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Hey all.... I was out last weekend in an area I had been a few times before. After spending some time hunting the 'trashy' side of the gully. I made my way over to a spot where I picked up a couple right on the surface a few months earlier. The day I found the 'first two' I spent the rest of the day scouring the immediate area for any other 'easy' nuggets. Ended the day with just the two... So anyways, I kept looking at that spot and thinking there is no way I got the last two nuggets from this little 'patch'. My 5000 was running real smooth with the 11" Commander mono and I was running sensitive extra, gain 13, stabilizer 10, motion slow. I was just creeping along, investigating anything that made a peep. After 45 minutes or so, I picked up on an intermittent signal. It was there about half the time. I discovered that I couldn't swing directly over it because there was a large, buried quartz rock that the coil would bump if I kept it on the ground. If I lifted the coil off just a bit, the signal wasn't there anymore. I was able to get the target signal consistently if I swung the coil in a crescent motion hugging the side of the quartz 'boulder'. So I started to dig. Got down a couple inches and there's a dark grey/black rock and I'm thinking, 'oh, great...Hot rock'. It was about the size of a grapefruit when I got it out of the hole. Not a hot rock, and target still there and definitely a target now. Two more grapefruit sized 'wannabe hot rocks' and now it's screaming. I'm down about 10 inches and starting to scrape crumbly bedrock. Another inch or two, and out pops this beautiful 1 gram nugget. Luke

I took a break today from the remodeling of the apartment to go out and swing. I hit a 'new' spot first and then a couple of old spots. I found the .22 lead and #6 shot gun bbs. When I took a break I decided to use JP's booster for the first time. I hooked it on my hat and attached it to the WM12. I had the Zed on 12 and 13 on the volumes. When I put on the booster I moved both of them back to 8 and went about my detecting. I took the threshold down from 27 to 25 and had audio smoothing on high. It was in semi-auto based upon what I read recently. The sound with the power from the booster is more full. I liked it and of course I could turn it louder than I needed. I was detecting near a previous deep scrape when I heard another piece of trash scream at me. When scooping it all the bigs were gone and no wire and out jumped the little nugget (.16g) I slowed down and got another one a 2" and it was a little bigger at .24g. After a bit of a grid I heard one under a little bush and that one was 5 inches for .6g. All three were in a 20x20 ft area and found within 30 minutes. Nothing else was found for the day. Later I used the booster with the 2300 on the same location and could not find any more. I had to use an external speaker this time because it is very uncomfortable with the short wire of the booster then the connection to the headphones. The 2300 is an odd thing to swing on a bungy anyway. It did make it so I could hear it clearly. Anyway ... 3 nuggets, 1 g. A fun day.

Well after 31 years I put my office building up for sale. We remodeled and put it on the market. For those of you who have visited my business you know what a great location it was, close to the Las Vegas strip, airport and convention center. However, it was a really high crime neighborhood. To be honest I had real reservations about whether I would get a buyer. But God always provides. So who do you think bought my office building? The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. My office building will be the new home of the Neighborhood Criminal Justice Center. So you know what that means? In two years, after they clean that neighborhood up, all the property values will go up. That's OK. I am glad to have left something for that neighborhood that will be positive. There are a lot of nice people that live in that area. Fact is, that a professional office building is not really the proper kind of structure to run a Metal Detecting Prospecting Supplies and Accessories business out of. I am always amused by how information sometimes get twisted in this industry. I have heard every rumor imaginable. Some people heard I had sold my office building, so somehow that translated into "Doc died." "Doc went out of business." "Doc isn't a Minelab dealer anymore." "Doc got into financial troubles." Rumor 1. Not dead. Rumor 2. Not going out of business I expanded business. Rumor 3. I am one of a select few Minelab dealers that is a "Managed Dealer." That means I deal direct with Minelab, not some go between distributor. I am also one of a handful of dealers that is a Certified Minelab Gold Machine trainer. Bottom line I am a Minelab dealer, I have been for 25 years. Rumor 4. I have been very fortunate in life financially. I sell metal detectors as a hobby business. I am 68 years old and I could have retired 25 years ago. I am a psychologist and years ago I developed some written psychological tests, back in 1977. Those tests are still used by over 850 companies around the world to screen employees. So I have always had a steady income stream from my testing business. I have invested my money very wisely in safe investments over the years. I own my 8 year old home, free and clear. I owe no one anything. I have no debt. I started selling metal detectors because I loved the hobby and my wife would not allow me to stay home and retire. (I mean who in the hell retires when they are 43 years old?) You have helped Doc's Detecting become one of the largest suppliers of Metal Detectors and accessories in the Southwest and we needed to expand. To that end, March of 2017 we moved to a new location. We have rented a 4500 sq foot Office warehouse in Henderson Nevada. Unlike the old location, this is a beautiful location. 1180 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 110, Henderson Nevada. This is the largest warehouse West of the Mississippi dedicated solely to Treasure Hunting and Gold Prospecting Equipment. From Metal Detectors to Sluices, to Gold Pans and classifiers to Picks and digging tools. We primarily do mail order, but if you would like to drop by for a cup of coffee, please call for an appointment. Thank you for your support over the years, it is you that have made Doc's Detecting Supply grow into the company it is today. By the way if you would like my free 51 page color catalog, PM me with your mailing address. U.S. residents only please. Doc Doc's Detecting Supply 1-800-477-3211 Visit my YouTube channel DocsDetectingSupply

Targeting shallow low mineralised areas with the Xterra 705 was the key to having a bit of fun on gold with that machine. I get a little frustrated with the continual manufacturer bias towards DD coils on VLF detectors to try and tame mineralisation, don't get me wrong they are needed but they do limit things a lot when you need to whip the coil to get into the tiny surface gold. I like to run a VLF hot and prefer a concentric coil for the Zip Zip response they produce, then its just a matter of targeting shallow less mineralised areas where tiny nuggets are prolific and then go have some fun. If the detector is too noisy turn the volume down a bit first before you back off on the sensitivity, sensitivity reduction on a VLF blows the target signal really quickly. The key is to clearly hear the Zip Zip signals over the ground feedback. JP

It seems these days almost every new detector released has some kind of bug that gets discovered. And of course people get upset over it. How do you avoid this? Well you could blame the manufacturers for missing stuff. That may make you feel good, but it won't fix the problem. People also talk about hype a lot these days, and it just sort of flies over my head. Everyone seems desperate for as much information as they can possibly get about detectors early on, but then all that information gets labeled as hype. Unless you live under a rock I would expect you are a member of our consumer society and see advertising every day, so please get over the whole hype thing. It is just information good or bad for you to sort out, and more is better as far as I am concerned, not less. Nobody has to be first kid on their block to buy a brand new model of metal detector, and sorry, but I do not sympathize with people like me that choose to be a guinea pig by doing so. People with any concerns at all should wait a minimum of 6 months after release for the inevitable bugs to be found and fixed. Take your time, read the field reports from actual users, wait for a consensus to develop. Or be the first kid on your block. But be realistic and accept the inherent extra risk in doing so. Whether you like it or not the consumer is the last 100 feet of the production line and the first users find out what got missed, overlooked, or was just wrong. A handful of testers will never replace 5000 end users in their ability to use machines under varied and unanticipated conditions. I think it is really nice people think it should be otherwise but that is just the facts as they exist. Anyone with a bit of concern about any brand new detector model should simply not buy one immediately after release. Six months is generally good enough, a year may be better. As detectors get more like programs running in a processor, one of the biggest problems with new models has not been hardware bugs as much as missed software bugs. This has become so common now as to seem almost inevitable. Luckily some new machines now are shipping with the ability to download fixes for these bugs over the internet. Machines with this capability do provide at least a basic level of assurance that early production bugs can be fixed easily and for free. That in turn makes it a less risky proposition being an early adopter in those cases at least. You should never put all your trust in one person when it comes to reviews. It is like movie reviews, one movie can get two opposite reviews from two different people. A wise person looks at the big numbers from thousands of reviewers to make decisions. Or finds a reviewer who over time appears to have the same tastes in movies and trusts them a bit more. Just to sum up though so we are clear on this - if you buy a metal detector from any manufacturer as soon as it is released you are in my opinion accepting an inherent risk in doing so. It is a proven historical fact that nearly every new model released by anyone these days has some sort of issues to sort out. It is rather pointless to dwell on how unfair or wrong that is, just accept it is so. And if that is a big concern for you - wait it out. That is my absolute best advice for you. Me, I will continue being first kid on my block with new toys. I enjoy it!

You do get some ferrous "wrapping high" but so far it appears that Minelab has managed to keep a high degree of separation between ferrous "high falsing" and silver coin signals. I don't want to talk specific target id numbers yet in case they shift but the only times I get tricked is when I in effect trick myself by digging questionable targets as part of the education process. I have so much I want to say about ferrous handling but it needs a couple big articles. The short story is that the secret to the Equinox is full tones plus extremely high speed. Simple targets like a coin give solid hits. Complex targets create complex "audio profiles" as the detector reacts at lightning speed to changes in target composition and shape. This is a detector for those that hunt by ear.

Here is an excellent presentation by engineer Mark Rowan (was with White's when this video was shot) explaining how frequencies affect targets, ground, and salt signals, and how multiple frequencies can be used to alleviate the ill effects of ground and salt signals together. His part of the video starts at the 4:00 minute mark.

Steve, you have miles of public r.o.w's along the sidewalks...I would only work the unkept spots...I have found many nice coins in those medians...I generally use the small coil and keep things subtle...as possible. fred

Remember this machine is doing a lot. It is auto-ground balancing, ground averaging, and if you have it in AUTO-sensitivity 1, or 2 it is doing the auto sensitivity adjustments too. So give it some time when doing the initial ground balance. Pump the coil up and down, only 6 inches off of the deck, then finish the procedure by doing about three figure 8's on the ground so it can actually get some information fed into the ground averaging function before you start to swing. I think the other thing a lot of us are struggling with is that most of us who have used Minelab's pulse induction machines over the years have ran our ground balance in FIXED, and then checked the balance every now and again by raising the coil off of the ground. If it was out of balance, we would push the button and re-balance the coil. This is particularly true here in the United States where the ground is not wildly variable. For those of us who have ran in Auto-Ground balance we are use to a little more "talk" from the Minelab detectors, as they keep adjusting to the changing mineralization in the ground. With the Gold Monster it is only AUTO GROUND BALANCE, so you have to remember it is very sensitive to you raising your coil up over a bush, or anything that would causes the machine to re-balance to new circumstances. Try to keep the coil on the ground. If you do anything weird, take a swing at a passing vulture, use your machine like a golf club to chip a rock onto the 11th green, remember to re-balance. Especially important if you hit this big booming trash target. Re-balance. Take about 15 seconds to balance the coil. Pump up and down, close to the deck, no more than 6 inches, and do a figure 8 three times. Doc Minelab® Certified Gold Machine Detector Trainer

Hey Steve! I had a question that I posted on the official Facebook Equinox page, that no one seems to be able to answer (officially anyway). Maybe you can shed some light on this? "I have a question about the built-in lithium battery. I know they last a long time and can be re-charged hundreds of times. But what happens when the battery wears out? Will you have to send it to Minelab to be replaced? I plan to use my Equinox for many years! Thanks!" Sherry

I don’t know some people wouldn’t be happy if hung them with a new rope. The Detector I had yesterday was perfect and the one I’ll have tomorrow I’m sure will be perfect too. My trouble hasn’t been with the detector but the guy behind it. Not only do I want to know what coin it’s detected but also the date on said coin. It was talk here about waiting a while before you buy. I’ll tell you up front that will be a cold day before I’ll ever do that . I’ve just about reach the end of my rope waiting on this new detector from Minelab. Oh I’m on a waiting list to get one but weight is what broke the wagon down. Some of you may not understand what I’m saying being I’m cross with Ms.Tx. and some Hines 57. What can I say some days I don’t know what end is up. I do know I want a certain detector soon. Chuck

My first guess would be that it is just a decretive end cap from some kind of small table or furniture..... Definitely old though .......

I dont think it's going to be a big concern...The batteries in the Deus components are flawless...at least they have been for me going on 3 years now. And I do have to worry more about my cell phone's battery then the batteries in my metal detectors for some reason. strick

Thanks for the reply back Steve...it is sounding better by the minute. I had to go back and re read one of your earlier threads several years ago. Now where will I fit in is the question. strick

I've always used the MXT in prospecting new areas with lots of trash and potential for iron artifacts. I've been trying the 705 in the same way but miss the vdi when in prospecting mode and when in the relic mode the 705 will give a beep at each side of a large target, like a horseshoe, while the mxt will overload or give a broad sound, which I like better. In any case once I've found gold its off to the races with a GMT, gold bug 2, ML4500 or other dig it all gold detector. So I don't know the answer to witch is better on gold, but both detectors are alot of fun.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Double thanks for taking the time to go into detail in your reply...it's definitely helped me and made me understand a lot more now. Really appreciate you taking the time. Very much appreciated. Thanks Matt

This is my last post on this subject I promise. Got everything plugged in at home and yes the Koss does work on the Gold Monster.

Hey Doc, I wish you would stop bragging all the time! Haha .... I'm proud to be one of your close friends. You have always treated me like a damn Son when it comes to being a dealer. You're the best US Distributor anyone could ask for. Your Honestly, Integrity, Trust and Work ethics have placed you on top of the Metal Detecting Industry! Your bud, Rob Allison

Must have been another pair of headphones-the Koss' didn't work today. Found 4 small nuggets though.

I'd like to add one thing, but it will take several facts. Since the first inception of the original F75 I had one Found a lot of good finds, but was always looking for something better Sold the F75 and bought something I thought might be better, didn't work out Bought another F75, hunted a good while longer until I found another machine, then sold to buy a different machine. Hunted a while and knew the F75 was what I need, so bought another F75. On and on for some 5+ more years. I can say I've owned at least 5 different F75's including the F75 LTD. That's about $5k, need to say more....... It's not a do all machine, but............

Hello Steve...thanks for the information...I'd always considered a fixed ground circuit to be better than a manual adjust, and the high/low is one of the reasons I went for the Mohave...as for gold: no plan to prospect, even though there are sites nearby--but try finding an unfenced patch anywhere in the gold areas...some weekend coin shooting would be fine, and some off-road scanning near the old Camino Real will do it for me...Regards, Vincent

Thanks for that on the bottle caps Steve. However, the main question on my mind is how the Equinox handles iron for old site hunting. Not sure if you can answer for me as your coin site is vastly different mineral wise from my mild ground, but how is it handling rusty nails etc for you? Tom

Thanks for helping me on this Steve. I had read all of the tips, but I did not realize I had not posted enough times to allow me access to the Classifieds. My fault. I have been very busy over the last 2 years, remodeling my office, selling it, and moving to a new location. But it's all good now! Thank you for being a friend and always being one of the guiding lights in this industry. Doc

The big thing the CTX has that the Equinox lacks is the dual target id system combined with a 2D display that can “paint” information on multiple target id numbers onscreen in real time. Similar to the White’s SignaGraph and SpectraGraph displays, this can produce target id “smears” that help identify ferrous targets. I have several of my long dissertations in mind as regards how the more basic linear target id system on the Equinox compares to this more visual type system. Soon. For now I can say that I have been making copper/silver signals (copper penny, dimes, quarters, etc) a particular focus. Two things ARE NOT happening. First, I am not digging bottle caps when going after this target id range though the rare aluminum screw cap appears. I have done less work in the nickel range because I am time limited and would rather focus on silver than nickel responses. There are some bottle caps that appear close to the nickel response. The other thing that is not happening is aluminum is not “upscaling” to a high coin signal. This has actually been my number one problem with single frequency detectors, especially the “Euro” models. They like turning rolled up beaver tails and other smallish aluminum items into coin signals. This is a known issue with single frequency detectors in magnetite laden soils. That’s not happening with Equinox. Basically when I target copper/silver I only dig copper/silver unless I get very aggressive going after “iffy” targets. Just a few oddball aluminum screw caps, oddball jewelry items, etc. hit the in the same target zone. Minelab E-trac, CTX 3030, Excalibur Versus Equinox

If you have not read Jonathan Porters mastering the GM1000 on minelab treasure talk then I would highly recommend doing so over and over til his advice sticks in your mind out in the field. Mine will chirp when touching a weed or blade of grass but I don't see this as a problem. The monster is a very hot machine and I overcome this by realizing I am touching something and it sounds off so I will not dig. If you pump the coil up and down slowly and wait for the detector to go silent you should be good to go. Also you may need to back off of the auto sensitivity plus and instead hunt in auto sensitivity or manual backed off until this issue goes away. I have noticed that the hotter you run this detector the more it happens. I would also like to point out with this detector if you get a signal that says iron, iron, iron, iron, gold, iron, iron, gold, then you need to dig this scenario because that will be a very tiny or deep piece of gold. I have found several tiny and or deep nuggets, even flakes by digging this type of signal. Rake a layer away until the detector locks on to a positive definite target id. I have been able to hunt in extremely hot ground around a quartz outcroping by putting it in auto sensitivity and repeatedly pumping the coil til it goes silent then hunt until it becomes noisy again and repeat the process. Attached is a pic of my results of working my monster in this manner.

Thought I'd throw this out there. I just heard about special fall pricing on the F19 and G2+ units. I followed up with a dealer about a G2+ model and got the response below. Bottom line is the pricing is too good to pass up and I bought a G2+LTD green camo unit. Your favorite dealer should be able to put a big smile on your face as the $449 is MAP pricing. I got mine from Craig at Show Me Treasure. He made me Happy Happy Happy. Anyway....this is too good not to share. You basically get a GoldBug Pro with enhanced Disc features. It is impossible to go wrong with this deal. HH Mike LIMITED TIME FALL SPECIAL! We are offering special pricing that will start Oct. 1 and run through Nov. 30. The special prices apply to our G2+ family of detectors. These offers are only for 2 months so don’t wait! We are accepting orders now. G2+ SPECIAL You can now buy all three flavors of the G2+ for the same low price! Take advantage of this amazing price before the offer expires! We have limited quantity on some camo units, first come, first served. MAP G2+ $449 G2+19LTD $449 G2+19LTD-P $449

Final week for this deal!

The 705 was very popular in oz for its all round ability for those who wanted to do a bit of weekend detecting for nuggets and it has found some nice pieces here , ground tracking was as good as you could get for vlf and it was a great coin and beach detector so it dominated the part timer market here when a lot of people couldn't afford the runaway prices of the Minelab PI machines, its mid frequencies meant it wasn't overly sensitive on the small gold. But it's light weight , good battery life and choice of coils ( frequencies ) made it a winner here . I know of some nice size nuggets found with the 705 allthough most where near the surface and could have been found with any detector.The 705 was clearly a detector made to appeal to the masses and succeeded . I think the equinox is aimed at the same demographic with ( chirp ) technology so it will be interesting to see how that all pans out. PM??

They are new features for the basic F75, but unless I am wrong the F75+ is merely the black Fisher F75 Ltd2 with a black and gold rod instead. Change the rod, lower the price. Take away 5” coil and add digger and pinpointer instead. New transferable warranty and refurb options. There does not appear to be any actual changes in functionality however between this and the F75 Ltd 2. Here is the blurb for what was new in the F75 Ltd2 (with DST) almost three years ago - as you can see these features existed in the F75 Ltd2 long before the F75+ appeared: Ability to activate and deactivate DST Mode (Digital Shielding Technology) for the ultimate in EMI Suppression FA (Fast Process) – Improved Target Separation Three new levels of FeTone®: Iron Audio Off, Low or Medium (complements existing “High” setting) Adjustable Audio Pitch now in the Discrimination Mode Embedded Serial Number – Serialization now stored electronically

The upper armrest / arm cup may be repositioned with ease. It provides all the adjustment anyone should need. I have mine set one notch in from the very upper end of the detector. At 5’ 11” I have the main rod set two notch’s from the longest setting. In other words, this detector can be extended farther than most. I usually max the height settings on most detectors. The Equinox I am actually shortening it up. I don’t see much market for “tall man rods”. The grip/handle is easily removed via a cap and four screws. There is a small hole in the bottom side of the rod and corresponding tab on the cap end that “locks” the handle firmly into position in the rod. For me to reposition the handle would require that I create a new hole in the rod for the lock tab. This might weaken the rod the more holes that are added in a small area. Or I could simply grind the tab off and clamp the handle wherever, but that might make the handle more prone to twisting or slipping. If I was me I might grind the tab off as the simplest solution except for the fact that the Equinox adjusts to fit very well, so a person would need a reason that I currently do not see. I cannot swear there will not be a change in this “hole and lock tab system” with the final build but no matter what custom rod positioning or entirely custom rods will be easy with Equinox. Warning - making mechanical modifications of any sort should be done with caution, and could void your warranty as regards breakage/mechanical failure. The battery is currently accessible by removing the handle and an internal mechanical plug. That also could change and much depends on what Minelab decides to do as far whether customers will be approved to make the battery change, or whether it is deemed a “service center only” sort of thing. Obviously if Minelab decides they are ok with customer battery changes, easy access would be desired. If they decide they only want service technicians to make the change without voiding warranty, then some sort of seal could be added to reveal tampering. This was the last official statement from Minelab as regards batteries: “The Li-ion battery in the EQUINOX detectors is easily replaceable. Minelab has not yet released official information as to whether or not a user can change the battery over without voiding warranty or if we recommend the battery is changed by a dealer or service centre. Further information about battery care and maintenance will be provided in the EQUINOX Instruction Manual, which has not been released yet. This will be available when the product is available. The EQUINOX detectors are not designed to run from AA batteries. However, you can use a standard USB power bank (as you do with mobile phones) to recharge the built-in battery and operate the detector at the same time.” To clarify the above statement, if you hook an external battery pack to the Equinox while in operation, it will continue to operate the detector, however the Equinox battery will not be taking a charge at the same time as the detector is operating. So you hook it up as if you are charging it but the power is diverted to running the detector as long as it is powered up. If the Equinox is powered down, the external power source will then charge the battery.

And you'll get some help answering the unending list of questions that you've been peppered (barraged?) with.

This appears to be the specs for the (now discontinued???) F75 Black model with some added features. At least I think all these are new (see ad Steve posted for details): 1) Three new levels of FeTone 2) Adjustable Audio Pitch... in Discrimination Mode -- this is interesting since Disc mode has multi-tones (1,2,3,4, and continuous). The previous models let you adjust the single tone audio frequency on the All-Metal (minimally filtered) side but no adjustment on the Disc side. 3) Boost Process and Cache Locating Process -- previously this is the main thing that distinguished the more expensive Black model from the standard model. 4) Double Filter Discrimination Modes -- not sure if this is new and if so, how it compares to previous Disc modes. Hope someone will clear this up for me. 5) Backlight -- previously only on the Black model, I think. On top of all that they include the new ($130 MAP) pulse induction pinpointer and a digging tool. Effectively the detector (alone) price is about $500, which is $100 less than the best previous price for any F75 and $300 less than the former top-of-the-line black model. (Black model package includes a second coil -- 5 inch round DD.) Clearly First Texas has recognized that the price for standard single frequency 'flagship' detectors has gone way down and they have to do something to pull the buyers in their direction. Let's hope there's more on the horizion to allow them to compete....

The Gold Bug Pro has been very, very good to me, paying for itself many, many times over, and it's got a nice, easy learning curve. I have not tried the Monster, but if the gold you're chasing is small, I've got two friends that have found all kinds of gold with the Gold Bug II, but the learning curve is far steeper on it than the Bug Pro. As there are so many good VLF's now, it's going to have to be a research and then choose option for you, slight differences today on VLF's as many are really good at finding the gold now. Good luck, and all the best, Lanny

Fair to say a good time was had by all at Bill Southern's fall outing. Plenty of food. It was delicious. Bill smoked 2 briskets, I smoked 1, Kevin Hoagland smoked a pork roast, and someone smoked a turkey. There were a ton of people. Debbie Smikoski, the Minelab representative, came with two suitcases full of Minelab goodies for the drawing, which was free. Everyone walked away with some kind of Minelab goody, whether it be a hat, t-shirt, gloves, etc. Bill donated a Go-Find 40 for the drawing and I donated a pick, there were other donations made as well. Bill, Kevin, Mike Furness, Debbie, and I hosted two training sessions on the Gold Monster 1000. We trained over 50 people on this amazing little gold getter. I went back to a ravine where I had my last successful find and spent one hour walking just to get far enough and exhausted enough that I figured most detectorists would probably be tired of digging trash. That is where I started looking. There was no shortage of trash. Got a nice target that sounded pretty loud, could have been mistaken for trash but I liked where it was positioned, right on the side of the gully before it would drop into the wash. Turned out to be a nice 3.3 gram nugget, perfect pendant nugget. If you have never attended one of these spring and fall outings I encourage you to do so. Lot of fun, lot of good information shared, great food and people. The next one coming in the Spring is going to be at Quartzsite. Here's some pictures. By the way we have moved to a 4500 sq foot warehouse in Henderson. 1180 Wigwam Parkway, Suite 110, Henderson, NV 89074. I sold my office building to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. I think given the neighborhood, the police would be the only ones safe in that building. I built my building in 1986, so it served me well for 31 years, it was time to cash out. The Metro Police are going to turn my office into a Neighborhood Criminal Justice Center. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Doc from Doc's Detecting

We hope everyone will have or has had a Happy Thanksgiving Day. It is a time to give thanks to good family, good friends, good forums and good gold. I'll give some thanks also for some good pictures of the beaches we detect.

I hope everyone has a great day and a full belly, no matter where you are and whether it is a holiday or not!

Gold Monster is a great really easy to operate machine. However, I had bigger deeper targets in mind. Last time I was in that gully I pulled a 3.6 gram nugget, it was positioned exactly the same as this nugget, sitting just up on the side. However it was about a 1/2 mile away from this nugget. The area is really a good looking area with lots of tributaries feeding into the main wash. Probably take 5 years to work the area properly. It's also on a a AMRA claim, of which I am a lifetime member. Cool area. Takes an hour just to get to it by ATV. Doc

Pretty cool stuff!!!!!!! This old crap just fascinates me.......... And to think nowdays about a month ago I was on a FEDERAL mining claim and the Forest Service stopped by and told me I couldn't have my AM sluice box in the river, can't harm any tree roots, and to not "alter" the river course with the hole in the bank I was working. I was in total disgust and also trying not to laugh.... Told FS this river has altered it's course for eons......also mentioned that a retired old 63 yr old cancer survivor with bad back, etc. etc. isn't going to hurt much with a # 2 shovel.......

It's a strange one because if it's wired like the CTX (see page 2 of attachment) then TRS wiring, or even mono wiring, should be "sensed" by the detector electronics & shut off the internal speaker - (assuming Minelab use the same headphone sensing circuit on all their machines with an internal speaker) - the cable shouldn't really matter unless it's been wired to tip/ring only. Maybe try a straight 1/8" male to 1/4" female adapter too? Like this: https://www.storedj.com.au//hosa-gmp-112-1-4-trs-f-to-3-5mm-trs-m-adaptor?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0abf8ZzT1wIVWCQrCh1cLA4CEAQYAiABEgJS-_D_BwE That may work & they can be picked up cheaply. Be a shame to modify headphones with a 1/4" plug to 1/8" just for the GM. Or look for a cheap set of Sennheiser HD280's that are good detecting phones & have the screw off 1/4" to 1/8" adapter wired on. CTX-3030-Audio-Options-KBA_21-2.pdf

here's the piles I was playing around in..... The hillside also caught my attention but I'm not 17 and no longer a mountain goat....lol Thanks again all for the tips!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It seems I have spent half my life detecting tailing piles - there are many stories at my Steve's Mining Journal on the subject. Ganes Creek and Moore Creek in particular. I have chased targets in cobbles like you describe for too many hours - but they can be gold. As a rough generality over the year I have found two hot spots in unhunted tailing piles (good luck finding those now). The very top of the pile came off the bottom of the workings and I have found some nice nugget mini-patches on the top of some tailing piles. The other spot is the lowest areas around tailing piles. Once nuggets start rolling they usually keep rolling all the way to the bottom. And then yes, you can find a nugget also just about anywhere else so nothing is off limits. Dragline operations in particular can be a real mess. Do keep an eye out for clay lumps, often covered with moss. If the gold is on a clay bottom a lot of gold gets caught up with clay chucks and discarded. Detect any areas with clay in the tailings very carefully. Another clue is ripped shards of bedrock on tops of tailing piles letting you know they really were at the bottom. Do check the records also. In Alaska many bucket line dredges worked areas where there was nothing but fine gold. I do not hunt tailing piles unless I have some sort of evidence nuggets were recovered in the area. Even then the patience and effort required can be daunting, but at least you know the chance of big gold really does exist, making it worth the effort. Aerial view of tiny portion of Ganes Creek tailings in 2002. The old machine shop shown in the photo was unfortunately destroyed in floods a few years ago.

Dredge piles by design tend to be seperated into size according to the design of the machine. Usually the first to be discarded from the tromell are the largest rocks and boulders that are moved by conveyor some distance as to not impede the operation of the plant ( usually already worked ground ) these tailings are washed by high pressure water jets leaving what are just very clean rocks , you are not likely to find much at all in these piles and as you have already found there's a lot of air between this material , much better to find where the separation tables where located to see if anything was missed , sometimes Gold is lost when tables are opened and cleaned .although it would be a poor operator that doesn't double treat these areas themselves. If the dredges are small portable units look for signs of where the machine stood and the look for run off areas with fines nearby , If the dredges are the large floating pontoon types your up against it because these dredges are usually floated and moved in artificial ponds and tailings end up on the floor of these ponds. Your certainly setting yourself a big challenge.You may have more luck if you can find bedrock scraped by the buckets on Higher bank terraces . In some areas near me large dredges where floated up to a mile away from the present day river bed to work the ancient river course.The trouble with dredged areas is usually the enormous amount of overburden that washes back every time there's a flood . if you read most of the articles here you will find that high frequency vlf detectors are being used to pinpoint finds from PI detectors or for small nugget shooting on exposed shale bedrock where the limited range can be used to advantage , there's just no getting away from the fact that gold drops to bedrock and then forces its way down into any microscopic cracks available, the old timers cleaned these areas well but couldn't clean it all and it's these deposits that can be targeted with super sensitive detectors like the Gold Monster . Good luck with it. P M.

Steve ..... If were in Reno I would try to help you knock on strangers doors...... But I am way too shy to talk to strangers!!!

Response from Minelab on batteries: ”We'll have more info on battery care and maintenance in the EQUINOX Instruction Manual. Rest assured, this has been tested extensively and is expected to exceed the detector warranty period for typical use. Yes, the battery can be easily replaced. Also, you can plug in a standard USB power bank and run the detector from that while the internal battery is charging. Regards, Minelab.” The full manual has not been released yet. The Equinox is warrantied for three years.

My husband's cell phone battery died about 6 months ago. There is a Cell Phone store 1.5 miles from our house and it took them about 10 minutes to install a new one. So, no, I don't worry about cell phone batteries. A metal detector, which will probably need to be mailed to a service center for who-knows-how-long, after 2 or 3 years of use, actually is a concern to me. "DUG THAT OFFICIAL MINELAB EQUINOX 800-600 GROUP" I don't know who runs it, but they must be at least affiliated with Minelab in some way or Minelab would make them remove the "official" part, right?

Minelab maintains a Facebook page. The is no “official” Equinox Facebook page unless it is run directly by Minelab. The reality Sherry is simple. Replaceable battery compartments have been and always will be a potential leak location. One grain of sand on a door ring can equal a leak. So eliminating a leak location by using sealed batteries is a good thing. Do you own a cell phone? Do you worry about how many times you can charge it? Do you know how long the battery will last and how to replace it? Do you check dates on other rechargeable items you might buy to make sure they have not been on the shelf too long? If none of these things are huge concerns, then there is no reason to make it so with a metal detector. More to the point - there are a zillion Deus units out there where the coil, controller, and headphones all have sealed batteries. Are they failing at an unforeseen rate? Minelab is not treading new ground here. Having said all that, great question. The battery will last for years but will eventually need to be replaced. A battery replacement program stated up front with a cost would go a long way to addressing concerns like you are having Sherry. These are still early days and people are quite impatient for more answers that I am sure will arrive soon. In the meantime, any concerns at all - just wait! Nobody has to be a first adopter.

Looks like I'm getting some haters on the FB page for pointing out that Li-on batteries are usually only good for 2-3 years, at best. If this is the direction that Minelab wants to go with the EQ, then that is, of course, their prerogative to do so. However, I just hope they will be completely upfront with consumers about the lifespan of the battery, and the exact procedure which will be necessary when the battery degrades. Those of us purchasing an EQ off the shelf need to check the date of manufacture. Apparently the battery will start to degrade on day one, whether it is being used or not. Also we need to be careful about leaving it in the car trunk in July as heat seems to cause them to degrade faster.

Sherry That’s my only dislike on the Equinox I can find. I wish you could pop it out and replace it with a regular battery if the need be. Chuck

It used to be the camo versions cost $50 more so this is an extra discount for people who like the camo. Click or double-click for larger image....

It appears there are three sub-models at the same price, but what are the differences? Is it just the decoration (two versions of camo and the non-camo)?