okara gold

2 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

Nice hunting. I don't see any scratches on those Ray Bans....how did that happen??? What is the gold coin in the 2nd pic? Replica?

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

18 minutes ago, UT Dave said:

Even tiny, tiny gold.  A .06 gram flake with the M8.  And I know of much, like, MUCH smaller bits being sniffed out by the M8.

 

- Dave

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.

19 minutes ago, matt said:

Super nice finds! Can't wait to try out my m8 coil too. It sure seems to sniff out the small gold.

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.

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!

3 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

I see mostly 800's and Excal's still. (some 800's didn't flood!) Did come across one lady who was swinging a Legend a while back. Then there's the older than me sand hunter that I run into all the time with a Ace 300. His wife escorts him to the beach to make sure he doesn't stray too far or stay too long according to him. Ha! Have yet to see a D2. 

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.

7 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

I had no problem with customer service, used once. Turn around was quick. Second AQ had a bad coil connection on the detector side. It was a easy fix, they sent me a new machine. All took about 3 weeks, they even paid for the postage to them. My only argument with FT ... it should have been a longer warranty since many took a chance, and offered their time.

I probably would not have noticed that but look at the D2, a 5 year warranty. At one time Fisher sold many CZ20s..Lifetime warranty. 

 

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.

2 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

 

Interesting. I merely looked at the eBay page for the AQ and got this email today from FT. I made no offer or anything, just viewed the page. Now it’s them making the offer, and I assume I could counteroffer. They are really trying hard to get rid of these.

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.

17 minutes ago, UT Dave said:

To add to the coincidence...  Same day, I found what I believe is the first toe ring I've ever found.  And actually wasn't sure what it was until I saw this thread.  Mine is only .925.  But also found with the M8 on the same day.  In park dirt.  In snow country.  I don't think toe rings are very common here .

 

- Dave

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. 😆 

6 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

That's why I hate that one of my busy beaches is just loaded with can slaw IDing below 10. I pretty much disregard below 10 there because there is a piece of aluminum every 3rd swing or so. Sometimes one will really sound good in Prospecting Audio so I dig it and it's always ROUND %$!# ALUMINUM! 

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. 

17 hours ago, Skull diver said:

That's exactly what I talked about when struggling with the D2.

I mean, broken stuff, thin open chains and light gold rings must be low on the IDs.

 

4 hours ago, Skate said:

 I did find though the tiniest of scrap metals and they mostly sounded off well so in terms of it finding small gold I can say I think it's going to be a winner. 

 

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.

3 hours ago, Skull diver said:

 

I mean, broken stuff, thin open chains and light gold rings must be low on the IDs.

Can't wait to set the Manti for some cherry vacuum sessions🏴‍☠️

All the small gold I find shows numbers below 10. 

Looking forward to your pictures and stories of finding gold!

7 hours ago, Skate said:

I hope you come home with more gold and I really hope I do too. I'll be on the left coast working an oncoming tide around 7am my time. Here's to you finding what was once lost!

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.

2 hours ago, CoinShooter said:

Great finds!

How did the 10K toe ring sound for you?

Thanks,

John

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.