Jeff McClendon

It's always great to hear from you JP. Thanks!!!!!

I read through this whole thread again since I knew I had posted in it previously. The Fisher F70/Teknetics Patriot and all of the Gold Bug Pro variants like the F19 are detectors that I really like still today. I am often tempted to buy one. I made some great surface to 5" deep or so finds using them. The F44......I owned one two different times, I gave it a fair hearing......Nope. I could say the same for the XP Deus 1 and even the XP ORX, along with the Garrett AT Gold and the Whites MXT variants. Those are all fine detectors for the proper soil conditions and I miss them sometimes. I can remember reading on the box and in the literature for these detectors that they all work well in mineralized areas.............compared to what???? So, reality for me means that the Legend, XP Deus 2, the Equinox models and the Manticore detect better than those detectors where I live on a wide range of targets, at a wide range of depths and for a wide range of ground, beach and underwater conditions. Plus, all of them have selectable single frequency operation that is just as good as any single frequency VLF if I need or choose to use them that way. I feel blessed that some metal detecting manufacturers finally addressed the fact that there are plenty of places in this country and on this planet where single frequency VLF operation and even the older SMF tech just isn't good enough. This latest SMF tech has changed everything for me and my desire to get out and hunt.

I agree with Phrunt. GPX 6000 manual 8 to 10 allowed me to adjust sensitivity and ground balance for my ground conditions instead of trusting some AI in the GPX 6000 to adjust sensitivity and ground balance on the fly and hopefully get it right and keep up with changing conditions while using Auto+.

You mentioned a lot of great detectors in your post along with sound grid hunting advice that I have been using for years both for coin, jewelry, relic and gold prospecting detecting. I didn't pay $1300 for a Whites V3i. I paid about half of that for a nice used one. It didn't work any better in the soil conditions where I hunt usually than any of the other detectors you mentioned in the post that I have used here in my many years of trying to find just one coin, jewelry, micro jewelry, relic and gold prospecting VLF that I can depend on to get decent depth, accurate target IDs and tones, wireless audio operation so I can detect without being tethered to the detector and the detector is lightweight and waterproof. The owner and administrator of this forum has repeatedly said something to the effect that: " the conditions of the ground being detected trump every other factor" including the brand of detector, where its made or especially the user themselves. There are places even in the USA where this ground factor outweighing every other factor exists. It doesn't matter what is between your headphone ear cups as far as years of experience or know how unless maybe for the shallowest to surface targets of the easiest kind. I live in one of those places. The only VLF detectors that come close to doing what their marketing and engineering departments claim they can do are the latest simultaneous multi frequency detectors by XP, Minelab and Nokta. That is from experience not from reading reports from places where the advantages of the latest SMF tech doesn't really matter. In those places, any decent single frequency detector will probably do just fine. Unfortunately, I don't live in a place like that, so everything you said about not needing the latest tech is just hogwash where I live. Hopefully WVCoinMiner, you hunt in areas where your ground conditions are really good for USA made single frequency VLF detector use. Sounds that way. Welcome to the forum by the way.

Iron stability does add an appreciable level of extra fine tuning detail for me when I have iron filter set on 1.

I noticed that too on the 9" and 13X11" Deus 2 FMF coils. The same may exist on earlier Deus coils, but I never used the larger coil. I just jiggle the lower shaft a bit until the insert goes in a little farther and then let the wing nut do the rest as I tighten it.

Iffy's original Legend/Nox 900 separation test video clearly showed the iron filter in conjunction with the iron stability setting working very well as he adjusted the iron stability setting to prevent Colonial type nails from falsing. I have had the same results by lowering the iron filter to 1 and adjusting the iron stability setting to where I need it to be in order to just prevent or just allow a bit of iron falsing. Works for me. At least for Iffy's test setup, Nokta appear to have nailed that settings combination.

Iffy has already released another Score video. I believe it is a relic hunt. I have not seen it yet. Not only did those detectors have to be tweaked, the Equinox 900 did not completely pass those tests. Maybe that was unfamiliarity with the detectors. The Double Score really did breeze right through those tests. There was also minimal chatter. Hopefully that at least will curtail a lot of the user complaints about the current Legend using 1.11/1.13. The Double Score has the benefit of having the LG30 coil, which in my opinion and as shown in the video above, does slightly better than the original LG28 as far as unmasking and separation. Nokta also has 9 months of V1.11 software feedback use under its belt along with being able to replicate tests like Iffy's in order to tweak the settings like iron stability that are not available for user adjustment using the Score and Double Score.

Iffy Signals has posted a video running the Nokta Double Score (slightly simplified Nokta Legend) through his 4 level iron masking and separation test. Here is the video.

At least using the VCO audio option, I believe the threshold used is not just a reference threshold. Maybe I am wrong, however, it sure acted more like a "live" threshold running the Mono coils I used. Using some audible threshold made it much easier to hear very small sub gram targets.

Most of the recent Nokta Makro detectors like the Racer, Racer 2, Gold Racer, Kruzer, Multi Kruzer, Gold Kruzer, Anfibio and Anfibio Multi have had something called a Deep mode, Boost mode and some had a setting called E.U.D (extra underground depth). Other than maxing out the audio gain, there is not a specifically labeled Deep, Boost or E.U.D. setting that instantly takes the Legend into overdrive, so I was kind of surprised when Nokta didn't put something like that on the Legend. Now there will be a one button accessible Boost mode or Boost function for the Legend.

I had a bad head cold, it was hot, I was using Aukey B80 wireless earbuds with a 1Mil transmitter (so definitely not very good exterior noise cancelling) and I left the master volume on the Axiom near default, lowered the volume on the Aukey B80s a lot, left the threshold pitch on default 50 and adjusted threshold level itself to where I could clearly hear my 0.1 gram lead test target which was between 10 and 14. With over the ear headphones that have good noise cancelling I would have been able to run the threshold and the general volume levels lower. There was some wind noise and some really loud braying mules. It was like being in a cattle stock yard sometimes! Wherever I went, those mules were not far behind me. What that means I have no clue. I was really concentrating on very small target signals that were just breaking the threshold so yeah I had it just below default 15.

Garrett in the US at least is still a Big member in my opinion so I will stay with the Big Four here in the USA for awhile longer. I hope they can release a flagship worthy AT series SMF soon. They certainly have two industry competitive gold prospecting detectors with the 24K and the Axiom. Judging from all of the freaking out on some of the Nokta Legend Facebook pages, Nokta can't release a simplified Legend soon enough. Then again, maybe the Score and Double score won't need to be updated online very often (not at all would be nice) or have too many ways to screw up the settings. As far as I'm concerned, the Legend as it is right now running V1.11 or V1.13 is an astounding detector, that I would pick over an Equinox 800 or Equinox 900 anytime. If the Score models really are watered down Legend's, Nokta might have a real winner for the people that don't need more detector than they can handle at an incredible price. I have no clue what Minelab is doing, speaking of releasing seemingly backward looking single frequency and selectable single frequency VLFs. Maybe they got enough bad Facebook press with some Equinox users that had no clue and needed something a lot more idiot proof, but I thought the Vanquish models were really good for just about anyone that can hold a detector aside from not being waterproof. All of the single frequency is obsolete stuff that fueled the internet talk for months when they released Multi IQ must not apply to them. Or the Equinox sold so well, they are producing their own copycat models with less features and a low price to fool the unsuspecting newbies......... XP are a different company all together with seemingly no desire to produce a "full line" of metal detectors for users of all levels. I'm heading out with Deus 2 and the 13X11" coil for one last deep coin hunt today before the fast approaching cold weather in Denver causes the ground to freeze for the next three months.

I have had a contrary experience on some really difficult ground where the Mono 11X7" ground balanced easily using Fine or Normal and the DD 11X7" would only ground balance using Normal.......... I have a lot more to learn using the 11x7 DD no doubt. That will be on the agenda for my next Arizona trip. At this point I am looking for a kind of "Smooth" mode like the GPX 4000 had that some people went nuts over (both good and bad) for a couple of the places I visit too often that have way too many hot rocks. I know that I can use the advanced ground balancing procedure too which I need to practice a lot more and learn to trust.

I haven't swung a Safari in 8 years. I don't remember enjoying it too much since I wanted something lighter and faster as far as target recovery speed. It detected just OK where I live in moderate to higher iron mineralization. I really like the Vanquish models as long as the targets in the area aren't too close together, there isn't too much deep iron and the ground mineralization is moderate to mild. They can handle worse iron mineralization but I needed to reject the lowest iron target IDs on the 440 and 540 in order to stop the constant ground noise. Otherwise, they did very well here. The Vanquish models with their biggest coil on normal ground have a ton of depth. They also have some of the most rock solid non-ferrous target IDs in the industry. Good ergonomics, nice controls and at least with the 440 and 540, everything a person needs in a budget friendly detector. As long as I don't expect them to detect like the best VLF SMF detectors Minelab currently makes for 3 to 4 times the price, they end up being super effective and really fun detectors. Other than the Safari and the Vanquish models being made by Minelab and also having simultaneous multi frequency technology.........no, I don't think they "are about the same" at all. Multi IQ is a big improvement over the Safari's simultaneous multi frequency technology from the early 2000s where I detect. I would pick a Vanquish 440 or 540 over a Safari everyday, every hour, every time.

I always enjoy watching and learning a little from Loren's videos. Wow, I thought my detectors and tools were dirty!!!!

FTP may be calling their lawyers. Looks like a Teknetics Gamma/Bounty Hunter Platinum on a green Vanquish chassis. Did Minelab and FTP merge on this one (Chinese pirated FTP of course) 5.8 kHz and 9 volt batteries.......holy cow. 😱

At least it’s not RED.

I have no doubt that TNSharpshooter is smart. However, there is smart from being smart and there is smart from learning by experience. If you hunt in ground that has zero mineralization and the ground has no effect whatsoever on any targets that are buried in that ground, then Sharpshooter's tips and settings may work really well. I guess there is ground like that but I have never hunted in it. If your ground or beach is mineralized at all, many of the tips and settings he suggests are not going to be applicable unless the targets you are hunting are literally on or very near the surface. It is always good to learn about individual detector tendencies and strategies to deal with those tendencies. TNSharpshooter does really well at pointing many of those out which helps to learn individual detectors.

The latest version of the Axiom is definitely plenty sensitive on smaller stuff for my needs. Now I get to try for some deeper targets. Thanks for your latest video of the Apex, Deus 2, Legend and Manticore gold prospecting I don't have the M8 coil yet for the Manticore so I left it at home. Deus 2 is much improved but the Legend easily beats it for hitting 0.1 and smaller stuff if that is what one is looking for. Otherwise, Deus 2 does very well since it is really stable. Legend is a bit twitchy but really hot. Manticore looked even hotter in your latest video.

Thanks JCR. Very rough Sonoran Desert country where plenty can go wrong. I got stung by some kind of wasp, a Tarantula Hawk. Nasty, still swollen. I had fun testing the Legend and Deus 2. Deus 2 is just not as sensitive as the Legend but it is a whole lot better than it was before software 2.0. It is kind of hitting that 0.01 gram piece of lead that the Legend clearly sounded off on but off camera unfortunately. The best comparison is Deus 2's second target which turned out to be the 0.12 gram lead fragment. Both detectors gave strong responses on that target. Deus 2's quiet running is kind of a form of discrimination. If Deus 2 hits something it might have a little more size. Nothing wrong with that instead of trying to hit a 0.01 gram or smaller target, whereas the Legend will hit just about anything.

Digging all of that trash was the best way for me to get to know the Axiom and what it can potentially do at least in that area using its smaller 11X7" mono coil. I will probably do the same thing next time I am there with the 11X7" DD at least for a few hours. I am not getting any younger, so knowing a detector as best I can as fast as I can is important to me. Everyday that I can still detect in rough terrain is a blessing and I want to take advantage of that when I can. The Axiom's ergonomics and just the right amount of features for me have made that easier. Its performance capabilities combined with my skill level with the Axiom, (which was pretty low) were what I was trying to find out. I am very confident with the Axiom and with me now after using it. Now I need to take it to a site with deeper bedrock and possible deeper and larger nuggets. I got the version with the 13X11" mono coil so that should be fun. How much 12+" trash can I dig in 6 hours??????

This is a short, rambling, 8 minute video that kind of shows what Deus 2 and the Nokta Legend sound and act like in a central Arizona gold field. No gold is found. Some hot rocks, hot ground and lead fragments are found. I am very fond of these two detectors so don't expect any mud slinging or drama other than me completely forgetting to video the Legend detecting plain as day, a 0.01 speck of a lead bullet fragment and me falling into a creosote bush which I did not react to very well......and of course deleted from the video. Creosote and I don't get along. My skin reacts to those bushes like they are stinging nettles on steroids. Legend is using the LG24 coil in GoldField M, A discrimination pattern, sensitivity 20, recovery speed 5, iron filter zero, audio gain 3. Deus 2 is using the 9" FMF coil, Goldfield FMF, Disc IAR 0, sensitivity 95, reactivity 2.5, audio gain 3. Both detectors are properly ground balanced, have been noise cancelled and have their threshold tones clearly audible. I only had about 2 hours to find the targets, make the videos and recover the targets and I am holding an iPhone in one hand while swinging a detector with the other on an up to 30 degree inclined ravine slope so don't expect anything earth shattering. Chase Goldman, the video of Deus 2 is for you. You requested I take Deus 2 on this trip. Otherwise I could have easily skipped the whole thing. Both detectors did very well. I did not. Here is a photo of the targets recovered. Deus 2 detecting its 0.12 gram lead target was the target showing a target ID of 32 towards the end of the Deus 2 part of the video. The Legend finding the 0.01 gram lead bullet fragment was not captured on video for my own insane reason being that I totally forgot about that target. I did try to detect it with Deus 2. It was the third target that Deus 2 tried to detect and had very weak, choppy responses and a target ID in the low 20s. Legend hit that target really hard.

I had planned a trip to Arizona to get to know the Garrett Axiom for the first full week of November. Of course, I got sick and was still sick when I finally left Denver on Monday November 13th. I did make it to Phoenix and got into the area I was hunting by midday on Tuesday. I got in about 18 hours of detecting time with the Axiom and even though I was tired from being sick, I enjoyed using it very much. The area I was hunting is not known for large nuggets. The largest that I have found in this area is 6 grams and I wasn't expecting anything like that. 1 gram sized or smaller gold was fine with me. The ground in this area is moderately iron mineralized with lots of dark gray quartzite looking hot rocks that are full of magnetite, lots of hot rock caliche, basalt, tuft, porphyry, andesite, schists, and other benign metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. This place was super dry. They really need some rain in this area of central Arizona. I committed to dig every possible target each session until I got too tired to safely dig which happened after about 6 hours in 85 degrees Fahrenheit heat. Since it was still pretty hot and rattlesnakes and a pack of ornery wild mules were still in the area, I used Aukey B80 wireless earbuds with a Bluetooth transmitter plugged into the headphone jack instead of over the ear wireless headphones. I only used the 11X7" Mono coil with the Axiom since bedrock is not very deep at this location and I wanted to really see how small a target the Axiom could handle. I was running the latest available update and did a full reset before getting started. As Steve H. suggested in one of his posts, I kept the Axiom's sensitivity at 4. I tried 5 for a bit but there was really no point in doing that. Sensitivity 4 out of 8 was plenty sensitive. I was using the Fine timing, Slow speed, threshold on 14, volume on 8, and the Axiom usually ground balanced around 48/25 with ground tracking OFF. I did try the more advanced ground balance window a couple of times when the prevalent hot rocks were getting overwhelming but I would eventually come back to the original ground balance. So basically these were very close to default settings. There was enough EMI and ground noise in this area near Phoenix to cause the occasional warble which never fully went away even after frequency shifts. However, compared to the sometimes unstable SDC 2300 and GPX 6000 when I've used them in this area, the Axiom was very quiet and predictable as far as the non-target warbles that it sometimes produced. The photos show the targets that I recovered. I did not keep any of the pesky hot rocks that were unavoidable. The smaller plate has a 0.32 gram flat nugget and a 0.12 gram rice kernel shaped nugget. There are several wire targets on that smaller plate that do not register a weight on my cheap gram scales which go to 0.00 grams. Several lead shards give their weight as 0.01 grams. Both of the small nuggets were around 4" deep as were many of the targets on the smaller plate. Some of the targets on the larger plate were easily detected at 8+" deep using the full length of my Garrett ProPointer AT pinpointer as a ruler. As far as I am concerned the Axiom is extremely sensitive to small sub gram targets just the way it is and it's 16 hour battery life, great ergonomics, well organized display, excellent features and overall performance are really amazing.