schoolofhardNox

8 hours ago, BeachHunter said:

Cool finds! Not so cool on the cuff. Under warranty maybe?

Thanks, I love beach hunting. Time to move to the dirt for a while. Cuff is probably under warrantee.

9 hours ago, kac said:

If they just send you the part and have you do the install, maybe putting a rubber washer then a steel washer on top would give it just a bit of protection and disperse the forces where it is bolted in. Not sure why they would have just one hole to mount. I would have had at least 2 screws, one upper and one lower with a curved washer on them.

I'm never sure why any of the manufacturers do what they do  lol. They are extremely intelligent in designing the brain of a machine but not so smart on the details of durability. There is no reason that an arm cuff should break this quickly. It makes no sense since it renders the machine inoperable. It's a 2 hour drive to the beach for me and the cuff snaps after about an hour or so. Lucky I had a back up machine, although it altered my plans a bit. I am not the only one that has had issues with it. But that is for another post, just not by me.  I'm done and  I will probably end up buying an after market shaft/cuff to solve this issue.

32 minutes ago, kac said:

Ya hot rocks are killers on vlf's

That cuff should be cheap enough to replace, just never seen one break before. Wonder if the screw was over torqued and crushed the plastic?

The cuff should be covered under warrantee, but it will be the same cuff (material wise) that broke. I have heard of others that have had the same issues. It is one of those problems on this machine that will never be acknowledged directly by a manufacturer. Too bad there are no recalls for detectors like there are in cars.  

17 minutes ago, Aureous said:

Phrunt, the info I heard was good. You may note that I said there were 3 machines due out by ML before the end of the year. One is indeed a replacement for one of the current lineup of coin/relic units (my bet is the 3030) but the main point is the GPZ replacement, it IS exactly what Jin quoted,even down to the suggested RRP. A handful of testers have been busy with the prototypes for a couple months now. The depth advantages and 'other' features are 'astounding' they reckon. My guess is release within 3 months....

It would have to be a hell of a detector to replace my GPX. If it does replace the GPX 5000 or the Zed, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

3 hours ago, kac said:

Beaches here are bit depleted, waiting for the to refil from the eager crowds this summer. What detector was that arm cuff from? Personally if I were to make one I would use 66 nylon as that would be nearly indestructible. ABS will degrade under UV light and doesn't handle bitter cold weather very well in comparison. I recently snagged the SeaHunter just for beach hunting even though the discrim pretty useless the trash I have come across wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Depth on the little stock coil blows me away. I thought hot rocks would also be an issue and I can barely pick them up so very very pleased with the purchase. Should provide some good bang for the buck. Detection on the sides of the coil took me a little to get used to where a vlf is in the center but I found it actually easy to determine target sizes as I can go around the target helping me separate pocket change from cachet's of natty lites.

The arm cuff was on the Equinox. The GPX I'm using is generally indestructible compared to the Equinox. I agree the beaches are stripped clean of most targets to 10". I'm generally after the deeper 10-18" ones that everyone misses. For me hot rocks are not much of a problem on the PI's but very popular on the Equinox multi frequency. Them black rocks hit hard on the Equinox. Good luck with the Sea Hunter.

My beach detecting season is coming to a close, so I took the opportunity to get in another hunt. I am still recovering from a cold, but decided I wanted to get in a hunt anyways.  Besides, I got a couple of new coils to try out and couldn’t resist. First was the Equinox with the 15” coil. I wanted to return to a spot that I found those rings last week. Unfortunately, the area was mostly sanded in and the tide was relentless. First off, the arm cuff finally completed it breakage. The stand part broke off weeks earlier and now the arm cuff snapped. Why anyone would use PC instead of ABS for their material is beyond me. But I did get a chance to try it out for a while before it snapped. First impression is that coil did not like the sand at this beach. Reminded me of the CTX in that purple/black sand. I got a very iffy target that jumped to the 30’s every other sweep. So, I did a lot of iron bias/recovery speed adjustments as well as adjusting the sensitivity down as well as up. Tried beach 1 and 2. Quarter was 4” down and I couldn’t believe how poorly the signal was received. This was dry sand area. So, I will test it another day at another beach. I’m sure it’s a great coil, so I’m still looking forward to hitting the fields with it. Now, the 8x16” coil for the GPX was just what I expected it to be. Solid, deep and a tad bit heavy, but a perfect size for deep beach hunting. Not a lot of coins found, probably the lowest coin total for this year. A did stumble onto a  planted beach hunt V nickel that looks like it has been there for a couple of years. Nicer finds included a couple of probable silver earrings, a stainless steel (unfortunately) ring and a nice gold hoop. It has extremely tiny hallmarks and an off-center stamp which probably reads 500 (12K). I can see the 00, so I’m assuming it says 500. Not the best hunt in the world considering the drive down. Always nice to see the sun out and do what I love to do best.

On ‎5‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 9:34 AM, RobNC said:

EBL 9V batteries are some of the best, and have been tested against other rechargeables. They consistently output very close to their rated capacity vs others. They aren't outrageously priced either.

https://www.ebay.com/i/302133328521?chn=ps

These are the ones I have, along with the charger.

A test here, with teardown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKnM4iozHGM

Those batteries look great. Does that 9 volt have enough power for the Garrett carrot? In other words is the voltage high enough to not have the pin pointer trigger a low battery warning?

It's a Massachusetts state seal button. Not sure if these are classified as Mass Volunteer buttons. There are quite a few varieties. Not sure on the dates, but I think some are pre Civil War as well as Civil War. Hopefully someone can help you out better. Possibly could be MS31 in Albert's button book (Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons)

46 minutes ago, Ridge Runner said:

Whatever new comes on the market I don’t think it needs to be too simple. If you’re a new kid on the block maybe simple is for you. For myself I don’t want to put too much stress on what’s between the ears but I do want something that has the ability to reach beyond what came before .If it can’t do that then why would I want to walk out the door with that detector in hand .

 Chuck 

Agreed. "Simple" takes away the ability to tweak the machine and maybe stumble onto some really deep settings. That is one reason in the past I loved the Eagle Spectrum from Whites and now the GPX from Minelab. Both machines offered enough incremental settings, allowing minute changes to each control. I'm not much for a machine that takes that away just to please new people to the hobby. Save that for the low end machines. Part of the fun I've had over the years is figuring out these tricks to getting great depth. 

2 hours ago, kac said:

Nice.

Rather than glue a sheet of plastic to a coil, has anyone ever tried shrink film? Like the stuff they use on boats?

Is it durable enough to stand up to rocks, dirt etc...? I'm thinking try what Steve did, but also drill some small holes to let out the water and instead of gluing it to the coil, use those drainage holes and secure with some zip ties. That way you can clip the zip ties and the cover comes off. I zip tied my CTX large coil and it worked well.

24 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

You're skipping larger silver jewelry as well, but I understand the tradeoffs when you're after gold.  Interestingly I almost missed a silver ring a couple weeks back because the TID on my Equinox was too high -- 35-36!  I get (large, deep) iron signals in the 38-39 range sometimes and was initially thinking I was experiencing something similar.  But after a fraction of a second of thought, I wasn't going to ignore a signal like that, if nothing else just to appease my curiosity.  And my curiosity was rewarded.  ?

 

I usually dig everything, but after a while I get tired of digging through rocks for copper pennies. For some reason at this location, the copper pennies jump to the 30 - 35 range mimicking quarters and halves. Must be a combination of high salt content, black sand and the rocky environment.

4 minutes ago, strick said:

The Crucifix...... thumbs up 

strick

Thanks. For some reason this beach has given me 3 of them. I rarely find them anywhere else.

9 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Quite the precious metal trove for a one day hunt!   I'm envious of that Walker.  I still haven't found a silver half dollar.  I LoL'ed when you included that nearly gone Zincoln in your photos.  Apparently the saltwater speeds up the deterioration process -- a fate the wretched things deserve.

How and how much did you clean the coins?

The half dollars always surprise me. I stopped digging the high conductors because most were pennies and I promised myself I was going to look for just low gold sounds. But I couldn't resist that one signal. Every target I dug that day required me to rake my shovel sideways to pull 8" of rocks away. It's a hard packed beach, since most of the sand has washed away. That Zincoln is actually what is left from a copper penny. This area has a lot of coins that degrade to nothing eventually. The silver is protected to a point by the crust it develops, but the coppers just degrade over time. I quickly brass brushed the silver to show some detail. The copper pennies wipe clean when you dig them. Then they tone a bunch of colors when they are exposed to the oxygen in the air. Only in some areas do they come out bright and clean like that.

That's quite a number of missed targets. I find the Nox does respond to targets that should have been found previously but weren't. Some of them at fairly shallow depths. A return trip is definitely in order.

10 minutes ago, Mark Gillespie said:

Wow, I love digging nickels, most 10k ladies rings I've found fall at or below a nickel.  Any war nickels in the bunch?

One war nickel from the hunt but not in that picture of nickels. Somehow one of my pictures did not post. Here it is with that nickel.

Haven’t had a lot of free time to detect but did take yesterday off to hit a beach. I had to try out the new aluminum handle on the GPX. Works excellent and does not snap like the stock one does with a heavy coil on it. I found the usual junk, but surprisingly not too much. There were quite a few brass targets to get the heart pumping that looked like gold at first glance. The normal junk jewelry was there along with a spoon handle that may be nickel or silver. No sign of brass/copper. Not magnetic. I’m a little surprised at the number of nickels still to be found. A little bit of clad with some great toning on some of the copper pennies. For the good stuff: A Walking Liberty half, War nickel, silver Roosevelt, and a dated Buffalo. In the good jewelry category, I was again surprised to get a small signet ring that is unmarked gold, also having a nice toning. Must be 9k with the base metal toning. It buffs right out to look a solid gold color. Old lettering I’m only guessing early 1900’s to about 30’s?? Also got a class ring that hopefully makes the return a breeze, considering it has the person’s full name in cursive inside the band. Definitely before we considered identity theft LOL. And the final surprise of the day came from this gorgeous crucifix. Gold marked 10KN. The N part is new to me. Wondering if it means plum gold? Anyone know? Just a great day to be out and enjoy the good weather.

I'm leaning towards a buckle of some sorts. Hard to tell from the picture, but I think I see a rust spot in the middle of the buckle that goes over to another rust spot on the point of the buckle like the iron prong (tongue) would leave if it rusted away. I have a couple of colonial window sill sundials and the look a lot different.

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 8:55 AM, deathray said:

For sure. Recent vids where pretty boring.  Hard to keep finding good sites.

Yep, I liked his old videos a lot. Then he started to get too animated and I lost interest. Early on, he was a wealth of knowledge and I loved seeing him work on preserving his finds rather than trying to act more. I liked him when he was more straight forward. I rarely watch him now.

Great finds. 2 Connecticut coppers, a nice Tombac button and I believe your other copper is a British George III copper. Some of those British coppers can be counterfeits too, so a little research on the date should help you. Also, counterfeits ring up much lower on your machine. It's either a half penny or a farthing. Nice digs.

3 hours ago, phrunt said:

he must mean the Pro Pointer AT, I like the vibrate mode and wouildn't have it any other way.  If in a place with people around I turn the tones off and just use the vibrate, I prefer to not stand out as much as possible.

I assumed he was talking about the pin pointer and he was asking why he could not just use the tone only, as an option. It's not really a dislike of the vibrate mode, just the fact that you can't separate the two unless you only want the vibrate mode. I would love only the tone mode (alone).

1 hour ago, Trailryder42 said:

Hey all,

As for the Garrett AT Pro, does anyone else not like the fact that the unit doesn't have a "tone only" mode? Find that it's a deal breaker for you?

Thoughts?

I have noticed. It's not a deal breaker mainly because with gloves and headphones on I barely feel the vibrate anyways. Add a little dirt in the speaker holes and you can't really tell there is a vibrate mode. I do feel it drains the battery more that I would like. I wish it was able to be disabled in some way though.

24 minutes ago, Odin said:

Of those two, which do you think is better?
someone else is encouraged to give their opinion
thank you Strick

"Better" is a hard question. What is  "better" for one person may not be "better" for another person. I've used the MXT but have not used the Deus. I have seen the Deus being used at projects I was on. I have used White's detectors since the early 70's until the earls 2000's, I have used Minelab since. I have the Equinox. I really think you should find some people close to you that have those machines and try each machine out for a bit. But if you really want an opinion, I would say that the Deus would probably sound and respond more similar to your MXT than the Equinox would. To be better, we would have to know what you are looking for, and what type of soil you had, what kind of EMI (interference) you have, etc... Probably you should watch as many You Tube videos as you can that have each of those machines, so you could hear and see how each one works. 

18 minutes ago, phrunt said:

You can calm down your dislike for 9v batteries by buying these Rechargables, you may in fact start to like them ?

https://www.mahaenergy.com/powerex-9-6v-230mah-1-pack/

For those that have discovered the joys of being an Eneloop owner with their AA batteries, these are basically the 9v counterpart.

That's the first one I have seen that says they actually truly get at least 9 volts. Have you used them phrunt? I'd be interested in them. Other ones I tried didn't hold a charge long enough to make it worth while. Also reliability was terrible as many of them died within 2 years or less. How about lithium's? Anybody know of any good ones that work and are reliable?

5 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I will cut to the chase. If you want great depth and don’t mind digging junk three feet deep, go with the GPX 5000 and possibly a large accessory coil. It’s still the choice of relic hunters here in the worst ground.

And one heck of a beach machine too.

Congrats on a super hunt. I bet you go back and pound that place all over again. I find a nice steady, slow to mid speed swing works best for depth (as far as coil control is concerned). Good luck there and keep us posted. That breast plate is perfect!!!