First hunt with MXT.

[Johnwbriggs]

Hi,
I finally went out to a park and school looking for stuff with my new detector. grand total. 3 gum wrappers/foil, rusted out piece of a can, 1 bottle cap, 1 piece of wire and a dime.
And more questions. I have the 6x10 dd coil on the MXT and was having trouble pin pointing with it. (new to MDing/MXT). Is there any pointers other than lots of practice. I finally put a stick down turned 90 degrees and put another down. It worked better, but seems like a "manual" pin point that way.
And everyone says dig everything. How good of a hit do you do you wait for to dig. The manual and that site some people recommend to read said things that jump around are probably trash, but I didn't want to not pass up a coin or something. At the same time I don't want to make to many holes in a small area. I didn't want to "cut up" that much lawn. I filled my holes and all, there just would have been tons of grass flaps. A bunch of stuff I came up empty on also. Don't know if it was missed foil or just bad technique.
The school has really bad ground, like my house, so it was hard to make a nice flap. And the park gets hunted a lot.
Sorry if I ask to many questions of seem redundant.
Thanks
John

 

[marcoo]

Hi John:

I just got my MXT too thanks to the fine folks up at Alaska Mining & Diving Supply. Great people to work with who have LOTS of experience with the MXT.

Took it out this weekend and can see I need lots more experience. I don't have a DD coil yet, but got one on order (a 4x6 from whites (thanks Jim)).

I also have lots of jumping around on my meter and trouble with solid hits when in the park. I had an MD before and it gave a high pitch when something sounded good and it was repeatable no matter which way you came at it, but this MXT flashes a quarter swinging left, then a penny swinging right, then something else another way, but doesn't seem to get a good solid signal except for coins right at the surface. Perhaps its because of the high mineralization of our soil, but is that the same with you? What does your soil read?

The MXT is a killer on foil. Hasn't missed yet on the ID. I'm doing my practice in a swing set area at the park because the digging is easier in wood chips while learning sounds and pinpointing. I'm still digging craters though and plan to buy a pin pointer probe because the fun for me is the hunt, but the time spent digging and never finding is driving me crazy. I'd rather be swinging.

I'm also keeping examples of my bottle caps and other trash to try and learn their meter readings and sounds. I'll be planting them in my back yard so I can learn how this thing works faster.

The ground I live in reads anywhere between 35-80 and is an old gold mining community that has lots of decomposing iron that sends my MXT meter all over the place. I hope the DD coil will help that.

There are great people on this forum with a ton of experience who are more than willing to help. At least that has been my experience so do post your questions, use the search function and read everything you can and practice, practice, practice.

As for me, I'd love to have you PM me with your experiences since we are both new to the MXT and we can compare notes without boring everyone else with our chatter. Good questions we'll post here so everyone can profit from the answers if you care to.

Good luck and happy hunting.

 

[clondike clad]

Set up a test garden to learn your detector.
I have A SILVER test garden for my detectors.
You can take a look at how my test garden is set up on www.firstontop.com ,click on the tips and tricks. You can put any item in your test garden.
How this helps

 

[nicrasmit1]

n/t

 

[nicrasmit1]

Hi I am also new to the MXT but not to detecting although learning a new machine it seems like it. I have only tested the MXT in my yard and found that yes it is a very sensitive machine and the ground balance is critical. If you dont want to dig all of the junk turn the discriminator up. Pinpointing with the 950 coil is spot on with the MXT but I have not had the opportunity to test the 4x6 dd coil any pointers would be appreciated.. also a pinpointer would be a good purchase but I think you should look into the pinpointer made by I believe it is sunray? it mounts right onto the detector and uses the display. I have the bullseye II but you have to be within about an inch of your find for it to work.

 

[Johnwbriggs]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies. I'll have to spend some time cleaning a patch of soil for a test bed. I buried some stuff, but between hot rocks and possible little bits of iron it didn't work well. Think I'll switch to the 950 coil next time. if I can pin point better I'll use it for a while, till I get better. The ground reads 65-80 around here though.
I would like to get the sunray, but I have to come up with the money first.
I probably just need a boat load more time with the machine. Slow learner.
John

 

[Hunt4Fun]

Hi John,

Have had my MXT for over a year now. The only coil I have ever used on it is an 8

 

[Hunt4Fun]

Hi again John,

I forgot to mention a book that has really helped me to understand what a detector is telling me. The book was written primarily based on the White's 6000 series of analog detectors. But everything in the book is easily applied to an digital detector with discrimination, especially those with VDI readouts.

"Taking a Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett.


Good luck
Bob

 

[old gold]

I am new to this also.Got my MXT a few weeks ago.takes time to learn the machine.dont get discoureged