schoolofhardNox

Beach hunt # 17 was at the beach with heavy train EMI. I figured this is a good one to try the Manticore on, since I know how the Equinox handled it in the past. Even on the GPX, I am much better off with the 14” AI coil vs the 12.5” DD at this beach. So, there was the remnants of pretty good damage from the previous storm, but also bulldozer tracts where they moved sand. I’m judging that from what I was able to find, that previous people had some real good finds from this past storm. I started with the Manticore at low tide and found almost nothing. That is definitely not the area I want to be in. So, I wandered around and finally found a section of the beach where it seems the erosion was the most severe. The Manticore slowly started to pull some coins from the slope. One by one they started to appear until a very bright dime surfaced. I figured a recent drop, but it was a very lustrous silver Roosevelt. Soon it was followed with another dime which wasn’t the normal black color either. Turns out to be a Barber dime. Not often you get Barber on a beach, and less often that you get a clean one on the beach. More silver coins followed and a Buffalo as well. Then a British six pence, and Indian Head cent and some silver jewelry too. I bet that storm released a lot of old silver and probably gold too. The Manticore handled the EMI very well, although I believe its depth capabilities suffered a bit. The GPX did find a Mercury dime when I went over the same path that the Manticore detected and also found some more copper cents too. But I didn’t find any good deep coins with either machine. So far I think the Manticore hits targets more solid than my Nox does. I didn’t interrogate the iron signals too much and the ones I dug with the Manticore were either iffy or odd shaped. I probably could have avoided 60-70 % of them if I hadn’t found that Barber dime first. 😄 I didn’t want to miss any of the leftovers, so I dug anything that was questionable. A good day at the beach, but the time sure does fly when the sun drops out early. Maybe a road trip next week…….

Kind of takes the air out of the balloon when you're excited to see what the new machine has to offer and something does not work. It's never the end of the world, but very disappointing, especially if you compare old Minelab quality and rugged build, to new Minelab quality and build. Something has obviously changed and not for the better. I hope it gets resolved quickly.

Awesome find. Breaking into the 1600's is a hard thing to do. Silver makes it all the better.

Why do you think I usually hunt 2 tones, with 5 tones saved for trying to find silver. 😄 Any more tones than that and the other voices in my head get angry 🤬 Seriously, sometimes I just like a simple beep and dig method. Just like the 1970's - it beeps one medium tone and I dig it.

If you watch the video posted here, then you can sorta get a glimpse of how the numbers were and maybe catch a look at the 2 D screen. Remember these guys were just trying out a good old park and trying to compare detectors. We really didn't get a very good long look at the Manticore screen while hitting those iron targets. The iron thing will work itself out in a while and if not you may dig some more iron than a Deus. But I bet it took some time to learn what iron is on a Deus as well. The good thing was both machines heard the good targets.

Thanks. I think it will replace my Nox rather quickly. Probably what Minelab wanted all along 😧 I not an above average detectorists, I'm just too dumb to know when to quit. 😆 In a little while more reports will surface and we will get to the bottom of the iron dilemma, and any other issues that may come to light. I was happy to get the Walker. I've done these fields probably 4 times now and hit maybe 8 or 9 silvers, 2 being halves. So that gives me hope there is more but also shows me they will be targets that are probably going to be close to a lot of junk. That is why they were still there. What, you want me to be more deaf than I'm already getting? 😄 I wonder what that would sound like 🤔

Hey I'll message you. I drifted off topic on this. It's easy when a new machine comes out. Old age I guess on my part😄 I don't want to derail the topic again. Thanks.

That video also shows how technology today is very close to each other and the operator has a lot to do with it as well. If you click with the D2 you will probably always be equivalent to the person who clicks with the Manticore. Both machines hit on all the good targets. The only difference was the iron targets. All things being equal, the final winner will be the person who is the better detectorist and understands their machine better. Great video

Sweet Ring. A collector's piece for sure. Not many rings have a nice hefty weight along with a beautiful old inscription on a Christmas wedding date, signifying a lot to the people that were getting married. 😍

There's always a learning curve, but no different from any other detector. There was a learning curve for me with the E Trac, CTX and GPX. I expect one here as well😄 But for a first hunt I think there were more pluses than minuses. I got deep silver, I don't worry as much about EMI, my coil was not wobbling around from a crappy shaft 🙄 and I dug a ton of coins. Easy to navigate, easy to pair the headphones 🥰 thank God 😄. I just have to study what is happening with the iron in more detail. Once I get a grip on that, then I have to study aluminum vs gold numbers to see if there is a way to eliminate a chunk of the pull tabs without eliminating big regions of rings. I'll dig the rest of the pull tabs if there is a chance for some gold. I just wish it wasn't winter.

I did hit it from both directions (90 degrees) but not incrementally. It sounded good tone wise most sweeps but not if you pulled back the coil a bit while swinging. In other words there was a sweet spot where it sounded good. Now remember I am trying to find deeper fringe targets, so some of the nails were at least 9" deep. Only one target sounded good that was about 7" deep and still sounded good when the hole was opened. By jumpy do you mean, off by 2 or 3 numbers or off by lots of numbers? Almost every target I dug was off by at least 2 or 3 numbers. That's probably just by not swinging exactly the same spot from the previous swing. But even some coins bounced from 62 to 84. I believe although you can't hear the EMI on the machine (runs quieter), you still are exposed to it and the jumpy numbers happened when I was closer to a building on the grounds. I was in all metal with iron audio off, but later at 2. I don't care for the iron audio on, since the ground causes some of those grunts you hear. I was in 5 tone and the numbers matched the tone. The were in the dime range mostly. I think what is happening is falsing of the iron hits on the non ferrous scale. I did not raise the coil, but being that deep I don't think it would have given me any other information on size, etc. Lift the coil and the targets would probably disappear fairly fast. I'll try and dissect an iron target more if I get out once the weather heats up enough to dig. This was first time out trying some settings I thought would give me the best chance for deep silver and possibly for gold.

Thanks, but that field is easy picking on clad and copper cents. 😄 But the Manticore did hit the deeper half and dime. It also showed me possibly that others didn't like the bigger signal (possible can?) or they just don't get good numbers at that depth. So, I'm hoping that there is still some deeper silver hiding there. But the real goal would be to find a way to ID some of that gold....... For the record, I detect way better than I play my guitar 🎸.......🤩

I can't remember his name but isn't he from Detector Comparisons on YouTube? Or something like that. He is a pro and I watch his diving videos a lot. Excellent, truthful videos he has. I just received the Manticore, so my knowledge is limited, but I think the target trace has limits around the 5" range give or take. I dug a couple of nails over 5" deep and they did hit good, but with just a little trace in the top iron section. The problem is the audio is good and the target trace is stronger on the non ferrous and barely there on the top ferrous nail line. This will fool you every time. Mine were either bent or had a ball like glob on one end of the nail, or it was a thicker piece of iron. Some of them sounded good even after you opened the hole. Others not so good but I was trying to make them sound good. Also I think the 99 TID readings are usually the roll over from iron to non iron.In any event, I trust that video over others on You Tube.

Thanks. No nickels because I stopped digging any low conductors after realizing my air tests were invalid for what ever reason. I will see what a nickel reads and start digging those numbers and I'll probably dig some pull tabs if I can stabilize the numbers and see if there are any repeatable numbers there as well. If your targets are not deep, I'd run the sensitivity as low as you can while still getting the depth you need and run the recovery speed around 6. Hopefully that will separate enough and not light up the nails too much. The 2D screen will help as well on the iron. I think they have a fast program in all terrain mode, so maybe they already thought of that scenario. It will take some time but I think for me it's worth it just to only use the Equinox for small gold and maybe open earrings.

Beach hunt # 16 is with the Manticore. I was at a beach that has grass fields out front and unfortunately for me, a sanded in beach. This is my first real hunt with the new machine. I did 3 hours in grass and 3 hours in beach sand. I like the general feel of the Manticore, no bad issues to speak of, but I was gentler with it than I am usually. 😄 Pluses? – it hits on coins hard. Clad hunters will love this machine. Past the clad layer it still hit well on silver. So that was nice. Headphones are nice and pared up very quick. Handling of EMI was much better than the Equinox. All in all, a fun machine to hunt with. Minuses? I don’t think gold will be separated from pull tabs (number wise) like my air tests showed. I found the gold to blend with the pull tabs in dirt, not like the air tests that I did at home. I’ll try that again next time. Also, I’m not sure if I see any improvement in depth on the black and purple sand that I have at most of my beaches. We’ll see more on that later as well. It also hit hard on the small basalt rocks that mimic small gold, so no progress there. The Manticore did separate extremely well on the grassy areas. I was able to hit that half dollar at about 8” and also hit the silver dime close to it and hit an aluminum bottle cap next to them. All 3 were separate signals. But the numbers were jumpier than I thought they would be. I’m chalking that up to the EMI that is fairly strong in that area. Certainly, the Manticore had no problems hitting the copper cents as most were in the 5” range. The beach part of the hunt didn’t produce much, but one silver dime which was only about 2” deep. I’m thinking that is a leftover signal from the previous storm. It was cold and windy, but still fun trying out a new machine.

I just came beach from a beach hunt and grass hunt with the Manticore. I had spent a lot of time doing air tests on pull tabs vs gold rings. Air test told me 10 -20 is the smaller gold rings. Bigger rings were in the 50's. Pull tabs were 21-45. So, I hit this grassy dirt beach field that is littered with pull tabs. Think football fields full of people at the beach for 50+ years and you get an idea of how many tabs are there. Machine gun sounds. So, how did the air test #'s hold up against the ground (real world) hunting? First there is EMI from the buildings and street power lines. The Manticore handled that pretty well. Ran it in General terrain mode sens 25. The numbers were bouncy and the pull tabs numbers shifted into the gold category. This didn't allow for any cherry picking of gold. This is just my first trip doing dirt, but I didn't find the numbers to be very tight like we all want them to be. Dimes bounced around, sometimes 5 numbers off. I will say it bangs on coins in the first 6" way better than the Equinox. After 6" it's still good but the numbers bounce more. This is a field that others have found huge amounts of silver over the years, but left the clad and copper cents. I was lucky to stumble upon a deep silver half at @ 9". It heard it well, along with a silver dime about 4" away from it. So I think it will take some time to work things out..

I'm sure he doesn't like any comments that are not complimentary towards his opinion 😄

But I can burn the coal and stay warm .... I'll be real warm then 😧😄

It's from the original shipment I'm assuming . I found a place that had 1 in stock. It was shipped to me and I received it yesterday. Just had a chance to put it together and try it today. You have a strong point on the hot tar issue 🤔 I may take you up on that. I may get one hunt in before it gets real cold for a while, So I'll post when I can. Hopefully someone in a hotter climate can shed some better light on it.

A quick Manticore hunt.... really quick 😄 Took it for a test drive in my (modern) back yard. I just couldn't wait until it was charged, so I took it out for about 10 minutes. It only has a slight charge of about 10 minutes before it shuts down. First impression on its build quality? For us old timers, all these new machines feel flimsy, and this is no different. I guess we are still lugging them old metal boxes around in our brain! The Manticore is solid even though it feels very thin and light. I don't think there will be any problems with the build but I wouldn't use it to prop yourself up off the floor with it. It's not a cane. Nice and smooth and better built is what I get from it. The screen is nice and basic navigation is not a problem. I have not read the manual of had any directions in operating it yet. So it is intuitive. Now about those complaining about the nails reading like non ferrous targets? Yes they do and that is because of the nature of iron. You can not preset a machine to knock out all the different iron encounters you may come across. But that is something that will involve some effort on your part in using the iron adjustments available for the advanced user. Just a guess, but I'm thinking after tweaking it, you will get better iron rejection from it. Also pinpointing the target to match where you heard the target will tell you if it's iron. If it pinpoints away from where you heard it, think iron. You will be using the 2D graph a lot to tell iron from non iron. I'm thinking if it's a solid line from a non ferrous number that continues to the upper iron section, then it's iron and its falsing component. If it were a non ferrous target near an iron target the I think you would see a break in the line between the non ferrous target and the line going upward into the iron section. My recommendations would be to go for the more solid hits that make a decent blob on the non ferrous line before trying to find those very iffy targets. So far I'm liking what I see. I hope I can at least get one decent day above 40 degrees to try it out before the massive cold air hits us here in New England. The only program I tried was the high trash one. If I get to a beach I will try a trashy one where I can get a lot of targets in a short span. That's it for now.

Thanks. The problem with a good hunt is you expect the next one to be the same 😄 😄 And I hate the dark and the cold too. I'm definitely pleased anytime I get at least some silver. I don't care how many junk targets I dig as long as it was worth the travel. If I lived near the beach, I would have many more bad days than good ones, since I could concentrate on an area and work it clean, even if it isn't producing. But when you add travel time into the equation, you hunting style has to change and some pressure always builds. But I do try and keep it fun for myself if I can. I figure that hunt carries me over for the next hunt just in case I get skunked 🙄

Thanks Jim. Not expecting those results from this beach. I wasted time covering parts of the beach, but most of what you see was high up on the beach in a relatively small area. This is an old beach with a huge amount of iron, large and small. Most of the coins were not the primary target. Bah Humbag 😄 Merry Christmas to you too. Yeah that white stuff puts a damper on digging, luckily the rain took ours away. I could use about 20 years off of my body too ☹️ Thanks, I'm not worthy either, but sometimes the beach makes a mistake 😄 This beach has a lot of cars pulled up right to it, so you have starring eyes on you while they sit and watch the waves. Also noticed that cars (especially a Volvo) while running, make it impossible to detect next to them. Massive EMI. This kind of detecting you have to do while fresh. I did it backwards and wandered around first and then finished with the hard stuff. Next time I'll do the gridding first, then wander around aimlessly 😶 Yeah, I should bring that horseshoe with me next time 🤔 Photos done with my cell phone and then used Paint to clean them up. Funny, I've been finding a lot of those fresh drop silver rings I think are from China. They have extremely dazzling fake stones in them. I wouldn't buy any "Diamonds" from China right about now 😄

Beach hunt # 15 (for real this time) 🙄 was a very long hunt. Because low tide was early and the storm passed by yesterday, I wanted to get there by sunup. So up at 3:30 and at the beach just before sunrise. Tried the Equinox at one beach but it wasn’t getting much of anything. Switched beaches and switched to the GPX and it took a while, but I found an area that had a lot of iron, but also multiple targets in most holes – deep. Targets were around 15” deep, but as you got to that target, there were other ones deeper in the hole that the pinpointer could hit on. This beach has never produced for me, but I figured the strong storm should have moved some sand. Apparently it must have done something since I pulled out 2 Barber dimes and a Mercury dime when I was digging for another targets. 4 silver rings, a silver bracelet ( I thought was junk) and a nice 14K ring (which was one of those incidental targets), co-located with multiple targets and not my original target. Not what I expected from this beach at all. 🥰 I guess it removed just enough sand to make me dig some deep iron and getting me within range of the good targets. I’m glad it turned out the way it did, but I’m in no hurry to dig like that again…..until next time of course. 😄But I will be trying the Manticore out for it’s first beach hunt. Just running stock programs, but my wheels are already turning on combining the ferrous graphics with the disc functions to fine tune it. I think once I get my head around the settings it will make my Equinox sit home. Sad, but probably true!

It is. You can store a lot in them slim drawers. Now I just have to buy the right dimension Riker boxes to fit tighter. Those magnetic pieces do keep the display cases from moving though.

Sandwich bags work 😄 So do coffee cans. I have so much stuff over the years that I have to bag and can most of them Riker boxes have become very expensive - not like when they first come out. I used to stack them. You don't get to see much when they are one on to[p of the other. At least you could pull from the basket 😄 Thanks. Wood would look great but it takes a lot of effort to do that. But repurposing old wood from desks and bed headboards would save some money. If you make some, please post it. Thanks Rick. I've wanted to do that for many years. Thank You. Now I can keep better track of all my junk 🙄 Yep, one thing I learned from my scrap and electronics recycling is that sometimes people just want stuff GONE!!!! I just received 2 nice modern color laser printers for the house, because someone bought new ones. I guess now I can print that Manticore manual in color🤭 Good for you in getting all of those cabinets. They usually sell for hundreds of dollars each.