King-Of-Bling

5 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

All I remember from those days was the 14 AA batteries 😄 That was half the weight of the machine.

 

I was finding some clad and silver , but it was hard work. Until I figured out that only 3 blocks away , our liquor store in the alley way was stacking their crates of coke bottles up against the chain link fence. And I could slide my puny hands in and slide them out for a quick return. Until I got busted and was off for another adventure ! 🤣

10 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I don’t actually think cell phones work better than the old rotary dial phones did when it comes to making phone calls.  It people line up to buy new models every day. Why? New bells no whistles.

Bottom line is these are mostly metal detecting forums, and so people like to talk about metal detectors. There is zero requirement they go deeper, or even offer anything more than a new paint job and decals. Or I can shut the door and turn out the lights, because nobody wants to talk about detectors, but I’d rather not do that.

The reality in metal detectors is they get better incrementally. Year to year there is not much to see. But look at it decade by decade. My first detector in 1972 had no discrimination, and did not ground balance. Purely manual, no tones. It struggled to detect coins more than about three inches, and only then with careful operation.

Then we got discrimination. And then ground balance. Then target id. Digital detectors. Ground balancing PI. Multifrequency. We have come light years from where I started 50 years ago, but it was baby steps most of the way, with a true advance about once every 5 to 10 years. I expect more advances in the future. Imagine the raw depth of a GPZ 7000 combined with discrimination. But expecting big leaps every year or two…. Not going to happen.

My first detector in 1972, when $200 was real money….

Mine was a lighter blue coin master , 1970. Don't remember anything else except as an 8 year old , using 2 hands to swing the darn thing. Not deep and the holes were a mess. That didn't last long. Until the early 80s when I took a more serious approach. But you are right about the small incremental changes. But we all lose that perspective and want everything NOW. Thanks Steve for giving us a little reality check. 

6 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Hi KOB,

If Minelab have sorted out the waterproofing, coil ear/armrest breaking issues and shaft issues that saltwater hunters quickly encountered with the Equinox for guys like you…….that would be fantastic since Equinox owners already know how well Multi IQ tech functions internally in salt and iron mineralization. 

Nobody should take anything I have said about me being not particularly interested in Manticore as a slight against it other than the name is ridiculous. I just don’t need another new detector right now.

It looks like they've solved the obvious problems we have suffered on the beach with this thing. But I'm really interested in the internal guts. Looks like the numbers will be spread out more. But the numbers have always been a bit jumpy. Other than the solid line targets away from all the trash , those are easy. But I recall being possibly the 1st to talk about digging a -5 and pulling out a honker gold ring from 16" deep. It read normal once out of the ground. People slaughtered me for that , calling me a liar. I didn't care and thought more for me ! Eventually more started chiming in with the same results. Bottomline was I still ended up digging about 90% of my targets. Not much different than my PI. I sure hope this new ML has some amazing new technology. 

But seriously guys. I've gone through 3 Nox's. Though they paid for themselves in finds , there were a few things that "just weren't right" as you all know. I'm looking forward in just a few hours to get more info on this machine. I know it will be more than the current Nox price. Just hope it's not a stupid price. Regardless , I will still wait a few months so some actual reviews come in. But I'm entering MY hunting season soon. So , if the price is right and when it's actually available , well....

10 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Same reason that Minelab have made us find out what the hell Manticore means…..totally obscure and a mishmash of languages (misspelled) to boot. Why they picked that name can only be based on some kind of marketing arrogance. It’s not as fun to say as sciagurato!

1st , you will pick up the scorpion and get a poisonous sting as in sticker shock. Then , having the brainless human head , you say I'll buy that ! And finally , the ML Lion will eat you and your wallet. Then off to another victim....

7 minutes ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I seem to remember reading that Steve H was no longer working for overseas detector companies. I also seem to remember him mentioning a long time ago that the Equinox was intended as a mid-line ML detector to test the viability of their new Multi-IQ SMF technology at that time, and that a flagship model was in the works. Or maybe I just dreamed that.

Could the Manicore be the result of advancements in their Multi-IQ R&D and creating the new Multi-IQ+?

So much speculating and so little time... I've already seen a Manticore listing ("out of stock") on an online detector dealer's site.

 

If I read on a site something that said "out of stock" , on an item that was never available for stock in the 1st place , not a yet released , I would not trust that site.

I'm not sure of the M15 on the coil. It could be M1S. Can't imagine them putting a 15" coil on as stock for everyone. The arm cuff appears to be on a sliding track. 

After all these years of beach hunting I never rule anything out. Have found a few diamonds to about a 3rd carat and many silver rings with worthless genuine diamond chips. But what is way more prevalent now are the tungsten , titanium rings with real diamonds. My friends and I each have several of those in our junker box. Lol

Excellent review on your machines. My 1 big question would be how long do you spend time swinging your machine when hunting. And maybe what kind of physical shape your arm/shoulder is in. But from everything else I read , sell the D2.

Incredible hunt. I would definitely hit that spot again with a pulse. Hopefully you get a new , lighter scoop so you won't get so beat from digging. Lol

Further south at certain beaches , it is a completely different story as this pic will show. Old silver , some gold. Hitting the right spot can yield a coin buffet : all you can dig. But this is hardpan and rocks galore. The digging is absolutely brutal. Shovel is best to save your scoop.

As a beachhunter I have found some very valuable finds over the years. I wouldn't say anything was of historical significance. I only recently started taking pictures of some finds about 8 years ago. Never did I think of pics , let alone carrying around a camera some 40 years ago. Have only posted a few finds here and there because it was the cool thing to do , others did it and confirmed some sort of legitimacy. An old timer told me about 4 years ago , NEVER post any finds. And we went into depth about this... So I had a couple friends I hunted with that I would share some pics with. Also found some nice gold in front of them when they didn't find any. It got to a certain point where they were demanding to see everything. I had been scammed before on some returns I did and found this a bit odd.

So one time I tested them by basically sending them a stock pic of something. Sure enough they were doing image searches on all my photos. Then I would get " I know who lost that" or be contacted by a stranger they say lost it and will give me a token reward. All sorts of BS. Well , it backfired on them as they both got set up and are now my ex-friends.

I say do what you want with your finds. Historical or not , you paid the dues. No one else. But I am still gun shy on posting finds. HH

That is a broken top off an anchor from a 300 year old pirate ship. 

Steve , you are like the late , great Johnny "Carnac" Carson !

I would have offered $150. Lol....

Very nice. I'm sure that blew your ears off and was solid. My guess where you were at was that it was shallow. Not too deep. The K of Bling is glad he helped with your sloppiness ! I believe we should all video each other  when out hunting. We all get over confident and think of ourselves as being a perfect hunter , until we see a video of our own hunt/swing. Hope you get many more !

Darn good year all considered. I know about the age thing and kinda not caring as much. Some sort of burn out I guess. I wish you all the happiness and love for you and your family. 

You know what some of these guys are doing to enhance their product line ? Bringing in Social media influencers ! Some barely have any detecting knowledge. But have lots of views on their channels. Are you fricking kidding me ? My what a web we weave...

Well thanks for wrapping my head around a telephone pole Steve. All fake news by these marketing gurus on MF ! I have known about some of these things you say just from experience over the years regarding metals and more importantly , the size. Air tests are just that , they give an idea of the readings. What intrigues me the most is the sand , soil conditions regarding all these factors. Such as extreme magnetic black sand and depth. The MF Nox will overload , shut down , won't even work. A PI , isn't much better but does work. Depth is severely compromised on small coin and ring sized targets. The metal doesn't seem to matter much. Large targets don't seem to be a problem , but that's not what I'm after. All these video's guys put out seem to prove their machine , settings , techniques work great in THEIR turf. But definitely not mine. I might have to start calling you DR.STEVE now. Lol

4 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Umm, are you forgetting the 2022 metal detecting mantra??

 

No. I remember them coming to town in the 70s , 80s. Never wanted to see them. Though they had a couple cool songs , was never into them.

2 minutes ago, The_Stalker said:

One last item about the Tarsacci that I really like is it's pinpoint ability.  On the beach I would occasionally lose targets because of inaccurate pinpointing on the Nox.  The hole would start collapsing and the target would sink and I had no idea which side of the hole the target was.  I lost faith in the accuracy ot the Nox pinpointing.  With the Tarsacci the pinpoint is accurate and my recovery rate is much higher.  That means alot to me when you are trying to dig a target in the surf wash.  I have not seen the target pinpoint feature demonstrated on the D2 yet. 

Had the same issue. The 920 scoop solved that. Digging like a madman , not easy.

1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

How much 'more' will one of these detectors find than another?  For those of you with test gardens I guess you can tell the difference.  Thank you for your tests.

When my beaches are producing (which has not been much lately) it is more important when and where you hunt than what detector you have at the time.  I wait for wave energy to move things up on the shore or make cuts.  Most of the good stuff is less than 15 inches deep.  I occasionally find 20 inch cans and other stuff but the sand and waves defeat me on that before I can get it out.

My rings and jewelry beaches produce quite well with the 15 inch coil it seems.  Will one of these other detectors find stuff my Equinox will just not see?  If I have a DII and an MDT and an Eq/15 which one do you use on the beach first and which one last?  (I think I could not adjust to the MDT sound.)

You sure got that right. It's the same debate I'm having with myself over and over of late. Conditions and crowds have been bad for a long time. If there aren't any targets , I don't care what detector you use. It's not there. Sure , a few finds here and there but so what. Up and down the coast it is sand , sand , sand. And when we do finally get something major going , I'm gonna use my Pulse anyway. So why bother with a new this or that ?

On 1/12/2022 at 8:23 AM, GB_Amateur said:

And so has the following, but worth repeating:  any action taken to avoid digging a signal will result in some good targets being left in the ground.

Coins are the most consistent target because their size, shape, weight, and composition are carefully controlled during manufacture.  Yet, even the dTID's of those can be affected by factors such as orientation, depth, ground mineralization, nearby metallic targets, and time spent 'stewing' for decades in the chemically reactive soil.  Objects that are less uniform (gold rings being an excellent example) will have dTID's even more disparate.

Native gold detecting is probably the opposite extreme to coin detecting when it comes to uniformity of desired target, and successful detectorists in that subfield are the most averse to using any target recovery avoidance.  Sometimes even they are forced to, but they have to be dragged kicking and screaming into that abyss.  😁  Still, some (successful) jewelry detectorists give them a run for their money in their dislike of discrimination.

Couldn't agree more on all you said. I will never forget when I hunted behind a guy with a Nox when they 1st came out and before I got mine. And I was using my DF. He was leaving an "X" in the sand behind him. Which I dug just to see what they were. 95% was trash. I got 2 junk rings and a $700 SS watch. I've learned that many of these "discriminated trash" signals can be a cellphone or even a rusty junk chain with a gold ring on it. Ya never know , till ya know. 

20 minutes ago, Bill (S. CA) said:

I'm going to throw in a different take on the AQ since, like Steve, I've had it with First Texas.  While I agree that the AQ needs a major redesign, I blame the need for this on one thing.  "Shill field testers."  How many times have we heard about new detectors that are being tested worldwide by supposedly qualified field testers and right when the machines are ready to come out there is a sudden and abrupt halt?  The reason is always the same, something to the effect of "minor changes, adding useful features, etc."  Baloney.  The problem is that most guys who test these units are just looking to get free stuff so they rubber stamp units.  I'll give you a perfect example.  A number of years ago a very prominent metal detector manufacturer contacted me and one other detectorist in the United States to test out a new detector.  We were told that it performed flawlessly in the lab and that a team of European hunters had all signed off on the detector.   To make a long story short, it took each of us less than an hour to determine that the detector was impossible to hunt with.  It took over three months of our testing various software upgrades and changes before we were able to get it working.  All of that was done for zero compensation and no free stuff.  And it was worth it because the detector became one of the best selling metal detectors of all time.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not beating my chest and bragging.  My point is that if these manufacturers were serious about building detectors that work they would use genuine, honest testers instead of these ass kissing shills they go to every time.  On this forum alone, a number of you would be ideal candidates.  But for some unknown reason the manufacturers simply don't seek out the honest types of testers required to really evaluate new detectors.  I mean, come on, the mechanical problems of the AQ have been visible from the start and verified by users.  First Texas could have hired Joe Beechnut to fix everything, right?

And so it goes.  I'll be honest, I think the AQ is dead.  And even if it does hit the market, who cares?  The Deus II has taken any buzz that the AQ had and squashed it.

Bill (S. CA)

Very honest and truthful. I thought I was reading about what is currently going on with the Legend. 

12 minutes ago, cudamark said:

As bad as the design of the AQ limited is, with very limited battery life, I could live with all that if it had some reliable discrimination that was touted from the beginning. Sadly, it's just a slightly overpriced, poorly designed, and temperamental  dig everything PI machine.

Didn't you read the micro fine print ?......" discrimination varies on one's hearing " 🤣