Skate

It's money! Every coin I can put back in my pocket is a win. Awesome how you were able to convince the kids to go to the school with you. Jedi warrior mind tricks you have.

Colonel Dan- thanks for taking the time to do this. Detecting is an ongoing educational process and you just made it a little easier.

If you're going to buy a scoop and handle buy it just once. I have 3 scoops. An Xtreme scoop and carbon fiber handle, a stavr with a wood handle and an all aluminum scoop. You can't go wrong with one of these. If you plan to travel with it and space is an issue get a two piece handle for it. My Xtreme gets used the most and rather than rounded it is pointed because I dig into some pretty rocky beaches. Hole size is pretty similar across the board but some have the bottoms configured for small jewelry. Width speaks more to how good you are pinpointing your targets. 8" is great if you're on your target but sucks if your coil control isn't what it needs to be. There's a ton of junk out there and you literally get what you pay for with scoops and handles. Best to you

One of the most profound statements on metal detecting ever uttered. The testing of detectors has spawned more keyboard warriors than anything else. Testing is about fulfilling as metal detecting your wife's purse. Too many zinc's and very few quarters and the junk you have to sift through to get those!

That’s an interesting series of ID#s. Is this indicative of where older silver dimes will fall or because it was on edge?

Thanks for all the kind words. Metal detecting is really the gift that keeps on giving.

Love me or hate me, I belong to The Ringfinders and I got a call last night to rescue a men's gold wedding band from the surf up in Santa Barbara. My customer had just applied sunscreen and waded out into the surf, brought his hands up and you can figure out the rest. Off came the ring. I had one chance to get out there early enough to hopefully locate it in the wet and not have to fight the shore break so I got left this morning at 4:30 and headed to the beach. He had mentioned that he thought he was near an area of rocks and guess what, there were large rocks everywhere so I stood there in the dawn and made a decision to search an area I thought made sense. This beach was hopping with iron, targets were everywhere but because of the oncoming tide I decided I would only did solid tones 62-86. After about my 5th pass in my grid I got a LOUD 72 and I mean LOUD. It was screaming "here I am, please dig me" and two scoops later I had the ring. When I met with the owner to return it he shared that even though it was a simple band it was made in the exact image of his father's wedding ring so it was more than just a ring for him. Some of the best moments I've ever had detecting have included giving things back to the original owner and this one was the same. To see a grown man crying for joy that he got his ring back is a feeling that can't be adequately described but it's good. I hope your weekend was at least half as good as mine because if it was, it was great.

I'm hoping you played the lottery this weekend as well given that the odds had to be similar to winning a million as they were to find that other spur! Well done sir. Well done indeed.

That's what makes detecting so special. It's so fun that we just have to share with others when we get out there. There's joy in the little things in life. May silver and gold be at the bottom of all your plugs!

I think "some stuff" was just subtle clickbait. That's a nice haul. Congrats to you!

You are a freaking genius! I’m now absolutely convinced the D2 is idiot proof. I spent a half hour sitting there looking and pushing buttons. Best forum on the internet hands down.

So I finally resurrect an older windows based machine and begin the update. I updated the RC no problem and then started to update the WS6. I finally got it updated(it wouldn't see the 3 charge cord so I had to use a single) and then something weird happened. The WS6 somehow got stuck in the volume setting and no matter what I'm clicking or pushing it won't get out. Now I know I've said this thing is idiot proof but it takes one to know one so I may be the idiot here but I can't even shut it off now so I can begin the pairing process. I'm going withe the whole drain the battery thing so it's nearly 8 here and I'm hopeful sometime tomorrow it'll be empty of charge and I'll be able to plug it in and try to pair it and go hunting. Is there something else I'm missing here. I've held down the - button and it just turns the volume down. I hold down the settings button and it turns the volume down. The opposite is true of the two right buttons in that they each just turn the volume up. I guess I win the prize today.

freaking awesome! That is one beautiful coin. It's going to be hard to go back out and dig a pulltab at 71. Congratulations on a great hunt.

I don't feel so bad now that I haven't updated. I'm not exactly a computer guy so doing the workaround on my Mac left me frustrated and when I went to my school to get my work computer it wouldn't let me download anything as I don't have administrator rights so until I can find a Windows machine to use I'm sticking with 0.6 which has done me well so far. I hope the new update works for those who are able to use it.

What has impressed me so far with the rollout of the D2 is XP's willingness to listen and seek to improve the D2 via updates. I know that one of these updates didn't exactly work out of the box for some and the way they did it wasn't the best but the bottom line is they are working on making it better. Most detector brands haven't been this responsive so close to rollout. The only complaint I have is that I'm a Mac user and I hate windows because I'm not a computer guy who figures out workarounds. I'm an end user and not having a mac IOS to update sucks. Other than that I have no regrets in my purchase.

If it's in your checked bag you shouldn't have any problem. TSA may open your bag to see what it is but it should go through. I traveled with a modified bow case that I had my CTX in with everything inside the case (digger/shovel etc.) and they opened it but it went through. Carry on is a different story though.

My last spring break begins today because in 60 days every week will be spring break as I'm retiring from teaching PE for the past 31 years. We are planning a little road trip as gas has dipped to $5.99 () and the question was how to fit everything in. We got the ebikes, dog bed(3 little dogs), my scoop and my D2 nicely tucked into it's 280 backpack behind the seat in our RAV4. Now I know other detectors can be modified to collapse down to travel size but to me no one has figured out how to do it better than XP. It's Holy week so I wish blessings upon everyone and I hope every scoop nets you a gold ring and every plug a silver half. Best Dave

That is a sweet SLQ. Imagine how many more are sitting there waiting for you to discover them!

That's a great find. Most folks hunting in the parks will walk right past those TID's because 98% of the time they are junk but that's where patience pays off. I hope it's the first of many for you.

Your finds pouch must have been dragging you down! What an awesome teaching/learning day. You will never miss a quarter or dime as those tones will have been written on your brain. Awesome day for you.

These are two winners from yesterdays hunt. The 1927 Buffalo nickel and what I believe to be an old chinese coin. The chinese coin is in rough shape but I have found others like it here as the chinese used to work on the oil fields in the area. It is unique though to find one on a Spanish rancho. If I was on Oak Island I would get a bobby dazzler for it.

9" coil

I found that if I got a tone in amongst others I could slowly begin to rotate around it and there was a sweet spot where all that came through the headphones was the desired tone. I dug several coins that had foil/aluminum and iron(rusty nail) in the hole. You just have to be patient and investigate the target just a little longer rather than dismiss it as junk and move on. In 4 tones the mid tone on a nickel is about the sweetest sound I've ever heard out of a detector, my ears just seem to attach to it like your kids voice does when they are in a crowd. It was uncanny. I say it's idiot proof because to me it's everything I could want in a detector. I like my Nox but this is better but how much better is up to me which is why I like it so much. It has no limits for what and how I detect except for holding my beer.

I finally got the chance to hit an old permission and get my D2 in the dirt for the first time after only hunting the wet sand. For reference it's a "company park" for a farm labor rancho about 2 acres in size. I've hunted here for years with an MXT, ATpro, D1, V3, and Nox 800. I wasn't expecting much but that wasn't the point, I wanted to get 2-3 hours on grass and learn a new mode. I chose Park, switched to 4 tones instead of 3, lowered my reactivity to 1.5 (from 2.5) did a frequency scan and ground balanced and off I went. It took all of about 3 minutes for my ears to adjust and I started digging nearly everything that was solid, sweet sounding and repeatable. The D2 is like a hot knife through butter. It was so easy to isolate targets and zero in on them even though there were other targets all over. This place has seen a ton of beer related parties over the past 60 years so there is a ton of beaver tails, pop tops and can slaw in the ground amongst the coins and you could still separate easily. I can't get over how solid the TID is at depth. I got a deeper (fainter) signal that was a solid 90. By the time I finally got the penny out of the hole the depth was an inch beyond my MI6 resting in the hole. The other thing is the tonal nuance. I get it now. You can hear the target and tell if you want to dig it or not. An example is the nickel. I dug my first one today that rang up as a 62. The tone was just so sweet sounding. It never deviated from 62. I then hit a 62 that moved to a 63 and back to a 62. Dug it and it was a pop top. Hit a 61 that bumped to a 62 and back and it was a 1927 buffalo nickel. I hunt for nickels because I hunt for gold and I dig all nickel signals. I ended up digging 8 more nickels today and all were 62. Every 62 was a nickel. Every time I got a 62-63 I dug those too just to see. Every 62-63 was a crap aluminum pop top. I'm convinced that if you take the time to learn each program that is specific to what you do hunt and want to hunt you will clean up. I only used Park today because I want to know it thoroughly before I move to Deep HC. The 27 Buff shows me that a site is never hunted out and you just need to slow down and take your time. The D2 is not a complex detector to use. Your job is take the time to understand what each option is and what it does and if you get lost just turn it off, take a deep breath and turn it back on. The other thing I would caution folks against is testing it against your other detectors or spending hours in your test garden. Get out there and dig every signal for a couple of hours and see what everything is in it's natural state, make mental notes (or keep a little notebook in your pocket and record the finds) and enjoy detecting. Stop worrying about whether or not its better than the other detector you had and get out there. You don't go around comparing your wife to your old girlfriends so it should be the same with your new detector. Read the forums to learn something and remember if you don't dig it you won't find it. Stop looking for perfection and EMI problems. I found no gold today but that only means I have a better chance of finding it tomorrow. The D2 puts a smile on my face. I hope you have as much fun using yours as I am mine.

I’m going to set this up tomorrow when I hit the beach. Great idea Dan.