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Date Posted: 16:15:34 08/22/02 Thu
Author: Ralph
Subject: Re: Anyone compared X5 and MXT?
In reply to: Jeff Kinzli 's message, "Anyone compared X5 and MXT?" on 13:20:29 08/22/02 Thu

Hi Jeff,

Yes, I've had the opportunity to do some side-by-side testing of both units. Both are extremely sensitive to small targets, and both are very well thought out designs that fill a niche in their respective categories, i.e. metered vs. non-metered machines.

In basic bench tests, the X-5 beats out the MXT in overall range (depth) by about 20% average with stock coils, but the ground conditions will be the final determining factor in what either will do in real world conditions. But from what I've experienced so far, the X-5 would be my detector of choice since I really have no use or desire for a metered machine, while those who like meters will tend to gravitate toward the MXT which has the capabilities of feeding the user more information via the meter functions. In some limited side-by-side "in the dirt" testing on real targets (coins), there were only a few that I encountered at the fringe ranges that the X-5 would detect and the MXT would not.

As mentioned, both machines have their "genesis" with the same designer, but both then moved in separate directions as improvements were made to the base circuit designs by separate engineers, each using their own ideas as to what those improvements should consist of.

Something I've noticed in the X-5 that is seldom seen in other discriminating machines is it's performance and sensitivity to targets of both lower and higher conductivity values, i.e. gold jewelry AND higher conductivity silver coins. More often than not, most such machine have their strengths and weaknesses toward one or the other, but the X-5 engineers have managed to raise the performance bar to give optimum performance at both ends of the scale.

I won't say that one is necessarily "better" than the other. Alot just depends on the features that the user needs or wants in a machine.... whether metered or non-metered, whether one prefers a 2 pound machine over a 4 or 5 pound machine, whether other coil size options are a determining factor at present (other sizes are planned for the X-5 in the near future while the MXT has others available now), whether a single 9v battery vs. a full battery pack of AAs is important to you or not (use time vs. convenience), ease of operation, what you are used to in previous machines, unit cost, etc, etc. There are alot of things to consider, and one may out-perform the other in cetain conditions, and visa-versa.

But in the final analysis between the two, I'd say that the X-5 and the MXT are both at the top of the heap in the discrimination, performance, and "multi-purpose" category, and you really can't go wrong with either detector. They are two of the best. I have my own preference of the two, but I won't push that on others who may have entirely different uses for a machine than I do and obviously in different conditions than what I may hunt in. Nothing that anyone else does in the way of testing or ground conditions can ever answer the esoteric questions about "which is right for me". There is only one way of making that determination in the end, and that is to give them both a fair and honest shot at your conditions and hunting requirements.

Ralph

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Replies:

  • Re: Anyone compared X5 and MXT? -- Jim McCulloch, 19:35:27 08/22/02 Thu
  • Re: Anyone compared X5 and MXT? -- Steve Herschbach, 20:42:17 08/22/02 Thu
  • Some people form "personal bias"......... -- Ralph, 07:16:09 08/23/02 Fri
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