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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.

I find it interesting that here in SoCal I just finished my last prospecting trip of the spring season because it is starting to get to hot and up in the Northwest it appears guys are waiting for the snow to melt and warmer temps. Anyway, I went back to an area where I have had good results and spent the first day patch hunting with no success. The next day I went back to one of my patches with pick and shovel to see if I could find more nuggets by layering down. I save gps waypoints for every nugget that I have ever found and for this particular patch I chose and area of the patch that had the greatest nugget density to start layering. I started by layering an area about 4x4 ft and took off about 3 to 4 inches at a time. I then detect the new exposed area and the discarded material as well. I started finding nuggets right away and kept on going for the next 4 hours expanding the area until I was worn out. I went back early the next morning and continued for another 5 hours until I was again too tired to continue. Some nuggets were found in the top 8 to 10 inches of soil but most were found in the decomposed slate like material that was very difficult to break up with the pick. In the end I recovered 34 nuggets weighing in at 7.85g. I like to think I got a small taste of hard labor and toil that the old timers went through.

Well I think that is called being rebellious. LOL Also something they are trying to stomp out of people today. We are expected to obey and do as we're told, even if it is wrong what they are asking. The bad news is they never managed to stomp the country boy out of me and they never will.