Ringtail

Shelton, Here’s what I do when there is so much iron I can’t ground balance. Switch to pinpoint mode and search for an area with no metal. You may have to walk away from the area you intend to hunt but at least you ground balance will be in the ballpark. if you ground balance varies wildly from what you usually expect then it may have been influenced by iron near the coil so look for another spot with no iron and truly again. For example, in most places I hunt my ground balance numbers range from the mid 30s to mid 40s. When I was detecting yesterday in an area with lots of square nails and miscellaneous iron, my ground balance sometimes gave me numbers over 70. I just kept moving to new spots to ground balance until I got more reasonable numbers. Ringtail

This YouTube video should be helpful. These are air tests and VDI numbers in the ground will vary but should be in the ballpark. As others have noted, if your VDI numbers jump around wildly you may need to lower your sensitivity and do a long press noise cancel. Also, in our highly mineralized VA soil you should ground balance manually and do it frequently. I relic hunt in Northern Va, PM me if you want to hit a site and learn our Manticores together. Good luck! Ringtail

Me too, sorry Gerry and other independent dealers. Ringtail

Thanks everyone for your input, it was very helpful. I ended up buying the Garrett Pro Pointer X-link. It works great, is durable, and I like the option of using with the X-Link TR set. My detecting buddy called me yesterday, and after all these years he found the Whites TRX in his garage! So now I have a backup. Ringtail

Hi Ace, Every time I checked online it was unavailable. Even when I received the notification from Cabela’s or saw that others on this site were getting theirs, the website still said unavailable. I was only able to place an order by calling their customer service phone number. I spoke to a very helpful person who said it was in stock. Good luck! Ringtail

Thank you for the thorough explanation, that’s very helpful. Funny thing about the White’s TRX, I used to have one as a backup and I didn’t like it as much as the Garrett. I preferred the simpler on press on/off/detune of the Garret. Although I didn’t give it much of a chance, I loaned it to my detector buddy about 7 years ago and haven’t seen it since. 😐 Ringtail

Phrunt, Wow, I knew my memory was getting bad but now I’m making up memories, lol! Did you used to be on any other V3i forums? Thank you for taking the time to test you F-Pulse with the Manticore. I’m glad to hear there is no interference when not near the coil. People seem to either love the F-Pulse or hate it. It sounds like you need to ground balance it by touching the tip to the ground while powering up every time. I could live with that but MFF18B’s experience makes me wonder it there are some places where the ground is so mineralized that it won’t balance. MFF18B - did you ground balance the F-Pulse each time you used it? Thanks again for the feedback guys. RingTail

Phrunt, Thanks for the response. I don’t know if you remember but we both used to be regulars on the Whites V3i forum years ago, my handle was ThreeRinger back then. How do you like the F-Pulse? Thanks, RingTail (Joe)

Thank you for the response. I have been using my orange carrot with my Manticore successfully too. I’m not wired about the Garrett at all. My question was do Pulse Induction Pinpointer play nice with the Manticore. I expect some interference, but my concern is that changing the channels on the pinpointer won’t solve the problem. Ringtail

Anyone know about the M8 & M15 Coils price and availability date? They have been up on the Minelab site for a couple of weeks but no one is advertising them yet.

I’d like to get some input from the group on which pinpoint are you recommend for the Manticore. I’ve been two different versions of the Garrett carrot for many years with no complaints, it’s simple to use and reliable. I love being able to detune it with a quick push of the buttons to detune it and zero in on my target to avoid scratching with my digging tools. now I am getting my new wife set up with my Equinox 800 and I need to buy a second Pinpointer to use with the Equinox. I have done a lot of research and my choices are down to: -Garrett AT Propointer with Z-Link: exactly like my trusted carrot and give the option of wireless if I am willing to spend an extra $100+ for the Z-Link kit. Downside - it will probably false in some of my favorite sites with very high iron soil (Northern, VA relic sites) and also in shallow salt water. - Fisher F-Pulse: looks like a great unit and immune to falsing from Iron soil and saltwater. Downside - it will probably cause EMI interference with the Manticore in Multi-IQ. I saw a you tube video where it was incompatible with a CTX 3030 in every channel of the Pinpointer. I imagine that the Manticore will be similar. What do you guys think? Has anyone tried the F-Pulse with the Manticore yet? What about the DetectorPro Land or Sea? That looks like another possibility but it may have the same EMI issues with the Manticore. I really like the idea of having a pulse induction Pinpointer as an option if it will work with the Manticore. Thanks, Ringtail

Thanks. I tried last weekend at another spot an the ground was frozen as hard as rock. I couldn’t dig a single hole. Thanks for identifying the tent rope tensioner, I have dug those before at CW sites but never knew what they were. Any idea on the oddly shaped brass plate with the floral pattern in the upper left. It has a small hole in the center and the back has no markings. That one has me stumped. Ringtail

I should say brass and harmonica magnet. I took my new Manticore out for 3 hours today, I had to stop when the wind kicked up and wind chill was under 20 degrees! This was my first real hunt with yesterday was just a half hour trying it out in my backyard. I went to a public park in a historic area. I’ve been there many times with my Equinox and found a couple old relics and two silver quarters. I am sure it had been hit hard by others too. Today I found lots of old brass some of it was large. I found 3 harmonicas: 2 were just reeds and one mostly complete harmonica. I also found a large solid brass plate with a floral design which is about the size of a buckle, a brass lantern top, zinc jar lids, and a heavy piece of brass that might be a gun part. All of these were found in three hours in an area that I’ve been over many times and didn’t find much before. This detector sees things that my other detectors couldn’t and the 2d screen and tones give you much more information about what’s in the ground. One other big plus is that the noise cancellation works better than the Equinox. As others on this forum taught me if you hold it on the button during noise cancel and wait for it to settle on just one number before releasing, it really quiets down and allows you to turn up the sensitivity for more depth. I’m very happy with my purchase. Ringtail

My Manticore came yesterday. I took it out for 30 minutes on my lunch break in my small backyard which I already know was full of modern trash from the construction of the house in the 1980s. After reading all of the tips on this forum, reading the manual, and watching the videos it was an easy transition from the Exquinox. The 2d screen was very informative and I didn’t dig any iron, only small pieces of aluminum sheets leftover from the construction and some aluminum foil. Unfortunately no treasure, but I wasn’t expecting any. I’m going to try a couple of old sites this weekend. I ordered a protective cover for the pod from Deano’s Protectors on eBay. I’ve had one on my Equinox since day one and it works very well. Minelab now lists two accessory coils for the Manticore on their website, the M15 and M8 elliptical coils. Does anyone know pricing or when they will be available? Thanks, Ringtail

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERRY!!!

Troy, I agree with you, I wish I could have supported the independent dealer community too. I had prepaid 4 months ago and I got tired of waiting. Ringtail

I got one from Cabelas yesterday. The sent tracking right away and I should receive it tomorrow. I found their website difficult to use, it seems to always show out of stock even when others on the forum are getting theirs. I ended up ordering mine over the phone through customer service. Ringtail

I should have clarified, in my last post I was referring to Cabela’s. I called them as soon as I saw a post from Chesroy, which was about an hour after he posted. The Cabela’s chat support person that I spoke to said they could check all the stores nationwide. I take that with a grain of salt because a previous Cabela’s chat support person told me that they could only check individual stores. I called my local store and spoke to a human who checked and he said they don’t have any in stock nationwide. Ringtail

Thanks for the heads up. They are all gone now as of 7:30 ET. I did not get one. Ringtail

This is the method I have always used. I also always ground balance manually and frequently. I suspect that in an area with lots of iron trash auto ground balance will drift away from the correct ground balance. I also think that auto ground balance drifts when you spend extra time investigating an iffy target causing changes in discrimination and sensitivity. These are just my opinions based on years of using a V3i then an Equinox 800. Maybe auto ground balance is better than I thought, and hopefully it is much improved in the Manticore. I would be very interested in hearing from the experts. Ringtail

I never used wireless coils so maybe there’s an advantage that I can’t think of. The coil wires have never been an inconvenience, extra cost and something else to charge would be. Wireless headphones on the other hand, are a different story. I do a lot of detecting around trees and in the woods and many times I’ve had wired headphones pulled off of my head because the wire got snagged. Also, it’s nice to be able to set your detector down and walk away from it easily. Joe

Mark, Thier concerns are valid, I’ve heard stories like that. One friend of mine went to a local relic hunting club meeting and some there followed him to a CW campsite he had discussed finding. They raided the campsite with a Bobcat (mini-bulldozer). As far as relics being lost to history, that is all in your perspective. I’ve found many relics and they are preserved and will be passed on to my sons when I am gone. Many of these old-timer relic hunters have huge collections that we couldn’t imagine, I’ve seen a few. Most of the CW relics that are still in the ground have been lost to history forever. Either the land has been developed or they will be corroded by time and fertizer before they can be discovered. Joe

Yes, that is easy to do on the 800. The problem that TNSS is referring to is that it is very easy to accidental press the wrong button and change to single frequency without knowing it. It’s also easy to hit the wrong buttons notch out VDI numbers or accidentally turn ground balance tracking on or off. These things are easy to do especially especially when wearing muddy gloves. I don’t think that there are any easy software fixes, maybe a future model could have a settings lock feature. I just make a habit of glancing at all of the settings on the screen as I’m detecting. It’s not enough to just check VDI and depth. Joe

See if you can find a place that advertises “buying gold”. In the US these shops test the gold for free. The will make an offer to buy your rings if they test positive for gold. If they say it’s not gold but still want to buy it, run away! If you can’t find anyone to test it for you, a jeweler’s supply store can sell you a gold test kit. The test kit includes a stone that you rub the gold on and 3 different concentrations of nitric acid: one for 10K, one for 14K, and one for 18K. It’s very easy to test the gold yourself, you just rub the gold on the stone and put a drop of acid on the scratch line of gold. If the gold line doesn’t dissolve then it is gold of at least that Karat. .333 = 33.3% gold = 8 Karat. It’s not the greatest for jewelry since it tarnishes, but 3 ounces of 8K contains 1 ounce of pure gold! Joe

That ring looks like gold, but it’s hard to tell from the picture. The first picture looks more like it’s just dirty rather than tarnished since the work parts are shiny. Pure gold and high Karat gold won’t tarnish, but it can get dirty. The Karat system for gold is based on how many parts out of 24 are gold: 24K = 24/24 or 100% gold. 14K = 14/24 or 58.5 % gold, which is marked “585” in Europe. 10K is less than half gold (41.7%). That is why gold jewelry that is 10K or less tarnishes. There are laws all over the world requiring gold jewelry to be identified with a stamp or hallmark, but it could have been custom made by an amateur or the marking could have been polished off. It could also be brass, if so it will tarnish quickly. Take it to a jewelry store or shop that buys gold and they will test it for you. Either way it’s a cool ring and great find! Joe