Ringtail

Daniel TN, You’re gonna love it. I was not impressed with the depth I was getting with the 11” coil, but I never considered that I had 15” coils on my previous machines so it was an unfair comparison. I’m very happy with the depth, VDI accuracy, pinpointing accuracy, EMI resistance, and weight of the M15. Ringtail

Haha, you have to dig them even when you know it’s a flip top. Otherwise you miss the gold rings, civil war buttons, small gold coins, etc., etc. Ringtail

Haha, that was just me randomly setting things out for a photo, I had a 50/50 chance and I blew it! That quarter has a lot of wear and the date is completely worn off, but it’s still a beautiful coin. I will post pics later today. Ringtail

Fishersari, I don’t recall the sensitivity I used on the Equinox 800 but it was one of the highest numbers. It’s definitely more difficult to prevent falsing in AT HC and it seems to be very sensitive to mineralization. I think the key to quieting the Manticore in hot soil is accurate ground balance and noise canceling. I do both frequently. At my sites ground balance can change significantly in a short distance. Also, long press noise cancel is great but not perfect. Sometimes you can pick a better frequency by manually going through the numbers. I run all metal whenever possible but I turn the iron volume down to zero. When I discriminate I only notch the lowest numbers below the smallest buttons or good targets likely at that site, for example 0-20. Ringtail

Those are awesome finds! Hammered silver coins are definitely on my bucket list. What is the ring shaped object 3rd down on the left? Ringtail

Phrunt, I think I will do the same. I’m getting more depth, covering more ground and still can get good target separation, pinpointing, and low EMI. I was disappointed about the lack of depth with the 11” coil, I’m quite happy with the depth of the M15. Ringtail

I was finally able to take my new M15 out for a few test runs and I couldn’t be more pleased. Day one was at a site that I have pounded over the last 10 years and previously found civil war relics, coins, and miscellaneous goodies. After years of grid searching this small patch of ground with a Whites V3i + 15” coil, Equinox 800 + 15” coil, and the Manticore with the 11” coil, using every variation of multiple and single frequencies I wasn’t expecting much. To my surprise, I found a brass thimble, a piece of jewelry made from gold plated brass, a toy Purple Heart, and a brass lantern top, and various unidentifiable brass bits. The VDI numbers were accurate and reasonably stable. The next two days were on a small horse farm were I had previously found tombac buttons and a well worn 1700’s half reale coin. I had visited this permission several times previously, but hadn’t searched it as thoroughly as the first site. The last time I was there I had an Equinox 800 with a large coil. Maura, with a 15 inch coil was a real game changer. I was hitting solid signals at 6 to 10 inches deep all over the place. There were dots right on the centerline even for the deepest bar all day sometimes they were very faint. Many of the targets were surrounded by pieces of broken square nails, or other iron. Digging conditions were perfect with the wet clay soil coming out in well shaped one piece come shaped plugs with the target usually near the point of the plug. Settings were AT Low then AT High. I found more good targets with AT High and even though there was some falsing, I could tell the good targets with the info on the 2D screen. All of the good targets were mostly or partially on the non-ferrous line. I did frequent ground balancing and long press noise noise canceling to keep the machine quiet. Sensitivity setting was 22 with recovery delay at 6. For deep signals I switched to sensitivity of 24 and RD of 5 or 4 to get more reliable 2d screen info. This worked very well and kept the machine quieter during searching. These settings are not universal, I need to vary them at every buffet place that I hunt depending on soil conditions, EMI, amount of trash, desired targets, etc. I am not far from Culpeper, VA and mineralization is high so lower recovery delays settings are too noisy. Long story short I found my 2nd civil war belt buck with the Manticore, an 1800s Pocket Pistol brass barrel, several civil war era bullets and round balls, 2 silver coins, and several pennies and several unidentified larger copper coins, a bell, 1800s flatware, a shoe heel plate, clock parts, and lots more! Most of the targets were deep and were good solid hits. I am very pleased with the M15. I forgot to mention that all 3 days the temps were just above freezing with high winds. On the last day a cold front came in at noon with 45 mph winds and it started snowing and I was about to quit. Then I found the Sword Belt Plate above and kept going till sunset. The ground froze solid that night. Happy hunting, Ringtail

I got my M15 at Fort Bedford Metal Detectors. Thanks for the heads up TampaBayBrad! Ringtail

That’s kind of adding insult to injury since we never had an opportunity to buy them at the current price. Ringtail

Chase, My apologies, I previous response was too brief and I didn’t clary express myself. I knew you understood stood the potential advantages of a larger coil, I have read enough of your posts to realize you know your stuff. I also appreciate you reminding me to be happy working with what I have and not to stress about something I can’t get. After all, this is just a hobby that we do to relax and have fun! Thank you, Ringtail

Chase, Thanks. I won’t pay for international shipping, but I did notice a considerable difference with 15” coil on my Equinox. Bigger coil = more depth and better coverage when searching large areas. I really appreciate the help from the community! Ringtail

Phrunt, I reached out to you dealer by chat on their website asking if they shipped to the US. Here’s the response: “It would be best to order it from a US Minelab stockist as the warranty will be voided. You can find your closest dealer here: https://www.minelab.com/anzea/where-to-buy?search=… ” I won’t bother trying Minelab site to find a dealer as it was useless when I used it to try find a Manticore. I do really appreciate your willingness to help though, thanks! Ringtail

Thanks Phrunt, is you dealer allowed by Minelab to ship to US? Ringtail

When I started this post 10 months ago I never would have believed that these coils are still not available! Does anyone know where I can find an M15 coil before Christmas? I am heading to Florida for a week and want to hit the beach with a larger coil. I did some checking online and couldn’t find any in stock. I would even consider a used one. Thanks, Ringtail

“Amazing Gold Find In Norway With A Deus 2” I’m not so sure this find was made with a Deus 2. The photo/video at the beginning of the article clearly show the Detectorist posing with his finds and a Manticore in the foreground. The photo at the end of the article does show a Deus 2 but that looks like a stock photo and the people in the background are not identified. But the type of detector used doesn’t really matter, it’s an amazing find! Ringtail

I updated my Manticore and did a factory reset. I haven’t used it on land since the update, but now I’m on big vacation and using a Manticore for the first time at the beach. I’m alternating between beach low conductors beach, deep, and surf & seawater. I’m getting good depth in all three modes. Lots of deep coins, unfortunately, I haven’t put my coil over any gold yet. I did find a really nice toy Ford bronco truck! Ringtail

You can also hear high pitched singing from the coil if you put your ear near it. I recall hearing the same from other detectors’ coils too. I try not to get the coil too close to my head though I worry that it’s not good for the brain, lol! Ringtail

Unknwn, Congratulations on your new Manticore and also on having lots of time and a great place to use it! Of course there will be a learning curve, but if you use the out of the box setting and follow the advice you will find here on the forum or in several good youtube videos you should be making good finds soon. Just take your time and enjoy the learning process. The Manticore is a the best detector I have ever used. In my opinion, the iron falsing is a minor issue and you shouldn’t worry about it. I have found many relics and old coins in my first three months with it, and I don’t dig much iron. It finds new targets in areas that I had pounded for years and finds the good stuff mixed in with the iron. I recommend starting out in factory settings like All Terrain or All Terrain High Trash, with All Metal off, Sensitivity as low as needed to keep the machine quiet, and use long press noise cancel. Focus on keeping the machine quiet with lower sensitivity so that you will easily hear good targets, your sensitivity should be below 23. Once you get the hang of finding targets you will be able to gradually increase your sensitivity over time. Good luck! Ringtail

Mark, Manticore’s are packed with a plastic protective sheet over the screen. If yours was missing then you were not the first to open it. Ringtail

Hi Longbow, One other thing you might want to check is whether ground balance auto tracking is on. I don’t use tracking but I suspect that if you spend an enough time over a target with auto tracking on the ground balance will change, especially a large target. Ringtail

Speaking of old useful features that have fallen by the wayside that I wish had been included in the Manticore… Another useful feature of the V3i was the ability to play different audio themes in each ear. I had mine set for All Metal VCO in the left ear and Discrimination Tones in the right ear. It sounds confusing, but I found it much easier to notice good targets and determine if they were real or iron falsing. I don’t think would ever be possible as a software update to the Manticore, it likely would require hardware changes. Maybe we could see something like this in the next version of the CTX? Ringtail

Here’s a photo of the V3i display, the green is 2.5 kHz, red is 7.5 kHz, blue is 22.5. This is extremely useful info, why can’t we get this on modern detectors? Whites is out of busines, but I guess it’s possible that Garrett now owns the patents. Ringtail

Speaking of the V3i, that detector had a full color display and could display different color for each frequency. My favorite display more was a bar graph. It was easy to tell the difference between brass and aluminum even with the same VDI number by which frequency responded with the highest bar. Don’t get me wrong, the Manticore will pick up targets that the V3i would have missed. However, I waste a lot of time digging aluminum. The technology exists to display which frequency provides the strongest response. If the manticore would display this info, it would give us a much better ability to identify the type of metal before we dig. Ringtail

Troy, That’s great info, I haven’t taken mine to the beach yet but know I know. Awesome find, my guess is that chain is 22k unless it’s stamped 14k. Ringtail