MXT vs TDI

[astrolplain]

Hello everyone.

Great to have stumbled upon this site! I am trying to decide between two whites machines. MXT and TDI. I now live in North CA and plan to prospect, but my wife and I also want to coin shoot and search for other flotsam and jetsam at parks, parking lots, old fair grounds and the like. Am leaning toward the TDI but the MXT comes highly recommended from my local whites dealer(he didn't push the most expensive unit!). My dilemma, I don't want to get the MXT only to find out later is is unable to pick up the local unrefined gold and need to upgrade. Also, lets not forget the 1700 dollar price tag on the TDI. A little hard to swallow.

ANY ADVICE would be greatly appreciated!!! What coils should I have in addition to the standard? Should I get the MXT300 to get the larger coil, then augment it with a smaller DD coil?
Does anyone use this machine mainly for prospecting? If so, any pearls of wisdom to share?

Thanks
Steve from Grass Valley

 

[cvs]

Hi Steve, I use to live in Grass Valley, down by Folsom now, in Orangevale. If you have never used a true gold type of detector like the TDI it might frustrate you learning how to interpret the sounds, no meter or display. It

 

[BarberBill]

Haven't used my MXT for propecting (yet) but can tell you it is an excellent coin and relic hunter. Been very pleaed with mine.
HH
BB

 

[Reg]

Hi Steve,

I don't own the MXT but do own the TDI and about 30 or so other detectors, most of them being VLF's. I have seen the MXT in action while hunting nuggets and it worked fine for that purpose. It does help to have the smaller DD coil when trying to find the small gold. To be honest, the MXT will probably do a little better on the really small gold than the TDI.

Keep in mind the TDI was designed for nugget hunting. It just turns out the single tone feature does allow one to hunt for coins also, but not with the discrimination capabilities of the MXT. On the other hand, if you are only after old silver coins and the ground is really bad, then the TDI works quite well. The amount of trash I dig is higher than if I used a VLF, but my silver count has gone way up.

Keep in mind the advantage the TDI might have when hunting older silver occurs in areas where the ground is quite bad and depth is limited by the mineralization. That is what I have where I live which is why it works well for me.

Now, as you said, there is a learning curve involved with the TDI. It is harder to learn for one who is familiar with using a VLF than someone just getting started. People love to try to make one detector work like the one they are used to using and the TDI doesn't like that at all. It noisy, the disc feature sucks when compared to a good VLF, doesn't adjust like a typical VLF, requires a slower sweep, and is heavier in most cases because of the battery. In simple terms, the TDI requires more thought process and a willingness to adapt to use successfully. All features are manual adjustments, no meter, and not a whole lot written about it except on a different forum.

The MXT on the other hand is well known, works well, is quite versatile, and has a longer history. So, it might be the better choice to start out with.

Regardless, there should be no hurry. If there is a club in your area, you might visit it to see if there are owners of the detectors you are interested and see if the owners might be willing to show you how that detector works.

Reg

 

[Old Katz]

If I can put in my 2cents, By all means get the MXT but with the standard 9.5 coil. I have the 12inch
but only use it in plowed fields or areas that don't have much junk.
Katz

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hi Steve, I'm from CA too (coastal area south of San Jose). Although I'm not a nugget hunter (just coin/relics/jewelry), I have used the MXT before for coin hunting, and have played with the TDI. I would have to agree with the others here: go with the MXT for what you are talking about. If you want a cross-over machine that can do both nuggets one day, and coin/jewelry another day, then the MXT is the choice.

The TDI is a verryyy fishy beast, and ........ while it conceivably *could* do coins/relic/jewelry, it's certainly not going to be easy or fun. It'd be so darn sensitive to every single staple or pinhead, that you certainly wouldn't want it in a junky park, for instance. Yes it's got the ability to discern highs verses lows and to potentially (with some compromises on the ground balance) be able to nix iron while doing that. But it's really fishy, and will not compare to the regular coin-machine-like features that the MXT has. While there are certainly better nugget machines, and better coin/relic machines, the MXT is a so-so attempt at morphing the two.

 

[Reg]

Steve,

I have to disagree with Tom about the TDI and what to expect when coin hunting. Having used my TDI for a reasonably long time now, I can say, it works quite well for coin hunting in the areas where the ground is bad. Last summer I hunted a park with a few people, one using a Explorer, one using the V3 and one using the MXT. At the end of the day, I had the best coin find, a nice Barber dime and I did find several wheatbacks. The Explorer owner had the best jewelry find, a unique silver pendent plus a few wheatbacks. The owners of the V3 and the MXT had about the same number of coins, several that were Wheatbacks also. So, overall, all owners did reasonably well.

Now, during that time, I did dig a couple more pieces of iron junk than the others, but in all cases I was reasonably certain it was iron. On the other side of the coin, one coin (actually two coins) that was detected by both the V3 and the TDI was suspected by me to be an iron object because there were two coins spaced such that the signal was identical to a typical nail type target signal on the TDI. As such, I suspected the buried coins to be trash and not two coins.

When in the high conductor mode on the TDI, one doesn't hear pin size or staple size iron junk if the detector is set up correctly. One doesn't hear bottle caps, or other small flat ferrous trash. One doesn't hear tin foil either. On the down side, one doesn't hear nickels. On the upside, one doesn't hear pull tabs, most screw caps, or pieces of aluminum cans. Actually, when the GB is set just right, very few nails will generate a good signal. What is left for signals are generally clad, silver or copper objects.

Generally, the nice smooth mellow signals are deeper older copper or silver objects. Once in a while a nail or a piece of wire will fool the machine, but overall, any soft smooth repeatable signal will be a silver or copper object.

Now, if one follows the instructions for the TDI in the manual and advance the delay some, there will some loss in the ability to eliminate some of the iron junk, so one does have to know the best techniques to use to maximize the effectiveness of rejecting junk by the detector.

The point is, the TDI does a decent job at coin hunting if a person takes time to learn the best techniques. It is more difficult to use than the MXT and mainly excels in areas where the ground is really bad. In mild ground with little mineralization, I suspect the MXT will easily be the better of the two machines for coin hunting.

Overall, the MXT will be the easier of the two to learn and easier to use if only used on an occasional basis. The MXT is a good crossover detector that does a respectable job for all phases of hunting, including nugget hunting. In really bad ground, the MXT will be much like most VLF's and will not work as smooth as a good PI at eliminating hotrocks, or dealing with the bad ground. So, it does take more experience to get the most out of the MXT when nugget hunting, in areas where the conditions are bad.

Once again, if only one detector is to be purchased and is going to be used for all aspects of hunting, then, in my opinion, the logical choice would be the MXT because of the versatility and ease of use. The TDI isn't difficult to use, but it is different. It doesn't act or respond much like a VLF so trying to use it like one only makes things more difficult. The disc feature on the TDI is primitive by VLF standards and like other PI's, it noisier. The transition from a typical PI to the TDI is easy. The transition from a VLF to the TDI can be quite difficult.

Reg

 

[calibil]

TDI is an awsome machine but if your gonna swing it all day its a work out, is also more sensitive to EMI.