Yatahaze323

1 hour ago, ☠ Cipher said:

Whatever motivated Minelab to hold this sale, I’m glad they did. I was prepared to spend the $1699 anyway, so the sale enabled me to buy the Manticore plus the Xterra Pro and waterproof headphones for less than I was prepared to pay for just one detector. Now both sets of headphones are cross compatible with both detectors. I doubt the manticore will see much water. I don’t really want to chance it. So the XTerra will be my fresh water and backup detector. A while back I had gotten into tough financial times and had to sell every detector I own (except my Pinpointers). Now things are much better and I’m grateful this sale enabled me to get back into the game properly.  

Maybe they had the the discount because sales slowed for it and the main competitor to it (Deus II) is ~$1300.

Also since the sale is now over I see that its gone back to its original price so maybe they used the 35 year anniversary sale as a test for a lower price.

I got mine Dec 2022 even though it was expensive its been a really good detector so far.  I feel that if minelab keeps putting out updates giving new features (mineralization meter, etc) then I'll consider the extra money I spent worth it.

I think thats a Fisher f4 in the first pic not an garrett at

These new pulse detectors are probably going to be in a legend housing with a battery under the arm cuff and I'm guessing that they'll both be waterproof.  I'm guessing the main difference will be the software.

I wonder if the relic version could have some sort of decent iron disc.

If I get a faint signal with no TID or trace, I'll change settings to try and get a better signal.  Usually I'll start by increasing sensitivity, then adjusting recovery speed and switch between modes.  And if that isn't helping I'll dig some dirt and check if the signal gets better or worse.

I've noticed with the manticore that with .22 and .22 shell casings that they always sound bigger then they actually are. And I know the 2d trace doesn't truly indicate the size of an object but the trace is kinda large for these two when they're shallow.  This also happens with tiny pieces of aluminum, they sound larger and trace larger then they are.  Real annoying when you're on the beach and have a loud target that's a small piece of junk that keeps falling through the scoop. 

9 hours ago, Tony said:

Where I set the Sensitivity is very much dependent on soil conditions.

I did some Sensitivity tests (not beach) with buried coins at around the 8" to 9" mark. I found the sweet spot by adjusting the Sensitivity between 15 and 25. I would test at 15 and then 25......test at 16 and 24 and so on (so the best reading will meet in the middle). I set my Sensitivity at the maximum depth that gave me a consistent target ID and a confident 2D trace. I settled on 20 for that location. A setting of 19 or 21 was also acceptable. 18 was very quiet but there was room for more performance.....22 was just starting to become "ratty". If in doubt, I will err on the lower side with the Sensitivity. Many of my non-beach locations have fairly shallow coins and there isn't much beyond 8".....so no point in cranking the Sensitivity to 22 or higher when even 18 will hit them well.

Lower Sensitivity also helps "manage" the less than coin size targets....the small foil, broken tabs, etc are less likely to alert me as masquerading as a coin/ring (super handy for grassed areas).

On the  beach then the same applies but I am happy to run a little hotter....digging is easier and good targets are deeper.

During your tests did you also adjust the recovery speed at all?

I opened up the terms and conditions cause I was curious who qualifies:

An “Eligible Claimant” is a person who:
a. Is an Australian citizen or resident;

One thing to note about Tom Dankowski's is that he lives in Florida so his settings work great for the beaches conditions down there with basically no black sand/mineralization.  So if you plan on using his setting you may need to make adjustments if you don't have similar beach conditions.

I'm gonna try that freestyle program out at some cellar holes with the 8" coil and see how it does in some nail infested areas, I was already playing around with the upper ferrous limits to try and deals with the square nails so it may help. 

10 minutes ago, TampaBayBrad said:

There is no way I could watch the whole 1/2 hour of that! I could have given those settings in 4-5 minutes. Ha! Thanks for finding it. 👍 I'm sticking with Dankowski's.

What's Dankowski's ferrous limits setup?  Last I remember it was something easy to program like upper limits 4 and lower limits 6 or 0.

I never head of it either and decided to look it up, from the video it sounds like its designed for heavy iron areas.  Here's the video I found of it

I don't regret buying my manticore, I do like it, I like the size of the screen and the menu's are easy to navigate, and its helped find lots of stuff at places I've already been to with my nox.  I really wish it had a mineralization meter, but who knows if they'll ever release an update with it. 

One thing that did bother me a lot is I've had the manticore since Dec 2022 and I was only just able to get the 8 inch coil last week because they barely make enough of them for the amount of people that wanted them.  Over a year since the detector was released, that's ridiculous!  But you probably won't have this issue now.

Since you're in the UK the Deus 2 might be a better pick, XP seems to make machines that excel detecting in European type conditions.  Compared to the manticore the deus 2 is cheaper, seems just as deep, has more features and customization's and also just look at how long XP provided updates for the original Deus so XP will probably provide updates probably just as long.

I pre-ordered m8 & m15 December 22nd when I heard that minelab was raising the prices, the coils were already expensive and I didn't want to give minelab even more of my money.  The m15 unexpectedly arrived last week and the m8 finally shipped out today.  The place I ordered from just wasn't getting any coils from minelab to cover the pre-orders. 

17 hours ago, jasong said:

I like the power pack method. I have to carry one with me anyways because with my GPS and camera, my phone is down to 10% battery towards the end of the day anyways and needs charged. Usually I need my GPS to get back out of new places, especially in dark. Can just use my detector battery now if I really need to, always there in a pinch.

I'll probably end up going with a large pack just to cover all bases. Keep a spare in my pack, a spare in the RV, and I still haven't spent what 1 ML battery costs, and it'll charge my phone too, and not need bizarre adapters and cords to work. 

If other detectors follow the same path than you can use battery packs for them too. Can use it to recharge a bit of my jumper pack for my ATV and sidexside too in a pinch, for 1 jump. USBC batteries have been on my list of wanted features on new detectors for years, I like it. Hope other manufacturers follow.

For gps consider looking into getting a garmin fenix 7 or epix watch.  They have great built in gps that last the whole day for me, the fenix models even have solar to keep them charged and they can last days without charging.  I upload sites that I plan on detecting to the watch so when I'm out hiking to them I can just check the watch to make sure I'm heading in the right direction.  I've been really happy with mine and rarely use my phone map when I'm out.

Thanks for the heads up, barts big boy hobbies has them and so does kellyco right now.  Wish minelab would make more m8s right now.

Ya I've got one beach that I've been to that I can't use any of my current detectors at because of mineralization. 

I brought my nox 600 there and I would get constant chatter that I thought was emi (maybe it is!).  So when I got the manticore I brought it to this same beach and the manticore was quiet but I didn't find anything there.

I finally did a similar test to your's and I could detect a quarter on the surface but as soon I covered it with sand it was gone. You would never know the beach was highly mineralized because the manticore lacks a mineralization meter.  I need to get a pulse machine or maybe a tarsacci just to be able to detect this beach.

Thats strange, so in AT-General, AT-Low Conductors, with multi-IQ a quarter has a vdi of 2, but with it off using say 5kz its vdi is 90?

Do the beach modes work correctly? Since they have to run multi-IQ

Besides reinstalling either the old or newer firmware one more time just to be sure, I'd say its time to contact minelab.

I have never got a 2 vdi for a quarter, I have seen slightly different vdi's when checking signals with different search modes.

I'm thinking there might be an issue with the coil.  Pop the coil cover off and check the resin on the bottom and see if there are any spaces between the plastic and resin.  Also check the coil connector for any damage. 

Are you running it in factory default settings or have you made changes to the different programs?

Is this happening in air tests or just in the ground?

I feel like minelab has like one person making the coils and then ships them out to dealers using a series of row boats and stagecoaches.

Its absurd how these coils are still not readily available after the detector has been out for over a year!

I guess the real question is if you were able to find a larger capacity battery that fits the manticore would the manticore  recognize that its a larger capacity and properly charge it?

If you're not water hunting it would be easier to buy one of those powerbanks and if your manticore needs charging when out then connect it up and charge it.

Canonball lol, I was thinking something more common/mundane like those iron rings found with horse tack.

Need more info, what recovery speed and are you using stabilizer at all?

Really hope minelab will put a mineralization meter or something in a new update.

11 minutes ago, TerryinHawaii said:

Has anybody received the 9 inch coil which is called the M-9?

The M-9 isn't for sale, from what I understand it was a prototype but showed up on some minelab accessories lists by accident.  The only accessory coils right now are the m8 and m15.

Ah, didn't realize it was a bundle deal.