Whites MXT 300
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Whites MXT Field Test Report
By Peter Cook 

Over the years White’s have brought out a number of different detectors and to bring out three new machines in just a short space of time must have been a challenge.  So when George McCrae asked me if I would field test the new MXT E-Series I jumped at the chance.   

            A couple of days after speaking to George, my wife telephoned me at work and told me that a large box had been delivered.  Her first words were ‘Have you bought a new detector and what did it cost?’  After telling her that White’s had sent me the MXT to field test she calmed down.  After the telephone call I could hardly wait to get home and see what the detector looked like.  So when I eventually got home the first thing I did was open the box and to my surprise it contained not only the MXT detector but three spare search heads.  These were the Eclipse DD 5” x 9” elliptical, Eclipse DD Shooter 4” x 6” elliptical and the Eclipse 5.3” diameter.  Each of these search heads can be used on the MXT or the DFX new E-Series detectors.

            After assembling the MXT detector I made plans to get out that weekend which were then all laid to ruins by heavy rain.  Over the next week I decided that if I was unable to get out detecting I would read the owners’ guide from cover to cover in order to familiarise myself with the ins and outs of the MXT.  After doing just this, I would like to point out a number of pages that I would recommend to all owners of the new MXT detector to read before venturing out.

Owner’s guide.

The guide explains how to set up the machine and take advantage of simple but effective programs.

Page 15 – relic and prospecting mode.  This gives you a good understanding of the different programs that can be obtained just by moving the trigger on the handgrip from the central position to the forward position.  This explains how to set up the machine in these simple but effective programs.

Page 18 – gain control/adjustment.  This tells you what to do when messages on the LCD display read OVERLOAD-RE-DUCE GAIN/LIFT LOOP and how to set gain control.

Page 20 – dual control.  Explains how to set the (Preset) positions on the control box.

Page 23 – threshold control.  This explains how to set threshold in order to get the best performance out of the machine.

Page 28 – relic mode which I found the most effective with one or two changes.

Page 12 – prospecting mode.  This gives you a much clearer understanding of the VDI (visual discrimination indication) numbers in relation to the iron content of the target.  One is a number plus or minus i.e. –20 or +20 and the other is in percentage i.e. 20%.

Page 13 – explains about the GND number that appears in the top right hand corner of the LCD.

Use of Controls

Despite the fact that it has six controls, the MXT is an easy detector to set up and use.  To aid you in setting up the MXT the five main controls are clearly marked, two having a preset position.

A fast and easy start up procedure would be as follows:

1.       select the mode you wish to detect in.

2.       set the trac control the preset position ground.

3.       set the dual control to the preset position just over 3.

4.       turn the threshold control clockwise until you establish a faint hum.

5.       leave the trigger on the hand grip in the control position.

6.       switch the gain control on and turn clockwise to the preset position. 

After completing this procedure, lower the search head to the ground and pump up and down a couple of times.  The fast auto trac will automatically balance the MXT and it will then be ready for you to detect.

At the start of each field test I will give you the programs that I used.

Before I go too far I better tell you a little about myself.  I have been detecting for some 12 years and tried a number of detectors over the years.  I am a member of the West Riding Detector Group.  I have made numerous interesting finds and still get the same thrill and excitement out of the hobby as I did back at the beginning.  Some readers of The Searcher may already recognise my name, as I regularly go out detecting with Peter Spencer and he is always writing about the finds we unearth and the fun we have whilst out together.  Besides Peter, I also go out with my son, Ashley.  At first he wasn’t keen on detecting but after finding a number of hammered coins he has now developed an appetite for the hobby.

User suitability/description

The MXT follows the modern style of detectors in having a cranked upper stem and built-in armrest and is a well balanced, light and easy to use machine that you could detect with all day long and hardly know that you have the machine on your arm.

            It’s far from being a ‘Switch on and go’ machine, although White’s have done their best to make the MXT user friendly in a way that, with a little patience, you’ll soon have results that you would expect from White’s.

            One of the most visual benefits of the new MXT is the LCD display.  This not only has a VDI number bar block, but you have and ID label.  The labels displayed are HOT ROC, IRON, BUTTON, BULLET and BUCKLE, but you have to keep your imagination open and think what possible objects were produced in these metals and how they might compare in size and alloy to the things you are looking for.

Field Test number one

The first site chosen to field test the MXT was a stubble field, which had produced a few decent finds over the years.  The weather conditions, which I would say have a lot to do with how a detector performs on the day, was constant showers for the full length of this field test.

            For this first test I used the Eclipse DD 5” x 9” elliptical search head and the relic mode

Programme

Mode: Relic.

Trac: Ground.

Gain control: Preset 9.

Dual Control: 0.

Threshold: Establish a slight background hum.

The trigger on the handgrip in the forward position.

As I started to detect the plan was to dig all the signals, good or bad, just to know what each signal would represent.  The first 4 or 5 signals were indicated on the VDI (visual discrimination indication) as iron with a minus number in the top left hand corner, and a block to the left hand side of the box.  The label was displaying iron.  Each time I recovered the object the MXT was right, it was iron.  As I got going things started to change, plus numbers started to appear and the block bar moved from the left hand side to the right hand side.  The labels started to say Foil, Button, Bullets and Buckles each time I recovered the item it was made from the metal indicated on the VDI.  As I continued to recover these items I noticed a change in the signals coming from the machine. A more two-tone high pitch ‘bleep’ came from the plus numbers and a low ‘bleep’ from the minus ones.  In other words, high tones meant accept whereas lower ones indicated reject.  This gave me four different ways in which to differentiate between good and bad targets:  tone, number, block and label.  Each time I got a signal, whether high or low in tone, I looked at the label and number first before I recovered the item.  After checking a number of times if this was reliable I found that I only needed to dig the high tones. 

            Over the morning’s detecting I unearthed a good selection of finds, ranging from buttons, foil, coins, shotgun cartridges and the usual ‘what on earth is this?’  The only iron objects that I had recovered were from a depth of over 8 inches.

            In the afternoon I decided to change the search head from the Eclipse DD 5” x 9” elliptical to the Eclipse 5.3” diameter.  My find rate over the day was very good and in line with what I would expect when using my usual machine.  As for pin pointing targets, I found that both search heads were able to locate finds quickly and accurately.

Field Test number two

The second outing was some two weeks later, when we had a break in the weather.  The weather on the day was cloudy with a light wind, which dried the soil out as the day went on.  For this field I decided to use the MXT in the prospecting mode with the standard head that is supplied with the machine (Eclipse 950” polo) in the morning and change to the Eclipse DD shooter 4” x 6” elliptical for the afternoon.

Programme

Mode: Prospecting.

Gain Control: Preset 9

Dual Control: 0

Threshold: Establish a slight background hum.

The trigger on the handgrip in the forward position.

            This program took a little getting used to and the LCD display was something that I had never seen before.  For example, IRON TARGET %, GDN NUMBER and a VDI NUMBER were all trying to tell me something, but what? But after digging a number of targets I soon understood what it was all about.

            It was telling me the percentage of iron in the buried object.  The lower the iron percentage, together with a plus number indicated the possibility of a decent find.  The signal itself did not change with the percentage of iron in an object, but the readout (plus or minus) on the LCD did, which meant that I had to keep checking the LCD display for plus numbers.  Aft first I was a little slow at looking at the LCD display and had to go over the object a number of times to make sure that the object was worth recovering.  After a slow start I found that if I only looked at the iron percentage I was not wasting time and soon up to my usual speed.  And I had a good number of finds coming out from 6 to 7 inches deep.  Finds included a George III silver sixpence, a number of copper coins, musket balls, shotgun cartridges, buttons small pieces of lead and a few unidentified objects.  Only four pieces of iron turned up during the whole of day two.

            The Eclipse DD shooter search head was ideal for getting through the hard stubble.  It was possible to get right down to the surface of the soil and had no trouble in identifying even the smallest of targets.

Conclusion

The MXT E-series offers a number of outstanding benefits, along with preset programs and a LCD display that tells you what you are about to recover from the ground.  It also gives you the opportunity to fine-tune the machine to get the best out of the detector and the conditions that you are about to detect.  There are a number of benefits about the MXT that impressed me, one of which in particular was that the MXT gave you the opportunity to discriminate objects for yourself.  In other words, if you pass over a lump of iron, the MXT will give you a signal and therefore it is up to you whether to recover the object or not missing nothing on the way.

            The other was the design of a manual control box combined with a LCD read-out that was reliable and made the machine stand out from its competitors.  On the field test I found the MXT capable of both good depth and excellent discrimination if I wished to use it.

            As for the search heads, if you have or are about to purchase the new MXT E-Series, I would recommend that you should go for the Eclipse DD 5” x 9” Elliptical.  I say this, because, after using the machine all day I found that this search head balanced the machine perfectly and I was able to detect all day without knowing I had the machine strapped to my arm.  I would also say that with this search head I felt that I had the best results in the relic mode.

© Reproduced with kind permission of Searcher Magazine, May 2003.

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