Finally got out with the Anfibio this afternoon

[The Digger]

I have not been able to metal detect much this year, but had a chance this afternoon. I went to an old church site that I had hit hard with my Explorer XS.
Too my surprise, the Anfibio was able to find a few more targets, including a Buffalo Nickel, an Indian Cent, and a few more relics. Almost all of the nails were found in the same hole. Someone must have dropped a bag of them many years ago, as they were about all square nails. It was certainly good to get out again.

 

[Monte]

Congratulations, both on finally getting out as well as enjoying some success.

Questions: Were you using the stock 11" DD or an accessory coil? Which mode(s) did you mainly use, and the Frequency and settings?

I always like to read info on not just the model but the coils and settings used. I know a lot of readers would like to know as well.

I hope you get out again soon.

Monte

 

[The Digger]

Hey Monte. I agree with you about knowing the coils and settings used as well. Today, I used the stock 11" coil, as the area I was hunting was not real trashy, and I wanted to get the extra depth. I hunted in five tone mode with the gain at only 70, as there was significant EMI. I used both 5 khz and 14 khz. The 5 khz seems to drain my battery quicker than 14 khz. My isat was at 0, and that's almost always where I have it. The soil I was hunting in was beautiful black loam and easy to recover targets from. The coins were 8-9" deep and came in strong. I live in Arkansas but am back in my home state of Iowa this week. The ground in Iowa is so much nicer to detect in.

 

[IowaRelic]

Dang a lot of Iowa folks digging lately!!! Love it!! I recently returned to Alabama from my home town, Keokuk. It was super dry and digging was tough but the anfibio and kruzer got it done!! I miss Iowa dirt and good field hunts.

 

[Coinboy007]

Hey Monte. I agree with you about knowing the coils and settings used as well. Today, I used the stock 11" coil, as the area I was hunting was not real trashy, and I wanted to get the extra depth. I hunted in five tone mode with the gain at only 70, as there was significant EMI. I used both 5 khz and 14 khz. The 5 khz seems to drain my battery quicker than 14 khz. My isat was at 0, and that's almost always where I have it. The soil I was hunting in was beautiful black loam and easy to recover targets from. The coins were 8-9" deep and came in strong. I live in Arkansas but am back in my home state of Iowa this week. The ground in Iowa is so much nicer to detect in.

What part of Iowa are you in if you don’t mind? I’m in the southeast part by Iowa city

 

[The Digger]

What part of Iowa are you in if you don’t mind? I’m in the southeast part by Iowa city

Hey Coinboy007. I am from Pella. I have detected over in your area. In fact, my hunting buddy made a great find in the Riverside Park several years ago---2 Barber Halves and an Indian Cent all in the same hole.

 

[Coinboy007]

Hey Coinboy007. I am from Pella. I have detected over in your area. In fact, my hunting buddy made a great find in the Riverside Park several years ago---2 Barber Halves and an Indian Cent all in the same hole.

Dang that’s pretty freakin awesome! I’ve gotta get some good homesite permissions around here, my 9x5 coil for my Simplex comes on Saturday!

 

[IowaRelic]

Dang that’s pretty freakin awesome! I’ve gotta get some good homesite permissions around here, my 9x5 coil for my Simplex comes on Saturday!

I think you’ll be happy with that combo. You won’t need an upgrade real soon

 

[Monte]

Hey Monte. I agree with you about knowing the coils and settings used as well. Today, I used the stock 11" coil, as the area I was hunting was not real trashy, and I wanted to get the extra depth. I hunted in five tone mode with the gain at only 70, as there was significant EMI. I used both 5 khz and 14 khz. The 5 khz seems to drain my battery quicker than 14 khz. My isat was at 0, and that's almost always where I have it. The soil I was hunting in was beautiful black loam and easy to recover targets from. The coins were 8-9" deep and came in strong. I live in Arkansas but am back in my home state of Iowa this week. The ground in Iowa is so much nicer to detect in.

'Thank You' for the info. The round 11" DD worked great for me when I hunt wide-open areas, and balanced well on both the Anfibio Multi and Simplex +. As for mode preference, I get most of my best hunting done in either the 2-Tone or 3-Tone modes and the 2-Tone 'Deep' mode. I never use 4, 5 or multi-tone. Tried them to confirm I didn't care for them where I usually hunt. I opted for 5 kHz only for select sites due partly to the increased battery drain. The bulk of my detecting with any of the selectable-frequency models was at 14 kHz as it worked great, but I would opt for the higher-frequency choice in places where I was mainly going after low-conductive gold jewelry. Not all that needed, but I did it often anyway.

What makes the Iowa ground better to detect in? Lower iron minerlization? Looser, more porous-like make-up?

Monte

 

[Monte]

Dang that’s pretty freakin awesome! I’ve gotta get some good homesite permissions around here, my 9x5 coil for my Simplex comes on Saturday!

I think you’ll be happy with that combo. You won’t need an upgrade real soon

Coinboy007, I am with IowaRelic 100% on your search coil choice. my regular-carry Simplex + keeps the 5X9½ DD mounted full-time as one of my Daily-Use Team that rides in my vehicle. It works quite well for modestly-littered sites and serves my needs as a 'scouting unit' for different places, too. I'll keep hoping for a smaller-size coil for the real challenging site, but as a general-purpose, everyday-use coil it makes the Simplex + one of the best on the market today. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Monte

 

[IowaRelic]

'Thank You' for the info. The round 11" DD worked great for me when I hunt wide-open areas, and balanced well on both the Anfibio Multi and Simplex +. As for mode preference, I get most of my best hunting done in either the 2-Tone or 3-Tone modes and the 2-Tone 'Deep' mode. I never use 4, 5 or multi-tone. Tried them to confirm I didn't care for them where I usually hunt. I opted for 5 kHz only for select sites due partly to the increased battery drain. The bulk of my detecting with any of the selectable-frequency models was at 14 kHz as it worked great, but I would opt for the higher-frequency choice in places where I was mainly going after low-conductive gold jewelry. Not all that needed, but I did it often anyway.

What makes the Iowa ground better to detect in? Lower iron minerlization? Looser, more porous-like make-up?

Monte

Iowa dirt for the most part is very mild and in the wetter months very good rich black soil for digging. The amount of cleared farmland in the entire state makes locating older homesites and earlier frontier era homes easier to find. The plows keep the artifacts shallow in the fields and in the woods they really don’t get too deep. 10” was my deepest coin find in Iowa. And best of all, no one is out there seeking the earliest pre 1850 sites. Every old homesite I ever found was unhunted. The parks and schools get hit but no one thinks to research and find the really old stuff.

 

[Monte]

Iowa dirt for the most part is very mild and in the wetter months very good rich black soil for digging. The amount of cleared farmland in the entire state makes locating older homesites and earlier frontier era homes easier to find. The plows keep the artifacts shallow in the fields and in the woods they really don’t get too deep. 10” was my deepest coin find in Iowa. And best of all, no one is out there seeking the earliest pre 1850 sites. Every old homesite I ever found was unhunted. The parks and schools get hit but no one thinks to research and find the really old stuff.

Again, 'Thank You.' It is nice to have good ground to hunt in, that is also good for easier target recoveries as well.

I live in Vale Oregon and we are surrounded by farm and ranch country so it's just a matter of doing the research and getting permission. We also have some easy-drive access to some ghost towns and gold mining era encampments and community / town sites, but they are getting thinned out plus several are very overgrown with weeds and other vegetation. A good lightning-string range fire would help us out in several of those sites. Most of the activity around here can also date to the late 1840's to 1860's, but closed libraries this year put the crimp on my research opportunities.

Monte

 

[GA1dad]

Congrats on getting out and digging some good targets.

I too am just starting to really try the Anfibio Multi "in the wild", and if I may, I'd like to ask a question? Have you noticed it assigning a higher VDI than a target deserves? I was out yesterday on a new permission and I stumbled on a target that sounded great, but was bouncing 60's, 70's, 80', and an occasional 98. I finally dug it and at 6 inches it was an old brass 12 gauge head stamp. On the surface it was ringing up in the high 20's? I rechecked the hole and nothing. I shrugged it off and kept swinging. I went on to find two more head stamps that rang up the same way, including the 98. Re-scanned those holes too,, and no other targets. I wouldn't have been surprised if it would have knocked it down into the iron range,, but 70's and 80's? It just puzzled me.

5 tone, 89 gain, 5 kHz, Kruzer 5X9.5 DD coil, GB was mid 50's
My one regret is that I didn't think to recheck the signals with other modes or frequencies before digging any of them. I haven't gotten into that habit yet.

 

[The Digger]

Hey GA1dad. I have noticed that deep nickels occasionally give a higher ID than normal. Not sure why that is.

 

[GA1dad]

Thanks for the reply. I have owned this machine since Memorial Day and have hit my little test garden many times, but just hadn't found time to really go out and detect. Finally last week I started taking it out to the local park to dig some clad, square tabs and bottle caps, just to get a feel of what targets sound like. So far I've tested the stock 11" DD, the 9" concentric and the 5X9.5 DD. I really like the feel of the smaller DD, it does balance nicely. It also hits the 6" Mercury that I have buried that seems to elude most of the machines I've tested. Don't know if it's the red clay or nearby powerlines, or both,,, but that 6" dime is a challenge. But the Anfibio with the small DD smacked it with proper VDI/TID. I'm really excited about getting to know the machine.

If I'm reading it right, the Anfibio is fairly new to you also? I'm looking forward to seeing how you do with yours too,,, looks like you've got some old stuff waiting to be dug.

 

[IowaRelic]

I’ve made comments in my videos about the Kruzer VDI and also my partner has the issue with his anfibio. It seems that beyond a certain depth the ID just does whatever with the frequent blips of accuracy to give a clue. I frequently get targets with varying numbers before and after digging. Is it possible that the VDI is tied to the tones? Unlike say the T2 where tone and numbers are separate.

To me they are a dig all Non ferrous machine for this reason alone. And that sucks. I notice that gain level will affect the vdi on a clean target. Seems to me, that once over 90 the gain increases quickly with each click upwards. By the time your at 95-96 gain, deep targets really come in good. Problem is they are so touchy with high gain in a busy site. Which in turn puts me into 3 tone 89 gain, the most successful mode on these machines. Audio modulation is perfect at this point.

One of my main issues, and it’s probably just me, but why make your machine behave so differently based on tone selection!? Why not just let us adjust things like transmit power, recovery speed, and tone #, in the settings!? So then EVERY tone selection can be tailored to a site. What if I want to use 2 tone? Nope it’s too hot and slow for this cellar hole. What about 4 tone in all this modern trash? Nope. Way too hot, makes deep iron sound good and is poor at unmasking in comparison to 3 tone. It really comes down to how 3 tone acts... it’s the most predictable mode. I understand 5 tone is like another 3 tone mode maybe a bit hotter.


It’s also been discussed on various forums. They released an update to correct VDI issues on the simplex but won’t do it for the Kruzer/Anfibio.

I have tried to really dive into the kruzer and maximize what I can do with it. 3 tone brings home the goods.

 

[The Digger]

Actually, I have had my Anfibio since January of 2019. Finding time to use it has been my problem. However, in the times I've been out, I have made many good finds, and feel like I am getting to know the machine pretty well. I use both the stock 11" coil and the 7" concentric coil. It has definitely found me some deep coins that my Explorer XS was unable to detect. I will say that I seem to dig more trash with the Anfibio than I did my Explorer, but that may change as I become more proficient with it.

 

[The Digger]

Hey Iowa Relic. You bring up some good points. I am a little surprised there has never been an update for the Anfibio, as NM really seemed to push that as a selling point. 3 Tone, with a gain of 89, is the easiest mode to hunt in, and if I'm in an area where the targets are not deep, I use it. However, I have found many deep coins that 3 Tone with 89 gain would not make a peep on. I know this because I often compare modes after finding a good sounding target.

 

[IowaRelic]

Hey Iowa Relic. You bring up some good points. I am a little surprised there has never been an update for the Anfibio, as NM really seemed to push that as a selling point. 3 Tone, with a gain of 89, is the easiest mode to hunt in, and if I'm in an area where the targets are not deep, I use it. However, I have found many deep coins that 3 Tone with 89 gain would not make a peep on. I know this because I often compare modes after finding a good sounding target.

Yes, no doubt a shallow mode. I also use 94 gain in 3 tone quite a bit when less trashy. Start getting deeper targets.