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Well it happened today.... Barra Gold !!!!! I love this country....

As Steve and others have pointed out, the GM is really a turn on and go. Obviously, it's fully capable of finding small gold. The XP Deus has a multitude of adjustments that I'm just now learning, but I'm quite confident it will keep up with the GM in the hands of a knowledgeable user, especially after the new elliptical coil arrives. I just don't think it will be the machine for a casual user who doesn't take the time to learn its various and, at first glance, complicated options. My testing a couple weeks ago with a .25 gram nugget really opened my eyes to the Deus possibilities. Way more performance tweeks to be explored. Naturally, I've got my share of confirmation bias since I already own the Deus and really want to believe in it. It's not my primary detector, but I'm anxious to work with those tweeks and squeeze some more performance out of it. It's all in what you want out of your secondary detector. Ease of use, pick it up and go with confidence that you're getting a good share of the detectable small gold, then the GM is the answer. If you're like me and need to fiddle with stuff thinking you're improving your odds, then the machine with more user control options makes sense. The key selling point for me was the packability of the Deus. I want to collapse that machine and stick it in my backpack just in case I run into small gold terrain while running my main machine the GPZ.

Did I spell "FOTO SHOPP" correctly?

I should get the control box when I get back to Dimbulah. Sarah sent it out today

Living the dream you 2, smacking gold one day catching Barra the next.

I`m pissed off Paul skunked me, like a pro.

My last few pics of natures wonders out bush ( not so much critters ) Saw lots of Red Capped Robins while out detecting & also Wedgetail Eagles ( they have a 7ft wingspan ) Cheers

This is why I read Detector Prospector for my news these days! I need good stories like this about humanity to help "positivate" me of all the bad news.

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.

JW.........In my situation and area patch hunting with the Zed is like hunting rabbits with a 30 cal. rifle, every patch I am aware of has or had a significant amount of the gold detectable by a vlf. At 80 + yrs old I can't wear & lug (or want to) a Zed all day. Once a patch is located a heavy pi can clean it out. The GB was and still is a great gold finder, the biggest patch l ever found was with a original GB. I just believe l can cover more ground effectively with the 1000 than I can with the GB2.

Have to get rid of that weird dialect first Dave, but we are working on it. Mn WHERE??????????????

Great stuff mate, might make a Queenslander out of you yet before you return home.

Thanks Condor, I think the 9" hf option may be better as an all around hunter anyway and when the elipitical shows up, if it's that much better then I will consider getting it, or the GM as it would be best as a loaner for a friend with no experience to hunt with. Called Rob and ordered the 9" hf and new pin pointer should have them in a couple of days.

http://meteorites.wustl.edu/ A better launch page

I encourage people to run a noisy machine, they leave more gold for me! Don't forget there's no gold at rye patch and everyone should run max sensitivity on their gpz7000 for best results. ?

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!

From https://www.whiteselectronics.com/product/hexscoop/ "This HexScoop is built for metal detecting beaches and sandy areas. So what makes it different from all of the other sand scoops out there? With hexagonal-shaped holes the HexScoop has an edge over traditional square-mesh construction. Each hole is laser-cut at 7/16″ – so it’s the perfect size for smaller rings and jewelry that other scoops tend to loose, but offers enough surface area to allow wet sand to fall through with a good shake. Even though with the thick-wall stainless steel construction and reinforced handles, our large and medium HexScoops are light enough to drag behind you all day. The handheld model is perfect for getting down in the sand. Each scoop is emblazoned with a laser-cut White’s logo – perfect for showing the competition who runs the beach! The HexScoop is offered in three sizes: Large* – 8″ x 4.5″ opening $129.95 Medium* – 6.75″ x 4.5″ opening $119.95 Small – Handheld $84.95 *Large and medium scoops ship without a handle. We suggest purchasing a shovel handle from a local hardware store – it will float and give you several seasons of use, even in salt. Handle opening is 1 3/8″."

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.

You weren't holding your mouth right!

Hi GB, The first treatment was a quick scrape with a knife blade while visiting with Peg Leg John at his trailer on my way back from the hunting grounds, I always stop in to say hi and see how John's doing. Also, his money has been tight for him lately and he had some trouble with thieves and such in the area, so I buy some crystals from time to time or try and make the day better in other ways if I can (gas, smokes..), the piece was pretty green from the oxidation and we thought galena with some copper, nothing that special. I was looking for information on the piles of dirt it came from so I thought 5 bucks for an XRF was worth the time. The middle pic is what it looked like at the time of the test. After testing for fun I tossed it in a big rock tumbler filled with park clad and laundry soap for a couple of hours and then gave it a buff with a buffing wheel and compound. Still worth the 5 bucks as everything tells me that chunk of melted brass has some age and those piles of red dirt and crystals have been there fore a while. The big crystal and some of the small ones as well as most of that trash came from the piles without going beyond the surface more than a few inches. The smoky quartz was a gift from john to my wife, he knows she likes rocks and sent her this on this trip. If you find yourself in the area stop in and pay him a visit, he appreciates the company, is very helpful and is full of great stories.

Looks like you cleaned this up between photos. What were the steps you performed? Just brainstorming here, but I sometimes wonder how accurate these XRF measurements are. One interesting thing (IMO) is the 1.5% iron content. Looking at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brass I see that there is something called "manganese brass" which is very close in composition to what you have, except with manganese instead of iron. Manganese is the next door neighbor of iron in the periodic table, and that means its X-ray line energies are close to iron's. Could the XRF identification be incorrect and this is manganese brass?

He is home. His stuff is over here some place.

you are certainly right re the various layers of the deus...the online video tutorials are great for continual learning. i look forward to some reports on the new coil:)

Hmmmm.... sure looks like brass, a copper/zinc alloy. My guess is man made.

Steve your chair is a very nice solution, may build one someday and as usual a lot of good solutions here even for natures call. Made the mistake of walking into a roadside rest stop deep in the China country side, no matter how fast you look away some things can't be unseen, really could have used one of those folding chairs then, it was a long drive to the next city.

I never thought Steve would finally admit to aging and its various issues? I like the folding chair idea tho, just add a bucket underneath and disposable toilet bags from the Sportsmen Guide store. I hear the Forest Service doesn't like human waste on their/our land? But if the bears can do it, why can't we? Oh, and the squat over the hole routine can be quite embarrassing when you do stand up and a passerby just happens to be right close.....oops....

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.

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 think you should send this pic to Garrett Inc and ask them if the warranty is still good. Maybe they'll finally get the hint. (Helloooo, Garrett? It weighs a freakin' ton.)

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

5 gallon bucket and a toilet seat always worked for me. Yours is a bit heavier to carry but looks more stable. I see a new product to market, The Prospector Potty.

"That is good to hear!"

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 .

It's a start Paul

*** 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.

Well done Minelab! Thank you from all of us! OK Paul ....... let's see some gold!

Paul does have his ups and downs it was good to hear what minelab is doing for the boy.

WTG Paul and Minelab Now get that coil down and dirty! Rick

There's actually a good wildlife show on telly at the moments about Gekko's

Not as strange looking as the West Australian Mulga Deer

My apologies Fred! I've been traveling and haven't been on the forum.

I finally figured out how to post pictures. Here are a couple of it being dug.