Leaderboard

when moving lots of material, or breaking down an old drywasher tailing. I like to break the crust and knock them down by six inches or more. Smooth it out, let it dry for a few minutes, and your coil just glides. I added magnets sheathed in stainless steel to help clean up the trash.

Hello to all was was away in Vietnam for 3 weeks weeks eating and discovering the country but the crave for beach combing pushed me to schedule all my shifts straight at work then head to the coast. A Strom is battering the UK at the moment but i wasn't really interested in that i had my eyes on a beach which i think has been ignore for a while......not a really good access as the road isn't maintained and i dont have a 4x4 so i need to be careful if i dont want to leave most of my car there😅 So i took my nox which i swap for my CTX in January and headed to the spot at 5 am. Signals started straight away with big lump of brass, then i started to pick up fishing weight one after another then i hit Gold with this nice 9ct 4.45gr alas 9ct.....😪 Then few holes later my DIY unbreakable shaft broke but i brought a super dupa spade so i headed to the car and after a water refill(Was sweating despite the strong winds and low temp) i carried for another 2 hours finding the biggest anti aircraft shrapnells i ever found ,imagine been hit by that.The fishing weight are apparently 70/80s.....and the deus shaft you see on the picture of the broken shaft was actually the one i put inside to reinforce Anyway please find the result in picture,i think that that beach has much to offer will try to do another or two long session with the Nox then i will hit it with the PI.....if i succeed it will means 1 thing...my tenacity has paid off or maybe i am just getting to know the beaches better.............. Enjoy RR

Over the weekend digs. First day(Saturday) I hit a 1890s homesite, it dates 1890s to 1930s, then next day(Sunday) went and hit one of my colonial site that I been hitting for a while.Script A, war of 1812 button, V-nickel, Sunday school pin, few flat buttons and other goodies. Script A, war of 1812 button 1908 V-nickel. Sunday School pin Few flat buttons Spoon handle Everything. Old trigger guard with some rusty iron.

Thank You Kac for the research! Out today for two hours, nice lower tide, Different beach...First target of the day..14k Amber stone ring. Not many targets dug, had a drysuit issue. Small leak...Cut the day short.

Amazing what a week of the wrong direction winds can do. Keeping tides very high and pushing sand in...Not Good. But luck was with me the last two hunts and I was able to get into a small section out in the middle of no where and dig some treasures. Four Gold rings and eight silvers.

Yes, I want to see more patches come back to life as they have for JW! I've just had my initial day with it so far and there are many more to come. I've got a couple of days lined up with friends so I thought I'd make the same offer to forum friends. All days out in the field are enjoyable and finding some yellow pieces makes it more so sometimes. Mitchel

I already have in my mind all mods to transform it in a good dive machine. Believe me, the biggest question right now for me, still remain how to use seriously a 7Ms delay in saltwater. I'm able to remove small copper plated iron cents on my TDIbh misadjusting the GB and to leave gold safe under big coins that I don't dig. (Thanks Steve!). The threshold drift at 10Ms is sometimes a pain however, even with sensitivity on 70% and in really shallow water. Hopefully a stable threshold will be the key for this machine. I know the ferrous/non ferrous target separation is at it's best due to the videos. Now I only need to test one of the first that will be here in Europe to sleep in peace😁

As much as I love the Gold Monster, the 24K audio in both all metal VCO and discrimination two tone modes, the XGB ground balance options, the iron cancel options, the threshold tone options (a really big one for me!) and the "to die for" digital backlit display along with that super hot 6.5" coil make it a better choice for me.

Craig, right now White's is using all of their 6 by 4s in the promotion for the GMX. The demand for the GMX has been greater than expected, thus 6 x 4's are in short supply. It might be a couple of weeks before they are available publicly. I have one of the first ones and absolutely love it! Just be patient bro. HH Jim

I'll cautiously throw in on this since I live in S. CA and have been hunting the beaches out here since the early 1980's. I have used the TDI Beach Hunter and the Equinox 800 extensively. Cautiously since I want to preface this by saying that this is only my experience. The last time I posted a comment about this same subject, on a simple YouTube video, I got torched by PI loyalists. So here goes. From my own experience and observations, the Equinox is every bit the match for the TDI Beach Hunter. Its depth is amazing, as is its sensitivity to small gold. Let me share one experience with you that will prove my point. Last winter, at one of our beaches, a storm had come in and created a huge cut. Several of us hit it hard, a group of about six guys. 4 had Equinoxes, one had an Explorer and I decided to use my TDI Beach Hunter. While I did find a single small gold, I was so busy digging deep iron trash that my buddies were killing me in total gold finds. The reason for this is that the ground balance mode of the TDI Beach Hunter is just a gimmick and really limits your depth. You have to use it as a pure PI to get maximum depth. After several hours of digging trash I gave up and switched to my Equinox 800. My reward: a nice 14K gold chain and a 14K gold signet ring at about 15" down. Again, this is just my experience but if you have an Equinox 600, which you do, and you hunt in beach 1 with the stock coil you will get great depth and you can discriminate. The TDI Beach Hunter does get excellent depth but the "dig all the trash" aspect of it is why I generally stay away from PI's. So my advice would be to keep what you have. I have never used a Garrett Sea Hunter so I can't comment on its capabilities. Bill

Daniel, depth is not a problem believe me... You only need to fine tune the machine to obtain a stable threshold with lowest Delay and 70/80% sensitivity. The ground balance can change the sound of objects between low and high conductors. Try a 10 Euro cents coin and slowly turn down the GB to 4/5. At a certain point it will sound like too high (low tone)..Anything under that will be little rusty iron, stainless steel bits and rings, bottlecaps,gold rings and damned 1,2 and 5 Eurocents. There's a way to remove it...but really risky.(You can miss big wedding bands.). All these settings are ONLY available IF and WHERE the water is not that salty and the bottom not that mineralized. Keep in mind, for a real ground balance, the same principle will happen turning up to 7 the GB. So other more conductive coins will be included as lower conductors. The low/hi switch is been removed from the original SL box and on the TDI/BH works this way and only with GB on.

So I couldn't resist having a crack at my own adapter soon as my x-coil turned up today. I was pooping my undies on the enitial turn on but all in all wasn't to bad to do it you take your time I started with number 3 blue wire at bottom first as hardest to get to to solder then worked my way up to 2 and 1 the 4 and 5 spent a good 20 mins thoroughly checking for any shorts or anything when I was happy I hot glued all wires and invetween stopping them from being able to move or that in future then heat shrink followed by lots isolation tape I then put the female plug back on the std 14 and works like charm I also waterproofed the xcoil by adding marine silicone in and around the plug and a thin layer along the joining lip were skid plate goes all and all thought for a first attempt wasn't to bad and I didn't make it go boom so that a bonus

woow.what a nice ring,love the stone!!

Ok, I have a working 15x10 X-Coil in Southern California. I'm willing to meet up with someone within a 3 hour drive of Santa Monica (Bakersfield, Arizona border to Yuma) and you can try it on my Z (preferred) or your Z (at your own risk) and see how it performs. We can meet at a place of your choosing (if you want to know how it performs in a specific spot) or we can go to one of many well known spots. I belong to several clubs and I can take a guest. We'll both be detecting and keeping what we find. (No pool and split because I don't know how to divide equally. haha) You can use the X-Coil half the detecting time and I'll use it the other half. If this sounds like a day of detecting for you let me know and we'll see if we can set up a day. Mitchel

The two detectors are neck and neck for gold finding capability. The 48 kHz White’s 24K at $729 is lower price out of pocket, but the 45 kHz Gold Monster at $849 comes with two coils and a rechargeable battery pack. If tuned as hot as possible but for stable operation the machines have almost identical performance. It is possible to overdrive the Gold Monster sensitivity to get a slight edge over the 24K, but it comes at the price of the coils becoming unstable and knock sensitive. I like both machines a lot and when I weeded out my collection they both stayed longer than most as I had a hard time deciding which I liked best. After a year of using both I finally sold the Gold Monster and kept the 24K. Why? Ergonomics had a lot to do with it. The 24K comes with an adjustable length rod, the GM a three piece screw together rod. Yeah, you can replace it, but why should you have to? The 24K “S” rod is counterbalanced by the battery pack under the arm, and is more comfortable than the nose heavy GM. The round handle on the 24K fits my hand better than the squared off GM handle. Finally, the 24K stays put when set on the ground and does not roll over like the top heavy GM. Each of these is a small thing in practice but all together add up to a solid ergonomic win for the 24K. The biggie for me however is enhanced options and control. I won’t make a list, suffice it to say the GM was designed for simplicity and as few controls as possible. The 24K on the other hand has a full suite of tuning options including full target id capability, which the GM lacks. I’m a control freak and more than anything else that’s what tipped it for me. The 24K is more versatile. Finally, coils. The GM you have the 5” round DD and 6” x 10” DD. The 24K has the 6.5” round concentric, 6” x 10” DD, 4” x 6” DD, and very soon 8” x 14” DD. To sum up I look at the machines as being a push when it comes to gold finding capability. Give me either and I will do fine and be happy. I recommend the GM for somebody who is control adverse and won’t read manuals. It’s as near automatic as you can get, just don’t overdrive the sensitivity. The 24K offers more versatility for those who thrive on that sort of thing, and along with the ergonomics out of box and extra coil options now I believe White’s has produced an excellent offering in the 24K. In my case at least it’s the one that stayed when the others went away. White’s Goldmaster 24K Data & Reviews

Got a coveted invite to a productive PA permission and it resulted in a rare, but awesome couple hours relic hunting in February. Weather cooperated and the ground was relatively soft and not frozen from recent rains so we snuck out for some February relic fun.Was using the ORX, and though it did not hit on its namesake gold, it pretty much nailed plenty of keeper silver, brass, and lead.First hit was a well worn, 1854 Seated Quarter - a good omen and kept my silver streak at the site alive. With the skunk out of the way early, the Seated recovery basically set the tone that everything else found would be gravy.Next hit a 1925 SLQ in decent shape. A couple minie balls later, got a plow damaged Eagle and a nice flat button with some reverse gold guilt.Finally, hit on my highlight find of the day, my first CW Confederate Infantry Block "I" uniform button in great shape! Was kind of speechless after I realized what I had dug.Cleaned up with some additional minies including a Spencer carbine (lower left in the group pic, originally thought it was a Merrill)Couldn't have asked for a more in the three hours we were there (well I could have asked for more, but that would be just plain greedy).Used the ORX exclusively with the 9" round HF coil and Gold Mode in 14 and 30 khz. It is a very capable and affordable alternative to the Deus for relic hunting and the ORX Gold mode seems to be more refined than the Gold Field on the Deus, such that it is my go to multiple, single frequency machine for relic hunting now. Enjoy the pics.

I was out detecting yesterday with the 7000 and found a 69 caliber musket ball. By using the carbon dating app. on my smirk phone and measuring the depth of my dig hole and evaluating the oxidation on the musket ball I was able to determine that it was fired in the Spring of 1857, probably on a Tuesday. I then did science to it by using negative integers of Avogadro's number, exponents of pi and ice cream, calculating sine, cosine, deer sign, tangent and mandarin and entering the data into the 7000s GPS I was able to determine the precise location from which the ball was fired. I entered a track to that location and sure enough I came to an ancient, hollow cedar tree with a limb at the perfect height to rest a musket on for better aim. I then perchance stuck the GPZ into the tree hollow and, not surprisingly, found an 1851 69 caliber Harper's Ferry U.S. issued musket. There may be one or two of you that have doubts about the whole truth of my story but let me assure you that my arithmetic is rarely wrong and the GPZ 7000 is a very capable detector AND Sourdough Scott took photos which I have provided here. I have put a hefty charge of powder in the old thing and hammered the ball down the barrel and I'm waiting for Sourdough Scott to show up so he can have the honor of being the first to fire this piece of history in over 160 years.

Snow is invisible to a metal detector. You can’t ground balance to it. If you are getting a signal, it’s not the snow.

Yes lots of shrapnel's from anti aircraft coming to bomb London and the are air base no too much dog fights remains I am afraid maybe one day I also been told there is a target pratice in the area with 100s of bullets..................but it is on that beach that I found the 13th century hammered coin so it may have more .................I asked a local detectorist and he told me there was no one in the vicinity well I found one...........but that was with a pulse. RR

Let me add that from a beach hunting perspective, there is not much, if anything, to be gained performance wise in going to the 800, so I agree with Bill that the Equinox 600 should be able to get it done depth wise if you decide to stick with the Equinox. No need to upgrade to the 800 unless you also want a more diverse and tweakable dirt machine (which doesn't appear to be an objective for you). Can't speak to the two other PI's in question as far as beach hunting is concerned. I have recovered nickels at 15+ inches in wet salt sand. My gold recoveries have been shallower, but from a target property similarity standpoint, if those nickels were gold rings, they would have been similarly detectable at depth.

Your beaches/treasure holes give up an incredible amount of unusual and unending array of beautiful and unique pieces. You are the right man in the right spot. Do you ever cash in? GaryC/Oregon Coast

I have the SeaHunter too and with the larger 10x14 coil it hits close to what a TDI Beach Hunter does. Big turn off for me when I was looking at pi machines for the beach was the TDI Beach Hunter has a hard wired coil so you can't change it out and if it breaks the machine has to be sent in for repairs. I use the hip strap on my SH and can swing it all day with the larger coil. I would sell the Nox 600 and get the Nox 800 and snag the larger SH coil. Lastly when beach combing or wading I use the M2 headphones on the SH, audio is so much better. Much easier to hear the tiny targets.

Handsome ring Joe. Good luck with the dry suit repair. Warm and dry is good, especially this time of year. Rich

I’ve never detected Southern California beaches. In general west coast beaches are full of black sand magnetics derived from the coastal mountain ranges, and so a good place for the TDI. The other factor is trash levels and your desire for digging trash. In general places with lots of ferrous rusted stuff are a pain. PI detectors love ferrous stuff. Think hair pins and wire tie wraps.

There are various styles of water hunting. But it can come down to time vs pay off. During recent drop times here in Fl most want to cover as much water as possible thus a VLF.... but in the winter that can all change. Extreme high and low tides GATHER targets or sand is moved which can release a concentration targets. Working an area at that point can be more productive. Some just like digging every target..... but the amount of trash might dictate VLF or PI. Kind of like the Nox....... some just dont want to dig micro/small gold. Thats where a deeper machine could be very useful especially with disc. A few inches can be huge and add a lot of gold for your yearly total. Then ..... there is the cherry picker..... who just digs what he THINKS is gold..... how they do that is beyond me. This machine could give them a problem ....... as well as back problems lol. I think a lot of the good hunters will know even before the purchase of this machine where it might work. The surprise may come IF its disc with great depth over what we are currently using........ then it could become more useful as a daily user than a niche machine.

Same as i use. Met a guy once that cut his down to 4 rake prongs/barbs. I used it and it was a lot easier to use. Unless your the hulk its bloody hard work scraping dirt back with that much surface area. (maybe im just week as pi$$) I do like your magnet idea, i hadnt thought about that.

Oh man, that is a heartbreaker. Mine looks like corroded hell on the back and no shank.

Ok, Its a nice one and it look like a one piece.. Few weeks ago I dug one and it was a one piece, But I all most cry when I pop it out of the hole, broke it with the shovel...

Ok, it’s February.... where are the coils? 🤷🏼‍♂️

Welcome to the forum, Anthony. This is great place for discussing everything related to detecting and for sharing experiences and ask questions. You will find all skill sets and backgrounds here from around the world, from beginners, coin hunters, adventurers, all the way up to professional detectorists who can tell you everything about techniques and machine that are out there. Many of us have found good gold over the years and decades and we all share the passion of prospecting and being out in nature. The Mojave desert is a fantastic place to hunt and it has many known and less known gold areas where you can still find decent nuggets. However, you need to be patient. It took me close to a year to find my first tiny little gold nugget after I bought my very first detector (GB2) many years back. So, be prepared to deal with a lot of frustration at the beginning. Most of the times, we all dig trash in every form and shape imaginable including nails, bullets, casings, wires, tin pieces and thousands of other things that are metal. However, sometimes you also find pieces of value or of historical interest, like coins or spear tips, just to name a few. My single most important advice (other than being extremely patient) is to really learn the inside out of your machine and familiarize yourself with all the settings. Every small piece of trash that you find is a sign that you can find small metal items and this should encourage you. When you have a target, play with the settings before digging it up and learn all the different noises your machine is making. The "golden" rule is to dig every single target (which I highly recommend!), but sometimes the way the detector sounds can give you some clues, especially regarding hotrocks. Also, the GM has an iron meter that can be helpful. But don't rely on it too much as it often can fool you. There is a great youtube video that my good friend Bill Southern put up where he explains everything there is to know about the gold monster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OJW9HMvQ48&t=658s He also has a great channel that I can highly recommend. Making research is a key component, I use Minecache and USGS geological maps (both in Google Earth) as my main research tools, but there are many other research tools available include books that describe placer gold districts in your area. It is a mistake to just go out in the desert and start detecting (although sometimes you can be lucky). Rather, find out where gold has been found, what deposits there are, when it was found and why, was it lode or placer, what are the associated rocks and minerals that come with it, are there tertiary channels, etc. Alot of these research techniques are described in good prospecting books, I can recommend you some if you like. Good luck and enjoy your machine and your new hobby. I warn you though: once you find your first nugget you will forever be hooked on finding gold . You will start spending ridiculous amounts of money on fancy gold detectors and equipment, you will sit over maps day and night to plan your new trips, you will likely alienate yourself from your family who will fear for your mental sanity, and you will be obsessed for the rest of your life by the magic that gold has. Be warned, you can still go back now! :)

Hi, unfortunately I didn't measure those at the time, but can say yes....some were deep. I guesstimate from 1 scoop to 3 scoops to get some out. Here is a photo of my scoop which WAS 12 inches, but now worn to 11.5 inches after 10 years or so.

Thanks for the welcome! I picked up a ML GM1000 as I am just starting out, and am most interested in gold and meteorites out here in the desert where I live. Haven’t had much time yet to use it properly enough though, as always! I did manage a few hours to visit a couple gold prospects in my area, and found mostly bird shot and iron flakes - probably from the picks and other tools being used to break up some quartz veins I found nearby. No gold though... as the prospects were shallow, I guess they played out quickly (they were listed on the BLM mine register). My next real trip I plan to go on is to check out the Rand Mountains near Randsburg in the NW Mojave- getting out to this popular gold hunting site will be a successful day, and a better one if I even get some tiny flakes of color!

You wrote the word great, describing a detector in your post. That makes it more subjective. I'm going to change that word to quality. If you want a quality detector that is not a toy and really works well for under $500, to me Chuck, that depends on how much you plan to detect, where you detect and what your targets are. For me personally, if I was just starting out as a newbie with clear, informed expectations and wanted to turf and field hunt in mild to moderate soil conditions or occasionally freshwater/saltwater beach hunt for less than 20 hours per month total, the two detectors you mentioned would be hard to beat. In more mineralized dry land conditions I would start with the Vanquish 540 or Equinox 600. If I wanted to do a lot of submerged freshwater and a little saltwater wet sand shallow surf hunting I would have to go with the Equinox 600, Simplex, Kruzer, or AT Pro. If I wanted a lightweight, quality detector that was easy to use by anyone for casual hunting, I would pick the Vanquish 540 over the Simplex. The Vanquish is very lightweight feeling and extremely easy to swing. Simplex is a little heavier and young kids (under 11 or so) would have a tough time swinging it for very long. Jeff

Kac Yes I did get it back within a week. I do believe Dilek has something to do with it being it came back to me on two day mail. I do believe so got a new detector back . Because of rain and being cold I’ve had just one opportunity to get out detecting. I want to get out again before I write a show and tell. I will say the first time out was nothing but great. People talk about other detectors having a rock solid ID and that’s the same I see in the Simplex. Later on this . Chuck

search lesson Last week a storm enters that destroyed the coasts, heights of waves never seen, as soon as I calm down prepare my equipment and enter the water, my old and faithful cz with me, I reached the point where by density the metals come together and began their spectacle , 53 rings, 4 chains with medals and 3 bracelets, plus a pair of earrings, total 483 gr in 8 hours of diving at 2.4 meters deep, after putting everything together and taking the photos of rigor, I understood the message "enjoy what you have and what will come" I have already passed the 4 kilos in 3 years detection, made me question if really wanted to change it? Nostalgia takes hold of me and I think of all that he has given me and I have only changed my helmets a couple of times !!! It is like part of my family, I treat it like a Japanese Catalan, I use it clean and I keep it, it goes without saying that it is worth its weight in gold

got this picture on my computer background......so I can look at it all the time.....HAHA Actually I normally have it cycling between the F75, Etrac, Impact, Gold Kruzer, and the V3. But I locked this picture into place until I have it hand.

Wow Joe, An impressive group of finds for the month. This time of year, you're certainly wearing the dry suit when on the jet ski - Have you thought about adding a CAPE to your outfit.? 😁 Something with your Pirate theme would look good. Best of luck for February - Rich -

Had the great pleasure to chat with Jerry *** aka tinfoil. For those who might not know this guy, back in the day, 20+ years ago he was one of the treasure hunters who wrote a lot on finding gold. He wanted me to mention that he and Pat are doing good. That he doesn't get to hunt anymore but remembers posting many years ago. He says hi to Steve too.

This equates to around a 3.0 grain gold nugget, which for me is plenty small. There are many places in Nevada in particular where there are gold nuggets larger than this and where the ground is not very mineralized with magnetic minerals. There are however large areas where alkali salt really troubles some detectors, like the GPZ 7000 in particular. A detector tuned specifically to work on alkali/salt while still having sufficient sensitivity to small gold may work very well in some gold nugget locations, salt flats in particular. There may be areas where hot rocks prove problematic, but there will be areas I am sure where the Impulse AQ can find gold nuggets. I plan to be one of the first to find out. The photo below has 24 grams of Nevada gold I found with the GPZ 7000, with none of it exceptionally large or small, but all more than the 0.2 grams we are talking about as a cut off point for the Impulse AQ.

This is an interesting subject that few people know how to deal with even at the metal detector companies. Impulse AQ must pass over all types of magnetic soil, fe2o3 and fe3o4. On the other hand it will not take small gold nuggets, it is not planned for that. The impulse gold model will be provided for this research ... Impulse AQ does not detect below 0.1 gr / 0.2 gr, however it cuts very very hard this type of ground. Especially in volcanic mode. http://www.zhinstruments.com/sm_30.htm I have enough stones from all over the world to open a stone quarry. I was able to volcanic sand 10 times more intense than the most difficult of my volcanic stones. HERE 325 x 10^-3 SI No problem with AQ :

People sometimes misread the term “black sand”. Black sand is a mining term and actually has more to do with weight than color. Black sands are the heavy mineral concentrate recovered when running any form of placer mining concentration system. The most basic version is the heavy mineral concentrate left in the bottom of a gold pan. From the Glossary of Placer Terms in Placer Examination Principles And Practice: BLACK SAND Heavy grains of various minerals which have a dark color, and are usually found accompanying gold in alluvial deposits. (Fay) The heavy minerals may consist largely of magnetite, ilmenite and hematite associated with other minerals such as garnet, rutile, zircon, chromite, amphiboles, and pyroxenes. In Western gold placers, the black sand content is commonly between 5 and 20 pounds per cubic yard of bank-run gravel. Black sands are also concentrated by winnowing action on beaches derived from terrestrial sources like volcanoes or granitic intrusives... any source that can supply the requisite heavy minerals. In this context simply looking at a beach or in a stream and seeing dark or black colored material is not finding black sand. Amateur gold prospectors often do this, thinking that seeing black colored material in a stream is a positive sign for gold. All they are often seeing is just material like black slate or shale gravels and sands, not actual black sand. Unless it is heavy material concentrated by gravity action and typically with a high magnetic component, it’s not black sand in the context of the discussion. True black sands are usually very fine though I have encountered coarse grain varsities. The fine grain variety often has a glittering appearance due to the presence of many sharp edged crystals of the constituent materials, chiefly magnetite. Sands concentrated by gravity action and containing a high enough portion of heavy garnet material which confers a reddish color are referred to as “ruby sands.” Again, the key thing is material derived by gravity concentration and therefore very heavy, not simply color. Here is a picture of some gold I recovered in a Garrett 10" gold pan along with the resulting heavy magnetic black sand concentrates. Click picture for larger view. Placer gold and black sand concentrates

The Ski I use for short hopes, around 2 miles. And if I'm going into a congested area. Anchoring the boats in the congested area's kind of alarm people for some reason, the ski they hardly notice....... The boat I use for distant beach's. I have 4 ramps I can launch from in the bay, ....in area's I hunt. Some of the spots can be up the rivers and over 8 miles distance. So those I use the boat...I feel safer. Here is a jetski spot, very tight quarters..so the ski is perfect. Video from late last year.

I wrote this up awhile back for Kellyco's website but never posted it here for some reason. After posting the story of the Flung Ring return, I thought, why not post this story on the forum since it was one of the most personally meaningful returns of my metal detecting life. Although the returned item was not all that valuable in monetary terms, it was priceless to the lady who lost it and became even more priceless to Mary and me as we put it back in her hands. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My wife Mary and I were spending a nice day at Daytona Beach Pier this past summer..she for painting and me for detecting. While I was hunting the beach, Mary struck up a conversation with a lady she met there. The lady was very pleasant and told her that she and her boyfriend were homeless and lived in a makeshift tent right on the beach. She said the local police leave them alone as they routinely clean up the beach of litter and don’t bother anyone. As the conversation continued, she told Mary that she had lost a sterling silver charm the day before and although she and her boyfriend searched for hours, they failed to find it. The small charm was the head of a kitty with red “ruby” stones on its head and black eyes. The little charm was extremely meaningful to her and likely one of the most valuable items she owned. Mary told her of my metal detecting and asked if she would like me to try and find it. The lady was overjoyed at the prospect but said she didn’t hold out much hope of ever getting her little kitty back. Mary brought me over to the area where the lady said she thought it was lost and I began the grid search. About 10 minutes later I got that familiar exciting high tone of silver. In my scoop was a little kitty’s head with red “ruby” stones and black eyes! When I brought it to her, she began to tear up, thanked me profusely and asked if she could hug me. She called over to her boyfriend who was busy making little items out of palm fronds he sold to tourists. The smile on her face and the tear in her eye was absolutely the best reward Mary and I could have ever hoped for that day. ~The Challenge: Big Beach; Little Coil; Tiny Targets~ ~"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication"~ Leonardo da Vinci ~Pre-determined settings serve only to get you in the ballpark. It’s up to you to pick the best seat~

Very wise words Steve and people should listen, time is passing to fast enjoy the now tomorrow is another day! Recently my wife died, was with her for 37 years and time just flashed by and when you look back it seams only a few years! My motto at this moment is " Live your life in the now, and don't think of the future "

I don’t believe any one detector makes magical differences in my detecting. When I want to go detecting I use what I have. Waiting around for new models is a waste of time. You have an ATX and despite all the hype the fact is the difference between it and a BHID or an Impulse is not going to drastically change your life. Good locations and hours makes finds. So my advice is use what you have until something comes along you want bad enough to buy it. Which is exactly what you are going to do. The bottom line is if you want an Impulse AQ you are going to have to wait whether you like it or not. Fisher could decide to cancel the whole thing tomorrow since they have been careful to not say a single thing officially. And if it does arrive it will just be another metal detector, and life will go on. Two years from now the next magic wand will come along and we will do this all over. Go detecting, live life, don’t get played by marketers. Life is too short.

Yes, Very careful. I have a long Telescoping Boat Hook I use to check the depth as I'm drifting in...and. I do have a nice ladder off of the back which really helps me slowly get off...and makes for a easy get back on. The boat has been a great tool that has helped me get to spots no one else can being many of the old closed beach's are now private and have no way to get to from land.

I think the cleaning of a coin is subject to its rarity and or value. I've personally (when I was younger) removed great detail of patina from a few Large Cents and 1 Flying Eagle. All I used was water and a soft toothbrush. So now for some of my coppers that I really like, it is a soft dry toothbrush and toothpick, as Kac does. I've dug thousands of wheat backs and most are common dates/mint marks. I toss then in a tumbler with fish aquarium gravel, a little water, squirt of Dawn dish soak and let them run 15 to 20 minutes. All I am doing is knocking the crud and dirt off them. Silver, When I was young they were tossed into the tumbler too and boy do they shine. Problem is some silvers are semi and key dates with low mintages. Those need to pampered and soaking in water with a light rinse is all I do. Common Roos, Merc's and Washington quarters are soaked and brushed with toothbrush, but I quit tumbling them, as the shine, in my opinion is not recommended. Nickels, Those pesky dark stained, sometimes purple or red, brown, even black on occasion. If they are common dates, I toss them in the tumbler. Semi dates ones get the water and soft tooth brush. I'll use an eraser on them to add highlights, but I assure you there is abrasive marks left from the eraser. At least the common Buff or V now looks better with a highlight, but that is my coin so I am not worried of value. My 1913-S Barber Quarter (Key date) was dug in Nevada and as most of my 100+ yrs old silvers coming from the desert with high alkali, they come out of the dirt with a crustry gray coating. I have not done anything with it, other than water and tap dry. The actual condition of the coin is F-12 with detail, but the other blemishes and clap on it kills the value and most certainly drops condition. I have yet to decide (and keep going back and forth) on if I should get it professionally cleaned and as stated what makes one a Professional? I guess it depends on the person and what you plan on doing with it. Myself for this coin. If PCSG says cleaning will drastically reduce the value, then I'll probably leave it as is. If they say "after cleaning it will have detail of F-12" and look much better, but will be labeled as "Environmental Damage", and the value will drop a little, then I'll probably get it cleaned. If the value drops 50% or more, I might as well leave it as is. Who knows, but right now it looks like crap to me.

My brother used a Fisher gold bug which also ran at 19 khz and he did very well with it. He found plenty of buttons with it. That being said I would expect the F19 to have similar performance. Also check Steve's review under the review section. MT

...is that you can chest or hip mount the control box using the included pouch. The BeachHunter TDI is already the lightest weight waterproof ground balancing pulse induction (GBPI) detector on the market at 5.2 lbs. It is also the only GBPI model that comes ready to hip or chest mount. If you chest or hip mount the control box all you are swinging is the rod and coil at about 2 lbs. Nice! Note that the coil on the BeachHunter TDI is hardwired to the control box. Use care not to bend and stress the connection point to the control box as it could lead to premature failure of the coil cable. More about White's BeachHunter TDI White's TDI BeachHunter with control box in hip mount / chest mount pouch

I am a Fisher Gold Bug Pro fan. The machine is lightweight, easy to use, and very effective for what it is designed for. However, the Gold Bug Pro is somewhat feature limited and the F19 adds some extra capability that many people would welcome - things like a meter backlight or ferrous volume setting, for instance. The main thing however is that if you want the 10" x 5.5" elliptical coil for the Gold Bug Pro you have to get it as an accessory coil, or buy a two coil package. It is odd to this day that the Gold Bug Pro, a machine aimed at gold prospectors, is not available with the 10" elliptical coil as the stock coil. For this reason I aim people who want that coil at the F19 because you can get it stock with that coil. You get all the 19 kHz performance of the Gold Bug Pro, plus extra features, by getting the F19, and for about the same price as a Gold Bug Pro two coil package. Either way, this 19 khz model in all its flavors is a very solid performer on low conductors like gold and small targets like ear rings or small gold nuggets. The 19 khz platform is a little weak on silver coins but still does very well as a coin hunter. The main thing I like is the light weight, solid performance, and very simple operation. The 19 kHz circuit is also one of the best I have used for ignoring electrical interference in areas where other machines may have issues. Finally, do note that the Fisher F19 is the same unit electronically as the Teknetics G2+. The only real difference is the rod and grip assembly and the coil that comes stock. The F19 has the classic "S" rod handle, while the G2+ has a modified "S" rod with pistol grip design some people may prefer.