Steve Herschbach

That Power Level knob where the is a big OFF in red letters - turn it to "not off".  Here is the manual:

compass-gold-scanner-instruction-manual.pdf

2 hours ago, ikaruz said:

Ok.. so if air tests can be very similar, the real test is at the ground and if gpx 4000,4500,5000 are very similar, for medieval coins, roman coins, artifacts, for you wich are the best coils i can get?

Here at europe Will be easy to get brands like minelab commander, detech, and sometimes a random coil at eBay...

Whatever worked best for you with the GPX 4500 as far as coils go. You know your ground and desired items better than I do. 15x12 Commanders are nice. 

On 7/23/2025 at 12:33 PM, ikaruz said:

But between gpx 4000,4500 and 5000 Will the 4500 and the 5000 go a lot more deeper than the 4000?

No, unless a specific timing on the newer models not available on the 4000 will help. The so called Fine Gold setting on the GPX 5000 helps in areas where there are hot rocks the GPX 4000 can't deal with. Fine Gold is not deeper, less actually, but handles bad hot rock situations better. But few people have ground like that. Just one example, but depending where you are a 4000 may be every bit as good as the later models.

Never air test a PI against a VLF. The whole point of a PI is to retain good depth in ground that causes a VLF/Multi to lose 25% or more of it's depth. I detect ground where your Deus 2 would fail and the GPX get five times or more depth. If you are going to detect in the air or in very low mineral soils, you do not need a PI. Either test a PI against a VLF by burying test targets in highly mineralized soil or may as well not waste time testing.

Slightly modified post below copied from long thread at https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/11421-fisher-impulse-aq-discrimination-explanation/page/15/#findComment-113487

Some people think a PI detects a lot deeper than a VLF and in the case of a very high power PI that can be true. But for what I would call mid-power PI detectors like the TDI SL or Garrett ATX, running off 8 AA batteries, the depth in low mineral ground running the same size coil is not much different than a good VLF. Assume just for illustration that a White's MXT with 12" coil and White's TDI SL with 12" coil get the same depth in mild ground on one particular test target.

Now we have a magic dial and can turn up the ground mineralization. As we increase the mineralization, both detectors lose depth. The MXT loses depth at a faster rate however. I can't give you an exact ratio, but you can reach a point where the TDI now goes much deeper than the MXT. Yet the TDI is still getting less depth also.... it just does not lose as much depth as quickly as the MXT.

It is also the case that with a PI if you have no ground balance filter engaged you can get the best depth in low mineral ground. Simply engaging the ground balance filter immediately robs a little depth. However, by engaging the control you do better in high mineral ground by comparison to the MXT. Whether you engage or disengage the ground balance circuit depends on the ground you are in.

PI detectors do best by comparison to VLF detectors when ground conditions are the worst. The milder the ground, the less good a PI looks by comparison to a good VLF, to the point where you are better off with a good VLF due to the superior discrimination. Where I am in Nevada a White's GMT or Goldmaster 24K or even MXT is a better all around gold prospecting detector than a White's TDI SL in a lot of the desert soils due to the mild ground conditions, and the hot VLF detectors can detect tiny gold nuggets a TDI can't see even in direct contact with the coil.

To sum up, the pulse induction will shine best where ground conditions are the worst. In general sands derived from volcanic activity and granitic rock, with high magnetic mineral content. People in mild sand and gravels... not so much. In those situations the main benefit of a PI is the ability to effectively run coils much larger than those available for most VLF detectors.

11 hours ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

So Far.......You and Me, I have asked Alexandre to join us also. I will keep you informed. If Steve still had his AQ I would have loved to hear him speak on the subject. Maybe a future event with Steve for PI users/hunters? Steve what do you think? 

Was out finding gold so late to reply.

Alexandre is a member of the forum and last posted May 1, 2025.

If you are referring to me I sold my AQ in 2021 as the new version was said to be weeks away. I’m still waiting four years later. It left a bad taste in my mouth so I'm not a good candidate as a guest as I tend to say what I think. I'm not inclined to overlook what was promised to those of us who took part in the Impulse AQ early buy program. I was one of the first involved and was a major supporter of the project. It's all there in the old forum posts. What I would say now would not be pretty so in the interest of all I will have to pass.

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/70-minelab-gold-monster-forum/

https://www.detectorprospector.com/metal-detector-database/minelab-gold-monster-2000-r167/

On 7/18/2025 at 12:35 PM, Gold Seeker said:

Steve on Bill's old forum which is the same Invision software that it seem is used here we had a tech set something in the software that automatically downsized all photos to a reasonable size as they were posted, not sure where to find that setting in the AP.

I’m comfortable with my settings and space. This is mainly to help people with uploads that are stalling or timing out due to poor connections or data limits on their plans.

2 hours ago, Desert Dawg said:

We had 2 of the older GB2's with us last trip to rye patch this June, and this newer lcd model, the two older models were fine, and worked as normal in ground we had worked in the past, I ended up borrowing one of the older models for part of the trip. This newer model is a much different story. It does ground balance, but is much more noisy and harder to keep in balance than the older units. I suspect if they had used the ten turn GB pot alone things would have been fine. Like Carl voted for. 

I doubt it. Again, it is just a control. The issue you are describing has something to do with the internal circuit or even just a substandard coil. The Gold Bug 2 requires a lot of internal hand tuning and it may be Fisher is cutting corners both in the people doing that work and in the quality control area. Marketing and sales seem to be on skeleton crew status and little reason to doubt it is the same elsewhere in the company. But whatever, as I said before, all that matters is the old one worked better for you, and that is a shame. I know if I was shopping for a Gold Bug 2 I’d be more inclined to be looking for an older model with the old 6” epoxy filled coil instead of the newer units. Something made prior to 2015.

49 minutes ago, Desert Dawg said:

The 10 turn to one fine adjustment acted as a buffer for GB allowing greater lattitude before changing balance, which allowed more swinging and less adjusting GB. Now with 1:1 its not good in hotter variable soils, is way more noisy per swing, less ability to get a good tune and keep very long, I am pretty much done with mine after one trip out with it. Annoying.  

A ground balance setting is a ground balance setting on the GB2. The control does not impose a "buffer" on the setting and would have nothing to do with how often the setting would need to be changed. The only difference between the controls is how far they must be moved to change a certain amount of GB setting. A single turn control requires miniscule moves of the control, a ten turn or more control allows for easier, finer adjustments. I'm not going to swear there were not other changes made in the GB2 that might account for what you are experiencing, but the ground reject control would not be the focus of your problem. Bottom line I guess is you think the old models worked better.

Despite what was said earlier the new ground reject knob is an “infinite turn” knob. Slow turns make fine adjustments like the old fine control, spinning it engages a coarse adjust like the old coarse turn knob. The setting goes from 00.1 to 99.9 and so there are 1000 potential settings. I’m not sure how the resolution of the older analog controls is measured, but I’m not seeing that there is a loss of fine tune capability here.

https://www.detectorrepair.com/index.php/store/9511-0102-wiring-loom-handle-for-gpx-series $46.99

If you want the genuine replacement part they will not be around forever. The official Minelab parts site shows them as soon to be discontinued:

https://parts.minelab.com/9511-0102-p/9511-0102.htm

“Last Time Buy
Soon to be discontinued”

Since you got the full package, try using the AA pack as a counterweight for the 13DD

Given how the company does not like to bothered with things like website updates, then the idea they would want to deal with customer returns, upgrades, and mail backs….. well, no. It’s not could we update, but do we want to, and the answer is no. You want the new stuff, buy the new model. Just like the “good old days”. Add a feature, well, it’s a new model, buy it or not.

1 hour ago, Furmiston said:

I’d be interested to know if darker sand generally means the soil is more mineralised

The color really means nothing; it's about magnetic content. Simply drop a good magnet in the sand and see what happens. A little sand sticks to it, not very mineralized. If it comes up covered in a ball of sand that's highly mineralized. People talk about black sands but there are magnetic (magnetite) black sands, and there are also non-magnetic black colored sands.

This is what the magnet in the bottom of my scoop looks like after just a couple digs. Makes it partially ineffective at why I have it there - catching bobby pins.

On 7/11/2025 at 8:52 AM, Furmiston said:

I’ve been a tarsacci owner for a couple of years now and it’s been a fantastic detector for me. So recently i acquired the new dx version.

I have what I hope is a simple question. Is the actual hardware any different? Do the coil, rod, control panel, etc all look the same? Same headphones and headphone connections? Did the screw on lid to the battery compartment at least maybe get fixed from the original ultra fine thread, prone to cross threading, to something a little more robust? It claims to be more waterproof and fixing that cap is only thing I can think of that would make a difference. Thanks.

8 minutes ago, mntnflyr4fun said:

internet misinformation

Some kind of mishmash of two separate products. What does "this return" mean? AI results? AI is the quick road to misinformation when it comes to metal detecting.

We have come a long way. When I first started making websites back in 1998 image optimization was critical. Very critical. Limited storage space and bandwidth were show stoppers. Now we are blessed with vastly increased resources so it is less an issue. However, the new phones do take superb photos that have huge file sizes, and it can trip up people who try and upload them to the forum if they have poor connections. I have a lot of server space, but even then I have to do some weed whacking now and then looking for ridiculously large files that have been uploaded by somebody. But mainly people will find things go easier and faster if they are not accidently trying to upload oversize images. When people report problems posting that is a number one cause.

My first website in 1998/1999. The entire site probably took less space than some single large images on this forum.

24 minutes ago, Wild Bill said:

Hopefully it helped.  Didn’t mean to post the crystal image twice, that was a mistake.  Anyway, I strongly encourage the use of an app.

It does help Bill, thanks, and thanks for posting this. Which app were you using? I use Image Size:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/image-size/id670766542?platform=iphone

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.vsmedia.imagesize&hl=en_US&pli=1

Another trick for resizing images is that emailing huge images is also an issue. So if you email yourself an image on an iPhone, it gives you reduced size options that you can then save and use. I assume Android does something similar.

For those that know how to do it converting to jpg can result in huge file size reductions for photos.

As far as mistakes go, click the three little dots in upper right of your post, edit away. I already deleted the extra image. Full Members can edit posts for up to 90 days. New members are unable to use the edit function as it has been abused to add spam to posts a weeks later.

Welcome to the forum, from an expatriate Alaskan. 

So to sum up:

1. Cover everything but controls with aluminum foil to prevent false signals.

2. Then completely seal controls after getting them set for normal hunting with silicone to prevent eventual deterioration of washers, etc.

3. Only use underwater to prevent excessive heat buildup from shortening life of internal components.

4. Never attempt to take the batteries on a plane.

5. Start a savings fund to cover eventual out of warranty repairs.

Welcome to the forum!

Your joining and post is one of a couple that has made a real difference in the direction of the forum going forward. Knowing more directly there are people out there lurking who appreciate this forum matters more to me than you can know. So thanks for bringing that better to light for me. 

https://www.detectorprospector.com/topic/29406-spam-attack/page/3/#findComment-301539

1 hour ago, Dancer said:

So , if I was the manufacturer I'd go on line to one or a couple of well known field testers. I'm not gonna name any but yourself and quite a few others could name a few I'm sure.     There are videos out there for sub $200 machines. So if there aren't any videos available it could simply be because someone doesn't want any.  And that's up to the manufacturer.     Even with videos, in the end   You lays your money down and take your chances.

I’m sorry I did not know you were talking about the manufacturer. You quoted our new member specifically and so it seemed you were addressing him. I was responding to that perception on my part.

Yes, of course Dimitar or his dealers should be doing videos, just like they should be updating websites or putting out manuals. Bottom line is I have long thought this is as much a hobby as a business for Dimitar, so people may as well get over it. It’s like he makes what he wants for himself, and if you want to have one also, fine. But other than that it’s obvious it’s not a big concern to him one way or the other.

In this day and age of fishing for eyeballs it is surprising nobody has got one just to be the first to put out a video on it. I think that shows just how far off the mainstream radar Tarsacci really is.

46 minutes ago, Ridge Runner said:

Steve 

If I can post a picture that I took with my phone could I do the same with a video I made off it as well ?

 Chuck 

No, it’s far too large. That’s my point. It’s easy to make videos, not easy to post unless you get accounts you’ve may not want to bother getting.

Even some of the photos people post with new phones are really too large for use on the internet. Slow to upload and slow to see, eats up a ton of server space.

1 hour ago, Dancer said:

A video going over the tones, the different frec's, or what ever would be too much to ask.     It's not like making a video is expensive.   

So how does a person post a video if they have no YouTube or Instagram or other hosting account, and don't want to get those accounts just to post a video for someone?