The MXT Pro / All-Pro (same detector except for two All stickers) and the MX-7 are both very good general-purpose detectors. Use the right settings, mount a good search coil, use a good methodical sweep speed and you're going to find stuff. Use wrong or poor settings and you're not going to have good app-purpose success. Use the wrong search coil, and you're not going to have good all-purpose success. The Detech 7" DD was / is one of the "wrong coils."

Generally, not always but generally, I haven't been a big fan of after-market search coils. Why? Because it figures that if a manufacturer can make a very good quality detector that preforms well, they should be making it with their own manufactured search coils to know that it is able to work well and that the search coil quality, for their own product design, is going to be consistent and provide reliable performance.

When I acquired my first MX-7, I made the drive clear across Oregon to White's factory to buy it. It was at the Prototype / Production unit stage and it used the same coils as the MX Sport that shared the same circuitry. At that time White's didn't have a smaller-size coil except for the Detech 7" DD they made for White's since White's had nothing in the small coil department. That was kind of a warning flag, as I saw it, about how White's was getting along and addressing their product line.

I bought the new MX-7 along with a Detech 7" DD, and they knew I was coming and I waited around a bit at the factory until they brought me a new 6½" Concentric coil for it, just out of the production line and still not fully assembled. It was their older 2-piece design with the bowl-shaped bottom like they had been using on their other 6½" coils for years (the Blue Max 600, 5.3 Black Max, 5.3 Bullseye and 5.3 Eclipse). It didn't have a decal on it, and the top and bottom halves were not yet glued together. I mean, it was just brought out of the production department for me. A 'prototype' coil you could say as they hadn't finalized the flat-bottom design, or come up with a name for the coil .... which was finally put into production and called the Six Shooter.

I took it to my oldest son's shop, and Monte Jr. carefully glued it together and made a custom decal for me (as shown in the attached photo) and then I set out to use the MX-7 to learn it, get a better understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, and use both of the smaller-size coils on it in a wide-variety of hunt sites to see which worked the best for my needs.

I've been using the conventional Co-Planer or Concentric type coils for a long time and, quite often, have favored a Concentric coil on most of the detectors I used. Why? Because they generally worked better, overall, than a comparable-size Double-D coil on the same detector .... and because the detectors were mainly designed to work using a Concentric coil. But I am no stranger (referring to being unfamiliar, not my personal character) to the Double-D search coil design. I have been using DD coils on recreational detectors since it was first introduced by Compass Electronics back in '71, and also about '75-'76 when Garrett Electronics also used DD coils, such as on their Master Hunter.

Today, and in more recent years, we have sadly seen a trend for more manufacturers to go to a Double-D coil as 'standard' and many do not even make a Concentric coil for most models they produce. I own and use both, such as the coils mounted on my current Daily-Use and Specialty-Use Teams here on my den wall or out in my vehicle. My Nokta FORS CoRe, FORS Relic and two Simplex +, Minelab Vanquish 540, and both Garrett Apex models have a DD coil mounted. But my Makro Racer 2, Tesoro Silver Sabre microMAX, both Bandido II microMAX, White's XLT and MX-7 all keep a Concentric coil mounted.

Why? Because I use the best search coil sizes and types for th performance they provide for the individual models I use.

Some of the reasons I prefer the round 6½" Concentric on the MX-7 instead of the roundish 7" DD from Detech are these:

• Tighter, more consistent VDI read-out.
• Better handling of many problem ferrous trash objects like rusty tin, crown-type bottle caps, etc.
• More accurate Pinpointing
• Usually a bit better depth-of-detection
• Proper performance if I am hunting older sites where a small coin-stash might be hidden.

To determine the latter potential, I relied on my 'Silver Coin Short-Stack' of 5 silver Walking Liberty Halves on top of a Morgan Silver Dollar. The 7" Detech DD produced a jumpy or inconsistent audio (and if using 4-Tones or more that created jumpy tones) and the VDI response was all over the place. The 6½" Concentric coil? A very solid VDI 'Lock-On' of '94' along with a very solid-sounding audio response.

And don't think that encountering a 'Coin Stash' is not possible because I used to find them quite often in and around older house sites. Yes, it was mainly back in late '71 and on into the latter '80s, but I was working more of the better locations back then so the opportunities were more in my favor. Therefore, it is one of the things I look for whenever I grab a detector & coil combination to search potential sites.

But .... pick-and-chose any search coil you happen to like based on design type or how they happen to look, but my encouragement, if you get an MXT Pro / All-Pro or an MX-7, is to also consider the proven 6½" Concentric coil.

Monte

"Your EYES ... the only 100% accurate form of Discrimination!"
Stinkwater Wells Trading Post
Metal Detector Evaluations and Product ReviewsI'm now located in Clyde, Texas monte@ahrps.org ... or ... monte@stinkwaterwells.com 325-481-8147Detector Outfit: A selection of my favorite makes and models, with the best coils mounted, for the tasks I'll take on.Pinpointers: Pulse-Dive & ProPointer AT .. Headphones: 'Hornet' & 'Wasp' .. MS-3 Z-Lynk .. N/M Green edition*** All working well today to make memories for tomorrow. ***