Jim, you own one of the absolute best, all-time-ever-made detectors. Period! New
Posted by: Monte [ Send a Message ]
Date: 5 hours ago Registered: 5 years ago
Posts: 2,896 

It's 4:34 am and I just finished answering a PM as well as an E-mail dealing with the XL Pro. It was originally called the 6000 Pro XL but was unchanged except for the name to XL Pro. Somehow, in a moment of weakness, I sold a fellow my last XL Pro simply because he seriously offered me a very decent amount and I figured I'd pick up another in short order. Well, I haven't but am on the search, but being a rather picky guy I like all of my detector to be, and to be kept, new or as close to it as possible. Thus, I am in search of a pristine, perfect-working XL Pro.

As others have mentioned, I am a fan of this model, but I am a real fan because I rely on two coils. You didn't mention which coil you were using but i like the stock 950 coil for open-area searches where the target-count is sparse. Plowed fields looking for old building or activity remains, or large, well-hunted grassy parks and such were there are not a lot of targets (shallower) so I can get a bit of depth of the deeper, possibly older coins. I only use the 950 coil about 5% to maybe 10% of the time. Most of my hunting with virtually any White's model (XLT, XL Pro, modified IDX Pro, MXT, M6) is done with one of White's 6½" diameter concentric coils. With the XLT, IDX Pro and XL Pro that would be the 5.3 BullsEye (or similar coil such as 5.3 Black Max or Blue Max 600).

The key to success, for me, with the XL Pro is to keep the Discrimination level low ... such as just where I knock out a surface/shallow iron nail. Next, make sure you have a proper slight audio humm with the tuned Threshold setting. Next, set the Signal Balance (called Pre-Amp Gain on the XLT) as high as possible while still retaining stability. Sometimes I bump it a little over but try to keep it right at the 'edge of stability.'

Finally, I check the surrounding ground and adjust for a slightly positive Ground Balance. It might take a little practice to get the right coil positioning to do it manually, but I usually start with the coil about 8" to 12" from the ground, seldom more, and get my 'Air' beep, then move it to about ½" and toggle to Track to get the Ground Balance setting. Once I get the 'beep' for that I toggle to Lock and then check the setting. If I hold the coil about 6" off the ground, trigger to Pinpoint and lower the coil, I like to hear a very slight increase (slightly positive). If the coil is on the ground and I then pull the trigger into Pinpoint, I do NOT want to hear an audio increase as I raise the coil as that would indicate I had a too negative GB and the result could be some falsing.

So, from time to time I might take 15-60 seconds to do the GB procedure and try to get a GB setting that is just slightly positive (increases slightly as the coil is lowered) and often I have to find a rock or something a bit more mineralized at the site. it sounds difficult but in time it really isn't. Regardless, I always prefer to Lock the GB setting rather than allow the XL Pro to 'track' the ground. That's because I am often hunting in sites with iron junk and that will cause it to track off from where it should be and can hamper good target detection and TID.

When set up properly the XL Pro is NOT a fast sweep detector. It can be swept faster if desired since it is a 4-filter design and handles mineralized ground very well, but when the Signal Balance is goosed up you can get by with a very comfortable somewhat slow-to-moderate sweep speed. I personally love the strong audio response and the single-tone pitch of the XL Pro. I have owned a couple of the modded units and, honestly, I didn't care for their overall performance. Quite frankly, if i wanted good tone ID from White's I'd use the XLT, but I usually prefered NOT to use Tone ID as I feel the XL Pro provides some very serious performance just the way it comes!

Now, take the time to learn and master your XL Pro. if for some reason you just don't take to it, and it's in choice condition, I know an old phart who's looking for another pristine XL Pro so shoot me an e-mail. 
