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18K gold is typical in Italy...When a few 14K pieces appear, usually the loss belongs to a foreign tourist or it is a very old piece from the early 1960s...

Maybe they want to make sure they have a Cherry first and not a Lemon Works for me

Welcome to New Zealand 🙂 Some small volcanic islands! We may have mild soils, but hot rocks like that, we have by the zillion. Mitchel got a very minor taste of it on his trip here, as he went to the tame areas, this was on purpose, no point taking him to the more difficult areas where the ground is covered in these things. I think he took a few samples home with him. This is what I'm talking about, VLF's and most other detectors are pointless. The GPZ struggles, GPX 4500/5000 struggles but better than the GPZ, I'm yet to try the Algoforce in these areas but so far so good elsewhere. 6000 not too good in places like this 🙂 Good gold areas too, old timers hit them hard, just not overly detectable, maybe an SDC might help, I'm just not sure how much better an SDC would be over a 5000, 5000 gives a range of coils including DD's to help and can do better than anything else I've used so far. I'd like to try an SDC though, not sure I'd want to buy one to try one though. If we had more time, I would have taken Mitchel to severe areas like this just so he could see what we deal with. The SDC was quite impressive that it handled it to a degree without balancing over the hot rock, the GPX 4500/5000 in my experience would handle something like that also especially if balanced over it and in the right configuration, and not using a spiral coil. The GPZ would have benefited greatly from the ground balance being done over the hot rock, it's the only way you have any hope of balancing something like that out with it, once that's done you can often pick up smaller gold like that next to the hot rock, not tiny gold that it would normally be capable of detecting though. The 6000 even balancing over the bad hot rocks has no hope even with it's DD that doesn't seem to make much of a difference, the small gold sensitivity they've incorporated into it has really eaten into its ability to handle bad hot rocks, seems like it runs in a single timing, not adjusting like I had the impression Geosense did. The Algoforce was a bit of a surprise, so far for me it's been very good with various hot rocks, yes it reacts, but can balance them out well if you balance over them. You need to adjust to a fast recovery speed for the Manticore to deal with hot rocks like that and gold next to it, depth suffers then of course. It would benefit from a smaller coil; it annoys me they only have such a big coil as its smallest coil. Do you remember this statement from Minelab upon release of the 6000? it's disappeared just about everywhere unless you can source old marketing material, it's still in the quick start guide but I no longer see it splashed over the website. "GeoSense-PI (Pulse Induction) technology precisely analyzes gold signals while eliminating ground signals, allowing both beginning and expert nugget hunters to hear all gold pieces clearly. GeoSense-PI technology responds to ground signals with great clarity and precision, accurately isolating and reporting gold signals in the most difficult environments – even those once considered undetectable. It rapidly suppresses unwanted signals via three overlapping feedback systems for superfast detection of all gold pieces, placing anyone swinging the GPX 6000 completely in tune with the piece of Earth they’re hunting." You can still find it in older press releases like this one. I'd like to know an environment the GPX 6000 can detect in that was undetectable before it came along. I've not encountered one yet.

Hi guys I thought to share a little video about how the top ML detectors perform with one particularly nasty hot rock. It was made today with my cell phone, so it really is anything else than professional. Also, as a disclaimer, the comparison was made with just one particular hot rock. However, the relative performance of the detectors can vary, based on hot rock composition and many other factors. So, please bear this in mind. Nevertheless, I hope you will find this video informative. There appears to be a clear winner, at least in this case. 😊 GC

A Storm In 2 Days?.......Maybe flurries. 😎

I know what you mean. One time in Nevada I spent most of a day digging out these large crevices in bedrock, in a wash, below the Congress gold mine, figuring that over the decades some gold must have gotten trapped in there. It was a lot of work cleaning out the dirt and rocks packed in there and the only thing I found was some old nails and bullets. I just like to explore and try out new things in the search for the elusive gold but we all know that gold is hard to find, especially these days.

I will be fairly close to your place in about a week Reg. More than happy for you to loan my 800 for a month or two 👍

So... yeah... I'm a self-admitted coil junkie with no self control.... my M9 is on the way! Looking forward to giving it a whirl in the water.

Ethan, I have 2 hipsticks for sale, a long and medium size. $20 each pulse shipping. Let me know.

You might be quite annoyed by the bump sensitivity of these modern Minelab VLF's Reg, takes a bit of getting used to especially if you're detecting in a rocky environment, for someone used to PI's and GPZ's having a bump sensitive coil would be sending you down to buy a new one, when it's the norm on VLF's. The XP Deus 1 with 10x5" coil offers great discrimination and very good gold sensitivity, not sure about your ground for it though but it has no bump sensitivity at all, nor does the old faithful Gold Bug 2 but it's not good in bad ground I hear. The Garrett 24k also offers very good performance with absolutely no bump sensitivity, I don't know which detector is best for your needs, but thought I'd bring up the bump sensitivity as it's something that someone not used to it would find it extremely annoying and a hindrance. I know they made a big deal about crims using carbon fibre weapons to bypass airport security a decade or so ago and it was proven they would be picked up by them. @Geotech may know quite a bit about this seeing he makes the things. I wonder if because the detector picks up the shaft does that mean its sensitivity is slightly diminished and by going back to an original Equinox 800 shaft may make my Nox 800 hit tiny gold better than it does with my Detect ED carbon fibre shaft. I'd happily ditch carbon fibre lower rods if performance was improved by doing so, they're of no real benefit to me anyway. Time to do some experiments.

Goldseeker5000, I am curious what conclusions you have come to in the last few years regarding these coils?

I'm actually kind of hoping it's an umbrella because like most people on this thread i really don't need another detector but i got into a habit where about every 30 gold rings or chains i reward Garrett and buy something from them ,so i'm about at that point and an umbrella would save me about 1200$

We are having a hard time finding silvers here too. But with the depth capabilities on the CTX it's hard to imagine that any coin has sunk much deeper than it's reach.

Manticore, Nox 900, Nox 800 and the Nokta Legend are really good gold prospecting detectors using their simultaneous multi frequency prospecting modes. I too have noticed that the Manticore with M8 coil, Nox 900 with the Coiltek 10x5 and the Legend with its LG24 coil will all detect their lower shafts with those detectors and coils laying flat on the ground when I am checking for targets in my plastic gold scoop or if I tap the heel of those coils against the CF lower shafts. That’s using their prospecting modes.

Simon!! Thanks for the comparison videos, It’s funny that I used to love the GB 2’s CC coils that had iron ID from 25 years ago and then eventually all the big detector companies went away from the CC’s and now there back and are still probably one of the best performance coils one can get on the top dog detectors. 😃 I agree, Hopefully Minelab is going this CC route and can add some iron reject to them.

The closest to that I have used was my CTX3030. If you got the target circle in the coin area of the screen and it filled in with red, then you pretty much had a coil or at least a coin sized non-ferrous item.

Midway also offers an additional 10% off for signing up for their emails, WOW!! I Can’t even beat that deal on the Axiom. 😀

My Tips On Nugget Detecting With The Minelab Equinox

Midway USA right now is 20% off on Garrett detectors. Makes an Axiom much more affordable.

In relation to rechargeable batteries: some of the new ones are quite good and take longer to discharge, but I prefer the standard 9-volt Alkaline batteries because you don't have to worry about charging it in the middle of detecting. Besides this, Lithium Ion batteries have to be topped off every now and then, just like the one in the detector when one is not using it. If you let a Lithium Ion battery discharge (as if you store it somewhere and don't use it for a very long time), it can reverse its polarity. When that happens the charger won't charge it, but there are some short cuts one can use to return the battery's polarity to its original condition. Just watch some of the videos at "youtube," but keep in mind that if you short-circuit a Lithium Ian battery it can explode :)

Amen & Amen!

You should be very pleased with that result. I've done the same thing several times and found NADA for hours of work. It can really toy with you if your not finding anything. Keep digging or stop? It's easy if you keep getting targets.

Nice amount of 18K. It seems to be more widely used where you are, or do you find more of the 14K and lower karat?

Many thanks to folks of more experience than myself in this style of gold hunting. Much to take on board. I am persevering with my 6000 for the moment but there are areas where discrimination would be an advantage. Will have a chat with my local Minelab dealer to see if I could maybe hire an Equinox as a trial.

It’s just marketing. Car companies do it all the time. Silhouette of a vehicle, no details. Vehicle ploughing over the sand, lots of dust but no detail. A closeup of a fender, hint but no detail.