Some reflections on the current state of silver coin hunting

[bigtim1973]

The high conductor program will use lower frequencies which draw more power from the battery

I tried to use the low conductor program but it was too chattery in the area I hunted last. It was prone to false more near the outer edges of iron.

As far as the disc range goes in the Nickle region, I use zero disc pattern. A lot of odd bits of metal fall into the same numbers that a Nickle falls into.

I too is use the wiggle method but when I am trying to single out between 2 targets near each other I will use the pinpoint feature.

I have not taken the 11 inch coil on an outing yet since I have mainly been hunting around old houses. I will save it for a bigger area. However in my test bed I do find the 11 inch coil does separate very well compared to the M9 coil.

Also on another note, I have a buried 9 inch 58 caliber civil war bullet in my test bed. It has some small bits of iron contamination in the hole as well. While using the SMF mode the manticore struggles to hit it using the M9 coil. However it will hit it in all of the the single frequencies and in the low conductor program as well.

 

[LTDigger]

Yes exactly. What made detecting fun again for me was the original minelab Xterra vflex units. Prior to that I was using an old fisher 1260 which served it's time well but was outdated with the new units. The Xterra units were not that deep of a machine but everything less than 8 inches were easy pickings. It was really fun with that 18khz 6 inch DD coil. I found some of my favorite finds with that unit. Barber dimes, v nickles, Indian head pennies, silver quarters, a couple of old pocket spills, and even a seated liberty quarter on its first outing!
When I think back to 2008 when I got that Xterra unit and had so much fun with it, it was due to seeking out new sites that I had not detected before. I took it to one place I had hunted previously and found a mercury dime, Barber dime and an Indian head penny. That was it from that place.
I like the more simple set up units. I tried the minelab explorer and just could not wrap my head around that box and discrimination pattern target graph screen it had. It never made sense to me.

Going back to the manticore now, here is what I would change and it is only minor things.

1. I wish the pinpoint feature was not so loud...I mean my goodness....it needs an adjustable volume setting for that feature.

2. The round shaft design is a pain in the a$$. I can tighten up the cam to make it stop twisting but every time I adjust it I have to re align it all again.

3. The discrimination part of Nickle range is too condensed. I have dug so many things that rings up like a Nickle that are not nickles it surprises me. The pull tabs and pop tops are easy to identify that region of the pattern is just fine. It is just the Nickle region I have a. Having a problem with.

That about sums up my minus points on the manticore. Other than these 3 complaints I have about it, it still is the best unit I have ever owned.

 

[Trashfinder]

I started hunting with my Dad back in 1976 when i was 10 years old with our trusty Whites detecter. So have been at it for near (Yikes!!) 50 years. Currently I'm swinging a Manticore after retiring the CTX after many many great years. I hate to tell people how much silver we found back in the early days because it feels so defeating compared to today.
Just going to the local park would yield on average, about 2 to 3 dollars in silver .....almost every time we went out!!! And about 6 bucks in clad, which is worth around $30 in todays dollars. As a kid I was able to buy 4 or 5 comic books with each outing .... and still have money left over to buy 2 hamburgers and fries from Mcdonalds. . So even todays clad is hardly worth digging considering its purchasing power.
Presently even with the best detecter I'm lucky to get 2 or 3 dollars in silver for the entire year. And I no longer hunt park or schools but do research to find those rarely hit areas. Except we are all doing research now and hard to be the first ones there. As somone said in an earlier post " its the law of diminishing returns". Unlike a lake thats fished out, we dont have the DNR "replenishing the fields with Silver" like they will replenish fish in a lake thats been depleted, and bringing it back to life. Theres a point like that fished out lake, where all the silver will be taken, yet sadly no one to re-stock it.
I hate to say it but unless theres some radical new technology that will find masked silver under junk much better than the Manticore currently can, or get us to depths that are limited by the current technology, I see the hobby slowly fading away for those land hunters looking for silver.
I bought the CTX back in 2012 and it really was the future and a game changer !! It brought pounded and hunted out parks back to life like nobody’s business. So much missed Silver was being found. The Equinox and Manticore,(great detecters) are not bringing back previously pounded and hunted out areas like the CTX did. Dealer and manufacterer hype will say its so.....but its not. Believe me!!
Sure todays detecters may find a coin here or there that the CTX may have missed because they are faster, but they are NOT the game changer the CTX was. And this is coming from somone that swung the ctx for 9 years, and the Manticore for 3 years . I am by no means a novice to the hobby and would consider myself a seasoned veteran with loads of experience under my belt, who was a master with the CTX. Not many coins findable would escape my grasp.
And thats why I really wish somone out there would come out with a detecter that is as advanced today, as the CTX was in 2012. And any seasoned CTX hunters who purchased one back in 2012 and mastered that machine will know what I'm talking about .
Happy hunting and good luck......we all need it

Just my 2 cents. Only places I have found the EQ800/Manticore opened up was older sites that mostly predated modern conductive trash. For example there is an almost ghost town nearby that had an old turn of the century school house that was torn down. We ran the etrac, ctx, impact, all kinds of machines and thought we had it cleaned out. But when I ran the EQ800 , I found over 60 more old coins in a very small spot around the old school house foundation. So there is no modern conductive trash and the only issue is iron and lots of it from the building being torn down. The NOX 800 was able to find those 60 coins in the heavy iron trash that single detectors and FBS etrac/ctx couldn't see. But in areas where modern conductive trash is spread out all over older deeper coins ,,,, ya the Multi IQ does not fair nearly as well or make those sites new again.

 

[fwcrawford]

Just my 2 cents. Only places I have found the EQ800/Manticore opened up was older sites that mostly predated modern conductive trash. For example there is an almost ghost town nearby that had an old turn of the century school house that was torn down. We ran the etrac, ctx, impact, all kinds of machines and thought we had it cleaned out. But when I ran the EQ800 , I found over 60 more old coins in a very small spot around the old school house foundation. So there is no modern conductive trash and the only issue is iron and lots of it from the building being torn down. The NOX 800 was able to find those 60 coins in the heavy iron trash that single detectors and FBS etrac/ctx couldn't see. But in areas where modern conductive trash is spread out all over older deeper coins ,,,, ya the Multi IQ does not fair nearly as well or make those sites new again.

I have to agree with you about your statement.
I have a small park nearby that I used the Sovereign GT at some years ago and made quite a few great finds including over 100 wheat pennies.
After getting an 800 and using it at other sites with great results,
I decided to try it at this particular park as I feel there are still some good finds there.
After about four trips, all I have managed to find is one IH and about 6 wheat pennies.
This park is heavily polluted with modern trash… more so than the other sites where I have done well with the 800.
I did not understand why until after reading your post.
Makes sense now…