okara gold

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. 😆

I feel your pain. There is another beach I go to only when I can get in the water and can slaw is everywhere. I keep digging it hoping for the elusive gold chain.

I went back to the beach this morning and the waves had brought in quite a bit of sand. Very few targets. Found this small piece of gold chain that was just barely a signal and a poor one at that. I had my sensitivity at 26. I laid it stretched out on the wet sand after I found it and couldn't pick it up again. Only by turning the sensitivity up to 28 was I able to hear it. It was probably balled up and just under the surface when I first heard it. I acid checked it, and it is 14K weighing .7 grams. The cross is stainless and the earring is .925. I am really pleased that the M8 picked up such a small piece of gold chain. It is 2 1/4 inches long.

All the small gold I find shows numbers below 10. Looking forward to your pictures and stories of finding gold!

Thanks for the encouraging words! We had some steady winds blowing into shore yesterday, causing some erosion. Good luck to you Skate!

I just posted some finds this past Monday about the M8 finding small gold. One of the targets I found a few days ago was a small 10K toe ring. I haven't found a gold toe ring in several years. I went out again this morning and found 2 more 10K toe rings. The first one found today is identical to the one I found a few days ago, and the other one has a heart pattern on it. They all have the same manufacturers stamp inside. The small chain earring unfortunately is marked 1/20th 14K. The big coin is a 100 Colones from Costa Rica. So... 3 gold toe rings within a short week after having a dry spell of several years. One of them had an ID of a solid 3. Not sure about the other. Still digging some iron just to see what this coil is all about. Looking forward to tomorrow morning.

Hi John... I didn't pay much attention to how it sounded as it was just another small target and I was digging anything that wasn't iron grunting, but it was a definite "dig me" target. I use the prospecting audio.

Beautiful chain! Congratulations on an epic find!

My Manticore is always full of water even days after being submerged. Every so often I will loosen the 4 screws and dump the water.

I hunt by sound. If it even remotely sounds good, I dig it. I am hunting mostly on the sandy beaches, so digging is no problem. Dirt hunting is another story with more selective digging.

Very nice chain and 18K too! Congratulations! They are hard to find.

I will check more of my iffy signals to see where a lower sensitivity finally cannot pick them up. Your buttons sure get a workout! 😆

I was at the beach the other day and some guy was swinging a Nox with a 15 inch coil. I was a little envious and embarrassed thinking about how much area he was covering with each swing and here I am with this little 8 inch. The M8 is the smallest coil I have used in decades! At times I think about going back to the 11 inch just to cover more ground at the beach, BUT... I am running a sensitivity around 26 to 27 and at times 28 on the higher slope. I could not possibly run that high with the 11. I know a lot of guys are saying that a lower sensitivity is better for more accurate number ID's and in a lot of instances it is. I had a small target easily coming in as non-ferrous and at 26 sensitivity, I lowered it to 21 and the target was gone. It turned out to be a small open silver earring. I think it is a give and take with what you are comfortable hearing. I am always thinking small thin gold chains, so that is primarily why I run it so high. I think the beaches are loaded with chains, but we just can't get a decent signal on them especially in the salt water. A lot of guys on the forums are saying the M8 is just as deep as the 11 and awesome in heavy iron trash infested sites. I can't say how they feel about the 15 in. I am just amazed at all the small open earrings I am finding with this coil. I don't think I'm missing anything deep that the 11 would find, just suffering with ground coverage. If you are looking primarily for fresh drops, the 15 would get the job done in quick fashion!

Here are some pictures of 3 successful hunts using the M8 on the wet salt beach. The little gold pendant has what I think to be a garnet with tiny diamonds weighing in at 1.4 grams. The other picture showing 2 pieces of gold side by side weigh .4 grams on the 10K thin ring and .8 grams on the 10K toe ring. Another picture shows how this coil is hot on finding open earrings of which some are silver. The "gold" disc pendant is plated over steel. That one had me take notice for a minute or two until I put my magnet next to it. The chain was the deepest I have ever dug one, probably 10 inches. I was hoping it was 10k and heavily corroded but alas... just plated copper. Haven't had much time in the water with the coil yet but so far so good.

I've been using the M8 exclusively on the wet beach sand and am now at the point where if I spread the sand out paper thin and still cannot locate the target, I move on. I used to cringe at the thought of leaving anything I might detect again but it is painstakingly slow to try and recover every little bit. A very successful hunter friend of mine told me this years ago... If I don't see the flash of gold I move on. The M8 is picking up the tiniest shards of non-ferrous metal and many of them blend in with the darker sand, mainly tiny copper pieces.

I'm using Tom's settings in the water with the M8 coil also. I don't think there is any way you can adjust any settings to make gold sound better. To me, gold has a smooth soft sound compared to coins or aluminum. In the prospecting audio every nonferrous target sounds pretty much the same. I say pretty much because I am hearing subtle differences on pull tabs or irregular aluminum, but I still dig everything that remotely sounds good. I too have audio responses from the smallest of targets that fall through the scoop or move around when trying to scoop them up. Sometimes after multiple attempts I move on. The audio response in prospecting mode is very short and quick. I think the more time spent on this particular mode is best for learning the Tom D settings. I hunt in Florida, so his settings are working for me. I don't think I will change to something else at this point.

I have one of the Stealth scoops, the 720i and was trying to find some contact info for them. No luck either. Glad to now hear they are not gone forever. If I remember correctly... there is a lifetime warranty on that scoop from breakage but does not include wearing it out. I'm good with that!

Very nice pictures and some good-looking finds! That Columbia is definitely interesting.

There's a couple of beauties! Nice going on those coins.