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With all of the talk about the Manticore, Deue II and Legend, I thought I would take out my old Equinox and see if the poor outdated detector could find anything. Son of a gun, it still works. Yes that's sarcasm. I hadn't been to the parks in many many months with my Equinox so I decided to hit an old LA park Sunday morning just for fun. While I didn't hit anything great, I was reminded of what a truly exceptional detector the Equinox is. Its separation with the stock coll in high trash is just astonishing. I hunted a slope by an old merry-go-round in Griffith Park, a spot that has been hit and hit and hit and hit for many years. It is literally a carpet of low conductors. If you want do dig 15's through 18's all day let me know and I'll send you the GPS coordinates. Despite all of this trash i was able to pull out over two bucks in long-burined, dirty clad, including a 1951S Wheatie. It was really fun and I just love the way that the Equinox can see through the trash. The only downer for me was that I couldn't pull one single nickel despite digging a ton of 13's. This slope had a lot of a certain type of old pull tab that read a solid 13 with good tone and they fooled me every time. Anybody else run into these buggers? In summing up, I'll just say that I'm interested in these new machines just like everybody else. But this hunt reminded me of what a special detector the Equinox is and personally I am in no hurry to send it to the closet. Bill

I got a call the other day from a very dear friend of mine. We go back over 30 years. He's part owner of a 500 acre duck club here in the Delta. Mike who is the head honcho of the club was brushing a couple of the blinds as duck season is only a few weeks away. At some point he noticed his wedding ring was missing. Frantic he searched all over for it but you know how that goes. I was able to get out there yesterday...4 days after the fact. They drive me out in the side by side to one of the two spots that it could have been lost. Turn on the detector do a quick noise cancel then ground balance and start making my way around the outside of the blind. Took about 4 minutes to locate the ring a solid 14 on the Nox. The best and funniest part was when Mike yelled out "I cant believe you found it" Then my buddy gets all excited and tells him "you see I told you he knows what he's doing" lol Mike sends his wife of over 40 years the picture of the ring and boy did she sound happy. I found out afterwards that he had someone else out there with a detector right after he lost it but no luck. I can see how some of you ring finders get a kick out of this stuff...sorry for the crappy photos my friend needs a better phone lol strick

I made a post a few weeks ago in the "Metal Detecting for Jewelry" section of the DP forum that included a short discussion about not finding gold with the D2. I had read a few posts about the Deus II not hitting tiny gold and maybe that got in my head, but since getting my D2 in April of this year, I haven't found any gold. Of course I started wondering if my detector had a problem or if I have a problem using it correctly, however I've had no problems hitting silver and copper coins and jewelry. In that thread, @F350Platinum and @dogodog suggested going back to basics and running with less filters and stock programs and dig it all to be confident that I'm finding it all and also note what I'm finding. I decided to take this sage advice and went out to an older school in my area to see what I could find. There was a small chance of silver coins there because of the age of the school, but I also know the whole town has been hammered with detectors since the 70s. When I got the D2, and being new to XP detectors, I started out with the General program to get somewhat familiar as suggested by many here and it did help quite a bit to get acclimated to a completely different machine than I was use to. I then slowly began to explore the other programs and really clicked with the Relic and Fast programs for my in land hunting. I have updated to the current version 0.71 and it seems to be working well for me overall. I've only made minor tweaks to my Relic and Fast programs and saved them. In the Relic program, I have only changed the IAR for 0 to 3 and the Sensitivity from 95 to 96. The Fast program I have changed the Discrimination from 6.8 to 9 to deal with my pesky round head nails, set the Sensitivity from 90 to 96, BCaps at 3, the Reactivity from 3 to 2.5, and the Audio Response from 4 to 5. For this experiment, I ran the stock General, Relic, Fast, and a Fast OP (Open) program which is stock but with Notch set to Off, Sensitivity 96, BCaps Off, and Silencer Off. I hit the school on the weekend for two 4 hour hunts, starting off in the Open Fast program, which was remarkably stable, and I could hear eveything in the ground including ant farts. When I hit good sounding and even not so good sounding targets, I would double check with stock General, Relic, and Fast programs and also my custom saved Fast program. I dug everything and on all 5 programs the responses were the same, however some targets sounded better to me on the Relic and Fast programs than they did in the General program. I also checked some targets with Sensitive and Sensi FT programs, but liked the sound of the Pitch Tones of Relic and Fast better. I gridded two sections of the school and still have two more to do. I did not find any gold or silver at this location so far, but after digging everything and experimenting with all the programs listed above, I do feel like I didn't miss a thing. I will continue the experiment at this location again, but so far I'm feeling confident that if I had swung the D2 coil over gold I would have hit it. So thanks to F350 and Dogo for your suggestions, I think it helped a lot. Here's a look at what I did find: Hunt #1: Hunt #2: ... and yes Bob there was another finger nail and this one was metal! 😱 This is less than half of the foil and can slaw dug, but I tossed a lot of it in the trash can during the hunts.

I hunted for over thirty years with a single frequency detector and now hunt with a multi frequency detector. You may ask if I would go back to a single frequency detector and I say yes at a push of a button when I want . In some case’s you will find a single are not a lot of difference in price but the Simplex is a exception to the rule when it comes to price. It just may come down to how much money you have to spend. If so let your pocket book be your guide. The first time you find that diamond ring and your wife slips it on her finger the sky is the limit on what you can spend on a detector. I say go multi frequency and you can hunt in a single frequency when you want. But if you really think they are too expensive then go buy you a bass boat. haha Chuck

This is what modern (1983-current) US zinc pennies look like after being in my Colorado park iron rich soils after only a few years. I suspect that fertilizer chemicals may have something to do with how fast they degrade. However, copper US pennies (1982 and earlier) usually come out of my ground looking very good with a nice patina, but no degrading.

Part 1 My first attempt of a video, please excuse the sound on part 2, not sure why its cutting out. These examples are for the hottest ground. The Equinox works great at target separation in low mineralized ground.

For those of you who live in Ca (& elsewhere) if you would like to be "my guest" at our 160 acre claim in the vicinity of the Schmidt Burro tunnel(sp?) side of the El Paso mountains the weekend of Oct 7,8 & 9 PM me back. I know it's short notice but thought I'd throw it out there. When I was 1st starting prospecting I could have used some "local knowledge" to get tips on dry washing & detecting for gold. I have one 6000 owner coming from Nevada to try his luck on the claim I found 2 nice nuggets so I thought what the heck I'll just invite some others such as Gold Catcher, GotAU and others who have PM'd me. You know who you are. I had hoped to have the new Garrett by now to go over the claim where I found the 2 nuggets but who knows when that will happen!!! I'm hearing December now...GREAT!! Thx Garrett..just in time for winter! One DP member offered to let me use his 6000 while he uses his 7000 and we split the finds. That works for me! All others of you...I doubt you have a 6 or 7 both, so until I FINALLY get my Garrett and go over the claim myself you won't get that same deal. What you will get is access to the AV claim as well as me showing you the Red Chispa and Taft side of the mountains. The Nevada guy and I are moving over there after Oct9. Gold Catcher did a nice write up with pics of the El Paso mountains quite awhile ago but he left out many areas of interest. I suggest to all of you who come either this weekend on on your own sometime to 1st stop and get an area map from the BLM on Hwy 14 (right at the Garlock junction ) which shows many points of interest. Such as the old Talc mines, the "Rock House", Schmidt Burro tunnel etc. etc. PS: An honest to goodness off road vehicle is necessary to see some things...a 4 wheel drive truck won't make it!

A terrific question,i do own many many machines from old Classics right upto the latest multi freq that cost 4 figures or more,do these newer modern machines find me more ?? i have found the reverse,my old original green T2 from 2006/7 has still found me more gold hammered/milled coinage than all my other machines put together. Do the latest machines have some advantages my reply would be yes on say highly mineralised sites,but for 95% of the time a single freq detector will do here in the UK of course not on wet sand etc,since i started using my Deus 1 about 7/8 years ago my find rate plummeted like a lead balloon as did when i started using my Nox 3 years back,so after giving these 2 popular machines a go and with 100s if our on both and many other high end machines my finds rate never returned,but when i started using my old faithful T2 and also my old DFX in single freq my finds rate shot up again back to how it was many years ago. The amount of settings that need to be changed on these modern machine i honestly dont thing folks gain much,simplicity and enjoyment and increase back into my old finds level is why i love using my T2,it takes just seconds to setup and i am away finding decent finds again.

Good advice from the Ridge Runner. You can get into a multi-frequency machine for as little as $199 USD (Minelab Vanquish 340). The main advantages of simultaneous multi-frequency machines are their descrimination and ground noise rejection capabilities which really show their strength in highly mineralized ground and for salt water beach use. Although SMF machines were developed to improve detecting in areas that single frequency machines have problems, a single frequency machine can be just as effective as an SMF machine in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

That's correct gotAU. The transmit (outer) coil is 26" in diameter. On my last outing, detecting mate "Broke in Bendigo" was able to work within 20 meters or so without much interference - once we had tuned each other out. The Bismarck in action at Rheola, Victoria. I designed and built the lightweight carry frame:

What a great story and testament to your skill. 👍

Well maybe they can just slide you a couple of ducks, Get up at 8:00 am, Pour yourself a big fat mug of coffee and prep them for the feast. Might I suggest wrapped in BACON, Slow cooked with a Maple, Chipotle and Bourbon sauce. Now that is some good eats.

I think I got a lifetime pass. They keep asking me if I want to go out...I don’t like getting up at 4am for a duck any more...been there done that...I was out there last summer helping put in a new flood gate to one of the culverts that feed the club..just to hang out...lots of money to keep a club going like that. They do get some grants from the state once in a while but lots of red tape... thanks fellas for the comments. strick

Hunting in mild ground and sandy lakes, those area I would say don't need SMF. I have 2 and probably will get a 3rd SMF detector. I just picked up an AT Gold and got a Nel Superfly coil. I'm very impressed with the performance, separation and how quiet it running. Makes me smile going thru iron with no noise and no falsing. I am enjoying using it and I have say right now I'm using it more than my SMF detectors.

I'm not sure it's a learning curve but more of a tone curve. The D2 is unique in the way it sounds off on a target. I have learned with mine to identify the "end" sounds of targets at least that's how I describe it. To me a coin or a ring has the same sound to the left and the right on my swing. It's like a word that is spelled the same backwards and forwards (palindrome). Identifying targets via tone has helped me limit the amount of junk I dig and I will always dig a couple with awkward tones just to get my mind to connect with the detector at the beginning of every hunt. In terms of visual ID in parks I only really get excited when I get a good tone and a number below 50. I've recovered many rings on the D2 and if it's a females ring it's always in the 40's with the best number being 44. 68-72 is the range where most of the mens rings have been that I have recovered. I've yet to pull one in the 80's but I dig every tone 80-86 when searching for gold. 65 is almost always a pop top. 74-76 is almost always a bottle cap although a really rusty one will hit in the 40's but that's where you can hear it bleed on the end of the swing. If you keep digging everything you will eventually get gold and lots of it because most won't dig it. My father in law brags he's been detecting for 40 years but has found only one gold ring and it's because he won't dig anything that might be trash. One other thing to do when searching a park is to turn down your sensitivity if it's a newer park. Most targets will be 1/2 to 2 inches deep. Locate with detector, use pinpointer to narrow it down then use a screwdriver to pop out. Also if the grass is bermuda then all objects will likely be shallow as it's root structure goes horizontal and things won't get deep there as it's like a mesh. Fescue grasses the roots grow vertically and that's why things are deeper in those grasses/parks. There's room to sink. Hope this wasn't too winded and obvious.

Nice job CPT, Now do that a few more times and log your numbers and target depth for that set up. It can be a big pain in the arse to do so but it will give you a lot of valuable info. Also air test on your driveway and run different programs. This will show you what will give you the best depth on certain targets. Test, test and more tests are the way to go. Most guys are surprised at what gold rings up as. Try all gold from thin to thick if you can, 10k to 24k. You will be amazed by the numbers that show up. Also you will find most pull tabs will not be in the gold range and you wont have to dig a lot of those. FOIL is the bastard child, if your after gold you will be drowning in foil. But you will eventually find the gold. Once you find a program you like, try it and compare dirt depths to the air test heights. Every machine has it own differences even another of the exact same model. Once you gain the confidence you will know exactly whats under your coil (kinda)

I have only found 4 gold artefacts during 24 years detecting : one coin , two rings and a pendant. Which means an average of one gold every 5 or 6 years . Then I dont expect to find a gold with my new D2 before at least one or two years ... But sometimes silver is better than gold ...

Good information and demonstration of the strengths weaknesses of different machines. People struggling to make consistent finds and looking to improve could learn a lot from information like this, understanding the relative performance of the various machines better. Basically any time I get a new detector I do almost exactly what you are doing here to see how it's performing relative to my older machines on a range of targets, and combination of targets/hotrocks and gold/trash at various depths in the grounds I am planning to work, with just about every combination of settings. I do that before actually swinging for gold, just so I know first where/how to best use new equipment and what it might be missing. On a separate note, are you guys filming this with an entire laptop instead of cell/cam? Get 'er done any way you can, all for it!

Awesome job! Got to admit when I saw happy ending in the title> Thought it was going to be something different 🤣

We do that also, but we wrap them in foil for the grill at a low to medium heat with lots of smoke. 20 minutes before they are done open the top up so the smoke can get into it and for a little bit of crispy to start on the wings.

Yes the 10x5 tends to ID some pennies higher than usual. 👍 I've had them go as high as 28 depending on their purity. It's a bonus to me tho because Zincolns are relegated to 18-19. If anything IDs from 17-19 I'll dig it, because it's generally older silver, but I do get some crusty Zincolns now and again 😀 I generally don't dig 39-40s because I'll use a single frequency to suss them out. Otherwise it could be a dollar, it happens. 🤪 I think no matter the malady, no matter the effects of old age in my case, it is always good to get out there. Good job testing!

Good example particularly on how poorly the Gold Bug 2 performs in and around hot rocks. While the Equinox doesn't do particularly well in your video with the hot rocks it appears for me at least to do much better than that in my milder soils with hot rocks and gold separation. You also show an example of how much deeper the Equinox is than the Gold Bug 2, something I also find.

Well done Strick. Now who was it that he called first? haha

Dog- I'll tell the wife about your recipe as she's the cook in the family. Rock- I was afraid there would be a million shotgun caps but only a couple deep ones I could hear....had I to go into the blind to search might have been a different out come. strick

Your answer reassures me, s completely normal to have that noise at high sensitivities in the city, I tested 20khz and completely silent up to 30 sensitivity. So it is nothing wrong with the detector. my mistake.

Awesome story and recovery Strick. Not a fan of duck meat but people sit out there freezing to shoot them. I would think there are shotgun shells everywhere to hamper your recovery of the ring.

Hi Just got this on a email from Minelab about 100 dollars off both detectors. This probably due to the New Minelab that all the talk has been about. Maybe Minelab is telling us that the Manticore will be replacing the Equinox line of detector. Only time will tell us as Paul Harvey would say the rest of the story. Chuck

I honestly thought Sun Ray went under years ago, but they're back with an announcement of a new Sun Ray inline probe for the Equinox. Code Name: Nexus We are proud to announce the unveiling of the Equinox NX-1. This is a resigned from the ground up in-line pin-pointer. This product is weatherproof( not waterproof), with a carbon fiber probe assembly. Retail price is 249.00 https://fb.watch/fNFw71EUDS/

I dragged out my old coin collection today. Some of the boxes have been sealed for 35 years. The metal box contains detected one cent pieces that I simply tucked away back in the early 80s. Back in the 80s, coins from the 30s-50s were fairly new, and were no big deal. I also found lots of old silver coins that I detected back in the day. I dug up a rare 1911 George V coronation necklace from a park down by the Saskatchewan River in Edmonton in 1980. One of my better finds. The old Whites Coinmaster 5000D was a worthy machine in its day. 😁

Hey All My Name is Ciaran and I have been Metal detecting with various success for nearly 30 years. I focus primarily on Beach Detecting with the Minelab Equinox 800 but now giving the Nokta Legend a Shot. Looking forward to chatting with you all. Ciaran

May 28 1937 Part Three When Roger heard this he was not happy. He told us he understood our concern but needed to move freely. I told him that was not possible now and we had been through all kinds of issues with people in this area and trusted no one. He gave in and said so be it and repeated that his commission would set him up for life. I shook hands with him and told him welcome to our crew. Roger stated that he needed to get into town and make a phone call to a very big broker in San Francisco. He said that this man’s name was Logan Collins and he had big time connections. So John and I rode into town in Roger’s Cadillac. He drove to the jewelry store and told the owner he needed to use his private phone in the back office. John and I went back there with him and listened to the conversation. We told him to hold the receiver out from his ear a bit so we could hear everything being said. Roger told the man he had the chance to broker a deal that was the opportunity of many lifetimes. He explained the situation and Collins wanted to drive out to see the treasure for himself. He said he would bring a deposit of cash if we came to terms. The rest would be handled at another location to be determined later. Roger told him to bring a very large amount of cash. He told him that we had security at our location and that we were not to be trifled with. Collins said he understood. We arranged to meet him at the jewelry store at noon the next day. Then Roger hung up the phone. Roger said he needed a drink and wanted to go to the bar. I told him there was no way we were going in there now and that place was nothing but trouble. I told him we had plenty of whisky at camp if he needed to steady his nerves. With that we got in the Cadillac and headed back. John repeated his warning that if anything went wrong he was a dead man. TO BE CONTINUED ...............

Owning the 800, Kruzer and a few Tesoro's. I would have to say that multi freq. machines have an advantage at the beach for sure, But single freq. machines will hold their own or surpass the multi's in dirt, in my opinion. One of the main reasons I purchased the 800 was because it was waterproof and also fairly lite. Most of the time I'm running single freq. on the 800 and I'm finding more stuff. You do not have to spend a lot of money for a great machine. Single freq. machines have been killing it for a long time and will continue to do so. At this moment in time I doubt I would ever purchase another multi. I find in running multi they bias towards iron even with it turned off. My 800 will favor iron over a silver target 1 inch away and my Tesoros will disc the iron out. But if you mostly beach hunt I would say go multi. The Vanquish is a great lower priced unit with coil options. Look at your skill level, Your wallet, and the type of detecting you like to do. There are tons of great machines that are not multi that will put a big smile on your face every time you take it out. I've said it once and I'll say it again. Just because it's new, shiny and just on the market doesn't make it the best. 99% of all my best finds were with single freq. machines and I expect that to be true in the future. Good luck navigating all the peer pressure, It can be horrible at times. Please feel free to ask more questions about any detector choice you have. Thanks for posting!!!!

I tried your suggestions this weekend and posted the results in the Deus 2 section since it pertains more to using that detector instead of soley about jewelry. Check it out and thanks again for your suggestions!

Or use a detector without screen . I use a Deus1 WS4 Lite since 2013 and now a Deus2 WS6 . The only ( l ( small ) screen I have is on the headphones on my head . I only look at it when I change the detector settings , rarely in the field btw . The rest of the time I only detect by hear ... No need for VDI numbers as everything from low to high conductivity can be a good target over here ...

Same is true in Canada. Pre-1996 copper pennies typically come out looking decent. I imagine the modern plated pennies won't fare well in the future. Vintage Canadian 5 cent pieces are very difficult to discriminate with a detector. They are made of almost pure nickel (except for the wartime era 1944-1945 and 1951-1954 chrome plated steel, and the wartime tombacs). They show up as a choppy high signal when flat in the ground, or a solid -8 on-edge on my Nox 600. US 5 cent pieces are no problem. I've likely missed a lot of Canadian 5 cent pieces over the years, thinking they were steel washers..... I never thought of the effect of fertilizers before. Makes sense. The coins I hunted 40 years ago were mostly in urban areas. I now live in a farming community, where urea-based fertilizer is commonly used. That stuff will rot most metals.

Tend to agree with a few of the comments CD made in his video posted on the 30.9.22 "Manticore why I'm not excited". As with my Equinox its tones first then a quick peak at the numbers I do not need to analyze the screen so this is not a selling point for me. What do you guys think ? I watch my mate analyzing his CTX screen whilst we are out detecting, he takes ages I would have dug it and moved on if its that iffy.

Oh wow, I saw that photo in the past and I always thought it was of Jim Straight. Thank you for correcting me. Jim Stewart certainly had his hands full with that unit! Jim Straight was a local here in California, he pioneered electronic detecting in our region along with some others back in the 80’s. He wrote some well-known books including dry washing and hard rock prospecting. One was called “Follow the dry washers” about prospecting techniques as well as detecting tailing piles. A lot of people on this forum knew him well including Steve and Lunk. I wondered about those eucalyptus trees… I’m curious, is the receiver coil on that CC 15-inches? I wonder how close other people can work near it with their detectors?

Due to a late snow melt in the mountains and above average rain in Edmonton, my favorite spots on a local river are still under 3-4 feet of water. I went to another another nearby river not affected with mountainous spring runoff, did some sampling, only to find 3-4 specs of gold per pan. Somewhat disappointed, I grabbed some grass and pulled it out with the roots. A quick check showed about 30-40 specs per pan. Who knew? So, I spent the rest of the afternoon washing roots. I made a quick video showing my process.

I was taken to a claim in the Sierras near Downieville and that was the main place where you would sluice was with roots and grass that had held the flood gold.

Oddly enough, I don't remember digging too much trash. The old detector was pretty good at discriminating the junk. A coin gave a very distinct tone. I probably missed a lot of deeper targets and coins-on-edge though. Coins were more plentiful back then. I remember an old country church that gave up nearly 100 pennies from the 30s-50s, and I was only able to do half the area due to tall grass. There were many sites that had never been detected back then. It wasn't unusual to find 25 or more old coins on a single outing. The boulevards in the older part of the river valley neighbourhoods were full of old coins. The soil around Edmonton was very easy on copper coins. I pulled an 1896 penny out of the ground (maybe 85 years in the soil) and it only required a basic scrubbing with a toothbrush and soapy water to clean it up nicely. Almost no visible corrosion. Likewise the George V necklace was ilikely in the ground for 60+ years, and it cleaned up well (it still had some original lustre). A few of the pennies in the photo may be from coins I pulled from my pocket change. Silver coins were still circulating back then, and it wasn't odd to find an old coin in your change. Half my Canadian nickel collection was from pocket change. Obviously, as the years go by, more and more of the older copper coins are going to be in rough shape. The area I live in now absolutely destroys copper. Brass and silver items are ok. Copper coins that have been in the ground as little as 20 years tend to be noticeably corroded. I've done some pH tests on my rainwater, and it's quite acidic; almost too acidic for many houseplants. There are a lot of oil and gas operations west of my place (the prevailing winds are from the west), and I have a theory that H2S gas might be the culprit. I'm curious about the opinions on the soil in other areas that folks on this site hunt. Longwinded, as usual........... 😲

What a great story and one that you will always remember. All treasure hunters should be so lucky. What's that saying?..."Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while."

Nice job Strick, Hope he gave you a week in the duck blind. I love duck and of course it tastes better than a gold ring. Best of luck next time out my friend!!!

Glad to see another save and glad to see the owner reunited with their ring. Only if gold was that easy to find, we would all be millionaires by now.

With the exception of educational tips and tricks type videos to better learn the settings and the new graph and whatnot, I've decided not to watch any further Manticore versus the D2 (or anything else for that matter) "test" videos as the proof will be in the pudding, and out here Minelab SMF machines have an excellent proven track record going back to the Explorers, and the D1 ended up being popular with some relic hunters as well. I have my Manticore order in, and when it comes out I'll test it myself, at my sites in my dirt. Like dogodog said most of us have multiple machines, and for good reason. I've always been of the opinion that all machines do things different, even coils, and as such they will all find things other machines may not. My hunt partner see things differently, he's of the opinion that a single machine can do it all. He's been using his Explorer2 since it was new and is so dialed into it that he just sticks with it at 99% of the sites we hunt, although he finally broke down and bought a Deus1 (sadly not too long before the D2 came out, doh!). He does fine with his Exp2, but I like to try different machines, especially when you start to see diminishing returns from an existing detector. At a particular western frontier site I've enjoyed over the years that I started hunting with the F75 LTD which did okay in the beginning but it petered out. Then I started taking the Makro Racer/Racer2/Multi Kruzer there and it really opened up, but after a few years started to die out again to the point that my hunt partner wouldn't even go with me anymore. The Equinox completely opened the site up for me landing a very rare $1 US gold coin, a seated dime & half dime cache (19 coins total), several semi-key date seated dimes that weren't part of the seated dime cache, Phoenix buttons, early military and civilian buttons, trade silver, and other period relics. We'll see what the Manticore brings to the table at a "hunted out" site. I look forward to it's increased depth as I've located several silver coins that were at the fringe depth of what the machines were capable of (and missed by Tom's Explorer2 🙂 So no doubt there are a few stragglers that my current detectors simply cannot locate, and there's no shortage of iron of all sorts and other stuff. Nice thing about this particular site is that the ground is pretty tame as far as mineralization goes, no EMI, so it could be the perfect recipe for the Manticores extra depth capabilities.

The Master Sound HPs are not as loud as the newer Garrett MS2s. Don't overlook the excellent & deep Motion All Metal mode on the AT Gold.

This interests me for a few reasons. A couple of years ago, the subject of Sunray coils, and how they work, came up over on Geotech1 forum. I was working on building a version for my F75, which might also be duplicatable as a self-contained mini-detector. But I also realised that my Equinox could also be suitable for a 'Sunray' ... for one special reason. Everyone knows the Eq has a 'security' chip ( and some other electronics gubbins ) inside the coil ... hence no aftermarket coils. But the key feature of a Sunray probe is that the original coil is STILL ATTACHED . This permits the trick of using the 'security chip' of the main coil, while connecting the Sunray probe coil windings up to the detector. It's still quite a job to make a coil like this for the Eqx, so hats off to the engineers who did this. I never progressed to designing my own .. it was going to be larger, probably about 2.5" diameter.

I'll Pass on the extra weight and extra 1/2'' in depth. If you learn your machine you'll very rarely be fooled by iron. I look at this way, Once you commit to digging a hole your digging a hole. At the 12'' mark I abandon all hopes of a non-ferrous target. (usually its 10'') My Carrot has served me well over the many years and digging that deep will get you lost permissions.

Swegin asked and I applaud him for doing so. What things I don't like. Yes there are a few things I don't care for but also realize of the probably 30+ detectors I have recovered gold with, I have yet to find one I totally like for every reason. I'm not a fan of those USB plugs and trying to get the cable in the little slot. The age my eyeballs are, I have to go and find my glasses to get it right. I'm not a fan of cable cords and feel if XP can get rid of them, then why can't Minelab and Garrett? It could be because of it being a PI, I'm not sure. I don't like having to use Garrett's Z Lynk wireless in todays modern electronic age. Why can't I use any wireless? I hate the hollow sound of the coils and the hard plastic rubbing the ground. It makes 2 to 3 x the amount of noise. I prefer a softer plastic like the other models and brands use. Sure we wear them out sooner, but at least I can hear the whisper signals better. I honestly feel 75% of the folks who gold hunt are walking over weak signals and not even realizing it. Still wishing for a better Iron Identification system on a PI, but it's what it is. Small iron like boot nails will not DISC out (on purpose so not to miss small gold). Large iron will identify better than small, but even large iron at depth is an issue. I also found out the hard way and was not too excited...if the ID goes silent across a target, it does not mean it's iron. So a piece of gold will just not make a response at all. Iron will produce the grunt sound. I realize most folks do not use Iron ID and I'm one of those strange ducks that does. But I only use it in certain areas and play the odds. Me, I personally don't like the dull gray coils as it does not help when taking pictures. Now I know Garrett Engineers could care less, but the marketing guys sure would like something different. I wish the Axiom would allow me to carry my cell phone and do video without EMI issues. All bigger detectors are like this, even many of the VLF's out there. I wish the Axiom was set a different frequency level of my Garrett Carrott pin pointer. I found out real fast like, they can not be very close when both turned on. Engineers will never totally please me with a detector as the way my mind thinks. Let me test it and I'll tell you ways to make it better. The problem with my thinking is not always what's best for the masses. I'm one of a few and detectors are usually sold for the majority. Prime example. The GM-1000 is a great selling VLF Gold Detector and I sell it more than most others, as it's dummy proof. I myself prefer the EQ-800 as it allows me more control and provides me with more information and better identification. But as I said, the masses prefer the GM-1000. No big deal. I do feel the Axiom runs smoother than many PI's out there and also has greater sensitivity to smaller gold and specimens. I also prefer the options of more tuning than a some of the others. Have I had some of the EMI issues Steve mentions. On a rare occasion and I have noticed the same on some of the recent high end machines the last few years and even to the point of some VLF's on certain soils. Ambiant air temperature is a big facture to a smoother running detector. Back when I was crazy about gold and Rye Patch was semi virgin (half ounce days were common & occasional 1 ounce days), I was going 12 months of the year. July/Aug it would get so hot, I started detecting more at night. I also found the detectors to run more smooth and retain a quieter Threshold. I then also noticed that mornings were better than mid days and adjusted my detecting hours. Atoms (energy and electricity) in the air actually mask a little bit of performance of the detector. When using the Axiom I noticed the hottest part of the day at a couple sites produced more Noise Canceling than other sites and or temperatures. Again, the same thing I noticed on other big machines. What I like and dislike might be, could be and should be different than what others say. We hunt different areas, states and kinds of gold. Our knowledge and skill levels are also never going to be the same. I don't know if there are any other Field Testers of the Axion in the US, other than Steve H and my staff/I. I do wish they would have more testers as well in other states, as that is a bigger picture to go from. Yes, the Axiom has things I don't like, but to tell you the honest to gods truth. It's a much better detector that what I initially was expecting to be testing. Have to give them credit as Garrett really did make a great move and option. But waits is even more impressive (actually I expected that) was all of this at the price point vs the competition.

My own complaints as copied from the other thread: It's just a solid, well behaved machine. Sometimes it seems to get a little unstable, EMI or whatever, quick reset and retune, back to business. I just spent three long days running the machine. Dug a thousand targets, including a pile of nuggets. I really like the audio, very descriptive and well modulated, great for a PI cherry picking of targets in trashy ground. They nailed the telescoping rod design. It is easy to swing, easy to use, and just works. I guess if I have a genuine complaint it is that the Z-Lynk audio is just not up to snuff for me. Or more accurately, the Garrett MS3 headphones are not really working for me. The audio is muffled compared to my Sun Ray Pro Gold headphones, and they only have a single volume control. I have poor hearing in my right ear, so I prefer dual volume controls. The good news is the external speaker has so much excess volume that I really don't need headphones. But for when I do, my preference right now is to plug my Sun Rays into the 1/4" jack. I did just get the WR1 Z-Lynk receiver box however, and am going to use it with my headphone plugged into it. I suspect it is the speakers in the MS3 that are my issue with lack of clarity, and that plugging my Sun Rays, or some other headphones, like my Bose earbuds, into the WR1 will give me the sharper audio I am after. Or maybe the lack of audio clarity is inherent in Z-Lynk. I doubt that, but will not know until my next outing, when I will be giving that a try. Should only be a few days at most before I report back on that. The little USB port rubber cover seems to open on it's own while in use at times. I'm not sure what's up with that. Am I getting it up against my body somehow causing it to open? Really minor nit-noid thing, but you asked, and it did/does bug me. But may not be like that in final shipping units either, might just be my prototype. But that's how hard I have to strain to find something to bitch about.

Jim Straight still had you beat: …but that coil should do well with what you have attached to the other end! Good hunting!