Cal_Cobra

8 hours ago, Sinclair said:

It's 2499€

dollar/€ is about 1:1 at the moment

So about 500€ above the MC then.  Even if they were the same price, I'd still rather have the MC then lugging around a boat anchor like the CTX.

Sounds like a good time to go to Europe from the U.S.   Every time I've been there in the past the dollar was weak and Euros were costing $1.30+. 

15 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Great idea. I used to have a lot of that (par can) gel in the 80's 😄 I should have saved some. hat gel was expensive!

I picked up a small roll on fleabay, probably a yard long by 12" wide.  That's probably enough to last the rest of your life.  I like the red LCD display, like I think it was the Fisher F19 that had that.  It's easy on the eyes and with the dimmest settings, interestingly a dim red glow isn't noticeable from a distance, yet a white glow is. 

14 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Cal,  I know this is a somewhat tongue in cheek sensationalist statement, but Tom D as an engineer should know that from an engineering fundamentals standpoint regarding a coil (not talking the interface chip), this is just a ridiculous take and also what’s the point of making it?  Was he trying the explain away ML’s propensity to not provide cross platform coil compatibility or were we supposed to be impressed from the imagined visual of Nox coils exploding when they are connected to the M-core’s 2.4 gigawatt flux capacitor?

As someone who also “enjoys the technology behind all this” because I am an electrical engineer and a detectorist, I CAN say ludicrous statements like this are literally blowing smoke and NOT moving the ball forward.  Tom D should know better.  I’m not worried about you drinking the M-core Kool Aid (it should be a great evolutionary step up from Equinox - I’m liking what I’m seeing as ML feeds us more info), but definitely watch out for whatever Tom is spiking that Kool Aid with.  

I actually thought about that as well.  I don't know about making that claim as a cover to keep the coils proprietary, I have more faith in Tom then that, but I agree it does seem sensationalized.  Perhaps the increased amperage could simply damage the internal coil circuitry?  It will certainly be interesting to see a MC dissected as we've seen with other detectors in the past.

Spiked Kool Aid conjures up bad memories of college parties gone amok 🤮

2 hours ago, King-Of-Bling said:

All this talk about power is really just that : talk , until it's out and we get to use it. But a full charge takes 7 hours in this day and age ? That is disgusting. Call me ridiculous , paranoid or whack. Here's all I know. In California , our great governor in this crazy heat has told us to not charge our EVs and 1 week prior said in the next decade no more new gas vehicles will be produced or sold. Also to turn up our thermostats as in don't run the A/C because it will cripple the power grid and cause blackouts. More insanity from these people. And all I can think of is why no one has made a solar powered detector yet. Lol

Not that California politics have anything to do with this thread (or any others on this forum for that matter) BUT I suspect that 2035 California EV only mandate (for new vehicles only, you're old fossil fuel beater cars will continue sucking down petro after 2035) will change unless they start building nuclear power plants NOW.

5 hours ago, dewcon4414 said:

I thought the same.  Then I thought humm they just transferred that ear breaking to us having to buy lower shafts. Hopefully it not a stiff build… because water guys tend to use the machine to balance themselves in ruff water.   One of the reasons I run in AM in the water is because I’m just looking for target … once found then I have to determine… is it something to dig.  I don’t run disc because things change… the salt, very tiny concentrations of metal, hard pan and black sand and EMI.  Some try to just disc it out rather than adjust the settings.

Would you rather break a $50 lower shaft or a $400 coil?

On 8/31/2022 at 4:38 PM, schoolofhardNox said:

Why not just put a black sock over it for when you hunt at night? Set the light to it's lowest setting and then cover the screen up.  Or make a black piece of plastic that you can just put over the display. You can use rubber bands or Velcro to keep it in place. I would never not buy a machine for something I can solve to my liking fairly easily.

I had a machine that you couldn't disable the screen back-light, only reduce it, yet it was still blinding in areas without ambient light.  I used some red gel screen (like they use to cover studio lighting) over the screen and it worked like a charm.  Basically similar to how the military ops does night lighting so your eyes are not blown out by the white light, and unless you're standing in front of the detector the screen isn't visible from afar.

23 hours ago, Sinclair said:

Funny.

I don‘t detect for a living and I‘ve never sold a find, too..

How ever - they just went over the top with this one - imho. 

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

5 hours ago, steveg said:

I believe I have seen Mark Lawrie say "50% more power going to the coil," than the Equinox, and Tom Dankowski said that if you somehow were to wire an Equinox coil up to connect to the Manticore, you would essentially "blow out the coil."  So, I am fairly sure it's just all a "marketing gimmick."

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 🤕

On 8/27/2022 at 4:25 PM, Chase Goldman said:

No it's 50% more than single frequency detectors - because it HAS to be if you are combining 2 or more transmit waveforms together.  The ambiguous pseudo tech marketing hype continues and just causes confusion. SMH

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.

36 minutes ago, midalake said:

Am sure I will be corrected and scolded soon😁

But I have NEVER had a machine that did not go deeper by scrubbing the coil. I am a coil scrubber believer from WAY back............

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 👍

6 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

I read probably 3/4 of all posts here at detectorprospector.com.  Every few months one will hit me in the head (in a good way 🥴) and this fits that experience.  Something that I've wondered about for at least a couple years is why I don't find coins deeper than about 8", and only a few that deep.  When I 'clean out' a site I still hear (among other things) those iron grunts.  I've always assumed they are just nails, deep cans, etc.  From what you're saying my assumptions haven't been very good.

I'm guardedly excited over this multicore.  It's going to be an interesting 6 months or so as we learn more!

(P.S. I just realized I'm getting OT.  Sorry, Chase.  Well, at least some of the posts on this thread have conformed to your request.  🙄)

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 👍

12 minutes ago, strick said:

How many years does it take to pay it off for you in entertainment purposes? all this talk about how much the machine costs is  irrelevant...if you don't like how much it costs then simply don't buy it...why does it even have to be  paid off?? Are you taking out a loan to buy it and making interest payments lol? I mean its a toy to have fun with not a tool to make a living with... unless of course you really are searching for coins to make a living? 

I once came across another prospector out in the Nevada Desert. We were both using the same minelab detector (7000's) I happened to mention how much I liked my 2300...his reply was that it would take forever to pay it off with all the tiny gild it finds...better to go for the bigger pieces...I told him If I wanted to make money I would have just stayed home..as there is plenty of gold there and it's easy to find...most of us leave the gold mine to go and play in the dirt...but if your circumstances are the other way around then I'm impressed for those of you who can make a living with a metal detector...just sayin

strick 

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 🙄

51 minutes ago, Sinclair said:

Mine paid for itself after 3 month in clad only. But conditions have changed a lot the last couple of years..

- the number of dectectorists increased drastically over here
- more and more coinless payment systems for parking, lunch etc..
- less visitors due to multiple circumstances like Covid, weather, prices
- fuel price for me has doubled since end 2020 for example!

This year has been the worst since owning the Nox - approx. 1/3 the finds than 2018. That means considering the situation won't get any better, it'll take at least 3-4 years to pay off..

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 🧐

1 hour ago, canslawhero said:

yep, expensive here in Canada also but as with my previous Minelab's I'll be able to pay for it with finds. the gold rings I've found so far this year will be good for > $1000 (cdn) of the purchase price ($2079 + 13% tax) in melt value. The rest could be made up from clad finds, as we have $1 and $2 coins here. This isn't taking into account the ability to sell my EQ800 for probably 65% or so of the purchase price if necessary.  I will also get the 15% military discount. 

Regardless, taking the 'Beast' (which is how I'll refer to it) out to my well hunted sites will certainly lead to a lot of fun/pleasure which I would call priceless...cheers

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.

19 hours ago, kac said:

Majority of finds are well under the 10" mark and in parks expecially with so many people detecting now most the finds are near the surface and are fresh drops.

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 👍

4 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

And price.  😉 

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!

1 minute ago, midalake said:

😆 Remember quite vividly changing both my Sovereign meters to "180" scale!

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

14 hours ago, midalake said:

I see a Horseshoe mode on the Manticore. I hunt with the horseshoe mode ON with the Equinox. This is the only way the ferrous mode is accepted.

Minelab is going to have to come up with some special sauce on that iron range stuff, Because: I find iron targets on the Equinox bounce all over the place. Rarely do I EVER see a ferrous target lock. This will be interesting to watch!

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. 

2 hours ago, V3i/MXT Pro said:

For anyone that’s ever used the boost mode on an F75 or V3i, you already know that the additional power is often accompanied by additional noise. I’ve personally found limited use for those hopped-up modes… Usually, further analysis of a deep target in accommodating ground conditions.

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).

6 hours ago, strick said:

... you guys can make fun of the name all you want but I’ll be getting a Manicure most likely. 😝

strick

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

13 hours ago, scoopjohnb said:

That was exactly what I was thinking when he mentioned it. The video showed the Equinox tones, but without the clipping of the tone and more depth modulation.

A nice and very welcome surprise.

Target trace is an excellent feature even when detecting full screen open. Helps to single out the targets that are out of the ordinary. These are the ones I'm interested in as a jewelry hunter.

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 😁