Garys Detecting.co.uk
The whites xlt metal detector review a good all
round treasure hunter.
Dear Gary
Thanks for replying to my e
mail I always enjoy visiting your web site and appreciate all the hard work
you put in to maintaining it
The metal detector field tests are by far the
most comprehensive on the www. I feel that it's time I made a small
contribution as a way to say thank you for your hard work. Please find enclosed a small article on the Whites XLT.
Mick
Whites XLT By
Mick Harvey
Review April 05
Now
most of the fields are in crop and the settlement sites
are un available, its time to put the high frequency machine back in the
cupboard for a short rest. Leaving most of us to detect on what's available until harvest time
again, perhaps time for a little coinshooting
along the riverbank, attending club digs or re visiting the vast pasture fields we
have been over time and time again, either way were not searching for
anything specific just enjoying the hobby in a relaxed state of mind.
Looking at my finds I started thinking about what machine had given me the
most enjoyment over the years, and indeed the best finds. Nostalgia took me
back to the Whites XLT, then the Explorer, then very quickly back to the XLT
before I slipped into a dark depression. Looking in my hand at the first
Celtic stator, thinking back the moment that little beauty came out, a sunny
evening in August having spent hours trying different un stable programs I
had downloaded off the metal detecting forums, as a last resort I loaded the
pre-set Relic setting and within minutes a clean signal registering +54 gave me my first
real treasure. I continued to use the default relic program for the following
season and made some interesting finds, including a further 3 gold coins.
Why did I sell my whites xlt ? Good question, in fact I traded it in for an Explorer,
having read all the articles in the magazines the Explorer was the only way
forward. Despite months of trying the Explorer and me were never going to be
partners, its just one of those things you either click with them or fail
miserably. I wanted a more solid sound when a target was located, the flute
noise and poor pinpointing drove me mad.
I decided to look around for a second machine something I could use for
general searching, the XLT was a logical choice as used ones sold for around
£275.00. I managed to get a nice example from a lad in my club who has
upgraded to a Gold Maxx, it was loaded with the usual high performance
programs named, deep silver, magnum, blaster and depth plus which made
me smile as it jogged my memory back to the good old days.
I took the XLT to a local riverbank for its first outing, I ran
through the installed programs one by one and as suspected they drove the
machine mad, as before I resorted to the standard relic program and dropped
the discrimination down to accept -45, the XLT ran smooth with a stable
threshold. Remembering what I had learned with my old XLT, using a lower power
program enables you to drop the discrimination lower than normal, thus giving
more depth on some soil types.
There are so many theory's on how to get maximum depth from the XLT some
say it works best by pumping the power up, but on my soil I have found it
just results in false signals, I am confident the best way to gain depth is by
lowering the discrimination.
With this simple setting I was digging silver sixpences up at an easy 8-10
inches and half crowns as deep as I would want to go.
Having spent a morning
with this machine I realised that metal detectors have not come very far in
the last 10 years or perhaps the XLT was way ahead of its time, the XLT
is still up there with today's top machines, why did I need to change, OK
the high frequency machines will grab a Roman coin on top of a nail and
perform well in contaminated soil, but the XLT has so many features for so
little money in fact 38 different adjustments on an easy to scroll menu, so
simple a novice will find no problem mastering this machine.
Now I can see why I
found so much with my old XLT, it is such a tractable machine and can be
tweaked to most search conditions.
I love my Tesoro Tejon but pound for pound hand on heart the Whites XLT is the
best machine I have ever used.
Thanks Mick for a great review give me your
postal details I will send you something.
Gary
Gary's XLT program
This is the only one I use called Bucks land
*Items marked in red may need adjustment
BASIC
ADJUSTMENTS:
|
Bucks land xlt program |
|
|
TARGET VOLUME |
PERSONAL PREF
|
AUDIO
THRESHOLD |
Faint background hum
|
TONE
(AUDIO FREQ) |
236
|
AUDIO
DISC |
ON
|
SILENT SEARCH |
OFF
|
MIXED-MODE |
OFF
|
A.C.SENSITIVITY |
73 for my soil
|
D.C.SENSITIVITY |
45
|
BACKLIGHT |
0
|
VIEWING ANGLE |
25
|
|
PRO -
OPTIONS |
AUDIO |
RATCHET PINPOINTING |
ON
|
S.A.T. SPEED |
5
|
TONE I.D. |
OFF
|
V.C.O. |
ON
|
ABSOLUTE VALUE |
OFF
|
MODULATION |
ON
|
G.E.B. /
TRAC |
AUTOTRAC |
OFF Re - ground balance if machine
becomes un stable
|
TRAC VIEW |
OFF
|
AUTOTRAC SPEED |
N/A
|
AUTOTRAC OFFSET |
N/A
|
TRAC INHIBIT |
N/A
|
COARSE G.E.B. |
on my soil it is between 42 and 47
|
FINE G.E.B. |
ignore
|
DISCRIMINATION |
DISC
EDIT |
REJ -95 TO -11
|
ACC -10 TO +95
|
BLOCK EDIT |
AS ABOVE
|
LEARN ACCEPT |
OFF
|
LEARN REJECT |
OFF
|
RECOVERY SPEED |
23 Turn down to 15 on a site with low Iron (better depth)
|
BOTTLECAP REJECT |
1
|
DISPLAY |
VISUAL DISC. |
ON
|
ICONS |
OFF
|
V.D.I. SENSITIVITY |
90
|
D.C. PHASE |
OFF
|
GRAPH AVERAGING |
ON
|
GRAPH ACCUMULATING |
ON
|
FADE RATE |
7
|
SIGNAL
TRANSMIT,RECEIVE |
TRANSMIT BOOST |
ON
|
TRANSMIT FREQUENCY |
4
|
PREAMP GAIN |
3 is good ...adjust to suit your
soil conditions
|
Notes : By only
accepting up to -10 you can run a little more power without the machine
becoming unstable. The high VDI setting WILL give some un reliable numbers but dig all 2
way signals, work the target with short sweeps to "lock on", if it wont lock, it
will probably be Iron. Deep signals can sound slightly broken check in pin point, if you
hear a quiet vco it will be worth investigating.
Air and ground balance again if machine becomes unstable.
Don't work slow with this program, a normal walking pace with an even
sweep works best, most Iron will cause a null in the threshold.
I have been using these settings over the last year on several metal detecting
sites around Buckinghamshire.
I hope it works for you.......Please let me know how you get on
Remember OADS
headphones work great on the XLT.
Spectrum XLT Settings explained
|
Basic Adjustments
|
Target Volume: Sets the desired loudness of a
target response. |
Audio Threshold: Sets the desired loudness of
the threshold (background hum). |
Tone (Audio Freq): Adjusts the tone (pitch) of
the threshold (background hum). |
Audio Disc.: All Metal Mode or Discriminate
mode. |
Silent Search: No threshold (background hum) or
threshold (background hum). |
Mixed Mode: Discrimination (A.C.) response or
All Metal (D.C.) and Discrimination (A.C.) response. |
A.C. Sensitivity: Discrimination sensitivity. |
D.C. Sensitivity: All Metal and pinpoint
sensitivity. |
Backlight: 0 is off, 1-6 is on at different
brightness levels. |
Viewing Angle: Adjustment makes the display
easier to see at different temperatures. |
Pro Options
|
Audio
|
Ratchet Pinpointing: Automatically detune the
loop when pinpointing. |
S.A.T. Speed: Adjust the threshold autotune
speed only in no discriminate or mixed mode, has no affect in
discriminate mode. |
Tone I.D.: Identifies targets by assigning each
VDI # a seperate tone. |
V.C.O.: In All Metal or pinpoint mode, target
response will increase in loudness and pitch as coil approaches target
location. |
Absolute Value: BigFoot coil option. |
Modulation: Gives full volume on all targets,
shallow targets may break up a little. This option is forced on when
Silent Search is selected. |
G.E.B. / TRAC
|
Autotrac: Turns the autotrac ON or OFF, this is
good for maintaining a fixed ground balance point. |
Trac View: Allows users to see when the detector
autotracs. |
Autotrac Speed: How fast the detector will
adjust to the ground when autotrac is ON. |
Autotrac Offset: Can add a positive or negative
offset to the ground balance point. |
Trac Inhibit: Allows the cancellation of ground
tracking overs targets. |
Coarse G.E.B.: Adjustment of the coarse G.E.B.
(turn autotrac OFF when using). |
Fine G.E.B.: Adjustment of the fine G.E.B. (turn
autotrac OFF when using). |
Coarse and Fine G.E.B. are used to manually ground
balance the detector. Before using these adjustments, the Autotrac
feature needs to be OFF. Then you adjust the Coarse and Fine settings
until you are close to no variation in sound between the air and ground
when the loop is lifted and lowered. |
Discrimination
|
Disc. Edit |
Accept & Reject: Allows VDI numbers to be
accepted or rejected one at a time. |
Block Edit: Allows VDI numbers to be accepted or
rejected in groups by scrolling. |
Learn Accept: ON allows targets swept in front
of the coil to be accepted by the VDI number the detector reads. |
Learn Reject: ON allows targets swept in front
of the coil to be rejected by the VDI number the detector reads. |
Recovery Speed: How fast the detector recovers
for the next target reading, too high of a setting and depth is lost,
too low and target seperation sensitivity is lost. |
Bottlecap Reject: More iron rejection at a high
setting, nickels tend to sound better at lower settings. |
Display
|
Visual Disc.: Allows the display of all VDI
numbers rejected or accepted when targeted. |
Icons: Allows the display of icons that
represent the targets detected, OFF tends to speed up the display
response. |
V.D.I. Sensitivity: How sensitive the display is
to the target detected, above 85 gives a three digit VDI number. |
D.C. Phase: Gives a D.C. Phase VDI number for
targets detected. |
Graph Averaging: Averages the target VDI hits
for the display. |
Graph Accumulating: Accumulates target VDI bars
on the display instead of clearing out before displaying next target. |
Fade Rate: How fast the displayed target VDI
bars fade from the display, 0 resets the display after each target. |
Signal
|
Transmit Boost: Usually ON, may be better as OFF
when searching a saltwater beach or blacksand. |
Transmit Frequency: Can be changed to alleviate
interference from other detectors operating at the same frequency or
possible interference from electrical sources. |
Preamp Gain: Adjustment of the sensitivity,
higher settings affect both A.C. and D.C. sensitivity. |
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