Condor Tries On The Insanely Hot Settings

[Condor]

Here in sunny Yuma by the Sea I've been having reasonable success on sub gram nuggets running the 7k in HY Normal with sens at 16 with a nearly silent threshold. I don't have the same noise tolerance as Steve H. But, after seeing JP weigh in and Lunk reiterating comments on Steve's Insanely Hot settings I thought I'd better give er a go. I was feeling poorly so I decided to make it real easy on myself just to try the settings. I drove out 30 minutes from home to an old placer operation that has been absolutely hammered over the past 10 yrs. I picked out a dozer push and fiddled with the settings described by JP. 5 minutes into it I hit a sweet tone. About 6 inches down in hardened caliche out pops a half grammer. I tried to ignore all sharp surface targets since the 7k loves that steel shed from the dozer. Half hr another really soft smooth signal. Micro gram nugget. So ended day one of the test. 2 hrs 2 micro nuggets. It gets real good on day 2. Details to follow.

[Tortuga]

What setting are you adjusting to get a quiet threshold?

The only one I've played with so far is turning the audio smoothing on and off.

[Condor]

A smooth threshold with the 7k is more like a state of mind. It's a noisy machine and you develop a tolerance for the noise. The key is to fiddle with the threshold tone and find something less annoying. I opted for a more bass general tone that still leaves a noticeable rising pitch over a target. Don't forget to lower the signal limiter. You'll blow your ears out over the first big trash target. I adjusted to the JP threshold setting of 35. It still takes continuous use to adjust brain, hearing and coil control to get comfortable.

[Tortuga]

Oh ok so there's an actual "threshold adjustment".

I don't play with that aspect of it much and I don't have the detector in front of me so that's why I asked.

I usually just run it with the sensitivity turned up a little, high yield and depending on the feedback I'm getting from the ground either normal or difficult soil. Haven't delved into it much further than that.

[Steve Herschbach]

Glad to hear my settings are at least getting some more experimentation going. They simply will not work as published for many people in some ground locations - I always want to be clear on that. But for people who like running hot they can provide some extra pop in the right locations. Can't wait to hear the followup as I am off season right now and not seeing any gold myself.

[Jonathan Porter]

Steve its great to see your getting people to think outside the square, if nothing else it makes for great reading on the forum as people delve into the less frequented recesses of their detectors.

 

JP

[TAZMAN1972]

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum.  I have had my 7000 for about 6 months now and it is for sure a love/hate relationship.  I started out with a GMT then GP Extreme, 4000 and 5000.  Since I started out with the GMT I was used to a loud chattery detector so I have been running all of my minelabs pretty hot.  I have been running flat out with the 7000 for the last 2 months and I really see a difference.  for example I went back over a 20x20 foot patch I hammered over the years with my other detectors.   Took my 7000 running "quiet".  I was stoked to find 3 more small nuggets under 5 grains that everything else missed.  I went back and ran flat out and found 2 more under 3 grains.  I have been back 2 times and not found any in that spot but have found lots of small stuff in other spots that had not yielded gold in a while.  I love the detector when it finds gold which is just about anywhere where there are nuggets and not a lot of trash.  I love that.  I essentially can't even use the detector in other areas with trash.  Especially with the gain up, it finds small pieces of iron that would give my GMT a run for it but with no discrimination.  Hate that.  With the older Minelabs, I could be a little discerning with a mono coil and could tell a square nail from a nugget or bullet about 50% of the time.  I personally can't do that with the 7000, not a bit.  One thing I will say about running hot, be prepared to dig hot pockets of dirt.  Maybe I will get better at it but right now a small hot pocket of red dirt sounds just like deep target.  I will dig 16 inches down before realizing that it is not a target.  I could go on and on but I will leave it at this.  I like running hot! (so far)

Thanks,

Tobin 

[Steve Herschbach]

Hi Tobin, welcome to the forum! Just a really great bunch of people here who love to share and help one another. There is not one of us not digging tiny bird shot, tiny steel slivers, and mineralized hot spots with the GPZ and hating it, but loving what it does all the same. Thanks for posting!

[Tortuga]

Tobin I've definitely done the same thing a few times, especially digging the hot pockets of soil. At the end of the day it comes down to target response. True metal targets will have a shorter, sharper tone and I've since been able to walk away confidently from a few hot spots I thought were deep targets as well.

[TAZMAN1972]

Steve,

Exactly.  Love-Hate.  Love finding gold I know I would not have found with my 5000 but hate finding pieces of trash that my 5000 would not have found.  I forget about the trash when a small flake shows up in the scoop though!

 

Tortuga,

My largest nugget is only 0.4 ounces.  Some of the areas I detect have had large nuggets found, and deep.  I am just worried I am giving up too soon on a large deep nugget.  I think I need to take a large piece of lead and bury where I hunt so I can know what a large deep target really sounds like with the 7000.

 

Thanks for starting the thread Condor.

 

Tobin