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Tom, one of my requirements for a fresh water detector is the ability to see targets under cold rocks. I'm in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan where they are abundant in a few lakes and beaches around here. DD coils usually take care of this but I need to be sure. Thanks Tom Z

Detech I just wanted you to know I ordered your 7 in. DD coil for my MX Sport last week and I got it today. It looks finer than fog hair and solid as a rock. I had to put it on right away and fire up my MXS. I had to check the sen and depth with both looking great. Hope to get in the field soon but now it's colder than a well diggers butt and until it warms up I won't be going out. Just too young and tender !haha Thanks for a great coil and White's also sent me their calendar for 2017. Chuck

Tom------If a person purchases a MX Sport---How do you know/how can you tell if you are purchasing one of the latest produced ones (one with the very latest "improvements")?--------Thanks------------Del

The DeTech 13" Ultimate is one of the nicer coils I have ever used, very light in weight for its size, and very good performance. White's now has a version available on their website at https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/13-detech-ultimate-mx-sport-coil/ Part number 801-3263 $179.95 includes coil cover. This joins the 7" round DD coil made by DeTech that White's recently released for the MX Sport https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/7-detech-mx-sport-coil/ Part number 801-3262 $149.95 includes coil cover.

How many nails can one machine take? I ran out - If you guys would like to see something specific for a video please let me know! I have a vial of nuggies I can use to show gold response next. But its pouring up here so I might have to wait for a break in the weather.

Today was my day. Oh no big treasure but the coins was coming to light. I went late today to hunt a playgrounds at my church. This church came into being in mid 60's but the playground is not that old. I started hunting but at first not hitting anything. Then got a Id for a penny but maybe a little higher ID for it. Well I dug it and it was down say 3 inches. I check the hole with my TRX and it said nothing else. I always run over with the coil before covering the hole and when I did I had ID of a dime. Sure enough about 4 inch from the hole lay a dime with some dirt that came from the hole I dug. I had flip the dime out of the hole but didn't know it. I was trying to stay in the shade because the Sun was hot in the open. I moved over to hunt at the end of a small slide and I'd move the coil just a little getting another hit each time. Everything was coming up dimes in just a very small area. After that the sun was getting to me again so I moved under this tree to hunt around it. I didn't find not over three coins so then turn back to hunt the other side of the slide. Before I got there is where the fun started. I got a quarter signal first then dug down and out pop two quarters stuck together. I check the hole again but it wasn't in the same hole but next to it. This time out came a quarter with a dime stuck to it. This the way it went with the area no bigger than a dinner plate. After it was all over in that one spot I had found 5 quarters and the same on the dimes. I did find about 3 pennies in the same holes. I had yet found a nickel but when I ran the coil over for the last time I got a nickel reading and it was one nickel. I keep hunting for a while finding more quarters and dimes with a penny here and there. I'm not finish hunting this playground and will do it on a cooler day. I didn't get a count on the total being Church was going to start and I take care of the sound system.I could see none of the coins was old as in silver or wheat. This Dog had a fun day. Chuck. PS Hey Tom you were right on up the sen. for a better PP Thanks

Hello all. Hit SoOregon this weekend for some pocket hunting and all I found was bullets, more bullets, and poison oak. But the size of the 22 fragments I was finding gave me great confidence in the TDI SL with Miner John's coil. Luckily the factory let me borrow both! Gotta get back out there - we ended up in a great spot with shallow dig holes and were pulling up old square nails, boot tacks, and buttons that were good signs of gold productivity deep in the woods. Last week we shot a video that scared me to film... I was talking with an engineer about the testing process for the MX Sport. How do they figure out what is "tough enough"? He told me to grab the camera and I was a little scared to find the answer out --- especially with some of the nasty stuff people have said about the MX Sport. Not that it was unwarranted. We're in a great place with the machine as it stands right now, in large part thanks to forums like these to help us collect user input and improve the MX Sport. I would not suggest doing some of these tests with other brands' models... Actually, you probably shouldn't do these with ours either. But it's nice to know that we do, and that we build machines to put in work and not get babied---

I told myself this morning I was going out and coin hunt all day with my MX Sport.. I'd put on that little 6 X 10 DD coil and away I went. I hit just about every school on my side of town. The trouble is you can't get in the play grounds area being it's lock. I don't know what it was today but everything was coming up dimes. Some days I start finding one certain coin and little of others. For all the people out there that in my opinion the MX Sport is hard to beat detector. it's so easy to may any change in the program on the fly. You can turn it off and it will keep your new entry with out having to do more. One thing that caught me off balance was the ground balance in how much it would change just from one school to another. Like I've already said all schools on the same side of town too. I don't know if you have this trouble call fire ants. At one school they were everywhere and digging up a dime I got into them. You should have been there because I didn't know just how good I could dance. I found another dime in the middle of a fire ant bed but I didn't have the guts to dig it. Having this small DD coil has not stop me from wanting a 6 inch concentric coil. What I want in a detector may took White's a while to get it correct but they did. Best to all of you that has a MX Sport. Chuck

In this thread users share tips, tricks and settings to get the most out of this detector. Complain elsewere! Ok. I'd like to start, but I'm a rookie. So, power users, share away.

From the official White's website at https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product-updates/ - 09-13-16 — MX Sport Production Status We need to address a material defect occurring in some MX Sport metal detectors. This summer we received reports of faceplate-plastic cracks which can result in the detector leaking when fully submerged. When we heard about these failures, we immediately stopped production and began troubleshooting. After thorough testing of different solutions we are confident in the corrections we’ve made, and have resumed full-scale production of the MX Sport. If you experience any cracking of the pod plastic, please call us at 1-888-666-6121 or e-mail sales@whiteselectronics.com (see below picture for help identifying). We will guide you through sending your detector for repair, at no charge to you. If you’re not experiencing problems, there’s no need to do anything. As always, rest assured that you’re fully covered by your two-year warranty should you have any problems with your White’s MX Sport. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, but we owe it you, our valued customers, to do everything in our power to offer quality American-made metal detectors you can be proud to own. Thank you for your patience and help in making the MX Sport the very best detector it can be. We will use this page for future updates on this and any other White’s products. White’s Electronics

I was a bit surprised a while back when White's started directly selling the DeTech 13" Ultimate as an official White's branded coil. https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/detech-13-ultimate-dd-search-coil/ "Very odd" thought I, but I figured it was some kind of one off experiment. The DeTech coil is compatible with the MXT, M6, MX5, V3i, etc. Now it appears White's has turned to DeTech to produce their promised smaller coil for the MX Sport, a 7" round DD coil. From https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/7-detech-mx-sport-coil/ "Tested and vetted by White’s Electronics engineers and field team, we are offering a limited supply first-run of only 10 coils. Limit one per order." I have used the DeTech 13" Ultimate myself for other brands, plus other DeTech coils and they have done well for me. I guess I am just surprised to see White's turning to a Bulgarian manufacturer to produce coils they once would have made in house. In this case it probably allows White's to get a small accessory coil to market quicker than might have been the case otherwise. People have been wanting something like the small 6" round Eclipse concentric for the MX Sport, but the problem with that coil is it is a thick foam filled coil not very amenable to underwater use.

The furor over the White's MX Sport seems to be gathering force on other forums but has long since been old news on this forum. As such it has run out of steam and I prefer no more threads be started over the problems with the MX Sport. For those who wish to keep going round and round about the issues with the MX Sport there are two threads currently running at http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/white-s/509514-mx-sport-trouble.html and http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,109780 My advice is simple. If you do not have an MX Sport there is no rush to get one until there is some way to clearly tell what it is exactly that you are buying. There are various versions of the machine in the distributor and dealer pipeline, and apparently nobody can tell if a machine in a box has the latest version of the firmware AND that it has a face plate that is not going to crack in the first year or two. And frankly, in my opinion the latest version of the firmware is not likely to be the last. OFFICIAL WHITE'S RESPONSE TO ISSUES 7/20/16 - http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/showthread.php?76138-MX-Sport-Screen-inspection "If your SAT goes to "EIGHT" and you "DO NOT" have any cracks in the clear part of the display, DO NOT send it in for updating. If your SAT only goes to (6), and/or... you "do have" cracks in your display, DO send it in for updating. As mentioned prior, the serial number sequence will not tell a person if it needs to be updated, nor if display cracks are possible. We are sorry for all this and are working hard to resolve any and all issues as quickly as possible. Again, "EIGHT" SAT, no cracks, NO need for updating. (6) SAT, and/or cracks, DO send it in for updating." ACCORDING TO INFORMATION ON THE THREAD THERE IS NO WAY TO DETERMINE VISUALLY OR VIA SERIAL NUMBER WHETHER THE SCREEN WILL CRACK BEFORE HAND. If for any reason anyone believes they have ANY issue with an MX Sport that they think should be taken care of under warranty, then contact White's directly and get it resolved to your satisfaction. Or get a refund for the unit if you can. Or sell it and move on. I have.

My MX Sport arrived last night with the upgrade, took her out for a quick hunt this morning at an old site laced with iron. Was using Relic mode, and White's improved SAT even bumped it up to 8 instead of 6. It is faster, much quicker when pushing SAT speed. Great separation, was using 2-tone mode. What I noticed right away, it has better separation over the MXT, even picks up finds the MXT would miss. Haven't compared with Deus or Racer, but from today's hunt the three are so close on Separation the MX Sport may even have an edge. Plus, even with maximum SAT depth was remarkable. Looking forward to using for longer period especially up in gold country. Haven't tried the other modes, just Relic and Prospecting mode. Will share more later, Paul

This is the most difficult review I have ever written. I am not even sure I can call it a review. The first metal detector I ever got was a White's Coinmaster IV in 1972. As the years have gone by I have gotten very brand agnostic, but if I ever had a soft spot for a company it has been White's and the people that work there. However, after being at or near the top of the heap for a long time, things slipped once the the TDI and V3i were introduced in 2008 - 2009. Since then there have been new model introductions but nearly all have been derivative versions of earlier machines. Now, everyone does this, but in the last few years it has come to seem a very long time since anything really new came out of Sweet Home. The old machines continued to be great machines, but at some point you need to keep evolving as a company or just rest on your laurels. With machines becoming ever lighter and more compact it seemed to me only a matter of time before White's would have to make a break from its past rooted in huge circuit boards housed in even larger boxes. The wild card in all this has been a lot of changes in management and personnel at White's in the last few years. I admit to wondering what the heck was going on, but I continued to hope this old favorite would once again make a swing for the fences and score a home run. So when the first rumor of the MX Sport broke, I was all over it and then some. The first MX Sport thread on this forum set records for views and replies by a giant margin. Obviously I am not the only one who was really interested in a new White's offering and looking to find out all I could about it. I used the thread as a personal exploration tool as I delved into every aspect of this new machine, wanting to know everything about it. The new design seemed to me to represent a possible new future for White's and the feature list hinted at a machine that would not only match but improve on the MXT for overall features. It only made sense to me that this machine if done right could possibly replace the MXT as part of a totally new lineup of detectors going forward. I speculated on this a lot on the thread but also made the case that this would not be an MXT stuffed in a waterproof housing, but instead a fully unleashed version of the MX5. The MX5 has a small fan club insisting it is a very good detector, so I did not see this as a bad thing. White's supported this idea with a video posted on the forum comparing the MX Sport to MX5 and MXT and making the case for the MX Sport being the better machine of the three. A member of the forum, auminesweeper, took immediate and very strong exception to the video, saying that in his opinion White's was purposefully downplaying the MXT and at the same time playing up the MX Sport. I focused less on the video itself, since I think video tests pretty much show whatever you want to show, and just trusted the message White's was sending. It seemed a very strong statement by White's that the MX Sport was really going to be something special. More than ever I was thinking this was a major release from White's that would make people sit up and take notice. My faith in White's was such that I insisted auminesweeper was perhaps being unfair for laying into White's so strongly over the video. Then came some early reports with me being a bit slow to round up an MX Sport on release. But something funny started happening. Posts and threads on other forums started drying up, some with just a short note from somebody saying they gave the MX Sport a go and sold it quickly. People then piled on those folks for not giving the machine a fair chance. Which then really shut people up. I made a comment on Findmall about waterproof headphones not being on White's website and was promptly told I was bashing White's. The defenders of the faith are guarding the portals it would seem. Of more concern was Paul(CA) posting this on the Dankowski Forum "To be honest, I'm not pleased with the MX Sport. It's terrible, tones are too long and the coil foot print is too big and recovery speed is terrible as well." However, Paul also was able to find two modes that not only worked well for him but so well it made the machine all he wanted and then some "To be honest, My opinion White's only got two modes right (Prospecting & All Metal). These two modes are great especially Prospecting mode and can be tweaked to operate like a hot MXT" and "turns out the prospecting mode when turning off VCO turns the unit into an MXT only a tad hotter." So now I am thinking "hmmmm, maybe not all it could be but maybe a good niche unit at certain settings". All along I was counting on the MX Sport to be not only waterproof but lighter than an MXT. It then was revealed White's was quoting the weight without batteries and the machine basically weighs same as the MXT and if anything was a bit nose heavy. The shine was starting to wear off, but I continued to have faith that if I could get my hands on one I would see a gem in the rough. I finally did get one, a unit purchased and pulled from random stock, so what everyone else should be seeing at this point. I did a basic just out of box review recently on the forum. My goal when I wrote that was to wait 30 days before saying more, both to deal with other stuff I have going on in my life, but also to get more time on the machine under varied conditions. Well, I have had the MX Sport out and I ran into a problem. The same problem Paul had mentioned about the tones and recovery speed. Honestly, I thought that surely it can't be that bad, maybe Paul was just not used to the old fashioned White's boombox sound or had forgotten how it was? Having been responsible for generating a lot of discussion about the MX Sport prior to release and as a side effect in doing so creating what people these days call "hype" I think I put myself in a corner. In generating all that interest I think I have a certain responsibility now to raise a red flag if I run into one, perhaps earlier than I intended. What I am seeing is such that I feel I have no choice but to jump the gun on my plans and post early about the MX Sport. Long story short - after few hours with the MX Sport at a local park, bad soil, lots of targets, I have to say something now and not wait. Either the MX Sport has design goals and decisions made that are totally eluding me, or this thing has some issues. What, exactly, is this machine supposed to do? From the White's website: "This general purpose waterproof metal detector can do it all! Beach hunting, relics, coins and jewelry, and even prospecting. With it's roots in the MX lineup, MX Sport builds on the legendary MXT, with new features and the latest technology." What I am expecting here is a machine that hits on all cylinders, one that across the board works and works well. What I got in the park - fruit salad. That is the only thing I can think of to describe the audio on this detector when on the ground with real targets. It is not the tones per se - they are pleasant enough to listen to. It is like Paul has said. The tones grab and hold on too long, and for a machine where a selling point has been quick recovery it seems anything but. Worse, there are transient false signals. VDI numbers do not like to lock on, so if using multiple tones it is just tones all over the place and targets that come and go. The DD coil generates complex responses on close targets. A shallow single target can sound like two or more. All the time tones hanging on for a second or even two, and changing constantly. Basically, a real mess. The machine just never seems sure of itself. Now, I can hunt through just about anything but with all this going on it rapidly becomes apparent that trying to use the tones is a waste of time. The solution is to do what Paul did and just get rid of it all. By going to prospecting mode and turning VCO off you do end up with a powerful machine for digging non-ferrous targets. The problem is, if the way to get the machine to run well is to shut off all those neat features then what is the point exactly? It was bad enough I tracked down and borrowed an MXT just to make sure I was not nuts. Boom, the MXT proved again why so many people like it. Clean solid hits on targets, and after using the MX Sport like leaving night and going back to day. Relic mode, clean, simple, and effective. Relic mode on the MX Sport? Weird nulling overshoots, tones, all metal VCO buzzing - fruit salad. Either I am really, really missing something, or somehow the MX Sport got out the door doing things I just can't comprehend as being right. Did the people testing the machine see what I am seeing and think it is ok? Did it work differently for them, and some last second change resulted in side effects that got missed? Is my machine just defective? Based on Pauls comments I do not think so - I think he saw what I am seeing and I just could not believe it without hearing it myself. I confirmed what I am seeing privately with several other people before deciding to make this post. I am certain mine is not an isolated case. Well folks, the big problem I faced is I have a bunch of family visiting and I am going to be unable to follow up or do any more regarding this after tomorrow. I had two choices. One, just say nothing for that 30 days until I got more time and hopefully figure things out better. However, my conscience just won't let me do it. Despite what people may think it does not take forever to figure a metal detector out when it comes to certain basic things. What I am seeing now any expert would see in minutes. Worse, a novice may see it and think it normal. I sure don't want people to think I am giving up on the MX Sport by any means as it does have great possibilities in some regards. But based on all the speculation and hope that this machine would be an unquestioned across the board do it all and do it well type machine I just had to say something right now. I always tell people to not rely on my word alone when it comes to judging metal detectors. Usually that is to damp down overly excited expectations. The same must hold true here - do not decide the MX Sport is bad just based on my mentioning an issue with my particular unit. Time and more reports will tell just how much of a problem this is and how White's will respond to it.

I was in Oklahoma coin hunting with a friend with my MX Sport. I had the 950 concentric coil on with it in the Coin & Jewelry Mode. Had the Sensitivity set at 5 and had it on 4 tones. The reason for the concentric coil is I just like it over than a DD coil when coin hunting.. With the sensitivity set at 5 gave me more depth for the ground I was digging in. The ground was like you had stack flat rocks on top of more of the same. I've seen lots of rocky ground but this was beyond rocky. On the number of tones I may up it as time goes by. Like old home sites most can be a high trash ground to hunt. I found I could pick out a coin in between trash being on both sides without any trouble. The Sport would give me a good reading on my target with no trouble on it's ID. I've hunted with a lot of solid coils over the years but I really like this concentric with the hole in the center. When you pinpoint a coin you can almost see the date through the hole in coil.Haha. My friend sure like the different tones for each coin I would detect. I have White's TRX pinpointer and the only time had trouble when it got within about a foot of the coil. Over all I find the MX Sport to be a great coil hunting detector. I've yet to do any nugget hunting so that will come at a later date. The only thing I think that could be better and that is the detector stand. Unless you put it on level ground it will fall over. I'm going to see what I can come up with to correct the problem. The detector sits so low the elbow hits the ground when put down. This is just below the hand grip. I put a leather wrap to protect it from damage over time of hitting the ground. This is because of the short stand too. Chuck

I was wondering if anyone has been using the MXsport for prospecting and what your opinions might be? Thanks...

Well done video showing the responses on found targets compared between White's MX Sport and Garrett AT Pro. These machines are fairly comparable although the AT Pro lacks the true threshold based all metal mode that is offered on the MX Sport. The Garrett AT Gold adds that mode and might be a better match up feature-wise with the MX Sport (all three being waterproof to ten feet) but the AT Gold comes with a much smaller coil geared for nugget detecting. The coil on the AT Pro and MX Sport are roughly comparable. This is how I test detectors myself though on way more targets. At Pro 15 kHz 8.5" x 11" DD 3.03 lbs $595 AT Gold 18 khz 5" x 8" DD 3.0 lbs $680 MX Sport 13.9 khz 10" round DD 4.2 lbs $749

I don't know how long it took to get the MXS to production, But I know it took over 2 years to Iron out the wrinkles out of the MXT before in went in to production And when you look at the people involved with that project from Dave Johnson, Jimmy Sierra and many others, Which is why the MXT is a True work horse and it is as close to a prospecting machine as you can get without buying a mid frequency machine, And it was the first True multi-purpose machine made, I have used it from Australia to the north of England in the Blood red soils in OZ to the thick black peat Bogs of the north Yorkshire moors to Flint and Iron infested Neolithic 5000 year old sites, Are there better machines ?? Not for how or where I use it, Others will find that it just doesn't fit their needs, I met a guy who I found out was raiding certain sites and he turned up on one of my sites with his XP GMP and I followed about 200 yards behind him he found nothing and I found 8 coins 2000 years old and I followed one rep and his mate and I dug all the targets he walked over. The point I am making here, Is the MXT was Designed and built by very serious people for very serious people, It is simple to Run and Gun there are no Gimmicks and if you are Serious about what you are looking for like me then nothing else will do, And by now I must have well over 4000 hours invested in the MXT maybe more but not once have I ever gone home empty handed, The first day I ended up with 16.1 grams of Gold day 2 I found Silver a pendant and the about 5 OZT of Silver in old Coins and by the 3rd week I had Located a Roman Villa, To me it is not a metal detector, It is a Tool and a Very effective one at that, Could I use any other machine ? Yes but not with the same amount of confidence and effectiveness because I know it so well and if my finds are slowing down then I know that I am the weak link in the chain and I can correct that, There are a few little useful tricks with the MXT you can use to unmask wanted targets and I have left many folks scratching their heads when I turn up with a 12 inch coil on a site where you can hit 20 targets per sweep, and when people ask me what I am using I just play it down and dismiss it and carry on searching, I had a friend come over from south Africa for a holiday and within and hour and a half he had his first Hammered Cut half penny using my spare MXT and his finds were from the 1800s back in SA and then he is over here finding Coins from the 1200s AD, The real problem with the MXS is it was released a month too soon and I think that Whites really needed Honest Constructive feedback from the field testers, If that machine had been put in the hands of certain people here I am confident enough to put up $1000 and say that these problems we have seen would have never of happened, There are some very skilled people here and at lease 3 of them are the reason why I have bought certain machines in the past and when you look at the cost of what this has caused Whites moneywise I think it would be a profit making Idea if Whites worked with such people because these extra freight bills and the Teachie's time to correct any Issue's / faults could have been Avoided, Have no fear because I truly believe that the MXS will be way better than it was, I think I am more P'd off at being put in a situation where I have had to Bitch Slap an old friend because that was going against what I know and believe in about Whites and that video was the straw that broke the Camels back and knowing that the machine was not hitting on all 8 cylinders left a bitter after taste with me, Now if only I can find out who gives the orders at Whites and send his Mrs some flowers with a card getting her to suggest to him about moving that Phone socket to the back of the Battery Box john

What follows are "scribblings" based on my time with the White's MX Sport detector. It's lengthy, and I hope it might cast some light on this particular detector that has seen it's share of negative comment. Steve has given me permission to reproduce it here. Thank you Steve. White’s MX Sport Review A new MX Sport was received for tests but it soon transpired there was a problem/s with it and it was subsequently returned to the Factory. As soon as I heard about the MX Sport, I knew it was one detector that I really wanted to see the ‘who, why and what’ about what promised to be a gorgeous detector. This ‘report’ is based on those few days of tests before the unit was returned. In the box The MX Sport (MXS) ships in a solid and very colorful carton. It is tied in by way of clever use of ordinary cardboard. The “brains” of the unit, the control box is given special attention and is well cocooned in it’s own piece of cardboard and it’s doubtful that any damage could come to it in transit it is so well protected. The shafts are inside as well as another box containing their own branded headphones. White’s Ultralight Headphones Tucked away in a corner of the shipping container is another box containing White’s own ‘Ultralight’ headphones. The ear cups are square rather than round and I thought that rather odd but in use they proved to be comfortable and remained firmly on the head unlike the very poor Garrett Clear Sound phones that didn’t remain on the head at all even while wearing a ‘rag wool’ hat. The Ultralight’s come with a standard quarter inch jack plug and are partly curly coiled and straight cabled. Inside a separate package is a supplied headphone adaptor that enables the use of any headphone of your choosing. What you end up with is more cable than desired and you will have to find a way of keeping it from dangling all over the place. Some users have fixed the length inside the arm rest velcro strap. An optional waterproof headphone plugs straight into the MXS without the need for the adaptor. I didn’t get to test one. When plugged in the volume is set at 0 so make sure you turn this up to suit your hearing. The thing I liked about the Ultralight’s was I was able to hear signals very clearly but was also able to hear enough of what was going on around me preventing any nasty surprises. Build It’s easy to assemble and the build of the entire detector is top class and the control box is of a solid plastic and the screen is of hard transparent plastic and not the flimsy flexible membranes evident on other detectors. It’s more like one of their infamous ‘yellow’ beach PI’s than anything else as to it’s build. Compared to a CTX it has to be the bargain of the year and you could buy three MX Sport’s for what it would cost to buy a single CTX. Not every one is looking for a heavy machine with GPS functions but would still like a waterproof machine. In this regard, White’s are offering a very good package at a very reasonable asking price. I for one just can’t understand how they did it! The hand grip is solid and good to hold but there is a ‘creaking’ noise from underneath the control box area when swung but this isn’t enough to cause any problem and it becomes almost reassuring after a while as it signifies your progress. At the rear of the machine the battery pod unscrews and insert the 8 AA cells (supplied) and tighten to the purposely designated marks that align between the holder and the main body of the machine to maintain a waterproof seal. The arm rest is adjustable by way of an ordinary screwdriver. It’s supplied with the necessary arm strap because the detector is very solid and it’s more comfortable to use strapped in. The stand for the detector is small and unusually at the front of the arrangement and barely sits off the surface but as it’s waterproof is hardly an issue. Coil The coil is a 10” DD open round type and is supplied with a coil cover. On arrival I inspected the coil pour and was disheartened to see what appeared to be a poor job as the levels on the outer perimeter were uneven: too full and swollen on one half and a shallow sink on the other. The rear of the coil looked like it had received 2 to 3 separate pours and looked ugly and uneven. The coil cover is a thin one and barely clung on due to the uneven epoxy. On it’s first beach search it filled up with sand and I removed the cover and washed it all away in the bath tub. There was a lot of sand! While assembling the coil to the control box be extra careful because the pins are very thin and if aligned incorrectly they might bend and you’re then out of business if one breaks off. But once connected properly the waterproof connector is top notch. The coil cable is heavy duty, thick and pliable. It is held in place by three supplied plastic clips. One day I re located one of these and it flew off the shaft and I haven’t seen it since but it is in the car somewhere? A softer velcro material would be better here. Comfort Once assembled and in use it is very comfortable even for long detecting sessions. It is a heavy detector due to it’s bulk being made from solid plastics. The surprising thing to me was I found it suited both a long and a short configuration. It cannot be hip-mounted and this might be a drawback because the device likes to be swept quickly and that will result in wrist fatigue. User’s Guide This is where it’s a bit unusual because the manual reads like a mix of amateur and experienced opinion. It’s 28 pages and in all it’s descriptions of the various features and functions it’s blatantly missing a Ground Balance section explanation. It’s nowhere to be seen. No special mention of ground balancing at all. There is mention of the TRACK control on Pages 7 and 14 and mention of a ‘Ground Grab’ But if you were looking for a section about ground balancing not having specific mention is a bit of a mystery and a glaring error. The “Makro Racer 2” Instruction Manual has several pages explaining the various methods of ground balancing and the “where and why’s”. However, it does mention the detector “self adjusts to the ground mineralization and ground compensation and tracking to ground minerals is fully automatic” So you could be forgiven for thinking the machine does not have to be ground cancelled. The remainder of the manual is very good but the omission of a GB section should be corrected and written into the User’s Guide as soon as possible to avoid end user confusion as I’m sure some will return their detector needlessly. Display & Controls The display is unusual to say the least, like an old fashioned ‘speedometer’ on a car. But having said that it is innovative and fairly easy to understand and always visible in bright sunlight. (I did have a problem filming the screen in low and bright light due to a shine on it) There’s a lot going on in the display area and some with poor eye sight might have to rely on looking at it with glasses relating to observing the flashing cursor when a target is hit, the depth on the left and the Sens adjust on the right - both are small. Your sensitivity level can be seen displayed all the time as a digital ‘eyelash’ curve but not as a number. BOOST comes in at Sensitivity 10 and could allow you to check feint signals but at that level ground noise might take over and make this procedure a difficult one for an amateur hunter who, might be inclined to ‘max out’ the machine in ignorance. Some of the words are abbreviations of two words and when seen first can take a second or two to figure out what is meant by the descriptions shown e.g. ZPENNY, CPENNY, GNDADJUST, OVERLD etc.. Again, the User’s Guide does not show a list of what the display is capable of showing. This should be included. I think I saw the word ‘BUCKLE’ flash up once? There are probably many other words in here that never displayed? At times I found the displayed words distracting and I would prefer to be able to turn them off and work without them. For example, working in Relic or Prospecting Modes the likelihood of displaying the correct word for the actual target is unlikely. When developing the Minelab Quattro this was incorporated and no icons showed in the Ferrous Tone modes. During beach use I saw MISC displayed quite a lot of the time when the MX Sport couldn’t determine the exact target under the coil? The target ID’s are in the middle of the screen display area and are large enough to be seen even without the need for spectacles. So there’s a lot of information to be seen in the display which can also be back lit for dull circumstances. The button controls are very well laid out and have decent space between them even for large fingers. “Options” on the left with the up and down arrows and TRACK on the right also with up and down arrows. Centrally located is the pin point button that doubles as the accept / reject functions. On button is located extreme right. Programs The MXS is a feature packed machine and one could in theory use this single detector in about as many scenarios as you are ever likely to meet. Coin & Jewelry Beach All Metal Relic High Trash Prospecting In this regard it isn’t too unlike some of their other very popular detectors and names such as the MXT, M6, V3, VX come to mind but none of these can be used safely around water and underneath the water of rivers lakes streams and the oceans. It is this that makes the MXS a highly desirable machine. You can get it wet, and not have to worry about that. The most logical aspect of the Programs is the Options are either On or Off. For example, Audio Modulation is either Off (0) or On (1) Similarly, Salt Track can be added to most Programs. It is On by default in Beach Mode and you won’t see it in Options. Quick iron identification is offered in the IRON GRUNT feature applicable in the All Metal, Relic & Prospecting Program’s. Again it’s either On or Off. What happens in these programs is when Off iron can sound both positive and negative while switched ON iron will produce the classic grunt as per the GMT. One of the nicest things about switching from Program to Program is the detector gives you up to 10 seconds or so to see what things are like in each one and to make your decision as to which one to engage. During that time all the other functions are valid. Features The forums debated the “new features” for weeks and I was eager to see just how they panned out in real world use? I’d have to say that the “REJECT VOLUME” is one of the best aspects of operating the MXS. I loved it. I hadn’t encountered it before in this new guise because not only does it enable one to hear the rejected ferrous, it also allows one hear the rejected non ferrous as well if one is using a heavier discrimination setting. I found my best use of the function set at 20% allowed a very comfortable background sound that sounded like the bass section of a jazz band playing very softly while the other instruments were louder with more oomph. It was really cool while working the beach as one could hear the ‘full band music’ and it inspired confidence if a coin was there it would alert with the full volume you’d expect a coin to sound. So in essence you have TWO separate audios going on: those of what you don’t want to dig in the way of iron and those you do in the ‘loud as expected’ signals you are really chasing. The Tone ID Settings only highlighted the ‘audio problems’ that has sadly brought all the wrong kind of attention to the MX Sport. There were just ‘too many’ sounds in the 20 Tone Option. On grass and on sites with a heavy iron content some of the sounds that were heard were sounds I had never heard before coming from any metal detector. It was like a crazed accordion player was pulling apart the accordion and squeezing it within an inch of it’s life. It just made for an ‘easier life’ to work in 4 Tone and if conditions improved then the 8 Tone option could be engaged. In 4 and 8 Tone Options then ‘normal business’ was mostly manageable. The pin point button is a 2 push one to engage with a quick press or held in to keep the detector in pin point. I did find this a very smooth operation and one of the best and easiest over many other detectors. However, I did find at times there was no pin point report at all and experimenting showed it was best not to leave the actual centre of the suspected target but to engage PP right above it. Later on others user’s reports showed the pin pointing to have a flaw which would corroborate my earlier findings i.e. no signal return when engaged. In Use Working irony patches it was best used in Coin & Jewelry Mode with it’s higher level of rejection. It handled these with some skill and wasn’t at all an ear bashing like you got when working in other Programs. One of the noisiest for me was the HI TRASH Program but that wasn’t a surprise because I had also found it to be the case with the older “Spectra V3” detector. Prospecting was similar to HI Trash and had to be used carefully and selectively. Relic was also prone to making too much of a racket in iron. Thankfully, the MXS was quietly behaved in woodland but it was the complete opposite on open farmland pasture with deep iron. The detector then produced wild sounds and as I said, some sounds I had never ever heard a detector emit previously? When working your way across open ground containing iron the 10” round DD coil might be the wrong choice and it would have helped dramatically if the ‘standard coil’ was an elliptical one that would by shape ‘ignore ‘ some of the iron to it’s sides which regrettably the round coil was prone to reacting to. Remember, the coil looks down, forwards, sideways and back! The less bulk the less noise. Surprisingly most of the Programs worked over salt wet sand but it did help matters no end if one simply used BEACH Mode at the beach. In salt water the Sensitivity level couldn’t be comfortably raised above 4. At 7 it was inclined to be noisy and when waves broke over the coil it went crazy. Not so at 4 where it was docile enough. A redeeming facet of the User’s Guide is it tells you this: Quote: “When searching at the wave line, one may hear the incoming and outgoing waves respond to some degree” True It goes onto say: “It is best to search fully in the water or fully on the beach” Working the wet sand it was decent and it helped to do a couple of ‘Ground Grab’ balances to quieten it and to sweep the coil slower than on land and, try to keep the coil perfectly flat to the sand. Don’t touch the sand with the coil as at anything beyond Sens 6 it will respond with a signal tone. At higher sensitivity levels the detector did become unsettled somewhat and was producing spurious sounds like it still wasn’t comfortable despite being balanced to the surroundings. Several coin finds identified as ‘zinc penny, ‘copper penny’ and MISC. Larger coins and other irregularly shaped items showed “Dime and/or Quarter” including a long piece of copper pipe which produced a perfect single tone with ‘DIME’ At no time was the detector fully submerged as it was very early in the testing and I didn’t want to risk doing some damage. However, in the long run that didn’t matter because the detector was returned anyway due to performance irregularities. During that time I wasn’t sure if the unit was indeed faulty or not but I heavily suspected the coil was leaking due to the bad epoxy pour described earlier on. I invited responses from other testers but no information was offered. The net result was I contacted the factory and advised them of some operational difficulties and I was asked to return the device. This brings us to today when the issue hasn’t been yet fully resolved with new reports of faulty coils and various firmware upgrades that haven’t appeared to settle things down. Final thoughts When news broke about the MX Sport I was chomping at the bit to try one. I’m glad I did. Getting to test one answered a lot of questions that otherwise would still remain a mystery as there really hasn’t been a definitive published Review of the MX Sport as a whole yet. It’s such a pity that a machine offering so much and costing so little to buy is plagued with problems and as a result might never really get the opportunity to shine. I hope it hasn’t become tainted because the MX Sport is really an easy machine to use, it’s intuitive, can multi-task and is easy to understand because you don’t have to drill down thru countless Menu choices and get lost as a result. That’s what scuppered the “Spectra Series” Endless Menu choices and the ability to be able to adjust “things” we obviously don’t need. What the Spectra’s did have was a glorious color screen and a vision that was in some ways too much. The opposite now applies and what the MX Sport offers now is just enough and should find a home in many detectorists arsenals. It does have a learning curve and it will take some time to fully discover just how and where to set the Self Adjusting Threshold SAT, VCO, Reject Volume, Tone ID, and Discrimination. This function couldn’t be simpler - just notch in and notch out: simple. I really want the MX Sport to ‘be fixed’ and I’d have no hesitation whatsoever at giving it another go. © Desi Dunne

Ok, big experiment here, so please take this seriously. I have the ear of a person at White's to whom I have expressed a few concerns. I am posting this here and on Tom's forum only because both forums have knowledgeable, thoughtful members and no censorship of honest opinions. Let's live up to that here with some quality responses. Please, no bashing, and no people trying to sway things. Just honest opinions intended to be helpful to White's. If you have a problem, offer a solution. The question at hand. Did White's do enough to notify people of the firmware issue? If you have an MX Sport, were you notified? if so, by who? White's directly? Your dealer? Or did you just hear about it on the forum or by word of mouth? Are you satisfied with how it is being handled? If you know about the issue, but are not sending in your unit, why not? Any other comments for White's? I am going to point my contact at this. The goal here is to help White's with feedback via the power of social media. Let's show this forum has people worth paying attention to. Thank you in advance for any helpful feedback you may offer.

Here's a video I just found for those thinking of using the MX-Sport at the beach john Also checkout this Silver Haul

All know I've been running some air test on my MX Sport. Like I said I'd did get out in the country today for more test in sandy soil. The first thing I done was put 3 pennies at 4.6. And 8 inches in the ground. I made sure all lay flat at the bottom of the hole before filling it in.Tom wanted me to run the sensitivity at 9. I ground balance and lock it at 63. I was in the coin and jewelry program with the tone at 4. The coin and jewelry program was like it's set as it comes from the factory. I was going to start my testing but the cursor as I would swing the coil was jumping all over the place. The detector had the same trouble as before when you run the sen. up to 9. The only way I could run it like that was to put discrimination just under where nickel comes in. This didn't make it a lot better but it did help cut down on the noise . Now I hit the first coin at 4 inches and got nothing. The 6 and 8 nothing. The pennies are 2016 and I had one of them left. I drop it on the ground and got a good signal at 2 inches. Then at 3 inches would get a hit one way but not the other. Beyond that nothing. Now I started my air test. I put the detector on the ground with a board marked in inches . The first was that same penny and i could detect it at 7 1/2 but at the end it would read something else but still showed a coin. I had a friend keeping a eye on the meter of the MXS. Next was a nickel and I got it at 9 1//2 but as I got to the high side he said it showed a penny at times but still a coin The dime came in at 7 but it too showed a penny at times. My friend said maybe because it a clad dime that's just it it's not clad but a silver one. The quarter came in at 11 it's silver and the clad half at 12 1/2. Lots of time you would get Misc if it didn't show a coin ID. I just put the pennies in the ground because some were old coin and I just wanted to make sure they didn't get damage I've hunted with my Eagle 2 in the same type ground without trouble like this .I've also hunted in the black soil and find all kinds of coins at a school near my home. This is and will be my last of any kind of test run on a MX Sport. You can see I'm getting less than half of depth on the air test.of a penny. Please White's I'll be glad to send this detector back but I don't want the same back. I've been down this road before without any luck in doing that. I'm really not sure if I want any but I know it's your call. I really think I had trouble before it was ever sent in the first time but don't know. Just maybe I got a bad detector out of the box the first time and another will be what i wanted it to be. Well Tom I hope you read what i posted here and get back with me. Thanks. Chuck PS This test was done in the center of a field so not to have any kind of electrical power are Power lines around..

Spent about three hours the past couple days before work at a local dry river, using prospecting mode because mineralization is a bit touchy with the black sand. What I've noticed is the Firmware upgrade helped with stability over version 1, can operate with less SAT and auctally was a joy to use and that's with the 10" coil. What surprised me, when stitching to the smaller elliptical DD the 10" coil had more stability. Quite the opposite, but started to think of my conversion with Tyler at White's this firmware upgrade I received may be the reasoning. So next week, my MX Sport goes back to White's for the correct filmware. The MX Sport Ground balances between 83 & 85 at this particular dry river, it's the black sand that creates masking even top VLF suffer with depth, poor sensitivity and falsing. A real tough type of hunting, especially for detectorist not familiar with mineralization. Pi's are the better choice, but only a few VLF can operate decent here and these are VLF in all metal. MXT, GMT, AT-Gold to name a few, the MX Sport does a great job with prospecting mode. So I'm looking so forward to getting my MX Sport back with the correct firmware and see how the smaller coil operates. Also, this is great what I've noticed is SAT operates like it should in prospecting mode, only use what you need. Otherwise, too much SAT you'll loose depth and sensitivity. However, In Relic mode don't be afraid to maximize SAT in extreamly trashy areas especially in iron laced sites. Pushing SAT in Relic mode will not hurt depth, and auctally helps you with a snappier tone. Also, Chuck had mentioned air testing between his version 1 MX Sport and now his Firmware upgrade that his first unit air tested deeper. This is true, so did my first model with air testing but at a park my second version detected a coin garden with the same depth as the first. That was refreshing to see, appears the upgrade didn't hurt depth from my test bed. Pictured below, are 3 hours of digs at the dry river. One pile of coins, one of them a silver Rosie. One vintage ring, several Pistol balls, etc. And a pile of trash, along with a pic of the dry river. The area dates back to 1858, Butterfield stage went through here about 200 yards to the west. A neat place to detect or have a family picnic. Thanks for looking, Paul