This has bugged me for a long time..........

[MXTerer]

Every post about ground balance that I read talks about pumping the coil a few times to manually ground balance the MXT before using it. My question is why? If this machine has some of the best ground tracking there is, it should only take a few sweeps to track right in. Any thoughts about this?

 

[Flintstone]

Hi MXTuser, I never pump mine, just like you said 2 or 3 sweeps and it will set it self. Now if you are going to lock it before detecting do a pump or 2 and lock it and go.

 

[littfam]

I've always considered it unnecessary to pump the coil, but do anyway. There are times that I have power cycled the MXT and have forgotten to pump the coil and everything was just fine. Probably the reason is so the MXT will GB over a small area (up and down) as to avoid any possible targets in the process of GB'ing as opposed to a full swing where there is a greater potential for the MXT to run into targets. This is the way I understand it anyway.

 

[srf2112]

The reason you ground balance the MXT manually, on a clean spot, is to get the machine prepared to set the gain for that particular site. Sure you can just "turn it on" and go but turn it to where ? If you take the time to GB your machine properly to that specific ground first at around a gain of 6 or 7 you can then crank your gain up and determine the maximum for that area. If you're not familiiar with this procedure it's in "The MXT Edge" pgs. 28-29. It explains in detail how and why to GB and how to confirm stability which is what you use to determine the max gain you can use. Sorry but i'm having a hard time putting it into words . . read the pages referenced if you can.

 

[khouse]

Exactly Flintstone.

 

[Hankscraft]

I have the PRO. It sets it's self with 2 swings. I do not pump.

 

[srf2112]

Whatever works for you . .

 

[JohninNC]

The MXT micro-processer samples the ground every 1/4 second. One swing and it's ground balanced. As far as the gain, you want it as high as it will go without false signals. For that I turn it up and back off till it quiets down. For relic hunting I crank it all the way up. If you want great depth, hunt with it as high as you can.
John

 

[KY PI]

srf2112, that makes sense in order to get the max out of this great machine. I'm like most people in that I thought it tracks so fast what is the use in pumping the coil at the start. Now I understand! Thanks!

 

[srf2112]

srf2112, that makes sense in order to get the max out of this great machine. I'm like most people in that I thought it tracks so fast what is the use in pumping the coil at the start. Now I understand! Thanks!

Of course the MXT will track itself into a GB quickly and yes many MXT users will be happy to "max it out till it gets chattery then back it off a bit" and be reasonably close to the maximum gain setting but I like to go through the proper procedure to personally confirm for myself that the machine is definitely at max gain (if that's the intent) and still stable. This is the only way I know of to confirm that with certainty.