okara gold

Hey Brad thanks! It's a mystery to me how those glasses came out so good. Must have been lost not too long ago. I found them in the water. Hardly anyone getting in the water, so not too many fresh drops out there. The gold coin is a replica. I was tempted to throw it back in but I might be the one struggling to dig it up again some day. lol

That sure is a tiny bit! I would love to take the M8 to some of my old beat to death gold patches. Good to hear it's doing a great job.

I think this coil is definitely finding smaller pieces of gold. I have found 4 gold toe rings and pieces of gold chain all in the wet sand since I got the coil a month or so ago. I hadn't found a gold toe ring in about 2 years and all of a sudden...4. Also, lots of open earrings that are normally difficult to find. Taking it inland for a few weeks to see how it performs.

I don't feel like I got screwed. In fact... I was elated to finally get my hands on one when it became available. I'm sure thousands of others would say the same thing! Would I prefer paying $500 less now? Of course I would, but a years' worth of water has gone over that dam since my purchase, and I have no regrets.

Thought I would show some pics from the past few weeks of some more gold the M8 coil sniffed out. Best morning was 4 pieces all in the wet sand. Tide was coming in strong and stripping sand from a cut. Went back the next day and hardly a target as it was all sanded in again. The 10K ring, 7.1 grams was in the water several days later. All from a saltwater beach. The tiny gold chain really impressed me as it is only 2 1/2 inches long, weighs .7 grams and tests at 14K. It was just under the surface of the wet sand. Some fancy Ray Bans and toasted knives all in the water.

Nice chunky gold! Good eyeball!

Nice going on your first dirt hunt in a loooong time! I'll be tearing myself away from the beaches in a few days and doing some dirt hunting in NY. Going back to the areas where I found some large cents, old buttons and a nice "Dandy Button" last year. Hoping for some silver this time.

Nice pictures! Shows the serenity of the area. Those rings are all nice finds!

The majority of machines I see on the Florida coast are the 800 followed by Excals. I run across one guy from time to time who uses the D2. Some Ace machines on the dry sand but most are snow birds. I was one of the lucky water hunters with my 800 that never flooded. I did break everything else on it, but all was covered under warranty. I was down to one detector and when the Manticore came out I grabbed one and it is my go-to machine all the time now especially since my 800 was long out of warranty. I used a friends D2 on two different occasions and didn't care much for the small, complicated screen. Also had the antennae wire pulled off after seaweed got the best of it.

On the average of the 5 returns of my AQ to FT under warranty the turnaround time was about 1 month. On one repair it was reaching 2 months and the reply from Felix was ... Things move slow around here. If they had a longer warranty, I would have kept the machine and hoped for the "bugs" to be ironed out. I once requested a new machine due to the high number of returns but was denied. I am sure that you, Joe were familiar with my dealings with FT as I kept you in the loop. Oh well...Lesson learned.

I did the same thing you did and just looked at the eBay ad. I received the same $1399 offer.

Being a former owner of the AQ, I think a price of $1300 is pretty good if you keep it out of the salt water. One less corrosion problem to worry about and a good machine to use when it works.

Congratulations on your stunning, exciting find!

I went with the Predator tool "Sparky" for when I occasionally dirt hunt. It's short but I like to be as inconspicuous as possible when dirt hunting in public places. If I were into dirt hunting all the time, I would still go with a Predator tool but also would have something longer.

Nice going Dave! I have found quite a few over the years but mainly on the beach. I guess if women spend a lot of money for a pedicure, they need some jewelry to adorn those pretty toes. 😆