A Former User, Now Newbie w/ some Questions

[Eric Mayer]

Hey all. I've enjoyed reading the forums (this and California Metal Detecting) the last few weeks and figured it was time to post up some questions.

I used to detect quite alot, using a White's Classic IDX. It was mainly for coins, relics and some gold. Never really on the beach, mostly in parks and abandon sites. Anyways, other hobbies took over so I sold my equipment and have not been doing any type of detecting for quite a while. I'm amazed at how far technology has come, even in the few short years I have not been doing it, so any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Now to my questions:

Right now I am looking for a detector for beaches and parks (occasional trips to abandon spots up in the desert as well). I will not be taking it into wet sand right now, instead I will be using it on dry sand only. The detectors I am looking at are the White's M6 and the White's XLT. I am leaning towards the M6, only because of the price.

1) For those with the knowledge, is the XLT a much better machine for the extra $$?

2) Do you feel the M6 would be a good choice for my uses?

I have not fully decided on the White's, but they are the ones I have read most about. I'm also checking into the Xterra-50.

Thanks in advance!

Eric A. Mayer

 

[clondike clad]

Go to the white's detector forum.
I would go with the M6 over the XLT

 

[Rick(ND)]

I used to have a XLT and it just wasnt the detector for me, tried a MXT and love this detector. Havent tried the the M6, but many that have used the MXT and now the M6 are going back to the MXT.
We find the MXT as great depth and very good target ID.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

extra coils to cover the different situations you will be hunting in, that may influence your decision as well. The M6 with the stock coil should handle your dry sand beach hunting but you will need something else for park hunting in trash, probably the 5.3 or 6x10 depending on your style of hunting. A DD coil or smaller concentric would be a necessity for those ghost towns with all the iron around too.

The XL Pro with a couple extra coils is well worth considering for your situation. Despite the seeming complexity of all the knobs it is very easy to use after a couple of hours. The ID accuracy is among the best as you have probably read before, but the audio response on good targets is also a great feature. Being a moderate sweep 4 filter unit it can handle a lot of different situations and ground types very well. Simply put, a very satisfying machine!

Tom

 

[Eric Mayer]

nt

 

[Dennis]

all though I am a water hunter most of the time with my surf PI Pro.
I Have A DFX and a MXT Also. If I had to sell my detectors I would keep my MXT. Of course selling my PI PRO would mean giving up on about 150 gold rings a year.I'd say get an MXT for the dry and a PI pro for wet,.

 

[bunn leonard]

I would go with the soverign with a wot coil or even stock easy to use dd coil better for depth and the soverign is the man it goes deep real deep great for the beach, woods and parks the explorer is the best but has a learning curve,go with minelab and yes had the xlt and switched about 8 years ago or so,huge difference.

 

[Art SC]

n/t