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The young lady below lost her favorite sterling silver ring on a sports field playing lacrosse a couple days ago. Once she demonstrated approximately where she was on the field and where/how she was throwing the ball when the ring popped off, it look less than a minute to find it. Right on the surface under the unmowed grass, and multi-repeat 42/43 on the Legend. It took longer to power on and set up the machine than it did to find the ring!

Actually there was an anything goes sub-forum for years that finally got nuked as even Bill got fed up with it. That plus the “sooner or later” and “habitual offenders” is why I made the comment. Action here is immediate and more than once is a probable ban. I actually hate being a watchdog so the easiest solution is to get rid of those that need watching. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a jerk to new arrivals. I just don’t want anyone being caught unawares by my evil draconian oversight.

Not sure what makes the D2 not relaxing or difficult. Once you set it up it's a turn on and go machine. Actually one of the easiest machines to run. 5 tone pwm in single frequency is pretty easy to follow. I often use 2 tone or 5 tone when relic hunting and full tone square for coin/jewelry. D2 does have a good advantage of being able to range the smf as well as run it in a wide range of single frequencies which makes it incredibly versatile. I always wanted an F75 but weight is a downside, D2 has me spoiled 🙂

First we had Algoforce but now the real battle starts in pulse induction, with Nokta likely to set new price/performance ratios i.e. bang for the buck. "Join our naming competition and get a chance to win one of our future Pulse Induction machines! One designed for gold prospecting and another one for relic hunting! These detectors will redefine affordability and performance for you to break free from the grip of overpriced alternatives!" ENTER CONTEST Deadline April 30th

Got out the Le'Trap. My 3000 GPH pump draws 12 Ah, so my new 100 Ah 12 volt battery can run my pump for about 8 hours. Much more time then I could do in a day. Here's the setup I used. Got a little petrifird wood today. Here's 2 hours worth of digging.

No doubt just what Minelab was thinking. So far with Storm it has been just like a Storm in the distance - lots of noise but nothing happening. I hate these long drawn out tease releases.

competition to name the two new Nokta pulse detectors. One for the search for gold and another for relics

I agree, the tech is definitely approaching it's ceiling, and I've been very happy with my EQ800 for the last 5.5 years. My main complaints involved build quality issues much more so than performance. To make a long story short, I needed to replace my 800 control pod two years ago, so I decided this year was the year to look at moving on to something different, while I could still get good resale on the machine with a year of warranty left. I looked at the EQ900, but it didn't seem to offer enough (if any) improvement for the cost, and I didn't like some of the reviews from other detectorists that I trust - a few of them were previous 800 owners, and several sold off their 900s or went back to the 800. The Manitcore was appealing but I couldn't justify the cost for the potentially minimal gain in performance. I decided to try a Legend starting in January - I wasn't expecting an increase in performance, just an increase in build quality and roughly equivalent performance, and at a much better price. That's essentially what I got for the investment, and the Legend works very well - though I'd make the case that it's performance isn't quite the same in some areas that are important to me, and I'm not convinced (after almost 100 hours) that it's the machine for me. Anyways, the price drop on the Manticore was enough to entice me - if it was at this price point in January, I would have bought it over the Legend without a second thought. Pulled the trigger last night. Once it arrives, I'll suddenly have three detectors when I've always just had one, and I'll suddenly have an irate wife! But if the Manticore provides better build and even marginal gains over the EQ800 as it seems to promise, then it'll be worth it to me - I'll finally part with the 800, and the Legend will likely get sold as well.

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".

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.

They just published on the Nokta site. Two new pulse machines are coming, one made of gold and one made of relics

I don't see why anyone would think prospectors don't need ferrous disc. A gold PI is typically going to be designed to hit the tiniest bits possible and that can also mean tiny ferrous bits. A relic PI might be more tuned to hit bullet size targets at max depth while being less sensitive to every tiny bit of ferrous trash. In theory though you can do both in one detector so interesting to see why they feel the need for two models. It could be nothing more than what coil the machine comes with. We have no idea what the detector really looks like but let's go with the fuzzy profile as being real. Standard configuration with collapsing three piece rod, fairly large underarm battery. Big question - it it submersible? Beach hunters will be disappointed once again if the answer is no.

I’d expect 800s to still be the norm. The question is, for those that are switching, what are they switching to? Legend, D2, or Manticore? I ruffle feathers when I say the tech has maxed because people want to believe detectors have no limits. I think however many people are seeing that for some applications at least, like nugget hunting or beach detecting, the Equinox 800 is still a top performer. Gains are very hard to come by with the current state of the technology.

Yeah true 3d prints can be pisspoor or they can be 5 star, unfortunately I have not used a Goldseekr Swing Arm if you do get one Jin please gives us a review.

It IS the new machine! The fact that this seems like a U.S. only thing would seem to indicate weak sales here combined with the U.S. managers desire to boost the end of quarter reporting. This kind of sale though does less to generate new sales than rob from future Manticore sales, so the job gets even harder next quarter. I think the Deus 2 is proving to be stiffer competition than Minelab ever thought would happen with Manticore. @Bill (S. CA) reports lots of D2 and very few Manticore on So. Cal beaches. The relic hunters seem to favor the D2. Maybe the scene is different on Florida beaches?

I think we are all addicted to having the next best detector. For me to love one and dis others is a bit unfair. I don't mean to influence anyone's decision, because another person might not see and feel the same way about a detector. But, I think constructive comparison is good informative talk for forums and free critique for the manufacturers. Everyone has their favorite brand, I'm no different. Right now we are mostly left with the big three... Garrett, Minelab, and XP. We should be all glad we have different manufacturers to choose from and not just one. We used to have a lot more! My only intention here is to help those who chose the Apex themselves and not make anyone buy one because I like it. I've owned a lot of different detectors over the years and tested even more. I would have loved to settle on just one and had it become my "right arm", but there was always something I didn't like and it shoved me to look further. I have known people early in the hobby that stayed with only one brand and model and learned it well. Well enough to often times outperform the latest gadget detector. It's only because they long-learned how to operate and interpret signals with incredible accuracy. Many years ago, I tutored an older women club member who asked for my help in how to better use her detector. She had an incredible place to hunt, but did poorly her different times out. After she was shown the right way to use it and got more comfortable with her detector (old White's non-motion), she came to the next meeting and plopped down a medium-sized jar of silver coins! I swear I could almost hear jaws hit the table! To be honest, the art of the hunt is a little more than just the detector!

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 😅

September 21 2002 Part Two These guys looked to be middle aged but it was getting hard to see clearly in the fading light. The sun had just set when they appeared out of nowhere. Clay hollered over to them and asked them where they were going but they ignored him and kept getting closer. They weren’t on a path directly towards our camp but were following the creek about 100 feet away. I stood up and shined my flashlight in their direction and asked them what they were doing. The one in the front turned toward me and said they were prospecting for gold. Mighty funny I thought as they weren’t carrying anything with them. Not even backpacks or shovels. I asked them where their gear was and all five of them stopped walking. I saw the one in front say something to the others and before a few seconds had passed two of them walked away down the creek and three of them cut up the floodplain north towards the base of the mountain. Then I heard one or two of those three trampling through the brush just above us to the north. They had us surrounded. Conor said he saw some side arms on them. Clay said he did as well. Jacob said they might have been watching us weigh the gold and waited until dark to make their move. It was almost as if they had walked up near enough to size us up. Jacob said that if it's trouble they want he will give it to them in spades. He had his old Thompson ready for action. I was thinking to myself that what the hell is all this? Have we gone back in time to the 1930’s ? None of us were ready to give up our gold. If they wanted a fight they would get one. TO BE CONTINUED ................

I open this topic for new users of the Garrett Apex and the Pro-Pointer, a.k.a. "Carrott". There might be something experienced operators might want to ask as well. I had originally planned on writing a huge intense review about Apex features and detail the operation of it, but I think it might be less boring and more productive if users asked me specific questions they have. I have owned the Apex now for 4 years and really enjoy using it. I'm not a water hunter, nor gold prospector... I hunt mostly coins, flat buttons, jewelry, and relics in the oldest locations I can find. If that interests you, I will be happy to share what I know about the Apex and land metal detecting in general. Yesterday (4/16), on a permission I have been hunting (more like beating to death) for 13 years now, the law of diminishing returns is starting to become evident. So I spent the day hunting in random directions over my colonial era crop field... hunting more slowly, hoping to find anything at all actually. So I relaxed a little and removed some pressure from myself by not competing with myself! I have found everything imaginable here from coins, buttons, and relics lost by the people who plowed these fields long ago... Right on through to items people are still losing today. Towards the end of day, expecting to go home empty-handed yet again, I hunted near a good-sized Hickory tree in the middle of the field which likely presented an obstacle to one of farmers long ago. It was probably left standing anyway because it was at the crest of a hill and possibly for its never ending crop of nuts. My target signal (only 8 feet inside the shade from the tree) sounded surface loud. The pitch bounced from "foil to pull-tab", back and forth. Walking around the target, I was able to somewhat isolate the "60-ish from the 40-ish" conductive ID, making it more stable and repeatable in the higher direction. A quick glance of the depth scale in the custom search mode I use showed 3 bars or only 6". I ran my iron technique in Pinpoint and proved the target not to be large iron at least. There were plenty of little iron "grunts" around the location though. OK I thought, one more out of context pull-tab or gnarly foil wad and I'll hit the road for home! Folding a plug back, the "Carrott" started to "Bugs Bunny" in the bottom of the hole... A little more dirt and it's out! I checked the hole depth with the embossed scale on the side of the pinpointer... 6" nearly on the mark. But no pull-tab or foil... It was an 1863 cupro-nickel Indian! Normally the "Fatty's" are oxidized into date oblivion, but this ground was kind. This penny still had some light green patina in the recesses. It must have been dropped not too long after circulation. It was in the same era of a rare campaign button I once found in the other end of this field. Not far from my dig, I got another signal that read "51". I was hoping for possibly a "Shield" nickel, only to be disappointed with a 1981 Jefferson at about the same depth as the Indian! 🙂 Hopefully this little (true) story will invite some questions about how I use and adjust the Apex and get us started!

Crossed cannons Artillery insignia that once adorned a kepi. The cap was gone but the chin strap with kepi button survived many decades under ground.

At the time Apex came out, Apex was not only the least expensive simultaneous multifrequency (SMF) detector it was also the least expensive detector featuring selectable single frequencies and I praised Garrett for finally showing up to the party with a compelling Detector to go toe to toe with Minelab. It was at the time a great value for a very capable detector. Garrett was transparent regarding what user expectations should be regarding its capabilities by appropriately associating it with the Ace product line. I considered it to be more than an Ace level but not quite as feature rich (and obviously not waterproof) like the AT series. Make no bones about it, though, the Ace series doesn't mean "entry level" and "lacking performance" it mainly means simple to operate and great value. As you say, Bob, detecting is more about having a decent site (location) and getting your coil over the target (coverage) and being proficient with and confident in whatever detector you use and less about cost and features, bells, and whistles. I grant you that when XP then came out with its SMF answer with the D2 and it's typical stratospheric pricing, especially compared to the Equinox and Apex it was fair to highlight the huge cost Delta to make an argument for comparative value. But 3 years later, it is kind of a stale argument, for two reasons. One was already pointed out but you appear to have dismissed it. Namely, there are a myriad of significantly less expensive and capable D2 configurations centered around the WS6 as the master controller. This highlights one of the most significant strengths of the D2 platform which is wireless component interoperability and reconfigurability which allows the end user to optimize value, capability, or weight as they see fit. But I'm not here to force you to eat a croissant you don't want, I just wanted to point that out for context. The second reason I would not necessarily beat the Apex value/cost drum too loudly is that Nokta came along and blew everyone out of the water with their price point for the Legend SMF, basically an Equinox 800 Plus...with a great selection of accessory coils. And they continue to update its firmware with more capability and features to this very day. Again, I am not saying any one detector is "better" than the other here, just commenting on this whole cost, value, "3x this", "4x that", focus. Cost and value are important but each major brand offers SMF detectors (XP and Minelab included) at price points similar to Apex for their various SMF offerings. Therefore, using cost as an argument for or against is a point that is easy to undercut regardless of whatever detector you are talking about. At this point with SMF detectors basically having similar performance capabilities, hair splitting seems to be the main MO for touting one detector over the other. Getting back to basics, the best detector is the one you want to use and do use most frequently. After all the hot air I just expelled, I am very excited to see Garrett's answer to Apex. Hopefully, the gathering "Storm" at Garrett will wow me as much as the Apex and Axiom product ammouncements once did.

I would name it according to its release date, therefore nokta, I will need some more info 😁

Finally! First we had Algoforce but now the real battle starts in pulse induction, with Nokta likely to set new price/performance ratios i.e. bang for the buck. "Join our naming competition and get a chance to win one of our future Pulse Induction machines! One designed for gold prospecting and another one for relic hunting! These detectors will redefine affordability and performance for you to break free from the grip of overpriced alternatives!" ENTER CONTEST Deadline April 30th

After owning and loving 5 Equinox 600/800s, I thought I just couldn't survive without one. Now I own the Legend and Manticore. I simply do not miss my Equinox 600/800s at all. I don't even think about buying another Equinox or have the slightest bit of seller's remorse. The Legend and Manticore easily out perform the Equinox 600/800 where I detect the most and I don't have to worry about leaking and build quality either.

Both are forms of discrimination. Threshold discrimination eliminates all targets up to where it is set and notch eliminates specific ranges. On digital machines the machine is still responding to the targets and usually they just turn off the audio and or both audio and id's. I typically hunt with no discrimination as it is too easy to eliminate good targets or easily skip mixed targets like coin spills or good targets mixed in trash. If your machine has the ability to change tone breaks then use that and set them on known trash targets so you get a mixed lousy signal vs clean tones on good targets.

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.

The Versa is very impressive, the Legend not so much, too fiddly and the Versa just worked better on deep targets.

You can’t really go wrong with either the f75 or the Legend. Most will say the Legend has more potential as multi-freq but for simplicity, ease of setup and user comfort and satisfaction, the f75 is awesome. I still want to get another one at some point.

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. 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.

I, too, was hoping for Garrett to release an update to refine the code of the Apex as well. The core program is good, but could use a little tweaking to make it even better. Tweaking it would be a great way to increase the value to the current users and lure prospective buyers to consider the Apex. Simply allowing limited adjustability of the recovery speed, audio enhancements as mentioned in this thread, toggling the backlight on when changing detecting modes etc., would be beneficial to the all users. That notwithstanding, I have spent many hours with the Apex in the last 3+ years too, and found many, many desirable targets with the Apex, some of my best. As Bob and others mentioned, working slowly around iron infested sites can yield some nice non ferrous targets. With the Apex, one has to spend a little more time working amongst the iron sounds to hear the non ferrous targets. The D2 can locate these targets a little faster due to the adjustable recovery speed. Recently I was at an old homesite where there was plenty of metallic trash in the ground. I went over the sight with the D2-9” and was able to recover 5 coins and some relics. Then, on another afternoon, I went over the same area with the Apex equipped with the Ripper coil and extracted two more coins, a key lock, and more relics. In my Ohio soil, I find the D2-9” hits an 8” buried dime sized target better than the Apex with the Raider coil. But, again, the D2 cost 3x as much as the Apex. Both machines offer great performance and easy-on-the-arm and shoulder swinging for extended periods of time.

I’m using the ws6 master on my Steve’s detector shaft. It is a super light combination.

Another case of U.S. buttons I have to finish as soon as I get time. I have many standard issue "Eagle" buttons that need to be added but I'll need a few more cases. Always inspect your backs. Some have uncommon back marks, some have rare back marks. Rare back marks can turn a common button into an investment button!

I dug into my records... I bought my Apex first (USA) on 8/26/2020. It did not come with the MS-3 phones or the Pro-Pointer AT, I already had those from previous Garrett detector purchases. My price was $424.95. Then I purchased the Deus II 11" (USA) on 3/17/2022. It came with the WS6 headphones and MI-6 pinpointer and cost me $1758.00. $1758.00/$424.95 = 4.1369572x EXACTLY Oops! My bad, you were correct, I should have said 4 times as much! OK, so let's play fair and not compare apples to croissants, I'll add current retail prices (which I bet have changed upward from when I got my Apex) of the MS-3 Phones ($107.05) + Pro-Pointer ($144.95) = $252.00 $424.95 Apex + $252.00 Accessories = $676.95 total Revised... $1758.00/676.95 = 2.5969421x EXACTLY I'd say I estimated fairly close to 3 times as much. In reality, all I know is what came out of my pocket in the USA was 4 times as much for the Deus II than I paid for my Apex. I had purchased the Deus II to see what all the fervor was about and possibly replace the Apex. I used the Deus II for 6 months to give it a fair trial. Verdict was in, I later sold it in favor of keeping the Apex which I have now used exclusively for nearly 4 years. The Deus II just wasn't my "Croissant"! 🙂

Hi All, I got hooked into detecting over the last year, spurred on by scoring a Garrett Ace 200 for $25 at Goodwill! I have only detected around my house so far, which as it is an old farmhouse dating back to the 1730s has been plenty!!! Graduated up to a Nokta Legend this spring after I found, and tired of, that the Ace 200 was exceptionally good at finding old hand forged nails. Top scores so far include a silver thimble, a fat 1860 Indian Head cent, an 1896 Indian Head cent, a bunch of wheaties, and just this week a 1927 Mercury dime, my first silver coin! Also found a large copper dandy button, and a copper tag with "Bay State House 29" on it, as well as a door key that fits the old lock of one of the exterior doors! The Bay State tag is definitely old and is somewhat pitted. If anyone has any thoughts on what it is from, let me know! Very much learning the Nokta still, figuring it out and spending way too much time doing so!

Sometimes these sales become price adjustments, as they stick around or never go back up to their full price. I thought the Manticore is overpriced, well still is here. I can buy a Deus 2 WS6 lite whatever it is kit for half the price of a Manticore. Minelab always aim high for pricing, and gradually adjust when they work out they have overshot. The Deus 2 is the competitor to the Manticore and has pretty good popularity, and the Legend competing with the Equinox 800. So, for the first time in some time Minelab has real competition. It will be interesting how Garrett's new detector when it finally comes out adjusts the market uptake but may have been another reason this sale is US only, as the Garrett detector will be virtually USA only too unless they sort out their pricing. My biggest problem with Nokta detectors is their UI is always a poorly thought-out mashup of making too much fit on a screen not suitable. XP face similar issues although not near as bad. The Manticore is so simple to navigate and understand the screen it doesn't even compare in that regard. What was never taken into account it seems was a bulk of people were happy with their 800's, and the changes made especially to the 900 were certainly not enough to entice an "upgrade" unless a water hunter so many will only upgrade once their 800 fails out of warranty. The Manticore was an upgrade but the price increase was far too high for not enough extra for many people. I'm happy with my Manticore though, and glad I bought it, especially now I have the m8 and m15. A very good detector. As Steve said they'll sell a lot of Manticores now during the sale, once the sale is over, they'll be lucky to sell many at all for a long time.

Hobbiton was amazing. Today we go to the Waitomo caves.

Good job Clark, that little guy is in good hands!

Since no one has responded to you when you Notch a target ID out you are discriminating anything in that target ID range out, so they are one and the same in my opinion, and yes those discriminated targets or notched targets can give you a clipping sound when you swing your coil over them

On the third they should have gave you a new machine, That's Sad.

Too late! Besides, nobody believes me anyway - HA! I have never seen another Apex on the West Coast except mine. Fine by me. It is an exceptional performer on our saltwater beaches.

On the average of the 5 returns of my AQ to FT under warranty the turnaround time was about 1 month. On one repair it was reaching 2 months and the reply from Felix was ... Things move slow around here. If they had a longer warranty, I would have kept the machine and hoped for the "bugs" to be ironed out. I once requested a new machine due to the high number of returns but was denied. I am sure that you, Joe were familiar with my dealings with FT as I kept you in the loop. Oh well...Lesson learned.

Metal detector sales must be slow. Fisher has the fire sale going on eBay and Minelab has dropped the price drastically for a few weeks on what should be their most popular models.

As had been said many times, competition is good! Even the threat of a new detector from a competitor helps bring the prices down! I'm really rooting for Garrett to come through on this! We will see!👍👍

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! 🙂

Haven't used the minelab but Docs works great.

As I told last week, I was preparing the Manti for today's session on the seabed. In a few words, "damn it works"... Even if I abused the machine using underwater the beach LC program, I however managed to take with me three pieces. The second attempt will be with surf and seawater, which I think it is the proper way to use it when diving. Not bad for the day one💣

Not a bedroom. The whole house.😇

I was Airborne, so I spit shine mine.🙃