midalake

So, we are putting the Manticore through tests. In wet sand, the beach low conductor mode is not the deepest setting for gold rings. Guess I am surprised. Any ideas? Is this a glitch?  Tested buried rings on two different beaches so far. 

17 hours ago, Capphd said:

It seems carbon fiber handles are all the rage for sand scoops. I hunt inland lakes and the bottoms are a mixture of mud and clay. Have you ever broken a carbon fiber handle while pulling loose a full scoop?

Also, I am replacing 2  year old scoop. What do you recommend for my kind of hunting?

While I have not test driven a zillion scoops. For 25 years my RTG aluminum scoop with a stainless lip has served me well. Sure, there has been repairs and reinforcement done over the years but show me a 25 year old scoop that has never had repairs. Muck and mud a RTG would do the task.

I am always blown away by the small bits of nonferrous the 15” coil finds

Awesome 😎 

17 hours ago, Carolina said:

I use my deus ll in heavy violent at times surf with no problems so this should be no worse. It does appear not to be submersible though?, wireless phones blue tooth?, so maybe a wader only? 

I have had my D2 out for the last two days. I have the coil cranked down tight. One of my techniques is to pin the coil to the bottom when getting hit by large wave wash. EYERYTIME the coil is now pitched because of the offset. I find myself ALWAYS having to correct the coil back to parallel. 
So, our experiences are different. 

1 hour ago, F350Platinum said:

My worry is weight. 

My worry is the absolute inability to keep the coil straight in active wave wash. And water forces creating twist/torque. 

On 2/11/2023 at 6:11 PM, F350Platinum said:

Don't know why but I'm interested in this detector. The module appears to be movable on the shaft as well as the cuff.

Another detector with an off-set coil. They can keep it! 

3 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I was recently looking at the Thresher and Aqua Tek waterproof phones on a dealer's site and it said the Thresher phones use the Bone Phone outputs and are much louder

Tony E. wired my Black Widows to use the Bone Phone output. It is outrageous loud.  Think I am hunting at the 3 or 4 setting. 

I completed my second coil today [the one pictured in white at the start of the thread] 
It does not perform as well as the first coil I did😔.
Although not 100% equal to the first one, I thought the work completed would be enough.  I will need more testing on the second one to see where the issue is?  

1 minute ago, Erik Oostra said:

Besides, I'm slowly learning that when the Nox 800 struggles at some spots, the mighty Deus II picks up the slack.. 🙂    

I am in your same boat. Not getting a Nox 900 over my 800's unless they break. Yes, there is a place for that D2 when needed! 

4 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

But dragging the thing a few metres over dry sand was an eye opener.. 😮

Oh, for cripes sake. If that is all the black sand I had here>>>I would do back flips! 😆

On 2/7/2023 at 10:41 AM, okara gold said:

I still say it was torque and corrosion that caused the problem. Thanks. 

YES! This has happened to every water hunter I know. From cracks to complete failure.  It is another flawed piece of engineering. 

21 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Of couse the center of the coil where the transmit and receive wires cross is the most sensitive area and you might want to graphite paint that area for maximum effect.

Well, it may be possible to get better results? However, you might find diminishing returns.
In my thinking. I thought where the cord comes into the coil and where the chip is, might be the area needing most protection?

On 2/7/2023 at 11:51 AM, CPT_GhostLight said:

The graphite infused paint blocks EMI. Similar treatments are used in electronic enclosures to block outside EMI and block EMI emission from the internal electronics.

The graphite treatment I put on the Equinox Coil has little effect on EMI.  Sorry to say!
In the mile of beach I have EMI issues. The D2 beats the Equinox with the coating hands down. 

EDIT: It has been a long time since I have compared a stock and treated coil. I did so recently and there is a slight reduction, but not mitigation of EMI. 

2 hours ago, JRJR said:

I am waiting until at least eight months after the general release occurs to see if anyone has water issues before purchasing this detector.

Your new Manticore will be waterproof for three years. [warranty] 

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

1) Do you execute the same treatment on the bottom side of the coil housing?

No. I do not hunt with a coil cover. I do have a protective coating of marine epoxy on the bottom of my coil. But this coating has zero effect on coil performance. 
 

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

2) I noticed immediately that between the epoxy step and the paint step you removed to 3 O'clock and 9 O'clock structural members.  Reason for that?

No particular reason, except if I screwed up it would be less to remove.😂  After testing it worked so well, I decided not to continue the graphite further.

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

3) This is for saltwater detecting, right?  Is this helpful for freshwater detecting?  (You already said it doesn't hurt any other detecting application.)

Yes,  I hunt Salt Water.  Is does not hurt effect of wet or dry sand hunting.  I have not put the coil in fresh water or land. No effect on air tests or buried targets from stock coil from what I can see either.
 

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

4) Any ideas about whats going on (physics-wise) that leads to this performance improvement?  (I have an idea, but I'm not a water detectorists of either kind. 

Nope! I have an idea too. It works and it is not even close. Night and day! 
 

1 hour ago, GB_Amateur said:

I wonder if this is going to be helpful with the Manticore (or even Eqx 900) or if Minelab might have gotten something similar incorporated in those new models.  XP Deus 2??

Nox 900, I would say yes. I will have a Manticore here at the end of February and will be able to see how the stock coil is affected by the wave wash and black sand.
I have not done this to the Deus 2 coil. My D2[on this beach] does not have the harsh reaction as compared to the Equinox. In fact my D2 is used only for water contact. 

33 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

My fabulous wife bought me a Dune Titanium beach scoop,

Awesome>>Let me know how that puppy works for ya! 

This has been a two-year project of testing and I am ready to provide the results. I have a love/hate relationship with the Equinox, everyone who follows me knows that. The Nox is a great west sand machine but add moving wave wash and black sand and the Nox falls on its face. I know there will be lots of questions so I will be short here. My Goal: Was to make the Nox a better machine in the wave wash by increasing sensitivity, reduce falsing, and get better depth.  

After much testing and comparison, I have accomplished those goals without reducing performance in other hunting conditions. Also, recovery once you open a hole is better, there is less chance in burying the target.  

I have done a two-step process where coatings are applied to the coil. In the version where you see the white coil, this is a one step process of applying Marine Epoxy. Note where it starts and end with the original coil.  The second process and most important is the application of TWO coats of acrylic paint containing graphite powder. [approx 1 teaspoon per two ounces] thick enough to where you can still paint it on.  Which is applied to the same location as the white epoxy. 

The results are a night and day difference in moving wave wash and black sand. Questions? 

13 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

Did a quick search here for info on the Nox 15" but couldn't really find what I was looking for.Does this coil follow the general coil rule of "bigger goes deeper but not as sensitive to small objects"?

I have had the 15" Nox for a long time. Do not expect more depth on the beach. The coil is more sensitive to EMI, black sand and moving salt water. 

As a general rule I have to run the 15" coil with one point less sensitivity. 

Most people will NOT be able to swing it in water and the wave wash. It is harder to pinpoint, and recover targets [a little] 

It is killer for coverage on wet sand> My primary use!  

8 hours ago, 619_805_okie said:

Trial and error. I did try the other modes but didnt change reactivity on them. 

Beach Pitch and Dive modes in black sand should beat Beach and Beach sensitive hands down.
Example: I could not even run beach at 78 for sensitivity and Dive and Pitch I could both run in the 90's with much more depth.  

7 hours ago, 619_805_okie said:

The black sand and iron mixture really seems to give detectors a hard time. I ran in beach and beach sensitive, alternating between the two after each half hour or so. At first i really struggled to find coins due to chatter and iron..

I am not sure where the info on your settings came from?
I cannot run your settings on black sand. You should be looking at Beach Pitch and Dive Mode! 

BTW> Very nice finds and lots more there! 

On 2/4/2023 at 7:54 AM, TampaBayBrad said:

From page 1 of NASA Tom's Manticore thread he states:

"Yes..... Sens now goes up to '35'. And yes..... a EQX Sens of '21'..... is fairly equiv to a Sens of '21' on MC."

On 2/4/2023 at 8:58 AM, GB_Amateur said:

Good to know!  Thanks for clearing that up.  "Fairly close" is still open to interpretation, but if he had said 'exactly' I would have been skeptical.  😁  Apparently ML made an effort to align the two scales, within the constraints of changes in hardware and software.

The more I read. The more I think the scales are NOT aligned. My thoughts are the Manticore is ahead on performance number for number with the Equinox. 

One that I can remember> Fisher CZ-21. Not sure what language that detector was speaking. 

All of the other current ones> Excaliber, MDT 8000. All preformed as expected but not the best choice for my location. 

Deus 2> Verdict still unsure. Need more time on it. 

UGH>>>

Wow>>>Great find!  How deep do you estimate it was?