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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/11/2021 in all areas

  1. Was in Myrtle Beach for most of a week. Got the AQ well into the chop on this trip. I stayed in cuts between sand bars and the beach so the waves were not terrible and I was able to stay on my feet. Ran all metal all the time. It ran mostly quiet with ATS on 7, Sensitivity on 4, delay on 10. If I ran delay less than 10, each step lower got a good bit more noisy. ATS lower than 7 did not make for good hunting either. Still left lots of adjustment should I venture beyond the sand bar. Had the big coil on, did not take the 8 inch on this trip. The waves did make for an effort controlling the coil, but made it through without mishap. Did not go out detecting on Thursday when Elsa went through. Elsa seemed to mostly push some sand up on the beach in the area we were staying; that made the bottoms of the cuts softer than they were early in the week. That said, On Friday in a soft bottomed cut, had a fairly faint but repeatable signal that after four scoops became very loud and I got it on the fifth scoop. Nice little 2.3 gram 14K gold pendant.
    8 points
  2. I remember 2 or 3 years ago here in France , it was in July , 27deg at 11PM , dont know in Fahrenheit sorry ... Too hot to sleep. I decided to go detecting .... And I was lucky enough to find a very nice merovingian silver coin dating from around +730 in a field at midnight ... A good day eventually ...
    6 points
  3. Took the Apex out for a short run in a field that has been pounded hard by many detectorists. Not a ton of trash out there or ton of iron compared to many other spots but enough to slow your pace. Got a solid signal on this 1917 merc in really descent shape. About 4" down. No idea how others missed it. My oldest Merc so far... now if it was a 1916d that would be cooler but no complaints.
    5 points
  4. I use primaraly a battle belt with molly pouches attached for everthing I need to carry or if I need a little more capacity or extra water I use a very compact backpack with a battle belt attached to distribute the weight of the 6l of water i sometimes need to carry. The military molly system is definitly the way to go as it is totaly configurable to exactly what your needs are.
    5 points
  5. Here's a great article about heat records.. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-09/global-temperature-record-mistake/100244736 The places on the map have verified heat records of 54 degrees Celsius (129.2 Fahrenheit)..
    5 points
  6. Some other records. Full LINK........... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weather_records#Antarctica Other high-temperature records[edit] Most consecutive days above 37.8 °C (100 °F): 160 days; Marble Bar, Western Australia from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924.[154] Most consecutive days above 48.9 °C (120 °F): 43 days; Death Valley, California from 6 July through 17 August 1917.[155] Highest natural ground surface temperature: 93.9 °C (201.0 °F), in Death Valley, California, 15 July 1972.[3] (Not verified) Highest temperature during rain: 48.3 °C (119.0 °F) in Imperial, California, 24 July 2018[156] (Not verified) Highest overnight low temperature: 44.2 °C (111.6 °F) at the Khasab weather station (WMO Index = 41241) in Oman on 17 June 2017.[157][note 13] Highest minimum temperature for a 24-hour period and for a calendar day: 42.6 °C (108.7 °F) at Qurayyat, Oman on 25 June 2018.[159] Highest average monthly temperature: 42.3 °C (108.1 °F), in Death Valley, California, for the month of July 2018.[160][161] Highest temperature north of the Arctic Circle: Under investigation (possibly 38 °C (100 °F) in Verkhoyansk, Russia on 20 June 2020).[162]
    5 points
  7. I use an [i]ORX[/i] with their Mi-6 pinpointer because I like to hear the pinpointer audio in my headphones. That combination works well except I can't get ample sensitivity from that Pinpointer. I also use a Simplex + with their green wireless headphones and Pulse-Dive Pinpointer. The detector and Pinpointer work fantastic, but the headphones leave a lot to be desired. They're not the most comfortable and they are not very loud for my impaired hearing. And as you mentioned, there is no volume control. Then we have the Apex with the MS-3 Headphones and AT Pro-Pointer w/Z-Lynk technology. This makes a fantastic trio for me because all components work very well in any hunt site application I take on. One reason the 'Apex Trio' is usually my first-grabbed and most-used outfit with the search coil of choice being factored in. Monte
    4 points
  8. I should have a new machine this Monday. I will test it out on Thursday if there is no rain in the forecast. Out west is in severe drought and here it's been raining a lot more than usual. I know the 6000 is a gold machine and that is what the focus has been on (for good reason), but I'm going relic hunting and in the fall, beach hunting. So a different perspective on the machines capabilities. I'm dying to see how it compares to the 5000 for EMI and fringe depth on coins at the beach.
    4 points
  9. I have various configurations based on the mission. Battle belt with pick holster, tool pouch and 2 small attached molle pouches for small stuff. Then, either Camelbak Ambush or HAWG with 3L bladder and Hipstick attached. I love the HAWG but when temperatures push 40 deg C I don't want any backpack.
    4 points
  10. Someone just had a fast turnaround on a wet machine. Don't WAIT!! It is already compromised.
    4 points
  11. I hope you get a better machine.I put a piece of a pool noodle between the pod and cuff so it does not sink if a let my machine go.The less pressure on the pod the better it should hold up.
    3 points
  12. Yes! You should throw it back!!! In my yard, next time your in SF!😂👍👍
    3 points
  13. Big backpacks are great for hiking to the location of interest, but when it comes to actual detecting you don't want to have heavy gear on your body. Important to me is to just have enough essentials on me that I can do productive detecting/digging without having to gear up and down every time. Ideally, everything stays on all the time. And If you plan a 8 hour detecting day with strict coil control and digging deep holes in between there is no way you can have all that stuff on your body, especially in a hot climate. Heavy harnesses or anything that covers up too much surface of your body while detecting/digging will add to fatigue and misery. This is one reason I don't like the ML harness. By the time you put the harness on an attached all the gear and perhaps even added a hydration backpack on top of it (where else could you carry the water) you will look more like an astronaut who is barely able to move. Add the 7000 to it with a big coil and your detecting day won't last long 🙃
    3 points
  14. The N/M Green headphones are not bad, but the Minelab M80's are far more comfortable, and while a little larger, the Garrett MS-3's work just fine for me, any season. I haven't tried the MS'2s in any of my corded headphones, but if I recall they used 8 Ohm speakers and I haven't found a decent set of headphones yet at 8 Ohm, 16 Ohm or even 32 Ohm. My corded headphones are Killer B 'Wasp' and 'Hornet' and those are 150 Ohm speakers. However, I do have Garrett's Z-Lynk Tx and Rx wireless kit and can team the MS3's up with my Tesoro's, FORS Relic or other devices if desired. Oh, as for the Pulse-Dive Pointer, I am seldom chasing ear ring studs but have used it for that and it works. My Sensitivity is always on '5' or reduced to '4' if there's EMI. Monte
    3 points
  15. 39degs at 10PM this is crazy ... Cold wave here at Soissons , North of France , 15deg at 11PM 🙂 ... HH
    3 points
  16. I change coils more than most, in fact I've changed coils 10 times in a day when testing out various coils on bits of gold, by doing this I'd caused myself some lower shaft wobble, it turns out I'd cracked part of a clip on the shaft, the clip with the little rubber pad had a crack in it, so the shaft wasn't holding on tight. I suspect the people that had upper shaft issues where it wobbles a bit have either got the same crack on the pressure pad or they've just worn the little bit of rubber out. Fortunately it's a very easy and cheap fix. Here are the part numbers for the clip mechanism X2 8008-0056 Pressure blocks X1 8008-0072 Camlock lever X1 4308-0033 Pin The part I'd broken was the pressure blocks. They come in a twin pack for replacement and are very easy to replace. You dismantle the clip by removing the pin, I used a small screw driver to push it out of the clip. You then just use a small flat head screw driver to lever them off, pushing each side of the pressure block away from the camlock lever as pictured below. This is the shaft with the clip removed. You can see the grooves cut out of it where the pressure pads need to slide into so when reassembling made sure they're straight so they fit into the groove. You can see the little circular lump on the left hand side pressure pad, it's what goes into that dug out groove. This is how the rubber pads look, I guess they can wear out over time and if they do your shaft would be wobbly. Minelab sell all the parts individually, so you can just order what you need for the repair. They were very helpful with me, and had me solved by the next day using express shipping. I bought a heap of the little parts so I have spares seeing I change coils so often. In my case I just needed the pressure blocks, the pin and camlock lever were obviously fine. So if anyone's putting up with some shaft wobble, it's cheap and simple to fix.
    2 points
  17. Hi Folks just Finished reading the detecting backpack thread with interest. Some great ideas presented there for people who will be detecting and camping out for a few days. My question relates to detecting harnesses that many of you use on day trips. What do you wear and how do you configure them? Now before we get started, I know that many of you hate wearing a harness and use other methods to hold your gear. I understand that and can relate to that but as a harness wearer, I’d be interested in what solutions people have come up with to hold a pick, scoop, phone, gps, enhancer, speakers, water, finds container, first aid kit, camera gear, food etc, etc, etc. I have always used the Minelab harness and found that it works well in most situations but it does lack storage space and I have run out of room. It would be great to see photographs, ideas, links etc as even one small idea could make a huge difference to harness “efficiency”. Looking forward to reading about some of your rigs. cheers Les
    2 points
  18. Yesterday was HOT, But I decided to hit a shady spot that has produced some good stuff. I decided to bring the line trimmer and mow down an area around some tree's that I found a nice barber on. So after an hour of trimming I was happy I could detect under the 3 foot tall grass. My first good signal was a nickle (buffie) next was a wheatie, Not bad for my efforts. The spot is next to a willow tree by an old pond/swimming hole. After collecting a few more nickles and pennies (not looking closely to what I dug) I found what I think might be a carpenter's compass (Total Guess), It's made of copper and was around 10'' deep. Next was a thimble and a kerosene lamp burner. One more signal and out comes a lead button. Well I was hotter than hot and called it a day. When I got home to look at my rather mundane finds I realized I tripped up on Two liberty head nickles (1912 and 1895), a 1907 indian head penny, and two wheatie's 1920 and a no date. , And two no date buffies. This place has yielded stuff from colonial to the 19th century and I'm going to bring the trimmer back to clean up some more spots on the property, Not only for me but to pay back the owner for the permission. Anyone who can help with the ID on the my best guess carpenter compass I welcome the help.
    2 points
  19. After the good new I realized when tested a few days ago my machine after It drowned and I've succesfully reanimated It.... Now the horrible gasket Is fighting to stay out of the housing against any kind of attempt😒. So I'm in the middle of a headache manutention session with scarce results. That's the Mood guys😑
    2 points
  20. If I was near ya Joe I would burry it in one of your neighbors yards to spice things up for ya 🙂
    2 points
  21. They already DID tweak the price. They raised it by $50 this year with no discernable structural improvements. That should tell you how concerned they are about bad press on failures affecting sales. The fact is, the number of folks that take the Nox into chest deep water or to depths that challenge the rating is a relatively miniscule percentage of Nox owners. That being said, I agree that calling the Nox waterproof to 3M or whatever the specs say, is a stretch.
    2 points
  22. I do like the Nokta Green headphones better in the summer vs the MS2's & 3's from Garrett but I do agree the Nokta ones are not that loud, comfort wise they are ok. I like the Pulse Dive pointer with them but it is not sensitive to tiny targets like earings and find when paired to the headphones I had to keep turning the pointer off and going back to the detector to locate the target. Put a pair of MS-2's on my Tejon and it makes a world of difference excellent audio on it now.
    2 points
  23. I'll bet Minelab is regretting marketing the Equinox as a water hunting machine. I wonder what percentage have leaked since the beginning. All I had to do was trip and fall once with mine and it broke it open enough that I could see the electronics inside. I imagine that just a slight tweak or bump of the control pod could easily pop the seal enough to make it leak and you would never know it until you enter the water. The Equinox is simply too fragile to be used for water hunting after the warranty is up.
    2 points
  24. 2 points
  25. I got my machine back within a week of sending it out.It was a month short of it's third birthday so it still had the warranty. They gave me a new coil plus a new control pod.I basically got a new machine plus a 1 year warranty on this new pod.I went in my test garden and it hit the silver better then my old machine which I tested last month.It could be the new machine or the wetter ground getting me the better performance.I found 4 silver coins and 12 wheats at a old school we hit before the first time out with it.I got 9 nickels and a 4.2 gram 14k gold ring today in the water. The ring was deep and gave me a iffy hit.I ran f2-0 and found about 15 bottle caps too.I hope you get your machine back fast
    2 points
  26. 2 points
  27. Simply use the Camel Back KUDU 20 with a hip stick, the carriage part complete with water bladder can be simply unzipped leaving just the harness with back protector for short detects.
    2 points
  28. Thanks for showing the fix phrunt.
    2 points
  29. My understanding and experience of the 2 Auto sensitivity settings is the 6K automatically sets the sensitivity to suit the ground, so far I cannot fault that function and believe it is that function in conjunction with Geosense that makes the 6K the magic machine it is. But to add some context I am very fortunate to detect in a remote area that has only natural EMI and very little man made EMI.
    2 points
  30. 2 points
  31. I'll second that. Also, users/members/posters here include very knowledgeable people in regards to metal detecting, and that spills over to the dealer-members as well. Gerry McMullen is my poster-boy (hope that doesn't come off as deragatory) in this regard. He participates in just about every phase of metal detecting so he's not just a sales front. And he's honest so his advice comes first as a fellow detectorist.
    2 points
  32. Thanks for this info which is not in the Apex manual btw, I had this idea but never tried it in the field. Will try it asap ... I like the Garrett MS-3 volume potentiometer , the MS-3 design is perfect ... 🙂
    2 points
  33. Day 3... The final day of the holiday extended weekend; back to work tomorrow.😞 on the bright side, it's only a 4-day work week.😀 So I did leave the phone turned off and in the truck this time, but I put the 11” mono coil back on; that means no pictures of the digs today, just the final weigh-in. I decided to run in Auto+ sensitivity all day, and got used to doing occasional noise cancels, but there were a few times that the threshold just wouldn’t settle down enough for my liking, even when reducing the sensitivity to 7. In these instances, I would perform the reset procedure to reboot the machine to the factory presets. The audio was amazingly stable after each reset, even after changing the Sensitivity back to Auto+, and would last a few minutes before the EMI returned. This area is prone to bad EMI; it's random and intermittent, and I couldn’t manually tune it out with the GPZ 7000 either - just had to wait until it abated, then hunt until it returned, then wait, etc. The EMI issue was almost negligible when running the GPX 6000 at Rye Patch, so I know it's not the machine. Nevertheless, I was able to snag seven more bits of gold, including a 0.4 of a gram piece at 4 or 5 inches - the largest of the day - and the smallest of the day, a wee 0.05 of a gram. Also dug several trash targets. So in all for for the weekend, 16 pieces of gold in an area gridded several times with several machines, to me is more than just finding missed targets; the GPX 6000 has some serious magic going on under the hood. Oh, another cool thing I noticed is that, of the few hot rocks in the area, the 6k quickly tracks them out.🙂
    2 points
  34. I used my Equinox a lot in longer grass, and also in very rocky areas. The spoked design coils are never my preference but that's all the Equinox has. I couldn't believe it when the Coiltek 10x5" came out as an open design and I asked if they intended to make a solid coil cover for it, they told me no they don't. It would be very funny if Nugget Finder started making solid skid plates for the Coiltek Nox coils, In fact I hope they do. I noticed they have them for the Equinox 11" coil, so I just had to have one. I hope they continue this trend and make them for 6" coil too. Seems well built, fits well... is solid, what more could I ask for? Now I just hope they make more sizes for the other coils, especially the Coiltek 10x5" and ML 6".
    1 point
  35. Love me some good relics-n-coins. 👍 Old lamp parts are loud hits. Can you do a pic of the dividers (compass) standalone on a piece of paper or something?
    1 point
  36. Day one... I headed to the hills this morning to beat the heat and log a few hours behind the control pod of Minelabs' latest offering, the exciting new GPX 6000. Hiking up and down the hills with this featherweight P.I. nugget detector is pure bliss after lugging the GPZ 7000 around for the past 6 years...has it been so long?! Armed with the 11-inch GPX mono coil, I targeted an old nugget patch that I had carefully gridded many times in the past with several detectors, including the GPX-5000, Gold Monster and GPZ 7000. With nearby power lines, operating at a Manual Sensitivity of 10 or Auto+ proved a bit too chattery and required excessive Noise Cancel delays that became rather irksome after awhile. Backing the Sensitivity to 7 smoothed things out considerably without any noticeable loss of performance, and if I got an iffy target response, a quick jump to 10 would provide a definitive yes or no. After digging a few trash targets, the first “nugget” that the GPX 6000 hit was a 0.04 of a gram surface screamer, and the next couple of nuggets were small and shallow; nothing surprising. But how did the Gold Monster miss these? Must not have got that little 5-inch Monster coil directly over them.🤔 It was the next 3 targets that really blew my mind, however... By late afternoon, the temps were soaring into the mid-90's, and despite a nice breeze, it was becoming a tad uncomfortable, and I was thinking about calling it a day. That was when the GPX 6000 sounded off with a sweet, mellow and deep sounding target response. A few scrapes with the pick exposed the underlying bedrock, and somewhere - in a crevice, no doubt - a golden treasure awaited to be uncovered...or so I hoped...could just as easily be a bit of square nail, a bullet or boot tack.😒 Blasting a few inches into the bedrock with the pick got the target out - a nice little golden picker in the scoop. 🙂 After backfilling the dig hole, just one swing of the detector revealed another soft, mellow hit a mere foot away. Same scenario: a small golden goody a few inches deep in a bedrock crevice. Then, about another 4 feet away, a faint response. Quickly jacking the Sensitivity from 7 to 10 brightened the signal a bit, so I began digging about 6 inches through a layer of gravels before hitting bedrock and a rather thick tree root. A little more pick work and pinpointing with the edge of the coil located the target in a crevice right next to the root. This one was deep; nearing the 12-inch mark, the target was finally out, and it was screaming off of the coil edge! A quick sift with the scoop uncovered a hefty 1.34 gram nugget. How the GPZ 7000 missed this beauty, I'll never know...it's a head scratcher.😅 Time to call it quits for the day on that high note, for sure! I'll be at it again tomorrow, this time with the GPX 14 DD coil in EMI Cancel Mode; should be able to run flat out in Auto+ Sensitivity with the threshold as smooth as glass.
    1 point
  37. i envy you right now
    1 point
  38. This conversation has been beaten to death before! But I think needs a refresher every once in a while, so that hopefully🤞, the next iteration of the Nox is better aligned with it's actual abilities! If you just look at the percentages of failures from ML's viewpoint, I suspect the failure rate, versus the sales numbers are extremely acceptable to them! And I'm not just talking about waterproofness, but overall failers! Now, will it hurt sales down the road?? I'm guessing that they are not overly concerned about it, unless someone challenges their domain, or sales markedly drop off! And even if that were to happen, they have a huge cushion of other models, to soften the blow! Also, as long as their service remains consistant, they could always just extend their warranty on new models, to outdo any competition!👍👍
    1 point
  39. eucalyptus oil is great for getting rid of tape residues, I don't know if you can get it in the US, but it's easy to come by in this part of the world being smack next to Australia where they're every second tree.
    1 point
  40. I read someplace that part of the Minelab 'setup' for this release were extra 'parts' to fix some that would have problems. There may be a control box just waiting for you to call them and they ship it to you.
    1 point
  41. Some things that I have done with my grandfather with a site like that was to get a 20 liter bucket full of material and use a pan to see if there is any color first. If we found anything interesting we would go back and hit it hard with detectors and a recirculating sluice to get the gold. Your area may have some real fine gold that is not detectable with most detectors, so don't give up on that spot. Check in the cracks, at the bottom, and on each side to find where it may be. Good luck.
    1 point
  42. Sorry about the leak. I had a 1 new one leak first time in the water. So far the one have now has no leaks. Hopefully the new minelabs will have better waterproofing. Nice silver finds.
    1 point
  43. Doh! I just noticed the original posting date.
    1 point
  44. I know on the AT Max the proportional audio is best at max volume(8) on the detector & adjust the separate headphone volume to what is wanted. And yes, NM should have a volume control on the wireless headphones. What am I missing having to keep the detector volume below 3?
    1 point
  45. I have a roll of the cloth tape that prospecting stores sell but the problem with it is that it works too well. It sticks effectively and lasts a long time but it is a pain to remove. I tend to clean the area between the skid plate and the coil regularly as moisture and dust tend to build up when a section of the seal breaks down. Like phrunt, pvc tape works well for me. It is inexpensive, lasts longer than I need it to and is easy to clean off. I use a label remover liquid to clean up the gum quickly. It doesn’t leave any residue and the tape sticks well to the cleaned surface. Be careful not to put it on the manufacturers label as it will peel it off.
    1 point
  46. I only have about 100 hours under my belt with the Equinox and really like the machine. Although I'm a new detectorist and believe the Equinox is quite functional, I'd like to see some new features added if they have the headroom in the hardware. 1) Having more than one user profile would be handy. 2) I've read the pinpoint mode could be improved compared to other Minelab detectors. Perhaps the ability to select the pinpoint model used? I think it makes business sense for Minelab to continue to upgrade the Equinox, since they will continue selling it into the future and the R&D costs are already baked into the pie. Adding software functionality only improves their standing in the industry and with the users. I am new to metal detecting, but I've been around the software industry for nearly 4 decades. My number one rule is that "Software sells Hardware". Releasing new features to an existing hardware platform will certainly sell more hardware. It will also grow their software intellectual property to be leveraged with the next detector they release. Just the ramblings of a newbie. AJ
    1 point
  47. I have very little EMI trouble with the 6K, do notice it is more amplified when using the speaker, at times it goes unstable as the sun rises and sets more so then the earlier VLFs, PIs and Z did but I have simply learnt to stop with coil on ground until it stabilizes (couple of secs usually) then re auto cancel in MDs with that capability. I carry my mobile phone in pocket turned on with no ill effect. Turning mobile phone off makes no difference, I use Auto+, difficult mostly and patch hunt in threshold off (Bogenes) clean up with threshold on and in normal. Solar Cycle 25 Is Here. NASA, NOAA Scientists Explain What That Means | NASA Press release above explains the suns natural EMI increase as the sun cycle heads to max in approx 2025, also because OZ is in winter and the US is in summer effects may be more amplified in the US currently. Those of you who are inquisitive google the Maunder Minimum for a wee more understanding of the suns cycles effects on life on earth. Could be this has naught to do with detectors/EMI, but is food for thought for all our modern sensitive electronic equipment especially now as we approach a maximum sun activity period from the minimum in 2019..
    1 point
  48. Bogene’s setting will will not completely eliminate EMI on the 7000, but they do help to some degree. I found the best way with the 6000 using the 11” Mono is to use Zero Threshold in Manual Sensitivity mode (2.5 second long press the Ground type button) and just keep lowering the sensitivity till the EMI stops breaking through. The 6000 still has pretty good performance on shallower gold even with the sensitivity on its lowest point. If the ground conditions are mild Auto+ has the ability to increase the detectors outright sensitivity much further than flat out manual mode, so in variable EMI areas the EMI will sound worse in Auto+ compared to full manual mode. If EMI is bad it might pay to just use Difficult mode rather than Normal, Normal is a combination of Difficult and Normal all at once whereas Difficult is a dedicated timing which even though offering less outright depth will help create less confusion in the target signal. Sensitivity to small gold even at depth will remain the same as all the small gold sensitivity/depth comes from the Difficult timing when in Normal anyway. If you find yourself continually performing EMI tuning then it is a good idea to fully reset the detector from time to time by holding in the power button at switch on, this clears everything back to factory default allowing you to start afresh. I also recommend giving the detector time to warm up from start up before doing another EMI tune too soon, you can tell when the detector is functioning properly when the threshold stops being dominant. Hope this helps JP
    1 point
  49. Based on the equipment I already own which I am completely happy with I'd spend $1 on a Lego metal detector to keep with the theme of the question and spend $7999 on buying gold nuggets 🙂 That'd be more nuggets than any possible benefits of spending the money on another metal detector would ever find me in my life time!
    1 point
  50. Airtimesa -- For what it's worth, I've built one-piece carbon-fiber dive shafts for folks before, so if your idea proves to be a bit too long, I can hook you up with a one-piece carbon-fiber one, built to whatever length you prefer... (or, it could be a two-piece with a short upper and very short lower, just enough to allow a small amount -- a few inches or whatever -- of adjustability in terms of length...) I can do whatever you like -- as I'm always happy to do custom builds... Thanks! Steve
    1 point
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