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Simon's comment there would be the #1 determining factor in a machine for me, if I was getting one for working bedrock. Working hot basalts and serpentines or magnetite laden areas? PI 100%, wouldn't pull my hair out with a VLF in that terrain. Low mineral granites, gneiss, sandstones? 800 or 900 would be my first choices - looking at one or the other of those right now for working non-river bedrock/lode zones.

Apologies for any spelling mistakes. The touch screen on this is a nightmare. STARTING OUT The thought of prospecting for natural gold had always appealed to me long before I actually went out into the field and did it. You want to get a quick buck, then go put a $ in a vegas slot machine, as you have more chance with that. On the other hand if you want to pull your hair out, then why not come to Bonny scotland for some prospecting. In truth, panning for gold really is nothing more than a hobby I’ve took up. Don’t get me wrong, there are still good nuggets to be found if one is prepared to put in the work, and of course, if the gods decide. Starting out with just a pan and digging tool, Just trying to find that one elusive speck of gold was a hair pulling time. I spent weeks and weeks without success. Don’t get wrong I had plenty of yellow stuff in my pans. I’m not sure what it was but it wasn’t gold. I went so long without finding any that I began to question wether there was even gold in the area. The day I finally found gold was a day on which I had zero expectations that I would find any. I stopped the van at a very popular car park not 6yds from the stream, an area that had obviously been panned out by the folk who didn’t want to put much effort into their hobby, and eureka! I found three tiny specks. I hadn’t gone into my new hobby totally blind, as i had watched enough videos and read up on the subject for a time before I actually went on that first session, so after trying to find gold in the areas I thought might produce some and failing, to find it virtually under my feet in a very very popular spot…….. well that’s just bloomin typical😂. To find those three little specks on that day was perfect timing, because I don’t know if I was on the verge of giving up because that’s just not in my genes, But I was certainly fed up to a serious point. BUILDING MY ARSENAL Ok I don’t have much money, the thought of being able to purchase a gold detector will probably remain a pipe dream forever, but there’s one thing I have in abundance, and that’s work ethic. This was instilled in me by my brother during my career in roofing. His motto was that it didn’t matter what tools one had if they didn’t gave the work ethic to use them. This attitude helped no end when it came to choosing the tools I needed, not the too,so I wanted. I wanted a high banker, I wanted a mechanical digger, hey! Let’s just open a quarry haha!. Well what I purchased was a gravel pump and a classifier, those were of utmost importance and allowed me to use muscle power more economically. I began finding gold with every session, and quickly realised that picking tiny specks, and the odd flake out the pan with tweezers and putting them in a vial just wasn’t good, so the next thing I bought was a snuffer bottle. I was learning and adapting as I went, until eventually I got a sluice box. The sluice was an obvious game changer, but I had my doubts that it would catch the gold. I settled my mind by chucking in the gold I had previously found. I admit this was taking a big chance, well it did at the time, but I needn’t have worried, as the gold sank quickly onto the top of the sluice, I don’t think it even travelled to the following ripple. My mind was put to rest and now I try to set the sluice to run as fast as possible. Maybe I have lost some specks, but as the age old saying goes “out of sight, out of mind. I now have what I deem necessary, including some crevicing tools. LEARNING THE AREA OF WANLOCKHEAD AND THE LEADHILLS There is just too much to remember, so instead I have put on the link below. This is an interesting read into the geology of the area i prospect in the lowther hills district. https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/Memoirs/docs/B06088.html WHAT IVE LEARNED ON A PERSONAL LEVEL Well first of all I have learned to put the work in if I want to find gold, and even then it isn’t much. To put things into perspective, in the 13 months I’ve been prospecting I have found just under one and a half grams. There is a plus side however. Firstly the gold is very pure, and secondly, and this seems to be running parallel to the experience I have in prospecting, the gold is getting bigger. Certain things have caught me out in the past that I have learned from, like there’s no gold under the false bedrock, something that took me ages to accept. I now look for where the bedrock reaches the surface of the streams, instead of trying to dig down to it, because sometimes the bedrock can’t be reached by this method. I have learned to spot the bedrock in the hills, and I can see where it is close to the surface. Something that I’ve also noticed is that most fellow panners concentrate on where the water enters the pools, totally ignoring the tails where the finer gold accumulates. I’ve also learned to stop looking at the streams as they are, and I now look at where they run during flood, even where they used to run but don’t anymore. Only one year in prospecting isn’t much experience, but putting my limited knowledge to work has even found me a couple of rare pickers, so I’m on the right track. I’m getting better and only the other day I reached the dizzy heights where I found 0.416g, and considering I only managed 1.082g up til then I would say that’s a considerable step up in my finds. below are three pickers I’ve found recently. I say three because the top and bottom pieces are one picker broke in half. looks just like a flower when pushed together. Thanks for taking the time to read about my early days in prospecting 🇺🇸🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃 cheers ian.

Either galena or chalcocite probably. Lead and copper sulfides. Maybe hematite, but less likely. Chalcocite can hit quite hard on a VLF detector and sound much like gold. I've found both occurring in gold areas in the past. Galena and chalcocite should have a faint odor of sulfur if you crush/scrape some of the rock, hematite will not smell of sulfur. If smelling of sulfur, a density test will tell the difference as galena is 7.6g/cc and chalcocite is 5.6g/cc.

It’s only an air test did at home, I have taken advantage from the fact that wife isn’t here and my daughter doesn’t care! A low conductor below a high mineralized hematite stone to understand how and how much audio filter can improve detection on mineralized ground. Well, according to this test, audio filter works not only to amplify weaker deep signals and there is a big difference between audio filter 5 versus 1 and 2 but also 3-4 and obviously 0. Settings: prog.2 with disc 5, sensitivity 95, iron volume 5, audio response 5, 3 tones high square, square and PWM, silencer 2, no bottle cap and notch. In Pitch and with 2 only tones signal would have been stronger. 11”, 9” and 13” coils. Also big coil passed test with flying colors. I’m happy for the result . Look forward to go on the field!

Hi all. We are a married couple that started detecting in 1988. We started with a Fisher Gold Bug and we now own an Ace 250, an ATMax, Garrett carrot, Vibraprobe pinpointer along with Scoopal and Nokta sand scoops. We have always used Garrett and I never upgraded past my 250 because it works for me. My husband likes his AtMax. We have done beaches, water, parks, tot lots, you name it I bet we've done it. Lots of travel (full-time RVers), lots of fun and LOTS of stuff. I used to be a contributing writer and photographer for Western Eastern Treasures magazine. Too bad it's gone now. We are both retired and have detected the daylights out of our area within 100 miles from where we live here in Oregon. Been here 22 years. We used to be on other forums but kind of stopped doing much the last couple of years now. Getting old. Got back into the swing (pun intended) today after a hiatus and found this site. Looking forward to seeing your finds and meeting people.

If you bought from a legitimate dealer, then that dealer should be happy to help you with this issue. That’s what the warranty directs you to do, see below. If not, then everyone here knows that Nokta backs up their warranty and equipment. Contact them again directly and get it resolved, or kiss your $700 goodbye - your choice. Either there is a misunderstanding and miscommunication, or you are here with an agenda to trash the company and product for other reasons. https://www.noktadetectors.com/technical-service/ From https://www.noktadetectors.com/warranty-policy/: Warranty Policy 1. Nokta Detectors warrants to the end-user customer that Nokta products will be free from defects in material and workmanship for the periods specified in paragraph 2 2. Nokta Detectors warranty periods are as follows: a. Electronic system boxes, search coils, shafts and handles are under warranty for a period of 2 years from the date of purchase. b. All Nokta branded lithium batteries and accessories not listed in paragraph ‘’2 a’’ are under warranty for a period of 6 months from the date of purchase. 3. Third-party accessories and AA/AAA batteries are not covered under this warranty. 4. Nokta Detectors limited warranty covers only those defects that arise as a result of normal use of the product in accordance with Nokta Detectors’ printed instructions and does not cover any other problems, including those that arise as a result of: a. accident, misuse, negligent act or improper maintenance, b. software, media, parts or supplies not provided or supported by Nokta Detectors, c. operation outside the product’s specifications, printed instructions and technical manual, d. unauthorized modification, alteration or service by the purchaser or a third party. 5. This warranty will be void if: a. the serial number is removed or altered, b. the device and / or its parts & accessories- unless specified as waterproof- are exposed to extreme hot, cold or humid conditions or are soaked in water. 6. Neither Nokta Detectors nor its third party suppliers makes any other warranty or condition of any kind, whether express or implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, satisfactory quality, and fitness for a particular purpose. 7. In no event shall Nokta Detectors be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages, loss or expenses including but not limited to damages, loss or expenses as a result of a failure in the operation or performance of the equipment sold, repaired or serviced. 8. The customer must return any defective component to Nokta Detectors or to one of its authorized dealers with freight prepaid. 9. If Nokta Detectors receives, during the applicable warranty period, notice of a defect in any product which is covered by Nokta Detectors warranty, Nokta Detectors shall either repair or replace the product, at its sole discretion. REPLACEMENT POLICY PLEASE CONTACT YOUR DEALER OR DISTRIBUTOR FIRST IF YOU HAVE ANY TECHNICAL ISSUES. Returning Nokta Products Before you can return any product to Nokta Metal Detectors, you must obtain a return material authorization (RMA). This applies to all product returns, including warranty repair/replacements, and non-warranty repairs. Customer Service will provide you with an RMA form that needs to be filled out completely. Upon evaluation of the issue and the problem, Customer Service will issue an RMA number and send the form back to you. Once you have the RMA, repackage the product appropriately (see section entitled “Packaging your shipment”). Include the RMA form in the package and write the RMA number on the outside of the package. You must also include the original Warranty Certificate dated and stamped by the distributor or the dealer inside the package. We will not accept unauthorized returns or freight collection returns; we will return these to you at your expense. The repair department will evaluate all equipment returned for repair to determine warranty coverage and will resolve any questions that may arise during evaluation to make a final determination. Packaging your shipment Protecting the value of returned products by packaging and shipping them correctly is your responsibility. We reserve the right to deny warranty coverage for any damage caused by failing to meet the following packaging requirements: All electronic components must be taped and/or contained in their original protective packaging or an equivalent substitute. All parts must be packed securely inside the external shipping carton to prevent mechanical damage. External packaging must be sufficient to protect the contents from the usual hazards of shipping. Warranty repair/replacements Subject to the terms of the limited warranty in effect at the time of purchase, Nokta Metal Detectors will repair or replace a product that fails to meet the terms provided, within the product’s warranty period excluding the shipping charges. For products purchased directly from Nokta Metal Detectors, the warranty period starts from the date of shipment from Nokta Metal Detectors facility. For products purchased from an authorized distributor or a dealer the warranty period starts from the date of purchase.

I'm certainly not seeing 1.0 as useless and more specifically that the silencer has a "major problem" or that the video has even proven the silencer to be a problem at this stage. Holding out judgement until I form my own opinions based on real world situations and experience which is going to take hundreds of hours of swing time. I certainly don't want XP making knee jerk mods to this update because of some nails sitting on top of a coffee cup on someone's desk. Anyway, simple solution, roll back to your beloved ver 0.71 until the dust settles and monitor whether XP feels a change is needed.

Have not done a video of this rig yet with the latest improvements in the snap, but you will get an idea from this video if the QWEEGLE. It uses the same rod adjustment device, and also gives you dual adjustment points. We just improved the design of the snap. See the video.

Maybe if you are at the beach on a flat and level surface. But not when you are up and down gullies and ridges where readjustment is a constant challenge. And with all due respect, no it doesn't work as well. I have sold thousands of the predecessor rig, the QWEEGLE™, and never had even 1 returned. I have however had people buy multiple units for each of their detectors. Beach detecting is a different situation than gold prospecting or relic hunting where you are negotiating challenging terrain. Startt up a steep ridge with your rig and you will have to raise the detector in front of you, and then you will once again be feeling all of the weight of your detector as your surgical tubing goes slack. But if this works for you, that's great. How do you think all of this stuff I designed and invented came to be? It's because I needed something to make my detecting easier on my old bones. Guys in the field saw me using my invention, wanted to try it and then wanted me to make one for them. The first year I came out with the Swingy Thingy, over 20 years ago I sold 18,000 of them. I had one person write a scathing review about how it was terrible and worthless and didn't work and hard to adjust. I couldn't imagine what he was talking about so I asked him to send me a picture. He did. It wasn't a Swingy Thingy® it was some other sling someone was marketing. He apologized profusely. Doc

I'm quite a few hours in, but I been noticing the depth indicator often gives me three arrows on coins only 3 inches deep. I pulled this one out of an old park this weekend, really boarder line jumpy signal, could have been anything, but it was this thin Canadian dime at about 9 inches. I'm not sure if my digger did the damage on the front or not. ☹️ AT gen sens 27 (normally this park has an enormous amount of EMI)

People who perennially play with backyard boxes and desktop coffee cups are great. But how about some actual detecting and finds... You swing from one extreme to the other it's hard to take what you say with any seriousness. One moment you're in "heaven" with the new Ver 1.0 audio, the next moment Ver 1.0 is "useless" because of a desktop test of an arcane expert setting under one specific condition. You cherry pick video air tests with tailored setups yet ignore real world results here and here. So which is more "ridiculous"? Don't get me wrong. It's good to get the word out there that it appears the silencer behaves differently, perhsps more aggressively, on ver 1.0 - presumably XP's response to the complaints of iron falsing (which neither of these test videos address, btw). It doesn't make Ver 1 useless, it just proves the timeless fact of life that if you use a filter to address one issue you may impact performance. It's called balancing tradeoffs and the informed and savvy detectorist knows when silencer is of benefit and when it is not. The demonstration of the less aggressive silencer on ver .71 only showed the difference in masking but did not show if the ver 0.71 silencer was effective at mitigating iron falsing, which is it's purpose. Based on the numerous complaints regarding falsing on ver 0.71, I suspect it was inadequate at what it was designed to mitigate. Frankly, if you want to be sure a legit target is not masked by a filter setting under an extreme case of iron co-location, then turn the Silencer off. If falsing is ruining your hunt, turn silencer on and take your chances. It's a detectorists judgment call not a magic wand. Simple.

Low mineral I'd go MicroNox and for high mineral/hot rocks SDC 2300. if you have really nasty bedrock or hot rocks you pretty much need a PI. But for milder ground the discrimination capability of a good VLF is great. If we are talking purely between AT Gold and Gold Kruzer. Gold Kruzer is the clear winner. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/12951-golden-mask-telescoping-shaft-rebuild/ https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/7468-my-tips-on-nugget-detecting-with-the-minelab-equinox/

You’re right. I set up Beach Sensitive and Beach exactly the same and tested some targets…they weren’t the same. It’s the frequency weightings that makes the difference as I see it but what do I know. Cav Guys we’re never known for their brilliance…especially old ones! 😂

Introducing the new QWIPPLE™, triple adjustment Shock cord support system. There has never been anything like this. (Availability in 40 days) • Top of the line custom made 50% stretch (most shock cord is 100% stretch) UV Dacron Polyester Shock cord. Durable and tough. Control without all the bounce. This shock cord is specially made to my exacting specifications. This is necessary to withstand the rigors of metal detecting. I had to order 6200 meters to get this shock cord made to meet my requirements because it's not available commercially. • Exclusive ambidextrous heavy duty shoulder clip that allows 1 handed easy height adjustment "on the go." Never miss a swing, no stopping to re-adjust. Attach either looped end to the rod and you can still adjust the height, because both sides of the clip have an adjustment groove. • Amazing, rod bungee connection point fits any detector. You can also adjust the height of the detector here, or, simply use the loop end of the shock cord to attach. If you do like to adjust at the rod adjustment connector, no problem. When you are ready to lay your detector down in the dirt, don't take the clip off at the shoulder, this just allows your shock cord to lay in the dirt with your detector. Simply pop the shock cord out of the side of the rod adjustment device and leave your shock cord hanging on your shoulder high and dry and clean. • Every QWIPPLE™ triple adjustment shock cord support system comes with a RING STRAP included. You can sew the RING STRAP onto your favorite support harness, backpack or hydration pack and your all set. Doc

I guess it's not only Minelab's customers that have been a bit disgruntled of late, with a terrible launch of the Manticore just not being able to supply stock while pumping out other new models they also could barely supply it annoyed more than just their customers, add to that the terrible warranty issues with faulty detectors and abnormally high numbers of warranty claims Europe's largest metal detector distributor and Minelab service agent has given Minelab the boot, no longer wanting to deal with them, I would imagine quite a big blow to Minelab. You can read the article here https://treasurehuntingworld.com/2023/03/17/international-detector-center-idc-part-ways-with-minelab/ Now Minelab should heed this warning and get their act together, release detectors they can supply and focus as much as possible on delivering a quality well tested product.

Spent 16 days in Rye Patch area in Nevada recently using the 6000 for the first time in gold country. Found 3 small nugets the first day, one the second and one the third, this is going to be good! Ha, went dry for the next 10 days and finaly found 2 more day 14 then 1 more on day 15 for a total of 6.8 grams. Not a large amount but found nothing last year in 10 days so I at least beat the skunk. Had 2 days of beat-down rain and one day of un-bearable wind, several days of cold weather but the last 2 days were beautiful. Met a few good folks also prospecting, alwasys fun to talk with them about finding gold. Good luck to all in your search.

In the same spirit as CPT_Ghostlight's posts, I have had two hunts this week with Deus 2 version 1.0. These were coin and jewelry hunts so nothing special, just getting used to a few of the differences between 0.71 and 1.0 during hunts. I have usually used silencer on 0, bottle cap 1 and iron volume on 3 in my Square Wave custom 5 tone USA coin program based on Sensitive. In version 1.0 the changes XP made have made it necessary for me to run silencer 1 or 2, bottle cap 1 and iron volume on default 7. I also have been trying out Hi Square Wave audio since is seems to be more reactive and modulated than Square Wave. Today I had a hunt at a public school scrape off that also shared a public park. All of it is being sold for new housing. There was aluminum trash, nails, bolts, nuts, and all of the other stuff one finds at a scrape off. So tons of aluminum and iron trash. On top of that, this iron rich dirt was damp and was maxing out the iron mineralization meter.. I had never hunted this site. I did not know what to expect. I just wanted to see if Deus 2 with 9" coil and version 1.0 software running Sensitive 5 tone Hi Square audio with disc 10, bottle cap 1, notch OFF, silencer 1, sensitivity 95, frequency max 40 kHz, iron volume 7, reactivity 2 to 2.5, audio response 4, audio filter 0, Fe TID ON could find some decent mid and high conductors without too much iron falsing. In these kind of dirt conditions running silencer too high is a bad idea and so is running bottle cap reject set too high. Ground mineralization masking becomes an issue. So I was willing to deal with some iron falsing in the hope of getting enough accurate audio and target ID information to make a dig/no dig decision on mid and high conductors. I dug 5 deep rusty nails, 2 big deep rusty bolts and couple of golf ball sized deep rusty iron blobs. By deep, I mean these targets were at least 8" deep and they had iron and mid to high tone audio responses and accompanying numbers. I also dug about 25 pull tabs on purpose hoping for gold!!!!! The rest of the targets are in the photo. Many of these targets had nails and aluminum trash very close by or in the hole with them. The oldest wheat penny was a 1917. There is also a 1935 New Mexico copper 5 mill tax token, a silver/turquoise ring, titanium ring and a hammered copper ring. The only shallow targets were the crusty zinc pennies. The rest of these targets were in the 4" to 8" deep range. Basically, I had no problems distinguishing ferrous from non ferrous and aluminum trash from good non-ferrous targets during this hunt. I really like Hi Square tones so far.

The Versa sounds versatile. El Nino, you really need to encourage Rutus to try an expand into the US and Australia/NZ markets 🙂

...Rutus VERSA enables the detector to work in either Multifrequency/4-40 khz/-10 channels or on 1 frequency from 4 to 40khz.. in steps of 0.2khz or 0.6khz.!!! In Rutus *VERSA* of the first channel /1/ static-All metall - Similar to ATREX, you can edit: Strength of *Static channel 1-30..., SAT setting 0-20, VCO setting 0-20, as well as the strength and tone of the Threshold, There are enough settings to adjust the characteristics of the static channel to the type of detection... - which I really use very well... according to my detection style... In the second /2/dynamic channel.. you can adjust the settings: detector sensitivity setting 1-30, discrimination setting-30-0-+90, also notch setting, iron volume 0-20, recovery speed1-8, detector volume 1-30, audio gain-amplification of weak signals/modulation/, Audio number of tones in audio-or audio pitch tone ...

You went from single frequency to several selectable frequencies and a full warranty. Presumably with the ~$200 net you can get a coil or two to complement the X-Terra Pro stock coil. "Screwed up" doesn't sound right to me and frankly I find some of the replies unnecessarily harsh.

Don’t ever buy detectors at big box stores. Plenty of dealers on here that would have helped you get into the right machine for what u want to detect. Good news is you could probably return it to Cabelas and get your money back. Then call Gerry’s Detectors in Idaho 😁

In my opinion the Gold Bug 2 is ever so slightly more sensitive to small gold, but how small is too small? 🙂 The Equinox has the features that make it more attractive to me and handles ground and especially hot rocks better, and the original poster was after a waterproof detector which the GB2 is not. The Gold Bug 2 is too busy making it's boiiing noise to find a tiny nugget next to a hot rock, the Nox hits on the same bit of gold fine that the GB2 misses with I guess its much faster recovery speed on the Nox.

Welcome to the forum, Always nice to see when detecting is a family, or couples affair! Tis a rare thing! Lots of great info, and helpful folks here!!🍀👍👍

That's right, it's vital the right detector for the job so the ground means everything, if you can get away with a VLF in milder ground/bedrock then the VLF will win by getting the smaller bits of gold and be a more economical choice but as soon as the ground is bad the VLF will just drive you nuts and lose that performance advantage. So first and foremost you really need to know what the ground is like. He has a AT Pro which should give an indication of the ground, if it works fine there the Nox sure will.

Well , welcome aboard to the both a ya from uptah camp ! I always wondered if a nose ring would fly if the owner sneezed ?

Just for fun I got a little totlot gold today. Nose ring? Tested 14k plate. KnT

Hi. I got my husband started in MD in 1988. Women clean up dirt all their lives so they don't relish the idea of going out looking for it,ha,ha! What you need to do is find yourself a nice ring she would like, bury it somewhere close to the house and then get her to just "try" and look around for the fun of it. When she finds it, that will be it! If that doesn't give her the bug...it never will. Just make sure she never knows you seeded the yard. Good luck.

I totally forgot about this detector. I hope they come out with one still. All I need is: light, fast, quiet (EMI), external speaker, and a little more sensitive than a 5000 so I can hit the buried sub-0.1 nugget leads while exploring. Make it $2k And I'll ditch my 6000 and use this all day as an exploration/prospecting machine and never look back, I need an excuse to stop using ML products, still pissed about the 6000 honestly and how they treated the EMI issues and fix "rollout" that I had to force for them. Plus I just don't trust the 6 anymore either. I had a bad experience with Nokta when they first rolled out the FORS Core, 3 of mine failed in a row and I just gave up and threw it in the closet. Willing to try again.

I would think the 900 is possibly better, I've not tried one, but I'm very happy with the 800 as a prospecting unit.

Thank you Steve, You have no idea how much that means coming for you. I know you are extremely particular and you always "call 'em the way you see 'em." Thanks again. Doc

I've had a Swingy Thingy in my kit for over 20 years now. Terrific product.

The need for the PI depends on mineralization and hot rocks, if they're not an issue I wouldn't bother with the SDC 2300 as the VLF in milder ground will do well for a lot less money and find smaller gold. Jeff pretty much summed up my thoughts.

For what it’s worth, I think most of us are assuming that all programs using frequency addition will be exactly the same when the max frequency is set the same in each one and all other settings are the same. However there may be something different going on with the weighting of the lower frequencies…probably only XP knows this for sure. I guess if one takes the time to set up , say, park and sensitive to the exact same settings and max frequency and then toggling between the two on various targets, you should be able to tell if they’re the same. I have to admit I’m not big on setting up test gardens. I’d much rather learn the machine by hunting with it in the wild.

Click on the videos posted by Zord earlier and you will get an idea. Basically folks are complaining that going from a 1 to 2 setting on silencer will result in significant masking of mid-conductive, non-ferrous targets co-located with nails in the same plane and above the target in the direction of swing negating fast reactivity settings. Silencer appears on the surface to be a lot more aggressive than the same silencer setting on ver 0.71. I postulated that it was XP's aggressive response to iron falsing complaints with ver 0.71. To be fair, Silencer range of adjustment was expanded to 7 from 5. With a larger range of adjustment, people are understandably thinking that would also translate into a more gradual increase in filtering effects as you make step change increases in the silencer filter vs. what is being observed. I think some time is needed to fully vet these changes before making knee jerk hyperbolic claims of unsuitability of this release. There may indeed be needed near-termtweaks to ver 1.0 at the end of the day, but let's get through the growing pains and see what shakes out to be real show stopper issues. So far I haven't seen anything that is a serious flaw or that can't be worked around.

Second that.

I agree

It changes by location/environment. Sometimes the presence of sulfides mean that the gold is also locked up in the sulfides themselves (and not in nugget form or large enough to be nuggets). But then other times it doesn't - I optioned a mining project to an exploration company where my initial discovery was a large series of stacked quartz veins containing chalcocite, and those same veins also had visible gold in them, a short distance away there was some large pocket gold which was discovered using a metal detector. The bonanza grade gold was all surface or near surface occurrence. The only way to find out is just to swing the coil over the area and see. 🙂 Doing some sample panning, looking at the ore under a magnifying loupe, maybe cutting a few ore samples to get a fresh face to magnify, these can helpful to know if free gold is showing up or not to begin with.

Ever since Deus 1, I basically stayed away from heavy use of silencer and relied on other methods and tells for falsing iron. As far as I was concerned, with or without silencer. Deus 2 still handled thick iron environments very well.

2 things influence my purchases... Will it fit well, or fill a void, with my other detectors. Is it enjoyable to use.

Welcome to the forum and glad to have you here. No matter what detector a person has, it is always the finds that keeps us going. Good luck and stay safe out there.

Welcome from East Texas. I still have all of my subscription issues of Western Eastern Treasures magazine. Once upon a time they were my main source of information. Glad to have this forum but still miss a real magazine.

Agreed. The more I think about it, I think Garrett made the right move pivoting to take on ML on the PI front, where no one else has really challenged them. The market is saturated with SMF derivatives of Equinox/Manticore (Legend, Deus 2, and the forthcoming Quest V60/80). Garrett basically released a proof of principle SMF with Apex to demonstrate they still had the engineering chops to stay relevant with the latest IB VLF detecting tech trend but focused their development horsepower on Axiom. After Quest drops their SMF offering out there, I anticipate a lull in new releases of mid-to-high-end SMF detectors. Perhaps a perfect time for Garrett to make a splash with a new AT SMF flagship of their own while others (Nokta and Quest) try to counter ML's XTP.

The Equinox has no trouble on small gold. This using multi frequency, gold 1, 24 sensitivity out of 25, all other settings defaults. The CTX is not a prospecting detector, far from it so I'd avoid it for the task at hand, great for silver, bad for gold nuggets 🙂 At the moment as it stands I'd use my Equinox 800 over my Manticore for prospecting. Maybe that will change with a smaller coil when it comes, although the coil is going to be 5x8" so I don't know how that will compare to the Nox 6" coil and as the old saying goes the smaller the coil the more sensitive it is. The Equinox and other detectors like the Legend are significantly more sensitive to smaller gold than the AT Pro and Gold Bug Pro/F19 variants.

Screen name is my ham radio callsign. I just tested the CTX with both 11" and 6" coils on small pieces of lead. Results were dismal to say the least. I also tested the AT Pro with 5x8 and SS coils along with the F19 with stock coil - all of which beat the CTX with either coil. The Deus II with wired coil doesn't sound appealing to me. I don't know why, but it seems like a bandaid fix to the underwater signal degradation issue it seems to have. Just my opinion.

Deus 2 in water, especially fast moving water would need the antenna wire connected. It is waterproof but wireless signal from coil to control unit won’t travel through water. Also, Deus 2’s Goldfield mode is still not very sensitive to small gold compared to the Legend, Equinox 800/900 and Gold Kruzer. XP may fix it in the next software update. Manticore is a possibility. CTX on really small gold would not be my first choice. The multi frequency detectors I mentioned are very hot on small gold.

Excellent speech NCtoad. 👍

I can understand your frustration. However, the Legend is not pointless and useless. I had an issue with my original Legend system control unit. Nokta replaced it very quickly and free of charge. The Legend sometimes quickly powers ON and then OFF during charging when connecting to the charging port. That is normal. Are you sure it was fully charged? If there is an issue, Nokta will fix it.

Nokta Makro Legend, Equinox 800, Equinox 900, Nokta Makro Gold Kruzer are all fully waterproof and can handle freshwater submerged use for river beds and crevices. They are very sensitive VLFs and have very similar performance in the gold prospecting modes. The Legend and Equinox 900 also have handle vibration for alerting on targets when the entire detector is submerged. The Garrett AT Gold is a decent larger gold nugget submerged detector. However since it runs at 18 kHz, it is not nearly as sensitive to smaller or hard to hit nuggets as the 40 kHz and higher Legend, Equinox and Gold Kruzer. The Legend and Equinox 800/900 have more usable features in their gold modes than the Gold Kruzer.

Have been using full tones with disc -6.4 since the V4.0 on D1: the Gary’s Hot program. But have been using Gary’s Hot program since D1’s 3.2 with Cold prog. one as well. With iron falsing I always walk around the signal and sometimes increasing silencer.And this in iron infested sites, with many old big nails.