Steve Herschbach

It is not complicated at all Tom - you have a Tesoro Lobo. Put it in disc mode, where do you set the knob to reject ferrous? There is not a magic setting (breakpoint), there is a range and it is just as I have described above. You can reject ALL ferrous and miss some gold. You can dig more ferrous and miss less gold. Where you set it depends on you, your detector, and how well you learn it. Trying small bits of ferrous trash and small bits of aluminum can be very enlightening. The setting will vary by location and amount of trash plus ground mineralization. Most people find a setting that seems to work and use it everywhere all the time. Bad habit to get into but done it myself. Whenever possible push the setting lower and dig more ferrous. The reward will be more good finds that others miss.

The White's MXT Relic mode makes two tones. Low tone iron, higher tone not iron. Where that tone switches or "breaks" is decided by the disc knob. You decide where the tone "break point" is exactly with the knob. The Racer 2 has a similar capability but in two locations, the iron break point, and the high non-ferrous break point. Pretend you have a detector that has VDI numbers that go from -10 to +10 -10 -09 -08 -07 -06 -05 -04 -03 -02 -01 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 In theory all negative numbers are ferrous and all positive numbers are non-ferrous. Pretty simple. A factory preset detector will set the tone to break at zero and all negative numbers give a low tone, and all positive numbers a high tone. If done right this can be pretty effective. The problem is it does not really work like that, especially in mineralized ground. There is not a sharp divide between ferrous and non-ferrous, but an overlap. In the example above the area from -05 to 00 may be the area where ferrous and non-ferrous overlap. -10 -09 -08 -07 -06 -05 -04 -03 -02 -01 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 If you have a variable break point, you make a decision. If you set at 00 you eliminate nearly all ferrous targets and so just do not dig any. All items from 00 on down make the low tone and you ignore them. You just dig non-ferrous. The problem there is you miss some non-ferrous items that read ferrous. -10 -09 -08 -07 -06 -05 -04 -03 -02 -01 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Or you can set your break point at -05 and so only -06 and lower makes the low tone. You dig a lot more small ferrous trash this way, but you find ferrous items missed by everyone else that did not want to dig as much trash as you are willing to dig. -10 -09 -08 -07 -06 -05 -04 -03 -02 -01 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Between those two extremes you can choose just how much trash you want to dig versus how many good items you are willing to risk missing. Here we decide to set the break point at -02 -10 -09 -08 -07 -06 -05 -04 -03 -02 -01 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10

I personally think the MX Sport is a very attractive detector, very clean, modern look. No argument there Paul. And very good to hear that very positive assessment regarding Sport and MXT given your extensive experience with the MXT. Been there done that myself so looking forward, not back. I understand the reasons why White's would go with a 10" round coil and for water use in particular that is a great coil choice. Dry land smaller coils have fallen out of favor from a marketing standpoint but an 8" to 6" round or an elliptical around 7" x 11" or 6" x 10" are nicer options for many uses. A great coil for the MX Sport would be something like the NEL 9.5" x 5.5" and unlike the Eclipse 6" x 10" would work well in water also. The Eclipse is a good coil however so I am being pretty picky. Like you say Paul, that little bit less weight up front would be about perfect. This is the NEL Sharpshooter 9.5" x 5.5" DD

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

I am contacting you in hopes that you may be able to help me get the word out about a position I’m looking to fill for a new TV show series called "White River Gold”—specifically about Gold Miners. I would appreciate if this job search could be posted to some of your members or discussed at your meeting tonight. They can contact me directly if they are interested. This is a FULLY PAID short-term job that will be filmed for Television. __________________________________________________________________________________ We are looking for crew to join a swift water gold mining operation for a new TV show on major cable network. Do you have what it takes to work on a swift water suction dredge gold mine? Can you rappel down mountains, construct wooden platforms and move heavy boulders? Are you a professional diver able to operate a 6 inch suction dredge in massive underwater currents to get the gold? Are you a physically fit mechanic, a commercial diver or an energetic mountaineer? If you think you have the skills we need... get in touch today! Email your name, telephone number and why a gold mining crew should hire you? My email is: Hayley@metalflowersmedia.com and I can be reached at 818-692-5712.

Posted above but here it is again: "If you have information about current or planned exploration or mining activities that relate to the draft bill, please share your knowledge with your senators by Friday, March 18. You can send your comments to: Jeremy Harrell in Senator Dean Heller’s office at: Jeremy_harrell@heller.senate.gov and Sara Moffat in Senator Harry Reid’s office at: sara_moffat@reid.senate.gov

Everything comes at a cost. Moving the iron zone from 0 - 40 on the original Racer to 0 - 10 on the Racer 2 actually compresses the results in the exact ferrous/non-ferrous break point area. Getting a fine balance there is a bit trickier now and very small or very thin non-ferrous items may have more possibility of dropping into the ferrous range. The problem ultimately is small ferrous and small non-ferrous overlap, especially in bad ground. So yeah, I have observed this myself and adjusting the tone break down a couple notchs would solve this, though a bit more ferrous will also read good as a result. The White's range is -95 to 0 ferrous and 0 - 95 non-ferrous so not quite the same but very close. I like the M6 diagram below because White's clearly shows how they visualize that overlap area. it is not a clean break one to the other on any detector, Racer 2 included. The nice part on the Racer 2 is you can shift that break point to suit the situation.

I will be there Sunday April 17th to make my presentation on Metal Detecting at 12:30 and will be around both before and after the presentation. Before I will be hanging out with Chris at the ICMJ booth and chatting and answering questions after the presentation. I look forward to seeing any of you that can attend!

Vendor/Exhibitor: From: ICMJ's Prospecting and Mining Journal - host Aptos, California 49er Mining Supplies Columbia, California A&B Prospecting Mesa & Prescott Valley, Arizona Advanced Geologic Chester, California Advanced Mining Equipment Long Beach, California American Mining Rights Association Coulterville, California Ancient Gold Jewelers Placerville, California Aurora Mining Products Galt, California Barrington Enterprises Auburn, California Better Basics Mining Grass Valley, Calfornia Black Sheep Mining Sacramento, California Bucket Digger Rancho Cordova, California Camel Mining Products Quartzsite, Arizona Cascade Mountains Gold Independence, Oregon Comstock Gold Prospectors Reno, Nevada Dahlke Dredge Mfg. Dealy, Texas David H. Fell & Company City of Commerce & Burlingame, CA; and Phoenix, Arizona Dragonfly Gemz Roseville, California Fossickers North Bend, Washington Germstone Equipment Mfg. Simi Valley, California Global Mining Equipment Boise, Idaho Gold Country Treasure Seekers Placerville, California Gold Grabber Mfg. Riggins, Idaho Gold Killer Atascadero, California Goldfield International Lindon, Utah Gore Valley Ventures Vail, Colorado Jim's Metal Detectors Yucca Valley, California Jobe Wholesale Bend, Oregon Keene Engineering Chatsworth, California Leonard Melman Vancouver Island, BC, Canada Make Your Own Gold Bars Huntington Beach, California MB Gold Mfg. San Jose, California MGM Enterprises Maple Valley, Washington Mineral Enterprises Nevada City, California Miner's Cache Redding, California Miner's Keepers Surprise, Arizona Mining Books.com Colorado Springs, Colorado Mother Lode Goldhounds Foresthill, California Naturally Mine of Foresthill Foresthill, California Nevada Publications Reno, Nevada Pioneer Mining Supplies Auburn, California Placerville Hardware Placerville, California Placerville Polaris Placerville, California Prospecting Channel Oroville, California Public Lands for the People Woodland Hills, California Roaring Camp Mining Company Pine Grove, California Tuolumne Sunshine Mine Woodland, California

Thanks Lanny, I appreciate that. I try to be even handed, but I do have a weakness in my own excitability. I get my hands on a new detector and get all gaga over it. My enthusiasm then can get a bit over the top and sound like some crazy sales pitch. When the reality is I don't care what or if other people buy at all. I really am just burbling on in a steam of consciousness way about what is crossing my mind. There never is any actual intent other than to be informative and maybe a bit entertaining. Just like you I suspect and so I thank you also for all your many contributions.

Actually John not everyone that reads this forum knows everything about everything. No harm in mentioning air tests are not the be all and and all. You agree that they are not, right?

Yeah it is kind of pointless trying to make guesses at people's posted rock photos.

I will post sometimes about why full tones can be beneficial. Short story is it paints VDI profiles in an audio fashion. Check with the hotshot Deus users what they think.

Different strokes for different folks - I like a full tones mode. If you do not, choose a lesser mode or even monotone. The MX Sport has mono tone, dual tone, four tone, eight tone, and 20 tone options. I would rather have options and not use them than not have them at all. My Racer I wish had more tone options. The complaint has not been over the fact you get tone options. The complaint has been in the nature of the sounds in particular the classic White's boom box sound and its duration. Some people hear a video and say it sucks, other people hear it and ask "what's the problem?"

No just I can't find any gold in the air personally. All I care about is what works in the ground and a DD coil will pull gold out of bad ground a concentric will miss. In mild or shallow ground the reverse can be true. Lots of people would agree with you on GMT vs older Goldmasters but from what you describe that particular GMT sounds bad. Really great report, I appreciate the time it took to type up so thanks again. I would not trade my GR for a GMT under any circumstances. Gold Bug 2 - deadly on tiny gold with that 6" coil as you know well. For my purposes the GR offers extra versatility (killer jewelry machine) I can use personally and I like the big DD coil for tailing piles. And still great on small gold. But nobody is ever going to hear me say anything bad about the Gold Bug 2.

I heard the factory has the optional coils in stock - give them a call. You can order direct I believe.

Great report, thanks! From what I have seen the Gold Racer concentric should be reserved for mild or very shallow ground.

Saw this at Bill's forum and liked it - good photos and details showing how getting gold seems like only a small part of things sometimes. http://www.ssdsupply.com/alaska_2015.htm