JCR

Restoration is common among pipe collectors and a lot of satisfying fun. Mostly done on wooden bowls but also old clays. That style is called a Straight Dutch.

That is a neat find. Do you estimate 18th century or early 19th activity at that site? I suspect it is made of fired clay and would have had a wooden tenon fitted with a Cherrywood or reed stem. This suggest a "better quality" pipe than the more common all clay Tavern type pipe. You could restore it fairly easily for display. You could actually place it in the hot ash of a wood fire to rejuvenate it and it would come out clean and snow white just as it was when made.

Don't get discouraged, weird things do happen even to veteran detectorists. Could be the hole effecting the Ground Balance or a large object quite deep. A good handheld pinpointer really helps on such occasions.

The AT Max has a volume control, 0-8. The proportional audio that helps gage depth/size is best heard with the Master volume at max 8. The MS 3 headphones have a single knob volume control to set a comfortable volume for the user & conditions. I wish the Max had Iron volume, the new Apex has both overall volume & iron volume. That tells me Garrett is listening to the detecting community and paying attention to it's competitors, I am looking forward to the AT version of the Apex concept.

About this time last year I decided to purchase a quality set of headphones to use as a backup pair for my wireless detectors, In talking to several vendors it seems the Gray Ghost line changed the type of speakers they had been using, I recall that the ownership had also changed about the same time. I ended up speaking with the owner & maker of Killer B's. He stated that he specifically used audio communication type speakers that had little bass. This was to give the tones a clean & crisp report. I understand Sun Ray uses like speakers. I purchased a pair of the Killer B's and have been very pleased with the sound. The overall comfort & quality are also very good. I use them now as my primary headphones on the Vista X, running thru a Garrett Z Link set up. The Garrett MS 3's also sound very good. I plan to purchase a set of their MS 2"s to serve as replacement back ups. Not sure how either would sound on a Minelab machine but to me they are great sounding on the Vista X, Anfibio & AT Max.

Don't overlook a great resource this Forum provides in the Guides & Detector Database that Steve has compiled. You can access them at the top of page. A lot has changed in the last 15 years in detectors, almost all of it very good. It may take a little study and thought on your needs & wants but it would be hard to make a bad choice in a new detector.

Why are the artifacts in such small jagged pieces? Nice recoveries of history.

I am going to put this on my Christmas list even though I have the Anfibio, not the Simplex. It should have some good general information that will apply.

Steve, that all makes for an interesting local. I know your island blends some of the best pipe tobacco in the world at J. F. Germain. Welcome from Texas.

These observations on the NM All Metal modes being a good choice on higher mineralized ground is good to know. I rarely ever see more than one bar on the Mineral scale. Most of my sites will Ground Balance around 56-62.

I keep hoping Nokta Makro will address the Gen D performance, especially the TID depth when they put out a firmware update to download. All their other introductions seem to have been updated pretty quickly with little and big tweaks. I have not seen anything for the Anfibio yet. The TID depth may just be limited in order to incorporate the tone shift for the Threshold, which is actually quite useful.

I'm interested to see what Garrett adjusts & adds to an AT platform version. Iron volume would be a deciding factor for me. Coils will come in time knowing Garrett.

This comment by Steve is very interesting to me as I have been running the Anfibio Multi for over a year now. Part of my research before purchasing it was to read thru the extensive posts about the development of the Impact on Tom Dankowski's site. They are very similar detectors. The Anfibio Multi has proven to be an excellent all around machine. The only short coming I have found is how the Gen D mode performs. For me, is not really any deeper than the Disc modes. The real disappointment is that the target ID depth is about half of the Disc modes. I have tried pretty hard to find some settings that will make it perform better but it lacks the punch and liveliness that AM should have. It just seems dull. I can't find any use for it other than Gen D is much less affected by EMI. I discussed this with CJC after I purchased his book on the Anfibio and he kind of felt the same way. Maybe I'm missing something that Steve or someone could point out. When I do want to hunt in All Metal on clean ground I use the AT Max with Iron Audio on and it is very capable; deep with very good TID and Iron tone down to modest depth so I'm not really handicapped.

CJC, how does the sound quality of these compare with the factory Green Edition wireless phones? Can you provide contact info for LS Pelso?

Thanks to everyone for the replies and Welcome. I have been reading this Forum and a couple more for several years.

Certainly not as elaborate as Steve's but I planted a 3D version of Monte's Nail Board with dug square nails @ 1-4" around a Cu penny @ 6". It's a tough target, but not unrealistic for some of my sites. It has really helped me to see the need to slow way down and massage each hit, It has also shown what each size coil can do and how different frequencies react with the ferrous and non ferrous. Without this 3D set up I would have just gone with the conventional wisdom that a higher frequency is better in iron, Now I know how 20kHz compares with 14kHz and 5kHz. High gain vs. moderate gain, I was surprised by the clarity 5 kHz gives the tones, but you have to go slow and keep good overlap on any frequency. Now I know another way to help unlock a keeper out of the iron. 5 is not as quick as 20 but it adds it's own attributes if you let it.

I found this book to be quite helpful. It connected some dots for me about how the detector behaves relative to modes, site conditions & target response. The concept how the Anfibio boils the target down with multiple passes of the coil & the importance of running the detector with a signal balanced for the conditions were two real lightbulbs. I recommend it to all in general and Nokta/Makro users in particular.

Thanks Joe D & Steve. Other than as an 8yr old kid trying to use my Dad's D Tex BFO about 1970, I have been active since 1992 on & off. My area has history in the ground going back to the Spanish passing thru late 17th century. Locally I hunt some properties that had mid 1830's activity but it is very scarce. I mostly dig Relics, a few old coins and some bottles now & then off old house sites and forgotten activity areas. I stay in the woods a good bit. I am not very computer savy so I may not try any photos for a while. As for rain; Send it, my garden needs it! ( I still have the old D Tex! )

I agree with Sven1. I have built a test garden over the years to help me understand how each detector works and performs under different parameters. It really helps when you are out in the field to know how to best meet the site conditions. When you can't get in an actual hunt, the test garden always provides for fun and a chance to learn.

This is the first Forum I have ever joined but have enjoyed reading it for a long time. Thank you Steve.