F350Platinum

Very nice results for all that hard work, I agree that the Deus 2 needs a small elliptical. Welcome to the forum!

Thanks! It's fun to get back to my "roots", cut Pistareens were among the first things I found here, apparently they're quite common.

Thanks JCR, I always wonder how much these coins would buy, and how great the loss was to the person. 🤔

Here you can make a fortune if you just show up. 🤣 Between here and Ashland there are hundreds of horse farms, I worked for one when I first moved here. They call this "The Promised Land" because people promise to do a job and never show up. 😁 Always room. Taxes are low, lots of boating, and the cotton is gone. 😎

Yes, Chase brought his Axiom to this field one day. He talks about it here: Well above that comment. 😅 Just scroll up. Despite about 400 years of settlement in this area, nothing is particularly deep, and neither of us has had any indication that there is. There are so many good targets within the first 12" it's really a waste of time to dig deeper, 99% of the time the object you are chasing deep is a huge chunk of iron or a beer can, no matter how good the ID. At one farm we were finding beer cans and other aluminum that were deeper than the buttons and coins. 🙄 To me a discriminating machine is much more desirable, sometimes I actually get more good finds than trash, usually in raw count because of buck balls and small bits of junk metal it will be 75% trash and 25% finds. There is no mineralization at all to prevent one from seeing what is there. It's really a paradise for detecting. Regarding the Tesoro Vaquero, I did try a test with nails on a silver coin and it did find the coin after discriminating the nails, and the Deus and Equinox did not, maybe marginally at best. I intend to see if there is an advantage there, these two spots are pretty much clear of good targets, buck balls and lead, so if I can find anything at all I'll be impressed. The iron here is mostly nails and there are a lot of them. One of the farmers mentioned they are going to "rip" the fields this year, a device that turns soil as much as 14" deep. That is exciting. 🙂

I'm thinking a couple of small 316 stainless steel screws straight through the WS4 puck holder into the mount (might use a small stainless washer on each) would work well. I don't think I'll be using the Detecting Doodads mount for anything else now. 🤔 But that means I need another shaft 🤣 And probably another 9" coil. 😬

Thanks VL, Until XP gives us a small elliptical coil for the D2, I may just use the Equinox more in the field when there is a lot of iron in the way. Here it is nails, and the odd monster piece from an old kettle, axe, plow shard, or even a cannon ball 😏 Hope I sold a used 600 or 2 just to show 'em. 🤣 I have always loved that combo with the 10x5, there is no doubt it does well. It's a lot more accurate and stable than I remembered, sorry for the gaffe on id's, they escape me. I hope you can get out soon, February here can either be brutal or warmer, looks like we're on a lucky streak. Only once has my shovel ever bounced off the ground this season.

Thanks George, I do too, odd that I've never found a whole milled 1 Reale or larger, always bits. Maybe that would be too easy 🙄

Thanks Chase, I answered this one from the field, thanks for the diligence. 👍

Thanks Dave, Yeah, @Valens Legacy has been reminding me to dust off the ol' Equinox, what better time than to use the 10x5 in machine gun iron because of its extreme separation ability. Between the Deus 2 9" and 11x13", I thought I wiped this spot out but of course that is not true. I've tested the D2, the Equinox, and a Tesoro Vaquero with nails over a silver coin, and only the Tesoro fully passed the test. The Deus and the Equinox simply could not "unmask" the coin! Thing is, regardless of that surprising result, it's still a beep/dig machine if you disc out iron, you have to dig everything else unless you have a lot of experience with it like my buddies do. I plan on returning to these spots soon with the Tesoro because all that is left is iron. It will be really interesting to see if a Tesoro really can unmask non-ferrous in a live situation. 🙂

Be careful with some cleaners, they might have acetone or other solvents in them which will melt plastic. I had some silicone spray that smelled like it was 100% acetone, it would melt the plastic coil covers so I threw it out.

Outstanding! 🏆 Have you tried setting notch to 00-00 in relic? It might make things a little less chirpy, but keep an old reliable next to it to verify iron. Nice job cleaning up, beautiful coin. I wouldn't be able to stand wind chill in the teens, so bravo. 👏

Thanks RVP, It's only if you know you have Spanish silver in the area, or history says so. Maine probably does in some places, it was used for currency until the 1850s. Moreso in the Tobacco Colonies. 🤔 Worse, on the Deus, buck balls, pull tabs, and 300 year old gold rings have similar IDs. 😬

Thanks Lodge, It's been a great year so far. 🙂 I'm thinking I'm really starting to get this detecting stuff. 🤔

'Nother day here in sunny VA, got up to 47 anyway with no wind and no clouds. I did pretty well with my trusty old Equinox 600 last time I was out, so I put it and the Deus 2 with the 13" in my golf cart, and drove out to a local field, the same place I dug the 1 Reale half, but a different spot. I've found a lot of buttons and horse tack there, but not any coin that I can remember. This spot is machine gun iron, so I hoped the 10x5 would squeeze something out. I had recovery speed at 3 in Park 1, GB was 25 in this area, and I was using Park 1 in 50 tones. I love these true APTX-LL air/bone conduction headphones I got over Christmas, i think I paid 25 bucks for them. They have a microphone but you can swing it out of the way. They have a large power button, a voice tells you status, and they connect with the Equinox faster than any I've used. The only drawback they have is they are not very loud, but in a quiet field they're great. No brain beating. Here are the finds, most of which were found by the Equinox, it doesn't "unmask", but it sure does separate. Recovery speed 3 is the same as 6 on the 800. I got one of the buckle bits and the brass knob later with the Deus 2, I wish the curved piece of metal was another coin but it's just a bit of something, maybe a button. About 40 minutes in and a bunch of buck balls later, I was near the edge of the ravine and got a solid 21 in all directions, I thought "what is a penny doing here?" Well it wasn't a penny. Yet another cut Pistareen, an early 1700s Philip V, Madrid mint. These things were cut so sharp they probably made holes in pockets, or they stuck to something and were dropped. #4 Spanish silver for the year! Trash was literally nothing, just lots of buckshot and lead. I did get an Indian Wars pull tab. Next time I'll visit this spot with my old Tesoro Vaquero, and I'll put it to task.

I've used the Detecting Doodads mount for a long time, even drilled a hole in it to pass the homemade waveguide cable through the shaft so there's no cable outside. it has a locking mechanism that works ok, it's not fabulous but it's cheap, and I can use it in water. Others zip tie the WS6 to the shaft, look around there are posts.

Umm, because you can't see the screen, you have to take it out to change settings, and it's not waterproof? 🤔

Google "metal detecting Italy" for more, but this is what one site that deals with detecting laws has to say: Italy. All things of archeological interest, in and out of the ground, are the property of the state. Metal detecting by private individuals is allowed in some regions. A finder of valuable objects receives a reward. There are regions where the use of metal detectors is prohibited – e.g., Valle d’Aosta, Calabria, Lazio, Tuscany, Sicily. And one more thing… According to local detectorists, beach search in Italy is controlled by mafia and the police. There is division into areas which are under control of different clans. Mafia treasure hunters )) Note: Here’s a comment from Italian detectorist sergio. “Metal detecting is allowed on public beaches. But there is nothing to dig there. Private beaches are watched over by guards – it’s possible to make a deal with some of them, but some will be against, and it’s better not to argue with them. The police, carabinieri and mafia – this is a mere fable. The competition among detectorists is rather high… You can also hunt in the regions where it’s prohibited to, but not in the areas of archaeological importance – on private land and in the mountains. But there is nothing to search for in the mountains, too, as everywhere there are shot and shells the hunters left behind”. ************ Always respect the laws and lore of foreign countries, you will find many that take them very seriously. Don't be "that American".

Wow. Guess you need a sack rather than a pouch to haul away all that stuff. I've had a few of those find/minute hunts, mostly in campgrounds. 👍 You're beat when you're done but it still feels great. Congrats! BTW I think I only got one silver coin. 🤣

Excellent, they also make a mid-size cable that is better than the one that ships with the Deus 2. It's black so you won't see it rotting out until it breaks 🙄 but it's shorter. I ordered the collapsible shaft above for my WS6, I want a third Deus 2 now 😀

Thanks El Niño, Yes, and the same goes for using bottle cap settings in other programs, or F2 on the Equinox. We can get away with it here because the soil is so mild. Default ground balance is 87 on the Deus 2, I have found many times that if I don't balance the machine I miss a lot of small targets. The ground balanced at 75. That is significant. Honestly I'd rather come away with as much good stuff as I can, to me it's almost a waste to spend a lot of time on the details, on the beach and in the fields I'm pressed for time. I've literally never had a completely bad sounding target be a good one. Maybe a few that were somewhat bad can evade me, but I'll bring home 100 good finds for an occasional iffy one by not wasting time on them. 300 year old Tombac buttons are a great example. They show up as low tones from ~30-60, and almost always have an iron tone because of the iron shank, but it's either one-way or short. I always dig foil, pull tabs, and anything in the high 80s to 99. Bottom line is you have to know your environment, and it's great that the D2 tells you what is going on. 🙂

Thanks Colonel, I've been posting too much probably 🤣 This makes two, the third was found in a field not too far away. You'd find it if it was there, but don't skip those pennies. 😬 All 3 were 79-81. If you can drive on the beach this season, tell the beach patrol your 4 wheeler broke so you decided to use your backhoe instead 🤔

Thanks and no problem! Got one nearby. 👍

What was the kiosk? I've got a dead iPhone 13.

Well I set out to answer that question for you today, it was cold and cloudy but not windy. Took the Equinox with the Coiltek 10x5", and my Deus 2 with the 9" to the spot where I found all the stuff in this thread randomly searching. It's a fairly large carpet of junk and nails, probably 100'x75'. I believe there was a building there long ago. I grid searched the spot with the Equinox first, then the Deus. I figured I'd give the Equinox every chance to find what there was, and then try the Deus again. The Equinox was in Park 1, 50 tones, 24 sensitivity, recovery speed 3, and F2=3. It ground balanced at 33. Even at that level of sensitivity it didn't wrap much. The Deus 2 was in Relic mode, sensitivity 95, notch 00-00, reactivity 2. It ground balanced at 75, 12 points below default of 87. Here are the results, I found some stuff including a 1908 IHP. I went over the same spot with the D2, and "cleaned up". The very nice fully cast Tombac with a cast shank was a 5 on the Equinox, and a 43 on the Deus. Both detectors would have found it. The stuff I found with the Deus should have been found by both, so maybe I wasn't covering the ground as well as I could have. 🤷‍♂️ My conclusion is this: Both detectors do quite well in this environment, I think each one separates very well in fairly dense iron trash. Depth is identical, most stuff isn't that deep here anyway, and the soil is not mineralized at all. Both false on some iron. I've always loved my Equinox, and am fully confident I can get most unmasked objects in any given area with it. I have tested both of these detectors on a board with nails over a silver coin, and really there is no difference, both do not hit the coin, even with the iron discriminated. "Unmasking"? Nope. Heh, the only one that passed that test perfectly was my Tesoro Vaquero. 🤣 So why would I get a Deus 2? First thing is ergonomics, it didn't take long for my hand to fatigue and hurt in a much-remembered way with the Equinox, after 2 hours I was ready to switch. 😵 I have large hands, but not extra large. Next is weight, it's the lightest detector in the world. I don't know of many detectors that are certified to 60+ feet underwater, so there's that. I can count on it. Add the new RCDIGS mount, and there are no worries at all. The audio options on the Deus are incredible, I think there are competitors now like the Legend and the Manticore, but I do not own either of them. The options for conditions are also incredible on the Deus, again there may be competition now, but see all of the above for advantages. I do like the simplicity of the Equinox. Really that is it, the Equinox 600/800 (I presume the 800 because I never had one) and the Deus 2 are both fine detectors, and both find metal well. 😀 It's up to the reader to decide.