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This past weekend I participated in my first outing with the Southwestern Prospectors & Miners Association (SPMA) club. We met at a gas station off I-8 and headed to one of their large claims in the Cargo Muchacho Mountains west of Yuma on the California side of the Colorado River. It took just under an hour on desert dirt roads to get there but the drive was not bad. There were six other guys and we all bonded well. After discussing the area we split up with half trying their hand at dry washing and the other half metal detecting. I suited up with my GPZ and tool belt and headed out. The rugged terrain with 104 degree temperatures was challenging but felt great. I have not been able to get out much this year. I got lucky. On a moderate slope about four inches down in a crevice of schist I found a 2.1 gram nugget. Yahoo! My best and one of my few nuggets for the year. The history of the area is interesting (from westernmininghistory.com): “Mining was first done in this region by Spaniards as early as 1780-81, when placers in Jackson Gulch and oxidized ores in Madre Valley were worked. This is believed to have been the first gold mined in California. Later, mining was resumed under Mexican rule. The district received its name of Cargo Muchacho, or Loaded Boy, when two young Mexican boys came into camp one evening with their shirts loaded with gold. American miners became interested in this district soon after the end of the Mexican War in 1848. Mining became firmly established in 1877 with the completion of the Southern Pacific Railroad to Yuma. Large-scale mining continued from around 1890 until 1916 and again from 1932 until 1941, with intermittent activity since World War II.” Happy Hunting!

The GPX used for most of the hunt today on a beach where the coins are deep. All these coins seem to be dropped from the same time frame. The 2 Buffalo nickels and the Standing Liberty Quarter all have no dates. The rest of the coins are from the 40's to the early 50's. It's safe to assume the dateless coins were dropped in that time frame too. Why do I care? Because these coins were from 15" to 20" deep. I can barely get some of that layer. There is plenty of sand below them. That is where the earlier coins rest. Beaches are not empty, we just skim the surface of them. I'm too tired from digging to post all the junk and the more modern coins found. I'm just glad that I could get that many good hits, with all the beach people that were there getting in my way I want the temps to drop so they will stay home and keep warm!!!!!

Sorry I did not speak up earlier. I made a verbal agreement not to speak of the 8 inch coil with anyone except one person at Fisher Labs. The 8 inch coil does not float...Stays on the bottom perfectly without effort if your cuffed to the shaft. Letting go of the detector, not cuffed in, it has a slight, very slow lift. In my words it is "Perfect". No effort is needed to keep it on the bottom while hunting. Moves thru the water like any other small 8 inch coil, very smooth....

I found this fragment of fuze on Monday. It's scary-sharp! Jersey, Channel Islands

Been lurking here off and on for quite a while and decided that it was time to join in and introduce myself. Not currently a detector/prospector, but hope to change that. A bit of my background: 21 years as a geologist with the USGS, about 2/3 summers looking at mines in Alaska, 1/2 in CA, NV, AZ, and WY. When I left the survey in the big purge in ’95 I was working on a project looking at lode mines east of the Mother Lode proper. My work in Alaska was almost exclusively looking at lode gold mines and prospects, and spent quite a bit of time late ‘70s early 80’s south of Anchorage: Girdwood/Crow Pass (my favorite, staying at the Alyska and eating at the Double Musky), Hope/Sunrise, Moose Pass, Port Wells, Port Valdez, down the Kenai, and around PWS and SE Alaska (good story about an almost helicopter crash into the AJ pit, but maybe later). I think part of my lurking here was many of these areas are home for Steve’s exploits, and kicking myself for always staying up on the hillsides and not looking in the creek bottoms. I sure missed out on the gold (the Bureau of Mines guys were dredging the creeks as their part of the assessments, and I know a lot of gold went home in their pockets). I always thought about taking a metal detector with me, not to look for gold, but to check around all the old cabins and workings, and in ‘88 I bought my first metal detector, a Gold Mountain King Cobra because it was small and light and I could sneak it into my backpack. Never got to use it up there. My final AK field season was in ’89 sampling and mapping the exposed bedrock from active mining at Valdez Creek. The cheerful 18 yo security guard was more than happy every evening to let us know over beers that he had his scope on us all day just in case we decided to pick up a nugget. Don’t think swinging a detector would have gone over well. That King Cobra also indirectly contributed to my getting off my butt and joining here. When Reggie posted the pictures of his dad’s collection I thought I saw a Gold Mountain detector among the lot. It was also somewhat ironic that I had earlier this summer been reading a lot of what Reg had written about PI detectors on various blogs and forums over the years. Back in June I did a small consulting job in the Mother Lode at a winery where the grapes are planted in the weathered volcanic cover and the owner was wondering if the volcanics capped any Tertiary channel gravels. Turned out there was a lot of gravels that don’t show on any geologic map I could find, and they had been extensively mined though I couldn’t find any record in Cal State pubs. Since lurking here I decided to take along my two detectors, a MXT (I’m deadly at parks and old houses) and a mid '90s V-Sat that has not seen a lot of use. The ground there was unbelievable. Just setting my magnetic cultivator on the ground would pick up several pounds of hot rocks and coat with black sand. A full screened pan once the weathered volcanic soil and clay was removed would end up almost half full of black sand (and quite a bit of flour gold). Never seen anything like it. Anyway, got me curious whether a PI detector would work better and got me reading a lot of Reg’s posts and discussions here and on other sites. I was very sorry to see the news of his passing here. The detecting community truly lost a hero. Anyway, recently retired from 12 years sitting on my butt doing research/data analysis in radiation oncology (once a scientist, always a scientist), getting a knee replacement in a few weeks (Steve, I think the first time I blew it out was hiking down from the Nearhouse mine on Palmer Creek with a backpack full of about 80 lbs of samples), and I hope that part of my recovery therapy is walking and swinging. I’ve spent a good deal of time on the other side of interstate 80 from Rye Patch but never visited the Majuba Mtns and reading some of the geology papers reminds me of some areas I worked in the Klamaths. I hope to get out there at some point - soon. Looking to pick up a PI machine (was tempted by the GPX 5000 listed here, but a bit out of my price range) and pick your brains on how to best use it (just missed on a TDI Pro on Craigslist - damn). A bit of a more rambling intro than I had planned. Cheers Bill

Yes, Joe has the only one “in the wild”. It may or may not be identical to the production version, but I suspect it’s buoyancy will be the same. P.S. Thanks for the well wishes. It was a minor but uncomfortable procedure and as of today - I am pretty much back to normal.

The latest..... Man Damages Yellowstone Cemetery Hunting for Forrest Fenn Treasure “A Utah man accused of digging in Yellowstone National Park while looking for the Forrest Fenn treasure faces two federal charges, prosecutors said. The treasure, a chest containing jewelry and gems, was hidden by an art collector a decade ago, with seekers trying to decipher clues left in a book he wrote before it was found in June.”

Hi Joe, Man my 10x5 coilTek for my CTX will wear you out, trying to keep it on the bottom. Granted it’s a clam shell design not a spider but I just hate the thought of a buoyant coil. I’ll take your word for it though as I have limited experience with floating coils. Now price,I’m with you there, it definitely can be a show stopper.

With gold Joe, don't rely on others. YOU make sure YOU are legal.

How bad can a little coil be, I've used several over my short time as a water hunter..Never....a issue when they were small And submersed....My only concern is the price. 15% more power? OOoo..We're going to need a Bigger battery. Thanks for the report Willy, Good to know things are moving. Come on AQ 8 Inch!!

Sorry for the delay in putting my experiences on paper, I received my AQ 8-7-20. I have lived in Oregon now for the last three years. Coming from California I was use to un-ending tourists, vacationers, locals streaming to the beaches all year long. Here in Oregon I now have to live with the fact that many of my close, local beaches are just not popular with "In the water" type of beach goers. These beaches do not have the throngs of people lying a towel out and sunning themselves all day long. Most are lucky to get a few hours of towel sitting and then start looking for a wind break to hide behind. That being said, if I drive 50 to 250 miles north the populace does have access to a few more popular sunning beaches. My first outing was right down to my local beach, three miles away. Just wanted to see how the AQ acted on my black sand beach and to my water. I'll have to say it took me awhile to get it calmed down in and near water, even on wet sand. Ended up with the Frequency at 10.5, ATS at 9, Sensitivity at 6. This allowed me to run it with some faultsing during my swings. I just have to slow down my swings and it was more quiet. Second outing was to an inland fresh water reservoir (120 mile round trip) where they have been draining it for only four days. This is a huge reservoir and takes over a month to drain it down before storms hit. The beach areas had only about ten yards exposed to the mud bottom and no where near to the end of where people jump off the end of the dock. The mud was un-digable with a scoop. Like working in modeling clay. I'll have to wait until it gets a little more dried out and use a shovel. Will try and hit it next month. Anyway the AQ worked very well in freshwater at the presets. Third outing was to a beach south of me (80 mile round trip). Actually hit two beaches here same settings were needed to keep the AQ stable while swinging. These beaches were very clean of trash so I got a good three hours in with the AQ. I had the exact same experiences other owners reported with hair pins, bottle caps, wire bits, etc. Like every new owner, especially me, I dug all signals using the All Metal and Tone settings, switching back and forth before digging. Learning this machine will take me awhile but I like the sound of it. It reminds me of using my old Mine Lab 4000 gold machine. Similar in sound and especially reactions to hot rocks. Fourth outing was yesterday, a beach north of me (400 mile round trip). Actually I hit three beaches but stayed at the first one for a long time. Nice clean beach. I usually take my Nox 800 out on it first to test for trash and if it looks good go and get the Impulse. I got a lot of practice in yesterday. Digging almost everything and comparing sounds and switching between All Metal and Tone. I did not take any pictures of my trash or coins or toys found. Every body has enough pictures of the bad stuff. I will be staying with my settings for a while as they seem to be good for my beaches. I waited a long time to get this machine and I am not sorry I have it. You have to realize, and it's been written before. The AQ will not be for every beach hunter. It has to be used in conjunction with other machines. It's not a coin machine and will drive you crazy if you are wanting it for coins. My trips did not score any jewelry or gold. Not that I wasn't trying but because (I believe) my beaches are not in use as So. Cal. beaches are throughout the year. Lower numbers of people on the beach at shorter summer type weather will just not have the abundance of what I was used to finding in California. You will see a report when I do score gold!! Bottom line, I hope the AQ (re-worked model) is a monetary success for Fisher. I do see however people buying this machine and being very un-happy with it in the short term. Many new detectorists or seasoned ones either don't have the time to put in on the learning curve or just get frustrated with the limits this water machine has. Limits being it's not a coin machine (many detectorists will not remember this when purchasing the AQ). So I predict you will see lots of them for re-sale, maybe six months after the final version has been released. GaryC/Oregon Coast

I just joined today, I live in Walker Lake Nevada, about two hours south of Reno. I'm an LDMA/GPAA member and went to an outing at Scott River CA last weekend and it was the first time for my wife, it was a metal detector outing. I brought my Garrett Infinium LS that I have used a couple of times from new, it wouldn't fire up, with new batteries. Very disappointing, I called Garrett and its on the way to Texas (for repairs). I noticed on your site that my experience sounds way to familiar, ouch!! Well, while I'm awaiting the outcome on the LS my wife says she wants a detector for Christmas. The Fisher F19 looks like a great little detector to go down to the lakeshore and up on some of the trails around here. The price on that unit varies quite a bit, like from $499 to $799 with the 10" loop. I notice that some of the lower priced ones on eBay have a lot of positive feedback and after visiting their store seem legit...any input on that? I also have a Treasure Finder 900 two box deep search detector in excellent shape I might be interested in selling. Any comments would be appreciated

Heal up quick Rick. I expect you have been bombarded with emails on the current AQ LTD list. I just patiently wait for updates hoping to see one in the near future. HH Mike

The searchcoil have a good buoyancy point, even if it is very light 230grs without the coil cover, 60grs more with the coil cover. It must imagine that the mechanical parts around are heavy enough to bring the searchcoil towardsgood buoyancy point. (example the searchcoil coil cable)

After some years of using Minelab Safari I used for the first time the Minelab Vanquish 540 on the beach. I think that Minelab must made a mistake in price of those detectors. Safari costs almost 1000€ and Vanquish almost 400€ something which should be in reverse in my opinion. Vanquish 540 negatives in contrast with Safari is that there is not such good separation between copper and silver. I saw tid numbers between copper and silver almost in same scale. Safaris silver target sounds and numbers are solid and clear. I select jewelry mode with sensitivity minus 1 or 2 levels depending on the EMI. Also, sometimes I used iron bias low and sometimes high to test the detector. Vanquish 540 is totally quiet and if there is any chatter from EMI you reduce a little the sensitivity and that’s all. It is very light, very easy to use and when you have a good target the numbers are solid and the sound sharp. So, you don’t have to dig for trash, when you have trash the numbers are going up and down and the sound is trembling. The recovery speed is in much higher level in contrast with Safari. The depth is amazing. I found 1 euro in 34 cm depth; I did not believe it. I went on the same beach where I had gone with Safari 3 or 4 times ago and I thought that there is nothing else to find. The results are in photo below. Vanquish 540 is much easier detector with amazing capabilities for its price. In my opinion is the perfect detector for coin shooting. For gold jewelry I can’t tell because I did not find something yet but in air test with gold has better sounds, more solid numbers and much more depth than Safari. We will see in the fields and on the beach.

An heavy one...Phantom gorilla maybe😁

Glad I opted for the 11 hour BBB. (Beachnut Big Battery) That will still give me 9 1/2 hours of run time!!! 🙂

I have done some comparison testing and can hear the differences but I think I need to get in a lot more beach time on the AQ and some longer hunts times. The 11 hour battery ought to keep me out there long enough that the sounds are etched in my thick noggin. LOL I think that the biggest problem is that each piece of the lobster traps is a different size and in a different stage of decomposition. There can be no "standard" tone as each piece will give off a slightly different sound. But I need to focus on the prize-the gold instead. The trash is just part of the hobby. That is why we call it "metal detecting". And the detector is only as good as it's operator. So my goal is to get more beach time and become more of a "Le Jag" with the AQ. 🙂

It is coming, the field tests of the proto are finished and it has been validated Light as a feather and tough as a rock😉

with a little experience we can remove surface targets only dig (in all metals) the weakest sounds and who seems the most perfect (chhh whispers) with Impulse, its allows you to search for targets that the others will not hear and often there is a good one (or more) in the heap

Nice looking finds, what kind of monkey do you have. Good luck on your next hunt.

Hello everyone, I followed Chase’s advice finally. I withdrawal safari and I took Vanquish 540. I have not gone for metal detecting yet but I will tell you my first impression. It is a very light, easy to assemble and generally very easy to use detector. In contrast with safari I thought it is a toy. In my mind the comparison was created between a car 30 years ago and todays car. Technology is evolving. I did of course some air tests with coins and jewelry and as it was expected I saw totally different vdi numbers. I was impressed by the vdi solid numbers something that safari did not have at that size but I’ve noticed not a good separation between copper and silver. Safari in brass and silver separation was much better. Safaris Silver target flute sound is unforgettable. On the other hand, I think that Vanquish has more solid vdi for gold jewelry and locates gold jewelry better and deeper than safari. After a research I made on web I decited to work on jewelry mode with reduced separation and iron bias on low. Some guys on internet said that the recovery speed in coins mode is like equinox at 5 but with little depth, in jewelry at 4 and in relic and all metal at 2, something which I do not know if it is correct. Ι hope I made the right decision with Vanquish 540 purchase. Anyway, soon I will go metal detecting and I will tell you my impression under real circumstances. Also, I am waiting for your advices.

Hello to all, Sunday and Monday i hit the coast in search of long lost treasure,still with my mate Fred and his nox and big coil Sunday night not much a copper ring for him,and a deep old copper penny for me.On Monday we hit another beach as we are still testing in real condition Nox Vs MDT. I was using my work in progress sand trolley(golf trolley which i will mod) a scoop and a spade were mounted on it. 4.30 hours didn't bring much luck to both of us my tally for the day was 0.70 pence 😆😆😆😆.We were leaving and really pushing hard to get something good when i had a whisper signal ALL POSITIVE numbers ,after god knows how many spadeful came out this beast of a coin,the largest and heaviest coin i ever found and.......on a beach!!!!! It is a 5 kopecks from Catherine the Great Empress of Russia . Fred say i won the trophy find of the day very very unusual find on the beach,by the way my 50cal cases story is going around and they are now very very scarce on that spot and 3 in a row is a record finds in more than a decade...... So far the MDT is growing on me my nox may need to go soon... Have a nice week RR

Sounds very similar to the 15 inch in that regard. Thanks for the report. Looking forward to a production run being available. Unfortunate about you being put in the squeeze with confidentiality commitment vs. the "ask Joe" exposure. Nothing for you to apologize about.

I guess they would not do such a silly thing😉 The 8" coil is coming with a removable coil cover (65gr). That could be used as a ballast in the water if the coil happens to float. Without coil cover, it is very light since it is made with glass bubble-filled epoxy as is the 12.5" coil model. We strongly feel that a coil cover is optional as the back of the coil is made of very hard epoxy. Le Jag has never used a coil cover for many years without any visible wearing. Ask Joe, he has field tested the proto.

GotAU?, I was using the standard GPZ 14” coil.

Nice hunt and glad for the saves that you made. Good luck on your next hunt.

Great hunting and good story about the hunt! One of these days I hope to be hunting those nice nuggets as well. Wish you more luck in the future.

Nice job, Randy! We should ask Bill to have our next outing there 😉 Andreas

I used to like the Minelab World Adventurer booklet, and the Tesoro booklet where it was finds from around the world, plus a whole lot more: tech tips, new products, technology discussions, stories, etc etc.

Let me relate this 'story' about the Rye Patch area. Many years ago I got a call from a prospector and he said that he found over a half ounce nugget. He wondered if I was coming up to detect with him and he would show me where he had found it. I said sure. This was about 8 years ago I think. When I got up there a couple of days later to his camp he told me he had checked the location where he found it and it was on mining company land. He called the mining company and told them he had found gold on one of their claims and if they wanted the gold he would give it to them. He had gone on the claim by mistake. He got a call back from the mining company manager and they told him it was ok for him to keep the gold. They were not 'concerned' about his nugget but he needed to make sure he didn't dig or mine or use equipment on their claims. They said if he wanted to he could take a picture and send it to them. It was not a commercial quantity to them it seems. We went to that location and didn't find any more gold but we did find other dig holes of those who had been there before us.

Hello everyone I'd like to document my expeditions this year. This will be my first season of being an "Electronic Prospector". I've studied most of the summer and am ready to go. I still need to learn more about Geology but I'm hoping this will come with time in the field. I look forward to posting my adventures/expeditions with you all 🙂 --Garik

Holy crap Batman, that's a big OLD cat. He can move a mountain with that 'ol bugger. The drive wheel and grousers are looking to be about worn out, it won't be long before it throws a track and then the big cat gets angry and will not turn on you........Beware Scott!!!!

Hand me the AQ driver, caddy!!👍👍

We have all been there so congrats on getting the primate off your back! That ring IS a sweet color and the best therapy for a number of ailments. Hopefully, your luck has changed and you will get on a hot streak now!

Rick, When I 1st started detecting Rye Patch in the mid 90's, I was poor and many trips from Idaho, I'd carpool and pay half the gas. Life was simple back then with just the basics. I'd sleep on the ground on a tarp and toss a military wool blanket over me and all was good. Well about a yr later my old-timer friend Tom C. (since passes away) pulled out one of those night lights. It was amazing the amount of glowing scorpions scattering all around us. I bet we counted 15+ in a matter of 30' area and it was right there above the burn barrel. When I was a teenager out catfishing one night, I accidentally sat right on one and it was a very unpleasant night. The burning pain was only half the battle, but the swelling in my glands and throat (making it hard to swallow) was very real. Needless to say, I have never spent a night on the ground since that glowing night with the UV light. Interesting rocks and what is the history of them? Nice gold by the way.

Steve and FloridaSon are on target. Gold will continue to sink in the sand until some denser, compact layer or obstacle stops it. If it doesn’t hit hard pack, it will definitely sink out of detector range. That factor is why we watch and hope for serious erosion...especially along the treasure coast. Once heavy tides have stripped away multiple layers of sand, previously undiscovered goodies can appear.

Joe.......i know you dont want a J O B.....so it would be really nice if Fisher would do something like this to get the run time NEEDED. No need to re-invent the wheel on those connectors........ use a connector easily obtained for both the cables. In the long run it wont net anymore profit...... but will help the customers who likes their own headphones. Joe has proven ..... necessity is the mother of invention. Good work buddy......looks sharp.

My experience is the heavy objects only sink an inch or two,but the wet sand moves sometimes erosion maybe several feet deep releasing buried treasure (rings and coins) Those not found maybe covered up by sand when the sand is move and fills the area back up.

These claim owners care.....

If you want to get a continously updated, in-depth explanation's of beach dynamics, go to TreasureBeachesReport.Blogspot! He is very good at explaining how all different objects behave in the surf zone, and dry sand areas! And how to read the beaches!👍👍

The more you can report about them (where it was found, what was done to it, whether it attracts a magnet, and more) the better chance you'll have getting an answer.

Looks like volcanic basalt, you won't find little holes in meteorites, that is where gases escaped the basalt.

John Wasson has passed. I attended his lectures several times at UCLA. The lectures will continue including this Sunday on Zoom. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/in-memoriam-john-wasson-cosmochemist-and-co-creator-the-ucla-meteorite-collection https://meteoritical.org/news

I have been going through some old photos. This one might interest some members. To get the scale, the gold nugget is about 165 gm or 5 ounces plus.

The geology at Rye Patch is pretty similar to the geology found in many other patchy locations in NNV, until you get further East. I am pretty sure the nuggets there are derived from discontinuous pods and veins of hydrothermally derived ore, swarms of them. Most of these have eroded away or been buried, leaving no readily apparant source. A lot of the nuggety gold in NNV seems to originate from the interface topographically speaking between the mountain and the pediment. Rye Patch is one such location. The reason is probably because this is where surface expression of the fault is which uplifted the mountain, and that fault provided conduits in the country rock for hydrothermal fluids to permeate, and some of these fluid channels carried dissolved gold in great quantity. They flash boiled upon hitting the surface, precipitated out the gold all once creating nuggety gold. And left little or lower grade gold buried deeper in the conduit where flash boiling didn't occur. Being largely near surface, or surface occurences, these eroded away quickly, leaving no apparant source for the nuggets. They are also relatively new deposits in a historically arid area, so gold tended not to travel too far. It's also why a lot of those bonanza grade prospects and mines petered out relatively quickly. It's pocket country. So, when looking for new patches, this is why it's important to pay attention to where the faults are in NNV when narrowing down areas to detect.

After having bought and used a Minelab Equinox 800 for more than 80 hours/ 1 year, I bought a Garrett AT Max as well. The AT Max is my favourite detector now. Don't get me wrong, the Equinox is a very very good detector in my opinion and I'm keeping it for sure. However I can not really get used to the "tight" vdi scale of -9 to 40. I prefer a vdi scale of 0 to 99. And the handle/straight-stem combination causes my arm (elbow/shoulder) to hurt some after even half an hour. No problems with the S-stems of my other two detectors. But most importantly (for me personally) the AT Max has something extra, that I have never experienced with another brand of detector, namely: FUN. It's hard to describe why or how, but just looking at it and using the AT Max gives me joy. And every time the Max connects immediately with the MS-3 headphones (or my Z-Lynk receiver for use with my XP backphones) and the wireless AT Z-Lynk pinpointer. BTW, this "FUN-factor" is not advertised by Garrett, but you get it nevertheless and for free. 😉 I think (and it's just my personal opinion, others may have a completely different opinion of course) the Equinox is more technically advanced and adjustable to personal preferences. More frequencies and also simultaneous frequencies will give me more confidence of being able to adjust everything to the "max" (with the Eqx instead of the Max 😀) while prospecting or searching around salt water. The Equinox has everything I want in a detector, but , since I bought the AT Max, I find myself taking out the AT Max to the fields and parks every time. On topic: Garrett AT Series That Good? : ( for me) YES! I suppose, now I'm a Garrett-fanboy, as well as an Equinox-fanboy. 😁

Any metal detector made by a major manufacturer that sells for over $200 is a “good detector”. They all work better than the best of the best made not all that long ago. The technology is old enough that performance differences are hair splitting. This in turn fuels never ending YouTube comparison videos just because the performance actually is that close. The Garrett AT series was a game changer at the time, putting a full feature detector in a light weight, affordable waterproof housing. People take that for granted already, but it is the Garrett AT Pro that paved the way for all to follow. However, the AT series is now long in the tooth, and you can invest just as little money now for alternatives that may have more desirable features. The AT is no longer a low price option in that regard. It did get where it is however by being a real bargain for quite some time PLUS a well oiled marketing machine. Garrett figured out social media way before the competition, half of which is still clueless. The truth is all the best machines are very competitive and so it is the operator more than anything that makes a machine shine. Knowing your detector and putting it on good sites is the key. A top notch operator can grab any one of dozens of machines and do well. Bottom line is the Garrett AT series are good detectors but I do think others now offer similar or better bang for the buck. You can’t really go wrong with an AT either - they are a well proven safe choice. Click on image for larger view...

I would not take a camera that does not belong to me. It might belong to a hunter or is there for some other reason, maybe monitoring cattle by those who graze there.