okara gold

I have Steve's CF shaft with a coil support / stiffener. Everything lined up fine. No modifications.

Thanks for sharing those great photos and story. Over here in the US we are so limited as to the age of our coins. Keep finding those great objects!

Just used the Excalibur today in the water. I do run it in pinpoint mode and enjoy hearing the threshold. (I grew up on machines with thresholds). Perhaps it is time to use it more often. I do think the Nox is more sensitive to smaller objects but I'd rather trade that off than have another breakdown especially a leak. Another thing... Minelab replaced the control pod as I stated in the original post. I wonder just how well the new one is waterproofed? My original one that broke was used constantly in the water for over 2 years with no problems there. It's always a crap shoot with these things. 3 silvers for the Excal today. Bob K

I’ve seen a lot of people out of the corner of my eye checking their earrings or chains or looking casually at their rings when I’m out hunting. I think with so many hunters now and in particular when they are hunting the same beaches day after day, beach goers are being more cautious. Bob K

I remember once I was hunting the wet sand. First target I dig was a gold ring. I thought boy oh boy... here we go! Three hours later I had one gold ring and one penny. Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. 😆 missed by an inch...missed by a mile.

Beautiful ring and a good story too!

Excellent find! 👏

They should replace the coil. I will hear from them after the weekend.

Yep... I broke it good. I do hunt constantly in the water with the pod never seeing air for hours on end and swells that lift me off my feet. I rarely hunt knee deep and prefer waist to chin depth. Wet sand on bad wave days or try to tackle my honey do lists. My backup is an Excalibur with the modified pinpoint which is somewhat new to me so will be using that until things get straightened out. Those knurled pieces did destroy the plastic on two areas with cracks forming on the others. Funny...When I spoke to Minelab they asked me if I was using the factory shaft. I knew this was a "trick" question and I could have easily said it was factory, but I could not lie, so told him it was a CF shaft by Steve. That's when he said they would have to look into it. So in a nice manner I told him I could have lied and said it was factory but didn't... so please take that into consideration. He then said he would mention that to someone else who made the decisions. Long story short they replaced it, no problem. It's a tough environment in salt water. Bob K

A little over 2 years and a lot of water hunting and the ears snapped. I’m not surprised after all I’ve heard about that problem. Had another breakdown a couple months ago. All 4 screws with inserts pulled out of the pod. Minelab had to review and decide whether or not to warranty it and finally said it was a one time replacement because I was using a CF rod and not original equipment. They said it was probably overtightened. I stated the inserts were corroded from salt water immersion and constant torque and pulled out. Earlier on, the sleeve on the armrest broke which they also gracefully replaced. Glad it is all under warranty. So it will be like brand new again.

I’d take something like that in a minute. I wonder if some of the talk from FT about a new prospecting machine, lightweight etc got Minelab’s attention and they are trying to get something comparable or exciting out rather quickly. Guess we wait and see.

Thanks for sharing those great finds.

Those are beautiful examples. Well done!

Hopefully it’s got some nice old bottles in it. I bought my first metal detector in the 1970’s to look for bottle dumps.

Oh yeah!! I remember the days getting tangled up in scrub oak with all kinds of cables wrapped around the branches. Even had to take the battery and harness off to get out of the bushes. Lost a few coil covers that way too. LOL