abenson

Yep, none of them expect the winner was setup correctly LOL. What most people fail to understand is that this isn't your normal saltwater beach. Even after my disclaimer at the beginning of the video, people still try to give advice as if it were on a regular beach.

Thanks Gerry. Yea I was really surprised to find a gold ring first target dug. If you're talking about the VLF vs PI video, I'm getting plenty of comments about the Manticore not being setup right. Which I expected. The only thing I can try different on the Manticore is a suggestion from NASA Tom to put it in prospecting audio to get that 16" nickel to sound better and possibly be able to run the sensitivity higher without falsing. I will be trying that next time I get out.

Nice bunch of finds! Wish I could relic hunt right now but I'm limited to beach hunting right now due to frozen ground.

In mineralized ground the PI's romp all over the VLF's. Saltwater beaches not so much, you might gain 2-4" over a VLF (Deus 2/Manticore) depending on the salt strength. But if you have both salt and minerals then yes PI all the way. I'll give you a few examples. In Culpeper VA where Civil War relics are dug. You can take any VLF including the Tarsacci and you might get 8" with an ID that would tell you it's ferrous or non-ferrous. With a GPX it's common to dig bullets and coat buttons in the 14-16" range and be fairly confident it's a bullet/button. Belt Plates have been dug at depths over 24". Now it does take some experience to be able to tell iron from bullets/buttons. But a VLF will not even hear a 14-16" bullet/button. Gold nugget hunting is generally done in moderate to highly mineralized ground. VLF's are basically good for surface to a few inches deep on small nuggets and a little deeper on the bigger ones. I've seen in multiple instances where a VLF has called a small gold nugget iron at just a few inches deep or not see it at all. PI's are at least twice as deep on gold than a VLF in mineralized ground. I have used both VLF and PI machines at saltwater beaches for almost a decade now. I've seen the development of VLF's get to the point that it's almost not worth using a PI at a beach anymore unless there's a lot of black sand in the area. You can see many videos on YouTube that show the slight margins a PI will get over a VLF on a low mineral saltwater beach, it's usually a few inches at best. VLF's have gotten better at handling salt so the margins are slim on ring sized targets. The exception may be the Fisher AQ but it never made it to production, so IMO it's not even in the running.

Nice looking ring, congratulations!

I'm going to add to what I said earlier. I'm not sating 5" is the max depth for these machines, I'm simply saying that target trace is not at all accurate after 5". I can hit a 6" dime with all 3 machines and get enough of a VDI to tell it's something high conductive. At 7" all bets are off. Both the Manticore and 900 report high VDI's almost like iron wrap. The D2 is actually the most stable and reliable it will give mostly no ID but about every third pass will throw up a 91, which is pretty close to what a dime should be on the D2. Target trace is really all over the place, I've seen mixed iron/coin traces, snake like traces from the top to center line and snake like traces that stretch 1/3 of the length across the middle line on deeper pennies and dimes. And yes I have dug nails that report just like a coin.

On the beach target trace works good, even on deep targets. Iron so far on the beach has not been a problem either. I'm digging targets down to 14" in depth and finding some good stuff. On land it's a totally different story. I really never thought the target trace would work all that well here anyway from past experience with FBS machines. They also had a weakness for deep nails and deep targets in general. It doesn't bother me that it doesn't work past 5" here. There are plenty of other features I like about the Manticore, for example, all the audio options available, for me to keep it. Even if it becomes a dedicated beach machine.

My initial thoughts on the Manticore is that it's a beach detector and a good one at that. Very deep at the GSL, and the extra power is obvious when I compare it to the 900. But put it on mineralized ground and that extra power does nothing for it. Where I live most of the ground is 4 bars on an F75, some parts as low as 2 and some as high as 5. I've been doing a bunch of testing between the Manticore, 900 and D2 in my yard and at some local parks (4 bar dirt) and to be honest there is very little difference in depth capabilities between the 3. As far as the 2D screen goes, it's worthless after 5 inches around here, you just as well use the audio and VDI to make a dig decision. I'm also thinking that deep nails are going to be a real problem on the Manticore, but I will save judgement for a later date after I have some more hours on it.

No idea on number one. At the beach I'm running my sensitivity at 22. At the local parks I've been to, anywhere from 20 to 25 depending on EMI. Have not been out in the sticks yet but I would guess with the mineralization we have around here I'll still be limited to about 25.

Of the 4 I've used the Legend the least, maybe 6 hours at most. All are nice machines and all do certain things different than others. Not the best video to watch if you're trying to make a buying decision IMO. I'd rather watch videos where they are being compared on live targets. But I don't think you could go wrong getting any if the 4. Although my personal preference if I could only have one would be the Equinox 900 as its the most well rounded for the types of sites I hunt and has the best coil selection.

Nice finds. That chain beautiful.

Nice hunt, congrats on the 4 pieces of gold.

Nice write up Rich! I'll just add a few things. My settings on the Manticore are about the same. I have dropped my recovery to 3 and sometimes 2. But 2 makes the targets a bit to smeared IMO for the GSL. Rich had me go over the silver dollar before he dug it to see what I thought. I don't know if he realized it was going to be big silver or not. I was getting VDI readings all the way from 13 to 95, so it was deep. I called silver half, but was wrong. Based on going back and watching the video I would say it was 16+ inches deep. The Manticore is a great beach detector that's for sure. I have dug a few pieces of iron with it and suspected it would be iron at the time but dug it to confirm my suspicions. For me the Deus 2 has a little better audio on the deep targets. But both machines are right up there for the deepest VLF I've ever used at the GSL.

https://www.youtube.com/c/RelicsRings

Nice finds and great story. Thanks for sharing

Yep Manticore really shines at the beach, had mine out 3 times to the beach now. I'm running my sensitivity at about 22 most of the time. Agree about those deep targets disappearing after the first scoop. Just keep digging and eventually the target ends up in the pile.

By 50 tones do you mean 1 region all tones? I'm guessing that's what you mean. If you're used to running 5 tones on the Equinox, going to all tones in the Manticore is going to be tough. I personally have used 50 tones on the Equinox since I got it so all tones on the Manticore/900 for me is familiar. Just a suggestion and trying to offer some help. I personally would bury a dime at different depths and run the Manticore over them trying different modes, sensitivity, recovery settings, etc to get a feel for what sounds good to you and what doesn't. Going straight into the field with a new detector can be frustrating especially if your targeting deeper stuff. In my area dimes are essentially out of detecting range at 7 inches due to high mineralization. In my test garden with the Manticore I'm finding general and low conductor modes are actually better on deep dimes the high conductor. If I hadn't done these tests before going out and just assuming high conductor would work best in my local park I too would have been frustrated.

Thanks glad you enjoyed it! There are a few reasons for good stuff still being there. One being the area is so big and two metal detectors are getting better. The half dollar was about 12" deep.

Yea I think it would have

On another thread UtahRich and I had posted about a recent beach hunt we did with the Garrett Axiom and Equinox 900. I'll try and add some pictures of the finds a little later. Here is a video of the hunt.

Un-dug it was jumping around between 19 and 24. In the pile 23, thought it was going to be a crusty nickel. Big surprise!

Eric, I've used both the D2 and 900 at the beach. D2 100 hours or so, the 900 about 30 hours. My personal preference is the D2. Your not going to gain anything by getting a 900. As far as raw depth goes, I'd say the D2 has the advantage by about an inch. Target ID is more stable on the D2 as well.

It's just stamped 14k. Based on the area it was probably lost in the 40's

Literally fired up the Manticore walked 30 feet got the first signal and out pops this 14k 1.7 gram ring at approximately 13" deep. Beach deep stock program sensitivity at 21. Got it on video which I will post on my channel at some point.

No I haven't. Seems like once you start digging though the signal gets more broken on iron.