I have had the 900 now for a little over a month. I've had it out 15 times, dug around 400 coins to include 20 silver and 95 wheats.
All hunts with the exception of my last one was with the 6 in. coil. Yesterday I decided to give the stock coil a try. Went back to the grassy knoll at the church that I have been over so many times and dug another 23coins. 1 wheat a 56, 9 memorials 9 nickels, oldest a 59 and 4 dimes, one was a 9 in.+ 65.
The first time out with it I saw some pretty bouncy TDIs and may have been a little harsh in my original assessment. Most likely it was the site I was on. After a factory reset, a run through the test garden and subsequent hunts it has settled down a great deal. The TDIs are still a little jumpy but not bouncing all over the place like on the first hunt. One thing of note, in my test garden I don't have targets marked. I know the general area but still need to locate the targets. Side by side with the 800, the 800 struggled to see targets that the 900 hit with ease. Both had the 6 in. coil. Field 2 5 tone Rec.4 and IB 0.
On TDIs , one of main gripes about the 800 was the compressed target range of -9 to 40. I blamed it for not being able to Id a penny from a dime. Particularly with deeper, 5in.+ targets. When I saw that the Manticore and when they announced the 900 would have a full target range I thought that would take care of the problem. Sorry to say it hasn't, at least on the 900. Can't speak to the Manticore as I don't own one yet. From videos I've watched the other Multi-Freq. machines behaviors are pretty much the same. I guess its just a characteristic of the Multi-Iq. And on the wider compression range, the jumpy TDIs may be due to the fact that the processor is so fast and there a so many target Ids that its running around trying to decide which number to assign a target. I don't claim any expertise in these areas. Just my thoughts.
One thing I have seen so far on in ground targets is all the silver has hit in the 90s locking on 2 maybe 3 numbers. The only exception so far has been a 2 dime stack that hit 76-79. The deeper wheats and memorials also hit in the 90s but if you work the signal a little it will drop down to their respective Ids once or twice. In the more shallower, less than 4 in. the Ids a pretty accurate.
Some likes on the 900, obviously the build quality is superb. But some of the addons which I never gave thought too before I have come to really appreciate. First and foremost is the vibrating hand grip. When I saw Nokta had those in the Simplex / Legend and Minelab put it in the Manticore I thought that was a great feature for the hearing impaired.
Well on the 900 its a little more than that. You can in 5 tone assign vibration to one, any or all regions. Great little feature. It has become a little tell tale. I have it assigned to bins 2 & 5 and the vibration on a coin is as smooth as a nice high tone on a target. You can't do this on the 700 or the Manticore. In the manual the Manticore only shows vibration on or off. To some it may not be a big deal but I've come to enjoy the added feature. Another is the backlit key pad, again its something you would not give a second thought to but at dusk or on overcast days it just nice to have, as is the red screen light. I have read on other forums some don't care for the red screen. Me I find it easy on the eyes and wonder why the Manticore doesn't offer it as an assigned screen choice. Have not used the flashlight yet but I'm sure it will come in handy at some point.
Also on tones. I started with an 800 end of Feb. 2018 and have used 5 tones since. The 900 has 1 2 5 All Tones and depth audio. At some point I may try All Tones but I don't care for the Depth audio at all.
One thing I don't like is the idea of proprietary headphones. And in particular the ML 85s. They sound tinny to me and are uncomfortable. I wear glasses and after an hour or so they start to pinch. So much so, while waiting for a bluetooth transmitter I have wired in my Avantrees the last couple hunts. Not sure if there will ever be any aftermarket options. Is Minelab getting greedy ?
Also not too big a deal but a they only give you one screen saver cover and its cheap and not scratch resistant. After 3 or4 outings it looked like hell had to replace with one of the old 800 covers.
Which brings me to 900 vs 700. Unless you are on a tight budget I would recommend the 900. The additional settings will give you room to grow. Granted the 400 dollar price difference is pretty significant, particularly when you look back at the 200 dollar difference on the 800/600, and you got way more for the 200 back then. IMO I would consider another 800 or a Legend before I would buy the 700 . Thats just me. The 800 has some known issues but it is still today one of the finest machine on the market.
So am I happy with the 900, very. Would I recommend it, absolutely. Particularly for someone who has an aging 800 or 600 it would be the logical upgrade in the $1,000 and under category. For someone who has a newer 800 not so much. You already have a great machine. In that case I would jump to a Manticore.
When the Manticore was first announced I was all in and preordered. Now I'm on the fence, I'm enjoying the 900 and would like to see some more real world performance before I would buy one. It does seemed to handle EMI quite well but what I haven't seen yet is can it punch through the iron and see targets at depth with all that extra power?
Anyone considering a 900 I hope this gives you a little insight. Thanks Mark
).
