F350Platinum

Thank you for the info! I was hoping you "tri-pped" over this post. ? I think this is a trading area. I am being very careful to analyze and save much of what I find here for various reasons. What may be just a Farmer's front yard is pretty significant. I/we have only covered a small portion of this field. My previous post has some artifacts as well. Going to go low and slow here. May use the 11" coil, and possibly try to convince Chase (though it wouldn't be that difficult) to use some other detectors here, like a PI. It's ours until spring, and this area experiences many warmups in winter.

Nothing like showing that skill is everything. Great job kac, I have much to learn. ?

Thanks Cipher, just posted a review of my own. I thank you for bringing it to my attention! Got one and it's pretty cool, but time will tell for me.

Haha, total error. Thanks! I completely forgot it's not on all the time. ? But I guess the spec is that it's 14 hours if left on. I appreciate the correction. It also has a "lost pointer" function that you can turn on or off, it will start beeping after 3 minutes. In that light if it lasts for 8 hunts or so it ain't bad! ? I have corrected the error.

Thank you! I tend to run stuff wide open but I have not as yet used it in the field. If you think it's loud borrow a Propointer. ? I wear headphones so I need the pointer to be loud. I will see about falsing and sensitivity!

Sorry man, we got lucky and got us some global warming here. Honestly I wish it would last so I can grow some palm trees on the island I'll be on because I'm 80 feet above sea level ? next week is gonna be warm too.

Yeah sorry, I corrected the review. I'm out of likes today ? I'm going to update this with field tests, I felt bad that I hijacked Cipher's post by actually going out and buying the darn thing. ? I just did initial impressions for now. There are things for sure that I don't know, so feel free to comment and abuse as necessary. If anyone wants me to test certain conditions I'll try to do that too, like tiny targets. Just can't do videos.

Thanks! I found out the battery life is 14 hours, so maybe 2 6-hour days, but the Carrot lasts for about 8 outings or more. I corrected it, but that's still kinda a bummer. It does seem to have very distinct tones. Videos will prove that for ya.

Great finds Tom and Cal. ? I love those buttons y'all find out there, and it's funny to see a civil war button, kinda like one of us east coasties finding an "S" coin. If no one has mentioned it already, the coins with nail holes are sometimes used on a house for good luck. The ground is good to stuff there.

Gonna do my first review of a new product, I've only been detecting for a year, but I've got a lot of "trigger time" and know what I like in comparing and using some stuff, i.e. headphones and other accessories. I've tried quite a few things, but now fixed income makes it a bit more difficult. I want to try a review to move out of the "novice" column. ? I'm not gonna include videos, I can't find an .MP4 upload. Photos will have to do and y'all know I do that a lot. ? Not going to create yet another social media account. Review I've been seeing some rumblings about the Quest X pointer Max. I looked into it and watched some videos. One day I thought "this thing might be a time saver if it does near what they claim, and I had a little extra cash on hand due to a small claim I won, so I paid the $136-ish ransom to try it out. I can only compare it to the Garrett Propointer AT, my constant detecting buddy. I have never used anything else. I love that thing but it's finicky as those who use it know, sometimes it isn't "right" when you turn it on. I always have to check it on my shovel before using it in the hole, and sometimes while I'm searching I have to reboot it. Gotta say it sets and keeps the standard for me, but I'll let you judge whether it's been beat. I am in no way affiliated with anyone but my wife ? In the Box It comes with a lot of stuff, a holster, lanyard, charging cord, extra O ring seal and two tip protectors, along with warranty literature, way cool stickers, a card hyping their detecting app, a catalog, and instructions in everything but Swahili. Took me a couple of looks to find the English instructions for the buttons. Build Quality The Xpointer is nothing short of built like a tank. It has a thick rubbery plastic outer shell, the orange part. The antenna portion is hard translucent polycarbonate-like plastic, with an inner core that houses the antenna that is some sort of tough poly. The end cap houses the speaker, and is kinda thin. Honestly I think it may be a bit cheesy, but it is thankfully square-threaded because you're gonna have to keep unscrewing it to charge it. The internal battery lasts about 14 hours, I hope in the long run it will equal the use of a 9v battery. The display has a battery indicator that flashes available power when you turn it on. Unscrew the cap and you can see the board for the waterproof speaker, a mini plug that operates it, and a strange O ring arrangement where the o ring stretches on the angles around the plug to expand and seal the unit. They give you a spare but be careful. It comes loose every time you open it. Tip - always screw the cap on from the bottom while holding it upright! Inside you can see how thick everything is, the headphone jack (yes you can use external headphones but bye bye waterproof), the screw where ostensibly you can take it apart and replace the battery (with abuse a Lithium-ion battery will just drop dead one day, trust me). The USB-C charging port which requires the use of their cable. Size/Weight Size is about the same as the Propointer AT, my Carrot weighs 190g on my scale, and the Xpointer weighs 188g. Not a big deal. Compared I'm not going to go into how to operate it or how it sounds or how you turn it on and program it, there are plenty of videos that will do that for you. I'm going straight for the kill - what it will do compared to the venerable Garrett Carrot. This new pinpointer is a whole new take on the art, you get two-tone discrimination, with lights that show you what you have, either ferrous or non. It also has a display and two buttons. The display indicates distance from the object, and the buttons allow you to turn on, adjust, or disable almost anything you want. The Carrot is simple, and this isn't too bad either. Once programmed, you press the forward button to turn it on, and use it the same way as the Carrot. You really won't need the rear mode button after that unless you get a wild hair. The detecting area is mostly forward, and it is a 9.5kHz VLF. There are links to show you specs as well, I'll try to include them in this thread later with other tests. What I like initially This is a dual discrimination pinpointer, maybe the first of it's kind, I haven't been detecting long enough to know. That's what attracted me to it. It seems tough but we will see, it's as waterproof as most others, and it does ratchet re-tune like the Garrett. I think the tone separation is good enough, and the on/off tones are distinct. It's loud enough. It has adjustable levels of audio, and you can fiddle with almost anything. It's definitely a unique device, and costs the same. It has a cool holster and lanyard. It feels good and grippy in the hand, and looks a bit less like something you might use in private. ? The most important thing is it seems to have an inch to two inch (sorry metric fans) advantage over the Carrot in air tests. One person wondered how it does on tiny targets - here is a fired .177 caliber pellet I'm amazed I found that is detected about a half-inch sooner than the Carrot, and detected properly as non-ferrous: Ratcheting is another thing I like so far, it works exactly the same as the Propointer in air tests, but again, more distance. The real acid test will be water and I have plenty of brackish water to check it in a later post in this thread. So far it looks pretty good, and is a definite contender. What I don't like initially The first thing is the internal battery and charging. If I'm gonna have to charge this bad boy often I want a magnetic charging port like the Equinox, or a waterproof USB-C port on the outside like a cell phone. I also want Power Delivery fast charging. I don't want to unscrew the cap and "deal with the seal" and have no way to use it while charging. I get out detecting a lot, and don't mind carrying a PD battery to charge my phone or my Equinox on the fly. This will get all sorts of dirt in it if I have to charge it while digging. ? I'm not even sure if that will work. The next thing is the holster. It's really cool and has a thoughtful D-ring on it for the lanyard, but it has an Achilles' heel - if you use the provided tip protector you will rip it off pulling the pointer out of the holster.? This is easily solved by using the Garrett holster or a cheap knockoff. ? You also gain "grabbability". The snap on the quest holster is weak, unlike the "Pliers and a Blowtorch" snap on the Garrett holster. Apparently they never owned a boat and used a "lift the dot" snap. ? Last thing for now is that Quest claims the X pointer is very loud. It is not as loud as the Garrett Propointer AT. That may be a problem for some. I can hear a mouse in a coliseum so it isn't for me.

Yeah, it's tough when you have to buy something to review it ? I like the Propointer AT, but knowing which of the targets I'm after seemed too good to be true. I apologize to Cipher for hijacking.?‍☠️ I should have kept that lead pellet I dug with the Equinox yesterday... ?

It lights one led (red) if it's ferrous, and issues a lower tone. Non ferrous lights up a green led, and has a higher tone. It works pretty good. I dug a small buckle fragment yesterday that was mildly magnetic and it identified it correctly with red and low. It hits hard on totally ferrous metals. It's a two tone discriminator. Pretty cool.

OLP, I use the OnX hunt app on my cell phone, if you are willing to pay the ransom, it will show you real time where you are and who owns what you're standing on. Thing is it's sometimes inaccurate, I have one permission where the property lines are off and I had to ask what the deal was. The guy who owns the adjacent property gave me permission to all his land anyway so it's all good ? You can go to historic aerials or USGS (old maps had dots where houses were/are), and mark building locations in OnX by comparing terrain features. Glad to see you moving along, guess you're hooked now. Sorry GB ?

Quick answer for you here, I had a few minutes this morning. I don't know about salt water yet, but I tested ratcheting (re-tune) side by side with the Carrot, and it's identical in an air test. That doesn't mean you can skip out to the beach just yet ? the Xpointer seems to have about an inch to two inches distance from target detection advantage thus far. (Boost setting). I wonder why they bothered with "Boost", it's like "Turbo" on old computers. ? Another thing I'm not so thrilled about is the holster. If you use the supplied tip protector, the pointer will snag when you pull it out, and possibly knock the protector off. That's gonna have to be addressed. The holster is heavy duty like the Garrett holster but it doesn't have as aggressive a snap either. The good news here is that you can use the Garrett holster if you have one ?

That is correct. They supply a cable that works. I happen to have two Power Delivery fast charging USB-C power supplies, and neither of them will charge the Xpointer. I had to plug their supplied cable into a 2A cell phone charger.

I tried a couple of fast charging cables, and the space the USB port is in probably intentionally doesn't allow a PD charger cable to be plugged in. I imagine that is a good idea since the device is not fast charging capable. I didn't put the ratcheting to much of a test, thus far I just know it does it. I don't want to hijack this post, so I'll do a much more comprehensive test very soon, including brackish water since that's all I have near me.

Just the property owner who came out while Chase and I were there and told us that there was lots of activity in the area. He told us how and where the old road ran through, and that they find clay pipe fragments and arrowheads in this spot when they turn it. It's literally his front yard. I'm getting pretty good at finding the "edges" of a hot site. I track my hunts when appropriate, and zero in on the signals or lack thereof, mark out a specific area, and grid search it if not entertaining guests. ?

Just got my hands on one of these today. First impressions are that it has good build feel but time will tell. I like/don't like the built in battery, would rather have an external plug to the USB C connector, and really wish they set it up for fast charging. It's 5v, and you can't just use any charging cable, you have to use theirs. ? I like that you can turn the flashlight off to save battery, and the re-tune seems to be as good as Garrett, but we will see in brackish and salt water. It's not louder than the Garrett Propointer AT. It does seem to have about an inch or more "reach" than the Propointer in air tests, doesn't interfere with the Equinox unless you are in 10kHz single frequency (it's 9.5kHz) and even then it isn't too bad. You have to get it close to the control box, something that shouldn't happen often. I got it mostly to "Take one for the team". The discrimination feature really intrigues me, especially for multiple targets in a hole. It will save time in some instances, and get me on to the next dig quicker. Seems to work well. I'll probably do a separate write up on it after some field trials. ? so far so good.

Looks like even in your 'bad' photo you got some interesting buttons and a couple of fairly old buckles. I've never hunted a public park or school, but the age of the map is a help I see. Nice stuff!

Today promised 68 degrees and sunny, unusual for an early December day, but I've seen it hit 70 here at Christmas. Then it snows. ? I decided to go to the new "trading post" site where I dug the 1690 Cob, just to try and find the edges of the sweet spot. My little buddy was there waiting for me, he came out meowing and purring. He's being fed, I gave him some fresh water and played with him a bit. First off I went to the long road to the farmer's house, like me his driveway is about a half a mile long. There is underground power here, I can hear it. This field is an easy one, sand mixed with clay, and open until spring because it was a bean field. There isn't much trash in it either, not like many of my other spots. It was cut pretty close. My first find was unexpected, a small silver pin that may be sterling but has no hallmarks. It's definitely not aluminum but it appears to be stamped. here is the rest: All pretty much what I expected to find here, very much like the fields in front of my house. Old Spectacle type buckle, lead bag seal with an "R" on it and "Trade 323" on the back. Clad quarter 1977 found near the driveway. Copper spoon handle piece. Small buckle fragment that is near ferrous. An extremely old button (maybe pewter) with a large shank, it might be an octagon but time took its toll. Copper pin, small Tombac stud. Bottom row is what appears to be a bent trigger guard, it's brass and flattened. Old drawer pull and another Tombac piece. Trash wasn't bad, somebody is practicing their swing ?

Thanks! This spot is pretty virgin, it's the farmers' front yard field. They come and go all day and would throw a stranger out. He came by and told us that they find clay pipe pieces and arrowheads every time they turn it, I haven't seen any of that but nobody got the metal! This was one of those spur of the moment "I think I'll go look there" things. I've found some pretty good stuff doing that, other times nothing. I'm slowly learning to read the land.

Looks like an interlocking ring to me, don't know if it would be too comfortable without the other piece. Nice find!

Glad this brought out some great advice and comments to cherry pick. ?I do have some areas around me that I have grid searched with at least two detectors from every possible angle. Changed the coil on the Equinox (10x5) and hit one of them again at random. I found nothing but the nails and can slaw I skipped the other times "digging it all". I am a novice, but I do get out more than on the weekends, sometimes as many as 5 days a week over the past year. Even when I take a break and go camping I bring a detector with me and bash it out. So far no one has refused to let me detect, and I've learned a lot in all these different environments. ? I have no idea when I will become "not a novice", but that day will come. I fully understand that gear is not the complete answer, I was a Pro photographer for a few years and knew I could get as good a photo with a $100 digital camera as I could with a $2,000 Nikon and lens. I had both. When Photoshop emerged it became even easier to turn trash to treasure. I can't Photoshop finds ? I'd be glad to invite anyone that can show me I'm wrong about the areas I mentioned, it was in that spirit I made the inquiry. I'd like to find more in one spot in particular but have not as yet. I was simply curious to see if something stood out. I agree that is a novice question, but context is everything. Thanks everyone! I'll now return you to TN Sharpshooter.

Seems to me it is becoming glaringly evident that metal detectorists (the ones who play by the rules anyway) are finding relics that spark whole new conversations on history if they make their finds public, or at least cooperate with historians and archaeologists. It's not so much us cooperating with them, however. Much history that has been discovered already is still in warehouses waiting to be analyzed, what a waste. It's egomaniacal to think that a few of us "bumblers" would destroy history, you never hear about one of the "masters" breaking a 2000 year old vase or nicking a gold stater with a digging trowel, but I bet it happens all the time. Simple "Nothing ventured, Nothing Gained". I'm really sad for you. It takes a lot to reverse a law. I guess all we can do is be thankful for private property.

Been watching "Vikings". They sure got around, and probably deserve more credit than they get. ?