cudamark

While your machine is under warranty, I wouldn't worry about it. If it fails, they'll replace it. After the warranty is up, that's when you may want to baby it a bit. Maybe by then they'll have an even better detector so you won't have to worry about it at all.

All the high tech communication and locating devices are great, but, when plan A fails out in the desert or middle of nowhere, I like to have a good old fashion compass with me. In an arid region, I also like to carry a large sheet of plastic and a good knife. Must be my Boy Scout days nagging at me.....

I find the stock bluetooth headphones comfortable and effective. I found no reason to change.

I use the F2 settings because I frankly didn't see much difference in the FE settings. From 0 to 9 didn't seem to have much effect and bottle caps were still a problem. Once I got the F2 upgrade, that made all the difference. I can now run F2 @ 6 and dig virtually no bottle caps. If I'm in an area where the caps and iron aren't much of a problem, I'll lower the F2 setting proportionally. Around a fire ring and sometimes picnic tables, I'll at times peg it at 9. The F2 setting just seem to have a much longer and more effective range than FE. I personally haven't seen much difference in depth at any setting, but, I can see how masking changes are possible. That's the nice thing about it......it's adjustable.

That was my understanding too, that instead of shifting all the I.D. numbers to a new "normal", you just shift the underlying dividing point between ferrous and non-ferrous. Kind of reminds me of the old school yard dare, where you draw a line in the dirt and challenge someone to cross it. If they back down and not cross, you drew it in the right spot. If they step over the line, you back up and draw another line and then dare them to cross that one. If they do, it's either a third line or a fight!

On 1/28/2021 at 10:30 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

Same here (secretly knocks on wood!) but I've seen the reports.  Not only on Minelab though, other vendors have also had their fair share of coil ear woes. 

Going forward, ALL should have learned from the past to better engineer the coil mounts. 

I've been complaining for years that the coil design of almost every manufacturer is backwards. I think the coil should have a solid (with a through hole naturally) hub, and the clevis should have the ears.....like a wishbone. Make those clevises cheap and easy to replace. Even supply an extra with each detector sold. Built properly, those wishbone clevises could be flexible just enough to where you could adjust it to whatever tightness you like. You could even design an adjustable clutch type connection for the perfect amount of resistance. With a solid hub on the coil, no more $$$ replacement costs for broken ears, just a couple of bucks for a new clevis.

On 1/22/2021 at 11:18 AM, Cal_Cobra said:

Joe I'm sure that Minelab has performed a post mortem on these design weaknesses, and is cognizant of improving these design flaws in future releases, provided it makes $$$ sense. 

There certainly has to be a top ten list of opportunities of improvement, like:

1. Better coil ear design
2. Better water proofing
3. Better weight balance (not coil heavy) without increasing weight
4. Better shaft design
5. Better designed button layout
6. ?
7. ?
8. ?
9. ?
10. ?

 

#6. Programmable default where you can make the "horseshoe on" the standard at start-up.

#7. A pod/handle that is angle adjustable

#8. Internal coil cable

I'd use the Gold modes if you can. If there's too much chatter with those, I'd use Field 2. It seems to be the next best mode for tiny gold and platinum. I'd run it with the horseshoe on so you can hear the negative numbers. That earring will probably be in that -2-+2 range. 6" coil, get the sensitivity stable and then reduce it another couple of numbers, recovery speed at 6, and iron bias at 0. Remove any large targets regardless of number just to help keep the masking problem at a minimum. I've found that most pin pointers will have a problem detecting tiny gold and platinum. You may have to go old school and wave a handful under the coil to find the target. Good Luck!

One of the differences is no longer different. The 600 backlight brightness adjustment is now the same as the 800 through the latest software upgrade. One additional difference however is the recovery speed settings. The 600 is 1-3, the 800 is 1-8. Not a big issue, but, it can help in some junk infested areas to have a bit more adjustment. 

I hope you're up a detecting soon Joe. Knowing you, you'll probably invent a new wet suit with a heater for your next hunt! 

Welcome back......baby steps for now. You'll work your way up to running later!

On 1/13/2021 at 4:13 PM, Ridge Runner said:

Heck I’ll name it myself.

 Just give me to die for Pulse detector are a VLF beyond anything we have ever seen before.

 Please don’t blow smoke like some have in the past but when you get it it’s just short of a joke.

 I do remember the name I’d picked and that’s Lightning.

 Chuck 

I don't know.....with that name, will it strike twice in the same place?😃 I don't remember what I may have entered as a name either.......in fact, it's been so long, I don't remember if I even entered the contest!

If that had been a curled base 1829 dime, you would have really had something there! Still great finds though.👍

I've had good service with Kellyco through the years. I admit that I haven't bought much from them in the last few years since they moved locations, but, what I have bought worked out well. My main gripe with them in the past was the with the freebies they include with their "package" deals. I found the extras to be mostly junk or of very poor quality. I found that there were other online detector sellers with great customer service and who included quality accessories instead of Chineseum crap. In many cases, I also got a better deal going with them. Big Boy Hobbies, Columbia, Fort Bedford, Colonial, and Extreme, along with a few others have been as good, or better in service and/or products. Going with Amazon, WalMart, etc is not something I would do when buying a detector the first time. They have no experience in detecting should you need tech or operational advice, and their customer service is just an e-mail telling you to send it in to the seller for warranty. For a first machine, or relative newbies, I recommend using a local detector store if you have one. They can be a wealth of info to local conditions and can fit you to a machine that will work best in your area and with your particular machine needs. Once you have some experience, that won't be as beneficial, but, still a great way to support the hobby and local economy. It's always nice to have a friendly local seller when you need a last minute repair or replacement part right before you head out for a road trip. I broke a digger the day before I was to fly out of state for a hunt nowhere near where I could get a replacement. A quick stop at Columbia and I was on my way with what I needed. It's hard to do that online regardless of how much you like their price and service.

I rarely take my 12 X 15" coil off! I think it gets another inch or so in depth over the 11", but, the added coverage is more than worth it even if the depth was the same. I still find tiny targets with it, so, I don't think I'm missing anything. Maybe if I was nugget hunting for tiny gold, but, even then, it might get you a deeper big nugget 👍. If I know I'm going to be hunting all day, I also use a sling. For 4-5 hour hunts, I don't have a problem with it at this point with my 67 year old arms.

Either the Equinox or CTX would compliment your PI machine nicely. Whether the extra bells and whistles on the CTX and slightly better target I.D. is worth the extra money for one.....that's something debatable and up to you to decide. My vote would be the Nox and the big coil for the beach.

I've never gotten even 3 hours of use on my stock battery. It's been cycled many times and still only gets 2.75 hours at the most before it goes dead. 

I'm sure the newbies would find it helpful. Most of the "Detectionaries" I've seen don't have a lot of the slang we use. The technical terms can be looked up. The slang can be more of a challenge. When we talk of "slaw" or "junker", or "TC" or "stew" (AKA cooked slaw, fire ring nugget, or just "nugget" with us beach hunters), they just get a quizzical look on their face. I'm sure there are tons of other ones If I sat down and thought about it. Then add the slang the members in other countries use, and you would have a pretty good sized book! 

I'd continue digging, even if I had to bring in a backhoe! 

I have yet to find a nickel that read 14. Lower number, sure, lots of them....especially deep or corroded ones. I found one buffalo nickle at the beach that read 9. It was totally encased in an iron sand crust. I take depth into consideration as much as TID when comes to dig or not. The deeper it is, the less I worry about the number. 

I very much appreciate the experiences share by everyone here. I'm not sure how much I can add to this topic except to confirm most of what has been said. One area I have the most trouble in is deep targets vs. shallow shards of cut coins. I have a few old parks I like to hunt for old coins, but, it's infested with cut coins and other specks of non-ferrous targets that fool both the detector on depth and myself in trying to diagnose the situation. At these old parks, I usually hunt by depth rather than target I.D. since the deep targets can read just about anything. The detector will say those cut coins are deep. They sound deep too, with a faint ,tight signal. I raise the coil to confirm depth and it also acts like a deep target when the signal disappears with a slight raising of the coil. Any pointers on how to deal with those pesky items would be appreciated.  I hunt usually in Park 1 at these places since it seems the deepest and most stable, but, I've tried just about all the other modes as well. 50 tone, recovery speed 3 or 4, sensitivity high as I can stand (usually 20-22 unless there is too much EMI). Looks like I need to try going higher and reducing my I.B. a bit too to see if that helps get a few more keepers. Raphis mentioned hunting 2-4 hours and covering an area maybe 200 X 200 feet. I wouldn't even cover that much in that amount of time, so, I don't think I'm moving too fast..... Maybe half that at most. I like to really analyze every sound in these places. It's just that there are so many, it takes a lot of time.

I received my new lower shaft and clevis today. I'm pleased to see that it's longer than the original one. Since the clevis is attached to the shaft, there's no way to see if it's now solid instead of hollow. Hopefully it's at least made of a thicker wall plastic. Hopefully, I'll get out soon and give it a good test now that I have one of OBN's batteries and the new shaft.

In the non-prospecting segment of our hobby (ie: coin and jewelry hunting), That segment will remain strong as that is a renewable research. Now, if you're talking about old coins and relics, that's going to get tougher as the years go by. Good luck trying to find a virgin 60+ year old public area that hasn't been hunted extensively. The future in old coins and relics is going to be private land......and even that diminishes every year as they get detected, or, ruined by development or  re-landscaping. I don't see it getting bad in my lifetime, but, those starting out now will be in for some rough times sooner or later if old targets are what they want to find. One aspect that I'm more concerned about is the loss of detecting areas by overzealous bureaucrats and politicians who close down good detecting sites. 

On 11/7/2020 at 11:12 AM, Carolina said:

Has anyone removed the pins to see if the remainder of the clevis  is epoxied to the lower shaft ?

Yes, I pulled the pins initially to see if just the clevis was replaceable. Nope, the broken stub inside the tube was glued in. Very thin walled tube, so, they're going to have more breaking, I guarantee it. Fisher emailed me a prepaid shipping label and the old part is on it's way back, if they haven't already received it.

Another upgrade that has already been done (according to Fisher) is the lower clevis that is riveted to the lower shaft. That wishbone plastic piece breaks easily where it attaches to the tube. I just had mine break and from what I heard when I called Fisher, three others have broken too, and it's been redesigned to where it's now a solid piece instead of thin-wall hollow tube. As far as I know, I didn't do anything to make it break. I was just walking along swinging the coil over flat wet sand, I heard a light "crack" sound, and the coil just fell off. I'll let you know what the new one looks like when I get it. My shaft lock was a little tight getting loose, but, not too bad. I always rinse the whole detector after each use, and I have collapsed the shaft a few times when I needed to shorten it for transport. So far, so good in that area. Might be a good idea for everyone to do that every now and then just to keep it from freezing up. The second photo in TVR's post looks like a Plugger clamp setup, one similar to the one I have on my Equinox. So far, that clamp has been working fine, but, I'm a bit disappointed that the bolt is not stainless, so, it rusts. The wing nut is stainless, but, not the bolt for some reason. The upper clamp has all plastic nuts and bolts, but, they're kind of wimpy. The ears on the wing nuts have all broken off, but, since I don't usually take that clamp loose, it hasn't been a problem yet.