This is one of the better discussions I've found about the basic character of the MXT!? Ok I gotta throw my chips in on it.?
In about 1975 I got a radio shack kit that would almost find a coin right on top of the ground so I didnt use it much.? Next detector was a Compass Yukon 77b that I found in a trash dumpster. It just needed a couple of the battery wires soldered back on and a potentiometer was bad.? It was a lot better than the radio shack thing but you had to keep one hand on the ground balance knob at all times and it would find a penny only about 2 inches deep.
I got to thinking about detecting again a couple years ago and did a lot of homework before deciding that I wanted the MXT. After vulturing around on Ebay for about 6 months I finally gave up and bought one new from a local dealer.?
Alright, run home and assemble the thing and hit the front yard.? With the stock 950 I set everything to the presets, ground balance, GND runs around 50, and take off.? Bing di boing? zip zip zip farrrt bing BING Bonk.? ?What in the hell is going on here? LOL? I piddled with the settings and tried different modes to see if I could find some way to make it run a little cleaner.
First trip through the front yard took about 1 hour and netted 4 pennies.? I felt like some more of those seemingly million targets may have been coins because at times the vdi would indicate 76(zinc) or 77(solid penny) A bit dissapointed I went back in the house and went through the manual a third time.
Next day? I hit the front yard again, a little less anxious this time.? Trying to not be too rude to all the neighbors questions and comments I proceeded to study what this thing is trying to tell me.? In one swing I am getting 4-5 different sounds and the vdi is bouncing all over the place.? Someone mentioned that sometimes it is too hot, I can agree with that one.? ?So I decided to mess with the pinpoint trigger to see if there are multiple targets that are giving me fits.? The answer was? apparently so.?
How about if I find a clean place and work on a single target from there till I get it out of the way?? Aha? now were getting somewhere? nails, bits of foil, the usual nuiscance stuff. Amazing that a bit of aluminum siding that is about 1/2 mm square cut in half on a diagonal detected at 4 inches deep! And I read a lot of posts that say this thing cant see small targets very well?
Once I tried clearing every target and running reduced gain I started to really be impressed with how deep this thing can detect what it thought was a solid penny but was actually a thick aluminum rivet head!? Hmmm? how about if I back the sensitivity down from 9.5 to 7?? Ok that allowed me to narrow down how many targets I am picking up at the same time.? The result was the second pass over the yard picked up 20 pennies mostly solid and one dime in about 3 hours.? I dug all kinds of trash as well but I had decided to dig everything to see what indications each kind of target gives.
I could tell the rest of the story in vivid detail but this is getting too long so I will cut to it.? I have about 10 hours experience and have $.54 and a bag full of trash.? What I have learned is that I need a smaller coil to hunt in areas like my front yard so that I can kick the gain up without getting chatter and 2-3 targets at the same time.? In my area, East side of Oklahoma City, the maximum gain I can run with the 950 is about 10 or else I get a lot of chatter. I plan on heading to Arizona to hunt some nuggets so I will probably go with the DD coil to handle the mineralization better but havent made up my mind which size. Better isolation of multiple targets with the smaller DD coil or more depth with the larger DD. Maybe someone with a bit more experience will advise on that question.
I prefer to run in relic mode with the discrimination just barely off of minimum so that iron will give a fart and anything else gives a chirp.? Dig all the darned aluminum trash so I wont miss any gold. When I find a target that is iffy, chirfart, then I sweep the target from a different direction for more clues, switch modes to prospect and see what it has to say and dig it anyway.?
Theres no plants in the garden spot right now so I have been doing a lot of practicing there burying different targets, or combinations of targets at different angles and depths to see what difference the conditions make to how the detector will respond.
I would recommend to any new MXT user to make a test bed and practice there, in known conditions with known targets, before ever setting out to explore the unknown.
I think it would be a good idea to give a few more details about your particular setup when telling of your experiences. GND#,? coil and mode would be very helpful to know when hearing how someone else is using their MXT. Thanks for all your comments.? Orin
HH, AF
~CO2
