auminesweeper

The Coil is a bit lighter than the modern X-Type 950/9.5. This coil weighs 18.931oz or 536.7 grams and the new version for the MXT V3i etc weighs 20.61oz or 593.00 grams which does not sound like much but you can feel the difference, So the new one is 1 and 3/4 ounces heavier. John.

Yeah they gave the V3i the power and the frequencies to find gold but I never understood why they never made the tracking as fast as the MXT's J.

Yeah I think we will be seeing more multi frequency machines in the next few months. John.

Same here, it is good to have new machines put out there, but that remark about making all other VLF's obsolete is just a stupid comment to make, regardless of the brand no detector is going to stop finding stuff just because release a new machine, I wish them luck with it, But It is not for me, I would rather keep what I have, and I would rather buy the Impact or the V3i because of the physical designs John.

Yeah mate, I know what you mean, now the speculation is all over the place, My one gripe is the ergonomics when using larger coils because it has absolutely no weight under the arm cup so by the end of the day people are going to know it. John.

Why whats up John did it stop working ? John.

Here it is, J.

Yeah Rick it is a nice example for sure, and they are very impressive for a 29/30 year old machine. John.

Yes GB for sure, I had been detecting for years but when I bought my first MXT I hit 3 Gold It's with the first sweep of the coil, That machine has a habit of doing things like this to people and then they are hooked for life no doubt about it. Back when they were first released I use to sit there reading the Treasure mags and the Centrefolds were Whites on one page with the DFX and the XLT and the cheapest of the 3 was the MXT E-Series and on the other page was the Minelab Explorer and the Sovereign Elite and the new Musketeer Advantage along with the SD and the GP 3000 or 3500 and I owned all the ML machines but I could not help wondering about the XLT and the DFX with more than the odd glance of the MXT and then years later I bought the newer MXT-300 and that was a rude awakening because for some reason it loved where I was detecting either that or it just suited the way I detect, All I know is that ever since then I update my machines every 3 years but I always replace the MXT first, Once that is done all is right with the world and I change the others when ever I have finished playing with the new MXT. I think the couple in the video have already planned what they are doing on their next vacation. John.

To be honest about it, many years ago I was on one of the forums and someone posted a picture of an old Bounty Hunter Red Baron and it was taken back when they were new and I was in awe of it and it stuck in my mind because it was the all singing dancing model and from that day on I searched every where and then last year I saw this one on ebay and because it was a Whites I just had to have it, Anyways I was determined that I was going to win the bidding it got up to about £120 /$156.00 USD so right at the last couple of seconds I bid about £260.00 /$338.00 and I actually won the bidding and got it for £170.00 /$221.00USD. It was around mid winter when it got here and I was not going to go out testing it in -10* degrees and so it was down to indoor testing and the US Quarter seems to be the standard so everyone would understand what I was talking about So I fired up every machine I have here and used them in mixed mode audio (Third Tone) with the quarter as my test piece it turns out that the 5900 using the standard 950 coil has in excess of 37%+ more horsepower than some of the best modern machines at the bare minimum when other machines are also fitted their factory coils, So what modern machines can see at 15 to 17" the 5900 can see at 22" + and the bigger the target the bigger the difference, I believe that where some of the horsepower comes from is part of the reason of Minelabs success at prospecting with using that Velvet type threshold, because the 5900 does not chatter or waver when maxed out and it has the best ever threshold, The 5900 has the edge over the 6000 because the 5900 was the last in the series to have manual GB, and at the time of purchase I did not realize that I was actually buying the better model so that was more luck than judgement, Keith Southern plays with these quite a lot and he has adapted them to use a straight shaft which makes them more like what we are use to, I was going to post a link to it but photo bucket has removed all the photos and you have join or do something to see them, I took the 5900 out side for some proper testing and I found all the targets my PI machines could find even through the heavy clay layer that is usable enough to make clay pots if needed, It's discrimination works pretty well and it is very accurate in the above soil conditions and in Air tests it ID's all targets perfectly, Below my apartment there is a huge subway tunnel that is about 5 or 6 feet deep and like the PI's it has no problem seeing it due to its size, Weight wise people keep saying the 5900s are wrist breakers, But the thing is it is a Porker weighing in at 6.3 lbs but the way it is set up it naturally sits at a 30* angle so no matter what you do the coil is always hovering about 2 inches above the ground so the weight is very easy on the arm etc, The 5900 can easily be adapted to a belt or chest mount because if you look at the picture where it is in the box you could make a belt mount out of pipe and mount the coil on a modern shaft because the coil lead is over 8 feet long without destroying the originality of the machine, I phone Whites and they gave me all the info about this machine and I asked them why was it so powerful compared to what we have today and he told me that when we changed over from analog where components were use to make things happen that something got lost in translation when converted to digital, So this is why modern machines can't keep pace with machines that we had in the late 1980s and with the birth of the digital age detector companies have basically had to start all over again, Target ID and recovery speed is very useful but speed does not go hand in hand with depth, just ask any CTX or GPX user about that. and It has a lockable pinpoint non motion mode just like Whites added to the MXT Pro and All Pro which is useful for tracing Items under ground. As old as this old timer is, It is living proof of what Steve was saying on another thread about BFO/TR machines, Are they any better ? I don't know but it does make me smile when people start talking about deep machines and bragging rights, My final thoughts having compared such a classic machine to the modern greats is that I wish Whites would use the exact threshold and fit it to modern machines because being able to pick out the faintest of wavers or signals from that threshold is the secrete to such depth and making modern machines chatty where we have to reduce the gain in order to get them to run smooth is an instant depth loss baring in mind when modern machines are maxed out and these old machines are maxed out the older ones already have that 37%+ depth advantage so when you turn down the modern machines so they are stable it makes you think and ask just how much depth are we loosing , and the Ground Balance system with the aid of the Disc to wipe out ground noise is another thing we have lost too, Our modern machines can do a heck of a lot too and they really deliver but modern machine reached their peak years ago but if a company could put back what we have lost from the old machines then we would see what a VLF can really do, hope this helps. John. .

Chuck your So easy to please, where's your sense of adventure, If you was a Lady I would of called you obliging or something like that, John.

Well Mike as machines go the Impact is the best "new" all rounder on the market at present, The thing that has impressed me the most is when you look at the screen because all the info is there so there is no searching menus to find what you want and I really like that, and knowing that it handles the hot ground was a major concern, No VLF is ever going match a PI in hot ground but the Impact hangs in there just the same. another great feature is the large VDI numbers, No more squinting under shaded areas. J.

Steve, It is funny you say about a BFO machine late last year I bought an old Whites 5900 Di Pro Plus that had never been used, the owner had bought it and put it in his loft and then bought a waterproof detector so this one got forgotten about, anyways I bought it and I put batteries in it and fired it up and It has brutal power and it has a threshold that is even better than the TDI SL, I tested it and you can ground balance highly magnetic ground and if it still makes the threshold waver slightly you can adjust the Disc and knock it out all together, When it comes to power what modern machines do with a 15" it can exceed them using the standard "old" 950 coil, and it has no problem discing out large Iron, and it has stacked two stage GB control knobs, I since found out that these thing have almost a cult following in the US, I phone Whites in Inverness and they told me it was made in July 1989 John.

Not to derail the thread Steve, but I see a 9" version of that coil for sale this week. J.

Thanks again Steve for having the patients for the second time this week, Great explanation. Rajat, the only way you are going to see if either machine is going to do what you want is to try them, If all things were equal in this world by rights neither of these machines should be able to see tiny Gold but the fact is they can and do see it very well, And the reason they can see it is because the factories add Gain multipliers in to the software which turns a great coin machine in to a part time prospecting machine, More than 70% of detectors can see Gold, But very few are set up to work for prospecting, You ask if the AT Max can see nuggets with a ground reading of 175, well I do not know of any machine that has number that go that high, But I believe or I wish that all detector should be able to read -100% to +100%, It is one thing that annoys me because there is not a standard measurement within the hobby for detectors, Anyway please read this link and if you was to know anymore about the machines "CLICK" on the Blue writing and that will take you to each Review, ok. I hope that helps J. http://www.detectorprospector.com/gold-prospecting-guides/steve-guide-gold-nugget-detectors.htm

Jeez JW save some for us, John.

I think you should try for 3 feet deep because someone who Steve knows already dug a 1 litre/Quart paint can at 2 feet deep and even with a VLF it is possible to hit cans at 3 to 4 feet, I have dug some deep ones my self, So your big steel box should easily be found below 3 feet. See here http://www.detectorprospector.com/steves-mining-journal/garrett-infinium-whites-mxt-ganes-creek-gold-nuggets.htm John.

G'day Trevor and welcome from an Aussie in London, glad to have you here, I have needed your help more than once, good luck, John.

Sounds good Rajat, be sure to let us know the results, Good luck, J.

A Lady decided to go out and spend $825.00 on a metal detector, And what an introduction in to the hobby, WTG Girl.

The GPZ with a 19" coil on the Beach Your about to take a Beatin, Lol. Who needs a Jane Fonda video when you own a Minelab, J.

When you say you buried a box 2 feet deep, was that 2 feet to the top of the box or the base and how big was the box and what was the box made of do you mean like a steel Ammo box, Also did you use the standard coils on all detectors. It sounds like a good test and will help those who are new to the hobby, great work and well done, John.

No they are Not, because it all depends on the Location where they are being used and the intended targets and the skill of the user, which is why so many people say there is no such thing as the best detector or the perfect detector, and the "Best" detector is the one that works best for you but that detector might cause me problems and not perform well at all, J.

I like that AT Max it is quite a sparky little machine. thanks for posting it, J. EDIT. I just priced up the AT Gold and they cost £694.94 or $910.37c USD, so I am not sure when they are bringing in the AT Max or how much it will be, but I think it will be over $1000 here,

Over on PA a new Impact user is asking for help because they can't get it to go deeper than a few inches and the only thing that I could come up with was to use a concentric coil, because I have not used one out in the field/beach, And a dealer was really trying to sell me one today but not without making ***hole comments about my machine and the CTX when I asked him how it compared to mine, anyways here is that link to PA if anyone has word of wisdom to help out, John. https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=23481