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A few weeks back my buddy and I braved a snow storm to get to a site that had an open window of opportunity. If we didn't go now we wouldn't be able to get back in until early June because of ranch activity. When we arrived there at 9 am there was 1" of snow on the ground and the storm had subsided. I had both the Deus 2 and Manticore with me but decided to start off with the Manticore and 11" coil. Manticore settings were AT General, 1 region all tones, recovery 5, sensitivity 22, stock ferrous limits, normal audio with a simple profile. Worst part about hunting snow covered ground is the build up you get on the coil, requiring cleaning every few minutes. We hunted for a few hours and for the most part finds were few and far between. I think I had a few small cuff buttons and a percussion cap in my pouch. At about 1 pm the snow started to fall again, so we decided to call it and work our way back to the truck. As I rounded a bush I got a solid 24 on the Manticore and in my mind I thought this could be a gold coin, knowing from testing that the type 1 $1 comes up 23-24. As I was digging the hole I heard thumping and brush crashing to my left to see a moose running past me, stopping just long enough to take a look at me. Taking out a few shovel fulls of soil, the edge of the 1850 $1 gold coin was visible in one of the dirt clods and came from a depth of about 7 inches. I called my buddy over to take a look and take pictures as I broke it from the dirt and put some water on it. Turns out it was worth braving the elements. For those interested, the ID for US gold coins on the Manticore are Type 1 $1 23-24 Type 2 & 3 $1 20-21 $2 1/2 37-38 $5 50-51 $10 65-66 $20 76-78.

Attended Gerry's class this weekend and did not go home empty handed. Found my first two nuggets! A .42 and a .25 gram. Using my Manticore and the M8. Dime is for size reference only. Happy as could be! - Dave

I relic and coin hunt in my local area mostly at old homesites. I’ve done this type hunting for about 40 years when time and family life allowed for it. My first factory made detector was a Garrett back in the ‘80’s. I enjoy using both Apex detector and D2-9”. I bought the Apex soon after it was released. I had previously owned a ML Sovereign so I knew the virtues of SMF machines. More recently , the GTI-2500 was nice technology, but the Apex felt like heaven to my arm to swing especially since I’m older. I learned the Apex and could hardly wait for each day I could go out and use it. I still like it and use it today, anywhere the soil conditions allow. Being rechargeable, having wireless headphones and 5 tones, SMF like the Sovereign, but so much lighter than my old machines was and is a win-win for me. I will use the D2 when the soil conditions are tougher, and like that I can tweak a few settings to the soil conditions. I wish I could do even a subset of similar adjustments with the Apex as it would be the icing on the cake for me. I eagerly await the “Storm” like a lot of other Garrett fans, and I hope they address some of the (lack of) adjustability of the Apex. Meanwhile I’ll keep using and enjoying with both machines. Let’s hope it the Storm appears soon.

Doc I’m speechless I just don’t know how I could ever forget you. Old age I do believe has got me and as time goes bye you yourself will be able to relate on what I’m saying. I know I’m late but I hope you had a wonderful birthday.At 75 heck I got more time in the bathroom than that.You haven’t lost all your baby fat as of yet. The reason I said bathroom is when you get my age you spend a lot of time in one. Doc I thank you for for reminding me that you are a long time Minelab dealer and I promise on a box of Girl Scout cookies 🍪 I’ll never forget you again. They sure are good and good for you.ha Chuck

Thanks Chuck. Yes research is a big part of success. But most of these camps I hunt have been hit for decades before I ever got to them. Maybe a pocket of untouched relics here and there where I found a bunch of stuff concentrated. But more importantly, the people that hit the areas were after the high conductive targets. Big bullets, big buttons and silver coins are all but gone. Plenty of the low conductors left if you don't mind sorting through the .22 brass, .22 lead and percussion caps. Generally speaking, officers were paid in gold and enlisted men paid in silver. Enlisted men's pay in the 1850's was about $11 a month if I remember correctly. Whereas an officer would earn anywhere from $30-40 a month.

Hey Chuck, I'm a Minelab dealer. In fact I'm a Legacy Minelab Dealer having represented Minelab since 1992. Just because I'm elderly is no reason to discriminate against me. LOL I just turned 75 April 20th. 🤣 Doc

And, for fun and being real. Just some of the non-gold tiny bits I dug. I was keeping them for the first day and a half. Gerry told us how Lunk got his nickname. If they had been giving out nicknames for this class mine would have been Junk. I'm pretty sure I dug more tiny trash than anyone else by a pretty wide margin. That actually gave me confidence though. One of Gerry's staff members, Eli, helped me a lot with discerning targets from the ground. As I was getting a LOT of ground signals that were the same as a nugget signal. This junk really upped my confidence in believing I could tell a real target from the ground. And those three little bits of wire towards the right side, those were all three under the coil at the same time as my first nugget. And that felt pretty darn good to suss that out. - Dave

I killed many,many bad men with one of those, I also robbed banks and stage coaches. and absolutely no mortal man could out draw me, but nothing matched my famous shot when I got the giant rattlesnake in the eye at 300 paces. The next day was even more exciting. Thanks for the memories.

I seen your pic on Fb earlier today. Congrats on now being ruined for the rest of your life with gold fever.

Steve, I'll do better about comparing detectors in a dedicated brand topic. Given the fact I have been comparing detectors for many years both privately and publicly, it's a hard habit to break. But you are right, we don't want to downplay one detector against another because we do well with it. To me, that's about where to take it. I only did so because these were two detectors I owned recently and had experience enough to talk about them. I'm not to speed" on most all the newest detectors. Can't say I want to be anymore. I just want to hunt. I remember one of the few times my wife actually went metal detecting with me and I gave her a popular non-motion discriminator I was testing at the time. I was using "old faithful". I asked her if she would like me to set it up for her... "No, I'll be fine!" I gave her some brief instruction on how to operate and she was gone across the school field extending the lower rod as she went. After two hours she returned to where I was and I noticed the searchcoil was swiveled around so the majority of the coil surface was under the pole! I started to smirk until she opened her hand, it was filled with coins, many were silver! She said, "How'd you do?" I had "red crickets"! 🙂 You are a good Admin, thank you.

Just used mine….it’s really slick. Much better than the screw in type. I hope it lasts….

Rob is the only Minelab dealer that comes on here that hasn’t posted about the big sale Minelab has going on with the Manticore and Equinox 900. I’m not going to repeat what it’s all about but let me tell you a little about the man . This guy Rob I was dealing with him before he got married to the beautiful lady that he is . I remember when his daughter was born but for the life of me I don’t remember when that was. I can assure you she’s no baby anymore. Rob is always treated me right on any deal he made with me and great service after the sale. Two dealers on here I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting in person and that’s Rob & Gerry but been dealing with both for years. It’s odd I been dealing with two dealers that I think a lot of but not sure if I know them if we bump into each other on the street. You may say it’s good knowing you but you’re wrong it’s been my pleasure in knowing each of you. Chuck

Still time to take advantage of the Super Anniversary sale on the Manticore & Equinox 900. I just returned from the 3 Days Field Training and the Manticore really impressed us with the small M8 coil and the tiny gold nuggets we were able to recover with it. I'll post picks in a few days when I get caught up. We had some happy customers who were able to recover their 1st gold with a detector and the Manticore shined through.

Doc & Rob are both outstanding Minelab dealers and even better people in person. If I was not a dealer myself, I'd be purchasing gold detectors from them. Coin/Relic/ Beach hunting, that's quite not their cup of tea, but they make up for it with Customer Support.

In a last ditch effort to find something cool today I went out into my pasture this evening. I found a gun. Judging by the barrel the kid used too many caps at once. 😱😂

Today I got the RCDIGS V1 mount. I'm glad I did because I'm going to be giving it intermittent heavy use all this week. I'm headed to a beach campground. It's a pretty popular place but I've found the D2 can hit a lot of stuff others miss, however I'm going to have to dig for it. Just about every dig is 5 scoops or more down. 😵 I'm hoping that going a week later than last year will mean more warm days and fresh finds. My wife wants a diamond this year. 😬 This is the difference - V0 was solid, V1 is not. V0 had no way to use wired headphones, V1 has ample space to plug them in. You could probably even plug a transceiver in there. Next is the angle, I hope you can see it in the photo: It's much more comfortable to push the buttons. Could even be leaned back more. 🤔 Here is the new angle: And this is the old one. It's much easier to hold the button down for ground balancing. My hands are large but not huge. Below I have my 65mm (32.5 radius) circle of vinyl covering the WS6. You'll have to make your own. There are pilot holes for the screws, I recommend stainless. I'll be updating this thread more in the next few days from the beach, may just do a separate post. Ryan of RCDIGS.com has a real winner here! 👍

Wow! Thanks for sharing your experience. Hoping to one day be as lucky to find a gold coin.

Yea the covers are thin and cheap sometimes they warp and are hard to get a tight fit...so seems like gotta have extra coil covers when hunting in dirt...sand seems a bit different much easier on coils from my experience...but what do I know I don't get to hunt every day like some of the retired folks can...maybe you can wear through a epoxy made coil without a cover in one years time beach hunting? I'd like to know from someone that gets to hunt 4-5 days a week year around... strick

September 22 2002 Part Two Conor and I were working gravels through the tom when I got a call on my walkie talkie. It was Jacob and he wanted me to come up to the dig site. He said he had something to show me. When I got up there he had shut down the excavator and was standing near the edge of the giant hole he had been expanding. He pointed to the west side of the pit and said he had struck a solid wall of sloping bedrock. He had found the lateral boundaries of the rich material. Then he told me that the bedrock continued to drop in that area with no sign of a bottom. He showed me a test pan from and there was still plenty of coarse gold there. The area of the second stage drop zone was about 20 feet by 20 feet. He figured the best gold was still to be found wherever the bottom of that drop contacted bedrock. There was no way to tell how deep he would need to dig. He had a nice platform sitting on the first area of bedrock to start the next section. He would be able to go down about 20 to 25 feet from there without expanding his footprint. If the bedrock was still deeper than that he would need to back out and come back in from the south side by digging what would amount to a massive trench that would slope downward deep into the channel. If that was needed it might require timbering the sides for safety or digging a very wide cut. In other words, a big project. All we could do was hope he struck bedrock from where he was presently stationed. TO BE CONTINUED ..............

It was a good training and good company. It was a pleasure getting to get acquainted with you UT Dave and everyone else that attended. Had a blast myself. I would recommend this for anyone that wants to learn about this hobby, or even people that have a good foundation and want more specialized training. Wasn't my first nugget but I managed to scare this one out of the ground, I mean middle of the lake....

If I'm remembering what I learned in class correctly, this is where I'm supposed to say I found them down in the lake . - Dave

I recently obtained permission for my club to hunt a sizable piece of property with historical group usage going back over 100 years. Over 40 of us showed up on the designated day. I heard several people say their first signal of the day was a silver dime! By the afternoon, I was getting a little discouraged with a wheat or two, some bullets, a fishing weight and a couple modern coins. I had also found a 12 pound section of an old brass pot or urn. Based on the radius of curvature, that thing must have been huge, not to mention extremely heavy! I had to make a special trip back to the car for that thing, as it was too heavy to carry with me all day. I finally broke the silver drought with a 64 Rosie after lunch. A while after that, another club member hunting near me found a beautiful Ben Franklin silver half. I told him it was gorgeous, and mentioned I had never found a half outside a seeded hunt - let alone a silver one. He encouraged me and said I will find one sooner or later and it might be a Walker or even a Barber. As he moved on, I hit a nail patch and decided to slow down and go over it. I was using my Deus 2 with the 11x13 coil - not optimum for dense nails, but I wasn’t going back to the car for the 9” that late in the day. After a little comparison, I switched to the Tekkna program. From what I have read, it might not be the best program for a large coil and dense ferrous targets, but it was more stable and much quieter in the dense nails than my custom program. After walking two lines through the nails, I had recovered four wheats and a worn cuff link (?), and figured there may be more hiding. Sure enough, I hit a nice mid-90’s signal that was so strong it had to be a can lid or the like. But, with multiple nearby wheats, I was digging it anyway. About three inches down, I caught my breath as I saw a silver disk emerge. Surely, it was an aluminum punch like another one I had found, but then I saw the reeding on the edge. I was flabbergasted to see Lady Liberty emerge from the dirt! Despite the dense iron (based on the stain, it would appear the coin was actually in contact with iron) using Tekkna and the 11x13 worked well. I would say this is the best coin I have ever found! In hindsight, I wonder what would have happened if my club member had said I would find a $20 gold piece…🤪 I also found a maple tree tap and what I think is a musket ball. The wheats range from 1911 through the 1950’s, with only the 1920’s not represented. We are working on permission to go back again!

I too have bought products from Gerry and Doc, very knowledgeable, fair prices and will take the time to talk and answer questions. Larger than life characters too, but that just adds icing to the cake.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/bzBWk8j6uZFHzs4j/ https://www.amazon.com/Nokta-Waterproof-Professional-Rechargeable-Headphones/dp/B0CZP8ZYRW/ref=sr_1_4?crid=3CV0A25XRCSJL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hVgZbEPZAlAreN8R17Bs4S92jgo4iUE4z5zwr9h_5NlWECzUIHnQnH8SERW0CMOqEHkPfUv9-c66qb7qMT5boMac0jNqKoUfmUceMHAL_PJ953wXTqX3yMsLS-6nORnDMTK_zpzGW6K0_-Df5NS3Kf6b-VGyk7Iw7bDb9vXGaZEkcaJv8J-CdEsqz_4eEu30JO6O5eTr9DoLTea5Fl_q93_f6OASFZalQtzOidTjaYuBkoKSuiyco7cVsT4r1oWnL_Q2HrN0rpJK7uBl6xVJzVbJmPIdH--Fiz-Ie-k7PfM.FOLTT7tT1qJz_c9V73LUxZidt4M0fbK-HuRlkU7g028&dib_tag=se&keywords=metal+detector+for+adults+professional&qid=1713532300&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=metal+detector+for+adults+professional%2Clawngarden%2C202&sr=1-4&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR07ExZs9hp-m77ZS2MvDhh8FicYJLVctKQgrnv4N_5b3VxIjgXXQOmNjqc_aem_AUJzJu2mO_tpNj4X83JkO05Ig3sskLO1V3hXwd-GeVr04v_5ORMpl1ls70B4226VXJIyvJmWvvzL1_1I4lfGJ_TR https://www.amazon.com/Nokta-Professional-Waterproof-Rechargeable-Headphones/dp/B0CZPC64R4/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3CV0A25XRCSJL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hVgZbEPZAlAreN8R17Bs4S92jgo4iUE4z5zwr9h_5NlWECzUIHnQnH8SERW0CMOqEHkPfUv9-c66qb7qMT5boMac0jNqKoUfmUceMHAL_PJ953wXTqX3yMsLS-6nORnDMTK_zpzGW6K0_-Df5NS3Kf6b-VGyk7Iw7bDb9vXGaZEkcaJv8J-CdEsqz_4eEu30JO6O5eTr9DoLTea5Fl_q93_f6OASFZalQtzOidTjaYuBkoKSuiyco7cVsT4r1oWnL_Q2HrN0rpJK7uBl6xVJzVbJmPIdH--Fiz-Ie-k7PfM.FOLTT7tT1qJz_c9V73LUxZidt4M0fbK-HuRlkU7g028&dib_tag=se&keywords=metal+detector+for+adults+professional&qid=1713532300&s=lawn-garden&sprefix=metal+detector+for+adults+professional%2Clawngarden%2C202&sr=1-3&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2yh3NmWFMA8NBeFpeSjfXEJfpSNCBEHFzbit2iVwmajwtEkFTpscMF8TI_aem_AULIFKN9B3OpnL7lsGCBfW6iIRmdlz2MkXr3YNr6JIaYfyNHUDTjGeuz0vlinq3n9FK6vRcSfLl8C0VNMjrRm4cM Nokta me sorprende cada vez más con lo fácil que es lanzar nuevos productos. En este caso sólo a la venta en Amazon

Maybe backed up by the Turkish government...................so funds are limitless ,been twice to work in Turkey they manufacture a lot of good stuff, pleasant people and very hard working never heard a complain and the food is amazing.Whats not to like RR

From https://cornellpubs.com/manufacturer/hubley-toy/ "Hubley — Founded by John Hubley in about 1894 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the Hubley Manufacturing Company made cast iron toys. Its earliest products were trains and trolleys powered by live steam, electricity, or spring mechanisms. Hubley produced stoves and still banks beginning in 1909. It later added horse-drawn fire and circus wagons, cap pistols, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and, in the 1920s, dollhouse kitchen appliances. By 1940 Hubley had become the world’s largest manufacturer of cast-iron toys. Increasing freight charges and foreign competition made the company switch to die-cast toys of a zinc alloy. Hubley was acquired by Gabriel Industries in 1965 and now produces die-cast zinc and plastic toys as well as hobby kits." Photo of a similar model for sale here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256318411250

Awesome find!!!! Congrats!

Yeah forget that Fakebook crowd and the other "social media" platforms like TikTom, TweeterX, Insta-grass, WeChoke, TeleGoon, and Snapchump. Half of what is wrong with the younger folks today is basing their entire lives off that poison. The other half is pure laziness.

Well, it sure seems they are serious about going up against Minelab. It's hard to deny the fact they are being competitive with the pricing. For the price they have on the FindX($139), it is very appealing to new people just thinking about detecting. And the FindX Pro model for $179 adds waterproofing on the entire unit. They are including a stainless digger, wired headphones, AND a carrying bag.. Man that is insane. How are they even doing this? Spec-wise it isn't a bad machine at all. It lacks advanced feature manipulation but does include automatic and manual ground balance. A very simple turn on and go machine. 15khz frequency. Wonder how it will do? The only odd/weird thing I see is charging on the regular FindX. Someone would have to unscrew and remove the search coil to charge. That may be a problem or failure point over time. The FindX Pro is like the Legend for charging, meaning there is a separate port integrated for headphones also.

Skin it...Skin That Smoke Wagon! strick

what a beautiful contrast of colour on the second picture.. what can I buy with 40 dollar a month in if i live in those days? nowaday swith 40 dollar I can get this 🙄 ...

Will be interesting to see if Nokta brings something new to the table or it will be similiar to AlgoForce. What will be equally interesting is to see how Minelab will react to all this new competition (Nokta & AlgoForce) in the PI market they currently dominate - hopefully with better product at a reasonable price rather than litigation. Time will tell.

Said every hoarder, ever 😉 Saying that, if I could afford 10 detectors, I'd have em too...

I would not be surprised if Minelab got a patent on the magnetic coupling, but you'd think they could certainly come up with some sort of wireless induction charging. Perhaps even utilizing the coils of wire already in the coil. (NOT an electrical engineer here... there may be practical reasons this wouldn't work)

I think this falls in the category 'the rich get richer', but before anyone labels that comment as 'envy', the only thing I'm envious of is being someone who puts as much effort into the entire endeavor (including research) as Andrew. Sometimes people get lucky, but no one gets *that* lucky. Well done (again). Did soldiers in that area & time period get paid in small denomination gold? I recall an article by Tom D. about the subject but his was for pre-CW (~1850, Florida) soldiers when (according to him) only the highest ranking received gold; the others silver.

Would like to return to this thread after the "storm" arrives. I'm thinking a lot of the folks who thought the Apex just slightly missed the mark for their detecting environment are rooting for Garrett to close that remaining gap with their next generation VLF detector design.

I like the Apex audio myself. I also think I would like it better if I had more tone options. 2 or 3 tone would be great.

After owning the axiom for about 8months and only using monos with great success I decided to treat myself in a trashy site to only digging non ferrous targets and hey it worked! In middle of about 20 pieces of trash I could clearly hear something shining thru, low and behold 10 or so beautiful gold pieces. Half went with a friend that was with me, my half in the picture. Ended up digging every target in the pike for 2 day as I thought we were on some high grade ore but all the gold was sitting right on top with lots of trash.lol

Well, it's interesting "happenings" between Nokta and Minelab 🙂 Minelab has the 800. Nokta tops it with the Legend. Minelab has the Vanquish. Nokta tops it with the Double Score. Minelab has the X-Terra Pro. Nokta tops it with the FindX Pro. Minelab has the Voyager. Nokta tops it with the FindX. Then there is the upcoming Nokta relic and gold PI detectors. I think it's safe to say that Nokta has become the proverbial "thorn in the side" for Minelab. Now, I guess it's about due time that Nokta puts out the successor to the Legend.

Just a reminder - this is the Garrett Forum for people who like and appreciate their Garrett detectors, where they can do so without people telling them that Brand X is better. You want to make brand to brand comparisons, take it to the Comparisons Forum. I also do not find the Apex to be a powerhouse in my soil and have said so, but I don’t make it my mission to make sure I repeat that on every thread on the Garrett Forum to people who are happy with theirs. I truly feel sorry for people who own and enjoy a Garrett Ace 150 or a Bounty Hunter. They go out and have fun and find things. Then they find a forum or get on Facebook, and get told what they own is not “the best” by all the people who are sure they own “the best.” There is a general elitist attitude on these forums that can’t tolerate anyone saying anything good about anything other than a dozen detector models. Own anything else and you will rapidly be made into a second class citizen here… and leave. Great, maybe your car is better than my car, but truth is I like my car and I don’t want your car. Maybe people just like and want to support Garrett products regardless of whether somebody else thinks they should not.

GEOGRAPHY THE POWER OF TAUPO Lake Taupo lies in the caldera of an active supervolcano, the site of the world’s most violent eruption of the last 70,000 years. Just 10 km beneath it sits another lake of molten rock 50 km wide and 160 km long. With a growing need for alternative energy sources, plans for tapping this latent reservoir are hotting up. Why would you consider it a minor eruption? It wasn't too minor from what I have read about it. You only have to see the size of the lake. Which you have. According to geological records, the volcano has erupted 29 times in the last 30,000 years with 25 of those in the last 12 thousand years . They reckon it last erupted about 250 CE, that is around 2 thousand years ago. Did you consider Mt St Helens a minor eruption? Would NZ survive if Lake Taupō erupted? This is what they say. For NZ, especially the North Island, if it's a real big supervolcano eruption, everybody dies (TM), to a first approximation. It could also seriously affect the climate of the whole earth. Well depending on the wind direction, the very least the east coast would be covered in ash, and lots of it. I could go on but I think I have made my point, that is it wasn't a minor eruption. D4G

That was a 'minor' eruption but you made me look up when did the lake form and this is what I found: Lake Taupō is in a caldera created mainly by a supervolcanic eruption which occurred approximately 25,600 years ago. Lake Taupo is 234 square miles vs Lake Tahoe with 193 square miles.

Thanks for the comments Chuck. We have the deals, we have changed prices on our online store if anyone is looking, plus we still have a nice batch of M8 coils for it. Both deals, Equinox 900 or Manticore for Minelab 35th Anniversary. Rob

This must be Minelab’s way of dealing with the competition, about 30% off of their top multi-freq. detector is quite rare of a sale for sure. Manticore $1199 about 30% off plus another 15% military off for those who served for a total of 45% off. Equinox $999 and also the veterans if you qualify. Free shipping and Oregon is a no tax state. Ron’s Detector’s 208-739-8079 rrlmmc@gmail.com Please support your local small dealers as we are going to be going to the wayside pretty soon with most companies going direct sales. With that being said I will always remember when Gerry, Doc’s and Rob were always the ones to ask technical questions as they usually had the answers.

People we don’t care why Minelab is putting on this sale of two of their top detectors. What we do know it gives a lot of people like you and me the opportunity to buy one of them maybe we couldn’t before. If you got tax money coming back check with your dealer if he will let you put a deposit down on the one you want . All I’m saying a great deal like this don’t come around everyday so you need to take advantage of it while it’s available. Talking about available remember this sale ends May 5th but you still got time . Remember Vets you got a 15 % discount coming but you got to ask for it and show proof of it . The Best To You! Chuck

What EL NINO just stated for me too. The Legend is an excellent all around detector. Very deep and accurate if set up & used correctly. Where it falls short for me is on deeper targets in my mineralized red dirt. The V1.14 Dt adjustment helps significantly. The Be mode also, but Dt is more practical for me unless the ground is very clean & I am only searching for deep larger relics. Because I have the Versa, it will be my primary unit for deeper targets on my red dirt sites both with and without iron. I will still use the Legend with the LG 35/13” coil too. On low mineral sites set up right with the big coil & using Dt it can be deeper than the Versa on some targets. I’m glad to have both rigs.

Hi Mitchel. Were you aware that Lake Taupo fills the caldera of of the Taupo volcano. That being a volcano that has collapsed into itself, often filling with water to form a lake. As in this case. Believed to have erupted 2000 odd years ago. A super volcano. Now that you have been there & seen the size of the lake, you can but imagine how that eruption must have been. I hope the weather is clear for you as you travel on from Taupo heading south up on the volcanic plateau & along the desert road past the three volcanoes. Mt Ruapehu, Mt Tongariro & Mt Ngauruhoe. Still classified as active. Don't forget to stay on the right side of the road. In our case that is on the left. 😉 D4G

Hmmmm.... First Texas selling below dealer prices. Now Minelab with super deep discounts. Knife fight in detector land with buyers as winners. Sellers of used detectors, not so much.

Not in the journal : Comparing permitting & Plans of Operation from back then to now - man, have times changed. No politics here of course, just the process. Everything is slower and more detailed. As I was saying back in the Winter, I am attempting to get back to doing some mining on those claims again. I filed paperwork and need to transfer some water licenses out of a lessee's name and into mine. However, I was told I need to start the process over from scratch. Not a big deal but just time consuming. All of the environmental studies need to be done again as well. More time. I have put in a plan for an area of virgin gravels we tested back in 2019. They are 3000 ft from the north/south running creek I talked about in the journal. I have used two pumps hooked in series to get water over there before from a pond but that pond dries up in Summer. That was a 2000 ft deal with a 100 foot climb in elevation before the ground dropped back downhill again. The creek will be a 150 ft climb in elevation until it goes back downhill the last 800 ft. Should be interesting. Just based on what experience with pumps I have I am thinking three or maybe four pumps in series will get the job done. I am talking 3 inch pumps. This time around I will use foot valves as well. In 2019 there were no foot valves and every morning the water lines had to be purged so the pumps could start pushing water without much back pressure. Purging pumps first thing in the morning means taking the caps off the top and letting the back pressure blow water 30 feet into the air while you take a cold shower in 45 degree air. Not a fun way to start your day LOL. I'm smarter now - I think. I figure to looses 2/3 of the gallons per hour the pumps are rated for but that's ok as they will just need to keep a big holding pond replenished as needed. I am also delving into the idea of using a small electric water pump to run continuously. I have been talking with a person who suggested this idea and it would be much easier. When I put in plans I throw everything in there just in case and that is something I learned the hard way.

The Rutus VERSA .....looks really good in terms of technical parameters... ,,I'd say excellent.....So we'll see what this detector can do in Terrain...on Monday I'll have the opportunity to test this detector..and compare it...for example with my really good..detectors that I have...👍 But now I think it's the detector... that many detectorists have been waiting for... - waterproof multi-frequency detector with static and pseudo-static mode / All metal / with tone identification + possibility of Mix mode... which predicts excellent depth parameters... even in really difficult terrains... with fast separation in iron, and in addition to VDI, the graphic display of the target signal/hodograph/ gives an idea of the great potential of this detector in practical detection... The low weight and compact dimensions of the detector also meet the standards... Upgrading the software of the detector with the help of Wifi gives the possibility to upgrade the software of the Rutus VERSA detector directly in the field and with the help of a mobile phone or laptop... As a tester of its predecessor /Rutus Atrex/ and testing of various software.. I know something about it .. and it is an outstanding feature.. which can keep and keep the detector current even in the future....!!! ....Furthermore, I think that Rutus VERSA is a detector that will really compete for a place in popularity on the worldwide detector market.....