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Hello, Is the ML Manticore a good gold detector for desert environments? I have only used a now ancient Fisher Gold Bug 2. I have always been a gold dredger, health now prevents it. Maybe next year things will improve. Moving to Las Vegas this fall and would like to detect desert gold. Thanks again Dennis

What a shame that in Europe there is no such offer. They don't celebrate their anniversary here

What a shame that in Europe there is no such offer. They don't celebrate their anniversary here

What a shame that in Europe there is no such offer. They don't celebrate their anniversary here

Last monday I finally started the test phase with the Manticore and the M8 underwater. After a minimum of settings adaptation, I recovered three small and light pieces for a total amount of almost 6 grams in total. Tuesday underwater again and Wednesday wetsand workout, nothing to register...Until today on the wetsand...I was again with the M11 and after the usual coins and an unexpected sinker on the slope, minutes after a solid 17 screaming to dig it. It was a 4.45g 18k piece. What else can I say...Jeez...If there's something left, this is the most similar tool to a vacuum cleaner 😅

This is a price available in Dubai for one of the official agents of a company from a certain period

Nugget Shooter forum members welcome for sure! Just a friendly reminder for those not used to how this forum works…. it is an absolutely zero politics zone. I don’t warn I just delete. I set this place up as a refuge from all that and if people want it there are plenty of other places to get it. This forum by design sticks to dry boring topics like gold prospecting and metal detecting.

Would like some words of wisdom from folks who have tried and used the Minelab 10x5 DD coil on a GPX in my case specifically the 4500 and also for coin and small artefact hunting,i will clarify this setup will never be used for nugget hunting and i am looking at using it on a very prolific roman trading villa sites which has produced 1000s of roman coins. The ground conditions are very every high mineral content,so hence why i am using the GPX but also because mist of the smaller roman coinage on the surface and top 4-5 inches have been snagged all ready,so looking to go slightly deeper and find some more. I have a brand new Coiltek 6'' Mono but looking for a DD coil to use the iron rejection,some words of wisdom regarding the Minelab 10x5 DD would be most welcome. Many thanks

There are a couple dealer ads in the Classifieds. $500 off, new with full warranty - if there was ever a time to pull the trigger and buy a Manticore this is it.

If I didn’t know better I’d think Ron is rubbing these other detector companies nose in it . Don’t look now but some may fire another volley back. Like said it’s just great for us the customer. Chuck

Toss a Steve G carbon middle and lower shaft and Apex is very well balanced. Not a huge weight difference but the machine feels better swinging than the D2 with 9". Apex does handle wet salt sand very well. Extremely quiet machine. Hopefully the new machine will add tracking so transitions between wet and dry sand are smooth.

Usually even in bad ground if the area is dryer ie top of hills as an example the copper alloys hold up bit better. Get into low wet lands then they are usaully toast.

Wait a minute Bill, maybe we should have keep this all a secret! 🙂

Yes Bill, yours is a great revisit, much shorter, and more to the point than mine thank goodness! I'm not brave enough to post mine or even edit it, it is so long! 🙂 I wrote it in the beginning when I first got the Apex and was quite excited about it. I too am a "grunt" audio fan. I turn my (menu) Iron Audio down to "2" and use no discrimination. Don't think I've missed anything yet and it really helps prevent masking in the worst "trash". Amen brother on the "No Test" fun way of life. I'm back to hunting more, writing less myself. Wait a minute, why am I on this forum? 🙂 I do hope Garrett pays attention to those of us who think the Apex is great. Hey everyone, just go to the Garrett "Find of the Month" pages to see all the great things other people are finding with the Apex and other models, if you don't believe Bill and myself! 🙂

You're a good man.

Fortunately the GPX-5000 is still a top priced used detector for a very good reason.

That is a fantastic price for the Manticore. Anyone who has been on the fence about the Manticore needs to get off that fence and do it.

Hi Mike, you are welcome... My iron technique has developed over the years from reading Charles Garrett's books in my early days. A simple fact is iron distorts the "electromagnetic field" generated by your searchcoil. In other words, when you approach a medium to large rusted iron target, your "field" reacts to the iron sooner than a non-ferrous target. If I get a single loud target, sometimes high pitched, that could sound like it is on the surface, I switch to a non-motion pinpoint mode (very slow or no auto-tuned) and pull the searchcoil away from the target area (no sound). Then I move slowly back towards the target without detuning the signal like you might if you were pinpointing it. As I start to hear the target audio, I keep my eye on the ground where this happened and notice how far the opposite side (trailing side) of the searchcoil passes beyond this ground spot. More simply put, if the target response is wider than my searchcoil's width, I can usually count on the target being iron based. If the target is non-ferrous, such as a coin, the signal will be less than or equal to the searchcoil's width. If the signal width is very wide, it can also indicate quite a large target of iron. Very important to not ignore overly loud signals. I have an 1850's NYS Militia Plate on my dresser to remind me of that! Yes, we have all found those deeply (intentionally) buried aluminum soda and beer cans too! Obviously multiple big iron targets near a smaller non-ferrous target is a little more difficult to use this iron technique on. If a little non-ferrous high pitch repeatable blip goes faint or disappears amongst iron as you raise up your searchcoil passes, I'd use my other technique... "When in doubt, dig first, complain later!" 🙂

Hmmmm.... First Texas selling below dealer prices. Now Minelab with super deep discounts. Knife fight in detector land with buyers as winners. Sellers of used detectors, not so much.

Hey Bob. It's so nice to have another Apex fan here on the forum. Back in June last year I posted this: As I think I've said before, detecting is what I do for fun. I don't test, I don't analyze, I just hunt. For me, the Apex is just fun to hunt with. That's all I need. Thanks for this great post. Bill

I had no problem with customer service, used once. Turn around was quick. Second AQ had a bad coil connection on the detector side. It was a easy fix, they sent me a new machine. All took about 3 weeks, they even paid for the postage to them. My only argument with FT ... it should have been a longer warranty since many took a chance, and offered their time. I probably would not have noticed that but look at the D2, a 5 year warranty. At one time Fisher sold many CZ20s..Lifetime warranty.

This must be Minelab’s way of dealing with the competition, about 30% off of their top multi-freq. detector is quite rare of a sale for sure. Stop the Beast, Storm, and the Fire Sale is what Minelab must be thinking for this to occur. Almost competing with the knock off brand prices. Manticore $1199 about 30% off plus another 15% military off for those who served for a total of 45% off. Equinox $999 and also the veterans if you qualify. Free shipping and Oregon is a no tax state. Ron’s Detector’s 208-739-8079 rrlmmc@gmail.com Please support your local small dealers as we are going to be going to the wayside pretty soon with most companies going direct sales. With that being said I will always remember when Gerry, Doc’s and Rob were always the ones to ask technical questions as they usually had the answers.

Here's my theory... When copper and nickel alloyed coins are dropped closer to the time they were minted, the die strike work-hardens the metal surface which makes them more resistant to oxidation. Hunting ground with lower acidity always helps too, but coins that have been in circulation a long time have that "protective skin" worn away and are very vulnerable to oxidation. I have found Large Cents that look like the day they were minted (found in nasty ground) because they were not circulation worn. Large Cents from the same time period that were heavily circulated are nearly worthless to look at! Yes phrunt, if Garrett can advance the ergonomics, simplicity, and comfort factor of the Apex and make it more all-terrain, they are building on an already winning design in my eyes. I have already easily dug older coins at 10" with the Apex, not sure I need or want to dig any deeper! Many of my best coins over the years have been in the 6-8" depth range with old and new detectors.

Can’t help with the schematic but here is the circuit board circa 2016. Click or double click to get the high resolution version.

Hey Kac... Bad rap or not, I haven't been happier in years using a detector like I have been with the Apex. Works extremely well in my environments. I have always prided myself in being able to find good targets with just about any metal detector, but none have been so comfortable to use like the Apex has been. What is really needed to make great finds is finding a great place to use it on and having your searchcoil over the target, not how much you can spend on a detector. My own early air test sensitivity observations between the D2-11 General and the Apex-11x6 Custom... The Apex won hands down. I was getting great response to my 14K wedding ring at beyond 11" at full sensitivity. In my soil, I didn't find the D2 any deeper than the Apex, both with 11" round and elliptical respectively. The D2 was more hungry for small rusted iron. The only difference I saw was in target separation tests, the D2 won there only because you have the ability to adjust the speed of the reactivity, the Apex you do not. But these are tests and not real live situations. However, increasing target separation by increasing reactivity has the unfortunate trade-off of reducing depth penetration. Garrett seems to have dialed in a sweet spot for the Apex's reactivity. You wouldn't believe what I found in one hour on an old trash embankment with the Apex. It does a good enough job for me at 1/3 the price. The Viper and Ripper so far has earned my "best coil I have ever used on any detector" award. Great weight, great depth, great construction, and great maneuverability. Slower sweep speeds in iron on most of today's motion discriminators is a good choice, it helps you maintain coil angularity and tighter overlap as well. It has taken me many years to not be so competitive with myself! Will Garrett address the modulated audio vs. the hybrid audio as an option? I honestly have no clue, but there are times having a punchy audio was just what I needed in the face of strong ambient noise. I was a big fan of the AT-Pro audio as it was softer and had less edge on the ears, but I have gotten used to watching my depth gauge in the search mode and not the pinpoint mode anyway. It is quite accurate on items it has been primarily calibrated for. You can actually hear a difference between deep and surface targets with hybrid, but it is quite subtle... Deep targets have less "blip" to the edge as you say. I always listen to my modulated all-metal pinpoint audio strength when gauging depths. I have never used the Apex on a conductive salt beach, but I hear it is quite good. I guess I'll have to learn to take a vacation now and then! 🙂