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Showing content with the highest reputation on 04/12/2019 in all areas

  1. Hello everyone. I've been off the web as it relates to metal detecting for much of the past year. Let's just say life has gotten in the way, it's just been one of those years. I'm a member of ringfinders and I got a call this week I just had to share with everyone. I got a call about about a buried stash of silver in a backyard. According to what I was told, Grandpa had buried a stash of silver coins in the backyard and had only revealed that he had two weeks prior to his death. I was given the areas to hunt (1.8 acre property), but no idea what if anything was containing these coins in terms of container. I was pulling beer can after beer can and nail after nail I got a solid 16 tone on the Nox and I dug it. Turned out it was a 36" pipe that made the tell-tale sound of having something in it. Long story short we had to cut the pipe open and when we did it was awesome. A find of a lifetime, a cache of silver coins.
    13 points
  2. goldEn is back in town for a couple of weeks and managed to get out my place for a couple of days. Today we went to a Ironbark forest where there was a little bit of surfacing so goldEn could use the 2300 and I detected in the forrest with the 7000. I got one of those really iffy signals that I thought was ground noise and when I approached it at 90º I couldn`t hear it at all.I scraped a bit of dirt and same thing, could hear it one way but not the other. As the hole got deeper the signal seemed to move in the hole. First it was in one spot, then in another spot and it never sounded like a real target. When I finally got it out of the hole I couldn`t hear it at all, but I move a bit a bit of dirt and I can hear something, move a bit more dirt and I couldn`t hear it again. From when I first detected it to holding it in my fingers was about 15 minutes and it goes a whopping 0.12 gram and is about ¼" long. Good to see you again goldEn ?
    11 points
  3. Finally got to hunt an old home site yesterday evening. The elderly gentleman had given me permission to hunt all his property and he had kindly given me a little history of the different home site that were on the property. I listen intently to every word to obtain as much information as possible of each locations. One of the sites was a home assembled using wooden pegs. He proceeded to explain that he tore the home down and burned the balance then proceeded to get a dozer to grade the property and fill in with dirt. He did explain that anything there would be over a foot deep and he was correct, I couldn’t find anything that would date the property to the early 1800’s. The second site I hit yesterday and even though I didn’t find any nice relics I had a lot of fun just hunting. Moving around in the area I noticed a section where the Equinox would give many false high tones. Knowing this usually meant iron I opened up the screen and every sweep revealed multiply low tone iron signals. After a while I decided to start digging these low tones that gave an ID of -3 and found my answer, cut nails. Wow, that means I’m on an old site, yes, excitement overwhelmed me for a few minutes. Noticed the Ole man walking up the field to where I was I waited for his arrival. Knowing he would have more to say and the very first thing out of his mouth was, “have you dug any cut nails yet?” My answer, yes sir and handed him one and the story unfolds more detail of the site. He said when he was a child there was only a few foundation rocks left of this house, no wood but only the rock foundation. That was 80 years ago and he estimated the site may have been 200 years old. At that point I got extremely excited at what might be here until the very next statement from the gentleman. “Mark, I had the site leveled many years ago.” “But I pushed all the dirt to level the lot in one direction and I would guess your best bet of finding anything would be along the banks of the hill.” Well, yet another let down, a site dozed, that destroys the originality of where and what could have been found. But I’ll continue to hunt while I can and digging cuts nails is still fun. "Nails provide one of the best clues to help determine the age of historic buildings, especially those constructed during the nineteenth century, when nail-making technology advanced rapidly. Until the last decade of the 1700s and the early 1800s, hand-wrought nails typically fastened the sheathing and roof boards on building frames. These nails were made one by one by a blacksmith or nailor from square iron rod. After heating the rod in a forge, the nailor would hammer all four sides of the softened end to form a point. The pointed nail rod was reheated and cut off. Then the nail maker would insert the hot nail into a hole in a nail header or anvil and form a head with several glancing blows of the hammer. The most common shape was the rosehead; however, broad "butterfly" heads and narrow L-heads also were crafted. L-head nails were popular for finish work, trim boards, and flooring. Between the 1790s and the early 1800s, various machines were invented in the United States for making nails from bars of iron. The earliest machines sheared nails off the iron bar like a guillotine. The taper of the shank was produced by wiggling the bar from side to side with every stroke. These are known as type A cut nails. At first, the heads were typically made by hand as before, but soon separate mechanical nail heading machines were developed that pounded a head on the end of each nail. This type of nail was made until the 1820s. By the 1810s, however, a more effective design for a nail making machine was developed; it flipped the iron bar over after each stroke. With the cutter set at an angle, every nail was sheared off to a taper. With the resulting nails thus all oriented in the same direction, it became possible for the same machine to automatically grip each nail and form a head in a continuous mechanical operation. Nails made by this method are known as type B nails. Cutting the nails leaves a small burr along the edge as the metal is sheared. By carefully examining the edges for evidence of these burrs, it is possible to distinguish between the earlier type A nails and the later type B nails. Type A nails have burrs on the diagonally opposite edges, while the type B nails have both burrs on the same side because the metal was flipped for each stroke. This kind of evidence can be used to establish the approximate period of construction or alteration of a building. Type B cut nails continued to be the most common through most of the greater part of the nineteenth century. With the rapid development of the Bessemer process for producing inexpensive soft steel during the 1880s, however, the popularity of using iron for nail making quickly waned. By 1886, 10 percent of the nails produced in the United States were made of soft steel wire. Within six years, more steel-wire nails were being produced than iron-cut nails. By 1913, 90 percent were wire nails. Cut nails are still made today, however, with the type B method. These are commonly used for fastening hardwood flooring and for various other specialty uses."
    9 points
  4. Spent the last 5 days in Nevada dodging the rain, snow, sleet, mud to save a few goodies. Here are some of the pictures. Now it is time to Train Customers on their detectors.
    9 points
  5. We are still snowed in here in the Northern Sierras so I have no new adventures to share with you all so I guess I'll have to reminisce a bit. My cousin seems to have escaped the family curse of the prospector and is a member of normal society as long as he avoids bad influences -like me. I told him about an interesting spot on an old map that I would like to go find and ask if he would like to go along. He readily agreed but he didn't have much time so we decided to take his rig instead of my old Jeep because it was much faster. We left out of town and very quickly took a steep path that took us up several thousand feet. I was able to direct him to where we could look down on the prospecting spot but but it was obvious that we would need my Jeep to get all the way into it so we turned around and headed back to town. Well, My cousin got to playing around in his fancy (and expensive) rig, going way too fast and tipping it way to one side and then way to the other side then he ask me if it made me nervous. "Not in the least I replied". I was not nervous- I was terrified. He tipped the rig WAY up on it's side again except this time, OOPS , it rolled completely over but fortunately it came back upright. In the interest of keeping the story brief I will just say we made it back to town ok but I now know that my old Jeep is a much better prospecting rig than a North American T28.
    6 points
  6. I hunted a 20' x 30' site 5 years ago using CTX-3030 with small 6" coil and pulled 2 Barber Quarters, 1 Seated Liberty Quarter, and 2 Barber Dimes. I hunted the exact same 20x30 spot 2 days ago with EQ-800 and stock coil, as Lunk had my 6 sniffer. Here is what the $2500 CTX-3030 missed. 1903 V Nickel, 1883 Indian Head Cent, 1897 Barber Dime and 2 early Wheat Cents I didn't take pics. The only thing I can contribute is the Multi IQ Technology and faster recovery of Equinox is superior for this type of site, high iron trash content.
    4 points
  7. The pipe was approx 36 inches and the coins were placed in it in groups. The first 12 inches were all morgan silver dollars. Many were dated in the 1880's. The next 12 inches had walker and franklin halves and the top 12 inches were all barber, merc's and rosie dimes. It was such a cool feeling to see the coins pouring out. Lot's of mixed emotions amongst us. For the gentleman's daughter(grandma) it was getting to reconnect with her dad again, to realize that even though he was gone and passed away he was still looking out for his child. The adult great grand kids were amazed that all those stories about grandpa turned out to be true and as for me, I got a chance to help return what was lost and possibly lost forever as the house and property is for sale. Finding someone's ring is great especially when they're thinking all is lost but this was another level of great.
    4 points
  8. No, it’s simply having the coil and mind integrated as one. The detector and coil by extension literally become part of my body. I have an inherent sense when I sweep a target correctly and the target id seems correct as opposed to making a swing that seems a little off center or too fast or too slow..... whatever. Sweep speed can be very fast, very slow, or anywhere in between depending on the detector. An experienced detectorist should know without even having to think about it that either slowing the sweep or increasing the sweep will improve the target id. It depends purely on the exact scenario as to what will work best. In most cases I find after getting a target that speeding up my sweep will help “sharpen” the target id number. Other times I may need to slow down. I think that connection between the mind and coil is one of the things that sets the best detectorists apart from the crowd. It is also almost impossible to define in words. It’s like trying to describe how to be great at swinging a golf club. The Minelab Equinox is a good example. I see people comment about the target id being inaccurate. I personally consider the machine to have an extremely accurate target id. The difference I believe is that some people think a detector should deliver very tame numbers that are always or nearly always the same. They see the Equinox numbers jump around and blame the machine for being inaccurate. I in turn am hearing somebody say they really don’t understand how an extremely fast, extremely accurate detector actually works, especially when sensitivity is being pushed to the edge. It’s all about coil control and knowing that you have “hit” the target correctly and knowing internally that the target id delivered is a “good one”. The truth is the Equinox is delivering the reality of the nuance under the coil. The only question is whether the operator can develop the skill required to accurately understand the machine and what it is saying. Coil control is critical to that ever happening.
    2 points
  9. Well......what a day, I started off this morning at 5 am to head off to a Civil war site. I found the usual relics, lead, percussion caps, but, got tired of not digging and high conductive targets. The first picture is from the Civil war site. I decided to call it a day around noon and headed home to get some things done around the house. As I drove thru town I saw a front end loader and a pile of asphalt at the old zoo. I quickly did a u-turn and drove back to see what was happening, what a beautiful site, 75% of the parking lot had been striped of the asphalt. I was informed that the parking lot was paved back in 1984 and had been a dirt parking lot going back to when the guy was a kid and he assumed before that. The timing was perfect, just as I was ready to begin hunting the guys called it a day, gotta love city workers I started my hunt around 2:00 and hunted until 8:00 pm. I began finding coins within seconds of turning my machine on and hunted until I ran out of light and gas. They didn't cut all the asphalt out completely, so, I had to use my prospectors pick to chisel thru a layer of asphalt and gravel. And of course halfway thru the hunt, my pick decided to crap out on me, so I had to skip all but solid hits until I could get my pick repaired. I'll go back tomorrow after work and chase all the stuff I left behind today and there was a bunch of it ? I'm a firm believer in the depth ability of Nox after today, I have never dug great sounding targets at theses depths until today. I was getting CTX like depths with positive ID's and strong repeatable tones and only running sensitivity at 18. Most of the silver and copper was 6-10" deep and I had no doubt I was digging either copper or silver coins. The 2 nickles hit at 25-27 VDI , which was a good thing, otherwise I wouldn't have gone after them. The only thing I can attribute the depth to today was the fact I was running my recovery speed at 4 instead of 6 like I normally do. My settings were as follows: Park 1 Ground balance 0 Iron bias 0 Recovery speed 4 Sens 18 Tone break -9 to +16, just because of the urgency of the hunt and the digging conditions, I'll drop it down to -9 to + 10 tomorrow No disc 2 tones I found a nice variety of coins and some I have not identified yet due to the crust on most of them. I ended up with: 6- Mercs 1-Barber 1- Washington 1-Walker 1-Rosie 1-Mexcian dime 2-Silver war nickles 2-tokens..1-trade...1 Tax 1-WW2 Eagle coat button I'm not sure how many Wheats, or what all was dug yet, cleaning in process. I'll post a pic after I get everything as clean as possible. It was by far my best silver day so far, I'm sure there is as many left as I took out still waiting to be rescued! Thanks for looking.
    2 points
  10. I went back to the parking lot that gave up 13 silvers and 27 wheats yesterday to save some more history. I was hoping that they would scrape a little more dirt off, instead they had already laid down basecoat over most of the lot. ? There was a small area still exposed so I decided to hunt it for the last time. In just over 2 hours I took out 3 more mercs and a barber along with 7 more wheats. Ended up with 17 silver coins and 34 wheats, 2 tokens, a silver ring, 3 Mexican coins and a handful of clad in about 8 hours of hunting. I was told that they will be scraping the rest of the lot sometime this month, you know where I'll be hanging around ?
    2 points
  11. Just a quick follow-up (Thurs. evening). The replacement WM12 is already in the mail back to me from Minelab Americas. I overnighted it to them and they turned it around immediately. Pretty cool Minelab.
    2 points
  12. Which metal detectors have the most reliable target ID numbers? Target ID is a function of depth - the deeper the target, the more difficult it is to get a clean target ID as the ground signal interferes. Other items directly adjacent to the desired target can also cause inaccurate numbers. The more conductive the item, the higher the resulting ID number, but also the larger the item the higher the number. Silver is more conductive than gold, so a gold item will give a lower number than the same size silver item. But a very large gold item can give a higher number than a small silver item, so numbers do not identify types of metal. Gold and aluminum read the same and vary in size so to dig one you dig the other. Only mass produced items like coins produce numbers that are more or less the same over the years but a zinc penny will read lower than a copper penny due to the change in composition. In general iron or ferrous targets produce negative numbers or low numbers. Aluminum, gold, and US nickels produce mid-range numbers. And most other US coins produce high numbers. Other countries coins, like Canadian coins with ferrous content, can read all over the place. The scale applied varies according to manufacturer so the number produced by each detector will vary according to the scale used. The 0-100 range for non-ferrous targets is most common but there are others. Minelab employs a dual number system on a 2D scale with thousands of possible numbers, but they are now normalizing the results produced to conform more closely to the linear scale used by other manufacturers. White's Visual Discrimination Identification (VDI) Scale Increasing ground mineralization has a huge effect on the ability to get a good target ID. Ground mineralization is nearly always from iron mineralization, and this tends to make weak targets, whether very small targets or very deep targets, misidentify. The target numbers get dragged lower, and many non-ferrous targets will eventually be identified as iron if buried deep enough. Small non-ferrous readings and iron readings actually overlap. That is why any discrimination at all is particularly risky for gold nugget hunters. If you want target ID numbers to settle down, lower sensitivity and practice consistent coil control. The target number will often vary depending on how well the target is centered and how fast the coil moves. Perfect ground balance is critical to accurate target id. Outside issues factor in. Electrical interference is a common cause of jumpy target id numbers. In general small coils will often deliver sharper, more consistent target id returns. Higher sensitivity settings lead to jumpier numbers as the detectors become less stable at higher levels. The interference from the ground signal increases and interference from outside electrical sources also increases, leading to less stable numbers. Higher frequency detectors are inherently more sensitive and are jumpier. So lean lower frequency for more solid results. Multi frequency detectors act like low frequency detectors and tend to have more solid target numbers due to the ability to analyze a target with different frequencies. Another issue is the number of target categories, or ID segments, or VDIs, or notches, or bins (all names for the same thing) that a detector offers. For instance here are the number of possible target id categories or segments each detector below offers: Fisher CZ-3D = 7 Garrett Ace 250 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 305 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 505 = 19 Minelab X-Terra 705 = 28 Minelab Equinox 800 = 50 Minelab Manticore, Fisher F75 and many other models = 99 White's MXT and many other models = 190 Minelab CTX 3030 = 1750 Fewer target categories means more possible items get lumped together under a single reading, but that the reading is more stable. Many detectors will tell you the difference between a dime and a quarter. The Fisher CZ assumes you want to dig both so puts them under one segment along with most other coins. People who use detectors with many target numbers usually just watch the numbers jump around and mentally average the results. Some high end detectors can actually do this averaging for you! But I think there is something to be said for owning a detector that simplifies things and offers less possible numbers to start with. The old Fisher CZ method still appeals to me, especially for coin detecting. So do detectors like the Garrett Ace 250 or Minelab X-Terra 505 for the same reason. The problem is that as people strive to dig deeper targets or smaller targets the numbers will always get less reliable. But if you want to have a quiet performing metal detecting with solid, reliable target numbers look more for coin type detectors running at lower frequencies under 10 kHz or at multiple frequencies and possibly consider getting a detector with fewer possible target segments. And with any detector no matter what just back that sensitivity setting off and you will get more reliable target numbers. ads by Amazon... Detectors often use tones to identify targets and often use far fewer tones than indicated by the possible visual target id numbers. The X-Terra 705 for instance can use 28 tones, one for each segment. However, most people find this too busy, and so simple tone schemes of two, three, or four tones may be selected. I think it is instructive that many people often end up ignoring screen readings and hunting by ear, using just a few tones. This ends up just being an ultra basic target id system much like the simpler units offer. Reality is that most people do not need or care about huge numbers of target numbers. For many just three ranges suffice, low tone for iron, mid tone for most gold items, and high tone for most US coins. The meter could do the same thing, but for marketing purposes more is better and so we get sold on detectors with hundreds of possible target ID numbers. Perhaps this is a digital representation of an old analog meter with its nearly infinite range of response but the reality is we do not need that level of differentiation to make a simple dig or no dig decision. Finally, a picture often says it all. Below we have a shot of the White's M6 meter. I like it because the decal below illustrates a lot. You see the possible numerical range of -95 to 95 laid out in the middle. Over it is the simplified iron/gold/silver range. Note the slants where they overlap to indicate the readings really do overlap. Then you get the probable target icons. -95 is noted as "hot rock" because many do read there. The M6 can generate 7 tones depending on the target category. I have added red lines to the image to show where these tones sit in relation to the scale. It breaks down as follows: -95 = 57 Hz (Very Low) Hot Rock -94 to -6 = 128 Hz (Low) Iron Junk -5 to 7 = 145 Hz (Med Low) Gold Earrings, Chains - Foil 8 to 26 = 182 Hz (Medium) Women's Gold Rings/Nickel - Small Pull Tabs 27 to 49 = 259 Hz (Med Hi) Men's Gold Rings - Large Pull Tabs 50 to 70 = 411 Hz (High) Zinc Penny/Indian Head Penny - Screw Caps 71 to 95 = 900 Hz (Very High) Copper Penny/Dime/Quarter/Dollar Note that the screen reading of +14 is noted as being a nickel or ring but it can also be the "beaver tail" part of an aluminum pull tab or the aluminum ring that holds an eraser on a pencil, among other things. The best book ever written on the subject of discrimination is "Taking A Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett. It is out of print but if you find a copy grab it, assuming the topic interests you. Always remember - when in doubt, dig it out! Your eyes are the best target ID method available.
    1 point
  13. Hello everyone I'm new to this and I would like to ask for any knowledge pertaining to this rock.....or thoughts thanks
    1 point
  14. Hello All! Afer getting a new EQ 800, searching on the net brought me here - great info! I'm up in Yacolt WA, on the E Fork of the Lewis river. HH all!
    1 point
  15. I am very impressed with the High trash setting, and am trying to figure out how it is weighted you would think it had low sensitivity and high discrimination therefore would lead to less dept and more iron masking in thick iron areas at homesites but it actually performs to the contrary of my expectations. it goes very deep up to 12 inches and the discrimation level dose not interfere with separating iron from small non ferrous items I was using my equinox in all metal mode and my friend had his MX Sport high trash mode, we where at a colonial homesite, he has getting mixed signal of iron and a high tone and number he dug 5 big hand made square nails up to 6", and was still getting the good signal , when i cam over with the equinox in multi frequency all I was getting was iron, minus signals, with a flash of 11 but no enough to want to dig, and I predicted it was probably a false from a bent nail he kept going and eventually t 10" deep amongst more nails he pulled a penny My equinox never sensed this coin, yet high trash on single frequency spotted it at the onset and stuck to it like glue until it was finally retrieved. I would love to know the set up and weighting behind this mode some i could apply some to my equinox.
    1 point
  16. Im new to detecting and have the nox 800, I've learned that the numbers dont mean as much as tone. That being said I dig everything and try to call the target before digging and the only thing I can consistently call are dimes and quarters, other coins I can call but not as accurately. I take a silver bracelet with me to test before I get started and I get different readings depending on the location and which mode I'm in. The only times I've passed on targets is an obvious tacklebox spill (split shot scattered everyplace) or someone did a mag dump and all I find is brass
    1 point
  17. Another Steve H. quote to frame and hang on my wall. Now please excuse me while I fight and claw my way out from among the masses. Think I'll head out this afternoon and work on it. Thanks, Steve!
    1 point
  18. Holy heck. I would have changed plans to. The EQ technology is something extraordinary. Fabulous saves.
    1 point
  19. Reg, My Field Staff Experts and I all agree, the 19" coil runs really smooth. The depth on large gold is true, but I would only recommend using it in ground you know has big gold. The swing arm and bungee is a must. To be able to get this $1500 coil for Free right now is a no brainer. Sure it is a coil you'll only use in certain situations, but you sure don't want to miss a big one. Gerry's Detectors in Idaho has them in stock too. With the additional 15% military discount and our 3 days training...it's certainly the best time to get one.
    1 point
  20. Very nice, congrats sir.
    1 point
  21. Incredible luck, incredible timing, Dan. And of course -- an INCREDIBLE job done by you, digging that many good targets at substantial depth! SUPER! Steve
    1 point
  22. Dan, TERRIFIC!!! I read this post first, and I see this is a "Day 2" post! I'm going back to read the "Day 1" post, now! WAY TO GO!!!! What a haul!!! Steve
    1 point
  23. Well done phoenix size doesn't matter a great looking nugget . Cheers goldrat
    1 point
  24. Been out for 0,5h yesterday at my local suuuper hunted out beach. They are filling up some sand and the wheel loader left some deep tracks.. so I thought I'd give it a try..: 18k goldie... wow - I have a run on gold Shaft conversion is done.. Parts seem to be 3d printed nylon.. we'll see how it holds up.. Weight saving ~110g - It's more noticable than I thought! Now experimenting with some counter weights..
    1 point
  25. The bubbles could be washout from the sand casting. Good chance they just sand cast these period and rather than repack both sides of the frame they kept using the same mold. I tend to lean towards sand cast for a couple reasons. Back is extremely flat. Front has no under cuts and there is a substantial draft angle on the surfaces. Investment casting and rubber molds the is no need to worry about draft angles. Thanks on the castings. I use a small sla printer to make my patterns and masters so those objects I made in my cad software. Why I envy the craftsmanship on the cross as it was hand made and the symmetry is really good.
    1 point
  26. Ganes Creek and Moore Creek were my most favorite places to go nugget hunting in Alaska. I met Steve in Vegas once and then again on my first trip to Ganes while visiting his store with the Whites rep Steve Houston. Found many, many ounces of gold detecting at both places. Hospitality and comforts for the clients was their first priorities, next came the Gold....As Steve says the "golden age" of detecting is over at those places which is really sad. I have been trying to make a trip up to Alaska every year and in 2018 a friend and I went to AKAU in Nome, found closer to 10 ounces and had a great time. We will try again this year. Thanks Steve for the memories..
    1 point
  27. Lol... Ground here does that to just about all silver.. it takes some more but it'll clean up.
    1 point
  28. Hi in the USA in Oklahoma we find Barite crystal formations with sand coatings that are called Barite Roses. Selenite (gypsum) and Calcite crystal clusters can also form under similar circumstances with sand coatings and inclusions. Jeff
    1 point
  29. They had it blocked off but they all know me so well, they had no problem with me going in. ?
    1 point
  30. Good answers Steve. ive swapped shafts after having my machine in the water........ that hole in the bottom lets water and sand in. WE..... are the unpredictable .... and most likely to cause problems opening and closing any detector box. The majority will never get the thing wet. There is a screw and O ring on the bottom ...... and someone has given the number for replacement batteries. I swear i read somewhere these batteries could last up to 10 years.....obviously depending on use. I personally love Lith batteries..... long run time and most chargers check each cell. Now cell phones....... hate not being able to change those batteries...... because we know how easy used to be. Theres where id get mad. I suspect most machines will be out of warranty way before the battery needs to be changes........ do the math..... how many rechargeable or AA would you have used? This is IMO one of the first detectors that use a lot of new ideas........ and for the cost and warranty given......outstanding. Trust me....... use an Xcal .... at the end of 3 to 5 years tell me how much you really have in it? Im not hating here........ i think its more of an inconvenience than the real cost. But ...... my money is on we can replace that battery........ someone will take it apart they always do.
    1 point
  31. Solves what problem? The artificial problem being made up here on this thread? The one that does not actually exist and never did? The simple solution is to not make up problems before they exist.
    1 point
  32. I completely understand minimizing unnecessary, avoidable health risks, but if you are reacting to the latest media sensationalized news regarding airpods and other wireless headphones, take a look at this article for a less sensationalized perspective: https://www.health.com/condition/cancer/bluetooth-wireless-headphones-cancer Bottom line, there is just a lot of controversy, but not a lot of facts or concrete results from research and the total EMI field from RF radiation of all types basically overwhelms the energy a pair of bluetooth headset can pump into your brain, even from close range. Furthermore, the health industry is itself conflicted. Bluetooth or similar wireless technology hearing aids often widely prescribed and used, for example. That being said, there is nothing wrong with a better safe than sorry approach, though it might be less convenient. First of all, the 800 included ML BT phones DO come with a hard wired connection and cable in the headphone case. Have you tried that with your Equinox? Second, if you are concerned about having the BT transmitter/receiver next to your head, try using the WM08 wireless receiver. Your ipod earbuds should be able to plug right and remain stable since you are not putting any strain on the connection unlike with the control head, and you can still remain untethered to your detector and you can place the receiver in a place not near your head. If you are looking for wired earbud alternatives for warmer weather conditions, you might want to consider getting a modified pair of wired buds that also include the proper Equinox compatible screwed-in connector. Here is an example off ebay. That way you eliminate the having to use the ML adapter cable which also only has a 1/4" jack which is great for enabling typical detecting type wired headphones to be used with your Equinox, but I do not know of many earbuds that have the 1/4" plug, necessitating another adapter be placed between your earbuds and the ML adapter. The other advantage of the earbud with dedicated compatible plug connector is that they are waterproof which means you can use them in foul weather or even water hunting if desired. My personal preference is to buy a set of over the ear waterproof phones, many of which are designed to give good sound even when not water hunting (dedicated water hunting submersible waterproof phones often have to compromise audio quality by using technology such as piezoelectric speakers to enable them to be audible submerged). HTH
    1 point
  33. A husband and wife, experienced dry washers, but total newbies to nuggetshooting, both purchased my deluxe bundle, which included in-field training. When we met at the rendezvous site, neither assembled their equipment, explaining that they would prefer to watch me hunt for a while. To me, this was really odd. I mean, most trainees are supremely anxious to begin getting their training. Yet they had no interest in even opening their boxes. They intensely watched each target recovery. After about 30 targets were recovered, 3 of which were of a gratifying yellow color, they smiled, nodded to one another, and headed back to the truck to assemble their equipment, to begin receiving their training. Curious as to what had transpired, they told me "we had to be sure that a person really can find gold with a metal detector. If you had failed to find any gold, we were going to cancel the purchase. But now we know that these machines actually work...."
    1 point
  34. Simon, "Nothing succeeds like success." When a person KNOWS that their detector can find such small gold, this gives them the realization that it is just a matter of time before THEY will find their own small gold. A positive, success-oriented mindset, combined with proper training, augmented by proper technique, certainly heightens the chances for success. To quote from "Advanced Nuggetshooting", "Remain positive and optimistic. Pysche yourself that you are going to find gold." HH Jim
    1 point
  35. If you do mean detecting in saltwater a Minelab Equinox is about as good as you will get for small gold jewelry. There is a limit to what can be done in saltwater since small gold and saltwater signals are the same at a certain point. The only serious alternative on the horizon that might do better is the new Fisher Impulse AQ. In freshwater the new Nokta/Makro Gold Kruzer is a machine I like, waterproof and very hot on small gold. Too hot for saltwater though.
    1 point
  36. Really only one rule that matters on these forums - be a decent human being! Take it to a couple jewelers for opinions. Beware that if they are looking to buy it themselves they might lowball the value. The guy did you right. That is a nice chain. No matter what you should be able to sell it for more than melt value. There is a mark on the clasp possibly but I can't make it out.
    1 point
  37. OK, I have to say I am jealous! I think living on property with gold on it of any sort is just way too cool. I often dream of that mining claim with a creek and a house on it. I am kind of a city boy really but you are living that dream so good on you!
    1 point
  38. Bear in mind that hearing is highly subjective. My experiences will in no way be the same as anyone else's and I'm forced to use imprecise terms to describe my efforts. At 64 yrs old my hearing is relatively good and high frequency noise bothers me more than most. We all know that the Z7000 is a noisy machine but with time and experience our hearing adapts and we become more proficient with it's tendencies. So, after 3 or 4 months away from the machine it's like starting all over and wondering, wow this detector is really noisy. That's how it has been for me over the last couple days out here in Sunny Yuma. Add in some decent rain last month and certain rock types hold some moisture and became a major hot rock nuisance. I hit a deep gully yesterday that had a lot of decomposing course grained granite. The granite is ordinarily pretty mild, but the left over moisture was making fist sized chunks into high spiking hot rocks. They're really not the kind of hot rocks that sound like nuggets, the tone is a short high pitch that falls off very quickly. Going to the Difficult setting really calms them down, but then you're missing small faint nuggets. Raising the coil and going painfully slow is one solution, as well as keeping detecting sessions short. I decided to see if there was some kind of intermediate step with the SteelPHASE system of filters. After some trail and error I settled on Z7000 settings of High Yield, Normal, Sens 12, Low Smoothing, with just enough threshold to level off the spiking signals. Then I played with the SteelPHASE. I used the recommended Mode 1, then went through the various filter settings. Filter 1 and 2 give me a high "tinny" kind of tone over the hot rocks, not helpful. Filter 3 as best I can describe dulls all the tones, but was the best choice in this circumstance to dull the high tones of hot rocks. After a half hr I was cruising along pretty good partly because my hearing was adapting and the SteelPHASE was keeping the annoying hotrocks at a manageable level, or so I think. I finally got over a very faint signal well into the side bank of the gully. I went through everything I could think of to test the equipment. First I left everything in place and switched to Difficult. Not a peep. Then with everything in place I raised and lowered the sensitivity. Sens below 9, the tone was barely audible and mainly because I knew it was already there. I doubt it would have stopped me otherwise given all the noise in hotrock heaven. Raised Sens really made it stand out, but the noise would have been unmanageable for normal prospecting. Then I unplugged from the SteelPHASE and plugged my earbuds directly into the Z. The tone was audible over the target and probably enough to stop me in normal prospecting mode. Back into the SteelPHASE for a comparison. As best I can tell the SteelPHASE gave me some "separation" from background noise and a bit of "distinction" or "amplification" of the actual target. By that time I had pulled all the surface hot rocks away, so I was no longer bombarded with that kind of noise. I switched back and forth a few times and found the SteelPHASE gave me a more noticeable tone, (I think). I dug this tiny nugget out and was again amazed at what the Z7000 can do on small gold. This nugget was back into the side bank and down at least 6 inches. I think its round ball shape gives it a better density that favors detection at this depth. So, with a 6 hrs use on the SteelPHASE in some very limited circumstances, I would say that it is helpful but not a game changer. Anything that boosts my confidence and keeps me in the field a bit longer will no doubt increase my odds. Perhaps for the guys who use external speakers and need an amplifier anyway, this is a good investment. I just don't use speakers so we'll have to wait for one of them to chime in. Given its $200.00 pricetag, I give it a neutral thumbs up/down for now. I'll keep at it, it's early yet and will report more as it happens.
    1 point
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