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With the 1st big weekend of the year coming, many new eager Nugget Hunters are wanting to get out in the field. Some of you don’t have a seasoned Nugget Hunting friend to help you learn the ropes. Since my Field Staff and I offer detector training, we see the many mistakes some folks make. I’ll try to give some Field Knowledge and info to possibly help make your adventures more golden. Anyone who has good advice, please chime in. These are some of the items I recommend. I’ll mention detector technology type afterwards as my staff/I use different tools for the varying machines. Knee Pads - If running VLF detector, Knee pads and preferably ones with no metal. I’m at the point now that I personally don’t use them because I have pants that were designed to hold knee pads. I have Duluth brand but now there are many and including Military BDU pants with knee pad sleeves built into the knees. Footwear - Non Metal Boots or Hiking Shoes. This is especially needed if you swing a bigger powerful type detector (GPZ-7000, GPX-5000 or below). The new GPX-6000 is not as bad and some regular boots/shoes are OK, but you’ll learn how to walk without getting the feet to close. As for my preference of footwear, I have Danner Slip on non metal boots and Merrell Hikers. Magnet - Strong Rare Earth Super Magnet. This little tool is so important in fast recovery and or identification of targets. Many folks have no clue why we want a good strong magnet. I myself keep the magnet on my metal pick at all times. Non Metal Recovery Tool - Non metal Nugget Cup or Trowel/Scoop. If you swing VLF and trying to get the tiny dinks, I prefer the nugget cup. If looking for bigger gold or using bigger machines, the scoop/trowel is fine. Caution – You can’t use your bare hand on a VLF as the detector will respond to the minerals in your hand. Jewelry/Metal - Remove your rings and leave them home. If you wear a watch, get one with a non metal band or don’t wear one on the arm you use to swing the scoop across the coil. Pick - I like APEX brand as I get the rare earth super magnet on it and they come in different sizes/models. I’m a bit over 6’ tall so I prefer a little longer of a pick. 24”/30” are ideal for taller folks and especially if you run a deeper big machine. 18” handle is ideal for most folks swinging a VLF type detector and or if you prefer to carry the pick on your hip. Realize 24” handle length is hard to have on your hip as it gets caught up in your legs when walking. I wear the 24/30” picks on my back. Harness - I like the Doc’s Ultra Swingy Thingy and use it with all my Prospecting detectors. Not only does it allow me to carry my pick on back, but it has a bungee to help with the weight of your detector. As a bonus, it holds up my pants so I don’t get burnt on the plumber crack. Seems older guys pants don’t hold up as well as when we were younger. Trash Pouch - You’ll dig more trash than treasure so do your part and pack it out. No use in finding all those bullets and foil over/over and over each trip. Nugget Holder - Yes you should keep one on you at all times. I prefer plastic pill bottle, film container or scrotum pouch. Not a fan of glass vial as they can easily break. Also the glass will dull the gold. Swing Arm - There are a variety out there and the one off my GPZ-7000 goes with me at all times for many different detectors. The swing arm allows much better coil control and longer detecting hours with less fatigue. The SDC-2300 is a prime example of a detector that should have a swing arm. Same with GPZ-7000. Heck, even my Equinox with a larger coil is much easier and better to use when using a swing arm. Test Target - I like to use the size of test target for the expected size of gold I plan on finding at a particular site. Get a small #8 lead bird shot and tap it with a hammer to give a little flatness. Glue it to a plastic poker chip. If you are hunting in areas with bigger gold, then have said like size test pieces to bury and listen/tune the detector. Coils- If running VLF detectors I recommend you get the smallest coil possible for that detector for most areas. The smaller coil actually goes deeper and gives a cleaner signal response to small gold than the stock coil. There’s more smaller nuggets out there than bigger gold so keep the odds in your favor. If hunting for larger gold with VLF, the stock coil or even a larger coil is preferred. Don’t think you’ll get the depth of a PI with a bigger coil on your VLF in most gold type soils. PI’s rule the depth on larger gold. In tailing piles I actually prefer a VLF with good discrimination while running stock coil or even bigger coil. Todays newer PI and DVT detectors don’t have Iron ID, but hopefully things will soon change (come on Minelab – you can do it). If using PI or DVT, use the coil size for the terrain you are in. Yes there’s always exceptions. Spare Battery - Always have a Back Up Battery, always. Headphones - I highly recommend them for most areas I detect. Wind is a killer on deeper weaker and or smaller nugget sounds. Good headphones allows you to hear the detector much better. Location - For a beginner, don’t expect to find gold in unknown areas. Go where nuggets have been found with a detector. Never leave gold to find gold. As your nugget hunting skill progresses, then you can Prospect for new areas and ground. Spare Tire - Always keep one that holds air. Know where the jack is and how to use it. A few newer type trucks have a key that drops the spare. Know where the key is, know how to use the jack/change a spare. Phone - If swinging a bigger machine, your cell phone will give EMI to your detector. Try to keep it in the OFF position if possible. 1st Nugget - Take as many pictures as possible and soak in the moment. There is only 1 first and you want to remember forever. DP - Share your hunt experience with the rest of us here on Detector Prospector. As mentioned in a previous post, some of us Old Guard are fading away and we need some new young guns to keep the powder burning. Again, These tips/knowledge is just from my standpoint and always have exceptions. If something mentioned in this post gives you a better chance to find some gold and share a smile, then we are all winners. I look forward to reading from others who have tips for the newbies so chime in.

Just to clarify, disc doesn't just block audio as it is a true signal processing filter and too much can adversely affect performance (e.g., depth, target masking/separation), but notch is an audio only filter and has no impact on detector signal processing performance. Similar to disc, the silencer and bottlecap filters can be helpful but if set too high can adversely affect performance. True. And judiscious use of discrimination on Deus 2 can help mitigate this effect. True. But these other tools have their place when you perhaps have one shot at a site and a lot of ground to cover, need to keep the site from looking like a carpet bomb attack, are getting pounded by surf, or just need to preserve your sanity. If you have the luxury of time and can dig indiscriminately and grid, digging it all is your best bet and moves masking junk out of the way. Hard work, but it can pay off big. Metal detecting at its core is about managing tradeoffs becaause no detector gives you perfect 20-20 vision as to what's in the ground. There are no real short cut alternatives to hard work fo pr success, only incredible luck. Regarding disc vs. notch, I break it down in detail in this post.

I've reread that post so many times and my eyes walked right by. Finally this morning with a fresh cup of coffee, I realized my issue...wanking/walking while swinging, yes that my friend is indeed funny, my bad. You Aussie folks have a good laugh, but be sure to add some knowledge as well. Many of us Yanks can only dream of your gold field opportunities and sitting around a campfire telling Aussie humor while chewing on Roo tail and pulling flies out of your whisky cup.

Got out for a bit of exploration on the ATV and 6000 again. More scatter shot prospecting, trying to expand gold bearing zones. Covered a ton of new ground. Unfortunately nothing new turned up. I also brought the skunk buster with me (GPZ + 15" concentric X Coil) so I could end the day with something in my pocket if exploration failed to produce, and decided to run the rest of the sun down by hitting some deep gold bearing ground for a few hours. The 6000 had given no gold in this deeper ground, other than a few nuggets I recovered towards the spot where bedrock started poking out of the dirt towards the periphery. Within a few minutes I hit a small one. It was about 4" deep and I could actually still see my old footprints where I had run the 6000 over this very spot. Quite a loud target on the 15" CC and another one of those targets that left me scratching my head how the 6000 missed it. I was very careful to remove layer by layer so I could know exactly where the nugget was in the hole, it ended up being at the top of the scoop almost under the rock. Keep in mind, this 15"CC X Coil is IMO outperforming the 17" spiral X Coil, which itself is outperforming the ZSearch, which itself is outperforming the stock 14x13 GPZ coil. So it's not like I'm running anything even remotely close to the stock the GPZ here, and if a reader is running stock, they shouldn't expect the same large differences I am seeing. But still, the amount of missed targets I've been finding that seem like they should have been found with the 6000 is pretty exceptional IMO. I worked closer to the edge of the bedrock, but still in the deeper dirt, with my old footprints still visible in a grid. And about 10 minutes later I hit another target, this one virtually screaming. Again I picked down layer by layer with my fingers until I saw the glint of gold so I could see exactly where the nugget was at in the hole. This one was probably 6-7" deep, in some roots. It ended up weighing something around 0.45 grams. A bit more work around the bedrock periphery and I hit on 5 more little nuggets, almost all in the grass roots. I was intentionally ignoring the salt signals (of which there were many), also rejecting any faint or somewhat questionable signals. I was concentrating only on the obvious, strong target signals, of which there seemed to be plenty. It's pretty clear to me now that the 6000 is missing a lot of stuff in this size range below about 5", something good to know so I understand when and where to use the 6000 and how to interpret my results with it. I began the walk back to my ATV, doing a quick swing over some of the ground with no bedrock exposed. I had one final strong signal, this one was down probably 9-10", at the tip of the scoop. It ended up being the heaviest of the day at a whopping 0.57 grams, a bit thicker than the others. So, 8 nuggets (on the left, low light makes the contrast bad) for the short session and 4 bits of trash. All the trash was also 4" or below, the 6000 got all the pellets here. The smallest nugget 0.12 grams and the largest was 0.57 grams. I am in an area where the gold rarely gets above 1 gram. I tried a bit of prospecting, working a little new area on the way back that I had found 1 straggler nugget with the 6000, but it was totally infeasible due to salt. Maybe easy to understand why I was earlier so concerned with determining if larger or concentric coils can be made for the 6000 to give it a little performance boost. I wasn't rabble rousing, it was a serious question that needed an answer. Seeing results like this instantly makes me wonder what a 12" lightweight concentric on the 6000 could have done as far as cutting into missed nuggets goes, while staying light weight. But, seems that is not possible for whatever reasons on the 6000. So, good to know now. And I can only hope that coil manufacturers offer concentric options in the future for detector models that are compatible with them. I'm left curious if CC's offer as much depth gain on PI's, or if they outperform on ZVT tech only, relatively speaking.

Disc is a target signal processing filter. Too much can adversely affect performance including depth and separation. XP sets the defaults for disc between 6 and 10 to provide optimum iron filtering and stability with respect to the ferrous/non-ferrous horseshoe display. I never recommend pushing disc higher than the top ferrous range (typically 10 but non-falsing ferrous can show up between 10 and 15). I also recommend utilizing some disc filtering for Horseshoe display reliability and to mitigate ferrous down averaging (disc set at 7 or 8 works well). With the Deus 2 iron volume feature you can still hear ferrous targets if desired so you can locate iron patches or to have total target awareness while still reaping the beneficial effects of the disc filter. This is one of the downsides to full tones...no iron volume so you can't apply "normal" disc (e.g.10) AND listen to the iron. So in full tones, I set disc between -2 to +2 to quiet things down but to still let me hear some iron. Anyway. I digress. Notch is an audio only filter. It does not affect signal processing or performance. It merely mutes audio associated with targets that have a TID that falls in the range of the notch filter settings. You can set up to 3 separate notch filter ranges (or just single TID ranges) of your choosing. So if you don't want to dig anything below 30 then just don't dig anything below 30. If you don't want to hear any targets at 30 and below, simply set a notch that encompasses the range from the highest disc TID setting (e.g. 10) to 30 and be sure to set iron volume to 0 so you don't hear the discriminated iron that will otherwise sound off below 10. I recommend leaving disc intact because disc helps to mitigate ferrous down averaging of non-ferrous targets in the vicinity of iron targets as I mentioned above. HTH GL HH

I have both of them and so far I find them very close to equal. Right now I give the edge to the Legend because of how smooth it is running and most likely better waterproofing. I like how the controller comes off for the way I use it. I'm looking forward to the next update and see how it does. It is a great, powerful detector for the price.

I just made my flight arrangements to Australia and I am off the wall happy---- !!! Leaving the end of next month and couldn't be happier to get back and hear the Taskmaster screaming at me......lololol Luckily i didn't lose my airline points from 2017-18-and 19 and that gave me free passage from here to Sydney and back-- the rest i pay for in Aussie dollars !! Yes! Total airfare as best as I can figure is about 1200 AUD from Sydney to Perth to Meeka and back I may even try to get up north this year to where Mad Tuna is on station ...if i get a proper set of body armor first😆 From what I've seen i left some gold there in Meeka and that's ok-- i walked over it at least a hundred times-- i always swing high and fast,,😉 Seriously, Y'all don't know how happy I am to finally get the chance to go back---- I often think of Fred, and how he would have loved to go back,,,, so with Gods help I am going to do it again and this ones for you Fred!!!! Much love to you all and good luck this year finding your dream! No longer VA Nurse Paul------ Outback Yank now...

Had I bought the 800 first instead of the 600, I doubt the Deus 2 would have been very interesting. It's a great companion to the Equinox 600, however. What did I get for my Deus 2 money? 1. Much lighter detector. 2. Far less susceptible to EMI. I haven't had to use single frequency anywhere yet. 3. Incredible interoperability with headphones and pinpointer. The MI-6 Pinpointer goes arguably deeper and is more accurate than any other I've tried. 4. Far more adjustable than the 600. 5. Much better waterproofing. 6. Much tighter IDs. 7. Auditory nuances are much more expressive than the Equinox, I am still learning them after many hours using it. I love my 600, everytime I use it I find pretty much the same stuff at the same depths as the Deus 2. The combo of the 600 with the Coiltek 10x5 is an absolute killer for me, if it's there I'll find it. I'm getting older so getting a detector that is so light no one comes near it with the same or better features and performance is a total win. Where I don't need it I have the 600. 🙂 Would I strongly recommend a beginner leap into the Deus 2? Nope. Honestly I'd tell 'em to get an Equinox 600 or 800 and the Coiltek 10x5. I don't know enough about the Legend to make a recommendation.

Pinpointing and scooping in rough surf is a real challenge for anybody...including experienced beach hunters like me! At 74 however, I don't do rough surf anymore. Tame oceans are my friend these days!!! 😃

Thanks so much Chase, perfect for my weak mind to understand. I went out today for my third time with my Deus 2 and found a 10k 1.36 gram gold ring. VDI 49-50😀. The Deus is going to have a long learning curve for me.

Great post Gerry! Some more stuff here…..

Coffee just blew out my nose……….I just read Gerry’s post and under the PICK section…….on this is priceless. Should do a screenshot before it gets edited. Can you crack a rib from laughing 🤣🤣🤣

I don't disagree with you at all. Not everyone is in your situation, and so it's not as big an issue for them, but me, I like center mount coils, just like you. What I really detest though are $400 coils!! Every XP coil you buy you are buying another detector. I'd love a Deus 2 with plug in dumb coils that cost less money, don't need to be charged/paired, and eliminate that silly antenna when used in water. Makes more sizes possible by getting rid of the battery, and opens it up more to third party coils. Which is exactly why it will never happen. The coils are the cash cow.

LOST GOLD AT THE DEAD MAN’S MINE SEASON TWO April 6 1937 My name is Jacob Stevens. My older brother Jed started our mining project and was murdered last year. His gold that he worked so hard for is gone. I have had no luck in finding the filthy scum who killed him. If I ever do, they will pay dearly. My brother was a hero to me and was responsible for our gold mining success. We were able to find the journal he kept and it is in my possession now. I have what possessions he left behind. His truck, camping gear, all of the mining equipment, and some odds and ends. Seeing as he kept a journal of the activities here I feel it is now my duty to continue the journal so everything that happens here is documented. Jed and Whisky Jack believed there is still a great deal of gold remaining to be mined on the claims. I am taking on all mining responsibilities for this season and I have a good crew ready. They are hard workers and battle tested. I am not expecting an easy time of it as we have made enemies. However, I will not let that stop us from achieving our dreams of gold and riches. The mining crew will be made up of Will, John, Hudson,and me. Sarge and Ben have committed to working security for the entire season. I have arrived at the claims ahead of the crew and the rest of them will be here tomorrow. I will be staying in town tonight and when the crew arrives we will set up our camp and mining equipment. I want to make my brother proud. It is going to be very hard to get used to working without him here. It will be hard for all of us. May God be with us. TO BE CONTINUED .................

Exactly...who knows. It's true most folks (me included) don't waste their time filling out the surveys. Primarily because they are usually run by third party marketing firms that are trying to harvest contact information so they can bombard you with "special, exclusive offers".

I'm trying to visualize how he does that with a pick handle , apparently it only happens with the longer pick handles , so the short handles seems to be his favorite for doing that without tripping falling over!

I guess all my good posts are "firsts" because I am a newb Back on the same property I searched in this thread: I spent 2-3 hours here today and I was not finding anything. This place must have been searched but either way, I know there is still some good stuff because after 2 hours of nothing I decided to go back to the place I found the buckle part and do a deep search. This time switching back to the 11" coil. Got a hit on the Legend, around 40 ish, Not strong enough to register on the ferrous/nonferrous indicators on the legend. A bit wonky swinging from different angles, like so much of the garbage I have pulled from this place. At first I thought it was a coin, but much to my surprise it was my first Civil war button! Man, I thought it was just a common button and as I slowly realized that it was an eagle, man, I was over the moon. Full shank baby! This place was hunted before, I have to believe that, but they left some goodies behind. I may have an option to crawl under the barn which I will for sure. I bet there is good stuff under there. Anyway, as today proved to me, don't give up, change things up, and stuff will show up. Happy digging mates!

April 8 1937 Last night we were awoken to the hellish sounds of the bobcats once again. I had forgotten how loud they could be with their screeching. It was around 3:00 in the morning and the stars were all shining and it was cold. I couldn’t go back to sleep so I sat up and got the campfire going again. I could see the silhouette of Sarge over at his post with his trusty BAR. Ben was down near the road with the Thompson. I poured a small whiskey and thought about Jed. I was sure he was watching me from somewhere. Just before daybreak I heard Ben holler from down below and there was a burst from the Thompson. Sarge hollered out to wake the crew if they weren’t already up. They all came out of their tents with weapons in hand. Ben hollered up that a couple of guys had gotten past him. Then I heard Sarge holler out halt and he fired the BAR. I saw two guys standing near camp to the south. Ben had come up behind them and Sarge had them at gunpoint. They were both drunk. They were cursing at us and said they wanted the dirty cowards that had beaten up their brother at the tavern last year. It seemed that the town folk already knew we were here. John walked over to confront them. Will and I walked over and so did Sarge. John got within a few steps of them and told them their brother was a thief and got what he deserved. I told them we were here to work and wanted to be left alone. I said that if they wanted a fight then now was the time. They just stood there cursing and calling us all kinds of names. John walked up to them and cracked the closest one on the jaw with his fist. Sarge rammed the other one in the side with the butt end of the BAR. They both went down hard. One of them had a pistol and Sarge relieved him of it. The first one got up and John cracked him again. The other one didn’t want anymore. We dragged them down to the creek and threw them in the icy water. They came crawling out cursing and hollering and staggered down the mountain to where their car was parked. I told them not to ever come back and tell the same to all the rif raf in town. After all that we had a good breakfast while we talked over the situation. John didn’t think they’d be back. I wasn’t so sure. Then we got to work setting pumps and running water line. Tomorrow we will take the tom up to the dig site and start washing gravels. I am hoping for a quiet night. TO BE CONTINUED .........................

April 7 1937 I am probably getting everyone out here a little early in the season. It is still cold with a mix of rain and snow at times although there is no snow on the ground today. John and Will were first to arrive on site followed by Hudson. We all shook hands and cracked open a bottle of Bushmills in Jed’s honor. There were many tears shed and his ghost is everywhere I look. Somehow we will move forward without him and Jack. A few hours later we were setting up camp and heard the familiar rumble of Sarge’s White truck. He and Ben had arrived. They gave me their condolences and said they wished that Jed had left with the rest of the crew. I had tried so very hard to talk him into leaving with us but he wouldn’t hear of it. It is all in the past now. We are setting camp at the lower site to the south where we ended the operation last season. I am going with what Jed wanted which was to finish the south kettle. There is a little less than half way to go and we know there is gold there so it makes sense. We finished up with the camp today. Sarge and Ben scouted the area to set up watch posts as well. They have brought out all the same weapons from last year and the crew is feeling safe. We’ll have a good supper and get some sleep. Tomorrow we will set the pumps and run the water line up to the kettle. If we are lucky we should be mining in two days. There has been no sign of any activity up here in our absence. Thieves are lazy. They don’t want to work for gold but will steal it after it has been mined. I will not let that happen. TO BE CONTINUED ..........................

I guess I'll throw my two crusty zinc cents worth of opinion on this subject too. I have both the 800 and D2 at this point. I have thousands of hours on the 800, but, only a couple dozen hours on the D2, so, admittedly this isn't a totally fair comparison until I get many more hours on it and get used to it's differences and quirks. These are just my initial impressions of the D2, and what I like and dislike. Like: 1. the weight 2. the collapsibility 3. The adjustability and number of canned programs as well as the extra custom slots. 4. More robust waterproofing 5. Turning on/off the detector also turns on/off the headphones 6. Not having to mess with any cables, which will make coil changes (whenever they actually have a 13" one for sale) even easier 7. Coil mount/bolt/tensioning design....at least so far, although I'm not a fan of a rear mount. 8. The depth seems very good with a stock 9" coil. Can't wait to see what a 13" one will do! Don't like, or like less than the 800: 1. The menu tree....more like a forest than a linear tree. Not very intuitive IMO (ie. the number of tones choice is under the discrimination expert heading? WTF?) 2. No threshold tone available in anything except in Pitch. (I like full tones) 3. Having to use 2 different buttons to use the pin point feature...one to turn it on, a different one to turn it off. Idiotic... 4. Turning off the machine erases many current settings unless you save the program 5. The need to stop and add the antenna to walk into the surf 6. No depth meter 7. I can't seem to get as close to playground equipment or metal fences as I can with the 800, even with the 9" compared to the 800's 11" or 12 X 15". It seems to be much more sensitive to large nearby iron. Things I'm undecided on, or, on the fence about: 1. The tones/sounds....always hated the original D1 sounds. The square tones are a real improvement, but, still not as good as the 800 or many other machines I've owned. They might grow on me over time 2. The backphones. I like the weight and the tone quality is good. They just don't feel right yet. 3. Silent search. I have always used a threshold tone and feel "naked" without it. 4. The D2 seems a bit less sensitive to tiny mid conductors at depth than the 800. Still testing that though. 5. The flexy lower shaft is actually a bit worse than the factory 800.....didn't think that was even possible! Doesn't really bother me, though I would prefer some nice light and stiff carbon fiber. On a side note.....some taller people (I'm 5'11") will find that lower shaft a bit short. I have it all the way extended and it's adequate, but, not much more than that. I'll add more as my caffeine deprived brain triggers more thoughts.......

Gold found in in Pima County, Arizona. There's still BIG GOLD NUGGETS in Arizona!

It's still there, read the pick section carefully, it'll give you a giggle. Most seem to skim over it and not notice, I know I did the first time I read it.

By all means give me a hoy if you do get down this way….you’ve been invited back a couple of times to the same place so you can’t be too much of a unit😀

I had to read it again, I missed it the first time, better take a screenshot before it's gone forever 🙂 N is nowhere near L on the keyboard so it wasn't a typo, it was a brain fart, something was on Gerrys mind when he typed that 🙂

I agree with everything Gerry said about the Nox coil differences but there is one more thing to add, the only major advantage I can see to the 10x5" Coiltek over the stock 6" when looking for nuggets is the stock gets the best depth on tiny nuggets at the center of the coil, in rocky areas or bedrock cracks and so on you may not be able to get the center of the coil over the target as well, with the 10x5" the most sensitive piece on the coil to very small gold is the nose and tail meaning you can push the nose up into places and retain the maximum sensitivity giving it an advantage over the 6". Aside from that benefit I prefer the 6" as overall it's more sensitive.

Was able to get out yesterday and hunt a couple of different rivers. I had to pay my dues today though. I dug a lot of trash for several keepers. First place I dug up a lot of lead and a silver toe ring. On the way home from the first stop, I hit a crossing and was able to come across a 14k wedding band and a pet crematory tag which is a first for me.

Nice list Gerry, one made from lots of years of experience. Steve's list is great as well. The nice thing about both lists, and the added details provided by others, is that a rookie wouldn't really know where to start, so you've both provided hard-earned wisdom on what is needed while chasing the nuggets out there in the wilds. All the best, and thanks for taking the time to post your list, Lanny

I used to use permethrin but it breaks down your clothing. Deep Woods Off works and I just spray cuffs of pants, waistline and shirt cuffs. Some on the cap to keep mosquitos off your face.

I don't worry about that much except on larger coils. It's just lack of coils in general. Ironically Minelab gets beat up for that a lot, and XP usually gets a free pass on the subject. But yeah, why does XP rear mount the coil ears? Makes no sense for anyone to do that that I know of.

Guess that makes you an "influencer" now.

Yep my best friend (42 years of age, was in perfect health) got Lymes 6 years ago. He went from a muscular 175 pounds to 128 pounds. Treatments are not covered by insurance and he's probably $50k out of pocket now. Like everything else it probably effects everyone differently but who wants to take the chance? I never discount the experiences of others. I got bit by a black widow at school and all I got was a bad golf ball size swelling on my elbow (and some pain) whereas others might have died. To top it off I got no spiderman type of superpowers.

Congrats! I just got junk bling on my recent beach trip, but it was fun and I learned a lot about the D2 and the inadequacies in my scooping technique in rough surf.

This will preserve it!

I was going to dust off my T2 when this coil came out for it, I have a real soft spot for my T2 as it was my first high end detector at the time, although by today's standards its fairly lacking it's still quite fun to use and a joy to swing. Party why I was hoping a Multi Freaker would come out from Fisher as I was hoping they'd put it into the same body as the existing T2/F75 and they'd not chip the coils to prevent the aftermarket going nuts making a big range of coils for them like Minelab and Nokta have done with theirs.

I always have a leatherman in my pack. I also carry Silicone tape or self fusing tape in my truck. For VLF hunting I bring my crevice tool for bedrock hunting and a McCloud for raking tailing piles down. https://www.thefirestore.com/Fire-Hooks-Unlimited-Wildland-McCloud-Tool?handle-options=210&gclid=CjwKCAjwyryUBhBSEiwAGN5OCFtI-zPb91w_M3NURsgLXTZ-r9i6VJQTbxdsjQwcO8DLgBrkaIIE-hoCn_cQAvD_BwE

Time to go to work…….that’s if I can drive in a straight line 😂

The 6" round is better on the smallest nuggets, but you gain a little extra ground coverage with the Ellip. The 10" Ellip is better than the stock 11" round on small gold but the 11" round has greater depth on bigger gold. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the good advice, strick, particularly on the balance issue. I take a different view on equipment in this case, though. I'm an occasional prospector (maybe a week a year with a detector, two if I'm lucky). Investing another $100+ for a second pick is money that can be better spent in my case. My legs aren't getting any younger and I need a walking device while minimizing weight, so having a pick do double duty makes sense there. I'm a buyer but not a seller, so the short handled Hodan would effectively become a museum piece. (Note I didn't destroy the original handle -- so reversible, always my intent.) On top of all that I like to tinker. Here are a couple pictures of the 'finished' device: The brass mounting boss is a fluid plug of some sort which I found detecting and modified for this purpose. At the top of the photo is shown a piece of steel angle with a vehicle lug nut epoxied onto it. I will test this in the next couple days to see how easy/difficult it is to break apart. Now with the magnet screwed into place (with medium strength thread locker compound): I made an ethafoam cover for the magnet to minimize unintended 'attachments' during travel. I'll probably lose that during the trip, but at least I'll get out to Nevada with it providing some protection. One mod I didn't mention was carving down a 36" long single bit axe handle to mate with the Hodan head. I much prefer some kind of tapered butt end on my tool shafts -- never understood the value of straight handled shafts. OK, I'll check back in a month to report on the success or lack thereof.

I have never installed the strap on any of my detectors. I have never needed them. Great post. 👍

Either a weird coincidence or they are monitoring forums because they have deleted the Etrac and updated the News section just since I posted about them not updating the websiite.

Steve H...I agree! I personally posted what club claim I found several nuggets on in the El Paso mountains. I had gone over and over the claims and did share the info. I even took a several friends in the club there. If they can be successful then I'm happy for them and would like to bring a big smile to their faces. One person had a GPX6000 and I knew he could get deeper than I could with my EQ800...so unless and until I pull the trigger on a 6000..best of luck to him. I have to say though that most times in life..not always, that I find how you treat people is reciprocated. The 6000 owner offered to split everything he found. he was not successful but he offered to go out together and let me get some hands-on-time with his 6000 and I am going to take him up on it.

I am not saying my way is the best or anything like that, but I figure for newcomers at least some idea of what a person might need detecting would be helpful. Click images for larger versions. Steve in the field This is what I look like out detecting. In Alaska I would probably be in a rain jacket and mosquito headnet but things are a bit nicer down south! Main thing to note here is I am using a small camelback style rucksack which serves three purposes. It is my detector support harness, it contains some essential items, and it gives me a quick sip of water when I need it. The GPZ 7000 bungee clips to my right shoulder next to the water tube. The speaker module goes on the left shoulder under my good ear. I pretty much always use the module unless wind forces me to go to headphones. The bungee wanted to pull off my shoulder but I found a simple solution by routing it under the cross strap that connects the shoulder straps. I use the standard GPZ 7000 velcro/clip on the detector itself to attach the bungee. I really like how easy it is to disconnect from the detector while digging, etc. which is also facilitated by the remote speaker. Closeup of bungee routing The rucksack is a freebie I got at the Minelab convention a couple years ago (thanks Minelab). It is an Urban Peak Hybrid Hydropack with 2 liter water capacity and for a item I got quite by chance it turns out to be about perfect for me and my use. My rucksack/bungee harness I use the GPS system built into the GPZ 7000 pretty religiously these days but still am also using my Garmin GPS which is clipped to my left shoulder strap for easy access. You can see in the right hand belt pocket the GPZ 7000 ferrite ring ready to use if I ever need it. Here are the contents of the rucksack: Items in the rucksack The waterproof container in upper left has basic first aid supplies, bandaids, pain killers, moleskin, lighter, emergency blanket/tarp, etc. Next is a plastic baggie with emergency toilet paper. Then a cheap plastic disposable poncho in case I get caught by a sudden downpour. A plastic spoon and a Swiss Army knife. Next row some waterproof first aid tape good for lots of things. Some parachute cord. A Delorme InReach emergency satellite communications device. A digital scale with cover and 10X loupe/magnifier with cover. A Garrett AT Propointer and finally, my camera. Often a spare GPZ battery or food or other items join this stuff but these are the items always with me. I have long been a fan of the White's belt pouch (P/N 601-0066 $14.95). It has three main compartments and two little side compartments with velcro closures. The largest main compartment gets all the trash I find. A smaller compartment has my gold bottle and maybe my camera or a water bottle. The third compartment is a holster for my digging scoop. One of the two side compartments has more emergency toilet paper (can't have too much) and maybe spare AA batteries if I am using a VLF. The belt is nothing special just a nylon utility belt. It has a nylon pick holder mounted to hold my pick when I am not actually using it. Trash and goodie pouch with side compartments Finally, the pick. In Alaska I hunted tailing piles a lot and so favored picks with big hoe digging implements. Now with the GPZ I want the metal at a minimum and I find I do not need a digging hoe so much in the desert and such down south. So this is a Hodan 24" digging pick which does all I need. It has a super magnet stuck on the head, with a small hose clamp placed ahead of it that keeps the magnet from sliding off when I dig aggressively. Digging pick Oh yeah, the gloves. I always wear gloves to protect my hands when digging and just in general. I have had people comment that some of my photos must be staged because my hands are always clean! Anyway, that's about it. I am going to put my camera in a pouch on my left shoulder right under the speaker module so it is always handy. I saw a bunch of antelope recently and the camera was in the rucksack. No good as sometimes you only get seconds for a good photo. Other than that I am pretty happy with my setup. Like I said, it is not what everyone needs and lacks some things some people might need, but it at least offers an idea and suggestion for things to consider. Urban Peak Hybrid Hydropack

Welcome, Jeff! Quite a few ghost towns and abandoned train stops in your state, so good finds still await. What coil(s) do you have for your Vaquero?

xp -orx 9 inch x 35 coil

Welcome to the forum Jeff we are glad to have you here. What type of detector do you use, and have you found much of the shiny stuff? We love stories and pictures of the adventures so please share some when you get a chance. Good luck and good hunting.

Today I got the deepest piece of gold I have dug to date. Using my 6000 I was detecting an old push in the Cargos. It was a very faint signal that got a little stronger with each boot scrape. I started removing more dirt with my pick and the signal kept getting stronger. When it was finally out and in the pile the hole was deeper than the coil turned on edge. I was real slow and careful about removing the target so I did not bury it. This thing was coil on edge depth. The orientation had to have been very flat. I only wish it would have been a little more portly. This is the first PI machine I have ever used and I am pleased with it.

Yes, Minelab offers the discount as well.

The first effective vaccine for Lyme disease is coming soon GC https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/valneva-and-pfizer-report-further-positive-phase-2-data

How many people searched “CC coil” to figure out what it meant? 🙄 (insert paper bag on head emoji here) I am finding that I really like the DD though, not only just for its EMI handling, but also for its double sided response to shallow targets- that’s pretty useful for locating them.

JT Before you purchase another detector dust collector, consider how you want to use that detector then figure out if your lifestyle actually allows you time to use it. Not sure your current situation, but from what I can tell you started out with some light beach detecting decades ago then moved to the mountains and haven'treally detected since. Two very different detecting environments. The Minelab you sold had the versatility to handle them both as well as other situations. The Legend, when it finally comes out may have similar versatility. I usually advise someone who is just getting into the hobby to join a local detecting club, understand the varied types of metal detecting pursuits (e.g., beach detecting for jewelry and coins, park detecting for coins/jewelry, relic hunting for historic artifacts, gold prospecting, contest hunting, and water hunting to name a few). All of these pursuits are very different, generally require you to be comfortable in the elements and require additional gear to aid in target recovery suited to the environment you are detecting in (e.g., electronic target pinpointers and sand/water scoops for beach hunting, shovels for fields, and diggers and other implements for recovering targets from turf while leaving no trace). It's a lot less about getting the most expensive or highest performing detector (they all excel at different aspects of detecting depth, separation, hot ground, salt beach). It's more about value and versatility and knowing enough about what you really want it for vs. what it can do. Just like using Tiger Woods golf clubs does not make you great at golf, a top end detector doesn't make detecting easy. It's more about location, research, access, and really learning your detector whether it costs $200 or $2000. It involves understanding the local laws regarding detecting access to public sites like beaches and parks (access is not a given) or securing permissions to private property generally through door knocking (if you have no local access to sites you are going to have to hit the road and find them - I have to drive at least an hour to any of my sites, the Beach, or to meet up at buddies' permissions). It involves hours of digging junk sprinkled with moments of joy digging keeper targets. It is relaxing and peaceful or frustrating and tedious depending on your attitude and point of view. It is about research, discovery, treasure, passion, friendships, busting chops, practical jokes, and natural beauty. It's about poking around burned out neighborhoods, spider infested shacks, poison ivy, being chased by dogs or bears, and possibly getting shot at, dehydrated, snakebit, or injured. It's about gold or silver shining as bright in your plug as the day it was lost. It's about holding a piece of history in your hand, a uniform button lost 200 years ago or a lead bullet carved by a soldier to look like a chess piece to stave off hours of boredom. It's scooping a platinum and diamond encrusted ring from a slurry of wet sand... It's anout filling up junk buckets with pull tabs, cans, bottlecaps, plow parts, broken toys, ketchup packs, and nails. Bottom line, be sure you want to really pursue this hobby before you start dropping a lot of bucks on gear. Consider a capable entry level detector such as the Nokta Simplex, ML Vanquish, or Garrett Apex and save yourself some $$ up front. You can always invest in a more capable detector if you get hooked and then will have a spare backup detector if your flagship goes on the fritz. See if you can tag along with a detecting club member or local detectorist, borrow their gear, and see if detecting is really your thing. Then once you figure out just how you want to use thar detector and determine whether your lifestyle can accommodate the time commitment involved, we can really advise and help you ultimately decide the right machine for your needs and for some unique new adventures and fun. If I am totally misreading the situation, my apologies. I just want you to get off on the right foot and enjoy the hobby. Wish someone had given me this advice when I was first starting out. Wasted a lot of time and money. But finally figured it out and got hooked after seeking out some local folks who showed me the ropes. Good Luck HTH.