Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Manticore Metal Detector Display Screen Showing the Output for an Unidentified Buried Target. |
Yesterday I talked about some of my very first impressions of the Manticore and the 2D ID Map display, which up until today I paid virtually no attention to and certainly did not study or learn about. I've used the Manticore and been very happy with it's finds but still didn't use the Manticore's 2D ID map. I only noticed that it showed the general shape of a metal stake I lost when taking down my Christmas decorations. Being impressed with that, I got interested in learning more about the ID map.
So Wednesday morning I got the urge to take it out and see how well it would work on a junky site where I knew there would be odd targets of various types. I had previously hunted that site, where I dug tons or iron railroad related items, including literally hundreds of railroad spikes. I had detected that site with the Equinox and Garrett Ace metal detectors several times and knew there was still a lot remaining in the ground. Below are the targets I dug during my recent visit using the Manticore for less than a half hour.
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| A Few Dug Targets From a Very Junky Site. |
I was expecting to dig bigger targets, like the remaining spikes or pieces of barrel hoops, but what I dug is shown above. There is a piece of wadded foil, a 22 shell, a screw, a wheat penny, and some kind of nozzle or connector that looks something like a trumpet mouthpiece but is not.
It is often the case that you will find smaller and/or deeper targets after larger surface targets have been removed.
My intent on this visit was to see how much the 2D ID display would tell me about the buried target
Take a look at the Manticore display at the top of this post and see if you can tell which of the finds is represented on the display.
You see the conductivity number as well as the ID map. On the horizontal axis of the ID map is shown the conductivity of the buried target with lower values on the left and higher values on the right. The vertical axis of the map shows the ferrous content of the target. Targets with more ferrous properties appear towards the upper side of the map, while less ferrous or non-ferrous items trend toward the lower side. On the vertical axis, nails and similar ferrous targets will be displayed at the top of the map, and non-ferrous targets, including many diggable targets, will be shown along the center, and sheet metal and other tricky targets will be shown along the lower limit.
I definitely should have started with a much more systematic and controlled exploration, but I just wanted to get out there and see what I could learn about the ID map. I'll do a more systematic and through study in the future.
This detecting site was very challenging. There is a lot of junk, a lot of iron objects and flakes covering some areas.
The target is also complex, because it is actually two targets in close proximity. I dug a wad of aluminum foil and a wheat penny. Would you guess that from the ID map image? You can sorta see it maybe. To make it even more complex, two items in close proximity can affect each other and cause distortions in the trace, and these two items were very close together in the ground.
Despite my hurried and poorly designed test, I can say that overall, the ID map provided good information and the shapes of the images, as I described Tuesday, while not being completely detailed like a photograph, does indeed reflect to some degree the shape of targets.
You get a more complete image of the buried object by sweeping from multiple angles. If you swing across a longer than wide object, a bullet casing for example, swinging in one direction will give you a dot while swinging in a perpendicular direction will produce a line. I've found that swinging in multiple directions you can get a lot of information and a more complete picture.
If you look at the display again, you will see that the conductivity number suggested a possibly good target, the trace was on the center line, where diggable targets tend to fall, and the trace is to the right side, again suggesting a higher conductivity, similar to a coin.
At this point I'm convinced that with additional practice I'll be able to determine a lot about most buried targets. I'm very impressed with that and will be spending more time in the future investigating how to get the best out of ID map.
Below is the display for one of the other oblong objects, probably the screw.
Unfortunately, I didn't document my observations well. I was having a heck of a time swinging the detector with one hand and trying to photograph the display with the phone in my other hand but take a more planned approach in the future.
Here is the ID map display for the screw/
That one shows an oblong trace in the upper, or ferrous, portion of the map.
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The wheat cent I found on the site was a 1917 wheat cent in barely circulated condition. That was an unexpected find, which I missed on several other visits to the site. There are still a lot of objects in the ground to mask other targets and there are also trees and roots and growing vegetation that could have caused the item being missed in the past. Nonetheless. the Manticore did locate the cent even though it was in very close proximity to the wad of aluminum foil. Not bad.
I can also say that the Manticore handled interference from the nearby overhead electric lines better than the Equinox and Ace detectors. On those other detectors I had to decrease sensitivity significantly.
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One of the coins created to commemorate the United States' 250th anniversary will begin circulating on Monday, Jan. 5...
The Mayflower Compact Quarter is the first of five new Quarter Dollar designs for 2026. The collectable features two pilgrims, a man and a woman, under a banner that reads "E Pluribus Unum," which translates to "out of many, one."
Here is the link for more about that.
US Mint begins circulating coin part of 250th collection
You might want to watch for those.
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| Fort Pierce Jetty Beach Cam (South Zoom View). |
The Fort Pierce Beach Cam is back online in SurfGuru.
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| Surf Chart from SurfGuru.com. |
Looks like we'll get a bump in the surf in a few days.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net