UT Dave

I have one arriving next week too. - Dave

I love the M8. It's my favorite coil to use on the Manticore. And I have found a number of silvers and a few gold nuggets with it so far. I did not realize the M9 is even lighter. I did realize it has significantly more surface area (coverage and depth) than the M8. But I like the M8 so much, I had decided to pass on the M9. But more coverage and possible a bit more depth, and even lighter than the M8... I have no will power at all. Ft. Bedford is showing them in stock. So... Yeah, I have no will power. It's ordered... I don't see it replacing the M8 for nugget hunting. But, I'm curious. Guess I'll find out. - Dave

Very cool! I don't collect the stuff. Just leave it where I find it. But I do run across a fair amount of artifacts. Couple of neat ones from last fall. And one from a couple of months ago. - Dave

I've dug over 5,000 US clad coins with the Manticore now. Using the M11, in ATHC, Sensitivity ~19, Recovery 5 or 6, in my dirt. US clad. Quarters = 88 Copper Pennies/Clad Dimes = 78-80 Nickels = 27 New Zincs = 60-65 Cruddy Zincs = <60 Using the M8, same settings as above except Sensitivity~21, add one or two numbers to everything, so Quarters = 90, Dimes = 82 etc. Different sites, different conditions, different days, different modes, different coils, all can change the above one or two numbers either way, depending. - Dave

I do recall, Gerry I think, posting a dealer list of some sort early on that had an M9 on it. Seemed weird at the time. Still seems weird. - Dave

Both. My most prolific park for rings is a spot I call the "Ring Bowl". It's less than 15 years old. But it's a sled hill that bottoms out in a flood retention basin. I've found big silver rings over 8" deep at the bottom of the hill in the basin there with the Manticore. But I've also found plenty of deep park silver in the oldest parks around here, in the 100+ year old range. These all came from one hunt in one of those parks and the big ring was quite, quite deep. - Dave

Yes, talking specifically of park turf type sites. Some of my deepest keeper finds in parks have been honker silver or gold rings. I find them on or near the surface, too. But they can and do sink in my dirt. And probably just because a big ring gives a strong signal, like I said, some of my deepest keepers in parks are rings. They tend to be oriented vertically too. My guess is because most are quite a bit heavier on the top side. - Dave

I was happy staying on the old version. Until, I needed to use the M8 to hunt for small gold nuggets. The update is kind of a must for that, I think. So I've been using the update for awhile. I don't have anything in particular I'd like to see "fixed" in an update. And that is essentially all an update is to ML, a bug fix. They don't seem interested in adding features with updates. I really wish the pinpoint volume could be adjusted independently though. And a mineralization meter. Not holding my breath for anything at all though. Would not surprise me to never see another Manticore update of any kind. Just how ML rolls.. - Dave

I do find rings quite deep, quite often. - Dave

The note from ML posted above by @fishersari reminded me of something. The live VID in pinpoint on the Manticore is pretty under rated in my opinion. Especially with the M8, pinpoint mode is actually pretty awesome at sussing out collocated targets. With the M8 you can get completely different VID's only a couple inches apart in pinpoint. - Dave

FWIW, I ran my 800 at recovery 4 almost all the time. Never above 5. Testing on in the ground targets - my coin garden but they've all been in the ground at least 15 years now - I found I actually get better dig me signals with the Manticore at 5 or 6 than I do at 4. And even more so with the update installed. Absolutely not what I would have expected coming from the 800 and just one of the reasons I'm one of those who say the Manticore is not just a beefed up Equinox. It really is a completely different machine. Speaking of the update... Running the Stabilizer on, at 1, I can squeeze a number or two higher sensitivity. But I generally don't like what it does to the audio even at a setting of 1. I never use the Stabilizer Filter - I hate what that does to the audio. But I'm trying to get used to using the Stabilizer on, at 1. Still kind of early for me with that to have a strong opinion. Other than, I can go a notch higher sensitivity and maintain stability, which is why I'm giving it a go. - Dave

It sounds like our dirt is pretty different. So, not sure I could be of much help, really. Curious how you are running the audio though. Very much personal preference. But I only run in 1 region all tones. I find the audio tells of full tones helpful. I do usually run ATHC in park turf. But in iron infested ghost town sites I prefer ATLC or maybe ATG, specifically because I get fooled by iron less in those modes than ATHC. In my dirt, running recovery at 4 is what I consider getting aggressive and less choosy about targets. I almost always get tighter ID's at better depth running at 5 or 6. Truly masked, is truly masked, and I don't know how to overcome that. At 5 or 6 recovery though, what may often sound like a single target at 4, represents as two targets. This is not what I'd call truly masked. More like co-located. But at this point, after using the Manticore a lot for well over a year now, I feel it's a good bit better at sniffing out a good co-located target than the 800 I used to use. My dirt just won't tolerate the kind of sensitivity you are running. About the only time I get over 20 is with the M8. In a nutshell though. My thoughts at this stage in my experience with the Manticore, I "tune" for stability and tight VIDs and let depth take care of itself. If I'm bumping up the sensitivity and bumping the recovery speed down, it's because I'm pretty much planning to dig anything that sounds deep. - Dave

I did some work out there a long time ago. And knew the quartermaster that was there for a couple of years a long time ago, he took me out coyote hunting on the base a few times. Have "accidentally" wandered onto it from the edges once or twice too. - Dave

A few times. - Dave

The site does seem snappier. Much appreciated! - Dave

Even tiny, tiny gold. A .06 gram flake with the M8. And I know of much, like, MUCH smaller bits being sniffed out by the M8. - Dave

I did nibble a little caliche off the first one to make sure I wasn't seeing things. It was mostly encrusted with it and I wasn't trusting my eyes, so I did chew on it slightly to get some of the crust off.... - Dave

I'm not on the FB, so haven't seen the picture. Imagine Gerry will get some of them on here when he has time. - Dave

Yup. I don't think I'd ever wear a hole in the coil itself if I never used a cover. It would sure look like crap though . - Dave

And, for fun and being real. Just some of the non-gold tiny bits I dug. I was keeping them for the first day and a half. Gerry told us how Lunk got his nickname. If they had been giving out nicknames for this class mine would have been Junk. I'm pretty sure I dug more tiny trash than anyone else by a pretty wide margin. That actually gave me confidence though. One of Gerry's staff members, Eli, helped me a lot with discerning targets from the ground. As I was getting a LOT of ground signals that were the same as a nugget signal. This junk really upped my confidence in believing I could tell a real target from the ground. And those three little bits of wire towards the right side, those were all three under the coil at the same time as my first nugget. And that felt pretty darn good to suss that out. - Dave

I think that would work. For me, the issue isn't so much the gliding, as how much sand gets in between the cover and the coil. Mostly desert, but occasional beach. Taping or gooping or whatever would help with that a lot I'm sure. But anymore, I just take the cover off in those conditions. FWIW, which is not much, my M-11 has been 85% used on grass and I've already worn a small hole through the cover. I'm a ground scrubber though. - Dave

Too stinkin' cool! From doing it in the snow, to the moose, to the recovery! - Dave

If I'm remembering what I learned in class correctly, this is where I'm supposed to say I found them down in the lake . - Dave

Attended Gerry's class this weekend and did not go home empty handed. Found my first two nuggets! A .42 and a .25 gram. Using my Manticore and the M8. Dime is for size reference only. Happy as could be! - Dave

I'm a mostly park dirt jewelry and coin, old site relic hunter. The M-15 is the least used of the three Manticore coils for me. But, in the situations it is called for, it's pretty sweet. I use it mostly for parks that aren't too trashy. Easy turf contact swinging with great coverage. For me, in my dirt, I can't really say I've seen a depth increase over the M-11. Maybe, just a tiny bit, maybe. But the coverage is awesome. It pinpoints surprisingly well, which for me in a park setting is important too. Like I say, the least used of the three, for me. But, glad I have it when I want to use it. Recent three silver park hunt with the M-15. And it is also surprisingly sensitive to smaller bits. This is a tiny .25 gram 14k charm I found the next day after the three silvers, in the same park. - Dave