Search the Community

.....The dice are rolled...

I opted to put this on this page vs the Manticore specific forum because I plan on talking about other machines in this post. I FINALLY was able to get back to the site of the drained lake...the one where I posted about hunting with the Nox 900 and Deus 2. Well they've fixed the problem at the dam and the water has came up quite a bit from the last time I was there. In fact, it's up so high it actually covered about 1/3rd of the area I hunted with the previous two machines. I wanted to see how the Manticore handled this particular place. As noted in the other thread, this beach is man made and is pretty much this bedrock with sand and lake Muck on top of it. I took a picture of the exposed bed rock for you guys so you could see what I am referring to. So what did the Manticore find there after having previously hunted it with the 900 and D2? How about.....nadda. That's right. Nothing. I will tell you that it behaves similarly to the Nox 900 in that it is very chirpy and falses a lot in the iron that is on this beach, and even with tracking ON, it seems slow at keeping up with the changing ground. I tried a couple different modes here...using the All Terrain General and All Terrain Low Conductor modes. I didn't dig any non ferrous trash, nor coins, nor jewelry. I'm not kidding when I say...nadda. I did try digging some of the very obvious iron false signals just for the heck of it and they were indeed iron. I had the D2 with me and the 9 inch coil on it. I fired it up and rehunted the same area and I will tell you hands down...the D2 is smoother and quieter on this site. It's actually a joy to use there. I did dig two non ferrous targets with it and both were small BB fishing sinkers. ‐---------------- Now here is where things turn. I had been telling my mom about hunting the drained lake and she said something that blind sighted me. She asked "where you hunting the new beach or the old one". Huh? Say what? Well come to find out...the beach I have been hunting is what she refers to as the "new beach". It was built some time in the 1970s. The beach she swam at as a kid...during the 50s and 60s is the old beach. I never knew it existed. She showed me on Google Earth where it was. I said "mom, I've been metal detecting for 30 years and you just now come up with the info of TWO beaches?!!" Haha. and that's where I went to after hunting the "new beach" today. It actually took a bit to locate and I wasn't sure at first. It is loaded with fishing sinkers and such. But then...I started getting deep high tones and started digging coins from the 60s and 70s and then old style ring pull tabs. I was pretty sure at that point I had found it...and signals are everywhere so I'm sure it hasn't been detected much either. I actually just barely scratched the surface there...dug a whole pouch of older clad and 3 rings. Two silver and 1 copper. I am confident more is going to come out of here...just have to work through the trash to get it. I am more than willing to do that. So I stop by my mom's on the way home from the hunt to show her the rings and let her have her pick if she wanted one. Immediately she grabbed one with a red stone in it and ran to the kitchen sink. I didn't think anything of it. Then she came out of the kitchen crying. What happened? Well...unbeknownst to me, I had found her sister's ring that she had lost when they were kids. She passed away last year. Mom never mentioned her losing a ring but she sure knew it as soon as she saw it. It was their grandmother's ring and their grandmother had given it to mom's sister. She lost it swimming back in the 1960s. It was a 925 silver ring with either a red garnet or ruby...I couldn't tell you because it's firmly in mom's possession now. I am stoked to have found a new spot to hit. I didn't even hunt this one with the D2...the Manticore seemed to be doing fine at it. There's no bedrock on this end of the lake...just sand and mud. Some of the coins were rather deep...pushing 10 to 11 inches and sounded very good.

This is a Manticore and Deus 2 side by side park hunt video in a northeast USA park where plenty of silver coins have been found by the detector users in the past using Etracs and CTX. There are several targets that show the Manticore display clearly before digging along with lots of good information. The only thing I wish they had done is have the detectors using external speaker audio. But this was in a public park and they were concentrating on the deepest targets where headphones are essential. No BS, no editorials, no implied bashing and most of all.....no drama. Just two outstanding detectors and two very experienced detector users hunting together with live digs.

Here is an interesting test of the Manticore vs the Deus II on a gold bar and a gold ring masked by two nails. Which machine is better at sniffing out the gold?

I'm not a huge fan of YouTube videos, but these guys make some videos which might give you some idea of how the detector can compare in different types of scenarios. I think they are Bulgarian, you don't need to understand it since it gives you all the information on the screen of what is under the coil. It seems that the 900 is not only the crutch, it has improved somewhat compared to its successor.

Someone in another thread mentioned the Manticore and 900 being used to slow down the amount of XP Deus IIs flying off the shelves. I'm not a dealer and maybe I'm bias, and don't keep up with all detectors, but has the D2 or Legend been flying off the shelves? I know a guy that bought both the Legend and the D2. A couple of more friends have the D2. I traded a detector for a Legend, but it has seen very little use. The guys I mention are really hard core and tend to have many detectors to begin with. I see more talk about the D2 than the Legend, but overall at least in my view neither of those detectors have had a major impact on the detecting scene. From what I have seen it's not like everyone and their brother felt they had to run out and buy one. The Legend is affordable. The D2 has a better reputation as state of the art, and is possibly the best over all detector out there at the moment. So am I wrong? Have either of these flown off the shelves? Have either made the impact they were supposed to make? I'm sure Minelab has had both the updated 700-900 and Manticore in the works for quite awhile. I guess they could have pushed them out to regain market share, but it would seem to me they are both normal roll outs that have been in the works for some time now.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/63-minelab-manticore-forum/ Post your Manticore stuff there, not here.

First let me mention I'm a total newbie (except playing with cheap "toy" metal detectors in my childhood). I want a good (or the best) all around detector, mostly for treasure hunting (finding old coins/jewelry and maybe some small gold nuggets if possible). I want to choose a detector that I can live with for many years without outgrowing or having to many technical issues with. I only want one, and I'm not planning in investing in another one for at least 8-10 years. I have read about all the models above and came up with these three as they seem to fit the bill. I actually went to a shop and tried the Equinox 800 and the Deus II. Ergonomically the Deus II felt way better than the Equinox 800, but the Equinox 800 seems easier to operate and maintain (magnetic charger, only one device to charge). Battery replacement when/if the battery goes bad is easy on the Equinox. Not so much on the Deus II. To me it seems a hassle to charge both the main unit and the coil. And it seems a little iffy to change battery in the coil (involving knife and glue). I don't know about the main unit. Is it possible to swap the battery in it by yourself? In many videos I have watched, the Deus II seems to react quicker and also have better depth than the Equinox 800. I am a bit confused now which one I should get. Then there's the upcoming Manticore (a little too pricy, but if it's that much better than any of the other two I'll still consider it). In the shop I actually got an offer to swap in the Equinox 800 for a Manticore when it becomes available without loosing too much money if I choose to upgrade. Didn't get that offer on the Deus II. To summarize it: Deus II: Pros: 1. It felt sooo good in the hand - like driving a fancy expensive car 2. Seems quicker, might go deeper? 3. User upgradable firmware adding modes and fixing things Cons: 1. I'm worried about the batteries life span and charging hassle 2. Doesn't seem to find as small objects as the Equinox? 3. Seems harder to configure if you're a newbie Equinox 800: Pros: 1. Easier to maintain. One magnetic cable to charge it. Nothing more. Easier to swap out the battery if it goes bad. 2. Better at finding smaller objects? 3. Easier to configure for a newbie? Cons: 1. After testing the Deus II, it didn't feel right in the hand. Like going from that fancy expensive car to an old used cheap car. 2. It's older tech than the Deus II I guess, might still be as good or better? 3. Read about leaking water and cracking at the charing port. Is this a real problem? And the Manticore isn't released yet, so I guess it's hard to know how it performs? Will it solve all the cons I've listed for the Equinox 800 and get some pros from the Deus II? So right now my choices are: 1. Get the Equinox 800 right now and play around with it for 1-2 months, getting a feel for it. If I like it I'll keep it. If not I'm upgrading to the Manticore and hoping it will be a better experience. 2. Get the Deus II and be stuck with it (not gonna even check out the Manticore as I won't get a good deal upgrading it). Which route should I go and why? Am I wrong about my pros/cons list?

As old as I am, I am nearly new to gold field prospecting. I am helping an even older friend re-establish some claims he had 40 years ago in the Northern High Sierras of California. The claim in question has copper, and iron, sulfides next to each other - with free milling micron gold. We have only opened up a short length of the ore body for examination at this time. But, I want to detect along the strike, and hope to find out if there are any gold stringer veins, small pockets of larger than micron gold, or any aspect of significance near the surface. Nothing stands out visually at this time. There is a fair to large amount of iron sulfides in the ore body. The area has had little in the way of hydraulic action from run off. But what the heck, a little exploration never hurt anybody. So - my question is: Minelab is coming out with the Manticore in 2-3 months and it has a Gold Field feature. I wonder if this will work as well, or better, than the Gold Monster 1000 in our location? If any one has knowledge of the comparison, of knows of, or hears of, a review of the Manticore Gold Field mode vs the Gold Monster 1000 I would really appreciate hearing from you. There's also an area of ancient river bed, on the side of a hill, that I would like to explore with a detector. I will be purchasing one, or the other, depending on which will be more capable in our location. Thank you.

The Minelab engineer in the videos mentions a couple of times that the Manticore has "50% more power, electric, going to the coil".. Will this, together with more advanced signal processing, make a difference in how deep the beast will punch? Is it really as simple as: more power = a stronger electromagnetic field = greater depth.. And if this really does make such a difference, then why haven't other manufactures cottoned on to this?

We don't have much information about either of these detectors for the beach as of yet so we'll be pulling out an answer. Which way are you leaning? I have a choice, but I'll wait for a few answers before I disclose my logic.