Whites MX Sport Waterproof Metal Detector

[Steve Herschbach]

Well seriously, the factory should have part numbers and pricing on the website by now. Consumers should not have to be squeaky wheels. Trying to extract timely information from White's website is such a waste of time most people look to forums like this for information. Again, not a White's problem, an industry problem.

[Ridge Runner]

Amen Brother you said that right Steve. 

Chuck

[khouse]

9 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Well seriously, the factory should have part numbers and pricing on the website by now. Consumers should not have to be squeaky wheels. Trying to extract timely information from White's website is such a waste of time most people look to forums like this for information. Again, not a White's problem, an industry problem.

Being a Whites dealer I have found out about new products not from the factory but from forums. I really can't think of one time Whites gave me a heads up on new product. Has this happened to any other dealer or is it just me? I remember a call to see if I had the new TRX in stock?  I told the guy I didn't know what he was talking about?   Kind of made me look like more of an idiot I already am. 

[Steve Herschbach]

No, not just you.

I was a dealer for Compass, Fisher, Garrett, Minelab, Tesoro, and White's. For decades. Except for tiny bursts overall dealer out reach and training is near non-existent. Part of the problem is people working at the factories know little about metal detecting. Their expert dealers know far more than the factory people. However, expert dealers are a rare minority. Many dealers are pretty uninformed about the product they sell. There are few if any requirements for being a dealer for anyone and there is little help available for dealers that want to do better unless they practically beg for it.

It really is not just White's. All you get as a dealer from most manufacturers is a new price list once a year, and maybe a notice now and then about something new. Or not. Very haphazard, very amateur as an industry.

At the same time I was a dealer for Evinrude, Ski-Doo, Honda, etc. some heavy hitting big boys. Much bigger companies of course, but the differences were stark, and detector companies by and large should be embarrassed by their overall lack of professionalism as regards their dealer networks and how they handle them. Maybe they can't be as big as a Honda but they could sure better strive to emulate to style and processes of companies like that.

Anyway, my experience as a dealer was that I almost always knew more than any factory people about not only about metal detecting itself but what was going on in the industry, what their competiton was up to, you name it. In general as an expert dealer I thought manufacturers were somewhat of an obstacle to be overcome on the road to marketing and selling the very products they make. I have not seen a lot since that would make me change that view.

[khouse]

Makes me feel better I'm not the only one out of the loop.  Thanks for sharing!

[bowwinkles]

I spent a good part of an afternoon on the phone with the Whites factory. I was searching for data on the MXS and the first thing I realized, was that the personnel were very courteous  and friendly but not schooled at all on products. I got shifted to other numbers and I have yet to find out any answers. The most pressing data I was searching for was the weight of the stock coil and the weight of the accessory coils. I was finally told that they would just have to weigh them and phone me back to let me know. Well it has been two weeks and I am still waiting. I explained that many new users do in fact consider weight as a factor and that I felt the factory should offer their product with options as far as coils at time of purchase, instead of having to try to deal again with a system that is less than perfect. As it stands now this new product is in the high 700 dollar range and after you buy a optional coil you now are now kicking the hell out of 900 dollars. With the reported issues so far, I would begin to think that this product may have some volume sales problems or they had better think about a very big price reduction.  

[khouse]

I have a stock mxs coil and 950 sport coil.

10 inch stock mxs coil with cover - 18.6 oz

950 Sport coil w/o cover                14,6 oz

Compare to a 11 inch stock etrac coil with cover - 17 oz

All coils weighed without cables

Total weight of mxs with stock coil and batteries is 4lbs 6oz

Total weight of etrac with stock coil and std battery 4lbs 2,5oz

Total weight of etrac with stock coil and RNB battery 4lbs

[Steve Herschbach]

Supposedly there is a waterproof headphone set available, they are just secret. No real response so far on the White's forum on the question posed two days ago...

http://forums.whiteselectronics.com/showthread.php?75424-MX-Sport-Waterproof-HeadPhones

Steve Howard of White's posted on the same forum that "The first two accessory search coils do reduce overall weight nearly 1 lbs, however, they do float."

"Wow, a pound lighter" I thought! I had visions of putting one of the accessory coils on and having a machine at just over three pounds. That would have had to mean that stock coil is one heavy monster though. Your 4 ounce difference between stock coil and 950 means they did a good job keeping the weight of the 10" coil reasonable but that it is only going to shave 4 ounces going to the 950. The Eclipse 10" x 6" DD weighs in right at a pound (16 oz) less cable weight so there you go. The 10 x 6 was going to be my go to coil on the MX Sport but it is only going to shave a couple ounces at best.

[khouse]

I have used the 950 coils underwater and they float like a 6 man river raft.  I have had the 950 coils open and there is a lot of white foam and dead air space that a small child could survive for some time. What happened to that flat 950 coil they had way back when? Bring it back!  I would only suggest to use the accessory coils on land. We know the 10 inch DD sinks and that's what you need in the water.