HardPack

The only Legend headphone problem I have seen was a review showing the ear pads coming off and how to reattach. Thanks for the link, I’ ll give the Legend Manual a read.

Plus that base price tag of $508 requires a closer look. I think that 12x9 (LG 30?) might be a good all around coil. If needed the 9.5x5 (LG24?) is only $136. The Legend appears to be ruggedly built, not so sure about the wireless headphones. I can handle the EMI if I have confidence in the detector’s ability to sound off when over a non-ferrous target. In this country a VLF may run on the hot (sparky) side depending on the iron content of the rock/soil. Here is a partial list of the rock and the soils types here: foothills- serpentine (hottest), diabase, basalt (dikes & pillow), limestone, slates, schists, graywacke & granites; high elevation-granites, basalt, rhyolite, andesite, quartzite. Plus plenty of hot rocks. Iron (ferrous) is usually associated with the lode gold deposits. I am looking for a SMF that fits me, I do not have enough time on the EQX 900 yet, it can handle the heavy iron trash and still pull out the targets but the my ears are not decided on the five tones and all tones (At). Something about the tone volume they are not liking. Like I said I am trying to get a feel for the Legend: tone audio, volume, threshold pitch, handling/balance, display, etc. Throw it out there. Thanks for the input

Yes. I am not expecting PI performance out of the Legend but trying to an idea how it deals with mineralized ground and how about EMI?

Noticed several forum members are currently using the Nokta Legend in various locations for general, beach, coins & relic detecting. Any recommendations and advice for someone considering a future purchase. My particular ground conditions vary up from moderately mineralized ground of the western Sierra Nevada foothills and I often detect higher up on the lava capped ridges. My use would be more on the coin & relic side around old gold mining sites, old camps and along old emigrant trails. I prefer not to step over an occasional sub gram nugget. What do you think, would the Legend fit?

I believe the Minelab Xterra Pro, Equinox 700/900 and Manticore have a built in transmitter and the WM 09 is the corresponding remote wireless receiver. The WM 09 receiver module attaches to your belt, vest, pack strap or in your pocket allowing for the connection (via a 1/8” jax or 1/4” with an optional 1/8” to 1/4” cable) of wired headphones. There is not a speaker in the WM 09 receiver module nor is the module waterproof.

Minelab WM 09 OVERVIEW Go detecting with your preferred headphones - with a low latency wireless connection. The WM 09 enables precision detection responses and greater freedom of movement. Connect your headphones to the 3.5 mm (1/8-inch) headphone socket, or connect a 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch Headphone Adaptor Cable (Part No. 3011-0369) to the threaded socket. A USB charging cable with magnetic connector is included. Note that the WM 09 is not waterproof.

Notice on November 24th, 2023 that Minelab has the WM09 wireless module listed on their accessory page for the Xterra Pro, EQX700, EQX900 and Manticore. This will allow for a wireless connection to your favorite 1/8” jax headphones; 1/4” jax HP with 1/8” to 1/4” adapter cable required. No external speaker. Amazon did not currently have any listing for the WM09.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

I agree, lots of good information.

Thanks for all of your inputs. I choose the XP Deus I (selectable) with both the 9 inch X35 & 9 inch HF coils; I detect with the X-Y screen. To round out my other half, I choose the ML EQX 900 (SMF) with the EQX 6 inch, EQX 11 & Coiltek 10x5 coils, I am still trying to download the manual. I’m satisfied…..hypothetically. However, that 2D ID screen on the ML Manticore has sure caught my imagination. Wonder what a beach house goes for these days, definitely no snow on the coast. Yeah but first I should hide some of these detectors boxes in the attic How many days are there until Christmas? One more question: If a property developer was offering the last two beach homes on the coast, all things being equal including the view except one is a single story and the other is multiple… Thanks Again and have a Happy Thanksgiving

ML Manticore impressions, adjustments to the 2D screen for ferrous false positive signals, EMI, enhanced audio, etc.

The video examines the methods employed by both the XP Deus II and ML Manticore with a comparison of the discrimination setting tonal break points, TID averaging, ground conditions, etc related to non-ferrous target iron masking. A technique for differentiating masked non-ferrous signals from the ferrous (iron) falsing signals is explained. Watch to the end for the “Impedance Plane Analysis” (X - Y axis, phase angle, target vector) for explanation of what non-ferrous target signals are modified by an adjacent ferrous target.

The cabin sets in a small basin at 7000 feet with a low glaciated rise to the south. A north to south running ridge is to the west rising to 7700 feet and a canyon to the north leading to a east west running ridge reaching 8200 feet. The drainages from this lateral side canyon flow southeast eventually dropping into a main river to the south to 6000 feet. Over the north ridge system are a couple of large basins with drainages that cascade down a “U” shaped river canyon to 5000 feet. Above the cabin on the west slope at 7300 feet is a spring, the outflow has formed a small fluvial fan at the base of the ridge. The water continues to flow past the cabin through a small meadow. In the background of the cabin you can see a boulder field. These are granitic erratics transported down slope then deposited as a lateral moraine. Well drillers hit granitic bedrock at 100 feet below the top of this glacial moraine. From what I have read the Central Sierras were capped by massive ice sheets during the Ice Age spanning from 2.5 million to 15,000 years ago (Pleistocene + plus). Canyon glaciers flowed out from these ice sheets down the east and west slope drainages of the Sierras. Prior to the uplift of the Sierras the forming granitic batholiths were 20 to 25 mile below the metamorphic rock formations above. The central west coast was rotated closer to the equator, a more tropic or subtropic environment. As the Sierras were tilted upwards water flowing down slope eroded drainages carrying metamorphic sediments. The higher the Sierras rose, the greater the volume of water captured, the deeper the slope drainages eroded, the larger the sediment loads grew. Volcanic activity to the east of the Sierras periodically covered all this slope erosion with ash layers. Volcanic activity often melted the snowpack filling the river channels with muds flows. As the volcanic activity migrated westward layers of ash and mud were covered with lava cap (Farallon plate subduction). Multiple river systems meandered westward draining a plateau (Nevadaplano) to the east then flowing down the slope (2%) of the Sierras into a sea (Foresthills). Volcanic ash falls and mud flows filled these river valleys (Eocene 55 mya). Water flowing down slope would cut through these ash and mud deposits following the old river channels or eroding new river channels. As the eastern volcanic activity approached the Sierra slope lava flows (andesitic) cap the earlier (rhyolitic) ash deposits along the then existing erosion features (Miocene 24 mya). As the climate cooled (from all the volcanic activity?) the Sierras ice sheets and glaciers formed eventually eroding the west slope high elevation metamorphic rock formations down to the rising granitic batholiths. (There are exceptions near the summit and along the east slope - Bonds Pass, Convict Lake, etc). The west slope high elevation sections of the Eocene river channels were carried off in the metamorphic sediments. More recent river canyons were cut down into the granitic batholiths starting with the periodic melting of the ice sheets and glaciers. With the departure of Africa and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean combined with the central west coast pushing over the mid pacific spreading ridge (San Andreas Fault) compression lessen and the plateau east of the Sierras transitioned into the Basin Range Range Complex and the Walker Lane along the east Sierra escarpment. Where found in the basin range the Eocene river channels are offset up to 20 miles from range, across the basin to the adjacent range. The ridges surrounding the cabin are probably Miocene channels, the springs and seeps flow from the contact between the granitic bedrock and volcanic layers/caps that escapes the glaciers. As for the river worn quartz pebbles, I find them in the meadows, on the ridge slopes and on the ridge tops where the volcanic caps have eroded away. There a couple of rhyolite bluffs that may hide a clue. Other than that, I am clueless.

Steve, You may find the articles on the Sierra Geology Org. site interesting. https://sierrageology.org

Where did the bulk of the placer gold in Tertiary river sediments in California come from?…maybe Nevada! Sierra Geology Org. HTTPS://Sierrageology.org There are several articles and presentations on the Sierra Geology Org. website, click on the article to read or click on the “view here” button.

Steve, Any current follow up updates regarding Sierra Nevada glacial deposits. Great post.

By the end of January 2023 the snow depth reached within 2 feet from the ridge which is at 16 feet. Periodic rain storms helped keep the snow levels down. The photos are of the south face of the cabin looking north. Three quarters of the porch gets iced over with snow which provides a platform for ice stairs. The covered porch has so far kept the door openable. Just of the left side of the cabin you can make out the remains of an old red fir which created the meadow when it fell. The Paiute traveled through this area then the early westward settlers followed their trails, then the 49ers followed by the mud wagons hauling freight east to the silver mines on the summit. On the ridge to the west is a portion of that original trail along with more of those river worn quartz pebbles. Interesting geology up here with lots of springs and seeps that need panning.

That water even sounds cold. Clean looking gold. Stay dry

Chase, Great discussion on Fe vs Fe2, it appears to me that Minelab may have, for whatever reason, dropped the Fe2 feature on the Equinox 900. For now I am going follow Steve’s lead, set the Iron Bias to “0” then field adjust the Sensitivity, Iron Bias & Recovery Speed. I am beginning to like the Field 2 search mode. As soon as these storms pass through I’ll head out. Thanks for the link

“Gee!” she exclaimed “We have so much in common, let’s settle down and be happy.” “You spent this month’s rent money on what !” When we parted ways she got the truck. As the cat and I watched her drive away we both noticed all our happy toys in the bed. Due my recent relocation into a remote mountain shack my claimant base is shrinking. I need to drum up some future work before the cat freezes or worse. There’s still has got to be some real men left in this world, let them stand up and their voices be heard…typed. Now let’s get back on the “hypothetical’ topic: Which one of the last two (2) metal detectors on the planet (selectable or SMF, free international shipping) would you purchase and why?

Chase, Since I have failed to find a Minelab definition for “Iron Bias” I am assuming Iron Bias filters the detector’s incoming return signal based on the purity of the signal. At Iron Bias setting 0 all signals pass through the filter regardless of purity or iron contamination; at setting 9 only the purest cleanest signals pass through the filter. After running the Equinox 900 over multiple buried large iron targets I began to realize the detector is firing SMF signals weighted on the low or high side based on the search mode. So naturally the return fire of non-ferrous “falsing” signals is going to be proportional. As an example imagine an individual firing a single shotgun round into a flat rock, the ricochet return non-ferrous “falsing” signals are going to be proportional to the hardness of the rock face. Now imagine all your rock shooting buddies fire simultaneously multiple shotgun rounds into the same flat rock. The returning ricochet non-ferrous “falsing” signals is going to be overwhelmingly proportional. Now as the light starts to shine in I am beginning to realize with either single frequency or multiple frequency the return signals are anything but consistent or “repeatable”. On old mining sites I often search out the iron and will switch to “all metals” mode (with no Iron filtering) listening for low tones and negative TID to confirm the target is iron. With the Equinox 900 SMF I may be able skip the All Metals step. Thanks for the response, I’ll get there,

You two do realize that the MD vendors don’t just give these detectors away in lien of fees to any old divorce attorney. Without full disclosure nothing typed regarding this topic can be used in a court of law on my side of the Mississippi….unless duly stipulated in a prior pre-nuptials or you happen to reside in community property state.

Ran the ML Equinox 900 in circles today. Buried an iron axe head at 9 inches, two iron flat plates at 10 inches, a railroad spike at 8 inches, a bend horseshoe with nails at 10 inches and a 1981 US quarter at 8 inches next to a small flat piece of metal strap at 6 inches. Placed the quarter and the flat strap two inches apart in a center hole; then dug a radius of five holes 20 inches out from the center; placed the first iron plate flat at 9 o’clock; the second iron flat at an angle at 3 o’clock; the horseshoe flat at 12 o’clock, the axe head flat at 6 o’clock and the spike flat at 8 o’clock. Scanned the area with the detector then backfilled & compacted the holes. I then started my encirclement with the EQX11, EQX6 and Coiltek 10x5 coils. Factory Reset FB the ML Equinox 900 after mounting each coil. With each coil detected All Metal in Park 1, Park 2, Field 1 & Field 2 search modes with the factory settings; used only simultaneous multi frequency SMF; Sensitivity was set at 28. Performed a “Noise Cancel” then “Ground Balance” separately for each of the search modes. The ground (granitic clay) balanced between 36 and 41. Noise Cancel between -9 to 9. All targets were sweep from multiple angles. Summary the results for the three coils: 1981 US quarter: all coils detected at mid to low 50 non-ferrous positive TID and a ferrous negative TID for the flat strap (3/4”x 1 1/4”) in both directions. (US quarter air TID high 80’s). Iron AxeHead: all coils detected the non-ferrous positive TID (mid 30’s to high 80’s); EQX11 detected no negative ferrous TID; EQX6 detected negative ferrous TID in Park 1 & Park 2; Coiltek 10x5 detected negative ferrous TID in Park 2 & Field 1. Iron RR Spike: all coils detected the non-ferrous positive TID (mid 20’s to mid 40’s); all coils detected the ferrous negative TID; in all search modes. Fe plate “flat”: all coils detected the non-ferrous positive TID (mid 50’s to high 80’s), EQX11 & EQX6 Coiltek 10x5 coils did not detected ferrous negative TID in any of the search modes. Fe plate “angled”: all coils detected the non-ferrous positive TID (low 40’s to high 80’’s); only the Coiltek 10x5 detected ferrous negative TID in Field 1 & Field 2. Iron horseshoe: all coils detected the non-ferrous positive TID (mid 20’s to mid 40’s) in all search modes; all coils detected ferrous negative TID; in all search modes. Note: In Park 2 and Field 2 with only the EQX6 coil, dropped the Sensitivity setting until some targets were no longer detected (14); Non-ferrous TID stabilized to a range of two to three (mid 40’s) indicating a positive target TID for the Axehead and both Iron Plates. In these ground conditions, Sensitivity setting 22 yielded both a range of positive non-ferrous TID and a negative ferrous TID for all iron targets, except the axehead and iron flat plates. This morning I returned to the iron with the 10x5 Coiltek in Field 2 search mode. Settled on All Tones, Iron Bias “0”, Sensitivity 22, Recovery “2” as starting point. Will field adjust as needed.

Assume the last remaining metal detector manufacturer produced only two (2) models of the same detector with all the same features; the only adjustments you could make were ground balance, EMI and volume control. All the other features, filters, the coil, etc are identical but factory set & locked and not adjustable plus there is only one (1) all-terrain/all-target search mode. The only difference between the two detectors is one offers a range (4 thru 60) of Simultaneous Multi Frequency (SMF); the second detector offers multiple selectable frequencies (4, 5, 7, 10, 15, 18, 30, 40, 50, 60) which you select. Just before the last manufacturer files for bankruptcy they offer a midnight sale with free international shipping but you are limited to only one (1) of remaining two (2) metal detectors. Which Metal Detector would you purchase and why ?

Check out the ML Equinox 900 manual; page 39: Topic Iron Bias under the headings How Iron Bias Works " All ferrous targets produce a combination of ferrous and non-ferrous responses. Large ferrous targets can present an even stronger non-ferrous response. Adjacent ferrous and non-ferrous targets can produce a similar response." Lower Iron Bias Settings " A lower Iron Bias setting (0-4 on Equinox 900, or 0-2 on Equinox 700) is recommended in areas where you do not want to miss any non-ferrous targets amongst iron trash, however more ferrous targets will be detected and misidentified as desirable non-ferrous targets. When using a lower Iron Bias setting, detecting in All Metal Mode is recommended to avoid missing any desirable targets." General Question: With any detector including the ML Equinox 900, if you are detecting in an "All Metal" search mode, why would there be a need for feature such as "Iron Bias" for any setting at lower 0-4 or higher 5 -9? Knomad, No argument here the White TDI SL is still a go to detector.