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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/03/2019 in all areas

  1. Last year was not a banner prospecting year for me. I got out a number of times and did detect some gold and did some dry washing, but it was a year of other problems and obligations. I had two trips to the hospital, one emergency by ambulance, and one for surgery on my heart (not open heart, but the doctor put a probe up through a vein into the inside of my heart). My wife had two stays at the hospital as well. We also spent time moving my elderly mother in law from southern California where she has few remaining relatives, up to Reno. I did get out and find some nice gold in my prospecting, but I made fewer trips and got less gold than I have in many years. I did however, do some serious hard rock prospecting in 2018 and made two deals with mining exploration companies to lease out properties that I own. One deal was made on a set of claims that I had staked years ago, while the other was on a large set of claims I staked in 2018 (along with two partners which I have in that claim group). We staked over 200 claims in that group and it took some time in getting all of those claims out and posted. The company that leased those claims from us flew a helicopter survey over them and made several exciting finds. The ore bodies likely found there are electrically conductive, and the coil and electronics used to “see” the ore bodies are of a pulse type design – just like the pulse detectors we use, but with a gigantic coil and a bit different electronics. So I can look at 2018 in a couple of different ways – for the direct gold I dug, it was a very poor year. Yet for the total money I made on my prospecting it was a different story. Counting the money I made on leasing out claims in 2018, if you calculated out the equivalent ounces of gold, that would make it my best year ever, by far. The money was the bullion weight equivalent of several pounds. So in 2019 I hope to stay out of the hospital, and to take no rides in ambulances. I pray my wife stays out of the hospital too. I hope to spend more time in the hills prospecting, and do more detecting and more drywashing as well. I will stake some more claims and see if I can get those leased out as well, but I really want to do my own prospecting as I enjoy that so much. For those interested in more details on the story of the claims I staked and how I got them leased off to two different exploration companies, I have a story this month in the ICMJ – called Making a Big Discovery. In the February and March issues I will have a two part article on how these lease contracts are structured and what a small miner might expect in such a deal. Photos – A few of my detected nuggets; the helicopter surveying my claims, and some of the ground where the claims are located.
    10 points
  2. Hi Chris , I live in the Golden Triangle in Victoria Australia . I know how you can have a topsy turvey year with your personal health and your family's . Hope 2019 leaves all that behind you . I also had a poor year prospecting missing the majority with leg and back problems plus a bilateral double hernia operation . Nearly all good now , but age catches up with you eventually . Not all is doom and gloom though , two good things happened for me . I purchased a Equinox to help with the weight problem which definitely will keep me detecting longer . I have only done 5 / 6 hours and found a few pre decimal coins a great cricket buckle ( believe it or not !! a cricket buckle depicting USA miners verses English miners ) This I will cherish for ever , also some miners buttons . Last year i posted I'll try and beat Steve to a Gold coin in 2018 , never happened but this is the year . Have you ever driven past a spot and mentally noted I will stop and detect there some time . With all my time off I did a lot of research reading , books and driving . My first attempt at using the faithful SDC came several weeks ago at one of these spots . I have been driving past it since 1979 . I have found 41 nugglets weighing in at 4.25 grams , this is the best weight ratio to nugglets found in 4 years with the SDC . I have spent about 15 / 20 hours at this spot with more detecting to do , I'll put up a pic with 20 odd pieces . You would understand this better than me , it's all been found within 80 metres of 2 old indicators (1860's ) in an area 120 metres by 30 metres . The gold is prickly . spongy and iron stained . The photo shows it as found or only cleaned in water in a ultrasonic machine . Have subscribed ti ICMJ for approx 8 years , love the magazine and especially your articles . All the best with health and happiness this year Chris . Cheers goldrat
    7 points
  3. Great goals Tim. My goals are to keep working on my iron range. I pulled more coins then ever this year that were partially masked by nails but I feel there is much more room for me to improve. I plan on doing some nail hunting so I can try to learn more about the ferrous range and the falsing that goes with it. I am also going to do a little more digging just above the nickel range in certain locations to see if I can sniff out a $2.50 Gold Coin, and to also see how many Nickels I’m missing if any. I did very well with the old Nickels this year running a very tight dig range but I believe it did affect my War Nickel count which was 0. I’m going to try and spend more time experimenting with other modes this years as well as paying more attention to EMI mitigation. Lastly I’m going to continue to cut my clad count as much as possible which I have been working on the last couple years. Bryan
    4 points
  4. Since it is the start of the new year, I was just wondering what everyone's top few detecting goals are for the year. My goals seem modest at the start of the year, but there is usually an item or two on the list that I have to hustle to achieve. ;) For 2019 - my top goals are: Best my gold jewelry count (which would be 7 pieces of gold this year... I forecast that my foil/pull tab count will also be a record this year too). Hunt in 6 different states Finally find the elusive (to me) 1800's coin (closest so far was a 1902 Indian in 2017) Nugget hunt for the first time (and hopefully not the last) Of course I have some other goals around silver coin counts, wheatie counts, hours hunted, and a few new locations that I will be embarking on my updated "Quest for a Silver Coin" challenge, but these are the ones that will be a challenge. So guys and gals, let's see 'em! Happy 2019 Hunting everyone. Tim.
    3 points
  5. From everybody and everyone for decades. What I object to is this idea that Minelab is inherently evil and lies about everything while the rest of the companies get a pass. It gets tiresome. If the best the competition can do is rag on Minelab's advertising methods, well, it's not a good look either. Anyone who thinks this line of inquiry is being pushed purely by frustrated consumers is even more naive than those who think Minelab is going to explain to their competition proprietary details via advertising. I would rather see competitive hardware than counter information campaigns myself. Oh, there is that cynic again....
    3 points
  6. 1st Off, Happy New Year to all, may Good Health & Much Wealth come your way this 2019 !!!!! 2nd part of 3, different creek same Highbanker. Used as a dredge this time no pontoons & very little water. This was on a friends claim year or so before I stake mine approx. 2000 ft above. A dam was built up above and redirected creek water into a pipe line to feed water into a lake for water supply to a hydro electric plant on a lower lake. Yes I have mentioned this in other post. So 1st some prospecting was in order to decide where to dredge. I was lucky & found a corner in creek that was actually a decent hole with the bedrock coming up at end of hole, so making dams was a bit easier, one dam to hold bck what little water the feeder creeks & rain run off would supply, and then a dam for pump supply water. Needed 2 dams because 1 dam would get suck up to quickly when dredge nozzle & water pump ft valve in same hole & I needed to keep my visibility to dredge. ( see photos ) Now my H.B. Sluice M.T. into my intake pump water supply so to not suck up big dirt into ft. valve then into my shaft seal I went shopping for a ordinary desk trash basket with small enough holes to keep shaft seal destroying materials to a minimum & water flowing to pump. At the end of each day I would have to dig out 2nd hole to make sure I was ready to dredge next day, but it also was a great way to check and see if I was loosing any gold out my sluice just by randomly panning as I dug out hole and used material to build up dams. This system worked great, the more I dredge in dredge hole the deeper the water got. It was actually getting to deep to snorkel dredge but this creek the water is crystal clear & the gold would smack you in the face as it fell out of gravels into your nozzle. Wasn't getting rich, but my overhead for the day ran about $40.00 & I would have clean ups of 4 to 5 penny weights averaging $60.00 a penny weight you do the math. Dredge time approx. 6 hrs. a day. Unfortunately I never did get to the bottom of hole, pulled my equip. next spring, my knees wouldn't let me climb up & dwn the 380 ft canyon wall And I was now a claim owner with very little climbing involved. So this is just another use of a Highbanker. Next the 3rd & final part. And a special shout out to my best mining partner ever Rocco may he rest in peace & watch over us all, he would actually check on claim owner once or twice a day & come right bck to watch me. I hope this answers any questions if you are considering a Highbanker I really liked my Proline 3".
    2 points
  7. HNY from the Gem State" Enjoy! ? Cheers to All! Ig
    2 points
  8. Unfortunately the heart stuff happened earlier in the year before I got out to prospect in Pumas County. Just to clarify, my heart problem is a non-standard one. Its not really related to weight, smoking or being out of shape - like most heart problems are. What I have is something you could get if you were an Olympic level athlete. What happened was another spot on my heart started telling the heart to beat - in addition to the normal one that tells the heart to beat. The two beat indicators sort of fought against each other sometimes. Initially, I never even knew I had it - it was discovered at a normal check up. I went to a cardiologist and he was not too worried about it, my blood oxygen levels were normal and I wasn't out of breath or anything like that. But he warned me that if the two beat indicators got into a full fight mode I could end up with a super fast beat and that would be more of a problem. Well, about six months later I was doing minor stuff in the backyard with my wife, and I suddenly went into this super fast heart beat mode. My heart was beating at 180 beats per minute (around 70 is normal). It would not go back to normal, so the ambulance was called. It did go back to normal after about 20 minutes, but they still took me to the hospital for a few days. I am now on a prescription and it seems to keep things normal and I have had no more tachycardia events. The Cardiologist has OK'ed me to prospect and hike and do any other normal outdoor activities.
    2 points
  9. Last week I visited my favorite gold beach and hit an area at the end of the day that produced 5 silvers, a couple of war nickels and 8 wheat pennies. Much better than the limited amount of clad I found the first part of that day. It was posted in the Equinox forum under Equinox and EMI. Today I hit that same area with the GPX instead. Being a holiday, I figured there would be limited train runs, and for most of the day that was the case. I ran the GPX as hot as I could handle and put on the 12 1/2" DD coil to get the most depth I could get. It worked! Had a great hunt. Some oddities for the day included a nice old Ford key, a twisty tie (bread tie) that fooled me for a bit, as it is the brightest gold foil that I have ever seen. Thought I had a gold chain But the oddest thing I found (or actually re-found) was a deep (18+ " ) remains of a Pringles potato chip can. I found it a while back and the chips still looked like the day they were made. I never took a picture of them and left most of the remainder of the can and chips in the hole. Well, today I came across it again and took them home. Unbelievable what they label as food these days! As for the goods, I found 21 Wheats (one wrapped in red cloth from a change purse?), a bunch of silver coins including some war nickels and a W/L half. The best find of the day was the unmarked gold ring. Gold beach gave me some yellow today! As for depth on the coins? Nothing was shallower than 9-10" And 2 of the Mercs came in as a repeatable ground mineral signal. If you use a GPX you will know what faint ground variations sound like, I dug a lot of those today and most disappeared when you took some sand of the top. But 2 of them got louder and I knew I had a small fringe target. What I was surprised at was, that both of those dimes came in at a measured 18". I used a pin pointer to locate them and dug the last inch by hand. I wanted to make sure I did not drop the target back into the hole while digging deeper. I needed to see just how deep this machine can go with no EMI present. I am still in awe of how good that GPX 5000 is. So, a great start to the New Year and hopefully I can count on the GPX/Equinox combination to handle any beach conditions I come across.
    2 points
  10. The waveform taken with the microphone is not the real one, but it is distorted by the dynamics of the microphone, the signal taken with a link has the right shape, and compared to the Minelab chart you can see that it coincides. In beach mode it is evident that at least two frequencies are missing.
    2 points
  11. My two faves from last year. Tiny gold/emerald with the Mojave and giant silver/turquoise with the MMKruzer. Can’t wait to see what this year brings. Happy new year everyone!!!
    2 points
  12. Thank you Steve for putting together a website and forum that reflects an intelligent and balanced approach to so many things. We are all better for it. Happy New Year and sincere best wishes for a better year ahead for everyone.
    2 points
  13. 1992 eh???? That's when I started tecting and that park was one of my first good "hits".... They had done a tearout maybe 25' x 25' right behind the restrooms/concession and I was the first in.....seated, IH's, mercs, my first V and barbers....shield came later in the turf. I can only imagine how beat that park is now. Oh yeah.....I was done with the tearout area and another guy showed up, there was 1 Pepsi can in the middle.... He asked me "did you check under that can?".... I replied "no"....he kicked the can away, ran his coil over the area, and popped a barber quarter!!! Lesson learned.....lol Just another thought..... In my time over there I never did get around to hitting the courthouse? Might be a good one if you've also not tried it? Maybe on a Sun. afternoon about supper time? One other thought....maybe do some research and find out where in the park/fort grounds area where the officers quarters where? Might be worth some door knocking on some of those fancy homes to find another gold coin? GOD I HATE door knocking....lol good luck......
    2 points
  14. My goals are to do my best and not be lazy (how can I be, I have an Equinox- LOL) dig it all machine. My other goal is to dive deeper into chemical cleaning of my beach silver and start to display the gold and silver rings. Generally to group, clean organize and label my better beach finds. Also on the list is to visit some new beaches and venture out a little bit farther. Also to sell a lot of equipment that I do not use and repair the equipment I do use. Some deep woods cellar hole hunting is on the list but not mandatory. I want to learn to enjoy the time detecting more and not be worried if I don't find much that day. This year is year 49 for the number of years I have been detecting, so my goal is to not get hurt before I get to 50
    2 points
  15. Thanks. If you look around and verify that you have a real GPX, you can get a good deal on one. I think I paid around $2460.00 on E bay. Are you in the states or Canada? I'm in western MA. If we are close enough we can hunt a beach and you can try it out. We can share the Pringles
    2 points
  16. I was in Oklahoma to see a friend and do some coin hunting together. I had my Sport a single frequency and he had a multi frequency with both of us having good luck detecting. My biggest trouble was swinging the Sport over 1 1/2 hours each day. The trouble before I went I hadn’t been hunting as often as I should to keep my right arm up to it. Getting older has played lots on shorting my time in the field. Tom I’ve been at this with White’s from the 60’s and I’d like to stay another 50. Haha I’ll need some help from White’s on my next detector. First like me I got to get some weight off the next one I buy . I love the looks of the Sport and I know I could go over to the MX 7 but it too comes up short. The thing I don’t like I can’t notch out just one number at a time. On the number of frequency I can hunt in is just not that important. I’ve found more coins with just it running in one frequency more than most can count. You can see I must have hit a penny farm. I hit two spots it was nothing but pennies coming up . I’d get tired of digging and my friend took over and dig up as many as I did. Chuck
    1 point
  17. Happy New Year! It has been a couple years of furious activity in a normally slow moving industry. We are in a Golden Age of detector hardware, with intense competition driving prices lower while fostering innovative new designs. Most of the action has been from manufacturers outside the U.S. - will 2019 be the year U.S. manufacturers strike back? It will be interesting but rumors are thin on the ground right now. New models appearing are niche models, like the new XP ORX, aimed at the gold prospectors. A new manufacturer has appeared, Tarsacci, with the new MDT 8000 that initially anyway seems to be aimed at beach hunters. The machine I most have my eye on is the upcoming Fisher Impulse AQ. I am satisfied with what VLF technology exists now, so all I need is a PI detector at least as powerful as a Garrett ATX in a housing weighing under 5 lbs. I sold my ATX and currently do not have a PI and am waiting on what Fisher has to show before deciding what to do about that. F75 replacement? I will believe it when I see it but the Aqua Manta is all but assured for 2019. I lobbied Garrett for years to make a LTX (Lightweight ATX) but to no avail. However, with the new AT Max just out it does make me wonder what Garrett has up their sleeve for 2019. If not a replacement for the embarrassingly long in the tooth GTI 2500 than perhaps my wished for lightweight ATX? A guy can hope but I am not holding my breath. Garrett has pushed single frequency as far as they can so their next step will be revealing. Minelab is still consolidating the Equinox rollout and a raft full of new gold machines in the last few years. They seem well set at the moment. I wish I could get a SDC 2300 in a Eureka Gold box but that is one wish I doubt will be granted. Nokta/Makro? They have long been known to be working on a PI detector so maybe the new Fisher Impulse AQ will have a competitor? It is almost 100% that Nokta/Makro will release a true multifrequency detector in 2019 so there will be that to look for. That and the soon to be released Nokta/Makro Simplex, a new low cost multipurpose detector. Tarsacci MDT 8000? I will let the beach and relic hunters sort that out. Tesoro is gone now so we can officially ignore them without feeling guilty about it. White's I will continue to hope beyond hope that a working version of the Half Sine Technology may finally appear. Fingers crossed as always, but the odds are low. One does get the sense that White's really does need to hit a home run however so the pressure is on to get it out the door. This could short circuit other developments above were it to actually happen. I’m not holding my breath however. XP just started shipping the new X35 coils and ORX model, so 2019 may be a quiet one for them. And with that, best wishes for a great 2019 to one and all!!
    1 point
  18. Pulled 1 last really cool find before years end. Went to a late 1800’s site and found a few keepers with the Equinox 800. My favorite is this Pre WW1 military dog tag. I don’t want to clean it up much more than is, but I think it says: MILTON P CROWE. L 1ST CAVALRY. If I understand it correctly, then the L is for Lieutenant. 1ST should be 1ST CAVALRY. Also saved this US Cavalry crossed sabers Insignia Pin, a nice large non primer rifle casing, an old lead bullet, Eagle Coat Button and then another “whats it” do-dad. It’s made of brass and has like a pull end with two guide lengths (sorry about my description, check the photo). Any help of ID or knowledge in it is appreciated as well. But the dog tag is the shits… Anyone familiar with old military dog tags and how to research them, please email me the site.
    1 point
  19. 1 point
  20. Hello everyone, I am sort of new here as far as posting but have been reading all the great info this forum has to offer since I joined. I also browse all the finds forums for motivation since there’s always some great treasure being posted. Once I figure out how to post pictures I will share some of my finds. I live in Southern California and I hope to meet some other Detectorist, until then I wish everyone a great holiday season. HH Oscar
    1 point
  21. The search was for VMS conductors but the little box you can see below the helicopter about half way between the coil and the 'copter is a magnetics measuring device. VMS conductors have both a conductive and magnetic signature, and the use of both is how they discriminate between a lot of other things that might show up. Nevada has a lot of aquifers in the ground where the water is a little salty. This means the aquifer will show up as conductive. But the salt water has no magnetic signature. VMS conductors have both. So functionally using both allows the explorer to discriminate between things that are valuable (like VMS ore bodies) and things that are not valuable (like salty water or bodies of iron ore that are magnetic but not conductive).
    1 point
  22. I like your goals Nox, especially the one to enjoy the time detecting more and not be worried about the actual finds that day. Good advice!! :) Tim.
    1 point
  23. I did contact Rob and ordered one. Thanks again.
    1 point
  24. Yes I’m familiar with C’dA park! Found my first Indian Head Cent there in 1992. I still have it somewhere. It’s really been beaten to death the last few years and is one of the toughest to pull an oldie out of in our area now. I need to take the Equinox back over there to see what my E-Trac and CTX missed. The reasons I mentioned the $2.50 Gold coin is because I was fortunate enough to find a $5.00 Gold Coin earlier this year. They come in right at the Indian Head range so I have a pretty good chance at finding those compared to the smaller $2.50 that might come in down in the 14-15 range just above nickel, which I tend to ignore because of the amount of aluminum that also resides there. Bryan
    1 point
  25. You are on the right track imho.... There's LOTS of good old Buffs & V's still out there as most guys won't mess with them because of the beavertails, etc. Once I figured out a place was done to my best abilities on the older silver, wheats, etc. I would then focus on nickels (and only chasing nickel signals would I ever stumble onto the gold ring by complete accident). My weakness is I HATE zinc so I miss a few IH's. Like you mentioned I also figured out that if I was digging modern junk coins I wasn't digging the older stuff I wanted so I started leaving shallow clad and zinc for the other guys...lol My old coins count came up as my clad count came down. I now hunt for nuggets only (but can't for some reason part with my eTrac?) and do miss coin shooting but not the distances I have to travel to successfully do it. Also can't take the people, sirens, dogs, folks bitching at you or asking questions, etc. As far as your gold coin finding goes (never found one myself) you might want to focus more on the $5 piece as it was more common? You are most likely familiar with C'dA city park and the Fort Grounds area. Back in the day Military enlisted were paid in silver...officers in gold. That park and ballpark across the road has given up some real nice old coins to me years ago (seated, V's, buffs, mercs, shield, barbers, IH's) and nobody gets em all.... You get that Nox figured and stick to your game plan I have no doubt you'll be rewarded in the end....GOOD LUCK!!!!!
    1 point
  26. Thanks BH. Hope to see you at the beach sometime. HH
    1 point
  27. Yes Klunker is correct---- it is a beast that inhabits the gold soil that will clean out you lungs, intestines, brain, ..... just about anything. It is correctly called a nematode, not to be confused with the CaneToad of Australia. Nematodes are the most numerous multicellular animals on earth. A handful of soil will contain thousands of the microscopic worms... cite: wiki something
    1 point
  28. Seems like i have seen that spot..... looks like so many others in NV eh
    1 point
  29. Thanks for the great 2018 Year in Review post GBA!! I will work on my summary this weekend. I too track all my finds, but not quite as detailed as you. I am definitely going to add the "pull tabs" column in my sheet for 2019. and +1 on the war nicks comment. I am amazed how many I found this year with the EQX! Great Year GBA! May 2019 be even better for you! Tim.
    1 point
  30. The voice behind the camera is "I Break For Bedrock" on YouTube.. He also writes as Adam H for ICMJ.. Swamp
    1 point
  31. Yeah, what this guy said.. Or x2, if you rather.. Swamp
    1 point
  32. Sorry I have not been as active online. We had two additions to the family and I have been busy with work. In 2018 White's released two new detectors, the TDI BeachHunter and the Goldmaster® 24k. I have been seeing some decent finds with both, in spite of the cold weather. How is White's doing compared to other US brands as far as releasing new products? There is increasing competition from offshore brands, and they set a high standard that all brands should aim to beat. Yes they have the benefit of corporate/government funding, but that's no excuse. Always room for improvement in this department, especially from the US manufacturers. Look what happened with Case/Komatsu and GMC/Toyota. Foreign competition breeds innovation. Multifrequency has been around for ages, ditto with PI. To me the big question in 2019 is - will a company will release something revolutionary?
    1 point
  33. If you want to know for certain most pawn shops can xrf it for a few bucks, the shop near me will do it for $5 and give me a print out of the reading.
    1 point
  34. You did good. The wife has first right of refusal over here as well. I love finding those old pocket watches. Is it fully intact? You also got a lot of Buffs and those are particularly hard to find as are the Indians. I'm surprised you dug less pull tabs then the previous year even though you got out more. Keeping records a good thing I wish I had the drive to do it. I have a buddy who has keep a record of every duck he has shot for the past 20 years! strick
    1 point
  35. Oscar " Cheers from 10f Central Idaho....Welcome and You'll learn Alot here! ?Ig
    1 point
  36. When the ID flashes a good number or two, along with undesirable numbers, I dig it. So many times I have dug up coins and bits of trash in the same hole. The detector was correctly ID' ing all the items. Its so fast and seperates so well, it took a bit to get used to this type of performance ! Love my EQ800!
    1 point
  37. Good luck, Dave. I hope the plan turns out to be prosperous. Hopefully you'll need to upgrade the rear suspension on the Troopie, Phil
    1 point
  38. Happy New Year to you Steve and all the forum readers. This is the first site I visit on a daily basis and have really appreciated the information provided. Thank you, Bugler
    1 point
  39. robsdetectorsales also sells them, that's where I got mine, price was the same as everywhere else, fast shipping and a nice guy to talk to
    1 point
  40. Happy New Year and Welcome to the forum Oscar from Southern California.
    1 point
  41. I did the update when it came out. My next trip to the beach , on my first signal, the ID was all over the place. Jumping from 12 to the high 20's and everything in between. I thought, man this update sure sucks. I dug up the target anyway, and it was a 12 coin spill in a 6" area. Nickels, pennies, dimes and quarters. OK no wonder why the ID was all over the place!! LOL. Update is working fine. I get a laugh every time I think back to my first target with the new update!
    1 point
  42. Happy new year to all fellow detectorist . A great place here to learn, share, and grow as a detectorist, very happy to be apart of this great community.
    1 point
  43. I found the identical ring that you have pictured in the upper right hand corner.
    1 point
  44. My ring finds 2018, all silver, no gold for me this year.
    1 point
  45. Late to the party! I look back and realize that I did not make one hunt specific to jewelry in 2018, an amazing gap for me. I got too caught up in detector testing the last couple years, and my own detecting suffered for it. I did get lots of junk and low grade jewelry as accidental bycatch while testing in tot lots however. Here is my favorite "accidental" find, a small sterling silver ring with a small opal. Looks like jewelry detecting is a priority for me in 2019....
    1 point
  46. I belong to a club in Phoenix which was founded in 1970 or 1971, Our meetings draw about 40 members on average. Club hunts about the same or a bit less. I doubt that more than 20% of our members know how many frequencies or what frequencies their detectors use. Likewise I doubt that more than 10% of them replace their machines in any given year. The total market for high end hobbiest detectors is really pretty limited and I seriously doubt that any company can survive selling only to that market. Minelab saw the writing on the wall for multi-thousand dollar pricing for high end machines - anybody who wants to charge significantly more than $1000 for a hobby metal detector has to offer something really special. Right now it is hard to see what that would be for even dedicated hobbiest. Current technology, including simultaneous multifreaker machines, offer nothing totally new in field performance. The Equinox hit the sweet spot - offering general detecting performance along with respectable salt beach and nugget hunting capabilities. That makes it very appealing at the price. I believe that “table stakes” for >$500 detectors now includes water resistance, ability to use wireless phones, and high residence to EMI. >$1000 price levels probably need to add multiple frequencies and respectable salt beach performance - which in turn means likely multi freq at the same time - either simultaneous or sequential. If you want to charge >$1500 you need even more. Advanced technology to make a real change in field performance. I’m thinking of changes like significantly superior unmasking - more than mere adjacent target separation - but actually defeating “silent masking” where a tiny bit of ferrous can mask a deeper nonferrous target. Also looking for greater depth in bad ground without losing ID capability at depth. Salt beach machines have shown no real improvement since the introduction of multifreakers like the CZ, BBS/FBS machines of decades ago. When you consider that Minelab can charge more than $6k for a nugget detector and you consider that a good season at the beach will likely bring in more gold than your average nugget hunter will see in many seasons, there is still a market for >$2000 salt beach machines which offer increased depth, small target sensitivity and usable iron ID - on any beach - including ones which look like this - which kill the depth on all current VLF detectors including current multifreakers.
    1 point
  47. All the current Teknetics metal detector models have now been added to the Metal Detector Database with User Reviews. If you have owned any of these Teknetics models please help others by leaving a review. Discontinued Teknetics models will be added in the future. For an explanation of the Metal Detector Database with User Reviews visit this link Teknetics T2 Classic metal detector
    1 point
  48. All the current Fisher metal detector models have now been added to the Metal Detector Database with User Reviews. If you have owned any of these Fisher models please help others by leaving a review. Discontinued Fisher models will be added in the future. I have most new Bounty Hunter models done but still have a few to go, and have made a bare start on the Teknetics models, but placeholders exist for them and reviews can be left. For an explanation of the Metal Detector Database with User Reviews visit this link Click for larger version..... 2016 Fisher metal detector models (latest available catalog)
    1 point
  49. G'day, I have been a very lucky guy to have been using the new Equinox 15x12" coil . I decided not to tease anyone with threads about it until it was out there and becoming available to the public. As they are starting to trickle through now I will now say what a awesome coil this coil this thing is. Light for size, very sensitive for a big coil, good pinpointing and really great depth ( depth at the beach amazes me and gives me a workout to dig targets ), Its Spring here and I am just getting back into the water with the warmer temperatures so hopefully some gold jewellery will fall in my scoop . Even though Winter at the beach here is a bit slow, I have done some wet sand + some shallow saltwater hunting when some very low tides occurred. This 15" coil is stable (as good as the 11") in the saltwater and IMHO it is not difficult to swing underwater in light - medium wave action. Most of my hunting has been for modern coins in parklands and a few beach hunts. I have found stacks of $1 and $2 coins and almost least one ring every time that I have had it out...most have been silver - one gold ring to date. The 11" coil has not been back on my Eq800 since I have had the 15" , the bigger coverage it provides suits my style of hunting very well. So if you are thinking of a good Christmas present for yourself this is one that I highly recommend and is one that will probably pay for itself in no time. cheers from Downunder and happy hunting ?
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