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A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be offered the use of a Macro Gold Racer with an 8x4 inch coil by a prominent local metal detecting personality. His name is Julian and has the blog at www.marlboroughmetaldetecting.com where he keeps track of all his finds and such. My first outing was with the racer was a lazy Sunday trip to a spot on a local river that you can literally drive right into the river. I was with 4 other guys, one intended to snipe and the others had three different detectors between them. We spent a few hours here which saw me locate quite a number of very small lead shot targets in bedrock crevices but gold eluded me right to the end of the day when I found a tiny 0.12g flake. Initial thoughts about the detector after this outing was that it was quite hot at finding tiny targets and it was the only detector that found gold on this day. My next trip was to a somewhat more remote area that turned out a little trick to get to. I had suspicions that there might be gold in this particular waterway based on local geology and nearby discoveries. As soon as we go to the river it became apparent that the VLF detectors we had with us were not going to handle the local levels of ground mineralisation. Bedrock was a mixture of igneous rock that in some cases overloaded the detector completely. Despite the racers variety of settings to enable detecting in tougher ground I found it impossible to get it to function here. I could get it to run reasonably quiet but then I was only able to detect a half grammer at a couple of cm and the signal was far from crisp. And lucky last trip. I took the detector to a mates’ claim for a run. This spot is also in quite a public spot and myself and others have hammered it in the past. At an estimate I have taken a couple of oz’s from it in the past in the form of predominantly <0.5g nuggets. The racer ran very nicely here with sensitivity at 80 and isat at about mid-way. It didn’t take long before I started pulling tiny lead shot soon followed by a crevice that gave a weak signal. With a bit of chipping I recovered about 20 small flakes and colours to for a total of maybe 0.1g from the crevice (not in picture). The gold was all located in an area the size of a 10c coin. I was impressed at having found such small gold despite it being shallow as normally an aggregation of targets seems to be quieter than one large target of similar weigh. Or so I have found. I carried on for a couple of hours and got 6 further pieces of gold for a total of 0.2g as well as a bunch of lead. In fact, 5 of the pieces together weigh just 0.1g! So, it seems the racer is ridiculously sensitive to small gold and has plenty of scope to be manually adapted to different ground. Personally, I found the detector a bit on the “manual” side with the option of setting a lot of search parameters yourself. I know this is preferred by some and less so by others, just like manual and automatic cars I guess. I’d like to say thanks to Julian for the opportunity to let me use his Racer, especially as he didn’t know me at all. It’s always fun trying a new bit of kit.

We usually ask about Vet discounts when we shop, but I hadn't even thought about a discount on a metal detector. I figure we should get a discount even if it isn't technically for Hubby. It will get me out of his (imaginary) hair for hours at a time, so it kinda is. Jim, we meet many Vietnam vets at our VA medical center in Viera, FL (an awesome VA, if anyone is shopping for a good one, BTW). Those guys are some of the roughest, toughest people I have ever met, mentally and physically. I, for one, am very grateful for your sacrifice and thank you for your service to our nation!

Minelab is not the only one that offers Vets a discount ( of course), it's just that many companies don't advertise it. I was in a Firestone Auto Center once and was having a rather loud conversation with some obnoxious bigot, during the conversation my military service came up. When I went to pay my $1,000 tab the cute young thing behind the counter asked if I was a vet ( she was privy to the loud exchange and a minority to boot) I told her I was and she gave me a 10% discount. Since then whenever I make a major purchase I always ask if they offer a vet discount. So far I found Bass Pro Shop does and I saved $10 on hip waders. It's a two edge sword though, I went into Pioneer Mining in Auburn Ca to buy a $200 sluice and asked about a Vet discount and got railed by the old timers in there. Some of us Vietnam era vets aren't that proud but were tough.

No worries mate, The weight is much higher for the fish than the gold So far.....

Did you guy tell Paul the Nurse the catch and release policy here in Oz The GOLD I meant not the FISH

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

Meany

Hi Rivers Rat, The gravels are loaded into the grey plastic parts bin up on top, 3 gal/50 lbs a time after climbing a 6' ladder. I uploaded a video to YouTube of it to keep down on Steve's data use. Bryce

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

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. :-)

Found a copper ore nodule scanning some mine tailings in n Nevada, 94 on the Deus and very heavy. XRF readings at the local pawn shop were; Fe 1.53%, Zn 27.37%, Sn .632%, Cu 67.68%, Pb 2.37%. Sure wish there was a little Au in there, next time I wish. Or, could this just be a melted fitting buried in the tailing pile way in the desert high on the side of a hill?

One reason I'm going to purchase one is because the wife wants to give detecting a try also. So with the ease of operation and being lightweight, a no brainer. But I think I might like more. What I like about it is that it is easy for a novice to learn, yet still packs a punch for the avid dectectorist. So easy a Cavemen can use it. Or Aussie Nurse Paul..

I have watched this many times through the years and always enjoy it. But being the very highly educated prospector that I am, I have some differences of opinion on the jeeolaugik theories presented. They also imply that Bodie is in Nevada. Californians stole it from Nevadans as soon as we knew it was worth something. We have spies working in Australia at this time.

On a side note Steve, I bought my first sluice, a Keene A52 hand sluice, from AMDS back in 2010 when on my first and so far only trip to Anchorage. You built an awesome store, and the staff were super friendly and helpful. Definetly a good reason to go back there, once the exchange rate improves. Cheers! It's now the secondary recovery section on my wash plant setup.

Hi Idaho Peg, Idaho Al here. I also picked up my GM 1000 from Gerry last Friday but have not used it yet. I loved my GB 2 but I wanted something I could hand to one of my grandchildren with out to much of a learning curve so I traded my GB 2 in on the Monster............ Sweet sorrow. Love your Post. Happy Hunting.........

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.

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.

For those that do not know vanursepaul is in Australia for a nearly three month long adventure, with gold prospecting at the top of the list. Imagine his distress when he arrived in Australia and the control box portion of his new Minelab GPZ 7000 was missing from his luggage!!! This on top of just having his previous GPZ 7000 stolen over the winter. The solution to this serious problem is buried deep in another thread but I thought it should not go missed by people not following that thead, so here is a copy of Paul's post today at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/3724-nurse-paul-in-oz/?page=6#comment-41276....

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

Condors reports are very encouraging I'm really looking forward to trying it and even though I don't have anywhere near his experience or skills, will give feedback as best I can. The high frequency coil is the reason I bought the Deus in the first place be natural to pull the trigger now on the round coil instead of wasting more time, only thing is last minute plans are moving my next trip up a little so the high frequency coil will have to sit at UPS and I won't get to try it until next time up...guess I'll have to schedule another hunting trip soon, Oh darn.

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.

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. ?

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.

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'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.

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....

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 .

Interesting. This new Youtube channel popped up recently for somebody calling themselves X Coils It appears to be Russian? and they appear to be working on coils for the GPZ. Here is a peek at the 12" x 10". Personally, that's a bit too similar to the stock coil to interest me - I would rather see a 10" x 8". Still, it's interesting that somebody has managed to make some coils that might work on the GPZ without blowing it up. This is one detector that I will have to let others gamble with first on this sort of thing but I knew you would all find it interesting. Edit - the videos disappeared so I deleted the link. Here is the latest X Coil 2021 News

You know we can't do that without lying.. It is the honorable thing to do amongst prospectors and fishermen. 2300

I was out detecting today and thought of something I would like to see in a 7000 software update. In "ground type" instead of having Normal, Dificult and Severe, have it like the volume control, constantly variable. Severe 50, Difficult 25, Normal 1. I was detecting in ground today that the 7000 appeared flat or listless in Difficult but every time I switched to Normal it was just way too noisy. I think this would have been good ground to set the detector at say 12 ground type. Dave

*** 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.

Metal detectors can sense both conductive and magnetic effects. Non-ferrous items have only conductive properties, whereas ferrous items have both conductive and magnetic properties. Many iron and steel items can unfortunately read non-ferrous. This thread goes into the details.

Well, the fact is any detector that ground balances has "holes" someplace. The ground signal range and gold signal range have a lot of overlap. Therefore anytime you tune out something by way of ground response you lose some gold along with the ground (or salt) response you tuned out. Dual channel systems do not eliminate this problem, but they do reduce it. The fact these "holes" exist is the basis for the different timings on a GPX. Each set is designed to eliminate certain ground signals while perhaps detecting gold another set of timings will miss. The GPZ itself is simply exploiting "holes" in the SD/GP/GPX ground rejection methodology to reveal gold those detectors are weak on or miss entirely. Ironically the ground balance hole is at once both the weakness and the strength of the TDI. The ground balance system really is just a type of discrimination system, and being able to easily and directly manipulate it is the one thing that makes the TDI truly fun to experiment with. People have grown very adept at manipulating the TDI ground balance system for various discrimination type purposes. It makes it especially useful for relic hunters. I have for decades made use of the fact that all detectors reject the ground in different ways, some by only small amounts, some by huge degrees. In simplest form this means being a contrarian. If, for instance, everyone is hitting a particular area with one model of detector, using something else may reveal targets they all miss. If everyone has fallen into the bad habit of using a certain timing on a GPX, using a different timing on the same ground may provide some surprises. All detectors have weakness that can be exploited by knowledgeable operators with other detectors. Anyone that thinks they own the one magic machine that does not leave gold behind is kidding themselves. The TDI and ATX are both detectors I have done my best to understand and use, and give a level of respect I think they deserve. I think competition is good, and these detectors serve many people well. At the same time both White's and Garrett have frustrated me in not appearing to have an interest in fully developing the possibilities of the respective models. It is quite ironic that TDI users literally begged for a waterproof TDI, but White's would never deliver it. Now I have that base covered with the ATX, but I obviously would love to see an ATX in a TDI box (with better coils), as I honestly believe it is the superior circuit design. Sigh. Maybe Nokta will show them both up!

OK, what follows is not a recommendation. It is simply what I tend to do. Others have other ideas. More often than not when park hunting for jewelry I focus first on deciding on a good site. For me that means anywhere hands are in action making tossing, pushing, or flinging motions. Soccer fields and children's swings are classic examples. If I think the site is good, I simply dig all non-ferrous targets. However, if time is limited and my patience thinner than normal I might do two other things. If I really am just hot to chase gold I may very well just knock out the entire high end coin range except for quarters. Seems like lots of quarters out there these days and they add up fast. You might question the dollar area but that is normally large junk. Dollar.....................RejectQuarter..................AcceptPenny/Dime...........RejectIH Penny................RejectZinc Penny.............RejectScrew Cap.............AcceptLarge Men's Ring...AcceptMen's Ring.............AcceptLarge Tab...............AcceptSmall Tab...............AcceptNickel.....................AcceptWomens Ring.........AcceptSm Womens Ring...Accept Foil..........................AcceptWire........................RejectNails........................RejectHot Rock.................Reject Again, it is normally just dig all non-ferrous targets. But if cherry picking I may skip most coins, especially zinc pennies. Yes, rings could appear there, but you have to call your shots as you please. So with that in mind if my time is really limited and I really have no patience, I may go to my final cherry pick mode. Skip the quarters also, and the screw caps, and the very light foil. There can be lots of light foil out there and the gold you might find there will be tiny stuff, like ear rings or thin chains. Dollar.....................RejectQuarter..................RejectPenny/Dime...........RejectIH Penny................RejectZinc Penny.............RejectScrew Cap.............RejectLarge Men's Ring...AcceptMen's Ring.............AcceptLarge Tab...............AcceptSmall Tab...............AcceptNickel.....................AcceptWomens Ring.........AcceptSm Womens Ring...Accept Foil..........................RejectWire........................RejectNails........................RejectHot Rock.................Reject That zone is where you are going to find the majority of gold jewelry items by weight. If in an area where men's rings are a big factor, then opening up the screw cap and even zinc penny range makes sense. Where women's jewelry is prevalent keeping that light foil area open makes sense. Conversely, if you get into a place where one certain type of pull tab is driving you crazy, you may want to knock it out. There are no clear answers here. It is all about time, patience, and calling the odds based on your experience. There are other strategies, like just digging nice, clean, solid sounding signals. I tend to always stick with shallow targets that require nothing more than a pinpointer and screwdriver to recover, as plugging takes too much time. Recovering huge volumes of targets matters, and plugging causes too much damage if done every foot. My standard procedure is just pop out any non-ferrous target my pinpointer can hit. If my pinpointer can't detect it it is too deep and so I move on to the next target. And as noted above I may vary my disc settings to suit my mood or circumstances. Great books to help you out from Clive Clynick at http://www.clivesgoldpage.com/

Usually find them as a pair living in hollow logs. Unfortunately normally find them after you've put the log on your camp fire no matter how much you check to make sure your fire wood's not hiding any critters.

Nice photos. Blue tonque lizard. Watch him for 15min didn't even blink. Moliagul home of The biggest nugget. GoldEn