My New White's MX Sport Arrived

[Steve Herschbach]

I now have a shiny new White's MX Sport that I just purchased to put though its paces. Nice solid, attractive machine, 4 lbs 3.7 oz or 4.23 lbs with eight Duracell AA alkaline batteries. The pod is a bit larger in real life than I thought it would be and the headphone jack placement as anticipated is a head scratcher. On the other hand after hearing various complaints about the audio I am not seeing any issue there for me. Yeah, it is a digital type sound more akin to my DFX than what you would expect from an MXT but I don't have any problem with it. The coil actually seems smaller than what I had anticipated - the photo on the box makes it seem huge.

White's is not quoting weights for the MX Sport on its website that I can find. However, the MX Sport User's Guide lists it at 4 lbs. The MXT basic model in the past has been quoted at 4.3 lbs with batteries and MXT Pro at 4.4 lbs with batteries (different coil added weight). White's changed the rules it would appear and is listing the MX Sport weight in the manual as without batteries. At 4.23 lbs with batteries it is a tiny bit lighter than the MXT but the MX Sport is not as well balanced either unfortunately. It is slightly nose heavy and if anything feels heavier on the arm than the MXT because of this. Overall I would say no improvement over MXT for weight and balance.

The headphone thing I could not help but think that it is a real shame that White's has not taken their wireless headphone technology and made it more of a standard feature. I understand this is a machine that can possibly be used underwater and that would require a wired headphone. The reality however is most people will be using this detector above water, and an ability to use wireless headphones with it optionally would be very welcome indeed. It is something I am starting to think should be standard on any top end detector and White's misses an opportunity here that would have alleviated what is sure to be a common complaint with this detector. With wireless the waterproof connection could be left capped and only used if a person needed it for underwater phones.

All in all an appealing modern looking metal detector with good features at a reasonable price. White's should do well with it. On the other hand it is not the home run category killer I was thinking White's really needed at this time. It seems more like an alternative to the MXT rather than a replacement for it. As a dealer I always tried to keep things very simple for people, and if talking about the possibilities on new White's machines I would probably be presenting it as the choice between waterproof or not. In other words, dry land or wading use only, go MXT; want to actually submerge the machine, get an MX Sport. If price were the issue than it would maybe be more about the MX Sport vs the MX5 but still just boiling down to the waterproof vs not waterproof thing. The MX Sport internet price is $749 and the MXT Standard is $729 (Pro $823) while the MX5 is $549

Well, that is that for now. I plan on using this machine quite a bit over the next month and will write up a much more detailed report in about 30 days after I get enough hours on the MX Sport to be able to talk more intelligently about the performance aspects of the machine.

March 22 Update - The above is a fresh "out-of-box" review. Unfortunately, with only a little use issues have been revealed that are covered in a new thread White's MX Sport - Sweet Home, We Have A Problem

[Steve Herschbach]

In box there is of course the owners manual and also a set of White's Ultralight Headphones These look to be decent headphones but since they sit on instead of over the ear are nothing I would use personally. They are regular headphones with a 1/4" jack requiring the included adapter cable to be used with the MX Sport but this means they will work with any detector also.

The lower rod and rubber washers/plastic bolt are the same one White's has used for many years. There are a couple rubber pads for the armrest like with most White's detectors. If the machine is to be used a lot in the water you may want to leave these off as they wear off rapidly with water use anyway. The old velcro straps that used to be included for securing the coil cable have been replaced by three plastic clips that do seem to work better than others I have used.

The eight AA battery holder is the same one as I got familiar with in the Garrett Infinium. Eight AA batteries are included but it should run just fine if you use rechargeable AA batteries instead.

There is also an arm strap and of course the adapter cable for the underwater headphone connection that allows for the use of any headphone set. That is a nice touch, much appreciated.

[Steve Herschbach]

My expectations for this machine has been quite a bit different than what most people might have. My assumption has not been that the MX Sport is an exact MXT clone stuffed in a new box but a more powerful version of the MX5 - I made the case for this in detail back in January. My finishing quote from there:

"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."

I think if White's had done this right they could have just retired the MXT but I am more doubtful of that now. For me personally however it has never been about the MXT but about my DFX and whether the MX Sport can replace it. And that in turn will depend almost 100% of whether the MX Sport can be made to run my Bigfoot coil in a manner I find acceptable. As I said before - only time will tell.

[auminesweeper]

I was wondering why you had mentioned the DFX couple of times, I thought that the MX-S slots in somewhere between the MX-5 and the MXT A/P both of which are non waterproof, but it is more like the big brother of the Treasuremate Pro, Both of the Treasure models look similar and this one also has that look, I wonder if this styling is the direction that Whites are now moving in, More minimalistic visually, It is a shame about the weight but if it is to be used under water then I guess the weight might not be so much of an issue, and the extra weight under water might be a bonus, yes/no ?

john.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

Weight above water and underwater do not equate much. A detector can weigh ten pounds above water and still float like a cork. Underwater you usually want from slightly positive to slightly negative depending on who you ask. I prefer slightly negative. Water resistance is often more an issue underwater than weight. My ATX weighs nearly 7 lbs out of the water but is just barely negative underwater, so that part is good. It does however have a large profile and so must be pushed back and forth against water resistance - not so good. The MX Sport should handle just fine underwater - stout is good and the MX Sport is that. Thinner profile than my ATX so good there.

[auminesweeper]

Right, would resistance be the reason for the new coil design, because it has a very thin profile when you look at the cross braces, unlike any other coil they have produced, , I wonder if it was made  in house or was it made by Detech because it resembles the ultimate styling ?

I have to admit I have a weakness for the ATX, I like Military Grade gear and I am pondering on that one.

john

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, if this video is to be believed the new coil was developed in house.

So after all this research a coil is developed for the MX Sport that looks amazingly like the Detech Ultimate, which White's in a huge departure from the past is giving official recognition to on their own website.

Good coil the Ultimate, I own one myself for the F75/Gold Bug Pro (1 lb 3.4 oz)

Now, the Detech Ultimate came out in 2012. It however looks remarkably like a new coil designed for a new detector released by a certain Australian company in 2008 - the Minelab E-TRAC. The CTX 3030 coil is almost identical to the E-TRAC coil. Here is my CTX 3030 11" (1 lb 6.5 oz) coil sitting right next to my MX Sport 10" (1 lb 4.9 oz) coil - see any similarity?

It is entirely possible examples of this design can be found to predate the E-TRAC in 2008 but the point is, this basic design has been around for awhile. Which frankly is why I have been saying White's needs to ditch all the old 1980s style thick foam filled loops and move towards more modern designs. The new MX Sport coil is a move in the right direction.

 

[auminesweeper]

Thanks for posting the video Steve

I remember my old Sovereign GT had resin filled loops and finally Whites seems to have Adopted this technology, So I am wondering why because my GT could not see fine chains or my test pieces and neither could my E-trac despite having all those frequencies ( Harmonics ) and they could not see them even when fitted with the little joey or the platypus so I am wondering was it the coils fault or the machines, yet my Musketeer Advantage running at 5khz found one of my test pieces weighing 0.02 grams so maybe the resin filled coils are still sensitive,, Yet the D2 that came with my MXT All Pro is a very hot coil because it can see my hand as a result of that I have had to import a scoop from the US from miner john.

So it seems that the Ultimate coil and this new 10" DD is a variant of the E-Trac's coil, heaven forbid they release a square coil, they would be murder in a stubble field, Even the round 12" is hard work where the 9.5 is easier. I do like this new coil and I wonder if we will see one of those fitted to the next reincarnation of the MXT  ??

Steve if you get time can you test the coil on some tiny bits, It will be interesting to see what it can see,, Thanks

john

[Steve Herschbach]

Multi frequency is not what people think it is. In general multi frequency detectors are designed to act like low frequency detectors and that is exactly what they act like. I will see about playing around with some small gold and the MXS at some point. I am actually kind of crazy busy these days but what else is new!

[MDCHIEFSH]

So has anyone tested out the 6X10 search coil on the mxsport?