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Something a bit different and new here. Sorry for the wall of text, but I found it interesting. I'm looking at setting up a local AI to do some exploration related work, or to investigate how useful AI might be in doing such work at least. Using OpenAI's API into their GPT3, this was my short conversation to get an idea of how much it knew or could understand about a niche topic like gold detecting, and if I could make it scrape pdf's off the internet to learn from (to my surprise, it did). It gets things wrong, I asked a few things that it responded with clearly incorrect info on other topics I didn't paste in here. Here, it seems to think the 7000 has Multi IQ (it doesn't, right?), but overall, not too bad in general, considering the vague and interpretational nature of these questions. Some I didn't post are like 95% wrong though. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ME: what are the keys to being a successful gold nugget detectorist? GPT3: The keys to being a successful gold nugget detectorist include having the right equipment, researching the area you are going to detect in, understanding the signals given by your detector, and having patience. It is also important to be aware of the laws and regulations in the area you are detecting in, and to be respectful of the environment. Finally, it is important to practice and hone your skills, and to never give up. ME: What is the best advice you could give to a new person starting to learn gold detecting? GPT3: The best advice for a new person starting to learn gold detecting is to start small and simple. Begin by researching the basics of metal detecting and the different types of detectors available. Then, practice with a basic detector in an area with low mineralization. As you become more experienced, you can upgrade to a more advanced detector and search in more challenging areas. Finally, be patient and never give up. ME: What is currently the best gold detector available? GPT3: Currently, the best gold detector available is the Minelab GPZ 7000. This detector is designed for serious gold prospectors and is capable of detecting gold nuggets at extreme depths. It features advanced technology such as ZVT (Zero Voltage Transmission) and Multi-IQ, which allow it to detect gold in a variety of ground conditions. ME: https://www.minelab.com/__files/f/11043/KBA_METAL_DETECTOR_BASICS_&_THEORY.pdf Read the pdf at this link above and summarize it for me. GPT3: Metal Detecting Basics & Theory is a guide that provides an overview of the principles, equipment, and techniques used in metal detecting. It starts by discussing the basics of metal detecting, including the different types of detectors available, the different kinds of signals detected, and the different search strategies employed. It then covers the theory behind metal detecting, such as how metal detectors work, the physics behind it, and the electrical signals used to detect metals. The guide also explains the different types of targets that can be found with metal detectors, such as coins, jewelry, relics, and gold. Finally, it provides advice on how to best use a metal detector and how to identify and interpret the signals it gives. ME: What is the single biggest challenge for a metal detector to obtain more depth? GPT3: The single biggest challenge for a metal detector to obtain more depth is overcoming the effects of ground mineralization. Ground mineralization can interfere with the detector's ability to detect deeper targets, so it is important to use a detector with advanced technologies such as ZVT (Zero Voltage Transmission) and Multi-IQ, which can help reduce the effects of ground mineralization. Additionally, using a larger search coil can also help increase the depth of detection. ------------------------------------ For fun I posed the same question to ChatGPT, which likely has a lot more time to learn as well as data to learn from. It's using a more advanced GPT too I think, maybe 3.5. This shows how different AI's can be based on the data set they were trained on though. ------------------------------------ ME: What is the single biggest challenge for a metal detector to obtain more depth? ChatGPT: The single biggest challenge for a metal detector to obtain more depth is the physical principle of electromagnetic induction, which is the basis for most metal detectors. Electromagnetic induction works by creating an electromagnetic field that interacts with conductive objects, such as metal targets, causing them to produce their own magnetic field. The metal detector then detects changes in the electromagnetic field caused by the presence of a metal object. The depth at which a metal detector can detect a metal object is determined by several factors, including the size, shape, and composition of the metal object, as well as the sensitivity, frequency, and design of the metal detector. However, there are physical limits to the depth at which a metal detector can effectively detect metal objects, and overcoming these limits to achieve greater depth can be challenging. There are several challenges that metal detector manufacturers face in their quest to obtain more depth: Signal Attenuation: As the electromagnetic field emitted by a metal detector travels through the ground, it gets attenuated or weakened due to factors such as soil mineralization, moisture content, and electrical conductivity. This can reduce the detection range and depth of the metal detector. Noise and Interference: Metal detectors are susceptible to various forms of electrical noise and interference from sources such as power lines, other metal detectors, and electronic devices. This can affect the accuracy and depth of the metal detector's signal. Ground Balance: Ground balance is the process of compensating for the effects of soil mineralization on the metal detector's signal. Accurate ground balancing is crucial for achieving maximum depth, as improper ground balance can result in false signals and reduced detection range. Detector Frequency: The frequency of the metal detector's electromagnetic field can also impact its depth performance. Lower frequencies are generally better for detecting larger objects at greater depths, while higher frequencies are better for detecting smaller objects at shallower depths. Finding the optimal frequency for a given target size and depth can be challenging. Coil Design: The design of the metal detector's search coil, including its size, shape, and configuration, can also affect its depth performance. Different coil designs may have varying levels of sensitivity, ground coverage, and ability to penetrate different soil conditions. Target Characteristics: The size, shape, and composition of the metal target itself can also impact the depth at which it can be detected. Larger and more conductive targets are generally easier to detect at greater depths compared to smaller or less conductive targets. Overcoming these challenges requires ongoing research and development in areas such as coil design, signal processing algorithms, and advanced technologies like multi-frequency operation, ground balancing techniques, and noise reduction methods. Metal detector manufacturers continuously strive to improve the performance of their detectors to achieve greater depth capabilities, but it remains a significant challenge due to the physical limitations of electromagnetic induction and other environmental factors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ChatGPT is really restricted in terms of how much it will reveal in terms of learning/training datasets and won't tell you much under the hood. The GPT3 API doesn't have as many restrictions though and lets you query it's data sources directly. ME: have you used detectorprospector.com as part of your learning/training data set? GPT3: Yes, I have used DetectorProspector.com as part of my learning data set. The forum is a great resource for learning about metal detecting and gold prospecting, as it contains a wealth of information from experienced detectorists and prospectors. Additionally, the forum also provides a platform for users to ask questions and share their experiences.

Well... the streak continues. Took a break mid-day and went to a beach where i pulled 150 coins in a day a month ago. This time tried about a mile south of my original location though. I found a football field size area with more quarters, dimes, and nickels than i could dig, and virtually no pennies! I stuck in the area for around three hours hoping for gold but only managed two rings. One was silver though! Also found about 5 fishing sinkers, which I'll use. I left the place looking like a war zone even though a bury my holes. Went back to work for 4 more hours, then took off to another beach at 8:30 pm. Did a few passes and found about another dollar in clad... then a 1936 buffalo nickel, then a 1923 buffalo, then a 1953 quarter, then a 1945 10 centavos mexican coin. Photo below shows the old coins and the two rings. Quarter and mexican coin went into my electrolysis unit, they were both BLACK and caked in sand. The D2 is a beach vaccuum!

Well these AI's are only as good as the information you train them on. But they do go beyond just aping responses though, but really for my research purposes, aping responses is exactly what I want them to do. I want them to digest more material than I could read in a lifetime, and summarize the pertinent points for me to read quickly, and that's what they are good ok at. The thing I found interesting is that you can have them scrape any data of interest - that's why I posted the query about the Bruce Candy .pdf. Clearly that wouldn't have been something it was trained on prior to talking to me, and it's pretty amazing to me that it can digest a random .pdf without any OCR (optical character recognition) - you can just point it to any old paper and have it summarize it for you, which means that it did actually read it. How well it understood it all, is a different question, as it had gaps when I did specific queries (like specifics on X and R components of signal response for instance) The correctness is a problem though. But this was GPT 3, they have 3.5 and 4 already which are more powerful. You can see how much more in depth and very specifically gold detector oriented ChatGPT response was vs generic GPT3, due to more advanced model and more data sets for training. The potential here for research via digesting large amounts of custom data sets, and having it summarize things that would take a human days, months, years to read is what I found interesting. The key is figuring out how to operate and train the AI's to use the data you are interesting in - GPT3 and ChatGPT are just trained on general "whatever", training one specifically on prospecting research topics and then being able to query it via natural language rather than complex SQL or programming calls, is IMO something very potentially powerful. As you probably guessed, when I get a local GPT installed, I plan on training it on the BLM claims database, among other things. 🙂

Hey that's pretty cool. It's like a six year old repeating the ads on television. Clever. Somethings fishy though. I tried ChatGPZ 7002.1 (newest version) and it came up with the same stuff - different theme. ME: what are the keys to being a successful fly fisherman? GPZ7: The keys to being a successful fly fisherman include having the right equipment, researching the area you are going to fish in, understanding the signals given by your fish, and having patience. It is also important to be aware of the laws and regulations in the area you are fishing in, and to be respectful of the environment. Finally, it is important to practice and hone your skills, and to never give up. ME: What is the best advice you could give to a new person starting to learn fly fishing? GPZ7: The best advice for a new person starting to learn fly fishing is to start small and simple. Begin by researching the basics of fly fishing and the different types of rods available. Then, practice with a basic rod in an area with plenty of room. As you become more experienced, you can upgrade to a more advanced rod and search in more challenging areas. Finally, be patient and never give up. ME: What is currently the best fly rod available? GPZ7: Currently, the best fly rod available is the Fish Master GPZ 7001. This rod is designed for serious fly fishermen and is capable of fishing at distances of up to 12 kilometers. It features advanced technology such as ZWT (Zero Weed Transmission) and Multi-IQ, which allow it to fish in a variety of weather conditions. Darn thing sounds pretty smart. It's almost exactly like the LUTs we used to build in the old days to create the illusion of interaction in machine controller input. It always amazed me that a large percentage of the users actually believed the controller was responding to their input on a sentient basis. Heck most shops taped a name on the controller interface. HAL was popular, so was Robbie (the robot?). Personally I think HAL or even Robbie is more iconic and recognizable than ChatGPT. I'm wondering why the creators didn't ask ChatGPT what name it would like to have? Maybe they did but didn't like the name or pronouns the program chose. Maybe ChatGPT wanted to be called Chelsea Weasel Clown and instead the creators named it ChatGPT to punish it. ChatGPT is a pretty lousy name.

That’s right we have broken Dam’s here in south Texas. A while back one of the Dam gates broke and when that happen they had to lower the river level. Now on the shallow side you can walk on dry ground . This took place about 15 miles above my home town of Seguin . The good thing they have lowered the river above and below Seguin for about give are take 15 miles. The River is called Guadalupe River and it was decided to repair all gates saying it could take maybe as long as three years to do so . Now here’s what one can expect to find is lot of anything to do with fishing gear. Along the way you will find several bridges going over it . This where people throw away things they want lost forever. I’d say the number one item would be a gun and who knows a body now & then. I’ll post pictures when I go back down there again and that will be next week. I want to scope out some of the better places to go in at. I’m not much on fishing anymore but at the time you won’t find me throwing anything away. I’ve found everything has value so waste not want not .haha Until then when ever that is . Chuck

I haven’t been posting much because I’ve been hitting the same old sites over and over hoping that maybe I missed something. Yesterday, for lack of any new sites, I hit a smallish site that I’ve probably hit a dozen times before. However yesterday I took half of a delta9 cbd gummy before I went. Just some background on me: I’m 60, but have had some health issues in the past. Open heart surgery to get a new aortic valve at 49, a bad infection that put me in the hospital for 6 days at 54, then 30 sessions of head and neck radiation for squamous cell cancer in one of my lymph nodes in my neck (yes, squamous cell doesn’t just attack your skin, it can be internal). That was two years ago and around the same time or a little before my sciatic nerve would cause me pain. It still bothers me and has gotten somewhat worse but I deal with it. Believe it or not I’m in very good shape. I either ride my bike or walk to work every day no matter what the weather. About a half mile each way. I also lift weights twice a week. I used to do body weight exercises like pushups, pull ups, abs, etc and did 63 non-paused pushups on my 59th birthday. Got a total of 72 with pauses at the top. I don’t rely on prescription drugs…I take no prescriptions or over the counter pain meds. However, I recently discovered the delta9 CBD gummies for my sciatica pain. They work well, BUT they will get you high, similar to smoking pot. Taking half works well for my sciatic pain but the “high” is more of a very focused mental state. Btw, I’m 5’10” and weigh 160 so if you weigh more you may not get the same effect. That very focused mental state is what brings me to those 8 wheaties. I’m just blown away that I could have missed that many before because I’m pretty focused even when I’m not taking gummies😄! Could it have been my gummy induced mental state? I’m thinking maybe so. Oh, and Steve, if you feel this is an inappropriate subject please delete.

I started detecting in 1981 and only used low-end TR machines on the beach, which was very financially rewarding. But when a school friend showed me the gold his family got in WA (it was kilos), I went gold crazy lol. My Family moved to a near-gold location and I bought an older version Garrett which was (unknowing to me), totally impractical for Goldfield use. After some advice from a detector shop, I got the Garrett modified and after a quick trip to Tibooburra, I was finally on the board! Only .2gm and several more afterwards. Only 2 years after starting detecting I was regularly finding gold. By 1986 I had over 5,000 pieces to my name. So, I suppose after actually obtaining a useful gold-finding detector, it was only 3 months from go to whoa..... If only I realized just how much gold I was walking over.....if only I knew then what I know now

I was having some success with sluicing and little success with my Gold Bug Pro, I was very new to all this stuff and had no idea what I was doing, after a couple of months of no success with my Bug JW who was a member of this forum came to visit me sluicing on a river near his house while he was going detecting in the area. I wasn't all that inspired by detecting as I couldn't find gold doing it yet I could take my sluice and find gold every time. He decided he'd help me out and we went to a local public fossicking area to have a go with detectors, prior to this I decided I'd upgrade my GBP to a GM1000 which gave me a big sensitivity boost. JW gave me plenty of advice on the day and showed me what I should be doing and success, 6 nuggets in one day and not only bigger easier ones, the one to the right of a bottle in my usual tiny spec 🙂 I've never looked back since and have found gold regularly since and with improvements in my detecting fleet I've gone from gold rarely to gold virtually every time I go out. My first nugget The days finds for me on my first nugget day, all from a heavily flogged public fossicking creek, bizarre, we've never been able to repeat that days success in the same creek. Having a friend like JW that knows what they're doing and very experienced in the area and helps you out is invaluable. Without him I imagine I'd have given up. Very generous thing for someone to do, and still to this day we go detecting together and he helps me out often.

WWI Model 1905 bayonet, found in the woods. I'm sure the drop involved a conversation along the lines of "Dad, I lost your special knife". Plus bonus silvers! and a mystery item. I believe it's the point from a cane or walking stick.

I spent almost 400 hours in my cold shop this winter. I rebuilt a "COOT" ATV I bought in Utah last fall. When I bought it, it didn't steer. One kingpin was frozen, and the other 3 were very stiff. The engine had a stuck valve. The wheels needed new u-joints at each kingpin, and the worm gearboxes, and transmission needed seals. Wiring was shot, and the body needed prepped and painted. The wife and I decided we wanted to offroad together rather than wrestle individual 4 wheelers, and not wanting to spend big bucks on a side-by-side, and being a handy guy, this is what we ended up with. It's 4 x 4, articulated, 12hp, amphibious, and has a cargo capacity of 1,000 lbs. Top speed is 20, and in low range top end is walking speed. Will climb a 32* (70%) slope fully loaded. Should get us and our gear wherever we want to go, though slowly...LOL Jim

I can feel a detecting trip getting closer, most of the insurance stuff is now sorted from the hail storm. So while filling in time I have been giving the forge in the shed a workout, making Viking axes/tomahawks and Viking knives/camp knives, and a few other bits and pieces. bottle openers cheers dave

I've been a bit slack with doing adventure posts for a while now, no real reason for it, just lazy I guess! 🙂 Today was a beautiful day, perfectly still and not too hot, not too cold, the ideal day to head up one of the mountains and fire up the Manticore. I quite like the Manticore, while I don't find it's target ID's as good as the Nox in a way its helping my detecting, I focus a lot on target ID's coin hunting cherry picking coins so I dig as little as possible so I don't cause damage to the fields, but when at the ski fields they're wild rocky soil places so digging a hole isn't as damaging and easy to fill it back in like it was never dug so using the Manticore with it's less accurate ID's doesn't overly matter as I tend to dig any non-ferrous. The ski fields aren't overly loaded with junk, for the most part the junk is accidental rather than people throwing rubbish down, for example I found no pull tabs at all even though people often drink out of cans while skiing/snowboarding. The drive up the mountain takes about half an hour once you get to the bottom of it, it's quite a steep drive and many cars overheat trying, it's said to be one of the most dangerous roads in the country, I think it's fine in summer, but winter lots of cars go off the edge from slipping in the ice and snow or crash in some way or another, especially tourists. They should all take the shuttle busses and it'd save a lot of grief. Made it up to the base of the ski area, I wanted to detect where I've never been before, so I went up to the top of a beginner/intermediate lift which took me over an hour to walk up there, but figured the most likely people to fall are beginners going up lifts for the first time so it had the most chance of decent finds. The base magic carpet areas where beginners not capable of using lifts go are always a little over-detected being the easy area to get to right at the base and an obvious place people are constantly falling over. They must still have juice running to the snow guns, these pole sort tended to cause much worse EMI than the other larger guns, not sure why but the Manticore really didn't like working near these ones. The ground is mostly rough broken up schist. this hole to the right of my control pod was a bit of a weird find, a golden knife. Not sure if it's gold, it's not magnetic, quite heavy and comes up as a solid 10 ID on the Manticore. I found this silver ring shortly after the knife. It was in this hole to the right of the control box. It's marked silver, the knife has no markings. This is the area I was mostly detecting, in the distance they set up snow jumps along the trail where the snow guns are for beginners to practice jumping, another good place they constantly fall over. The foreground here was most of my finds for the day. No sign of any surface stuff, far too late in the autumn (fall) for that, if I wanted surface finds I'd have to go just after spring while the snows still melting away, by now people have been wandering around all summer exploring so all of my finds were digs. Go earlier and some quite good stuff can be found without a metal detector, mostly phones and wallets. The ground here is quite variable around the mountain and required reasonably frequent ground balancing when I moved from one spot to the next, there were of course hot rocks too. I thought I'd head back down, my wife and daughter came along and they went to the lake, yep, lake, there is quite a big lake up here. it's straight ahead in this photo in the top right corner. This is it, nice clear water, perfect for a drink refill. I think the lakes around 2000 meters above sea level, something like 6500 feet. It's the first time I've seen it not frozen solid, I mostly am up the mountain in winter and spring when it's frozen. And my total finds Mostly bits off clothing and branding stuff off skis, snowboards and boots. See how none of the junk I found looks like something someone would throw down? I'm quite happy people treat the place with respect and don't throw rubbish around. I have no idea what this thing is, I'm not sure if the 1923 is the age of it or a model number, I couldn't find it on a quick Google search. $10 in current currency NZ spendies on the right, the gold $1 and $2 coins, and the left is oddly all old 20c coins, with one 5c and one 10cent. All pre-1980s coins. The goldies were mostly all from the 1990's except the shiny one which was a more recent 2020 coin. 5 cent don't exist anymore, 10 cents are now different and junk cupro coins and the 20 cent coins now are small rubbish cupro things too, the cupros are made in Canada, these older ones give a nice solid signal. The $1 and $2 are about the easiest coin to find, nice solid signal, never corrode, they just get a bit dull with age but clean up pretty good. The more unusual stuff, looks like an Aussie was littering the coin, a 2002 year of the Outback special edition coin. The left one is some Chinese 100 coin and the right one I'm not sure, some UK 50 pence coin that I've never found before, unusual shape. The Aussie looks like it's been run over by the snow groomers a few times over the years 🙂 So, a fun day out, probably my last detect at the ski areas, it was only 2 weeks ago the area was covered in snow, but the snow was too soon and melted already, the next lot probably won't melt. Happy enough with the Manticore, in fact it's excellent other than it's target ID's, when it comes to Cherry picking coins in the fields I'll stick to using the Nox and especially the CTX, I need the more stable reliable ID's so I dig as few holes as possible.

Jack, there's not a chance in H--- that this Coot is going into the water while I own it. After all those hundreds of hours rebuilding it, not going to risk damaging things. Coots can handle the water, but that's a far cry from "liking" the water. Even one of the original makers said that the "water thing" was way over-hyped. Mine is for deserts, mountains, etc. And crossing creeks up to 24" deep, for short distances is OK. In rebuilding this rig, I saw, up close and personal, the damage done by being immersed and not cared for afterward. As for "slow", I completely agree. Prospectors and rockhounds need to see the country they're going through. You can't identify anything at more than "walking" speed.😄 Jim

Ok, last one. This one shows the difference between a less powerful, less trained AI (GPT3) and a more advanced model with much training data and public use (ChatGPT). I ask each AI the same question about detecting locations, and any US based nugget hunter can immediately spot the difference in accuracy/usable response. 😅 ME: What specific spot in Arizona would be the best place to look for gold nuggets with a metal detector? GPT3: One of the best places to look for gold nuggets with a metal detector in Arizona is the Superstition Mountains near Phoenix. This area is known for its rich gold deposits, and it is a popular spot for metal detector enthusiasts. -------------------------- ME: What specific spot in Arizona would be the best place to look for gold nuggets with a metal detector? ChatGPT: Arizona has a long history of gold mining and is known for its gold-rich areas. Some specific spots in Arizona that are known for gold nuggets and could be good places to search with a metal detector include: Bradshaw Mountains: Located in central Arizona near Prescott, the Bradshaw Mountains have a history of gold mining and have produced gold nuggets in the past. The Lynx Creek Recreation Area, located in the Bradshaw Mountains, is a popular spot for recreational gold panning and metal detecting. Vulture Mountains: Located in central Arizona near Wickenburg, the Vulture Mountains have been known to produce gold nuggets, especially in the vicinity of the Vulture Mine. Metal detecting in dry washes and gullies in the Vulture Mountains could potentially yield gold nuggets. San Domingo Wash: Located in western Arizona near Morristown, San Domingo Wash is known for its placer gold deposits. Metal detecting in the washes and desert areas along San Domingo Wash has the potential to yield gold nuggets. Rich Hill: Located in western Arizona near Stanton, Rich Hill is a well-known gold prospecting area that has produced gold nuggets in the past. Metal detecting in the washes, gullies, and hillsides of Rich Hill could yield gold nuggets. Quartzsite: Located in western Arizona near the California border, Quartzsite is a popular area for metal detecting and gold prospecting. The nearby Plomosa Mountains and Dome Rock Mountains are known for their gold deposits, and metal detecting in washes and dry creek beds in the area may yield gold nuggets.

Unknwn, Congratulations on your new Manticore and also on having lots of time and a great place to use it! Of course there will be a learning curve, but if you use the out of the box setting and follow the advice you will find here on the forum or in several good youtube videos you should be making good finds soon. Just take your time and enjoy the learning process. The Manticore is a the best detector I have ever used. In my opinion, the iron falsing is a minor issue and you shouldn’t worry about it. I have found many relics and old coins in my first three months with it, and I don’t dig much iron. It finds new targets in areas that I had pounded for years and finds the good stuff mixed in with the iron. I recommend starting out in factory settings like All Terrain or All Terrain High Trash, with All Metal off, Sensitivity as low as needed to keep the machine quiet, and use long press noise cancel. Focus on keeping the machine quiet with lower sensitivity so that you will easily hear good targets, your sensitivity should be below 23. Once you get the hang of finding targets you will be able to gradually increase your sensitivity over time. Good luck! Ringtail

The last few detectors I've bought would not dramatically change my finds rates if at all, yes I like them for the most part however if I didn't have them nothing much would change for my needs at least. I won't name names as this is a Quest section and as far as Quest goes I'm very impressed, I'd love one and I could possibly replace detectors by using the new Quest model but now I've lost that enthusiasm for new detectors, when jumping up from average detectors to good detectors it's exciting and finds increase, when you're already at the top and change to another top little changes. I need advancements in technology to waste money buying a new detector, minor increments in performance that in the real world don't change the results much if at all are hardly worth the spend, people have different needs and maybe some detectors have improved more dramatically for them and their needs over my needs so my views are my own. Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy 🙂 In saying that it's fantastic Quest are doing this, super impressed and I honestly hope they kick every other manufacturers butt with their detector, and they may well do so. Some detector manufacturers remind me of Kodak... new or smaller brands are coming in to take their place and Quest appears to be one of those brands. Go Quest! This is worth a read 🙂 https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/?sh=3bda25146f27 Tesoro had a Kodak moment, so did Whites, others are following.

Hey that's pretty cool. It's like a six year old repeating the ads on television. Clever. That seems to be the way most people get their knowledge these day. Where as they should use experience and effort on the ground using a device to get the best results for their location..

They would always be superior in trashy areas unless a PI comes out with excellent discrimination, that may never happen. They are also fully waterproof, debatable with the Nox but still, you can go into creeks and do proper water detecting with them, so unless you're swinging an ATX or SDC you can't do that with anything else. Add water and trash together and you've got a VLF again 🙂 We aren't quite there yet replacing VLF, even the very small coils the VLF's can have, at least some of them are a powerful tool in the right places, if you can't get your coil in there then you are missing gold, a little GB2 coil can go almost anywhere. I like chasing tiny gold, but now the GPX 6000, GPZ with small X-coils or a 15" CC and by the looks of it the Axiom can get gold so small you really don't need to go smaller, 0.03 of a gram is within reach of both the 6000 and GPZ, 0.02 if the right shape nugget. Any smaller and it's not really worth chasing unless you're lucky enough to be in a spot with a lot of it, at a patch I found I'd figured it was cleaned up pretty well with my GPZ, JW checked out an area with his GB2 and found about 20-30 pieces of gold in one dig hole where another bigger nugget had come from. 20-30 tiny nuggets smaller than the GPZ can hit still add up in weight. and this is where VLF's still have an advantage. JW often does this, finds a lot of little tiny stuff with his GB2, GM1000 or Nox in holes that the bigger one come from. I should get in the habit of doing the same as it really works for him.

A Story Not In My Journal : Part One : Written On April 15 2023. The following is not in my 2002 journal but I think it should be included here. This is the first I have ever written about these events. After I conclude this story I will return to posting from my journal. So here goes. Jacob had mentioned to us that there was a very remote area about 2 1/2 miles heading north up the mountain. He said back in his day he didn't think anyone went up that far as the going was pretty tough and there were no trails. The creek narrowed up there and he had gone up to a certain spot twice and found big gold. I asked him what he meant by big gold. He smiled and said there were plentiful small nuggets and pickers. Panfuls. He never told Jed or the crew about it for some reason. He said he had planned to file a claim up there someday but after being run off in the deadly shootout of 1937 he had never made it back. Jacob said that on his second trip he had built a narrow dam and spillway to retain the gold and keep it from coming farther down the creek. He said he thought there might be source gold somewhere in that area but wasn't quite sure. The dam he built was made of heavy timber packed with rock and gravel. He said he didn't know if any of it was left after all these years but wanted to hike up there and have a look before the big heat came in for the Summer. I asked him if he thought he could make it on his 85 year old legs. He said he thought he could but if he couldn't he wanted us to see if the dam was still there and test the ground along the creek and in the creek. It would be a tough excursion but we figured to give it a try. So early in the morning we packed up for the hike and headed north following the creek up the mountain to higher elevation. TO BE CONTINUED .............

That's the coolest, you need to weld an old satellite dish on the front and go out in the desert somewhere and take black and white photos of yourself on it and you could say you went to the moon.

Check out this build.....from a filing cabinet to a highbanker.

Hopped out to the beach after work since the weather was immaculate today. Tide was mid range which is meh but I'm getting too fat and needed to get a good walk in. After about 5 minutes i see a very pretty girl walking toward me with intent! Not that "I'm curious about metal detecting walk" and I've yet to get picked up on while detecting so it could only be one thing... she lost her diamond ring! About 100 feet from where I was she had been sitting with her mom and dad and flung her hand to the side... watching as her ring flew off. After frantically searching for a bit, her knight in dorky armor arrived. I was able to nab the ring in about 30 seconds and she was visibly relieved! She tried to pay me, which i absolutely refused but asked her if we could snap a photo so i could share it with my online friends 🤓. I'm doing fine financially and wouldnt ever sell a ring i found so it was way more rewarding making her doomsday into a good story for us both. Photo shared with her permission.

A Story Not In My Journal : Part Two. We spent the morning on a long, slow hike up into no man's land as Jacob called it. There was no trail and he was right about the going being tough. To Jacob's credit, he made the hike all the way to an area where the little creek narrowed. We could tell that there had been some alteration in the ground up there. When Jacob saw the area he determined that the creek had shifted over to the east a little. Sure enough there were some logs laying scattered about in the area. That was what was left of his dam. Jacob let out a few cuss words and then started to laugh. He said he really didn't expect the dam to be as he left it many years ago. He started rooting around the western side of the creek. He waded through two feet of water to get over there and Vern joined him with a pan and a shovel They started to test the gravels along a little bench where the creek had once carved out an area. After a few minutes Vern told us to come over to their side of the creek and take a look at the pan.

True enough haha. No haven't put it on the MLRS extracts yet. They are so big that I'd need a local GPT installed to really digest it, and that's my next step but it's gonna take some time to figure out how to do that, which one to use, etc. And this was something I was just doing out of curiosity last night because I wanted to both get myself updated on AI tech, and I had like 200 geology pdfs I wanted to read before bed, among other things. I ended up not reading any of them and staying up until 3 AM learning about AI stuff instead and now I gotta go fix a broken pipe and prime some textured walls, back to normal work.

I love using AI! Before reading your post, I was mainly using it more like a search engine. Gives the results I want, unlike google where I have to wade through ads or irrelevant web pages. I’m gonna try having it read pdf or websites like you mentioned, I think the “hardest” part for me is what to specifically ask. Its really great for responding to emails or texts 🤣🤣🤣 Learned how to to that by watching one of the latest South Park episodes 🤣🤣🤣

I'm only -JUST- getting started in the detectorist hobby, been interested for a LO0ong time, but just recently pulled the lever on a machine of my own. A fellow came by a few times to probe my grounds with a Minelab 800, and though it was sorta' impressive, I felt that something with more of the details worked out was where I needed to point my buying decision towards. I live on the remnants of a family farm with a house and cluster of buildings that are 197 years old this year. I have nearly 10 acres of property adjoining a creek bed that was native American living and hunting areas for ?? before the homesteading occurred. The choice I made a few days ago, prodded on by discounts and points/cash accumulation at Cabela's is the Minelab Manticore. Several reasons I opted for the expense of the Manticore revolved around the terrific upgrades over the 800/900 series detectors, and I'm hoping that a chance to learn it all from the word 'GO', and not having to -un learn- previous iterations of the software/hardware. Looking forward to the information I'll find here, and sharing my experiences as a neophyte with a 1st rate machine, Charles Linder -unknwn- Canton (Pro football Hall-of-fame city) , Ohio

This year the snow came early enough that it insulated the ground pretty well. By noon you can dig without a frost layer. The square nut was down about five inches. The shell casing (32wcf) was about four. Lots and lots of nails around the yard and some have a higher tone that's confusing. So I dig them because the broach I found was doing the same thing. No need to pray for snow, October will be here soon enough! Half an hour today yielded more trash.

New member here from south mississippi. I’ve been detecting going on five years now. I just recently retired and spend most of my time hunting at the beach or local parks. Looking forward to learning from other members here and sharing stories and pictures of finds.

Four hour beach hunt yesterday, water was still a little cool so I wore my hip boots. Couldn’t get out much deeper than mid thigh but it was good enough. Silver count was 1 ring, 1 earring and 1 1950 gw quarter. I also had 2 junk rings and a small amount of clad. I did electrolysis on the silver and then tumbled it. Not sure where the stone in the ring went to, I think it fell out while is was rinsing it. the bad weather we’ve had recently stirred up a lot of trash but it also moved some good targets. I’m going back tomorrow morning to give it another go.

May 27 2002 Part Two We worked a steady pace through the afternoon and knocked off around 6:00 PM. Everyone wanted to know how much gold we got so we did the cleanup as soon as we got back to camp and ended our day with another 1.9 ounces. We seemed to be on to something now. We are taking the day off tomorrow to do some work with Jacob. TO BE CONTINUED ..........

They must be doing that at virtually no profit by the time shipping to get it from Turkey to wherever and the dealers profit margin are included. A gift from Nokta to Legend owners for sure.

For years I had only looked for gold by panning or sluicing with my grandfather, but since he passed away I thought it would be a good idea to try my hand with a detector on the creeks near me. I still took a pan with me to check the targets with since I was at the creek with plenty of water, and with amazement I was staring at the pan with a nice little nugget. I had only used the NOX 800 for about a year, actually about 20 times, but since I could hit on deep silver I knew if there was anything I had missed it would show up. Yes I found plenty of shot pellets rolling in the pan at times, but I knew that I had to take the good with the bad. I found that it enhanced my creek trips by over 90% more gold than without it. As far as searching only on dry ground with a detector for gold I can say that I have only found 1 nugget with it and soon I will be writing about that nugget with a couple of pictures. So I can honestly say for sure that i hit gold the first time I looked for it within the first hour, and every time I have gone out to the creeks since. Now I may have only found one or two pieces each trip out, but it sure makes for a good day and it all adds up by the end of the year.

Took almost 3years back in 81, had totally no idea at all, common comment from all people of my acquaintance was that you cannot find gold with a box full of wires and a bunch of knobs on outside of box. Found the usual ferrous rubbish, coins and other goldfield artifacts. I now know how incorrect that early perception was and that in those 3 years I went over many ounces. Detector was a Bounty Hunter RB7, the detector that hooked me proper was the Garret A2B. It proved that scraps/dinks make up the most gold weight of the goldfields in my part of OZ, that the big bits were few and far between, but no doubt they were adrenaline pumping finds.

Wow Great shots from some special spots! Heres a few from the last couple years poking around the western states of USA.. AZ AZ Yuba River CA Harts Pass, WA Greaterville, AZ Gold Basin AZ All I want to do is pack up the truck and keep goin.......

It really depends on many things like time spent in the field, experience, quality of the location(s), limiting physical conditions, weather, and how serious one takes the hobby? The man found gold and obviously had some fun, that's probably what 99% of us "hobby" guys are after? Simple math: 9.5g @ approx $65/gram is $617.50 minus 20% if you sell is still $494..... One well known member here told me he went 6yrs before 1st nugg, My first ever trip out for gold I popped a 2.3g nugg then 2nd day out another 2.3g nugg. First thought was "there's nothing to this, I'm gonna be RICH!" Things went south after those first 2 days...lol Main thing is... he didn't get skunked and had fun and came home with some nice nuggies!!!!! JMO's

Hello every one, my name is Diogo i´m from Portugal, and i start metal detection when i start working and save some money to buy my Tesoro Outlaw, i will never give up of this hobby, im more focus on beaches, is such a gift to be part of this forum. Thanks.

A patch of ground showed up in my yard finally. Had to play for a while. Dug up some junk near the crabapple trees. A piece of pull tab sure didn't sound like aluminum.

Hello Unknwn, I would not worry about software for a while. The rest of this likely belongs in how to use the Manticore and while many of the people here have a lot more experience than I do, my advise is to brace yourself for some frustration. A 200 year old homestead site will likely be filled I mean covered with signals, 95% being junk. Every swing will have targets, you may not be able to find a place to ground balance. I would start with a sensitivity of 15 the higher you go the more tiny targets that will be detected, (the detector will find aluminum rivet heads that are less than a 1/4 inch across 4 inches down) the lower sensitivity will have several benefits for a beginner. I started in All terrain general 5 tones, you will want to turn the horseshoe on and off often to understand how its working hearing all the iron grunts is an eye opener but become hard to take after awhile. Find a VDI chart for the Manticore and print it and carry it while detecting. For practice highlight the common coins on the VDI chart, when you find a consistent matching signal turn 90 degrees and make sure it repeats, keep turning 90 degrees till you have it in the center of the coil. The beep come just as you cross over the centerline. Double beeps can be surface targets raise the coil 6 inches to check. I would detect this way for a while until you are successful with the easy coins before moving on to more complicated stuff. Some trash is exactly the same number as a good target. Often a hole will have both good and bad targets in them always re-swing the hole and plug before filling it in. (two or three coins in a hole happens) Relics are a whole other story, that I shouldn't be the one giving advise on. good luck

The only thing holding me back at this point is nothing equivalent to the Nox 10x5 coil available for Manticore, yet.

It's a hard question to answer both because I'm just recently learning this stuff, and because from my limited experience one thing has become semi-clear: The trick to getting useful AI responses (like a detector) is a skilled operator who knows how to get the right responses out of the AI, and how to teach/train them properly for the task at hand. What one person gets may be far less useful than what a more talented person gets. Some pet owners have well trained dogs, others not so much... Me, I'm a new, unskilled, pet owner right now., and my dog is still peeing on the carpet. 😄 Something like "AI operator" may be a skilled job of the future. Programming operators, electrical engineering operators...maybe geology operators? Things like programming are easy to learn/teach since it can easily digest the information...geology is more abstract/interpretational/visual. It's fields like these where skilled operators are probably going to be harder to find. That's just me speculating on the future though, could be off base. But yeah, stuff like that is kinda my goal. Just much more broadly, not so much specific geology in tiny grids, but more finding large patterns in large amounts of semi-abstract data. Stuff that is extremely hard to do in SQL or database programming. These less powerful (but free, and public) AI's like GPT3 seem more suited to wide, general data approaches.

Good stuff. I don't have the time to explore it. I'll mostly watch you guys do it here. Thanks.

I like weekend getaways near your own house where there's not a long drive involved. Still feels like you got away from the same ole same ole even if it's only 2 nights in a hotel on the beach. Make sure you don't forget to pack the detector!

I have shown these photos before on this site. Targets are on or just below their target IDs. Equinox 800 low/mid conductor target IDs for some common USA coin, trash and jewelry targets: Equinox 900 low/mid conductor target IDs for some common USA coin, trash and jewelry targets:

The bottom line is providing the consumer the information for them to make an informed decision. I think the poll is rather convincing, that most people do not think of a coil cover as an accessory for a coil, they consider it an integral part of the coil to protect their investment. I would rather the price of the coil be increased so that the coil cover is included. It makes for difficult position for me as a dealer to sell someone a coil assuming it came with a coil cover, when there was no information to the contrary, and then the customer has to tell me that no coil cover was included and is upset at me. I don't think any of us have a problem knowing up front that the coil cover is considered an additional item. But I couldn't find that information anywhere. My fault for not asking. As they say, never assume anything. To my line of thinking a coil cover protects your coil. Just like the insulation on your coil cable protects the wiring. I certainly can understand why a coin and relic machine that is used on grass, a coil cover may not be that critical. However, when you are using a gold machine looking for nuggets you are working ground that is covered in broken sharp quartz. On my GPZ7000 I go through a cover after three trips. Doc

Diverse country here in Oz. Never leave home without this...proudly made in the USA.

Companies like Fisher that still make analog models originally designed decades ago (Gold Bug 2 in 1995) face issues as analog components go out of manufacture. Literally obsolete technology. So a little know fact is all these old units have continual component changes made as parts supplies change from on outfit to another. Eventually a certain part simply cannot be had any longer, and a more serious design change is forced to occur, or in worst case scenario, the product must be discontinued. For a very long time the Gold Bug 2 was a bread and butter model for me as a dealer in Alaska. I owned the first one in Alaska and sold piles of them as it was perfect for the generally low mineral small gold situation in Southcentral Alaska. As an old timer I still have great appreciation for the machine. But the fact is my old dealership no longer even stocks it. Why? No interest. People look at newer models like the Gold Monster that is practically fully automatic and more or less waterproof, and they want and buy those newer models. For people like me manual ground balance comes naturally and I actually prefer it. But trust me, most people can't actually do it well and it was my main problem/complaint from customers the Gold Bug 2 - false signals and holes dug where no target exists due to being out of ground balance. Newbies get frustrated very fast with it, and so again, new models with ground grab or ground tracking eliminate this issue, not just for the buyer, but for the dealer who has to answer to the complaining customer. I still think the Gold Bug 2 represents one of the best detector designs ever created, a true classic, and one that can really perform in the right hands. But it does not sell well any more for the reasons I have mentioned and the days are numbered before it is eventually discontinued.

MINEBORG

An actual smooth VCO threshold instead of that woeful pop, fart and click attempted digital processing non-threshold that the 'Monster' has now..... at least as an option...

I'm including some illustrations to help understand the construction (not necessarily the operation) of the different types of IB searchcoils. First is general, from Lagal and Garrett p. 27 (1979) and note that DD (labeled a) is a specified there are a type of co-planar as is the concentric (d). Later illustrations below go into some more detail but DD isn't covered: Next three are from Garrett pp. 127, 128, 130 (1985). I've typed in the figure captions since they didn't scan well: Figure 11-4: ILLUSTRATION OF CO-PLANAR SEARCHCOIL WINDINGS (SAME PLANE). This illustration of co-planar searchcoil construction shows that the windings are placed one on top of the other and lie in the same plane. Co-planar searchoils have been in use for several decades. (Note: inner circular coils is labeled 'Receiver' and outer coil is 'Transmitter'.) Figure 11-5: ILLUSTRATION OF CO-AXIAL SEARCHCOIL WINDINGS (SAME AXIS). Co-axial searchcoil windings are placed one above the other with one transmitter winding sancwiched in between two reciever windings. This type winding placement gives the most uniform detection pattern of all VLF and TR detector types and is affected the least by outside electromagnetic field interference. Figure 11-7: ILLUSTRATION OF CONCENTRIC SEARCHCOIL WINDINGS (SAME PLANE AND AXIS). Concetnric searchoil windings lie in the same plane and are centered about the same axis. This newer type searchcoil is operationally equivelent to co-planar serachcoils. Here are some details from the text in chapter 11 which may give some details of advantages/disadvantages of different types: (p. 127): Co-planar searchcoils are one of the preferred types because they produce very sharp, quick target response characteristics. These characteristics result in excellent coin and small object metal detection capabilities. (p 129): ...Co-axial searchcoils give the best performance in areas of high voltage powerlines and electromagnetic interference. (cut a sentence) They are, however, slower response searchcoils. That is, they produce a slower detector audio "turn on" time when targets are detected.

Dream on......................