Steve Herschbach

Mesh size basically means holes per inch but it’s more complicated than that. In wire screen mesh the size of the holes is also related to the size of the wire used to create the screen. So a 4 mesh screen has holes smaller than 1/4” as the wire takes up some of the space. The wire may be thicker or thinner depending on the design end use and durability goals. In other countries they don’t even use inches. Long story short there are many standards. Here we tend to go by a couple screen manufacturers, U.S. Sieve and Tyler, which are similar but not identical. U.S. Sieve goes by a screen number and Tyler refers more directly to a mesh number. When referring to gold nuggets it roughly relates to the size of the gold when you say 8 mesh gold, so the seller is kind of implying gold around 1/8” in size. The reality is that it’s not saying much at all. Is that gold that passes through an 8 mesh screen (smaller than 8 mesh) or stays on top of an 8 mesh screen (larger than 8 mesh)? Obviously in either case you would have a variety of sizes with only a max or minimum set. To be more accurate you need more info. “Passes through an 8 mesh screen but stays on top of a 10 mesh screen” defines a range smaller than 8 but larger than 10 mesh. Buyer beware. https://wstyler.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WSTyler-Test-Sieves-and-Particle-Analysis-Equipment-Catalog.pdf

Day late and a dollar short as they say. The window of opportunity has all but passed for Fisher.

I agree. Minelab has always done a tick-tock cycle, back and forth between gold detectors and coin detectors. They pounded the coin market the last two years, many new models from $99 to $1700. Now it’s gold nugget time, with all existing models quite long in the tooth, ripe for updates. The May conference is a pretty good bet for them to tell dealers “secrets” they know will be leaked to start the rumor mill going, with actual announcements later this year. With the Axiom price reduction and imminent Nokta PI anything they can do to get people to maybe wait and hold their dollars for something new from them would be good, but in order for that to happen they need to leak at least a little, and soon. "Minelab Partner Conference Adelaide Australia, May 13th to the 19th 2025"

As a dealer surely you can inquire directly?

Just an FYI - the Codan (Minelab parent company) fiscal year is from July to end of June. In other words we are already over half way through FY2025 which ends on June 30, 2025, with FY2026 starting on July 1, 2025. Not as far away as it sounds.

In one sense the GPZ 7000 was a crude proof of concept model. I am sure over a decade later Minelab can produce a much more refined version of the detector. The actual performance gains may not be all that impressive however, more like what we saw going from Equinox to Manticore. It was Equinox that was the big leap. Refinement, not revolution. I think people expecting "huge improvements" are in for a letdown.

Maybe a gambit to extend and keep it in force for longer than normal? I find it hard to think with something this important that it is accidental.

I’m really sorry to hear that, he will be missed. One of the sad aspects of this being largely an older persons pastime is we get this kind of news too often. My condolences to his family and friends. https://www.detectorprospector.com/profile/6217-cpt_ghostlight/

Mot sure it’s good news but I’m sure it’s not bad news, unless you are a Minelab competitor. Just looks like a renewal of ZVT. Nothing to get too excited about, but maybe presaging a release of a GPZ 8000 in the not too distant future? Or not.

bump

You are asking the wrong guy. I’m mainly hunt gold nuggets and only park hunt on rare occasions. When I do I dig a few bottle caps now and then, as well as other junk. I’m not afraid to dig iffy targets while detecting and think that an emphasis on never digging junk targets also means good targets missed. Even while park hunting I often focus more on jewelry than coins and that means digging lots of aluminum. But the reality is over 95% of my detecting hours are spent chasing gold nuggets so there are other people who are far more up on the latest and greatest when it comes to park hunting. In fact the reason I dropped out of the Vortex prototype testing was it was cutting too much into my nugget hunting time, and I wanted to focus on that, not VLF coin detector testing. Metal detecting is easy though it does take time. Don't stray too far from preset setting unless you know what you are doing, put in lots of hours and dig lots of targets. Listen carefully to each target before you dig, and over time you learn your detector and what to dig or not to dig. No amount of reading will ever replace just putting in the hours in that regard. Where the reading comes in is reading history. The goal there is to put yourself on old locations for coin detecting or to learn where gold locations are. All the best detectorists I know are the ones that excel at research and getting on the right ground. They all use various detectors over time but it is the research skills and effort taken to get to the best locations that set them apart from everyone else. Frankly, anyone can buy a good detector and even get good with it, but if you are not putting yourself on prime locations none of that really matters. An example of the process....

No, I don’t mind you asking. And I hope you don’t mind me declining. To quote a mentor, Jim Straight, when it comes to sharing locations “Silence is GOLDen”

No but that does not mean much. I'm sorry you are having a problem with it. Coils actually fail more than detectors. It's pretty simple. If the 10x6 works and concentric does not, the concentric needs to be replaced.

Nice, silver on first outing. I admit the firestorm and blowback surrounding the Vortex release took me by surprise. Admittedly, I only used a very early prototype, far different than the released product. But I also found it to be a very quiet and stable machine that had me immediately making good finds. Maybe the difference in perceptions has something to do with just genuinely going and using the detector versus testing to find gotcha bugs. In other words focusing on what the detector can do instead of focusing on what it can't do. I did appreciate using a quiet detector instead of a hopped up sparky model. It was actually weirdly quiet now that I am used to noisier detectors, but this should actually be a very good thing for newer users in particular. Or those that just don’t like overly sparky detectors. I might have to give one another spin once all the dust settles. I hear another update is about ready for release.

Coils are meant to be beaten around. Nothing to worry about as far as the coil. The cable however if stored long periods of time best to store in cool dry locations. Cables should not have weights left on them that could pinch or compress or kink. Kind of like the same way you would take care of a garden hose. My coils right now are either on my detectors, sitting on the floor with lower rods attached, on shelves, or hanging from wall hooks. Really, the only coils I have given any extra thought to are older waterproof connection types with O-rings. The ends must be kept clean, free of grit and grime, some I put the end in a zip lock baggie or something when not in use. When putting coils away for the winter some untaped ones will benefit from carefully removing coil covers and getting accumulated sand and grit out, put them away nice and clean.