Daniel Tn

Excellent video! Demonstrates exactly what I see too in the red dirt around here.

I've mostly been fishing and tinkering with other things. But yesterday I had a really bad day...had to put down one of our pets and that wasn't a fun experience to say the least. I needed some time to just get away and clear my head so I grabbed the detector that evening and went to a small Civil War camp or picket post not far from my house to hunt about an hour before dark. This particular spot has been sort of rare in that we have found several war Era silver coins on it in the past. I know of 3 seated dimes, and a half dime that has came from it. One of the seated dimes came from there earlier this year. In fact, I had hunted it several times since then and hadn't found anything at all. I was using the Nox 900 in Field 2 mode. It was looking to be another busted hunt. I had dug a deep memorial cent that I just knew was gonna be a minie ball but nope. And that was it. Walking back to the truck I got a repeating 50s signal and popped a plug. It was about too dark to see...but I saw I had a silver disc but the size was throwing me off for what it was. I put it in my case and filled my hole and went home. All I knew about it was, it was a holed coin of some sort. When I got it home...I saw it was paper thin and wore slab out. But right beside the hole...was all I needed to ID it. I believe it to be a 1/2 reale. Those do NOT come often in East Tennessee. I was a little in shock! I figure probably a Carlos III but whatever the case...it is most certainly my oldest coin to date. And I didn't even know what I had til I got it home. It was a nice ray of sunshine to a rather bad day. Here it is about 30 seconds after coming out of the ground...and then about 30 minutes later when I got it home. I almost think I can see more details with it dirty.

I am in agreement with the dying hobby aspect of it. When I was a kid in this area, running dogs for rabbits, coons, foxes, etc were huge hobbies. But that was back when there were thousands of acres and nobody cared if you were on their land. Now days...people are so protective of private property that they don't want anybody even looking towards it and there just aren't places to let the dogs run. I don't know a single person locally any more that still does any of that. Metal detecting for most of us, at least here in the States, is on that same path. People don't even want you on public property doing it and fewer and fewer private property owners are letting people search their land. By the time we get a perfect metal detector, there won't be anywhere to use it.

I've had two Manticores. The first one I sold while they were still hard to get, and easy to sell. I used the $ to go on a week long vacation trout fishing in Arkansas. I have since bought another one that I was going to keep but I've about decided to let it go as well. I've sold all my other detectors except for the T2 and am trying to put together enough to get an Axiom. I'd like to have a waterproof vlf detector for the beach but have no idea what I want for that. I've almost considered just getting a CTX for that. That's probably my favorite beach machine. But...the D2 really did a great job on my freshwater sites so there's that to ponder on too.

It's a "no" for me as well.

How does increasing their warranty to customers, get viewed as hype? Seems like that's an actual thing that the customers are now getting. Garrett is probably the least advertising hyped up company out there.

What in the heck doesn't make you sleepy or yawn? I don't think I have ever saw you post something in a positive light in regards to an announcement.

All I could think about was "Goodness...look at those talon thumb nails".

Although jumpy and prone to EMI. I do have to say...the V3i is a dang impressive machine. It's a shame it didn't get a book like the DFX, Explorers, and such did to help explain the settings and how/when to incorporate them. If it did, that machine would have been super popular. Mr. Howard's video on YouTube is pretty good for it and Carl's mini book helped a lot too. I need to get this machine on the bullet site and see how it does there but otherwise, it is probably one of the deepest all metal AND disc mode machines I have had in my hands. The problem is the EMI. I agree with what has been said...if Garrett were to take that technology and make a modern version of it...holy toledo.

I found an old series on the Whites YouTube page regarding the XLT. A lot of it I already knew but they did a decent job explaining some of the other settings I wasn't as familiar with. It's hard to believe that machine came out in the 1990s and will still absolutely hold its own against the modern machines of today. Very fun machine to tinker with and SUPER smooth all metal mode.

I'll tell ya another one along the same lines...not having the ability to customize tone breaks/bins and disc patterns via PC or tablet, then uploading or downloading them to the machine. They had this right on the CTX and eTrac IMO. I absolutely hate scrolling and editing all that crap on the machine itself. Easier to drop and drag with a mouse cursor, etc.

I've tried to find the 12" Hot Shot but no luck. I've chalked it up to being a unicorn haha. I do wonder though...how does the DFX compare to the XLT in performance? It looks like the layout and menu interface is basically the same. I MAY try to pick up a used DFX since I do have quite a few coils that could be used with it. I'm assuming a DFX could also be put into a motion all metal mode like the XLT?

Thanks Steve! That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. All I could find was previous forum topics on coils but no chart or list on what was compatible. Looks like the DFX got the best coil options compared to the XLT. XLT seems to only have that one bigger coil for it. That's a shame...it has a very smooth all metal mode. If it had a 10x12 size coil, it would be killer. It's actually better than most modern machines in my test garden area the way it is now. I'm holding onto it. Honestly, it does better than my MXT *IF* the MXT has the 950 concentric coil on it. Once you put a 6x10 DD coil on it, the MXT is slightly better.

I just recently bought a nice Spectrum XLT that came with the 9.5 coil. I have been trying to search for what other coils are compatible but haven't came up with much of anything, other than some older posts on other forums saying some people favored an 8 inch coil over the 9.5. But they don't tell what the name of the coil is; just the size. Any help is appreciated.

If I could get the disc audio portion to equal/match the all metal side, the V3i would be great. I'm sure it's in the many settings. Right now, the disc side audio seems to have a tremendous lag when passing over targets. If I put it in all metal audio, it is spot on; no audio delay. I'm not using the wireless headphones either. Changing the recovery speed doesn't change it. I'd almost be just content using the all metal audio all the time if I could figure out how to change the pitch of it higher. 🤔

That deal on a pristine unit is how I came to have the MXT and V3i. I can't even tell if the V3i was ever taken out of the box until I opened it and can almost say the same for the MXT. The V3i came with a 10x12 SEF coil as well. I was actually one of the pre-production testers for the Vision aka V3i. My job was to test the stereo mixed mode and give feedback. This was the exact time frame I started using the Whites TDI and I never gave the V3i much attention after seeing what the pulse units could do. It is a very EMI prone unit for sure. But that all metal mode is smoking. Prospecting mode on the MXT is somewhat close to it IF the gain is maxed completely out and SAT adjusted accordingly. I'm definitely going to have to take these two to the minie ball field and do some playing.

Over the past two weeks I've bought an MXT, V3i, and Spectrum XLT. There's just something I like about those big box detectors. I swear, somebody better not post a 6000 XL. It's one I've always wanted to try. That MXT is a beast with DD coils on it. I wish I could have found the Pro model just for the ground grab button but for no more than what I have in this regular MXT, I'm not complaining. The V3i is one complex dude. It is going to take some time to figure it all out. I've not received the XLT yet but I know a few guys from Georgia that used to hunt with them in all metal and would wear me out in red dirt on Civil War relics. I always wanted one...took me nearly 30 years to get one. Side note: In playing with the V3i, it may very well have one of, if not the deepest, most customizable all metal mode of any VLF machine I have used. In my test garden I am wooed. Whether or not that setting will be usable in actual hunting conditions, is yet to be determined.

That explains why the T2 and MXT are two of my favorite machines. I wonder if Dave learned from the MXT that most people preferred it with the 6x10 DD or 10x12 DD coils and designed the T2 to be stock with a DD coil. I never had the MX5 or MX7. I did have the MX Sport and did like it. Always wanted to try the MX7 but never got around to it.

I know on some detectors, a coil can make a world of difference in how it performs. A perfect example...Whites MXT. It came with that 950 concentric coil and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why people liked that machine. I couldn't get any depth at all with it. When I revisited it several years later with a SEF 10x12 DD on it...wow...totally different machine and it became one of my favorites. However...Minelab machines really haven't been that way for me. From the CTX to Equinox, I never noticed a performance change by going to a bigger coil, nor much of a separation advantage by going to the smaller ones. The weight/balance was all that I've ever noticed with them. I am kinda wondering if the Manticore coils won't be the same way. I hate dumping $300 into a coil that all I can really say about it is....it made it a little lighter or heavier.

I thought the stabilizer settings also sounded "wonky" in the particular audio theme I like. I'm not sure if that's part of the sound or a bug. I lean towards it being part of the sound because when I increase stabilizer, it gets worse. I however, haven't noticed a depth loss. I was actually thinking the opposite. I dug a clad quarter last week that was around 10 inches deep that gave great ID. Had me fooled for sure...I saw a green patina on a large disc and just knew I had something special. Robbed!

Did she look like a midnight Waffle House waitress? Lol.

It's too dry to hunt here. I tried hunting my yard a couple days ago and actually bruised my foot trying to drive the shovel into the ground. Red clay turns to basically brick when it dries out. My hunting is pretty much done until the fall/winter. I will say though, in playing with some of the Manticore audio theme settings...it makes a huge difference with all other settings the same. It IMO, has more of an impact on making a signal pop out, vs all the others. I can make stuff sound like crap that I'd probably not dig...to making it sound like the purest "dig me all day long" signal just by audio theme settings.

I can't tell you who he looks like because I am usually face palming myself while shaking my head with my eyes closed. How can anybody think he is a detector guru and smart, after going public with a video not knowing how basic discrimination works on a detector? That's what it came down to...he doesn't understand basic discrimination and must have skipped over the parts in the manual about the basic factory PRESET programs; why they were designed to be starting points with the ability to change and save them. It says right in the manual how much discrimination is used for each of the search modes. We've got to stop saying that people can't possibly get any dumber...because they are taking that as a challenge.

The Manticore ID screen will definitely talk you out of digging some signals. It seems like people with more hours under their belt are pulling back the upper and lower ferrous limits for the reason of letting more signals come in. They are digging a little more iron junk but they are also reporting digging good stuff they otherwise would have missed with near factory preset ferrous limits. I figure it's nice to have that feature to be able to set it as you wish. There are some sites I've dug every good quality sounding signal out of that I plan on hunting again with the limits stripped back just to see what comes up.

I'm a sucker for new tech. That's what usually does it for me. Other users don't usually influence my decision. I have to see for myself if a machine fits the bill or not. Most of the time, a machine I don't like gets sent down the road to someone else. The trouble I've often had with lesser known name brands is, you get stuck with them unless you give them away. That's what always has me hesitant about Nokta stuff...You'd best hope you love the machine you get, because chances are you are going to have a tough time reselling it. I've got that Legend package in the classifieds now and not even had an inquiry or offer for it...and that's exactly what I mean.