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Yeah, that is so sad....haha I remember several years ago Jonathan was complaining that he had to dig an hour or so for a one-plus oz nugget... You can do that in OZ. fred

The ugly nugget patch is still producing, snagged this beauty this morning. I have dollied 100g of chunks but havent finished it off yet, I needed a beer ?

Well a sad day in WA---- I understand we ONLY got 120 gms out of the boulder...... Only 120gms...... Hahahahaahahaha---WA has spoilt me for sure ?

You gave this coin it’s true value Gerry. This value is perpetually increasing with the viewing of the coin and the telling of the story. Mike

I recently got carried away and added some off topic info and photos to a post when I asked about Where are all the Beach Finds. TMox & GB_Amateur shared info that was good. Sorry for adding some off topic stuff, so I edited and am starting a new post. Is the true value of a find, what someone is willing to pay or is it what you feel it is worth? I think it is a little of both and here is my spin. I was chasing big gold nuggets at a well known Big Gold Mining camp in AK 10+ years ago. In fact, it was Steve who talked me into going there as he knew I was pretty good with a detector. Back in the day when he and I were both Minelab Dealers (when he worked for a living), we used to bump stories and detector knowledge off each other. Anyway, I found a beauty of a coin in the old original part of the camp which is upstream from the current camp. It was an 1882 Morgan Silver Dollar. I was so excited to recover this piece of history and it was only my 3rd or 4th silver dollar find in my carrier, at that time. Well when I got back camp and showed the other nugget hunters and the families who owned the mine, I could tell they really wanted it, especially Mrs. Wiltz. She even offered to buy it from me for $100. Now this is when the value comes in. At the time and current, the 1882 Morgan Dollar in that condition would probably sell for $20 to $30. But yet I have one of the Mine owners offering me 3 to 5X is book value? My heart wanted to keep her happy, but I could not let it go so easy. Finding a Morgan silver dollar is extremely rare (even though there are millions, YES- millions) with a metal detector at an old site. $100 is a great offer and I would never get that same from a coin store. But when you don't need the money, it doesn't mean as much. I declined, as I told her I wanted to take it home and share with my dad, the same guy who helped me learn detectors as a young kid back in the early 70's, my mentor. I also wanted to enter it into the Metal Detecting Club - Finds of the Month Contest. Fast forward to the following Summer of 2006. I took it back up there and to this day (I think anyway) it is still hanging on the wall up for everyone to see. The memories, shakes, natural high I was going though when dug was priceless. Letting my father flip that coin a few times (amongst the much more valuable gold nuggets) while I told the story and watching him light up as he was so proud of me, was worth it. Getting to tell the story over again at the metal detecting meeting and of course winning the "Best Coin of the Month" category, was worth it. Seeing the smile on Mrs Wiltz face when I handed the plaque to her, was worth it. Heck, I spent close to $300 for the custom matting and framing....and it was worth every penny of it. A $20 coin worth Memories of a lifetime is the true value in my mind. 1st 3 pics are of the Frame, the silver dollar, with certificate and photos of find. Last 2 shots are actual pics of the moment I dug it up. I'll never forget that day. What's your thoughts of true value?

Hello! My name is Paul. I live in Perm. It is east of Moscow in 1000 km. My device (1) Garrett AT PRO ... American version. My device (2) Whites Spectra V3i Vision. I have a lot of interesting finds. I'll be glad to new acquaintances.

Hi Swegin, Yes read the manual. A lot of good info in there. He talks a lot about his adventures, starting since a young age with his dad in the depression era, to late 90's when he published. Would love to see more history published from the guys been doing this 30+ years. I love reading Steve Herschbach's adventures here on the forum, and from others. Dave

Terrible, tis criminal, Trent there you are sweating it out in isolation while your Pitt Street Partners living the high life...………….

What a great story. Some one lost it, you found it, shared it with your dad and others and finally returned it to Mrs. Wiltz. You simply cannot get greater value than that for one dollar... fred

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

This is the smallest my mate got that I know he detected, but whether he got any other nuggets is unknown as he left the area.?

Hello Gerry… I completely agree with you, and especially so to the idea that very frequently how we assign a value to a recovered item is based on many possible facets that may totally exclude any monetary value consideration. You were motivated by a wish to share both your coin and the experience involved with finding it with your Dad, and to subsequently enter your club’s monthly finds contest. I might add that there had to be a very real sense of accomplishment, and that to me is one of the essentials that keep many of us interested in the hobby. That aside, it was an extraordinary find, involved a wonderful story, and you deserve all the credit in the world. The most important consideration for many of us has to be what you feel a recovered item is worth to you. As you’ve stated above, when you don’t need the money, it doesn’t mean as much or anything to you. It may therefore be very difficult to assign a monetary value because an item may appeal to us for many other reasons as noted above. We may feel that the probability of finding another such item of similar age or condition is highly unlikely. Older coins, particularly silver coins may appeal to us aesthetically and / or for reasons of historical interest. Other more practical considerations that might factor into the equation may include the time invested, personal expense, travel involved, effort with searching multiple sites, motivating oneself to do the research and get into the field, and the fieldcraft (and luck) that ultimately made that specific recovery possible. And there are doubtless many other reasons why different people place a high “value” on their various finds regardless of monetary considerations. Attached is a multi-photo of more modern coins and tokens to point out that none of these examples are worth more than a few dollars apiece, but yet these are some of my favorite finds. I couldn’t possibly part with them and it obviously has nothing to do with monetary value. They represent successes that resulted directly from my research efforts and fieldcraft. There is a feeling of accomplishment, and that is the primary “value” that matters most to me.................Jim.

So i love building innovative equipment for prospecting almost as much as i love prospecting. I usually try and build things that solve problems that i see with current designs or builds that help me get to hard to reach places. One of my biggest issues with any high-banker/ mini trommel set up is that regardless of the size of the hopper and depending on the angle you would either have baby feed material in from a five gallon bucket or you would be clearing off the grizzly bars constantly with your hands or a combination of the two. Ive noticed most of the big equipment fed plants and trommels use a vibrating feed system to provide a nice even feed of material regardless of the amount dumped in the hopper. But i have found that no one makes a system like this for smaller equipment and small scale prospectors, so i decided to build my own small version and see how it works. This video is the first time out testing my build and i will say it needs some modifications, but the overall concept worked amazing. My buddy and me couldnt keep up with feeding it, probably need about 4 people shoveling into it. It will take up to three 3/4 full 5 gallon buckets at a time. Should be an awesome tool for leveling old tailing piles, and when paired with a mini trommel should really help with emulsifying clay. Hope you all enjoy the video, please comment and let me know what you think, and like, share and subscribe as well!

My carbon fiber equinox shaft from www.stevesdetectorrods.com was shipped on friday and was in my hands today(monday) and it really makes the equinox feel top notch, no wobble just really solid.Steve was great to buy from...

I hadn't posted the patent number. So here it is for you guys that might want to take a look at the construction, and operational details. US10159988 B1 I should mention that building one of these, even for personal use, is forbidden under the new patent laws that went into effect in 2012. Jim

Thanks Jason, it was good seeing ya last weekend. I wish I had a mentor when I first started, I havent been gold hunting as long as others here, only 17 years. I learned myself, and it was a year before I got my first piece. When I'm to old to do it anymore, Im gonna write everything, with locations for examples, and the research I've done, where I went, and what I found along the way.... Love the idea on the backhoe, and would love to throw the GPR in there for those deep bedrock dips ?... Kick ass out there, oh and we like those videos ?. Dave.

Nice story (and find), Gerry. As you show, it's easier to put a price on an inanimate object than the value it brings overall. You got three for the 'price' of one. No one can ever take away the fact that you found a Morgan dollar. What you do with it is independent of that. Thanks for sharing and enlightening us.

Thanks for reply Gerry, WesD, Lunk n JasonG .... I bet Jim Straight might also know him. Ben talks about hunting placer gold fields to include Northern Nevada, Northern California, Quartzsite, Rich Hill area since 1947.... Need to get a few more of the old prospectors to write their memories down before its gone into the golden pastures... I know when my prospecting legs get to tired, I will be releasing all my info I know, documented mostly on google earth... for others to learn from. Dave

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.

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

Whites GMT, Many Years before the Monster was even a dream in a designers mind !

Golden Grams of Goodness: Part 1 November is not usually a time of year that I get to chase the gold, as by the time November rolls around the ground usually requires some dynamite or some equally powerful force to break through the frost to get to the gold. However, this year has been a year of exceptions. In September, we had early snow and frost with well below seasonal temperatures that carried into October, and that doesn't happen very often as usually the weather is rather mild. However, after the early blast of Arctic bad temper, the weather shook itself out until the first week of November with temperatures soaring above average, so this allowed the chance to engage in some gold sleuthing when normally I'd be reduced to only dreaming of chasing the gold. I have two sons, and the eldest loves to chase the gold, while the other will chase the gold given the opportunity, but he doesn't have the same level of passion. Me eldest was with me on this trip, and he was with me on our epic gold adventure when we truly slew an army of nuggets early in the summer (I have yet to post that story), so he was eager to have a chance to hone his detecting and sniping skills. The area we dropped into to work was full of bedrock pinnacles. These pinnacles were formed of an iron-hard bedrock, so hard that the big equipment had negligible effect. In fact, smoke was pouring off the bucket teeth and blades of the excavators as they tried to outmuscle the mother rock. As a result, there was a section of ground about the size of two school buses parked side-by-side, but slightly longer. Looking down into the excavation, there were three pools of standing water as well as a small stream of clear seepage water running diagonally across the northern, more elevated end of the bedrock. The southern end was where the largest pool of water was, and the eastern side of the excavation had a culvert that was collecting the water from the stream to then divert it through a long series of interconnected culverts to a sump where a six-inch diesel-powered pump was working night and day to keep that sump cleared. Over the entire area of exposed bedrock, there were many buried, small gutters with high, then lower humps, and throughout the area, there were those dark pinnacles of super-hard bedrock, some of them rising up almost four feet, resulting in an area that could not be cleaned out properly by the modern miners with their big equipment. The area was perfect for detector and sniping work, making it a perfect area for us to tackle. To be continued . . . All the best, Lanny

Yeh good ole gpx5000 with 16” nf, plus Cat 427 ? I was fairly surprised 120g, not much gold was visible until smashed. I originally guessed about 80g of gold by going of the sound and depth, so was pretty happy with the result. Not wrong there Vic, it’s hard to get good help.

Coins were in one place. It was a treasure (540 coins)

This is my treasure of the time of the Great Russian Imperialist Catherine.

Welcome to the forum Paul from Southern California. Awesome pile of coins. Good luck!

Golden Bonanza Days, Part 4: My son and I kept at it, swinging the coils, gathering the signals, and depositing them in the pans. In retrospect, I adopted this “speed-panning” system a couple of years ago while working a target-rich area, and now I use it regularly if a spot proves good for continuing gold production; I no longer waste time isolating each and every target captured in the scoop.On a related note, (in the fall of the year, or early spring) when the days are short, I don’t have much of an option to sort and sift targets as I have to quickly cover as much ground as possible to avoid the dark and the cold. So, every target goes from the scoop straight into the plastic pans. This approach allows me to maximize my time on site, which means that sometimes I’ll pan by flashlight or take the pans back to camp to process the next day. So, when I’m detecting alone, it’s an efficient time saver, but when I have someone to pan for me, I can maximize even more time!To elaborate a bit more on the speed-detecting/speed-panning process, we weren’t ripping across the bedrock in race mode, we were carefully investigating every bump or whisper that broke the threshold. The only element of speed involved was how quickly we were able to collect and dump targets without having to isolate them.A couple of times while swinging the coil, I heard multiple targets in one sweep (this happened to my son as well). Exciting stuff indeed when there’s more than one nugget in that coil pass! The best we did on that outing was three nuggets in one sweep. (Tip: I always use a super-magnet on an extendable wand to quickly eliminate ferrous trash, which saves even more time wasted on individual target isolation.)To get back to my gold tale, my wife came walking carefully toward me cradling a gold pan, and what a smile! This is a good sign, and man you should have seen the nice nuggets, their gold colour sharply contrasted against the deep-green. Over the two days, she repeated this ritual numerous times. As I was using the small sniper coil on the Gold Racer, and having chosen a more traditional section of bedrock (a softer one the machines were able to work easier), the nuggets in my pans were smaller, nothing much over two grams, with the exception of on five-gram piece that startled me. However, my son’s pan had lots of beefy pieces, but nothing over seven grams. After my son finished working his sloped cliff (that’s exactly what it was), he wandered down to detect the south end of the excavation where there were two pools of water, separated from each other by a ridge of hard bedrock. So, I jumped his claim by wandering over to his cliff-face honey-hole to detect for leftovers. Using my Gold Racer, I reached up as far as I could to swing the coil across a sort of rounded knob, one that bumped out slightly from the bedrock slope. That nasty little spot held a signal!Well, this caused me lots of problems because now I had to see what the signal was. After pinpointing a small area just above the knob, I left the detector at the bottom and clawed my way up, barely hanging on by the tips of my boots. I saw a small V in the bedrock that held rusted, cemented material. (With ancient, intact material like this, it’s a great sign that gold may be present.) Swinging the pick, I would get a couple of shots in, but then the pounding motion would jar me loose from the precarious knob, and I’d undertake a controlled, downward crash. I did this over and over again, until at last I broke out a chunk of bedrock with rusty, cemented material attached.So, that’s how I recovered a lonely 1.5gram nugget my son had missed. I kept at my crazy stretching to detect tactic, and coupled it with my sketchy footing routine until I’d captured six more small nuggets (from a gram to half a gram in weight). All of the were nuggets trapped in similar, small depressions. (I had to use a sledge and chisel to break out some targets, as some were cemented in, while others were jammed tight in cracks.) On a related note, I lost track of how many bruises I collected (I felt them all though for the next few days), and I probably left enough hide from my arms to do a skin graft! The crazy things we do for gold . . . As I was closing my gold bottle, my son gave a shout from the south end of the cut, and with my climbing days over, off I went to see what he’d discovered.To be continued:All the best,Lanny

Fskafish -- Thank you! I'm REALLY glad to hear that you like the shaft, and that the purchase process was pleasant as well. That's always the goal (providing a high-quality shaft, and a good customer experience), and it makes my day to hear confirmation from happy customers! Thank you! Steve www.stevesdetectorrods.com www.facebook.com/stevesdetectorrods

I had actually commented/pics some photos of finds on anothers post that was similar, but realized I did not want to steal his thunder. In my part of the country our lakes draw down each Winter/Spring to make room for the up and coming Spring/Summer runoff. This allows for some detectable areas though maybe not as perfect as beaches. Well when you live 500+ miles from the Coast you learn to adapt and find opportunities some others don't think of. Here is a quick story of a trip to a well known high country lake thousands visit each year. I was heading to NV to do our 1st of the year 3 days Field Training Trip on Gold Detectors. Sometimes I like heading down 3 days to a week early to get some time alone. Not that I do not enjoy detecting with others, as those who know me, will fess.. I actually prefer enjoying a swing with other like minded seekers. (hints the 3 days training we offer) This allows me a variety of accomplishments if desired. Sometimes testing a new model of detector, or coil. Other occasions I could be actually Prospecting for new areas and greener pastures for future hunts. Or I usually end up seeking an early coin/trinket from the trashy rustic RR stops along my course there, even though I have hunted them many times over. Getting down to Rye Patch and not feeling it (got to have the gut feeling it is the right site), I drove on past and kept the truck/trailer heading West on I-80. Lake Tahoe was on my mind as was a nice gold ring or two and always a silver coin as consolation. Pulling my camp trailer all the way up (Boise 2730' - Lake Tahoe 6225') found me in snow and not just a dusting. Not thinking all the way through my last minute change (I should have called 1st) left a lump in my throat as I drove around trying to find an open area for my 50' combo to settle for the night. Now is not a good time to find out most of the camp sites on the CA side were still snowed in and closed. I spoke with a Forest Service lady the 2nd day as I ended up sleeping over night at a school parking lot in Kings Beach and she told me of 2 camping sites they just plowed. She was certainly a trip saver for me. Finding my way that afternoon to said site and paying the daily fees to camp (nothing is free in CA), I was eager to get out in the water. Mistake #2 (no wet suite as I had not planned a dip in the snow banks of the chilling Tahoe waters. Heck, I'm USMC...just do it!! was my thought and desire. Shorts and tennis shoes is all I needed, lasted about 45 minutes and 15 targets, which none were gold or silver of choice and the day was shot. Certainly was one of my cold/numbest & dumbest water/beach hunts I have dipped. 2nd day I came back with a new plan and hunted gravels/rocks along the banks (out of the water) and after many scratches, digs and picking...YES.. scored a nice heavy yellow metal ring. Interesting how they stack the rocks on the shoreline, so I took a few picks of my stacked 3030 next someones artwork, heck why not? On a side note: If ever around there and you enjoy smooth dark ale beer, a World Beer Cup Gold Medal Winner is by far my favorite. Double Nut Brown Ale made by Mammoth Brewing Company is serious winner. A couple days later as I was picking more signals in the rocks along the shoreline, this nice black disc appears. Did not even realize it was a coin at 1st, but when I turned it over I could read "ONE DIME". Ended up being my oldest coin to date from Lake Tahoe, an 1856 US Seated Liberty Dime. So if you know of an old high country lake or swimming hole...or just want to try something different, maybe this short story will inspire? At least the dark ale lovers get a tip of beer greatness. And be sure to plan appropriately...and let others know where you'll be.

I enjoy your enthusiasm and admire your inventiveness. I do have a modest suggestion that may contribute to your net recovery and that is- move your operation to Northern California.

Your introduction could have been written for me with a few minor changes. This is a great site to get educated before going detector shopping. Good luck, and keep posting

Congrats! You really took a bite out of that park. Bet you're chomping at the bit for another visit there.

JW, thanks for posting the pictures of your moose-sized nuggets!?? Those are the incredible pictures I remember, the photographs of your halcyon days when you were out gathering sassy NZ nuggets. (You really do take great photos and often set off your nuggets in interesting ways for effect.) As they say in the movie, Mother Lode, there's always one place you haven't looked . . . So, I'm sure you'll get your coil over some chunky stuff again one "barmy" day. I appreciate you taking the time to find these amazing pictures, nicely done, and all the best, Lanny

I dont own an Equinox (but would like to), however I own both a GM1000 and a 24K. Out of ALL the VLF gold prospecting detectors out there, the GM1000 has the greatest power and ability to find small gold. BUT....and its a BIG BUT... the GM1000's audio and signal processing creates its own 'monster' in that if you use this detector with high sensitivity (where all the real power of the unit is exhibited) and you encounter ANY mineralization, the clicks, clucks, pops and farts that the machine makes can mask most/all of the signals you're trying to hear (except for those rare individuals who are able to master the nuances of the monsters audio). If you reduce the sensitivity or use Auto 1 or 2 (sensibly) you bring yourself back to a level of performance that is matched by the Gold Bug 2, GMT etc. Now, Ive used my new 24K for a few hours and quickly came to the conclusion that this high frequency VLF actually DOES have some new tech that is practical. For instance, Ive never used a round concentric coil with such a detector that wasnt utter crap before.....here in Oz, we have 'mild' ground that equates to 'Hot' ground in most other countries. Couple a concentric coil with high frequency and its completely unusable here. Not so with this 6.5" 24K coil. Its not far off the ability of the 10x5DD that is supplied. Yes, its a little noisier, but not much. Couple this with the great XGB ground tracking and fixed GB/grab, its quite promising. I can vouch for its performance and ability and the gold has already started flowing for me with it. My Gold Bug 2 has been retired for now and my GM1000 is being disposed of. I think that says it all....

Welcome everyone This is my first topic in this wonderful forum It was found a few days ago in Saudi Arabia Weight 2653 grams

Dave, the Quest setup has become my system of choice. Matched to my Bose noise cancelling earbuds, it is the 'ducks guts'.

That's my mate there boys----since we are partners ,,,im sure glad he is picking up his share of the load whilst I'm gone... ? Good job Trent! -----------GPX 5000 with the 16 NF round!!!!! Waiting on the update.......

Found this in the mix of pull tabs last year with my Tejon. Neighbor that does antique dealing said it is from the 30's. I tried emailing the maker that is out of NY their mark is CID but they just ignored me or chucked my email in their spam box. Any idea what it might be worth? Has 7 deep blue sapphires and 4 small diamonds approx. 1/4 karats ea.

Here you go Fred. (I had no idea how long this would take . . .) Mountain scenery and that beautiful blue alpine sky. We grow tall mountains around here. The time of year when the bees get busy. Some of the ways the water moves around. All shut down getting ready for the move. Speed-panning wonder! This bedrock is heading uphill at an insane angle. My son trying a little high-banking, but he zeroed in that spot and quickly went back to detecting (just because a spot looks good, doesn't mean it is?). This bedrock has a great chance of hiding something . . . My robust, torquey blue mule. That diesel engine is just starting to get broke in (million mile Cummins wonders). My son cutting his teeth on the Minelab GPX 5000 (I hope his wife still likes me as he has a wonderful case of the fever!?). Look what the Gold Racer sniffed out: small stuff, and chunky pieces too! (The Bug Pro and the GPX accounted for a lot of sassy gold over the two days as well.) Some of the meat to go with the smaller potatoes. I think this picture says it all about the clichés about gold and rainbows. (Shot this picture from an excavation after a summer shower.) All the best, Lanny

Love the videos and finds. How you were able to videotape that cow pissing on the Barber made me realize, I need to quit putting my finds in mouth. I need to get some "newbie juice" as you call it and I am most certain the salty shivers will go away.

Where are the Pictures??? Cost versus benefit , that is the question. When I occasionally watch one of the gold shows I have to wonder...how much did it cost to get that gold? Would they be using that equipment and moving all that dirt if there was no tv show? I really would love to know... Anyway, it appears you are doing very well, Lanny! fred

I'm offering it (Gerry's Metal Detectors) and you still get the 3 days field training at Rye Patch, NV for free. Plus I even offer the 15% military discount to those who qualify and the normal discount to repeat loyal customers.

Here's a few more with the monster 1000.

Hi Gerry… can’t doubt your determination after reading about this adventurous trip into the high country overlooking Lake Tahoe!!! I don’t know how you could brave water detecting in winter conditions without a wetsuit, but the scenery alone was certainly worth the visit. We can only imagine what a welcome surprise that picturesque area was to the first explorers and later settlers. As a longtime water hunter and outdoor enthusiast, I’ve also made decisions that resulted in late night travel in remote areas, sleeping in strange places, and pursuing cold weather detecting activities as per the photo below. That’s my prospecting camp in early October, not that unusual, but snow never stays that early in the season. So while unplanned changes on the road frequently lead to inconvenience, nonetheless I do admire your determination to follow your instincts and pursue your objectives. I first viewed your photos before reading the text of your post. Couldn’t help but notice the jug of Double Nut Brown Ale, it must look awfully good to a thirsty wayfarer!!! I use a similar looking jug for mixing frozen fruit juices, as illustrated below. A bit of a coincidence, so I took a photo just for the heck of it!!! Finally did read your article, an impromptu and enjoyable narrative. Congratulations on your recoveries, particularly that handsome gold ring. The silver dime shows some deterioration but to me a seated liberty is a beautiful piece of history in any condition. I also like the last photo of you standing in the snow, elevating your scoop and detector. You look content and happy to be in those environs, doing what you enjoy on your own terms. Many thanks for sharing the trip with us, and for the descriptive photos too!!! Jim. PS: Would have preferred to reply sooner, but my computer has usually been unable to either post to, or sign off this forum. The issue could be mine because it recently went in to the repair shop. No operating issues elsewhere to date.

Ha. It was not as hard core as you might think because only went barely toe to ankle deep into the the tide line slush and the air temp had risen into the balmy high 40's by the end of the hunt. But until things thawed out during midday, the tideline water saturated sand was the only place where I could get my scoop to penetrate because otherwise it was frozen solid unless completely dry. Snagged the requisite clad, sinkers, and other junk and the gold was a small locket or pendant without a stone (rats). Pretty sure it is solid and not plated, but haven't cleaned it up and looked close enough to find any markings. But the main point in posting was to commend Steve for a quality shaft that took some punishment off the bat (cold, wet, icy conditions) and came out unscathed. The overall light weight of the shaft afforded a medium to long detecting session with the large coil with minimal arm fatigue, no flex, and solid shaft locking. Still mulling counterbalance, but at least I convinced myself now it is a luxury vs. necessity in my case based on the outcome of the detecting session. Good job, Steve.

Testimonial: Quality shafts. Christened one last week in some brutal conditions, 4 hours straight with the large coil and snagged some gold in the process. I'm sure the new shaft had something to do with it.?

Gold Monster is always ground tracking. Auto sensitivity you can turn on or off. Ground tracking tries to track ground, and tries not to track out legitimate targets. However, at the bitter edge ground and metal overlap and errors are inevitable. The weaker the signal, and the more short sweeps over it, the more likely you will track out the target. Keep sweeps wide. Meteorites grade from solid metal to meteorites that are basically just hot rocks. Again, tracking may pose a problem on the weakest of targets, either small and shallow, or large and deep. None of which says you can’t prospect for meteorites with the Monster and do well. You just have to know your machine.

Well, it is good to have the book and even better to read it... I am not getting into Gold Monster specifics as I don't have one. However, I have used one and it seems to me there is a way to stop the auto-ground balancing-but, I may be dazed and confused again. Hopefully, Steve, Lunk and others will see your post-they will be better able to answer GM questions. As far as chrondrites and other meteorites go they may be seen as hotrocks or not at all; or be very good signals. You will have to learn the difference if that is possible... May I ask were in the world you are hunting meteorites? fred

The Equinox is worth trying. It is new technology and initial reports sound very promising, especially for unmasking in trashy ground. As for adding a Safari, you can decide later after you've tried the Equinox. If it were me, the machine I added later would probably be the Etrac--can get them used at decent prices these days--or, if you have more to spend, the CTX3030. I like my Etrac and doubt that my new Equinox (when I get one) will change my opinion. Given Minelab's secrecy, we don't really know too much about how FBS and Multi-IQ actually work (in spite of ML's glib explanations), but it seems pretty clear (and Minelab says this, too) that the Equinox will not render obsolete its FBS machines.