Blue Max 4x6 Shooter DD

Just picked up this little badboy from my buddy Dave Wise up in Waterbury, CT (thanks Dave!). I can't wait to give it a test run, I have a tot lot lined up just for the occasion :) :) :)

Here's the blurb about the coil from White's:

"Elliptical 4x6 inch 'DD' design provides superior performance in extreme ground, better sensitivity to physically smaller metal targets, performance in extreme trash and physically smaller foot print for working around obstacles. Longer but narrower detection window compared to similar sized search coils. Finds the good stuff in areas littered with trash."

XLT Trial 2

I took the XLT out again, this time for my typical night hunt. I drove out to my mom's old elementary school off of Great Neck, a place where I've found a bunch of coins, none older than '65, and some silver jewelry pieces.

I still have a lot of ground to cover at this school, but I figure to really measure up, I'd go over some previously hunted territory to see what might come up. It was a warm night out, the ground was hard... not the best veriables to be dealing with.

I was able to squeak out $1.31 over 14 coins, but I KNOW there has got to at least be some older dimes and some wheat pennies in this place. I have yet to dig one from this area, which is just dumbfounding.

I was able to get some more use outta the XLT which is what the trip was really all about. The signals are much harder to read than they are on the X-Terra 30. For example, on the X30, when I get a +16, I know almost without a doubt that it's gonna be a pull-tab. Or if I get a solid +32 with 3 depth bars, I can almost bet on a wheat penny every time. But with the XLT, items hit within a "range" of numbers, so it's much harder to determine. Getting the depth while pinpointing helps a bit, but when a pull tab is hitting over a 10-20 VDI range, it's really tough to pick out the nickels.

First time out with XLT, not bad!

I stayed home from the gym today in hopes that my used White's XLT would show up, and what do you know, it did! It was packaged nicely from the dealer I got it from down in Florida, Myers Metal Detectors. Check out their website, http://www.myersdepot.com.

Anyway, So I got it put together, did a brief air test, and then waited for a chance to get out after dinner. Thankfully I have a school in my back yard, the perfect place to test a new machine.

This school is the one I've written about many times before about having this system of drains, and in between them are areas that are lower than everywhere else, so coins and stuff just tend to end up here. I've fished out 100+ coins easily from this section.

I through the XLT into a pre-set Coin/Jewelry mode, ground balanced and off I went. Low and behold, there were still a few coins I had failed to grab with the X-Terra 30 here. About 20 in all, not totalling much, but it was fun finding them.

The star charm you see in the image was my most interesting find of the day. Why you ask? Well it's because of "how" I found it. While scanning with the XLT I got a pretty solid hit, but nothing came up on the VDI. Back and forth, good signals, no VDI. I had read online a nice writeup about the Signograph on the higher end White's models. Reading it really clued me in on something... though no VDI was displaying, a tight grouping of + hits were building... and that hints at a half decent target. So I dug, and about 3" down was that star.

So the fact that I was able to land a bunch of "missed" chances from before really made me happy. Max depth was at about 7".

Machine Upgrade: White's Spectrum XLT

It's been about a year now since I've really gotten into the hobby. Granted I bought my first machine, a Garrett ACE 250 about three years ago, I just never really used it. After a month or two seriously using the machine and digging, I bought my Minelab X-Terra 30, which has become my workhorse.

I've really learned the X-Terra 30, and finally have it set up so that when I go out, I know I'm doing my best at being able to find what's hidden in the ground. That being said, those two machines are generally regarded as being in the beginner class, even though the X30 is roughly $400, it's still small potatoes.

With the release of the newer models from White's and Minelab, the Spectra V3 and the E-Trac respectively, I've been feeling lately I may be really behind the curve in technology and finding the really good stuff. I had been thinking about a White's MXT for a few months now. I know many people who use it, and use it with great success. But I could never really find one in the range of money I wanted to spend.

That all changed when I came across a used White's XLT recently. The price was well below what I would actually have given for it. A brand new E series XLT goes for upwards of $900 these days. The Spectrum series XLT I picked up, new, could still easily land $700. But I got it for less than half that, mostly by accident.

Now with the new machine at my fingers, I feel I'm going to have to re-learn the hobby. These higher end White's units have so many customizable options for making the machine perform at its peak, that I just don't know where to begin. But hey, I think it was a great investment, and hopefully one that will last a few years until the next best thing comes out.