Steve H. Garrett 24K Videos

[Jeff McClendon]

For those of you hoping that Steve is having a great time in Alaska but are missing his input and support on this forum, you may be able to get your daily dose of Steve through these excellent Garrett 24k Gold Master videos on Garrett's site. For anyone new to VLF detector gold prospecting, these videos (mostly by Steve) are outstanding, keep it simple guides to basic detector prospecting and for using a very hot detector on hot ground.

Go to the VIDEOS heading next to HOW TO BUY. 

https://garrett.com/garrett-goldmaster-24k-metal-detector

[Jeff McClendon]

Steve knows better about this than I do, but it appears that the original Whites GoldMaster 24K has received some black plastic/paint, a little more weatherproofing, new labels and some nice rechargeable batteries. Otherwise, the internals seem to be the same. It looks great. Even though I would like to have had internal wireless added.....the Garrett Z-Lynk external transmitter and headphones system works very well with the 24K for those who don't want to be tethered.

Whites made a great detector to begin with and Garrett has basically acknowledged that and left it "As Is".

[Steve Herschbach]

Thanks Jeff!

I'm just back from a trip to Alaska, and was lucky enough to have a new Garrett Goldmaster 24K along on the trip, courtesy of Garrett Metal Detectors. For those that may be unaware, the Goldmaster 24K was developed by White's Electronics, and was acquired by Garrett when they purchased White's. The model was White's last new production model, and I am very familiar with the detector, having written a very detailed review of the White's version in 2018. See the link for lots of good information still applicable to the Garrett version.

The newly released Garrett Goldmaster 24K is nearly identical, with the largest change being a switch from a tan to an all black color scheme. I liked that Garrett left the White's logo on the 24K while adding their own, acknowledging the heritage of the detector. I wish Garrett had been able to add their excellent high speed Z-Lynk wireless to the 24K, but I think that would have taken a FCC certification that would have added a lot of cost and time delay at this point in the process, where getting the model back on the market quickly is a priority. Luckily, the Z-Lynk can be added easily with Garrett's universal kit that will work on nearly all detectors made.

Garrett has effectively lowered the price of the detector. It has an M.S.R.P of $799.95 but allows for discounting down to $679.95. Garrett is also including a rechargeable AA battery system and headphones, adding extra value to the package. The only thing lacking at this time are accessory coils, as Garrett reviews and revamps the coil selection. However, existing White's 24K and GMX coils are compatible with the detector. I expect not only more coils from Garrett, but good aftermarket support, as has always been the case with Garrett detectors. In any case, all the gold found in this report was found with the supplied 6”x10” DD coil.

Items included with new Garrett Goldmaster 24K

I used the Garrett 24K in a range of conditions in Alaska, staying almost exclusively in the all metal mode, and digging all targets. The location has some trash, but not enough to keep me from digging everything. The Garrett 24K does have excellent discrimination, but any discrimination can be foiled by tiny gold and ground minerals, so whenever possible I dig everything. I do admit I got into some places though where I used the probability meter to work though a couple high trash areas, but that was only for a couple hours at most.

I normally use the 24K with the ground balance locked, leaving it unlocked just long enough to get a proper ground balance before tapping the lock button. However, for areas where I was running high sensitivity in mixed rocks, the ground tracking was very effective at smoothing out responses from hot rocks, eliminating them almost entirely after just a single repeat swing. Most of my use was in more homogenous conditions however, and so for me locked was the way to go.

My biggest tip for Garrett 24K operators is to not overdrive the sensitivity. This is a very high gain detector, and trying to run it at full sensitivity under all conditions is a big mistake. Too much sensitivity will enhance hot rock responses and ground feedback. I like to scrub the coil on the ground in many cases, and simply lower the sensitivity until I can do so with the machine remaining stable. My settings were as low as 7 (range 0 - 10) and as high as 10, with audio boost enabled. See the owners manual for details.

Alaska was doing the cool weather and rainy thing almost every day, so I really appreciated the 24K being very water resistant, and I felt no need to cover or otherwise go out of my way to keep the machine dry. The rechargeable batteries can give up to 45 hours of operating time per charge, making it possible to run for days without worrying about battery charging. Since the 24K uses eight AA batteries, carrying a set of regular alkaline batteries, or another charged set of rechargeable AA batteries, makes for an easy fix if the batteries should die while in use. This is really important in remote locations where charging may not be possible. Another nice feature is the included telescoping rod, which I used daily when I strapped the 24K to my ATV, and for running a shorter rod setup when working steep hillsides. The underarm battery box makes for a well balanced detector which stays upright when placed on the ground. I am not fond of detectors that like to tip over.

The Garrett 24K has a wide range of adjustment options to please people who want lots of control for various ground conditions, but it can be absurdly easy to run the detector with basic all metal settings. I like that all settings are retained when the detector is shut off, so that once it is set for an area, it can be powered off and fired up in seconds, with no adjusting required.

The Garrett 24K performed admirably, giving me 85 nice gold nuggets totaling 11 grams, or about one-third ounce of gold. The smallest bits were quite small, the smallest at 0.06 gram. I am very happy that Garrett brought the 24K back to the market, because it is an excellent and very affordable option, and one that I genuinely like. Thanks Garrett!

Be sure and check out the Garrett 24K at the Garrett website

Using Garrett Goldmaster 24K in a "scrape and detect" location

85 nuggets at 11 grams found by Steve H in Alaska with Garrett 24K

[And]

I'm very surprised. Positively surprised. I was thinking about buying a Goldmaster the last weeks, cause our comparison tests showed again, the Goldmaster is one of my favorite VLFs. That's really great, that Garret picked the Goldmaster up. I will start to look, where I can get one. Thanks for this detailed informations, I appreciate!

ps: Steve, congratulations to your success in Alaska! I badly miss Alaska... I hope for 2022

[phrunt]

Thanks for the report, you've done very well on the gold with it already, I'm glad I didn't go through all the difficulty of trying to get a Whites 24k now Garrett has taken it over, now it will be accessible locally with Garrett having dealers here, and I see in the photo above with the power plug there is the AU/NZ plug end available, a good sign 🙂

I must now send NEL an email begging them to make coils for the Garrett 24k, bang a Snake coil on that and I'm set!

[Steve Herschbach]

Coils that work with the Garrett 24K, if you can find them....

[phrunt]

That will be a good range if Garrett brings them to market too which I'm sure they will, it already puts them ahead of the competition for coil range.  I really would like Garrett to resume production of the 6" Concentric coil for it though, that'd be a deadly coil here.  I will end up buying all of these coils as they're basically every size I'd need, I've done quite well in the past with bigger coils on VLF's finding some deeper bigger nuggets too so that 14" is of particular interest.

[EL NINO77]

I would like to highlight ... one more important thing ... that of Instructional Videos for Garrett Goldmaster 24K ...  "by Steve" ... you can watch and listen not only in the English language version in ,, but also in Spanish ,, and also in French ....

This allows you to understand ... how to work with Goldmaster..a really wide group of people all over the world ...👍...

 

... As Simon correctly wrote ... new.. Goldmaster 24K has a really good assortment of coils ... which he received from Whites .... and in time we can expect other new coils ..

I would not be afraid to use coil sizes as well...11 "-13"..

 

 

[EL NINO77]

 

...I have already ordered the Goldmaster 24K .... so now I am waiting for the deadline of 1 shipment of these detectors to Europe ....

Today I ... Found a new Video on Goldmaster 24K from Garrett ....

...I would be very happy .. if "Steve "... could explain in more detail the function of the individual settings of the Goldmaster 24K from his practical experience in detecting with this "gold detector."..👍..

In my opinion, his advice and experience with this detector will be very beneficial for every Garrett Goldmaster 24K user, ... experience..which already be balanced with gold ..👍

[Steve Herschbach]

I will when I have time and feel like writing a tutorial, but frankly I don’t make things complicated. Normally I just use all metal and dig everything. I do have some notes on settings in my Detailed Review of the 24K