Leaderboard

Hi all just like to share a pic of my hunt over the Melbourne Cup long week end. All found with the 7000. Hope everyone is getting yellow.

Yes it was a great weekend for sure , trust me when i say i was excited. They all came out of a very small area with the biggest being in this hole.

I've returned from my second detecting trip to England and what a trip it was!! I was lucky enough to be staying in the same barn as Steve Herschbach!! The first day on the fields are a half day usually. After the 2 hour ride from London to the "barn" where we will be staying for the next seven days. The "barns" are actual barns that have been renovated into vacation rental units. We unload all of our luggage from the van, find our sleeping spot for the week, dig out all of our gear, assemble everything, jump back in the van, and head out to the first field! My best find that afternoon was a hammered copper Rose farthing. They are commonly dated 1636. (Look for the pattern here). And the usual buttons and lead. So that was a good start. Day 2: Our first full day. A cool, slightly foggy, just perfect! The day wasn't real eventful for me. We hunted two different farms. At the end of the day my better finds were 5 farthings and a wiped out copper token, plus some buttons and lead. The farthings were late 1700s-1800s. Here at home in the States, to find those 5 coins would be a day to talk about for months. It was funny for me while I was over there, knowing with so much history the possibilities make my hopes and expectations exhilarating! You truly never know what will pop up next. It could be 10 years old or 2000 years old! There were multiple milled, and hammered silver coins found and some neat relics dug throughout the day by the other team members. Day 3: Things started to pick up for me a little on day 3. We came across a late Georgian/Victorian home site members of the team started popping some milled coins. Coppers and silvers. If I remember correctly one member found 3 or 4 silver 3 pence coins in that same field. A little silver 3 pence was one of the coins I was hoping to get while I was there, but it wasn't meant to be this trip. Shortly before lunch I switched fields and got onto my first bit of English silver for the trip! An 1844 Vicky 4 pence in nice condition. So after lunch I was headed back to the field were I got my 4P and we had to walk past a 1700? mansion to get back to where I wanted to be. So I slowed down and detected in front of the mansion along the way and got my first hammered silver for this trip! A nice "full" penny. Turned out to be a 1279 Edward I ! That was the highlight for my day three. But I did find plenty of buttons and lead too. Day 4: This day was one of those roller coaster type hunting days. The morning was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead. Until while hunting near a 13th century church and villa when I popped a nice little cut quarter hammered silver and less than 10 mins later another hammered silver coin fragment. Kinda bang bang! We broke for a short lunch break and went our separate ways and as I was walking into a field through a tractor path I got a nice high tone. But real erratic at the same time. One you would figure to be either a coin or part of a beer can. But when I pinpointed the target it was a nice small tight pinpoint I figured I better dig it. Boy am I glad I did! Turned out to be a 1908 Edwardian decorated silver mount! Turns out it was in a place they usually park the van! The rest of my days finds consisted of the usual trash plus some buttons and lead. Day 5: Today was another one of those days that I was digging lots of targets like buttons and lead... But not one coin all morning till around lunch. After lunch I decided to stay on that field determined to find one of my wish coins a "Bullhead". A King George III silver. And with the coins being found in the area one was definitely a possibly. Lo and behold it happened! A melted bulkhead six pence. Even though it was melted almost to the point of unrecognition I could make out a G III and a reeded edge. Mission accomplished! The only other "wishlist" coin I really had on my mind on my way over was a Roman silver coin. Not really expecting to ever find one. We all carried radios every day, and as a good find was made, we would put it out over the radio. Ron gave the 15 min count down to the end of the days hunt over the radio so we all started to swing back towards the van. Walking pretty fast, with 8 minutes left, I got a signal figured I had time to pop one more. Boom! A Roman silver coin! It has a bad "horn crust" on it that needs to be "cooked" off so it can be properly identified. Early id's put it in the 4th century! I'm really looking forward to seeing that coin cleaned up! Day 6: The group split up in the morning between some rougher ground and some land that was nice and smooth. I went to the smoother field with a few other hunters. First hole out of the van 20 feet away I nabbed a hammie fragment! After that the first half of the day was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead of course. It was a enormous field. It has been hunted a lot over the years from what I understand. The lack of targets for me proved it. But it wasn't a total waste. You just have to walk over the stuff. With a half hour walk back to the van and only about 45 mins left to hunt I spun around and within or 3 or 4 swings later I got a loud high tone! As I was pinpointing I looked down and laying right on top of the ground was a complete silver thimble!! Sweet end to a pretty slow day. Day 7: The day I dread. The last day. You know not only is it your last day of detecting heaven and the inevitable time you'll power down for the last time of your trip, plus the last day is usually cut a little short. That's so we have time to get back to the barn and get all of your finds from the week cleaned, bagged, catalogued, and photographed if you want to see them again before they leave your life for the next few months. To optimize our hunt time we decided to hunt some nearby land. Even though it's also the land that the club has had lasted the longest! Even after all those years there were many great finds found on it this season! The week before we came a gold coin and a beautiful Celtic gold "votive offering" were found on it! I walked across the road from that field to a field that was surrounding a 16th century two story mansion. After a half hour or so of slowly working around the old mansion I dug a small piece of a hammered silver coin. That coin put me in a tie for 1st place for the weekly "Hammy competition". So I slowed down hoping to get another one to take the lead and hopefully win the competition. It was 10:10 a.m. when I got the loudest, jumpiest, most obnoxious signal of my trip. Not being too far from a tractor entrance into that field I figured it was a beer can or a grease tube but I figured I'd dig it up and get it out of there anyways. I missed the target on the first scoop. Moved a shovel blade to the left, stepped it in and kicked the back of the shovel and pushed the dirt forward and a big yellow ..... egg looking thing rolled out to my left. As I looked at it half my brain said to myself " what is that?" And the other half of my brain was saying "HOLY .....!!!!! That looks like gold!!" When I bent over to pick it up and I was lifting it off the ground the weight of it made it fall out of my hand! That's when I knew it was definitely a big piece of gold!!! After Ron came over to shoot some video and take some photos I strapped back on all my gear took 2 steps and 3 swings and got a solid 19 TID on the Equinox 800. I told myself after just finding that thing I don't care what this is, I'm digging it up. One scoop, and I pushed the shovel forward and a 11.2 gram ancient solid gold ring was laying there looking at me!! I about started to hyperventilate!! I quickly got Ron's attention again and he came over to shoot more video and more photos. I can only imagine this will be the most amazing thing I will ever find! It's been over a week since I found it and I still can't stop picturing those two artifacts rolling out of the dirt in my head...... Thanks for lookin' & HH

Nah, for me VLFs are just not up to the depth capability that the Z brings to gold detecting. If the Zs weight could be lowered dramatically and have CTX like CO & FE discrimination plus a range of coils, wow then we`d be getting there. Of course one can never say never, certainly not with ML doing their thing.

I emailed Tony at tony@idigbeaches.com to inquire about how to go about purchasing his headphones. Here is the reply.... "I currently charge $175 USD for my custom waterproof NOX headphones which includes shipping in the US. There’s no waiting list at this time so I can get a set out to you in a few days. The headphones are modified MSA left/right ear muffs with 2” piezos mounted to custom sound boards. The connector is custom made from an Amphenol 4-pin plug and a 3.5mm audio plug. Everything is potted in epoxy and silicone, so the headphones are waterproof at depth. If you’d like to place an order, I will need confirmation and a little information * I need the mailing address to ship your headphones. * I need the email that I can use to send your PayPal invoice. * I need to know which side you want the cord attached? Folks who swing with their right arm will need the cord on the right. I’ll send you a PayPal invoice for $175 when I have a set available for you. Thanks for interest and all the best, Tony" Got my pair ordered.

Reviewing Tony Eisenhower's Headphones for the Equinox A buddy of mine—Drew in British Columbia Canada was kind enough to let me try a set of Tony Eisenhower Headphones for the Equinox for a couple of weeks. Out of the box I could see that these were a very well thought out high quality set of phones. The plug itself was really good quality and featured a “pigtail” type strain relief going up the cable—something I’ve never seen on this size / style of plug. There was also an added “Velcro” strain relief on the cord to attach to the detector wand. This prevents any accidental yanks from reaching the plug. With this in place the cable was the perfect length. Having just rewired one of these for the fifth time on a set of aftermarket phones and struggling to strip and solder the tiny leads—this bit of detail was a good sign. This hardware was rock solid. The phones feature an arch array that’s geared for right handers but they fit almost as well “backwards.” From looking at the assembly it would only take a minute to reverse them, to left handed. It was when I turned them on that the quality became apparent. They had a nice, clean “muted but loud” sound that was pleasant and as I began to run though the various types of Equinox audio—nice in all ranges. When I went to “50 Tones some of these really stood out—the mid gold range. I also found that the response range was so much better than the stock phones that they seemed to actually give the detector more depth in my tests. One of the first things I do with a new machine is to learn to hear the “faint ones” and with Tony’s phones seemed to really enhance the EQ’s faint range. I made a note to do some more testing before venturing onto the beach with them. In the water the signal was audible underwater although the low tones could have been louder this is more to do with the machine. In corresponding with Tony I asked him what kind of speakers he used and was told: “Mine are 800 ohm, 2” piezos mounted to custom phenolic boards and potted in self levelling silicone to make them fully waterproof.” I genuinely had the sense that these changed the audio characteristics of the Equinox dramatically—letting it reach deeper. Tony added his trademark line “…I like ‘em” So do I.

prunt With what you said it would have to be a hybrid detector. Who knows just maybe we’ll see this come to be in 2019. I’ll give it a name of Evolution. Chuck

Well my body was telling me, if I wanted to continue to hunt for gold I would have to change things up. Sooo I had to retool, sold my claim the Rocco, sold all my gas powered equipment, Gans-So Digger ( Mini Bck. Hoe ) Pro-Line Dredge / Highbanker Combo, 8" Drum Trommel, Hybrid Hydro Force System, Keene Concentrate System, Cube Deluxe 4 Stacker. Also sold my Fisher Gold Bug 2. ( When you maintain equipment, it sells ) Kept my Polaris 6x6 800 & ATV Double Axle Trailer and all hand digging tools / Dive Equip. Dry Suit / Mask / Snorkel / Kevlar Gloves still like getting in water. Then I started buying, 1st buy was the NOX 800 followed by the 6" & 15" coils, 2nd buy was GPZ 7000 & 19' coil, 3rd buy was the Mine Lab Pro Find 35. ( Already had the Garrett Carrot ) And besides not having my own piece of ground to go to, I haven't look back since...… My new challenge is getting out of my locale comfort zone & find new hunting grounds. Which will include before spring a new slide in camper for pick-up and trailer to haul wheeler & trailer. Looking forward to my new direction for a couple reason, getting out to stay active & healthy, hunting gold & relics in different ground conditions, and meeting and detecting with like minded folks...….. Always Alaska in summer, somewhere in lower 48 winter months. And just maybe a plane ticket or 2 ??? Happy Hunting

You got over a patch no one else had found...very nice! fred

My pair came today. FINALLY, a pair of waterproof headphones with volume loud enough I could hear. I had to turn the detector volume down a few digits and I was happy as a lark. Do NOT waste your money on those yellow Minelabs or the Gray Ghosts. Email Tony and get you a pair. I like the sound of them so well I will probably use them all the time on land as well.

Just had my second hunt today with the 15” coil. It is a game changer for me! I have never had a coil improve my finds so dramatically as this coil has. If you have open areas to hunt with real deep coins, it’s a no-brainer. It’s not that the new big coil is dramatically deeper but that it hits the 9 and 10” coins so easily that I am confident that it is finding the coins at depth that the stock coil has a harder time catching.. 4 Indian Head Cents today. I have never found 4 in one day. Also found 4 silvers today. Extremely rare but I did both the same day. My poor friend got crushed again today, this time with his trusty V3i and big coil. He found 2 old coins to my 12! That’s 23 to 2 over a two day period. That is not the norm. He is a very skilled hunter but just could not reach these coins. Bryan

Here is some more pictures of coins that Tony has found and some rings . Chuck

Decided to get me another AT Pro. Last hunt back I was out in a light drizzling misty rain with my metal detector wrapped in a walmart bag and decided I needed a wet weather detector. Did a review and I know its not the new darling around town but I remembered how well the Garrett coil performed for me in the past and decided to get another one. Looking forward to chatting about it later. HH Mike

This was my first beach hunt in a few days because I had been out in the Rye Patch area over the weekend. While I was gone I understand that it had rained and some wave alerts had been sent to my email. Our area beaches get hit hard by detectorists but I know them pretty well and followed my intuition when I got there. We don't have a negative tide right now and there is a Santa Ana wind blowing so the new waves are very small. On my way 'out' I hunted near the waterline. There was very little to find. I walked about a mile or so with very few targets. There was a bit of a trough at the bottom of the hill (beach slope) but nothing seemed to be holding. I was thinking about leaving and I worked back in the direction from where I had come. Then I got a clue. The clue was the junk wire pack. It was completely buried in the wet sand and had a thin plastic bag around it. It certainly is an unusual beach find for me. This pack was at the bottom of the hill and just above it for about 6 feet or so was hard sand and just above that was about 10 yards of 'past wave' deposited sand. You need some energy to move targets and you need the right conditions for those targets to be 'grouped' and deposited. Some beaches will stay this way for a few days and some beaches will only keep targets for a few hours. I look for these pockets. I liken it to a crab crawl on the Deadliest Catch. Anyway, I went up into this area and found a hoop earring among the bobby pins, pennies and a few other coins. I was using the Nox 11 on all metal and I was digging EVERYTHING. Sometimes I skip pennies and bobby pin sounds but not last night. Then I was surprised by one of the silver hoop earrings and its mate was just about 5 feet away. Then came a copper hoop, and then another and all of them within 10 feet. They're all water tarnished. Then I got what I thought was a ring ... earring it turns out but then a stainless steel bracelet. Then another earring (GOLD) and finally a couple of silver rings (.925). I worked the patch with a grid pattern and it kept giving. I had had enough after 4 hours. A 'bad' beach had turned into the most hoops (10) I've ever found. I've been on beaches where I've found 5 chains in a session but they are as rare as this beach. You never know. Follow your clues. Mitchel

Tom and I were able to get out yesterday for some detecting at the same site we posted a few weeks ago. This time I wanted to test another camp site that wasn't far away from the one we got the eagle tongue and groove buckles at. It was supposed to be a larger camp, but it pretty much turned out to be a bust. You could hear iron here and there, and we did get some period conductors, and period iron relics, but nothing to write home about. We did a fairly good job covering it, it just wasn't a productive site, perhaps someone else detected it before we did. I wondered back to the camp we detected a few weeks ago to see if I could locate the other half of my eagle buckle that fell out of my finds pouch, and while that didn't pan out, I did find an old eagle button of some sort. It's a domed one piece cast button, if anyone can ID it, I'd greatly appreciate it. Found another part of an eagle buckle, but no more complete ones on this trip. The only coin dug (old coin, we did manage to dig some pesky clad on this hunt :? ) was a Chinese cache coin, and possibly a toasted copper coin, but not sure about that. Rim fires, musket balls, lead, and hand forged iron and bronze nails/spikes: One piece eagle button, any ideas on the ID? No clue what this is, it may have been made from a copper coin? Old lock? It's cast bronze whatever it is, has a part on the top with a spring lever under it. Couple of iron relics, part of an eagle buckle, love that old copper hand forged hinge: Every one of these copper bits sounded sweet, all sound like coins and some were super deep! No idea what this was??? Almost want to say some kind of hunting point, but it has no edge. [/url] These are frequently found at old sites in California! No clue what this was used for? Bezel is silver, appears to be a finished stone, but cannot see where it attached to anything :S Thanks for looking! Cal

I got an old 4x4, and one of the follows with a similar 4wdr was prattling on (in a good way) about prospecting. it sounds intriguing, and I figured I should probably go slow and get the recommended book, which I ordered from Amazon and get my head around the various detectors, So the concept would be: 1) to do some local prospecting on the occasional free weekend, 2) do some on extended trips for a couple of hours/day. 3) maybe go on some trips with the others like the gentleman mentioned above. There are a few mining sites in the area, and I suspect that they have been picked over, so that might make choice of a detector and sensitivity more of an issue. And then there is the legendary "Lasseter's reef"... Until I have questions I'll just do a 'Chancy the Gardner' and watch.

This story is about a guy I call a friend. He had his car stolen with his detector in it . About the same our paths crossed. Being he wanted another detector I told him what Minelab would have to offer soon . I said I’m sure if he can wait it would be worth it . A dealer friend after finding out what happen to his other detector he gave 10 percent off his Nox 800. Oh yes he has a name and that is Tony. I think Nox Nut fits him better. My trouble is he calls me Pop being I got some years on him . One picture you see his Nox in the water. At that time he had the stock coil on and he’s got foam around it to keep it afloat. The coins you see was found with both coil . He hasn’t had the 6” coil long but he really loves it. Chuck

I myself haven’t had the opportunity to truly answer this question but maybe some of you can . Chuck

BeachHunter You’re right about him calling me Pop and the kid really knows his Nox . Chuck

Unless you're sure that is normal behavior for the Pro-Find 35 (I have no idea), you may consider sending it in for warranty repair. I recently had a similar situation with the new Fisher F-Pulse pinpointer--would go into these crazy falsing bouts. Since most others seemed to like their F-Pulses, I finally called Fisher and got an RMA and sent it in. Fisher sent me back a new one which works fine.

Welcome to the forum from Southern California.

Not without weight issues and thats half the reason I swing the Deus is lite weight and discrimination. But to gain depth and be at the top of the line for gold requires the GPZ 7000. So if they can combine the 2 and still come out under 3lbs that would do it for my detecting.

Yes bigger for when i run into u, i'll drink a few your brews

Thanks for the kind words, Bryan! You are REALLY making some GREAT finds over the past few days with the 15"... I can't wait until I receive mine! Steve

Bear in mind that hearing is highly subjective. My experiences will in no way be the same as anyone else's and I'm forced to use imprecise terms to describe my efforts. At 64 yrs old my hearing is relatively good and high frequency noise bothers me more than most. We all know that the Z7000 is a noisy machine but with time and experience our hearing adapts and we become more proficient with it's tendencies. So, after 3 or 4 months away from the machine it's like starting all over and wondering, wow this detector is really noisy. That's how it has been for me over the last couple days out here in Sunny Yuma. Add in some decent rain last month and certain rock types hold some moisture and became a major hot rock nuisance. I hit a deep gully yesterday that had a lot of decomposing course grained granite. The granite is ordinarily pretty mild, but the left over moisture was making fist sized chunks into high spiking hot rocks. They're really not the kind of hot rocks that sound like nuggets, the tone is a short high pitch that falls off very quickly. Going to the Difficult setting really calms them down, but then you're missing small faint nuggets. Raising the coil and going painfully slow is one solution, as well as keeping detecting sessions short. I decided to see if there was some kind of intermediate step with the SteelPHASE system of filters. After some trail and error I settled on Z7000 settings of High Yield, Normal, Sens 12, Low Smoothing, with just enough threshold to level off the spiking signals. Then I played with the SteelPHASE. I used the recommended Mode 1, then went through the various filter settings. Filter 1 and 2 give me a high "tinny" kind of tone over the hot rocks, not helpful. Filter 3 as best I can describe dulls all the tones, but was the best choice in this circumstance to dull the high tones of hot rocks. After a half hr I was cruising along pretty good partly because my hearing was adapting and the SteelPHASE was keeping the annoying hotrocks at a manageable level, or so I think. I finally got over a very faint signal well into the side bank of the gully. I went through everything I could think of to test the equipment. First I left everything in place and switched to Difficult. Not a peep. Then with everything in place I raised and lowered the sensitivity. Sens below 9, the tone was barely audible and mainly because I knew it was already there. I doubt it would have stopped me otherwise given all the noise in hotrock heaven. Raised Sens really made it stand out, but the noise would have been unmanageable for normal prospecting. Then I unplugged from the SteelPHASE and plugged my earbuds directly into the Z. The tone was audible over the target and probably enough to stop me in normal prospecting mode. Back into the SteelPHASE for a comparison. As best I can tell the SteelPHASE gave me some "separation" from background noise and a bit of "distinction" or "amplification" of the actual target. By that time I had pulled all the surface hot rocks away, so I was no longer bombarded with that kind of noise. I switched back and forth a few times and found the SteelPHASE gave me a more noticeable tone, (I think). I dug this tiny nugget out and was again amazed at what the Z7000 can do on small gold. This nugget was back into the side bank and down at least 6 inches. I think its round ball shape gives it a better density that favors detection at this depth. So, with a 6 hrs use on the SteelPHASE in some very limited circumstances, I would say that it is helpful but not a game changer. Anything that boosts my confidence and keeps me in the field a bit longer will no doubt increase my odds. Perhaps for the guys who use external speakers and need an amplifier anyway, this is a good investment. I just don't use speakers so we'll have to wait for one of them to chime in. Given its $200.00 pricetag, I give it a neutral thumbs up/down for now. I'll keep at it, it's early yet and will report more as it happens.

Well Fred, you could still be wireless, just an added cable from the WM to the box then your choice of listening equipment plugged into the box. A bit of redundancy if you wanted to just rely on the simplicity of the WM. I don't think you can amplify the WM without wiring the box in between so now you're back to the old days of a cable between you and the detector. The unit comes with about 3ft of heavy duty audio cable, with double ended male, mono headphone connectors. I'm using a curly corded one that I had from past inventions. You couldn't do my set-up with the supplied cable unless you disconnect to lay the detector down and dig. The only reason I did it this way was to keep the fewest number of "connections" between me and the original detector signal. I will ultimately go with the wireless connection when I decide to do some serious detecting.

Tim, location dictates when I dig a lot of middle numbers. Last month I stopped at an old church I had hunted long ago as well as a bevy of other hunters. I wasn't expecting to much but find a couple Indians. Sweet!! I went back the next day three more, next morning six. Altogether I got 18 Indians and 2 v- nickels and some wheaties . After having some good fortune at an old church I went to a couple more with a couple old schools thrown in as well. I'm not getting the silver I was in yards but I'm having a blast finding some neat stuff. So far I've only hit one old church that didn't give up any old stuff. Deer season has slowed down the treasure hunting but I'll still be getting out some. Thanks, Tom

I like the walkie talkie Apple watch feature! I assume that one has to have cellular service for this feature to function? Reason I ask, is that we're finding the walkie talkies to be much easier to use then cell phones when were out in BFE detecting. Texting and cell phone calls waste to much time. You can chat on the walkies while detecting, and no issues. What I wish existed (perhaps it does?) was a bluetooth wireless connector to plug into the walkie talkies (that standard dual 3.5mm plug) and you could simply pair that to your walkie and use VOX, that would be ideal. BTW I too like the ML headphones that came with the EQ800, they just work. They audio is good, and the headphones are comfortable. I also like that they are bluetooth so you can pair them with your phone or computer or whatnot. They actually work pretty well if you need to take a call. EDIT: Well lookie what I found - lol https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Earpiece-Listed-Walkie-Talkie/dp/B07939RPVK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541516700&sr=8-3&keywords=walkie+talkie+bluetooth+earpiece+with+mic&dpID=41kDZcKd1oL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch I wonder if I could simply use that walkie talkie transmitter/receiver to pair to the Minelab headphones?

Still using mine and have no complaints. Maybe I shouldn't but rain hasn't stopped me from hunting with them either...so far so good.

Congrats Steve on the Trip and the finds, fantastic trip all round really and to find Celtic Gold is a dream come true, Well done mate, looks like you got in with a nice crowd and it was good the weather stayed fine while you were here. I am a firm believer in using a large coil like you had there on these field because everyone does the correct thing by fitting a smaller coil when the junk is thick, But there is always a chance of hitting something good just that bit deeper with a big coil, people laugh when they see me with a big coil in those sites but I never go home empty handed,

Yup...I've seen those videos. Up here, the native Americans believe it's bad karma to dig into an anthill. They also believe if you remove gravel from an anthill you should always put something back. I never dig up anthills...the surface tells me all I need to know. I'm trying to keep karma on my side...LOL Jim

Enjoy! ?Ig

I agree, the wireless headphones work great and are nice and light. I am a little concerned about how the buttons will hold up over time. They don’t seem to be sealed against dirt and it’s almost impossible to keep them from getting a little dirty. Larger, more glove friendly buttons with a little bit of weatherproofing would be a big improvement. Joe

Cool indeed Steve. You know ive heard a lot of knocks about the wireless phones but to me i found them pretty darn good when i first started out. I was comparing the tones and all to other phones ive used and just having wireless was impressive to this ole guy. THEN..... people found out how much they cost and all of a sudden they were junk. I dont use mine but rarely since i have water phones, but i still kind of like them babies.

What i want the slightly bigger (2") coil for is checking anthills, JW. Up here in the northern Rockies the harvester ants build large mounds. Inside the mounds are chambers where the ants can warm their larvae, and dry the seeds they live on to prevent germination. The ants go out as far as 150 yards from the mounds, and bring back materials to cover the mounds to prevent erosion, and damage. In the process, they gather the heaviest materials they can find. Bringing back the heaviest materials is a proven genetic trait. It's thought that this maximizes the benefits of the long range roving they do. So, the mounds are a great place to check to determine the minerals in a particular area. The reason I bought the Falcon is I was concerned about the ability of other detectors to "see" these really small pieces of gold or platinum. But the tiny search head on the Falcon means a slow process, so I thought maybe a 2" diameter coil would increase the search area by a factor of 4X without decreasing the sensitivity too much. I'm working on another project right now, so may not get to the coil build until December. I'll post my results. Jim

Very interesting subject,i use a original T2 that i have had for many years and never really had trouble as such with EMI as i mainly detect farmland well away from EMI sources,but we do have problems occasionally with over head power cables. So although i dont have trouble with EMI i do prefer my T2 to run smoothly rather than on the 'edge' as they say,you may get some slight depth advantage but at the expense of giving your ears a real hard time with all the falsing and other non desirable audio signals,for a very long time i always used discrimination mode only and 80 sensitivity was the baseline figure and of course adjust up or down accordingly on the ground condition,but this last year or so i have been mainly using AM mode and with smaller coils,i do have a slection of large coils for deep clean pasture sites and for the most part that has worked well,i do occasionally reduce sens down too around 75. But i mainly use smaller than stock size coils these days mainly due on a wrist injury i received back in the 70s when i came off a bike,so these days i usually run any detecting unit with smaller coils on,also i have found that i am happier reducing the sensitivity down to 70 even in AM mode,always loved the 5'' factory coil as it gives great depth for its size and deadly on trashy sites,but always wanted a slightly larger coil but still gives alot of the characteristics of the 5'' coil for more ground coverage,i finally found the ideal coil recently when i located and bought a 6'' DD coil made by Coiltek,it was a prototype coil from them but it finally has given me everything that i want from the T2,no more EMI issues and runs as smooth as silk and just with 70 on the sensitivity in AM mode. Always fancied trying a F75 but while my T2 still finds me the holy grail of finds the celtic gold staters then i wont change this winning combination,1/4 staters are are not the biggest of finds,and even cut 1/4 and halves are found with ease. A great topic on EMI and some great information reply wise.

Looks like your buddy the "nox nut" is doing great with his new machine. Sad story, that his car AND his machine were stolen, but kudos to the dealer that hooked him up with a discount! Steve

I bought the Equinox because it obsoleted all my other machines. I was already a Minelab fanboy, this is my 4th or 5th. This machine allowed me to consolidate into one platform, which is nice.

7 x 11 maybe, 17 x 11 does not make sense. We now have a 15 x 12 coil so hard to imagine Minelab going longer and skinnier though I personally would love such a coil. They already have an existing mold of 17 x 13 via the CTX and so that is far more likely. 17 x 11 would get the ground coverage and keep weight at minimum but would not satisfy those looking for more depth. I don’t know. It’s not like Minelab tells me everything by a long shot and I don’t pester them with questions. I would love a 17 x 11 coil but I will believe it when I see it. Right now I need a smaller elliptical for nugget hunting far more than a balance killing extra large coil. The 15 x 12 in brilliant and I can swing it all day, but a 17” is getting into counterbalance and harness territory.

Picked mine up yesterday and got out for an hour in a local park that is well hunted but still produces silver. I was blown away by how light and easy to swing this coil is. I ran it in park 1 with the same settings I use with the both the stock and small coil. It basically reacted to all targets exactly as the stock coil and actually pinpointed very well. I was able to pop up one silver Rosie dime that was under a root at about 7 inches. Compared the my CTX 17" coil, this was an absolute pleasure to swing. Can't wait to put more hours in with it, especially at the beach.

White's has done pretty well lately with new product roll outs. The MX7 and Goldmaster 24K are both solid designs. So it's not as if they've been resting on their laurels lately. Yes, Cal Cobra, I too would love to see an updated V3i. I have the utmost respect for the engineers at White's that designed that detector. Sure, it was complicated, but that made it all the better to experiment and learn how detectors operate. I've been asking White's for years for a few simple improvements, like better ground balance, faster disc audio, and three frequency pinpoint while in one frequency search, but at this point, I'd settle for one single improvement:: the latest upgraded fastest processor with the software code optimized for efficiency. That alone would take care of a lot of the audio issues, I would think, and it could be done as factory upgrade for existing owners to send theirs in to have it done. That would show that White's is taking care of it's top end customers by giving them a better product for not a lot of $$. Better still, new V3i's could start rolling with the upgraded processor (V3i Pro?) without much new development cost. Sure, there could be many other small improvements made to the V3i, but the development costs would start adding up quickly with each change. With an upgraded processor and software code, development costs could be kept to a minimum since everything else would stay the same. The processor power is the heart of the detector and the single piece of technology that has advanced the fastest since the V3i's release in 2009, so White's would get the most bang for the buck with this one upgrade. It would breathe some life back into the V3i and prolong its market longevity a little while longer while they work on the V4i. I'm just trying to think like a detector hobbyist *and* a corporate bean counter, which is the reality. Oh, and I for one really like the old metal box design. It's super tough, has a nice high-quality industrial design aesthetic, and happens to balance very well. So for 2019 I'm hoping White's gives us a V3i Pro with a new processor and tweaked software code.

Yup...the diaphragm sags in the center, and the heavies end up there. You have to stop every couple of hours and empty the diaphragm so you can pan out the cons. The unit requires very little water. The water is just to make the damp, or sticky material let loose of the gold. Other than that, the water has nothing to do with the recovery. That's why the machine works either with, or without water. I've been surprised to see how well it works with even damp material with no water. Still recovers about 60%, and very small gold. The ones I sell are 18" in diameter, but I can build them to any size desired. The prototype was built in a cutoff 55 gallon drum...about 22" in diameter. The only place they don't work is on the heavy black beach sand. But, not many machines will separate gold from black sand, so I don't feel bad that mine won't either, though mine has not been tested on beach sand when running wet...only dry. The 18" machine weighs under 20lbs, so can easily be backpacked to where it's needed. Jim

New Member of the Nox 800 users. So Far, So Good, the Forum looks Friendly. New Machine Should Show Up This Week and Maybe I'll Have Time try it Out Before the Snow Flies here in SD.

Great report NSC, thanks! In extreme mineral ground I would expect the 11” coil to have better depth on most targets. In milder ground the 15” should have the edge for depth, but mileage will vary. That’s why I never jump on the “bigger coil, more depth” bandwagon when talking large VLF coils. I buy them strictly for coverage and will just take whatever depth comes along with that extra coverage. This is one light coil for its size and no problem for this GPZ owner to swing for 12 hour days. I already have over 160 hours on the coil. It suits a lot of what I do and will see much more use than other large VLF coils I have owned. Good job Minelab! Steve's Minelab Equinox 800 with new 15" x 12" DD coil

I absolutely love this coil, and it is not just because I am Equinox Fanboy #1 !! Steve's 2018 UK Adventure

My New 15” Equinox Coil mounted on one of steveg’s beautiful Custom Rods from http://www.stevesdetectorrods.com/ Hope you all get yours soon!

My 15 coil arrived today, can’t wait to try it out this weekend! Ringtail

I suggested to them a 9.5x5.5 or 10x6 elliptical coil, closed bottom and top would be nice. And solid scuff protectors would be nice for bottom and possibly top for existing coils for the dry dirt and rocky areas. I have noticed my open coil hanging up on rocks and short, stiff weeds. I also suggested in addition to the 5 tone zones that we are limited to, that 8 to 10 tone zones for the 50 tones option be added to a program change.

First came Zip Zip Mastering Your Nugget Detector by Larry Sallee, a first edition and a revised edition in 1996, 153 pages. Then came Zip Zip The Advanced Course in 1997, 120 pages Both were updated in 2004 and combined into The Complete, Unabridged Zip Zip, 277 pages. I sold all of them over the years. I think the first two sold for about $17.95 each and the Unabridged version combining both was like $24.95. It is a great book for sure, one of the best written on nugget detecting, but used copies going for hundreds of dollars is insane. I wish I had bought my last two cases myself and stashed them away! Larry was big with White's in the early Goldmaster days and the books focus on the Goldmasters but the methodologies described apply to all nugget detecting. No real coverage of PI at all however. Anyway, they are all out of print. The original Zip Zip had most of the meat, with Advanced dealing with additional detail. Unabridged updated and combined both and so is the one to have. If you can find it for a reasonable price. I have no idea why Larry won't reprint it - it would still sell well as people paying way too much for it proves. I have been told I should buy the rights and reprint it, but the fact is I could write something more up to date myself so why pay to publish somebody else's book? A classic though, no doubt about it.