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From my perspective it is more about finding bigger gold by finding smaller gold first. The tiniest flyspeck can be an indication that leads to better things. No gold being found at all leads to an area being written off whereas that tiny flyspeck will focus the interest and perhaps lead to better finds. I promise the person that has never found gold before with a detector will look at any size gold as being a huge nugget! I think it's the same old story - this detector is not better than that detector per se. Each has strengths and each has failings. That's why I own several. The key is to know which ones excel at what tasks and then apply them appropriately. You can pick any detector apart for its failings, but I try to focus on the strengths, not the weaknesses. I guess that's because I am a glass half full person. The main goal of the GM1000 was to produce a detector that would be as easy as possible for a novice to run while still being powerful enough to perhaps suit more experienced operators. That is the standard by which it needs to be judged, and I think Minelab has succeeded admirably in that regard. And more shocking to some of us, at a price that is extremely competitive. Currently a Gold Bug 2 dual coil package runs $849 and the GM1000 with two coils runs $799 plus includes rechargeable batteries and headphones.

I think they shine in different areas. For cross country work (patch hunting) in variable ground right this moment I would grab the Gold Monster. For site specific work hunting the tiniest whispers of gold I will still bet on that Gold Bug 2 fixed ground balance and 71 kHz as having the edge.

A couple of days ago went to a new area, no diggings around, and no finesse to my detecting, I`m not working low and slow trying to hear faint changes in the threshold, I`m hooking in and covering as much ground as I can. Two days ago I hit a point oner that I thought for sure was a birdshot and yesterday I got this one. So for about nine hours detecting I got 2, the gold is hardly leaping out of the ground all over the place, but it`s a big area and I`m still young (i wish). 2.69 grams. Dave

Its the wire going into the coil-I noticed the falsing and secured the wire real snug to the lower pole right above the coil-No more issues Mike C...

I noticed When you bump the coil it does go off, but I was scraping the coil all day on quartz gravel and I was ok with the sounds it made... Which isn't much in disc.. Sens-max..... On Aussie hot ground.. Disc on Switch back and forth to help id Swing on iffy targets to see if they track out.. And go....

I know it is really early in the bout. But possibly is the new kid on the block going to knock out the reining champion of many many years in the gold nugget VLF sport? I'm hearing so many good things about the GM 1000. And I'm really leaning on getting one soon. Hearing so many good reports from " Average Joe" dectectorists. I have had way more experience and success with Minelab detectors than any other brands. So I guess I speak Minelabbian better than anything else. My gut feeling thinks that we might be crowing a new Welterweight Champ. I guess time will tell?????

OK, I have to admit the years are sneaking up on me. Comfort takes on more meaning the older I get though I am way behind most people in that department. Roughing it in a minimalistic fashion is just ingrained in me. That is changing however. It used to be just a squat over a hole behind a bush. Seems like these things take longer now and my haunches don't like squatting for long - help, I can't get up! So for several years I have used one of those small, cheap folding toilet seats for extended field operations. They are rather precarious and really too small but they get the job done. I finally decided I wanted something a bit more upscale for camp use that is large enough to straddle a deep hole for a field privy. A trip to Walmart for a cheap steel folding chair and a soft padded toilet seat gave me what I wanted for about $20. Just cut the hole to fit with a jigsaw, a little smoothing with a file, and mount the seat. Only catch was lid would not fold up and stay up due to the chair back and so it just gets set aside while unit is in use. I now survey the desert in comfort from my new field throne when camped in one location for more than a day. A worthwhile upgrade!

Do you use a Fisher metal detector and want a chance to win a new Fisher metal detector? We give away a free metal detector every month! All you have to do for a chance to win one is be featured in our Find of the Day contest. Here's how it works. Send Fisher a direct message at our Facebook page www.facebook.com/FisherResearchLabs. with the following information: 1. Picture of the find, preferably with your detector in it too. The better the picture the better chance it will be selected and featured as a Find of the Day. 2. Tells us what it is. We have to know what your find is in order to feature it. (The more information you can provide the better. Country of origin, time era, what it’s made of gold, silver, brass, etc. Any information you have will help) 3. Tell us what detector you were using (Sorry, but it must be a Fisher model) 4. Tell us what country it was found in. Featured Find of the Day posts are not selected by how impressive the find is, as we believe all finds are impressive in their own way. This way a handful of clad coins can be selected one day and a Roman brooch or a Civil War belt plate could be selected the next day. If your find is posted on our Facebook page you are automatically entered in a random at the end of the month and one lucky winner will win a brand new metal detector! Good luck! Steve Herschbach with 4.95 ounce gold nugget found with Fisher Gold Bug 2 (14" coil) at Ganes Creek, Alaska

I'm using the GPX shaft and coil mounting hardware on my Gold Monster. The telescoping shaft has always been a favorite of mine; since I'm a shorty, I can adjust it to just the right length. And instantly collapsing it to easily fit in the truck cab is a plus.

Steve, is more than right! In hot ground, looks like the GM is the winner and there is a million placers with hot ground the GB2, struggles on...or at least my patience! In mild ground the size of specks the GB2 can find boggles my mind. Do I need another VLF (GM1000)? I'd like to see a fix or hear it myself with the maxed out coil bumping noise issue. Rick

June 2017 News from the UCLA Meteorite Gallery One of a series of monthly letters sent to visitors to the UCLA Meteorite Gallery and to others who requested to be on the mailing list. The Meteorite Gallery (Geology room 3697) is open with a docent present every Sunday from 1 until 4 with the exception of the last two Sundays in the calendar year. And it is open every work day from 9 until 4 but without a docent. It is not open Saturdays. We remind you that our website address is: http://www.meteorites.ucla.edu/. There you can find a map of our corner of the UCLA campus and instructions for parking in structure 2. At 2:30 on Sunday Jun 25 the speaker at our Gallery Event is Dr. Frank Kyte. The former manager of the UCLA electron microprobe and winner of the Barringer Prize of the Meteoritical Society for his research on the use of elements like iridium to trace the presence of impact deposits in sediments. His topic is "Eltanin, the largest meteorite of which intact fragments are preserved". Summary: The largest recovered meteorite was discovered in the Eltanin region at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean about 1500 km west of the southern tip of South America. It has been documented by sediment cores collected during a series of German oceanographic cruises. About 2.5 million years ago a one-kilometer-diameter asteroid impacted the ocean and deposited more than one kilogram of meteorites per square meter over thousands of square kilometers. About 90% of this was melted by the shock of the impact, but 10% is undamaged meteorite fragments. The lecture is in Geology 3656, just 40 yards west of the UCLA Meteorite Gallery. Our next Gallery Lecture will occur on Sunday July 16. The speaker is UCLA Professor David Paige. He will speak on "Ice deposits at the poles of the Moon and Mercury". Surficial ice evaporates relatively quickly if exposed to sunlight in the inner solar system. However, some parts of craters near the poles of Mercury and the Earth's Moon are in permanent shadow. If a water molecule lands in such a spot it is expected to stay there until evaporated due to heat from a micrometeorite or a photon from a star other than the Sun. New spacecraft data support the interpretation that there is ice in these shadowed regions. Reminder: You can find the UCLA Meteorite Gallery on Social Media. Please like us on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/UCLAMeteorites ) and follow us on Twitter (@UCLAMeteorites) and Instagram (uclameteorites). JTW UCLA Meteorite Collection Geology Building, Room 3697 565 Charles Young Drive East Los Angeles, CA 90095

Surely you jest?

Just a reminder. Minelab offers a 15% discount on any Minelab metal detector from the MAP (minimum advertised price) to U.S. active or honorably discharged members of the military. Proof of past or active service is required and must be verified by providing a copy of a DD 214 or Military ID to qualify. The discount applies only to a metal detector purchase - parts and accessories do not qualify. With discount the $799 Gold Monster 1000 is only $679.15. The Minelab GPZ 7000, normally $7999, ends up being $6799.15, a savings of $1199.85

Well, coffee and tools in hand I got going with the fun part - taking stuff apart! Many photos in this thread will enlarge if you click on them. You can probably see where I am going with this. Circuit board in a box with single AA battery holder and control panel tacked outside with controls. All in one box that can be rod mounted or hip or chest mounted. If rod mounted, I want to be able to use stock DD coil, or Infinium 5" x 10" DD and 4" x 7" DD. Not willing to pop for another ATX 8" mono at this time as the one I have stays as it is to use with the other ATX I will be getting. We will see how this works out first. In theory I would like to do a real professional box with drop in battery, just like a White's TDI SL but the box would have to be longer. I may however go cruder than that, more like a Surf PI with a lid I need to open to replace batteries. Be nice to use rechargeables and rig to just plug detector in to charge it but again, I may not want to work that hard at it. Paul would do a bang up professional job. I am all about expediency myself. If anybody want to see a closeup of anything or has any questions about how this thing comes apart ask away. I know I had to go buy yet another stupid tool to remove the Torx security screws!

Picked up my GM1000 from Gerry on Friday, then after doing chores up at the cabin got it out yesterday and today. Used the larger coil for scouting out a new spot and after a couple hours of no decent targets yesterday, went over the same area with my GB2. Still nothing, so at least I didn't miss anything in that area, but I wasn't real comfortable with the Monster yet. So today, after yacking with VA Nurse Paul last night and Scott T today...both singing its praises, I put the small coil on it and went to my "old reliable" bench to see if I could squeak out another baby nugget. Moved rocks and dug up some sagebrush....initially hunting with trusty GB2 to get a target, then compare it with the Monster. Wow, it could hear the Fly-poo AU I find up there, and the disc was pretty reliable! I found 3 pieces using the GB2 first, then once I was more comfortable with how the Monster responds, it sniffed out 6 more! I noticed on some "iffy" signals that the Goldbug heard, the Monster picked them up a bit better. I was using manual 10 sensitivity and All Metal/deep, and as others have mentioned, it does false if you hit a rock etc. Not using headphones and having no threshold hum was actually nice for a change too. Pretty cool machine....tomorrow I'm going to hit the hard rock gravels and see how it does. :-)

A nice overview of why some people like to go metal detecting. This is a bit of an experiment as an embedded Facebook video so let me know if it does not work for you.

Mitch, I've seen you detect and I've seen your pokes of gold...your on your way! But, if you think a noisy machine is the ticket, my book begs-to differ. What I was saying if the GM has to be maxed out run to be close to the GB2...why bother with the bumping coil noise? Seems Mike C, has the fix...you must be and old GP/GPX veteran. Rick

Thats true and if l get a non ferrous signal I will dig it and ferrous most of the time. True. All l am saying l enjoy patch hunting and hunting a bit larger pieces more. I think for me the GM1000 will make a good patch hunter.

Suspect at this early stage tis the DSP of the Monster combined with its auto sens & auto gb, that may be the future. The power of the processor in short. Time will tell, exciting stuff.

Hobo just look at this way its like training if you can find the small ones then the bigger sitting ducks are a piece of cake Mike C...

I need one of those for the wife. I went fishing and took her along. Drove around the lake until I found my spot for the day. Got there and got out of the truck and heard the words, "I've got to pee". I get back in the truck and drive her to a toilet. (she is frail with bad hips). When finished I drive back out to the spot, get my gear out and get all setup when I hear this, "honey I'm sorry but I got to go to the bathroom again, #2". I pack all my gear back up and drive her back to the toilet. When finished I drive back to my "spot" only now to find someone else parked and fishing my honey hole. sigh. This is one I've been looking at, the bumper dumper. But your chair model ( with arms for support) looks to be a better idea. Especially if I can integrated it into a bumper dumper.

I don't disagree with anything you are saying, but for me just hunting for fly specks in an area where that is all that is left or ever was does not excite me, l would rather be patch hunting or searching for larger pieces. I have been using the Gold Bugs since the original was introduced, but l think l like the GM 1000 better.

And on going on Steve's post... We will also have to see when the Xp Deus HF elliptical coil at 81 khz will perform.

The whole project was done to poke a stick in Garrett's eye about building a lighter weight ATX. Though they are well aware of my thoughts on the matter so far they have not shaved so much as an ounce off the ATX. It really is a shame as there is an excellent light weight and relatively inexpensive PI nugget detector screaming to get out of that heavy housing.

No, I won't be submitting that one, though now that you mention it the rules say nothing about when a find was made. My assumption like yours is they mean something found recently. Guess I need to get busy!

Steve, I had to laugh when I saw the thread. Last year both of my boys(I say boys but they are grown men) went elk hunting with me. One of the boys said "I'm not squatting" and came up with this idea"

I wonder if Hubby's VA card will work? I was actually looking at the GM1000 to "go with" my ATX/Infinium next year in Montana. Thanks for the info, Steve. I never would have known without your post!

Well done Dave, yeah mate I agree, no use going low and slow till you find something worth slowing down for on virgin ground. good luck in the area mate.

I`ll back the Monster, $1.10 to 90c with time feel this edge will increase.

Cool nugget keep at it, you just never know what you may stumble over next

Nlce little nugget

Nope, seemed like a straight forward quote to me. No apology called for but I am sorry to hear about the accident.

Yes it's very interesting seeing the videos & reports ( thanks for posting them up fellas ) on a lot of prospectors mainstay GB2 V the new kid on the block the GM1000 Monster, From what i have seen so far they are both very worthy contenders and i guess from my point of view it will come down to which one handles the mineralized ground in Australia better and i think i know the answer to that already, ( by the earlier posts re the GB2 ) Looks like it's time for a new tool/toy. Cheers Ashley

Love it love the color too!!!! RR

Put some wheels on it, hang a cooler on one side, a BBQ on the other and finally one of JP's detector arms mounted off to the front and you'd never have to get up...patent pending.

Dang! If I had one of them things I wouldn't have to pay so close attention to my camp diet. Uhm, Steve- I hate to ask, but you do fill your holes don't you?

Made me laugh. I'm still in the squat-behind-the-brush phase, but I make sure to leave a nice-sized fishing sinker everywhere I do my duty. Careful where you dig at Rye Patch!

Hello everyone.. Im rookie starting out gold prospecting with a metal detector. I have always dredged for my gold and wanted to give metal detecting a go. So i have gotten the GM as my first gold prospecting detector and i would have to say im very impressed. Im happy with how simple it is even in our hot soil here the Dominican Republic. I had to switch from deep all metal to "Gold Mode" most of the time because of the ground noise. But it was manageable for a rookie like me just walk everywhere and just detect. Found a couple false signals but they was like pockets of black sand they appear while scraping off the overburden to reveal more the signal. So i have went to a place where some lady just walking by found a piece of gold since i dont know of no place here where people would metal detect since no one do nugget shooting with a prospecting machine. After about like 10 minutes i got a good signal and i dug my first gold nugget about 4" down. It weighted in at 1.4 Grams. After trying to search the are for 10 more minutes and not founding nothing more i left since it looked like it wanted to rain. So i have found my first place where i know i have found shallow gold. Hope i could start now a list of these deposit to revisit when i have a PI machine .

*** NOTE *** DO NOT ENTER MINES. This trip was with an experienced geologist and miner. Leave the mine exploring to the professionals. Never enter a mine. STAY OUT, STAY ALIVE. The discovery of gold in Quartzville started a small-scale gold rush in the 1800's. Not as big as Althouse Creek or Sutter's Mill, but big enough to cause farmers to lay down the plow and head to the hills above Sweet Home to seek their fortune. Much of the gold is small, including wire gold, but a seasoned prospector can do well and come across some gorgeous nuggets if they know where to look. Nowadays most people work the creek using dredges... but like all placer gold it came from somewhere. A lot of people who tell you "don't waste your time there" are just trying to protect stuff like this: Saturday about 8am I went out with two guys who had a lot of history with the Quartzville District above the White's Factory. The idea was to check out claims and use the metal detectors to do some true prospecting in and around old workings that date back to the 1880's. The GMT seemed like a good fit for the size of gold and what our goal was since we would need to read the mineralization in the mines to locate pay streaks. I brought a TDI as well to use in one section with some pocket gold. But they were just tools to help us locate mineral samples for the most part. I will never be a geologist, but I did try and pick up a few things from these guys. The climber is a geologist (and the claim holder), and the hammer-er is a seasoned dredger who has pulled ounces of gold out of Quartzville Creek (legally). This was the first mine that was completely flooded to the roof, so we took some samples and moved on. And yes, the only way up the mountain was to billy goat where the guy with the backpack is climbing. This was not a trip for the meek. I am a pretty regular hiker and this had me huffing. 45+ degree slopes, thousands of feet up and down. But it was worth it. Just above where I took this shot was a massive quartz outcropping. The view was incredible. With the claim holder's permission I took a few quartz samples for the wife. She is a rock-hound and likes it when I bring her something back. Some of the quartz was so hard even a rock pick and sledgehammer didn't do much to loosen it. But it was a good sign! The next shaft had water in it too. But the claim holder said it was only 4 ft deep. Still too deep to see what was under water. Luckily I could feel some of the timber underfoot and used that to keep from sinking to my neck. The other guys did the same. Still had a couple OOPSes that led to dunking. It is an eerie feeling in the dark when your feet can't feel the bottom. Plus the water was COLD... After we got through the water it shallowed up and we made our way to the back of the mine. The air was good but a little stale. Timbers were in amazing shape for their age! There aren't too many mines with the ore cart tracks still in them. So this was a neat thing to see. We used the GMT to scan for pockets of mineralization in the vein, which let us know where to sample from. Previously the material was assayed at .17 oz/ton. So we were curious to see if having the detectors along would be any help in locating streaks of mineralization. We listened for threshold raises to target "hot spots" on the walls.. and hoped for that screamer signal that might be a nice-sized nugget. Time to check and see if it was worth it... Hard to make out, but definitely gold! We checked a few other spots around a known pocket mine and didn't find much besides square nails and other mining junk. With a heavy bucket full of samples, backpacks, detectors, and a gallon less water, we headed back to the trucks about 6pm. It had been a pretty full day, and it was burger time. Even though we didn't get rich, it was a successful trip! We got to help a guy work his claims a bit, I got to know more about the mining district, and we even found some gold. I will say that compared to Rye Patch, this was a lot more interesting and gave me a serious workout. Plus, I came away with some new friends.

Kalgoorlie W.A. ( Australia ) is celebrating the 60 millionth ounce of gold to come from the hole " Super Pit ". P.S. Photo shows 1/2 hr after blasting, To see whole area of "Super Pit", Suggest go into Google Earth and have a look. Cheers Ashley

Google Earth.... click for larger view.

One of the guys at my workplace has been tagging along on some of my recent gold trips and has thus been inspired to purchase the GM1000 from a local dealer as soon as it became available. As a first outing we went to a claim I am a partner in for some detecting. We went as part of a group of 5 that had 4 different types of detectors with them. We have detected this river claim extensively and unless there is a flood that moves some material and exposes bedrock we don't find a lot anymore. Consequently we often dig by hand and scan the bedrock that we expose to recover the gold. Once at the claim three guys got to work digging a hole while myself and my friend with the GM took off up the creek in order for me to teach him how to use a detector. The plan was for me to use the GM1000 for a while and get him to watch me work while I told him what I was doing and then gradually hand over to him. First gold came after about two steps in a bedrock crevice. I had detected a small nugget in the same crevice before on a previous outing but obviously the GM was more sensitive and had managed to find something. There were two tiny prices in the crevice. We continued up the creek and found a few pieces here and there, all were small to very very small. Some bits well below 0.1g. After about half a dozen bits I left my friend to carry on on his own and joined the other three guys with digging the hole. After a couple of hours the man with the GM returned successful, he'd found his first three pieces of gold and was very happy. After that I got my hands back on his detector and found more pieces up and down the creek. The main points of interest with using the GM1000 I found are; Pros- #easy turn on and go operation #very sensitive to small gold #light weight #quite reliable ferrous / non ferrous indicator #lack of threshold easier for amateurs to interpret #clear signal from targets #excellent pinpointing Cons- #picks up hot rocks #signals when entering water #sensitive to coil and coil cable banging (although, what detector isn't) Generally I think this detector is a top performing VLF that is ideal for hunting gold in bedrock crevices or other shallow ground. Ideal for getting the last scraps from gold producing areas. Not so good for outright depth or areas with a lot of hot rocks as, despite the ferrous indicator, they still make a signal to burden your ears. Much of the gold that we got with the GM seems to have been quite small and other detectors simply missed them. We were calling these pieces monster flakes! Clarifications, Detector was run in maximum sensitivity in the deep / all metal setting. Bedrock is generally un-mineralised with isolated bands of noisy rock. 5 inch coil was used.And the total loot in the picture below, biggest bit is 1.39g (found with SDC2300 but anything could have found it). All but I think three pieces were found with the GM1000. If you have any questions I will do my best to answer.

Oh, I knew it would get done. One hallmark of my personality type is once I start something 99% of the time it will be followed through to completion. I can't stand leaving things unfinished so eventually I am almost forced to get them done or it just keeps bugging me. Here is the Garrett LTX in better light. Click on photos for closeup. With 5" x 10" DD coil (4 lbs 11.7 oz or 4.73 lbs with batteries) and then also with 3" x 7" DD coil (4 lbs 6.2 oz or 4.39 lbs), and a closeup of the control box (2 lbs 6.1 oz or 2.38 lbs, hip or chest mountable).