glacialgold

Garrett Carrot (Pro Pointer AT) for me, and I'd echo similar comments upthread about the Minelab pinpointers being "sub par." I have a ML Pro Find 20, and only keep it around in case a friend joins in on a hunt and needs a pinpointer. It doesn't register a small target unless it's an 1" or so away, and doesn't have any bells and whistles like the carrot. I also have a ML Pro Find 15 still in the box -- it's going up in the spring garage sale since I can't see it having use except the most novice, budget detectorist. Maybe the Pro Find 35 is better, dunno?

I'm primarily a speaker-only hunter, so this would be a big problem if it hit my Legend. Glad to hear about the confidence in Nokta re: the warranty, however.

Same boat on the kid front -- we have twin boys in elementary school and they have A LOT of activities. Factor in both adults having FT+ jobs, needing to keep the house in order, etc., and I find myself squeezing in 1 hour hunts once or twice a week, weather permitting. Later in spring and in early fall I'll cash in some PTO time and do some half-day hunts, but that's about all I can budget for.

I don't usually do long outings, so a small bag of chips and an apple works for me. As for fluids, however, I learned a trick from my dad. He worked on a factory assembly line for 30 years, a brutally hot place without AC. He would take empty gatorade bottles, refill them with tap water, and place 4 of them in the freezer for work the next day. The then-frozen solid ice bottles would go in a small cooler, and viola -- ice cold water all day long. Works great for a hot day detecting, too!

Same here, roughly guessing...and maybe closer to 10". Soil in my area is mostly red/brown clay, minimal mineralization, with a thin layer of topsoil. I just got the LG35 coil, however, and can't wait to see how it does depth-wise. Interestingly, the moment that really hooked me on the hobby here was when I got a Nox 800 and, on my first test pass in the backyard (already hit repeatedly w/an Ace 400), I pulled a '63 Roosevelt dime at around 8-10". I feel the Legend would hit that same target, no prob.

1.11 is now live on my machine! It's a pity I won't have much time to test it out for at least the next couple weeks...although I may be able to squeeze in a couple brief dawn/dusk park hunts. Relying on you folks about how it goes, otherwise!

Just installed the beta 3 version on my Legend. I have an hour or so this afternoon to test it out in a local park before I'm expected to report back for dinner. Don't expect anything major, but it's a good excuse to get out and get some sun and fresh air.

Another thing I've noticed -- and maybe it's the camera angle -- is he sweeps real quick with that 6" coil. Like, totally zero overlap. Granted, he gets good stuff on video, but it makes me wonder about the presumed rigor of "Pretend you are painting the ground, overlap sweeps by 50%" method we've all heard about. I'm in the habit of overlapping maybe in the 20-30% range, but happy to reconsider.

Haven't tried this feature out in the wild, but it's what I'm wanting to use on the Legend for finding black sand deposits in the local creeks. High reading to the right = good place to dig/sample. Maybe flag readings across a 100 ft stretch of creek as a proxy indicator of where the gold deposits.

Totally agree. I'm guilty of some pretty sloppy plugs, especially in my area with the clay when wet. Being relatively new, however, I'm still trying to up my "hole hygiene" game, as I like to call it.

OK, the Quest V80 has me legit intrigued. I'll be curious to see what others report on YouTube (and hopefully on this forum).

careful what you wish for, the whole purpose of a update-able detector is so they can update to make things better or for if there are bugs that need to be fixed, I do feel this next update will be the last one for the time being, but who actually knows, there are some that no matter what a company does it will never be enough. Agree. There's a fine balance in the shift in state from optimization to stabilization. We all really want both at all times, but if the software hits a generally desirable final state maxing out hardware capabilities, hopefully it only requires infrequent updates to correct bugs. That said, I'm still happily running whatever the latest 1.10v# Notka had out in early Jan. Happily running the update, I should say, but not much actual use per the late January deep freeze here. I'm hoping to get out this weekend, however, at least for an hour or two to play around some more.

Very interesting. Dude has ALOT of energy...his recovery speed is impressive, to say the least.

All the clads I find in the clay soil here that have been in the ground more than a year or so are pretty well zapped. Don't know if it's the rain pollution, soil composition, or what, but it seems to leach the nickel out of the clad layer and nickels/dimes/quarters come out looking like junky coppers. And the zincolns look even worse than roman bronzes that spent two thousand years in the ground. I will say, however, I recently dug a 1917 Buffalo out of the ground that, while stripped of any nickel color, has a clearly-discernable date...which was a nice surprise.

Interesting spread. Less than a pound difference, bottom to top and vice versa. My question is -- and as a relative newbie -- I've only swung the stock coils on the Equinox and Legend (plus their 6" versions) and I wanted to get a feel as to how other folks experience coil weights differently. It's a rare thing for me to get more than 2 hours for a detecting session, and, while I can certainly feel the difference between an 11" stock and 6" sniper, the weight differential and balance doesn't strike me as a big thing overall. (Granted, we're talking short hunts by a guy whose is in the 6'/250lb range.) Definitely can see how the coil weight would have an impact on longer sessions, but just curious to hear what others think. Thanks!

Interesting plan, and something I might have to try out. The oldest park in my town dates back to the 1820s, but for the last 5-10 years has served mainly as encampment spot for homeless folks and an open-air drug market. I'd really like to detect it -- and I have permission from the city parks dept authorizing me to do so -- but haven't worked up the nerve to go out there yet. Otherwise, I've been lucky so far and haven't had anyone challenge me. Should that occur, my plan is to A) demonstrate written permission, and B) show all the nasty can slaw I'm pulling from out of the ground and on the surface.

Anecdotal, but I've been running the 1.10 betas here, exclusively on Park M3 (soil is soggy AF per rain/snow/melt), and it is hitting quite well. Clean signals, minimal chatter close to EMI sources, etc. Digging the soggy muck, however, is a brand new deal for me. Still yanked out a couple nickels today and a costume necklace on a brief hunt. Last week, did a 30 minute hunt between errands and 6/8 targets were coins. The two Al results I dug on that hunt were definitely iffy signals -- lots of variation, reading between 11 and 43 depending upon the angle of approach.

Welcome! Those are some dang nice finds for a newbie -- you've got me beat, for sure! Keep on learning and sharing what you find, and don't hesitate to ask questions because the folks here are super-friendly and helpful.

Excellent info and very comprehensive -- thanks!

This is the level I need to get to. Using the Legend (and at least in my area), the depth indicator tends to read deep on relatively shallow targets. I spent alot of time digging 6" - 8" starting holes for targets reading 3-4 bars deep, only to find them more like 2" deep. And especially true for actual coin targets. I don't see quite the same discrepancy with the Nox 800 on the same ground/targets. For whatever reason, foil, pull tabs, etc. tend to read more accurately on the Legend depth indicator for me with the settings I use. Those settings are mainly simple Park M1 or M3, 5 recovery speed 5, noise cx'd and ground balanced, and 15-25 on sensitivity depending upon how close to the power lines I am.

This is exactly what I keeping telling myself I'm gonna do... But seriously, I do need to start a Google Sheet project like this to better track finds. I have about 40 hours in now between the Nox 800 and Legend, and I'm expanding beyond just my yard, friends' yards, and local parks and schools. The finds are diversifying in terms of count and content, and it will be super-useful for reference and planning to formally track variables like machine used, weather, and time spent.

OK, so this totally lines up with what I've been seeing with the prior 1.09 update, switching to PARK M3 once the wet season hit -- cleaner and more repeatable signals, better seperation. If 1.10 improves, call me a happy, happy customer.

Like, for real. Curious to hear from anyone who has installed the 1.10 beta version and tested it out in the field? Thoughts, experiences, anticipations? I'm cooped up in the lab and am in bench-test only mode...few noticiable changes in the air test environment on my side. I'm especially intrigued by the PARK M3 update since 1) I detect alot in parks, and 2) M3 is supposed to be good for wet soil, and 3) my area finally started getting precipitation here in Nov. and I've been rocking PARK M3 for the most part ever since the wetness. Also quite curious about the Bottle Cap Rejection and Ground Suppressor adds. Man, also curious about the bass change in 60 tones, since that's what I've been running lately in PARK M3. From Nokta's software update page at https://www.noktadetectors.com/metal-detector/the-legend/#yzlm_gncelleme regarding the 1.10 updates: Updates Made: 1. M3 multi frequency in PARK mode has been updated to prevent coins from being masked by aluminum foil. 2. Bottle Cap Rejection setting has been added. When the device is in multi frequency, select the Recovery Speed setting and press the pinpoint button. When you navigate with the right and left buttons, you will see the letters "bC" appear on the right side of the screen. You can adjust the bC value between 1-8 using the + and – buttons. When the bC is 0, it means that it is off. 3. Ground Suppressor setting has been added. It is used to eliminate false ground signals in tough terrains. To access the setting, select the Recovery Speed setting and press the pinpoint button. When you navigate with the right and left buttons, you will see the letters "GS" appear on the right side of the screen. You can adjust the GS value between 1-8 using the + and – buttons. When the GS is 0, it means that it is off. It is recommended that you leave this setting at off position unless needed. 4. The audio emitted as the Tone Break points are changed while in 60-Tone, has been modified with increased bass. 5. Audio Gain setting has been activated in the Gold Field Mode. 6. Warning tones have been added to the buttons. The buttons will now emit a warning tone in the following cases: a) To indicate the minimum and maximum levels of settings. b) When an inactive setting in a specific mode trying to be activated. 7. The brightness of the Backlight Level 1 has been reduced. 8. Bluetooth Chip Version will now be displayed. When the Bluetooth headphones are paired with the device and the Bluetooth setting is selected, press and hold the Discrimination button. The Bluetooth chip version will be displayed in the clock section. When the button is released, the clock will be displayed again. 9. While in Automatic Ground Balance, the auto backlight will now be lit until the ground balancing is completed. 10. The loudness of the Volume Level 1 has been reduced in PARK, FIELD and BEACH modes. 11. A new level 9 has been added to the Iron Filter (IF) setting. There has been no change to the levels 1-8. Level 9 will become handy when trying to discriminate some unwanted mid-conductors such as shotgun cartridges as iron. 12. General improvements have been implemented.

Nailed it here, GB. For me, it's about both the escape and the challenge...and with detecting, sometimes there is even a tangible, valuable reward during or after completing the escape/refresh and challenge. (Or at least the tantilizing promise thereof -- that's the biggest selling point of the hobby, IMHO.) Also 100% in agreement with (and 200% guilty of) the concept of "knowingness". Part of correcting that mind-set is a mixture of experience, humbleness, and open-mindedness. But dang it sure burns to feel like you really, really know something and have someone poke a hole in that balloon!

I've been having better results lately using Park M3, but maybe that's just because my area started getting precipitation within the last month after three months of drought. Running in M3, I felt like I dug less junk and had even clearer/stronger signals on viable targets. Should also note I've been running in 60 tones, which I feel gives more information about what is in the ground. That said, better results might not be so much due strictly to a particular SMF setting, and more associated with being a more experienced user with more hours on the machine itself. Regardless, I'm quite happy with it's performance! *For background, my detecting "training area" is the local elementary school one of our kids attends. It was built in 1959, so theorectically has the potential for dropped silver. Haven't found any silver there yet, but a decent amount of clad, costume jewelry, and other odds and ends (like a one hitter pipe meant for cannabis consumption!)...with pencial erasers and their little metal bands being the bane of my existence.