glacialgold

8 minutes ago, Digalicious said:

but does the old mid shaft have a rubber cap on either of the ends that the new CF mid shaft doesn't have?

Nope, no rubber cap on either version of the mid-shaft...at least not the ones I have.

I see what you're saying though, about how the lower shaft has a rubber cap on its top end and how that might add some stability.

Hey there, for anyone who has had a chance to compare the original aluminum (I think?) mid-shaft for the Legend with the upgraded carbon fiber version, have you noticed anything different?

There's a [very] small reduction in weight for the CF version, but not enough for me to notice. What I have found, however, is that the CF version is a tad wobbly, and makes a bit of a creaking sound while swinging. Not a deal-breaker by any means -- more like a minor annoyance.

I tried adjusting the length of both the lower and mid-shafts multiple times, and without making the overall length far too short for my swing, I experienced the same slight wobble/creaking. Switching back to the original stock mid-shaft solved the issue entirely.

Fancy digs!

19 hours ago, DirtyBoatGuy said:

Buddy of mine took me out once,,,, DONE!

Welcome, and glad to hear you had a fun first experience dectecting!

If you don't mind me asking, what was it that turned you on to the hobby? Did you find something cool, liked the exploration piece, technology, etc.? I'm still a relative novice, but I can say it's the thrill of the hunt that pulls me in, and finding anything weird/cool keeps me going...or if I start hitting a bunch of quarters 🙂

Oh man, that is a sweet looking machine!

On 7/15/2023 at 10:07 AM, ORourke said:

Greetings from the Treasure Coast!

Welcome, ORourke!

Sounds like a fantastic location for all sorts of treasure hunting!

15 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

24 minutes ago, Bill (S. CA) said:

One question for you about nickels: what numbers are you hitting for them with the expanded target ID range?

Most of the time US modern nickels and V nickels have been 25/26. The only common aluminum target that I regularly find with those numbers are beaver tails broken off of ring pulls and the occasional bent/damaged square or oval pull tab.

Yeah, same here for modern US nickels. If I get a solid repeat signal centering around 25, I'm almost certain it's a Jefferson. My range for digging nickel signals is 22-27, but the targets get real dicey towards those boundary numbers. More likely a pencil eraser clasp or can tab, but sometimes a nickel on edge or fertilizer/rain pollution zapped. 

@Jeff McClendon

Excellent write-up and comparison/summary, many thanks!

I purchased an 800 and a Legend around this the same time last year, and now have maybe 150 hours combined now between the two machines. Nowhere near your experience, but here's what I can note as a relative novice:

Since I got the Nox first, it got the most use up front, but I found myself swinging the Legend more and more, especially after the v1.11 update came out. I now have a pretty full suite of coils for both machines, and I've branched out my hunting sites from a couple local schoolyards to a variety of park types (both local and distant), beaches, and permissions (still need to work on getting more older properties on my list).

In any given hunting scenario, I'm probably 75% Legend. While I consider the Nox with aftermarket full CF shaft and cuff overall a generally "sweeter swing", it stays on the backburner. Legend with the stock LG28 has been my go-to on most occassions, but I'm also playing around with the LG24, and and the LG30 just landed yesterday (along w/the upgraded CF midshaft and cuff).

Granted, what I'm hitting yields mainly modern clad and cheap bling jewelry -- no silver (although I hope!) or nugget shooting here. Some days are big quarter days, other heavy on the nickels, and the jewelry tend to show up in isolated clumps. The Legend seems like it bangs on all those targets, and I also feel like I'm digging less trash than on the Nox. On the other hand, I'm almost guaranteed a good hunt if I pull out the Nox with the 10x5 Coiltek coil and go over ground previousl proved good using the Legend.

If I had to go back all over again and settle on a single detector, I'd definitely choose the Legend, primarily per the price point and the wider range of features.

1 hour ago, Cal Kellogg said:

I'm a long time prospector and I write for the ICMJ Magazine. I reside in the heart of the California Gold Country and have a hydraulic pit within 10 minutes of my house.

Wow, welcome, Cal! Your prospecting reality is my fantasy!

1 hour ago, deecee60 said:

Just bought Minelab’s Manticore, and excited to try it out once the rain stops. I am currently in Maine, but I live a little bit north of Atlanta.  

Welcome, deecee60! You'll find plenty of fellow Manticore swingers here...although I'm not one of them.

Since you live in N. Georgia, do you happen to do any prospecting in the gold-bearing areas there?

Very interesting situation to consider, glad you brought up this topic.

Marketing and economics are not my forte, but I'd have to wonder about future impacts of short term (?) price reductions to capture external market share in an internally inflationary environment. Say Notka dropped the MSRP on the re-modeled Legends to 300USD, for example --  incredible deal, puts it on par pricing-wise w/the XTerra Pro. They'd move a ton of units, for sure.

But what happens if/when Turkey pulls out of this inflationary cycle? Nokta would need move prices back up sigificantly to keep their margins, but buyers would be conceptually locked in to the brand at the lower price points, i.e., thinking of NM as even more of "super-value" brand than it already is.

I'd be thrilled to hear from those w/deeper backgrounds in these areas, and please take my novice ruminations above w/many grains of salt. 🙂

13 hours ago, phrunt said:

My 800 is pretty solid, aftermarket shaft, aftermarket arm cuff, aftermarket coils, the control pod is all I care about and it's been good to me.

Ditto -- much sweeter swing with a full CF shaft and sturdy cuff.

I was using the Legend for a few months exclusively until I picked up the 10x5 Coiltek coil for the Nox. That coil on the 800 is a little piece of magic! Next thing I knew, I was pulling quarters galore out of previously worked territory.

And then I brought the Legend w/stock coil out to the same worked/re-worked area the other night and pulled out even more coins (all clad) and absolutely zero trash! I'm starting to wonder if angle of approach is a significant factor here, on top of machine + settings + coil combo?

Hey, not sure if anyone else has ran across this, but there's is a new Legend tutorial (looks like it's based on the updated model with 1.11) by Detect-Ed Metal Detecting:

Unlocking The Nokta Legend [Part 1] Turn On & Go

Part 1 is linked to above, and there are two additional segments.

I'd have appreciated this one earlier on my Legend experiece, but it still did clarify a few items. Great resource for new Legend swingers!

Excellent narrative w/pics, and congrats on that fantastic nugget!

I hear you re: heat, and I run hot, too -- too hot and I can't labor well. Here in the midwestern US, however, I call it at 85F+ (so 29C?) in dry diggings, and can do 90F+ if in water and not constant direct sun. Those Australian miners, however, man...they can operate in wicked heat, Vo-Gus Prospecting being my favorite example.

6 hours ago, Marblin said:

I am new to Gold Hunting and Gold Prospecting. I started recently in Spring of 2023.

Welcome, Marblin! What part of the world might you be operating in?

Tons of detecting/prospecting/coin shooting/relic advice available in this fine forum, and even if some of us aren't swinging for nuggets, we'd sure like to hit some gold of any sort!

Hey folks, does anybody know of any dealers offering that Nokta deal for existing Legend owners, the one where supposedly Nokta would sell an LG30 coil and bundle in the mid-shaft/cuff upgrade for no additional cost? 

Also, any word on when a new batch of LG24 coils might be landing?

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

I don't even consider headphones as I don't use them 🙂

Hey, I'm not the only one!

Exceptions would be in high wind or close to traffic...maybe in winter. I just don't like the feel of headphones, nor the loss of situational awareness. Maybe for nuggest hunting to focus in on those whisper signals or threshhold breaks, but that's not really the business I'm in.

Thanks for all the good advice, everyone!

I did beat the skunk later last week. Nothing major, but I popped a decent coount of clad (primarily quarters), barely dug any trash, and found two softball tokens/medallions. Those tokens are fun, especially b/c I found those most recent two in the same 50x50 ft area where I'd dug two other ones on separate hunts earlier. So, new finds from a previously-worked area.

My guess is the local league must congregate at that shaded area in the sport complex after the final game for a post-season party, which is where the commemorative tokens get handed out (and subsequently dropped).

32 minutes ago, Nuke em said:

I may well be back there on Monday evening . May well be with the Terra Pro again or the Legend.

Oof, jealous! Nice finds there, and curious to read about your Legend results.

22 hours ago, bigtim1973 said:

I keep mine set up pretty simple....field, full tones, m2 or m1 and adjust the disc to accept everything then adjust the recovery speed to suite the site.  Just ground balance and take off. 

Same here, although I go the disc out ferrous route. The way I figure it, hitting moden targets I'm not gonna lose anything there and maybe can reduce some noise. Happy to be wrong, however!

3 hours ago, Diggin' It said:

Tried it out for just 15 minutes day before yesterday, to look at/get used to the controls...found only a nail. Got it back out today, for only 30 minutes, and found a 1928 penny! The oldest coin I've found here yet!

@Diggin' It Which unit did you end up choosing? (And sorry if I missed it!)

Congrats on the 1928 penny -- I still haven't pulled anything that old!

I have to say, after a couple months running the Legend on the 1.11 updates, I am experiencing a much better target/trash ratio, and I'm seeing results on a variety of coil sizes. Use is mainly in parks and playgrounds, searching modern clad and whatever weird stuff might live in the ground.  (Granted, some portion of this improvement has to do w/increasing my experience on the machine.)

2+ months in on the 1.11 update:

• Target/trash ratio <=1:3 (all coils)
  • More like 1:10 before.
• Quarters are my new nickels
  • Used to call myself Johnny Nickels, now I'm Quarter Johnny. (all coils)
• Silver ring
  • Yep, but a bit crushed and in need of repair. (LG15 - Weird, but I've hit all of my ring finds on the small coil.)
• 1st $1+ 30 minute run + Sacagawea dollar
  • Yeah, that was tonight ($1.51 total 🙂 ) with the LG35 on the Legend, Field M2, sweeping over an area previously worked on the 1.09 Legend and Nox 800 w/stock coils in Park settings. LG35 rang super-sweet on those good targets. I was shocked by the doller coin result -- I've never seen one in circulation around here, let alone in the ground.

Oh yeah, should tag @bigtim1973 here!

@Diggin' It 

@Chase Goldman's post earlier in the thread is quite literally gold, and effectively summarizes the best options on the market. I can speak from the perspective of having the Equinox 800 and the Legend and, while they have some slight differences in areas of strengths/weaknesses, I consider them almost interchangeable in terms of outcomes. They are noticeably different swings, however, and I mean that in a good way.

If I had to do it all over again and go with a single detector, I'd go the Legend route if price was an issue. If price wasn't a consideration, however, I'd pony up for the Equinox 900 for all the improvements over the prior 600/800 models. And I do like the 800/900 options vs. the 600/700 ones for the higher frequency options. Even if you aren't gold prospecting, the 20 and 40 kHz settings available onthe 800 and 900 can be useful for hunting small gold jewelry. That said, the Legend has those same higher frequency options (as well as multi frequency) at a much lower price point.

3 hours ago, ☠ Cipher said:

I still look for them in the $50 range, play around with it for a while, and resell again.

Oh man, I should have asked for more! I ended up selling the BH Tracker IV for $35 at our garage sale yesterday. The guy who bought it was real excited because he said his daugther has been begging for a metal detector, but they're just too expensive.

I also put up my Garrett Ace 400 for $119 at garage sale. Got a lot of questions, but nobody interested at that price point. AOK by me because I still want it to keep around for the kids to play with, should they get in a detecting mood. I feel like the resell value for the prior generation of entry level machines should be taking a hit per the Simplex and X-Terra Pro models.

Regardless, I'm still happy to support a new user getting into the hobby!