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I'm a detecting newbie and that excuse is worth maybe a bowl of soup and a hat going forward. I've been binge watching videos the last few days and I'm beginning to think my ancient DFX 300 has a few miles left on it after all. There's a boatload of information available on my detectors and reading it leaves me starry eyed after a bit but.....DUH...they wrote those manuals for a reason! I am publicly stating that I am ashamed and embarrased that I have wasted so much time in the field just turning on the detector running and swining it. If I found anything it was dumb luck ( such as my Majuba meteorite. After watching a number of "how to ground balance your detector" video it's been a real eye opener. Jeez....there are a lot of smart guys out there who have a lot of knowledge to share. So today I headed out back and laid out a practice grid of coins and gold finds and really tuned my Gold Bug 2 correctly. I feel like the kid in school that finally understands Algebra. My practice area gave me te opportunity to listen and be able to hear the small differences in tone. Like a dork....I found myself closing my eyes and wondering through the maze. NOT recommended. It made a difference to be able to distinguish the tones my detector produces. . Maybe just maybe my upcoming run to the claim at Rye Patch will justify the expense of my new detector. This isn't news to most of you Im sure but dang....I feel good and the blue skies are clear now and I can hear the nugget birds singing.

It's become a tradition of mine to write up a year-end summary of my detecting experience, and since most of my detecting is for coins and relics I keep it in this subforum. My plan for this past year was to experience some new detecting types (via longish trips) and find some new local sites to coin hunt. Thanks to Monte and Oregon Gregg I was welcomed to their June Ghost Town hunt in NE Nevada where I met about 20 like-minded, ambitious, and friendly detectorists. Besides co-organizer Gregg (unfortunately Monte was unable to attend), Utah Rich and Tom Slick were among the attendees who are members and posters here. My 6 days produced minimal coin finds but some decent relics. Next to the camaraderie I most enjoyed learning about a new kind of detecting in a site, soil, and intended target combination I had never previously experienced. In addition to that part of the trip I also spent some time in the Denver area, getting to hunt with the local Eureka club and particularly valuable -- meeting Jeff McClendon and picking his brain on the operation of the QED. Also on this trip I spent a couple days on a National Forest GPAA claim 8-9000 ft. up in NW Colorado. Unfortunately I came up empty handed (as far as gold) but learned quite a bit about site reading *and* how to deal with remote, rugged mountain roads and terrain. In August I headed East to NW Massachusetts on a 'blind date' (not literally, but was generously well taken care of by the land owners who I had never met) detect of an 18th Century homestead. Even dealing with hurricane Henri I was still able to get in several hours of detecting, finding my first USA Large Cent -- oldest coin to date -- 1803. I'll be writing up more on that in a couple days. On the way home I accepted an invitation by member dogodog to detect one of his old coin sites. Even though the heat and humidity was up there we still got in four productive hours with silver finds (mine a Merc and he did even better -- two silvers and a gold ring) along with lots of converstation/discussion. Just another perk of belonging here with such friendly, generous, and accomodating members. The other 10 1/2 months of detecting were done locally. (No photos in this post as I've shown many of those finds previously.) I did accomplish one of my 2021 New Years Resolutions of finding new sites. Eight of the 16 local sites I detected this year were ones I had never hunted. Another writeup I'll be posting shortly focuses in on one of those (muni park) and why I think it might have been previously unsearched. Now for some what I consider *key* statistics of these local hunts: 266 hrs of swinging at local sites, 104 Wheat pennies -- new record for one calendar year, 36 'other old coins' (silver content coins, Buffalo and earlier nickels, Indian Head Pennies) -- second to last year's record of 43, One interesting contrast between last year (where most of my detecting was done in a single, large park) and this year in regards to specifically silver coin finds -- 22 in 2021 vs. 27 in 2022, and more disparate are silver dimes -- 11 vs. 20. Magnifying the silver dime arena, I found 11 Roosies this year compared to 3 last year and 4 in all previous years. (OK, for those of you who stuck around, here's your eye-candy fix -- my 27 silver finds of the year: ) My goals this year include another trip West (ghost-towning and gold prospecting), another trip to that Massachusetts Colonial site, and locally getting enough guts to ask for permissions to private properties. I know of one that (if undetected) is going to be a real 'silver mine' but I need to 'practice' my people skills first so that one may have to wait for 2023.

A few weeks back forum member and friend abenson posted the results of an amazing hunt he had in Virginia at the latest week long "Diggin' in Virginia" organized group relic hunt. DIV is the gold standard of group hunts, a well organized, well oiled machine that enables folks regardless of equipment, skill, or experience to have access to sites in and around Culpeper, Virginia known to have Civil War activity through battle or long-term winter encampment. The CW history around Culpeper is immense. Several major engagements were fought within a 50 mile radius of the town including the Battle of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, the Battle of the Wilderness, and the battles of Cedar Mountain and the Battle of Brandy Station (the largest Cavalry engagement of the Civil War), the latter two being fought on Culpeper County land, and many other major and minor skirmishes. In addition, Culpeper was a popular site for winter encampments for both Armies. The result is simply a high density of CW related relics remaining in the ground on the various, numerous private farm properties in the area. DIV contracts with landowners to give the DIV participants access to the land to search for these coveted relics. The main catch is that relic hunting has been going on for multiple decades and although advances in technology and technique have enabled relic hunters to get access to deeply buried relics, those relics are disappearing and not being replenished. Those "surface finds" are actually pretty deep on average and the to complicate matters further, the soil is extremely mineralized due to the local geology which also happens to be home to some fairly significant natural gold deposits. Finally, several organized hunts and individual relic detectorists have repeatedly pounded the major "hot spot" sites. That doesn't mean the sites are devoid of relics but it does mean a little bit of research, detective work, and luck go a long way to getting you into an area of high relic concentration. Anyway, this DIV was number "50". No, it hasn't been held for 50 years, there have been 50+ organized DIV events held since around 2004. This event featured 4 separate sites that participants could visit as they pleased over a period of 5 days. If you read Andy's post that I linked above, you can see that he had a pretty good hunt, he had a plan, stuck to it, focused on one specific area, and was rewarded, indeed, with the find of a lifetime, a CS tongue. Part of a two-piece Confederate buckle (see pic below). This is my DIV 50 story. We started at a "new site" that was not hunted by DIV previously. As you might imagine, it was highly popular on day 1. Me and my two buds hit the site for awhile came up with a few bullets and not much else and then decided to hit another site where we previously had some luck. There too, the finds were few and far between but we were not skunked. We decided to hit a different site on day 2 where we had also had some previous luck with very little success. Lead is great but we were really craving brass. We visited a fourth site on day 3. This site was a site we previously had sworn off based on previous poor luck and you can now see how desperate our crew was becoming. We found a couple more CW bullets there and then proceeded to go back to a different section of the site we visited on Day 2. On the way there we noticed that a field that had been previously occupied with a fresh crop of soybeans had just been harvested that day. As far as that DIV is concerned, that would be considered virgin hunting ground and we were going to be one of the first crews exploiting it. We hit the field spread out and started surveying it for possible hot spots. I found a couple of tiny brass percussion caps and some non-descript brass, but it was starting to look like another wild goose chase. I hit another strong signal, that sounded good in the GPX headphones, nice high tone that did not break and started digging. As I remove more and more dirt and rechecked the hole the signal remained loud and clear and unbreaking (I was using a moderate iron reject setting). Finally, I located the target but to my dismay it was in the side wall of the hole. Not a good sign. That typically happens with ferrous targets because they tend to pinpoint off-center. I pursued it anyway and a beautiful green, brass something fell out of the sidewall and into the bottom of the hole. It was a heavy brass object that resembled a section of wreath. I knew what I just dug and I was simultaneously filled with feelings of joy and disappointment. I too had recovered part of a two piece tongue and wreath Confederate Army buckle. Andy had recovered his "find of a lifetime" CS tongue. I recovered part of the wreath that encircles the tongue when the two-piece buckle is fastened together. But unfortunately, under circumstances unknown (perhaps under the plow, perhaps in battle) it was only a broken off partial section of the Wreath and not fully intact. Hey a partial wreath is better than no wreath, and believe me I opened up that hole and also super searched the entire vicinity for an intact tongue or any other matching fragments to the partial wreath, but was unsuccessful. Similar feelings occur when you recover military two-piece button backs with the faces missing. On one hand you know what you got and you are happy to have recovered some brass, but he feeling is bittersweet knowing what might have been if the button (buckle) was recovered intact. That day and the next day I recovered five button backs. Ha. But the good news is that I also recovered 5 intact Eagle buttons including an Eagle "I" coat button that still had some gilt. A pretty good DIV haul for me and the rest of the crew as that field contained a number of brass button, minie ball, and brass relic hot spots. We also dodged the tractor a few times and it even forced me to abandon a sweet signal as it "ran over" my target. I let the tractor pass, reacquired the target and pulled a nice Eagle button. Anyway enjoy the pics of my finds from DIV 50. I managed to recover a relic from each site, just missed a spectacular find, and kidded Andy by saying that I found the part of the wreath for his CS Tongue that he was unable to recover....

Glad to hear your detectors now speak your language, we all learn different ways. I struggled with the manuals and found nothing better than just using mine and figuring it out myself. The more time I spent using them the more we become one, now my Equinox is like an extension of my arm and my GPZ is starting to do the same. Some detectors speak a language I just can't learn though, I'm certainly not someone that can pickup any detector and use it, or more so enjoy using it. Age of a detector doesn't overly matter if you speak the same language, you'll do just fine. Enjoy your new found understanding of your detectors.

Thats hilarious. Looks like the younger skinny me. Yes....so much to absorb but I have time now.

I ran this through Google translate, and here's what came out: Hello everyone, back to this forum, reading all the comments regarding the multifrequency, I only practice diving and I am looking for jewelry, I have worn cz21 and whites beach Hunter for 5 years (Steve's recommendation) both give me very good results in salt water, In a week I will get the deus 2, with a diving kit and 11 'plate, I will subject it directly to salt water since here in Europe it is stormy season, I promise to give a very sincere analysis regarding salt water, to clarify that I have paid in full, I do not have the pressure of any brand of detectors, my partner wears nox800 and gives very good results, I will inform you when I have it in my hands with the corresponding tests under water

Excellent review of the XP ORX Gold modes for gold prospecting by Kevin Hoagland from Gold Prospector Magazine. If this is breaking copyright Steve, feel free to take it down. I do have a subscription. This is a great tutorial by a master user for anyone who is thinking of buying an ORX while they are super inexpensive during the pre Deus 2 release sell-off or anyone buying a Deus 2 for prospecting use. The menu and settings according to Gary Blackwell are the same........ Maybe, except for the one setting that is still unanswered which is: FMF may be the only frequency setting option. If it is, the Deus 2 will be easier to setup than the ORX since you don't have to choose an operating frequency or offsets.

I was backpacking with a friend last spring to some hidden dunes in Death Valley NP and stumbled across some odd things there. Obviously not metal detecting, but there were interesting things to be found lying on the surface of the sands! It began with finding what I romantically named, Dune Glass, which was probably just flintknap chippings from natives way back in the day. That was the biggest piece. From there I spotted something really interesting which I thought would be a huge piece of Dune Glass. But it turned out to be something even more odd! A .50 cal slug, resting contentedly on the sand! But aside from these interesting finds, I take you to this strange piece that I picked up and brought home in order to clean up what seemed like trash. Found in the area of 37.14981, -117.84051. But I can’t figure out what it might be. Reminds me of an ant trap, but the hole seems way to small, and what a weird place to find it. Also it looks to be sealed in the mesh by hand with staples. I think I should open it up, but I just wanted to see if anyone here might have a clue as to what it is. I’m optimistic that it contains at least a gram of gold 😂 I know they’re not metal detecting finds, but since I’m a detector prospector, I figured I could share here! And if you haven’t visited Eureka Dunes, it’s amazing and worthwhile.

Excellent recap GB. I enjoy your thoughtful and insightful musings and reports. 👍 2022 should be a great year!

Hola a todos, devuelta a este foro, leyendo todos los comentarios referente a los multifrecuencia, solo práctico buceo y busco joyería, he llevado durante 5 años cz21 y whites beach Hunter (recomendación de Steve) ambos me dan muy buenos resultados en agua salada, en una semana me llegará el deus 2, con kit de buceo y plato de 11', lo sometere directamente al agua salada ya que aquí en Europa es temporada de tormentas, prometo dar un análisis muy sincero referente al agua salada, aclarar que lo he pagado íntegramente, no tengo la presión de ninguna marca de detectores, mi compañero lleva nox800 y da muy buenos resultados, les informaré cuando lo tenga en mis manos con los test correspondientes bajo el agua Un saludo

The last few detector releases from Minelab were all foreshadowed in the corporate annual reports, and so far nothing on that count. I’d not be holding my breath.

Greetings everybody. New to this forum, but not to MD’ing. I moved back to my home state of Colorado after retiring from the military. It’s not really a MD friendly city I live in, so I’m looking to travel around the state around the US lookin for loot. I look forward to conversing with you all.

I just weighed my nox. It has an Anderson carbon fiber shaft and their metal armrest, home made counterweight, deanos control box cover, and a coil ear stiffener. Guess how much it weighs? Check pic below for the answer. The counterweight makes it more comfortable for me to swing but it’s still heavy, especially after 4 or 5 hours. Now the deus II can be set up in several configurations, but if we go with the heaviest setup with the nine inch coil which is what I have on pre order, I believe it’s around 1 kilogram which is 35.27 ozs. That’s a 22.83 oz savings!For those of you using a counterweight, have you ever weighed the entire rig? If so, please post up some weights.

Mine comes it at 3.10 lb (= 49.6 oz = 1.41 kg). Here's how mine is configured (from top to bottom): 1) Added padding to inside of arm cuff (narrowing it so it doesn't slop from side-to-side when I swing). 2) Added tennis grip wrap to grip. 3) Added section of foam pool noodle on grip, in contact with control unit (held on with an 11" long cable tie) which leads to less of a death grip, eliminating hand and forearm fatigue. 4) Modified shaft as follows: upper shaft section is stock; middle S-shaft section and lowest shaft section are slightly modified ML X-Terra 705 shaft sections. I use a 1/4" hex head plastic bolt with wingnut, not the Eqx stock bolt and nut. Two velcro straps secure the cable to the shaft. 5) Stock 11" coil and cover but with added (epoxied in place) bakelite washer on one ear only to repair break. I think most of the extra weight (compared to stock and especially compared to aftermarket shaft outfitted versions like Jeff's above) is in the shaft. I tried using a 1/4 lb (= 4 oz) counterweight (full $5 roll of USA dimes) inside the upper end of the shaft but it didn't seem to improve the balance enough to be worth carrying the extra weight, so I ditched it. Many (including I) are of the opinion that balance takes precedence over weight as long as the weight isn't too much. (How much? Depends upon the person swinging.) My Eqx configuration {weight+balance+minimized torsion from S-shaft} combination is very good for my typical 3-4 hour hunts and my style of swinging, etc.

Brian your going to loose some depth for sure. I've been using one for a while now...it's a nice coil the main advantage is the shape and feather weight of the coil. I've been using it in heavy iron/trash for better separation. You will find it useful in heavy brush as well but that not why I bought one. Mount it on an extra shaft and put it in your backpack thats what I do if I'm walking in somewhere. The tip of the coil is sensitive but I dont know if I'd call it the "G" spot on the coil. One thing I noticed the other day that was interesting...I have some deep targets buried with nails that I set up for testing the characteristics of programs on the Equinox when I first got it. I have 6 stations.... all are seven inches or deeper. with nails in close proximity. The CTX was mainly nulling on these targets. The Nox with the 10x5 surprised me and was able to hit some of the targets thus outperforming the CTX with the larger coil. strick

There are some basics as you have discovered from the manual...the rest is beep and dig...metal detectors are really not that complicated the more you beep the more you dig...and the more cool stuff you find. Even the iron targets are cool sometimes. strick

Oh…..and your not supposed to remove items from NP’s. Not even rocks. Just future FYI.

Manuals? They make manuals for these detectors, I have never seen one of them, so I have read about the detectors that I use on this forum and ask questions. I have learned that just using the detector and figuring out what it is telling me has helped more than anything. With advice from the great people on this forum and actual use of the detector, I have found many nice items and know more about the unit than a manual could ever tell me. When I want to change up things in the settings, I can tell what it is doing and if it is better I use it, and if not I go back to the settings I had before. I know that you will do fine as long as you take your time and let it tell you what is in the ground. You will learn what the unit is doing and become part of it as you are learning to make it easier to have an excellent hunt. Good luck and happy hunting.

…ah crap…. I’ve even been carrying it around like a good luck charm to all my nugget patches 😒

I'm not sure how I rated this, I don't have a Youtube channel and don't make videos, in fact I'm a relative noob with less than 2 years on the Nox, but Steve was nice enough to send me a protoype of his new S-Shaft for the Equinox to beta test. I must say it's pretty nice. It weighs in 1 ounce lighter than the bare stock shaft without coil, cuff, and control pod installed. So far I've tested it with the 6" and 10x5" coils and it feels really nice and responsive, but I'm not doing a full review until testing is done. I still have to run the 11" and 12x15" coils. He said I could post a photo so here ya go. I was doing a 5 hour test today when some college-age youngsters were sledding nearby and one of them came up to me and told me her friend had lost his ring in the snow and asked me if I could help find it. So the field test turned into a rescue mission.

Looks like an ibutton, which can be data logging temperature sensors or electronic tags .

Thanks Rvpopeye. I grew up here and unexpectedly lost my wife at 43 in August 2018 so I decided to move back “home” to figure out where my life goes from here. I’ve been on a few other forums for many years, and it seems like many have migrated over here. It seems like the right forum for me. Thanks again for the welcome!

Neat teaser review! I'm definitely interested in that shaft. I have a possible Etrac coming my way though, so I'll have to make sure that doesn't work for me before I invest heavily in my Equinox. But assuming I do, I'll probably be getting one of Steve's shafts...

The government is tracking you now lol probably some type of device for some scientific experiment being done in the park

Thanks F350Platinum. I was an AC130H Spectre gunship CSO/Mission Commander from 2000-2007 (lots of action both OEF/OIF), and transitioned to the RC135S Cobra Ball before retiring in 2013. Turned down 06 and a sure path to 07+ when I turned down a staff tour at the Pentagon. If I couldn’t fly/fight and had to sit a desk, the fun was gone and I knew it was time to pull chocks, not to mention that I’m honest and not a politician- neither are qualities that “fit in” on the Hill. Thanks again for the welcome.

Yeah, the SDC is a better gold nugget finder, few people would dispute that. On the other hand, if snorkeling in the surf I’d pick ATX over SDC every time.

Thanks for the welcome Valens Legacy. I’ve been at it for the better part of 30+ years or so. Started with a Radio Shack VLF analog cheapo when I was 13. Deployments interrupted my efforts at times, but I’ve stayed in the game nonetheless. I’ve owned and sold many detectors since, mainly Whites and ML, and have been fortunate enough to detect many states and conditions. Nothing beats time out alone to think and dig the good stuff (with a “small” scattering of pull tabs and zincolins). 😂 I look forward to “shop talk” with everybody here.

I do but im probably going to cancel it. I have a friend that wants one though so I'll probably stay on the list for him. But personally it's too much like the Equinox for me to want it since I've already got an Equinox.

Don't beat yourself up, ks. Looks to me like you are doing things just fine, particularly keeping an open mind. True, there are multiple ways to learn, and not every one works equally well for everyone. In my case I always start out by reading the detector manual twice when I get a new (to me) detector. I also reread it after a couple hunts. Then I refer back to it from time to time. You can be confident what you read in it is true, but don't expect it to be a graduate level textbook. Learning to be sensitive to the sounds coming out of the detector has been for me the most difficult part of detecting, and I continue to work on that every time out. But, IMO, every output a detector posesses has value at some time or other. It annoys me when people make flipant statements here which include "I never do that..." as if you're an idiot if you use some particular 'hint' a detector is capable of making. Fine, they don't; goodie for them -- here's a medal. But they shouldn't discourage others from doing it. For me, learning is part of the fun of detecting, and it's one component of the endeavor I never get 'skunked' doing.

Got in that field too but it had been picked over by that time. We spent a day and a half digging brass in the upper field while you guys were tearing up that lower field otherwise would have been right there with you. Good times.

Reading the manual is the first thing I did when I finally bought a detector, although I'm the sort that would read new VCR, stereo, or computer manuals and what not. 🤓 Detecting books, magazines, Youtube, and forums have all been great. I'm astounded at the amount of knowledge available out there. I still consider myself a rookie. I can at least sort of understand what you guys talk about!

Thanks for the info.

Nice hunting and good plan for this year. Good luck and good hunting.

Great post ! You guys had a nice hunt, especially considering that was our 7th dig on that farm, 6 of which was pounded with 250 really good relic hunters armed with GPX's. I also had to slide over for the tractor and spent the last 2 days on that same field. That field was one of the last sweet spots on the farm that was still holding plenty due to many farming and weather circumstances, so your relic senses were spot on. Looks like great company here so I'd like to share my DIV 50 fun as well for my first post. Once again nice hunt guys.

Nice write up..I was right there the whole time..sounds like a challenging place to hunt..if there’s that many bullets then there’s got to be some nice relics left. I got my first mini ball couple months ago and they are huge. Strick

You would think Nokta/Macro would have fixed the issues if they are aware of the issues I went ahead and ordered one found a online store that still had a few with the free 9.5 x 5 inch coil so got one of them on the way also ordered the 2in1 pulse dive pin pointer could not find anyone that had a fisher F Pulse pin pointer in stock so went with the pulse dive unit

Welcome to the forum, GnshpCSO! (And welcome home to Colorado.) You've settled in a great state for all kinds of metal detecting. Well, except maybe saltwater beach detecting. You'll have to cross the western border to find some of that.

I'm snowed in for the next couple of days and have other stuff to do. While I'm bored to death I thought I'd show how easy it is once you have a permission to locate buildings using Historic Aerials - I hope they never charge for this or go offline. I used an area that is not one of mine, sorry. 😁 Let's say you have permission to hunt an old farm. You go to the website http://www.historicaerials.com, click or tap on "View images". If you have a GPS-enabled device, you can accept the website using your location. Next, locate the farm you have permission to by moving the base map around, and then click or tap the Topos button, it will bring up a list of all topographic maps for that area. I selected the 1916 map for this farm in the center. Next you tap overlays and select roads, which will superimpose the basemap roads on the topo, a great tool if the roads have moved or changed. It isn't perfectly accurate most times, but it's pretty good. Next click the Topos button again, this is where I will pick a late one to see if buildings have been added or deleted, I switch back and forth. After the 1980s they stopped putting squares where houses were, so there's that. 😵 This is the 1966 topo of the same area, you can look around and switch back and forth to see if anything changed. Once you have a pretty good idea of where the buildings or areas you want are, you can bring up the latest satellite map of the area, which you can use to match features on an app like OnX Hunt. I make marks of all the buildings, and specific features in the app. It makes it much easier to find stuff! You can walk right to them and track your hunting. OnX Hunt will show property lines, owner information, and topographic info if you pay the ransom for your state. Hope you find this interesting if you've never heard of it. 🙂

It's silicone grip wrap tape I found on Amazon. It sticks to itself, not the control handle, so it will come off clean if you have to remove it. I've had it on there since last Summer and really like it. Silicone Grip Tape

So today's hunt was not at a beach, but at a place that I should have been hunting all along! I thought I missed my opportunity (kind of did) to hunt a very old drained pond. I could not find a place to park, so I kept putting it off. That was in the fall of 2020. They said the dam repairs would be done by January 2021, so I forgot all about it. Last week, I have a client that needed a scrap electronics recycling pick up, so I drove to his new house which just happens to abut the pond. Now this pond is HUGE and a lot of people have been pounding it for a year (at least 30 people that I heard of. Many nice coins and rings have come out of there, including Seated coins. Oh well. So I asked if I could park in his yard and go down to the pond and he said - anytime. Now because it has been dry for over a year, except with a small river flowing down the middle, lots of vegetation has sprung up and makes it impossible to hunt. It's very boggy in about 90% of the pond now. The side I am on is not the popular side that has been used for a couple of centuries, but I figured I would start there and maybe return some other time. Also being cold, some of the desirable area froze solid. I brought the Equinox and the GPX 5000 for this hunt, and decided on the GPX even though I would be in areas with a lot of iron ( I assumed). I was amazed that the iron rejected extremely well and most of the iron I dug was out of curiosity. This was a 4 hour hunt and I had to dumb the GPX down sensitivity wise in order to not go nuts. Targets were everywhere. This was going to be a low conductor hunt because of all the iron, as my primary goal was finding gold! I knew there would be a lot of lead, but I did not take into account the sheer number of small pieces of aluminum that I would encounter. I worked non stop and got a lesson on trashy pond hunting. I'm glad I did it and glad that I found a little bit of gold, silver and even a very crumbling Indian cent. Man o man, do humans pollute!!!! 🤬 I will be back if the weather doesn't freeze over everything soon. I'm glad I had a chance to detect it after all. 🙂

I enjoy a variety of MDing styles which keeps me on my toes with different detectors and models. To me, "golden find" a term and has many meanings. I'd like to share some of the Golden Memories I was able to make in 2021 while enjoying my metal detectors with many friends in different states. 2021 is finally over and even though there were many restrictions and some negative in our lives I did manage to escape on occasion and enjoy what I've been doing for near 50 years (metal detecting). Here's some of my better digs while on adventures with friends as we shared laughter, made cool discoveries & great memories. These are my besties of 2021. Best Nugget, coin, ring, tag, Railroad, space rock, silver day & non metal eye find. May the 2022 year bring your recover tool many treasures of golden memories. I hope to see you share with us all on Detector Prospector those precious treasures and memories about to be made. Let's see your Besties of 21. My best piece of gold dug in NV while swinging a GPX-6000. . Best coin was an 1875 Seated Liberty Dime found at an old mining camp in Dakotas while chasing gold, with EQ-800 and CoilTek 10" Ellip NOX coil. Best ring was scooped just last week in water off a Cancun beach, it's Platinum with at least a 1/2 carat diamond while swinging an EQ-600 and stock 11" coil. Best tag is a pretty ornate 1913 Dog Tax Tag from Ogden, UT found in Idaho with EQ-800. Best Railroad item... is a NNRY lock found in NV at a RR stop with EQ-800. What's so unique about this find, besides it being rare? We were on our way to hunt gold in NV and I wanted to stop at a RR site on the way down. I told them I wanted to spend 1/2 day looking for a lock. Just before the end of the hunt...bang a Northern Nevada Rail Way lock is in my hand. Best find from outer space. A nice meteorite sunbaking in the AZ cactus fields while swinging a GPZ-7000. Best silver day was in Idaho the 1st day I used the CoilTek 15" round NOX coil on my EQ-800, 8 silvers. Most interesting unexpected save happened in Nevada while Lunk and I were detecting a mining camp. We were using the CoilTek 14" Semi Ellip and 10" Ellip NOX coils on our EQ-800's and found a mini cache of (over 30) early American gold gilted rings from the 1860/70's. This was a fun day of digging. Best non metal find was near a high desert spring in Nevada while hunting gold. It was a surface find with my eyes. Nice arrowhead of milky white quartz. Most odd and funny find of 2021. I was hunting gold in Nevada desert and literally in gods country. I get a beep and in a sage bush is this clowns horn. I laughed at myself and the horn for at least 10 minutes and still to this day have no clue how or why it ended up where it was. Most valuable find of 2021. All the friends by my side on the adventures I took part in. At times were treated to 5 star meals, top shelf liquors and plenty laughter/stories to tell. Getting to meet some of the most respected names in the industry and at other times helping to teach new folks who will eventually be on here sharing their own experiences for the future. Memories were created, history was saved and friendships made. Happy New Year DP Friends, After I look back at it all, maybe 2021 wasn't all that bad, it least not while having a detector near my side.

I'll take a little global warming if I can hunt the beaches in January without three winter coats on 🥶 Nope it's really hunt #15 😄 If I run them from Labor day to Memorial day, it's one continuous season. If I do it by year, then I have a big gap during summer when it's off limits to detect (or not worth the long trip down for after hour hunting). Tomorrows hunt is going to be a cold one for sure 😬

You don't use your phone on vacation?

Last week I hunted the wet sand of some local beaches for the first time in about a month. I wanted to go earlier in the month but just had too many other things going on. When I got to the beach I was surprised to see that a lot of beach erosion had taken place and was afraid that I was too late to take advantage. Sure enough, targets were few and far between below most of the cuts but I did find 2 areas where I was making some deeper finds with some regularity. I was finding more trash than I expected with the TDI and hunting in a steady rain which tired me out sooner than usual. I also think I was out of shape from not hunting much the previous month. I did manage to find a few silver rings and silver earring before taking a break to warm up with some hot soup for lunch. I decided to swap detectors because of the trash and continued where I left off with my Excalibur. The very first signal I got in "all metal" rang out in a solid mid-tone when I switched to "discriminate". I scooped out some wet sand and kicked it off to the side and saw a quarter-sized disc with that unmistakable yellow gold color laying on top of the mound! (7.5 grams of 14K) I didn't make nearly as many good finds in 2021 as I did the year before but Mother Nature had a lot to do with that. I am still grateful for the little treasure I did find and for the health, time and resources to be able to enjoy this hobby of ours. Wishing you all the best in 2022!

Hi Tom All true and noted. The site has seen it's better days due to the harse soil and weather. Most glass and ceramics have been exposed to extreme heat and cold so long not much is left on the surface. As far as hotels....I agree. I felt at times I was running a youth hostel at home when my twin sons and their wives all lived here while attending college! Thats why I was shocked to find the small bottle and saucer. I think you're not alone is chosung to pass on the site and just maybe that can be a plus. Considering the sites proximity to my claim its a hop skip and a jump so not too much time wasted trying one more time. One thing to consider is the Majuba meteorite strewn field appears to move in that direction...maybe a space rock to be found there! I found a small 27 gram meteorite on my claim where 2 others were found and documented on the Meteoritical Society website. Thinking the heavier stones travel further....you never know! I appreciate the responses everyone.

That's a Nice chunk! Hoping 2022 is the year of the beach Pirate!

As an answer to a previous question in this topic, I used my new 24k in a area of the Mojave with a lot of hot rocks and was able to adjust for them pretty well (as compared to with my Nox 800 and GM). As with other VLF’s, turning down the sensitivity helps, but it turns down sensitivity to everything as well. I tried a couple different ways to work the areas and found these suggestions worked: one suggestion (from a post by Steve) that I tried was to ground balance directly on a hot rock while in locked mode. This worked well, and allowed my detector to pick up gold when I put my test card on the rock, but there were other types of hot rocks in the area that continued to sound off with it as well. I also tried combining different VSAT speed settings along with sensitivity. Jim McCulloch mentioned how faster VSAT speeds work better along with lower sensitivity with more mineralized ground. I tried doing this and it seems to also work well when they were many small hot rocks mixed in with the gravels I was detecting. It was the only way I was able to detect over the gravel without it sounding off or even overloading constantly. I’m really new at this, so I’m still learning how to do it correctly, and have to thank both Steve and Jim for their help! In his guide “Advanced Nuggetshooting with the 24k”, Jim also recommends some other detecting techniques that also help with differentiating hot rocks from true targets. I think they are available if you contact him here directly.

ATX is two pounds heavier than SDC! If you are not actually going underwater, no real reason not to use the TDI. Even if dropped in the water, it will probably survive if snatched up quickly and dried off. The TDI is a newer machine than the Infinium, and the better performer of the two. Garrett really needs that lightweight ATX I have been making noise about forever. The ATX is a fine machine, but needs a lighter housing, and standard coils without a rod attached. It’s crazy every ATX coil you buy, you have to buy an entire telescoping fiberglass rod assembly, doubling the cost of the coil. It also makes packing a spare coil in a ruck sack a real pain, and makes coil swaps the most difficult of all detectors I’ve used. Such a shame such a great circuit is hobbled by such a heavy housing and nutty coil system. Maybe the “new Garrett” we are seeing now, will finally revisit this long overdue situation.

I'm at an RV resort on the outer fringes of North Carolina this week, since metal detecting is both allowed and encouraged here I brought the Equinox with the 10x5. I've only been out there for a few hours. The first beach I went to is kinda remote. It's huge and doesn't have a lot of visitors. Got out there early, and searched the rock/shell line. In a couple of hours and about a mile of walking I found one Roosevelt Dime (2014) and a 3oz "frog" sinker, popular for surf fishing on the east coast. People come to this beach mostly for shells and to fish. Last week we had Tropical Storm Elsa that not only kept people out of the water, but because it came from land and went out to sea it seemed to have covered more than it uncovered. There were double red flags that kept everyone out of the water for over a week. They put up the yellow flags yesterday. If you swim or even go in the water on the double red you will be arrested. This morning was a little better, I went to the beach here at the park. Walked again about a mile. There are some hotels up here and a pier, from research this place gets hit pretty hard. I saw one other person with a Garrett AT at one of the hotels just hunting the upper beach. I've been going out at low tide and walking one way at chest height to high tide, (the rock line) and back at knee height, the idea being that most people will just go to the waters' edge. Haven't gone in the water as yet, and haven't searched the areas that people sit. There is a pretty high tide here, but not as bad as Savannah. Probably about 5 feet or so. Finds were all deep. Anyone who says the Coiltek 10x5 doesn't go deep should probably rethink their settings. Almost every coin I dug took 3 or more scoops, and pinpoint with a composite trowel to retrieve. This one was one of the easiest, a nickel about 10" down. This trip I've been alternating between Park 1 and Beach 1. The beach is so clean I don't have to worry about much trash. Sensitivity cranked to 24, no EMI. Ground balance runs from 1 to about 18, I change it as soon as I hear any noise, there is some black sand. I can use Park 1 where the sand is dry. Iron balance is F2=3 so there goes the myth that IB reduces depth 😀 on the 600 that's max. I tested it because of something Chase wrote saying it pushed bottle caps out of the "Digem" range and indeed it does. You get about a 12/13 with a loud iron tone. I dug 2 for fun and proof, I knew what they were. This is the trash I didn't toss. There were some cans but not many, and some large pieces of metal that gave 30s tones that were too heavy to carry. There are trash cans everywhere. Here are the finds so far, all modern clad and a fishing lure that was probably over 12" deep. Should have photographed the hole. The clean quarters were dug at chest height, the cruddy stuff all at knee height to the high tide line. I'm not finding that I have to swing much more with the 10x5, I have my 11" with me but may not bother to use it. This coil is like a razor and ground balances really well. Hope to find some gold!