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The targets were scarce but crazy good today. Two more firsts for me and a cast wreath which is number two for this site. I have been detecting for many years and have never found a site like this. Gold coin number 2!! Holy smokes.

I had posted in another thread about how many prospectors do not take the time to accurately pinpoint and therefore spend a lot of unnecessary time chasing their target, resulting in less gold found. I thought it might be better to have a clean thread specifically on the topic. Its important because taking an extra 30 seconds to pinpoint a target carefully can save 5 minutes or more of digging and chasing. Multiply 5 minutes per target (more or less) by 20 or more targets a day and it really adds up. Plus the less time you spend digging and chasing your targets, the more time you spend actually searching for gold. This means you will be able to detect and find more targets in a day resulting in more gold produced. Geof_junk had suggested a method described by Garrett to make a 90 degree X It works, but even that is very rough. People swing over a target from one direction, then swing over it from another direction and where both lines that indicate the target cross, that is where the target is.... Sort of. The Garrett description says to use the line where the target is loudest, but often a target is pretty much the same intensity over the whole body of the coil. And a lot of prospectors just use the lines for anywhere the coil sounds, but depending on the size of your target, whether the target is sounding on the front edge or the back edge, or anywhere in between, your "imaginary line" can be almost twice the width of the coil. Then cross that with an "imaginary line" at 90 to the first one, you now have a circle roughly twice the diameter of the coil in which the target could be located. The smaller the coil, the smaller the circle of possibility - so pinpointing with a small coil is just naturally easier. On the other hand, if you are swinging the GPX with a standard coil, that circle is up to 28 inches, and because you need to swing the coil through the hole over the target, now you need a hole of about 42 inches and if its deep, that is going to be a real crater! This is why its important to step back of the target and swing forward to make sure you are hearing it on the front of the coil. Move the coil slowly forward as you swing it and where you first get a full target response, mark that line. Turn 90 degrees and do the same. That crossing should get you a more accurate pinpoint of the target location, allowing you to dig and recover the target more quickly. Any other thoughts about pinpointing?

Great post, Chris. I would like to add that different coil configurations can have their own unique method used to pinpoint a target with. There are three main coil configurations that we electronic prospectors are familiar with, the first and perhaps most widely used being the mono coil, with which Chris' pinpointing method works very well, especially on deeply buried targets. However, on shallow targets, the hot spot on mono coils moves towards the outer edge of the coil as the coil gets closer to the target, so that tipping the coil vertically and using just the edge can quickly pinpoint a shallow target with great accuracy. This method also applies with the DOD coil of the GPZ 7000; deep targets pinpoint in the center of the coil, while shallow targets can be easily pinpointed with the coils edge. The third coil configuration is the traditional double D, on which targets, both deep and shallow, hit on the center line from the front edge of the coil to the back edge. The pinpointing method here is called the “wiggle-back”...simply swing the coil repeatedly over the target using a very narrow swing of only a couple of inches, while slowly moving the coil towards your feet until the target response disappears; at this point, the target is located just off the front tip of the coil.

UPDATE..... As I had just finished posting my last response on this subject, First Texas has just called me and said that they have built me a new AQ and it is being water / pressure tested this week. Shipping will be shortly thereafter. Thank You FT for listening to our concerns!

This was my best sunbaker from 2012. It has 1.5 ounces of gold with a total weight of 3.5 ounces.

Walker, did you want to see a picture of it? This was not a sunbaker.

Not to be a "Debbie Downer" but be careful what you wish for. My AQ has been at FT for repair since they received it on January 4th of this year. Almost 2 months now. I would have thought that FT would be more responsive and obligatory to those who got the Limited and needed repair.

After I get my target out of the hole I pinpoint it with my coil. I always feel good when I get the target in my first scoop. I use this game to improve my pinpointing and recovery skills. The goal is to dig more targets and find more nuggets. Swing slowly, recover efficiently.

New to this forum and have already found a lot of useful information. A bit about myself. I’m 68 and have been detecting since 1986 off and on. Mostly on, but off the last two years. I’ve had a few higher end White’s in the past, but for the last I don’t know how many years, detected in the water with a Fisher CZ-20 and then a CZ-21. Decided to get out of detecting about 2 years ago and sold all my equipment. Felt naked without a detector, so I ordered an Equinox 600 and a Garrett pin pointer which should arrive tomorrow. Also ordered a Sito scoop. All the ground here in Maine is currently frozen and covered with snow, but I should be able to hit some non frozen ground at the coast soon to try and learn this detector. Not planning on getting out to detect as often as I have in the past as age and a sore back seem to be catching up with me. In any case, I look forward to future conversations and sharing information with you all.

You bet I am digging every repeatable tone on this site. The ground seems hot, very chattery. Still everything I’m finding are firsts for me. The two gold coins are just crazy. The large cent was a nice surprise. Thanks for all the great replies.

Very Sorry to hear, My opinion they should give those who go thru this long wait retribution by extending the warranty. I can see 3 to 4 weeks but 2 months ?? Come on Fisher... Respond please. I remember about 4 or 5 years ago the Minelab repair center Kelly Co had machines for over 6 months. Keith Leppert took on the job of the New repair center and now if they have your machine more then 2 weeks it is rare.

In Multi IQ the I, In-Phase multiple signals which are more sensitive to iron signals from iron targets and especially iron mineralization are ignored and the multiple Q quadrature signals which are mostly non-ferrous target signals are used to identify the target. The Iron Bias settings help provide user customizable iron identification adjustments when needed. In single frequency detection with the Equinox the ratio between both the I and Q signal are used to identify the target so no Iron Bias is necessary.

After reading many comments on this forum and others, i have to chip in on how I am perceiving the marketing thrust of Minelab on the 6000. I have subscribed to Winelab to get their updates on their products and what they do etc. I believe it is reasonable to make the assumption that Minelab does have superior design and technology. For me, this is also re-enforced by the old adage - "You get what you pay for". I think everyone can relate to this. Now to get to the point - how Minelab is "introducing" this new detector, the GPX 6000. For months, I have been getting emails that contain nothing more than junk information. Initially, I thought the first one I got was just a teaser, something to pique my interest and fair enough. But since then, with all of the subsequent ones being the same, it aroused old memories of similar ad programs from my past. And I can tell you these memories turn me off. I learned to be wary of this type of advertising because it generally meant that there was no substance to whatever product they were trying to sell - just string people along. So my advice to Minelab? Your advertising is missing the mark in my opinion and from reading between the lines on many other forums and posts, I think others are noting this too. I think it is pretty well understood and accepted that they have an excellent product. Price alone dictates that only more sophisticated (and better financed) users will be the actual market. So why come out with an ad campaign with tactics designed to appeal to un-sophisticated detectorists. I hope Minelab reads this post and it spurs them to rethink their marketing strategy for their higher end products. The GPX 6000 is not a beginner machine - it is for advanced users. That is who your target market is. And these folks are certainly knowledgeable enough to quickly ascertain that the current Minelab marketing information is being counter-productive. I'll finish with this. Minelab - if you can't provide something more substantive in your marketing effort for this unit, I'd rather not receive your emails. Probably just going to delete them going forward and maybe unsubscribe. This forum will have to be my "marketing" information.

This was in a wash. This was as I first saw it. I was in a new area and it was only my 5th or 6th nugget I think, under 10 anyway. I heard it with my 5000 and I think the 8" coil. I looked down and I can remember what I said to myself. "I think I know what that is!" I was without a camera at the time and didn't know my directions back to my car and I was afraid I would never find it again so I carefully lifted it out of the wash, went back to my car and got a camera and after more than half an hour I returned to the spot where I found it. I neatly replaced it where I found it and took several pictures. This was the only picture that was not blurry. I was hunting for meteorites at the time. It was the 10th anniversary of the Franconia Meteorite find. I didn't know exactly where to look for them and I found this. We looked for more meteorites in that area and more gold but could find neither. I still have never found a meteorite on the south side of the freeway. About a year and a half later after thinking about this nugget find for that long period of time I went back with a plan for gold on a Thanksgiving day and found my 20.5/8 ozt Goose Egg Nugget.

He's has quite a few $10K offers a couple in $15K range and one bumped it up to $20K. I still feel his best bet is to wait until Covid is over and have it at a couple bigger shows to get some publicity. Then head for the Auction with a Minimum of $25K.

I would Love to run into the KOB! NIce Chunk of gold too! One or three it's still a winner!

Our eyes are easily fooled! That is why its hard to guess the weight of nuggets. As you say on the video, it is like foil - big in 2 dimensions, but thin in the third dimension. I have a piece of gold from Northern Nevada that is a flat folded piece like that, but mine is about 1/10th the size - a bit over 3 grams. Just like that one, you'd expect it to weigh more based on how it looks. Even on pieces with good size in 3 dimensions, gold weight can be tough to guess. I have a spot in California which has produced a good number of 1/4 to 1/2 ounce nuggets in chunky pieces, but look like they should weigh about twice as much based on what you would guess by looking at them. On close inspection with magnification there are little bits of quartz and iron oxides shot throughout the piece, which is why they weigh less than you would expect - they are not truly solid gold, even though they look like it in your hand.

I nabbed a pretty neat find the other day and I think it was sunbaker... Is it only a sunbaker if you saw it before you disturbed it or is it still a sunbaker if the rock that it's lodged in tells a sunbaker tale? Every dirt dog can tell what half of a float rock was in the ground and what half was face up. This is a rock with a nugget lodged in it that tells one of those sunbaker tales. Is it a sunbaker? -OR- Was it a sunbaker? -...OR- Is it not a sunbaker? It's wedged in there really good! I haven't tried to yank it out because it's so unique as a sort of specimen of a bedrock nugget trap. I've picked at it and got no movement, plus it survived getting tossed around in my pack on my hike. An interesting find too! One of those days, patch hunting a new area (this new area hasn't met the three nugget threshold). All I had in my pocket was trash and my nug jug only held my test nugget. But lo, another signal! Few and far between, they are out here. Giving the spot a boot scrape moves my target. Probably surface trash, a bullet. Gotta know. These 4 rocks. These 3. These 2. That one... it's not a hot rock? Turned in hand to reveal a little smooshie stuck in a crack! WHOA!!! My strongest theory is that this "specimen" is a remnant of the bedrock that trapped some gold, all the bedrock having been eroded away. The gold since washed down the hillside and into the main drainage, perhaps all the way into the basin... But hopefully it has only travelled just past where I stopped detecting for the day and I get a whopper bonanza another day! 😂 Yeah right.

Had about an hour to hunt this morning before a Dr appointment and made the most of it. LOL The ring is 14K and weighs 16.3g. It rang up a very loud and solid 11 on the Equinox. You gotta love unique rings!!!

Chase i could have said that better for that i apologize. I felt you were being a little under estimating the number sold. What i ment about get wet ....is thats where the real depth of this machine is IMO. Its pretty impressive to maintain nearly all its depth when VLFs tend to loose a good bit. Ill try not to over sell the machine..... but i guess i am a fan. Again..... i ment you no disrespect.... i truly appreciate your knowledge and skill.

I totally agree. Iron bias enhances the identification of iron signals using Multi. The use of both I and Q signals in single frequency does not make the Equinox detect iron more accurately in my opinion or from experience. Others who use Equinox in single frequency in mild ground conditions may disagree. I rarely use the single frequency choice on the Equinox unless it is absolutely necessary due to EMI or if I want to experiment a little. My Equinox detectors stay in Multi frequency for all detecting with F2=0 or 1 for gold prospecting and F2= whatever I want to set it on for other detecting.

There are more than a 100 machines out there. Ive got no. 28 and had mine well over a couple of years. This coil design IMO is a better design for the beach hunter..... same length but more coverage. As far as worth.... Chase you need to get wet buddy. This thing is BETTER than a Nox in the salt and im betting close to an AQ in depth in disc. Its not loosing that much depth in the water like other VLFs. Id easily say only some of the newer PIs may get better depth..... but then you are still dealing with TID with those. This is NOT a multi freq machine.... but anyone who hunts the beaches will tell you it will pay for its self in gold. I paid my machine off in less than a couple of months.... i expect to do the same with this coil. Popularity and sales drive what coils may come out later. Tom D pushed hard for this coil.... i think its already got those of us wanting it on board. Like was said .... any little edge. This may even peak more UK hunters attention to this machine once testing starts. I like my niche machine lol. IF he changes to the new battery box design thats totally water proof and adds this coil i may well sell my Nox in the closet and get a second machine since i already have two standard coils.

Good to see you had a good time out with your friend and got to do a short test. I fully agree with schoolofhardnoxs post.

Alot of people are using trailered campers, either soft or hard tops or use something similar to Norvic’s set up. Biggest thing we want is access to areas, and to do it this way is easiest. I know there are people that have the RV set ups aswell (one of my friends has a full off-grid set up in a 40ft bus with a 4WD he tows on a trailer, the thing is a mansion on wheels). It all depends on the individual I suppose. Pictured is what my outfit looks like folded up. I’ll have everything I need on it from water to solar power, a fold out kitchen on the tailgate and most importantly, a comfortable, queen sized bed. It is basically a fold out tent mounted to a heavy duty trailer with storage rack (it tilts so I can unfold the tent). I plan on trying to camp where I’m exploring and then expand further from there. It’s not so much a lack of dirt roads, it’s the condition of them and then the tracks you travel down to get to where you want to go. These can be very rough and unforgiving.

I very briefly discussed small coils with Dimitar, but I never pressed the issue at all, since it seems counter to the main design goals for the MDT. The MDT has been marketed mainly as a beach detector (that also has relic applications), and that user group may have less use for small coils than all others. Excepting the somewhat mythical micro jewelry hunters. In this case a large coil was seen as more desirable by a few vocal users, but personally I doubt I’d pay an extra premium for it as an accessory coil. I do like the idea of being able to get it as the stock coil with a new MDT purchase, however, and many people may do that going forward. For my purposes, however, the current stock coil is just fine.

But i think its what a lot of users asked for. That being a machine NOT watered down for the NORMAL user. It allows the skilled user to take advantage of the machines raw power and grow into the machine.

So when the excitement was over and we finally put it on the scale, it had us a little frustrated. As such a bizarre and exquisite gold specimen, our lack of discovering this mythical style we had no experience before. Now we learn, as well as a bill and coin of the actual weights. How many times have you dug a nice piece of gold to only drop on the scale and be baffled. Yes we were, but still a prize among gold collectors. Watch the video and get a little lesson on gold and $100 bill.

OK.... i got the 12". I think this needed to be on there in the first place. First impression ... i like the beefier ears the rubbers make it fit well. Coil connector is in the right position to run the cable up the shaft. Weight .... surprisingly balanced and i didnt really notice much weight difference when swinging and you dont find yourself twisting the coil at the end of the swings. Nothing to fill with sand so maybe ill like this without a cover lol. It is over filled so i dont think you will get coil separation like some Xcal coils did. Epoxy reminds you of JB Weld plastic..... that stuff is hard as a rock. Tomorrow im supposed to look for someones ring i didnt find it today. So ill take a little gold chain with me. fairly small. Ill be watching to see if it upscales the aluminum and deeper trash. Hopefully thats not changed because it puts it above a quarter..... so for my gold hunting it starts narrowing down what i DONT have to hear or look at. I love new toys lol.

You should probably thank OBN for that !

The standard 7.5” coil is a dual field, a smaller coil inside a larger coil. The Aussie version is regular mono, just the outer coil. In theory the small inner coil adds a little extra sensitivity to tiny nuggets, but it’s not much. It also makes the coil slightly more responsive to bad ground; the straight Aussie mono version helps address this, but also loses that little edge on the tiny gold. Note we are talking splitting hairs The Super Pulse 150 is a 6” round mono, and basically does what the 7.5” coil will do, so you already have a small mono coil. Are you using it a lot? Finding gold with it? Some reason you want another small coil instead? Lots of people like the Sadie coil. But again, how many coils does a person need? I’m a small, medium, and large guy myself, but do not see much reason to have multiples of a particular size. More About Dual Field Coils

You're killing it alright, wow three rare finds in one outing!! The private mint $5 gold coin is out of this world, congrats on that! Largies, which not typically numistically valuable, are as rare as finding a gold coin in the West. I know people that have found more gold coins then largies, and some folks that have found multiple gold coins and no largies (like myself ha ha). Congratulations, I'd dig anything that made a peep at that site, there's bound to be more 👍

Well if it's really hot out getting wet is not a bad thing!!!! LOL......

I just want to elaborate, some. I doubt many here have the experience with iron targets on a salt beach, as the Mexican 1-2 and 5 peso coin are ferrous. I can easily run into 70 of these a day. So here is what I have learned. The higher the sensitivity and lower the IB the more iron wrap around occurs. I have learned to hunt in one tone. I think there are multiple advantages [for another thread] But for this thread I will discuss one. One tone allows for the best way to identify iron. With the detector in beach 2, IB FE6, and recovery 6. It is beyond easy to almost identify iron 100% down to depths I have never seen. I repeat, down to depths I have never seen. I do hunt mostly in Discrimination but any kind of a tick gets investigated in the horseshoe mode. Here looking at the target from all directions for ANY breakdown of the target or double sound will be your indication of Iron. For me the TID is only a small part, how the target sounds in horseshoe mode is the bigger part. ANYTHING and repeat anything that single rings is getting dug, PERIOD. A single ring is non-ferrous 99% of the time! I guess to the OP, never have I had a surprised masked target. Not saying it could not happen. But there are so many variables. Checking your targets from different angles can tell a story.

Like me I had one of the first 200 TDI’s and I love it but after about two months it went south as in not working correctly. I sent it in and the turn around time was great but still had the same problem. So back again and again it came back with the same problem . It went back again for the third time but I called Jimmy Sierra and they them a new one . That’s the way they fixed. Chuck

Do I still love my AQ? Absolutely! I just want it back.

Jeff I know you know this, but for the benefit of others, that last phrase (I.e., “no Iron Bias is necessary”) could be misinterpreted by folks to imply single frequency and use of I/Q ratio to ID targets is a superior ferrous target identifier, but actually the opposite is true. It gets fooled frequently by wraparound and other single frequency limitations such that falsing is a significant issue in SF. IMO if you are never using IB while operating in Multi (i.e., always leaving it at 0) you are leaving a significant, available tool on the sidelines. The ability to dial in F2 bias as necessary is a great feature.

What coil are you running? Picking the right frequency is probably the most important thing. If you understand what the settings do and how they affect performance, you really don’t need a custom program. Start with Deus fast, adjust recovery speed to 2 or 2.5, unless super trashy and thick iron then crank to 3, use the default disc or increase it as high as 10 (disc at this level DOES NOT affect depth despite internet rumors to the contrary and helps with preventing TID downaveraging and gives more accurate ferrous/non-ferrous indication on the horseshoe display), and your favorite tone setup (I like pitch tones with some iron volume for relic hunting, full tones for coin shooting in can slaw and pull tabs). Use 25-28 kHz as a good button, brass, lead, and gold mid-conductor relic frequency. Lower it if you need more depth on higher conductors like silver. HTH.

It NOT plastic.... and the coil is 11" not 9. Dimitar changed the material once for me because i cracked mine taking it off. You just cant man handle it taking it off..... like pulling it just from the back. 12" looks great... ill see how it goes without the cover.... because when i get mine ill be using it with or with out that cover. Already gotten a little review from someone here who hunted with his Sunday. Pretty positive review. I appreciate your sacrifice by sending your shaft to SteveG. Thats going to be a nice addition along with the coil for water hunting. Takes awhile for people to trust a start up company..... but these add ons and word of mouth .... i think the machine is catching on.

Definitely agree on that strategy, watch out for those seller fees if you go the auction route. Any serious gold specimen collector would be looking to add that specimen to their collection. In the mean time just sit back and enjoy it and the memories of finding it!👍

Quote....Agreed and some of those techniques work well or not so hot depending also on the size of the target. Edge on methods work well if the target is good sized, and can be almost required if the target is huge. They do not work well if the target is really small. Small targets may not sound off on edge until the are almost touching the edge of the coil. With a DD I typically step back and move forward rather than moving the coil backwards towards my feet but the net result is exactly the same.Fast target pinpointing and recovery is more of an advanced technique and exact methods depend on size of the target, size of the coil, configuration of the coil and likely approximate depth to the target. But it is something well worth the effort. If using a DD and the signal is small switching to mono and using the edge of the coil will help however if the signal drops expect it to be deeper than expected. On very deep nuggets of respectable size and quiet sound I set the detector on manual and approach from back where there is no sound and slowly bring the coil in listening for the start and end of the signal and mark the centre then do the same it at 90° or some convenient angle. Where they cross is target. Note the hole should be more a narrow trench than a circle to enable you to get the overburden out quickly. An added point is the uses of a pick. Most people must work in an office that I see using a pick on the gold fields. The force hitting to ground is combination of the weight and the speed of the pick head. If you watch a carpenter using a hammer you will see him/her use their wrist to double the speed of the hammer head. I find I can do more damage to the ground using a smaller handle pick with one hand than most people using both hands with a long handle pick. I hope that this is on topic as it reduces time wasted getting the gold.

I got to hunt with KOB two days. There is just this familiarity about him. It was like I had known him for years. And I say that in a good way. LOL

The desert in Arizona is spelled Mohave. The desert in California is spelled Mojave.

Yeah Jasong, I have an 11ft off-road caravan also but I cannot tow it into anywhere near where I prospect thus the rigged Troopy. If you have a roam around FNQ OZ via Google Earth Satellite, north of the 18th Parallel, you`ll see a lot of rough remote country. Fortunately for me it is so rugged and remote there is still many undiscovered patches. Most of the patches I`ve found in the last 20 plus years can only be got at by walking, no wheeled vehicle can access, in country that has little interest to fossickers as it has no records of gold finds, and you know the first bit of advice a fossicker gives is usually research and go where gold finds have a history. I simply advise remove the blinkers, clear history and geology (yeah geology too) out of your mind and go out there as a novice but a novice that knows how to use a gold detector, for gold arguably is the most widely spread element on earth, and we have the most advanced gold loaming machine man has ever had, MLs metal detectors.

The Explorers are sealed up pretty well for water resistance but accidents can happen. I try to calculate any risks before taking them and stay constantly focused on my surroundings. That has kept me out of trouble pretty well. Growing up at the beach and being a surfer, I learned to always keep an eye on what the waves are doing. Whenever we get big surf, it's fun to watch people walk into the water to get a selfie only to get knocked down because they didn't know a wave was coming. Sometimes it can be dangerous and people have been swept out.

Agreed, VERY NICE FIND! Possibly a once-in-a-lifetime find.

First my conditions... Are IN Brackish water....can be semi rough to calm. My Excalibur I can set it and forget it once I have found a deep target and tuned it for the best response. No falsing of the swing and only if I bump something will it make a noise. Rougher the water I do have to set it back some. But normally I run it Hot. In All Metal.. The Limited AQ is really sensitive to the surrounds, if they change..you need to readjust..or use better coil control... My setting as I walk out, in semi rough water ..around chest deep...All metal only. First I work on finding a deep faint, one way signal or just faint.. ....then adjust to get the best response. Most of the time on the open Bay ...settings used Delay of 10, ATS around 6, Sensitivity 7....Volume 8 and Threshold around 5..(just above audible). I try and work on getting the deep target tuned in first then work on the falsing......If the machine is noisy I try slowing the swing speed...and this is mostly in the end of the right swing. if that does not work I go to 11,... then 11.5 (15) delay if needed... As the machine warms up the threshold slowly climbs for the first 15 to 20 minutes.. then... I'll need to adjust the threshold down some. A real oddity is..... If the AQ gets a little noisy I can adjust the delay back to 10 (from 11)...and it goes smoother. (Very strange). And If I happen to go back up to 11 .........I lose the smoothness, something I found out playing with the settings while in the water. So Best, once it is setup to leave the delay dial alone. And this adjust up of the delay, ...then down .....I have experienced at 11 to 11.5 (15) then back down to 11..... then it is smooth. ..........Smooth is steady threshold and no falsing. Also noted, If I'm experiencing a little noise at the end of the swing, left to right ........... I'll hunt in toward shore ...it smooths out and I can pick up the swing speed. Also I can run the machine Hotter but have to deal with the noise going back out,... if slowing the coil does not work. This works, for me at more than one beach. And it only works going into shore, any other direction I can get the falsing. Once I'm in my pattern and all is smooth rarely do I need to change anything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Metal....In Calm water..... up the coves and rivers if the water is calm I run it Hot.....water is a little closer to fresh water and I can almost set it and control any noise with the coil swing..... I know I will hear it on this but I run Full Volume, 9....Delay anywhere from 8 to 10, Sensitivity 9, ATS .0 .. and once the machine is warmed up..Threshold just above audible. I believe this gives me the deepest reach at these spots, It has got a little noisy in the left to right swing but most of the time I will do the into shore and out trick .......... or play with the swing speed. In toward the beach a faster swing, going out a slower gives me smoothness. No adjusting once I get all set and in a pattern. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As far as the Discrimination Modes of the AQ ....I rarely use them... My style of Discrimination is using the right machine for the job..And to determine that the excalibur goes in first, then I decide which is best to find gold at that spot in the time I have because of the tides..... I do have a couple of spots that could go either machine but I do need to sharpen up on the disc side of the AQ Limited. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Only a few times I have had to re-adjust settings and that was because the water conditions got worse.

The pandemic creates a lack of confidence in forecasts which is why we have no firm product launch date from Minelab - who are waiting to have all their ducks in a row before announcing a date. Looking at Plexus Malaysia financial report for actual quarter ending December 2020 and their forecast for 1st quarter 2021 they appear not to be affected too much by the pandemic but you only need one vital component shortage to slow things down for a particular product - like the current chip shortage out of Taiwan. An option to make up for lost time is airfreight which is viable when you have high value product. For me whether its a March, April or May launch i can wait - have been waiting many years for this type of gold detector - a few months either way is no big deal.

This is the first gold detector release in 20 years that I’ve been heavily involved in helping to develop were I’ve had NO contact with marketing on any level. Right now I feel like a dinosaur that’s gone well past its used by date, I keep looking up for the comet strike!!! 😅🚫 In some ways it’s refreshing but in others it feels akin to driving in traffic with a blindfold on. 😬 😱

It's tough to get a handle on a new machine even though a user may have a lot of experience. You did a great job not messing with his settings and just trying it out. I think your observations are spot on about the machine as it was set. Also spot on are your observations on how long it really takes to completely feel comfortable learning a new machine. It's a never ending process. If you had that machine for 6-12 months and used it regularly, I bet you would get it to work for most of your hunting encounters. Also, they make a tall man's shaft for it now too.

To me a sunbaker is one that you can see before you disturb the ground, that is the nugget can see the sun. It is OK if the detector sees it before you do.😁I have lost count of how many but it is around 30 but most are small in the range 2 to 4 grams. The one on the left has moss and lichen as it was hiding from the sun most of the time. It made the oz+ the other one was an oz also The large one on top was just under 5¾ oz and was sitting right out in the open enjoying the sun. The smaller one was in the ground hiding near by about 6" deep.