Chase Goldman

Would like to return to this thread after the "storm" arrives. I'm thinking a lot of the folks who thought the Apex just slightly missed the mark for their detecting environment are rooting for Garrett to close that remaining gap with their next generation VLF detector design.

Yep. Forgot about that. Any future XP detector generational design iteration will be required to have USB C. But they should just do it because its the right thing to do. Its a much more capable standard including the ability to operate at voltages higher than 5 VDC which can be leveraged to provide more efficient charging for more energy dense battery designs (perhaps facilitating a 10x5 coil, and now that I think about that, the fact that they would have to add USB-C compatible interface to that component may be another thing that is causing them to drag their feet).

They need to change the coil charging clip design, definitely. It is interesting they went USB C on the new Xtreme Hunter coil. The problem with a magnetic connector on the coil itself would be that it would eventually magnetize and collect a ton of magnetic oxide particles and other magnetic debris, risking damage, unreliability, or overheating during charging (due to a high resistance connection) and a debris cleaning/removal hassle for the end user to avoid these issues. But there are a ton of more elegant coil charging interface solutions that could be incorporated going forward and many that could also be backfit onto the existing coils. XP should make a decision to just rip the bandaid off and move to USB C, while at the same time designing a better coil charging solution.

Said like a true detector addict in denial, Simon. And being one myself, I don’t believe a word of it.

I did, that's why I paraphrased you in my post. Basically, it's not the tool you chose to use that necessarily makes the most difference (although in some environments, like salt water and hot dirt, specific tools may not cut it) but how and where you use it. Totally agree with that, Garrett's personalized customer service in the US is unrivaled.

Good point regarding the ground conditions. Some detectors that do great on neutral ground, cannot handle that environment, requiring a different tool, usually a PI.

Knowing how Minelab will typically react, I say we call it...wait for it... THE NOKTA LITIGATOR No other detector can do it justice!

At the time Apex came out, Apex was not only the least expensive simultaneous multifrequency (SMF) detector it was also the least expensive detector featuring selectable single frequencies and I praised Garrett for finally showing up to the party with a compelling Detector to go toe to toe with Minelab. It was at the time a great value for a very capable detector. Garrett was transparent regarding what user expectations should be regarding its capabilities by appropriately associating it with the Ace product line. I considered it to be more than an Ace level but not quite as feature rich (and obviously not waterproof) like the AT series. Make no bones about it, though, the Ace series doesn't mean "entry level" and "lacking performance" it mainly means simple to operate and great value. As you say, Bob, detecting is more about having a decent site (location) and getting your coil over the target (coverage) and being proficient with and confident in whatever detector you use and less about cost and features, bells, and whistles. I grant you that when XP then came out with its SMF answer with the D2 and it's typical stratospheric pricing, especially compared to the Equinox and Apex it was fair to highlight the huge cost Delta to make an argument for comparative value. But 3 years later, it is kind of a stale argument, for two reasons. One was already pointed out but you appear to have dismissed it. Namely, there are a myriad of significantly less expensive and capable D2 configurations centered around the WS6 as the master controller. This highlights one of the most significant strengths of the D2 platform which is wireless component interoperability and reconfigurability which allows the end user to optimize value, capability, or weight as they see fit. But I'm not here to force you to eat a croissant you don't want, I just wanted to point that out for context. The second reason I would not necessarily beat the Apex value/cost drum too loudly is that Nokta came along and blew everyone out of the water with their price point for the Legend SMF, basically an Equinox 800 Plus for half the cost...with a great selection of accessory coils. And they continue to update its firmware with more capability and features to this very day. Again, I am not saying any one detector is "better" than the other here, just commenting on this whole cost, value, "3x this", "4x that", focus. Cost and value are important but each major brand offers SMF detectors (XP and Minelab included) at price points similar to Apex for their various SMF offerings. Therefore, using cost as an argument for or against is a point that is easy to undercut regardless of whatever detector you are talking about. At this point with SMF detectors basically having similar performance capabilities, hair splitting seems to be the main MO for touting one detector over the other. Getting back to basics, the best detector is the one you want to use and do use most frequently. After all the hot air I just expelled, I am very excited to see Garrett's answer to Apex. Hopefully, the gathering "Storm" at Garrett will wow me as much as the Apex and Axiom product ammouncements once did.

Iron ID/Disc/Blanking

Progress, but lets not get too optimistic on the timeline. The last time we went through a Nokta naming contest, the Legend showed up 3 years later. Contest started September 2018 Name picked September 2020 Detector Announced Summer 2021 Detector Released December 2021 Perhaps they learned not to draw this out as much this time....

What TNSS is saying is that if you have Relic set up to give you a pure iron signal in the nail/nickel/swing configuration shown (as expected when you swing down the barrell of the nail) and then you transition to any other program (other than Gold Field) and then return to relic, you will get intermittent non-ferrous audio and TIDs (that don't correspond to the nickel TID, they look to be in the high 80's when I was able to catch a glimpse of the screen). Indicating that perhaps IAR has been altered which may be causing iron falsing or some other unknown bug/issue. Anyway, despite several attempts with the same setup, I have not been able to replicate TNSS's "bug" at all. Not even close. I can make blips occur with certain coil edge manipulations (even without transitioning out of Relic) but with a normal swing down the barrel of the nail, solid iron tone and ID no matter how many transitions out of relic or other non-relic program adjustments I do. Maybe he has a coil issue or a buggy install. Though Jeff's statement that TNSS has seen this on previous versions, indicates it may not be unique to ver 2.00, pointing again to perhaps a TNSS unique hardware or configuration issue. I don't have the "issue" and really am not losing sleep over it, regardless based on my tests and hundreds of successful hours on v 2.0 Relic Program (yes, it's my "Go To" program). And I do a lot of target interrogation which has me frequently transition out of relic. I would be interested to know if anyone else has been able to replicate it (other than the one or two folks who commented on his channel who said they saw it too). I'm actually kind of surprised by people just taking these findings (mine included) at face value as gospel rather than proving to themselves whether they are present for their specific setups based on how simple the test is to set up and run. Especially since they may manifest differently for different combinations of equipment and targets. Without additional replication by other D2 experienced folks, I'm attributing this something unique with TNSS's gear. Whatever the case, TNSS has done the right thing and has passed this on to XP to sort out and address, if necessary. XP has not acknowledged an issue but they are looking into it at TNSS's request.

Not a good pinpointer. The 40 is not much better.

So do I. I like to use a specific set of phones for detecting so the WM09 allows that.

You won't get any coil interference but Garrett Zylnk is underpowered and very sensitive to placement of the TX and RX as body shadowing of the wireless signal causes dropouts. Make sure you wear the RX on the side of your body that faces the TX module (i.e., wear the RX on the same side of your body as the arm you swing your detector). And make sure the TX is not line of sight blocked by the GPX control box.

At this point I just carry a backup charge bank. They're inexpensive, power dense which makes them compact enough to slip in a pocket and are versatile enough to be used to recharge any of your devices on the go. I'm basically done dealing with single use disposable batteries.

It's ridiculously difficult. That's why I had high hopes for the magic holster, but it's wonky.

My recommendation is the XP MI4 or the Nokta Accupoint. I have the XP MI6 which wirelessly integrates with the XP Deus and Deus 2 and it is the most sensitive, easily adjustable, and reliable pinpointer I've owned when integrated with the Deus. The MI4 is the equivalent to the MI6 but without the wireless connectivity to the Deus so it can be used standalone with any detector. I also like and own a Nokta Accupoint. It's ferrous/non-ferrous ID tone works OK and as others have mentioned above, its visual display facilitates easy feature selection setup and sensitivity adjustments. But it is noticeably less sensitive than both my XP and Garrett Carrot pinpointers. At $20US less than the Accupoint, I consider the XP to be a better value. The Accupoint backs up my XP MI6. I have also used the Quest Xpointer Max with the Magic Holster that automatically wakes the pinpointer when you remove it from the Holster via a magnetic switch. I think the Nokta is better overall vs. the Quest in terms of sensitivity, less falsing at max sensitivity, controls (the on/off button is overly stiff and the Magic Holster feature is hit or miss), and I think the ferrous/nonferrous tone discrimination works better on the Nokta than the Quest. So even at about $10US less than the Nokta Accupoint, I recommend the Accupoint over the Quest Xpointer Max. But recommend the XP MI4 overall. HTH

The link copy and paste issue is a byproduct of increased security measures we’ve had to take in response to massive uptick in spammers’ attempts to circumvent detection of spam related links. So we’ve disabled the ability to simply cut and paste embedded html code to posts. Unfortunately, the price is less convenience for our legitimate forum members. 😕

Read through the thread linked below. The Nox 900/Manticore ID behavior should be similar to the Xterra's. It's not just a matter of doubling the target ID. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/29-metal-detector-advice-comparisons/

I like the Coiltek 5x10. It's a good compromise that keeps things light overall vs. the 11" but still with decent swing coverage at 10" in length so I don't have to feel like I have to tip toe around like with the 6" round but with decent separation with its 5" width. It is surprisingly deep despite it's smallish footprint. I keep it permanently attached to my Nox. If I need to go deep, then I would simply use the 11" or the bigger 15" coils. I find it more versatile than the 6" round coil.

Not sure the point he was trying to make, if any. The IDs were basically the same for both programs on the identical targets (I took notes as the video played and did repeated viewings to get it all down). The audio was more expressive with Goldfield which is not unexpected and one of the reasons I prefer pitch audio over full tones and multi-tones in general. No idea how mineralized his ground is because he went with big numbers so the mineralization bar graph was not visible during swings. Also, screen glare made it hard to see his program settings, but I am not disputing that he had the programs set up properly. Tekkna is for high iron polluted ground to enable non-ferrous to bleed through. I do fine with Relic which is similar to gold field just a different upper frequency. Again, all he demonstrated was that Gold Field had better target audio, but if the detector is falsing on certain iron bits, those will sound good too and then things can get very audibly busy. I primarily hunt with relic but will use Tekkna or other FT programs for target interrogation or a change of pace. I never fear that Tekkna will mask micro targets. At 40 khz it does have depth limitations which are no different than GF. The super hard small gold targets (small, on-edge) ID'd as 00 with BOTH programs. I did not see a case where the TID was signficantly altered by Tekkna vs. Goldfield, both were pretty unstable on those tough targets. I certainly prefer the Goldfield Audio, especially if the ground is mild and relatively pollution free. Of note, I saw no case where the target was actually filtered out by Tekkna - the ID was there and displayed similarly on both programs. Full Tones presents some advantages over Goldfield/Relic pitch audio wrt to a level of audio TID and also can help with identification of trash non-ferrous (e.g., aluminum bits) that give a distorted sound vs. symmetric ring, button, coin targets. But I personally prefer the zip-zip pitch audio which leaves little doubt as to the presence of a target. For Tekkna detractors, if Tekkna doesn't work for you audibly, then just move on instead of arguing it masks micro gold and silver targets. This video proved to me it doesn't. This is all a case of seeing what you want to see. Detector test videos are increasingly becoming more prevalent as a means to push a particular agenda, vendetta, or underlying bias towards a particular point of view, I suppose because controversy generates views and subs. There are still those who put it out there objectively but they get drowned out by all those wanting to attract views and objectivity is considered boring. It's tiresome to wade through them, attempt to objectively interpret them and in many cases its just impossible. I don't know if there was an agenda here or not, but it seems based on the YT site comments for this video it played into the Anti-Tekkna crowd's bias. Whatever the case, my interpretation again was that it didn't demonstrate Tekkna masking of micro gold or silver target IDs or audio, at least compared to Gold Field. Please let me know if I missed the point of the video.

Mark - The Nox can only pair to 4 WM-08's simultaneously (Minelab's proprietary wireless protocol devices) not to 4 Bluetooth devices. You can only pair to one BT device at a time. That's why you need to do the radio reset thing to clear any other BT device it has memorized. Since Nox also can only pair one BT device at a time that's why you also need to make sure that no other BT device is in handshaking/pairing range while it is searching for a BT device or the Nox might pair to that device before pairing with your desired BT device, as you discovered. 👍

He had a polarizing style but that also created a formidable following of both haters and loyalists. As they say, in entertainment, any publicity is good publicity and monetization doesn’t care whether people are viewing or even subscribing to hate or to love. So it was one of the elements that made his channel successful. He had a reckoning at some point and finally figured out that the haters didn’t matter and came through that awhile ago. He left the platform not because of the haters but because generating content had become a chore and time sink, I.e., it wasn’t fun and exciting anymore - he simply burned out on it and decided to move on not unlike any other hobby that you no longer consider a worthwhile occupier of your time. Whether you love or hate him, the final video lays this all out and is a worthwhile view and cautionary tale on YouTube content generation.

He was brutally honest with himself and his followers and detractors in his final farewell video. He totally understood the dynamic, recognized the haters were never going away and never going to embrace him, and he was very self aware of how he, himself evolved in a positive manner during his YouTube journey. It just became to much of a time sink and he fully recognized when it was time to walk away before completely burning out. Some great nuggets in his farewell for budding YouTubers. This video convinced me once and for all that I am probably not cut out to be content provider in that medium. I'll stick to the written word.

Holding down the radio button for 2 seconds clears the pairing log so you don't have to erase any custom programming just to pair another set of phones, but a Nox factory reset also gets the job done and is not a big deal for most folks because there is only one custom user profile slot and re-customizing preferred user settings not a big deal on the Nox. Both methods are described in the Nox user manual.