Where A Tamed-down 7000 Shines

[Gold Catcher]

So, I went on a little afternoon hunt in the Mojave Desert. I did not have much time but thought to check out a wash where I found gold before with the SDC. The ground conditions there are extremely mineralized and the wash is littered with hot rocks, mostly volcanic in nature.

 

The 6000 did not work at all, even at the lowest sensitivity and in difficult (threshold on/off made no difference). The saturation signal was just way to high and virtually every other rock, even tiny ones, gave a target signal (both high/low or low/high responses). I hence decided to try the 7000 to see if detecting would be at all possible in these challenging ground conditions, by using the settings that the 7000 has to its disposal. My initial to go settings (HY/Normal/Gain 15/smoothing off/semi auto GB) miserably failed (as expected) with saturation/hot rock responses similar to that of the 6000. I then dialed down the settings and used HY/Difficult/Gain 9/smoothing low/auto GB/threshold volume 22, volume 6. These tamed-down conditions had a huge impact with the detector now running fairly smoothly with much reduced hot rock responses. The auto-GB/ferrite worked better (IMO) than the semi-auto GB/ferrite, something that I contribute to my believe that the auto-GB is better in adjusting to extremely hot rock littered grounds, as opposed to having a fixed X-lock. I checked after a while and I did not have a significant ferrite drift. I usually always run semi-auto but in this case the auto-GB performed slightly better and gave a more stable threshold. However, I am of course aware that semi-auto GB is generally the better choice for most cases to not have any X-drifts. Despite running the 7000 with these tamed-down conditions (or probably because of them!), I managed to pick up a clear target signal amongst all the hot rocks that turned out to be a 0.7 g picker. I was over the same spot with the 6000 before and heard absolutely nothing, due to all the saturation signals around me.

 

To me, this is where the 7000 shines. You can either run it insanely hot (which I often do), or you can significantly alter the detector’s profile to adjust to various ground conditions, including the extreme conditions I have been in, and still find gold. This is something the 6000 clearly lacks and which is a significant advantage of the 7000. The 6000 is still my to-go detector, but if I did not have the 7000 this wash would have been nothing else than frustrating. This is a good example that more power isn’t always better and that the 7000 finds gold in all kind of different conditions, if settings are being adjusted accordingly.

The last picture shows the incredible breath-taking scenery. Also, you can see that there is a lot of sand mixed in as well where detecting does not make any sense.

 

In addition, there are also much milder patches of ground  and the day before I found a similar weight nugget there with the 6000 run in auto+. This wider general area has produced very large nuggets (up to 156 oz). Oh well, perhaps next weekend. 😁

 GC

[Calmark]

Great job adapting the tool to the conditions and finding that nugget.  

I have a GPX4500 and the GPX6000 and I often wish the new 6k had more adjustability.  It does work very well most of the time as is, but it sure would be nice for basic adjustments for those really harsh soil conditions.  

[Norvic]

GC good stuff, ah ha I`m still on the honeymoon with the 6K, scraps forever but good fun.

[Gold Catcher]

9 minutes ago, Norvic said:

GC good stuff, ah ha I`m still on the honeymoon with the 6K, scraps forever but good fun.

Ty Norvic. I have been in the 6k/scraps business for quite some time now, so that little bigger one I found with the 6k was a welcomed distraction (trend I hope....). 

GC

[Andyy]

 

2 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

So, I went on a little afternoon hunt in the Mojave Desert. I did not have much time but thought to check out a wash where I found gold before with the SDC. The ground conditions there are extremely mineralized and the wash is littered with hot rocks, mostly volcanic in nature.

 

That is amazing.  With all of that volcanic rock, I would never have even taken out my detector.  Not because of expected ground noise, but because I typically do not find gold that close to that much volcanic activity.   So thank you for sharing this and the setting for quieting down the detector.

[Lunk]

GC, just wondering if you tried the 6k with the DD coil in that environment? I had great success running the older GPX machines with a DD coil in cancel mode (just like the 6k DD in EMI cancel) in the volcanics of the El Paso Mountains. The conductive ground cancel may work as well.  
 

[GotAU?]

4 hours ago, Lunk said:

GC, just wondering if you tried the 6k with the DD coil in that environment? I had great success running the older GPX machines with a DD coil in cancel mode (just like the 6k DD in EMI cancel) in the volcanics of the El Paso Mountains. The conductive ground cancel may work as well.  
 

That does work with the DD in volcanics, I used mine in the El Paso’s like that as well.  Hope to see smaller versions of the 14” soon!

@Andyy - don’t be too quick to write off volcanic fields for detecting, especially if they are old and eroded and you see river worn rocks and gravels mixed in with them. There are many places where a volcanic flow once covered river canyons filled with gold-bearing alluvial placer deposits, e,g., the Table Mountains near Angel’s Camp in the mother lode country.  As the old  igneous volcanic rock erodes into boulders, the softer underlaying auriferous deposits become daylighted. So the gravels and sands seen around the volcanic boulders in GC’s photo may have been there first before volcanic activity covered them up.

[Gold Catcher]

42 minutes ago, Lunk said:

GC, just wondering if you tried the 6k with the DD coil in that environment? I had great success running the older GPX machines with a DD coil in cancel mode (just like the 6k DD in EMI cancel) in the volcanics of the El Paso Mountains. The conductive ground cancel may work as well.  

Hi Lunk, no unfortunately i did not have the 14DD with me. But for sure I will try next time, good advice. I vaguely remember that you suggested that before. My bad that I haven't tried it yet 😁.

GC

[Gold Catcher]

6 minutes ago, GotAU? said:

Hope to see smaller versions of the 14” soon!

Thanks, GotAu. The 14 inch is pretty big for small washes, I even had a struggle with the 12 NF. But as you say, let's hope smaller DDs will be on the upcomimg coil list. I will definitly try it out however. Good to know that it works for you.

GC

[GotAU?]

3 minutes ago, Gold Catcher said:

Hi Lunk, no unfortunately i did not have the 14DD with me. But for sure I will try next time, good advice. I wagely remember that you suggested that before. My bad that I haven't tried it yet 😁.

GC

Would’a, could’,. should’a!  Yeah, except for its size and bit of extra weight, that 14” is awesome.  It is really stable in the hot rock areas I went through, including around basalt and other types of hot rocks.