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Steve H has talked about the value of VLF machines many times, but here's my own new experience. I was bored during the holidays with time on my hands for detecting, alas my GPX is still at the Minelab detector Doctor. I decided to take Steve's sage wisdom to heart and give the Gold Bug 2 and 6.5" coil a proper go. I bought the GB2 from Steve at AMDS last year and had it out a couple times, a few crumbs here and there. I just never took the time to really get to know the detector. I know a weathered little valley down Yuma way, where the oldtimers drywashed the hell out of every wash and gulley. A couple years ago I pulled a sub-gram nugget off the slope with no more than 6 inches of dirt and gravel to host rock. I figured that would be prime ground for the GB. I planned an overnighter so that I could get the most out of detecting time, only to discover I had forgotten my headphones. Oh well, the GB has an external speaker, not ideal situation but tolerable. I rigged a neck strap for the control box to that the speaker was closer to my ears. That setup was fantastic, I would highly recommend it even with headphones. You can wave that wand with the little coil all day without any arm fatigue. I found my old dig hole and started beeping. Within minutes found gold and some decent pieces. Over the next 2 days I found 38 pieces in a band about 20 ft wide and maybe 100 ft long. I stood on the hill and looked at my gravel scrapes and the band was plain as day. There were a few oldtimer exploration holes nearby, all into a seam of red looking ore. I checked their tailings, lousy with iron trash from blasting caps and such. The photo shows the gold divided into categories. The biggest are in the .5 to .7 grams. The next size is 2 to 4 grains. The next size are sub-grain, 12 of them weighed 4 grains. The last ones with a ballpoint pen for scale are so tiny the whole lot won't register on my scale. What I learned. The GB2 is a fantastic machine in the right circumstances. In moderate ground it really has to move way way slow. The threshold autotune really needs time to catch up going over mineralized ground or you're going to hear far too many beeps, geeps and groans. Slow that bad boy down. The Maxed Out settings are the ticket to hear those little bitty ones. Iron discriminate will probably lose you gold. It would be a difficult machine to actually search for new spots. The coil coverage is so small and you have to move way too slow. It's suited for ground where you already know there is gold and can concentrate on low and slow. Like most of you, I enjoy the hunt. Sure, I wish all those nuggets were all in plus gram size, but I had a great time chasing those crumbs. Bravo Zulu to Steve H. for sharing his wisdom and knowledge for all things prospecting.

You don't see much about this one.....This is something I posted on Findmall. Still haven't got to use it in minerals yet. Its almost like my free time went up in smoke this summer and fall. I got some time off for Christmas and hopefully I'll get the chance to use it in black sand minerals and see how the tracking does in a more challaging environment. Anyway...maybe someone will find it useful........................................................ Finally got to sneak some time in and try out my new Sierra Gold Trac (SGT). I went looking for something like this for use as a cleanup unit for some of my jewelry sites (and if I was lucky with my time, even some real prospecting). I was looking for something in higher frequency than what was being offered in the new Fisher/Teknetics or Minelab Xterra products. I looked at both the GMZ and the SGT. I picked the SGT over the GMZ because of the threshold control. Right after I purchased it I got buyers remorse and put it up for sale, mostly because I didn't have any free time to do more than look at it occasionally. I think Ive had it three months now before I could actually work in an hour of actual me time to use it. White's Sierra Gold Trac SGT metal detector The SGT is a 48 kHz, all metal prospecting unit with only two controls; Gain and Threshold. Ground balance is handled by an Auto Ground Tracking feature that is advertised to come right off the GMT. The stock coil is a 6x10 DD. When I was talking to Jim S. about it he told me it was just a basic stripped down GMT. Now I didn't take it prospecting or try it out in minerals yet as I was only able to sneak away from home and duty for an hour while my beloved was taking a nap. So I took it to a close by wood chip tot lot just to get to swing it and fool around with it, you know what I mean? I should say that the woodchips are not mineralized but the ground the wood chips sit upon is mineralized so there is some mineral for the SGT to track to. However the mineral strength varied depending on the wood chip depth. The detector feels good on the arm and swings nice. I could use a little longer lower rod to make it a perfect fit but it was ok. I put the Gain on 7 and raised the Threshold until I got nice quiet hum, pumped the coil a few times until the threshold hum evened out and started sweeping. The SGT has a VCO audio response; shallow or larger objects produce a high pitch squeal and the deeper or smaller objects produce a lower pitch tone. No, it doesn't have tone id. That is just a botched website design that is picking up some of the SST information. But the VCO tone pitch variation is helpful in sizing and depth guestimations. As with most all-metal operating modes, smaller targets give a good zip and larger targets give a larger tonal sound. I didn't find it difficult identifying large metal objects because of this. The preset SAT is acceptable. The retune speed isn't super fast but it isn't super slow either so you have a little time to slow down and size objects before the threshold returns to normal and I didn't observe any noticeable overshoot nulling going on. I did see the auto ground trac feature tracking out targets. The first sweep would give a crisp audio report, the back sweep would give a good audio report and multiple passes after that would tend to degrade the audio information significantly. This was super easy to circumvent though. When I hit a target I'd give it a nice triple sweep to pinpoint it under the best part of the coil, then just place the coil off to the side, do a quick double pump to bring the auto track setting back to ground and then move back over the target. That gave me enough time to not only get another couple of good audio feedback sweeps in but also enough time to do the pinpoint wiggle with the toe of the coil to pinpoint with. If for some reason I wasn't happy, I'd move the coil off to the side and double pump the tracking back to ground and have another go at it. Wasn't really a big deal after I got going and understood what was happening. And I didn't get very many targets to track completely out but I could get them to the point of a very degraded, crappy sounding signal. Toward the end of my time out I was experimenting with the tracking out responses to see if I could get it to track out on the small ferrous like the little staples I was recovering while keeping the non-ferrous with a better audio however I didn't have enough time to make a significant determination about it and I'll continue to experiment with it. The adjustable threshold control was a bonus as I hunted with it a little at minimum setting (totally quiet) and a little time with it maxed out as well as at the normal light hum setting. I think there is some functionality there between the threshold control and the auto track target tracking that could be useful. I'll need some more time on it to see and that hasn't happened yet. Overall I enjoyed hunting with it. I will say a magnet stick is a must have as all the little ferrous will give a good signal and since there is no discrimination, that little staple has to be recovered. I just stuck a magnet into the end of my scoop and when I got a good zip, I used the magnet first, and if the magnet did not retrieve it I knew I had a non-ferrous object. I didn't find anything to be excited about during this hour, other than the fact I got out and found I liked the Sierra Gold Trac and I'm not in such a hurry to part with it now that I've used it. There was some things that I had trouble with. First the coil connector was fouled and I had to clean the threads to get the coil to connect properly. The first few times I tried to connect the coil to the box it wanted to cross thread so I suspect it was cross threaded at the factory. I cleaned that up so that it threads perfectly now. The second issue was that the coil seal is inconsistent on my coil. There are about three gaps in the coil seal that will allow this coil to suck water. I'll have to send this coil back to Whites for a replacement. Now I just need more free me time to hunt with it some more. Now that I got a little understanding I want to use it in more minerals. Until next time (read next year maybe if Im lucky), HH Mike

Just wanted to say Hello to everybody and add a big thank you to Steve for his help selecting my new AT Gold. Steve your post in the old forum http://www.akmining.biz/forums/showthread.php/2094-Garrett-AT-Pro-versus-AT-Gold.html really iced the cake when making my decision. Thank you for taking the time to help others and share your knowledge. I bought an AT Gold to add to my bag of tricks. If you read the other post in the link, I was looking for something to compliment my GPX 5000 and GMT. I originally intended the AT Gold to be a turn on and go detector for searching cabin sites found while tromping around through the woods. After getting to spend a couple hours with the AT Gold I think it's duties will be expanded a bit. I am quite pleased with the performance and ease of use, it will fill the gap between the 5000 and GMT perfectly for my needs. With the small DD coil that comes with it, In all metal mode I was able to pickup my small test nuggets I use for the GMT, granted not nearly as strong or consistent as the GMT but it will pick them up if I am right on them. For what I bought this machine for that's better than I expected. I was able to get out to a local spot to play around for an hour or so before I had to head out of town. The coins in the pic were all found in a very trashy area using discrim 1 setting and iron discrim set at 30, sensitivity maxed out or one notch down from max. I would still get some bleed through from the trash but the coins came through loud and clear, with a positive I.D. of 81 to 83 on the screen. You knew for sure it was a coin before digging. Granted most of these coins are newer vintage ( a couple wheats in there) than what I'm looking for but they came through loud and clear. Target separation was excellent and very quick. If anyone is considering this unit...I wouldn't hesitate. I can't wait to continue my testing (and finding). Thanks again, Kenny

I searched high and low for a decent pair of working pants that can handle the bending, stooping and kneeling of prospecting. Military fatigues were close, but too many knockoffs and they weren't holding up. A few months ago I began an online search and came up with some real winners. Mind you, I have no vested interest in the company, no affiliation whatsoever, but I thought I would share my knowledge. I bought 1 pair just to try them out. They were so comfortable, I bought 3 more pairs and they are now my everyday pants, not just prospecting. The company is Duluth Trading, the pants are called "firehose flex". They make a bunch of other working pants, but these seemed right for my purpose. Not cheap, but so far well worth the money for me. The key is they are looser in the legs and have a gusseted crotch. Now I'm not bragging that a man like me needs that extra crotch room, but they really make a difference for bending and crouching. They are pretty lightweight, probably not warm enough for colder climates, but I think they make some with a lining. I bought some for my 21 yr old son, he's a lot leaner and fitter than his old dad, so he wasn't that fond of them. Oh well, its the thought that counts. I'm not trying to spam you, just passing on some information I wish I'd had a couple years ago.

Thank Steve. I do a lot of my prospecting in libraries an museums. For hours spent it is probably more productive than my time on the ground.

I took my ATX hunting at Lake Tahoe and found this 1899 Morgan silver dollar at 12" deep in highly mineralized ground( lots of black sand). Thanks for the invitation to your new forum Steve.

Hello all, I met up with Matt today for a hunt and to get him set up on his new detector. He got himself a pretty clean and used 3000 with stock coil. After going over some stuff and setting the detector up we were on our way. Today's hunt was a bit slower than the last time we were together. I tried some different areas and did not get my first piece till early in the afternoon. Matt got a nice two gram plus an hour or so into the hunt. The smaller piece I got is kind of an odd piece as you can see in the pictures. I thought at first I had found part of a piece of gold jewelry but after cleaning it off I could tell that it was native gold. It came in at a half a gram. My second nugget came about an hour later and is 9.71 grams. It was about eighteen inches deep. I was using the 3000 with the Sadie coil. All in all it was a good day and Matt is getting a handle on his 3000. He will have to post a picture of his nugget, it was a pretty one too. Thanks all, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS

Thanks for the kind words. I've been prospecting since the mid 1970s, and ended up getting a degree in Mine Engineering at the Mackey School of Mines - part of the University of Nevada. Yet even though I got my degree, I kept up panning, dredging and otherwise prospecting out in the field - because I enjoyed it. What you know makes all the difference when you get out in the field, and as I was looking at the books available, I saw that most were written in the 1970s and 80s and did not include a lot of info which I thought they should. So I spent 10 years working off and on to produce a book that had all the info I thought a book on prospecting and gold mining should offer, including all the new info on metal detecting, because the world of technology has changed since 1980. The book has been a big success, in the 4 years since it came out, I've sold more than 6000 copies. Its available at most prospecting stores and through Amazon.