I think that Whites may have a problem with their new six shooter coil. On mine a quarter reads as a dime. It shows a VDI of 79, and says it is a dime instead of a quarter. A dime shows a VDI of 73, instead of 78 or 79 where a dime would normally read. On the AHRPS forum Monte said that his six shooter coil is doing the same thing. Has anyone else noticed this? I am driving over to Whites in Sweet Home today, and I am going to take my six shooter coil with me and ask them about it.
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Problem with the new Six Shooter Sport coil?
- Thread starter JEF
- Start date
doc holiday232
New member
Quarter reads as a dime----Inflation.
Well, Whites does have a problem with the new six shooter coil. I drove over to Whites in Sweet Home today. I took my MX7 and six shooter coil with me. Mary Hudson has retired, and the new service representative is Jack Blanshan. First he tried a quarter and dime on my machine. Then he took my coil off and put it on their demo MX7. Then he took a new coil off the shelf and tried it on their demo MX7. Every time it showed a quarter as a dime, and a dime at 73. So then he went over to their repair department and talked to Tom Boykin. Tom told him that they were aware of the problem and were working on fixing it. He said that after they fix the problem, I can take my coil back and exchange it.
Thanks JEF for checking this out. I was getting ready to buy this coil for my MX sport but will now hold off until they fix the problem. I wonder why this was not caught during testing of the coil before it went in to production. Depending on how many coils have been made and sold this could be a costly mistake for Whites.
Let me start by being clear in my opinions about the MX-7:
I own and use TWO of the MX-7's in my Regular-Use Detector Team and enjoy them for many reasons and they are a great complement to my TWO Nokta CoRe, TWO Nokta Relic and TWO Makro Racer 2 devices. I have TWO of each of these models because I like the detector, and I hunt moderately littered to very dense debris sites and I have a smaller size and mid-size coils for each pair of my favorite detector models.
For the MX-7 I keep the 6½", measured, or 6" labeled Six Shooter Concentric coil on my most-used unit as the 'smaller coil', and the 7" Double-D made by Detech for White's on the others as my mid-sized coil for modestly littered sites. Actually, my 6½" was Ian initial prototype coil for the MX-7/MX-Sport that has the earlier style rounded 'bowl-shape' bottom half and I need to get a new flat-bottom and thinner-looking Six Shooter for it.
JEF contacted me Wed. evening and stated he had the '79' numeric VDI respond from a US Quarter, but the display read DIME, and it just so happened that early that day when hunting a former CCC / Japanese Internment Camp / County Park site I found a 25¢ piece at about a 4" depth. It was a moderately trashy site and I could hear the annoyance of the close-by junk targets. I only got a half-decent signal on a couple of sweep directions that caught my attention with all the low-volume rejected trash audio I was hearing, and the VDI read-out, with a short-length wiggle of the coil, gave me a '78'/'79' response occasionally also showing a '77.'
Checking, I had a sizing indication is was a narrower, coin-like target-size response and hoped for a silver dime or quarter. I seldom glance at the printed coin denomination type, just refer to the numeric VDI read-out with the MX-7's because that how I use all my other makes and models. When I used to use the MXT All-Pro and MX-5 I did the very same thing, only referencing the VDI numeric report and not the detector's guess of a coin or object label.
I had noticed the periodic errant target read-out when I first started evaluating the MX-7 and the 6½" Concentric, 7" DD, and standard 950 Concentric coils, but I didn't fuss much about it because most of my time is spent in Relic Hunting environments where I am dealing with high mineralized sites and very dense debris, especially nails, other iron objects, and various sizes of hunks to bits and pieces of rusty tin.
Most places I hunt, even a lot of the urban Coin Hunting locations, will have some challenges such as working close to metal structures or in areas with higher trash levels. Doing so we will have the masking effects of nearby objects that can, and will, throw off a good target's TID reading with a slightly up-scale or down-scale numeric report. That's normal.
Targets that are located a little deeper or are canted at an odd angle can also throw off the visual, and audio, Target ID we might get, and that simply suggests that nothing is going to be perfect. We know, or learn, that in a variety of hunting environments and when dealing with various hunting challenges, such as various ground mineral conditions or nearby masking offenders, the TID response might not lock on perfectly. Numeric VDI information should be used as a general reference to an object's conductivity level and we can mentally associate desired objects with visual responses we get in testing as well as in-the-field searches.
North of us those Canadians get to find a lot more $1 Loonies and $2 Twoonies that I wish we had, and those coins are made of mixed metals. Most Canadian coins today, and for quite some time, have also been made of similar metals such as Nickel, Steel or other 'blends' that are predominantly a ferrous or magnetic-based metal. They don't get rock-solid and consistent VDI read-outs like we do with the better metal coins here in the USA. And when you consider all the other countries where White's products are put to use, you will see a wide-range of coins. Alloy metal types, various sizes and shapes and thicknesses, and other things that can influence a located target's numeric VDI response.
Thus, many different denominations of coins and metals used to make them that there is going to be a lot of different VDI responses. Everyone from every country learns those target read-outs. They have to learn what the numeric response might be from THEIR coins, and then know those responses can vary at least a little bit for several reasons. I don't have my MX-7 Owner's Manual at hand, but I looked at the MX-7 manual on-line at the White's website. The manual is in English [size=small](American English, if you will)[/size] and Spanish for our other neighbors to the south. Refer to both sections on Page 17. I can only read the one in English, however, note the graph on the left-hand side.
It is the same graph that the Canadians and Mexicans can refer to that gives a general Numeric Reference for Low-Conductive 'Iron', a Mid-Conductive 'Gold' range that runs from high iron to include the USA 1¢ and 10¢ range, and then 'Silver' for the High-Conductive range. Mentally, folks in those countries use the VDI numeric responses in general reference to a Low, Mid or High conductivity target they might be searching for.
But they look at this graph and then at the MX-7 and MX-Sport Display and see a US Coin Reference for Zinc Penny, Copper Penny, Dime, Quarter, etc. Those denomination names do them absolutely no good and are there simply because Target ID, as we know it, got started here in the USA way back in '83 with the Teknetics Coin Computer and manufacturers were quick use our US coin references for the majority of metal detecting Hobbyists who are Coin Hunters. That was back in the day where a lot more people were into the hobby here in the US, and when we had more detector makers, more clubs, more dealers, and were one of the more active countries where metal detecting took place.
Not so today. The metal detecting industry has really grown a great deal in many other countries, and we're seeing more foreign metal detector manufacturers who are sharing the upper-end of the quality detector market. And they are not tailoring their detectors to specific tight-range categories intended to be specific coin denomination with a word association, but simply relying on having a nice VDI numeric display that a consumer can use to learn where the targets they are after might respond.
Back to search coils for a minute .....
It is important to have a coil that is tuned or calibrated to work well with a detector, and it's also important to have a detector that offers Ground Balance to get the best performance with any coil and in any search mode used. And, as with other brands, we also notice that it is not unusual to change a coil on a detector and have a sample target produce a slightly different VDI read-out by one or two numbers either higher or lower. That's normal and expected from possibly happening with either a detector maker's search coil or one from an after-market search coil..
I don't have, but want to get, the new flat-bottom Six Shooter Concentric coil. A very functional search coil that is light weight and handy for many applications. I hope they might find a slight calibration to make to get that coil to produce a little better response, but let's use caution in our wishes. It's best to just refer to the numeric response and, in my opinion, it would be better to eliminate the wordage that describes what a coin might be. Just do away with it.
Consider this. A Dime range is from '75' to '79' and the Quarter range starts at '80.' A clad dime, with the 6" Concentric coil and sometimes with the 7" DD and other coils, usually gives a '74' read-out that says CPENNY. So, let's say they remedy that by making the common US Dime produce a '77' VDI that is right in the middle of the Dime's numeric range. Great! Until someone happens to sweep over a silver dime instead of clad and the VDI response is then '79', which is a DIME or maybe the silver Dime drive the response to '80' or '81.' What then???? Is everyone going to be bothered because the display then 'says' QUARTER when it isn't?
So, in the end, the VDI might be off slightly on some coins with some coils by 1 to 3 VDI numbers. No big deal to many savvy Detectorists because there's more tellable information in the audio Tone, audio response, VDI read-out and consistency, and quick sizing and classification when using the Pinpoint function that lets us know the target is a likely desirable find and needs to be recovered. Me? I'll stick with my very good MX-7, my preferred 6" Concentric and 7" DD coils, hunt in a slow and methodical manner and pay attention to the VDI numeric read-out.
Get a reasonably good to questionable 'iffy' response, then rely on the proven 'Beep-DIG!' method for success. Recover the target, and then check it out ...
I own and use TWO of the MX-7's in my Regular-Use Detector Team and enjoy them for many reasons and they are a great complement to my TWO Nokta CoRe, TWO Nokta Relic and TWO Makro Racer 2 devices. I have TWO of each of these models because I like the detector, and I hunt moderately littered to very dense debris sites and I have a smaller size and mid-size coils for each pair of my favorite detector models.
For the MX-7 I keep the 6½", measured, or 6" labeled Six Shooter Concentric coil on my most-used unit as the 'smaller coil', and the 7" Double-D made by Detech for White's on the others as my mid-sized coil for modestly littered sites. Actually, my 6½" was Ian initial prototype coil for the MX-7/MX-Sport that has the earlier style rounded 'bowl-shape' bottom half and I need to get a new flat-bottom and thinner-looking Six Shooter for it.
JEF contacted me Wed. evening and stated he had the '79' numeric VDI respond from a US Quarter, but the display read DIME, and it just so happened that early that day when hunting a former CCC / Japanese Internment Camp / County Park site I found a 25¢ piece at about a 4" depth. It was a moderately trashy site and I could hear the annoyance of the close-by junk targets. I only got a half-decent signal on a couple of sweep directions that caught my attention with all the low-volume rejected trash audio I was hearing, and the VDI read-out, with a short-length wiggle of the coil, gave me a '78'/'79' response occasionally also showing a '77.'
Checking, I had a sizing indication is was a narrower, coin-like target-size response and hoped for a silver dime or quarter. I seldom glance at the printed coin denomination type, just refer to the numeric VDI read-out with the MX-7's because that how I use all my other makes and models. When I used to use the MXT All-Pro and MX-5 I did the very same thing, only referencing the VDI numeric report and not the detector's guess of a coin or object label.
I had noticed the periodic errant target read-out when I first started evaluating the MX-7 and the 6½" Concentric, 7" DD, and standard 950 Concentric coils, but I didn't fuss much about it because most of my time is spent in Relic Hunting environments where I am dealing with high mineralized sites and very dense debris, especially nails, other iron objects, and various sizes of hunks to bits and pieces of rusty tin.
Most places I hunt, even a lot of the urban Coin Hunting locations, will have some challenges such as working close to metal structures or in areas with higher trash levels. Doing so we will have the masking effects of nearby objects that can, and will, throw off a good target's TID reading with a slightly up-scale or down-scale numeric report. That's normal.Targets that are located a little deeper or are canted at an odd angle can also throw off the visual, and audio, Target ID we might get, and that simply suggests that nothing is going to be perfect. We know, or learn, that in a variety of hunting environments and when dealing with various hunting challenges, such as various ground mineral conditions or nearby masking offenders, the TID response might not lock on perfectly. Numeric VDI information should be used as a general reference to an object's conductivity level and we can mentally associate desired objects with visual responses we get in testing as well as in-the-field searches.
North of us those Canadians get to find a lot more $1 Loonies and $2 Twoonies that I wish we had, and those coins are made of mixed metals. Most Canadian coins today, and for quite some time, have also been made of similar metals such as Nickel, Steel or other 'blends' that are predominantly a ferrous or magnetic-based metal. They don't get rock-solid and consistent VDI read-outs like we do with the better metal coins here in the USA. And when you consider all the other countries where White's products are put to use, you will see a wide-range of coins. Alloy metal types, various sizes and shapes and thicknesses, and other things that can influence a located target's numeric VDI response.
Thus, many different denominations of coins and metals used to make them that there is going to be a lot of different VDI responses. Everyone from every country learns those target read-outs. They have to learn what the numeric response might be from THEIR coins, and then know those responses can vary at least a little bit for several reasons. I don't have my MX-7 Owner's Manual at hand, but I looked at the MX-7 manual on-line at the White's website. The manual is in English [size=small](American English, if you will)[/size] and Spanish for our other neighbors to the south. Refer to both sections on Page 17. I can only read the one in English, however, note the graph on the left-hand side.
It is the same graph that the Canadians and Mexicans can refer to that gives a general Numeric Reference for Low-Conductive 'Iron', a Mid-Conductive 'Gold' range that runs from high iron to include the USA 1¢ and 10¢ range, and then 'Silver' for the High-Conductive range. Mentally, folks in those countries use the VDI numeric responses in general reference to a Low, Mid or High conductivity target they might be searching for.
But they look at this graph and then at the MX-7 and MX-Sport Display and see a US Coin Reference for Zinc Penny, Copper Penny, Dime, Quarter, etc. Those denomination names do them absolutely no good and are there simply because Target ID, as we know it, got started here in the USA way back in '83 with the Teknetics Coin Computer and manufacturers were quick use our US coin references for the majority of metal detecting Hobbyists who are Coin Hunters. That was back in the day where a lot more people were into the hobby here in the US, and when we had more detector makers, more clubs, more dealers, and were one of the more active countries where metal detecting took place.
Not so today. The metal detecting industry has really grown a great deal in many other countries, and we're seeing more foreign metal detector manufacturers who are sharing the upper-end of the quality detector market. And they are not tailoring their detectors to specific tight-range categories intended to be specific coin denomination with a word association, but simply relying on having a nice VDI numeric display that a consumer can use to learn where the targets they are after might respond.
Back to search coils for a minute .....
It is important to have a coil that is tuned or calibrated to work well with a detector, and it's also important to have a detector that offers Ground Balance to get the best performance with any coil and in any search mode used. And, as with other brands, we also notice that it is not unusual to change a coil on a detector and have a sample target produce a slightly different VDI read-out by one or two numbers either higher or lower. That's normal and expected from possibly happening with either a detector maker's search coil or one from an after-market search coil..
I don't have, but want to get, the new flat-bottom Six Shooter Concentric coil. A very functional search coil that is light weight and handy for many applications. I hope they might find a slight calibration to make to get that coil to produce a little better response, but let's use caution in our wishes. It's best to just refer to the numeric response and, in my opinion, it would be better to eliminate the wordage that describes what a coin might be. Just do away with it.
Consider this. A Dime range is from '75' to '79' and the Quarter range starts at '80.' A clad dime, with the 6" Concentric coil and sometimes with the 7" DD and other coils, usually gives a '74' read-out that says CPENNY. So, let's say they remedy that by making the common US Dime produce a '77' VDI that is right in the middle of the Dime's numeric range. Great! Until someone happens to sweep over a silver dime instead of clad and the VDI response is then '79', which is a DIME or maybe the silver Dime drive the response to '80' or '81.' What then???? Is everyone going to be bothered because the display then 'says' QUARTER when it isn't?
So, in the end, the VDI might be off slightly on some coins with some coils by 1 to 3 VDI numbers. No big deal to many savvy Detectorists because there's more tellable information in the audio Tone, audio response, VDI read-out and consistency, and quick sizing and classification when using the Pinpoint function that lets us know the target is a likely desirable find and needs to be recovered. Me? I'll stick with my very good MX-7, my preferred 6" Concentric and 7" DD coils, hunt in a slow and methodical manner and pay attention to the VDI numeric read-out.
Get a reasonably good to questionable 'iffy' response, then rely on the proven 'Beep-DIG!' method for success. Recover the target, and then check it out ...
[size=x-large]↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓[/size]
I need to get the new thin-profile, flat-bottom Six Shooter Concentric coil. It will be nice to have more convincing TID's on targets in favorable environments. 
It's been pleasant over on this side of the state and I somehoe3w forgot to shoot a reminder to you to try and get a day or three away from over there to attend the 7th WTHO based out of Vale, Oregon. Three gold mining ghost towns are on the agenda, and two were quite productive last year. The oldest coin found was an 1836 Capped Bust Dime! Other old coins and nice artifacts were recovered, including a Civil War Era sword belt buckle plate. The WTHO is this coming Thursday thru Sunday with a get-together of all attendees on Saturday evening at the Willow Creek Café.
If you have any time to travel this way, you would certainly be welcome.
Again, thanks for letting folks know about the soon to be remedied Six Shooter coil for the MX-7 and MX Sport.
Monte
It's been pleasant over on this side of the state and I somehoe3w forgot to shoot a reminder to you to try and get a day or three away from over there to attend the 7th WTHO based out of Vale, Oregon. Three gold mining ghost towns are on the agenda, and two were quite productive last year. The oldest coin found was an 1836 Capped Bust Dime! Other old coins and nice artifacts were recovered, including a Civil War Era sword belt buckle plate. The WTHO is this coming Thursday thru Sunday with a get-together of all attendees on Saturday evening at the Willow Creek Café.
If you have any time to travel this way, you would certainly be welcome.
Again, thanks for letting folks know about the soon to be remedied Six Shooter coil for the MX-7 and MX Sport.
Monte
Light weight and well balanced on my MX-7. Matter of fact, that combination makes the lightest feeling, best balanced set-up of all my TID detectors. With my bad back, knee, leg and foot I think the best description is 'most comfortable' and just barely nudges out my Racer 2 w/7" Concentric for that title. I do want to get the new Six Shooter with the flat bottom design when they have remedied the issue, but until then my bowl-bottom prototype 6" coil is sure working well for me.in al the trashier sites I generally hunt.
Have to give a tip-of-the-hat to the MX-7 as well as the smaller Concentric coil because it, also, is providing me with a lot of in-the-field time and pleasurable results. Great combination.
Monte
Have to give a tip-of-the-hat to the MX-7 as well as the smaller Concentric coil because it, also, is providing me with a lot of in-the-field time and pleasurable results. Great combination.
Monte
Fix is in place. If you notice high-conductor VDI numbers reading too low with your coil please give us a call and we will gladly swap it out for you at no charge. 1-800-547-6911.
This one is my fault, but thank you guys for helping us catch this quickly - only about 50 coils went out with the problem.
This one is my fault, but thank you guys for helping us catch this quickly - only about 50 coils went out with the problem.
This is interesting because I noticed a similar action when I put a 950 concentric on my MX Sport. It seemed like I had a very slight VDI shift down with clad dimes regularly read 73-74 and quarters 79-80. I realize there's a crossover with copper pennies and dimes, but the highest pitch audio as well as the readout ID gets messed up
I responded to your question, more directly regarding the use of the new 'Six Shooter' concentric search coil, in a PM to you, but I'll reply here as well for Forum readers.
I used a prototype 6½" search coil I got when I bought my new MX-7 last November, and I purchased the new 'Six Shooter' the end of May. Both of these Concentric coils of similar size and diameter perform quite well on my MX-7's. Bottle caps will have an effect on the EMF very similar to an assortment of various specimens of rusty tin. That is, a fresh, new bottle cap might have a response different from a bottle cap that is squashed, bent, or in various stages of rust and decay.
Not all bottle caps are made of the exact same metal alloy mix, so that makes a difference. In my seminar tote I have a number of bottle caps for demonstration purposes that range from being new and unused, to lightly rusted, to very rusted, and some with holes in them or parts broken or decayed away. It also can make a difference if the bottle cap is oriented to the coil with the top facing up, the bottom facing up, or if the bottle cap is on a canted angle to the coil.
Due to the above factors, and also depending upon the type of search coil design used and the size of the coil, as well as the depth or distance from the search coil, you can get a wide range of visual TID numeric VDI [size=small](Visual Discrimination Indication)[/size] read-outs from an assortment of bottle caps. The ground mineral content must also be factored in, and I have specimens that can range from higher on the VDI scale on down to not responding at all ... in any search mode.
I learned to audibly distinguish or classify bottle caps back in '71/'72 and have employed that technique ever since using different types of circuitry designs to include the popular motion-based Discriminators we have been using since '78. I coined a term for the search technique called 'EPR' for 'Edge-Pass Rejection' and have used this technique for the past forty-seven years and instructed it in my seminars since '81 as well as to individuals and groups at club meetings. It allows me to hunt old, out-of-use picnic groves where bottle caps abound or other popular loss sites without recovering any bottle caps at all to only a very few.
On the MX-Sport and MX-7, the new 'Six Shooter' coil performs similar to the other 6½" Concentric coils used on the MXT, MXT Pro, M6, MX-5 or the lower frequency Classic SL series models. The key factor is that these are Concentric designed search coils and they can do a better job of classifying bottle caps and other flat-iron type targets than similar-sized Double-D designs.
I like the new 6½" Concentric coil, and I especially like the new MX-7. They make a great combination for every-day general purpose use, be it Coin & Jewelry Hunting or Relic Hunting which I do the most of.
Monte
I used a prototype 6½" search coil I got when I bought my new MX-7 last November, and I purchased the new 'Six Shooter' the end of May. Both of these Concentric coils of similar size and diameter perform quite well on my MX-7's. Bottle caps will have an effect on the EMF very similar to an assortment of various specimens of rusty tin. That is, a fresh, new bottle cap might have a response different from a bottle cap that is squashed, bent, or in various stages of rust and decay.
Not all bottle caps are made of the exact same metal alloy mix, so that makes a difference. In my seminar tote I have a number of bottle caps for demonstration purposes that range from being new and unused, to lightly rusted, to very rusted, and some with holes in them or parts broken or decayed away. It also can make a difference if the bottle cap is oriented to the coil with the top facing up, the bottom facing up, or if the bottle cap is on a canted angle to the coil.
Due to the above factors, and also depending upon the type of search coil design used and the size of the coil, as well as the depth or distance from the search coil, you can get a wide range of visual TID numeric VDI [size=small](Visual Discrimination Indication)[/size] read-outs from an assortment of bottle caps. The ground mineral content must also be factored in, and I have specimens that can range from higher on the VDI scale on down to not responding at all ... in any search mode.
I learned to audibly distinguish or classify bottle caps back in '71/'72 and have employed that technique ever since using different types of circuitry designs to include the popular motion-based Discriminators we have been using since '78. I coined a term for the search technique called 'EPR' for 'Edge-Pass Rejection' and have used this technique for the past forty-seven years and instructed it in my seminars since '81 as well as to individuals and groups at club meetings. It allows me to hunt old, out-of-use picnic groves where bottle caps abound or other popular loss sites without recovering any bottle caps at all to only a very few.
On the MX-Sport and MX-7, the new 'Six Shooter' coil performs similar to the other 6½" Concentric coils used on the MXT, MXT Pro, M6, MX-5 or the lower frequency Classic SL series models. The key factor is that these are Concentric designed search coils and they can do a better job of classifying bottle caps and other flat-iron type targets than similar-sized Double-D designs.
I like the new 6½" Concentric coil, and I especially like the new MX-7. They make a great combination for every-day general purpose use, be it Coin & Jewelry Hunting or Relic Hunting which I do the most of.
Monte
The coil related TID issue was more-or-less resolved. More or less, because while the copper 1¢ US coin can vary in TID read-out based upon the source of, and purity of, the copper alloy used. The modern clad 10¢ US coin is 75% copper with a 25% nickel playing, but they are also a slightly smaller size than the 1¢ coin and for quite a few years I have found that the lower-value modern clad 10¢ coin can fall in the upper-end of the 1¢ coin range. Better quality metal older silver 10¢ coins will generally have a slightly higher numeric VDI report. It's just one of those things we have to deal with, kind of like many rectangular pry-tabs responding similar to a US 5¢ coin.juit said:
As for the MXT Pro or All-Pro, the same detector, I understand its performance capabilities quite well. I worked with a prototype unit for a couple of weeks then returned it to Carl Moreland, then the engineering manager at White's, with my observations and looked forward to it's final release to replace my original MXT. The only real issues I had was a Tone ID glitch in the C&J mode such that it didn't work like the M6. When the MXT Pro was finally released not only had that been resolved but it had other changes to include the Ground Grab feature. I immediately added an MXT Pro to my detector battery and it became my #1 All Purpose detector, and held that position until January of 2015.
I still appreciate what the MXT Pro is and can do, and consider it one of the better multi-purpose detectors on the market today. I even reacquired one, and had it briefly, earlier this year after I had my two MX-7's. I wanted to compare them side-by-side in several sites to see how they performed, but also to compare their weight and balance and feel. When I was finished I let the MXT Pro go because I didn't need it, but it does offer one difference in design that I like, and it relates to the Discrimination circuitry just as your concern, but different.
In your case, you didn't like the fact that the MX-7 Discrimination is based on the 'segmented' or 'notch' design and the MXT Pro features a knob-controlled variable Disc. adjustment. I don't know if you use Notch Disc. when bunting to reject things like tabs or screw caps and still get the US 5¢ and higher-conductive coins, but I never do. Too many good targets can be easily missed when used a Notch Disc. method of searching. But if you do like to notch out various mid-range targets, you can come a lot closer with the MX-7 because the MXT Pro doesn't have Notch Disc. capability.
If you just happen to prefer a variable Disc. design to a 'segmented' system, then I kind of agree with you. My long-time preference is to hunt using one of two Discrimination setting methods. I like to adjust the Discrimination so that I just barely reject common iron nails, or with a slightly lower setting where I just barely accept iron nails. The latter method I prefer to use when a detector also offers a multi-Tone ID circuitry. The MXT Pro does provide the variable control so I can adjust it to do either of these if I fine-tune the Disc. setting, just as I can with my modified Classic ID or Tesoro Vaquero and Mojave, but it can be touchy since there are various sizes and shapes of nails out there to encounter with slightly different levels of conductivity.
All the other makes and models in my Regular-Use Detector Team, except for the XLT and Bandido II, are designed using the more modern concept of using some form of segmented Disc. or variable Disc. based upon individual VDI numbers, but that is also not fine tuning due to digital engineering. Close, but not quite exact. But the new MX-7 provides me with features not found on the MXT Pro that help it work in my favor.
My Tesoro models and White's Classic ID are all single-tone detectors. That doesn't really bother me because they provide a certain level of performance that works well for me in the applications where I use them. But for me, I like to use a 2-Tone, 3-Tone or 4-Tone audio ID for most of the sites I search because I like to know when I am hunting in an iron infested site or at least encounter iron as that alerts me to use a slow and methodical sweep around the iron object to see if there is a good target there to be unmasked. With the MXT Pro I did that by searching in the Relic mode using the 2-Tone Iron ID audio response.
That works OK, but like my Nokta FORS CoRe, using a similar multi-Tone ID function, both the ferrous targets and non-ferrous targets produce a loud, full-volume audio. If iron object encounters are only periodic, then it is fairly easy to deal with that. But in very dense iron contaminated sites it can be a bit annoying. With a Makro Racer 2 or Nokta FORS Relic or Impact model, the accepted iron targets, those above the Discriminate level that is set below iron nails, you can adjust the loudness of the ferrous-based targets using the Ferrous Volume control. That keeps the iron target response, or most of them, softer and not as loud while the desired objects will report with a full-volume audio.
The MX-7, like the MX-Sport, uses a different approach. Kind of the same but different, in that all rejected targets [size=small](referring to searching I the Coin & Jewelry program)[/size] can be silenced with a '00' Reject Volume setting, or still heard at a softer or quieter audio with a setting of '10' to '70' percent of full-volume. I happen to like the way they designed this circuitry and most of the time my RejVol setting is at '10' so I get to hear everything present, yet concentrate on listening for the louder accepted targets I am looking for.
There are several other design functions in the MX-7 / MX-Sport circuitry that give it more flexibility or versatility than the MXT Pro, which is why I have two of them in my Detector Team with different coils mounted for quick grab-and-go use.
So yes, the Discrimination adjustment is designed differently, but I have found it to be more in favor of the MX-7 for me and the many applications and site challenges I encounter when combined with the other features it offers. I like the functioning of the 'segmented' Discrimination and, as I stated, I never search with a conventional Notch Discrimination technique of random accepted and rejected segments.
Monte
As with any detector we put in our hands to check out, be it a brand new release or one that's been around a while, we have to put in the time at a variety of sites and applications to really learn it in order to appreciate it. In the case of the land-based MX-7, it's basically an off-shoot of the MX Sport so once they had the bugs worked out of the MX Sport ... [size=small]that seemed to have been rushed to market before being evaluated well[/size] ... we had the opportunity to use an updated MX Sport to get an idea of what to expect from the MX-7.
There's no such thing as a 'perfect' detector, but I used a couple of borrowed MX Sports to get a general idea of their strengths and weaknesses and figured I could live with what I considered a weakness because I liked the strong points in the design and performance. The MX-7 is the lightest and best-balanced of all my TID models, and that's a plus for me with my impaired mobility, and I like the way they designed it to access and adjust the control functions. The six search modes, or 'programs' as White's calls them, do provide ample difference in performance, yet I can get a lot of performance with my chosen settings just using the Coin & Jewelry mode.
Pricing was one of the better moves White's has made recently, too, with the MX-Sport and now the MX-7 that make them very competitive in today's market. Several competitors have undercut the MSRP of the MXT All-Pro, which I also consider a very versatile model, to bring some excellent detector offerings to the market, and the MX-7's MSRP at $300 below the MXT All-Pro should really get the attention of a lot of serious shoppers. I had parted with my MXT All-Pro 3½ years ago due to lighter or more versatile offerings hitting the market, such as my CoRe, Relic and Racer 2, all of which are very reliable, solid performers in my Regular-Use Detector Team and are going nowhere as they are some of my favorite detector models.
But the new MX-7 offers a few different and welcome design features that really impressed me, so much so that I got a 2nd MX-7 just to have a set of them to keep different search coils mounted for different applications and ready to grab-and-go. I always have at least one of them along with me on my daily travels, sporting the 6½" Concentric coil, and I'm always keeping a watch for some place to get out and do some detecting. I haven't seen any newer entry to the market, or better performing offering for all-purpose hunting, get my attention or dampen my enthusiasm to enjoy the MX-7. Matter of fact, I have only added three older and discontinued favorites to my detector arsenal this year, an XLT, Bandido II and modified Classic ID, that also provide me the performance I enjoy for various types of hunting and I am quite comfortable with my current 'Team' of detectors and chosen search coils.
In the case of the MX-7, I think it is a model that people need to get their hands on and use for a few weeks to get to lean just what it can provide them in performance with a good set-up of adjustable features.
Monte
There's no such thing as a 'perfect' detector, but I used a couple of borrowed MX Sports to get a general idea of their strengths and weaknesses and figured I could live with what I considered a weakness because I liked the strong points in the design and performance. The MX-7 is the lightest and best-balanced of all my TID models, and that's a plus for me with my impaired mobility, and I like the way they designed it to access and adjust the control functions. The six search modes, or 'programs' as White's calls them, do provide ample difference in performance, yet I can get a lot of performance with my chosen settings just using the Coin & Jewelry mode.
Pricing was one of the better moves White's has made recently, too, with the MX-Sport and now the MX-7 that make them very competitive in today's market. Several competitors have undercut the MSRP of the MXT All-Pro, which I also consider a very versatile model, to bring some excellent detector offerings to the market, and the MX-7's MSRP at $300 below the MXT All-Pro should really get the attention of a lot of serious shoppers. I had parted with my MXT All-Pro 3½ years ago due to lighter or more versatile offerings hitting the market, such as my CoRe, Relic and Racer 2, all of which are very reliable, solid performers in my Regular-Use Detector Team and are going nowhere as they are some of my favorite detector models.
But the new MX-7 offers a few different and welcome design features that really impressed me, so much so that I got a 2nd MX-7 just to have a set of them to keep different search coils mounted for different applications and ready to grab-and-go. I always have at least one of them along with me on my daily travels, sporting the 6½" Concentric coil, and I'm always keeping a watch for some place to get out and do some detecting. I haven't seen any newer entry to the market, or better performing offering for all-purpose hunting, get my attention or dampen my enthusiasm to enjoy the MX-7. Matter of fact, I have only added three older and discontinued favorites to my detector arsenal this year, an XLT, Bandido II and modified Classic ID, that also provide me the performance I enjoy for various types of hunting and I am quite comfortable with my current 'Team' of detectors and chosen search coils.
In the case of the MX-7, I think it is a model that people need to get their hands on and use for a few weeks to get to lean just what it can provide them in performance with a good set-up of adjustable features.
Monte