Compass

16 hours ago, phrunt said:

Fingers crossed they've resolved these problems on the Manticore, I'd be surprised if they have but hopefully it's the case.  They're the company that puts 100% effort into trying to give the best performance and a generous 35% effort into giving a quality product letting known issues keep going by never even attempting to fix them up on later builds.  

If my Nox 800 did die I'd be replacing it for sure with another 800 as it's a truly great detector and one of my absolute favourites.  I couldn't let it go but I wouldn't be replacing it with a 900, to me other than the vastly improved (it seems) build quality the detector itself for my needs would be a downgrade with its poor target ID's by comparison to the 800.

If I was a serious water hunter though the 700 or even possibly more likely the X-terra Pro would be worth consideration for in water use and I'd be still using the 800 on land.

My friend has a 900 and uses it on the wet sand where I typically use my TDI BeachHunter. I believe that his 900 performs better on the beach than my 800 did. He seems to get better depth and can work in the black sand easier than I used to with the 800. However, yes, he seems to struggle with some wacky TID's and winds up digging a lot more trash than he should.

9 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Maybe this question was answered by default but ... they have not discontinued the 800?  I mean they have the 600,700,800 and 900 all in current production and don't plan on stopping?

I had to replace my 800 control because of a broken switch.  I don't submerge them so it was not a water problem.  It was under warrant and when I took off the bracket I kept the screws and the bottom.  When I got the replacement unit back I couldn't find the bottom of the bracket.  (I found it several months later.) I called up Minelab and they sent me the bracket part at no charge.

Times and policies change I guess.

I was dealing with the authorized PA repair facility and not directly with Minelab so maybe that was the reason. Also, I was out of warranty and maybe that makes a difference when it comes to customer service. 

11 hours ago, Joe D. said:

   Well Compass,

   I may be doing a repeat of your story; minus the screwing on the screws! (Thanks for the info👍)!

    Had the Nox out this evening for a little sunset beach detect; finished, rinsed off in the local barely running shower there(as always), and headed home! As I'm bringing the detector into my house, it suddenly turns itself on, and won't shut off!😵 Crap!!

   Eventually it "let" me shut it off, but than no more on! Took the pod off to examine, and opened up the battery compartment, and a bit of water!! Double crap!!

  Upon examination, there is a crack on the front face of the handle, under the rubber coating, running from the shaft interface, up the molding seam, past the "O ring sealed🙄" compartment! Wonderful!!💩

   Well, nothing lasts forever, especially a Nox 800! So, "IF" I decide to replace it, this will be my 3rd pod!!😡 and yes, it's now out of warranty!! 

   Strongly considering letting dead Nox's lie, as I have older and better(+-) detectors to use, that don't repeatedly fail me! (Also had to replace two 11" coils previously; Coil Ears!🤬)

   Already had basically decided not to give ML another penny anyway, so I guess this is a fitting end! Think I will give it a Viking send-off in the firepit🔥, first "cool" weather we get!! It's at least earned that!!😂😵 And part-out the rest on Ebay!  

   Wishing you much luck🍀💍🍀 and finds, with your new pod!!👍👍

 

5 hours ago, midalake said:

I know it is a tough road [been there]   In reality a new pod with warranty for $350 is a pretty good deal. I do not know any other Mfg. that extends something like that near their cost. 

My heart told me not to give Minelab any more of my money but my brain said that it was better to get the new pod and new 3 year warranty. I do have other detectors but in certain environments the 800 is my best option. I, especially, like the 800 when I'm hunting fresh water swimming areas. My Fisher Aquanaut and Excalibur are okay for that type of hunting but won't detect the medium sized gold chains like the 800 can.

3 hours ago, Pyriteboy said:

Nice pull George.....you can't win if you don't play.......have you had much luck in the past at the beach where you found the ring?.....it's stories like this that keep me swinging on un-productive beaches until I am off the sand, even when I don't want to...

-Jerry

Thanks Jerry, Yes, I hunt this area a lot since it is the closest beach to me. This has allowed me to learn more about this beach than I know about other beaches. It gets hunted pretty hard and when I found the ring (at 3:30 am) there was another hunter about 50 yards away. PM sent.

So I bit the bullet and bought a new 800 control box to replace my out of warranty, water-damaged one. Can't say that I am crazy about the $350 price tag but, at least, the new controls come with a 3 year warranty. Rather than shying away from water hunting I plan on getting this "new" detector wet early and often during the next 3 years and if it fails again, so be it. Hopefully, Minelab has addressed this waterproofing issue that they have not acknowledged (as far as I know).

I called the repair facility in PA to see if they would be returning my old detector (it is mine BTW) and they said no. I could understand if this was a warranty issue but I had to buy a new unit. What I really needed were the screws that attach the control box to the shaft bracket. For anyone needing to replace the 4 screws they are corrosion resistant, M4 x 16mm machine screws available at many places such as Home Depot and Lowes. BTW, the new control box also does not come with the screen protectors. 

5 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

That picture looks like 2 rings that were soldered together to me, so I would say that you got 2 rings instead of just one.

I have seen where the engagement ring has been soldered to the wedding band and they look just like that.

Good luck on your next hunt.

Thanks VL, Good observation and you are spot on. The engagement and wedding ring are soldered together and whoever did the work did a great job. Yes, I was wondering the same thing - does this find count as 2 rings or 1? 😄

7 hours ago, geof_junk said:

Most of the good spots are hit first by most people, if they did it good then there is not much left. At this point you have to try the other areas to get on least detected ground. That why you are getting your good targets after you have done the hot spots. 

One of my favorite sayings is:        "The early bird catches the worm but the 2nd mouse gets the cheese."                                            I try to be the early bird but sometimes I wind up being mouse #2. 🙂

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Well done on the finding.  I know a beach they want you to stay off of because they groom it at night.  They would let me stay down near the water so I was ok with that.  They had some night surfers they let use the beach also.

The last couple of sunsets with the waves very small I've been fishing catching yellowfin croaker and I've caught my first couple of perch.  

Thanks M, It's always good to know the rules of a particular beach. I'm the world's worst fisherman but I think it's great that you have a backup plan when the detecting is slow.

1 hour ago, rvpopeye said:

I'd have to remind myself to breathe if I saw that shiny in my scoop !😎

Finding gold at night definitely has a different vibe than in natural daylight. At night I don't usually get that instant gratification of seeing gold in the scoop but the feeling is often a bit more magical and surreal. The downside is that it is so much easier to get fooled at night when costume jewelry can look so good.

Thank you midalake, Not the most valuable ring but pretty eye-catching and fun to find.

1 hour ago, schoolofhardNox said:

That thing hurts my eyes 😄 Beauty of a ring. I find the same thing, that I usually hit a lot of good targets towards the end of the hunt. By that time, I'm too tired and already dreading the 2 hour trip home to continue hunting. When I return the next time, all of that area is different, probably sanded in. You have to keep taking what you can while the beach lets you.

Thanks school, I couldn't agree more with this: "You have to keep taking what you can while the beach lets you." When the heavy targets start making an appearance, that is the time to hit it hard. 🙂

2 hours ago, okara gold said:

Nice looking ring. I'll bet it's got some good weight to it too! I remember going to a beach once and the first target I dug was a 14K ring. It thought... oh boy here we go! 3 hours later I had 1 penny, a little junk and that gold ring. Ya never know.

Thanks o.g., The insides of the soldered together rings are hollowed out so they are not as heavy as they look - 3.7 grams total. The ring is also very small - between size 4 and 5.

2 hours ago, Hardtimehermit said:

Good work, sometimes you just have to keep your head down until you find what you are after. 🤩 

Thanks, Sometimes I can almost feel that I'm getting closer to the gold - this was NOT one of those times. 😄

I don't know about you guys but,  more often than not, my better finds seem to be near the end of my hunts rather than at the beginning. During my most recent hunt I had only found 3 zinc pennies and not much else during the first 2 hours of lugging my TDI BH around.

Adding insult to injury I was, politely, told that I had to leave this particular beach by the beach patrol (3am) . However, the officer was very cool about it and even hinted of some nearby beach locations that he did not check on. I continued the hunt at one of these other areas and still not finding much until I heard a promising target about mid slope in the wet sand. I kicked the target out and saw a small glimmering arc in the moonlight which I first thought was an earring. When I picked the target up I realized that it was a ring that felt smooth and heavy enough to be gold and when I got home I was able to verify that it was 10k.                     

I don't live that close to the beach so it's always nice to find enough to cover gas money. For a while it didn't look like it was going to happen this time but you just never know what the next target will be.

I can't help with identification but I have to say congrats on that beautiful find Joe!

5 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

Talk about narrow window of opportunity 😊. That 18K ring is unusual looking but stunning at the same time 😄. Just imagine if all the beaches were stripped and loaded like that one area was.

Thank you School, Maybe they will be soon. A year ago we had another hurricane swell which coincided with extreme tides and that was an epic week of detecting. 

7 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

Wow, Compass, great haul and way to sniff out that hot spot, well done! It look like some silver in there too. Epic hunt!

 

Thanks CPT, Apparently, there weren't that many productive beaches despite all the hoopla around Hilary so I feel very fortunate.

29 minutes ago, midalake said:

Awesome work for three days!!!!   Great finds! 

Thanks midalake, It only feels like work when I'm not finding anything. 😄

6 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Please have that checked out, something that old I have heard and seen that the gf meant something different back then. So the ring in the last picture is a very nice item and looks to be the biggest winner for you as it is custom made.

Great hunt and wish you more luck on your next outing, just don't get out there in a storm.

Thanks VL, I will take another look but In certain spots on the bracelet it looks like the base metal is showing. 😐 Yes, the ring in the last picture is stamped "18k" and passed the acid test but the inside of the ring looks a little suspect to me. Needs further evaluation.

9 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Good production from a weird storm.  It shows that pockets form in many places.

I'm like Joe.  My beaches didn't give up coins or jewelry, but I have to admit I didn't hit any beaches south of Long Beach.  I didn't know where to go so I stayed with the family.

With Hilary's immense power, I was expecting to hear about some epic hunts from other areas, especially, those south of me. I would have thought that the San Diego beaches would have been really hit hard. For all the targets I dug in 3 days I think that I only had about 6 lead sinkers but maybe 50 zinc pennies - a bad ratio of heavy to lightweight targets - not usually a good sign. Like you said, Hilary was a weird storm 

Wow Joe! I didn't know that but Hilary WAS unusual. I would have thought that other beaches south of where I hunted would have seen more power from Hilary but like you said the angle of the beaches may have been the difference. I remember my surf forecast saying that beaches that could work a southeast swell would see the biggest surf.

Hilary was a very unusual hurricane/storm. Not only was her path and intensity rare for this time of the year, the impact she had on some southern California beaches was somewhat bizarre. I drove to 6 different beaches in 3 days of detecting but did find one particularly productive area while nearby spots made me question whether or not my detector was working properly. 

The first hunt was before Hilary's heavy rains arrived but her swell was starting to build. I found no cuts but a gentle slope produced a small, beautifully colored, 10k, rose gold band. 

The second hunt came as Hilary was exiting the area. Where I found the rose gold ring the day before, the gentle slope was now replaced by a 3-4 foot cut but the targets were few and far between.  After an hour of wandering up and down the beach I found the "hot spot" and proceeded to find more jewelry than I ever have in a short amount of time. After 12 rings, a like number of earrings, bracelets, neck chains, pendants and coins I was thinking that this could be the best hunt ever. However, when I got back to my car and took a closer look, many of my finds were not as good as I had thought.

The biggest disappointment was the heavy (1 ounce) gold bracelet that I was sure was going to be one of the biggest pieces of gold jewelry that I had ever found. The clasp was stamped "14k g.f." for "gold filled". It looked and felt so awesome coming out of the wet sand and was nicely engraved with a name and a date from over 50 years ago. After metal detecting for many years I thought that I was pretty good at identifying gold, especially yellow gold, when I find it but this hobby can certainly be humbling at times.

The third hunt was a bust! In only one tide cycle the hot spot was sanding back in. I went from finding over 100 coins on hunt #2 to finding 8 coins on hunt #3. Hilary was a quick hitter and as fast as she flipped some beaches from sanded in to being productive they reverted right back as soon as she passed through. It seems like most other storms that I have experienced leave the beaches in good enough conditions to hunt for days afterwards but not Hilary. All in all it was a fun and memorable 3 days of detecting. As after almost every hunt, I learned a few more things about beach detecting that should be very helpful in the future.  GL&HH!

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

My surf reports say surf will increase for only a brief time on Sunday and the energy is low even in San Diego.

If this storm was more offshore, we would get more energy because of the counterclockwise rotation.  I was ready to drive south but now I think as Compass that conditions are not very favorable, especially any place north of Long Beach.

I still plan on trying it out. Might go tonight before the heavy wind/rain and certainly afterwards. It won't be any worse than my last 2 hunts! 😄

I'm really curious to see what actually takes place on the coast this weekend. The swell looks impressive but the tides, swell direction and wind direction all seem to be working against a big beach erosion event. I think the biggest danger will be flooding and wind damage but more so in inland areas but, I agree, stay safe people!

Wow...what an interesting find - congrats!!! Yep - box of chocolates. 😄  Really excited to see what Hillary does for us.