I've been back and forth with numerous detectors,(dfx,xlt, coinstrike,quantro,x-terra 50,etc.......). The mxt has found more stuff than any of the mentioned put together. I'm two gray hairs from swapping my 4 mo. old xlt for a new mxt. This will make the fourth mxt if I do it. At this point, there is only one other machine I may try first, that being a new E-Trac. Got some thinkin' to do, but, if I go with the MXT, I know I can't go wrong. One great machine!
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Anyone here switched from a xlt or dfx to the mxt?
- Thread starter Krazyglue
- Start date
Joel-Winnipeg
New member
I've been using the XLT for the past two years and have done well with it.
Last fall I bought the MXT and will likely use it all summer.
I will not sell the XLT and will keep it as my spare detector.
I'm looking forward to using and learning the MXT.
Unfortunately our detecting season starts mid April and goes to the end of October.
Last fall I bought the MXT and will likely use it all summer.
I will not sell the XLT and will keep it as my spare detector.
I'm looking forward to using and learning the MXT.
Unfortunately our detecting season starts mid April and goes to the end of October.
Have never owned the MXT (but I've used it several times to put it through it's paces.) I've had a both the XLT and the DFX (present machine) and wouldn't switch because of it filling my needs well, being so comfortable with the interface etc... Having said that, if i was to purchase an "only" machine it would be the MXT. What impressed me was it's "liking" jewelry so well and it being so versatile. Used the MXT, for the first time in Alaska. (That's where I am from and was back up there doing a mining and detecting expo.) I was going from the expo (where it was finding tiny nuggets) to jewelry hunting in Anchorage parks and was blown away by it's love for the yellow metal!
My DFX had to take a back seat! The MXT is "noisy".. but my perceptions are based on having been with the other two machines for so long. There is not a lot of features with it compared to the other two...and again...I'm used to the other features. The MXT has the most important adjustments and is three detectors in one. It has no problem keeping up with the "Big Boys" because it is one. Proof of that is in it's reception with experienced detectorists.
Guess what I'm saying is a person (ideally) should have a detector from both camps but...get the MXT first.
My DFX had to take a back seat! The MXT is "noisy".. but my perceptions are based on having been with the other two machines for so long. There is not a lot of features with it compared to the other two...and again...I'm used to the other features. The MXT has the most important adjustments and is three detectors in one. It has no problem keeping up with the "Big Boys" because it is one. Proof of that is in it's reception with experienced detectorists.
Guess what I'm saying is a person (ideally) should have a detector from both camps but...get the MXT first.
Coinseeker 78
New member
I believe you can't go wrong with the MXT. with experience you can know what you are digging most of the time. With the right coils you can find deep targets as well as the so called big guys at half the price. IMHO the MXT is the best value out there. I have hunted with people who have the most expensive detectors and have not come away feeling The other machines out performed mine except possibly experience at times out performed me. Some people complain about the MXT being noisy. It no noisier then other detectors with adjustable threshold settings when you learn how to set gain and threshold settings for quieter operations.
Hey fellow diggers, it's nice to read some different views on the MXT. I appreciate your input. As mentioned before I did own the MXT three different times, and the longest stretch with it being about 16 mos.Thats why I'm thinking about going back to it, after trying some other top brand detectors that didn't perform well for me. What I liked about the DFX was the ability to accept certain items only (searching for a lost ring, etc), and bypass all else. Other than that, the DFX was too complicated for me, and in my hands, I wasn't impressed with the depth. But, I'm sure that was do to operator error and my lack of patience. The MXT on the other hand is quite capable of pulling the goods six to eight inches out of the ground, although being a noisey little rascal.
Is anyone of the opinion that the MXT is just as deep as the XLT or DFX. I really haven't been able to determine if my new XLT is a depth winner yet because I bought it late fall-early winter last year and have only been out with it three times so far. I'm thinking if it's deeper seeking than the MXT I just might keep it. If its just comparable to it, than i gotta go back to the MXT because of its simplicity and its like for tiny targets. I found a flat,circular piece of jewelry no more than 1/8 inch small about 4" deep with the MXT. It took me a few minutes to even locate it in the pile of dirt. That's impressive to me.
Appreciate any comments about the two detectors. Thanks.
Is anyone of the opinion that the MXT is just as deep as the XLT or DFX. I really haven't been able to determine if my new XLT is a depth winner yet because I bought it late fall-early winter last year and have only been out with it three times so far. I'm thinking if it's deeper seeking than the MXT I just might keep it. If its just comparable to it, than i gotta go back to the MXT because of its simplicity and its like for tiny targets. I found a flat,circular piece of jewelry no more than 1/8 inch small about 4" deep with the MXT. It took me a few minutes to even locate it in the pile of dirt. That's impressive to me.
Appreciate any comments about the two detectors. Thanks.
Is anyone of the opinion that the MXT is just as deep as the XLT or DFX?
Here's what Chris Ralph has on his site.
An MXT setting of 9 on the gain (the factory recommended setting) is roughly equal to the max gain on the DFX or XLT (the DFX does have slightly higher gain that the XLT). Gains of +2 or +3 will detect deep and small targets the DFX or the XLT will simply miss. Most experienced users who choose the MXT appreciate it because of gain - this gives the MXT its ability to get deep coins or small nuggets.
That's Chris' opinion. Rob
Here's what Chris Ralph has on his site.
An MXT setting of 9 on the gain (the factory recommended setting) is roughly equal to the max gain on the DFX or XLT (the DFX does have slightly higher gain that the XLT). Gains of +2 or +3 will detect deep and small targets the DFX or the XLT will simply miss. Most experienced users who choose the MXT appreciate it because of gain - this gives the MXT its ability to get deep coins or small nuggets.
That's Chris' opinion. Rob
Butch in Colorado
New member
And I really liked my XLT. The main nag I had with the XLT was trying to configure it on the fly. Way too many danged screens to scroll through to get to the one I wanted to change. It seemed to me I was spending more time tweaking and less time detecting. When the MXT first came out, I got one and the XLT ended up being trade material for another MXT for my wife. I really like the turn-on-and-go features of the MXT and I really like the ability to switch between modes and not have to worry about ground balancing evertime. With the auto ground balance function of the MXT 2 or 3 sweeps of the ground and it is ready to go.
Larry (IL)
Well-known member
I haven't, but if I didn't understand my DFX so well, I would. The MXT is a great, easy to use detector.
I am curious about what I am reading about the MXT and the DFX. Is it that the DFX machine to difficult to operate and learn, is that the reason many previous owners gave them ?
I was reading an article this morning that compared the two machines. The article stated that 4 of the advantages the MXT vs DFX was the MXT detects deeper and smaller targets, was good for small nugget shooting, fast target response, and simple to use. The article goes on and says the advantages of the DFX is that it is extremely flexible in adjustments, can be specially configured for a wide varity of detecting conditions and it is muti-frequency detection option. Now it also says the disadvantages of the DFX is that programming the detector is intimidating to the users.
The author speaks of no other problems or disadvantages of the DFX but states the MXT has more background noise than other detectors and lacks some adjustable features commonly found on other detectors.
Now if I was purchasing either one of these two just based on the two comparision, I would purchase the DFX. I would have a machine that was extremely flexible in making adjustments and it could be specially configured for different conditions. Now I do not do nugget shooting in Hawaii. We are restricted to beach hunting which means all types of jewelry and coins.
The point is the comparsion made in this comparsion lacks alot.
BOB
I was reading an article this morning that compared the two machines. The article stated that 4 of the advantages the MXT vs DFX was the MXT detects deeper and smaller targets, was good for small nugget shooting, fast target response, and simple to use. The article goes on and says the advantages of the DFX is that it is extremely flexible in adjustments, can be specially configured for a wide varity of detecting conditions and it is muti-frequency detection option. Now it also says the disadvantages of the DFX is that programming the detector is intimidating to the users.
The author speaks of no other problems or disadvantages of the DFX but states the MXT has more background noise than other detectors and lacks some adjustable features commonly found on other detectors.
Now if I was purchasing either one of these two just based on the two comparision, I would purchase the DFX. I would have a machine that was extremely flexible in making adjustments and it could be specially configured for different conditions. Now I do not do nugget shooting in Hawaii. We are restricted to beach hunting which means all types of jewelry and coins.
The point is the comparsion made in this comparsion lacks alot.
BOB
The DFX is very easy to use. The thing with it is that...people see it's possible depth of programability and get the impression that the machine won't be doing well if they don't tweak the heck out of it. Wrong direction of thought. The DFX does well up front and the main things to adjust are few. There are so many of the adjustments that just don't get used daily.
The features available on the DFX and the XLT are many, as people state, and this of course allows the user to tune the units according to the sites being detected. When I owned the DFX I found myself changing this setting or that setting etc.etc. I found that half the time I was detecting I was doubting my settings because I wasn't finding much deep stuff. So there I go again, changing this or that. It seemed that I spent more time fiddling with the machine instead of detecting. I take blame for this due to my impatient nature and unwillingness to learn the unit. In the hands of someone willing to learn all aspects of the machine and the places being searched, the DFX and XLT can hold there own among the other top brands.
The MXT on the other hand, for me, is plain simple to use. My original intent for this post was to determine if there would be any depth loss or depth increase with the MXT compared to the XLT, since I really haven't used the XLT but three times. If it's the same depth I'd rather have simple. If its deeper,I'll keep it, and suffer thru a learning process.
As far as your concerns as to what machine is good for you, because of the lack of information in the article you read, I can only relay what I know about the MXT since I used this unit the most. I'm sure there are many long time MXT users on here that can help you more than I can. I do know that the MXT does find small items at reasonable depth. I know that it will detect to nine inches in soil (dirt), and ten to twelve inches in beach sand. I hunt on Lake Michigan (fresh water), so I can't say what it would do in salt water beaches as to where you live. Yea, the threshhold is a little noisey, but no big deal, especially when your finding good stuff, it kinda goes to the back of your mine. I used relic mode because of the high tone for accepted targets and lower tone for rejected targets. Set the discriminator low, listen for the good or suspected good signal, and look for that unusual vdi number for some surprizingly unusual goodies. I know this is not in great detail about the machine, but I feel there are others on this forum that know this unit much better than I. I don't want to misinform you,..............cause I ain't no expert. Good Luck & HH
The MXT on the other hand, for me, is plain simple to use. My original intent for this post was to determine if there would be any depth loss or depth increase with the MXT compared to the XLT, since I really haven't used the XLT but three times. If it's the same depth I'd rather have simple. If its deeper,I'll keep it, and suffer thru a learning process.
As far as your concerns as to what machine is good for you, because of the lack of information in the article you read, I can only relay what I know about the MXT since I used this unit the most. I'm sure there are many long time MXT users on here that can help you more than I can. I do know that the MXT does find small items at reasonable depth. I know that it will detect to nine inches in soil (dirt), and ten to twelve inches in beach sand. I hunt on Lake Michigan (fresh water), so I can't say what it would do in salt water beaches as to where you live. Yea, the threshhold is a little noisey, but no big deal, especially when your finding good stuff, it kinda goes to the back of your mine. I used relic mode because of the high tone for accepted targets and lower tone for rejected targets. Set the discriminator low, listen for the good or suspected good signal, and look for that unusual vdi number for some surprizingly unusual goodies. I know this is not in great detail about the machine, but I feel there are others on this forum that know this unit much better than I. I don't want to misinform you,..............cause I ain't no expert. Good Luck & HH
Krazyglue,
Thanks for the feed back. I have read many coments on this Forum and another one that concerning people giving up and going back to the MXT or XLT due to the same problem you mention. I 'm trying to get out of the situation of having to constantly make changes to my machine due to the fact of mineralization problems that we have on the island I live and find a machine more stable . I figured out that on a 4 hour hunt I spent almost 40 minutes running ground balance, adjusting my sens and chasing fales signals. This is surpose to be a hobby and be fun. Having to fight the machine is not.
I am looking for a machine that works well on the beach that handles ground conditions that contains basalt, volcanic rocks and any other items that came out of the volcano's here on the island.
Mineralization here is any where from mild to moderate plus some,so it is said.
I was thinking the DFX filtering system would play a major role in this along with the automatic ground balance. At the same time still find the gold jewelry and coins.
Thanks for responding.
BOB
Thanks for the feed back. I have read many coments on this Forum and another one that concerning people giving up and going back to the MXT or XLT due to the same problem you mention. I 'm trying to get out of the situation of having to constantly make changes to my machine due to the fact of mineralization problems that we have on the island I live and find a machine more stable . I figured out that on a 4 hour hunt I spent almost 40 minutes running ground balance, adjusting my sens and chasing fales signals. This is surpose to be a hobby and be fun. Having to fight the machine is not.
I am looking for a machine that works well on the beach that handles ground conditions that contains basalt, volcanic rocks and any other items that came out of the volcano's here on the island.
Mineralization here is any where from mild to moderate plus some,so it is said.
I was thinking the DFX filtering system would play a major role in this along with the automatic ground balance. At the same time still find the gold jewelry and coins.
Thanks for responding.
BOB
telerobotics
New member
Have both the DFX and the MXT. Most of my exper. comes with the DFX. Great machine! Can really make the DFX work the way you want it to. But like others have said i hunt many new places each year and find myself changing settings instead of detecting. I am down to a few programs i use the most of the time but always trying to sqeeze more out. I just cannot leave it alone thinking i am missing something because it is not set right. So i find the MXT being used more and more. In fact more than the DFX now. But i love them both.
Mark
Mark