Who Has The MX Sport Maybe The MX 7

[Jeff McClendon]

Absolutely Chuck,

If I wasn't so crazy about gold prospecting I wouldn't own an Equinox and the MX7 would probably be my favorite detector. It is a coin monster plain and simple and does really well with relics too. For anyone wanting an excellent USA made multi-use metal detector with lots of great features the MX7 is really hard to beat.

Jeff

[☠ Cipher]

On 8/6/2018 at 9:07 AM, Monte said:

Chuck, Please excuse my delay in responding to your post.  This getting old crap is sure making life miserable at times.  I've been living with pain and impaired mobility off-and-on since an on-the-job injury in Sept. of '87 when I worked at Compass, but full-time misery since late '90.  Then an injury March 2nd of this year left me with a mild tear to my left rotator cuff, and a complex fall on my cement driveway the first of April caused a severe tear to my right rotator cuff and other issues in my shoulder and neck. 

The resulting issues have really limited my opportunities to get out detecting this past four months, but when I do the bulk of my swing-time is spent with a White's model in-hand.  Oh, I still manage to get some time in with my also excellent working Nokta CoRe and Relic devices, but lighter weight and comfortable balance are what I crave the most so far this year.

I ended 2017 using a terrific, multi-purpose MX-7 as the only White's in my current Regular-Use Detector Team, but I now enjoy owning and using several models of that brand that have all proven themselves to me in the past.   I started out the year by adding a 'Noah hand-me-down'  XLT to my 'detector team' and equipped myself with my preferred 6½" Concentric coil for it.  In May I made a trade of a brand new extra MX-7 for a choice-condition modified Classic ID with the 5½" Ferret Concentric coil.

I swapped a back-up Nokta FORS Relic for an MX Sport in June or July, and then on the 28th of last month I bought an MX-5 'package' that included the 6½" Concentric coil.   I live in the high plateau desert region of far Eastern Oregon so I'm not close to any sandy coastal beaches, and my hampered mobility and use of a cane full-time make it difficult to beach hunt in soft, loose sand the past quarter century.

Besides, I can't swim and never did more than wade out only to very shallow depths when I did.  I like the MX Sport, but I plan to sell it with a brand new set of waterproof headphones and an extra search coil simply because I don't need it because my MX-7 uses the same circuitry and serves all my needs.  The MX-7 and modified Classic ID with the smaller coil are my two most comfortable TID equipped detectors to handle, and all of my 'team' spend the bulk of their time Relic Hunting and perhaps 10% to 20% of the time are used for typical Coin Hunting applications.

There's no such thing as a 'perfect' detector which is why I also have current models from Fisher, Makro, Nokta and Tesoro, along with some older favorites I occasionally use but mainly have for seminars and training sessions.  Those include Compass TR's, a Garrett Hunter BFO and TR-Disc. units, and an early Teknetics Mark I Ltd.

Naturally, every detector that makes the cut to be on my Regular-Use Team has to have functional features and in-the-field performance, but I can't ignore the 'fun factor', either.  'All' models that stay in my arsenal are 'fun' to use, and I do get a lot of 'fun' and enjoyment out of using my MX-7.

Like you, I am not certain why so many have been caught up in the XP and Minelab offerings this past three or four years, and it seems like many USA based manufacturers have been ignored over that period of time.  I know that I hear from some people who think the MX Sport / MX-7 are repackaged clones from the MXT / MXT Pro, but they are based on new circuitry and do have different features and some differences in performance as well.

Perhaps some of the terrible promotional videos at release time for the MX Sport didn't help, nor the fact that it was rushed-to-market before pre-production field use and evaluation which left early releases with a lot of glitches.  Well, they got those worked out and went on to make a great land-use version of the Sport with the MX-7.

I do wish more White's consumers would step up and contribute their views as there have to be more than the two of us using these really versatile models.

Monte

You are Monte of Monte's Nail Board Test, no doubt. Very cool to hear from you here as I carry a printed copy of your test in a kit of tests I've assembled. I just recently put a Whites Classic ID I modified using Mr. Bill mods up against many other machines, and was amazed at how well it did against even one of my brand new machines of another brand. In fact, it did the best nomatter how hard I tried to mess with settings on that or any other detector I have currently. It got me wondering how the MX Sport would've done on the nailboard test. I too have owned the MX Sport and I have no complaints about it other than the weight. It's the best single frequency machine I've used in a long time. If I happen upon a good trade opportunity it will be back in my arsenal. Right now as far as Whites goes I have a Whites Classic 1, Whites Classic ID, Whites 5900di SL Pro, Whites XLT, 2 Whites V3s (experimental purposes), Whites V3i. This list changes from month to month as I buy, sell and trade. 

[Tony]

I don’t normally revive old threads but I thought I’d chime in with my recently purchased MX7.

Pros: Consistent Target ID, especially with the 6” concentric coil. Lovely crisp audio that White’s does so well. For me, really well balanced. Great menu layout and sharp display. Solid build with no creaks or wobbles. Strong performance in different ground types. 

 Cons: Nothing so far.

The MX7 is a killer unit on our Australian $1 and $2 coins with a TID of 69 and 65 respectively. Most screw caps were 70/71 (which are our nemesis down here).

Yes I could have purchased the Equinox (which I have tried) but the MX7 just felt like it suited me better. I will report back if I discover anything I don’t like.

How does White’s make detectors sound so good! For me, this is one of the most important aspects to any detector purchase.

 Tony 

[Jeff McClendon]

On 9/8/2018 at 2:57 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

Hi,

I had an MX7 for four months and really liked it for the most part. My reasons for not keeping it are: it was not balanced very well and caused some fatigue on longer hunts, the 8 AA batteries didn't help the weight problem and the detector seemed to be a power hog especially with rechargeable batteries, the recovery speed and separation on adjacent targets was average at best. I am a part-time prospector and I was not impressed with the MX7 on small gold. My old Compadre was better at target separation and small gold detecting. Go figure???

Just for fun I borrowed a Whites Treasuremaster for a while and really liked it for coin shooting So did my daughter. The TreasurePro with manual ground balancing might be something that I look at in the future.  I love my TDI SL.

Instead of the MX7, I opted for the Equinox 800 for my main detector and have not looked back. It's excellent target separation, recovery speed, frequency flexibility and all around amazing performance on an incredible array of targets and detecting environments make it an almost perfect VLF detector for my needs especially with the 6" coil and after the recent software update. I don't care for the size of the grip handle but since the batteries are inside I'm stuck with it.

Hi,

I thought I would give an update to the above post. I have never tried the MX Sport. I just have no use for a 4.25lbs VLF detector. I recently came across an MX7 for less than $350 which included the stock 9.5" concentric coil and the 7" Detech DD coil. I didn't have access to either of the Detech coils when I first tried the MX7. The above post was me commenting on the MX7 with the 9.5" concentric and the 10" DD coil which comes stock on the MX Sport. To say the least, I was not very impressed with either stock coil in moderate to heavy mineralization.

 The MX7 I have now with the 7" Detech DD coil is much better at target ID down to 6", has much better target separation and recovery speed. I have been able to take this MX7 to sites that I previously hunted with my former MX7 and find 4" to 6" quality targets that I never knew were there using either stock coil. The difference in size is not the cause of this situation. This is not a really trashy area and I know those targets are not recent drops by their age and condition.

So, I plan to purchase the larger Detech DD coil when I can find a good deal on one, keep the 950 concentric for saltwater beaches and continue to enjoy how light weight and well balanced the MX7 is with the 7" Detech coil (3 lbs. 3 oz.!) Even though the MX7 is not wireless ( I happened to have two Deteknix/Quest wireless headphones sets that work great) or multi frequency, I always liked the MX7's form factor, 14kHz frequency, great features, IP 54 weatherproof rating and excellent functionality. Compared to lots of other very famous detectors I have tried out and owned in the last 5 years, the MX7 is as good or better than any of them with similar features.  Whites deserves some serious love for this excellent detector (but not for the stock coils!!!!!!)

Unlike earlier testing, the Detech 7" DD coil and the MX7 in prospecting mode does a very respectable job of detecting .2 gram and larger gold nuggets too.

I will probably take it down south to my family home in Georgia, leave it there and use it when I am visiting my 90 year old parents and the rest of my relatives so I won't have to fly with a detector. We have several hundred un-deteted acres that would really be fun to use the MX7 on........

Jeff

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