Steve Herschbach

So yours is a 21 Simon? Mine is not the latest from the factory, more like a last fall model.

Under General Settings and the Software Version you will also see the Hardware Version listed. Mine is Hardware Version 21 - anyone see anything different? I'm not saying a higher number is better as I don't know what this really means. Maybe different countries have different hardware versions for some reason? But if we all have 21 then it's moot. I thought it was interesting though as usually something like hardware changes, more common than people think, are kept secret. Otherwise people tend to go nuts over it. The Gold Bug 2 for example has had many hardware changes from early days until now due to changing parts availability.

Yup. The silence is deafening. Is it so hard to just tell us what is coming and about when it will arrive? I have the attention span of a gnat and have already moved on.

Except the market is not about what any one of us desire. Fact is far more people want to see something to compete with the other top SMF, expecially since Axiom was the last release. Chances are you have to be satisfied with the SDC 2300 and me with the empty spot where my Impulse AQ was sitting.

Air tests are a must for establishing baseline results. In ground it can be all over the map depending on mineralization and adjacent targets. Thanks for adding to the results!

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.

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