markinswpa

No no. No water on old copper ever. It will in just about every case leave you with a rusty red looking coin. Toothbrush, toothpick, a little nose oil will do great. Mark

Wow Dave you are doing very well. Love the latest find, Congrats. Maybe a Deacon or a Bishops ring. A real beauty. Good luck. Mark

If I'm reading this correctly, what you want do won't work. The 800 & 900 shafts are not interchangeable. And good luck trying to find an OEM shaft. Heck people can't even get the ML85/ 105s headphones yet. Minelab has been pretty slow about replacement parts. Someone mentioned Steve's shafts. I second that. Well built, reasonably priced, I've had one on my 800 for over 3 years and it has held up quite well. Good luck. Mark

Dug D Thanks and I am aware of the Equinox coil compatibility. However the V8X has my interest and to be sure I will compare it to the 6in.coil. I had the 10x5 on my 800 for about 50 hunts, although a decent coil I found the 6 to be better. IMO As far as cost I got a new Xterra for less than 200 so I won't mind spending a couple bucks for an extra coil.

Tex, yes have been looking around myself. However Minelab responded to my email and said they expect to announce and release the extra coils very shortly. I hope for the Manticore guys that holds true as well. Mark

Are the V8 coil for the Xterra available ? Have only seen them on Minelabs website. TIA. Mark

First class all the way. Thanks for sharing. Continued success. Mark

fishersari I hunt with the 900, it has the same target range, the stability and target Id issues as the Manticore. Everybody I talked to, all the posts I've read seems to agree 98-99 is always is iron. Till yesterday. I hunt old parks and get a ton of 98-99s. In my soil the Equinox,800 &900 seem to up average a penny /dime signal more often than not. Until the previous hunt all my silvers (around 30 ) hit 92 to 96. On that hunt the 2 Mercs I dug both rang up a 79-80-81. I was surprised, I thought ok the 900 is behaving today. Yesterday, same park I dug 3 wheat pennies, the first 2 hightoned in the 90s and then dropped into the 60s. The numbers then bounced anywhere from 62 to 96. The third was a 98-99, numbers never dropped, it was tight up to a log so I really couldn't turn on it. Which that and where it pinpoints is usually how I decide to dig or not. The tone sounded really great, I thought maybe big silver, about 4 in. down I saw a penny in the hole. A crusty 1930 wheatie. After rechecking the hole and a scan of the area there was no other signals. I always investigate a 98-99 and now I guess I'll have to be a little more diligent. Mark By the way I remember when the Equinox came out everybody was notching out 39-40. I had several old silver dimes and oddly enough Ihps that gave clean 39-40s on my 800.

Nice group of finds. Congrats. Those matchbox/tootsie cars do sound great. Good luck. Mark

Brad correct. The 900 did out perform the 800 in the test garden with all the same parameters. Thats why I find it strange I haven't been hitting any deep targets. I did try a Recovery of 3 then 2 without any conclusive results. I will say I don't care for Rec. 2, it seems to stretch the signal out too much. If that makes sense. I judge a target by how fast the tone breaks and 4 seems to work best for me with a medium sweep speed. Haven't revisited the test garden, its been too dry. Good luck and thanks for your response. Mark

Thanks guys. One of the things that keep me hooked is the anticipation of what the next find will be. Hope you all have a good year. Good luck. Mark

The new Pro-find better this deeper that, all they did was put a new dress on an old whore. Still has 9 v batteries. Do they really think we are going to buy that after the bull they fed us on these new detectors. I hate to say this but I think Minelab has started down a slippery slope and as I have said before I don't think its Minelab per se but Codan who seems more interested in profit than product.

First good luck to the budding detectorist. Hopefully my granddaughters will take an interest. I would first check to make sure the discount wasn't for open box models. Wouldn't be the first time big companies put the details in small print. If not the case I would ask for a refund and a shipping label for return. You paid for new you should have received a new product. That alone would give me pause to do business with them again. I would contact one of the dealers here on the forum. If you area veteran you qualify for a 15% discount right away. If not I'm sure they will give you a decent price. Good luck and keep us informed.

Brad I still have one 800. Sold one as when I got the 900 12-11-22 as I had a Manticore on pre-order as well. When I got the 900 I just happened to be working what turned out to be my highest silver/ wheat producing yard permission ever. Only place where the silver and wheats smoked the clad total. All toll it gave it 24 silvers 2 sterling medals and 62 wheats. Less than 2 bucks in clad. So when the 900 came, I put the 6 in coil on as I did with most of my 800 hunts. Field 2, 5 tone Rec. 4 Ib 0 All metal. I kinda bashed the 900 on my initial report, extremely jumpy numbers, I'm talking 30 40 points or more. Tones scratchy and not really locking on a target. If I had been in an old trashy park and not a target rich yard I might have dumped the machine after the first hunt. Turned out I hit 7 silvers and some wheats on its maiden voyage. I had to try the more horsepower with the sensitivity and was able to crank it up to about 26. But quickly dropped back to 20-22. Targets were mostly in the 3 to 5 in. range. 18 would have been fine. There was no noticeable EMI and in all metal you could hear the iron, -9 to -19 without fail. And to add thats pretty much the norm in my soil 95% of the time. Ok I needed some answers. Been hunting with the 800 for almost 5 years, love the machine and couldn't wait to see what Minelab did with the 900. I did a factory reset and took both machines up to my test garden. Coil and settings the same. I have an Ihp, wheat, memorial, and clad dime buried at six inches. A clad dime, quarter, half and dollar buried flat at 10 inches. They were buried over 4 years ago in moist ground so I'm sure they sunk a bit. I don't have the coins marked so when I hit it I have to locate the targets. And as you know if you miss a target by an eighth of an inch it may as well be a mile. I know the general area but what I'm saying is I still have to hunt for the target. Heres where it gets strange. The 900 settled down, nailed all the targets in my test garden with target Ids within 4 numbers. Acceptable. The 800 while letting me know there was a target down there there were no positive Ids and in a real world hunt I may or may not have dug the signal. Took the 900 back to the silver yard, it behaved. It performed well, I think I hit another 6 silvers and a slew of wheats and I think a slick Buff on that hunt. Fast forward to Jan. 23. My first silver of the year was a cruddy 64 Rosie. A little over 9 in. down in topsoil like dirt. But since I have yet to pull a coin at more than 6 inches. Its not the locations, its the same parks and yards and some new permissions that I've hunted with the 800. This time last year I had over 40 silver and a bunch of keepers. (Ihps, wheats and Buffs ), this year I have less than 20. A good deal of my silver was in the 7-8 inch range last year. And a few at an unbelievable 10 + inch range with iron close by or in the hole with the coin. Sorry if this post is dragging on. I'm not a technical type of guy. but heres my thoughts. If and when an 800 see's a coin its like a love tap compared to the 900. The 900 bitch slaps a coin. And even more so on the mid-tone nickel signals. It just clobbers them. The problem I think is that its too fast and not able to report the deeper signals in certain types of soil. Unfortunately my dirt. I know guys in my areas that say the same about the Manticore. They aren't hitting the deep coins.. One guy in particular came from an Explorer to a 30 30 when it came out and to the 800 when it came out. Got a Manticore, he wasn't impressed. Bought a 900 gave it a try, sold it. Went back to the 800. I told him to hold on to the Manticore until the update came out. Haven't spoke with him since the update. This guy is a diehard deep silver park hunter with thousand of silvers to his credit so when he speaks, its worth a listen. Short story long if Minelab can tweak the 900 a bit I think it has the potential to be the best in class on the market.

Thanks Brad. I also like the 6 in. coil. It can get in close and works well. Jim thank you. Yes the 900 does get it done. I've learned to deal with the jumpy numbers. I just don't look at the screen. Ha ha. I will say, even at a recovery speed of 4 ( my go to speed ) it is a very fast machine. If I had to complain it would be that I'm hitting very few deep targets. After 50 + outings with it I refuse to believe I haven't walk over some deep coins. I ran my 800 pretty much the same and had no trouble hitting 8 to 10 inch coins, and a few deeper than that. And that is with the 6 in coil. Sensitivity usually around 20-22. Anyway thanks and good luck to you

Love old tokens. Nice save. Congrats on the other goodies as well. Good luck. Mark

Thanks guys. Our parks have been pretty well pounded but there is always a chance you could find something old. Most md'rs don't even bother with them anymore. Not too many people carry money theses days so very little clad to be found. So the trick is kick the brush for the old stuff. Good luck to all.

More pics

So new to posting on this forum. I was using the Equinox 900 Field 2 5 tone Rec 4. no notch, no disc. all metal. The setting worked pretty good for me on the 800 so continue to use it.

Very cool find, congrats. I found the same one a few years ago. One side of the end of the barrel is missing, never the less its in my display case. Yours looks to be close to perfect. Great save. Mark

Thought I would share a few finds from some of my last hunts. My last yard hunt was late in April. Too dry here. The rest of the finds were from city parks. A cool token, my first real shield nickel and my first Barber dime of the year were some of thehighlights. Thanks for looking in. Mark

Jeff, good write up and thank you for your well regarded opinion. Have been kicking around the prospect of getting a Legend and a good report like yours increases my interest. You answered a question I had as far as third party headphones. The ability to use after market ones for me is huge. I was reminded of that on my last outing at a city park when my earbud/transmitter set up for the 900 malfunctioned and had to use the Ml85s. Temps in the mid 80s, 4 hrs before I found a decent target and 5hrs in I found my first coin. Needless to say it wasn't the most pleasant experience. Perseverance did pay off with an old nickel spill, 4 Buffs & 2 Vs. I've learned to put up with the 900s issues except for one. Other than one 9in. silver Rosie in mild topsoil like conditions I have yet to dig any deep silver. The majority of coins I find are in the 2 to 4in. range and the deeper ones 5, maybe a few at 6. Last year using the 800 I had no problem hitting 8 in. + silver dimes and such. Looking at last years log, number of hunts pretty close to equal my silver/wheat/ Ihp is far less than half of what it was in 2022. I've ruled out the D2 and won't consider a Manticore unless Minelab ends that proprietary headphone horsesh!t. Another thing, guys I know using the Manticore in my area are also not hitting deep coins. Have not talked to anyone since the update. So I've got to wonder if the Legend will see deeper targets in my soil. Again thanks for your report and I will check out Iffy Signals videos. Good luck. Mark

Wow Chase thanks. You explained that way better than I could. Even learned a few things myself. Thats why I like these forums, so many knowledgeable members willing to help. Take care. Mark

I agree, an hour meter would be nice. However it could be a kinda of double edged sword. Yes when buying used, knowing how much it has been used could help determine price provided the machine doesn't appear to be beat. Additionally it could tell you your exact swing time. But on the other hand say a machine has a tendency to malfunction or brake down at a certain hour mark, this could kill resale value. And any sale of used electronics is always a pig in a poke. I would like to see a mineralization meter on Minelabs.

I hear you Toad, slow year up here too. Congrats on the silver GW and Rosie. Finding silver seems to be getting harder. Good luck with your new hotspot. Mark