Rich-That field I'm hunting has shotgun shells, .22 lead/brass from many years of people rabbit hunting. It's also got areas where there is quit a bit of farm junk and in places it's pretty thick. Iron is easy to tell but I really need to slow down and pick through the junk in those areas. I've found a few of those bullets co-located next to .22 brass and a few nails it separates about like a GPX if you've ever used one. Not great but it can be done, the elliptical coil helps.

I used to hunt the lake a lot back in the 90's, only go out there in the Spring and Fall anymore. On the lake I've run the Sovereign, Explorer, Garrett Infinium, Whites TDI SL, Whites TDI, Whites surfmaster (which can't handle the salt) Equinox, GPX, etc. As far as the FBS/BBS machines go I like the stock 11 or 10 inch coils the best because you can run the sensitivity up so much more. But I have run the up to 15 inch coils on them. I currently only have the 11 inch stock and 12 inch Sunray for my Explorer. Against the Tarsacci the Explorer with the 11 coil isn't quit as deep on a nickle sized target, but the 12 inch coil does get a bit deeper than the Tarsacci. However the Tarsacci is way more sensitive to small gold rings at any depth.

Abenson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rich-That field I'm hunting has shotgun shells, .2
> 2 lead/brass from many years of people rabbit hunt
> ing. It's also got areas where there is quit a bit
> of farm junk and in places it's pretty thick. Iron
> is easy to tell but I really need to slow down and
> pick through the junk in those areas. I've found a
> few of those bullets co-located next to .22 brass
> and a few nails it separates about like a GPX if y
> ou've ever used one. Not great but it can be done,
> the elliptical coil helps.
>
> I used to hunt the lake a lot back in the 90's, on
> ly go out there in the Spring and Fall anymore. On
> the lake I've run the Sovereign, Explorer, Garret
> t Infinium, Whites TDI SL, Whites TDI, Whites surf
> master (which can't handle the salt) Equinox, GPX,
> etc. As far as the FBS/BBS machines go I like the
> stock 11 or 10 inch coils the best because you can
> run the sensitivity up so much more. But I have ru
> n the up to 15 inch coils on them. I currently onl
> y have the 11 inch stock and 12 inch Sunray for my
> Explorer. Against the Tarsacci the Explorer with t
> he 11 coil isn't quit as deep on a nickle sized ta
> rget, but the 12 inch coil does get a bit deeper t
> han the Tarsacci. However the Tarsacci is way more
> sensitive to small gold rings at any depth.

Sound likes the Tarsacci is a really good fit for what you're doing. I appreciate the reply and I'll keep an eye out for more of your videos. Hoping you turn up something great from the same era at those bullets. (Bullets are pretty cool too and imagine you can make a pretty good display)

Good Luck -

Rich (Utah)

------------------------------------------------------------------

Just one more good target before I go.

So what is the advantage of using this machine for Relic hunting if you could use an Explorer with a 12' coil or a GPX. With just the standard coil option arent you limited to how you can work an area as well? Would you say this is a slow recovery machine then that doesnt seperate well in the trash? So it wouldnt work well in Parks. It appears we may need a smaller coil as well? I used to hunt farm fields back in Ind......... its hard to work them with most larger standard coils. But it sounds like it handles air gab better than the Explorers.

I haven't used mine in the dirt yet but the only advantage I can see for relic hunting over other machines is that it might be able to ignore certain types of mineralization. I don't think the Tarsacci claims to be a great all around detector. It's a specialty machine that excels in certain conditions, mainly wet salt. Anything beyond that would be a welcome exception. I wouldn't expect the Tarsacci to compete with today's top relic machines in the dirt except maybe in certain limited conditions. This is pure speculation on my part.

The Tarsacci did beat the Equinox (Park and Field modes) in my test garden, so it does have some depth but the Equinox isn't really known for its depth capability compared to a lot of other relic machines.

.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2019 02:15PM by Badger in NH.

If it gets a bit more depth than the Nox on gold, quieter, and you aren’t digging the tiny stuff yet it excels in gold rings should be a good wader/wet sand machine... especially if it can ignore some black sand. I’m of course interested to see if it finds about the same gold targets a Xcal will. If it can do that in the water and get more depth it will pay for its self especially in conditions where you might be chasing older targets rather than recent drops.

The Tarsacci is another tool you can add to your tool box, it's definitely got a place between the best VLF's and a PI. I can't say how it handles bad minerals like Culpeper, although I do plan on taking mine there in March. But, in moderately mineralized dirt it does well. Now I don't know what people consider the best relic machines but I would put the Equinox up there. Whites, Fisher (IMO handles the dirt the best) and Garrett historically have not done well in my area and most serious relic hunters get rid of them and run Minelabs. Which is sad because you would think that an American company would excel on it's own soil. I would guess some good machines to test the Tarsacci against would be the Rutus Alter, Detech Chaser and maybe a Blisstool but they have limited appeal to most folks.

I don't consider the BBS or FBS machines good relic hunting machines, they absolutely hate plowed ground. They are fine on beaches but with relics they struggle on small buttons and pretty much all odd shaped lead like minies and round balls, great on coins though.

So when you have GPX which I consider the deepest machine but can't ID iron more than about 6 inches deep and the best VLF's which are great in trash but limited on depth you have a gap to fill. The Tarsacci fills that gap right now. It's very good at IDing iron to about 9-10 inches but the best VLF I have in my soil gets real iffy after 8 inches. I see this on my beach as well, although the depths are deeper. Tarsacci is good down to 11-12 inch range.

I've got a field I can't get to in the winter because of the elevation that I feel is going to be a perfect fit for the Tarsacci. It has good relics left and a lot of deep moderately spaced iron that I end up digging all the time with the GPX. All the VLF's have cleaned up everything to about the 7 inch level, so that leaves a good 2 inches for the Tarsacci to operate in effectively.

This is all my opinion but, based on my experience with the Tarsacci I see it being a great beach machine and relic hunting machine in fields. Not going to be good at a park, ghost town or other ultra trashing sites. Wasn't advertised as a do it all machine, it has it's place and does well in it though.

dewcon4414 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If it gets a bit more depth than the Nox on gold,
> quieter, and you aren’t digging the tiny stuff yet
> it excels in gold rings should be a good wader/wet
> sand machine... especially if it can ignore some b
> lack sand. I’m of course interested to see if it
> finds about the same gold targets a Xcal will. If
> it can do that in the water and get more depth it
> will pay for its self especially in conditions whe
> re you might be chasing older targets rather than
> recent drops.


I think it will do all those things. That's why I bought it. I'll know more after I get more time on it.

.

Dew, it's subjective and tied to our local conditions, but I've got 3 Excals and several years (year 'round) using them and my hunting buddy has 3 and 10 plus years beach hunting (many thousands of hours) with them, and we both believe the Tarsacci is deeper and at least as good as the Excal finding gold on our beaches. We have kept using the Equinox in some cases, but the Excals are retired.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie

The Xcals are just difficult upkeep. Between cables, knobs, battery, switches, and mods that needs fixed..... they are pricier than you think, even if you get them used. However, they do a very good job. Ive got 3 Xcals and just last month went to use one and the cable split. I dare say ive got as many hours as you guys..... full time hunter here too with hundreds of hours on them and the Nox now. You are right it is subjective. Sometimes its just what catches your ear out there...... a little chirp or a blank you check out. Smallest chain i got last year was with the Xcal not the Nox. We do have an advantage over dirt hunter thou...... we pay for the equipment or repairs fairly fast. Sometimes its just a matter of knowing the machine and being comfortable with it that makes it a good fit. We are lucky to not have the minerals you do. One of the reasons not a lot use PIs..... we get almost as much depth. Ive got one coming hopefully it will do what ive ear marked it for.

Can't dispute a single word. Just replaced a coil less than a year ago for the same reason. I've had all the bells for my Excals. Owned a Sword, an 800 & a couple 1000 blue and greens; had OBN do a PP job; CF shafts; built several custom headphones plus a GGs and on and on. Yeah, I paid for my tools. I found a fair amount of gold, silver and coinage. I felt pretty competent with the Excal. Yet I am not looking back on the investment. I am moving forward.

Past(or)Tom
Using a Legend, a Deus 2, an Equinox 800, a Tarsacci MDT 8000, & a few others...
with my beloved, fading Corgi, Sadie



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/23/2019 06:28PM by Pasttom.

I didnt want to get on my soap box about the Xcal...... B U T.... its still the machine most are gauged by when talking water machines. Most of us own or owned them so it can raise an eyebrow when one talks about a machine that exceeds it in depth...... seems to be the standard we understand. Now.... sensitivity wise is what id like to compare it to. Does it air test well enough to do a good comparison of found targets by the Xcal and Nox?

Relic hunting: MDT vs GPX -- My take on this question is pretty simple. Most everybody that uses the GPX for long will tell you their biggest complaints about it. 1. It's heavy. 2. You are tethered to it.

The machine itself is almost 5 1/2 lbs, excluding the battery which you have to lug around with you on a harness. The battery weighs around 1.25 lbs. To connect them, you have a somewhat short power curly power cord and the headphone jack is in the battery as well, so you have your headphone cord and power cord to deal with all the time. If you lay the detector down to dig, you don't have much room to work with before you start dragging the machine with you. I have experimented with aftermarket products to try and help with this...the Gold Screamer battery system to eliminate the tethering part, and at one point I had bypassed the harness in favor of mounting the battery to the side of the control box. The Gold Screamer kit works and some love it...I wasn't fond of it though...it made the audio sound funky to me and the battery life is not as good as the stock battery either...on top of it losing depth. I had about the same luck with the wireless headphones too...they work but they have a static sound to them. I also use the bigger coils with mine, so it is even heavier and now REQUIRES the Pro Swing harness system with struts.

So with that being the case...even though we feel that based on what is currently on the market, that the GPX is still the best for what we do in bad soil and for going deep...we are ALWAYS looking for that next big thing. If a machine could just MATCH (not even surpass...just match) the GPX for depth in bad ground, but do it without the heavy weight, without the power cords and all that mess...relic hunters would be all over it, myself included.

That's where the MDT 8000 came into the picture for me. The initial talk about Culpeper testing and doing well in comparison to the pulse machines there...plus being light weight and looking awesome to boot....it jumped on my radar quick. It really don't matter at this point though... I've had one day off work the whole month and have got to do very little dirt fishin'. As much rain as we've had, it's more like soupy mud.

I look forward to more beach information... but Daniel always has some insightful info for the dirt hunters

I've been hunting a "string" of beaches so haven't had to change settings unless playing around. I do run my sand at 24 and that is quite. 7s, -1T, 0D, 18k. The tides didn't pan out. While high they took sand out and flatten the beaches. I found some small runs with high points and that's where I hunted. This is deep wet sand and other parts are mush. The chain came from the mush. The medallion has turned dark but chain is perfect. No marking but safe to say .925. I had by far the largest target tally over 2 other guys hunting with me. I am satisfied that I will get the gold if I get my coil over it.
While I haven't dirt fished with this its coming next week. Got permission yesterday. Soil not an issue but EMI is heavy there.
I can tell that it has a fast recovery and up at the top of the surf area there is a lot of fence pieces and shredded aluminum and I can see each piece in a rapid fire speed. You will see small stuff and it will hit hard. So much that I have to use my "carrot" to find it.

Thanks for all the updates on the MDT 8000, much appreciated! I'm not a full-time hunter like used to be a few years ago, but I have thousands of hours at the beach detecting underwater (1 -3M). Can't wait for the waterproof version...

I've been happy with the EQ600 over my workhorse CZ-20/21 so far, but this looks like it will check all boxes for my uses.

Congrats ShovelNose on the finds and looking forward to your dirt fishing results.

><

El

I got to spend some valued time with Tom yesterday going over my new machine....... MDT 8000. Lots of good information about the machine, designer, and direction they hope to go. VERY well made machine. Was looking forward to hitting the beach, but then what do i get 3 days of miserable weather......... yes COOL and rainy is miserable in Fl lol. I liked what i heard about this machine totally GBing different for salt and ground. I did AIR TEST it ... IMO, i thought it did very well on gold rings. Its very easy to adjust. It does have a back light for you night hunters...... light blue much like the lower level i use on the Nox... and unlike the 600 which is just too bright out there. Feels good in your hands not nearly as nose heavy as the Nox and seems even lighter in the hand. The cuff appears to be Kavlar..... ill have to see how it holds up to the torque we use in the water. If it goes .... i dont think i can just throw on another cuff. My Nox one already broke and was replaced. It appears to adjust... thou i didnt need to. I like these locks.... he does use single buttons to lock it in as well but its a 3 piece so ill have to see again how it does with some torque to see if those needs changed to double buttons like i had to do with the Nox. But these locks ..... seem really tight and ARE a much better design for a beach machine where salt and sand takes it tole. This is going to be a very good travel machine. The back pack ...... well just a great idea for travel..... much better than a bag i never used. Great timing on this machine for me, lots of changing wind causing wave direction changes, long tide changes and moving sand....... not a lot of recent drops so fewer hunters really in the water. Its a matter of finding some moved sand that might opened up some spots with the larger gold a little deeper than my machines may see. Now i need to figure out how to post a picture. Ill try an post some pictures because i know for me it was .... whats being dug...... and just how small of a piece of gold will it find.... especially in the water or wet sand.

I bought this machine for a couple of reasons...... one, because it does do so well on ROUND gold targets... like rings. You guys that water hunt ... take a look at your jewelry collection from your hunts... what do you see? Second, im told the salt GB does a much better job at ignoring the salt completely. The benefit is depth on those rings. There is a lot of depth LOST as soon as the coil gets in the water on most detectors. If it takes that out of the equation..... then it pretty much sees that gold ring the same in or out of the water.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 12:20PM by dewcon4414.

Will be interesting to see how it holds up being submerged.

Won’t get to submerged.... remember the machines limits. The headphones that came with mine are very nice... good volume and tone..... VERY comfortable just have to remember they arent waterproof and salt water can really take a tole. I did do some gold AIR testing.... mostly SMALLER gold to get a feel for what it might not find. Its iffy on a broken ring, very small crosses and some gold earrings thou so is my other machines, but the thing likes ROUND for sure. ALL the rings ive tested, tested very well....and it didn’t loose a lot of depth when they were on edge that was noticable. It likes Plt I think even better than gold. Nasty wet and cold rain so didn’t get much on the beach testing. It runs real stable thou ... kind of like the Xcal in PP... it ramps up near targets.... and much like the Xcal in PP doesn’t really have a recovery issue. Going to run Toms set up for awhile then start tweaking it.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 12:11PM by dewcon4414.

Dewcon4414,
Posting pics.
There are a few ways to do.

Here is post copied from earlier reply I did in this thread actually.

Gary in Daytona Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Congratulations Shovelnose, awesome recovery, yeah
> I’m trying to figure out the pictures on this site
> too. I think some use tiny pics. Hopefully we can
> continue to compare notes on the Tarsacci as we le
> arn. Yesterday was silver day. Along with the usu
> al crusty coins and flotsam and jetsam, found a co
> uple of silver ‘rings’ and a silver chain at 10+”
> - all in 18khz! I think I sliced the chain into t
> hree while digging it, will see about posting a pi
> ctures of those too.


Posting pics.
I use tinypic.com.
Create account.
Load your pic
Select size
Upload
Then select all the info in url box for forums and message boards.
Copy and past that info here in your thread.
A preview of your post here will reveal your pic if you want to verify before posting your pic final.
Then post.
Not hard.
Some folks here use other sites to do like flicker.

I’ll take a look.... I’ll have to see it I think because I’m not sure about the URL part. I’ll figure it out lol.

I'm not going through all that just to post a photo. Reminds me of how we did it 20 years ago. This website could sure use some upgrades.

.

Only takes a moment to post a pic. So easy a caveman can do it. lol I remember the limitations Dew but sounded like from past post you were going to use it in the water.

My MD has started chattering when I set the coil down on dry or wet sand. Its quite and balanced as long as I don't let it touch the sand Didn't do that in the past but the coil would false if it touches the sand. When I set it down to scoop or retrieve the target it is so bad I have to remove the headphones. Setting are no different than I have been running it. Anyone else having this concern?

You are talking to the caveman lol. Yes i do intend to use it in the water and have waterproof phones now as well as a pair coming from Tony. But .... i plan on being careful with it too.

I rarely put mine down. What surprised me with the settings Tom put in ....the machine barely chattered doing AIR tests in my living room. Certainly didnt affect the depth on the rings i tested. I did notice bumping the threshold to -1 there was a little more chatter...... but nothing compared to my Nox in the water. I guess i think im missing something NOT running on the edge. BUT.... im going to stick by my guns and use Toms setting for awhile.... testing as i go on found targets. Like i said this is a very good time of the year to be testing a machine in the Gulf looking for deep gold missed.

HA.... i really am a cave man. I manged to make an account..... upload a photo which is in YOUR STUFF (1), when i click on that .... yes my photo is there, but i see nothing which allows me to do any sending? i did see the toolbox..... but that did nothing but apparent allow feed back. Im missing some.......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 03:47PM by dewcon4414.

I haven't had any problems with chatter, in fact I took the Tarsacci out Saturday and did a little testing on the beach, it was very quiet. I took a small 14 K necklace, small diamond stud earring (not sure what it was made of) and a small point 6 gram gold ring. The Tarsacci couldn't get the necklace but it is very small, got the diamond earring up to about 2 inches off the sand and I buried the ring 6 inches deep which the Tarsacci had no problem seeing. I did a video, maybe I'll post it later if you guys want to see it.

dewcon4414 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You are talking to the caveman lol. Yes i do inte
> nd to use it in the water and have waterproof phon
> es now as well as a pair coming from Tony. But .
> ... i plan on being careful with it too.
>
> I rarely put mine down. What surprised me with t
> he settings Tom put in ....the machine barely chat
> tered doing AIR tests in my living room. Certain
> ly didnt affect the depth on the rings i tested.
> I did notice bumping the threshold to -1 there wa
> s a little more chatter...... but nothing compared
> to my Nox in the water. I guess i think im missi
> ng something NOT running on the edge. BUT.... im
> going to stick by my guns and use Toms setting for
> awhile.... testing as i go on found targets. Lik
> e i said this is a very good time of the year to b
> e testing a machine in the Gulf looking for deep g
> old missed.
>
> HA.... i really am a cave man. I manged to make a
> n account..... upload a photo which is in YOUR STU
> FF (1), when i click on that .... yes my photo is
> there, but i see nothing which allows me to do any
> sending? i did see the toolbox..... but that did
> nothing but apparent allow feed back. Im missing
> some.......

Lets see If I can post a photo Dew.....


If this worked, you have to copy (at TinyPic) from the box to the left of your photo that is titled IMG Code for Forums & Message Boards
then just paste it into your message where you want the photo.....of course resizing the photo may help some too!

Cliff

You can easily resize the photo when uploading it to TinyPic, just pick the size in the drop down box to the right of where you are uploading the photo.

Lets see.... Cliff, i failed to bring up the photo first.... thanks for hitting me with a brick. Now i also know what size to upload. Good info.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 06:11PM by dewcon4414.

I'm not talking about setting the entire unit down just setting the bottom of the coil down like you would normally when wanting to use both hands and lean the unit against you. Can't test around house on the ground as the EMI is overwhelming in my neighborhood. The unit is quite as long as you keep the coil off the sand and not talking about coil control but just the coil at rest as well as it will false when it touches sand during swing and trying to use PP is always fun. Like I said earlier it just started about 3 hunts back.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2019 06:13PM by ShovelNose.

I’m sure u have tried this....if u r using the coil cover u might need to remove and clean it inside.