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Thanks Wes, I appreciate that. Detecting is a small part of my life and not the most important, but I love it. It does get crazy at times but then so do I! Bottom line is outside of just wanting this to be a safe place to trade gear I really do detest thieves.

Great pictures JW! All that tiny gold sniffed out, amazing!! Love seeing a bit of your neck of the woods too. All the best, Lanny

NUGGET SHOOTER JOURNALS Published on Feb 12, 2019 - In this video I am using the Minelab Equinox 800 in "gold 1", sensitivity "16 to 18", Multi IQ, and auto tracking. Rest of the settings are stock. It amazes me what this little beast if a VLF detector will do in hot ground (minerals) and finding the smallest bits of gold for the operator. Beautiful area with lots of Agate and other cool stuff just laying on the ground.

Hi All. The truth of this matter is that I don't know the answer. I am a brand spanking new 69 1/2 yo who is not only new to this blog but to this hobby. I have never owned a metal detector. I have a technical water background. I am excited - not (completely) intimidated - by the vast choices available. I could use some guidance. I noticed below that fredmason lived in Portola ... my current residence. I dearly love this place when I am not moving snow. This is shaping up to be a banner runoff spring. Perhaps Fred, you could answer the survey question for me. ? How long a drive do I have to find gold? I also have a friend who wants to relic hunt with me. Or more accurately, justs wants to explore possible old camps or flash flood areas in NV with Reno being roughly our southern latitude. I am looking at a used original TDI with 2 coils as a good tool to grow younger with. Also looking at the Equinox 800, Deus, and Nokta/Makro Anfibio or Impact??? I will positively 100% appreciate any suggestions because I am itching to buy my first machine and answer this question based on personal experience. So, based on my location and that I want to focus on gold when on my own, but would love to explore desert NV also what do you all think of my options? BTW, I feel very fortunate to have discovered this site. I have been pouring over it for HOURS and the camaraderie and goodwill here seems all too rare these days and is a much-appreciated breath of fresh air. Thanks, Curtis

Steve I don’t know where you find the time to be so vigilant along with posting your comments and advice and still have time to detect and have a life. I assure you it is appreciated. Thanks, Wes.

Few things to consider waiting for the storms and foul weather to pass...

And then I have to verify it how? It's a free service I offer and I am doing more than most out there to deter scammers, but the bottom line is it is 100% on the purchaser as far as I am concerned. There are very simple ways to protect yourself, but people are easily hooked with offers of good deals, and common sense goes out the window. I can't be responsible for any of that, and as a free service if I am to be some kind of 24/7 monitoring service..... kiss the Classifieds goodbye. I appreciate the suggestion, truly, but I think we just had a couple isolated incidents. There were no issues here for years and I am sure this will pass. The scammers do get the message that there are easier forums etc. to go after than mine.

Welcome to the forum! The Equinox is a high end, high performance detector priced like a mid-range detector. It is not hard to learn if you stay with the presets and lower the sensitivity if it is unstable. Take your time to simply dig things and match what you are finding with how the machine was reporting it. It is a little bit like learning a musical instrument. Grasping the basics is not hard but true skill comes with practice. The best part is you are unlikely to outgrow the Equinox. The power is there you just have to learn to harness it. Good luck and thanks for joining the forum!

I haven't been real impressed with the gold hog. I have more confidence in rifles and expanded steel over corrugated carpet.

These are what I ordered. They appear to be the exact same as minelab minus the logo Miccus [Upgraded] aptX TV Bluetooth Wireless Headphones v4.2 Over Ear, Listen in HD NO DELAY, Low Latency, Noise Isolating Headset with Mic for Phone

Chuck, not the sluice itself, but I borrowed this setup for settling tanks I found on a video on the interned. the guy made his system based on an ancient crop irrigation technique. I’m using 3 office trash cans and some black ABS pipe, the 45 bend on the end of the black ABS U shaped pipe keeps the syphon so after filling the tubes you can easily lower them into the water. I’m just filtering waste water into my garden so when running a sluice the pump drops into the 3rd tank instead of the drain like I have it now for the sink in my ceramic studio. link to video: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=sluice+recirculating+tanks&&view=detail&mid=B4E10A56C2C3FD049A95B4E10A56C2C3FD049A95&&FORM=VRDGAR

I figured requiring ten posts before you even get to post an ad would make too much work. This clown apparently copied stuff from other forums and posted here as his, that made him look real when it was just copy/paste other people’s content. I just want people to be able to get access to some free advertising to swap gear but these idiots try to horn in. Luckily the volume in the classifieds is low enough I can watch each new add for signs of trouble. There are good protections people should always use. I always use PayPal and even then only to confirmed addresses, etc. the fees are trivial to getting ripped off just once. I like eBay for similar reasons. I lean into the protections while most people seem fixated on avoiding fees. The bottom line is I try but it really is a “buyer beware” thing and people have to be cautious in this day and age online. And I have no way to block a longtime member suddenly going off the rails on us as recently happened. Still no idea what was up with that but in the end it was another “family and friends” thing between people who were neither family nor friends. May as well just mail cash and cross your fingers!

I think it would be a good idea to have a thread just for after maket Bluetooth headphones for the Equinox as there must be many many different ones out there if people could give their views on what they have bought and what improvement they have over the ML80's. I have bought these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A0EAYDI/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1 advantage over ML80's much better low tones (no boom sound) better overall tones (tighter) they are super comfortable and have much larger ear muffs the head band fit is great if you have a larger head they are slightly lower in volume but not by much than the ML80's.

The wife and I sometimes like to bring home some dirt from the foot hills and run it on through a recirculating sluice at our leisure...(after work on our front porch with a beer) if you get the picture. The one I built several years ago is getting tired and I was wondering how others set theirs up? is there a better sluice set up already made from the factory? I've been hearing about this gold cube sluice? any and all recommendations are appreciated. The pic below (copied off the internet) is kinda like how we had ours set up.. strick

Haven't hunted much this year. I think this was my second or third outing. This is a weird site. I started hunting it back in 2004. Back then I was just starting out and was happy to get lots of clad and this site gave me a lot of clad back then. It has been stingy on jewelry but I found foreign coins there ( I like finding foreign coins) and so I'd hunt it three or four times a year. I'm not a clad snob. It pays for my battery money and I enjoy the extra hundred bucks every year. Anyway... My first gold ring from this site came out of there back in 2017. In 2018 I found another, and Sunday morning I found two more and a little silver locket. So the gold finds have been recent. Guess I should have taken a picture of the Canadian dime and 50 cent Euro coin I found too but I didn't. The first ring is small. 10K JTS hallmark. Don't know if its a diamond or a topaz. I suspect its Topaz as its white in the light. Its child size or could be tiny woman. The second ring is 14K, and looks to be part of a set. Its woman sized. The locket is .925 These were found with the Tesoro Compadre running the Cleansweep coil (I modified my Compadre so I could swap coils). Both rings were one way signals and at least half flattened. I worked them back into roundness. Anyway....I love coming home with gold in my pouch. Even better with two gold and some silver. HH Mike

I finally broke down and bought my first metal detector. I caught the gold bug while working at my last job. I worked for a company that sat on huge piles of dredge tailings and it also had a creek that ran through the property. I used to pan the creek sometimes during the week and pick up some minor gold. The whole process was very enjoyable and it got me started on the path of researching old CA gold mines. I bought the Minelab 800. So far it has been a bit of a learning curve, but this is the first detector I have ever used. Im sure it will probably get better with some practice.

Hello, I am a new member from New England. I am interested in Relic Hunting and Metal Detecting.

I have found nuggets weighing under 1/10th grain (1/4800th Troy Ounce) with at least a dozen different detector models. I get stuff that weighs less (my digital powder scales only go down to a tenth grain) and so I honestly don't know about anything under that. It's not worth it to me to get a scale accurate enough to weigh gold I used to toss back in the creek when gold panning.

This is not one of "those" forums. The goal here is to inform, not paranoia about people defecting to other forums. Post links at will - please - to relevant subjects. A significant amount of my time is spent chasing down and editing posts to provide the links people are not making themselves. Tarsacci added to the Detector Database....

2/17/19 update - Dealers may have no more than two ads at any one time, and ads not updated after 30 days may be removed. Ads by individuals still will remain for at least 90 days. Please monitor and update ads folks - they are your ads, not mine. I normally lets ads ride for a longer period of time, but as they drift into "page 2" they are generally so old I just delete them.

You could require a phone # and physical address for people placing ads on the admin side hidden from the public. That might discourage some the scammers.

I bought these cheap Blackweb earbuds at Walmart for hands free stuff around the house. They work surprisingly well with 12 hours battery time. Remembered they were APTX and hooked them up to the Nox and they work/sound great. Really didn't notice any lag in sound. Probably use them this summer. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Blackweb-Wireless-Bluetooth-Neckband-Earbuds-Black/824868544

I picked up a little Royal stream sluice I’m planning to use with the trash bins and ABS pipe, I still need to order a 12v bilge pump and fashion a little header box for it then add some flexible water line, Everything except the battery for the bilge pump will fit inside the stacked trash bins without taking up to much space in the Jeep.

Jin, Thank you very much for those links. I've been getting the official Victoria State Maps loaded on my phone. Prospecting Areas Maps: Beechworth Historic Park Castlemaine Diggings National Heritage Park Chiltern-Mt Pilot National Park Greater Bendigo National Park and Bendigo Regional Park Heathcote-Graytown National Park Kara Kara National Park Kooyoora State Park Maldon Historic Area Paddys Ranges State Park Wychitella Nature Conservation Reserve

Thanks fellas for the replies. Watched the video. Interesting set up Clark I think I might try two containers as we dont have that much room on the porch... Coyote the modified wheel barrel is a great idea. I have one on it's last leg that can be modified. Klunker thanks for the insight 'm gonna look at some different set ups. We've been using Lisa's minnie Keene sluice. strick

My neck of the woods, up close to 7000 ft. elevation. (Two pack mules of the hydrocarbon variety in the background.) Bottom, slightly left of centre, pretty tiny, can't recall the weight, Gold Bug Pro. (A dime is a dime is a dime in US and Canada, same size for comparison.) Smallest pieces here, sub-gram, all nuggets found with Minelab X-Terra 705, a somewhat interesting machine that if you go low and slow enough in ground that's producing nuggets, it just might surprise you as it did me with the tiny stuff it would find with the DD coil (the tiny stuff was extremely close to the surface however). All the best, Lanny

The GM 1000 and EQX 800 weigh about the same, and yet, one is markedly more comfortable to swing than the other, IMHO. It's mostly about shaft length - the longer "the lever", more support is needed. I had a piece of 25mm * 500mm carbon fiber shaft from a previous project, so I acquired a 1" * 7/8" telescoping collar lock from "rods by plugger" and got to work. I removed the original upper piece and swapped the components to the CF shaft. I had to spread the nylon clamps a bit, but that's about it - adjustable, telescoping, and comfortable. The lower shaft fits like a champ, and every thing so far looks good. Just thought I would share, thanks for reading.

I picked up a pair of these in mid-December. They work great for my hunting style and conditions. I’ve read comments from others that they aren’t great audio-wise, but I’m hard of hearing and I probably can’t hear the nuances they do. They pair easily right out of the box, and I don’t experience any noticeable (to me, at least) latency.

Humans are the worst people on earth. due to frivolous liability actions and disrespect for other peoples property the same is happening around here.

Here is my set up. I have replaced the sluice box itself with a Angus MacKirk drop sluice box.

Welcome! You sound just like me - I just bought the Equinox too. ? -Julie in So Cal

I'd like to know what actually work's? three or four times now I get lost in these after market bluetooth headphone topic's only to come out more confused...this one works now it don't... working but not in low latency...marketed as low latency but really is not...trying to get my money back.... lol it's all got my head spinning maybe I'm not looking hard enough strick

Welcome to the forum 33 from Southern California. Good luck with the new Equinox. It’s a great detector.

This is one I got with the 7000 last year. Everything has to be just right to pick one up these up. I am sure I walk over pounds of them so I can find one. I am sure that Kiwijw can beat it though. I think he has found pounds of these.

I am camping on top of it ?

Hi Mitchel Geovic and geological maps are all you need to find prospecting locations in Victoria. Do your research at home and mark all your intended prospecting spots onto a GPS before arriving here. Otherwise, you'll find yourself driving around in an unfamiliar area and wasting a lot of time. Geovic - The youtube videos below show a basic overview of how to use it. If you need help understanding anything related to Geovic just ask. Make sure you activate the reefs and contour layers, they help a lot in understanding where gold may have shed. http://earthresources.vic.gov.au/earth-resources/maps-reports-and-data/geovic Geological maps covering a lot of the golden triangle http://earthresources.efirst.com.au/categories.asp?cID=30&c=164920 Another good resource for researching - Trove is a digital Newspaper archive that has a lot of useful information from the old mining days. https://trove.nla.gov.au/ Pandora has a lot of information about the history of mining in Victoria. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/col/13063#13065 Hope some of this info helps you out.

Pinpointer Profind 35 is on sensitivity 3 - equally more sensitive and has the same - more range than older Profind 25 ... at maximum sensitivity - 5 .. I have slightly mineralized terrain that is changed from often working with Profind35 on sensitivity 4-5 without any problems ... on more difficult terrains I have a sensitivity of 3-4 ... and it's ok .. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Test:- Frequency response - In strong mineralization ... I tried to do similar tests of 9.6-gram silver coin :-2 pesetas 1882 Alfonzo XII .. in depth 3.5 "= 9cm in Black sand ... very strong mineralization is 7 bar Fe3O4- measured on Teknetics G2 .. Testing Whites Spectra V3 detector and 6x4 shooter coil .., - detector settings Whites Spectra V3: best data, program Hi-pro,recovery delay 70 ,,7.5hz-12.5hz band ground filter ,optimal Rx gain= 1- 2 max..., .. DS 70-95 ... The test was done on 3F multifrequency, but I also did the tests on separate 1F frequencies: 2.5khz- 7.5Khz- 22.5khz ... Multifrequency pointing to 3F signagraf- as good signals on 22.5kHz and 7.5kHz, ... but for 22.5kHz - no positive signal ... Practicals similarly hit tests on 1f frequencies ...- on tests on 2.5khz and 7.5khz i got nice signals ... on at 22.5khz frequency I could not get any reasonably positive result. A similar test is repeated on 3-gram Gold ring of 3.5"-9cm depth in black sand.... I will see the results of the gold test .. Due to the strongly mineralized 7 bar Fe3O4-Black Sand I used the same setting for Spectra V3 as in the silver coin test: 3F multi fa tiez 1F. Frequencies, Hi-Pro program, best data, 7.5hz-12.5hz band filter, recovery delay 70, optimal Rxgain was 1-2 ... because setting Rxgain to 5 = caused overload, Ds 70-95 ... In Spectra at 3F multi frequency this test in the gold ring was shown as the best signals on the 22.5khz signagraf and also the 7.5khz frequency ... On the 2.5khz frequency they were practically not well signals ... also the signal control on the 3f pinpoint showed as the strongest the signal was at 22.5 khz, then 7.5 khz and the weakest response had a signal at 2.5khz ... With the 1F Frequency Test at the frequencies, the best frequency was 22.5khz, then 7.5khz. and at the lowest frequency 2.5kzh I practically received no response to the gold ring ... Test Summary: Using the correct frequency on the metal detector greatly affects the correct detection of the signal from the type of the subject in the ground ... The Spectra V3 in 3F- multifrequency has been shown to be the most versatile of both types of gold and silver ... in the highly mineralization conditions. In the 1.F- test, the average 7.5khz frequency showed the universal frequency - with good signals on the silver coin and the 3-gram gold ring - on medium size objects.

I ll be there from the 22nd Feb. up to the 10th o f march.........did try to contact a few "Tour" peeps but no luck .........next is maybe to contact a shop........anyway If I buy a Nox use it for 2 weeks bring it back to the UK and sell it I still could make a profit ,enough tot buy a pair of Redback boots.................................... . Gonna be fun RR

I compared how the discrimination setting works to accept from-2 to +40 ID ...- and its influence on the ID display on the Equinox screen versus ID in allmetal - horseshoe ... Tested in strongly mineralized Black-sand -7bar Fe3O4- measured Teknetick G2-11DD "coil at 50 eurocent coin in depth 3.5" - 9cm ... Equinox 800 -and 6"coil- in Ground Balance : is value 2GB.., recovery speed4-5-6,...sensitivity 17-18..,iron bias 0.... and programs Park1,Park2, Feld1,Field2, Beach1.. After testing the Equinox 800 on a 6 "coil ..say : To set a certain degree : IN ...Discrimination:.. in my case from the Accept of -2 ID to + 40 IDs : Signal -Its still, ..much better,... and more visually stabble-, non-ferrous+ID.. in the range...of +20- to +25 ID... and also nice "non-ferrous "sound ... IN... Allmetal : I also received a non-ferrous sound ... but the ID on the screen very often and regularly showed the iron ID .. = - 7 ID, -6 ID and .. sometimes positive non-ferrous 20-25ID also appeared. So after this test... : I verify ..."Fully open discrimination = Allmetal" : can limit correct display of "non-ferrous +ID "- when it comes to complicated signals - while in an audio signal you are still hearing a nice non-iron signal ... So the appropriate setting of Discrimination - certainly helps in such a situation .. - Limit the negative impact on defining the correct ID in complicated terrain conditions. So this setting of discrimination from -3, -2 to +40 ID will still be perfect separating properties ...

I post these Facebook embeds from time to time. If you are not a Facebook user you may or may not see the photos.

Check out " detect man " on UTube he is a French man testing out the Equinox Nox 800 and the Gold Monster for nugget hunting in the African jungle, and see how many gold nuggets he finds with the NOx and 11 inch coil! Detect man has many vids on his UTube channel, look for the one of his African gold expedition.

I took a group of eager dreamer diggers (swinging wide fast and wild) the last year they ran commercial groups and one of the memories came on the last day. Most of us had broke our detectors down and packed them away for flights out of camp. One of my Field Staff Experts (we'll call him Spencer) was not about to give in so easily. Anyway, Spencer is in front of camp and we sees he's been at one hole for quite some time and picked down a foot+ in a hole. Eventually, he's walking back to get a long handled, deep gold digger shovel... with a sly grin and hope. Well it gets my interest, so I walk out there expecting to see him sweat out another piece of tailing trash...as many of us had done. He commence digging another foot+ and finally has the thing out of the hole. Trying to locate an almost 1 pound mini boulder in a pile of rocks with a GPX and monster sized coil at close distance is certainly an ear cleaner...most certain. Ended up being...you know how it usually goes, but not so fast my friend.... it's time to break out the gin.

coin spader Published on Dec 25, 2018 - Cold and windy Christmas eve hunt with a great detector. ( pardon the wind noise, did my best to keep it down)

I’m really liking the new Goldmaster 24k, a very versatile VLF gold machine with innovative ground balancing technology and adjustable feature set. It’s lightweight, well balanced, very stable at high sensitivity with minimal coil bump falsing, has a pleasant tone, and won’t easily tip over when sitting on the ground. And the machine's versatility is enhanced by its DD and concentric coil options.

I have been metal detecting for over 45 years now and have waited decades for a metal detector like the Equinox 800. Until now the so-called "do-it-all" multipurpose metal detectors have been very limited in one fashion or another. In particular, there has been a wide gap between metal detectors that can handle saltwater very well and those that are very good at gold nugget prospecting. Waterproof detectors have also tended to be feature limited in the past, heavy, and usually expensive. I primarily prospect for gold nuggets, and hunt for coins and jewelry both in parks and at the beach / in the water. Historically I have needed different detectors for water hunting and for gold prospecting. Suffice it to say that the Minelab Equinox 800 is the first detector I have owned that can do all the types of detecting I like to do, and do it very well, if not better than other detectors. Add in the fact that it is waterproof, has built in wireless headphone capability, and is incredibly affordable, and you have a detector that pleases me more, and in more ways, than any other I have ever owned.

This is exactly what would happen, I like my 800 though and don't want to give it up!

Well there are such things being tested at present, so hopefully they will get to market before winter is over and then we can see what can be done, To be polite I think that the VLF market has been left Wanting for quite a few years now and the that market continues to grow but with very little response from certain areas, The Detector in My head is a lot better than the ones in the shops

Yeah well with all due respect to Carl Moreland, Dan Geyer (may he rest in peace), John Plautz and John Earle not a thing has changed since that article was written in 2009. To get more depth from a VLF requires it to not be a classic VLF as we currently understand it. I have never said anywhere above more depth is not possible, just that is has not happened since 1990 (or earlier). I actually do think we will see something soon, but in the form of hybrid technology that blurs the lines between VLF and PI. The GPZ is just such a beast and it does get the depth, but lacking accurate discrimination raw depth has obvious limitations.

As many of you know I owned the placer operations at Moore Creek Mine in Alaska for many years. We ran a very successful "pay-to-mine" operation there. I am still an owner of the lode portion of the property but sold the placer and pay-to-mine operation in the winter of 2009. As part of the deal with the new owners I was to run the first week of the pay-to-mine with them on hand to show them the ropes and ease the transition. Gerry McMullen of Gerry's Detectors booked a group in the first week of 2010, my last week of running the show. Real nice group, and some very proficient operators, a guy named Spencer among them. It was a great week with a pile of gold found, but like all good things had to draw to a close. On the last day everyone was out looking one last time, and Spencer got a signal directly across the pond from the camp in an area where quite a bit of gold had been found in the past. The little pile there was pretty well mowed flat, but Spencer got a nice faint low tone target. He dug. And dug. And dug. Now to his credit he knew there was also some deep trash in the immediate area, and the tone was more likely to be junk than a big nugget. And he was tired. But he came over to the camp and borrowed a long handle shovel and went back to it. It was his last target and he was going to finish it. I am in camp and I hear some whooping and hollering. Spencer hit the big time! He had dug a lot of gold in his nugget detecting career, but the nearly one pound nugget he had just found blew away his previous finds for size! It is always fun being around something like that. The excitement is infectious. I went over to see the hole and frankly it was amazing. We all sat around taking pictures and here is one I got of Spencer standing in the hole the nugget came out of. The nugget weighed in at 11.88 ounces. Spencer with 11.88 Ounce Nugget at Moore Creek, Alaska (click on photo for larger version) The nugget was found with a Minelab GPX 4500. There was over 30 ounces of gold found that week and Spencer's was one of the larger ones ever found in my years at the mine - it was nice to go out with a bang. Spencer really earned that nugget though, many people would have decided it was a can and walked away. More about Spencer Sadly the new owners were not able to keep the pay-to-mine going. Hosting people in the middle of nowhere Alaska is not for everyone and 2010 was the last summer people could pay to visit the mine. The owners shifted to a pure mining operations and were successfully operating through the end of last season. I may stop out and visit them this summer. Has to be another big nugget lurking at Moore Creek!