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Nokta Impact Versus Minelab Gold Monster In Australia


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Hi all , 

Let me be clear that I am a novice. I was sold a GM 1000 in April (pick up was June i Think)

So take what I say with a grain of salt. 

I have been reasonably  happy with mine however I have been disappointing in the depth the GM will penetrate.

I think it maxim depth in the gold fields would be about 10cm . This is with the lager coil and tested with a .5 gram test piece.

This was tested in a spot in Castelmaine.

Would the smaller coil penetrate deeper?

I did test this in the back yard with a bucket of dirt and couldn't see much of a difference between the two coils.

Can someone help me with which coil I should be using when?  

Am I expecting too much? 

I have been out about 5 times and have dug up plenty of lead shot/musket balls and bullets and a heap of other crap.

Elusive gold nuggets have evaded me but I guess I am doing ok for someone new to the hobbie?

I was told that it was the GM 1000  is bee's Knees for Beginners. Knowing what I know now I would of waited and saved up for a GPX 4500.

But in saying that it may have taken me another 3 years to save up for that and at least I am out there swinging with something.

 

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Hi Robbie 

The detector you have purchased is the cutting edge in automated high frequency vlf detector capability . It won't penetrate nearly as deeply as Pulse induction units on small to medium nuggets in mineralised soil but is certainly on a par with its vlf competition . Earlier vlf detectors using lower frequencies could penetrate a little deeper but could not pick up the very small pieces , hence the move to higher frequencies in the 40-70 Hz range to pick out the bits the Pulse induction units and older vhf units missed . The Sdc 2300 is a Pulse induction unit aimed at finding small gold in heavily mineralised soil and has been in circulation for a few years now , accordingly a lot of targets that may have been found with the Gold monster have been cleaned up by the Sdc.Its always a hard ask to expect a vlf unit costing around a thousand dollars to compete in our soil as well as units costing 4-8 times as much . Having said that, I have a Gold monster that I use with some success in areas that have conditions or depths that negate the advantages of Pulse induction and give the vlf a chance.If you look at some of the other posts regarding the Gold Monster you will notice that most users are adapting the detector to a particular type of specialist use such as cleaning up smaller pieces after the ground has been worked with Pulse induction at depth , or chasing gold caught in bedrock with the small coil in tight spaces . So in essence the gold monster is on a par with its high frequency competition , and being fully automated it is a great choice for beginners in mineralised soil ,it's not the best detector for general use in the oz goldfields  that's the domain of the long list of PI units, but it's certainly a long way from the worst. Pick areas that you believe could hold small gold trapped in areas close to the surface And your on your way to success with the Gold Monster . As you say , better out there looking than sitting home dreaming . 

Good luck with your GM 

Paul

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On 8/21/2017 at 3:02 AM, robbiemvfc said:

Hi all , 

Let me be clear that I am a novice. I was sold a GM 1000 in April (pick up was June i Think)

So take what I say with a grain of salt. 

I have been reasonably  happy with mine however I have been disappointing in the depth the GM will penetrate.

I think it maxim depth in the gold fields would be about 10cm . This is with the lager coil and tested with a .5 gram test piece.

This was tested in a spot in Castelmaine.

Would the smaller coil penetrate deeper?

I did test this in the back yard with a bucket of dirt and couldn't see much of a difference between the two coils.

Can someone help me with which coil I should be using when?  

Am I expecting too much? 

I have been out about 5 times and have dug up plenty of lead shot/musket balls and bullets and a heap of other crap.

Elusive gold nuggets have evaded me but I guess I am doing ok for someone new to the hobbie?

I was told that it was the GM 1000  is bee's Knees for Beginners. Knowing what I know now I would of waited and saved up for a GPX 4500.

But in saying that it may have taken me another 3 years to save up for that and at least I am out there swinging with something.

 

Don't give up and loose faith, Detecting of any type is a life long process and we never stop learning,

As for the depth you are seeing in your tests that will change out in the real world sometimes it will be deeper sometimes it will be shallower, No 2 Nuggets are the same and depending on their shape/thickness 2 identical weight nuggets can and will be picked up at different depths, ground conditions will play a major part in this also,

At what the GM can do it is the Bees Knees, but you can not go comparing it to a GPX, The GPX has got lousy discrimination and is a very deep machine with the sole purpose of finding Gold in highly mineralized ground. Your GM can tell whether a signal is junk/Iron or Gold, Copper Lead or some other Alloy, and In old mining sites it is perfect for sifting through the junk that miners left behind pulling out nuggets that they either threw away or missed,

All people should try to use a VLF/LF machine first and I am not talking about when they first start detecting, I include all prospector/detectorists, If a person can get their VLF (LF) to work in their sites then that is a good thing because it will save them time in digging less junk, There is a fashion in Australia where most seem to be convinced that you have to have a PI machine when this is only partly true, A person should check the ground out with a VLF first and if needed then switch to a PI machine.

PI's have become more of a crutch where people swear black was blue that a VLF is useless out there when it is not true, 99% of them wouldn't even know because they haven't even tried one there so how do they know ?. Before the birth of the PI all people had was VLF's and they did quite well with them also, Take a PI in to an old mining area and I guarantee that you will be feeling very let down within the first 2 hours of digging junk where "Your" GM will run rings around them, 

What I am saying is there is a right and a wrong time to use a GPX/TDI or what ever other machine you want to add and there is a right and wrong time to use a VLF. The Smart prospector will own both and have them both at hand when the need arises, In my years of detecting by picking the right machine for the task at hand I have yet to be skunked no doubt it will happen, But if one machine is not working for me I swap machines and if that don't work then I change coils etc, Any one can learn how to run a machine but learning the skills as in what machine/coils to deploy to suit the current conditions makes a huge difference, Classic example is try running a GPX with a thunder storm within 200 miles of your location and as good as the GPX is they don't like storms yet the TDI SL can be maxed out in such conditions,  The GPX series are the best PI's but junk and storms will drive them nutz,

Have a good read of Steve's Guide to Nugget Detectors, and you will see that he owns a few that he can adapt to his current conditions and locations, the wise prospector would do likewise, and when you can afford a GPX I would hang on to your GM-1000 so you can adapt to your locations also, hope that helps,

https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-guides/steve-guide-gold-nugget-detectors/

John.

 

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Hi Robbie and welcome to the forum.  

Big coil for deeper/larger targets and small coil for smaller/shallower targets. 

I've been using mine quite a bit lately when I can get out for an hour or two. Mostly trying to hit trash infested spots and utilize the discrimination which is essentially why I bought this machine. 

Are you expecting too much from it?   Well, my answer is that the HM will find small gold and it will also find larger, deeper gold IF IT IS THERE.  And I think that is the key - the gold has to be there first.  I have dug about 30cm for a really large bullet projectile (unsure of caliber) and about 50 centimeters for a large bit of pipe (showing as non-ferrous).  So I don't think you are expecting too much of the GM but maybe too much of the goldfields - the yellow stuff is pretty sparse. 

Is it the bees knees for beginners?  Well, it is easy to use, there aren't many settings but there are still some things you can tweek for the location you are detecting. Also, considering you are in quite mineralized ground (Australia) a VLF may be a bit trickier to use than in the US, NZ, Africa, etc. 

Personally, I think the bees knees for a beginner is the SDC.  It is very, very forgiving in hot ground, extremely sensitive, basic to use, waterproof, has reasonable depth, lightish, good battery life, compact, etc, etc, etc. 

You mentioned the GPX.  The GPZ, SDC and GM I have or do own, a GPX I have not so it is a bit hard to comment and someone can correct me if I am wrong.  The one thing that I am told constantly is that the GPX series has a mirriad of setting combinations and has a really long, steep learning curve. And then add in the tens of coils that you can utilize and the choice just gets mind boggling.  To my mind it is not a beginners machine unless you have the time, understanding and patience to really get the best out of it.  For those that can do this the GPX series is super versatile. 

I hope that helps and doesn't confuse you more :smile:

 

Edit: and what minesweeper and orphirboy said above :biggrin:

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Here's what I previously had to say about the Impact: 

I'll hopefully get some more field time on it soon - I haven't been out much (freezing cold and raining here lately). 

 

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Hi Nenad, I was wondering when you would finally take the Impact for a spin out to the diggings (unfortunately I only saw your 8 April post today, 27 Aug.) I am glad someone other than me has used the Impact on goldfields and found out its pretty good although you have not tested it in high mineralisation and I look forward to hearing from you on that.I assume you tested it in SA goldfields.Here south of Buninyong we have low mineralisation also with some hot patches and the quartz is milky white unlike further north. You will see its full potential when you take it to say Havelock/Dunolly. It has been too cold to go camping/detecting the last 6 weeks but  we plan to go to the Inglewood to use it where the ground is even hotter by memory but not as hot as the hill we tested it on near Goldsborough and it did well. It was actually great fun weeding out the many hot rocks there in GEN mode but I dug them all up just to see they were not gold.Only clocked up a total of 35 hours so far on it without finding gold but I have not detected for 20 years so I am starting from fresh. One trick with using it in GEN mode is not to turn the volume right up to max. but have it about 90% max. so you can hear any overload on large targets. I might have missed a large shallow nugget but that is unlikely given the state of our goldfields.The only unknown for me is how deep will it go on say 1 oz. nugget? in high mineralisation. I have dug up a 0.1 gram bit of steel at 4 inches in low mineralization so it is very sensitive at 20 Khz.GEN mode is easy to use for beginners because it does not have tone break and notch filter settings.

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On 21/08/2017 at 7:15 PM, auminesweeper said:

I never said I did not accept you findings, but I did mention a couple of other things to try ?,  But 20khz is not a low frequency I am talking about frequencies at 12khz and lower, because they will handle higher mineralization better.

J.

Well its good to know you trust me on the Impact.As I told Steve Herchenbach I never had to lower the 20 Khz frequency or gain because of high mineralisation,which is great because 20 is better on smaller gold.5 and 14 is better on silver.I have used it in very high mineralisation.The Impact overloads when the mineralisation meter shows 100% but is extremely stable below that.No ground noise. Hard to believe in a VLF but true.When on auto GB sometimes it will give a false signal because the ground conditions have changed and I re GB.I re GB every 15 minutes as it is quick and easy.I have not tried tracking mode yet but that is my next goal.Where VLF,s fall down is their lack of depth so I am looking forward to find something small fairly deep,say 12 inches but not too expectant. I think the Impact has satisfied most of my expectations, ie. I can use it in the GT. and also got my 1280 bucks worth.

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Hey, happy to hear someone wiht a VLF... I have a fisher f75 SE and saving for a new GPX/GPZ... but I understand noone uses it and they ahve little faith.. however its all I have now....

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Welcome to the forum! There are plenty of people using VLF detectors to find gold. I have found several ounces of gold with the F75 myself http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/finds-Steve-Herschbach.htm The F75 is a close relative of the Teknetics T2, which has been sucessfully used to find gold nuggets around the world, especially in Africa. The fact is I can find gold quite well with any modern VLF detector running at over 12 kHz that has a ground balance setting. "This VLF versus that VLF detector" is not as important as learning the VLF you have well and putting yourself on gold bearing ground - and getting in the hours.

I have found significant amounts of gold with the following VLF detectors: Compass Gold Scanner Pro, Fisher Gold Bug, Fisher Gold Bug 2, Fisher F75, Makro Gold Racer, Minelab XT 17000, Minelab Gold Monster 1000, Nokta FORS Gold, Tesoro Lobo, White's Goldmasters/GMT, White's MXT

I suppose I should go find some gold nuggets with the Nokta Impact and post them just to show it can be done. Maybe next trip. Anyone choosing to use a detector not made and marketed specifically for nugget detecting has to get used to being lonely on the forums. It's not that the machines are not capable, but that people are just naturally going to tend to use detectors made for coin hunting to hunt coins and detectors made for nugget detecting to hunt gold nuggets. In general however you will get an edge gold prospecting by using detectors made specifically for the task. The most important function on most coin, jewelry, and relic detectors is some sort of discrimination capability. Nugget detectors focus purely on finding low conductive targets in highly mineralized ground. What discrimination they offer, if any, is usually a secondary consideration.

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Hi Paul, I think the Impact is much better than the 705 or Eureka simply because it has far more modern features being released in 2017.Its really funny some people prefer the Gold Bug 2 over the Impact although It is 20 years old.The Impact is a general purpose detector much like the utility first manufactured in Australia.You could go to church on Sundays with the whole family and on Monday take the pigs to market.Better than a sedan. I can go detecting all year round and to the beach looking for coins in summer then go for a dip. The general mode is for nuggets ( with one or two tones ) and the discrimination modes for coins.Building a specific detector just to hunt nuggets is ok but it will be useless if it cant handle the very hot ground where I go.I find I have no one to talk about the Impact and its performance on goldfields. It is really embarrassing being the only person who has tested it in harsh mineralisation goldfields as no one has done it and havent a clue what I am talking about. If they have they are keeping their mouth shut I suspect not to upset Minelab or some other politically motivated reason. So thanks for your considerate words but I may just be a bystander on these forums in future.

Best of luck.

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