Leaderboard

I went to hunt a local park this morning with my new Etrac. The ground is freezing up here and I wanted to get out before it’s totally frozen. Since I needed 1 more silver to make 100, I went to the oldest park around, from the 1840s. I went out with low expectations, since I know the park has been pounded over the years. After hunting for about an hour and not finding anything I was getting discouraged. As I was about to head back to the car, I got a very deep, VERY iffy high tone. I told myself Hey maybe they missed a rosie or something. So I dug a nice 7 inch plug and in the plug my pinpointer went off: 1 rusty nail. I rechecked the hole and got an even better high tone. I dug down to about 8 or 9 inches and out came another rusty nail. Then the most beautiful 12-45 signal sang into my ears and I eagerly dug down. At 10 and a half inches: Silver coin edge! I carefully took it out of the hole and got out my spray bottle. It seemed oddly thin for a silver quarter. As the dirt came off the coin I could not believe my eyes and yelled “HOLY $!@?” I got a couple of weird looks but I didn’t care. SPANISH SILVER!!!! I threw down my headphones and ran around doing a happy dance. My 100th silver and I could not have asked for a better one. I quickly ran home to clean it. Turns out it’s from the 1730s from the reign of King Philip 5 of Spain! My oldest coin I’ve ever found! What a way to end the year. I could not get any “in situ” pics because I was shaking so bad! But here are some from when I got home. Thanks for looking!

Hi my name is Travis. I am new to the site. Here are a few gold specimens I have found in Idaho.

Because I'm a nice bloke and deserve it 😀 Down about 2 feet and not getting anymore signals so not sure if I'll pursue it any further. Was hoping it would balloon out down lower. https://i.imgur.com/kI57fDH.jpg https://i.imgur.com/tQndDrd.jpg Will update when it's all crushed and I know what I have, was hoping it would be substantial but probably only a couple of ounces.

I’ve been powering on with my detecting leading up to Christmas because I knew it was going to rain, the rain is welcome because we are in drought and because it will cool things off, but it also brings the humidity and the grass, both big time negatives. But worse the moisture also brings false signals and threshold variableness, so listening for those edge of detection targets go out the window big time IN THE AREAS I detect. I shout this and make it bold because not all nuggety gold fields are like this, it depends on the saturation and conductivity levels relative to the mineralisation. Conductive ground is a little different to salt or alkali ground, salt signals are uncomplicated and are directly dependant on the speed of the sweep (Motion), salt can be in areas that are quiet low in mineralisation whereas conductive ground tends to be in the more variable mineralised areas. In my ground here in Clermont the salt signal is less dominant and the conductive signal more dominant. Conductive signals have a varying effect on auto GB systems, but in essence they drag the G balance away from optimum, often causing a target like signal that is then not present on the 2nd pass of the coil. A good operator works this out quickly and pumps the coil often (controlled movements) to bring the GB back to accuracy as sweeping will only give an averaging of the ground signal. Salt and Conductive signals are directly proportional to the amount of moisture present, so the drier the ground the better the result for detecting purposes. In dry conditions the auto GB tends to remain reasonably constant with little variation whereas when moisture laden the GB will be all over the place as the tracker tries to keep up with the movement of the coil. In these types of ground a tracking X is also fraught with peril as the poor X tracker gets confused by the salt and conductive signals and ends up completely out of balance relative to the temperature of the electronics, in this scenario things can get even worse because the G balance then tries to compensate for the bad X, fatally pushing each other further and further away from optimal, hence why I always advocate using Semi-Auto and not Auto!! Now that we have had rain I will put my larger coils away for a while and enjoy the benefits of the new smaller NF coil, smaller coils react less to salt/conductive and saturation and also run quieter when EMI is around, perfect for hot, damp, sticky, thundery summer time conditions, it is so nice to now have this choice in the warmer wetter months.😇 Being a DOD the reactive damp conductive hot spot signals will be less invasive, so chasing those false target like signals after rain will be less of a problem. Just prior to Christmas I had a couple of trainings sessions for new customers, being summer the training usually starts early in the morning to avoid the heat. Because of this if I want to go detecting after the session I’m starting when the heat has built up which negates the incentive to go for long walks. I don’t mind starting off in the cool of the day and slowly ramp up to uncomfortableness but starting off uncomfortable is a big YUK from me. 🤒 One morning a week or so before Xmas was just like this, early start, two 1/2 hours of training then what do I do with the rest of my day? I know I’ll go hit some deep ground and spend a few hours going slow till its too hot in the hopes of a deep one, if I don’t find anything no harm no foul... simples. 🥴 This type of detecting is fun but takes patience and a willingness to go without, there are usually no targets or one good one but more often than not nothing. I love it because its challenging and can be rewarding as you really need to get in tune with your detector. I had two hours to strut my stuff with an extra hour if things started to sparkle. Low and slow is the order of the day, a wide swing but not too wide with a good range of motion relative to the depth of the ground. I like to target ground that is in excess of 14 inches depth because anything shallower the gold has been taken already by less experienced operators. EMI was a little problematic and also the bush flies were annoying (a sure sign rain was on the way). I ended up doing a fair few mornings like this and enjoyed the removal of the need to find something, its very liberating when your expectations are low. There was no need to find anything because that’s the nature of this type of detecting, its either something good or nothing at all. This particular morning I didn’t hit the ground for my ‘alone time’ until well after 9 so things were getting juicy heat wise. However my head was in the right place and things were uncomplicated, I let all the cares of 2020 slip away into the soft background hum of my GPZ, focusing on controlled breathing and the smooth rhythm of motion. I do not commit to digging anything for at least 45 minutes to avoid elevating my heart rate which impacts on my hearing, I am mentally mapping every repeatable ground variation as I work an area no more than 100 square meters. Finally after an hour everything came into place and I received a repeatable unmistakable response beside an ant bed, going through the three Gold Type modes confirmed the signal was still there in varying degrees, with Extra Deep being the worst for signal response suggesting the target was less than say 5 ounces. Although it was quite a good signal in High Yield the go to Gold Mode was actually General with a good solid hit over the full range of motion. So now I had a clue as to the size and depth relative to the conductivity of the target. This area has produce a few specimens for me over the years and typically specimens sound off better in High Yield unless they have a decent amount of gold enclosed, this realisation got the hair going up on the back of my neck in spite of the sweat doing its utmost to glue it down. Could it be a good sized solid nugget?😬 I looked at my watch and realised my time till the heat got too intense was not far off, so it was time to commit to digging and and subsequent elevated heart rate, if it turned out to be ground noise the session was not far from over anyway. The ground was like concrete, and I was only able to remove 6 or so inches before the hard packed clays and wash caused sparks to fly, another positive to suggest the ground was virgin but also meant hard work to recover my hopefully golden prize. Because I’d planned the session I had my shovel and crow bar in the back of my vehicle but before I went and got them I checked the signal again in all Gold Modes and was convinced by the overall improvement there was a decent signal extremely deep under my coil. General/Difficult was still king so that delicious tingling feeling at the nape of my neck was still vying with the stream of sweat!! An hour later lots of sweat and blisters had me down 20+ inches and finding the need for my pinpointer, the signal was booming in on the GPZ so I knew I was centred in the hole. I was now into green puggy clays with chunks of quartz and ironstone locked in, there was no way this was anything but gold. It took a fair bit of crowbar work to finally get the pinpointer within range, turning myself inside out trying to reach into the hole was hard work in the heat but finally I got the pinpointer to lock onto the signal. More controlled bar work had a screaming target about the size of a hockey puck dead centre in the hole, one more mighty blow to one side and a levering of the bar dislodged a clump of clay with a solid object wedged tight within its grasp. 26 to 28 measured inches (its hard to fully ascertain the full actual original detected height based on surface debris ect) and I had in my hand a heavy clump off clay with something enclosed. The pictures tell the rest of the story. 😎🥳 Out of interest for those forum members who like to dabble in specific gravity tests ect: Weight in air: 125.8 grams Weight in water: 100.3 grams Once a few people have had a crack at the gold content I’ll post up the pic of the recovered melted gold button on the scales. No guesses please, only post up results from using a proper SG equation. JP

Great find and you just never know what is going to be in the bottom of that hole! Well done with your perseverance, finding the two nails and keeping checking. Foreign silver coins were commonly circulated in the USA up intil 1857 when a new law stopped that. You said the park goes back to the 1840's so this likely was lost in the first 10 or so years of the park's existence. Just think (you likely already have...) what else might be down there at the 10 inch level.... I bet you can't wait for spring thaw.

I personally would never ever use just one VDI reading when hunting for gold,as the shape and gold content can vary by a massive amount,also the same thing goes for any form of jewellery and even gold hammered coinage once again all down to the gold content and additives that are used.Also gold can come down into the iron range as well. I never ever make a dig/no dig decision on what the TDI tells me,audio is king all the time if it gives a decent audio signal it has to come out,relying on what a TDI tels you is mainly i think a US pastime i guess its because almost all your coinage etc are of a specific size and weight and the silver/gold content is a specific standard as well,but in the UK gold and also silver content over the years and mainly with hammered coinage can alter by a massive amount. For me using solely TID for detecting alas is not advisable in my mind,the theory sounds good but in practice and from previous experience i never ever do it.

Some really nice Douglas Fir that had to be cleared off the highway here in the Siskiyou mountains of Northern California. The hardwoods we like are Tan Oak and Madrone.

Enjoying a fire in our fireplace. Thanks to the sun. The dead desert wood we burn is lovely fuel - sparkless, smokeless - if you know how to tend it - and to us - free, as long as I am willing to gather it from the surrounding desert (especially under power lines, where the utilities cut down all the trees which might grow tall enough to touch the lines). As I sit here on Boxing Day evening, enjoying the glow, I am thinking of what is really happening. The sun burns about 5 million tons of hydrogen fuel per second...that makes our planet alive. That is what produced the desert wood I gather and burn. Without that - nothing. The return of the sun - steadily rising in the sky after the Winter Solstice is an event so vital that it is no wonder that almost every human society throughout history has celebrated it with joy and feasting.

I only have ever used the TDI Pro with the big battery,never really liked the 'S' shaped shaft of the 'sl' version,mainly use mine also in straight PI mode for the extra depth but when i am on my roman trading villa site which is basically like a 40 acre black beach but 70 miles inland then i will use it in target conductivity mode and must admit although i loose a small amount of depth it does work very well at discriminating out the non desirables. Regarding coils for the TDI Pro,although i do have the Whites stock coil and the 7.5DF ones the main ones i use are Minelab Mono coils and also the coils made for Jimmy Sierra by Miner John i bought some at a crazy low price brand new when he closed down a few years back,the largest one i like using is the 20'' Sierra Grande Mono. Wont ever part with mine as they are getting very hard to get hold of these days.

Heat 100% with doug fir and lodgepole pine. Got sawdust in my blood from logging most my life so making sawdust cutting firewood is just something I have to do? Love to do it but the body needs a few more breaks...lol The shack with a puff of smoke out the chimney with wood stacked nice and dry behind the shack. Doesn't get any better than that imo. Keep on going till the wheels fall off...!!!!!!!

So a big hello to everyone. I'm really new to all this, and have yet to do any detecting, I'm more into designing detectors than using them. I'm hoping to get feedback from the users here to help me refine my designs, I think I can develop some really useful and fun machines. I'm currently working on my first analog prototype, to be followed by a microprocessor controlled one. I'm integrating some features that I think are missing in most if not all the current designs, and am looking forward to hearing all your feedback, what you like, what you don't, what you can do without, etc. Don't know how often I'll be here, but I'll try to add to the conversation in a positive way when I am. Thanks folks, -SS

2020 was a forgettable year but, strangely enough, it was my best year of metal detecting finds in 50 years despite taking 2 months off for Covid restrictions. Being fully retired now has given me time to go detecting more often and time to learn how to better use my favorite detectors- Equinox 800 and TDI Beachhunter. I don't remember a year when it seemed that the finds just kept on getting better and better culminating with the find of a lifetime at the year's end. I did my yearly summary a bit early since I don't know if I'll get out again this year. Hope you enjoy it! Happy Holidays! GL&HH!

Well I talked to a person who might know such things (or might not) told me they know what Geosense and the 6000 is, and they said my expectations are too high. 🙂 Valentines day release in the US likely (Sunday? Seems odd). $6000 also most likely. Coil cable goes up the shaft or can use old style wrap around. Also, a 3rd player in the GPZ coil market has already made coils, probably enter the market soon. Slightly smaller than 12" first release, not elliptical. Also, a new GPZ is in the works. With one new in demand feature. Tales from the rumor mill. Take with as many grains of salt as necessary. I wasn't told to keep any of this secret, so it's either false or not tightly held.

Unfortunately it is the same in Australia as what JW has indicated for NZ. That means 4 weeks of your trip will be in quarantine. It will be great for the economy to have tourists again and if you're in Victoria and the stars align we could even catch up for a detect but I would leave all plans of a trip to Oz until Covid is under control or a vaccine is doing what it needs to. As far as places to go - I would also go and see the Great Barrier Reef like Phrunt suggested. Beautiful place and unfortunately probably going to be lost completely at some stage over the next 100 years. The west coast of Oz is beautiful - very remote and quiet. Following the coast from Port Lincoln in S.A. right around to Broome in the northwest of W.A. is a cracking trip. And I also have no interest in cities so couldn't advise you the 'best' city to visit. The only value of cities is to see AFL games (Australian Rules Football) and to get to a major airport. Won't hurt to dream up an itinerary for when you do come I suppose 😃

2 were for sale beginnin of december in Staff shop they went not quickly but they went RR

I have been out of the loop for a number of years and just joined back up. Here is my latest adventure. Aug 2020 Kind of a long read, Names and place shall remain anonymous. Got a call last week from a guy that wanted to know how to run a detector that he got from his dad. He was going to use it to help a friend find something that had been buried. I explained the machine to him and asked about size and depth of object and he didn't know for sure but said he would call back if he had more questions. About 4 hours later i get a call from same guy and he says his friends wife wants to talk to me. Wanted to know if I would drive over (about 65 miles) as they needed someone that knew what they were doing with a detector. I asked a few more questions about size and depth and was told about 30 inches deep & the size of a Carnation can, cardboard she thought. Having nothing else to do we decided to make the drive and see if I could help. Come to find out the guy had buried the can of coins about 10+ years ago and he and a couple of friends were trying to find it. He had suffered a couple of strokes and couldn't quite remember exactly where it was buried.. I asked of one thing and that was to take some pictures if we find it and no name's or location would be reveled. Pretty much about half of the space under the building had been dug to a depth of about 3 ft. We dug and I detected for about 1/2 hr and kept hitting some old rusty nails and from what he told me I asked them to remove a section of dirt and in the meantime I was going to check the big hole they dug earlier so the owner and I slipped thru the wall studs and began searching the other side, In the far back right corner I got a very very weak signal in the far corner and told him to move some gravel/dirt so I could check it again to see if it gets louder. It did so move some more gravel and it is louder and then it screams at me, I said we have a large target here and he starts moving dirt and gravel with his hands and a little piece of gray tape pokes thru and he yells we found it. More gravel come out revealing the whole lid and then the can. The can was heavy as it was full and I'm thinking he buried a bunch of silver and I said it would be nice to see some gold in that can. He said so you would like to see some gold would you. He and his wife were over whelmed to say the least that I had found it for them. He asked me how much he owed me and I said what ever you think, a little gas money. He handed me $2000.00. I said no way and he said you want more and I said that's way to much but he wouldn't take any back because you see I just dug up there retirement savings. Stuffed in that little can were 224 1oz gold coins ( All Buffalo and American Gold Eagle rounds). 10 tubes of 20 rounds each and 24 in clear cellophane wrap. At todays price well I guess you can figure that out.

IMO NOX has the best balance between TID resolution, precision, and stability (which all compete against one another) that I have used (including my F75, Whites MXT, and Deus <0 to 99'er TID detectors, all of which I still own). That coupled with great audio that tells you more about a target than any 2 digit number - I can more reliably "call the target" with it before it is extracted than any detector I have owned. However, I would love to see a Multi IQ detector with the discrimination capability and precise CO-FE TID schemes of the eTrac and CTX FBS2 detectors.

No. What would be the reason for doing such a thing? Rings occur at many numbers both above and below 11 so I don’t see why anyone would want to do that.

Thanks lunk. I was using the Equinox 800 for those pieces.

Rick, Some nice thoughts there. My wife and I are sitting here with a fire going in the wood burning stove. Makes for a cozy evening when the temps drop. It's 19* (F) outside at the moment and moving lower. Certainly not as cold as our friends further North, but cool enough to chill the bones. The ice fisherman have been out on the lake for a few weeks now. Plenty of 'free' firewood around as well as that available with an inexpensive permit from the Forest Service. Rich -

The big battery system in the Pro gave it lots of raw depth ....Deepest Detector on a saltwater Beach I ever used .......nothing like The SL or Even The Latest TDI Beach Hunter ......I’m taking straight PI mode no ground Balance

I did great with the Infinium on jewelry and gold nuggets. https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-reviews/garrett-infinium-ls-pulse-induction-metal-detector/

AND, it's an off center die ERROR coin! NICE!!!! GaryC/Oregon Coast

Some finds from several hunts...starting to get out a little more now that the ground has softened up some.. mostly using the Nox but the CTX produced the quarter yesterday...for some reason I usually do well on Christmas Eve so I make it a tradition to hunt in the morning....wishing all my treasure hunting breathen a very happy holidays strick

No titan here, just a guy who likes to beep. I only know what I’d do in your shoes. Having the TDI covers you for a PI, so I’d want a VLF to complement it, and my choice would be the Equinox. CTX is too long in the tooth for me, but the reality is we have no idea when a replacement will appear. If looking for a PI other than the TDI, then waiting for the finished version of the Impulse is about the only pulse induction “upgrade” path available.

We are looking at 3 locations in Australia to spend 2-3 weeks and then go to NZ for a couple of weeks. I want to see the Brisbane area, the Perth area, and maybe get into the outback areas to do some detecting. After that head back to the states and get back to work.

Got out today for a few hours at an old homestead in downtown buckeye arizona. In the past I have found a silver dime, old pesos, some old buttons and lots of wheat. Well today was the best day yet. As soon as I got it off the truck I got a 29, 30 on the nox 800. I expected trash or a clad but I got a good, old surprise. A 1894 barber half! It's in poor condition and isn't worth much but it's my best silver find yet.

U all, I'm 53 years old and from the northern part of Germany close to the dutch border. I start with metal detecting in 1981 with a C-Scope TR XXX detector. When i grow up the hobby stopped until 2018 but not the research for good prospection sites. Two years ago I bought a Minelab Equinox 800 and still discover the whole capabiltys of this sofisticated detector. I joined your forum with the aim to exchange and gain more expertise in advanced techniques and settings of my machine. I'm open minded and look forward to chat& share detection knowledge with you guys. regards Mike

Is the main difference between the TDI Pro and SL is gb course and fine adjustments? Is there any power difference between the models? An old friend might be selling his TDI and I believe it is one of the older Pro's and I might snag it. Also what 3rd party coils work with them?

Right, they are 3 x 18650.

I had looked at the SL and seeing what depths people were getting I wasn't super impressed. I would be using it in land only anyways, not crazy about bring a machine with exposed pots to the beach. I have my SH with 10x14 coil that is close to the TDI Beach in the wet, just doesn't find the tiny stuff but good on rings, coins, nails, cans, pull rings etc. 🙂 There are a lot of old low land areas near me that have gobs of bog iron where a PI will just do better and an IB.

What people are not aware of is the Impact is phenomenal in very highly mineralised ground and can be used anywhere on the planet except on the rim of a volcano.It is more versatile than any other detector with 12 modes and the COG mode was especially developed for the Impact for alkaline soils.It is very well balanced which offsets its disadvantage of being heavy to a degree.Anfibio is half a pound lighter. In inland arid regions where I use it being waterproof is not a big issue but in more wetter regions I would go for the Anfibio as I had the bad experience of my first detector being ruined as I tried to use it in the rain albeit with protective plastic covering but water has a talent of infiltrating unsealed devices. Have not tested the Anfibio in hot soils but it should be similar but would not buy it without some proof.Anfibio has the disadvantage of having to be charged from the mains but Impact can be used in remote areas simply by carrying a spare set of batteries. I have 8 rechargeable batteries which are charged from the car cigarette lighter.Anfibio has the option of being available also in a solely 14 Khz or solely 19 Khz frequency models which to me is is a great advantage as I only use 20 Khz and also makes these two models cheaper. The Anfibio has a limit available in larger coils, the AF 35 coil or 13.5 inch coil. Whilst the Impact can be fitted with the IM 45 which is a 15X17 inch coil.

Really Nice! Welcome to the forum. They're much nicer than anything I've found. Jim

I was sent this coil for free to use and keep by the manufacturer many months ago with no expectations of reviews or anything else, and I had intended many times to test it in Nevada for my own personal use, but work kept delaying me and I never made it. But I was able to finally get free from work and give it a solid 12 hours of run time over 2 days in Arizona since it's winter now. Soils are mild, few hotrocks (more on that in a moment). 40-50F degrees out. Mostly shallow, rocky washes or hilltops I've pounded with the stock and 17" X Coil (as well as a 4500). I consider these spots flogged and dead for my purposes, and so great places to see if new products can find missed gold. My observations were as follows: This coil (as expected with a smaller coil) was noticeably quieter than the 17" coil and the stock coil. I was able to bump my threshold up 8-10 points and still had about the same threshold chatter as I did with the 17" coil. I usually run 18 sensitivity here because I like a very stable threshold and EMI can be an issue, but I bumped up to 20 sensitivity with no problem. The coil ground balanced ok and I ran in auto which seemed to work fine. This coil loves hotrocks, as would be expected when you are running a smaller, more sensitive coil. I was finding hotrocks deep, shallow, and in places I considered more or less hotrock free in the past. Conversely, I hope it will do well in salt, which I hope to test this summer in Nevada. This coil is bump sensitive This coil is sensitive to a lot of vegetation, particularly sticks/twigs and grasses. I'm unsure if it's detecting them or bumping them. This coil screams on tiny nuggets just out of range of the stock coil. It gives decent signal on edge of detection, tiny nuggets that I missed with the 17" coil. The light weight made me very much more prone to lift up and detect side walls, benches, and pick up and poke/prod into just about any place I encountered, from beginning of day to end. The weight didn't fatigue my arm after a half day of swinging, 5 or 6 hours. Much of that time was without a bungee. This coil eminates a faint, very high pitched squeel or buzz if you get your ear close to it Overall, detecting with the GPZ feels a lot more pleasurable and less like fighting your equipment with a coil of this size and weight. I've mentioned it in prior posts, but take my word from experience now - it's not the weight of the GPZ that causes problems, it's the coil. And this 8" coil is almost the perfect weight to counterbalance the GPZ with the shaft fully extended - ie, this is the coil weight the GPZ should have been designed for. I'll take another pound on the control box no problem, but add 100 or 200 grams onto the coil end, that causes fatigue. Swinging the GPZ with this coil (or any coil of this weight) is a pleasure and not oppressive. The bump sensitivity I'm guessing is a relic of trying to cram so much wire into a tiny space that might not be meant for it, as I get the feeling that this coil is pressing the limits of how small a Super D can be built. But it does mean that I have to slow down and really concentrate on not hitting rocks or vegetation, which ends up being ok because this is a cleanup coil where I am going slow anyways. I expected to find a handful of faint, edge of detection signals I had missed with my other coils. But other than a couple nuggets, almost all the signals were bright, some even loud, and all pretty obvious. Even right out in the middle of the wash. This coil hits hard on tiny stuff. I haven't compared it to the GB2 or Gold Monster, but I found stuff down to 0.06-0.07 grams and they were all great signals. Pinpointing these tiny targets with the coil edge can be difficult as the center of the coil is more sensitive. And they are too tiny to register on my pinpointer, especially the porous and not flaky ones. And that is why I think I missed all the nuggets originally which I later found with the 8" - its a lot easier to get the center of the coil over more of the potential ground, especially with obstructions in the way. In the end, I didn't find a lot of missed nuggets in nooks and crannies, most of them were simply next to a rock or other obstruction like a bush which I was able to get the center of the 8" much closer to. Overall this seems like a good coil for working steep areas (Colorado comes to mind), surface patches, tight washes, and banks/vertical surfaces. The bump sensitivity is the only real major downside, so a slow and controlled swing is important with this coil I think. If NF doesn't end up releasing some critical sizes of coils and new detector releases make the GPZ cheaper (and less risky to make an adapter) then serious detectorists may want to give X Coils another thought. Because right now I can't help but feel like with these coils I am running a new detector that no one else has access to in a way, and I'm somewhat surprised more hard detectorists/enthusiasts haven't availed themselves of this opportunity. But, in the same respect I'm happy, because my time is slim and I haven't had a chance to put them over a lot of places I know others would have flogged to death already. My favorite coil by far is still the 17", but if this 8" (and the 10") perform well in NNV then I may change my mind on that. Here are the nuggets I found (weights are estimated) and my recollection of why I thought I missed them originally with all my other equipment but then found them with the 8" X Coil: Test Wash 1, less than 0.1 gram, too deep for other coils Test Wash 1, 0.08 grams, next to a rock and slightly into wash bank Test Wash 1, 0.12 grams, from a boot scrape and I had given up finding this with the 17" for some reason Test Wash 1, 1+ gram, next to a rock and oriented vertically in a bedrock crack, not sure why I didn't hear this on at least 6 or 7 previous passes since it's right in the wash, but it didn't produce a diggable signal with other coils/machines Test Wash 1, .2 grams, in a little ring of rocks, was only a few inches deep though Test Wash 1, .15 grams, too deep/edge of detection, or too close to rocks Test Wash 1, 0.12 grams, no idea, great signal and should have found before Test Wash 1, 0.15 grams, in side of bank, arm was probably always too tired to raise the coil up there Test Wash 2, 0.12 grams, no idea why it was missed before, right in middle of wash Test Wash 2, 0.3 grams, 2ft up wash side Bench patch, 0.3 grams, next to cactus, too deep/edge of detection? Bench patch, 0.08 grams, too deep/edge of detection Bench patch, 0.06 grams, edge of detection That was all of them. Smallest was 0.06 grams and very porous and almost on surface, largest was like 1.1 grams but I forget the exact weight. All total was a little over 4 grams out of severely beat up washes and a patch. Not much, but it did pay for my gas down here at least. I think once stuff gets below 0.15 grams, it's not really worth my time to chase on general principal. But when you need to grind out some finds for gas, food, whatever, and if you have a lot of patches that produced more than 5 or 6 stray nuggets, then this little guy can probably pop up a few more when you really need them.

Thanks o.g., Glad you liked it! The Cartier bracelet is not the most valuable thing that I have ever found but I still consider it a/the "find of a lifetime". I guess it depends on one's definition. I see your point and that is why I'll never say that something is "the best thing that I will ever find"-I still have plenty of things on my bucket list! BTW, congrats on those amazing nuggets- what a thrill it must have been to see those coming out of the ground! 😮

I second Cal's motion! Big Congrats!!

Thank you! He keeps some things top secret 😉

Rye Patch is more of a general goldfield with many small nugget patches located within and lots of space with little or no gold. You can find lists of goldfields in all the usual well known books. Finding patches within a goldfield is usually boots on the ground, or aerial research. It's pretty rare for anyone to share any kind of actual specific patch location in public. There would be hundreds of people hitting that one specific, tiny spot, every year. It can ruin a spot. The teach a man to fish method is the only way prospecting stays at least semi sustainable and viable.

The closest thing I have seen to a list like that is here. The problem with such a list as I have compiled is I can only list areas where the situation is not fluid and changing daily. Like the places you are interested in, which require up-to-date research. The links I provided were the ones meant to teach you how to fish, rather than just handing you a fish. In theory there are people here who could make lists with maps, but in general protecting your locations is job one when it comes to prospecting. People speak in vague generalities if they speak at all.

We find these religious medallions quite often in old coal mining camps than anywhere else. Most of the one we find are made out of aluminum and some silver. Nice find! 👍

Great find in a short amount of time, and remember it isn't the quality of the find that is important, it's the hunt. Good luck on your next hunt.

If I posted a pic of it, I think Santa would take away my dealership. Now maybe a could post subliminal messages by having a 5000 box and a 1000 box next to it. A GPX-5000 technology + an SDC-2300 technology = 5000 + Monster 1000 = 6000 technology. Or a ZED 7000 box on top of ( minus) a GM1000 box = 6000.

I had become so accustomed to wired headphones that it really is no big deal to me! What i did change on a few of my detectors is running an extension to the rear, under the arm cuff! I hate my headphones being directly connected to the pod, where it gets in the way! And i've had no real issues with hard wired, as i used to have with the wireless headphones!👍👍

I’ve been getting out as much as possible during December before the expected monsoon this year pushes down into where we live, it has finally arrived and we are now pleasantly cool but everything is now rain soaked with constant drizzle. Good for the poor farmers who have been drought ridden but not good for us detectorists thanks to more ground signal and grass growth. It was fun while it lasted and now I have to go about my work with a whole new approach.🥴 I’ve had some good successes this year with some brilliant detecting moments coming along with the hard work and heat. Early starts and detecting till its too hot has been the norm then kicking back to recover in the aircon as a reward, it’s surprising how many hours of quality detecting time I’ve been able to squeeze into this build up to the wet. What was even more surprising was the decent finds I got along the way in well worked areas. 😎 One session was no exception but took a few attempts before I got my coil over a decent piece, first location was a frizzer with the ground I targeted not having enough depth for my liking. I tend to concentrate on ground that is in excess of 12 inches going into deeper ground, this is where my skill set shines and where I have the most success unless I’m patch hunting. The only time this changes is if I put on a smaller coil and even then I’m targeting the deeper ground relative to coil performance. I am always listening for edge of detection target signals. Second location was also a frizzer but it was a good opportunity to wave my coil over a friends test patch nearby to confirm my settings choice and detector behaviour. By this time it was well past 10 am and I was still gold-less, being totally wet through from the humidity didn’t help my enthusiasm to not just down tools and go home but instead relocate, so I sat in the aircon of my 4x4 for 15 minutes and cooled off somewhat while eating a banana 🍌. As a spur of the moment I decided to go to a spot on the way home that has been thrashed to death by many many people over the past 20 years, it’s right beside the track in a well known area and is riddled with dig holes one upon the other. I cringed as I put my backpack back on, it feels horrible putting a pack on over the top of a wet soppy shirt, everything sticks to you and feels extremely uncomfortable. Nevertheless I forced myself to do it and committed to at least an hour of detecting going over the deeper sections methodically before calling it quits. I’m glad I did. 😝 15 minutes of getting my ear into the local conditions and I heard my first faint Low/High signal of the day, 8 inches of soil removal brightened the signal into positivity along with the smile on my face. Next was flurried sweaty digging until close on the 18 inch mark out popped this iron stained 9 gram chunkster. 😊 The next signal was really broad and channel flipped ever so slightly, (High/Low-Low/High) a sure sign of a deep ‘real’ target at max detection range. 😎 This 10 gram nugget was really clean compared to the first one which is interesting considering they were only 15 feet apart. By this time I was physically spent with another deep hole in high temps so it was time to call it a day. Considering I had moved location 3 times and messed around a lot it was an extremely good outcome and a highlight to the detecting year due to the thrashed nature of the patch. It was also good to ping a little picker at good depth along the way just to keep the ego in check. 😇🤣 Total for the session

IMHO, the SDC is as good with small gold as the GB2 or GM1000, especially with the SP01 combo. And yes, where I hunt the soil is highly mineralized (Motherlode). Especially with the ultramafic Serpentine outcroppings that are part of the Motherlode belt. However, the worst soil I have encountered in some areas of the Mojave desert in Southern CA. Some of these areas are so rich in iron that the compass doesn't even work (magnetite, iron-rich basalt, iron ore, etc..). Go figure....

The joys of summer heat 🥵, early first light starts, gulping of coffee then the inevitable knuckling of sleep out of rheumy eyes as you ‘head fog’ drive the 20 minutes or so to secret dusty locations only ever visited in summer after the sweaty crowds have gone home to roost. I prefer it if there has been a few thunder storms to wash away all the tyre tracks and footprints, the myriads of patterned phycological evidence that beta-blocks the feeling of success right out of your very soul before you even start the first swing of the coil. 🥴 Argh yes the joys of summer bring on the freshening. 🤣 It’s been 2 years since I scored anything decent at this location, I’d given it up for dead but always find myself drifting back to try something new, just that one more time.

Our ground requires Difficult 99% of the time. In Normal things are a bit different signal wise over Difficult, so HY will give more ground signal and more conductive signal but the difference on big gold deep is less profound, whereas in Difficult there is a distinct difference between the two with the cross over being around the 9 to 20 gram range if the nugget is solid and deep, this is most obvious when the depth gets past 14+ inches. As an example I always detect in HY Difficult and get the bulk of the gold in that mode, if the size is up there and there is depth I’ll go over the same ground again in General in the hopes of a chunk. Nuggets found first pass in HY Difficult on a Virgin patch this year Pieces picked up at depth on 2nd pass using General Difficult (note some are small, this is because General runs at the same delay as HY so still has good sensitivity)

The Bose headphones are superb especially if you work in timbered country. Most wind noise through trees is low frequency and the QC cuts that noise right out, they are also good if you work in areas where there is a lot of road noise from vehicles etc, but not good if you don’t like surprises when a car drives right up to you and you don’t hear it 🤫 😳 They work very well with the SP01 Enhancer and the B&Z booster, with the GPZ I feel a ‘booster’ is a necessity using the Bose QC NC headphones. I run my volume on 7, Volume Limit on 10 and Threshold 25 then vary the sensitivity to whatever the are I am working can handle. Suggestion: Set the sensitivity early in the session not later on as your ears/brain become accustomed to loud variation and you will not get an accurate idea of how variable the volume of the audio is. I start at 9 and slowly increase from there listening to the general detector behaviour anywhere from 9 to 15 is my general range working in my areas in Difficult. Be aware Normal has much higher volume levels than difficult so it might pay to lower the Main page volume a bit lower for booster use. JP Pics of the 3 ounce ugly duckling nugget I found last year, before and after shots. Pic of a 24 gram slugster found at 2+ feet a few weeks back

Some pics of my now sold crystalline collection. JP Palmer River Crystal piece I found many years ago Enrichment piece, not crystalline but beautiful

Been a while since I posted to this thread, this year has been good for me on the gold front with some nice finds. Theses pics are of some of the pieces I found during testing of the NF coil, I’m now at liberty to show them off on this thread. I’ll be posting up a fair few more pics of gold finds once I get the thread revived. I’ll also include some pictures of what the locations look like as this is sorely lacking this day and age due to secrecy. This thread is not meant to be political, just sharing some of my gold finds for others to enjoy. JP Fern leaf gold, sold this one for AU $150 per gram Nice solid 9+ gram piece found deep on the edge of this gully