abenson

I hope Garrett can pull something off. But it better at least be able to compete with the Nokta Legend at a similar price. Otherwise they are wasting their time. I like the Legend but I don't like enough for it to be my first choice when I go out detecting. So if Garrett can come up with a better detector in the $550-$750 range I'd buy one. That being said, there is more room at the top for a premium metal detector than there is at the bottom. Fisher is out of the game and Nokta rules the under $600 arena. XP and Minelab are really the only companies offering premium metal detectors over $1000. So a person that's dialed in on what their competition is doing would naturally gravitate towards the area with the most room for a new model and have the potential for the most profits. Whatever Garrett does I hope they will send protypes to detectorists that give them honest feedback so they can develop a metal detector that really is competitive, rather than fanboys/girls that will tell them what they want to hear.

You might get more depth with the 11" coil as it would see less ground. I suspect the depth would be reduced in soild dirt rather than crushed ironstone, but I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. LOL In you text you said the ring was 8" but on the video I thought I heard you say 6". I may have heard that wrong.

Do that same test in Culpeper VA and the Manticore will be cut to 6" or less (it might iron grunt on it a few inches deeper) and the GP 3500 will still be hitting that ring at 14". Just saying. I've also done a similar test at the Great Salt Lake here in Utah. High salt content low minerals. The Manticore would most likely hit that ring at 14" and the GP 3500 with the 14" coil would be at about 16". The Manticore handles the salt very well. High Mineralization still kills all VLF's.

The 3 I watch on a regular basis are Outback gold fever, I brake for bedrock and Nugget shooter journals.

Hold down the up arrow button (upper right) for 2 seconds and it does an automatic noise cancel.

So looks like Fort Bedford Metal Detectors has them in stock for $139

Just saw this. https://www.minelab.com/accessories/wm-09-wireless-audio-module If it was posted in the past, sorry for the double post. Looks like it works with the Equinox 700/900 and Xterra Pro

It's not that way with my M15, I've actually had to stay at the same sensitivity level and even bumped it down a notch some days. I'm hunting very salt saturated beached though.

That's too bad. I was hoping for some after market coils for the Axiom. I've held off buying one in hopes of more coil options. Probably just stick with the 6000 for the foreseeable future.

Thanks for your report on the Axiom Jeff. Really appreciate the writes up you do when you go out. Congrats on the gold, it's always nice to find gold when you go out. Makes digging all that trash worth the effort.

Wow! That dime is in great shape. Congratulations

Chuck in the case of the Manticore, it simply came down to settings that worked on the previous software, wouldn't work on the new software. I now use the latest software with no issues, but it required me to make drastic setting changes to make it work in my soil. User error? Probably, but it does irritate me that these companies make changes to software without testing the results in multiple soil types to make sure it's going to work.

You're going to have to experiment with different settings, especially with the updated software. The old software is a lot more forgiving of settings. Settings are going to be site specific and be dependent on soil mineralization strength. When you get over what you think is a deep target, change up your recovery speed and sensitivity until you find the settings that give you the most stable ID. In my mid-high mineralized dirt, the old Manticore software I could run recovery at 3 or 4 and sensitivity run up until EMI started to creep in. Target ID was fairly stable at those settings. With version 1.11 I have found that my recovery is best at 5 or 6 and sensitivity at 19 or 20. With those settings I have target ID spreads of about 4 points max, even on deeper targets. These settings are especially important in ATHC, General and ATLC are more forgiving. The other thing about over driving the settings on the Manticore especially in ATHC, is deep iron targets start to sound good because of the false you get off them. I'm finding with the Manticore if you pay attention to the clues given by the tone, trace and ID, you'll dig very little iron or junk in general. Good targets (unless on edge or next to adjacent targets) have a pretty defined trace, tight ID and solid tone.

Nice test Jeff. Thanks for sharing the results. Did you try running the 6000 in difficult on the Colorado dirt. Just wondered if there would be a better or worse response on those targets.

Thanks Gerry. The coil chatter actually happens on the Deus 2 as well. I'm pretty sure it's the ground. I'm not the only one that experiences this same issue. I've got a seperate video coming with the other detectors mentioned in the comments. I'll be in Virginia hunting relics the first part of November, but thanks for the invite.

Yes Dave I think the Manticore would do best running the update if you're after gold nuggets.

Last week I meet up with Steve (Condor) in Northern Nevada to do some nugget hunting. I brought along a number of SMF VLF units (Deus 2, Legend, Apex) to test, one of which was the Minelab Manticore with the M8 coil and latest update that is supposed to have improved performance on small gold. We hunted for 3 days in various locations in conditions that included alkaline soil, mild to medium mineralization and hot rocks. I found a total of 16 small nuggets, 13 of them were located with the Manticore. I didn't have a dedicated gold nugget VLF along such as the Gold Monster or Gold Bug so I'm not sure how the Manticore would compare to them. But overall I was pretty impressed with the Manticores nugget hunting ability. If you're interested I did a video with my setup and comments about the target trace on the Manticore.

Nice work on the seated quarter Dave, looks like you guys had a good time.

Chuck, Thanks for the comments and corrections needed in my spelling. I get typing too fast and leave stuff out or add things that shouldn't be there. Typing has never been a strength of mine. Yes they are common dates. But I'm always excited to see these older coins come to light. Getting harder and harder to find them.

Thanks Gerry!

This was trip number 2 in the Fall of last year. Still using the Equinox 800. Got it to more concentrations of finds. Highlight was an 1857 dime and 1851 trime. Sorry 1st photo is upside down, not sure how to fix that.

That was #16 but I've since found others.

Thanks for all the comments guys. I'll update the thread as time goes on with more finds I made in the Fall of last year through the Fall of this year.

Another move to get rid of the middle man. Given the downward trend in metal detector sales, I'm sure margins are getting thin and manufactures want to keep as much of the profits as possible.

That's a flatten percussion cap