Need advice on Whites MXT search coils

[Eagle Spirit]

Hi,

First post although I have been reading the forum for awhile now. I have a question on search coils for the Whites MXT. My girlfriend and I each got a MXT recently and with the purchase we got a credit of $150.00 with each machine. We need to decide pretty soon how to spend that credit.

I am more interested in nugget shooting, while my girlfriend is more into the relic/coin shooting. These are our first detectors so we are still learning.

So the question is which coil should we get? I am including a link to the Whites page with the description of the coils. Looks like DFX/MXT/M6 5.3 (6x6) Eclipse Search Coil or the DFX/MXT/M6 DD (6x10) Eclipse Search Coil may be the best choices.

http://www.whiteselectronics.com/loopsw.php

Which would work best for nugget shooting?

Which would work best for coin/relic shooting?

I have heard that the stock coil is fairly good and we have found a few items each time we have gone out. I have not had a chance to nugget shoot yet though.

We will be mostly in the Washington and Montana area.

My girlfriends parents have a place in Yuma, Arizona that we would like to visit. Not sure how these detectors would do in Arizona though. Or if that part of Arizon is any good for nugget shooting. Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance for any advice and pointers that may be given.

[nuggethunting]

Hello Eagle,

Sorry no one could give you some advice. I just seen the post and thought I should reply. I only used the White's MXT for a short time, but I did use the "DFX/MXT/M6 DD (6x10) Eclipse Search Coil" and "Eclipse DFX 9.5" Search Coil." I didn't care much for the round coil, but did find several ounces of gold with the 10x6 elliptical.

I think the "DFX/MXT/M6 Eclipse Deepscan DD 1400 coil" would be a good choice for outright gold hunting in mineralized areas. Never used this coil, but if I was going to purchase it would probably be this coil.

I know I heard a lot of good things about the "DFX/MXT/M6 Eclipse Shooter DD (4x6) coil." Heard it really hot on small gold near the surface.

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob Allison

[Eagle Spirit]

Thanks for the reply Rob.

I know its not a MineLab but I hope it will be good for us to get detecting and learn about chasing nuggets.

Sounds like you had fun in Alaska. What detectors were being used up there.

By looking at Steve's site it looks like he likes both the MineLab and the MXT, at least by his last report I read on his site.

Thanks again for answering and giving some advise.

[nuggethunting]

Hello Eagle,

At Moore Creek the best detector is the Minelab PI's (preferably the GP series). Moore Creek's mineralization is minimal and there's very little trash. The big Minelab's get the best punch there.

Now in places like Ganes Creek, the big Minelab's can be nightmares in the sluice piles (black piles). Tons of iron rubbish .... The VLF's with good discriminators seem to work best.

Wishing you the best of luck,

Rob Allison

[29prospector]

Good evening Eagle.

My partner uses a MXT and he likes the stock coil for our area. When we get into alot of mineralation he switches to the small coil. Like Rob said it is deadly on small and large gold that is trapped in trash. I hope this helps.

Bob

[nuggethunting]

Hello Eagle,

I wanted to add a few other things. Now I only used the White's MXT for a limited time, but it did struggle in several areas in Central Arizona. I read on another forum where someone mentioned it was the "best" VLF detector for gold hunting. I'm not sure I would agree it's the "best," but would agree it will find gold easy enough.

In areas with heavy volcanics and even heavy iron mineralization the White's MXT really struggled and I experienced tons of ground noise. I really had to back the settings down and lost a good amount of depth and sensitivity by doing so. You can still run high settings, but it's recommended that you keep your searchcoil a bit higher off the ground than normal. If you try to run the machine maxed out on heavy mineralized ground your going to drive yourself nuts. You will experience this with all conventional VLF detectors, not just the White's MXT.

As many have agreed, the stock elliptical coil is great. I spent most of my time with that coil. However, if you're wanting to find smaller gold the DD shooter coil will work great. For more depth and overall coverage, the larger 14-inch elliptical will work great. You will loose a bit of sensitivity on the larger coil, but you will gain in depth and overall ground covered when prospecting.

Just my opinions,

Rob Allison

[gubelube]

i use the whites mxt with the 6x10 dd coil which was recommended to me by few that use the same detector and coil with good results but i mostly drywash when im in the dessert but the smaller 4x6 dd coil is for smaller gold and the 6x10 dd coil picks up smaller than the stock but cancels mineralization better in trashy areas just aint as small for harder areas but from what i hear these are the two to use for trashy areas and nuggets. hope tis helps some, still yet to find a nugget, put my 5.1gram in the dirt about 5 to 6 inches and picked it up faintly, still trying to figure the settings outmyself.

john