Tesoro user tries MXT

[Kapok]

I haven't owned anything but a Tesoro for 10+ years. (Well, I did have a brief affair with a White's Classic III a while back, but I swear it didn't mean anything.) :O You may have figured out that I’ve been toying with the idea of buying a VDI machine, so have been doing a lot of research, but I can’t get past the computerized blooping sounds of most of them. I may just be an analog guy living in a digital world when it comes to detectors.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to try a White's MXT (not the Pro) with the 9" concentric coil at an old farm site here in Michigan. It’s got a lot of rusty iron, and I know it has been hit hard over the years by a couple of other detectorists.

I guess I was unexpectedly surprised at the MXT as it had a sort of analog feel to it. I appreciated the analog knobs and the sound of the threshold and target signals. I didn't have my Outlaw with me to do a target by target comparison, so couldn't do any sort of depth comparison. But it ran pretty smooth in the iron despite the 9" coil, which I thought was too big for the site. We did find an old spoon and some other interesting artifacts.

I don’t hear about White’s detectors much in the Tesoro forum—mostly comparisons to the new digital machines. So just wondered what the overall reaction is to the MXT or similar White’s units amongst the Tesoro crowd.

 

[BarberBill]

I am a pretty loyal Tesoro fan, but I do have an original version of the MXT wilh a pretty complete selection of accessory coils. I have found the MXT to be a very capable machine, especially with the varied coil selection. My only negative impression of the MXT is it is not (to me) a particularly fun machine to use because of the weight, I'm crowding 75 and the age has an affect.. My Tesoros are lighter and just plain more fun to swing. Other than that it has good depth, the TID is pretty accurate, but not a great deal more than my DeLeon,nor my Cortez, and using the 4X6 shooter coil it is surgical in nosing out goodies in trashy areas. IMHO it is a good choice for the person that wants only one machine to cover prospecting, general coin-shooting and relic hunting as long as the weight isn't an issue..
BB

 

[Sven]

I had the MXT and Cortes at one point. The MXT has better ID and more adjustable settings wise.
I truly like the Cortes better, the MXT was heavy, not balanced very well, did not like the 9.5 coil. Went with the smaller DD coil.
Which made it a much better coin and jewelry hunter. I did not like the MX tones, noisy machine.

Still liked using the Cortes, found about everything the MXT did to about 7". Since the Cortes did not have
Ground Balance that carried over to the disc side, sold it before moving to Georgia in 2005. Then awhile later
sold the MXT down there and picked up a Euro Sabre Umax. Folks down there considered a toy.

I agree with what Barberbill says in his post.

The MXT is a great machine if you need all its capabilities. Cortes is a great unit but, for the same new unit price these days
there are other brand machines that surpass it performance capabilities with larger ID screens and functions. But,
they are all digital in nature.

If you find a good used Cortes reasonably priced, no reason not to buy it.....................just remember the design has not changed
since the start. I would not want to spend $300+ for a 14 year old Cortes if I could get a 1-3 year old one for $100 more. The newest
ones have a color scheme change.

 

[Kapok]

Thanks for the excellent information, Sven.

 

[Kapok]

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