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Despite the frozen ground, my brother Jim and I got out for a few hours on some new ground and got some sub-grammers. Being housebound, forces us to take a chance sometimes. Anyway, we got some with the Gold Bug 2 & GPX 6000, along with a bunch of square nails, shotgun pellets, bullets and bits of steel. We quit digging on quite a few signals, due to hard frozen ground, though. We'll check them next spring.

Hey Guys, Due to my limited time, I haven't had much time on the new Garrett Axiom metal detector. However, my first impression on the unit were pretty good. First, the new Garrett sells for MAP of $3995 or 15% discount for USA Active/Retired Vets. I believe Garrett marketed this unit to fit perfectly into the budget of most gold prospectors and treasure hunters. They also give you the option of two packages, one with wireless headphones and a 11" Mono and 13" DD, or wired headphones and a 11 DD and 13" Mono. Many of my customers have been split on the packages, the ones that want more depth out of the box seem to take the larger Mono packages, while the ones that are looking for max sensitivity to small targets and nuggets go with the 11" Mono. Secondly, overall the unit is very light, lighter than any other gold hunting Pulse Induction metal detector including Minelab's GPX 6000. I also believe Garrett built a bit better design, haven't seen issues with a shaft turning or wobbling as of yet, seems like a stronger design from other similar manufactures. Finally, on the Goldfields, the unit was very stable overall. I used the 11" Mono the entire time the first trip out as I wanted to just get used to the performance of the unit before dabbling too much with the DD and Iron ID. That being said, Garrett does offer the Iron ID on this unit, where most other PI's have done away with any type of iron discrimination (GPX 5000 and prior). Many believe there is still a need or use for Iron ID in trashy locations, which I do tend to agree. The unit was simple to understand without even reading the Quick Start Manual. I charged the Axiom the night prior, let it charge overnight and removed in the morning prior to the hunt. I powered on the Axiom, adjusted the sensitivity, placed in Normal mode, Tone around 55, adjusted my threshold, used in Medium Tracking then did the EMI tune and started hunting. The unit ran really smooth and stable, the only time it was a bit unstable, which happens with most detectors is when a airplane flew over. This would last a minute or two, then calm down. Believe it or not, my first target in a very trashy area was a nice nugget (pictures will come). I couldn't believe it, had to yell over to a friend and say, "Dude do you believe this?" That being said, I spent the next hour or so digging through a bunch of trash and didn't find another piece until later. I only had a few small hotrocks respond, which could easily be ID's when seen. I ended the trip with 4 nuggets, two pretty nice ones and two smaller ones. I also had a nice pouch full of iron rubbish, as I was not using the DD or Iron ID on the Axiom at the time. This will be something else I need to experiment with, as I heard the Axiom does very well with the Iron ID mode. I was hoping for a bit more sensitivity to small targets, as I was running the "sensitivity" almost all the way, but realized later I wasn't in "Fine" mode, which I believe will increase the overall sensitivity to small gold even more than the "Normal' mode. Quick Conclusion - Garrett did a great job on this unit, it's priced right, performs well, very lightweight and will have other searchcoil options available. The unit is super easy to use, almost a turn on and Go detector. I know there are a ton of people going to ask, is it better than the GPX 6000, I'm not going to say that, but I think with the price, performance and a USA made detector, Garrett hit a "Home Run" here. P.S. I don't claim to be an expert on this detector, I have had very limited time on it, but do have over 30 years detecting experience now, so I felt I could give a fair, quick field test on this new Garrett Axiom. May all your targets be Golden! Rob

My season in Canada is over now and here’s a look at the good stuff. I finished with 13 gold rings, all with the Deus 2. I hunt fresh water usually waist to neck deep and thus rely almost solely on the audio of the D2. Until this year I’ve only ever hunted with Excaliburs. I have to say, all the programs, modes and settings on this thing were a little overwhelming to me at first and I wasn’t having fun the first few times out. All the discussion on this forum has helped a lot. Being in fresh water I tried several of the inland programs and settled quickly on the General (1) program due to stability and quiet operation. I see General is the only inland program that uses Conductive Soil Subtraction like the Beach/Dive programs. I prefer Pitch Mode for its indication of target depth by pitch, especially on the beaches that classify well. The quiet operation of General (1) combined with pitch mode and a higher Audio Response (5) really lets me hear those deeper targets. Surprisingly when I get a lower pitch audio response indicating a deep target; it actually turns out to be a legitimate size deep target and not a smaller scrap sitting near the surface. The low notch I’m using may be helping in that regard. I run a notch from the point of discrimination (7) to 28. I tried running with and without it and found that using the notch greatly helps me avoid wasting time digging micro crap, especially given most of the time I can’t see the remote. I could possibly be missing fine chains or very small gold but it certainly looks like I’m doing ok in the small ring department. I don’t know the vdi’s for all the rings but the one to the left of the penny was 34. In a quest for depth I started using very low Reactivity but found that combined with my lower underwater sweep speed, I was getting weaker target responses. After some testing I found bumping the Reactivity up to 2.0 greatly improved the target response. There’s definitely seems to be some great descriptive audio. I don’t have a good understanding of it yet so I’ll be digging lots for a while. I asked a friend with a Deus 1 what audio quality he looks for in a good target and his answer was “Smooth”. I think that’s a good word to describe it. I’m using the GGA phones and love them. They have tons of volume, but they do use the Bone Phone output you’re limited to square. At this point I do still feel like I can size and shape a target better with an Excal in All Metal. I don’t expect to learn the Deus 2 audio overnight. Looking at the results of this first season, what really stands to me is the high ratio of small rings I found. 7 out of 13 (54%) were smaller, penny size rings. Typically for me only 10-15% would be small rings like that. It could certainly be just blind luck however my gut feeling is the Deus 2 had a strong hand in it. I’m sold; this thing is a serious water machine! Did I mention its bloody deep? Very happy with the D2 and can’t wait for spring to come. Any feedback from Deus veterans greatly appreciated. Good luck all.

I had a QED (PL3) on loan for a while and, honestly, I was a bit disappointed with it. I considered it a little better than the TDI, but not as much as I expected. I found it to be noisy and temperamental, and the weird 2-step threshold adjustment was just awful. This particular unit didn't have the 3D printed parts I've heard about, instead I found the mechanicals to be perfectly reasonable. In any case, the Impulse Gold was clearly outperforming the QED in the tests I was able to do. Given that Garrett did a really nice job on the Axiom (way better mechanicals than we can do) I would expect to be south of the Axiom price. Some PI detectors have simpler designs that are cheaper to build. I designed the TDI-SL to sell for $999 MSRP and it could have been sold for $600 with good margins. Probably the Sea Hunter, even with that enclosure, is not expensive to build. The Impulse AQ (and Gold) are difficult to build, especially for FTP which is accustomed to mass assembly-line production. We are still struggling with the AQ, which is why it's been such a challenge to ship detectors. That's one of the key issues to address on the Gold before it goes into production.

I hit the hills with the Axiom again early this morning. After a 1 hour hike I arrived several ridges higher above my main patch from last trip. There are faint old-timer workings here and the plan was to make the spot "pay" up. Well, no luck again, skunked for the 5th time. But, I had my aces in the hole, a mini patch and medium patch on the way back to rework to hopefully end the day with some gold. Things turned out ok and I did manage 3 nuggets, the first 2 with the 11x7 mono and last with the 13x11DD. The first was a .33g I missed 10ft. from where my ML SDC 2300 got a 1.62g nugget at the mini patch and later a .14g nugget 3in. down at the medium patch. I swapped in the 13x11DD and got the final nugget a .13g that came out after the first scrape with the pick. The takeaways are gold sources aren't necessarily higher up from patches, the Axiom is very sturdy and nugget #1 was found smashing short bushes where the SDC had been. And the 13x11DD hot spot in the center of the coil found the smallest nugget of the day. I definitely agree with Steve H.'s warning to not try to overdo the sensitivity on the Axiom. I did a factory reset today and repaired my headphones, but ended up using my Sunray Pro Golds. I had the same issues as my first trip with the connection. I kept sensitivity at factory 4 with headphones. Higher is a bit loud on the ears and you start to get ground noises if the ground is highly-mineralized. I ran a bit noiser than I usually do, but all in the name of science. Related to the sensitivity control, I noticed I had to "juggle" settings for threshold, sensitivity and volume to get things sounding smooth and not over-driven. My settings for speaker use and headphone use differ greatly. I used way lower settings for headphones so watch out for that. One nice surprise that I might be imagining is the overload response to targets is shorter than for other PI machines I've used. Nice to get the blaring over with quicker. Maybe the Axiom has a faster recovery speed doing that. Spot #1 today had a part of it burn in a wildfire. I run across spots of carbon from burnt stumps or roots there and they've sounded off using my ML GP3000 and SDC. I did get some noise today too, so the Axiom responds to charcoal like the other PI. However, I ran all day in automatic ground tracking and it smoothed things out a lot so most burn spots weren't an issue. I tried a manual balance for a brief time and those charcoal spots got really noisy, so back to auto ground tracking for me. At times spots of ground get a bit noisy. A few pumps with the ground balance button pressed and back to quiet operation. Very quick and easy to do and works great. The Axiom likes certain hot rocks, but I get the same response to them on my ML GPX 6000 here. I get some occasional extremely heavy, dark magnetite of good size in the area. The larger ones deeper got me excited with faint signals and I dug several. It seems the golf-ball sized ones fooled me. At least those are easy to spot once out of the hole. I know you can tune out hot rocks with the Axiom, but since I only ran across half a dozen there was no need. I'll possibly add more as thoughts occur to me and try to answer any questions people have. I didn't do any empirical testing today, just beep and dig.

See this video starting at the 1:40 mark. Hold the ground balance down for a full ten seconds. That is done to make sure nobody engages the window mode by accident. Keep in mind that normally when you push the ground balance button, the machine resets each time to whatever new conditions you are programming in. If you go ten seconds and open up the GB window, the machine is now in an accumulative mode. This can be useful for more than just hot rocks. Like those hot patches in burn areas, or clay patches, whatever. It broadens the ground balance system to work on multiple items. It is wise to use it with care and only when needed, but can also work miracles if properly used. The video shows a simple L type balance where you pump over the ground then wave over the hot rock. In reality I just play with the ground and the hot rock or hot patch until both mellow out. It may take waving or pumping or both. You can choose how aggressive you want to be by how you do it. Anytime you think you have dialed in too much, just reset the system by releasing the button, and then pressing again, to engage the regular simple ground balance. Very important to know! If you have a perfect window set into the machine, pressing the ground balance button again after that will clear the window, and start you over with regular ground balance. It's quick and easy, but every once in a while leads to an "oops" wish I had not pressed that, and you have to start over. Once people learn the ground balance system it will prove to be a real weapon for areas where other detectors drive you out due to too many hot rocks and hot spots in the ground. Now here is some really crazy stuff to experiment with. I only did this once, but now it is out there for people to explore and share. The ground balance window works on almost anything. I tried it by ground balancing on a nail, it knocked it out completely, and it still picked up coins!! Now, I have no idea where the limits are on this yet, and what gets eliminated when you do this, but the fact is you can use the ground balance window to tune out most anything, and still find other stuff. This may blow the relic market for the detector wide open. Or not. Just depends at what cost in lost targets comes with this method. But right off hand it looked to me like I could tune out some common ferrous targets and still have at least some response left on many coins, so you can bet I'll be playing more with this in the future. You can use the tones on the Axiom to separate small/low conductive (hi-lo tone) from large/high conductive (lo-hi tone). You have the iron check grunt for shallow ferrous. And now you have a fully capable ability to block out single target response areas with the ground balance, just like with the TDI, but in a dual ground balance machine. This should help alleviate the severe "hole" that developed when you used the ground balance as a disc control on the TDI. With the TDI out of production, we now have an even more powerful alternative available with a similar capability via the Axiom. Lots to look forward to and experiment with in this detector for sure.

He probably just saw some sucker using the new Chinese GDX 8000 with built in touchscreen, MP3 and movie player.

There is an "Impulse Gold" in development. I field tested it in June and it works pretty well, sees sub-grainers about the same as the SDC. There were some minor issues that needed addressing and FTP moves at glacial speeds so that's still in the works. Otherwise, there are other developments on the VLF/MF side but I have no exposure to those.

I know these nuggets are not huge or even close to it, but I enjoy seeing some of my customers success and their recoveries. These 2 pics just came in from a customer in AZ who took the Axiom out for it's 1st voyage. He used the 11" MONO coil and recovered them 3 to 4" deep. Hopefully more customers will be sharing their success. I'm certain the upstate guys like me are pretty much frozen in for the season so south we need to go.

I'm currently doing comparison testing between the production model Axiom and the GPX 6000; it's not scientific by any means, just observations for my own information, but I will report my methods and observations on the Metal Detector Advice and Comparisons forum when I'm finished. And there will be gold pics. 🙂

Who enjoy's digging holes besides me? Using an excavator is lots of fun but sometimes it can be even better if you use a pick and shovel. There is something exciting about hole digging. You never know what is lying just below your feet. I'm always looking for gold but sometimes you fing unexpected treasures. Old coins, nails, buckets, tuttle tooth saws, jewelry, cans, bottles, gems, etc, etc. Besides the possibility of finding interesting and forgotten items it's also great exercise. So I say, if you are feeling bored, go dig a hole. You just might find something cool. Happy digging!

I can echo Rob's impressions having used my Axiom out 2 days hunting in northern California last week. It was easy to just grab and tuck into my backpack. I appreciated the light weight and nice build quality and once at my site it didn't take long at all to get started swinging. While its not ML SDC 2300 easy to set up in seconds, it isn't difficult at all, and I do appreciate the availability of multiple controls to change plenty of settings to ones I prefer. I found 4 small, and 1 larger nuggets in the two days out on previously searched ground. My machine ran perfectly stable related to EMI. Even passing planes or swinging my coil on slopes didn't affect it. Very nice. I primarily used the 11x7 mono, but found one .13gram shallow nugget with the 13x11DD too. My really hot ground did elicit ground noises, but it does for all of my PI machines. You have to use the sensitivity control to get this smoothed out. The jury is still out for me on maximum depth and sensitivity possible with the Axiom since I reworked old spots where larger coils and other machines have been, but first impression is both are quite good and I definitely think in new areas, you won't miss much.

Small coins can be interesting. Chuck

Exactly right, Norvic. I am the same way. Early in my detecting life someone once close to Jim Straight told me that Jim would get excited about every single nugget he found, didn't matter the size. That story has stayed in my mind ever since and has made a lasting impression on me, especially considering what gold he found over his career. A true gold prospector cherishes gold, no matter what. GC

This forum has been running for ten years now. I have never done anything to weed the database down in all those years, and it is getting way too full of stuff that does not need to be there. A big one is people who have registered over the years, but never posted. The so-called Lurkers. That's fine I guess but the reality is there is almost no reason to join the forum if you are not going to post. The content is free for anyone to view without an account, so you are free to lurk all you want, without taking up database space. The only area that is off limits to non-members is in the Downloads area, where I have limited the ability to download the large files to members only. I'm just trying to keep a lid on the bandwidth by keeping outside sites from linking directly to the resources there. Long story short a quick review shows that fully half the members database is comprised of non-posting accounts, going back ten years. I am going to delete all those accounts before the end of the year, except any created in the last 90 days. If you have one of those accounts, and do not want it deleted, you need to make at least one post before the end of the year. This thread will work. Just post anything at all here, and your account will not get deleted. You only need to do this if you have never posted on this website before. If any accounts are being held by spammers, it’s likely to be in this group, so it helps clean that up also. The end result will be invisible to current users, except that the site may get a tiny bit faster once I clear out all the deadwood. These people have never posted, so no actual content gets lost.

"Don't Sweat The Small Stuff" You are probably dialed in.

Hey Guys, I have had a handful of users claim they can locate veins, nuggets, treasure or whatever, but when it comes down to them showing up and doing a presentation for you, they never show. I think LRL's are a scam, never seen anyone use one that can successfully prove it. What I always tell someone, look at the industry experts, hobby end users and even some of the major mining companies, if they are not using one, then that should tell you something. Don't buy into any claims that they are the only ones that know about it, know how to use it right .... blaw ... blaw ... blaw! I'm not a big believer of Dowsing Rods either beyond maybe looking for large metal objects (buried pipes and such) or water. I do know some of the water companies have used Dowsing, but I'm talking about searching for items like coils, gold nuggets and such. I buried a 9+ ounce solid gold nugget and both "expert dowser's" (their words) walked right over the top of the nugget with less than 2 inches of top soil over it. I'm sure all the other "Dowsing Experts" will tell me they didn't know how use them .... Just my thoughts, Rob

Uhhhh… Carl works for FTP last I heard. I’d still buy another Impulse AQ - done right. And would not turn my nose up at an impulse Gold. The one thing the Axiom crew would not give me is a manual ground balance. Not ground grab, actual manual ground balance.

Big ones can be interesting to.

GC, I think you have gold fever as bad as I have, after my years and finds, digging a 0.1g still excites, especially when it`s in a new area that has had no attention from our electronic gold rush nor any past rushes. I also must admit I went through a few years when I lost the fever, but one trip on a whim got it boiling again.

That's all polished up for the class photo

Guess I am safe then LOL even though I venture into other sites this is the site I come to, to see what level headed posters and knowledgeable detectorist post up, I love this site because of all the knowledgeable posters

I don't like digging holes, but I've always found it relaxing to sit down and watch other people dig holes. So for that reason I liked your photo.

Did you ever own a GPX 5000 Gold Catcher? Sounds like a detector well suited to your needs. The 6000 does need more control for the operator than its got available to it, that was always going to be an issue with it, just like it's an issue with the Gold Monster before it, ease of use obviously sells. I expect the GPZ 8000 will have something similar to Geosense automation and few options, perhaps wanting to keep it the top of the line model they'll give a bit more room to move than a fully automatic detector though. I also think the GPZ 8000 will remain quite heavy if they stick to ZVT which they'd be crazy not to do so, the DOD coils have a lot of wire in them, having 3 windings is always going to weigh a lot more than a basic mono. Even if they take the concentric path there is still the mass of wire with 3 loops and if they were wanting to do similar to X-coils this is laid out flat, but if they do a Concentric for it I doubt it would be the primary coil as they're not as good for patch hunting as they are for cleaning up known gold areas. It would need DOD and Concentric offerings. They could lighten it up at the same time weaken it's housing, putting heavier coils on typical GPX coil ears probably wouldn't be a good idea. Yes, they'll get it lighter, but not significantly without causing another ice cream container detector. I think the 6000 could be the last of the PI's, they've worked on PI for decades, ZVT is still in its infancy with only one detector using it and you would think they'll be able to push it further in many ways than the initial release. It's excellent on small gold, deep on small gold, excellent on big gold, deep on big gold, can handle ground and hot rocks very well, It really can do it all and they must be able to refine it further.

Of course the technology can be improved, and people are working on improving it right now. What won't improve is the amount of gold in the ground available to most people. If people really want more gold, they have to get off the known patches and find new ground. But anyone that has done that knows it's no magic bullet either. You have to find something good eventually, because the cost is weeks if not months of finding nothing. Most of us are not full time prospectors, with endless time to spend looking for gold in places where it has never been found before. Another reality there is most of the good stuff relaims on land that needs special access, permission of some sort, and is beyond the reach of the average person who can't get that permission. So quit waiting for and dreaming of a new detector, and just do more research, find better areas. That is how a person will find more gold, not some detector that gives us another 1/2 inch of depth.

Video posted Nov 26, 2022 Prospector Pete gets the honor of working with Minelab Debby and they put the Manticore to use - "This metal detector is not yet available to the public until early 2023, but we take a sneak peek into the features of this machine, it truly lives up to its name! 2-D graph allows you to visualize what is beneath the ground. This unit allows you to size the target and get an idea of what material it is made of. The armrest is new and is designed for ergonomics and comfort. I am very impressed by this unit! I can not say enough about this very impressive metal detector."

Been searching for info on my new machine, Nokta legend and a pulse dive pointer. Came across this forum and I liked what I was reading and how the members interacted.I also read Steve's post about the forum and why it was started.Looks to be my kind of place. The wife and I are getting more into detecting and she has been wanting to go as much as we can on the weekends. We joined a local club, Yankee Territory Coinshooters. We've been able to do a couple club hunts which has been fun. She uses an AT pro and I have my new Legend(bought without her knowing and asked for forgiveness after the box arrived and I was questioned about it). We are enjoying the exercise and the fun of the hunt. I know I will learn from the site and hopefully get good enough to add to the site Thanks Mike

I'm currently doing comparison testing between the production model Axiom and the GPX 6000; it's not scientific by any means, just observations for my own information, but I will report my methods and observations on the Metal Detector Advice and Comparisons forum when I'm finished. And there will be gold pics. 🙂

Mike, You are the winner of the Minelab Vest, Hat and Care Package. Please PM me the ship to address. Also, what size Vest you want?

I kid around above, but i see this attitude out there about running at max and criticizing a detector if you can't hunt with everything set for optimal conditions. Life isn't always optimal. I have some areas i shallow water hunt where there are high power transmission lines running over my head. Most days i cannot get my 800 to be anything close to stable using multi-frequency settings despite efforts with noise cancel and sensitivity adjustments. Here i end up picking either 10kHz or 15kHz as my search frequency and then hunting. Suddenly, things go quiet as a mouse. Some have said, See, what use is a multi-freq if you can't always hunt in multi-freq? To that I've responded that it's great to hunt in multi-freq, but if i can't, i also have in hand a selectable frequency detector that allows me to hunt despite conditions that might otherwise drive me away. I think of it as versatility. I'm excited about learning the new Axiom and exploring some new areas - UtahRich -

Updating to V1.09 (or other upgrades) for The Legend This series of steps worked for me when other did not. Try it if nothing else works! 1) Go to Nokia Website 2) Click on "Metal Detectors", and select "Coin and Relic," and then "The Legend" 3) Scroll Down to, and Click "Software Update" in the Left Column 4) Scroll to " Download: The Legend Update Tool (Windows) Includes System Software V1.09 - V1.07 - V1.05". and click once to Download to your Computer 5) Monitor the Download on the Lower Left of your screen... 6) When the Download is complete, Click : "Show in Folder" 7) Right Click on the highlighted file you downloaded, and click "Unzip All" 😎 You should have a File Called "the_legend_update_tool_v1_6_win"* containing 2 Unzipped Files. One will be"CP210_Windows_ Drivers," and "The_Legend_Update_Tool" *Other files may have different names, of course. 9) Double Click on the "CP210_Windows_ Drivers" File and when it expands, double click on the "X64" and follow the instructions to load the drivers on your computer* *Once you've downloaded and installed the drivers, you won't have to install those again. 10) Double Click on the file: "The_Legend_Update_Tool" (or the upgrade you wish) and click "Run" and follow the instructions precisely, plugging the Legend into your USB Port when asked . Note for Update, after completing the above, do a Factory Reset (Step 8 under V1.09 Features shown below the new features of your download). When you do Step 10 (above) a Step-by-Step tutorial video will open that will lead you through the complete process precisely, Good luck, and if you have corrections, let me know and I will revise my post! Bob

Thanks for the update Carl. Hopefully they get their act together, if not Sell The Fisher part of the company to someone with Passion for the hobby and industry before they kill it. BTW, The Whites TDI is Underrated in some respects - Balance and swing=Sweet, Iron I.D that often is more accurate then my Nox 800 in bad ground.

All really good news I think, thanks for letting us know this sort of information Geotech, it's appreciated and I hope they can pull it off. I understand what you mean about the QED, it seems all over the place, some have quiet running ones some don't. Mine was really good in that way, it ran very quiet and stable but the build quality was terrible with the 3D printing. The newer ones have even more 3D printing, although it's said to be a stronger print type than the one I had. I'm not a follower of that project anymore but I do wish them the best too. The more options in the market the better and the price bracket for the Impulse Gold sounds like it could be very successful, I hope so. It'd be good to see Fisher rise from the ashes as the longer they leave it the further behind they're getting.

Now if you are a true cowboy you need this belt buckle. I don’t remember where I found this.

On more solid gold, 1 gram or bigger, a 20% increase would be huge! My spare Kidney would be on the market to buy that!

The HaHa emoji is probably appropriate, too. That's what most folks think of when they think of FTP.

Thanks. I us a small ultrasonic cleaner and my Dremel with a 1/2" felt polishing pad and Mothers Mag Polish. I think it was OBN that put me on to that.

Just dig where the old man tells you.

I'm reminded of a couple of posts that Gerry made. One was about the 6000 at the end of a year. It found more gold for him and his customers. The second post was about the Axiom. It found him more gold too. I guess something is working.

Jason sounds like a Caltrans RE to me…😂 Arky - who the heck digs perfectly square holes?! 😉. Just kidding, I’ve done it also as a shovel bum! And Ghostminer- hope you weren’t using a 6000 for that cause you long dug up and reburied the target if you were! 🤣 I do have to admit, digging holes can be a lot of things. It can be fun, sad, entertaining, maddening, exciting, frustrating, and educational. But if you ever find yourself in the wrong hole, stop digging!

Sorry about the Ha Ha emoji. My intent was to give Carl a Trophy 🏆 emoji. My finger disobeyed.

Have always liked digging holes. Probably why I became an archaeologist. Also probably why both shoulders are shot!

It is interesting to speculate about the next detector and hope for the improvements that would make it not only easier on ones body, but also gain more of the gold that is in the ground, on the first sweep of the coil. I started with a Gold Bug in 1988 and the only really large gold getting improvement I have seen in all those years was when Minelab introduced pluse induction into the game. I also think the 45k,5k with the NF Evo coil line was a big enough improvement to warrant a upgrade. I didn’t buy every new model Minelab came out with but I have had 6 of them. I went from a Green Box SD2200 to a GP3500 and I really liked getting rid of the constant SD threshold wobble, but I didn’t find that the 35k gave me more depth on bigger gold. My old patches were cleaned out of the bigger nuggets by the 22k, not until the 5k with the Nugget Finder Evo coils did I pull any more multi ounce deep gold off of my old patches, these were few and far between compared to the SD2100,2200 days. I now use mainly a GPX 5k and have given little thought to buying a newer model. I know my machine very well and continue to find gold with it. As for the invisible nuggets, I have a VLF detector that finds those, and after days of using the 5k it is nice to use the light weight VLF for awhile. If I could change anything about the GPX it would a bit cosmetic and a bit internal. Such as wireless, a lighter weight platform and a external speaker. Minelab could work on getting rid of the loud screeming start up signal, the EMI wobble when the detector coil is scanning a side hill and a discriminator that cancels out small iron nails and bits of tin. I believe discrimination may be possible on small iron due to the detectors ability to cancel out iron rich hot rocks. In the fine gold timings I have dug nuggets past rotten small nails that the detector sees as hot ground. So is it possible to have a timing built for patch hunting that cancels out small iron? I have no problem forking over some dough if I don’t ever have to dig another boot tac, small nail or piece of wire!! I like the ability to adjust the detector to my liking for the conditions at that moment. So having that ability is a plus for me with the GPX platform. So I believe there are improvements to be made but not like we experienced when the PI technology first became available. Like others have stated get to know you detector and due your research, it is a big part of being successful at nugget hunting.

Ridge Runner (Chuck) thanks for sharing a nugget of pic. I realize the old days and pics were nothing like we have today. My most memorable times are on 8MM reel when I was a sprout running around on weekends with family and detector in hand. I have no issues with you pic as it brings back memories and that's exactly what this holiday is about, being thankful for so many things, including the early prospects and hard work for the color earned. You name is in the hat my friend. Purplehays69 Now that nugget pic has so many twists and or stories to tell. Oh my I would love to hear just half of the history it could speak. I'll have to look up the mention. Yes there's way more history across that Black Rock desert than many who travel through each day have no clue. Did they happen to fit?🤣.Your name is in the hat my friend. LuckyLundy, (Rick) I have to agree 100% and that's why I used the term "nugget" as there's so many ways to use it. Friends and stories made on gold collecting journeys is most valuable to the soul. The beautiful yellow stuff is just the icing on the cake. Your name is in the hat my friend. HotSauce I can see you have put some time on your coils and the adventures have a golden shine at the end of the road. You've done well my friend. I used to think I would remember all my nicer finds and I probably did for 15 to 25 yrs, but I think the sharp tack mind is starting to wear on me a little. Now I have to use notes and cheat on occasion. The hunt for the next big o gold is always on our minds. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. mn90403 (Mitchel), Gold finds like that can leave an everlasting highs/lows in the soul. There's usually great joy and pride but for some reason a few sour grapes seem to surface as well. I'll check out your story later on. Hopefully those great times and memories with the ones around at the time will last forever. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. geof_junk Silly me.... I have never seen a guys hand so small.🤫 Or could it be your stones are so big? Well either way those memories will last forever my friend. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Glenn in CO My gosh Glenn, that golden dove is just amazing. You are so lucky to have a nugget beside you on every trip and willing to take part. I wish you 2 many more golden years to come. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Arky (Mike) Good to see you and your best find still out there swinging and learning. Each site is different and something to learn all the time. That’s a fine chunky nugget there and most would think around the heavily pounded Quartzsite area, it should have been picked up already. Maybe it was me who boot scraped it and walked, as I have done so many times before. I especially do that in known trashy areas. If site was new to me or if a lot of surface trash, then yes I probably walked and left one for those more determined. Good to see you again last month and hopefully seeing you more down the road. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. oneguy (Scott) that pic is certainly a golden pan full. Many hours and memories to be thankful there. A few really chunky ones as well. Be sure to ask Santa for a new pair of gloves for X-Mas., as I’m sure you need them. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. Norvic Finding that virgin site is something most of us dream of and especially when you are finding golden slugs and fist size sunbakers. You certainly have many hunts and memories to be thankful. I imagine there are a few of those such sites left, but they are certainly getting harder each year. Thanks for sharing and your name is in the hat my friend. deathray I love the shoe plate and to get a complete one if even more rare. The display of Au and the plate is stunning. To hand it over to the landowner is most advantageous in so many ways. I do it quite a bit myself and it usually brings back the “come back any time” comment. Well done and thanks for sharing. Your name is in the hat my friend.

Hello Steve, my only problem is '' he arrives when this Manticore '' I wouldn't have him in my little slipper for Christmas because I live in a small town 6 hours from Paris and I guess he comes by boat, so if it officially comes out on 1 12 22 I won't see it before March at best. And maybe even Santa's Kangaroos haven't started making it. Finally, Happy Holidays to all. Ronan

JCR Everywhere when you been at it for 55 years are more. Chuck

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When I found the 2 trimes that I have, it was with the Nox 800 and had no problem when I got over them. They both rang out loud and clear, but with saying that the NOX always hit the silver loud and clear. I know something smaller than the trime would be harder to find, but if it was under the coil just right it would ring out loud also. Good luck and stay safe.

Here's my entry. I always like to show my appreciation to landowners, for giving me permission, by giving them a display of stuff I found. Just gave this one to a guy this morning.

I used a section of 2” pvc pipe heat molded into a “U”, ground off the remaining ear remnants, and used epoxy putty plus pvc pipe glue to fixate it to the coil. It has worked for over a year. I also bought a 3D printed part that may work, it’s on a backup machine though. I suspect the material is not very strong.