Got to hear some interesting tones on the MX5 yesterday!

[Phillip_in_NM]

Yesterday (December 26), God gave us a beautiful afternoon. Mid 50s, plenty of sunshine. I took the opportunity to take my 8 year old granddaughter out metal detecting at the site where I dug my first gold ring (using the M6). While our finds were unremarkable ($4.35 in modern pocket change), I believe we experienced the whole gamut of tone changes. Working without headphones, we heard the tones change while searching, while pinpointing, even while the detector was in standby mode. Once, it even did the thing where the threshold disappeared and all targets sounded the same (8 tone mode at the time).

Still, the detector found us plenty of targets, and it was pure joy to hear my granddaughter squeal with delight when we found the pocket spill of five quarters. It was also fun to have her calling targets of "sounds like junk" or "too jumpy" or "not repeatable" or best of all "We gotta dig that one, Grandpa!".

I have to send it in to fix the tones but I sure will miss it while I don't have it!

 

[dirt doctor]

Way to go Grandpa !! White's will square it away . Are the multi tones similar to the M6 , softer , more melodic etc.?

 

[D&P-OR]

Hey Phillip------Sounds like the two of you had a wonderful time.-----Tell your granddaughter that we just know she did a great job in calling those targets!

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

It was a whole lot of fun. I'm going to LOVE this machine. Couple of interesting things... For those that use the multiple tones on the M6, you'll know what I mean here. I can't remember how many times I was hunting in 7 tones on the M6, pinpointed then just let the trigger return to its center position and hunted for several, sometimes many sweeps in one tone mode because I forgot to push the trigger to the forward position necessary to get the 7 tones. Now with the MX5, I sometimes press the power button to have it stand by while I recover a target (so it doesn't talk to my propointer!), then get up and make several sweeps before the stand-by beep sounds. It will definitely take some time to get used to. Also, and I don't think this is related to my tones issue, the MX5 seems to be way jumpier when it comes to identifying zinc pennies than my M6 ever was. The M6 was pretty stable on the zincs, giving tones correlated to VDIs within the range of about 62 to 74 or so. I've had very few like that on the MX5. Most of the zincs I've dug with it bounced all over - from the 30's and 40's all the way up to the 70's and 80's. Were it not for the fact that as I'm learning the machine and digging almost everything, I probably (if using the M6) would have dismissed these jumpy signals as can slaw and passed right over them.

As for the tones, the M6 tones are more "tinny" where the MX5 sound more electronic, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure which I will end up liking more, but I think the MX5 is going to be as much, or more, fun to learn as the Etrac has been. And, OH MY MY, if the 2 tone with no discrimination works like TTF does on the Etrac, it's bye-bye Etrac!

Just my two cents!

 

[Phillip_in_NM]

Hey Phillip------Sounds like the two of you had a wonderful time.-----Tell your granddaughter that we just know she did a great job in calling those targets!

It was a real hoot! This little blond princess on her knees rooting through the dirt and grass. I've got to get a picture when she doesn't know she's being photographed.

 

[dirt doctor]

As for the tones, the M6 tones are more "tinny" where the MX5 sound more electronic, if that makes any sense. I'm not sure which I will end up liking more, but I think the MX5 is going to be as much, or more, fun to learn as the Etrac has been. And, OH MY MY, if the 2 tone with no discrimination works like TTF does on the Etrac, it's bye-bye Etrac!

Just my two cents!

Great report Phillip ! This is exactly what I was trying to find out . Yes , that made perfect sense . I had seen an earlier video on the MX5 and I thought it had more of a rich electronic sound but I wanted to hear it from someone here . As much as I love my M6 and have no plans to get rid of it , sometimes I don't feel in the mood for those tinny
sounds and that overload sound can be a bit brutal . I'm anxious to hear how that 2 tone sound works out too . Is the width of the box a little thinner too ? Thanks for sharing !

 

[x99]

Many people are using this machine already, but there are still very few videos (nothing new since 3 weeks). Don't be selfish - put some new stuff on youtube! It doesn't have to be a Spielberg movie. Just show us how the tones sound and how the VDIs behave on different targets.

 

[Monte]

M6, MXT Pro or MXT All-Pro, and new MX5.

As a general rule, I am not overly fond of most multi-tone ID systems. An exception would be when using the XLT or VX3 and Coin Hunting for "flash money" in popular, high-use modern sites with modern change. I do like their wide-range multi-tone, but only now-and-then, not all-the-time.

I liked the M6 sine it was first introduced for an easy-to-use detector for Coin Hunters. However, I would say that over the years since its release, I have maybe, at best, searched with the 7-Tone audio ID turned 'On' maybe about 5% of the time, if that. I only like it for occasional use hunting for "flash money," but never when doing any real serious searching in ghost towns, homesteads, old encampments, or other dated activity sites. I also prefer the single tone audio for most renovation work, urban vacant lots or building tear-downs, etc., etc.

On the MXT Pro, or MXT All-Pro which is the exact same detector with a different stock search coil, I like the Coin & Jewelry mode with single Tone ID rather than the M6-like 7-Tone ID option. I usually prefer to hunt in the Relic discriminate mode, selecting the Iron ID tone option. With this pick, the Pro / All-Pro will produce a Two-Tone audio ID with a lower bass-like tone for ferrous targets, and a very nice-sounding higher-pitched Tone ID for the more conductive non-ferrous targets.

With the Relic mode & Iron ID option, I will hear ALL targets, both ferrous an non-ferrous, and usually I only recover those lower-tone targets if the VDI numeric read-out is less than -10. I really enjoy using my MXT All-Pro with a smaller-size coil (6