A Few Finds

[TampaBayBrad]

1 hour ago, markinswpa said:

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.

Do you still have the 800? If so test them side by side in a test garden. It just doesn't seem right that the newer detector isn't as deep as the one it's replacing.

[markinswpa]

7 hours ago, TampaBayBrad said:

Do you still have the 800? If so test them side by side in a test garden. It just doesn't seem right that the newer detector isn't as deep as the one it's replacing.

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.

[longbow62]

Great finds, congrats!

[TampaBayBrad]

7 hours ago, markinswpa said:

The problem I think is that its too fast and not able to report the deeper signals in certain types of soil.

Try slowing your recovery speed down to 2. You may have to swing a little slower. Tom Dankowski says you lose a little depth with higher recovery speeds (not that 4 is high). I run my Manticore at 4 like you do on the 900, but I'm in the Beach programs which are a different animal.

I thought when you were describing how the machines behaved in your test garden that all was well and the 900 out performed the 800 after the factory reset. But then that doesn't answer your lack of finds to date this year. 

Maybe go back to the test garden for a double check that it's still performing well. If nothing else it will give you peace of mind that you're not wasting your swing time with a machine that isn't going deep.

[NCtoad]

Nice bunch of finds Mark!   Looks like that 900 is working well for you!

[jim tn]

On 7/24/2023 at 10:00 AM, markinswpa said:

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

I didn't have the 6" coil for my 600, but highly suspect the 6" I now have with the 900 would probably struggle on 8-10" deep coins. The 11", however, will go deep. I've dug 2 coins between 10 and 11" with it and they weren't just tic tones, either. The 11" is my depth hunter, although it's darn good in quite heavy trash, and the 6" for heavy trash un-masking. Good luck. HH jim tn

[mh9162013]

Love those finds, especially the Mercs.

[markinswpa]

On 7/25/2023 at 12:21 AM, longbow62 said:

Great finds, congrats!

 

On 7/25/2023 at 8:11 AM, NCtoad said:

Nice bunch of finds Mark!   Looks like that 900 is working well for you!

 

On 7/25/2023 at 2:34 PM, jim tn said:

I didn't have the 6" coil for my 600, but highly suspect the 6" I now have with the 900 would probably struggle on 8-10" deep coins. The 11", however, will go deep. I've dug 2 coins between 10 and 11" with it and they weren't just tic tones, either. The 11" is my depth hunter, although it's darn good in quite heavy trash, and the 6" for heavy trash un-masking. Good luck. HH jim tn

 

On 7/26/2023 at 3:21 PM, mh9162013 said:

Love those finds, especially the Mercs.

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

[markinswpa]

On 7/25/2023 at 5:00 AM, TampaBayBrad said:

Try slowing your recovery speed down to 2. You may have to swing a little slower. Tom Dankowski says you lose a little depth with higher recovery speeds (not that 4 is high). I run my Manticore at 4 like you do on the 900, but I'm in the Beach programs which are a different animal.

I thought when you were describing how the machines behaved in your test garden that all was well and the 900 out performed the 800 after the factory reset. But then that doesn't answer your lack of finds to date this year. 

Maybe go back to the test garden for a double check that it's still performing well. If nothing else it will give you peace of mind that you're not wasting your swing time with a machine that isn't going deep.

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

[longbow62]

2 hours ago, markinswpa said:

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

I'm with you on this. Lowering the the Recovery below 4 stretches the tone out to long. Honestly the stock program recovery speeds are about perfect. I've never seen a lot of difference raising or lowering them drastically.