Whites MX Sport Waterproof Metal Detector

[deathray]

Others need to follow XP lead on using Telescopic rods.

[PhaseTech]

I really like the general look of the MX sport, colours, coil, pod. Interesting Deus-like handle 

Not sure how I feel about the TreasureMaster style display though. Seems quite bulky sitting up in the air on such a sleek detector. I actually liked the MXT's more minimalist and lower profile display. 

Hopefully the gold prospecting side is improved, would make a nice all-rounder. 

[FishBamboo]

Here is a preview of the MX Sport:

[Steve Herschbach]

Nice looking unit. I like the battery compartment totally separate from electronics, with screw in battery door like on Infinium, but with oversized grip. The Infinium battery door is more of a recessed grip and harder to get hold of.

Big bold target id number. I like that also.

[Steve Herschbach]

MX Sport Preview. The only place to get all the information about the NEW Waterproof MX Sport.

January 15 - January 29

Jan 15 at 10:00 AM to Jan 29 at 10:00 AM in PST

This event is being held online only - on the White's Facebook event page. You will get all the information you need just by "Attending" the event!

White's MX Sport Product Details Page

[Keith Southern]

I am Very Excited as well about the MX Sport..

MXT being my all time favorite Whites unit..And I might add never had a Failure with one since release..

I cant say that about too many units Ive owned..

I too would like to know how the tone break works in Relic Mode especially...I like the MXT's ability to break on a nail by user defined setting..

I hope its not segmented..

BUT I may ADD...

As of late the things I have needed in a detector such as 19+Khz Freq and precise variable tone break have came from a few machines that dont allow that and also the machine were on a lower than 19Khz freq.

Those being the CoRe and Racer...14 and 15Khz units with factory set tone break for iron.

Another being the MX5 from whites....14Khz unit and factory set tone break.

Those units as example I could not set the tone break any better on my own...Yet their break is well above the nail setting..YET they unmask unbelievably well in iron for seeing non ferrous targtes intermingled with Ferrous targets.....Plus the Core and Racer are of such high gain they are as or more sensitive than a 19Khz unit.

The MX5 was not of high gain ...or should I say Hyper gain feel.

I hope the MX Sports DNA is of the Hyper feel of the MXT in relic mode.

So while I would like a user defined tone break...if its indeed using the MX5 Disc DNA ..We may very well have us another turn on and go iron site unlocker ..

Thast seems to be the Beauty of the latest offerings...WORLD CLASS performance in iron infested sites with no more than switching on and Ground grabbing...

It I feel through PURE processing power...Bleedy filters blendy audios and such coupled with extremely fast algorithm's that a analog unit can not accomplish or for that fact a unit of a few years old cant accomplish...

Never thought I would see the day when I could basically turn on a unit and just hunt without tweaking my settings for the first few minutes to get dialed into a site...

I could feel it in the MX5 yet all the goodies were not in place..almost like a feeler unit to get on the market to try some ideas..

I have a Gut feeling the MX Sport will not let us down..Will not disappoint..

I hope its a True Whites in longevity also like the units it follows Rugged,Reliable,Dependable.

 

Exciting Times!!

Keith

[Steve Herschbach]

OK, here is a major difference between the MXT Pro and MX Sport. At least near as I can tell based on preliminary information.

The MXT Pro has various programs and tone schemes, but only one discrimination control of note. A single turn knob. In some modes setting the knob higher causes items lower than the setting to be ignored. In Relic mode, the knob setting determines where the tone switches, or breaks, from low tone "rejected" to high tone "accepted". The MXT Pro has no ability to notch out or reject a range in the middle of the conductive range except for a little known feature on early MXT (non-Pro) models, whereby the placing the trigger switch forward in Coin mode activated a preset "pull tab notch" setting. You do of course have the ability to hunt by preset tone options which can serve the same purpose.

The MX Sport appears to have no variable control but instead uses a notch or bin system based on target id segments similar to many modern digital detectors. There are twenty notches or bins, 16 non-ferrous and 4 ferrous. Each may be independently accepted or rejected. From the preliminary manual:

The MX Sport has 20 rejection ranges. Discrimination comes already set up for the Program you have selected.

To Customize Discrimination:

It is sometimes necessary to customize discrimination for targets you want to accept/reject. Iron will likely jump all over the scale inconsistently. You can only reject the first range for iron. For other targets that indicate consistently in a range, identify and then reject that range.

1. Press Options and use up & down arrows to select Discrimination.

2. Use the + or - buttons to select the desired range you want to change, indicated by the flashing cursor. Press pinpoint button to toggle between accepting or rejecting that range. The pinpoint button changes that range from reject (solid indicator bar) to accept (blank indicator bar) or from accept (blank indicator bar) to reject (solid indicator bar).

3. Press Options to exit, or wait 10–15 seconds for the Options mode to automatically time out.

For most people and most purposes the MX Sport offers more discrimination versatility both in tone options and in notch capability. The one area people might miss is in the Relic mode, where the ability to tweak the break point between ferrous and non-ferrous was well liked, especially by nugget hunters in trashy areas. You could decide how much ferrous you wanted to dig to get possible nuggets, as gold and ferrous ranges overlap. A lower setting would cause more accept signals, many that would be small ferrous, but some would be gold. or a higher setting would move the balance to rejecting more small ferrous, but with a possible loss of some gold.

The MX Sport lets you do this also, but in chunks instead of via a variable control. In the closeup below of the ferrous / non-ferrous range target segments that are rejected have a black bar below or underlining them. Accepted segments are blank or open.

The notch or bin spread or size is not the same on all segments on the MX Sport. There is more resolution in the large middle "gold" range and less resolution on each end of the scale. Most bins cover five target id numbers, for instance range 10 - 14. On the high end where silver coin are each bin covers ten id numbers, for instance 80 - 89.

There are four ferrous segments or bins. Each one is different size roughly correlating to small ferrous, medium ferrous, and large ferrous. It looks to me like you can either accept the preset non-ferrous range and reject the preset ferrous range, or decide to accept the ferrous -01 to -10 range to dig some ferrous and maybe some gold. Or simply accept everything and go by tones, but the tone break is preset at the factory at 0 between ferrous and non-ferrous.

This in real minor detail stuff unimportant to most people, but for some treading the fine line between ferrous and non-ferrous perhaps of importance. So there you go.

 

[PhaseTech]

Does anyone know if you can switch off the "QUARTR" display? That will only be useful for users in the US. 

[Steve Herschbach]

Right now the White's MX Sport User's Manual is the source of all wisdom, and nothing there. I am sure you know that was an early version of the manual for the FCC and so there could be things we will not know until the final version. I don't see anything about shutting off the "guess" system. But if White's is thinking international (and they should be) it should have the ability to be shut off or changed. There could also possibly be a U.S. version and an international version of the machine, like with the AT Pro.

Silly that it is not one character longer anyway. Would it have cost that much more to have it say QUARTER? Be of more use for system warnings or alerts (low battery, overload, etc.). My often wished for alarm clock display could go there!!

On the MXT Pro the "guesses" change from coin type guesses to relic type guesses in Relic mode, so it reads "button" or "bullet" or "buckle". No indication in the manual about that either. Never had much use for any of that type stuff myself but easy to ignore.

[Steve Herschbach]

Is the MX Sport a suped up MX5? My best guess is this is the higher end MX5 version that was planned then put on hold.

Some history here. The White's MXT was designed by a team lead by famed engineer Dave Johnson, who White's hired specifically for the project. The GMT was an early offshoot from that project in 2001 with the MXT coming shortly after in 2002. See the MXT Engineering Report for details.

In my opinion the MXT was one of the best all around detectors ever designed, and probably White's most popular ever. It is a bit unique in that it is a digital machine underneath, but controlled through old fashioned knobs giving it an old style analog feel. The combination of simplicity and power was a winner and White's has used that original work by Dave for 15 years now, with various derivative machines like the M6 or SST. The White's M6 is basically a stripped down MXT, but it added a seven tone id mode that the original MXT lacked. The most tones you got on the MXT was two tones in Relic mode. The MXT Pro then basically added the seven tone feature, backlight, and ground grab button to the MXT. Many people still liked the original MXT at a slightly lower price, so it continues to be produced. A special Sierra model called the SST was also produced that is just an M6 in full time tracking mode.

The problem at the end of the day is the main circuit board of the MXT. White's really hung in there with same metal box used in various models for about 20 years. The MXT box is 6.3" long x 5" wide and the board takes up every bit of it inside. Lots of wasted space on that board.

The is lots to like about that old design; well balanced, easy control layout, does not fall over when laid down. But the world moved on. Cell phones got smaller and so did other metal detectors. White's needed to learn how to make machines smaller and more compact.

White's set about trying to miniaturize the MXT circuit board and started fresh with a new circuit built from the ground up. The idea was to try and duplicate the MXT as much as possible in a smaller fully digital design and to even add features and capability. For various reasons a mid-range version called the White's MX5 was released first. It offers MXT like performance in a lighter weight package. I really liked the MX5 overall but White's lost me with one little thing - the MX5 is locked into full time ground tracking. I am getting less concerned over that issue as modern tracking systems improve, but I stated in various places I would wait for the next version that added the ability to lock and ground grab.

Interestingly at this point in time, the MX5 had a little issue with tones on release that had to be fixed. It had to do with the machine being designed with extra capability for down the road. Carl Moreland worked for White's at the time and had this to say about the MX5 tone issue "The MX5 was designed to use stereo audio for mixed mode in a higher-end model (which was canceled), so in the MX5 we connected the audio channels together. This caused a glitch in the micro that wasn't noticed in testing, so the easy solution was to remove R67."

It appears that higher end project was not canceled but delayed, or canceled and brought back to life. Part of this may have been the introduction of the White's Treasuremaster last spring and the possibilities the new housing represented. In any case, we know the MX5 circuit board had the ability to run in Mixed Mode and the new MX Sport has the Relic mode (mixed mode) missing in the MX5. There is also the tone evidence. The MXT Pro has 1, 2 or 7 tones. The MX5 has 1, 2 or 8 tones. The MX Sport has 1, 2, 4, 8, and 20 tones and so appears to be an enhanced version of the MX5.

The real evidence that the MX Sport is a beefed up MX5 is the target id numbers and notch discrimination scheme. The MX5 and MX Sport are identical in this regard. In fact, studying the MX5 Owner's Manual offers some insight into the MX Sport discrimination system.



OK, so why all the obsession over this? Having Googled away on MXT vs MX5 I came to a couple conclusions. First, people think the MX5 performs just as well if not better than the MXT for depth, and it has a faster processor. The main criticism is in the audio. Some like the MXT faux analog audio as compared to the more digital sounding MX5. I can promise you right now that sort of thing is a personal preference item. Audio jives with you or it does not, and only using a machine can tell you what works best for you in that regard. The other big complaint was lack of ability to lock the ground tracking.

My guess - and again I am only making educated guesses folks, is that the MX Sport is the full blown MX5 circuit unleashed with the mixed mode and other extra features enabled, stuffed into a beefed up Treasuremaster style housing. That said it is likely to have great performance and the main issue for many people is likely to be in the audio as compared to the old MXT. However, Paul's issue with M6 ferrous/non-ferrous audio is not going to be duplicated here except by chance as the tone schemes are different.

Well, have a couple chores to attend to but I have more thoughts to add both on the notch system and the tone scheme, so check back later. I am really liking the look of the MX Sport, my only puzzlement being over why, with all this redesign, did White's not redesign for a lower power four AA system. Yes, it can be done without giving up depth - depth and AA count are not related in simple VLF machines. The MX Sport at 4 lbs outweighs the Garrett AT Pro by a solid pound, and part of that is in double the battery weight. I do think the MX Sport is going to have a beefier more "adult" feel to it - the AT series all remind me of the Ace 250, which while a great machine has a kids feel in it's construction. The MX Sport will be better balanced by far with the underarm battery compartment so there is that at least. Balance is as important as weight and so maybe they needed that weight out back to balance the 10" DD coil up front.

Another possibility is this housing will be used for many other models going forward and the eight AA system is needed more for use in other machines than this particular one. If that is the case it is just a cover all bases in one housing decision.

Bottom line is the MX Sport is still best thought of as an MXT crammed into a more compact package, as there is no doubt in my mind the MX5 circuit board was designed with the MXT fully in mind. But people expecting something that acts exactly like an MXT just in a different package should know there will probably be differences, many pretty obvious, but some more subtle. At the end of the day this is the closest thing to a waterproof MXT you are going to see. Whether that is good enough only time will tell.