New detector advice, maybe new coil

[mnruxpin]

I have a excal 2 and a nox 700. thinking about nox 900, dues 2, manticore. i dont do any land at all, dive with excal, wade with another excal with 15 inch coill for fresh drops, then the nox 7oo for travel and a lil diving, not over 10 foot tho. But just want another detector really. i do fresh and salt. what should i get or does 700 and excal pretty much cover it. secondly is there a better coil for wading with 700 besides stock?

 

[OBN]

I like the Manticore way over the Nox, D2 is great also, just don't like some of its fetchers
Excalibur is a Dinosaur but it still kicks butt

 

[WaterWalker]

My two "go-to" detectors for water, either fresh or salt are the Excalibur 1000 and the Manticore with the M15 coil. The Manticore's 2D display saves me digging a lot of "trash" targets.

 

[mnruxpin]

My two "go-to" detectors for water, either fresh or salt are the Excalibur 1000 and the Manticore with the M15 coil. The Manticore's 2D display saves me digging a lot of "trash" targets.

you consider manticor turn on and go, is there a lot to learn about it? i like excal just so easy to use and dont have to be a programmer to be good with it

 

[jjack9977]

I consider the manticore a good turn on and go metal detector. You can run stock programs with no problem, and venture out when you feel comfortable adjusting to your preferences. It’s a very powerful detector too. Very easy to “overdrive,” so you’d want to go easy on the sensitivity.

 

[mnruxpin]

I like the Manticore way over the Nox, D2 is great also, just don't like some of its fetchers
Excalibur is a Dinosaur but it still kicks butt

what do you like better about manticore over nox??

 

[cudamark]

For water use, there's no advantage of a 900 over a 700. Pretty much the same machine in the ocean. The D2 isn't high on my list since you have to use a clip on antenna for underwater use. If you can live with that, it works good there though. I haven't used the Manticore yet, but, many of my buddies do well with it. They like the target trace graph showing shape to determine good vs bad target. Personally, I don't use the Excal much anymore. I find the 900 finds the smaller stuff better, it's much lighter, gives me more information before trying a recovery, and has easier coil change options. That vibrating handle option is also a nice feature when your waterproof headphones take a dump.....like they did to me recently.

 

[OBN]

what do you like better about manticore over nox??

Since most of my hunting is for deep targets the Manticore does that better. With some testing I've seen the Excalibur in all metal is way deeper than the Nox, both the Manticore and Excalibur are right there on the deep targets and if you can get away with more sensitivity with the Manticore it will go deeper than the Excalibur. And that is where I hunt, the manticore I can do (18) sensitivity with No noise being in the salt water.

 

[cudamark]

I can use the same sensitivity with the 900.....sometime 20 works good if things are calm and no black sand.

 

[mnruxpin]

Since most of my hunting is for deep targets the Manticore does that better. With some testing I've seen the Excalibur in all metal is way deeper than the Nox, both the Manticore and Excalibur are right there on the deep targets and if you can get away with more sensitivity with the Manticore it will go deeper than the Excalibur. And that is where I hunt, the manticore I can do (18) sensitivity with No noise being in the salt water.

 

[mnruxpin]

dang dude, thats pretty intersting, ihave nel 15 one of my excals, dont know if that helps or not

 

[OBN]

dang dude, thats pretty intersting, ihave nel 15 one of my excals, dont know if that helps or not

Just as long as your in all metal the Excalibur does well, once you go to discriminate that filter kills the depth. I recent did some testing at one of the beach's I hunt. ... between the Manticore, AQ, and the Excalibur. And this was for depth only, anything else I think the Manticore takes hands down, but come to depth the Manticore and Excalibur are head to head, unless you can push the manti sensitivity up more and keep it from singing. Here is my write up.

Buried nickels and 2 gold bands on the ends of yard sticks.

From my testing of two 14k 6 gram gold rings at 14 and 15 inches in shallow moving saltwater the Manticore could only get them with sensitivity set on (20) and that was on the right to left (oneway) swing only. As I adjusted it up to (24) it did get them perfect but the Manti was singing endlessly from the brackish water and the matrix of the bottom. I found (18) sens in the water the machine was totally silent and ran smooth... it would not hit the gold rings. The buried Nickels in the wetsand I could get the 14 inch but not the 15-16-17 and this is with sens of (20) with a little noise. (18) sens No on all. And these are using the Manticore with Tony's settings .

The excalibur could get a change in the threshold on both rings with sens at 10, adjusted to 9 sens. No difference. The buried nickels it hit the 14 inch with ramp up and down and it was faint. It would not hit any at 15-16-17 inches deep

AQ all targets were solid hits.

My next trip back I am going to do a ground balance in the water. I did it on the wetsand area than walked into the water. A suggest from Terry S.

I made a few mistakes this trip .. and I did get a better idea on what to do next trip.. maybe with better results. For sure the manticore has the Extra Power to go deeper if you can get away with it...The Excalibur does not.

All of this testing is for me, where I hunt. To learn the habits of these machines and be aware of what the competition is using and what they can do...Just sharing a possible for every beach is different.

Forgot to mention. I waved a water hunter in who was using a NOX 900. He could not get any of the targets (Gold rings and Nickels) . I asked what his sens was on the Nox 900..(18) Also he mentioned he had a Manticore and said he ran his sens at (18) in the water.

The Nox 900 hunter

 

[mjb Mike]

thanks for the info obn funny I no where that beach is in your pic.

 

[OBN]

thanks for the info obn funny I no where that beach is in your pic.

Haha, Yes .. the one spot I go to test everything.. the bad is the summer hours to detect are 7am to 9am.. and I hate earlies. It is easy for me to get to and a short walk parking to the beach. Most of the beaches I hunt are either a pain to get to or I have to go by boat.. SP is easy compared.

Where in Southern Maryland are you, think I met you at North Beach one time? Once ever few months I go to that area still.

 

[mjb Mike]

Im in charles county about 20 min south of waldorf.Must of been someone else Ive never been to north beach detecting.so many places down here to go.Ive had my eye and done some research on one place up there id like to hit never made the trip yet.

 

[mjb Mike]

hope you havnt already hit it.

 

[OBN]

hope you havnt already hit it.

I rarely get down that area, my drive limit is 60 minutes.. and that is just how far NB/CB is.... I'm mostly Annapolis up to Stoney Creek which is south of Baltimore. Like you, I have enough to keep me busy here.

 

[mnruxpin]

Just as long as your in all metal the Excalibur does well, once you go to discriminate that filter kills the depth. I recent did some testing at one of the beach's I hunt. ... between the Manticore, AQ, and the Excalibur. And this was for depth only, anything else I think the Manticore takes hands down, but come to depth the Manticore and Excalibur are head to head, unless you can push the manti sensitivity up more and keep it from singing. Here is my write up.

Buried nickels and 2 gold bands on the ends of yard sticks.

From my testing of two 14k 6 gram gold rings at 14 and 15 inches in shallow moving saltwater the Manticore could only get them with sensitivity set on (20) and that was on the right to left (oneway) swing only. As I adjusted it up to (24) it did get them perfect but the Manti was singing endlessly from the brackish water and the matrix of the bottom. I found (18) sens in the water the machine was totally silent and ran smooth... it would not hit the gold rings. The buried Nickels in the wetsand I could get the 14 inch but not the 15-16-17 and this is with sens of (20) with a little noise. (18) sens No on all. And these are using the Manticore with Tony's settings .

The excalibur could get a change in the threshold on both rings with sens at 10, adjusted to 9 sens. No difference. The buried nickels it hit the 14 inch with ramp up and down and it was faint. It would not hit any at 15-16-17 inches deep

AQ all targets were solid hits.

My next trip back I am going to do a ground balance in the water. I did it on the wetsand area than walked into the water. A suggest from Terry S.

I made a few mistakes this trip .. and I did get a better idea on what to do next trip.. maybe with better results. For sure the manticore has the Extra Power to go deeper if you can get away with it...The Excalibur does not.

All of this testing is for me, where I hunt. To learn the habits of these machines and be aware of what the competition is using and what they can do...Just sharing a possible for every beach is different.

Forgot to mention. I waved a water hunter in who was using a NOX 900. He could not get any of the targets (Gold rings and Nickels) . I asked what his sens was on the Nox 900..(18) Also he mentioned he had a Manticore and said he ran his sens at (18) in the water.

View attachment 2215079View attachment 2215078

The Nox 900 hunter
View attachment 2215080

thats amazing real life tests there, thanks so much for the time and effort to test and than to share

 

[Sand Swinger]

Just as long as your in all metal the Excalibur does well, once you go to discriminate that filter kills the depth. I recent did some testing at one of the beach's I hunt. ... between the Manticore, AQ, and the Excalibur. And this was for depth only, anything else I think the Manticore takes hands down, but come to depth the Manticore and Excalibur are head to head, unless you can push the manti sensitivity up more and keep it from singing. Here is my write up.

Buried nickels and 2 gold bands on the ends of yard sticks.

From my testing of two 14k 6 gram gold rings at 14 and 15 inches in shallow moving saltwater the Manticore could only get them with sensitivity set on (20) and that was on the right to left (oneway) swing only. As I adjusted it up to (24) it did get them perfect but the Manti was singing endlessly from the brackish water and the matrix of the bottom. I found (18) sens in the water the machine was totally silent and ran smooth... it would not hit the gold rings. The buried Nickels in the wetsand I could get the 14 inch but not the 15-16-17 and this is with sens of (20) with a little noise. (18) sens No on all. And these are using the Manticore with Tony's settings .

The excalibur could get a change in the threshold on both rings with sens at 10, adjusted to 9 sens. No difference. The buried nickels it hit the 14 inch with ramp up and down and it was faint. It would not hit any at 15-16-17 inches deep

AQ all targets were solid hits.

My next trip back I am going to do a ground balance in the water. I did it on the wetsand area than walked into the water. A suggest from Terry S.

I made a few mistakes this trip .. and I did get a better idea on what to do next trip.. maybe with better results. For sure the manticore has the Extra Power to go deeper if you can get away with it...The Excalibur does not.

All of this testing is for me, where I hunt. To learn the habits of these machines and be aware of what the competition is using and what they can do...Just sharing a possible for every beach is different.

Forgot to mention. I waved a water hunter in who was using a NOX 900. He could not get any of the targets (Gold rings and Nickels) . I asked what his sens was on the Nox 900..(18) Also he mentioned he had a Manticore and said he ran his sens at (18) in the water.

View attachment 2215079View attachment 2215078

The Nox 900 hunter
View attachment 2215080

That orange sand in your last pic with the Bay Bridge in the background reminds me of Sandy Point. Did a few organized treasure hunts there over the years. But man, there's just something about that orange sand that I don't like, it really tends to stain towels and stuff orange a bit, lol.