I Own A Whites MXT But Is It Still Competitive?

[bobinyelm]

Thanks gents...

Yes, it would be nice to get a fully updated unit, but I suspect they will issue periodic updates as the last bugs are eliminated, so installing updates will still be relevant. I understand 1.09 is the current one, and did a lot of reading and some had a lot of trouble getting their units to accept the download, but eventually it seemed everyone got it done.

I WOULD like to get a new enough unit so it would have the improved speaker installed, as the early ones seem to have a high failure rate.

I would prefer to buy from a local dealer who would hold my hand, but being the typical cheapskate, I see $595 for the "Pro Package" w/ 2 coils, headset, extra battery as a good price. I have not checked with a "real dealer" (You mean like Kellyco or someone like that, or more local store front brick and mortar?) to see how much more they would charge. I see you can buy direct from the mfg as well-another option.

Thanks-

[JCR]

I just paid $595 for my Pro Pack from a dealer with a real store.

The difficulty with past updating seems to be solved with Nokta's new Updater tool.

[bobinyelm]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:24 AM, JCR said:

I just paid $595 for my Pro Pack from a dealer with a real store.

The difficulty with past updating seems to be solved with Nokta's new Updater tool.

Nice to know because one of the complaints in the past I read about was  updating and it seemed a somewhat common complaint.

[bobinyelm]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:24 AM, JCR said:

I just paid $595 for my Pro Pack from a dealer with a real store.

The difficulty with past updating seems to be solved with Nokta's new Updater tool.

That's a competitive price for the machine, wireless headset, 6" coil and external battery!

The updater likely solves the perceived problems some noted when trying to update, too.

As in my PM, I was impressed by he MXT yesterday with its abilities both sensitivity and selection, but did not bring my friend's small gold sample to test it side by side w/ his GB 2 in "real" world conditions. Next time. I would like to see how The Legend does with a similar sample, though everyone seems to think it's excellent for even small gold with its 40 khz frequency.

Thanks,

Bob

[Jeff McClendon]

2 hours ago, bobinyelm said:

That's a competitive price for the machine, wireless headset, 6" coil and external battery!

The updater likely solves the perceived problems some noted when trying to update, too.

As in my PM, I was impressed by he MXT yesterday with its abilities both sensitivity and selection, but did not bring my friend's small gold sample to test it side by side w/ his GB 2 in "real" world conditions. Next time. I would like to see how The Legend does with a similar sample, though everyone seems to think it's excellent for even small gold with its 40 khz frequency.

Thanks,

Bob

I am inserting this video here just for Bob so he can see and hear how the Legend does on sub .25 gram and smaller gold nuggets and micro jewelry. No agenda here. I love both detectors in this short video and use them regularly so again, this is just for Bob (or anyone else that is wondering) to get an idea of what the Legend can do.

Here is a link to a short, 4 minute, really bad video I made back in early September using the Legend and Deus 2. Plenty of road noise, EMI and moderately mineralized ground. 

So at least for me, I don't "think" or "it seems" that the Legend is strong on small gold nuggets and micro jewelry. I know for a fact it is.

 

 

[bobinyelm]

.25 grams is about 4 grains.

 

I would have thought the Deus would have seen it easily to be honest.

From reading, samples in open air respond to a MD farther than in undisturbed soil, and even if you bury the samples, disturbed earth is more "transparent" than undisturbed soil, so even then the detector will see things deeper.

Just asking to confirm because your samples were either uncovered, or barely covered, and it's hard to tell how far below ground level the samples were placed. Trying to learn whatever I can!

I know the object of the test was a comparison between the two detectors, and the difference is quite apparent! The Deus is quite a bit more expensive (Like $900?), so the Legend is impressive. I don't know either unit, but I am sure you set them up for best/max depth and sensitivity for gold.

I somewhere read that the best a MXT can do is on 3-4 grain gold vs GB 2 at .2-.5 grains, both at about 2-3" below undisturbed soil.

Thanks,

Bob

[Jeff McClendon]

First, its a Deus 2 not a Deus…….really big difference.

The 0.1 gram 10 K earring back was buried at roughly 1.5 inches. The 0.15 gram small nugget was buried at roughly 2.5 inches. The 0.25 gram nugget was buried at roughly 3.5”. I dug the holes, measured them and then filled them in on top of the targets.

Disturbed dirt or undisturbed dirt matters some. Iron mineralization levels matters a lot more. There was enough iron mineralization at the test site to completely alter the actual target IDs on the Legend and basically made it very hard for Deus 2 to give an ID.

No, this was not a comparison of the Legend against Deus 2. The Legend is what I expect from a good, functioning simultaneous multi frequency VLF that is designed to do well on low conductors like small gold.

Both detectors have designated gold prospecting modes that need only a few tweaks to tune them for the site being hunted. Basically the default settings are very good on both detectors in theory.

The entire reason for making this video was to publicly once again let XP know that Deus 2 has real problems as a small gold nugget detector even though XP included a gold prospecting mode on Deus 2.

[bobinyelm]

On 11/19/2022 at 2:30 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

First, its a Deus 2 not a Deus…….really big difference.

Disturbed dirt or undisturbed dirt matters some. Iron mineralization levels matters a lot more. There was enough iron mineralization at the test site to completely alter the actual target IDs on the Legend and basically made it very hard for Deus 2 to give an ID.

No, this was not a comparison of the Legend against Deus 2. The Legend is what I expect from a good, functioning simultaneous multi frequency VLF that is designed to do well on low conductors like small gold.

The entire reason for making this video was to publicly once again let XP know that Deus 2 has real problems as a small gold nugget detector even though XP included a gold prospecting mode on Deus 2.

Thanks-

Yes, I misspoke when I called your unit simply a "Deus." I did some further study on the two, and they are indeed, as you pointed out, quite different machines.

And I did mischaracterize your comments as a comparison between the Legend and the Deus 2, though it did point out sn apparent shortcoming when it comes to small gold with the Deus 2.

I watched a program on the History channel where a detectorist searched a tailings pile from an old dredge using a Deus 2, but it didn't concentrate on the machine, unfortunately.

I watched a video on YouTube where a fellow alternately used an MXT, a Deus 1, and The Legend looking for coins/relics from an old house yard. He claimed for that job all three (and may more including an ACE 250) were perfectly competent and fairly equivalent in his hands, but obviously he wan't looking for specific performance on gold/small gold. It would have been more interesting if he'd swept the same targets with the three detectors to see how they responded on the same targets, but he didn't. He simply grabbed each one in turn and located/dug a coin/relic/bottle cap with each then moved on to the next machine and the next target.

It's all pretty subjective unless the person doing a comparison is careful to set up his tests carefully or the outcome won't be objectively accurate.

You're using the 2 machines to test the SAME test objects was far more enlightening.

BTW, I ended up ordering a Legend (2 coils) and looked into metal detecting clubs in the Phoenix area. The oldest seems to have disbanded, and the only other one (I haven't emailed them yet to see if they still exist) has a joining fee of $350 and $250/yr thereafter (plus various fees for use of services), or $3500 20yr "Lifetime" membership,  but they are over an hour's drive away from me. I was hoping that more groups would exist to share the hobby and promote proficiency especially here. I guess $350 isn't excessive seeing that a decent detector is considerably more expensive than that. I was thinking of finding a compatible mate in a group to pair up with to learn from each other (each would bring skills/ideas to the table in a synergistic way).  Detecting can obviously be a solitary pursuit, but two can sometimes accelerate the learning curve.