F350Platinum

No, and I wished I brought them for the first couple hours, but the red clay and rain would have messed them up. ? I had heavy socks on so my feet stayed warm. It never got above 52 despite predicted 71.

Sorry about your MI-6, that happened to me too, and despite greasing them it still happens. You can get replacement caps here, I would order 2. Price is acceptable and shipping is reasonable and fast: https://www.colonialmetaldetectors.com/xp-pinpointer-end-cap.html As the Cap'n wrote, get used to the stock programs first, I would totally recommend General for relic hunting and beach for beach ? don't jump right into the fancy stuff like sensitive or deep. I made that mistake and now just use a modified General program with success. I have a Beach sensitive program that works well in the beach, but really have to prove it out this year. The menu system is a bit complicated but get out there and use the machine. They will become second nature quickly. Looking forward to your exploits! ?

Got back from a day hunt in Culpeper Virginia yesterday, usually I post immediately but struggled with a title ? This post is more an ode to the Deus 2 than anything spectacular, I'd be in a world of cramps and pain today without it. ? This farm is in Rixeyville VA, it was a part of the Battle of Brandy Station in 1863. The owner hosts hunts there, it's a beautiful place with an incredible old house called Liberty Hall. The hunts are "limited" to 100 detectorists, and despite the absolutely miserable weather there were only 5 no-shows out of 82 signed up. I saw every kind of detector in use, from an Ace 400 too the WS6 Master, and PI's galore. I don't know how they do it. It doesn't get much more miserable than 42 degrees and heavy mist that turned to rain. Luckily it only rained for a couple hours. Add to that the heavy mineralized sticky Culpeper red clay, and you've got quite an adventure. ? I had to keep wiping my pinpointer off in the grass just so I could push the button! I'm not complaining, my time in the Army both in winter Basic Training and the muddy hills of Germany helped me mentally overcome adversity, Chase was there to get trigger time on the Axiom, but he hunted with the D2 as well. According to him the place has been hunted for quite some time now. He made quite a stir with the PI guys. Turns out that hunting the fringes and woods of this place was the way to go, they seeded some stuff but mostly prize tags, and on 220 acres that wasn't much. I think only 9 of them were found. Most successful finds were made in remote areas. Here you can see my track in OnX Hunt, many of the areas had horses or cattle in them and were off limits. I mostly tracked around the marks I made, pickets and cannon emplacments and such. Seemed like all the walking was uphill. ? I'm 63, and still have a bit of "go" in me so I was able to make it through 7.75 miles of up and downhill. Yikes. Sadly I didn't photograph my trash, it was meager but covered with red mud so I left most of it there. I got an iron "Chain Trace" that was identified by one of the participants. The rest was wire and nails. I did find a couple of .223 shells, but stopped digging them and left that area. Here's my ode to the D2, if I didn't have that light machine I would have cramped arms and a bit of a rough time today. Despite the heavily mineralized clay, every good signal was a good find, I just didn't get my coil over many good targets. Iffy signals were all iron or junk. I have complete confidence that I can hunt with the D2 and come home with a minimum of junk. I used my Reaper program almost exclusively, which while acting somewhat differently because of mineralization still gave me the returns I expected with a VLF. With SteveG's carbon fiber shaft and the 13x11 I was able to cover a lot of ground, my legs did the rest. All I got in 7.4 hours of hunting and walking was this Yankee General Service button, I'll post better photos after cleaning it up more. It has the shank and should have backmarks. I followed a hunch, went to the top of a hill on my last push to find something, and there it was. An "11th hour" find that made the day worthwhile. ? It was by far the toughest hunt I've ever been on, my wife wasn't happy with all the red clay on my clothes but she managed to get them spotless. ? Some of my gear now has nifty "battle scars". ?

Great hunt GB, the button sure looks original, your soil is kind, or it's a reenactment item. ? Naval battle in a park? ? interesting ring and bracelet. If the bracelet is silver, I wouldn't have it already. My wife loves silver and white gold. She'd probably pass on the ring especially if it didn't have a makers mark. I'd photograph each item individually on a white background and "Lens" them with the Google Lens app. That's got me closest on many occasions. Your attractive red background may work ok tho.

The Reaper is for hearing everything, you might want to turn iron volume down a notch. Looks like car parts to me, I've found whole Model T Fords out there ? make sure you're ground balanced on a clear spot (12 pumps minimum), and turn 45-90 degrees on falsing targets. They will "dive" to iron. Up reactivity in machine gun nails, but not really over 2.5. When you're not hearing stuff deep, it's too high.

"Thank you very much for the tip, that's why its value is cheap, now when you go to an SDC 2300 the cheapest PI the price is already totally different." ?

No, not that I've ever seen. I don't have any mineralization here, and EMI is usually at a minimum because my area is extremely rural. The permission I was at today does have EMI, but it does not affect either the Deus 2 or the MI-6. I've always been pleased with how well it handles interference. The only thing that might happen is that the pinpointer might "go off" once in a while, the tone keeps going, but a quick button press stops it. Sometimes it doesn't connect to the remote, so turn it off and turn it on again. Don't let people dissuade you regarding this machine and its peripherals. Everything works well. Every machine out there has its quirks, particularly the most versatile. ?

I do that with the Carrot, but not with the MI-6. The MI-6 in my opinion is far superior to all the pinpointers I've used, and it's a bonus to me to hear it in the headphones. I use pitch audio instead of pulse, and there is no hiss. You only hear it when you turn it on. It might be a bit flaky, but it hits stuff very deep and I can use it to keep holes at a minimum if I have to. I run it at full sensitivity all the time. ?

Welllll, just the price of the coil, a second shaft, headphones and a pinpointer... ? Shovel, finds bag... ?

Thanks LC. I can't say enough good about that detector, for sure anything else would give me muscle cramps in my arm. Sadly Relic season is winding to a close. ?

It's a Predator Raptor "D" handle. 11" blade gets you to the finds fast. ? I also have their T handle Barracuda which only digs 6". Far less intimidating. ? They're very tough shovels and cut through roots like a hot knife through butter.

Our friend who writes in Portuguese says: "Generally I try to explore the whole area if I find something I go back there again, but if I don't find even a hint of an object I abandon it and look for another one to explore." Well said indeed ?

Put the 13x11" coil on your wish list for later. ? For relic hunting it's proving to be a bit phenomenal, I have that corroborated by a person long familiar with the Deus. I've had the D2 for over a year now, and have to say it works like I would expect a detector to work. They really have put a lot of effort into giving us a very versatile machine. I'm glad they are being very careful to test and verify the upcoming update, but I'm also very happy with it as is.

Thanks Unox, it is a very big old farm. The original land grant was 3300 acres, this field is about 500. I was glad to find anything of interest, but after over 6 miles of walking I should have found something. ? That view from the top of the hill is unusual here, this is all coastal plain. I wish I could have done better with the photo.

Thanks Cap'n, no silver this time but I thought the finds interesting and in some cases old enough to post, the stamped buckle is probably 1800s, but the spectacle is much older. The diversity of finds in this farm is incredible, and should be. ?

This also explains it, and more accurately I think, as the parts for that sort of tool would be long gone. Please thank your wife for me! I think she nailed it. ??

Right after posting that occurred to me as well. Might explain why other parts weren't found, like broken spur bits. I looked it up, and only found the pointy ones so I didn't mention it. I have seen that style before, but only on toy spurs. ?

Thanks Joe, it was the last thing I found there near the house.

Second day of spring was a winner! A bit chilly to start, but it warmed into the 60s. At no point was it really cold because there was no wind, or just enough. Last night I told Chase I was headed to the big old farm today, I've done well there recently and wanted to check out a few more areas as well as go over some of what I already hunted. I got there fairly early, Chase has a long drive so I decided to go to the top of the largest hill, I only did it once before. The photo doesn't do it justice but it's 141 feet high, yeah not that big by any standard, but a long walk here. It's almost terraced, but probably all natural. This was shot from the top, I only found a couple of buckles on the way up and behind it. Saw Chase walking into the field below, and we searched around the farm for quite a while, both of us had the D2 and the 13x11" coil. The bigger the better here. I used my Relic program, changing from 0 reactivity to as high as 1.5 when it got trashy. I tried to go higher but targets disappeared. The 13" has excellent separation for its size. I ended up walking over 6 miles today, and got only a handful of trash: All the usual stuff, shotgun shell ends, buck balls and metal bits, very little iron even though it is everywhere. Here's what I got, I thought it was interesting/amusing enough to post: An old stamped buckle with decoration, a chrome plated and painted rooster (same reverse), an extremely old spectacle buckle, and a piece of elongated oval lead with no marks. Next row is a strange copper coin with a center hole, it appears to be either cast or hammered with the sunburst design. Two IHP's, a 1902 and 1904. Here's the large coin, it's a bit bigger than a large cent: The side is wavy so I don't think someone used a real coin to make it. It was an 81 which is a standard cent ID. The stamped buckle is very decorated. I'm thinking it was part of the last of its era. My favorite find is the metal rooster, it is probably chrome plated and painted brass. It's not painted one the other side but had the same markings. Chase got some interesting stuff too, it wasn't a spectacular hunt but it was a really nice day for one.

Congratulations, it's a great machine. What do you plan to use it for? Relics? Beach? Parks? All of the above? ? There are many knowledgeable users, definitely ask for help if you need it. ?

My pleasure. ? I should have prefaced by writing that settings aren't the key as much as research. OnX Hunt is definitely worth checking out, even for free. Hope you have a pipe hittin' root shovel, you're going to need it in those wooded areas, probably in there the 9" coil is going to be your buddy. I'm not a big fan of woods hunting but there are lots of great finds for the less timid. Some targets under roots are going to drive you nuts, be prepared with tools. In Historic Aerials make sure you overlay roads, and look at the oldest topographic maps. Some times the roads are clearly marked other times they are dashes. Here's an example: This road is gone but the stuff is still there. ? The square dots are houses and other structures. Mark locations in OnX using the waypoints, and you can literally track your destination. Let Historic Aerials have your location when using the site and it will get you close. Look at the oldest aerials too, you'd be surprised what you might find. You'll have to compare them to newer ones to get your waypoints right. LiDar will give you evidence of cellar holes and disturbed ground. If you suddenly start hearing a lot of iron ("all metal" settings are critical), you're in a hot spot, but the woods have greater challenges in that a lot of it may be big. People throw stuff in the woods at you'll see. Good luck, and I'll be following this thread with great interest. ?

Hello Colonel, we'll all be right down to show you in person. ? ? Few questions, field or wooded (probably both), dry, marsh, clay, loam, rocky or sandy? If you haven't read my tutorials on boning up for a historic area, now might be a good time: Seeing as your time is going to be limited, a bit of research is the key to major success. Maybe even Colonel success. ? I'd strongly suggest perusing Historic Aerials and LiDar maps, OnX Hunt is free but worth every penny if you do pay for it, its location and marking capabilities are incredible. 12 acres is pretty big, and if you keep your eye out for other property owners they also might be interested in knowing what treasure lies beneath their ground. Be friendly and listen carefully to them. ? An arsenal of Deus 2 programs developed lately may help, I know we have shared a few. Silver Slayer has its use, you might want to grab that one if you haven't already. If it's a farm I have been trying to find the time to post some helpful info regarding my experience, but I'll save that until you reply. ? I'll throw a Reader's Digest version at you.

Usually 7 hours on a relic site, in the summer I go 4 hours a day in the morning on the beach, at home, 6 or 7.

I can tell you that I've used all 3 coils relic hunting, and as long as there aren't a lot of stalks the 13" has been killing it. I have gone over areas later with the 9" and found nothing else. The 9" is going to be more efficient for separation and maybe isolating smaller targets, but the 13" is going to find them faster. ? Maybe some of the wizards can explain it better, but I really like ellipticals.

I've got all three, and find I'm using the 13" most often now, this is because the relic sites I hunt are pretty flat, not like last year with all the corn stalks. The farmers all planted cover crop instead of winter wheat for the most part, it was more profitable to not plant wheat. I seriously doubt that will change much in the coming months when I get out to beaches and campgrounds, but I'll have the 9" handy to hunt tot lots and other places to small for the 13". I may keep the 11" for a handy backup, and sometimes will use the 9" on the WS6 Master. I like that rig but it seems a bit delicate.