, the notch IS our friend. You are right about the 7 tones, some have said that when the VDI on the M6 is fluctuating (not locked in) the tones are all over the place. So maybe that is too much of a good thing. I wish the ACE 250 had more notches though.

I think you are right about 4 tones being ideal. Though I am not exactly a beep-dig detectorist, because I do scrutinize my target using all audio/visual clues I can get, but if I set a threshold the MXT shouldn't chatter so much that I am constantly reading the display for every chirp. Also I find that I stare at the display, because some coins don't beep because the MXT is not sure of the exact ID, and I don't want to miss anything.

For my next detector I am creating a spreadsheet to track what is most important to me. I should have done that this time, but I assumed that the ACE 250's features would be trumped by a machine 3 times its cost. Just like with anything that relies heavily on technology, 5 years makes all the difference in the world. (Anyone care to buy my Pentium II, its got a built in 56k modem? :P )

 

[khouse]

The two detectors are very different animals. Some like cats some like dogs.
For the Ace 250 costing only $200.00 there is $500.00 worth of features on it. Some people want to spend more money thinking it's better. Sometimes it works out that way. But to be honest for a coin hunter on most soils the 250 is hard to beat.
If Garrett adds an auto-trac and lock feature to the 250 and keeps the cost under$300.00 What do you think would happen? Most of the other companies are still trying to play catch up.

 

[Sandman]

This is where the top of the line detector comes into play.......You choose what features you want to use and go from there. It does it all, except maybe go underwater.

In the mean time, if the VDI icons don't correspond to the targets, put duct tape over the display and hunt in all metal till you save the money for the top of the line.

It isn't about the finds, but the hunt. At least for me and a few others here. LOL...