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Tony

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Posts posted by Tony

  1. 2 hours ago, Hard Prospector said:

    Was just about to ask you about the larger optional Sea Hunter 10 x 14 coil.........thanks again!

    My mind is almost made up but suppose I'll  let this thread run for a day or two before I order  a Sea Hunter

    The bigger coil might be okay if you're hunting the tidal flats.......my hunting was in the surf where pinpointing was somewhat difficult. Better coverage and slightly more depth with the bigger coil is something to consider.

    • Like 1
  2. 18 minutes ago, Hard Prospector said:

    Well my trusty Sand Shark finally died and well we all know Tesoro is no longer with us.  I need a new PI specifically for beach detecting wet salty sand, in tidal areas mainly looking for jewelry. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.........thanks!

    Robert

    If black sands (remember not all black sands are bad unless attracted to a magnet) aren't a problem then the PI detector may offer no real advantage to a decent multi frequency VLF machine. Also remember that the Sand Shark ran a pulse delay of about 20uS to 22uS so the salt audio is nicely dealt with. Some people saw that setting as "no good" but I disagree. Anyhow, what's available new today.....I think it's the Garrett Sea Hunter MK2 which is well regarded. It has a minimal pulse delay of around 15uS and maxes out around 30uS to 40uS (rough guess based on what the "Elimination" control knocks out at the higher setting). When I had the Garrett, I used to advance the delay setting to around the 20uS which is very effective in fast salt water. So if you're after "new" as you mention above then the Garrett is it......if you have deep pockets then the Fisher AQ is still available but you really should think hard about that machine as it's expensive and it's quite a handful to operate.

     

    • Like 3
  3. Well I can't help you with any of those detectors but a big thumbs up to your LC70.......I've got something "slightly" more modern..........a 2011 76 Land Cruiser.

    I was also the same age as you when I got my first metal detector in the early 80's..... I got distracted by beer and girls a few years later and detecting took a back seat for a while. I soon came to my senses and re-discovered metal detecting in my early 20's.....I decided to combine all three interests. I had a detector in one hand, a pretty girl on the other and quite often I would find a buried six pack of Heineken in the wet sand.

    Life was good and simple back then.......she even let me play Commodore 64 games without fuss.

    I'm still with that same girl.......Christmas morning here in Perth, Western Australia. Temperature is about 95F.....low tide soon.....nice offshore winds......I really want to go metal detecting instead of visiting the outlaws. I'll try and see how it goes...maybe she'll come with me, hand in hand.....as I try and find that elusive pack of beer instead of all the left over pull-tabs.

    • Like 3
  4. Not a chance for me.....my water conditions are too rough for the M15. I only used it in ankle deep water and it was a bit much.

    Mind you, this is the lower beach with the water rushing up. Calmer and/or deeper water might be okay. "Fast salt" does require tweaking the Sensitivity setting in the Surf Seawater program.

    As I mentioned before.....every "leading edge or rib" on the coil is something for the moving water to grab onto.

  5. We all love a good air test right ?

    Well it's kind of useful when comparing coils on the same machine.

    My 7g 18K wedding band. Detector at 15 Sensitivity had a very smooth and unbroken threshold.

    Settings were:

    • Beach Deep
    • GB at 0
    • Sensitivity at 15 (outside at home)
    • Prospecting Audio
    • Ferrous Limits 4 and 0
    • Recovery at 2
    • All Metal

    M11 Coil.....slight break in Threshold at 18"

    M15 Coil....slight break in Threshold at 20"

    Depth advantage to the M15 is around the 10% mark. This is about what I expected. These are astonishing air tests and I understand don't necessarily translate into in ground conditions (definitely not black sands). My beach sand are mainly "Florida style". I will do a series of buried tests with the same ring at the beach when I get time....stay tuned.

     

    • Like 5
  6. 57 minutes ago, Skate said:

    I have 6 hours of beach time with the 15" coil. It was mostly dry sand/towel line and all I can say is it is deep. Deeper than any other non PI machine I have used. I think I have figured out whether or not something truly is iron and worthy of digging but if you are going to use the 15 on a beach you must dig everything. I dug a quarter in the dry sand that had a non-ferrous tone but red numbers in the 40's and 50's. It was down at least 18" in that the dry sand was no longer dry but wet. The key to dig was the tone and by no means was it good or clear, rather it was just not iron. You cannot go by any of the basic signs like you would if digging in the dirt, you have to dig everything. 

    The 15" is the real deal. I have a job tomorrow to try and find a couple of gold bracelets. I took my wife's gold bracelets out and compared my 800 with the Coiltek 10x5 and the Manticore with the 15 to see which machine I would use to find them. The 15 identified each different bracelet/chain by tone and TID, the nox and the 10x5 never even saw them.

    The manticore represents a new day in detecting capabilities. It's a game changer. 

    I feel exactly the same way as you do. The transition to running the Manticore is easy for me as I have used PI detectors for beach hunting since about 2001. I'm going out on a limb here but I suspect the Manticore can match a high powered PI on mineral free beach sand. When I get time, I will do a beach test with my GP3500 (14" DD coil) against the Manticore with the M15. The 2D screen is awesome but as you say, the audio is critical......for the deep targets then my brain goes into PI mode.

    • Like 5
  7. 7 hours ago, midalake said:

    Hi Tony

    It is odd to see a larger coil that can hold higher sensitivity. I have had larger coil options on many different detectors over the years.

    My question is: have you fringe depth tested compared to the 11" coil?  

    I would be concerned this coil may not be working correctly.  If you are for sure getting the same depths or better...........Don't ever sell that coil!!! 

    Definitely no problems with the M15 coil. I have done some basic tests on my gold wedding band and it is an inch or two ahead of the M11. I got a sneaky suspicion that my GB on the M11 wasn't set correct when first using it....and the result was the Sensitivity couldn't be set optimally. I feel the M11 is the coil of choice for anytime the coil is under the water.

    • Like 1
  8. Hello Clive,

    I've only used it in ankle deep water for a short period of time so any observations are somewhat limited.

    For me personally.....and in my conditions, I "feel" the 15" in the water. These "open web" coils have a lot of leading edges that the water really grabs onto. In deeper and/or calm water then it may not be too much of a problem. I'm finding that lower sensitivity settings isn't diminishing the reach of the Manticore on deeper targets. I'm still trying to find the sweet spot with the Sensitivity settings.....I don't mind running a detector a bit ragged but I feel the Manticore doesn't offer a lot more "depth" at the higher settings....more so in the saturated sand. I've used pulse detectors for a long time and so running the Manticore in the "Prospecting" and "Deep Beach" is just an extension of the pulse detector. I don't want to make the same mistake I did with the "10uS Pulse delay at all costs" mistake I did many years ago.....too much salt noise and not enough gold in fast salt conditions !

    How ratty do I run the Manticore.......no point in running at 25 when 20 does the job just as well (and getting better target ID)

    Love this machine....seriously impressed. Got some homework to do in regard to the Sensitivity setting on the Manticore......so easy using the Sens on the Excalibur (let it false slightly and then back off a touch).

    Maybe I need to read your book !!

    • Like 4
  9. 18 minutes ago, abenson said:

    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 what I would have expected as well but so far, the M15 (same setting for setting) can accept a slightly higher Sensitivity setting.....I'm sure the environment was the same (similar tide times and area of beach).

    I'm wondering if it's related to the GB settings that I may have had (or not had). I recall the M15 hitting higher GB values when doing the GB procedure.

  10. I picked up the M15 coil a few days ago and revisited the same beach that I hit with the M11 coil a few days earlier.

    Is it just me (I don't think so)....but I was able to set the Sensitivity quite a bit higher on the M15 than on the M11.

    I recall the M11 was set on 21-22 but the M15 was happy on 24-25.....wet but not saturated beach sand.

    I'll test again but it appears that the M15 can be set about 3 points higher in the damp sand.

  11. 11 hours ago, Ethan in Adelaide said:

    Good evening fellas,

    Last trip To WA I was impressed as there were so many old gold mines, many were 5-30 meters deep, and I saw one shaft actually had two leves (stories). I wonder if someone can dive in and prospect in the tunnel, where there still might be gold behind the tunnel but cannot be found by the early explorers as 100 years ago they didn't have detectors?

    Any stories or experience? Surely it Must be dangerous ☠️💀👻

    Probably plenty did....but they're not around to answer this thread.....

    • Like 1
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