Compass

5 hours ago, cuniagau said:

And the more you use it, the more you will like it.  It seems to be better than the 800 in moderate black sand but nothing will be as good or better than a PI in the black.  If there had been foil on your beach, you would have heard it.  I got two silver dimes and a small gold ring on my first hunt with Manti back in Jan.  When in the right mode, it is indeed a "Beast"! 

Thanks Joe, I have a lot to learn about the Manticore but I was very encouraged from my first use of it. I hardly even paid attention to the 2D display since I'm not used to having one. Using this detector in a target rich environment after some sand movement is going to be awesome.

2 hours ago, Dan(NM) said:

Nice job and write up, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dan, I hope to be posting about some epic hunts this winter with the El Nino impact.

I went to a small beach that I haven't hunted in years to test my recently acquired Manticore. I wasn't expecting much in the way of finds but I was hoping for enough targets to learn more about the machine.  A few years ago I purchased a Nox 800 and really liked it except I felt that it didn't hit hard enough on targets in "Beach" mode so I primarily used the 800 in fresh water where I could use "Gold" mode. I liked the hard audio punch that "Gold" mode put out. I often thought, "If only this 800 had a little more power in the wet sand and sounded better to my diminished hearing...".

Enter the Manticore. It pretty much does everything I wanted the 800 to do in the wet sand and surf at the beach. It has several "Beach" modes and audio tones to choose from and I found a couple of different set-ups that really suit my hearing and remind me of the performance I see with my pulse detectors. When I used my Nox in the wet sand it seemed that I often had to really focus to pick out deeper targets but the Manticore seems to react much more definitively. I also thought that the target IDs were pretty accurate and I called out my first Manticore quarter with a solid repeatable "88". Shortly after that I got a low "90's" target and I thought to myself, "Could that be a silver quarter?" Sure enough it was and another "90's" signal produced a silver "C" ring.

 The stock 11" coil was surprisingly sensitive to small targets and I found quite a few small lead sinkers but no small foil (if it was even there). I believe that the Manticore will find me  a lot of small gold, especially, when I get the M8 coil. I did test out the 15" coil and didn't really see any obvious improvement in depth but I'm just learning the detector so that may be a factor. I suspect that the Manticore won't replace my pulse detectors on black sand beaches but I'm looking forward to some great hunts with it.

I was looking at my old PI Pro that I use as a loaner and was surprised to find a crack in the control box cover that might compromise its waterproofness. Someone out there may have a non-working PI Pro (or Dual Field) that is only good for parts and willing to sell me the box cover for $30? The covers are the same for a number of White's PI detectors - just with different decals and the covers are easily removed (no tools required). The dimensions are approximately 4" x 6-3/8", Thanks!

Most unusual crucifix I have seen. Nice find!!

Truly amazing! You are living the dream! I was kind of happy to see that you were in Australia and that I didn't miss out on something near me. 😅

Awesome finds Skull. I've done very little detecting while scuba diving but it always felt like such an ordeal for me. I've also done a little snorkel hunting (decades ago). I used to acquire multiple targets and mark them with plastic clothespins. Then dive back down and dig them all out on the same breath.                                  By "electric" I assume you mean an electric air compressor? Sounds like a great option. Look forward to hearing more.

3 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Thanks Compass,

TBH I've been watching you heavy duty water hunters lately and knew I had to give it a go, the water is where the gold is. I'm glad I don't have to deal with big waves there, don't think I could stand it for long. The boat wakes are bad enough. You can see on a windless day the water is flat at slack tide, so timing is everything.

Regarding the Deus 2, if you poke around a bit you'll see that since V2 it got much better on gold. The reason I personally prefer it over the Equinox is that the IDs are very tight for a 99 number machine, the XY graph screen is very useful, and overall I trust it more. It's also lighter and easier to grip for me. With the 13" coil on the beach I have to laugh at what I find people missed, particularly quarters and dimes at a foot, but it's a lot of digging just for clad. Most of the hunters I've seen there use the Equinox and now the Manticore. 🤔

Another thing I'm noticing is that the D2 is way better with EMI now, I got the ring in a place where there was a lot of it. It was always really good but I feel they improved it.

On the other hand, the Equinox is a venerable gold machine, and if you have big hands the Deus might seem small.

I tried the 15" on the Equinox and couldn't take swinging it for long, and I definitely get more false positives with it overall.

The D2 is an "acquired taste", if you hunt relics with it was well you have to keep attaching and detaching the waveguide for the water as it gets snagged in the field. I go through a lot of zip ties these transition to fall days 🤔 It's also a bit less convenient to keep charged. It's a simple choice for me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Sorry for the random thoughts. 😀

I really appreciate your feedback on the D2 350. I've got a lot of research to do on it.

4 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

In my last post, I wrote that I was going to take advantage of the full moon low tide, and because it's going to rain on the day I wanted to go (favorable wind), I decided to go to the beach today.

Nice warm October day, started out at 64 and went up to 87. I rigged up the Deus 2 with the 9" coil, the new black waveguide, and used the BH-01 bone conduction headphones. I wore waders because the river is still full of jellyfish and the water is getting colder.

This is just a small spot in the water. There were thousands. The largest one I saw was about 5" in diameter, and they kept getting stuck to my detector and scoop. I had my CooB Shark V10 with a SteveG carbon fiber handle. I also had a floating sifter ala The Hoover Boys.

The tide was going out when I got there and the river was flat, no real wind today. The tide was a bit higher than I encountered last Monday, but I was going in the water and didn't care.

I have to give y'all that do this all the time credit, water hunting is twice as hard as beach or relic hunting, even without waves. Some boats came by and added that element 😵 you feel like you're moving around on another planet and people are pushing you around. 😅

The 9" was much easier to swing than the 13" elliptical I normally use, and I was tweaking up a new water only program that worked very well. I dug maybe 7 pieces of trash today, no aluminum pull tabs or iron - just weird bits like a large capacitor, a sinker, a broken brass knob, and some odd bits of copper. I threw it out at the beach, it was all in the pockets on my chest waders.

The D2 was really finding coins today, I felt like someone was there before me because they left a lot of pennies. Ended up with 8 Zincolns and 3 copper memorials. Some were pretty deep, but I never completely submersed the D2 so they were fairly easy to dig.

Here's the total haul today:

I was after gold and I got it.

Got a nice solid 59, and three or four scoops later I had this 10k college class ring:

It has 7 diamonds, I'll have to find my tester to see if they are real, but I'm pretty sure they are. It's dated, has "AB" for Bachelor of Arts, and has initials inside, I'm pretty sure I have already located the owner and will return it. 🙂 it is a woman's ring.

Also got this gold plated Disney pendant from the movie "Frozen", too bad water got to the picture and the gold plating is off in a few spots, it looks a lot better than it does in this photo.

And last I got a pretty rare token:

A Bally game token that is a 72 in rarity on Numista. The stuff people lose in the water... 🤔

I didn't hunt the beach and only got 3 sections of the water done, I'm sure there are other finds out there so I may go back, but I was done after 6 hours.

Sweet gold ring 350 - congrats! I've been looking at that Deus 2 and liking what I see. I always felt that the Nox 800 was a bit under powered on the beach but the Deus 2 seems to punch deeper from what I have heard.

30 minutes ago, Hardtimehermit said:

Yes Sir, i do mean 1 carat plus, chips aren't worth much. 

Can't tell how big the stones are in that ring but it's a beauty and my wife would wear it! 

8 minutes ago, Hardtimehermit said:

What ? Compass you don't know if it makes a difference if the diamonds are real or not? It can make a lot of difference in value, that's like saying dont' know if real gold makes a difference! 🧐

The gold quality makes a big difference but I've taken many diamond rings to jewelers and unless the diamonds are of a certain size they don't add that much real value to the ring and they won't give you much for them. Of course if they're selling the same ring then any real diamonds give them an excuse to jack up the price. I don't know what the cutoff point is but I would guess a quarter to a third carat?

6 hours ago, DSMITH said:

Looks like a heck of a haul to me, nice saves

Thanks D, It certainly was exciting to see clean gold in the scoop so many times during the hunt.  

14 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

You did OK and a half ! 🧐

I believe the competition exists only in the kidding around the campfire at the end of the day... On the hunt everybody wants everybody to get something good ! 😳

 

Thanks rvp, I really did want both of my friends to find something nice as well. One of them is fairly new to detecting and is still learning his Nox 900. The other has plenty of experience and was using his 30 year old Fisher Aquanaut.                                            I had the 6" coil on the Nox 800 and hunting in Gold 2 mode which has worked out pretty well for me in the past in fresh water.

1 hour ago, Valens Legacy said:

I think that everyone knows that and I was just joking because he does find plenty of nice finds also.

Two separate parts of the country will always have different finds to be found.

As always good luck and stay safe.

Thanks VL, I knew you were but I just didn't want him to take it the wrong way. BTW, I appreciate all your positive comments and support on this forum!

4 minutes ago, mn90403 said:

They all test REAL!

Here is a ring I found the next night that does not test real on the diamonds.  It is 2.9 g/14k.  Before the last hunt I'd be very thrilled with this and to tell you the truth I am but testing the other ring at the same time and these are not real and that makes a difference.

 

I don't know that it makes that much difference if the diamonds are real or not - beautiful ring that many women would love. Congrats M!

6 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Great haul, Compass! Congrats and Well Done! 😎

Thanks CPT, It was really a fun hunt and I learned a bit more about the Nox 800. In the first hour I found the small 14k yellow gold ring with the red stone and the 18k white gold ring during the second hour. Both were in waist deep water and read around "5" on the TID. I think the 10k heart ring was about a "3-5" TID and the last ring was the larger unmarked yellow and white gold band that was a solid "11". It seemed like all the rings had definitive audio and visual signatures and I was almost not surprised to see them in the scoop.

45 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

If that's the game you guys are playing...... I'm not even at the starting line 😆 I will have to save all my gold rings that I find for the next couple of years so that I can just make one good contending post 😔 Sweet looking rings.

Thanks school, I know it's not a competition and that everything is relative. Of course, I was joking when I mentioned, "upping my game" and meant it more as a compliment to mn30403 and cjc. I am genuinely blessed and happy with what I find. 

3 hours ago, rvpopeye said:

Gotta add my vote on the You Guys Are Killin' Me.

Well done ! on the awesome find counts !!  👍

Deepest shade of green here. But I won't give up !

Even if I have to move there ..🌴

Pirate Popeye askin' permission ta come aboard ? arrrrrrr🏴‍☠️

 

 

So my 2 friends who went on this hunt with me both found a lot more coins than I did but got shut out on the gold. My coil just got over the right targets. Sometimes they find the gold and I am the one shaking my head.                        The detecting here can be good but living in California definitely has its downside. I imagine that the cost of living here may eventually cause us to relocate to another state. I hear that Florida is good for retirees. 😅🙄

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

I grew up in Florida on the northeast coast.  I've detected a little bit there and on the treasure coast and it is as close as you will get to southern California detecting but it is still miles apart most of the time.  On those beaches there you can get a cut.  South Florida east coast beaches are different starting to get more like the islands with fewer swell conditions.

When you move over to the west coast of Florida you really lose a swell and wave energy pattern like we have on ALL of the west coast.  From Ft. Myers to Pensacola I would do two things.  Wade or dive in the water and hunt the blanket lines and the beach and this would include lakes and springs.

My recent find of two big pieces and one more 2 gram ring last night is a bit of luck but also just hours.  It has been a couple of years since I put this many hours in for one week.  I missed out on our hurricane events because I didn't go to the waves and get my share.

Gerry and cjc go and get it and I know some others who don't wait on the gold to come into shore.

Is there anyone who wades Clearwater Beach?

Compass, you and many others in socal are way ahead of me on gold.  That is why I said I had an epic night but it is mostly a one off.  Keep showing what you find.

Thanks M, I appreciate the info on Florida's Beaches. Regardless of what anyone has found over the years, that was a spectacular hunt you had. Making two "finds of a lifetime" on the same hunt is a pretty rare accomplishment.            I have found gold chains in freshwater by digging 1's and 2's on the Nox but I have yet to do so at the beach since I'm mostly a pulse guy. What a thrill that must have been for you to see that "2" pop up when you know you are in the right spot at the right time. 🙏😯

1 hour ago, Valens Legacy said:

Nice hunt with great finds, we all know that you don't care about Tamps's whining.

Good luck on your next outing and keep making those nice saves.

Thanks VL, but I'm not insensitive to anyone who may not have access to the variety of treasure hunting we enjoy here in SoCal. I see Pieces of Eight and high-end jewelry from South Florida and think that the state is metal detecting heaven. Thank you mn30403 for explaining some of the differences between the beaches here and there.

2 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Nice hunt with great finds, we all know that you don't care about Tamps's whining.

Good luck on your next outing and keep making those nice saves.

"I didn't forget about the California gold rush after the storms out there this year. I was very jealous."

Don't you have the same conditions when the hurricanes pass through??

I've never detected in Florida but I've been envious that you have year round beachgoers (depositors), Spanish treasure and hurricanes that move tons of sand.

20 minutes ago, TampaBayBrad said:

In today's day and age, you gotta find an un-hunted or rarely hunted beach to pull 4 golds in one hunt. I'll never do that in my lifetime down here unless I stumble upon a busy beach that hasn't seen a detector. We know that ain't happin'! 

Hi Brad, In the dry sand or at the lake I would agree with you but in the wet sand after heavy beach erosion has taken place, even the most heavily hunted beaches can produce eye-popping amounts of gold jewelry - at least, that's how it is in Southern California.

So, on my last hunt I found 4 gold rings at the lake with my Equinox. The biggest one only weighs 2.6 grams but the total for all 4 is 7.1 grams - a pretty productive hunt. This morning I see posts from mn90403 and cjc and think to myself, "Wow...I need to up my game!" 😅

I started metal detecting over 50 years ago and my finds pale in comparison. Where did I go wrong?! 😄

Wow M! Congrats on that surreal, epic and magical hunt that we all dream about! So many other hunters would have probably quit after that first gold ring but you did the right thing in that situation - push on to find more!

Sweet gold ring M - congrats on the silver too! I use my 6" coil at the lake most of the time because it's easier to swing in the water and helps with pinpointing. Yes, it is surprisingly deep for its size.