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Went for a 2 hour hunt this morning at the beach. I got to a low patch in the wet. Never dug so much lead in such a short time (1 hour), but I knew it had to pay off. Right before I called it quits because I was exhausted from digging deep holes and fighting waves, I popped a ring. 14K, real ruby and diamonds and 13 grams! Deus 2 rules on the beach!

After going back to the previous software version on the Manticore, doing some testing and then updating to the most recent version, I apparently had a bad update the first go around. Because now the most recent download is much better than the first one I tried. However, I'm still seeing some weird stuff with the update and one of them is depth issues in my soil. It's not as bad as the first try, but it's still very apparent to me after hours of testing. The first update was like the stabilizer was stuck on 6 or something because even what I consider shallow targets were hard to detect. Now it's better but I'd say the 900 and D2 are at least a good inch deeper and maybe more. The signals area also choppy on the Manticore and I'm thinking this is the result of Minelab's attempt at general stabilization. I think this is the result of mineralized ground and those who have mild soil have nothing to worry about. I did a video of what I'm seeing and even in my test garden with the Manticore before and after the update it's pretty apparent it acts different on deeper targets. I also took the 900 and D2 out to one of my relic sites which has a bit milder ground to see how the update compared to the other detectors and it's also pretty apparent to me the Manticore isn't performing as well. So that being said I'm going back to the old version and sticking with it until Minelab does something different. If anyone else is seeing similar issues I'd like to know about it because Minelab has said they want to call and talk to me about what I and others are seeing with the update.

June 20 2002 The heat was back again today. Jacob cleaned up the concentrates from yesterday’s run of 32 yards and there were 2.4 ounces weighed up. Jim was able to take a full day of watch duty while Vern, Jacob, and I did the shoveling chores. Jacob noticed a slight change in the color of the gravel in the deep pit we had been working. The material seemed to change from a gray/red to more of a bluish tint. Vern pulled up a fresh bucket of this gravel with the excavator and Jacob took samples over to the wash tub to test it. He came back over to the tom after taking numerous pans and showed us the results. The pan was absolutely brimming with coarse gold and pickers. He had done a rough calculation of its value based on what he had panned and told us there were over four grams to the yard. High grade he called it. I radioed Jim to give him the good news. We were in a rich spot. By dusk we had processed 36 yards of pay dirt. Maybe we would see glory days at last. TO BE CONTINUED .................

From my experience I absolutely agree in regard to the stock 11 coil for the 6000 and down to 0.03 gram. I am yet to watch a video comparison between the 12x7 and 11 coils on the 6000, using the same settings, on a nugget still in-situ and the ground above untouched, to convince me for the extra expense of another coil. Also, my best depth so far with the 6000 was with the stock 17x13 coil on a 1.24-gram Specimen (0.9 grams of gold) dug up carefully at a depth of 10". The 6000 settings were Difficult / Auto Would have been interesting if I had connected up the 11 coil at the time to compare both responses before dug, but we do not think to do such comparison when out in the field.

I've got both machines so going to post comparisons as I get to try them out. At this point I've only done air tests I wont do real testing until tomorrow but here are my initial thoughts... Build - Machines look exactly the same. Shaft is much better on the 700. Definitely much improved. It is a few ounces lighter but nothing I can notice when I hold each machine. Interface - Switching through menus feels nearly the same as well. I was able to easily navigate the menus as I was used to the 600. Cost - I actually paid more for my 600 when I bought it five years ago as no dealers were offering discounts when it first came out ($650 vs $620) Now the interesting part...power, depth, tones... I've only done air tests I will test at the beach tomorrow but there is a difference. I live at the beach so my soil is a sand/dirt mix. Very little EMI unless I am near a powerline or something. I did this test in my backyard where there are no lines or anything else in the ground. Closest house or anything is about 1/2 acre away. Settings for the air test - 20 Sensitivity, 0 Iron bias, 2 Recovery speed (this is 4 on the 800). These are the settings I hunt with. The only thing I ever change is my sensitivity which hovers from 19-23. Comparison: Nox 600 in 5 tones: Quarter: 10" 10k Ring: 12.5" Nox 700 in 5 tones and All tones: Quarter: 11.5" 10k Ring: 13" Nox 700 in dP tone: Quarter: 13" 10k Ring: 15" As you can see from my air test, there is definitely more power in the new gen equinox. In the same tone and settings its slightly deeper. Not sure that will translate to much in real world settings. In the dP tone, its significantly deeper and more sensitive. This is how I used to hunt with my Excal and CZ21. Its very exciting for the beach. I also did test a penny, wheat penny, silver ring, silver nickel, and nickel with similar results in the depth improvement. How will that translate in the ground? Well I haven't tested it yet but I assume its going to translate to significantly more depth when using the dP setting. I think if you are a hunter that prefers the 'beep' tones you aren't going to notice much of an upgrade. If you are like me and looking for depth and prefer the dP type tone, I think this machine might add 1+ inches and really help find whispers when finding deeper targets.

This is similar to Deus 1 in Gold Field with the Iron Audio Reject Filter (similar but different than discrimination). Works fine in thick iron in mild soil - it breaks up iron target signals. But if you use it in ferrous mineralized soils like heavy magnetite, then both ferrous and non-ferrous targets get chopped up.

Well for now I'll just stick with the old version as it clearly performs better for me.

I gave it a try when I was out hunting and I feel like it probably was actually High Square. It was hard for me to tell for sure though because you can't just toggle back and forth with one button press to compare. Thanks for documenting it Chase.

Really? Well a hoax with an actual working prototype that Andy Sabisch spent several months testing is a pretty elaborate ruse and to what end??? What have they to gain by going to all this trouble with little to show for it other than some social media hoopla that might cause a blip in sales of existing Quest products at the cost of their reputation? Is that what you would consider good business sense? By that logic, Nokta and Minelab and XP with significant delays between actual and advertised release dates would be labeled as notorious hoaxsters. No it’s more likely just the usual delays stemming from resolving last minute production line glitches or distribution logistics as per usual. Thought question: Do conspiracy theorists take the time to really think their theories through…with logic?

Yep, I verified the issue/feature/hack (?), Brad. Thanks for pointing it out. If you go directly to bone phones as the audio output device, you can only select Square. Go to another audio device, change it to HiSquare and then back to bone phones, and it’s HiSquare which can’t be changed directly back to Square unless you repeat the audio output switch hack procedure again. Switching another device to PCM and switching back to bone phones audio is ignored by the bone phones output. I only have bone phones, but really can’t tell either if they are in Square or HiSquare audio when it says HiSquare. FWIW. I’m documenting it in my consolidated Ver 1.X update thread.

I don't know how much a new one cost in USA from a dealer, but here in Aussie they are $349 so for me it saved about $324 😁 cheers dave

It does look cool, but not being a real water hunter, I can't say if it would help or hinder. With the increased surface area, I would think it might create more drag in the water, specially with the centering thingy on it. As Brad said, the 9" coil probably doesn't need any help in the water, but also as F350 said, maybe the big coils do. It's definitely looks well engineered with some tight tolerances, so whoever made that is good at 3D CAD and printing, and it's innovative and not a copy job like so many other 3D printed thingies on the web.

Received the new battery from Amazon. I reversed the black & red wires with the JST clips. Btw that didn't scare me at all @phrunt.🤣🤣 The whole replacement took less than 10 minutes.

WOWOWOWOWOW they've made the 6" Concentric coil. I'm so glad they're including coil covers, the covers are just impossible to get in NZ otherwise, and importing a coil cover from the USA costs what you guys pay for the coil 🙂 I guess they felt the other sizes were not going to be good sellers, but in reality that Concentric is the must have coil for 24k owners. This is great news, thanks Garrett.

These are all from woods and yards in eastern Massachusetts. telephone technician's badge, 1910s shoe buckle Pocket watch case. Never heard of this brand. patent match safe, 1883 ladies' shoe buckle clip, Edwardian demi-tasse spoon, plated

I have to give Garrett 10 stars on a scale of 1 thru 5 because 5 stars is simply not enough. I sent my Axiom in to have them give it a look because I have had some issues with the audio cutting out mostly. The last time I had it out was in a location plagued with really bad EMI not to far from a military base, it wasn’t a problem in the morning but by afternoon it got a little noisy and hard to use. I’d sent Garrett a detailed explanation of what I was experiencing and they went to work. Testing it over and over my Axiom seemed to function as it should have but they didn’t simply stop there, to be sure they replaced the circuit board and most of the internal electronics and added the latest firmware update and continued testing until they were certain it was as good as it could be, this is to me the best solution as I much prefer one carefully examined over a new replacement, I have complete confidence it’s perfect after all the tests and work they did, a new detector is probably just as good but we all know no matter who the manufacturer an occasional subpar unit shows up from time to time, even then we’ve all at some point wondered if our unit was working at peak performance… how can you know. Well great customer service is the best answer to that question and without doubt Garrett is the answer they have the customer in mind and stand behind their product. If anyone is local enough to me and was considering the Axiom let me know and we can meet up and you can try mine out, I have in addition to the 11” mono and 13” DD coil an 11” DD coil too so you can get a pretty good idea of what will work best for your detecting style… you can also try my 6000 and the 5x10 gold hawk if you like, I don’t have the new nugget finder coil yet but I’ll have one when inventory catches up with demand.

Just wanted to remind everyone at least in the US to take bug precautions when detecting. I’m in PA, in my mid 40’s, and woke up to a tick stuck to my ribs about 9 days ago. last week I was having trouble thinking straight, that progressed quickly into a high fever, extremity numbness, and blurry vision. After a few days of antibiotics, I’m feeling mush better but still have some numbness and blurry vision. Lyme disease is no joke and can last a lifetime. And there are numerous other diseases that can come from ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, bugs…. Take precautions and be vigilant.

I finally made it to Southern California. We came down for a family wedding, but I brought two Gold Detectors with me: the Nokta Gold Finder 2000 and the Garrett Goldmaster 24K. My brother-in-law lives in the Mojave Desert not far from the many Dry Placer areas. I called up an old Prospecting friend, and he was excited to get out and swing his Gold Bug 2. Our first stop was a Club Claim just outside Randsburg, where I had found my first nugget with a Fisher Gold Bug Pro. The weather was perfect, not too hot, and not much wind. The first machine to be tested was the Gold Finder 2000. I had set it up with the 5” D/D coil but after a few minutes realized that ground coverage wasn’t going to be great. I went back to the truck and swapped it out for the larger Concentric Coil. Rather than use the External Speaker with Headphones, I paired it with the Green 2.4 gHz Wireless. Unfortunately, it did not turn off the External Speaker, and I heard it out of both. Other times, it would switch between the two. I finally decided to just run without them as I was in Snake Country. The Mojave Green Rattlesnake is the most tenacious of the SoCal Vipers. They have been known to chase vehicles. I had to set the Sensitivity two notches from the top to avoid Ground Noise. Even with the Ferro Check, this is pretty much a “dig-everything” proposition, which is the nature of Gold Prospecting with a Metal Detector. The indicators were all there, Quartz, Epidote (Greenstone), and Magnetite (Hot Rocks), which to my amazement, it did not see. While I didn’t find any gold, it did the job on Airgun pellets which read on both sides of the Ferro Check, plus bullet, and copper jacket shards. I found a few iron items such as boot tacks but because they were rusty, they didn’t always peg to the left. All in all, I would recommend this detector to anyone looking for a simple-to-operate Gold machine. It’s 16 kHz higher than a Gold Monster 1000 and only 10 kHz lower than the GB2. According to Dilek at Nokta, the speaker on the detector does not turn off when paired with external sources like the Wireless Module and Green Headphones. Our second stop was the Coolgardie area north of Barstow. The goal was to hunt Dry Washer Tailing Piles. I was immediately reminded that where people work, there’s more TRASH! I started with the GF2000 but changed over to the 24K with the 6” Concentric coil. The ground coverage was good, but I was after depth on “Tailings”, so the Mono was a good choice. My buddy brought a rake. I should have borrowed one from my Brother-in-law. I like the simplicity of the GF2K, but I’ve been swinging and selling detectors for over 20 years. It’s a little “too easy” for my taste. I love the features and adjustments on the 24K! I set it up with the Garrett Z-Lynk Wireless Headphone System. We had gotten a little disoriented so didn’t have as much time as we had at the other location. However, my first target was a small piece of Birdshot. I had it set up with Sensitivity at 2 and Volume at Boost 2. This most likely will be my “go-to” VLF machine. Here's the link to my Facebook album from the trip: (2) Facebook Because we were pressed for time in Coolgardie, I didn’t take any photos of those Tailings. The first blue pan is my finds from the Randsburg area with the GF2K. The Terra Cotta pan is from Coolgardie with the GM24K. The second blue pan is my trash which mostly came from north of Barstow.

Oh, I forgot to mention with the Zlink audio system keeping the transmit and receiver in line and not allowing your body to block the signal is key to optimum performance, that was part or most of my audio difficulty and not a problem once you are aware.

My initial thought…,looks like added protection for rocky environments…in the water or not. In my case on our beaches, I wouldn’t need it. Our beaches, like most others where I hunt are rock free. I too wonder about the charging clip fit. Given the design, I just assumed it would have to be removed.

abenson -- OH, while I was typing my question, I think you may have just answered my question in your most recent post (that posted while I was typing). SO -- to reiterate, EVEN IF you keep everything "new" turned off (stabilizer, stabilizer filter, whatever), it STILL performs worse for you than the original? In other words, you can't "turn off" a setting and get it back to the performance you were used to with the old version? Steve

This -- while it may or may not be the proper explanation for what abenson is experiencing -- makes ALOT of sense to me, logically. And it further cements the idea that UNTIL I really learn the Manticore, I should NOT update to the new version, given the irony-red dirt here in Oklahoma. I think I need to get a very good feel for the machine's performance, BEFORE I consider trying the new version, so that I will have a sense if switching to the new version degrades my performance, given my irony soil. My apologies if the question I'm about to ask has been noted already, or shown in abenson's video (that I am about to watch), but... Is abenson's performance degradation when using the new version, true ONLY with silencer "on" (or however that works)? In other words, I would have HOPED that the new verison would perform "the same" as the old version, UNTIL you turned on the "silencer." But otherwise, with silencer off, nothing would be different. That way, you could essentially use it in the "old" configuration, simply by keeping silencer "off," but then, if you are in a very heavily iron-polluted site (where Minelab recommendes using "stabilizer"), you could turn it on and see if it helps IN THAT SPECIFIC SITE. But otherwise, you could turn off silencer and essentially achieve the same performance as the pre-update version. This is what I EXPECTED to be the case. I am assuming that abenson found this NOT to be the case? In other words, even with silencer OFF, he was still seeing degraded performance? Steve

Very helpful. Thanks Andrew! What you were describing on your first update, was worse than what I was seeing. But what you show in the video, after your second round, is exactly what I was seeing. I'm back on the old version and liking it better too. In ten hours of turf hunting on the update I didn't dig anything deeper than 4-1/2". In two hours after rolling back I dug several coppers between 5 and 8-1/2". I don't believe that is coincidence. And, I didn't like the change in the audio with the update. Even with stabilizer and filter turned off, the audio was not the same and I didn't like the change. I could have adjusted to that but the feeling I was losing real depth is why I switched back and I'm satisfied in my own mind that it wasn't just my imagination or cognitive bias. - Dave

Early on, I think the first season of Freddy's show, he told one of the folks he helped to fill a gold vile and that would be his pay. All of the material used to up-grade equipment is payed for by the folks he is helping. The best gold show on TV because of the help he provides. Gold Rush is also good. I know they are not all 100% real but much better than many other shows on TV.

According to Brass Medic you can turn the stabilizer filter OFF even with the stabilizer setting at 5. It adds a second filter to the stabilizer setting. I think mine doesn't auto turn on and off in the video because I started with it off. If that makes sense.

Yea I noticed that on the video once you mentioned it. But it's obviously turning on as you can tell by the way it performs. If you watch the Brass Medic video the stabilizer filter and the adjustable part of the stabilizer are two different adjustments. Filter ON only works when you have it set to anything above 0, and what it does is makes the signal weaker/quieter when it thinks it's iron. It will still have the broken audio on what it thinks is an iron object. I would only use it heavy iron for sure, I just wanted people to know what it's doing to your depth in mineralized soil. For now I'm sticking to the old version, I like it better.

The old adage, "Patience is a Virtue" really applies to new detector availability. I'm checking on the Rutus Versa most everyday.

Yeah the experiences of people who don’t nugget hunt are not very relevant to people who want to. There has been quite a bit of discussion about the Deus 2 relative insensitivity to small gold compared to other SMF models. That’s not to say it won’t find nuggets and can’t do just fine on the larger bits, especially in trashy areas. My prospecting buddy is happy with his Deus 2 for that use. But if challenged to find extremely small gold nuggets then there are better options at this time, including the Deus 1 HF combination or the $599 XP ORX, both of which would blow the Deus 2 away on small nuggets. I own a Deus 2 and have a lot of respect for it, but continue to own an Equinox 800 with 6” coil specifically due to this weakness on the part of the Deus 2. If XP were to release an elliptical HF coil option for the Deus 2 it would probably fix the problem, but so far no hints that is going to happen.

I don't how many times I have been bit. A couple of years ago I was working in an area that has a couple quadrillion ticks in the spring. After work I hiked up the hill to an old river bench that had mining activity in the past. Didn't find any gold but came home with one of the five or so diseases ticks can carry. Not Limes or Rocky Mountain. They are all treated with the same antibiotic. I was down for a week. My coworker and I brought out all kinds of repellants to experiment with. Hiked up towards the old claim and collected ticks. We put circles of repellant on the table and a tick in each circle ⭕. None of the ticks would cross to get out. But the tick inside the circle of Permetherin crawled to the inside edge... And then died! This stuff is sprayed on your clothes and let dry and is good for many washings.

The coil also has a centering device. I haven't had good luck with them, I wonder if that accessory would work well without one. If it fits right but is fairly easy to take off to clean, that's pretty cool. 👍 Hopefully it also accommodates charging clips and aftermarket stuff. The coil that really needs something like that is the 13".

I think I am gonna head back to xp units. Too much chatter from emi on the eq900.

Only if it kept sand and black sand out 100%

I still prefer a Tesoro when sifting through foil littered parks, sports fields and totlots for jewelry. Nothing like that analog audio!!

Hard to say just from those photos, would need to see the interior of the piece to even possibly make a guess. You need to grind one of the edges smooth so we can get a good look at the interior, doing this is called a "window", it will not affect/decrease the value of the piece if it is indeed a meteorite. This can be done with good piece of emery cloth wrapped around a flat stick or a metal file or a combination of both, the smoother you can get it the better. If it turns out we think it could be a meteorite you will still need to get it "certified" by a meteorite expert/s, to prove it is indeed a meteorite.

See the link below for a post I put together for another forum member who was considering the AT Pro. Whether you are considering the AT Pro or AT Max, the advice is the same. As mentioned above, the AT Pro and AT Max platforms were game changers back in the day but while they still get it done, they are long in the tooth and are missing some features, such as recovery speed adjustments, that will enable you to better access targets in areas where a lot of junk targets are clustered together (basically the the last frontier where old targets had been previously inaccessible due to limitations in detector processing speed). All the detectors we are talking about have about the same depth capability, but speed and target ID accuracy can help improve your treasure to trash ratio. Check out the post below for additional information on a number of the latest crop of detectors and look for the best bang for your buck and a detector that is versatile enough to tackle different detecting objectives (coin shooting, jewelry, relics, or gold on land, in farm fields, or in fresh or salt water). Many recently released detectors such as the Legend, Equinox, Deus 2, and Manticore have the versatility to tackle all these challenges. But the price range is huge and the older, less versatile detectors such as the AT Max are not really discounted enough to make them necessarily good bargains when you have something like the Legend which was released just last year and has seen several updates released within the pass year to eliminate bugs and add features and at around $500 to $700 depending on the package you choose giving something like the $1600 Manticore a run for its money. Good Luck.

I make a brief appearance in this weeks episode. If it makes you feel any better I don’t find anything. I’ll be in an episode of the Hoffman show at Nome sometime soon where I do find a lot of gold. Just finished another bit piece with Freddy outside of Missoula last week for next season. Freddy has actually mined more gold than most of us will ever dream of. His show is probably one of the more real of the reality shows, and he is genuinely helping out miners mine more gold. But it’s TV and they have to play to the audience also. For me it’s just been a lot of fun, all the cast and crew of both shows were super nice to me. I don’t make any money doing these. It’s more like little short paid vacations to places I’ve never been and hanging out with interesting people. The funny part was my telling the Hoffmans and Freddy I don’t watch shows of any sort really, theirs included. I’ve not actually watched this one either and only found out it was on because somebody said they saw it. Gold Rush: Mine Rescue with Freddy & Juan S3 E1 - Old Dog, New Tricks Freddy and Juan face a mine intervention at a 30-year-old Nevada claim. https://go.discovery.com/video/gold-rush-freddy-dodges-mine-rescue-on-discovery-discovery-atve-us/old-dog-new-tricks

You have enlightened me to the fact that they even had condoms in the 20's.

There is such a thing as too much, and tripping over unneeded features. Manufacturers rely on the mindset of people "needing" certain features to get people to spend more money. So the "needed" feature is withheld from the less expensive model and included in the more expensive. Plus some people are what I call "detector snobs" playing the "my detector is better than your detector" game, more controls equating to better in their minds. But no, a 600 will do just as well as an 800 and a 700 will do just as well as a 900 for a very large number of people. I kind of feel a pull to more concise control sets and simplicity myself. It's pissing in the wind though, as the fact is the 800 sold so well many dealers did not even need to stock the 600. At the time the features the offered were seen as such an incredible value compared to more expensive detectors that it still came across as the bargain machine.

That one is in pretty good condition.

1920's eh? Probably made with toxic rubber, had a lead base, glowed with radium, and sprinkled with cocaine. Not only would a man not get a women pregnant using one of those, but they would both become sterile...with a nice glow 😁

OK went back to the previous version on the Manticore and it's a night and day difference in performance. Got too much going on tonight to try and upload the latest version again and see how it really works. But now at least I know I can get back to a previous version.

I don’t think anything new would interest me other than a small elliptical coil. When can we expect to find out what the big hubbub is all about?

You can just order Discovery plus https://www.discoveryplus.com/ $4.99 or $6.99 a month they had a military discount but that went away.

We have Discovery through Spectrum cable, and by activating that Link it gives you streaming access to the shows 24/7

Yes they do, CPT. I just have to do a little shuffling around in the audio menu to get there. At least it says High Square, very hard to audibly tell if it actually is High Square with all the EMI in my garage. I'm going out for a hunt tonight so maybe I'll try it out in the wild.

Yes, I understand Square is supposed to be the only audio for the bonephone output, but what I'm saying is if I change the output source from bonephones to one of the others, then select High Square, then go back to the bonephone output, it stays in High Square and that's the only audio you are able to select,...no Square.

June 19 2002 Jim is feeling a bit better this morning and has decided to take watch duty on the mountain. He is far from being mobile however and we had to assist him all the way up to the watchpost. He will not be able to patrol the water line either. At noon we broke for lunch and took the gold weigh up to Jim to cheer him up. There were 3.8 ounces. We all ate lunch with Jim and decided to bring him back to camp and Jacob took over the watch. He makes me nervous with that Thompson and has an itchy trigger finger as well. We got some relief from the heat today and actually had some rain. There were no problems with hooligans as Jacob calls them and we put in a good day's work and sent 32 yards of pay gravel through the tom. Jacob was helping us shovel from time to time as well as testing the gravels we were working. He told us we were still on good ground. We are all hoping this rich material holds up for when we get out trommel up and running again. TO BE CONTINUED ..................

Yep F350, my cure for the pounded brain syndrome is often ample amounts of notch ! 😄

Great to see some young faces. You hit the nail on the head Steve, "Self Confidence". I'm like you, if I know gold nuggets have been found at a location before, then I know I'm going to go there and find what they missed. I think that way every day I go out. Sure I get the big O on a rare occasion, but I usually find a few more. Thanks for sharing.

Rye Patch is a real area. Many folks, including myself, call any area detecting in the vacinity, though it may be miles away, Rye Patch just because it is the most identifiable area. Just because people call detecting in Rye Patch, it may not be the actual place. patch