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Showing content with the highest reputation on 10/12/2019 in all areas

  1. Pretty much done for this year. We've had snow twice already and it's hitting the teens at night. Last season I got 106 bits for just under an ounce and this year I only detected 40 bits for just over an ounce so an improvement over my 1st season! 18 bits from Montana and 22 bits from Idaho. FULL DISCLOSURE: 1 gram of the tiniest bits came from crack scratching/panning in the creek. I had fun and met some locals from Helena area (BIG help) and that helped me stumble onto the two bigger pieces (25g/4.5g) that saved my season. As long as I can improve weight at the end of season over the last I've reached the main goal. good luck guys......
    4 points
  2. In my signature, I wrote that our challenge is : Big Beach, Little Coil, Tiny Targets. Just as an amusing exercise, I thought I'd see what that looks like in terms of square inches. 1 square mile of beach = 4,014,490,000 square inches Standard 11 inch coil = 95 square inches a good target = 1 square inch...maybe Given that reality, I think it's amazing we find what we do! Of course you can reduce that beach area with careful beach reading skills but you get the point! Big Beach, Little Coil, Tiny Targets.šŸ˜
    3 points
  3. I have just come out of a magic winter season with the 10,12,15 X coils, I have not used my ML14 or 19 since putting them on. The X coils have made the Magic GPZ7000 a super magic detector. No teething problems, make patch lead, fit and dig gold. How good is that??? Can only say it doesn`t get any better...ā€¦ā€¦...or does it. What will the X coils evolve into ????????? I have no connection to X coil, or to Davsgold except as a customer, top coils, top service and express freight.
    2 points
  4. I welcome! Steve, I 'm not an expert either. Usually the stones that signal me don 't interest me at all. But there 's no connection. Forest, pole, stink. Maybe a meteorite? Maybe not? There were no fires nearby... Think coke? Perhaps. I don 't insist it 's a meteorite, but... just wondering, what if? I 'll put some cool rooms in the korb, even if it 's coke. With respect.
    2 points
  5. Great illustration, Dan. Coil coverage, not detector performance or site conditions, is what I believe keeps a majority of the targets buried in the sand or dirt. Coil coverage falls in the detectorist skill category. Anyone can hear beeps or read numbers, tweaking a machine can only help so much, but if you can't read the beach or site clues (eroded cuts, low spots, areas of likely commerce, where do folks take off their flip-flops and drop stuff?, where is the towel line and low tide line?, where would someone build a house (high ground)?, where would they gather for social activities, water, or meals?), keep your coil low and level when swinging, and adequately cover the beach with a logical coverage scheme, then it really does come down to chance. Folks are usually not patient enough to cover every inch of ground in a disciplined manner (me included) and often over-estimate the ground they have actually covered with their coils. Analogous to the golf saying "Never up, never in" , you can't detect or recover the target you don't get your coil over. That is why I just shake my head when folks say they keep the 6" coil on "all the time" or use it in fields and beaches. Sure you can do that, and it makes sense if all you detect is cellar holes, bed o' nails sites, or other constrained situations. But if you want to ensure overlapping swing coverage that means you are tiptoeing along at most at 1/2 the speed you would use to search with the 11" coil and with about 1ft less sweep width. That translate to a lot less ground that can be covered in a given period of time. Time = targets and the more time you waste having to cover ground or interrogating targets means (rather than just digging those iffy signals) is that much less time for recovering targets or leaving more to chance if you decide to forego coil coverage for speed.
    2 points
  6. Well ok I personally donā€™t mind the delay per se because I assume it is for good reason. There were talks of performance improvements right up until the information blackout. Well for gosh sake, if there is to be no update facility, get this thing right before release! The last thing First Texas or any of us need is another release snafu that has everyone having to send units back to the factory for updates. That seems so common sense but even the F-Pulse pinpointer had issues when it came out and it was just a pinpointer. More importantly in my mind is I am very much hoping they improve the waterproof spec of 1 meter or 3 feet. Thatā€™s basically a wader and even mask and snorkel use would be risky. I did a lot of breath hold to 6 feet myself with my other units like the ATX. In other words, a guy like me standing in deep water would not be able to sit the unit on the bottom where my feet are without exceeding three feet. Not good enough in my opinion. One quoted delay was over the waterproof thing and hopefully that means it is being improved to what is sort of a industry minimum of three meters or ten feet. If offered the choice between getting it now or getting it right, Iā€™m all in favor of patience and getting it right. Marketing and management have got to be going crazy and putting pressure on to get it to market. Back the engineers on this one guys and give them time.
    2 points
  7. Dew, The 1.75 update fixed a bug related to the the user profile button an inadvertent resets of settings. It also appeared to improve Equinox response to high conductive coins on edge. The drawback, real or imagined, was that this hotter response on small profile high conductive targets also increased the propensity of falsing when using the small coil with sensitivity cranked. As a result, I kept my primary machine updated to the latest software but kept my backup 800 on the original software and would use that machine in situations that called for the small coil. Since the introduction of version 2.0, I think the addition of the F2 iron bias setting, I think that any falsing associated with the small coil can likely be overcome with the proper setting of the F2 iron bias setting without as much risk to non-ferrous masking. In other words, the mid-level settings of F2 are very effective at reducing falsing of mixed ferrous without having to overdrive the bias curve to the extent that you start masking non-ferrous targets in the proximity of ferrous, though you can certainly do so by cranking F2 to 6 or higher. As a result, I no longer see any reason to keep version 1.5 around on ANY machine so I have upgraded both my 800's now to version 2.0. Hope that makes sense.
    2 points
  8. With ice on my bird bath this morning I officially donā€™t care now and am hitting the snooze button until next year. Fisher Impulse AQ Data & Specifications
    2 points
  9. The Nokta/Makro Simplex is a new 12 kHz single frequency VLF metal detector introduced in November 2019. The Simplex redefines the features available in a metal detector selling in the under $300 range. Key features are the fully submersible design, integrated wireless headphones, built in rechargeable battery, updates via the internet, and more. Look for more information and discussion on the Nokta / Makro Metal Detector Forum. Nokta/Makro Simplex metal detector The Simplex is available in two packages, both are the same wireless capable detector. Note that Nokta/Makro uses a proprietary high speed wireless solution not compatible with other wireless systems. The Simplex+ has a MSRP of $299 and is available discounted at $254.15. The Simplex+ WHP adds the Nokta/Makro wireless headphones and a hat for MSRP $399 but available discounted at $339.15. You may purchase the less expensive package and add the headphones at a later time if desired. In either case you are buying the same detector which has the wireless capability built in. 12 kHz Single Frequency VLF Waterproof to 3 meters or 10 feet Built in rechargeable LiPO battery Built in wireless headphone capability Built in vibration mode (for hard of hearing/deaf people and great for underwater use!) Three piece telescopic rod assembly collapses to 25" for easy transport Stout construction yet only 2.9 lbs (or less) 11" DD coil, many other options will be available Firmware pdates available over the internet Price under US$300 Built in forward facing LED flashlight for night hunting Backlit screen & backlit keyboard controls Battery strength indicator Four search modes - Park, Field, Saltwater, All Metal Full time automatic ground tracking 0 - 99 target id Notch discrimination Ferrous volume setting Depth indicator Main volume control Sensitivity control Frequency shift to reduce electrical interference 2 year warranty Nokta/Makro Simplex+ Owner's Manual Nokta/Makro Simplex display
    1 point
  10. Fisher / Teknetics 2018 Coil Compatibility Chart Official Fisher Search Coil Page Official Teknetics Search Coil Page
    1 point
  11. I made a few videos about our trip to Chicken Alaska this year. Here is episode 1: Journey to Chicken: Two swiss hobby gold prospectors travel to Chicken, Alaska to find some gold on Myers Fork. This first episode contains some impressions of the journey and our sweet arrival in Chicken, Alaska. Episode 2 (coming soon) is about us, trying to find some gold on Myers Fork and having a good time in Chicken Gold Camp.
    1 point
  12. Hey everyone I dug this 1923s SLQ yesterday. It has a nik on the edge, came out of the ground this way....bummer. This is the second '23s I've dug in 2 years. This coin is one of the lowest of all mintages for this quarter. This first one I dug, I sold it to a friend for $200 to complete his SLQ collection. Thanks for stopping in.
    1 point
  13. So, retiring soon and have held a claim in Rye Patch for several years. Live in Wa State and am interested in possibly partnering with someone in the area to co-explorer the claim. Any interest?
    1 point
  14. For people who have impulse control issues, it is really disconcerting that the CAPABLE Simplex+ is priced near the impulse buy threshold. I have detectors that can do everything as well as the Simplex, but I am intrigued by the simplicity and VCO audio option in AM that I wish my Equinox had. This could prove interesting in mineralized dirt and may just be the design that finally compels me to get my first full fledged Nokta detector (if it had a higher single frequency selection option, e.g., 24 - 28 khz, it would be a virtual no-brainer). In fact, I am forced to think up weird rationalizations like if I get the Simplex+ with wireless HP, that would give me an excuse to pick up the wireless Nokta PulseDive pinpointer because I would then have a compatible Nokta detector to use it with. I want Simplex and I need help...
    1 point
  15. If I was looking for such a cache I would use a gpx 4000, 4500, 5000 with a 20" to 25" mono coil unless the soils are hot then a large DD coil.
    1 point
  16. Lol! Right there with you Chase.
    1 point
  17. The T2 is not compatible with any concentric coils and has different "front end" electronics and discrimination circuits than the F75 which makes it electrically incompatible with even the F75 DD coils. The F75 was an "offshoot design" from the T2 designed to be compatible with concentrics to accommodate coinshooters vs. the relic and gold hunters that the T2 was primarily designed for. In addition to Steve's excellent article on the T2, here is a good summary article on the difference between the two detectors with quotes from the Dave Johnson who designed both machines: https://www.hollandsbrook.com/blog/fisher-f75-vs-f75-ltd-vs-teknetics-t2-vs-t2-ltd/
    1 point
  18. The depth would be normal for my ground, and coils can detect your hand. The human body is weakly conductive. Itā€™s actually a sign of a sensitive detector.
    1 point
  19. Hi F44 depth can vary depending on soil mineralization and EMI levels along with accurate ground balance. With the teardrop elliptical or 8ā€ round concentric coils air tests of 8ā€ to 10ā€ max sensitivity are normal. Air test at 15 sensitivity should be 6ā€ to 8ā€ or so if you are testing outside in low EMI. In ground testing on established targets should be about the same in artifact, jewelry and all metal modes. Hands can create responses. Check coil connections too. I am not a fan of the teardrop coil either. I like the 8ā€ round concentric, the 10x6 elliptical and the Detech Ultimate coil. The F44/Land Ranger Pro is not known for depth results that exceed the width dimensions of the coil. Jeff
    1 point
  20. Good Morning Safspir, I am also at Rye Patch right now, and will be here for awhile. Send a PM let me know when you think you'll be here.
    1 point
  21. I am in Rye Patch right now! I know the area pretty good. It has been below 20 the last couple of mornings but perfect during the afternoons with very little wind. I suggest you send PMs and you'll get more details than just open forum. Mitchel
    1 point
  22. Great idea in my opinion...you can never have too many digging tools ...I can see myself using one when my hand gets fatigued from using the lesche and vice a versa..I guess you dont really know how you will like it until you try it. Thinking you could clean up where the handle is welded to the blade so it tapers to the blade and also incorporate a rubber finger grip on the handle somehow? anything that could make it look and feel better would make it sell better. strick
    1 point
  23. Great story Steve...Like the others have said we really appreciate hearing your adventures. One of the great things about this hobby is being able to mix it up with hunting for different things That Ax head is a treasure hunters dream for sure...some of the things that would be going through my mind...what did the person look like who forged it? was it the same person who used it? How many people did he kill with it? was he killed in battle using it? just a few things I would be thinking about. Also I was wondering Is that something you would even try to clean up at all ? strick
    1 point
  24. Well done Steve, great finds for sure.... Axe is a one of a kind dig. .....
    1 point
  25. Underwater units are a whole different ball game. If we are processing the design of underwater units through the lens of land ergonomics it's hard to make sense of them. Straight shafts make perfect sense where you want to have your body and your machine parallel to the sea or lake floor and also create as little drag as possible when swinging side to side. With machines like aquanaut and CZ20-21 weight is much less of an issue due to buoyancy. The aquanaut was pretty comfortable to use underwater for me. Initially I thought I'd like it under the cuff so I bought the adapter (3rd party I believe, but does exist). For whatever reason I couldn't get comfortable with it. I couldn't make adjustments comfortably, wasn't as parallel as I'd like, and I couldn't see the LED. I was also afraid to scrape the housing up or damage it under my arm. For an under the arm mount to work better for me it would require an S shaft (with unit mounted just below the hand grip) which I do prefer on land but don't care for underwater.
    1 point
  26. I agree that VLF has really just about reached its peak in terms of what it can offer us, but when it comes to how the information is conveyed to us, and even machine learning, interaction between the host machine and pinpointer or peripherals we are not even scratching the surface of what could be done via wireless data transfer, glasses, applications, and more. The first company to exploit these methods, enhancing the user experience in this way, is going to advance this hobby into the 21st century. Most of the technology platforms to create this exists. It's now about who will have the vision to forge partnerships to implement them.
    1 point
  27. I hit Cocoa Beach Friday and the conditions were much changed and improved over my hunt on Daytona Beach last Sunday. During that Sunday hunt, I reported my observations of the 2.0 update focusing on the F2 function. You can read it here: https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/10845-my-observations-of-eqx-update-201-and-iron-bias-f2-at-daytona-beach/ There was a lot of EMI on the Daytona beach that Sunday and the overall conditions were such that I found the sweet spot sensitivity settings ranged from 13-16. At Cocoa Beach, the conditions were markedly different which allowed me to range from 18-22. Regarding the F2 function, I found the sweet spot centered around level 5 at Cocoa. When I first arrived at the beach, I buried my test sticks to determine the best combination of sensitivity and iron bias. I define the sweet spot as that which gives me good separation on two distinct targets...a bottle cap and a gold ring...the bottle cap giving me a distinct iron grunt and the ring a nice mid tone. Sensitivity was set at 20 and F2 at 5. Anything higher than F2 at 6 and the gold ring was masked..a single tone. Any thing lower than 4 and the bottle cap increasingly rang up as a fairly good target...again, a single tone. Throughout the morning, I dug several targets that my EQX told me were bottle caps just to validate the F2 function...and by golly, each time the target was indeed a bottle cap! During the remainder of my hunt time, I trusted my 2.0 EQX and never dug another bottle cap unless it was one of those pure aluminum twist off caps and of course, pull tabs...they both still sound great...something weā€™ll just have to live with at this stage of metal detecting technology. Bottom Line: For those new to beach hunting, I canā€™t emphasize enough how important it is to ā€œdial inā€ your settings as conditions do change from beach to beach. Secondly, I have great faith in the F2 function for the beaches I hunt.
    1 point
  28. Hello all...so sorry to respond late as I have been very busy. We are planning to offer a few smaller and 1 bigger optional coil BUT I cannot confirm it until they are all done and tested. Thank you!
    1 point
  29. Sounds like a business opportunity Simon. You can go into semi-retirement šŸ™‚
    1 point
  30. A good comparison of the standard SDC 8" coil & Coiltek 5"x10" here: https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=516234#p516234 Les, who made the vid, offers no opinion & leaves it to the viewers discretion to decide. IMO they are very close & the main factor is the ellipticals ability to "nose" into areas.
    1 point
  31. Hey all, I just joined the forum and wanted to share my experience with the Equinox 600 which I just acquired recently. I am completely new to the Equinox series of detectors and so spent a lot of time on here reading what Steve and others have generously shared over the past year. I really wanted to get an 800 but I found a 600 on craigslist that I could not pass up. I got the 6" coil and just recently had the chance to try it out in Northern AZ for a couple days. I set it up in Field 2, with some adjustments, and went at a patch Id found gold in before. I was really surprised at how fun the Equinox is, and how well it sniffed out some tiny lil nuggets among the noisy hot rock infested ground. I guess I was just so pleased with how it performed that I had to share. Smallest nugglets took 4 to make a grain.. (Scale is tiny too) I dont think Iv seen anyone post a nugget found with the 600, lots of jewelry of course but not much nugget action. I assume its because most people serious about prospecting are leaning towards the 800 in general (I am!) I actually picked up an 800 that I cant wait to try out and compare with the 600. Anyway, I can share my settings if anyone is interested, and also if anyone has been using the 600 for prospecting Id love if they chimed in on this. Cheers! Also, just want to thank everyone here for sharing so much knowledge and experience, and I hope to be able to contribute to that as I learn more..
    1 point
  32. the "patch" as I found it, was on the side of a gently sloping hill. I had found one bigger piece (gram+) previously which was deeper than say 4-6" with sdc. I returned with a 12"evo on the 4500 and didnt find anything else. When I went back this time, i just scraped a few inches off of where Id found a smaller piece and found another, then another. So I just used my pick and scraped back a few more inches in every direction. As it turned out, the tiny pieces (which most id missed with the sdc) were within the top 2 inches, nothing deeper (or nothing deeper than I could detect) and no bedrock in sight. I was hunting a narrow parameter of signals (0,1,2,3) ignoring everything esle (but hearing and seeing 0 through40). Signals were bouncing all over from iron and hot rocks which I removed if I could isolate them without digging too much. Moving the coil really slow to pick up a solid tone, or id# and then giving it a little wiggle from different directions to lock on seemed to work. I really dont know how big the patch is haha, but what I found was spread out within about 15'x10'. If I had known this was the case, I would have brought a rake and pulled off the rocks first, detect, then scrape back an inch or two, repeat, being methodical and going slow. I'm sure that I missed a few with my sloppy procedure, and not allowing or investigating -3,-2,-1.... and also not playing around with the settings to get it dialed in better.. Sure did enjoy not having to chase false signals and ground noise though!
    1 point
  33. Steve I think that it should have read "Minelabā€™s Find of The Year" Glad that they have honored you with their message, but they need to correct their sentence. Congrats.
    1 point
  34. Iā€™ve said this before and so many things is way back when. In the early 70ā€™s I hunted with a guy that couldnā€™t talk and also couldnā€™t hear . He and I both hunted with a 66 TR from Whiteā€™s. I found that this company made items to help people like him. One was it had a vibrate unit that plugged into the speaker plug that I put in for him . To me it worked great but he liked to watch the big meter that the detector had . You put it on your arm like you do your watch and it worked the same as the Simplex will. Sorry guys I just had to give you another history lesson. Chuck
    1 point
  35. It is no secret I have a huge dislike for most people in general. The more nosey they are, the bigger my dislike of them. I figure I mind my business, and they should mind theirs. But that is often the opposite of what most do. One day I had a crazy idea and the even crazier part is, that it works, and works extremely well. I have an old park close to my house that I like to detect, but it is popular with snobby people that walk/job the walkways around the park. They will give you the stink eye big time. The crazy idea was...I had noticed the local city workers usually wear a hi vis safety vest when they are working, and nobody even seemed to pay them any mind or attention. So I bought one and gave it a try while detecting. It works so well I will never go hunt a public area without it. I guess people just assume you are doing cleanup work or some kind of maintenance and leave you alone.
    1 point
  36. I still canā€™t really get my head around ā€œ3500 years oldā€! I got one gold find back from last year while on this trip, my large ā€œgold flakeā€ which is probably the remains of a thoroughly wiped out Roman gold coin. So I sort of found a gold coin. My other find, the ā€œvotive offeringā€ or whatever it is, has been disclaimed by the museums and is going through the process of getting back to me still. Hopefully not much longer now. Treasure is any non-coin precious metal or items found in groups of several or more. So single finds of bronze, like my ax head and bust, will be coming back to me for sure. Relics get old for me quick. People would be horrified by the number of buttons and musket balls I tossed in the hedge or ditch. I am more into quality than quantity except for gold or silver, where simple weight matters. My first trip I kept every single button etc. but last trip and this one the weeding was pretty severe. I only kept buttons with writing or patterns, watch winders, lead seals and tokens... the rarer more interesting stuff.
    1 point
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