cudamark

It's pretty common to find coins over there in the fields to have been taco'd by a plow.

That's way more than bling! More like BOING! 😄

Here's an inside pic. Actually turned out better than I expected. It's easier to read now than with my bare old eyeballs! 

Here's my best one, also silver and gold. There's a smooth spot on the other side where you could engrave a name or initials in it, but, it's blank. From what I can see, there is a star logo inside with a symbol in the center that looks like it might be the shape of a thimble. It has Sterling stamped above the star. There's also a number 9 below the star....size? I'll try to get a decent photo inside.

Tim, Steve, I enjoyed hunting with you two over there in England. Cool trips! I've got one item I found in Oct 2019 declared as "treasure" that hasn't (to the best of my knowledge) even been evaluated yet. Due to the "experts" not being able to get together to do said evaluation because of the pandemic lock downs, I can understand the delay. What troubles me more is missing/stolen items. Coin collecting is the motivating force that got me started in this hobby, 51 year ago next week. I don't turn my nose up at cool relics and nice jewelry also, but, coins are my favorite find. In my last trip, I found a fairly rare coin, at least as a dug find. One that got posted (along with it's slick sister) on the Colchester website. It even had a comment posted by Chicago Ron that it was the best one he's seen dug. Well, somewhere along the way, it's disappeared. I know it made it from my pouch to whoever took the photos and posted them. After that, the trail has vanished, and nobody seems to be able find it. If this was an isolated incident, I might understand, but, this isn't the first item of mine that came up missing. In a previous hunt, I had found a gilded Victorian era candlestick that turned up missing from my finds also. Not as valuable to me as the coin, but still, it's something I was hoping to keep. I guess I'll have to take even better photos of each item next time, so, I can determine value and sue for damages! 😄

Other than the Gold modes, I find Field 2 is the most sensitive to tiny gold. It's also a bit better in iron and coke areas, but, you need to run it with the horseshoe on or you may miss some stuff that reads in the upper iron/lower non-ferrous area. In nasty ground, yes, you'll need to lower the sensitivity and/or use Gold 2 to deal with mineralization.

I'll be curious to see how they end up marketing their new detectors with the White's influence. "GW Metal detectors, the best of both worlds"?

Had to turn it off. The background (foreground?) music is just too bloody loud to hear him talk properly. I don't know why many videos feel they need music. Maybe because they don't have enough good content?😁

Welcome aboard! I'll be heading back to the Colchester/Manningtree area again this fall myself. Fun hunting that olde stuff!

..

22 hours ago, mayfly said:

Thanks Jeff.  Maybe I should have come on this forum before buying.  I didn't realise the Ace 250 was old technology. All the reviews and videos I watched made it sound like brilliant up to the minute science.

Your reply doesn't give me hope.  It sounds like I've bought a turkey.

I'll give it another few goes.  But it could be on ebay soon - at half price.

What are you trying to find, targetwise, and where are you hunting? I know it's a bit late now since you already have the detector, but, choosing the proper detector should be based on the answer to those two questions. If you have highly mineralized ground and/or salty conditions, you may not have much success with an ACE 250 compared to another brand/model.

21 hours ago, Jim in Idaho said:

Thank you, Cudamark. I'm thinking of the AT Max, sorta.  But, wish it had larger coils. I may just go with Steve's suggestion, and make a watertight bag to go over the entire TM808, and make an extension for the headphone cable. I've got a lead bar the exact size of the assumed gold bars, and the 808 sees it at 33", which is about as good as it gets...but no discrimination, and that might mean a whole bunch of under water digging, which would be a deal-killer. I may be over-thinking the need for discrimination, however. I'm also thinking of the DFX with a 14" coil. In Prospect mode it sees the lead bar at 30", and I could set it up to discriminate, even in prospect mode, I think.

Jim

Jim

Agreed, a waterproof two box would be the way to go if you can keep it at an even level with the river bottom. So would just about any good gold prospecting detector from Minelab or Garrett if you don't need discrimination. As for using an AT Max, in my testing, an Equinox with the 12 X 15" coil goes deeper than any currently available coil you can put on the AT Max.

I'm unaware of any two box detectors that are waterproof, so, I would hesitate to use one in a river. One dunk and they're history. If the gold bars are not too deep, I would consider using an Excalibur or CTX with the biggest coil available. It would be pretty tough to modify an Excal with wireless headphones, but, the CTX shouldn't be much of a problem. Both of these choices have good iron I.D. and will go fairly deep for their intended use. If the target is 3+ feet deep, you would need something different, but, finding something that goes deeper, has discrimination, and waterproof might be a challenge.

19 hours ago, NV-OR-ID-CAL-AU said:

Cudamark, I agree the backup battery system sounds like a pretty good option for my circumstance. Have you heard how long the factory Equinox batteries last for?  I’ve heard it’s also not recommended to try and replace the factory battery DIY?

I've heard of a few failures, but, very few. Mine is about 3 years old now and still gives me a full day's hunt. I have a USB battery that came with a cell phone accessory pack and carry that with me just in case. I've yet to need to use it.

In the case of the Equinox system, you can carry as many extra USB battery packs as you like to supplement the internal one. With car chargers and solar chargers, there's no excuse for dead batteries......and no need to buy throw-away ones either.

Does anyone actually have the Coiltek coils in stock? Seems everywhere I check it's pre-order only and you have to get on a list.

It hasn't been underwater yet, so, I doubt that it's a leak, but, who knows, I do rinse it off after every use.

My Impulse needs to go back to Fisher for repair, so, that may delay the release of "new and improved version" depending on what they find. I went to use it yesterday, and it was totally dead.....wouldn't turn on or make one peep. Tried with both fully charged batteries so that wasn't the problem. It's been a rather disappointing machine for me too. I'll keep you posted as to what they find.....if they will disclose that to me.

Sounds to me that if you want to get the latest from Minelab, simple, just move to Africa.....😃

It's a bit surprising to me that the Netherlands and Iran are ranked that high. I would have thought Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia,and South Africa would be higher.

Just about every detector company had their day in the sun at one time or another. Some were one-hit wonders, Like Compass, Barracuda, etc, but, not all. There was a time in the not too distant past when Whites was the top dog. They had a run with the 6000, Eagle II, Spectrum, and XLT where just about everyone I knew had and used one. Too bad they rested on their laurels a bit too much and didn't continue their innovative ways.

I'd be tempted to remove about a foot or two of sand in a 10' X 10' hot zone area to see what gold or other heavies might be down deep. Are you allowed to use a dredge on the beach? 🤔

15 hours ago, calabash digger said:

Sorry to disappoint you ... Yes, I want a machine to test to up my views and subscribers no doubt about it. I put a lot of effort into my channel and want it to grow. I did not want to start a forum because I feel like there are some great ones out there ( Steves is one of the best) and I did not want to compete with them. The more machines  I show on my channel helps it to grow.

I also want to know what the deal is on the Impulse . I have guys in my area asking about the Fisher for beach hunting and there are probably 30 in the club down there. I know a couple of the top local beach hunting guys and they were asking about it..

Like Steve said above the people on this forum probably could care less about my test on a beach here in North Carolina. 

BTW A deep PI that is light could have a application for relic sites here in my soil...I know there are  deep relics here that other detectors can not reach. So I am very interested in the Discrim capabilities of the Impulse.

If you're looking for reliable discrimination relic hunting, the Impulse is not for you. It's pretty much a beep and dig machine. In my detecting with it, surface discrimination works reasonably well, but, targets that have been there a while or are down deep don't react the same, so, all bets are off. Deep, YES! I've never dug so many 18" (and deeper) bobby pins and other iron trash. As mentioned, it's a very specialize machine that I will only use under specific circumstances.

I've been detecting for over 50 years now too. Can't give you an exact count of all the detectors I've had in that period of time. Well over 20, but, probably less than 30. Still own 12-14, but, would have to do some looking to verify.

23 hours ago, schoolofhardNox said:

I was wondering if anyone has ordered anything from this company before. I'm assuming my headphones dies on the AQ, so I wanted to get the cable and have someone build me a new set of headphones. This company has the 5 pin M8 connector needed for the AQ I think.  It also has the ones that are "L" shaped which would look to be a better way to have the cable come out of the battery. The video shown sounds promising and the price seems extremely reasonable. Let me know what you think. Will it work?

https://www.automationdirect.com/videos/video?videoToPlay=gV0yX9qSAds

You might also check with Tony Eisenhower to see what he can do for you. He upgraded my Impulse headphones for me.

I don't own any pre-'85 detectors anymore except for my first machine (a Treasure Probe IV that I bought in 1970), and it doesn't work anymore. The old White's Coin Master, 4900. 6000 Di Pro, Compass 77, Ground Hog, etc were all sold or used as trade ins years ago. My oldest now is my good 'ol Whites Eagle II SL90. Good luck in your hunts guys!