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I just spotted this on the new Garrett Direct website: The Axiom is updateable via the same process that is used by the Garrett Apex. The current firmware version is displayed for a split second when you first turn on the Axiom. The top ground balance number will show 01 and the bottom one 47. A blank position in the bar across the top in the final .2 part. The graphic below shows what I see when I turn my Axiom on. It is so fast you might have to do it repeatedly to take in all the info. If you so much as blink you will miss it. And just so nobody asks, I'm not involved in or testing any updates so can offer no clues as to what is in the works.

In an air test at max sensitivity, my GP Pro stock w/5"DD coil in Discriminate Mode (All Metal mode doesn't show digital target ID but rather ground balance setting) gave dTID readings in low 90's for USA 90% silver dollar, 1 ozt 99.9% silver round, and 1 ozt 99.9% silver rectangular bar. I stacked those three on top of each other and it still read in the low-mid 90's. That's one sweet detector that's so easy to set up. It doesn't have quite the depth of the modern multifrequers, nor features like noise cancelling that many detectors have. But for turn-on-and-go-find it's a workhorse, and the coil availability is also excellent.

I just found discussion on the GBP firmware versions indicating what has changed between some versions on Dankowski detectors forum by our very own Steve, so I'm sure he won't mind me putting his post here. The rest of the thread is also a very interesting read for those interested in the FT 19kHz machines. "The late 1980s Fisher Gold Bug was a real design breakthrough at the time with S rod, elliptical coil, and compact detachable control box. It ran at 19 kHz which was high at the time. There was no discrimination at all. Just beep and dig. It is a very good detector but the lack of ferrous discrimination would be a major lack compared to the current crop of detectors. The 1990s Gold Bug 2 looks physically the same, but upped the frequency to 71 kHz making this an extremely hot unit on tiny gold. The trade off is it actually gets less depth on large gold in mineralized soil than the earlier 1980s Gold Bug. The addition of a very good iron discrimination setting is a major plus, and the model is still produced today. As a prospector I consider it a "must have" detector due to the extreme sensitivity to small gold. The Gold Bug 2 can be purchased new with either a 5" x 10" concentric coil or 4" x 6" concentric coil for the same price. There are no DD coils for the unit. The only other coil option is a 14" elliptical coil. First Texas then decided to produce a huge number of variants on a new design. The new 21st century Gold Bug is sold as the Gold Bug, the short lived Gold Bug Special Edition, the Gold Bug Pro, and to really make life interesting, the Teknetics G2. These are all 19 kHz detectors with digital target id and adjustable audio discrimination. The Fisher units have a S rod design with control box mounted on the rod and the Teknetics units have a pistol grip design with the control box mounted on top of the pistol grip. The Gold Bug Pro comes with a 5" round DD coil and the Gold Bug Pro DP is just another variant in that it is the same detector but standard with the 11" elliptical DD coil. The G2 comes with the 11" elliptical DD. Units with the 11" DD cost $50 more than units with the 5" DD. The new Gold Bug, Gold Bug Special Edition, and Gold Bug Pro all also have firmware variants which generally change the audio output in small ways most people would not notice but which detector nerds like myself obsess over. Modulated audio or not? VCO or not? There was also some concern about lack of sensitivity to silver coins at one point supposedly addressed by later firmware variations. Regardless silver is not a strong point on the Gold Bugs which, well, are designed to find gold. I believe we are up to version 4 of the firmware, with version 3.0 and 2.9 Being a couple earlier versions. With the unit turned off and set in disc mode, depress the ground balance button. Keep holding it depressed, and turn on the detector. The firmware version should display. My Gold Bug Pro displays version 3. If buying new I think you can pretty much ignore the firmware issue. If you like S rods, go Gold Bug, and decide which coil you want to get with it as the stock coil, 5" or 11" (or both). If you want pistol grip then go G2 but as far as I know you can only get that with the 11" coil as stock. Just to make matters interestingI will mention that the new 5" x10" DD accessory coil is getting nods as perhaps the best all around coil for the unit. Mine is on order so I will have to weigh in later on that. For prospecting I would lean towards getting the Gold Bug Pro with 5" coil and adding the 5" x 10" accessory coil if you want a larger coil. Hope this helps, Steve Herschbach" So, there we go, I wonder if they ever went past version 4 on the Bug, if anyone has one that is a recent purchase it would be cool to see if you have a newer firmware than my version 4. I assume the version 3 I have on my F19 is the latest, but with the F19 being a newer detector I'm surprised they're up to version 3 on it unless the Gold Bug is now up to version 6 or something. I think the silver coin problem was fixed with a POT adjustment, not a firmware update, as demonstrated by my Gold Bug Pro's. This seems to be verified by Keith in a post under Steve's on that forum. I'm also wondering if Fisher wind down the sensitivity on detectors like the Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro so the more expensive models of the same detector perform better, this would be simple for them to do and encourage people to buy the higher priced models seeing they're the same detector, I would not be at all surprised. So, if anyone has a Time Ranger Pro, please check the firmware version too, that might be interesting. I am betting they do. I guess the only way to know would be side by side testing like I've now done with my GBP's and F19 with the F19 having higher gain than my old model GBP's. I think the Bounty Hunter will have a lower gain making it more suitable as a beginner's detector with the target brand and price range.

https://www.minelab.com/community/treasure-talk/specific-ground-balance-on-the-gpx-detectors I was curious if anyone uses the specific ground balance method with their 5000’s in areas with high iron content and uniform ground conditions that are hard to get a ground balance in Gen. ground balance. Attached is Phil Beck’s from Minelab’s write-up on it.

Nokta Detectors The Legend - Version 1.14 Beta 2 Test - RELEASED! Updates Made: 1) When switching to Beast mode, All Metal discrimination pattern will be selected automatically. When switching from Beast mode back to Gold Field mode, the last selected discrimination pattern in Gold Field Mode will be restored. 2) Update in the Ground Balance Menu a) When selecting between FerroCheck (FC) and Mineralization Indicator (GI), the 'FC' or 'GI' indicators displayed on the right side of the screen have been moved to the left. b) The 'FC' or 'GI' indicators which remain on the screen until exiting the menu will be automatically cleared from the screen after 2 seconds. c) When the Tracking feature is activated, the ground balance level flashes on the screen. In Beast mode, when the Ground Balance 2 is activated while the tracking feature is on, the ground balance level will be shown steady to avoid confusion. 3) General improvements have been made.

What an amazing group of eager customers we had on the 3 Days Field Training. The weather could not have been any better with temps in the 70's. Friday was so sunny many of us ended up with red face and a few days later peeling skins from the sunburn. Soil was still very damp and in fact some standing water in mud puddles on the way up to camp. My Field staff/I enjoyed a variety of detectors in the class. Gold Bug-2's, Gold Monster 1000, Equinox 800, Equinox 900, Manticores, GPX-6000's and a GPZ-7000. 1st day was mostly classroom and as soon as the students with a variety of backgrounds were able to witness the varieties of gold and how they respond to different detectors, boy did they start getting excited. As expected, the GB-2's coils respond to the tiniest of gold best, but as soon as you went to a small picker nugget, the Monster, Equinox and Manticore took over. Then it was seeing how the bigger 6000's & 7000 did on small, medium and large gold. It's amazing that everyone talks the depth of a PI or GPZ but how many of you have actually seen with your own eyes, one of those detectors respond on big gold at 2 feet, 3 feet and even 4'? Yes that's what we did one a couple big ones. Some people had no clue and wondered out-loud, if they could even dig a hole that deep??? Realize this was just an air test, but it's still impressive. Of the 12 customers, most found a piece of gold and a couple folks doubled down. I know 3 of them just quite didn't get that lucky but they tried hard and there is not much we can do about that. The good thing is they were able to find small foil and #8 bird-shots, so we know they are doing it right. No big gold was recovered as expected, but I know there still has to be a few chunky 1/4 oz'ers out there. I know a couple years back Arky's wife was running around with her 7 while he took the class with his 6 and she dug up an 8-gram solid chunk of Au. So yes, there are still a few but nothing like it used to be. A couple of the students mentioned that they had taken Ray Mills class (in CA) and was noticing such a difference. Ray knows Geology and so most of the 1-day class is dedicated to such. They realized this class is much more detailed on the detectors and how to get the most out of them. How to tell ground from a true target and importance of proper coil control. It's funny how I can toss a small nugget in front of a student and yet they can't find if, even though they just seen where it was tossed. At the end of the class, the students can find that same nugget and then some. That's just part of the reason our class is 3 days instead of 1. I totally agree with Mr Mills class as well and so if you desire more of the geology side, you might reach out to him. The main road along the lake was actually the best I have seen it in years. But those of you who know Rye Patch area (and Northern NV) know the rocks are treacherous on tires. There were 3 flats during training, 2 flats just after class and yes one guy had 2 flats, but I took home the cake. I had a slow leaking tire and was able to limp how, getting air at each little stop all the way to Idaho. Luckily my truck as tire pressure sensors and I can see exactly which tire and how low. The drivers front got down to as low as 22 pounds between air ups but still held until the next stop at Rome Station (they have a pump that uses quarters). Anyway, when I got to Boise and took it in, they pulled the tire and showed me a tear in the face that was to big to be repaired. To order the exact same tire and size, would take 3 days. Well, I knew those stock tires were only P rated (most 1/2 tons are), so I decided to get something more designed for my off-road travels. $1250 (after military discount) and I'm sporting some new heavier tires and better tread. I should have known that from many flat tires and years past. E rated 10 ply are some of the best for getting least flats, but they are expensive and heavy, so you lose fuel mileage as well. Moral of the story. If you are running around in N Nevada roads, you better have at least LT class tires or higher. Make sure you have at least 1 spare tire and the correct equipment to change it. I left my compact air compressor in my big truck, so dumb me on that part. Here's the truck with the new tread. Yes those of you running around that weekend did in fact see a semi truck driving out there. That lady has guts. UT Chris took advantage of the Anniversary Promo and $500 off. Gerry's Detectors hand delivered it to him right out there in the field. Below - Geno from NV using a GPX-6000 and CoilTek 14x9" GoldHawk coil finds gold. Below - Dave from UT shines a smile with his 1st NV gold using a Manticore and M8 coil. Below- UT Chris found the 1st nugget of the class early Saturday morning before we even got started that day. He scored it with a GPX-6000. Below - Geoff from NV was able to find a couple with his GPX-6000, here's his 1st. Below - Chris from Idaho started the class with a GB-2 but when he seen how the Identification System on the Equinox performed so much better than most other detectors, he traded up. Good for him for trading that last day, as he still was able to find his 1st gold. Below- Nancy the trucker is tough as nails. For someone of that age to be out there roughing it and go go go, with the never quit, it finally paid off with a little help from the Staff. She knows her Manticore can find small picker nuggets. Below- Dennis from CA was an interesting guy. His brother from Idaho took my class last year and so he knew exactly what to expect. We was happy as heck once he got the golden monkey off his back. He found it with his Equinox 900 and small 6" coil. He is also the same guy who ended up with 2 flat tires. Yes he drove a new F-150 with stock P rated tires. Below - Geno gets another RP nugget. This guy is getting the hang of it really well. Below - Horny toads were just starting to come out. We only seen one snake and it was at camp but not a rattler. Why do they call them Horny Toads? Below - Dave from UT find his 2nd nugget and it's pretty nice. He used the Manticore with M8 coil again. Did you catch the phrase on his shirt? My 1st piece of gold in 2024. No, it's not worth sticking in my mouth like some of my big dogs. It took all of 45 minutes to find right near the burn barrel. I used GPX-6000 with stock 11" coil. Below - Best looking nugget of the trip was Jill and her Gold Monster 1000. Again, The group of students was so enjoyable and upbeat. Geoff/Jill brought a box of smoky quartz crystals and told everyone to take a couple for good luck. Boy it must have helped as most folks found gold. What's more important to my Staff/I than customers finding gold. Customers understanding their detectors more, learning to tell the difference of a ground noise and a target, proper coil control, knowing when to ground balance and why, what machines do best on a variety of gold and most of all.... self confidence in your detector and abilities. Thanks Eli, Lunk and Spencer for your support again. I have already received a few emails on how happy the customers were with you guys. Anyone else wanting to take advantage of the Anniversary Sale and save $150 off the Equinox 900 or $500 off the Manticore..call Gerry's Detectors, as I have a few remaining. Also remember, those who purchase their detectors from me, get an additional discount of $150 off the 3 Days Field Training. You only pay for training when you show up. Happy Hunting. Gerry in Idaho

You get no manual in the box when you buy a Manticore, just a Quick Start Guide, but you can download a full pdf manual online. Yet 10 months after the last software update, the manual does not mention any of the updates at all. I get that not printing and giving us a manual saves Minelab money, but the one benefit we could get from that is an updated manual when changes occur. When new models ship that already are updated, will new owners downloading this old manual even know that some of these new features exist? In the past there was also an actual pdf that outlined the update details but now we don’t even get that. Best there is now is an “official” YouTube video apparently farmed out to a third party. Stabilizer - All-Terrain Multi IQ - Reduces falsing on iron in heavy iron sites with mild ground mineralization - Adds a tonal nuance to iron to help distinguish good targets from iron - not recommended in normal conditions. Can only be used while in Multi-IQ and in an All-Terrain Search Mode. Stabilizer Filter - Makes the audio weaker and thinner on targets affected by stabilizer Red Target ID - All Metal Mode Only - Target ID is red if iron is detected New Options in the Softkey Menu: Speaker Mute/Unmute Search Mode Recovery Speed Frequency Sensitivity Boost Clear ID Map Flashlight ON/OFF Display Brightness Goldfield Mode – Fixed an issue with small gold sensitivity & discrimination depth. All Audio Themes are now available in Goldfield Mode Beach Mode - Ground Balance has been improved for dry sand. Default Recovery Speed in Beach Low Conductors and Beach Deep have been increased to 4 Audio Boost for Underwater Headphones Default settings for Tone Pitch for Targets IDs in the Coke range changed from 2 to 1 in All Terrain Fast, All Terrain Low Conductors and All Terrain High Conductors UI Languages support added under General Settings (Czech and Hindi added, minor updates to other languages)

I know someone who uses one in Arizona. I've never heard of anyone having an issue with hot ground, or ground balance, as it has a ten turn pot. His ground is as bad as it gets. The only complaint I heard was maybe with hot rocks.

Well, it sure seems they are serious about going up against Minelab. It's hard to deny the fact they are being competitive with the pricing. For the price they have on the FindX($139), it is very appealing to new people just thinking about detecting. And the FindX Pro model for $179 adds waterproofing on the entire unit. They are including a stainless digger, wired headphones, AND a carrying bag.. Man that is insane. How are they even doing this? Spec-wise it isn't a bad machine at all. It lacks advanced feature manipulation but does include automatic and manual ground balance. A very simple turn on and go machine. 15khz frequency. Wonder how it will do? The only odd/weird thing I see is charging on the regular FindX. Someone would have to unscrew and remove the search coil to charge. That may be a problem or failure point over time. The FindX Pro is like the Legend for charging, meaning there is a separate port integrated for headphones also.

Apex's Hybrid audio is not for everyone. The short response can make it difficult to isolate targets in high trash areas and hard to tell if your falsing if out of ground balance in bad ground or your swing is too fast in high mineralized ground. It is especially difficult to run for those like myself that are accustomed to smooth audio and audio that follows the size of a target rather than sound off on lead of the swing. I have found plenty with the Apex and have done incredibly well with it but I struggle in those conditions. On the other hand my hunting buddy uses it quite a bit and it was a big upgrade from is old Ace. He is able to pick out targets easily with it and he oddly struggles with other machines like my D2, AT Pro and Tesoros. His comfort zone is with that short beep and following the display and mine is hunting by sound. Both of us to well and I can't say the Apex has made him miss targets other than not putting the coil over the target or running discrim too high. Would changing the audio change minds for those who gave up their Apex? I know if it had modulated audio I would use mine more. I do find it comfortable to swing and really nice easy to read display.

That was definitely another reason I moved on to other machines. Mineralization here is bad and also limited depth with the Apex. 5" dime here was a no go with the Apex. IMO the Apex having SMF and ground balance capabilities, should have been able to handle the ground here. The Legend at slightly more money than the Apex, is a very impressive machine. I hope Garrett gets it right with the Storm.

I have not found Beast Mode to be unstable. I don't find the Legend in general to be unstable either. It is well behaved for me as long as I do a noise cancel, properly ground balance it and don't go much over a sensitivity setting of 25 and if I make sure to take the target IDs for border line deep and for surface targets with the coil actually centered over the target. I can see Beast Mode being a very good tool for double checking areas where deeper relic and coin sized objects may be lurking as long as there aren't any buried utility lines in the same area. So, rural areas with open fields or woods with little to no infrastructure build up. I can easily see me or someone less experienced going after electrical, gas and water line/sprinkler systems using Beast Mode if they use it in the wrong area.

Question for you experts in manual GB on the D2. Let's say your machine picks "80" after doing the GB procedure. Does anyone see an advantage being a couple of points higher or lower in ground balance from what the machine picks? Thanks.

Watching YouTube videos of detector comparisons can be educational or like getting teeth pulled without something for the pain. If you are thinking of purchasing an Axiom this group in here does some great videos and tutorials. I'm knew to using the Axiom, 3 times so far. I watch as many videos as possible. "Professionals" do a disservice to the Axiom if they don't show how to use it properly. Just because you buy a hammer it doesn't mean you're a carpenter. The Axiom is a tool and I see people dissing it when they don't even know how to use it. I've watched videos of people trying to use iron discrimination with a mono coil. Videos where they don't ground balance on known hot rocks. Small gold specimens but don't use the DD coil. We might need an approved list of videographers because some of the reviewers don't do the Axiom justice! You guys make the cut!

I wonder if there is any benefit to be had by concentrating flux density via specifically placing ferrous components wound along with a coil (like a steel guitar string for instance). Or ferrite components maybe? Or if that would affect both the ground balance as well as the inductance of the coil such that no (or negative) benefits are gained?

Nokta Detection Technologies has released the Legend firmware v.1.14 Beta-1 Beast mode, here is the description from the Nokta website: V1.14 Beta-1 Test - Beast Mode Software Update (2024.04.08) Updates Made: 1. Deep Target Identification (dt) feature has been added. This feature allows non-ferrous deep targets, which are masked or detected as iron (ferrous), to be detected as non-ferrous. To access this feature, select the Recovery Speed setting and press the pinpoint button. When you navigate with the right and left keys, the letters "dt" will appear on the right side of the screen. You can change the value of the dt setting between 1-6 by using the plus (+) and minus (-) buttons. When it is at 0, this feature is off. When you increase the value, the stability of the device may diminish. This feature can be used in all modes with both multi-frequency and single frequencies. 2. Beast mode has been added. Very deep targets may have values close to the surrounding soil and therefore may not be detected. Beast mode allows you to detect targets at depths that cannot be detected in other modes. This mode resets the ground balanced soil, allowing deep coins and large masses to be detected by the detector. However, in this mode, targets at fringe depths may not give an ID or their ID may be unstable. To use this feature, simply press the frequency key in Gold Field mode. Beast mode is indicated on the screen by the letters "bE" under the multi frequency symbol M. (April 17, 2024 edit: use All Metal Discrimination A only in Beast Mode). 3. Second ground balance feature added in Beast mode. Due to its configuration, Beast mode may cause the device to give false signals to ground changes and mineralized/hot rocks. This may cause discomfort to the user during detection. Beast mode offers users a 2nd ground balance feature to overcome mineralized/hot rocks, red bricks and other ground changes in the surrounding environment that have different properties than the soil that’s been ground balanced. With the second ground balance, depending on the properties of the hot rock or brick, in some cases, complete silence can be achieved over these falsing targets. In other cases, a broken signal may be heard. Broken sounds indicate that the detected target is a mineralized/hot rock. To use this feature, press the Ground Balance button to access the setting. Then, activate the 2nd ground balance feature by pressing the Frequency button. When the 2nd ground balance is activated, the number "2" appears on the screen above the letters Gb. You can perform the 2nd ground balance by pressing the pinpoint button. When Beast mode is selected, 1st and 2nd ground balancing can only be performed automatically. Manual ground balancing is not possible. You can switch from the 2nd ground balance to the first one by pressing the Frequency button again. ( April 17, 2024 Edit: in Beast Mode must Ground Balance). 4. Ability to reset the 1st and 2nd ground balance settings in the Beast mode. While Beast mode is selected, the ground balance value is reset by entering the ground balance menu and long pressing the up button. When the button is held down, the animation is shown on the screen. To reset the 2nd ground balance value, first activate the 2nd ground balance. Reset the 2nd ground balance value by pressing the up button again. 5. "Iron Rejection" feature in Beast mode. Beast mode, like the Gold Field mode, produces signals for both non-ferrous and ferrous targets by changing the frequency of the sound according to the strength of the received signal. In order to distinguish ferrous targets, especially those closer to the surface, depending on the signal strength received from the ferrous target, the device emits a lower tone than that of the non-ferrous targets with the frequency varying according to the strength of the signal. To access this feature, select the Recovery Speed setting and press the pinpoint button. The letters "Ir" will appear on the right side of the screen. You can change the value of the "Ir" setting between 1-5 by using the plus (+) and minus (-) keys. When it is at 0, this feature is off. When the value is increased, the probability of emitting a ferrous tone for deep non-ferrous targets increases.

Hi guys, Just after some info on these mono coils that came with the SD2200d I purchased recently. Seems odd the guy I bought it off was using these 3 small monos I thought. I haven't used the Machine yet but have put on the only DD it came with which was a 14" Coiltek DD which ill try this coming week. I was under the impression these older Minelabs prefer DDs over monos, am I correct in thinking that? The coils mentioned are 6", 8" and 11" monos. I'm also waiting for Nuggetfinder to release the new lighter 25DD and I'll grab one of those to see how this old beast compares to my zed with the 20" Spiral coil. Also, how would the 2200 go as a patch hunter? When I was using a 4500 I was able to swing at a walking pace with the 18" coiltek and often found new patches. I'm just not sure if the 2200 could be used in the same way. I'm fitting a ground balance button this week for convenience. The machine also came with 2 coiltek batteries which are 7 volts from memory and an audio booster.

It's freezing outside with gale force winds, but I couldn't wait any longer and had to do a new test. Park Mode in A, first tone break at 1, 25 sensitivity, 3 recovery, IF 0, BC 0, AG 3. I used a U.S. nickel, ground balanced at 26 on clean ground, and buried the nickel deep enough that in Park mode, I would very occasionally get a tone and an ID of 2 and 3. The signal was so iffy, that it could easily be mistaken as some of the ground signal coming through. I switched on DT and set it to 3. I now got fairly consistent two way hits, but they were kind of "crunchy". The ID jumped from 2/3, and I saw a 48 / 50 a few times. Switched to BM using A and set the IR at 2, AG at 3. Ground balanced at 31 on clean ground. The two way hits were much cleaner than DT, and the ID was similar to DT. On a side note, I tripled checked the ground balance in Park and BM, to confirm that the ground balance was slightly different between those modes.

That would be consistent to what I was seeing, the primary ground balance would be approximately 42, the hot rock 2nd ground balance was approximately 47. While sweeping the coil away from hot rocks the Legend was still balanced to the mineralized ground. The ground balance reset operation may be a benefit on sites where hot rocks widely spaced.

I am going to guess that performing both ground balances creates a ground balance "window". This dual ground balancing when it wasn't necessary was causing me to not be able to detect some targets that the Legend should have detected in Beast Mode. To prove that, I did a little testing earlier today with a US half dime at 7" depth. Previously Beast mode missed that target when doing both ground balances. Today just doing a "normal" ground grab after going into Beast Mode, the US half dime was easy to detect. Park M1 in the A discrimination pattern struggled to hit that same target and just had faint ferrous responses.

In Multi BE mode, A discrimination pattern, I have performed the primary ground balance over the mineralized ground; then performed the 2nd ground balance over a hot rock. Question: Which of the two ground balances is the Legend now utilizing or is the Legend using both the primary and 2nd ground balance? Question: In Multi BE mode, how is the SMF weighted.

Thank You Dilek, the engineers and field testers and Nokta. That was an outstanding set of videos. They answered two big questions for me. 1. Do I need to do a ground balance in Beast Mode using the normal ground grab procedure? Yes, especially where I detect since without one my Legend just howls if I even move it a couple of inches left, right up or down. After doing a normal ground grab, my Legend in Beast Mode was very quiet. 2. When do I need to use the second ground balance for MBe? Since the soil I hunt in has high iron mineralization I assumed I needed to do the second ground balance and I found that to be very tedious. So, no I don't need to do the second ground balance unless I am experiencing actual detectable as targets hot rocks and/or changeable ground conditions that can be detected as targets. I was able to try MBe at a site with very little EMI but with high iron mineralization. I used my Manticore to find 6 wild borderline targets that could be a rusted nail or a US high conductor coin like a wheat penny, copper memorial penny, clad dime or silver dime. All of these targets sounded very iffy using the Manticore but I would have recovered them if possible. I flagged those targets. They all seemed to be at least 7" deep judging from the Manticore's depth readings and from the less intense lower tone when pinpointing those targets with the Manticore's pinpoint function. I was using the Manticore in All Terrain General with its preset upper and lower iron limits, All Metals accepted, recovery speed 5, 5 tones, Normal audio, sensitivity 24. I got out my Legend and had it setup for Park M1, A discrimination pattern sensitivity 24, recovery speed 5, iron filter 1, iron stability 4, bottle cap 0, 6 tones with tone breaks at 10, 20, 29, 43 and 50. I also had Beast Mode setup with the A discrimination pattern, sensitivity 24, recovery speed 5, iron reject 0. I went over each flagged target using Park M1 as setup. All 6 targets gave very faint to no response with the responses being mostly iron responses and target IDs of 1 to 4 or 59/60. These responses were much more iffy and tending towards iron than the Manticore's. The targets were also a bit difficult to pinpoint using the Legends pinpoint function, meaning that getting all of the pinpoint graph bars to fill up was hard to do which usually means the target is iron from experience. Using the Beast Mode as setup, all 6 targets were very easy to isolate with distinct high tones with iron reject on 0. Adjusting iron reject to 2 helped to determine which targets were probably iron and which were not. Target IDs were 1 to 4 on these targets with the occasional 55 to 60. Much like the demonstration video, targets that had a non ferrous response and target ID of 2 that were actually iron, had ferrous responses when I turned up the iron reject setting to 2. Those iron targets still had a target ID of 2. So, as Nokta has repeatedly said, do not depend on the target IDs when using Beast Mode. The Legend in Beast mode correctly identified all 6 targets as far as ferrous or non-ferrous. 4 targets were rusted nails in the 8 to 10" depth range and 2 targets were US wheat pennies again in the 8 to 10" range. Well done Nokta!!!!

Note the low TID for coin size targets (dime, nickel & quarter 1 thru 3). Similar results I experienced prospecting a claim with mineralized soil plus saturated with both basalt and ironstone hot rocks. Lead bird shot, small ferrous boots tack and 22 caliber lead bullet were within the same TID range, no higher than TID 3. The hot rocks would also TID at 1 but there was either no audio response or the response was broken. Worked for me in the all metal A discrimination pattern with both the LG 30 & LG 24 coils. I always do a frequency scan and ground balance. The 2nd ground balance over any hot rock(s) is critical.

My detecting mate and I have been working a dry gully for quite a while using our 6000’s with 10x5 Coiltek coils attached. We had been finding a bit of small gold but lately our returns diminished and we had almost decided to move to a new location. In a bid to squeeze out a few more pieces, we decided to detect the ground with our 7000’s and try to uncover a few deeper nuggets. We weren’t expecting much as we had spent a considerable amount of time working this area on the short gully and thought that if we could come home with a piece or two we would have achieved our goal. The Six with the small coil really suited this area as there were many potential gold traps and hiding spots for the tiny pieces that inhabited this location. The Zed’s were fitted with Nuggetfinder 12” Z search coils and after a ground balance and tune were running exceptionally well. The hot rocks and noisy ground that played havoc at times with the 6, were ignored by the 7’s so we knew that we had a bit of potential to find that really subtle signal. We moved slowly and tried to get into difficult areas and hopefully jag something for our effort. After about 20 minutes we added a couple of small pieces to the rattle jar from steep banks on the sides of the gully. It was agreed that the shallow pieces would have been picked up easily with the 6000 but were now happy that we hadn’t been “skunked” for the day. Joe was working a stretch of ground that had produced well for us in the past so I decided to move upstream about 50m to give him some space. I started at a rock bar that had given up some treasure about a month or so ago. We had pulled about 6 very small pieces on and around the outcrop and made a concerted effort to cover all the ground in that area very well. Every subsequent trip resulted in a repeat of that process just in case we missed something. The same region was detected today with the Zed and to my surprise, a very faint signal was heard. It was in an ideal location next to the rock bar on the inside section of a bend. You can see the hole in the photo. We had hoped to find a piece of gold at a depth that the Six couldn’t see and it finally happened. It must have been on edge as the signal was initially very soft and only increased during the dig. What popped out was a pleasant surprise. The 6000 has dominated our detecting for a couple of years now and the Zed barely gets pulled out of the cupboard. It was good to get its coil scraping on the ground again and put through its paces. We had forgotten how quiet it could be when the ground suited. We had also forgotten about digging deep holes until we were quickly reminded of its power. Rusty nails and bits of steel with soft enticing signals generally resulted in ugly growls and swimming pools being dug half way to China. We moved upstream and continued to detect some old ground looking for that deeper target. I was lucky enough to get a really faint signal behind a large rock. After digging a deep hole, a small, shiny nugget surfaced. I could see why the Six would not see a piece of gold at that depth. When the hole was inspected with the coil, another break in the threshold told the story of a surprise awaiting inspection. When a piece of gold ended up in the scoop, I called Joe over and we started moving rocks and detecting a small area thoroughly. A bunch of small pieces resulted. We had a lot of fun working that area together. Joe finally moved 20 metres upstream and found another patch of deep, small pieces of gold. The river worn gold was often visible in the scoop or in the ground like the piece shown in the picture. Joe pulled a couple of pieces on the walk back including one that was in a pool of water. Boots and socks came off and a slow and frustrating recovery followed. It’s great to see a prize for all the effort put in. The final picture shows the result of our day out. Quite a few of the pieces were so small that they wouldn’t move the scales but they all added up. It is pleasing that the Zed can still earn its keep on the tiny gold. Most of the pieces found would still be in the ground if we had used the 6000’s on this trip. Having a combination of machines has proved to be a winner in this area.

Just use the Gold Prospecting mode in Multi M on the Legend for small gold nugget prospecting. It works really well. Lower the sensitivity to just below where the Legend with the smallest available coil runs a tad noisy, lower the iron filter setting to as low as possible (0 or 1), set the recovery speed between 3 and 6, run threshold anywhere you like or can stand as long as its above 0 and don't notch anything and ground balance when needed. No Boost or Beast mode that Nokta has put on its detectors was really for smaller targets less than 0.5 grams or so. In more mineralized ground, the Boost mode on the Gold Kruzer just boosted the ground noise.......