Whites MX Sport Waterproof Metal Detector

[Ridge Runner]

Khouse

 I thank you for all you posted on the MX Sport. I don't think it's necessary it detect a dime at 12 inches. It may be coins that deep but I just want a true ID at 9 inches. I know all detectors are never right all the time on their ID. 

Another person I'd like to hear from is Digger Bob. I know he's a dealer for White's but I do believe he will tell it as it is.

Please khouse come often and let us hear more on your MXS.

Chuck

[iqwozpoom]

I'm seeing a lot of potential in the mxs. The only thing it's missing for me is a tighter coil. I'll hold out on my final judgment when I get one to try out. FYI most of the time I use the racer with the 5 or 5x10 coil, not only by choice but by necessity. For what it is though the mxs will work with the bigger coil, most of the time I find I need to dial back the sensitivity a bit to navigate the high trash. 

[Steve Herschbach]

People have been complaining about the modulation on the MX Sport, and half the problem is they are running the Gain too high. If you run at max gain you go into boost mode, which will almost completely negate modulation being on. Boosting gain boosts deeper signals and modulation is supposed to make deeper signals sound weaker and therefore deeper, so the two controls fight each other.

Number one rule of new detectors is people will almost always run the gain too high initially and then blame various problems that result from that on the machine.

[argyle]

10 hours ago, MDCHIEFSH said:

I typically in the past use the cross over point on the DD's to distinguish if its a bottle cap.

Does that not work on the mxsport

Sorry, I should have been clearer. Bottlecaps as in the fat non-crinkled version, as opposed to twist-tops.

Although it really does not matter as some coins like your zinc cents will give the exact same degradation at height as a twist-top. You'll find most deep coins will, as will most deep cap types.

There is another of your coins too, but I simply cannot remember which, has the same make-up and ID as one of ours. And all ID units will pop both caps and twist-tops straight into a couple of those good coinage segments.
Only units with full-on tricks and the right coil will keep the Cap ratio low.

If a smaller hot closed concentric had of been available as the stock coil it would not have been such of a problem and would have helped with audio ID much better in the form of a couple of far better tricks for Cap ID on the Sport. But, they stuck to an All Round MXT digitalized platform for the MXSport, so the big DD it is.

Although, the reason they made this unit a Multi-purpose one has me baffled.
Rushing the Treasuremaster and TreasuremasterPro onto the scene (they should really have been a Single unit) and not waiting a few months to put it in a Waterproof Sport housing lacked common sense. 

Then this new unit could have been the best prospecting VLF Whites have made to date. Carrying both Digitalzed versions of the MXT and GMT ...Excellent Ground Grab and SAT speed correlation with gain, twin frequencies of 14kHz and 50 kHz, and coils to match all uses.
Though they would have had to have engineered a far better Ground Tracking into it.

2 units - MXSport coin/relic/jewellery - MXSport Prospecting.

Multipurpose units always leave something lacking.

[auminesweeper]

I just think what a wonderful unit this could have been.

[iqwozpoom]

I have to agree with auminesweeper on one thing. I love knobs and dials! I really like the quick precision adjustments that can be made to be just on the edge. Maybe Whites will come out with a truly miniaturized mxt with all the same controls in a lighter package! But I also think it's apples to oranges. There's probably more in the pipeline from Whites, it seems they're not resting on their laurels.

[Steve Herschbach]

I guess you deleted a whole lot of typing John and sorry to see that, but your choice.

I do agree with you on one thing - the MX Sport could have been so much more. And just by a few small things. The thing is, unlike you, I refuse to be passing judgement until I use it. I cannot agree with your thinking that comparing your air tests versus their air tests with the entire issue being MXT vs MX Sport really proves anything at all. Except that you seem to think White's wants to push one over the other. Honestly, who cares? How about we all agree that is you want a dry land unit, get the MXT? Well proven, works, tons of coils, etc.

Again, you want dry land only, get an MXT. You want to stick it underwater, get the MX Sport. Problem solved.

Here is the thing however. I think most people are not looking at this as a MXT vs MX Sport thing. There are people like me who moved on from the MXT long ago and am not going back. There are people who will never own an MXT but who are looking at the AT Pro and wondering if the MX Sport might be a better fit for them. Or for that matter maybe somebody looking at a CTX 3030 but the price is just too much, and they are thinking maybe MX Sport. There are lots of fresh water detectorists out there, and the MXT just is not on the list at all.

From my perspective despite your definitive "no way MX Sport can be better than MXT" decision I have solid information in hand from at least two people who I respect highly and that have used the MX Sport that indicate otherwise. The MX Sport Prospecting mode may very well have a leg up on the MXT Prospecting mode, and I am a prospector. The machine may miss in various ways but that in no way means it is across the board bad. You are tossing the baby out with the bath water.

Could it have been even better? Of course. There is speculation that maybe White's went with an 8 AA battery scheme so the same housing could support some other future model that needs 8 AA batteries. Nice theory but it still forgives White's for compromising the design of this particular detector. There is no reason it can't run on four AA batteries. It may relate to the decision to go with the big DD coil. That may be a very good choice for beach detecting, but it points up an identity crisis. Is this a water detector or a dry land detector? Is it a prospecting detector or a coin detector? Since people tend to compare machines for max depth White's decided to go with the big coil. Now we have a nose heavy detector. How to fix that? Put more weight under arm in the form of batteries. That is how you end up with 8 AA batteries.

Me, I would have went smaller coil. 8" round is a sweet spot for me so maybe the White's 9" spider Eclipse or the popular 11" x 7" elliptical as seen on so many competitor machines. Lighter coil on front, now 4 AA batteries in back, let's lose about a half pound. The MX Sport still weighs more than I like. It is a solid pound heavier than the AT Pro and that is not good. On the good side it is 1.2 pounds lighter than a CTX 3030. The main thing is they could have done more to make the MX Sport lighter than the MXT and though they did shave 0.3 lbs it could have been closer to being a pound lighter than the MXT, and that would have counted for a lot. Manufactures keep underestimating just how important ergonomics is in the buying decision. 

The headphone jack placement? Ridiculous. Should have been under elbow like many, many other White's detectors over the years and for good reason.

Lack of manual ground balance? Really? One of the most requested upgrades for the MXT, still a no go. Not a big deal for many people, but again, the little differences between good and great.

The boom box audio? Tough call if same as past White's detectors. Some people love that sound. But early indications are the MX Sport may lag on even longer than previous White's machines and that may be just too much. The machines need to tighten up the audio if anything, not loosen it. Having not heard it in person I have to reserve judgement there.

White's with a few moves could have made this machine clearly better so that old MXT users like yourself could easily get behind it. In that task they may have failed based at least on your response John. I am not interested in the MXT and so that is not a problem for me. I am interested in the MX Sport for what it may offer, not for what it does not offer. I am a glass half full person.

The bottom line here is I have an edge. I can get an MX Sport for less than most people will pay, try it, and see. I am a bit of a killing ground for new detectors and odds are any new one I get will be gone a year later. They really have to work for me very well to last long and the odds are not in the MX Sports favor with what I have on hand already or on the way very soon. It may be the Prospect mode really does turn out to be a killer mode on the unit, and it proves to be a top notch water machine at Lake Tahoe, which has the worst mineralization of any fresh water lake I have been in. The competition there will be the CTX 3030 and Garrett ATX. For jewelry I have a DFX Bigfoot combo. Can the Bigfoot be adapted to and run the Bigfoot sufficiently well to replace my DFX? I am doubtful, but if so that would be a clear win for the MX Sport and earn it a permanent spot in my collection. Coins? Tons of competition there, but again, Paul seems pleased, and that means a lot in my book. Prospecting? Pretty doubtful, I don't need waterproof prospecting machines if the price is extra weight and limited coil selection for no real performance advantage. The Prospect mode would have to indeed shine.

All machines can be picked apart and all have aspects that prove useless for some users. The trick for me always is not to dwell on might have beens but just look at things as they are, and figure out how to get the best out of them. If that one best thing is good enough, that is all it takes for me. I am not looking to own one machine to do everything. Be nice but not there yet. What I need are machines that excel in just one way. If I can find that one magic thing in the MX Sport then it will find a home. If not, it will be down the river with a hundred other machines I have used and now consider history. The only way I know to figure that out however is to use one, and so I will.

Sight unseen I can promise everyone this. Some people will love the MX Sport. Many will think it is fine. Many will think it is not. Some will just hate it. Been that way with every new machine ever released and the MX Sport will be no different. At the end of the day it is just another single frequency VLF detector, a beat to death category that can't, by its very nature, offer anything particularly new. My real interest is in machines based on new tech, like the GPZ plus whatever else Fisher and White's are working on, and a new renaissance in selectable frequency detectors, the next up probably being the Nokta Impact. Hopefully White's is reworking the V3i from the ground up into something more practical. That is what I really want to see. Messing around with single frequency machines is just a diversion while waiting for the real goods to arrive.

[auminesweeper]

I could not agree more, I guess it is hard for a major player to keep up with the trends of new technology and give their long time customers the things they ask for even more so when you consider that certain younger companies are making such a huge impact with so many features in one package and to have them listen is quite remarkable and inspiring, So much so I have ordered one of the newer brands due to what I have seen posted today from a company I was trying to avoid when the truth is they have made everything I have wanted in one package and I can not say enough good things about them or supply the money fast enough to keep up with what ever they will turn up next, and I have to support such a trying company whole heartedly.

I was a little hard on whites and I should have taken in to account that you would have already known what certain machine are capable of and I can and do respect that, The truth is we all know how to set up such machines like the MXT and some of us can get them performing where other just scratch their heads, So in all fairness I had to edit my posts because it was unfair on other members and I apologize to them for that,

having used such a machine for so long I guess knowing too much about some things is not a good thing and I tend to have a short fuse when I see such mistakes to the point where I see as offensive instead of being light hearted about it and laughing at such things and dismissing it as such,

Today on here I have seen/found something that I find really inspiring and I can't wait to get my hands on one, because I need the tools that allow me to go further and where I don't have to sacrifice flexibility or function. As wonderful as machines like the CTX or the V3i are, for me this is more about getting out there and putting the coil over the finds and not about how High Tech these machines are, Like you I want to just get out there with a machine that delivers and not full of things that I wont use, even with the machines I have it is only the relic mode and the prospecting modes are all that I need so anything else is over kill, Excessive amounts of coils is fine and helps with fine tuning etc but menu's/programs are of little use to me,

So thanks to another Detector / Prospector member I have found what I am looking for and I don't have to keep asking people for certain features because they have already included them in such a machine, whether it ticks all the boxes is another story but every thing I saw was music to my ears/eyes. I will still keep old faithful but now I have more options and that has to be a good thing.

thanks for your reply,, John

[Steve Herschbach]

Well, your condemnation of the video and the audio/separation characteristics of the MXT vs MX Sport may prove to be spot on. Right now nearly all the criticism I am hearing about the MX Sport focuses on the audio and lack of modulation and good target separation characteristics. There is a disconnect between what White's has been touting and what people are seeing. To quote Steve Howard "Doing so the MX Sport slaughters the cute little french thing for recovery and kills for depth (All Metal Mode)."

Those are fighting words, and he is referring to the XP Deus, renowned for its separation capability in thick trash. Setting the bar that high along with the video has people expecting world class target separation characteristics. Yet early reports are anything but that in the normal preset hunt modes. If they just meant only in all metal mode, that is cheating. There is no such thing as recovery time in all metal. Prospect mode you at least have the iron ground feature and so you can get great separation characteristics as Paul has pointed out since it is still pretty much running in all metal. Something is up with the other modes however, and maybe you were just first to see it John.

[auminesweeper]

Well I have seen first hand what the early XP machines did to the detecting world over here where Tesoro/Laser were the Hammered Kings, but many folks jumped on the XP trail and then the XP Deus, and they had a demo day where they ask people to bring their deepest machine and their own coin and the XP rep was burying coins at a measured 17 inches  and he was hitting them quite well, So I would not be to happy about pitching any machine against the Deus and after what that rep could do with it in normal pasture land I think he would out run most PI machines so even now I would not feel to easy on making that bet with anyone who's know how to set that machine up, It does have hidden talents and if I bet against it I am sure there is a 70% chance I would loose the farm,

I have a friend who said he will post the recovery video on YT for me it was recorded on my cell but trying to juggle a detector and test pieces and a camera at the same time was not easy, But people will see how hard I made the test for my machine. and clearly hear the tones and if a person got such signals out in the field I would say they would pull up 85 to 90% of people, Regarding the recovery/separation  to be fair to whites all I can say is the video says it all, but even for some one who owns an MXT if searching for Gold in creeks or lost items in swimming holes then the MX-S is a no brainer because a person can detect and not be in fear of drowning their machine and I would add the MX-S to the line up and not have it as a replacement because having more tools in the box has to be the better way to go despite any claims and it swims better than the MXT but it too has some tricks up its sleeve, for those folks on a tighter budget I would say have the machine that suits your needs and for those who don't mind owning more machine then have both because neither one can copy the other,

john