F350Platinum

That's an interesting thought then: Can the waveguide be used with the WS6 Master for shallow water hunting? 🤔 There are no physical connections, just proximity to an internal transmitter antenna. 🤔 🤔

So I hope. 🙄 I've probably dug over 50 buttons in the past few weeks. That makes 4 of those recently! They're usually plain. George Washington didn't live too far away from here, but only as a boy I think. They've found some here and there. This one is probably the bucket lister... 😁

Beautiful ring! I remember that post. 👍 Love how dirty/dusty your D2 is in the photos. 😀 Now that it's winter the low sun angle and dust make it hard to read the screen. 😏 Doesn't matter much, walking around the target helps with that. 😀 Almost 10g! My D2 14k find was only about 5. 👍

Thanks, I'm not in any way a long-experienced detectorist, about 2 and a half years. I do get out a lot though, and have a lot of ground to cover. I try a lot of stuff! Almost all the places I hunt are mild soil, literally no mineralization. Targets kinda jump out at ya. 😀 I've never dug anything interesting over 12" deep, and those things were large, a KG3 coin and a civil war bit boss come immediately to mind. Try using 0 reactivity and when you find something, then crank it up to 2 or 3. You'll immediately see what I'm writing about, the target will get fainter or possibly even disappear. I'm using pitch/full tones, set discrimination at zero, notch off. This gives you a huge range of audio that is very descriptive. I was a musician most of my life so this works best for me. 🙃 I also turn iron volume up to 4 so it doesn't get missed. If you have a trashy spot, you'll know it for sure, you might want to turn volume down 😀 This was a bad time and a good time of year for new stuff to come out, great because people tend to save for Christmas, but bad because winter. 😡 I feel for folks in the upper tiers, I'm here in the middle and while the weekend will suck, I'll be out again next week. Just gotta get through this crap 🤣

One campground I visited was very grateful I dug about 5 rounds of Remington 35 from a hole about 2 feet from a fire pit. 😀 💥 Campers move fire pits all the time. That's some big stuff. What a great place to hunt, looks like nobody's been there. 👍

Your measurement of the WS6 Master is nearly the same as mine by .0xx Jeff, great post. 👍 The 900 looks good to me. I hope we'll read more about it and Aptx-LL devices. It's definitely the most bang for the buck if you have coils for the previous versions.

Nice beach report, Colonel. 👍 Are you using the 13" or the 11"? Centered or standard offset? I had to go to the centering device even with the 11". When I first started swinging the coil in the field, I noticed one of the camlocks wasn't tight enough, there was a tiny "knock" on each swing. A quick turn or 2 on the thumbscrew got it gone. The 13" will definitely put a shaft through the paces. Weight and corn stalks... Another thing about Steve's shafts is that the tolerances are tight, with any detector I bought one for, prior to that I had to get both sand and fine dust out of the tubes after a short while, that "crunch" when you shorten the XP shaft to charge it it's telling you something. With Steve's creations that is much less of a problem, as a matter of fact I've never had to do it. 🙂

I guess that's why I say you can get the 13" coil to "float" at a longer length than with the XP shaft. It's more of a feeling than anything, but thanks for the info! Balance definitely matters. 👍 With that coil you have to "choke up" the XP shaft lower to compensate for the nose heavy feel. Without a centering device it's even worse. I am probably even more impressed with this one Steve. I see the potential for being able to get a "convertible" model, one that can either be used as a straight shaft or an S. 👍

Thanks. That ring is probably 100 or more years old. 🙂 Wish there was an inscription, may carefully polish it up and see what I get. I'm pretty sure it's copper, but it was a 92 ID. 🤔 Using lower recovery is a risk, kinda flies in the face of popularity, maybe even science. 😀 For sure the Deus 2 is fast regardless of settings, so getting it to lock on takes a bit of inspection after a "blip", but it does so quickly. The idea is to follow down the "blips", and voila, there it is. I wouldn't recommend it for extremely trashy areas. That aside I was kinda disappointed with the higher recovery speed when I saw how many fewer targets I was hearing in a trashy spot. When I have more time I'll try it more. 🙂

YES!! nice sapphire and diamonds! Man, what a find. 👍 really like the Tootsie jeep too. And trash served up for dinner! 🤣 I knew you'd find one eventually, and of course you scored big time. Congrats!

Thanks Cap'n. 🙂 I'm not gonna say I dislike the XP shaft, but I thought it would be better to get a much tougher one for the 13". After this nasty storm and one seriously cold day passes I'm going to get a shot at my fields in front of my house again. Probably won't be posting any major finds, but I can't wait to see what the Deus can do out there. It's been almost 2 years since I went over them with my Equinox. They planted a different cultivar of beans this year, the stalks aren't as thick.

Nice rig, Steelheader! 👍 I think it has a much better look than some others I've seen. 🤔 Heck if he added one more camlock after the handgrip you'd have a convertible! 😀 Wish I'd thought of that... HH

That is exciting, Brad. 👍 You're going to love it. Knew Steve would knock it out of the park, shame he had to hustle to get the initial run out. Just like the camo shaft I got for the Equinox, pure perfection. I've been considering a sand scoop shaft for my CooB Shark V10, but I can't seem to break the PVC rig I built. 😀 It's gotta be that bamboo core. Might someday get a titanium model and do it then. That would be light! 👍

Pleased is an understatement. 😀 Hey I threw the heaviest coil on it. 🤔 It's rock solid. I stay out of the water this time of year, I'm looking forward to a beach review. So cool that it doesn't snag on anything, and stands up well when laid on the ground. I don't use a cuff strap. It's nice to have it hold the coil out further and still be in balance, I was tired of detecting my boots 🤣 Ya done good Steve. Really good. I'd have written more but ColonelDan did a great job. 👍 Remote lock is outstanding. I like how you kept the tube diameters thin, they should work well in water.

Sorry about that. 😵 Here in my part of VA the ground almost never freezes, and if it does it changes in short order. I'll be out all winter depending on how cold it is. With light wind and sunny I can take it down to 36f without heated gloves and socks. I've got Reynaud's Syndrome in my hands and feet so I need to be careful. It's almost a work of art, isn't it? 👍

Busy day today, started out at 23 degrees, it was 36 by the time I got out there. Today I was testing SteveG's Carbon Fiber Deus 2 shaft. Sure looks nice. 👍 The 13" is the heaviest Deus 2 coil to date, and is what I intend to use on it. It's great for both beach and field, I've used the coil extensively now (almost 20 hours) and it even holds its own in corn stalks. Mounted on the shaft it feels tough, solid as a rock and light. The D2 with the 13" weighs 2.7 pounds, compared to my Equinox with 10x5 and Steve's excellent shaft for that it's .2 pounds lighter! (2.9 for Equinox) The only modification I made was to use a 1/4" neoprene pad in the cuff instead of the 1/8" pad supplied. Just for fun I also weighed the WS6 Master rig with the 9", it came in at 911g - exactly 2 pounds. 😀 The one thing I noticed right away is that the cuff legs and longer arm shaft don't catch or snag on anything, the XP shaft did frequently. 🫤 I set the shaft length so that the coil "floats", I can do that with the XP shaft but it's shorter, and it's always snagging on my shirt or gear. If you want to get the coil straight, simply set the detector on the floor, the coil has "legs". Loosen the camlock and adjust it so that the coil "legs" and the cuff legs are flat. That's it. Get your length, lock the camlock and go. I spent 6 hours in the field today and didn't experience any more arm fatigue than usual. I like the feel of the carbon fiber, and it cleans up much easier than the rubber coated XP shaft. I was also using my new Wire Free headphones, it was cold and I was going to be closer to the highway, so I decided to use over ear phones. They have a recess for the WSA II puck. They're not the greatest audio in the world, I had to tweak the equalizer a bit, but they're fine for me. I could hear everything. They only cost about $120 so you get what you pay for. I'd have bought the WSA II XL headphones but they don't have a removable audio module. This is better for me. Didn't find much today but I tested a lot of settings in different places. One thing I found is just how much depth you lose when using higher reactivity. I went over a spot where I searched with the 13" with reactivity 0, didn't get anything and it was suggested that I had reactivity too low. Went back there with reactivity at 2 and still got nothing, what I immediately noticed was that I also heard less targets, and what it did get wasn't as deep. I have audio response at 3, combined with R=0 you'll hear more, the separation is pretty much as good, and you don't have to swing much slower, just inspect what you hear that sounds good. Try it sometime. 😎 Case in point was this copper ring I dug later at 8", it was a loud 92 with R=0, and a faint 86 with R=2: I'm sticking with lower reactivity, out of the ground it was still a 92. 😁 Here's the haul, pretty scant but satisfying: Got the most boring two piece button I've ever found, no discernible backmarks and no front decoration, just a pit: A musket ball, a mangled thimble, some sort of finial or very weird bullet, the ring, a wheel for something that I first thought was a button but the "axle" goes through it. Got a gold plated cufflink: Looks like it had something attached. Last find was a Tombac, seriously deep and a wavering 47. And that's why the trash was horrible. Lots of aluminum going over 85 today. 😡 The small pieces get dug because Tombac buttons. 😀 Very little falsing iron!

I'm out in the fields right now with the 13" on SteveG's CF shaft. I'd say it's a "touch" heavier than the original rig, but I've been swinging it for a few hours and it's same same. It'll be a lot easier to clean! 😀 I really think you will like that coil, and the WS6 rig will be field tested soon. 🙂 The 13" does have some of the characteristics of the venerable Nox 10x5, stay tuned. 😎

Yikes, how did I miss this post? Oh yeah... It has "Manticore" in the title. 🤣 Glad to see ya taking one for the team, where I hunt one button (even trashed) means not skunked. Great real analysis, and proof that the detector works well in the hands of someone experienced.

Camo would have been a longer wait, we did of course discuss it. 😀 opted for the stock finish and the holes for passing the waveguide. Even if I don't use the passthrough, the holes are large enough to fill the shaft with water and allow it to escape quickly. Good for submersion. In my opinion the counterweight addition wasn't necessary, with the 13" and centering device you can set the cuff to make it sort of "float", it's hard to describe but you know it when you get it set right, it feels like you don't need to grip the handle too hard. One thing I will mention here is that the rear cuff shaft is much longer than the XP version, if you have long arms like me it helps. I took the WS6 Master setup out in the yard for a test drive, it's comfortable and different from the large remote but when you learn the buttons it's fine. Almost all the power of the RC is there, I noticed I had "Ground Stabilizer" in the main menu with disc and reactivity instead of it being buried somewhere else in the RC. 🤔

Haha, come on down. 😀 The motels are cheap this time o' year. It's only 60 acres in front of my house , 300 or more around the corner. I've hit most of it here, but there's still random stuff to be found.

Well anyone who knows literary history will know where the title came from, no bears or canoes were harmed in the development of this story. 😁 Got my CF Deus 2 shaft from SteveG today, I'll post my thoughts on that in another topic. 🙂 While waiting for it I ordered a second WSA II backphone. The intention was to create a WS6 Master rig using the original shaft and the 9" coil, and use the RC unit on the CF shaft with the 13" coil. So, ~$400 later I have a second Deus 2! I've set up the General program with my mods on it, paired the headphones, and now I truly have the lightest detector in the world. 🥳 I also have a spare MI-6. Of course it's not without one issue, however. 😵 The combination of WS6 module, the coil, and the WSA II backphones presents a trifling charging problem. You'd think, oh hey, I'll just use the D1 cable, that's great! Nope. 😡 Attach the butterfly clamp to the coil, and the D1 3 USB-mini-B cable will not reach the WS6 module on the shaft. 😵 I guess the D1 had a shorter upper? At least you can remove the coil and lower shaft every time to get everything charging, and you don't have that cheesy PITA 5 pin DIN connector, just still have to deal with the butterfly clamp being backwards. 🙄 It's that or remove the module, I'd rather wear out the camlock instead of the remote mount. Damaging the remote is pricey. I know I'm gonna love this rig, especially for marathon hunts, I can stuff it in the 280 backpack and look like those cool guys in the original D2 videos. 🤣 It seriously weighs next to nothing, I don't have a proper scale to measure it but it's light. Just fire it up in that big ol' iron patch... I could have done this by buying a new D2 shaft and I'd be in the same boat, but Steve's CF rig is so cool it deserves a post of it's own. 👍 You've already read ColonelDan's excellent post, I'm gonna use it in the field with the 13" coil. 🙂

Thanks, out of likes today, lots of funny and poignant commentary 🤣 I was wondering if anyone would comment on the pull tab or correct me. 😁 It is an old one tho. Here's the big scoop today: The farmers are picking up the beans in front of my house!! Today is 2 years since I joined the forum. 🥳 It's also almost 2 years since I was last able to get out in those fields. 😵 This is gonna be a busy winter...

Well Rick, I'm out of likes already this morning. 😀 Thanks, they would but I didn't need them yesterday. There was enough sun to warm up the insulated nitrile gloves I wear. Some days when it's clear I can get away with it. I'm just grateful that the Deus 2 can tune out the EMI from them. Now I have a new small problem, the 13" picks up the rivets and shanks in my boots. 🤣

This will also be useful for identifying who was in your spot, maybe you can publish a manual for tracking detectorists like wildlife 🤔

That will be nice for letting someone else hear what you're hearing. Still kinda concerns me that Aptx-LL devices aren't working despite the claims of support. Did you "initialize" the device before pairing it to the Equinox? Some APTX-LL stuff has to be "unpaired" before pairing it to another device. 🤔