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Went to San Francisco and met my friend Joe. Next day we have been invited by Wes Dering to detect on one of his claims in the Iowa Hill area. On the way we stopped at Citrus Hills visiting Larry at Big Valley Metal detectors who let me try different headphones with my SDC2300. I settled for the Sunray Pro Gold which felt most comfortable and best sounding to me. Thank’s Larry it was a real pleasure to meet you! From there we went to meet Wes. He sold a very nice light and rugged pick to me before which he mailed to my friend’s house. Meeting him he showed us around the claim and off we went with lots of big dreams. I have to say that I come from Germany and have never found a square nail before. So I was wishing to find one square nail and lots of Gold. It seems like the Good Lord listened to just one part….I found a bunch of square nails but no Gold. I was lucky to assist Wes unearthing 3 nice nuggets from the same hole. He was using the GPZ7000 I was running my SDC2300. Putting 1 nugget (approx 2 grams) back in the hole and running the machines over there wasn’t any signal to be heard from the SDC but the 7000 sounded off real nice. Big difference between those 2 machines. Big difference in price also! Wes suggested to run the SDC in sensitivity 4 instead of 2 as the signals are more distinct. The machine kept stable so I ran it in 4. We had a great day and lots of fun. I was using my Equinox 800 as well. Gold 1 setting / Iron to 0 / swing speed 6-7 / sensitivity around 18-20 / nothing out -9-8-7 / ground tracking / small coil it was stable, ground balanced well but did not find gold either. Bits and pieces of lead and wire, 22 casings and square nails. With both machines I found some insane small stuff. Next day we went to a claim on the N Yuba and camped out for some days. Panning some nice flakes, snorkeling looking for crevices, using the vacuum cleaner on the bedrock and metal detector. My total take from panning is 1.2 grams. I finally found a good signal in bedrock. That had to be Gold – finally!!!!! Breaking the bedrock a small piece of very thin wire came to daylight…..grrrrrrr!!!!!! However it got in there???? Going to some other places finding many items including an old tobacco can (I was hoping for some gold coins or nuggets inside but there weren’t any) but no Gold. Second last day I finally got lucky. My SDC2300 rang up on two little pieces. They looked just like rock but weren’t magnetic. Checking them with my Equinox 800 in Gold 1 the smaller piece showed a clean +1 the bigger piece a +2. I did not believe it was Gold but took them home. Being at home now I checked them under the microscope and they are specimen containing Gold. Finally!!! yeah yeah yeah!!!! It is really sick how small of a gold these machines picked up. On my last day we went to Roaring Camp (if you haven’t been there you are missing something) where I panned a little bit of Gold from the day pile (just 10 pans or so) and found a .38 bullet which sounded off real nice with my SDC2300 – no nuggets (they are there for sure). I would like to thank my friend Joe who made all this possible, Larry from Big Valley Metal Detectors, Wes Dering for a very nice pick, a great day on his claim and some nice gold he gave to me as a present to take home, Gregg and Mike, Kim from Roaring Camp, Steve Herschbach for his advice how to run the Equinox on hot ground and some nice folks who’s names I forgot who made it possible to prospect on the N Yuba and Kanaka creek. One of the best pieces of Equipment I invested in is my 2 liter water bladder for my backpack (Camel bag) but for the next rip I will get me a 3 liter. 2 liters is just not enough fluid for a whole day in +100 F. Folks, don’t get dehydrated this is a very serious issue.

😄 This is the crankshaft for a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C engine, the largest reciprocating engine in the world, used in large container ships. It's a 1810-liter engine that generates 108,920 horsepower at 102 RPM, and it idles at 22 RPM... almost 3 seconds per rotation. This crankshaft weighs 300 tons (660,000 pounds) and each piston weighs 12,000 pounds and has a stroke length is 8.2 feet.

Today I had to go to the dentist, which I totally hate, and by the time I finally got back home I didn't have much time before company was to arrive. So I had about 25 minutes to kill and thought I would get rid of more trash from the back yard, so I can put in a test garden. First hole I dug looked like a freeze plug from the 1920's. Throw it away! Second hole I dug up a quarter down about 6 inches. KEEPER!!! Third hole I dug down about 5 inches and I think it came off a bicycle or something. Throw it away! Forth hole I dug I had to go down about 6 inches and found a penny. KEEPER!!!!!!!! Did I forget to mention that it is a 1889 Indian Head Penny!!! Then my company shows up and asks what am I so excited about as I run the penny under the faucet to get the mud off it. I simply dried it off and laid it on the table and he almost fell over. Now he wants to buy a metal detector and go with me. He asks where did I find the penny and I told him in the back yard. For 2 hours he kept asking me where did I go to find the penny and I kept telling him in the back yard. Before he left I showed him the hole that I found it in and then I filled it back in and only then he believed me. I knew that I had bought an old church, but the old grounds keeper who is a neighbor told me that it was the new church that we are now living in. So there has been 2 churches on this property plus an old house that was torn down over the past 125 years. I am going to have to check this place out more carefully every week and get rid of all the trash from the yard. Off to buy more grass seed just in case. I finally broke the 1900 mark and I couldn't be more excited. I wish to thank GB_Amateur for all his help and the settings that he shared with a novice like me. I would also like to thank this forum for all the help and input you have given me.

Couple years back, a buddy of mine who lives in the desert had his shed broken into and a lot of expensive stuff sacked. Recently he bought a 40' steel shipping container for outside storage. Being a engineer and fabricator, he made a number of "custom & unique" modifications to it in addition to windows a door, etc. One particular window was somewhat larger and you might say could be "enticing" to the wrong kind of sort. One night he and his wife were awakened to this terrible screaming and banging coming from outside their home. Glock in hand, he walked out to find the noise coming from inside the shipping container. You see this one custom window was built so that once someone broke in, a trip mechanism engaged a heavy tension spring slamming down a steel cover over the window trapping the crook inside........just like a rat. Tom never gave the dirt bag any indication what was going on and after calling the sheriff, would occasionally strike the steel siding with a hammer. This loud echoing "BANG" coupled with the pitch blackness and uncertainty of his fate would cause the crook to wail in fear. Well eventually the deputies arrived and took the guy into custody. Coming out of the container hand cuffed; he was sweating profusely, crying , shaking and had blood running down his face. Oh, and it was obvious he'd shit his pants.

Thanks everyone, and thanks for letting this get some visibility. The sheriff went out there, and after speaking with him and learning some things he found, I have good reason to believe it's someone local, as in within a few miles or so. Also good reason to believe now that they were either prospectors or associated with prospectors. I think there were 2 or more people involved. This narrows it down considerably, plus since most people leave for the hot months there aren't a lot of people there to begin with so that cuts it down to an easily investigatable handful of people. As in, like maybe 10 people. The sheriff has some ideas, and I happen to be a pretty good detective sort myself too, not to mention I talk to a lot of people since I wander around so much exploring, and drug addicts tend to blab eventually, especially when reward money is involved. I'm going to find out who did it. If the thieves are reading this (and I'm pretty sure someone has told you about this post by now), you can gamble on your buddies staying quiet, or we can work something out to get my stuff returned in the next 2 days. Otherwise, it's prison and damages, which are already at $15k to my RV and Conex. Might also ask yourself who along the road in has a camera pointed at the road because you stole from them too. Hmm. 3 truckloads of stolen gear is pretty hard to hide.

Let me catch up on a couple of nugget pictures. That is the bigger one weighed. It is a nice little chunk and that is the other side of it. The second nugget I found was after traveling a few hundred miles, a couple of nights away and going back to the same general area where I found the first one. I got out of the car and walked about 40 feet and heard a target. It was this little nugget. I gridded this area for the next three hours before the wind got me and didn't find any more. That's it for the nuggets. I'll include more about this trip and I have a couple of other threads I want to start or add to. This is a little nugget of something I found. I'm going to get someone to shoot it with a XRF and see for sure. It was found at a site that had both gold and silver. I didn't find any gold.

I’m always for the underdog so I think I’ll order one plus the Simplex. It’s a great day when you can buy two for less than what I’ve paid for one . Chuck

Sorry for the off topic post, I just wanted to get this out there quickly and please delete if this shouldn't be here. I had a ton of stuff stolen in Arizona, not sure what exactly yet as I have to drive down now to find out. They abandoned my RV on the road since I sabotaged the wheels to prevent theft (after they dragged it 1000ft ruining my axles and drums), but took everything inside, and took a 40ft Conex worth of tools and gold prospecting equipment. So much stuff I'm not even sure what all was in it until I can do a full inventory. So, if anyone sees someone in NW Arizona trying to offload a bunch of drywashers, crusher stuff, cleanup stuff, sluices, especially if they seem like tweakers, please let me know. Also, a Yamaha Grizzly ATV, green, 400cc. Tons of tools, most the battery powered stuff was Makita. Had a Troy Bilt gold vac, a smaller keene drywasher (is it the 141?), a bigger Keene drywasher (black), a puffer Keene drywasher. I'm forgetting a ton of stuff but, you get the idea, if some tweaker is going around trying to sell gold prospecting stuff for cheap to people, get a name if you can. Mohave county Sheriff is out there now, if anyone has heard anything at all, please let the sheriff know. Had all my detectors with me in Wyoming so none of them were stolen. If anyone hears anything, anyone mentioning anything about who did this, please let me or the sheriff know. The gates and the chain were cut, plus cut through 4 large boron carbide shackles. they had tools and it was planned. It wasn't in a place that someone randomly would have found, I suspect they are local and/or prospectors at this time. It sounds like some of my con buckets were stolen, which would look like dirt bucket to someone who didn't know it might be valuable so if they weren't prospectors, they must be familiar with it to take buckets of dirt. It may have happened a few weeks ago, I just now got someone track me down from some papers they found in my abandoned trailer and let me know about it sitting there in the middle of the road. It's been 110 or hotter out there so there weren't many prospectors around but one said he thought he saw my trailer moved at least a few weeks ago. If anyone has info leading to an arrest with at least some of my items found so I know it was them, I will give you $1000 cash. We can work it out anonymously if preferred. Thanks

First day out into the Golden Triangle, last day with decent internet for a while.. Always present my new machines to the mother of all nuggets memorial. 'Christened' at the golden alter so to speak... an old habit, just hoping the luck will rub off I guess.. The 'Welcome Stranger' was found at a depth of an inch according to Memoir 12, which is the list of nuggets found in Victoria. The 16v pack is working well, no issues with heat or reliability. The TDI SL LE is super light and well balanced, very easy to swing for hours so I'm enjoying it. Great weather, the flies and ants are not an issue so far. Best time of year to get out into the goldfields and swing your thing.. all the best. Karelian.

No worries, I dont care, but if you're wanting to gather general public viewers they wont know the 24k was just released and will assume it is old footage from 2013 😃

Gold Nugget Detecting with the Minelab Equinox Metal detecting for gold nuggets is one of the most difficult detecting tasks, and learning to run a VLF detector in highly mineralized ground will challenge even the best detectorists. There is more to this subject then can be covered in a brief article but I will try and offer some tips to get people started with the Minelab EQUINOX for gold nugget detecting. Minelab Equinox with 6" coil at work gold nugget detecting Tiny nugget in scoop - the Equinox can find very small gold nuggets! The EQUINOX 800 has two modes that are not available on the EQUINOX 600 – Gold Mode 1 and Gold Mode 2. The two Gold Modes as far as I h e been able to determine are identical except for the default settings. Gold Mode 1 is set up with a default Recovery Speed of 6 and Gold Mode 2 is set up with a default Recovery Speed of 4. These modes employ a boosted audio that increases both in volume and pitch as a target is detected. This in turn accentuates the signal on tiny gold nuggets. The threshold is also different than the “reference threshold” employed in the other modes and is more responsive to ground changes, providing important audio feedback about changing ground conditions. The Gold Modes are similar to the threshold based all metal modes available on most VLF nugget detectors with a major difference. A target id number is displayed for strong targets and each target id number can be independently set to accept or reject. In this regard the Gold Modes are a hybrid mode with more discrimination capability than is available in normal threshold based all metal modes. Normal VLF nugget detecting relies on the operator having their ear very tuned into the threshold sound of the detector. Slight variations in the threshold tone can indicate potential targets. The threshold tone is also very sensitive to changes in the ground mineralization. This includes the so-called “hot rocks” which have mineralization different than the ground they reside in which makes the detector react to them as targets. The challenge is to get the detector to operate with a relatively smooth threshold as the coil is swept over the ground so that desired targets will stand out. If hot rocks are signaling with every sweep of the coil, then progress will be extremely slow if not impossible. Tuning a VLF detector to hunt nuggets starts with the theoretical most powerful settings, and then reduces those settings until the detector becomes stable. Every setting is a trade off, because making a detector more sensitive to gold also makes the detector more sensitive to mineralized ground and hot rocks. The key settings for the EQUINOX 800 in Gold Mode are: Frequency. Multi frequency is the default and the most powerful frequency setting, with 40 kHz and 20 kHz single frequency options. Multi is the most sensitive to gold, but also reacts the most to bad ground and hot rocks. The goal is to get the EQUINOX to run well in Multi but if bad ground or hot rocks make that impossible, going first to 40 kHz and then to 20 kHz will make the EQUINOX progressively less reactive to the ground and the hot rocks. Ground Balance. The default is ground tracking on. Tracking attempts to keep up with and smooth out the variations in the ground. In doing so it has a filtering effect and can possibly tune out the slight audio variations that come not just from the ground but from very small or very deep gold. Tracking off is therefore the most sensitive setting, with adjustments made via the Auto (pump) method or manually. Sensitivity. The range is 1 – 25 with a default of 20. Increasing sensitivity increases the audio response from all targets, plus the responses from things like electrical interference. Most importantly, too much sensitivity makes the ground itself into one giant target, and so if the detector refuses to ground balance properly then reducing sensitivity until a proper ground balance can be obtained is critical. The default of 20 can easily be too high for the worst ground, and settings in the mid to low teens may be necessary. Recovery Speed. The range on the EQUINOX 800 is from 1 – 8. The defaults are 6 for Gold Mode 1 and 4 for Gold Mode 2. Recovery speed as regards nugget detecting can be viewed as a smoothing filter. Higher settings act to smooth out audio responses from the ground and hot rocks. Lower settings enhance audio responses from weak gold signals, but also make hot rocks and bad ground stand out more. False signals from the coil bumping a rock also increase at lower settings. In general the EQUINOX will be easier to handle at higher Recovery Speed settings, with more careful coil control required at lower settings. Iron Bias. The range is 0 – 9 with a default of 6 in both Gold Modes. Lower settings reduce the chance of gold being identified as ferrous, while higher settings reduce the chance of ferrous items being misidentified as gold. Accept/Reject. The default is -9 through 0 rejected, 1 through 40 accepted. The discrimination range on the EQUINOX runs all the way into the ground signal, with ground signals in highly mineralized ground normally coming in at -9, -8, and possibly -7 though it depends strictly on the ground itself. Hot rocks can read almost anywhere, even in the positive number range in the mid-teens or elsewhere. Electrical interference is also likely to exhibit in the low negative number range. Any offending numbers including trash targets can be blocked directly, but the more numbers that are blocked or rejected come at a cost of slightly less signal strength on desired targets. Threshold. The range is 1 – 25 with a default of 12. This is normally set to be just loud enough to hear, but no more. Just a barely discernible tone. However, the threshold can also act as a backend filter. Once all other tuning has been completed, the threshold can be set lower until it is silent, or set higher than normal. Running silent can suppress small variations in the ground signal but also the weakest gold signals. Running the threshold higher than normal can smooth out weak variations, again with a subsequent loss on the faintest gold signals. My starting point (initial settings) for either Gold Mode are: Frequency: Multi Ground Balance: Auto (pump method) with manual tweaking Sensitivity: 20 Recovery Speed: 6 Iron Bias: 0 Accept/Reject: -9 through 40 accepted (either through the settings or by hitting the “Horseshoe button”) The main thing I am going to try and do is operate the EQUINOX in Gold Mode without blocking out or rejecting any target id numbers. The goal is to find settings that reduce and smooth out ground responses while reducing the signal from gold as little as possible. These two things fight each other and there are no perfect settings, but simply the best compromise possible. For some people that will mean making the machine very stable, while others may prefer hotter settings that require more audio interpretation from the operator. The first step is to find an area clear of trash, and walk a bit waving the coil over the ground. Chances are you will get lots of ground noise. Go into the settings and adjust the ground balance. This normally means pumping the coil over the ground while holding the accept/reject button (see the manual) until the ground response evens out. If the ground is highly variable with mixed hot rocks, waving the coil from side to side may work better than pumping the coil. With any luck the machine will settle right down. However, in bad ground it will not, and the solution normally will be to lower the sensitivity setting. Basically this just takes some experimentation, lowering the sensitivity and adjusting the ground balance until the detector reacts very little or not at all to being waved over the ground. If you can get the EQUINOX set to where no target id numbers are popping up at all as the coil passes over the ground but where you can still hear faint variations in the ground, you are there. Then it is simply a matter of going detecting, and digging every target that stands out above the faint ground variations present in the threshold tone. Gold can read anywhere from negative numbers all the way up into the 30’s so typical nugget detecting involves digging everything. However, most nuggets weighing under 1/10th gram will give a target id number of 1 or 2, nuggets under a gram in the single digits, and several gram nuggets reading in the teens and higher. The smallest or the deepest large nuggets will produce no target id number at all, just a variation in the threshold. In real bad ground you may have to not only reduce the sensitivity setting, but possibly even increase the recovery speed setting to 7 or 8. In ground that refuses to behave, switching to first 40 kHz and then 20 kHz will progressively detune the EQUINOX , making it easier to get a stable ground balance. Engaging ground tracking may also help smooth out the worst ground – you have to experiment. In severe ground all this may not work, with ground signals still coming in around the low negative numbers and possibly higher. Some hot rocks may read as positive numbers. This is where the EQUINOX can go to the next level. Go into the settings and reject or “notch out” the worst offending target id numbers. This will usually be -9, -8, and -7 but may include even higher numbers, including positive numbers. Block as few numbers as you can. Simply rejecting the bottom three negative numbers will usually settle the machine down a lot, especially if there is any residual electrical interference being encountered. Rejecting target id numbers does come at a cost in reduced signal strength on desired targets, but you may find now that the sensitivity level can be increased from one to several points, reclaiming that lost sensitivity. In theory if you can get the EQUINOX running stable with no target id numbers rejected you have the ideal situation. However, EQUINOX allowing some offending signals to be rejected with an attendant increase in the sensitivity setting may be the better way to go. It just depends on the situation. So far we have been trying to deal with bad ground by using various detuning methods. In low mineral ground you can go the other direction. If the detector ground balances immediately with a sensitivity setting of 20, then try higher settings. You can also try reducing the recovery speed setting from 6 to 5 or 4 or even lower. Each reduction of the recovery speed setting is fairly dramatic and you will find it suddenly very hard to get and hold a decent ground balance if you go too low with the setting. In mild ground however it can add substantially to the signal strength of the weakest targets. Finally, for the worst ground and for EQUINOX 600 owners we have other alternatives. There is no reason at all why the other modes cannot be used to nugget hunt. Park 2 and Field 2 are both very hot on small targets and offer the ability to use tones while nugget hunting. Prospectors who encounter salt lakes/salt flat situations would do well to remember the Beach modes as possible last ditch settings. Either Park 2 or Field 2 can make for very good nugget hunting modes. I prefer to use Park 2 as a base because by default Field 2 blocks out or rejects the key target id numbers 1 and 2. Small gold nuggets read there, so using Park 2 makes sure somebody will not accidentally reject nuggets in that range. You can use Field 2, but beware those blocked numbers and adjust accordingly. For Park Mode 2: Frequency: Multi Ground Balance: Auto (Ground pump method with manual tweaking) Sensitivity: 16 – 25 Recovery Speed 800: 4 - 6 (default is 6) Recovery Speed 600: 2 - 3 (default is 3) Iron Bias: 0 Accept/Reject: Everything accepted, rely on tones (alternative reject -9, -8, and -7 if too much ground feedback) I have suggested accepting everything, and then using the two tone mode to hunt by ear. If trash is minimal then set the tone break lower than normal, so that 0 and several negative numbers read as non-ferrous. This way you can have ground signals reading as low tones (and possibly at a lower volume) and signals from gold as higher tones. Again, this works well with both EQUINOX models. To sum up, I suggest trying to use the EQUINOX 800 in the Gold Modes with no target id numbers rejected. Tune up just like any normal nugget hunting detector, and dig all decent audio signals. Some nuggets may deliver a negative number response or no number at all. A secondary method for more difficult ground is to reject or block out offending ground and hot rock signals. And a third method for both EQUINOX 800 and 600 owners involves using the Park 2 mode as a nugget hunting mode. That should give people plenty to experiment with. Nugget detecting can be very challenging, but learning to do so means you will learn how to wring every bit of performance possible out of your EQUINOX , and that can benefit you in other areas of detecting as well. Good luck! Steve Herschbach DetectorProspector.com Earlier post on same subject Gold found in Alaska by Steve with Minelab Equinox Gold found in California and Nevada with Minelab Equinox

I think that pretty well says it. It's not an Equinox and never was supposed to be. It's a new minelab entry level machine with the main thing that made the Equinox special....multi IQ. The ability of a machine to see coins others miss. Not necessarily deeper just better vision. It Will be very interesting to see it in action when it gets in the public's hands and goes through their test gardens. Segments and notching...25 segments on the 540...50 on the Equinox. So a segment will be more than 1 number. On the 540 perhaps it's 2 compared to the Equinox's 1 Deep? I expect respectable but it may be deep or the depth could varry depending on the model. It's not an Equinox. For people wanting into a fun hobby without breaking the bank and swing a machine with multi IQ. I think it could be an awesome little machine. But only time will tell!!! HH!! Tom Minelab Vanquish metal detector Minelab Vanquish 340 / 440 / 540 Technical Specifications

In some of our older sites old tools like axe heads, picks, hoes, etc., tend to ring up around nickle on the EQ800, but they have a dull'ish sound to them vs a nickle which excites the EQ800 to no end. Hard to explain, but if they can properly ID these large iron tools that would be great, although I don't mind digging them, some of them end up going home with me.

OK you guys. I guess it's up to me to get this topic onto the subject at hand and keep us out of trouble. So- - - - I wonder how deep that cold be found with a GPZ 7000?

I have not had any major trouble detecting coins on edge at depths of 6" or more in my 4 to 5 bar Fe3O4 dirt with the Nox. The fact is my dirt is so bad sometimes in my area that I am lucky to even detect a 6" coin sized target with my other VLF detectors! If the Nox can detect coins on edge here at 6" including silver, and can hit coins with accurate enough target ID at 8" or more for me to know what is under the coil, I feel like I am way ahead of the game. Yes, the numbers do jump some the deeper the target, but I still know it is a copper, clad or silver high conductive coin and not a zinc penny or nickel. At more than 4" here my other detectors all read coin sized targets as high conductor big silver targets numerically or give no numerical target ID and just give the highest tone setting for an audio response. I did the update to 1.75. I noticed more accurate depth readings, better pinpointing and somewhat better coin on edge detecting. This may be a dumb statement, but ALL of the VLF detectors I have used have some degree of trouble detecting coins on edge, especially with DD coils. Am I missing something??????? Was there some advertising hype or stated expectation that the Nox would have no issues with coins on edge? Jeff

If you have any photo's of your stuff it might help a touch. Lord knows enough prospectors with sharp eye's can spot a gold flake in a bowl of pyrite who knows what all us in the various forums can spot. Luck to ya mate and sorry for your loss.

Sounds like a nice trip ...nice gold too!

Sorry to hear about your situation. Unfortunately you will probably never get most of your stuff back. Hope they can catch the bastards!

All gold is good gold mate. 👍

Ah, yeah, I didn't read it lol

Not blowing my own horn but this area, within 9km of home has netted me over 6,000 bits of gold since 2014 and probably another 1,000 back in the 'good old days'. All off old digging heaps....

At 22 rpm it probably never wears out.

I too have wanted that back button. That is why I choose a compatble "2nd" mode for whatever site I'm searching to plug into the user profile slot so I can quickly toggle between the two in the field. E.g. Field 2 and Park 1 or Beach 1 and Gold 1 (on dry sand), etc. for interrogating targets etc. A back button would be helpful navigating the settings menu also. Variable target ID is a strong indicator as to whether I am dealing with junk or not. Especially if I am using 50 tones, "flutey" sounding targets are a great audio cue of a bottlecap. If the target is a coin or ring, then I usually get a solid ID and it really says dig me unless it is a known junk target ID associated with a pull tab, etc.

I wonder what they do when its time to renew the crankshaft as most of these engines are put in place and then the hull is built around it.Perhaps they have a long service hatch that they use and lower it inside ??

Thanks Rob, if you could cross post this to your forum that would be great. I missed yours and others posts here at first as I was running around like a headless chicken packing stuff up to do the 12 hr drive down. I appreciate it, I'm on my phone and it doesnt have my login and password saved for your forum like my computer does, so I cant get in right now, if you could copy and paste I would appreciate it! There is definitely too much prowpecting stuff to sell in NW Arizona without suspicion, so if they try to get rid of it it very well may filter down to Phoenix area. Especially if someone is selling prospecting gear with a bunch of tools and off grid equipment, they took a homestead worth of stuff as I was building a base down there to live half the year.

I think I will stay with the E.Trac and Nox . The Vanquish is not going to beat them. Will keep an eye on it through.

From Russia eh? Any mention to who they selected for the USA in 2020? I seriously wish the update will allow mode selection to backward and not 7 clicks to go back to previous mode. Wishful thinking. Solid target ID would be very helpful

Hey Jasong, Damn, that is disheartening. I will keep a ear and eye out for anyone looking to sell or trade stuff that might be linked back to you. Thank God you had all your detector stuff. Any chance you can share this on my forum, or I could copy/paste if anything to help get the word out in Arizona? My forums - https://forums.robsdetectors.com/ Let me know if I can help. Also, Doc spends a lot of time in the general area I believe, you might also want to inform him. Rob Allison

Hi Jin, I am in California, the button is fine its just that the part that plugs into the unit has broken...or has pulled apart exposing the 2 contacts...It may still work. I just want a replacement just in case it don't.

Not sure where your from Irondigger but here in Australia we have "Jaycar" that sells all sorts of switches and electrical stuff. The green button on the handle is only a switch and Jaycar sell simular ones. A guy once said he replaced his handle switch from Jaycar. You may have to search for the correct sized one as the website has 3 pages of push button switches. You should be able to buy one for under $5 https://www.jaycar.com.au/components-electromechanical/switches/pushbutton-switches/c/2CB?q=%3Apopularity-desc&page=0

Your CZ is a good detector. More hours in the water will probably work better than another VLF. If you do not have a PI then getting one also is worthwhile in my opinion. Since you have a good detector already, just a little more patience will eventually see the Fisher Impulse AQ to market. There unfortunately are many reasons a detector can be delayed. I personally prefer they take the time to get it right rather than rush to market.

Hopefully, if this isn't a hoax, the update will also fix the flakey button pinpointing where the sound sometimes doesn't come on and requires turning pinpointing off then back on again before it works. Yes, I do pinpoint with the coil method, but there are instances where the button pinpointer helps.

Very nice job! I'd LOVE to have things like that available to find in my own yard! SUPER! Steve

There are signs that Whites is in trouble. For one, they've pulled back support of forums and rallies. It has been said that it's been more beneficial to concentrate on free social media platforms, and you do see them interacting on their Facebook page. Still, pulling back from all forums is a mistake and is either a sign of financial trouble or poor judgment. For another, you only have to look at the last several releases to get the sense that the same stubborn attitude toward integrating technology into their machines persists to this day. The lack of wireless, lithium ion, at home updates just for starters. The lack of any specificity of what they have in store for the near future has been disheartening. This is a mistake all US manufacturers seem to be making at the moment. When you're notably lagging behind competitors and have a loyal base of users waiting for you to make a showing, you owe it to them to keep them in some kind of a loop. The excuse that they don't want to give too much away to the competition is thin and wearing thinner when release after release the competition is outstripping them anyway. In this industry, with the limitations imposed by physics, when you're talking about companies like Whites, FTP, etc., you're not going to be entertaining anything the leading guys are not also entertaining. You're not going to be working on anything the leading guys are not also working on. To the extent that a product launch is imminent, throwing the user base a bone or two can be helpful and encouraging. Any anti-espionage benefit to radio silence is outweighed by the demoralization of users who are watching thier beloved companies get spanked time and again despite this curious strategy. It would be different if everything were kept under wraps and then out of nowhere comes this kick ass top of the line new flagship. That's not happening though. Users are left sitting in the dark, trying to be loyal, and watching others run away with all the advances while not being given the time of day by the company they love. It doesn't take a relationship specialist to tell you where this is headed. Users are going to cheat. I still love my V3i, and using it to this day, but I'm also seeing the Equinox on the side. Won't be long and I'll also be looking at a Pulsedive. A Mini-Horde could be in the cards for my kid as it seems to address a lot of the problems I see with kids machines. Either too heavy or no arm support and can't get wet.

25 minutes in the backyard and two excellent coin finds! You've made a lot of progress since you first posted here. Glad to have helped but obviously you've learned how to learn on your own. Nothing like a good find to bolster the confidence (and the enthusiasm). Hope your wife doesn't mind your yard looking like a mine field. Tell her it's those damn moles. 😁

I got my GPZ back from Minelab last month, which included a new 14" coil and lower rod. Only $3600.00 AUD lighter in my wallet. As you may recall, I bricked the detector after the Patch Lead was defective. It's still crazy hot here in Sunny Yuma, but I was bored and still curious about the X-Coil, so I shook off my concerns and cut the connector off my brand new coil and built the Patch Lead myself. I was extra careful with the heat from the soldering iron and did a respectable job of putting together the connection. I did a few practice runs on scrap wire and connectors so I was a little more confident of my skill. I got out 5 mornings last week for a total of about 12 hrs run time. At sunup the morning temps were still in the high 80's and jumping to 100 by 9:00am. Unbearable in the desert washes with no breeze. The one thing that saved me was the synthetic chamois cooling cloths, one around my neck and one under my cap hanging down my neck. The first morning I did a complete set-up with the detector since it was, for all practical purposes, a brand new machine with all new printed circuits etc. I waved the 17" X-Coil over the ferrite and got the machine nearly silent, though still reacting some to the ferrite. I started in the area where I found the 28 gram rippa last May. This area has a fairly hot layer of clay about 12" under the overburden. Last May we were able to run this zone using HY, Normal, Sens 12, (Threshold 27) with the Patch Search mode to quiet down the machine. The 17" X-Coil in those same settings was way too sensitive, so I had to switch to Difficult to quiet it down. Because I knew I could only be out for a couple hrs, I focused on trying to get that coil over gold hoping to then play with the settings. No joy the first morning. The next morning I went out to an area that had produced half a dozen 1 grammers when the GPZ first came out. I knew it was deeper and a little quieter ground. We tried Paul's 19" GPZ here when it first came out to no avail. This time I was able to zero out the Ferrite and switch back to Normal from the Difficult setting. The machine was still a little twitchy so I backed off the Threshold to 22 and got it humming along nicely. I gridded the area pretty good and came up with a few deep trash targets and then, right as it started to get unbearable hot, I got a faint, sweet rising tone. A lot of digging and sweating produced a sweet 4 grammer right on the hardpack, about 14 inches down. Now a 4 grammer at 14 inches should be well within the range of the GPZ and standard 14" coil, but I've been over that zone at least 6 times over the past 3 years. The only significant difference is the ground is bone dry this year. Last year there were still pools of water from late season rains. The next morning I was back to the area of the 28 grammer. I found that the machine was more stable and I could run in Gen, Normal, Sens 14. I got a couple deep trash targets and chased a number of hot ground seams and hot rocks. The settings were really sensitive to hot ground, but in my mind that's the only way to find good missed targets. Right at the end of the morning I got what sounded like another bit of hot ground. I switched to High Yield from General and it brightened up the target, but still hadn't convinced me that it was gold. The target was in the sidewall of a drywasher's hole, so the 17" coil was pretty awkward. I dug out the ground so that I could get the coil level and the target brightened up a little more. By then I had hit the hardpack which tends to hide these small, reddish hotrocks. I dug dozens in this same area, but I needed to check this coil's capabilities. The hardpack was brutal in the morning sun so I had to go back to the truck and get my handy Aussie (DavesGold) made pick. I'm not going out without it now. About 8 inches into the hardpack out popped a nice 1.5 grammer. I can guarantee I stuck the GPZ standard coil in the hole a half a dozen times over the past 2 years. Thur morning I got out in the same area. I chose a wash that a produced 5 small nuggets, in the sub-sub gram range, in May. I concentrated on the deepest gravels thinking deeper nuggets must be in there, just beyond the reach of the 14" coil. I gridded the zone where a bench had formed on the inside bend of the wash. I went at it from every angle and was about to surrender to the heat when I got the faintest of faint tones. Again I switched to High Yield and it brightened up some. I switched to Difficult, nothing. I started pulling down the bank so that I could get a good level swing with the 17" coil. Slightly improved tone, still unconvincing. I pulled down another few inches and got a much improved tone. I switched to Difficult and got a dull growl, more convincing yet. After much digging into the hardpack out came a nice 1.8 grammer. I even photographed the hole for this one. The Aussie pick is 28" long. I'm really starting to like this coil. It's light enough for all day use with the addition of my homemade hipstick. I run the hipstick to the bottom of the frame in my lightweight framepack, which moves the weight to the back of the hipbelt and off my shoulder. I'm also running the SteelPhase amp plugged directly into the GPZ, no wireless connection between. As per some of JP's guidance, I'm running the GPZ volume at 2, adjusting loudness at the amp. I'm running the Threshold between 20 and 22 depending on how twitchy the ground is. For the most part I'm running General instead of High Yield trying to reach those deeper targets. The first 2 targets were well within the reach of the standard 14" coil, but somehow I didn't find them over the past 2 years. The last one, doubtful for the standard coil. As the weather cools I'll start doing a quick change to the 14" coil over new targets for a comparison. Right now, it's still to friggin hot to bother. X Coil 2021 News

Sage brush was there. Boise only started 150 years ago. We are a pretty young state. Prior to the gold rushes in the 1860s it was mostly only Indians. The outer areas of boise (not the old areas) were sage brush till irrigation enabled farming, then farms till the growing population caused the fields to be turned into subdivisions. There are some small townsites that have been absorbed, but they weren't where I'm located. On the east coast/older areas it can be a big mystery what was there before. Here it's a very boring answer.

Go back 150 years and what was there, could have been a trading post, stagecoach stop, or a mining town. You will never know until you check local records. Good luck in what you might find in your own yard, and go deep as they have probably brought in new soil to put on top of what was there.

You can believe me. The simple answer is the Fisher Impulse is a rumor, not a detector being made and for sale. You can’t but one yet. You will be able to get an Aquamanta someday, probably next year. Maybe sooner. Fisher does not care that anybody wants information and so asking them for it generally gets no response. My advice is just relax and not worry about it. It will appear someday or never, but no point in waiting around on companies. If I needed a detector now I would just buy something else personally. If you can afford to wait, then that’s all you can do.

The only thing it showed me is he is walking faster than the ground he can detect. It looks as if he’s out for a afternoon stroll 🚶‍♀️not detecting. C.Scope is a new one to me but what part of the world they from? I’ve seen that name before and I believe it came from Kellyco . Chuck

Was a rough week at work and needed to unwind. Have been metal detecting when I could since my vehicle accident in April. Today me and my wife went to a place I secured permission to earlier this year. Not been able to get there until today. The grass was grown up about 3 inches here and I broke out my Tekentics T2 factory coil. It SUCKED. Skipped right over the 1963 quarter in the photo below. I could not believe it when I dug this one. That silver was beautiful. The Cors Shrew is no joke. This little coil has made me very happy. Went on to find a 1939 mercury dime and 1951 rosie silver dime! This is the most silver I've found in the last 16 yrs. The only other silver I found was back in 2003 and it was a single worn mercury dime. I also found a couple buttons, a 1944 or 1945 nickel and a 1926 wheat penny. I love my Teknetics T2SE. It's an amazing piece of equipment. With that Cors coil, it's a beast. Worth every penny.

Ola Amigos! Just wanted to introduce my self. I'm a surfer who usually MD in the summer because the waves go flat where I live in Santa Barbara. This summer I got an Equinox 800 and have been pretty stoked using around town and on the beaches. I've found some cool stuff. The oldest coin is a 1890 Indian head penny in a vacant lot downtown Santa Barbara. And a nice vintage silver ring missing the center diamond but has two diamonds on each of the sides. Anyways I never see anyone MD in Santa Barbara and just wanted to say Hi! Thanks History Surfer

Jim in Idaho those lithium cells are 1.8 volts + when fresh. I started with name brand disposable lithium cells for emergency use, always keeping a few packets handy. After a while I used them in radios and torches and finally the Tdi SL. Found a cheaper 'Wallaby' brand available from a local seller in Melbourne. A bit hotter to start with than the big brands. Too expensive to use on a regular basis but when a new machine arrives in the mail..... why not? Special occasions and for emergencies only because of cost. The new battery pack will save me a few dollars in the long run since I have lots of 18650 cells. That 12 x 8 MJ did well, should improve with the more powerful 16v pack on the SL and I have not jet mounted it on the PRO. Best time of year for Victorian goldfields, the flies have not hit peak numbers, the ants and snakes are still a bit slow from the cold. Looking forward to it. Karelian

Not for you

JR Beatty and I copped ridicule by the ton when we showed pictures of gold found with our QEDs because of camera date. We were accused of falsifying our finds and it was suggested that the gold was actually found with other brand detectors. We have more than our share of nasty nutters in this country.