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Field Test Report

White's Matrix M6

  by Maz

As a former dealer in metal detectors I was pleased to be contacted by White's of Inverness and asked to write an independent field test report on their latest machine the Matrix M6. In fairness to White's they know me well, and totally agreed that the report should include a "warts and all". I feel that this is the only way to carry out a proper field test.

At the time of writing, there seems to be a glut of what can only be described as mid-range, mid-priced, mid-performance machines on the market. Would this be another example? Only a thorough test would reveal all.

The first thing that was very noticeable was the lightness of the detector, which is nicely balanced and is of the usual good build quality that you expect from White's. It comes housed in the similar case style as the MXT. If it can perform as well, I thought, then White's will have a winner.

Beach Test

The first opportunity I had to try out the M6 was on our club's annual beach hunt in early January. Despite the cold, about 35 members of the Rhondda Club descended onto the beach at Barry Island. We were only out-numbered by dogs and their owners, kite flyers, parents, kids with humongous remote controlled cars, and two silly "whatsits" on a cart affair attached to a parachute. Other than that we had the beach to ourselves.

Like an idiot, I didn't bother to read the instructions that came with the M6, after all, it only has two knobs and a switch. What could be complicated in that? Well, like the MXT to achieve perfection in performance you need to ground balance the machine correctly (although there is a "switch-on-and-go" routine for idiots like me). This also involves a very quick ground balance in the "on" position; a few pumps of the search head to and from the ground and you are ready to go.

The M6 is of the same basic shape as the MXT, but much lighter in feel and use; you are subject to no arm fatigue with this machine and the display is fair sized and readable...in both strong sunlight and low light conditions.

I went off to search the dry sand and soon started to recover decimal 1p and 2p pieces. I had switched the machine into "auto-track" mode, with discrimination just below "1". I soon had about 30p in coins, mostly recovered just below the surface. Within an hour my tally had risen to £1.96 in 1p, 2p and 5p coins and I had also recovered a silver ring with a yellow stone set in it.

By this time I had gained a feel for the machine and began to like it. The various tones for different coins take a bit of getting used to, but I always think that's half the fun when trying any new detector....it's literally a learning curve.

The wet sand was my next objective and I switched the M6 over to "salt" mode. I noticed two of my good pals had been working a stretch of beach with their top of the range machines - exploring the potential, you might say! Apart from a few holes, they had left drag lines (caused by dragging your digger along the sand as you detect).

I started to detect along these lines and soon had my first coin, yet another 2p. This came up from a depth of about 5 inches. Within the hour I had found seven 2p's, four 1p's a junk jewellery broach in the shape of a letter "C" and a silver ear-ring. All of these finds came from a section of the beach that had been searched by two other detectorists. Possibly they had their discrimination set too high?

I did find that I was experiencing some one-way "chatter" on parts of the beach and this got considerably worse when within range of other detectorists who were using multi-frequency machines. I put this down to co-interference and not ground balancing the machine properly. A slight reduction in sensitivity did help.

Inland

My next trip out was to one of our club sites over the border in the south of England. It was inland this time, as I wanted to try the depth and discrimination of the M6. After a quick ground balance (reading the instruction book this time) I was away. I buried a £1 coin at 7 inches and the M6 gave a good, clear signal in audio but the display jumped around a bit. Next I tried a £2 coin at 9 inches, again it gave a good clear audio response, but again the display could not make its' mind up on what numbers to display. (In normal circumstances I would have dug that target up anyway).

I decided to experiment and gradually removed the soil from within the target area. When I reached about 6 inches from the coin, the display "locked-on" and gave a positive identification number and the "10c" logo. Surprisingly, the depth indicator said 6 inches. I was impressed. I was equally impressed at pulling up a .22 bullet fragment at about the same depth and a silver florin at 8 inches with a very steady display of plus 82 and strong audio.

In good soil conditions you can turn the sensitivity right up. The machine will give you about 9 inches on a £1 coin, but you will experience some "chatter", but mark my words, 9 inches is plenty deep enough. Apart from a grotty Roman coin and a few ubiquitous shotgun cartridges, there was not much happening in terms of finds. However, the M6 was totally ignoring the iron. If at any time the display flashes from "iron" to any other symbol (American coins, ring-pulls, etc.) when you dig the target up (as I did to test the discrimination) it is always rusty bits of crud.  The M6 was fooled by a horseshoe at over a foot depth (no pun intended) but then all machines are.

Coke can fool a number of machines, but the M6 - set at number "1" on the discrimination setting will give a short audio tone, flash up minus "2" and "iron/foil". This was a great help on this particular site, which was iron infested with hot rocks (stones that display magnetic properties). If they are a problem they can be easily eliminated with the M6. Simply place an example on the ground, balance the machine over it, and then move the toggle to "lock".

The M6 has two modes of operation: mixed audio, a different tone for different metals: and a fixed tone. For inland searching I preferred the single tone. As White's users know, deep positive signals - although possibly confusing the metering section of the machine - still come through as quiet but "positive" two-way bleeps. I learnt a long time ago that these signals should never be ignored.

Conclusion

The M6 is not just another mid-range detector. The very fact that this machine works well on the beach, sets it apart from others and may be a desirable factor when prospective buyers are looking for more varsatility. The discrimination is very good and with the M6 operating at 14kHz, it should love "hammered" coins and gold of any kind.

The M6 is possibly not as deep as the MXT, but within its class it can hold its own. Besides being a versatile all-rounder, the M6 is a "switch-on-and-go" machine. If you are not familiar to the feel and sound of a White's detector, it may require a little time to adjust to. But once the detector has been mastered the results will speak for themselves.

Coming in at around £550, I think the M6 represents good value within its class. Battery life is fantastic. (It runs on eight AA cells). I used this machine on five detecting trips and it is still going strong on the original batteries.

If there is a personal dislike, it is the name "M6". I hope this is not going to be a trend of White's to name machines after motorways. Could there be a White's M25? I hope not.

click here to go to the White's Matrix M6 Metal Detector.