Hi all.......I know it's probably been covered a 100 times but here goes anyway. How can this machine be set to detect in trashy areas (parks, etc) using the standard 950 coil. I usually go relic hunting (fields, CW camps) and it's an AWESOME machine from when I tried there but I tried in a park today and it drove me MAD!!! I was getting crazy signals everywhere (good signals pulled up tabs and cans and friggin beer bottle lids ALL the time) and I didn't find one stinking zinc penny. I tried setting the discrimination high and the gain low and it did no good. Coin mode , relic mode , same results. I tried everything!! What can I do?? I don't have $150 to spend on a small coil. Is there anything I can do with the standard 950 one or just give up and conentrate on the less trashy, old relic sites. I just think for $800 you should get everything you need to detect in all conditions with a little fine tuning. My 5900 never got all this junk but I love this MXT and will never go back. Thanks guys.
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Trashy areas - what can I do :veryangry:
- Thread starter JMorgan
- Start date
[quote JMorgan]Hi all.......I know it's probably been covered a 100 times but here goes anyway. How can this machine be set to detect in trashy areas (parks, etc) using the standard 950 coil. I usually go relic hunting (fields, CW camps) and it's an AWESOME machine from when I tried there but I tried in a park today and it drove me MAD!!! I was getting crazy signals everywhere (good signals pulled up tabs and cans and friggin beer bottle lids ALL the time) and I didn't find one stinking zinc penny. I tried setting the discrimination high and the gain low and it did no good. Coin mode , relic mode , same results. I tried everything!! What can I do?? I don't have $150 to spend on a small coil. Is there anything I can do with the standard 950 one or just give up and conentrate on the less trashy, old relic sites. I just think for $800 you should get everything you need to detect in all conditions with a little fine tuning. My 5900 never got all this junk but I love this MXT and will never go back. Thanks guys.[/quote]
The MXT is a hot detector and with the 950" coil in a lot of trash it will drive you crazy as with most detectors with larger coils in high trash sights. The plain truth is you will have to get a smaller coil like the Eclipse 5.3" coil or the smaller 4x6DD coil.( the 5.3 gets better depth as a matter of fact it gives up very little depth & pin points great) Then use just enough disk to knock out small iron trash while still getting Nickles, set the threshold so you can barley hear it as this helps with the noise while maintaining stability, make sure and ground balance on clean ground then lock the ground tracking. Run enough sensitivity to get good depth but maintain stability. If you change the sensitivity re ground balance in the track mode then lock it again. Then hunt slow with a slower swing speed with the smaller coil while listening to every sound closely the MXT has a fast recovery speed and it can be swung pretty slow in trash, this will help with target separation in high trash areas. Try the Relic mode it will give a low tone on items set below the disk set point and a high tone on targets above the set point and sort of a wobbling sound on targets right at the disk set point. It takes time to learn the different sounds but once you get the hang of it with the smaller coil and a slower swing speed in high trash you will be surprised the items that will start popping up. Also try the alternate Relic mode & the Coin & Jewelry mode as you may find them to work good or even better for your taste in hunting.
The smaller coil is a must, along with proper technique, swing speed, disk setting, and sensitivity. Also proper ground balance along with locking the ground tracking in high trash and high iron trash sights play a big part in your over all success at these types of sights. Also do not forget a good pair of head phones are key to have.
Good luck & don't give up it will all come into play over time.
Bill G
The MXT is a hot detector and with the 950" coil in a lot of trash it will drive you crazy as with most detectors with larger coils in high trash sights. The plain truth is you will have to get a smaller coil like the Eclipse 5.3" coil or the smaller 4x6DD coil.( the 5.3 gets better depth as a matter of fact it gives up very little depth & pin points great) Then use just enough disk to knock out small iron trash while still getting Nickles, set the threshold so you can barley hear it as this helps with the noise while maintaining stability, make sure and ground balance on clean ground then lock the ground tracking. Run enough sensitivity to get good depth but maintain stability. If you change the sensitivity re ground balance in the track mode then lock it again. Then hunt slow with a slower swing speed with the smaller coil while listening to every sound closely the MXT has a fast recovery speed and it can be swung pretty slow in trash, this will help with target separation in high trash areas. Try the Relic mode it will give a low tone on items set below the disk set point and a high tone on targets above the set point and sort of a wobbling sound on targets right at the disk set point. It takes time to learn the different sounds but once you get the hang of it with the smaller coil and a slower swing speed in high trash you will be surprised the items that will start popping up. Also try the alternate Relic mode & the Coin & Jewelry mode as you may find them to work good or even better for your taste in hunting.
The smaller coil is a must, along with proper technique, swing speed, disk setting, and sensitivity. Also proper ground balance along with locking the ground tracking in high trash and high iron trash sights play a big part in your over all success at these types of sights. Also do not forget a good pair of head phones are key to have.
Good luck & don't give up it will all come into play over time.
Bill G
cnshtrdave
New member
Hi J,
Now I'm not an expert and I'm sure there others that can help you more than me. I been hunting with my mxt for a little over a year now and I have hunted trashy parks as well. Two parks I hunt have pull tabs,bottle caps,and the pesky foil out the rear. When I first started hunting these parks I was so disappointed because I found it hard to discriminate the junk and then to get a good signal. The first advise I have is read the owners manual and then reread it. I have taken mine with me to have as a reference in the field if needed. Next start in the preset modes. I found that till I got use to the machine this helped me a great deal. I set my threshold to just barley audible and then the discrimination to just under pull tab or the number 5 (yes I know i didn't find allot of rings but I was trying to learn what the machine was telling me), then I set the gain to preset and I soon learned that for these parks preset was to hot and I had to back it off to around 6 or 7. Remember also that the trigger switch can be put in forward position and this will help give a broken signal or just a blank threshold sound on those junk targets. I also don't have the money for a different coil and I hunt with the standard coil all the time and I have learned something else, if I slow down in the real trashy areas( I mean the ones that give you 3 to 4 different signals in one sweep of the coil "pull tab, dime/penny,screw cap, etc") this really helps the mxt separate the signals better and I can pick out the good coin/ring signals better. When I say slow down I mean "S L O W" ,a snails pace, for me I just barely move the coil from left to right. Example- just yesterday I hunted a old ball field that was littered with trash and I got the p-tab, penny/dime, p-tab signal on the vdi. I was able to separate the signal by just barely moving the coil and in the middle of the tabs there was a dime. I also noticed that when I pinpointed the tabs gave a shallow signal and the dime was just a little deeper. I also used the relic mode allot when I started because you have 2 different tones and I thought that the discrimination seemed to be better for me. I also watch for a full bar on my machine(vdi), if it says quarter and full bar then it's a quarter, but if it says quarter half bar and the signal jumps around then it's usually a screw cap on my machine.
The best thing I can say is "Don't give up" on the mxt it's a great machine and in time you will learn what it's telling you. For me it's been a challenging year and it's been fun because just when I think I have it figured out I get a surprise.
Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps!!!!!!
HH, Dave
Now I'm not an expert and I'm sure there others that can help you more than me. I been hunting with my mxt for a little over a year now and I have hunted trashy parks as well. Two parks I hunt have pull tabs,bottle caps,and the pesky foil out the rear. When I first started hunting these parks I was so disappointed because I found it hard to discriminate the junk and then to get a good signal. The first advise I have is read the owners manual and then reread it. I have taken mine with me to have as a reference in the field if needed. Next start in the preset modes. I found that till I got use to the machine this helped me a great deal. I set my threshold to just barley audible and then the discrimination to just under pull tab or the number 5 (yes I know i didn't find allot of rings but I was trying to learn what the machine was telling me), then I set the gain to preset and I soon learned that for these parks preset was to hot and I had to back it off to around 6 or 7. Remember also that the trigger switch can be put in forward position and this will help give a broken signal or just a blank threshold sound on those junk targets. I also don't have the money for a different coil and I hunt with the standard coil all the time and I have learned something else, if I slow down in the real trashy areas( I mean the ones that give you 3 to 4 different signals in one sweep of the coil "pull tab, dime/penny,screw cap, etc") this really helps the mxt separate the signals better and I can pick out the good coin/ring signals better. When I say slow down I mean "S L O W" ,a snails pace, for me I just barely move the coil from left to right. Example- just yesterday I hunted a old ball field that was littered with trash and I got the p-tab, penny/dime, p-tab signal on the vdi. I was able to separate the signal by just barely moving the coil and in the middle of the tabs there was a dime. I also noticed that when I pinpointed the tabs gave a shallow signal and the dime was just a little deeper. I also used the relic mode allot when I started because you have 2 different tones and I thought that the discrimination seemed to be better for me. I also watch for a full bar on my machine(vdi), if it says quarter and full bar then it's a quarter, but if it says quarter half bar and the signal jumps around then it's usually a screw cap on my machine.
The best thing I can say is "Don't give up" on the mxt it's a great machine and in time you will learn what it's telling you. For me it's been a challenging year and it's been fun because just when I think I have it figured out I get a surprise.
Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps!!!!!!
HH, Dave
bubblehead
New member
Hi J...
Bill is exactly right. The 4X6DD is a super coil not only for trashy areas but for getting in and around weedy and brushy areas. The small size makes pinpointing pretty much a no brainer. Aside from the stock coil, which I don't use at all, the 5.3 Eclipse is the only coil I use except when conditions warrent the 4X6. I stick pretty much with the relic mode. Gives a better signal and I think it goes just a bit deeper than the C/J mode. It's a killer machine.....best of luck with it.
Bill is exactly right. The 4X6DD is a super coil not only for trashy areas but for getting in and around weedy and brushy areas. The small size makes pinpointing pretty much a no brainer. Aside from the stock coil, which I don't use at all, the 5.3 Eclipse is the only coil I use except when conditions warrent the 4X6. I stick pretty much with the relic mode. Gives a better signal and I think it goes just a bit deeper than the C/J mode. It's a killer machine.....best of luck with it.
Ben Diggen
New member
Hi J!!!! Every one is right in what they are saying. But if you cannot afford to buy a smaller coil such as the 4X6 and you want to hunt trashy areas then you will have to sacrifice something. I learned this from Jeff Foster's book "The MXT Edge" (a must for every MXT owner). Set for high value targets in relic mode, ground balance locked, with the Gain at +1-+2, the Duel control at 8, the trigger forward, threshold just barely audible. This setting will rule out nickels, pull-tab and small gold rings, but you will be able to pull out the dimes, quarters, and larger. Also use a slow swing.
Good Luck
Ben
Good Luck
Ben
Thanks for asking that question. i am new to detecting, i have only been doing it for a week now. I got an mxt, and i have been having the same problem about finding trash and I have been looking on the internet for some answers to my problem and after reading the responses i just ordered an eclipse 5.3 online. So, hopefully, it will help me to also. thanks alot!!
Hey Dave just a few thoughts. I noticed you suggested to run your disk setting at 5 on the MXT to help with the learning curve. At a setting of 5 you will loose your Nickles a lot of pull tabs and a lot of older items like Indian Head Penny's and a lot of possible gold jewelry and rings. Also with the trigger forward you knock out a block of VDI numbers that some older coins may fall in such as certain older Indian head coins & other possible good items that fall in this VDI number range. To get a lot of older Indian Heads (VDI ranges 36-65 most falling between 36-42 and from 48-56) you will need to cut the setting back to around 3 to no more than under the first diamond past 3 but still under Nickle. Also I have found more than one item in a hole more than once over the years, just the other day I found a pull tab, a screw cap, 2 penny's a Nickle and a dime in and around the same hole along with a marble size piece of round iron = ?. In these situations sometimes the MXT will only lock in one or two directions or partly lock and the block may or may not fill in completely and it may ID different than the items you find until you start getting the hole cleaned out and then the ID will become more accurate on the meter including the bar graph. In these situations you are running of experience with the detector and your ability to isolate the different targets(this is where the smaller coils become your best friend) so if you rely two much on the meter or the bar graph or in some cases have your disk set to high like above Nickle or at 5 you may be missing or masking out a lot of good targets. You are right you can crawl super slow with your swing speed on the MXT and this helps a lot with ID and target separation, you only have to move the coil just a little bit over a target to isolate it with the MXT as you have found out with your 950" coil. You will be amazed when you get a smaller coil like the Eclipse 5.3" coil what the MXT can do.
The meter on any detector is only a guide even though it is very accurate on the MXT it can be fooled and the bar graph may not always fill in all the way on a good target depending on a lot of factors. Also to much discrimination or disk can hurt you unless your only looking for coins or items that fall in the higher VDI range of numbers.
Best of luck & HH,
Bill G
The meter on any detector is only a guide even though it is very accurate on the MXT it can be fooled and the bar graph may not always fill in all the way on a good target depending on a lot of factors. Also to much discrimination or disk can hurt you unless your only looking for coins or items that fall in the higher VDI range of numbers.
Best of luck & HH,
Bill G
cnshtrdave
New member
Hey Bill,
Thanks for all the info I have already started turning the discrimination down to around 2 and in most cases I hunt with it around 1.5 unless it's a new site with allot of trash and then it's back to 2 or3. Thanks for the info on the the nickles and the indians. This helps explain to me why I haven't found any indians.
I very rarely hunt with the trigger switch in forward position and then it's only if I'm in question about the target and then in most cases I'm digging the target to see what it is. Will the 5.3 be a good coil for the beach? Like I said I'm no expert and I welcome all the help and info I can get!!!! Thanks for sharing your knoledge with us!!!!!
HH,Dave
Thanks for all the info I have already started turning the discrimination down to around 2 and in most cases I hunt with it around 1.5 unless it's a new site with allot of trash and then it's back to 2 or3. Thanks for the info on the the nickles and the indians. This helps explain to me why I haven't found any indians.
I very rarely hunt with the trigger switch in forward position and then it's only if I'm in question about the target and then in most cases I'm digging the target to see what it is. Will the 5.3 be a good coil for the beach? Like I said I'm no expert and I welcome all the help and info I can get!!!! Thanks for sharing your knoledge with us!!!!!
HH,Dave
robert roy
New member
Bubblehead:
>>>>>>>>>>> I stick pretty much with the relic mode. Gives a better signal and I think it goes just a bit deeper than the C/J mode. It's a killer machine....<<<<<<<<<<
AMEN to that!
Robert R.
>>>>>>>>>>> I stick pretty much with the relic mode. Gives a better signal and I think it goes just a bit deeper than the C/J mode. It's a killer machine....<<<<<<<<<<
AMEN to that!
Robert R.
I've used my MXT for a bit more than two years now, and I'm just now finally getting to the point where it and I speak the same language. I agree with those here who say a small coil is a must. It may be possible to hunt effectively in trash with the 950 but I found it to be a royal pain most of the time. It's great in open areas with few targets, but in my experience it just can't handle really dense trash. I bought a little 5" Excelerator DD and it works miracles in the old dumpsite where I hunt a lot. By definition the dumpsite is about the most trash-filled place that you could find anywhere, but that little coil on the MXT has pulled out a lot of really good finds.
I started out using the CJ mode, but gave that up after about a month and used Relic exclusively for nearly two years, hunting with trigger forward digging all high tones with intriguing VDI numbers. Just recently I've been using Prospecting mode, trigger forward to avoid iron grunt, SAT high as circumstances will allow and locked ground. Even with only one tone there are variations in target sounds. Over time I have determined in what VDI ranges the good targets in this trash dump lie, so I dig by sound and by VDI numbers only. The only drawback to Prospecting mode is lack of depth indication, but a pinpointer helps greatly. I swing extremely slow because targets may be only an inch or two apart, or sometimes even on top of each other, but I get wonderful separation with this coil.
I would suggest doing the best you can with your 950 until you can afford a small coil. You may be able to pick one up on eBay pretty reasonable. All the while you will be learning more about your detector and you will make some great finds with it. Just don't allow yourself to get frustrated with the MXT, it's one FINE MACHINE!!
Marc
I started out using the CJ mode, but gave that up after about a month and used Relic exclusively for nearly two years, hunting with trigger forward digging all high tones with intriguing VDI numbers. Just recently I've been using Prospecting mode, trigger forward to avoid iron grunt, SAT high as circumstances will allow and locked ground. Even with only one tone there are variations in target sounds. Over time I have determined in what VDI ranges the good targets in this trash dump lie, so I dig by sound and by VDI numbers only. The only drawback to Prospecting mode is lack of depth indication, but a pinpointer helps greatly. I swing extremely slow because targets may be only an inch or two apart, or sometimes even on top of each other, but I get wonderful separation with this coil.
I would suggest doing the best you can with your 950 until you can afford a small coil. You may be able to pick one up on eBay pretty reasonable. All the while you will be learning more about your detector and you will make some great finds with it. Just don't allow yourself to get frustrated with the MXT, it's one FINE MACHINE!!
Marc
Thanks for all your great advice. I think I'm going to invest in a small coil based on all the positive opinions. I just don't understand on thing. like if I pull a can or a bottle top or something like that... I tested and set my discrimination up as far as it would go and still got signals. Why is that? Thanks this is a great forum with great people.. I'll show you any good finds (if I ever find anything 
) Peace out 
) Peace out