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Jeff McClendon last won the day on March 9
Jeff McClendon had the most liked content!
About Jeff McClendon
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Location:
Colorado
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Interests:
Prospecting, Mineralogy, Metal Detecting, Railroads,
Coaching HS Golf, Professional Musician -
Gear In Use:
Garrett Axiom, Minelab GPX 4000, Manticore, Nokta Legend, XP Deus 2, Garrett Pro Pointer AT, FTP Tek-Point, Gold Hog River Sluices/Flow Pan, Royal High Banker
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This thread also supports this concept.......Don't give up on "hunted out" sites. More silver and gold found by the Manticore at a site that I have hunted at least a dozen times with Deus 1 and the Equinox 800. The silver plated watch was a full 12" deep. 3 gram 14K gold ring was 8". Those two targets had excellent target IDs even at those depths=pocket watch was a 93/94 with just a bit of iron audio responses and the ring was a solid 20/21 with a few red numbers. 1961 D Roosevelt silver dime was also about 8" on edge and target IDs were from 68 to 99 with plenty of iron responses.
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Deus 2 Jumpy Vdi Vs Equinox 800
Jeff McClendon replied to Rrnp's topic in Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons
Equinox 800 has two different Park modes. Which one were you using? Park 2 with all targets accepted would be better than Park 1 since Park 2 has a higher frequency weighting close to 39 kHz and would be my choice if I was testing for various gold targets with many different sizes. Deus 2 FMF Park mode has a maximum frequency of 24 kHz and has target IDs 23 to 35 notched out by default. Smaller gold targets like chains and micro gold jewelry may have some target IDs in that notched out range and 24 kHz max may not be high enough. I would use one of the Sensitive programs for gold jewelry testing and remove any notches, even 00 to 00 before starting the test. -
I really like my Deus 2 whether it's with the full remote or the WS6 Master. I really like my Manticore too. No, these detectors do not have equal performance and unless you are hunting only by ear with both detectors, the WS6 as Master even with the big ID numbers just can't come remotely close to giving a similar amount of onscreen information as the Manticore. If a person has poor eyesight.....forget about using the WS6 as Master if you want to use its display for more information than just big target ID numbers. Manticore with the M8 coil vs Deus 2 with 9" coil for small gold nugget prospecting or micro jewerly on land is not equal. Otherwise Manticore with 11" coil and Deus 2 with 13X11" coil is very close for most other detecting. I was not an early adopter of the Manticore. In fact, I really didn't think I remotely needed one especially after buying a Nox 900 and really disliking it. I got the Manticore itch when I started to see some good reports after the first Manticore software update and M8 coil release. Now after owning one for six months, I am really hooked and I have only been using All Terrain General and the Prospecting modes. Multi IQ+ is much better than Multi IQ on the jacked up 900. Depth is fantastic, EMI resistance is really good, I really like the many audio themes and advanced features and the 2D screen is not a gimmick. I'm glad I got mine before the price increase happened.
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Tekkna For The Deus 2, First Impression (updated 2)
Jeff McClendon replied to F350Platinum's topic in XP Deus II Forum
First, Gary Blackwell is a member of this forum and even though he does not post a lot, he is still a member and may have time to read comments that are directed at him especially about programs like Tekkna. I believe his main point was to just try it and see what you think. 1. If you did and you like it great. 2. If you did and you don't care for it and have given constructive criticism, fine. 3. If you haven't tried it and you are negatively speculating .......why? I have only experimented with it myself indoors so I have no opinion....(making myself learn the Manticore at the moment since I have a good idea about what Deus 2 can and can't do). I have just about stopped giving tips and tricks on any forums whether they are my own or someone else's. I am tired of having some people try to shoot down, overly critique and interrogate me about things I have offered as possible aids for gaining more information about targets when detecting. Most of those people fall under #3 above. -
The heading for the chart says "Enhanced" which to me normally means "made it better". If the heading said "Expanded" I would accept that as factual. For me so far the "enhancement” of adding 50 extra target IDs between the ferrous non ferrous tone break and US dimes compared to the Equinox 600/800 is total overkill and for me anyway overload. "Enhancing" that target ID area by 10 to 20 target IDs would have been more reasonable in my opinion. That overly expanded range of target IDs is the only thing that I don't particularly like about the Manticore.
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If I am in an area with fairly healthy grass and damp dirt conditions it's pretty easy. I just cut a 6” long maybe 3" deep slit with my screwdriver, get under the first three inches or so of grass on either side of the slit, gently spread it back out of the way and start removing material with my 8” bladed screwdriver. I end up with a 6" long by 2 or 3 " wide hole. If things go well, all the dirt goes back in, I tamp it down with the butt end of my screwdriver and squeeze the two side of the slit turf back together. That’s the plan. Sometimes it’s too dry for that to work very well but I can usually make it look like I wasn’t there. I return to the these parks at least twice a month and I have never seen any lasting damage from my holes. I have seen dead plugs and dead grass in a circle from idiots with shovels. We don't get frost, dew or fog here very often so the ground dries out really fast. Humidity rarely gets above 25%. This time of year is the best time to go deep when the ground is thawing out from snow cover. Another snow storm is on the way so more silver could be found in the next 2 or 3 weeks before this clay ground hardens into cement. The two silver coins found relating to this topic were found on a SW facing hill under a pine tree so no grass, just pine needles and dried dirt so no issues making it look like I was never there with a screwdriver. Found four more silver dimes in that area with Manticore during the last two hunts I did on Sunday and today.
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Yep, the target information coming from the Manticore in this situation could have turned out many ways. Even when I started digging the first hole, I wasn't completely sure that there were co-located ferrous and non-ferrous targets present. Out here digging in this soil, I have seen an interesting phenomenon on occasion and I definitely experienced it when digging the silver Washington quarter. After removing the first 3 or 4" of dirt plug or in my case cutting a slit and folding two small plugs out of the way, I started smelling a very distinctive organic/metallic odor and saw light grey and white bits of material mixed with the soil almost like fertilizer. That continued down to the quarter which also has some material loss and a whitish to light grey coating. Sometimes I see this when I am about to dig a silver coin out here. I did not see any of that around the Walking Liberty half...........
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I have a buddy that is absolutely killing it with his Nox 600 for silver and wheat pennies at this same park that we and our entire club have been hunting for who knows how long. I personally don't remember finding anything of interest or removing a lot of surface trash at the exact spot where this spill was recovered, but another hunter may have removed something recently that changed the combination of targets just enough to make this find scenario happen.......or the Manticore with 11" coil really is that good. Had I gone over it with Deus 2 using my 13X11" coil, I think I would have heard these targets. Equinox 900 or Legend with 11"......maybe.
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We have not had any super cold weather hear since early February. We have had some snow each week but the ground for the most part has stayed thawed out. So, moist to damp soil conditions even deep have made deep target hunting conditions just about perfect. This usually only happens for a little while in early April and then the soil dries out fast and hardens and digging gets really tough. My silver coin and wheat penny count is absolutely off the charts for 2024 using Deus 2 and the Manticore in these ideal soil conditions. Unbelievable.
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I was hunting one of the original Denver area parks that was built in the late 1880s. Shovel digging is not allowed at these parks so recovery is with a screw driver or probe. I have found plenty of wheat pennies, a couple of Indian head pennies, several Barber, Mercury and Roosevelt silver dimes and two silver Washington quarters at this park in the last four years after first getting the Equinox 600 and 800. I was deliberately hunting an area that I knew would not be too wet or frozen under some trees at the edge of a popular sledding hill. I have hunted this exact spot many times with the Nox 600/800 with 11" coil and Deus 1 and Deus 2 with their 9" coils. I am guessing I have hunted this area at least 10 times since it is near the top of the sledding hill and fresh dropped jewelry and coins happen in that area every year. I was actually looking for gold jewelry but I was also interested in deep high conductors. I had my Manticore in All Terrain General Multi, sensitivity 23, recovery speed 5, iron bias 0, and I had the horseshoe button engaged so that I would hear all target responses including iron. Ground balance was 4. This ground has plenty of magnetite, square nails, modern nails and is loaded with many years of aluminum and steel trash. There are very few places to ground balance. I heard a deep iron signal, saw red numbers and decided to turn on it and I was able to hear some faint, very short intermittent high conductor tones along with lots of iron tones. I pinpointed the target area with the Manticore's onboard pinpoint function and was able to isolate two separate targets and saw them clearly on the 2D screen with one upper area iron and the other at the high conductor far right edge of the non ferrous line. Depth was 8" on the depth meter. I dug the high conductor farthest right target first and it turned out to be the silver Washington quarter laying half way on edge at the center of the dig hole about 7" deep. My handheld pinpointer was still picking up a target on the left edge of the hole which turned out to be the business end of that iron skeleton key in the photo. It was laying horizontally. I recovered it, filled the hole and rescanned. I got a coin sized high conductor target response plain as day with target IDs ranging from 90 to 99 with very few intermittent iron responses about 6" to the left of the hole that contained the Washington quarter and skeleton key. Depth was again 8" on the depth meter and only one solid target trace was at the far right of the non-ferrous line on the 2D screen. Basically, I was starting to freak out. I certainly had not heard any target responses like that with the other detectors that I had used at this spot. The Walking Liberty half dollar was about 8" deep standing straight up on edge at the center of the dig hole. Basically, the Walking Liberty half and the silver Washington quarter were in a spill at the same depth with the skeleton key laying roughly horizontally between them and they were all under the Manticore's 11" coil at the same time. They were situated sort of like this but buried under about 7" of iron mineralized dirt.
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Manticore Gets A 1909 S Vdb USA Penny
Jeff McClendon replied to Jeff McClendon's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
Just Google 1909 S VDB Wikipedia has a decent article about them. Ebay has plenty of them for sale so check there for current value. Price range in my 2020 Red Book coin value book is Good=$600 to MS63=$1,350. Some have sold for way more than that. The one I found....who knows what it is worth due to the corrosion damage. No doubt about its authenticity though. -
Manticore Gets A 1909 S Vdb USA Penny
Jeff McClendon replied to Jeff McClendon's topic in Metal Detecting For Coins & Relics
found it about 10" deep in a gravel layer at a local Denver public park.