Curious about a few White's models and which one would suit me best??

[Pikeslumber]

I haven't used much of the whites equipment. I used a M6 for a while and then played with one of their entry-level detectors but that's about it. I was thinking about getting an older white machine to experiment with and was wondering about the MXT, XLT, D.., and the M series detectors? I do mostly coin shooting in the southeast and take several trips a year to the Atlantic beach around the HiltonHead area. I'm not looking to dive or even get under water so I wouldn't need anything but the coil to be waterproof wish I would think includes all of those. I'm not interested in paying for a Spectra, so which of the 3 letter or M series detectors do you guys think would do well on the beach and get good depth and discrimination on coins? I've learned the Minelab products and have a fairly knowledgeable background detecting so I don't see a machine with a little learning curve being an issue.
Thanks in advance for your expertise!

 

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[McKinney_5900]

I haven't used much of the whites equipment. I used a M6 for a while and then played with one of their entry-level detectors but that's about it. I was thinking about getting an older white machine to experiment with and was wondering about the MXT, XLT, D.., and the M series detectors? I do mostly coin shooting in the southeast and take several trips a year to the Atlantic beach around the HiltonHead area. I'm not looking to dive or even get under water so I wouldn't need anything but the coil to be waterproof wish I would think includes all of those. I'm not interested in paying for a Spectra, so which of the 3 letter or M series detectors do you guys think would do well on the beach and get good depth and discrimination on coins? I've learned the Minelab products and have a fairly knowledgeable background detecting so I don't see a machine with a little learning curve being an issue.
Thanks in advance for your expertise!

The M6 would be my choice. I own two. I never had the coils submerged under water but the M6 coils are all compatible with most of the other Whites M-series machines and I've always understood the coil itself is waterproof. The M6 coils are limited on the V3i though. I love my M6 machines.They are keepers IMO.

I never swung an MXT but a buddy had one and was really happy.

 

[teleprospector]

If you're going to be in the water even ankle deep don't mess around with a non water designed detector. Too many people think that they can take them in up to the control box and it will be ok. I've seen too many people drop it in the water from some un-foreseen events like an insect bite, an unexpected wave or wrestling with a sand scoop, ect. Get a machine that's totally submersible that works on land as well.
Jon

 

[Tony in SC]

The M6 is a good all around detector that is easy to use.

 

[Tahts-a-dats-ago]

MX5 - light weight, easy to swing, and it is weatherproof (not waterproof so don't dunk the box). Excellent coin hunter. Has a beach mode and will ground balance to salt (I never used mine on a beach, so I can't say how it does). Stock coil is quite good IMO (concentric). Can be ran with threshold or can be ran without threshold. No ground balance locking (one of the issues people had with it). Headphone plug is in an inconvenient location (the other big issue people had with it). Reasonably deep (my guess is 10 inches on a quarter in mild-ish soil). 1,2, or 8 tones (as I recall - I may have left out an option). I loved mine. One of my favorite machines I've ever used/owned.

MX Sport - a bit on the heavy side, but I found it to be well balanced. Stock coil was ok - I preferred the 6 inch concentric (Whites). Waterproof to 10 feet (going on memory - so I could be off). Max number of tones is 20 - I don't recall the other options (it had several). Iron audio - a great feature for discerning bottle caps (they often ring up like a dime/quarter on the stock coil). One of the modes (relic?) had mixed mode audio (discriminated targets heard in one side of the headphones and accepted targets in the other - a great option once you get used to it). More recent versions came with waterproof (wired) headphones and a dangle for using other headphones. Earlier versions came with a lite headphones (Whites) and the dangle. For a single frequency machine the MX Sport did well in wet salt sand. Ground balance could be locked. Very good coin/jewelry machine; probably even better as a relic machine. A very capable machine; one that (IMO) was greatly underrated by many. Quite deep.

MX7 - I never owned one but my understanding is that the MX7 is a lighter weight non-waterproof version of the MX Sport (it is weatherproof though). I believe it came (stock) with a concentric coil.

Were it me making the decision and beach hunting was limited to dry sand, I'd lean toward the M6 or the MX5. If I even thought I might sometime get in the water, I'd lean heavily toward the MX Sport.

 

[Fred Finder]

Amen

 

[Clad2Silver]

I had an M6 for awhile and it was a really good land detector but I never used it in water. The coil is waterproof but not the control box. The things I didn't like about it was that it was heavy and the knobs were easy to knock out of kilter when pulling my arm out of the cuff to dig a target. The disc and sens knobs would get turned around if I used the arm cuff and wasn't careful about taking my arm out or putting it back in. I solved that problem by no longer using the arm cuff. It has a beach mode setting for tracking the ground but I never used it.

 

[Tony in SC]

Whatever you decide to get, the key is knowing your machine! Plant a target garden and pratice.