longbow62

At least you figured it out on your own 😂.

LOL good catch! I will do that this evening.

Mine looks the same basically. I'll probably dunk mine in fresh water this summer and see what happens. I've never hunted in the water, but always wanted to try it. I figure it's better to find out sooner rather than later if it's going to leak.

Amen on that! I tested the Manticore a little bit ago on my lunch break. In 5 tones AT HC against the Equinox 800 with my preferred settings. Both detectors GBed and noise canceled in the same spot. Both GBed in the 40's in my clay yard versus single digits in the sand yesterday. I have pretty bad EMI in my backyard. The Manticore handles the EMI with a long press NC much better than the Equinox. Both swinging over a deeply buried quarter the Manticore and Equinox both hit about the same, but as you raised the coil off the ground the Manticore continued to hit a bit higher than the 800 could still giving good dig I.D.'s. Sensitivity was higher on the Manticore but it was stable at a higher sensitivity. The test was mainly compare the I.D. and 5 tones on the Manticore. I definitely liked the Manticore in 5 tones better than in all tones.

I think the default in AT General is 2 region all tones. I stayed in 2 region all tones, but had changed it to normal and simple. I thought normal and simple was probably like the 800's 50 tones. Maybe because the Manticore has more available tone settings I just picked the wrong one. Maybe Normal and Medium would have been better. Regardless my 800 with my preferred settings hit this 10"+ deep wheat cent just as good as the Manticore in AT High Conductors, and better than the Manticore in AT General. Maybe better than both. This is super mild ground with most old coins at max depth so I was surprised at the results when I swung both detectors over the wheat cent. The reason I took the Manticore there is because it should like the 800 achieve it's max possible depth there in the really mild sandy soil. The Manticore according to Minelab should be deeper than the 800. It may be deeper, but in that situation the 800 was much better in giving a tonal report and I.D. that said dig. I guess it's entirely possible the Manticore was actually giving me more info than the 800 was, and being a new user I could not decipher what it was telling me. This coming weekend I am taking the Manticore to an area with a much different soil type. I am going to continue to compare more targets against my 800. I have set up 5 tones on the Manticore so both detectors will be more equal tonally.

Maybe I'm missing something about running 50 tones? I hunted a lot of trashy places so 50 could be mind numbing. I was really frustrated today trying to use 50 tones on super deep targets with the Manticore. Personally I can't tell an aluminum screw cap from a memorial penny by tone alone in 50 tones. Same with dimes. Some might be worn so they could read really low like a copper penny or screw cap range even. So I have to look at the I.D. anyway to see how it's acting. Depth helps in judging those dig or no digs too. The Equinox 5 tones has some tonal variation. Like scratchy or sputtering. They are not totally without subtleties.

Normal and Rich is super quite even with volume maxed out at 25. You might miss really deep targets on the rich setting. I could barely hear a 12" quarter or 10" dime. That's why I thought AT General was deeper than AT High Conductors because the stock setting in AT HC is the rich setting. I was testing at edge of detection and could barely hear the tones. I just went in and set up 5 tones. I made a few slight adjustments to it, and will probably make more before I'm done. I'll try it in coin garden tomorrow to see how it sounds on in the ground targets.

I'm definitely setting up 5 tones on the Manticore before next weekend to see if I can get it to act like the Nox 800 does in 5 tones. Also I ran horseshoe on the whole hunt like I do on the Equinox.

That's the program I finished with today. Most of the hunt was AT General. I think where I was today AT High Conductors was the better program. I wish I had been using it all afternoon.

I took the Manticore to a site I have worn out over the last couple of years. The ground there is really mild and sandy. The Manticore and Nox 800 GB in the high single digits. Every silver and Wheat cent there is basically close to or the edge of detection. The 800 has been a killer detector at this site. Park1, 5 tones,recovery 4, F2-0, and sensitivity as high as I can run the detector stable. Most of the time 22-23. I have found 15 silver dimes, 2 silver quarters, 1 Walker half dollar, and probably 10-15 nickels mostly buffs, and well over 50 wheat cents. Probably more like 75-100 but never really counted them. Again all of these coins were deep. Dimes, pennies, and nickels 9" plus. Quarters 12" or more. The Half Dollar was ridiculous. This is very mild ground. I might add the last 2 hunts there before today I got a Merc and several wheat cents each hunt, but it's getting really tough to find any coin now. So I thought this would be a good spot to test out the Manticore. I started out in AT General 50 tones normal and simple. I ground balanced to high single digits. I did a long press noise cancel several times during the hunt. I could only run what I considered stable to a 25 sensitivity. I lowered the upper ferrous limits to 8, and the lower to 3. There is some deep iron at this place. You hear iron grunts most of the time, but it's deep and not like shotgun iron. I only got fooled by one deep nail. I tried to hunt just like I do with my 800. That is not digging a bunch of iffy beeps. By this I mean I'm pretty sure it's a coin when I dig. The first thing I dug was a roundish piece of rotten pot metal ringing 28-30. Then I got a really deep not to bouncy 88-92 that turned out to be a piece of copper about the size of a quarter. It was not going really as I expected as I was not finding that many deeper targets I could without a doubt know were coins. I got another 28-30 decently deep 6"-7" that turned out to be an I.D. bracelet. The 2D trace was smeared but on the non-ferrous line. I don't know why this was missed before other than on the Nox it might have rang it up more like a pull tab. I did dig a 4"-5" memorial that sounded good, but the 2D trace was smeared. It turned out to be the Memorial and a rotten zinc in the same hole. I keep on detecting for quite awhile, but I am not hearing anything deep that sounds worth digging. So I decide to go find a Wheat in my vehicle and bury it 9"-10" to see what it sounds like. So I do this making sure it's the right depth and flat in the hole. I covered it up and swing over it and I'm not really impressed. The Manticore hits it, but it was jumpy in my opinion. Also occasionally I would get a red line under the number. I noise canceled again, and it was not really any better. I changed to AT High Conductors normal and simple. I re-GBed and noise canceled. This time I thought it did hit the Wheat harder, and somewhat more stable numbers. I go to the vehicle and get my 800. I fire it up GB, noise cancel run it up to 22, and to me it hits the wheat better than the Manticore does. It's easier to tell it's deep. This was an early wheat ringing up more like an IHP does. 19-21 and pretty solid. The 800 settings are Park1, F2-0, Recovery 4, 5 tones, and 22 sensitivity. So now I'm a little frustrated. I keep hunting and I do end up finding 2 Wheat cents. One was very deep. The other more like 7"-8". I was pretty sure they were Wheats before I dug them, but I still think I would have been even more sure with the 800. In 5 tones it's just a smoother high tone that to me is more solid a hit. I have it setup for IHP and above to highest pitch. That's 18, and above. So I am not like head over heels impressed with the Manticore performance right now. This was mild ground too. Maybe I need to set up 5 tones like on my Equinox. I am not used to the Manticore or 50 tones for that matter. To me the Manticore 50 tones is nothing like the Etrac tones. 50 tones, on 4 recovery speed with the Manticore seems harsh and very elongated for my taste. Like each tone is not sharp and quick over a target. Lastly the Manticore from about 8 hours I have on it is a lot different than the Equinox 800. 8 hours ain't squat behind a new detector, but enough for me to see it's going to take awhile to get any kind of confidence with it.

So I hunted roughly 4 hours this afternoon. I am pretty sure the backlight was on auto. the battery icon looks half empty.

So yesterday was really my first day out with the Manticore. The day I got it I charged it up, and messed with it inside and the back yard a little. I'm guessing an hour tops time wise. Friday I detected briefly at a park. Maybe 30 minutes. Yesterday about 4 hours. I have to run the backlight like full blast to see it the way I want to see it. I felt from the initial full charge the battery really went down fast. It looks like a backup battery is going to be necessary. Also while I was detecting in fairly mild ground yesterday AT General seemed much deeper than AT High Conductors. At least General seemed to alert much better running the same sensitivity. I also might add running a recovery of 4 seemed to elongate the tones more than a recovery of 4 does on the Nox 800. I have always ran the 800 in 5 tones. With the Manticore I am going to try getting a grip on 50 tones. I don't know if 50 tones is reason for the elongated tones. They just don't seem as sharp as the 800's 5 tones do. It was messing with me quite a bit. I found it kind of annoying in a fairing target rich environment. Anybody else notice any of the things I've mentioned?

The Manticore is my last new detector for the foreseeable future. I plan on getting the small coil for it when it becomes available, then that's it I'm done. Its going to take a major leap for me to even consider another detector.

My Manticore arrived this morning. I went home for lunch, and put it together. I went ahead and put both the detector and headphones on the charger. I will play with it this evening.

I have not noticed any big complaints about the Manticore so far. I mean there has been the iron falsing concern, but other than that no build quality issues or comfort issues I have heard of. I am supposed to get mine in a few days. For the people that have them already how would you rate form and function? Is there anything so far that is remotely sketchy or buggy?

I have witnessed a starting ground balance of X with tracking ground balance accidentally left on. It drifted quite a bit by the time I noticed auto tracking was on. I re-grounded balanced and it was back to very close the original ground balance number. This has just been my experience. Hunting on land I don't think I want tracking on, but a person should use whatever works for them.

Yes Park2 always falses less in iron for me. Park2 is all I use in a heavy iron patch. I've made the comment for years, but no one ever seems to listen. They always say, but Park1 hits high conductors better. While that is true Park1 is a little bit deeper the program falses more using a low I.B. like F2-0. Especially on deep single nails. Also I've found That Park2 seems to give you more clues on deep iffy targets you think might be a silver. In Park2 you have a much better chance telling if the deep iffys are iron or a good target. That's one reason I could always run F2-0 without being frustrated. Also another reason I constantly make the comment I seldom dig any iron. Park1 is a tad deeper on silver, and I do use it where I know all the silver is going to be edge of detection deep without much iron around.

I actually got an email around noon saying mine shipped today.

Hey strick I always thought Park2 was better in iron than Park1 although Park2 was not quite as deep. Which AT modes act the most like Park1 and Park2?

I've always thought it was best to ground balance myself. I always thought keeping the Equinox on zero was a mistake. The further away from zero your detector balances the more it matters in my opinion. I have from single digit to mid 50's ground balance numbers with the soils where I live.

Am I wrong that most metal detector sales come from specialty places that only really sell metal detectors and related stuff? A $1,600.00 metal detector is a specialty item. I just don't see your average Joe not seriously deep in the hobby buying a $1,600.00 detector. If it was in an actual store I can't see a detector that expensive sitting on a shelf in Bass Pro. That would be weird to me.

I remember that happened with the 800, but if I'm not mistaken it was not at the initial time of release that the big boxes got them. It was later on. like months after. You could get the 600's everyone had them, but the 800 was few far between. Then all of a sudden Bass Pro had 800's in stock. I prepaid with CC very early with a dealer who I figured sells quite a few detectors. I just figured Minelab would get them to their actual serious die hard dealer's before shipping to big box outfit like Bass Pro etc..

So Minelab is not prioritizing their actual dealers first? It's insane Cabelas would get Manticores before specialty metal detector dealers? I don't get it! Especially when those dealers took pre-orders and big box sporting goods sellers don't.

So the video PSPR posted with the guy with the European accent at the beginning. Did anyone notice the red cross hair around the target? Did they just add that in post production? I have not seen the red cross hairs in any other video. I noticed the numbers were red instead with a red line under the numbers. Could there be different software versions on the test machines?

It appears to me the Manticores that have been delivered so far are a test run, and to claim they met the Christmas deadline. I am of the thinking the Manticore might not totally ready to go at this point. I would not doubt if the Manticore assembly line is sitting ideal waiting for final software tweaks at this point. Either that or Minelab did not even start manufacturing until very recently. Why else would they not be shipping?