I liked the MX-5 when it was released because it made a handy urban Coin & Jewelry Hunting model to complement my MXT Pro which,
at the time, was my primary-use detector even though I had other favorite makes and models for different tasks. What I liked about the MX-5 was that it was simple and functional, and it came standard with the open-frame 9" 'spider' Concentric coil. What I didn't like about the MX-5 was that it lacked a 'Trac Lock' and the bulk of the places I hunted were very tough when it came to all sorts of ferrous debris. Iron nails and buckles, hinges, all sorts of wagon hardware and from farming implements, and definitely too much rusted tin. I encountered GB issues due to the amount of iron I was encountering, even though I favored a 6½" coil to work in and around the dense debris.
For the added features, and especially the relocation of the headphone jack and having Trac Lock capability, I preferred th MX-7 over the MX-5. I got slightly better depth, and the added features were helpful, but I didn't find the MX-5 to handle some challenging tests, such as my Nail Board Performance Test, just a little better than the MX-7. Sane size search coils, and the MX-5 could get 8-out-of-8 and the MX-7 only managed 7-of-8.
What I didn't like about the MX-7 was that they didn't use the very nice 9" spoked coil, but went back to that ugly 950 Concentric coil. A backward-in-time look rather than a more modern appearance.
Changing the coil connector and not sharing the already available search coils was a mistake, in my opinion, and I let them know that, but ..... it's too late for White's now.
Monte
"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product Reviews monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 503-481-8147Detectors: Fisher F5; Garrett Apex; Minelab Vanquish 540; Nokta / Makro FORS CoRe, FORS Relic & Simplex +;
Teknetics T2+; Tesoro Bandido II µMAX & Silver Sabre µMAX; White's XLTPinpointers: Pulse-Dive -- ProPointer AT .. Headphones: 'Hornet' & 'Wasp' -- MS-3 Z-Lynk -- ML-80 -- N/M Green Edition Note: Detectors are listed alphabetically by Brand. Models are chosen based on search site conditions.*** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***
