SF Versus SMF Versus PI In Mineralized Ground

[Gold Junkie]

I want to share my recent experience with these 3 types of detectors out gold prospecting.  My gold kruzer is a single high frequency machine geared towards gold. It does a great job in mild to moderate mineralization.  It has found most of my gold for me, although they have either been on or near the surface, with the exception of a 7 gram piece that was submerged in a creek. The creek I have been working has concentrated the hot rocks and mineralization 10x what outside of the creek is. It's like looking through dense fog. I pretty much have to be touching the target to hear it.

  I have been hesitant to use my manticore gold prospecting due to the chattery noise it was making in prospecting mode. I wasn't convinced that smf was any better than sf for finding gold. Recently I invited a friend out to my spot. He is a very experienced detectorist, but new to gold prospecting.  He was running the Manticore, and I was running my axiom. I found a target in the creek, and tried getting a reading on it with the gold kruzer. The GK couldn't see the target. My buddy tried his Manticore on it, and he was able to get a good signal on it. That showed me how much better the smf is in mineralized conditions.

A week later my buddy joined me again with hopes to find his first gold. Still running his Manticore,  he scores a really nice specimen on land out of the creek. He spent the next several hours working that spot with the goal of not missing an inch. No more gold, but he was extremely thorough. 

The next day I head back out with the axiom. I throw the 13" fc dd coil on and start working the spot my buddy found his gold. Within minutes I found my first non ferrous target, and 3 more followed.  They were all tiny brass screws about 2 to 4 inches deep. All Within 10 ft of my buddies gold find. This showed me 2 things. 1.. just how stinking good the axiom is, and 2... even though the smf Manticore saw more than the sf gold kruzer,  the axiom saw even more. 

Now to be clear, everything I have read on this forum has been saying exactly what I learned in those 3 trips out. My personal experience just confirmed what I've been told. I am now 💯 convinced .

This weekend I decided to give my Manticore a shot at prospecting.  I through the 5x8 on, and got it to run as quiet as possible without losing too much sensitivity.  I quickly learned the chatter is just chatter, and not to try turn chatter into a target. The Manticore will let you know when it has a target. You just have to let it mumble on, until it decides to scream "dig me". I ended up with a nice old button, and my smallest,  yet first piece of gold with the Manticore.  It was a good trip. 

For anyone even remotely interested in detecting for gold ,wondering what detector to buy first, I would highly recommend a smf with prospecting mode, and add a PI later when you can. 

I hope this long winded story helps someone with questions about sf vs smf vz PI.  Now go get some!

 

 

[JCR]

Very good write up.

[MD4V.org]

Doesn't the Manticore hunt in Single Freq in the Prospecting mode?

[Gold Junkie]

38 minutes ago, MD4V.org said:

Doesn't the Manticore hunt in Single Freq in the Prospecting mode?

You can set it to single frequency, but default is multi. It does run quieter in single, but my recent experience shows me multi is more beneficial in mineralized ground for sure

[Jeff McClendon]

Great write-up. It also supports what some of us have been saying who do gold prospecting and relic hunting in moderate to high iron mineralization. But this only applies to these latest simultaneous multi frequency detectors from the outset of the original Equinox series back in late 2017.  Earlier forms of simultaneous multi frequency were not geared towards gold prospecting or handling moderate to high iron mineralization from my experiences with them.

Lead Detector, default gold prospecting mode on the Manticore and Equinox 800/900 has ground tracking ground balance ON. You might want to experiment with using ground grab instead and also running recovery speed in the 4 to 6 range depending on where you are hunting if you haven’t done that already to quiet down some of the chatter. And I basically can’t run sensitivity on the Manticore higher than 20 in the higher iron mineralized areas I do gold prospecting at using prospecting mode. Otherwise, the chatter can get pretty annoying. 

Like you said, even with some background noise, the Manticore and these hot SMFs like the Equinox 800/900, Legend and Deus 2 in prospecting mode will often let you know when you are over a viable target vs ground noise.

[phrunt]

3 hours ago, MD4V.org said:

Doesn't the Manticore hunt in Single Freq in the Prospecting mode?

still bump sensitive in single, no different to the Gold Monster in that regard.

[strick]

Using multi in some areas with high minerals if the sensitivity is set too high will make the ground sound like a bed of nails...

Strick