TroyLPN

Now that I think about it, I believe the Vikings may have used these as primitive orange peelers. There you go. Evidence of a pre-Columbian Norse presence in Coastal Florida. Did I say 9.99? I meant 999.99. 😅

My best metal detecting buddy got his shiny new Manticore a few days ago and let me take it for a spin today at the beach (thanks, D!). My first impressions: I think if you're going from an Equinox you'll have a shorter learning curve. The menu is very easy to learn to navigate pretty quickly. I don't know how useful that target trace will be in beach sand. Shallow targets, probably yes. Deeper ones, maybe not. A 24 on the sensitivity was about as low as I could go in the surf without it getting "chirpy". It does seem to be able to identify iron junk a bit better than my 800. It seems lighter probably because it's way better balanced. It just seems "sturdier" over all. It can find the itty-bitty pieces of utter crapola just as well as my 800 does. The headphones are amazing! Way more comfortable and a clearer sound than the stock 800 headphones. I liked it well enough that think I'll grudgingly wait for one even though my Christmas present will probably be turning into a birthday (July) present. 🙄 And finally my very first target with a Manticore. The bids start on the auction site at 9.99 for this genuine aluminum vintage 1960's Mid-century Modern zip-top can opening mechanism. 😂

My thoughts exactly. It's been in the high 70's/low 80's here in Central Florida for the past week. There's some nice deep cuts at the beach. Can I get in them and hunt? Nope, no waist-high water for me right now. My Leaqinox 800 is out of warranty and a Manticore is unavailable. MineLab, are you reading this? March 1st starts Spring Break. I WILL have something to hunt the water with by then. I hope I don't have to leave my MineLab hat at home. Maybe XP would like some free advertising at the beach during Spring Break at Daytona Beach this year.

They were calling to make sure I got my interest-free loan back from "that" dealer I had a problem with a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, I was knee-deep in the surf and couldn't hear what the Rep was saying very well. I just came right out and asked the Rep what the big problem was with getting a few Manticores to their dealers. Rep gave me the usual canned response about "new product", blah blah. Then Rep mentioned a few last minute "tweaks". Make of it what you will. Rep said they were glad everyting turned out ok for me. No, not really, Minelab. I'm not very happy about now being at the bottom of another list despite pre-paying months ago and a Deus 2 is starting to look pretty good. 🙄

My #1 bucket list find right there! I probably dig enough gold jewelry on the beach every year to make 2 or 3 of them...but still not the same as finding one of those! The ring was found near the barber and there was no stamp so I'm guessing probably 1890-1920. We're finding some really cool old stuff since the hurricanes. Did you see the news about the old ship from the 1800's that got exposed at Daytona Shores? I did go detecting at the beach near it a few times and found a few older peices of silver jewelry, nothing spectacular. I made sure to stay at least 100 yards from the actual wreck though. You should come visit us with your detector! It was 82 degrees down there yesterday and there are old silver coins being found every day from Ormond down to Ponce Inlet. Fun times!

If Minelab is doing this slow-roll out of the Manticore on purpose they're shooting themselves in the foot. Euphoria has died down, Christmas is over 'til next year, numerous videos now on you-tube about excessive iron falsing (whether warranted or not). I've talked to several detectorists at the beach lately who've gone from "gotta-have-it-yesterday" to "meh, I'll wait and see." Not to mention weeks of utter silence on the part of Minelab after months of hype. Seems to me like all of the above would translate into quite a few cancelled orders and lost sales.

My old nag says your old nag can come live in our barn and keep her company any time. 😁 Daytona Beach this morning at low tide (80 degrees BTW). Really old crucifix, 14K old wedding ring (WG to MH) and a 1907 Barber dime. Not a bad ending to 2022. I'm excited to try my Manticore (if I ever actually get one) but I agree, it's gonna have to be freakin' awesome to beat my 800.

Best show ever! The one where he plunks down a handful of muddy coins on a bar to pay for drinks....I'm like "I've did that!!" 😂

That Deus 2 is looking better every day.

The container ship hitting the iceberg was real though. 😂

Thanks, Gerry. Now I want to go to Cancun again! 😁

If they used the same stuff for the control pod that might be why lots of them developed tiny cracks around the battery charging port and started leaking when immersed in seawater.

I totally agree! All those poor lonely MantyCores stuck in some cold closet 'til spring! I would be glad to adopt one and introduce it to some nice warm beach sand. Makes me want to cry. 🙁

I use a 15 inch coil on my 800 almost all the time. A couple of months ago I got out my 11 because it was a calm high tide and I was planning on being knee-deep in the water all day. My 11 looked almost new and was never used much since I got the 15 as soon as it was available. But it's still a 4 year old coil. It lasted about 30 minutes of pushing it through the water. And that was with one of those "coil ear stiffener" things on it. Does the plastic they used in those 800 coils degrade over time? Did the seawater "melt" it or was it just the extra force it takes to push it through water? I just hope my new Manticore will hold up better under beach conditions!

Yeah, they definitely need to set some kind of policy on pre-orders for these dealers. The ones listed on the MineLab website at least, are more or less representing them to the public and it's high time MineLab acknowledged that. Yes, I know they are independent entities and set their own store policies. But Minelab has a choice about which dealers make their "where to buy" list. And yes, that shady dealer I just had to cancel with is on that list and I did check before I put my order in. I think MineLab putting these dealers on their website and then turning a blind eye to them raking in thousands of dollars in pre-payments is just a town-skipping, maximum temptation, bankruptcy what?, disaster waiting to happen. Are we idiots for sending them our cold hard cash with no timeline whatsoever for delivery? Probably. Is MineLab partly to blame with their full-page "Christmas present" magazine ads, "where to buy" list, and 2022 release announcements? I think so.

I asked MineLab if they've ever had a dealer skip town with thousands in pre-payment loot. I think that might have been the question that got my refund rolling. 😅

My granny always said if you need to call yourself an expurt, you probably ain't.

After emails and calls being ignored (during normal business hours, I might add) I finally contacted Minelab USA. Sorry for all the drama, ya'll, but I can't afford to lose that much money and I was getting seriously concerned about that happening. They must have contacted him because I did finally get a nasty message saying my order is now cancelled and oh, by the way, there will be a $40 cancellation fee next time (no mention of that on his website). Next time? Dude! Not if you were the last MineLab dealer on the planet! I'll get myself a sand sifter and a shovel if you're my only option. Now I get to stress over it for 3-4 days waiting for the refund to show up at my bank. 🙄 Not to mention the fact that he got an interest free loan from me and I could have been on someone else's list weeks ago.

I actually did this in rock-hard dirt out west a few years ago. You take a cordless drill and put one of those round saw auger things on it. It worked pretty well except it only did a 2-3 inch plug and the battery ran down fairly quickly. 😁

Doesn't any kind of iron sound good if it's the right shape/deep enough and/or you hit it just right? I know my 800 will make an iron nail with a round head sound pretty sweet if it's turned straight up in the sand. I've dug a ton of them since the hurricane. Along with screws, washers, nuts, bolts, etc out of all those beach walkovers that got smashed.

He's ignoring my phone calls too. If he doesn't get back to me by 4 pm today I'll be calling my bank. I used a debit card, but I guess it's kinda the same thing.

I usually don't but I didn't order until October and I mistakenly thought a pre-payment MIGHT put me a little closer to actually getting one. Boy, was I wrong. Lesson learned and NEVER AGAIN.

I just emailed him a request to cancel. No reply as of yet. I guess 2 months is too long to dispute a charge with my bank if I don't get a refund? I will NEVER prepay for a detector again, lesson learned!

Well, I finally got a straight answer out of that dealer on the 3rd try. Number 35? And I pre-paid in October? That doesn't sound quite right, but whatever.