Getting foil and Pennies down pat

[garyw]

I bought my mxt last week and after finding high amounts of Iron in the first two places I hunted (my own yard) and along the RR Tracks in the rr rightaway. I decided to do a city park today. I found several pennies and worked pretty hard for them. I found some foil. My problem is I get lots of hits so I decided to just concentrate on the loudest ones for the day. I found that everytime I swung the coil over a target the screen called it something else and the numbers changed. I went back and forth then turned from north and south to east and west and it changed some more. I must be getting real good at pennies or there are alot more of them. I cannot tell whether a target is a coin or foil or iron or junk because every time I swing the coil it is different. What can I do to help that? I am using the coin mode and setting it up on the little triangles on both dials.

 

[Hillbilly Bob]

Hey Gary, all you can do is dig every target for awhile that lets you see what was there and gets you used to what the detector is telling you......Its not easy but you will soon learn the sound of targets no matter how subtle they are...

 

[Nancy-IL]

Congrats on your new MXT. You're gonna love it! Practice practice practice. That's how you get to know your machine. In trashy areas, you'll get VDI numbers ranging in all areas. Slow down and take your time. That will help also. HH, Nancy

 

[garyw]

Here in Oregon in the valley there is nothing but clay soils. You have to cut a round plug out of a spot and pull it into several pieces because when you get a shallow target in the roots you have to feel for it as it is smashed in the clay under the roots. I have had to tear a piece of grass into 4 or 5 pieces to find anything. No problem getting the grass to grow back here We grow grass for the world.

 

[MasonandAlexsdad]

I hear ya Gary!! Iwas out today and I am also pretty new with my MXT. I had the same problem. Switching to a smaller coil may help the tardet Id to seperate better. I left mine at home didnt think I needed it. Boy was I wrong. Every sweep would have 2-5 different targets listed at this park. Its old and huge! I hate to use my smaller coil (Eclipse 5.3) with so much ground to cover the stadard 950 kept me guessing at everything. I could have stopped and dug 30 times within 20ft of my car. Im guessing most of it was trash but who knows. Im hoping to head back next time with the 5.3 and hope it helps! Im lucky if I can get out for 2-3 hours a month so its taking me awhile to learn this machine, Get out when you can, have at least one small, and one large coil, and eventually you (we) will get to know this MXT!!

 

[BarberBill]

This sounds nearly exactly like my first experience with the MXT. Summer before last, I bought a clean, lightly used MXT with the 9.5 stock coil, the 5.3 and the 4X6 shooter. First outing was at an older, very trash park. I had hunted for just a few minutes with targets blipping all over the display and was quite discouraged. Went back to my vehicle to change to the 5.3 and discovered I had left it home, but did have the 4X6. Boy! what a difference. Separation and ID was improved tremendously and I ended up picking up a fair number goodies out of that sea of trash. The smaller coils force one to hunt a bit slower and to work at covering a smaller bit of ground well, which is a good thing regardless, and they really pay off in a trashy environment. When I first started detecting some years ago, I had the notion that large coils had to better. Unless one is a serious relic hunter or cache hunting in fairly clean ground, that is very debatable. Over time, I've found that I use and appreciate the stock and SMALLER coils way more than my large ones. INMHO anyone using the MXT to coin shoot in trashy areas definitely needs one of the smaller coil options. The 5.3 does a very good job and offers more depth and coverage, but in the densest trash, even smaller is hard to beat.
BB