Cal_Cobra

How much is a Minelab CTX where you're at?

I don't think it's purely maketeering. Clearly it's not going to go 50% deeper, but if you read what Tom's stated, and listen to what their director of engineering's telling us (who's not a marketing guy), there's a practical application here. Tom D. stated that the coils are different then anything else before them, with unique circuitry, winding designs, even the extra ribbing the water hunters were bitching about have a practical purpose. Yes the Equinox coils are incompatible because if someone did figure out a way to connect them to the MC, they'd blow out from the amped up power. So it's not a marketing thing like the coils between the Vanquish and Equinox not being compatible where they clearly could have been. If you think about it, if you've followed Dankowski for any length of time (as I know you have Steve) he's always had these primary objectives in architecting new detector technology: Better EMI mitigation More usable depth Better unmasking Better capabilities to handle salt water beaches Fast forward to the MC, and given that Tom's not only been a tester he's been part of the dev-ops design team on this, it looks like he may have actually succeeded in these areas of interest. I probably sound like a Kool-Aid drinker, but in my experience over the years those that enjoy the technology behind all this learn the difference between those blowing smoke up our skirts and those moving the proverbial ball forward. Being the hard core detectorists that Tom is and his commitment to excellence, I think we may just see something unique here. Of course until we get our hands on them, it's only speculation, but there's plenty of bread crumbs if you filter through the noise. Unfortunately Tom's clammed up 🤕

Nor according to Tom Danjowski who's been part of the dev ops and test team for the MC the past three years. He stated it's across the board, single freq and SMF. We can also put to rest that their claimed 50% power increase is compared to a Bounty Hunter, it's compared to the all mighty Equinox itself as per Minelab: This feat of innovation generates an incredible 50% power increase over the best-selling detector series of all time: EQUINOX. Between what Dankowski and Minelab themselves are sharing, this is turning out to be a very interesting detector, at least on paper so to speak.

Same here, one reason it sucks hunting in the spring and summer months out here (not to mention the heat). In the fall and winter when the overgrowth dies back and the ground is moist are my favorite times of the year for relic hunting. Slow and low is how I do best.

Congrats! Never get tired of digging them 👍

It's an eye opener. We had an awesome San Francisco park demo that lasted an entire summer, and a ton of great finds were made (I even managed an eleven silver hunt, that was exciting!). Just about anything you can imagine was found (sans a gold coin), but a 1909-S VDB Wheat Cent was dug (not by me) a rare 1896 San Francisco dog license (I did get that one), tons of silver coins, old buttons going back to the beginning of the gold rush era, lots of tokens, several gold rings (got a nice Victorian era gold ring with a small diamond in it), and on and on. It was one of the most enjoyable demo sites I've had the pleasure to hunt. BUT my point was that it was pretty amazing to see what was coming up and still deep even after they scraped, trenched, or what not. Tom Dankowski had positive comments on the added power, and potential applications as well as the 99 point iron range. Definitely going to be an unusual and interesting machine 👍

Good points Chuck! I feel the same way to a large degree. I don't, and never have sold a single find because like you, for me, it's not about financial gain. If it's too expensive, then I won't buy it. Like I never felt the CTX was worthy of it's $2500 price tag. I know they can be had cheaper, especially on the used market, but it felt like a bit of ML price gouging and it still weighed a ton (and lets be honest, it's not the best relic hunting detector out there anyhow). That said, it's still super rewarding to make a high value find, and it's great to be able to say a single find paid for the machine. Plus, and perhaps more importantly it makes the wifey happy and greases the wheel for the next detector purchase 🙄

For new finds I could see that. At least your sites get replenished, albeit at a slower rate then you'd like. None of my sites get replenished. Once they're finished, that's it, time to spend tons of time to research a new site and hope it hasn't already been cleaned out (which 9 out of 10 times is the case). Given the dynamics of the MC and some great insights into it's operation from Tom Dankowski, I can see this potentially opening up some sites laden with iron and/or deeper finds. We shall see, but so far the future's looking bright 😎

Nice job! Has to be some gold hiding out there 🧐

I paid for my EQX800 my first trip out when I dug a beautiful 18K gold ring, but that was pure luck. However, after it located several high value seated coins, a rare 1856-S U.S. $1 gold coin, and tons of other great finds, it's easily paid for itself twenty fold, easily.

We don't know what we don't know right? At one particular site for years my hunt partner and I assumed that targets weren't deep, because in the beginning we were digging plenty of targets that were not deep. Once those easier to detect targets dried up, I started investigating anything that made a beep. After digging a measured 10" deep two reale, a 10" deep copper fractional reale (a rare one), a seated dime cache that was right at the 10" mark under an inch thick layer of scorched earth, and a solo seated dime that was 10-11" deep, I put that assumption to rest. I think what we generally observe is that 10" is at the edge of the VLF detection capabilities before a machine calls the target iron IF it detects it at all. After digging the aforementioned deep targets, I can only surmise that there is another layer of targets that my current arsenal simply cannot see. Would I want to dig 15" holes at a park? Nope. Not because I don't believe there's targets potentially that deep, but the optics of digging such a hole in public has it's own ramifications. I've detected several old park scrapes in San Francisco, you'd be surprised what we find after they scrape off 12" of dirt, there's plenty of old targets there like this 1916D key date Mercury dime I dug:

I've seen a few comments that the 50% power increase only applies to single frequencies, but NASA Tom said no, it's across the board, single frequencies and SMF 👍

But is it really that more expensive in the end? Let's do the math: Equinox 800 MSRP $1000 (taxes/shipping not included) Equinox Minelab Equinox 600/800 Complete Carbon-Fiber Shaft System $129 + shipping (and likely state sales tax as required now days with uncle sams long arms), let's just call it $150 out the door Oh and lest not forget a coil stiffener so the coil ears don't snap off in the middle of BFE;. A survey of coil stiffeners looks like you could get a decent one including shipping/tax for about $20. The Equinox 800 now equates to $1170 vs $1599 for the Manticore which negates the need for upgrading shafts and and adding coil stiffners. An additional $429 seems reasonable considering the price delta between the CTX and it's predecessors.

NASA Tom has been helping develop and test the Manticore for the past [nearly] three years, and if you read between the lines on his forum he said: We've been working on the Manticore for nearly 3 years. A TON has gone into this one. And with different 'mindset'. I will share more data.....as time permits...... AND = when it will NOT infringe upon sales of other stuff.,.,.,.,., and/or C.O.I. Something I want to clarify.... that Mark Lawrie stated in the YouTube video: The ID system is on a scale of 99 points. So is the scale of iron ID range! -99 to 0. (Negative 99 to 0). (((Salt ID's as '0'))). This is to say: Nearly a 200-point ID span. There were 2 VERY primary 'focus-of-intent' into this project. Tom's primarily a relic hunter, and a salt water beach hunter. If I had to guess, their primary focus-of-intent was better unmasking, and usable depth. Which bears out in their marketing messaging. We shall see!

Yep, I did too and went with the Sunray version. Sovereign was a great beach hunter for me, but a terrible relic hunter.

Relic hunting inland it's common place that iron tools (axe heads, chisels, picks, etc) will TID @ 13 on the Equinox. This expanded iron range will be interesting to see in play. Ironically the Minelab Sovereign originally had a 550 segment TID meter, people complained about it and then they came out with a scaled down meter, so more isn't always better.

The F75 LTD/LTD2 with BP (Boost Process) was a very good technology applied to the right circumstances. The F75 was a VERY noisy machine, and for ultimate depth if that's what you desired you were working in the noise and audio fatigue would wear you out, but it did have it's positives. After upgrading my F75 LTD to the LTD2 (after an intervention from Dave Johnson as FTP screwed up the first attempt) the upgrade allowed me to pull a bust silver half from an iron infested site that had already been pounded by several other machines. It was a measured 10" deep and came in crystal clear. Unfortunately any mineralization killed it, as did iron rust particles which blinded the machine. Shame they never really evolved the F75 much beyond their constant rebranding to the point where it was simply silly (I guess they took a play from the White's sales play book).

I could give a rats a$$ what it's called, as long as it works 😲

I watched the newer video where the guy was waving his wedding ring around by the coil and was pleasantly surprised to hear that all too familiar audio that's music to my ears 😁

Considering it's light years ahead in the weight department over their legacy Etrac/CTX machines, and they still managed to shave off a little bit, you won't hear me complaining about the weight. Never found the EQX800 to be a heavy machine. Was it the most ergonomic, no, but compared to many from the past it was.

God I hope not! Once your memory muscle syncs with the Equinox full tones audio, it works great. I used a F75 LTD/LTD2 for almost ten years, the audio wasn't great, definitely not Delta Pitch. Audio fatigue was a thing on the F75, very digital artificial in nature.

We'll see. I fail to understand why they can't make these a close loop design, can't be a COGs issue.

Great size for sure, I hope it's a closed loop mechanical design.

Terrible video (turn your phone, that's why they invented 16:9 ratios!!!), but some nuggets from the ML rep. Expanded frequency range, likely where the + comes in on their MultiIQ+ moniker. If you read into what their saying it sounds like it has more power (increased depth as per them), more accurate target ID (which some complained about on the Equinox) faster, lighter and looks to have much better build quality. We can speculate about it all day long, but none of it means anything until we get our hands on one. Don't count on any aftermarket coils anytime soon, the ML rep said the coils on this, like the Equinox, have electronics in them as well.

Yep I'm jumping in line to pre-order one! The Equinox was a total game changer (for me) and I have no doubts that this will take it to the next level, can't wait to take one out! Hopefully we don't have to wait as long as we did when they announced the Equinox (did they learn that lesson???).