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Had an awesome month using the Fisher AQ on the low tide wet sand slopes. Ran the AQ mostly in "tone" mode but did spend some time in "all metal" when trash targets were not too bad..All I can say is that I love this machine! My trusty Sov. GT is starting to collect dust now and the AQ has become my go to detector and the GT my "just in case" back up. I started out April with a very crusty 10k class ring. Soaked it in CLR over night and removed all the crust, here's the kicker though, as I was sitting on my couch looking through my loop at the ring trying to figure out the date on the class ring and other details, I fumbled the ring in my fingers and it dropped directly onto my tile floor and shattered into pieces! I spent about 15 mins carefully gathering the pieces along with the Ruby stone that was in the center. I was going to scrap the ring anyway but I did want to get a picture of it after clean up before I did. There is a date under the eagle, its very hard to see but it looks like "1955". The rest of the rings are 14k, with one having CZ stones and the one on the right with real diamonds. Also found what look like two gold tooth caps, acid tested good for 18k. The last gold item of the month was a 22.1 gram 18k (750) gold Rosary found way out in the negative low tide wet sand plateau. I searched around the area thoroughly for the cross and the rest of the beads but had no luck. Also an honorable mention on the silvers I found, The silver heart bracelet is Tiffany & Co and goes for $275 new https://www.tiffany.com/jewelry/bracelets/return-to-tiffany-love-tiffany-blue-heart-tag-bead-bracelet-GRP09904/ Also found a silver Gucci stud ear ring, a pair goes for $245 https://www.gucci.com/us/en/pr/jewelry-watches/silver-jewelry/silver-earrings/silver-interlocking-g-earrings-p-356289J84000702?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1_Ofj-qu8AIVcz6tBh3eJwziEAQYAiABEgKm0vD_BwE So gold totals for the month are: 10k- 5.8 grams 14k- 20.3 grams 18k-22.1 grams Tooth Caps (18k) - 3.5 grams Now onto May! Thanks for looking & Happy Hunting!

How many finds have you posted? Yup, you are new here. You are looking around, and I guess you don’t like what you see. Next move is up to you, because the discussion is what it is. You can participate or not. What’s not going to happen is the entire membership change what they are doing just because you showed up, and decided how and what people should post about. The forum veers off into whatever is the hot topic of the day. That often is the latest and greatest of any brand. One brand dominates... whose fault is that? There have been times this forum would be discussing other brands more, but if they are not delivering the goods, shame on them. The bottom line is this is a prospectors campfire, the discussion goes where it goes, and you can participate or not, leave or stay, but something tells me people are going to continue to post about what they want, not what you think they should post about. I did not make you post what you did, and it’s not about detecting either, less so than others. It would have been more appropriate to PM the mod with that sort of thing. How dare you! Seriously, this used to be the only forum here, and ALL discussion took place here. Everything. Now it’s been largely divided up... after the fact. I made the divisions, and moved the content. Everything before a few years ago all originated on this one forum, and much still does. After six pages, I still move content to other forums, like Minelab posts to Minelab forum. They did not all get made there. Start reading after page ten, and you’ll see a forum more like you crave, because I’ve moved everything by then. Page six is my cutoff for scanning and moving. So basically you do not know the forum, or it’s history, but think you know how it SHOULD be run, and what content SHOULD be here. Thanks, I guess. Let’s see if everyone toes the line. Judging by my recent posts I’d say I’m a direct target of your thread, so good luck with that.

I have been detecting for about 30 years I have used a lot of brands and machines. I was out of detecting for about 5 years due to an injury but recently purchased a Nox 800. While looking for videos on the Nox I came across a video of this machine. The videos are impressive. So now my research begins in this machine and would appreciate any input from the folks here. I live in Arkansas (Ozarks) and basically hunt for civil war relics in pasture and old house sites. In my mind I thought the stock coil would be the way to go but some are talking about how well the Beast separates in Iron. just asking for honest feedback you do not have a claim jumper in me.

Hi TahoeGold. Good post. Couple of things: In Discrimination mode, the size of the gold you can detect is directly related to how far down into the iron range you are willing to go. What part of the chain are you actually detecting, a link? the clasp?, the loop the clasp connects to? When chain hunting you are really hunting one of those parts and you have to setup for that part. Wrap your head around this: I found a nice looking 10K bracelet that has a VDI of 43/44 on my Gold Kruzer. But the Kruzer will not respond to it in Disc mode unless I have the disc set down into the twenties. All my detectors act the same way on this bracelet. I have to be really down far into the iron range to hit it, even though it gives a non-ferrous ID number. I attribute this to the solder used for the links and the really sharp angles where they fold over. But it further illustrates my point. Smaller gold requires a really low iron setting and some sites don't really support it. The key about tiny/small jewelry is that the target is tiny/small so the response from your detector should also be tiny/small. If you hunt in All Metal for tiny/small jewelry you have to set up so you can key into the tiny/small sounding targets. The hard part is how much sensitivity is required to hear the tiny stuff in the first place can nix the ability to hear the small stuff in the blast of all the larger targets that respond. I recommend learning to use the minimum about of sensitivity that will give you a intelligent response at the depth you are most likely to find the item. That is what I like most about gold prospecting when it comes to jewelry hunting. It really teaches you how to setup your detector to best hear the target. HH Mike

Let me put that another way. This particular forum is comprised of people who use metal detectors to find gold nuggets. There are some heavy hitters here from around the world. It’s like a prospectors convention. This is what we are talking about. Stay? Leave? That sums it up.

Just got the TARsacci, and am new to it . so I was out at the park and kept getting signals that after digging the plug i got no sound. so I thought G WIZZ could anything be that deep ? so i dug down and down and finnaly the pinpointer started to beep. and i figured it must be a big iron . but low and behold at a full 14" up comes a brass lamp part. and get this i did not have the detector maxed out i was in 6.5khz black sand on and salinity on at 37 and a gain of 5 and threshold of 2. Also it can agnor some kinda beefy foils and not only ignore them on the suface, ( I dug no small foils) but you can whack a penny derectly under the foil and no masking like 7" under the foil I did the testing . no VLF I know will do that . I will be selling my TDI soon the Tarsacci not only ignors the small foils but can hit silver and Gold under the foil

With all metal mode you need to keep it stable especially on the tiny stuff and the GR will lock on to the target but if your threshold is cutting out you may miss passing over the target again. If you like the disc modes try Disc 2 and set the gain down until the machine is not chattery. Set your ID filter to 0 and nudge it up to 1-2 if you get a constantant chatter from the ground if needed. I prefer 0. Keep imask on 0 Next set your tone break to 19 (this is well below the iron range but where an iron square nail will break at). I can pick up .06g 10k earling loop at about an inch with those settings.

The forum has grown some...picture your trying to write a book and keep it organized by having a table of contents and an index...hard enough to do this when it's all your own material and thoughts...now try doing it when there are 100's of other people adding to your book on a minute by minute basis....it becomes a bit of a challenge... strick

This thread lays it out in great detail. You are talking about ground balancing PI detectors. Non-Minelab models made so far: Garrett Infinium (discontinued) Garrett ATX White's TDI (various versions, discontinued) Australian QED Due to various bad reports on QED build reliability, I do not recommend the machine, leaving only the Garrett ATX as a current contender. Garrett purchased White's, so we may see a TDI or other PI variant from them someday. Nokta/Makro is working on a PI for release next year. So is First Texas - the Impulse Gold. No one can say how detectors not produced yet will compare. So basically at the moment there is not much in the way of genuine competition. The Fisher Impulse Gold will probably be the next contender, sometime by end of this year, or next, assuming it appears at all. Garrett ATX vs Minelab GPX 5000

I’m not a prospector, but I read this section of DP often....maybe I will expand my horizons (after over 35 years of coin/jewelry/beach/turf th’ing)....I do own a PI machine (Whites TDI Pro for beach detecting). I really like what Steve has done with this sub forum, providing a “fireside chat” feel where top experts in prospecting from around the world can express their opinions on the latest/greatest of prospecting machines. Don’t need to change a thing here! It’s up to Steve anyway to share/lay out his vision of DP, and it’s one of the best....it’s the only forum on the Net that I’m regularly contributing to theses days.(after being a member of 5 different forums in the past 14 years).

I hunt gold on dry land hillsides with generally low mineralization but some very mineralized fossil black-sand bearing sandstones and wet clay after (very infrequent) rain. My GB2 struggles with these and I figured I needed a PI. I agonized long and hard over whether to buy the ATX or the GPX 5000 and in the end got the ATX (in 2019) given the large price differential and low performance differential between the machines. I had not seen Steve's 2014 review until this post but his experience mirrors mine exactly. It's a great machine but the bad ergonomics are a huge downside particularly if you are patch hunting; to the extent that I usually leave it in the back of the truck and default to the GB2 with the 10" DD coil. It comes out of the truck for the clay and the fossil black sand and then it's a pleasure to use compared to the GB2 that in fairness isn't designed for such stuff. I will persist with the ATX and out of curiosity I'm looking for an Infinium 10" DD coil that is compatible with the ATX, lighter and can get closer to the big rock strewn ground I have to deal with. I'm not expecting miracles but it'll be interesting. Also, in fairness I've got maybe 25 hours on the ATX and several hundred on the GB2 so the jury is still out but, in hindsight, buying a used MineLab might have been a better decision for me. Having paid $2.2k for the ATX I was then offered a used GPX5000, here in Africa, for $3k (Arghhhhh!). Such is life. In foresight I'll be very interested to see how the upcoming Fisher PI works out

Good news in general that the Whites line wasn't bought up just to lock patents down from competition. The fact that they are further developing and merging products is really promising especially for machines down the road. I'm betting Z-Link will be one of the additions too.

I can’t say too much about relic hunting even though gold prospecting is a form of relic hunting at most of the places I hunt. I do know that using a DD coil with several of the Minelab GPX series with an iron discrimination setting is preferred by some. I just use a DD coil and listen for two successive low/high tone sequences which works for shallow and medium depth elongated iron targets and don’t worry about iron discrimination. I use the same for gold/non ferrous and ferrous target identification for shallow targets with clear, no doubt signals gold prospecting when the targets are big enough whether using a Mono or DD coil. Otherwise, I dig all faint sounding targets. Right now, you can buy GP Extremes, GP3000 and GP3500s for around $1200 used in the USA with a working battery and multiple coils. I haven’t seen any GPX 4000s for sale lately. Used GPX 4500s and 5000s are between $1800 and $2200 depending on condition and accessories. These have enough power and settings to work with any sized compatible coil. These are private sale prices, not used dealer prices. I know nothing about the Garrett ATX or the new Fisher AQ aside from what I have read on this forum. The Whites TDI Pro/OZ, TDI Pulse Scan and TDI SL are decent PIs if you can find them. I have only had good experiences with these detectors using smaller coils under 12”. They are a bit hard to ground balance, have finicky threshold tones (except for the SL) and are underpowered for deep targets in my opinion and also are not very sensitive on really small .5 gram or less targets either. They do very well on shallow to medium depth coin sized targets. The QED is technically only available in Australia and New Zealand.......... I have one and so does one other USA forum member. For some reason, mine was not setup to handle 60 Hz electrical interference from populated areas and large power lines before it was imported to the USA. That seems to be kind of normal with the QED manufacturer. Some of the problems Steve is referring to above seem to center around the PL3 August 2019 software updated ground balance system which frankly is hit or miss depending on how well each QED was calibrated before sale or during the update. I really can’t tell if mine ground balances correctly or not since 60 Hz EMI continues to interfere. Until I can get to an area miles away from power lines and towns, I just can’t get a good read on my QED and what it is really capable of. I have been able to do some SDC 2300/GPX5000/QED PL3 head to head testing using similar sized coils. I have two large plastic containers with about 6” depth of dirt from northwest of Phoenix and from a site here in Colorado where I have detected gold nuggets. The Arizona dirt in moderately mineralized and will pull down Minelab Equinox target IDs into the upper iron range on .1 gram or smaller gold nuggets. Larger gold nuggets will retain their non/ferrous qualities on the Equinox down to 6” or more. The Colorado dirt can turn any non-ferrous target the size of a US penny or smaller into a ferrous target even sitting on the surface and definitely if it is 1” or deeper.........so definitely PI dirt. My stock SDC with 8” mono coil had no problem with .25 or larger targets in the Arizona dirt. Smaller targets deeper than 1” were next to impossible to hear due to the unstable threshold. It had similar results in the hotter Colorado dirt but the threshold was even more unstable. My GPX 5000 has no problems with either test dirt using an 11” Commander Mono or NuggetFinder Sadie coil on .15 gram sized targets down to 3” or so using Enhanced and moderate settings. .25 gram up to 1 gram nuggets are no doubters in my test dirt. The QED had similar results as the GPX 5000 using 11” Commander or smaller coils even though EMI is still a problem. So, I am fairly satisfied with the QED PL3 I have. It is more sensitive than any of the Whites TDIs I have owned and used and despite its present EMI shortcomings, is easier for me to hear smaller targets than the SDC 2300 due to the SDC’s wavering threshold. Until the 60 Hz EMI issue is fixed I will stick to smaller coils so I have no idea about overall depth/sensitivity using larger coils on the QED. I doubt that would be the best use for this diminutive detector. I am going to send my QED PL3 back to Australia for the latest update which is supposed to fix the unreliable ground balance problem, 60 Hz adjustment and for anything else it might need internally.

Another day at the state park (I have zee papers in order) negative low tide -.6 but not as good as it was on the weekend -1.9 . But basically had it all to myself . A very steep beach , dropping off of 15' from the towel line to the low tide mark , probably 100' of flat from drop off to the water today. I started off right at the water line, surf caught me not lookin' and topped my 18" boots , Pants shed it off so feet still dry and warm in the wool socks.... Stock 11" Beach2 , Recovery , switching between 4 and 5 FE , 6 (did a factory reset , forgot to check for F2.. Sensitivity , between 16-20 , Zig zaging the flat from the wash to the bottom of the drop off . I got a tone , (a 9 on the 800 display 8" down , plus ) There were streams of water running out of the bottom of that soaked 15' mountain every few feet and flowing to the wash line. I was lucky , the tone was between two of them. But not that lucky .The hole was instantly a pool with water running through it washing the sand in as guick as I could scoop it out and nothing found but each time I swung the coil over the hole ( ~ every ten scoops ) the target was still there and the ID GOT LOWER ! 8 ,,, 10 more scoops 5 , 10 more scoops 1 ! And I heard the scoop hit something metal !!!! One final jump driving the scoop down 6" below the sand ! Pulled it out with both hands .....That's when I saw it . A door off a beat up lobby trap ! Skuh kuh kuh kuh ~6"x8" 1 1/2" mesh , steel? Been there a while rust and concretion. I kept at it for a couple more hours zigging my way about a 1/2 mile and then back . One more target , ID 13 ....a beat up beaver tail . And then another I had trouble pinpointing and finally ? think it was a badly rusted hook , but that turned out to be a forked stick when I cleaned it up so mystery bit left for pdunk to find ??? Did a final sweep of the towel line between the two trails to the beach and the entrance/exit areas . It started to rain as I was packing up , just enough to send the few others there scurrying home .. then it stopped ! So I sat and watched the surf eat its way back up the beach for a while and headed out before I got stuck in rush hour from the navy ship factory ! Another 2 1/2 hours of nox time ! Any longer my hip would have probably started hurtin'... I'll save the more high end junk for when I get photo capability . So I can post a "Hall of Shame" pic 🤔 Who knows MAYBE the depositors will bring me "gift targets" soon ? Still lookin' for that 10 carat diamond trophy wife ring..................

GARRETT METAL DETECTOR ANNOUNCES FIRST DETECTOR LAUNCH FROM THE WHITE’S ACQUISITION - Kevin Hoagland Van, Texas April 17, 2021 – Mr. Vaughan Garrett Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales announced to the attendees of the Charles Garrett Memorial Hunt IV, the first co-branded Garrett – White’s detector will be the GoldMaster 24K aka. GMT 24K due for release mid-year 2021. Members of the Garrett team that I spoke with including Mr. Garrett shared with me that there are Garrett technologies they wish to incorporate into the GMT 24K before release but did not elaborate on what those upgrades may be. I'm very excited about this launch, which is just a month or so away, currently I own a GM 24K, I purchased just before COVID and wonder if we will qualify for an upgrade,if any are made. Maybe a grace period within 1 year of purchase would be fair to qualify. What are your thoughts you 24K owners? Co-branded. So Garrett GMT 24K? White’s GMT 24K by Garrett? Garrett/White’s 24K? I’d probably ditch the White’s moniker entirely, but they paid money for the name and want to leverage it. I’m not sure that works unless it was kept as a separate division. People are going to know it’s a Garrett, and that’s what it will probably get called anyway. Avoid the Nokta/Makro effect and keep it simple. Product name should roll off the tongue, not be a mouthful. So it’ll be Garrett 24K for me. Garrett additions? What does that mean? Maybe a tweak to the threshold as I felt a disconnect there. Better be the same housing, but I’m guessing not desert tan? Whatever, names and colors do not matter, just performance. Great move by Garrett! Goldmaster 24K Review

If this question has been addressed elsewhere, I apologize in advance and hope someone can give me a link for it. I have noticed that other companies besides Minelab are coming out with PI detectors for less than $3K. How do these detectors compare to the best Minelab detectors for Gold and also relic hunting?

Yesterday I and some friends were detecting a very old park. There were 3 flour Mills there dating back to 1850. I found a bell dating to Sept 8, 1863. Likely a bell to one of the flour Mills. The bell is almost 5 inches in diameter. I also found two dimes, 1907 and 1876. The 1876 has a CC mint mark ALA Carson City. Finally a few weeks ago in a different park I found a 1909 half dollar. All of this with my new Equinox 800.

I just saw that you said that before my post and yet for some reason this morning I did not see that. But I did not have coffee yet either. 🤣

This has been very informative. Sensitivity for the right depth of target, id filter off or 1 to 2 for chatter. Find the iron break point. That one about the gold showing 30s-40s but not sounding in the high tone until the tone break is down in the 20s was surprising. All good stuff. I just wonder how much stuff I missed. It's ok, this is changing things for me. My chain would sound off all balled up, but when I dangled it, I had to go down to 3 before it sounded. 0 was clear and crisp. I hunted in 0 today and that was really great. I feel like I finally have the detector I wanted. Now these tips are really helping. Thanks!!

I have found some really tiny silver earings but the tone break on those are higher than gold. They were so small and was dark my pulsedive pointer couldn't sense them so I just took a palm full of dirt and chucked it in my pouch to sort out later. There seems to be a fine line where old iron breaks and foil is and this seems to be true on all the machines I use of different frequencies. Difference on a high frequency gold machine is high conductors are scrunched up in the higher end of the scale. As you lower the frequency on the machine the scale will start to spread out more evenly number wise. Lower frequencies respond better to high conductors, high frequencies respond better to low conductors. Trick for me is finding that iron line.

Hi Chet Thanks. Know wondering if a length of copper wire might be a better target to compare detectors. For GB_Amateur, #9 lead shot is about .7us

I just have to add my two cents worth. 🙂 I strongly support the way Steve has designed, developed and supports this forum. I have been on this forum for less than a year and must complement the many contributors and their knowledge. It is from these contributions that I have gained much knowledge in the arena of nugget hunting. As others have observed this is like an evening chat around a campfire. As I learn more about nugget hunting I try to contribute a little to the conversation when ever possible and appropriate. I have also learned that when entering a conversation it is often best to just sit quietly and listen. It is amazing how much a person can learn from just listening to the conversation. The same is true here. A specific thread may be about a specific detector and it's function, characteristics, etc. but there will also often be little tidbits lurking within the text. These tidbits will be about technique, approach, philosophy, location information among other "nuggets" of information. Collecting these little "nuggets" of information is akin to collecting 'fly speck" gold with a VLF metal detector, after a while the total adds up to something significant. Although I am focused on gold prospecting, I also frequent the other parts of this forum in search of those prized "nuggets" of information. A single comment in a jewelry hunting thread or coin hunting thread can lead to a surprising amount of discovered knowledge if one is willing to do a little research. It is not uncommon for me to find a single comment (not specifically gold prospecting related) on one of the threads that will lead to several hours of on-line and or library research. Almost always this research leads to new knowledge for me. So I say THANK YOU to all of you that continue to contribute to this forum and thus to my knowledge base. I have found at least 20 metal detector and metal detector/prospector related forums on the internet (there are probably many more) and of this group, this is the most active forum. Steve, this is your forum to operate as you choose, and I for one like it in it's present format.

Thanks Mike,This is good too! I can detect the chain itself. Holding the clasp and dangling the chain. It reads 3!! So yeah, it's in the iron/hot rock range!! However, it sure doesnt sound like a hot rock. It gives a distinct but short signal. I do know at that point it's a tiny but valid target. I'm ok with the sensitivity and trash, in some areas, there's some trash but not piled together. I just needed to be able to hear it and now I do. I had no way of knowing until I found this chain. It's really tiny. It looks like a necklace for a small person, but it has really tiny links and is thin. I think I weighed it to be just short of a half gram. Really really thin. So, now, I am aware of the proper settings and feel a lot more confident I can detect this kind of jewelry now. Thank you! Side note, I find it important to be able to hear as much about a target as I can. These settings give me a full tone range on tiny targets. I can actually hear the chain bouncing as I dangle it in front of the coil. It sounds crisp when I pass over it on the ground, not scrachy. My ears tell me, "Hey, thats a tiny target..." That kind of info is what I value most when hunting micro jewelery. I have that now. Thanks!

All I can say is I really like the MX5/7 etc physical design, with exception that pod could be smaller. Just be careful messing with the rod. It’s great in my opinion, with as good a chance of screwing it up as making it better. Add Z-Lynk would be the biggie, and send all Whites Ni-cads to the recycler. NiMH or Li-Ion only please, but always with the AA option. That’s a big selling point for people who really are working prospectors. Sometimes you are remote and AAs are less hassle. The 24K is one of the dwindling number of gold nugget LF machines that offer standard batteries as an option, and I’ll fight for that as long as I can in at least a few machines. 24K is best of both works with the pip in battery pack.

It's a continuation of good news. The first was when White's brought out the MX-7 to provide consumers with a land-based MX-Sport, in a lighter-weight package and especially with the rear-positioned ¼" Headphone Jack.👍 Then they used that very good physical package to bring us the 24K, and personally I was fond of the Bengal Orange MX-7 and also the desert-tan color of the 24K. Of everything they acquired from White's, the 24K and then the MX-7 would be the two models I would think they could concentrate on, especially the 24K to have a very good higher-frequency dedicated Gold Nugget Hunting device. I would like to see the MS-3 Z-Lynk headphones adapted to it, and I agree with Jell in favoring the Garrett rod design over what White's offered. Use the same Garrett grip as found on the AT's and Apex devices, and maybe address the VDI read-out and Discrimination circuity to make it a more versatile or flexible-use detector. Just random thoughts until we see what the folks at Garrett came up with.❓❓ Monte

Probably important when you are running away from the pigs or dogs

Welcome to this amazing forum. Right now, Minelab is the king, queen and all the prince and princesses of the gold prospecting pulse induction detector world. There are only a few other distant contenders for a place at the table. They are welcome to take a seat too if they are worthy. Whether they are worthy or not gets discussed here along with how Minelab pulse induction/ZVT detectors are doing out in the field with plenty of comparisons within the Minelab brand. Then there is the VLF detector gold prospecting category which is once again, dominated by Minelab, with First Texas, Nokta Makro, XP and Garrett/Whites having a good share of the conversation currently. Giving out obvious, exact information on places to gold prospect with a detector...........that information may or may not be found here (probably not for good reasons.....). The same goes for exact settings which sometimes are not just site specific but are also individual target specific. The other brand locations do sometimes have prospecting carryovers that are eventually moved here. If you are a Minelab person, you will find Minelab detector information in all of the categories that are not brand specific. Then there will be plenty under Minelab detectors for sure. Sometimes there are some topics on prospecting without a detector that are included here too.

Once you guys get these let us know how they work. The one thing that I’m really concerned about is how well it will stay on my neck. I don’t want it falling off when I’m bending over to dig a hole or something. By the way other manufacturers make the same thing including JBL.

Steve and Mike, I totally agree 100% with Steve with what he created with his forum. This is Steve's forum! It is his discision as to how this forum should be. Steve is right in the fact that this is much like sitting around a camp fire after a long day nugget hunting. The discussion flows as water flows where ever the power of interest takes everyone. It is your choice to join in or not. It is not for you or anyone else who doesn't like it- even me to try and change it. If you don't like the conversation topics, just wait a while, it will change, and perhaps you will like the next topic. I am sick and tired of people coming in from the outside and trying to change something that works very well, just because they don't like it. I am sure everyone who likes this camp fire, as Steve puts it, likes this safe space, comfortable space, just the way it is. There are other forums out there, and if you are the type that feels you have to socially change something good then go to those! Leave this one alone. We all like it!

Nice analogy 👍

Hot topics are justified by the number of people who respond----- When you're hot you're hot--- when you're not..... well ~~~~~~

Awesome finds Ray! The bell looks like it had a commercial application due to its rugged construction. It may have been used as a loud doorbell or perhaps to indicate …”It’s break time!” at the ole’ flour mill. I like the old coins but the bell is a real ringer! 👍👍👍

O Boy! Another one! No doubt you have figured out the AQ! I have to work on that Tones mode thing...Carolina and Now Slimpickens!

GO AQ!! Beautiful colors!! Nice saves!!

I skunked last week...not even any trash ! But a couple more hours building up my swing stamina ! Oh hell yeah ! I was at the beach , and it wasn't frozen ... Sea temp still well below 50* so no swimmers yet. Maybe try a small lake , they warm up faster !

I save the trash. It comes in handy as a benefit of allowing it when some beach town wants to ban detectors...

You are not hijacking my thread Kingswood, anything pertaining to the 6000 or gold is welcome. Like you I`ll go with speakers over h/phones, wild pigs are a bigger threat than wild dogs over here in FNQ, unlikely as it sounds, the wild pig packs are even a threat to the wild dogs. Torus bands post tracking shows I should have by end of week, be out using them next week and see the go.

Thanks Joe. We're definitely not too far apart if you have a boat! I have to laugh when someone tells me on the phone, "your nearest branch is in California Maryland" 😀 it would be almost a 3 hour drive unless I can cross the Potomac in a boat and get a cab. I'm way up one of the rivers here, the area was settled in the 1600s by folks that left Maryland under Lord Baltimore. The engraving on the flintlock buttplate tells me it was a "trade" Brown Bess, not military. I'm going to go back to that spot and dig iron to see if I can get any other parts, but iron doesn't do well here, nor does copper. That buttplate had been in the river for over 200 years though! It was too dangerous to go out today, a tornado tore up a neighborhood not too far away.

Welcome to the forum bluemask. As long as you can swing your detector you are not old. Hope to see some pictures of your finds in the future. Happy Hunting🖼️

I agree on all, Kool targets and spot! Looks like a lot of history... And I Love what Schoolofhardnoxs said on the deep stuff. Digging one ways, iffy faints and targets that null or jumping ID can be prime targets. .. I love sunken markers, Gives me a gauge on where I am at and the water level. Tides were low up in the northern part of the Bay also, so we must not be to far a part, Since I am not hunting yet someone send me a "Look what you missed picture" Low here was 3pm..Neg 1 foot.

There’s some serious Aussie digging tools if you need a deep hole just check and see what’s being used there, seems lately most of my targets are 5” down or shallow surface trash the reason I quit carrying the large apex most of the time. I’ll have to remember that Chevron weld technique, 👍. it gets serious if I walk to close to my Jeep, lol.

Latest OZ post from Jen Walsh on FB. The GPX 6000 is seeing reef gold, maybe it can find what Gerry is looking for! Bill

Hey Guys, I think training on some units is important. I'm not a huge fan saying that training is essential or important on something like a Minelab Gold Monster 1000. This unit was originally designed to be used by people that couldn't even read/write, so it has to be super user friendly and easy to use. I think training on many detectors like the higher end PI's and such are important and will speed up your success, but also just as important is understanding where to prospect, what to look for and various "gold" indicators. Sometimes, this could be more important, being in the right spot where nuggets are, rather than being in a spot that don't have gold and being an expert user. To learn your detectors ins/outs in a parking lot or front of someone's house is not the same as a dealer taking you out to the goldfields, showing you the ground, the color of mineralization, types of hotrocks, geological indications and such. Many dealers advertise "Training," but it's what I call backyard training. It's not in the goldfields and really don't benefit you as much in my opinion. Another important factor on training which you should inquire about is - "How much one on one time do you actually get?" To go out with a dealer and there are a dozen other guys trying to get the same training is not the same as one on one in my opinion. I prefer to keep my groups smaller, allowing me and the customer to have more time together and for questions. Many dealers like Gerry and I also use multi field trainers, so you get a different view or perspective from other experienced users, rather than just one. Overall, some training is probably better than no training at all. Do your research and see what is the best fit for you. Some customers of mine have done training with other dealers along with myself to get even more information which could benefit them. Wishing you Golden success! Rob

I have the Golden mask One 24 Khz. It is an interesting detector and runs smooth. I have 4 other detectors and decided I'm not going to keep it. I mostly hunt lakes and I use the Equinox 800 and Anfibio Multi. If you want to try the Golden Mask One 24 khz I'm selling it $325 shipped. It has a 9" and 12" coils. It has wireless headphones and you can use regular headphones. It has a nice display. I used Gain 30, Iron Volume 2. It is an easy detector to use.

First, I did a quick calc and the size bar you indicated would weigh 121 kg (267 lb) if pure gold. That size bar would have to have a specific gravity of about 9 (right around copper) to weigh 125 lb. So even accounting for less than pure gold (e.g. if someone just melted a bunch of nuggets and/or fine gold) it would still be heavier than that. You didn't say how deep you expect the gold to be, other than you want the coil to be able to be submersible to 24". Would auto tracking work at the presumably slow speeds you will be moving this raft? And would the detector be required to run in non-motion all metal -- e.g. what is typically pinpoint mode on most IB/VLF's? I'm not great on suggestions but hopefully my above questions/concerns will help you refine your requirements.

Great finds! well done Thank you for your detailed report. Here are the purchase prices in Europe (net) With the currency conversion this is 1837 USD, it's not bad! In any case it is more than the price of the AQ limited and that just only one month!

Video Nugget Finder Z Search coil compared to 14” coil on GPZ 7000

Anyone read a series of books by Julian May titled saga of the torque’s? These neck thingies look very much akin to what the books were about, I wonder if it will give GPX6000 users any special powers? 😊 I want a gold one. 😂 JP

I would just like to have something in print. A thread on Advanced NM operation on this forum that NM actively participated in would be great.

Welcome to this forum! The people who have responded have all owned and like the Vanquish series detectors. In general, they are very quiet detectors so your issue is definitely unusual. Since you are a newbie, there are a couple of things that could be happening. 1.If you are getting a constant relatively unchanging tone you may have a defective Vanquish. 2.If you are getting a multitude of varying individual pops, clicks and wavering tones along with changing target ID numbers with the coil in the air, you are experiencing EMI. If your problem sounds like 1.... you could have a problem with you battery connections or with an individual battery, you could have a bad coil or coil connection or an internal circuit board component failure. Try reinstalling your batteries, check you coil connection and if you have the 540 Pro Pack, try the other coil but first do a full factory reset and do not do any of this inside or near your home. Related to 2.........the Vanquish will do a 5 second process during startup that runs through 19 small incremental frequency checks to determine what operating frequencies will be the least bothered by electromagnetic interference. So, where your Vanquish and its search coil are during startup will be very crucial. Hold it still with the coil away from the ground when first turning it on. Turning it on anywhere near a large metallic object, near any Wi-Fi or other sources of electricity will be a bad idea especially if the last time you used it your sensitivity was maxed out. So turning it on with full sensitivity engaged in a house, car or near power lines will result in a lot of unwanted chatter from EMI. Your coil is an antenna for incoming electrical signals and since the Vanquish is tuned to simultaneously receive signals from 5 kHz to at least 40 kHz, there are plenty of exterior sources other than electrically stimulated metallic in the ground targets that are using those frequencies. Your cell phone or your powered on handheld pinpointer if you have one, could be an interference source too. I usually turn my pinpointer on before I turn on my Vanquish and Equinox so they will pick frequencies that will not receive too much interference from my pinpointer. Running any detector at or near full sensitivity is a bad idea in an urban or suburban setting near electrical power sources. I usually can only run my Vanquish or any of my detectors between half and three quarters sensitivity. I still find tons of 8 to 10" targets with my Vanquish 440 and Equinox even on those sensitivity settings and I don't have the constant chatter that will cover up good signals and drive me completely nuts. You should not have to turn off your detector when you dig. good luck Jeff Also, this happens to me very often in extremely trashy areas. I will detect a target, put my Equinox or Vanquish down on the ground, start to recover the target and my detector will intermittently beep. I accidentally put the coil on top of another target!!!