All Activity

Hi Chac, When there are no iron mineral, the FE graph measures conductivity. It can be a handy target checker. good luck. Mike

Today I got out for my first beach hunt with the AlgoForce 1500. I used a CoilTek Platypus Mono that I've had for many years. I recently repaired it because the wires at the top were frayed and we put new heat shrink on it. They are completely sealed so nothing can get inside the coil and if the leads break off the coil is toast. After the hunt I took off the coil cover and noticed some sand trapped inside. I need to put some silicon window seal inside the entire coil cover if I use it again. With all of that out of the way, I found trash ... lots of it and just 4 coins and a pin! Air testing inside a my table says: Tent stake = 6 Top right junk = 6 Coke cap = 6 Jarritos = 3 Center pin = 5 Pulltab = 1 Duracell = 10 (I'll have to do this again when I have more clear area.) All of the finds were a bit 'soft' compared to my other detectors. This is my first use other than with the Sadie in NZ. The target depths went up to 10 inches I'd say. Most was more shallow as I was digging everything in a well raked and groomed sand area. I tried a bit of wet sand but the conditions were not good for targets there. The threshold was stable but there were no targets. I was using Large Gold. The Algo will only let you choose a setting that is labeled gold but it will find other metals within those settings. I varied the sensitivity from 14-20. Most of the bottle caps came in as a 3 on the ID scale. The aluminum bits come in at 1. My 4Runner comes it at 99! haha I've got more to learn than I know just now about the target IDs and settings.

Today I got out for my first beach hunt with the AlgoForce 1500. I used a CoilTek Platypus Mono that I've had for many years. I recently repaired it because the wires at the top were frayed and we put new heat shrink on it. They are completely sealed so nothing can get inside the coil and if the leads break off the coil is toast. After the hunt I took off the coil cover and noticed some sand trapped inside. I need to put some silicon window seal inside the entire coil cover if I use it again. With all of that out of the way, I found trash ... lots of it and just 4 coins and a pin! Air testing inside a my table says: Tent stake = 6 Top right junk = 6 Coke cap = 6 Jarritos = 3 Center pin = 5 Pulltab = 1 Duracell = 10 (I'll have to do this again when I have more clear area.) All of the finds were a bit 'soft' compared to my other detectors. This is my first use other than with the Sadie in NZ. The target depths went up to 10 inches I'd say. Most was more shallow as I was digging everything in a well raked and groomed sand area. I tried a bit of wet sand but the conditions were not good for targets there. The threshold was stable but there were no targets. I was using Large Gold. The Algo will only let you choose a setting that is labeled gold but it will find other metals within those settings. I varied the sensitivity from 14-20. Most of the bottle caps came in as a 3 on the ID scale. The aluminum bits come in at 1. My 4Runner comes it at 99! haha I've got more to learn than I know just now about the target IDs and settings.

If you are talking about a situation where VLF detectors can no longer work reliably on black sand... we are talking about a case where the concentration of magnetite in Black Sand exceeds the value of 30% or more... another thing is that even if some VLF detector is able to work with such a concentration of magnetism/ in the case of a reduction in RX gain, or the use of a coil that is less sensitive to the X signal/ ...according to my experience.. the range of the VLF detector will be severely limited.. If I were you, I would try a PI detector with ground balance, which has a timing setting... for example Garrett ATX, where another plus is its water resistance..., and another advantage is that you can also use coils from the PI Infinium detector/ which are of classic DD construction of various sizes/ and the detector is still waterproof... using the ground balance and timing settings of the PI detector will help you eliminate the signal from magnetite... as well as the salt signal on the beach... while still maintaining a good range and sensitivity to small targets... which is already a problem with VLF detectors in such conditions. ..

Детектор, расположенный на борту только балансового грунта (ГБ), будет плохо работать на «Черном песке», и неважно, по какой технологии он работает..... требуется компенсация грунта (ГК).... Компенсация – это введение катушки или катушек в резонанс с учетом условий, в том числе и с землей – то есть земля становится частью катушки и любые изменения в пространстве будут фиксироваться детектором. В настоящее время проводятся исследования по использованию ГК в детекторах – полученные результаты удивляют.

I had one for a few years and found my first seated dime with it. Actually preferred it over the MXT once I got used to the difference in the audio. Truly a great detector.

I have a sluice and a drywasher. I plan on utilizing them both. Plenty of water to run a sluice now. Later in the summer, the drywasher should come into play. Wish I could get out there for more than a day at a time.

Take a picture of it with Google Lens. While its not accurate all the time, it can point you in the right direction. I use it a lot. Its about 70-30...

Well u have atlantic and pacific oceans lots of shipwrecks and treasures lurking in the jungle . Issue is that strip of the country full of that tar looking black sand that glitters magically during full moon. I dont want to spend 3k on a machine and if i do will it work🤔 equinox 6 and 8 will die on the spot, the manticore and even the deus 2 will fall very ill in these beaches . The Tarsacci ive always seen in kelly store but i dont know anybody who owns it so i cannot say. Advanced Pi is my only option that or aquamans echo location.

Thanks for the reply. As long as I have an idea of how deep the target is, I guess the carrot is still fine. Seems that the guy I got the Safari from, never told me the upper lock clip DOESN'T stay in place and slips out while swinging a short while. Will see if I can shim with a plastic knife blade or just tape it in place. Of course this isn't a solution if I want to change coils, but it'll get me some shooting hours. The settings I'm planning to go with, with the stock coil are: Sensitivity 17, Threshold 12, Trash Density is Low, I notched out -10 to 13, 16 to 29 and 40. The threshold will come into play when I wear headphones, then I can lower it. The school I will be using it at, has very little trash. I believe I saw the Trash Density on Low gives better depth. When I was a kid in 1979 (14) and got my Bounty Hunter 840, I use to tune the machine and then press the tuning button to get a slight hum. I'd always say I "de-tuned" the machine. It was the slight break in the hum that enabled me to find deeper targets, more so than other people who just listened for loud blips. Funny how years later, its documented as a threshold break. I will check out those 2 coils. Amazing there are so many available for the FBS as they're all interchangeable. SF

Give it a go, but personally I wouldn't as it can become a risk if you get tangled up. I've never had the issue and we get some pretty rough waves. Your headphones already keep you tethered to the machine. If anything, see if you can find a way to strap your headphones under your chin, my mate does this and it looks like a far better method. Similar to this Another thing to try is to put reflective tape on your machine/coil 🙂 I do this as it makes it easier to pinpoint, but should help find the detector if it gets a bit murky and you do happen to drop it.

Thanks! I'm hoping to be in the water really soon. I'm thinking of taking one of the lanyards off my kids boogie boards or surfboards to use to keep the detector attached to me if a big wave yanks it out my my hand.

I would start on that bench

I too have read every post since the beginning and have really enjoyed it. Lots of times after a hard day of work it is nice to take my mind to something else. Thanks.

Look for bedrock. Shallow ground. I was a gold seeking machine back in Redding. I found several patches that produced several ounces at each spot all in a span of one year. Now I'm in Winnemucca working my arse off and can't get a day off. Have been out about 20 times. Saw tooth, rye patch, Eugenes, it just doesn't jump out at me like Redding patches do. Everything is so monotone, homogeneous, with the exception of sawtooth, I'm confident I can find gold there. But so far not a speck of Nevada gold in the poke for me as of yet. Anyway if you put in the time, you will learn the area. The fact you're finding gold right off the bat, you're doing good. If the gold is not big, a dry washer or recirculating sluice might be a better bet. Good luck and keep us posted

This is a topic that has been brought up here before...say you have a silver coin worth potentially $1700-$4500 or more..it has some dirt that rinsing will not get rid of maybe a iron stain on it..the coin is in fairly good shape.. what would be your next move? strick

Yay, I'm so glad it helps! There's not too many of us that do it so you're more than welcome to ask away if you have any questions about it. I mainly snorkel but I do occasionally use the Blu3 Nomad for assistance, but very rarely. My breath-hold isn't great so you may not need it at all. The conditions in this video were very calm, I've got another video coming out this week showing a bit more extreme conditions 😄 Here's a quick preview

Thank you for sharing this treatise Steve. The diagrams are really interesting. Seeing how the old timers set up sluices with what they had on hand is very cool!

Close, but 5 years = 60 months = 10 rings per week average from this spot. 😉 If it wasn't for the premiums I sell gold for, as well as the random large pieces, your numbers would be very close. I try to keep pretty good track of my numbers. This year so far, gold has been 35% of my total ring finds. Last year was 26% from 262 total rings, and the year before was 29% from 225 rings. The years before that I didn't categorise metals, just tallied the rings. The average ring would be 2-4 grams of either 9ct or 18ct with the exception of the odd 10-20g 18ct. Approximately 74% of each years rings are from this spot. of the other 26%, about 20% would be from another good spot I have. That's a pretty rough guess but it wouldn't be far off. I do keep a very good record of what it's worth in scrap price, as well as what I've sold. I sell a lot of relics and I try sell gold at a fair premium after it's all cleaned up. It sure is a great spot. we go there every chance we get. 🙂

The sadder part was that no one has tried to revive Tesoro. Although lots of people would see them as old technology there are still some who WANT that. I'm glad I was able to at least own and use a Tesoro for a little while. A Tesoro Cortes, and the only reason i got rid of it was because it was a battery eater/hog and I wanted to have more target ID capability. Really wish they would have went farther with that idea and modernized it slightly and throw in a rechargeable onboard battery. But most of all wish I'd have kept it. The only steel penny I've ever found was with that Cortes.

Not sure on the clubs there but spent time detecting there a long time ago. We had a relative that worked at the Empire Mine and my relatives were caretakers of the Saint Anthony Mining Property.

Thank you very much. It has been a pleasure.

Would 1/8th plastic be too thick or should I go the next size down which is roughly 1/16th?

Do you keep the stock skid plate on it? I’m trying to find one in the US right now but can’t at the moment. Might try my luck at making one.

One of the most underrated detectors to have ever been produced, if i did not already have one I would bid on it