Jeff McClendon

I hunt in high iron mineralization. My Manticore is running the software update. I have not used the stabilizer filter function. It stays on OFF The most stabilizer setting I ever use is 1, mostly just keep it on 0. My Manticore is not having depth issues. So, I don't have anything to admit to since mine is working just fine.

I have not noticed any change in depth on coin sized targets or sensitivity to small low conductor targets going from v1.11 to v1.15. The video I posted on page 1 of this topic shows the Legend with 11" LG28 coil absolutely hammering those two deep targets in high iron mineralization just as well as the Nox 900 with it's 11" coil. The Legend with the newer LG30 coil struggles on those targets. I was not using Beast mode. Just normal Park M1. I did not video the Manticore and Deus 2 with their 11" coils on those two targets. However, I have tested them on the 7" zincoln US penny and the 9" US quarter and they don't do any better than the Legend and 900 using their 11" coils. That video was sent to Nokta as part of the testing that I am doing for them. Hopefully that video is not causing the delay in releasing the next Legend software update.

The Equinox series transmit frequencies used in Multi IQ modes actually start at 2.6 kHz according to testing done by Carl Moreland and top out at 39 kHz with 7.8 kHz in between for the Park and Field modes. The X Terra Elite manual basically reads like the Equinox manuals when it comes to comparing Park 1, Park 2, Field 1 and Field 2. Other than that little clue, no one knows exactly what the transmit frequencies are until somebody correctly hooks up an Elite to an oscilloscope. Also, there is this blurb from Minelab's "Frequently Asked Questions" section on one of their X Terra Elite website pages. IS THE MULTI-IQ TECHNOLOGY IN THE X-TERRA ELITE THE SAME AS OTHER MINELAB MULTI-IQ DETECTORS? Yes, the MULTI-IQ technology in the X-TERRA ELITE is the same as the MULTI-IQ technology used in other MINELAB metal detectors. ALSO, X-TERRA ELITE includes a 15kHz single frequency option for the Park and Field modes. Just like over on Friendly, you are going to get the same answers over here.

If you are going in and out of a fresh water creek that is gold bearing and also has plenty of black sand/ground noise, I would just do a manual ground balance whenever the Legend gets noisy. It’s easy to do especially with the 6” coil while using the gold prospecting mode in M (Multi) or Park2 or Field 2 in M. Also, keep sensitivity around 20 and don’t use the Deep Target function. Just keep it on 0. Like JCR said, keep iron filter on 0 and iron stability on its lowest setting 1. Bottle caps 0 too. Keep recovery speed between 3 and 6. If 3 is too noisy just raise it a bit until it quiets down. In Goldfield M with the 6” coil even with 20 sensitivity, your Legend will easily hit #9 lead bird shot and will also hit sub 0.1 gram gold flake nuggets. Steel bird shot may be harder to hit cleanly. Deeper targets especially if they are small sub gram nuggets, will often have target IDs below 11 and could even read as 1. Ground noise and hot rocks can read 1, 11, 60 and other target IDs. Ferro Check works very well on shallow iron and tin targets even in Goldfield M. I would practice a lot with ground balancing, with Ferro Check on shallow small iron targets and on very small lead targets in the 0.1 to 0.25 weight range using Goldfield to learn their target responses. Carry a small lead test target with you to your prospecting sites and see how it is detected at different depths to get a good idea about what to expect.

First, I want to say that a person needs to use the detecting equipment that they are able to afford. The GP type Chinese knock offs do work and if a person doesn't need more than an inch of range on a coin sized target, they work perfectly well for that task. Yes I have owned one just to see the real story. No it does not have the same components nor will it fit inside a Garrett AT (Carrot) shell. I looked into that when I owned both at the same time. Performance between a real Garrett AT Carrot and the GP I owned was the Garrett had three times the depth and was by far a better pinpointer. I tried out a buddies ProFind 35. Absolutely not impressed with that pinpointer. Haven't tried the ProFind 40 yet. I own 3 F-Pulse/TekPoint pinpointers. They are finicky and yes I have repaired all of them at least once:broken solder joints, etc. I had to repair my Garrett Carrot too by the way. Those FTP pinpointers are the deepest by far of any pinpointer I have used on coin sized targets and depth is what I use them for. Their sensitivity to small targets is poor. I have a Nokta Accupoint for gold prospecting and for working in thick iron trash. It's depth is way behind the FTPs but its iron reject feature and sensitivity to really small targets is outstanding.

I just run the detector. In my opinion it's the Manticore that is very impressive.

For deep silver coins/rings and for gold rings especially bands, the Manticore and Deus 2 can actually have very similar results. They both can hit deep silver with the right coils. They both also have very reactive audio which makes identifying bullets and US nickels pretty easy. I just use the US nickel distinctive audio to find gold rings with very similar audio characteristics even when they have slightly different target IDs from US nickels. I can do that using full tones or 5 tones. If I can do it, most anybody can.

9 more silver coins since I last posted and 2 silver rings so 80 silver recoveries for 2024. Add 27 grams of 14K gold jewelry so far in 2024 to that total and my Manticore has easily paid for itself and it has been super fun to use. I have done very little tweaking or practicing. Basically I have just hunted with it in ATG. All on public park turf, no beaches yet.

Sorry, I just don’t know. There are no new settings from my experience but I am only testing a specific beta version that may not include everything.

So far, the beta test software Iffy is using in his video is working very well here in Colorado too with no increase in EMI or ground noise which is really good. That's all I can say.

Maybe there is an update coming. We'll know soon. Here is a short 1 minute video I threw together showing the Legend using the LG30 and LG28 coils and the Equinox 900 using its 11" coil on 2 targets: a 7" deep US zinc penny (Legend surface target ID 39/42, Nox 900 ID 60/62 and a 9" deep US clad quarter (Legend surface target ID 50/51, Nox 900 ID 88/91) Information about settings is in the YouTube video description. I am worried that the "fix" shown in Iffy's video will really increase the ground noise from the high iron mineralization in my area and also make EMI effects worse.

The Legend has an outstanding gold prospecting mode. Iffy signals mentioned in his original video that the Legend had zero issues hitting those two gold targets especially using less iron rejection with the Legend’s gold prospecting mode. His point was Park or Field using the higher frequency weighted M2 setting had trouble hitting those targets. I have not experienced that “issue” using the M2 setting but I hunt with iron filters on their lowest settings and with all targets including iron accepted. I am used to non ferrous targets that have target IDs near the ferrous/non ferrous tone break sounding like Iron. I just lower the ferrous/ non ferrous tone break a few digits using Park or Field M1/M2 and keep detecting. I look forward to seeing how Nokta “fixed” the issue in this Beta software update.

Silencer 0, bottle cap reject 0 or at most 1 for me due to iron mineralization.

I have used a lot of Minelab VLFs. I don't ever remember seeing a mineralization meter on any of the ones I've used. Manticore is no exception. Definitely doesn't have one. Minelab must think their detectors will work anywhere and don't need one.......

Some have already reported here. I was able to pickup another 900 at a ridiculous price. It had not been updated. I detected with it for about an hour at an aluminum trashed park with high iron mineralization...high enough to almost peg Deus 2's mineralization meter on past hunts. The 900 even when noise cancelled and ground balanced in Park 1 multi with all targets accepted, sensitivity 22, recovery speed 4, iron bias 0, 5 tones, was very noisy from EMI, ground noise and wildly varying target ID and audio responses. I could sort of hunt with it after I turned sensitivity down to 20. I flagged 4 targets that appeared to be a US nickel and three copper pennies/clad dimes that were in the 4 to 8" depth range. The 4" deep targets were triple beeping with erratic target IDs as if they were on the surface with the 900's DD coil too close to them. I had my Manticore with me and went over the same ground in All Terrain General, sensitivity 26, recovery speed 4, all targets accepted, 5 tones. There was next to no EMI interference, virtually no ground noise and much more stable target IDs. It was like walking from of a packed gymnasium full of screaming people into an empty lobby. Manticore confirmed the likelihood of a 4" deep US nickel, a 4" deep copper penny or clad dime and two deeper high conductor targets. I went home, updated the 900's software and went back to the same area in the park with the same original 900 settings on the same day. EMI and ground noise was much improved, so was target ID stability. It was not as quiet as the Manticore but I could deal with it as long as I kept sensitivity below 22 at this site. The 4" deep US nickel and what turned out to be a 4" deep clad dime were not triple beeping and they had much more stable target IDs that only varied by one or two numbers. I would call that an improvement at least at this one site. Be careful with the magnetic port and cable connections. They need to be clean and tightly secured or you will lose connection or have very slow update times. I purposely did not get the connection as tight as possible in the beginning of the update and it was just crawling along. I just pressed on the back of the magnetic cable connection at the port and the update sped up immediately.