MXT Kindergarten

[MDMac]

So my MXT came this week and I have been out with it twice. Saying the MXT is an upgrade to the Bounty Hunter Tracker IV is like saying a Ferrari is an upgrade to a tricycle. Every single swing, the display shows, "iron", "$1", "ring, pulltab", "1, 10", "50", "overload", etc.... I am thinking I should have brought a square point shovel and just dig a trench after every swing. I have read the manual, watched the video and am reading the manual again. Just not sure what adjustments I need to make so I am not digging a 20 foot wide crater at the park. Maybe I should move down to my 6" EXcelerator coil?

Any other ideas?

 

[BarberBill]

Smaller coil helps big time in trashy areas.
HH
BB

 

[Nancy-IL]

MDMac, #1 Ground balance your machine. I would use high discrimination when getting use to the machine at first. Only hunt for the VDI high end coins. Here's a few settings I recommend to start out with. You won't get any nickels, gold, or lower number items with these settings. This should give you an easy way to learn to pinpoint an item and get use to your machine....

Give this a try. Throw some coins out in the yard. See what happens. Possibly this will help.

Coin & Jewelry Mode
Gain at 6
Dual Control at 6-7
Threshold to your liking.

Let us know...... Good luck, Nancy

 

[dc4kkc]

Mac,
I know you are new to the MXT, just like I am. The one thing you have up on me is you seem to have been detecting for awhile. When I got my MXT, I was feeling the same way. Although some people on here didn't like the book "THE MXT EDGE", I found it was very useful. I reccomend you get the book and read it. The owners manual didn't explain things enough to my liking. Good luck and happy hunting with your new toy.

 

[xwyokid]

Sounds like you are hunting in some pretty trashy areas. I would do as Nancy says. Up the disc'. some, at the risk of missing some things but it will make it a little easier to learn. If you don't have too much detector competition in your area you can do this and then hit the spots again when you get a better handle on the MXT. Also, IMHO I would suggest you look at the 6x10 coil. It is a great coil and has good separation abilities. Also make sure you are GB properly

 

[tinfoilhat]

As a newbcake going through the same thing you are, and in addition to the excellent comments above, I found that my smaller coil (4x6dd in my case although any smaller coil will work) helped in any target/trash rich environment. I have to work ground more slowly, but the target separation is far better.

 

[Gregory Santa Fe.]

MDMac , Get yourself a small coil - I like the 3x6 DD - this will allow way better trash separation . Also slow your sweep speed way down, and look

for solid signals that lock on in all directions . Finally put in time with your detector and plant a test garden so you are sweeping your coil over known

targets at different depths (plant trash items also- pulltabs and bottle caps) Read all relevant posts, keep asking questions. Good luck !

Gregory, Santa Fe.

 

[Rick(ND)]

One thing more to add is too many look at the meter and try to ID instead of listening to the audio and seeing it is a repeatable signal and not one that breaks up or only repeats one way before looking at the meter for a ID.
Like you say start off easy and listen for repeatable signals and keep the gain low so it will make it easier to use.


Rick

 

[vpnavy]

SNIP...I am thinking I should have brought a square point shovel and just dig a trench after every swing....

Thank you MDMac! I was reading the posts and after I read yours I actually laughed out loud! Thanks for the smile this AM.

 

[madaboutmike]

I like the shovel idea but I prefer a bulldozer. Just because you're hunting an area doesn't mean there's anything worthwhile in the ground. For instance, I've been searching a 150 year old park in Hartford Ct.. I started with the standard 9.5 coil but went to a 6" DD coil because there was too much trash. However, even with the smaller coil, there's lots of pulltabs and junk. My parks and recreation buddies who maintain the place say that the origional owner of the land had his house on the spot I'm exploring. Barbers have been found in that area but no one's detected there for years because of the junk. They think it's been cleaned out! Among junk I've found some very nice cylindrical sideboard keys - real antiques that registered hign on VDI. Thus, I've been patiently going over the area layer by layer. I've found a few mercs. and a silver nickles but I've got to clean out junk before I go deeper. With smaller coil. if you get high VDI nos. and your sweeps indicate a larger object, most likely it's a beer can or bottle cap. But you gotta dig-you never know! Maybe some kid stashed his allowance in a can.

Went from Minelab Sov. Elite - almost completely manual machine that now has a new 8" Coinsearch coil from Dixie Metal Detectors. Once I get the area cleared out, I'll use that coil because of superior depth. However, transition to MXT was simple and even better with MXT Edge manual. Don't be afraid to use Relic or Prospecting mode. Prospecting will give probability of ferrous vs. other metals. Relic can go a little deeper than Coin and Jewelry. Experiment and have fun!

sov. elite - 5 & 10" Tornado coils and Coinsearch coil.
VibraMax probe.
MXT with 9.5 and 6" DD coils
sunray probe - pinpoints better when you switch from Coin and Jewelry to Relic.
Lesche and Gator diggers
Mike