Minelab Manticore First Really Short Hunt

[Dug D]

I'm listening intently, my target ID spread is almost always + 10 and - 10 so a 62 average will almost always hit low 50s and low 70s I have often dug good targets with larger spread.  I ran the update for a while and switched back to original which seemed a bit better/deeper. 

But now I am ready to try the update again after I have gained more experience and have evolved my settings that I need to try.

I am pretty sure I have never dug an 8 inch penny, dime, or nickel with sensitivity less than 20.

Maybe I just haven't crossed good targets when at lower sensitivity and need to give it more time running less than 20 to help with the wide target ID spread.  

Thanks Jeff, your insight is giving me some hope that I still just need a little more patience. 

 

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, Dug D said:

I'm listening intently, my target ID spread is almost always + 10 and - 10 so a 62 average will almost always hit low 50s and low 70s I have often dug good targets with larger spread.  I ran the update for a while and switched back to original which seemed a bit better/deeper. 

But now I am ready to try the update again after I have gained more experience and have evolved my settings that I need to try.

I am pretty sure I have never dug an 8 inch penny, dime, or nickel with sensitivity less than 20.

Maybe I just haven't crossed good targets when at lower sensitivity and need to give it more time running less than 20 to help with the wide target ID spread.  

Thanks Jeff, your insight is giving me some hope that I still just need a little more patience. 

 

I have recovered around 100 US coins so far with the Manticore but have mostly been concentrating on copper pennies, clad dimes and quarters with around 10 nickels. Most have been in the 4 to 6" depth range but a few of the high conductors have been as deep as 8 to 10". At the 8 to 10" depth target ID spread will get wider in the dirt I hunt in but audio still stays mostly within the tone bin with an occasional drop below 77. Deeper nickels also have stayed in the 16 digit tone bin I set for them from 21 to 36. I basically discount the wild zinc penny target IDs if they have some depth and especially corrosion.

With these much more powerful, sensitive, and less stable simultaneous multi frequency VLF detectors like the Manticore, Deus 2, Legend and Nox 700/900, I really concentrate on coil control and on not fully deciding on dig/no dig on deeper targets until I have onboard pinpointed the target and centered the coil over the target. The Manticore's pinpoint function is outstanding and makes that really easy. I get pretty tight numbers circling deeper US high conductor coin targets after doing that so far. I have not dug any deep iron yet. Maybe I am being too conservative.

[markinswpa]

8 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

I have recovered around 100 US coins so far with the Manticore but have mostly been concentrating on copper pennies, clad dimes and quarters with around 10 nickels. Most have been in the 4 to 6" depth range but a few of the high conductors have been as deep as 8 to 10". At the 8 to 10" depth target ID spread will get wider in the dirt I hunt in but audio still stays mostly within the tone bin with an occasional drop below 77. Deeper nickels also have stayed in the 8 digit tone bin I set for them from 57 to 64. I basically discount the wild zinc penny target IDs if they have some depth and especially corrosion.

With these much more powerful, sensitive, and less stable simultaneous multi frequency VLF detectors, I really concentrate on coil control and on not fully deciding on dig/no dig on deeper targets until I have onboard pinpointed the target and centered the coil over the target. The Manticore's pinpoint function is outstanding and makes that really easy. I get pretty tight numbers circling deeper US high conductor coin targets after doing that so far. I have not dug any deep iron yet. Maybe I am being too conservative.

Jeff hi, did I read that right ? You say nickels are coming in at 57 to 64. I'm still using the 900 and my bin 2 nickels/midtones are set from 23 to 29. Being the same target scale for both I would think Ids would be a little closer than that. Have been slowly losing confidence in the 900 as the depth issues continue. Thanks for your report and will be interested to see hear your thoughts as time goes on. Good luck. Mark

[GB_Amateur]

15 minutes ago, Jeff McClendon said:

Deeper nickels also have stayed in the 8 digit tone bin I set for them from 57 to 64.

Those sound more like Deus-2 TID's for USA nickels.  Manticore sweetspot TID for those is 26-27.  (I assume that's what you meant, but are still struggling with changing 'languages' ?

I'll be interested in hearing how your Manticore responds when a nail in the hole along with a coin.  I've barely begun experimenting with that situation, but so far it seems to do rather well.  (Still preliminary conclusion, though.)

[Jeff McClendon]

56 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Those sound more like Deus-2 TID's for USA nickels.  Manticore sweetspot TID for those is 26-27.  (I assume that's what you meant, but are still struggling with changing 'languages' ?

I'll be interested in hearing how your Manticore responds when a nail in the hole along with a coin.  I've barely begun experimenting with that situation, but so far it seems to do rather well.  (Still preliminary conclusion, though.)

I was doing a Deus 2 project for someone else at the same time. Thanks for catching that. I'll fix it.

[Jeff McClendon]

1 hour ago, markinswpa said:

Jeff hi, did I read that right ? You say nickels are coming in at 57 to 64. I'm still using the 900 and my bin 2 nickels/midtones are set from 23 to 29. Being the same target scale for both I would think Ids would be a little closer than that. Have been slowly losing confidence in the 900 as the depth issues continue. Thanks for your report and will be interested to see hear your thoughts as time goes on. Good luck. Mark

my bad, trying to do two things at once is not good for this old head.

[abenson]

On 10/24/2023 at 6:57 AM, Dug D said:

I'm listening intently, my target ID spread is almost always + 10 and - 10 so a 62 average will almost always hit low 50s and low 70s I have often dug good targets with larger spread.  I ran the update for a while and switched back to original which seemed a bit better/deeper. 

But now I am ready to try the update again after I have gained more experience and have evolved my settings that I need to try.

I am pretty sure I have never dug an 8 inch penny, dime, or nickel with sensitivity less than 20.

Maybe I just haven't crossed good targets when at lower sensitivity and need to give it more time running less than 20 to help with the wide target ID spread.  

 

You're going to have to experiment with different settings, especially with the updated software. The old software is a lot more forgiving of settings. Settings are going to be site specific and be dependent on soil mineralization strength. When you get over what you think is a deep target, change up your recovery speed and sensitivity until you find the settings that give you the most stable ID.

In my mid-high mineralized dirt, the old Manticore software I could run recovery at 3 or 4 and sensitivity run up until EMI started to creep in. Target ID was fairly stable at those settings. With version 1.11 I have found that my recovery is best at 5 or 6 and sensitivity at 19 or 20. With those settings I have target ID spreads of about 4 points max, even on deeper targets. These settings are especially important in ATHC, General and ATLC are more forgiving. The other thing about over driving the settings on the Manticore especially in ATHC, is deep iron targets start to sound good because of the false you get off them.

I'm finding with the Manticore if you pay attention to the clues given by the tone, trace and ID, you'll dig very little iron or junk in general. Good targets (unless on edge or next to adjacent targets) have a pretty defined trace, tight ID and solid tone.

[Dug D]

On 10/24/2023 at 10:07 AM, abenson said:

In my mid-high mineralized dirt, the old Manticore software I could run recovery at 3 or 4 and sensitivity run up until EMI started to creep in. Target ID was fairly stable at those settings. With version 1.11 I have found that my recovery is best at 5 or 6 and sensitivity at 19 or 20. With those settings I have target ID spreads of about 4 points max, even on deeper targets. These settings are especially important in ATHC, General and ATLC are more forgiving. The other thing about over driving the settings on the Manticore especially in ATHC, is deep iron targets start to sound good because of the false you get off them.

I'm finding with the Manticore if you pay attention to the clues given by the tone, trace and ID, you'll dig very little iron or junk in general. Good targets (unless on edge or next to adjacent targets) have a pretty defined trace, tight ID and solid tone.

Thanks, I have been working is this direction, but with the original software. My ground balance numbers never run very high, like always less than 20, but maybe my ground in general is worse that I was thinking. I know my parks generally have plenty of square nails from little short ones to 3 inchers, a couple of those close together can give an irresistible signal and now and then its a deep silver, so I always leave the parks with quite a few square nails if I am looking to be deeper than all that came before me. I know those guys and they were really good at detecting 30 years ago.  (boy do they have some stories of the old days)