Minelab Manticore Essentials Bundle with Official Backpack

The Minelab Manticore Essentials Bundle with Official Backpack pairs the flagship Minelab Manticore metal detector with the upgrade most traveling detectorists reach for first: a purpose-built pack to carry and protect the machine between hunts. If you drive to scattered permissions, hike in to remote sites, or fly to detect, this configuration is built around getting your Manticore there safely and getting you hunting faster once you arrive. Minelab sells this exact configuration as the official MANTICORE Essentials Bundle, factory part 3228-1003, the same name you will see on Minelab's own site. Minelab prices the bundle itself and publishes its own regular price above it, so the saving you see is the manufacturer's math, not a dealer's invented strikethrough. The Manticore inside is the full flagship: 10 customizable search modes (5 All-Terrain, 4 Beach, 1 Goldfield) and free Minelab software updates over USB, with the 2.0 update having added the Stabiliser setting and an Enhanced Goldfield mode at no charge.

What the Official Backpack Adds to Your Kit

The Official Minelab Professional Backpack is shaped around the Manticore platform and the way detectorists actually pack for a day out. The collapsed detector, spare coils, your pinpointer, digging tools, finds pouch, and charging gear each travel in dedicated padded compartments instead of rattling loose in a trunk or duffel. Reinforced stitching and load-bearing straps keep longer walk-ins comfortable, and everything stays organized and protected from the truck to the dig site and back.

• Padded, shaped storage for the collapsed Manticore and its M11 coil
• Dedicated room for spare coils, a pinpointer, headphones, and recovery tools
• Reinforced build for hiking in to remote permissions
• Keeps a flagship-level machine protected in transit and between sessions

Why This Bundle

Many of the "Manticore bundles" you will find online are house-assembled: a dealer adds a generic carry bag, gloves, a digger or a cap, then prints a large savings number against an inflated list price. This is not that. The Essentials Bundle is a Minelab factory configuration with its own part number (3228-1003) and its own UPC, packed by Minelab, carrying the same name you will find on Minelab's US site. What you get is the complete Manticore kit plus the official Minelab backpack, under the same 3-year Minelab warranty as the base detector, from an authorized Minelab dealer.

Against its siblings, the Essentials Bundle is the one to pick when the detector and its M11 coil already cover your sites and your only gap is transport. The Recovery Bundle adds the M9 9 in (23 cm) coil for tighter separation in trash, the Field Bundle adds the Pro-Find 40 pinpointer, and the Ultimate Bundle adds both. Each of those includes this same backpack, so nothing you buy here is wasted if you step up later.

Who the Essentials Bundle Is For, and Who Should Buy Something Else

Best for: the detectorist who already knows the Manticore is the machine and wants it organized and protected from day one: hike-in relic permissions, travel hunts, beach weeks, and the everyday job of keeping a flagship out of the trunk clutter. The detector, the M11 11 in (28 cm) coil and the ML 105 headphones are the standard factory kit; the official backpack is the whole difference. Experience level: intermediate to advanced. A patient beginner can run the factory search modes and grow into the adjustments, but the menu is deeper than an Equinox. Honest limits: the backpack changes nothing about how the detector performs; the ML 105 wireless headphones are not submersible; and the Goldfield mode is real crossover capability, not a dedicated nugget machine.

Buy the Equinox 900 instead if you want to switch on, ground balance and hunt on a simpler menu (see our Manticore vs Equinox 900 comparison). If serious nugget country is the main target, the Gold Monster 2000 or GPX 6000 reaches smaller gold at depth. Already own a pack? The standalone Manticore is your machine. Own neither a pack nor a pinpointer? The Field Bundle (Pro Pack) adds the Pro-Find 40 most detectorists buy within the first week anyway, and iron-heavy sites point to the Recovery Bundle and its M9 coil.

The Detector at the Core: Minelab Manticore

At the center of this package is the standard Minelab Manticore, the brand's most powerful Multi-IQ+ machine, with high-output transmit power, a live two-dimensional Target ID map, Target Trace visualization, and IP68 waterproofing to 16 ft (5 m). This bundle ships with the complete factory Manticore kit. For the full specification sheet and search modes, see the standard Minelab Manticore listing.

Which Manticore Bundle Is Right for You? Compare by Factory Part Number

Every Minelab bundle starts with the same Manticore, the M11 11 in (28 cm) coil and the ML 105 headphones; the part number tells you what is added, whatever name a dealer prints: Essentials Bundle (3228-1003, this page): the detector, the M11 coil and the ML 105 headphones plus the official Minelab backpack; Field Bundle, the Pro Pack (3228-1006): plus the Pro-Find 40 pinpointer and the backpack; Recovery Bundle (3228-1007): plus the M9 9 in (23 cm) coil and the backpack; Ultimate Bundle (3228-1008): plus the M9 coil, the Pro-Find 40 and the backpack. Other dealers sell these configurations under their own names ("Bundle #13", "holiday bundle"); the Minelab part number is the thing to compare.

Everything in This Bundle

Settings That Matter on the Manticore

The Manticore has more adjustment than any treasure detector Minelab makes, and the fastest way to get lost is to change five things at once. Pick a factory search mode for the site, learn how it sounds, then move one setting at a time. These are the controls that change results:

• Ferrous Limits (Upper 0 to 14, Lower 0 to 9, plus four custom shapes you draw on the ID Map): how hard the detector treats targets with iron traits. Reject iron too aggressively on a nail-filled homesite and a good coin beside a nail can go with it. Start at the factory limits and tighten gradually.
• Recovery Speed (0 to 8, set per mode): faster separates targets packed close together on an old homesite; slower gives a fuller response on deep coins in clean ground. Faster costs a little depth, so match it to the site, not the brochure.
• Stabiliser (0 to 12, All-Terrain modes, added free by the 2.0 software): steadies audio and Target IDs where iron falsing used to chase you off a site. Raise it only as far as the falsing demands.
• Sensitivity (1 to 35) with Noise Cancel (Auto, Continuous Auto, or Manual -9 to +9): run the highest sensitivity the ground and the electrical interference allow, and use Noise Cancel before you blame the ground.
• Mode choice does real work. All-Terrain Fast and Low Conductors reject coke, the pest of old habitation sites. High Conductors is the high-power mode and Minelab says it shortens battery life by about an hour, a trade worth making on deep silver, not all day. In the Beach modes residual salt reads as Target ID 0 with a low, ferrous-like tone, so you can hear the salt and ignore it.

Where the Manticore Works Well, and Where It Does Not

Old homesites and relic ground: this is the Manticore's home. Hundreds of nails, farm hardware, and the odd coin lying against iron are what Ferrous Limits, recovery speed, and the 2D map were built to sort, and the high Multi-IQ+ power keeps deep targets audible under the iron canopy.

Parks that have been hunted hard: the silver that is left is deeper or surrounded by trash. The map and Target Trace reveal masked coins that single-number machines walk past, but technique still does the finding; no detector turns a worked-out park back into a fresh one.

Beaches and surf: four Beach modes including Surf & Seawater, and a fully submersible detector to 16 ft (5 m). Wet salt sand still asks for sensitivity adjustments; no machine is immune to it. For audio underwater you need Minelab's waterproof headphones, because the included ML 105 set is not submersible.

Gold: Goldfield mode handles small nuggets in milder ground, and the 2.0 software sharpened its small-gold sensitivity. In severe mineralization a dedicated gold detector reaches smaller gold and more depth; see the gold question in the FAQ below.

Where it is the wrong buy: as a first detector for someone who wants simplicity, or as a dive machine (16 ft / 5 m is wading and shallow water, not diving).

Coils and Accessories That Fit the Manticore in This Bundle

The Manticore runs Minelab's waterproof M-series Double-D smart coils, and every one of them is available here as a genuine Minelab accessory. Which coil when: the M11 is the all-rounder for parks, fields and beaches; the M9 is the choice for iron-heavy and tight sites; the M8 is the sniper for nail beds; the M15 is the open-ground and dry-beach coverage coil. Deciding between sizes? See the M-series coils compared, or browse everything that fits the Manticore.

• M8 8 x 5.5 in (20 x 14 cm) elliptical: the sniper coil for iron-saturated sites and tight trash.
• M9 9 in (23 cm) round: the middle-ground coil balancing separation and coverage, the lightest coil Minelab makes for the Manticore.
• M11 11 in (28 cm) round: the all-rounder, included with the detector in every factory kit.
• M15 15 x 12 in (38 x 30 cm) elliptical: the deep-seeking coil for open ground and dry beach coverage.

Other genuine parts and accessories that fit the Manticore (every one listed on our Manticore fitment page): the replacement battery 3011-0486, carbon fiber lower shaft, armrest kit 3011-0478, coil washers 3011-0484 and coil bolt set 3011-0487, the magnetic USB charging cable and 2-way USB car charger, a spare set of ML 105 wireless headphones, the WM 09 wireless audio module for your own wired headphones, Minelab waterproof headphones for underwater audio, and the Pro-Find 40 or Pro-Find 35 pinpointer. The fitment page also lists the finds pouches, sand scoops, and digging tools we pair with it.

Manticore 2.0: The Free Update That Made a Flagship Better

Minelab ships major feature updates for the Manticore at no charge over a standard USB connection. The 2.0 software added the Stabiliser setting (0 to 12), which steadies audio and Target IDs on iron-infested sites where falsing used to cost real targets, an Enhanced Goldfield mode with greater sensitivity to small gold, soft-key shortcuts, and red ferrous Target ID highlighting. Even the included ML 105 headphones take their own updates. You buy the machine once and it keeps improving. The current release is 6.20.0-3.7.1, the MANTICORE 2.0 software, still the newest version on Minelab's software-upgrade page.

Two honest mode notes straight from Minelab's manual, worth knowing before you hunt: the High Conductors mode is deliberately high-powered and trims battery runtime by about one hour, and the All-Terrain Fast and Low Conductors modes carry built-in coke rejection, which is why they excel on sites of ancient habitation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is this bundle different from the base Minelab Manticore?

The detector is identical: the same Manticore with the M11 11 in (28 cm) Double-D coil and ML 105 wireless headphones that ships in the base kit. This bundle adds the official Minelab backpack under Minelab's own part number, 3228-1003, so you buy one box with one SKU instead of two, at Minelab's bundle pricing rather than the two items separately.

Is this the official Minelab backpack?

Yes. It is the Minelab backpack that Minelab itself packs into the MANTICORE Essentials Bundle, not a generic aftermarket bag. Minelab lists this exact configuration on its own US site under the same name and part number, 3228-1003.

What is in the Manticore Essentials Bundle box?

The Minelab Manticore with the M11 11 in (28 cm) Double-D coil, ML 105 low-latency wireless headphones, the magnetic charge and data cable, a 3.5 mm audio cable, a 5-pack of screen protectors, and the official Minelab backpack. The ML 105 headphones are not waterproof; the detector itself is IP68 rated to 16 ft (5 m), so underwater hunting needs Minelab's separately sold waterproof headphones.

Which Minelab Manticore bundle should I buy?

Compare by Minelab part number, not by dealer names. Essentials Bundle (3228-1003): the Manticore with the M11 11 in (28 cm) coil and ML 105 headphones plus the official Minelab backpack. Field Bundle, sold here as the Pro Pack (3228-1006): backpack plus the Pro-Find 40 pinpointer. Recovery Bundle (3228-1007): backpack plus the M9 9 in (23 cm) coil for tight, iron-heavy ground. Ultimate Bundle (3228-1008): backpack, Pro-Find 40 and the M9 coil. If you already own a pinpointer, choose 1003 or 1007; if you hunt iron-heavy sites, the M9 bundles earn their keep; if you are starting from nothing, the Ultimate Bundle is the complete kit.

Can the Manticore in this bundle find gold?

Yes, genuinely: every Manticore carries a dedicated Goldfield mode among its 10 search modes, and Multi-IQ+ keeps small gold audible in mineralized ground, on top of the rings and jewelry any flagship finds. Minelab's free 2.0 software added an Enhanced Goldfield mode with greater small-gold sensitivity. The backpack matters more in gold country than anywhere, since goldfields are usually a hike from the truck. Full-time nugget hunters still step to a dedicated Minelab gold machine such as the Gold Monster 2000 or the GPX 6000 for maximum small-gold reach.

Is the Minelab Manticore Essentials Bundle worth it?

Yes, if you want the Manticore with its M11 coil and ML 105 headphones plus the official Minelab backpack in one order under one factory part number, at Minelab's own bundle pricing. The backpack is the whole difference from the standalone Manticore; if you already own a pack, buy the detector on its own, and if you own neither a pack nor a pinpointer, the Field Bundle (Pro Pack) is the better value.

What accessories fit the Manticore in the Essentials Bundle?

Genuine Minelab M-series coils (M8, M9, M11, M15) and the Coiltek 18 in (46 cm) Mythtek coil; the replacement battery 3011-0486; the carbon fiber lower shaft; the armrest kit 3011-0478; coil washers 3011-0484 and coil bolt set 3011-0487; the magnetic USB charging cable and the 2-way USB car charger; ML 105 and ML 85 wireless headphones, the WM 09 wireless audio module, and Minelab waterproof headphones for underwater audio; the Pro-Find 40 and Pro-Find 35 pinpointers; and Minelab finds pouches. Every one is listed, with its part number, on our Manticore fitment page.

Where can I buy the Minelab Manticore Essentials Bundle online from an authorized dealer?

Here. History Seekers Metal Detectors is an authorized Minelab dealer; every Manticore Essentials Bundle we sell is new, sourced through Minelab's authorized US distributor under factory part number 3228-1003, and carries the full 3-year Minelab warranty on the Manticore control box and search coils. Warranty repairs go through Minelab's authorized US service center, and we help you file the claim. We price match: send us the competitor's current listing for a new unit and we will verify it. Minelab's military discount program applies to the Manticore in this bundle; contact us directly to order under it. Call 256-284-2247 to talk to someone who runs this machine before you order.

Compare the official Minelab Manticore configurations, each a Minelab part number:
• Manticore Base Kit (3228-0200)
• Essentials Bundle with Backpack (3228-1003)
• Field Bundle (Pro Pack) with Pro-Find 40 and Backpack (3228-1006)
• Recovery Bundle with M9 Coil and Backpack (3228-1007)
• Ultimate Bundle with Pro-Find 40, M9 Coil and Backpack (3228-1008)

History Seekers Metal Detectors is an authorized Minelab dealer; every Manticore Essentials Bundle we sell is new, sourced through Minelab's authorized US distributor, and carries the full 3-year Minelab warranty. This is an official Minelab factory bundle, not a dealer-assembled kit. Minelab also offers a military discount program on its detectors; contact us directly at 256-284-2247 to order under it (not combinable with other promotions).

See it in the field

The Manticore at the heart of this bundle appears in History Seekers hunts on YouTube and Facebook, where over 1.1 million followers watch us dig relics, coins, and gold across the Southeast and beyond. We rotate machines depending on the site and the ground conditions, so it shows up across many hunts rather than one dedicated video. Every find you see was made with gear we sell and use ourselves.

One more thing worth knowing about who you are buying from. History Seekers is a small American business, not a big box retailer where nobody on staff has ever swung a detector, and not a warehouse that just moves boxes. Everyone here detects, from the top down: gold, relics, coins, jewelry, even float copper. Years of field experience before hire is not a coincidence, it is a requirement. The person who answers your questions may be the same one who packs your order and drives it to the UPS drop-off, and every purchase keeps everyday Americans working.

The story is more important than the artifact.