Steve Herschbach

Because the odds might be low, they are not zero. So you guys hit a place repeatedly, notching out your low odds targets. Eventually the target id numbers you are digging will find nothing. It’s not a matter of if, but when. At that point you either abandon the location, or go dig the numbers you passed up before. If you don’t, somebody else will. As good finds deplete people drift more and more to digging everything, because eliminating any trash item also can eliminate good items. Thats why looking for reasons not to dig is in the long run a fruitless endeavor. It only works when cherry picking works, and eventually cherry picking will play out at any location. Nugget hunters figured this out a long time ago.

This is not a discussion forum. Please limit posts only to ads or inquiries directly relating to the purchase of the items for sale. Thanks.

Combining Tom and Andy's results for maximum safety plus a few key references: $1 Type-2 & 3 = 20 - 21 $1 Type-1 = 23 - 24 U.S. Nickel = 25 - 27 $2.50 Quarter Eagle = 37 - 38 $5.00 Half Eagle = 49 - 53 Zinc Penny = 60 - 61 $10.00 Eagle = 65 - 66 $20.00 Double Eagle = 76 - 78 Clad Dime = 77 - 78 Minelab Manticore U.S. Gold Coin Chart

Thnaks Andy. I did find a 2022 post by PSPR that relayed information imparted originally by Tom Dankowski. I have copied it here. A general match up but some difference in the $5 coin. Maybe a change in later firmware? Here are a few from NASA-Tom: A new shiny Nickel ID's as '27'..... and will very clearly lock on to 27. A new clad Quarter ID's as '88'...... and does not jump around...... unless it is steeply tilted. A new clad dime ID's as '78'. A silver dime ID's as '80'..... unless it is heavily worn down. These are just a few examples. Magnetite/lateritic iron-oxide dirt will cause ID's to 'up-average'..... to a certain point (depth)...... then at the deeper depths....... ID's will then begin to drop. Federally minted U.S. Gold Coin ID on Manticore = $1 Type-1 = 23 $1 Type-2 & 3 = 20 $2.50 Quarter Eagle = 37 & 38 $5.00 Half Eagle = 49-53 $10.00 Eagle = 65 $20.00 Double Eagle = 76, 77, 78 1-Oz .9999 Canadian Mapleleaf = 95 U.S. 3-Cent Nickel = 12-16

I suspect that not only have you gotten technically more proficient at metal detecting, but that your research methods narrowed down the areas where those quality finds were to be made and you focused on hitting them. With better machines, yes, but I'm thinking the key to those quality finds is really between your ears.

It’s not that hard to find gold nuggets if all a person wants to do is be a hobbyist and find a few. It’s the making solid money detecting gold nuggets that has gotten extremely difficult. In a way it’s too little too late, but drying up does not mean dry, just getting there. Think silver coins. Not gone, but they sure are rarer finds than 40 years ago, even though machines are far better now. But on the other hand high PI prices have been a barrier to ownership for many; a good low price PI will find buyers, as Alfoforce has already proved. Also, rising gold prices is boosting interest in chasing even the crumbs that are left. Occasional large nugget finds keep the hope alive. Long story short there is still a market for a gold nugget PI, but as Minelab knows very well the heyday is long over. It’s just competition fighting over ever smaller pieces of pie 🙂 This is a real problem overall for all detector companies now. There is not one area of detecting that is not facing declining returns. People still beach hunt, still hunt for silver coins, still hunt for relics, still chase gold nuggets. Newbies are still enticed into the fold. But I doubt any of us here who have been at this long think things are as good as they used to be. In a way we are victims of our own success. Long story short Nokta has indeed missed the big bus with this detector that should have come years ago and now they will be fighting for a seat already taken by others. As a nugget hunter I know there is nothing they can do that will really matter except make a machine that clearly blows away a GPZ 7000 and I am not holding my breath for that. In the area of affordable PI AlgoForce is already taking sales from Nokta in Australia, and it’s only the delay in reaching the U.S. that’s giving Nokta any breathing room here. Yes, they are way too late compared to what they might have achieved just three years ago prior to the GPX 6000 release. What the market clearly lacks at this time, the machine that I personally would buy, is one that is a very good nugget detector but that also is a fully submersible water machine. Minelab only offers the SDC 2300 but it’s a joke for water detecting since it floats like a cork. Axiom, AlgoForce… not waterproof. Impulse AQ Gold dead before arrival. What I was hoping for from Nokta was a machine that would extend my nugget detecting by also being an excellent beach detector. I would sell all my other PI detectors to own that machine. I think others would also. If there is not a model that captures that desire, then not only will Nokta be late to the party, but they will have lost my interest in this detector. It’s the one thing really left to do, make a good alternative to the 7 lb Garrett ATX. Not a very high bar, but are they even going to try? The initial ad blurb is not promising. I need something better than this…..

Nokta Gold Pie Generated with AI ∙ April 23, 2024 Nokta Relic Pie Generated with AI ∙ April 23, 2024

It works both ways. On a brands only forum one can easily sing the praises of a detector without having to say another detector is bad by comparison. I also did a lot of detector reviews, and I rarely did them by comparing to some other machine. I just talked about what I liked about a particular detector and offered tips for how to get the best out of it. I’d mention a thing or two I did not like also - no machine is perfect. But it never required comparing to some other detector. That’s the best way to go on a brand forum as using the place to knock some other brand ends up chumming for pushback.

I have used the Tenergy with no problems. Here is an older thread on the subject. Since I mainly nugget hunt my pinpointers really don't get enough use to justify using rechargeables and I've reverted to using regular 9Vs.

I find the idea nobody has thought of this or looked at it as a possibility - ignored it - to be rather amusing. Of course it has been looked at and found wanting. Hook a signal analyzer up to any audio output of any metal detector and you will find out why. Test real world targets - lab demonstrations are fine and dandy but not how it works in the real world. Hunting by ear can reveal differences people go by, but anyone that has dug enough targets knows bad sounding signals can be great finds, and great sounding targets can be junk. Part of this game is effiecient target recovery and over analyzing signals is generally counterproductive.

From https://cornellpubs.com/manufacturer/hubley-toy/ "Hubley — Founded by John Hubley in about 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Hubley Manufacturing Company made cast iron toys. Its earliest products were trains and trolleys powered by live steam, electricity, or spring mechanisms. Hubley produced stoves and still banks beginning in 1909. It later added horse-drawn fire and circus wagons, cap pistols, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and, in the 1920s, dollhouse kitchen appliances. By 1940 Hubley had become the world’s largest manufacturer of cast-iron toys. Increasing freight charges and foreign competition made the company switch to die-cast toys of a zinc alloy. Hubley was acquired by Gabriel Industries in 1965 and now produces die-cast zinc and plastic toys as well as hobby kits." Photo of a similar model for sale here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256318411250

Just a reminder - this is the Garrett Forum for people who like and appreciate their Garrett detectors, where they can do so without people telling them that Brand X is better. You want to make brand to brand comparisons, take it to the Comparisons Forum. I also do not find the Apex to be a powerhouse in my soil and have said so, but I don’t make it my mission to make sure I repeat that on every thread on the Garrett Forum to people who are happy with theirs. I truly feel sorry for people who own and enjoy a Garrett Ace 150 or a Bounty Hunter. They go out and have fun and find things. Then they find a forum or get on Facebook, and get told what they own is not “the best” by all the people who are sure they own “the best.” There is a general elitist attitude on these forums that can’t tolerate anyone saying anything good about anything other than a dozen detector models. Own anything else and you will rapidly be made into a second class citizen here… and leave. Great, maybe your car is better than my car, but truth is I like my car and I don’t want your car. Maybe people just like and want to support Garrett products regardless of whether somebody else thinks they should not.

Back in the day you had a discrimination knob. Everything below the knobs setting was rejected, everything above accepted. People often tuned it up to right below copper penny (no zinc in those days) to get the silver coins, but nickels were also blocked out. Or you could set it to get nickels but then dug lots of pull tabs. The first advance in knob based discrimination was the ability to "notch" the nickel range back in. This often took the form of a second knob and a moveable "window" of acceptance. Or it could be reversed to knock out a single items selectively - "notch it out." Notch accept or notch reject. When digital came along it gave us the ability to create multiple notch scenarios. click or double click image for large readable version

You know Simon that using a PI to ignore pellets is no different than notching the low end pellet responses out with a VLF? Either way you miss gold and either way you don’t dig pellets. The first few non-ferrous numbers on the VLF scale are basically reacting according to size, the bigger the gold bit, the higher the number.

Thanks Jeff. To be honest I’ve been needing some inspiration and motivation, and your post helps provide just that!

This used to be my forums links list: AK Gold Forum Aussie Gold Detecting AZ Gold Prospectors AZO Carl's DFXonly Find's Forums Finders Geotech Gold & Coin Gold Detecting GPAA Forum Kinzli Nevada Nugget Hunters New 49'ers NuggetShooter's NV Nugget Rob's TDI Tech THunting Treasure Depot TreasureNet UK White's Forum White's TDI Most of them are gone now, and out of the U.S. based forums with a nugget detecting community I think it is pretty much down to Rob and I now. Facebook and YouTube have really taken a toll.

I don't see why anyone would think prospectors don't need ferrous disc. A gold PI is typically going to be designed to hit the tiniest bits possible and that can also mean tiny ferrous bits. A relic PI might be more tuned to hit bullet size targets at max depth while being less sensitive to every tiny bit of ferrous trash. In theory though you can do both in one detector so interesting to see why they feel the need for two models. It could be nothing more than what coil the machine comes with. We have no idea what the detector really looks like but let's go with the fuzzy profile as being real. Standard configuration with collapsing three piece rod, fairly large underarm battery. Big question - it it submersible? Beach hunters will be disappointed once again if the answer is no.

Finally! First we had Algoforce but now the real battle starts in pulse induction, with Nokta likely to set new price/performance ratios i.e. bang for the buck. "Join our naming competition and get a chance to win one of our future Pulse Induction machines! One designed for gold prospecting and another one for relic hunting! These detectors will redefine affordability and performance for you to break free from the grip of overpriced alternatives!" ENTER CONTEST Deadline April 30th

First we had Algoforce but now the real battle starts in pulse induction, with Nokta likely to set new price/performance ratios i.e. bang for the buck. "Join our naming competition and get a chance to win one of our future Pulse Induction machines! One designed for gold prospecting and another one for relic hunting! These detectors will redefine affordability and performance for you to break free from the grip of overpriced alternatives!" ENTER CONTEST Deadline April 30th

Nice to hear a no holds barred no regrets testimonial.

That's not how it works. Volcanic mode is for ground so bad the other modes fail and by definition that ground is the ground where that setting outperforms the other settings. In other words, your test bucket is not bad enough to need volcanic mode. In ground where it is not called for you lose depth, not gain it, which is why almost nobody uses it. I have run into very few people who understand how the timings work on detectors like a GPX 5000. People get it backwards and think settings for bad ground are more powerful when in reality it is the exact opposite. As the ground conditions get worse, each timing is progessively less powerful but works better in bad ground than the more powerful modes due to blowback. It's a balancing act, and timings are nothing more than base sensitivity levels. You reduce sensitivty to handle worsening ground condition - increasing sensitivity as ground worsens is counterproductive. As ground gets milder, increase sensitivity, as it worsens, reduce sensitivity. Less is more in bad ground. In general you use the most powerful mode you can until it is counterproductive. How do you know? In field testing on your ground. That is why people using canned settings provided by people in totally different locations is a complete joke. You have to learn what the settings do and learn to adjust them for your circumstances, and that means doing it yourself on your ground. This is a GPX 5000 timing chart but the rationale for how to tune it in lower right is just as true with the Impulse or any other PI detector, and applies to pulse delay, etc. In a nutshell bad ground calls for turning down the power, in good ground turn it up.

I’d expect 800s to still be the norm. The question is, for those that are switching, what are they switching to? Legend, D2, or Manticore? I ruffle feathers when I say the tech has maxed because people want to believe detectors have no limits. I think however many people are seeing that for some applications at least, like nugget hunting or beach detecting, the Equinox 800 is still a top performer. Gains are very hard to come by with the current state of the technology.

Actually there was an anything goes sub-forum for years that finally got nuked as even Bill got fed up with it. That plus the “sooner or later” and “habitual offenders” is why I made the comment. Action here is immediate and more than once is a probable ban. I actually hate being a watchdog so the easiest solution is to get rid of those that need watching. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a jerk to new arrivals. I just don’t want anyone being caught unawares by my evil draconian oversight.

It IS the new machine! The fact that this seems like a U.S. only thing would seem to indicate weak sales here combined with the U.S. managers desire to boost the end of quarter reporting. This kind of sale though does less to generate new sales than rob from future Manticore sales, so the job gets even harder next quarter. I think the Deus 2 is proving to be stiffer competition than Minelab ever thought would happen with Manticore. @Bill (S. CA) reports lots of D2 and very few Manticore on So. Cal beaches. The relic hunters seem to favor the D2. Maybe the scene is different on Florida beaches?

Buy it from Doc in Las Vegas and you will have a built in pointy finger. https://docsdetecting.com/