The MXT (In Depth)

[Ridge Runner]

I was going to post this on the CTX Vs Deus Thread but when I realised how deep I had gone in to it I realised that I should Give it It's Own Topic, So I hope this clears up A few things for you,

The New MXT and Coil Package will see targets down to about 0.0025grams if it is Touching the Coil, where the GMT will see it at 3+ inches and goes down to smaller than 0.0006grams, If I change the coils they can go Smaller,
Using the standard coils the MXT Goes deeper on normal sized targets, On Targets of around 0.12 to 0.15grams the MXT start to catch up Even over Take the GMT,

Although They are similar The VSAT works A Bit different and many folks find the GMT easier to Run And Gun, Like the TDI SL The MXTs Smoother threshold helps you to hear deeper Targets and using the Relic Mode for instance if it Bleeps on a coin at 13 inches it will also let you know A Target is There of Up to 45% Deeper and there Are less than A Hand full of Machines that can do this, Fit the MXT with the Factory 12" coil and in Normal Ground it will Smoke the TDI using the Standard Coil

Many People Never understand the MXT completely and think it is just an old style Beep machine, But that is only part of what it is, With The TDI and the GPX if you get a faint wooo OR weewoo we start digging and the signal gets Louder, If the MXT does not Beep then People don't dig, But The MXT will do the Same as the TDIs and the GPXs yet People ignore it and then say its not Deep, This is Not Covered in the Manual so as far as many are concerned it does not exist,

Many of you have seen me refer to this as the Third Tone, BUT 99% of MXT user's past and present have sold their MXTs because they have found a machine that Bleeps at 10 inches when their MXT Bleeps at 7 inches, (not true Depths just examples) when in fact the MXT will go way way Deeper.

People posted about it not needing A Threshold In The Relic and Coin & Jewellery Modes well This is why it has A Threshold and people say they are not Deep, But If you Use it Like you do your GPX or TDI then Not Only will you be getting the best out of it But you will see just How deep it can Go,

Hope this helps,, John

 

[Guest]

I tell you what, John...you could get a job as a sales and tech advisor with Whites, no dramas.

 

[bhogg]

Great info RR, can't wait for your YouTube vids to teach me all your secrets lol or perhaps a days training lol. Thanks once again you obviously know this machine like the back of your hand.
Cheers mate

I was going to post this on the CTX Vs Deus Thread but when I realised how deep I had gone in to it I realised that I should Give it It's Own Topic, So I hope this clears up A few things for you,

The New MXT and Coil Package will see targets down to about 0.0025grams if it is Touching the Coil, where the GMT will see it at 3+ inches and goes down to smaller than 0.0006grams, If I change the coils they can go Smaller,
Using the standard coils the MXT Goes deeper on normal sized targets, On Targets of around 0.12 to 0.15grams the MXT start to catch up Even over Take the GMT,

Although They are similar The VSAT works A Bit different and many folks find the GMT easier to Run And Gun, Like the TDI SL The MXTs Smoother threshold helps you to hear deeper Targets and using the Relic Mode for instance if it Bleeps on a coin at 13 inches it will also let you know A Target is There of Up to 45% Deeper and there Are less than A Hand full of Machines that can do this, Fit the MXT with the Factory 12" coil and in Normal Ground it will Smoke the TDI using the Standard Coil

Many People Never understand the MXT completely and think it is just an old style Beep machine, But that is only part of what it is, With The TDI and the GPX if you get a faint wooo OR weewoo we start digging and the signal gets Louder, If the MXT does not Beep then People don't dig, But The MXT will do the Same as the TDIs and the GPXs yet People ignore it and then say its not Deep, This is Not Covered in the Manual so as far as many are concerned it does not exist,

Many of you have seen me refer to this as the Third Tone, BUT 99% of MXT user's past and present have sold their MXTs because they have found a machine that Bleeps at 10 inches when their MXT Bleeps at 7 inches, (not true Depths just examples) when in fact the MXT will go way way Deeper.

People posted about it not needing A Threshold In The Relic and Coin & Jewellery Modes well This is why it has A Threshold and people say they are not Deep, But If you Use it Like you do your GPX or TDI then Not Only will you be getting the best out of it But you will see just How deep it can Go,

Hope this helps,, John

 

[Ridge Runner]

I tell you what, John...you could get a job as a sales and tech advisor with Whites, no dramas.

Lol, yeah, just this week I have had A Mining offer come In because of it, so hopefully good things to come,,

Like many machines after others Input I got thrown in the Deep end with the MXT, But because my Sites are Such A Pain they would Challenge A Saint, I had a Heck of A Time with the MXT and it took me about a week realise what was going on, So I sat down and Tested the Life out of the Thing , One of the most important Issue's with the MXT is Trust the machine because it can see the Target and we can't, It wont always be right but It Knows a lot more than we do, If in doubt Boot Scrape the ground and see if the ID gets Better or Louder and as soon as the target gets within DISC Range the you either dig or don't dig,

I Bought a book on the MXT but it covered more about the Tech side of things and NOT real World Usage But that is only because you could not Put how to use it in every place in the world and get it delivered on 3 Semi's, Needless to say what the Postie would say trying to get that on his Bike. lol

Seriously though, If I can help people get up and running right away then that's good, But the place I first went to has had over 10,000+ years of people living in it and about 7000 years of metal workings Plus 2 Wars and I could not believe what A Bunch of Litter Bugs the Human Race is, The first day there I was about to Give up Detecting it was that Rough,

The MXT is really a pushover to Use and the settings I gave you are what I use 99.99% of the time with either a tweak on the DISC or the Gain, and the rest is up to you and when you get use to it you then Tweak it as you see fit, No major searching the internet for help,

The MXT is about going Detecting/Prospecting NOT Computer Programming, which is why it has such A Following and has been A Number One Selling machine for years.

john

 

[Ridge Runner]

Great info RR, can't wait for your YouTube vids to teach me all your secrets lol or perhaps a days training lol. Thanks once again you obviously know this machine like the back of your hand.
Cheers mate

I was going to post this on the CTX Vs Deus Thread but when I realised how deep I had gone in to it I realised that I should Give it It's Own Topic, So I hope this clears up A few things for you,

The New MXT and Coil Package will see targets down to about 0.0025grams if it is Touching the Coil, where the GMT will see it at 3+ inches and goes down to smaller than 0.0006grams, If I change the coils they can go Smaller,
Using the standard coils the MXT Goes deeper on normal sized targets, On Targets of around 0.12 to 0.15grams the MXT start to catch up Even over Take the GMT,

Although They are similar The VSAT works A Bit different and many folks find the GMT easier to Run And Gun, Like the TDI SL The MXTs Smoother threshold helps you to hear deeper Targets and using the Relic Mode for instance if it Bleeps on a coin at 13 inches it will also let you know A Target is There of Up to 45% Deeper and there Are less than A Hand full of Machines that can do this, Fit the MXT with the Factory 12" coil and in Normal Ground it will Smoke the TDI using the Standard Coil

Many People Never understand the MXT completely and think it is just an old style Beep machine, But that is only part of what it is, With The TDI and the GPX if you get a faint wooo OR weewoo we start digging and the signal gets Louder, If the MXT does not Beep then People don't dig, But The MXT will do the Same as the TDIs and the GPXs yet People ignore it and then say its not Deep, This is Not Covered in the Manual so as far as many are concerned it does not exist,

Many of you have seen me refer to this as the Third Tone, BUT 99% of MXT user's past and present have sold their MXTs because they have found a machine that Bleeps at 10 inches when their MXT Bleeps at 7 inches, (not true Depths just examples) when in fact the MXT will go way way Deeper.

People posted about it not needing A Threshold In The Relic and Coin & Jewellery Modes well This is why it has A Threshold and people say they are not Deep, But If you Use it Like you do your GPX or TDI then Not Only will you be getting the best out of it But you will see just How deep it can Go,

Hope this helps,, John

Well when you get sorted I will Give you my Skype ID and then you can Call me Live for FREE and I can answer you right away, Ok

Good Luck,, John

 

[Guest]

Awesome stuff.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[PhaseTech]

The New MXT and Coil Package will see targets down to about 0.0025grams if it is Touching the Coil, where the GMT will see it at 3+ inches and goes down to smaller than 0.0006grams, If I change the coils they can go Smaller,

I've never used one in the goldfields, so don't shoot the messenger but: MXT in prospecting mode, maxed out, with the small coil, in air, about 0.6 grains is the limit according to Keith Southern. That's 0.038 grams.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/3_mpe1KkCFY[/video]

 

[Ridge Runner]

The New MXT and Coil Package will see targets down to about 0.0025grams if it is Touching the Coil, where the GMT will see it at 3+ inches and goes down to smaller than 0.0006grams, If I change the coils they can go Smaller,

I've never used one in the goldfields, so don't shoot the messenger but: MXT in prospecting mode, maxed out, with the small coil, in air, about 0.6 grains is the limit according to Keith Southern. That's 0.038 grams.

[video=480,360]https://youtu.be/3_mpe1KkCFY[/video]

Well I just Re test my MXT All Pro with the 10" DD Coil and it can Zip on a Piece weighing just under 0.4 Grains and it will see the 0.0025grams piece if I lay it on the coil,

I know it will not find pieces at 0.002 in the wild But the point of testing was to see how small a target it could see,

The first thing I noticed when I got this New Machine was How Hot It Is and the fact it was Picking up my Bare Hand Between 4 to 6 inches and the Tiny Test pieces that it can See, So then I had Talks with someone At Whites Via Email.

I sent Whites an Email asking them it they have hotted up the MXTs and/OR their Coils, and they would not say yes or No, But what they did say was Is (There are always on going refinements going on.) So Kieth may have an Older machine than Mine, Hope this explains it,

John

 

[Ridge Runner]

Nenad, In these photos are the test pieces I used, 2 pictures show them next to a Match head and the Blue and Black picture shows the 0.4 grain test piece next to a Grain of White Sugar, Ok.

On a 3 Grain bit I get 4.5 to 5" and where he was getting 4 to 5 inches on a 0.50 gram bit I am getting from 6 to 7.5 inches on A 0.34 gram bit,

So all I can say is the Newer set up seems to be Hotter.

 

[PhaseTech]

Okay, interesting. What exactly are your test pieces, as they don't look like gold.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Okay, interesting. What exactly are your test pieces, as they don't look like gold.

They Are Lead And I had to cut them with scissors because every other tool I used was too Big,

 

[mbasko]

Thats a remarkable jump in performance.

The GMTis admittedly superior when it comes to picking up small gold. It can hit specks weighing less than 1/10th of a grain (480 grains per Troy ounce) while the MXT will need nuggets weighing 2-3 grains to get a decent signal.
http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-guides/steves-guide-whites-gmt-versus-mxt.htm

I wonder why Whites wouldn't be advertising the fact that they have made huge improvement to their models? That's a 10 fold improvement in the GMT's sensitivity alone.
Picking up your hand could be more to do with you than the detector. Some people have higher mineral content in their sweat/skin & are more prone to this phenomenon. I am one of those. My GMT would sound off like a signal on my hands & I quickly learned that a plastic scoop was a must. I have had it occur on other detectors too, although not to the same extent. Other people I have spoken to were unaware of it even though they use/have used a GMT so it doesn't appear to occur with everyone. It does seem reasonably common with higher frequency machines though. Not sure if it should be considered a performance indicator or highlight a balancing issue i.e. if its still seeing minerals in your hand whats it seeing in mineralised ground that isn't being balanced out. Theres also a thread on here somewhere where a similar thing was happening to a member but with another make/model altogether (think it was either an AT Gold or Xterra 705 from memory?).
I really think if your going to use your MXT like a TDI or GPX I.e. searching for gold in moderate to highly mineralised ground then you won't see much in the way of staggering depths or sensitivity. Not a criticism just my thoughts. Different horses different courses.
In the right conditions or for the right purpose they certainly look to be a great machine as do several other current VLF's in the same or similar frequency/s & price bracket.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Thats a remarkable jump in performance.

The GMTis admittedly superior when it comes to picking up small gold. It can hit specks weighing less than 1/10th of a grain (480 grains per Troy ounce) while the MXT will need nuggets weighing 2-3 grains to get a decent signal.
http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-guides/steves-guide-whites-gmt-versus-mxt.htm

I wonder why Whites wouldn't be advertising the fact that they have made huge improvement to their models? That's a 10 fold improvement in the GMT's sensitivity alone.
Picking up your hand could be more to do with you than the detector. Some people have higher mineral content in their sweat/skin & are more prone to this phenomenon. I am one of those. My GMT would sound off like a signal on my hands & I quickly learned that a plastic scoop was a must. I have had it occur on other detectors too, although not to the same extent. Other people I have spoken to were unaware of it even though they use/have used a GMT so it doesn't appear to occur with everyone. It does seem reasonably common with higher frequency machines though. Not sure if it should be considered a performance indicator or highlight a balancing issue i.e. if its still seeing minerals in your hand whats it seeing in mineralised ground that isn't being balanced out. Theres also a thread on here somewhere where a similar thing was happening to a member but with another make/model altogether (think it was either an AT Gold or Xterra 705 from memory?).
I really think if your going to use your MXT like a TDI or GPX I.e. searching for gold in moderate to highly mineralised ground then you won't see much in the way of staggering depths or sensitivity. Not a criticism just my thoughts. Different horses different courses.
In the right conditions or for the right purpose they certainly look to be a great machine as do several other current VLF's in the same or similar frequency/s & price bracket.

I have tried many times to find out about any of the machines that I have had from Whites and they never make Claims of Any Type, Which I do find strange and Very off putting, Nearly All the claims that are out there are virtually made by User's, So you Never really know what to expect which is why I have put about 5 years in to using but mostly Testing the MXT and a bit on the GMT, But because of the lack of factual info I decided to Test them myself, I Guess their reason is to Avoid some of the sort of public comments Like Minelab had to endure when they said up to 40% more depth and A lot of Buyers took that to heart and the backlash for Minelab did not do the ZED Justice, When the fact is IT is an incredible feat of engineering,
I think I would mainly use the MXT in moderate ground Like Tailing piles and maybe around old mine and camps etc But most of all for General detecting and the beach Although it can handle hotter ground I have One PI but to complete the Picture I need to Add 2 ML PI's for Tiny gold in very hot Ground and For Deep gold in hot ground, The MXT will cover 90% of my detecting and for nugget in more favourable conditions,

I just tried A 1.0 grain test bit and it see's it at 1 to 2 inches, which is not bad for a 10" round DD,

I phone Whites in Scotland and they said the GMT has had a software update, because I notice that when you turn it on, with the older ones the GB would set to 77 as the picture shows in my Manual but when I turn my one on it is set to 50 and the software number has changed, It is a fair bit hotter but the difference is not as big as the New MXT is compared to the older MXT, But I have also started messing with coils and that has had A Dramatic effect on the size and depth on small targets, That was A Shock??

So anyone with a GMT might get some useful info out of it,

Luckily for me Over here Although the some of my sites are very heavily junk filled I am lucky enough to have Low Mineralization at arounf 57 to 64 although some places do get up there and it is quite common to dig coins from 8 inches to 13+ inches

John

 

[Narrawa]

With the GMT, i use to flip the coil over due to the windings being closer to the bottom of the coil when looking for my target. Tracking took care of the hand interference. The small gold it was able to find was scarey. Yet its ID ability in highly mineralized soil was nothing special....like many other makes and models, it was unsure. Working creek beds/bed rock i was sure i had chosen the best id researched for the task. Still its a top little machine, but time moves on and new makes and models appear.

 

[Ridge Runner]

With the GMT, i use to flip the coil over due to the windings being closer to the bottom of the coil when looking for my target. Tracking took care of the hand interference. The small gold it was able to find was scarey. Yet its ID ability in highly mineralized soil was nothing special....like many other makes and models, it was unsure. Working creek beds/bed rock i was sure i had chosen the best id researched for the task. Still its a top little machine, but time moves on and new makes and models appear.

It is A great Machine but if you ever got into a patch of foil Slaw it would punish you,

What I am planning on doing is having a full range of machines from the GMT to the 5K so they all over lap then I have all bases covered,

john

 

[Gold Diver]

I'll Chip in here,

I love my MXT, much more than my Minelab 705, but here in WA on the goldfields as tested by myself last week,
There is "No WAY" that my MXT would pick up small gold like the video above; in the ground.
"Not Going to Happen, Not ever, Dont bother, End of story"
Yes, I know what I am doing (Sometimes), Yes I have Jeff Fosters book, Yes I used a DD coil (Also the little 5.3 Concentric)

But, if the nuggets are of good size, over 1 gram, in a shallow creek, you will be very happy you have it in the bag.
I also enjoyed having it with me when riding the Motorbike, as it is much easier to carry around.
Those trashy parts in the creek that I can't stand to put the GPX coil down on the ground, the MXT was great.

Too much importance has been made about small gold (SDC2300), which I also tested this time up, and I'm not interested.
If the Slug is big enough, you will pick it up with a good PI and a good VLF.
While you are digging your .1 gram nugget, I'll wizz past you and dig a 2 gram nugget, then be back at camp having a beer while you try and pin point it

Oh yeah, the Whites TRX pinpointer, well that is the best thing I have bought.
That thing is a time saver, and being PI it really worked well in the heavy mineralized ground.
Didn't effect the Minelab GPX5000 at all.

GD

 

[grubstake]

Oh yeah, the Whites TRX pinpointer, well that is the best thing I have bought.
That thing is a time saver, and being PI it really worked well in the heavy mineralized ground.

Actually it's a VLF (extract from the manual):

 

[Gold Diver]

So I got the special model

Anyway, don't let the facts get in the way of my good story.

 

[Guest]

I'll Chip in here,

I love my MXT, much more than my Minelab 705, but here in WA on the goldfields as tested by myself last week,
There is "No WAY" that my MXT would pick up small gold like the video above; in the ground.
"Not Going to Happen, Not ever, Dont bother, End of story"
Yes, I know what I am doing (Sometimes), Yes I have Jeff Fosters book, Yes I used a DD coil (Also the little 5.3 Concentric)

Have you actually tried doing this test early morning or at Night?

 

[Ridge Runner]

I'll Chip in here,

I love my MXT, much more than my Minelab 705, but here in WA on the goldfields as tested by myself last week,
There is "No WAY" that my MXT would pick up small gold like the video above; in the ground.
"Not Going to Happen, Not ever, Dont bother, End of story"
Yes, I know what I am doing (Sometimes), Yes I have Jeff Fosters book, Yes I used a DD coil (Also the little 5.3 Concentric)

But, if the nuggets are of good size, over 1 gram, in a shallow creek, you will be very happy you have it in the bag.
I also enjoyed having it with me when riding the Motorbike, as it is much easier to carry around.
Those trashy parts in the creek that I can't stand to put the GPX coil down on the ground, the MXT was great.

Too much importance has been made about small gold (SDC2300), which I also tested this time up, and I'm not interested.
If the Slug is big enough, you will pick it up with a good PI and a good VLF.
While you are digging your .1 gram nugget, I'll wizz past you and dig a 2 gram nugget, then be back at camp having a beer while you try and pin point it

Oh yeah, the Whites TRX pinpointer, well that is the best thing I have bought.
That thing is a time saver, and being PI it really worked well in the heavy mineralized ground.
Didn't effect the Minelab GPX5000 at all.

GD

Well Done GD Great Report,

It's True In Aussie Gold Areas A VLF will struggle, And they will never match A PI in that respect And we have Eric Foster, Bruce Candy and people Like Reg to thank for that.
VLF's will work But the worse the Ground gets the bigger the Gold needs to be and in Some areas they do become IMPOSSIBLE, For weekend prospectors and searching in old mining camps Ghost Towns etc and searching for black sand Areas and at the beach and parks they take care of about 90% of detecting needs Because of the meters on VLF Machines they are good for investigating areas,

The PI is KING out in the Bush and hence the Cost difference,

The MXT will do many things and work in many Areas which is why I have Started this Topic As will other VLF's, My reference to PI machines IS More about how we operate them Regarding Signal Response and how to Get the Maximum Depth out of them, With A GPX 5000 that Faint WeeWoo Just Might be A Nugget of A Life Time and Go down in History, Yet the MXT has the Same way of Signalling yet 99.99% of people Ignore it whether Hunting for Coins or Jewellery at the Beach or Nuggets at Old Mining Camps and In moderate Areas The MXT is more sensitive than A PI Machine which is Why I posted about how Sensitive it is and the pictures Showing what is Possible In the Right Conditions,
Just lately I bought that 15" Concentric coil and to my surprise It does not loose ANY Sensitivity even though it is Such A Big Coil, The Reason for my tests on such Tiny test pieces is to find out how the MXT / Coil combo works because the MXT is one of the Few Machines that CAN See fine gold Chains Which are often lost at the Beach which is useful to know because of how many people use the Beaches in OZ, But the part that Applies to me is In My Areas we have TINY 5mm Gold Coins that Are Some 3000 years Old and Such Coins can be worth $50,000 AUD, But these Tests Apply to All Detectorists and How you adapt them to suit YOUR way of Hunting.

With the MXT Using the Threshold WeeWoo Sound Is so important where the BLEEP is just an instant response to metal, If A PI did not Have that WeeWoo Sound then you would not have A Signal, PERIOD. Using The MXT as you would your PI Opens Up All Kinds Of Possibilities and The Soul Purpose of This Topic/Thread Is To Make People Aware of the Fact that they Could be walking Away from Nuggets, Rings, Coins ETC,

Testing Some Coins using The Third Tone Method and Changing Coils can and DOES have Such A MASSIVE effect That I Don't want post Figures and I would rather people Who Own MXTs Try I for them selves, As for Those folks that I am helping I will try to show them how it works,

John