Skate

I have all 3 of the coils. Each has it's place. Withe M8 you have to slow you roll so you can cover everything. The 15" is like swinging a garbage can lid in terms of coverage and on my beaches it's deep like a PI. If you're dating the manticore you can get away with just having the 11". If you're getting married to the Manticore you will regret not having the 15".

In my neck of the woods most folks are still swinging the 800. I loved the 800 but I love the 2D screen more and the expanded TID range. That being said that is a great sale and with gold at $2400 an ounce you can easily pay for your machine if you are concerned about that sort of thing.

You are wise to share your finds with the owners. You reap what you sow and more than what you sow. Good on you.

Spent 3 hours in the wet sand until I got chased out by high tide with the M8. It was so quiet even at 22-23 and it only started chirping when I bumped it up to 24. The beach I hit was pretty sanded in so I didn't find anything of value but that's on the beach, not the coil. I did find though the tiniest of scrap metals and they mostly sounded off well so in terms of it finding small gold I can say I think it's going to be a winner. I've never hunted the beach with a coil of this size so I had to really slow down in order to cover the ground better. Psychologically I see that small coil at the end of the shaft and I'm thinking there is no way I should be out here with it but that's on me. I had to find a ring for a customer last night in heavy weeds and it was perfect for that type of search so I know it's money well spent. My beaches are missing two things, sun and depositors. Hopefully we will have both soon.

I hope you come home with more gold and I really hope I do too. I'll be on the left coast working an oncoming tide around 7am my time. Here's to you finding what was once lost!

Got my coil today and took it to the park near me for a quick run through. I've never used the small coils and man this looks like I have a tiny tupperware lid on the end of a stick. I didn't recover anything earth shattering but it did as expected. I'm going to take it to the beach tomorrow and run it all over the wet sand and see if I can drudge anything up. I have to admit I feel kind of inadequate with it on there and I'm not compensating for anything. Hopefully i can bring home some gold.

Thank you and I agree. My plan is to participate and pay for training. I know the value of quality education and the price of not getting one. I’m putting a plan in place as I write this. Your story should be a lesson for everyone.

Here I was thinking this was an average size paperback. The book is solid enough that if you didn't find gold you could beat someone pretty good who was trying to steal it. Exciting times getting into gold!

Good to hear. I usually run the 15" at 17-19 sensitivity so being able to up it a bit with the M8 sounds like it could brighten up a beach a bit. I've been waiting for some global warming to come to the left coast so I can get some depositors out there but we have a couple of inches of rain forecast for Easter weekend and every day has been primarily 60 degrees at the beach so not many are needing sunscreen. The Post Office ruined my plans today as I was scheduled to get my M8 tonight but it was rerouted to Hemet which is about 4 hours SE of me so now I may have to wait until Thursday to get it out there. I'm excited to swing it. Hope there is more gold in your scoop!

I'm hopefully getting my M8 in the next day or so. My question is why do you think it's so good on the wet sand? I've read where several folks are finding a lot of success with it on the beach where usually depth and coverage is king and a smaller coil usually brings disadvantages. The 15" on the beach is what I usually swing but maybe with the Manticore less is more? I'd love to hear what you think.

In an old park you dig them and you begin to catalog them mentally looking for similarities in ones that were trash and those that were treasure. Older parks usually have layers of sediment where coins and jewelry have settled over time. A coin lost on the surface 100 years ago could be 10" down if the park was mowed regularly over time. As you log more hours on the Manticore you will begin to know better what is possibly under your coil with or with out the 2d or TID. Everyone has their personal threshold of what it is worth to them to dig. I'm primarily a jewelry hunter so I mainly dig trash when I'm in a park and a ton of it but that's what drives me to detect, the hope that the next 29-30 is finally going to be a ring instead of a pulltab. I'd rather dig and discover than not dig but thats just me.

3 rings is a great day! Congrats

It's ironic that in the years I've been on this forum I have never really gone into the top prospector one, just headed into coins or jewelry or one of the detector specific forums, I didn't know what I didn't know. I want to thank everyone who has contributed as there has been a bunch of great information and advice. I've already bought a couple of books and me and the dogs are waiting for the Amazon truck to get here. I've got to sit the wife down and make some promises I may not be able to keep. I'm sold on getting one on one training so that is my next thing to research and plan for. Thanks to all

Excellent advice and I thank you all for helping out. Looks like I'll be joining GPAA, buying Chris's book and getting some one on one training. Best to all

After all these years of detecting I'm considering adding gold prospecting to my game. I've never started just because my location did not make it seem like a fruitful thing to do given the beach and parks are always close by. It also hurt because the wife refused to allow me to put a wash plant in the backyard so I could pretend I was a miner. So that being said where to begin? I have my Manticore and Equinox but beyond that I have no clue how to read the ground or tell if something is going to be gold bearing. If you were advising someone just starting out what would the path be? Would you advise them to join and organization like GPAA? Pay someone like Gerry to take you into the goldfields and get a crash course in prospecting or take a more cerebral approach and digest as much of this forum and books as possible? I have time and in no hurry at the moment. The current economy has put a damper on some of my pursuits so funds are not unlimited. I gotta be smart as to how I get going on this and I figured this was the place and the group to ask. I'm located in Ventura County and I know at one time there was gold in our hills but maybe not so much anymore. Thanks in advance! Skate