Steve Herschbach

I'm kinda sorta in the second shipment I think, but I'm not even thinking of detecting until April, so if mine shows up before then, and somebody else needs it more, I'll wait. Give it to somebody who will use it on getting it. And frankly, I do not want to be burning warranty up if there is no need, so I'm not just being a nice guy.

For what should simply be standard with any company that wants to back the product. Ending warranty past first owner is a huge cop out. Frankly I will not own a fully submersible detector once warranty runs out. Yes, I take a hit every few years selling used, and buying new, but its the cheapest insurance you can buy for a waterproof detector. They all can leak, and the more you use them, the higher the odds. Think when, not if. So far I have got complete new replacement White's Surf, Tesoro Stingray, and ATX under warranty, as all three suffered massive leak failure. If out of warranty, I'd have been paying for full repair or new detector. I've recommended since day one Equinox hunters stay in the three year warranty. Five years with D2 is better yet. Sell used with 6 months remaining warranty to get max value, buy another. And your buyer will not come after you if the unit fails in that 6 months, but send it in for warranty. Win win. Just to be open, I have seen some people claim issues with Deus coil corrosion or water intrusion to the point of swearing they would never buy another. So it's not unheard of, but certainly nowhere near what we hear about Equinox. But Equinox water hunters far outnumber Deus water hunters, so who knows. It's really hard to get a handle on this stuff going by anecdote without knowing the true numbers.

You do, but not the people downloading it, so yes, copyright violation. Sorry, had to delete. Here is link to magazine page instead

The entire XP team wants to thank all XP users around the world and wish you all a Happy New Year 202II! DEUS II is an evolving detector and constantly improving. Our engineering team will regularly release new updates. We recommend you to install the DEUS II UPDATER software on your PC and update your remote control and headphones upon receipt. Please make sure you download the latest update. This will allow you to detect with the latest version and the latest improvements! For those of you who have not received their DEUS II yet, we recommend updating the devices as soon as you receive them! Current version to date: V0.6 · Correction to the frequency SCAN function · Improved discrimination in PARK and DEEPHC programs · Improvement of the WS6 operation in Master · Various corrections Here are all the instructions you need to follow to successfully update the DEUS II to the latest version and any future versions we will release. 1. Download the latest software DEUS II UPDATER 2. Then install the new application 3. Then follow the instructions to install the update on the DEUS II Remote Control & on the WS6 headphones For the Remote Control you have to: · Use the 6 point stainless steel connector cable we provide with the DEUS II. Plug it to the remote control · Select DEUS II in the top left corner of the update application · On the remote control: · Go to OPTION menu · Go to SETTINGS · Scroll, select UPDATE and confirm · Plug the USB cable to your PC · Then the device will start to update automatically For the WS6 headphones you have to: · Use the single USB cable we provide with the DEUS II. Plug it to the WS6 · Select WS6 in the top left corner of the update application · On the headphones: o Press the ⚙️ button to access the menu, scroll with the same button and select SETTINGS by pressing the button for 3 seconds o Scroll with the same button and select UPDATE by pressing the button for 3 seconds o Press the Menu button (bottom right) for 3 seconds to confirm o Then the headphones will start to update automatically · Then the headphones will start to update automatically At any time you can start the DEUS II UPDATER from your PC to find out the latest version available for your DEUS II. Download Deus II V0.6 Here

The people who bought into this were often some of Fishers longest term customers, and most faithful customers. I’d put me in that category. This was an unusual deal, and it deserved personal oversight and communications from Tom Walsh, not radio silence. The message I see being sent as a marketing guy is “we got your money - good luck!” Ricks obviously washed his hands of the situation. Presumably they are just busy with more important tasks. I’ll not take it personally, but just what does that say really about FTs attitude about the high end market? Knowing corporate think like I do, I’d not be surprised if we are viewed as high maintenance bitchers and moaners, unappreciative of the good deal we were offered. So much easier to just ship pallets of detectors to Walmart and Costco. And far be it from the high and mighty to descend from their lofty towers and engage their customers directly. I’m just a dumb business guy from Alaska, but I’ve got more business savvy than these so-called big players, and honestly I am embarrassed for them. I really need to leave this be now. It’s occupying too much of my mind space for a topic that I need to move on from.

I agree cobill. The rigorous testing may have been in multiple environments, but certainly not all, and actual underwater testing was far from rigorous in any case. It was also said early on the electronics were done, there would be no changes. Well, except the pulse delay change being extended on the low end, but the label not reflecting the change, so you need secret knowledge to know that if you believe the label. Do people even know which version they have? And according to Carl “We have just fixed a circuit failure mode.” So no, the electronics were also still a work in progress. I agree people should have known what they were getting into. I certainly did, which is why I insisted on paying the same as everyone, instead of getting a freebie. I wanted no conflict of interest if this all came down as it has, and was under no illusions. But I honestly did expect better, and that one statement up front is clearly designed to make people think the risk was lower than it turned out to be. With the failure rate seen, it’s been a crap shoot as much as anything as to how well it’s worked out for people.

People overlook relic mode as a nugget hunting mode on Equinox, but if set up similar to gold mode it’s neck and neck. Really just the difference between “beep mode” and a highly digitized version of VCO, not the actual capability. I found Deus to be similar in that the “non-nugget” modes were very viable for nugget hunting, perhaps better under some circumstances, I have no worries about the basic prospecting capability of the D2 outside of the lack of small coil. Coils do matter on the tiniest stuff in the worst ground, as seeing less ground, and accentuating the transmitted field. There is just no way a D2 can go head to head with something like a Gold Bug 2 with a 3x6 concentric. But there is also the fact that you tend to find what you look for, and concentrating on 1/10th grain specks may not be the best way to go if weight in pouch at end of week matters. I like hunting dinks, enjoy it actually, but I have to focus on being optimized on half gram to gram targets if I want to do well nugget detecting. The 9’’ round should do just fine for that, and better as the gold gets larger than the small coils. Everything is a trade. Number one consideration should be knowing what gold size to expect. If all you have is grain type gold or very finely dispersed specimen gold, using a D2 with 9” coil would be foolish. If you do have potential for gold with size, going to too small a coil is also foolish, as you not only lose depth, but ground coverage. I actually tend to pick a VLF less for the machine itself, as so many are quite good, but for the specific coils they can run. I’ll grab the D2 with 9” for larger bits, but 24K with 6” concentric for tiny bits. It’s more like I’m running coils, and I just use whatever detector it takes to run the proper coil. Good subject for one of my all to rare deep dive articles soon. I love this chart as it says it all. Small coils go deeper on small gold, big coils go deeper on big gold, and mediums are just a compromise, though there are nuggets where medium also gets the best depth, like grammers. It’s why I tend to bounce back and forth between small and large a lot, with mediums often getting the least use. You won’t get these kind of difference changing from one VLF for another VLF with the same size coil. Look at those numbers again. It’s way more about the coils than most people think, and why coil selection is near top, if not at top, for why I own the detectors I own. Coil Size vs Depth Fisher Gold Bug 2 Source - Field Testing the Gold Bug 2 by Gordon Zahara

I literally just asked that we keep this on topic and not argue causes, nor descend into characterization of things as “con jobs.” That’s what I hate about disagreements these days, it’s always got to come down to impugning the motives and character of people we disagree with, instead of keeping it at the level of ideas. It’s ad hominem attacks gone wild these days. I may agree or disagree about causes, but who cares? It’s not the subject of the forum, or even the thread, which was about how any of this might be a benefit to prospecting or gold detecting. Frankly, I have my hands full keeping up with tagging XP discussions right now, and do not have time to monitor this thread, so I’m locking it. Climate change, health care, guns, and more… almost always going to be worth avoiding mention as far as I am concerned as a moderator. Anyone knows what the issues of political debate are these days. Well, debate them someplace else. That’s one of the biggest rules on this forum, if not the biggest, zero politics. People are sick of it. Or let’s be frank, I’m sick of it. I call it “the rage machine,” that pits neighbor against neighbor, all with the goal of boosting ratings and political contributions. They don’t care about you, they just want your eyeballs and money. The last place I need to see any of it is here. And it is my website, so please respect that. Thank you.

Caution, politically charged danger zone. Please keep it lighthearted. Thank you. The original post posits how some aspects of climate change (climate has never been static, only causes are debated) might be beneficial for some. And that’s true. There will be winners and losers. So how might it benefit a detectorist or prospector? That’s’ the subject of the thread. Detecting Californias massive burn areas in gold country has actually been on my mind, after the ash washes off, but before stuff grows up too much. And stuff grows fast here! But drift off into politics and I’ll have to possibly delete posts, and even lock the thread. Let’s try not to go there. The forum membership just keeps getting better and better, but newbies might not yet know the score here, hence the warning.

I do hope Aaron is well. Maintaining forums can be more pain than business owners end up wanting to deal with once the initial newness wears off, so I get that. But videos disappearing and more, especially not responding to Dimitar, sounds more serious. If he is not responding to phone calls or email nothing I can do to find out unfortunately. I took the liberty of cleaning up the thread, hope nobody gets bothered over it. Added clarification and a forum link in Chuck’s original post, but the link is still dead. If he is using a third party forum supplier, it could be them, not him, but that does not explain all the videos being gone. That took conscious action on Aaron’s part. Levity also might come back to bite - just saying. I hope he is just off on an extended vacation, but I don’t like the feel of this. If anyone has a way to confirm he is ok, please let us know. But also remember people deserve privacy. We don’t need to know stories. Aaron can tell those if he wishes. I just would like to know he is ok.

American companies have always underestimated what the gold market can bear for retail pricing, and as a result have feared investing too deep in both development, and highest quality (expensive) parts. People have no problem paying insane amounts of money for gold detectors, when single finds can still pay for those detectors, and then some. But you have to deliver the actual performance also, as prospectors are a very unforgiving bunch. Serious beach and relic hunters also have no problem spending some large sums if it gives them a real performance edge. It’s simple. VLF taps out eventually on the very best sites, and you either go high power PI, or you go home. I will always argue for VLF first. To quote myself “use a VLF when you can, a PI when you have to.” But VLF will always play out, and so you see people shift to PI, as long as the items being searched for have a high enough perceived potential for value. An ideal non-prospecting example is relic hunting at Culpeper, VA. It was almost entirely VLF early on, and is almost entirely ground balancing PI now.

I have seen gold nuggets, and even .22 shell casings, read ferrous sitting in plain site on the very worst of ground. That will ruin you forever on discrimination. I’ve dug literally ounces of gold investigations other peoples abandoned dig holes. It’s not always they tossed trash back in the hole - they gave up on nuggets, large ones, because the machine said they were no good! The detector sees everything, target plus ground, and if ground ferrous is high enough, it will override the low conductive non-ferrous signal, flipping them to ferrous. Same thing happens with VLFs in high magnetite content beaches. The more filtering employed, the worse the problem gets. If it’s any consolation, it turns aluminum signals into ferrous signals also.

As far as I know there really was not any serious prototype vetting before this so-called pay to play cooperative vetting program was cooked up. Basically just Alexandre and his one chosen tester, who was a wader, not a diver. And who did not use the disc functions in favor of good old fashioned hunting by ear. That should have told everyone all they needed to know about the discrimination right there. Maybe a couple spins by Tom Walsh and Rick or others, who honestly are not cutting edge users. Quite insufficient obviously, but characterizing it as shilling for free detectors is unfair I think. No, they did better than that. They got people to pay $1500 to be testers. In my experience even when companies use excellent testers, the feedback they give is often ignored, because the non-detecting engineers and marketing people simply know better than people with decades of experience. Nobody wants to hear the baby is ugly, and the vast majority of major decisions are made internally before anyone outside gets a peek. Then people have to defend the early decisions, and admitting they were wrong….. it’s just not human nature. I mean come one, we were told the big cheese Tom Walsh himself vetted and signed off on 100 sets of AQ hardware. Use them for a proper secret prototyping program (eating the cost), sell them, or trash them? We know what the decision was, and I’d argue it was the wrong one. If just one person like Joe was taken in at the start, and actually listened to, so much of this could have been avoided. It all reeks of the blind leading the blind. As far as discrimination, the claims made were, and still are, totally overblown, as I pointed out since day one. That said, in proper context I can discriminate about as well or better with this machine as any PI I have used, using standard audio tells. And the added presets extend that. So for me personally given what I know about the tech, and what my expectations were, I’m fine with the level of discrimination I can achieve with the machine. There is some genuine innovation here. Almost any VLF first time PI user would, however, feel like they got sold a bill of goods, based on the marketing statements. It’s a refinement at best, not revolutionary. There is a real gem in the rough lurking here, and that’s a fact. I still hope and pray the right gem cutter will reveal what I know to be true. I have an inherent sense for detectors, I can feel the power lurking. There is power here, and the potential for the best beach PI ever. I don’t BS anyone, ever. I simply don’t think or operate that way, never have, never will. I have no doubts the capability exists and is real. My only doubts are on FTs ability these days to execute on delivering on anything but excellent single frequency detectors. I swore a few posts back I’d stay out of this going forward, not doing very well at that so far, but it needs to be said. Maybe some egos might get set aside long enough to listen. If it even reaches the right ears at all. Seems those ears don’t care to tune in though. Uncomfortable truths, or at least perceptions, might have to be faced up to, so much easier to watch the other channel. But I always give people the benefit of the doubt and then some… hope springs eternal in my world.

Wow. Just wow. Reminds me of “the good old days,” and truly an inspiration knowing results like this are still possible. The secret of course is not a new detector. It research, and willingness to always be seeking and trying new places. Brilliant proof some really great locations are still out there, that do not require crazy amount of travel. Just a wonderful post in so many ways. Thank you!

Finally, the shaft the Monster should have come with! Yes, please post photos fully extended, and fully collapsed, with measurements.

Frankly it’s just playing the odds, and therefore a gamble passing aluminum range targets if you want gold. You can weed out irregular aluminum to some degree by digging only targets that return a single, strong target id number, which translates into audio tells if you hunt by ear. One reason I like full tones as it gives far more audio differentiation as compared to 3 or 5 tones, which lumps way too many targets into one audio response. But you will also pass on most chains, irregular shaped pendants, and especially broken rings, if you only dig those “round” targets. Reality is there are both gold targets and aluminum targets that will respond at almost every target id number across the entire range. It’s governed by size, not the metal. Way more to it than that, I just wanted to offer one simple trick, not write a book. See below for that. It is interesting because just like any gambling, a degree of gambler psychology creeps in. Those that aggressively pass targets almost always are very confident in their ability to leave lots of aluminum in the ground, while they also are quite sure they are missing minimal gold. The problem is simple. You can’t know what you are missing. Some extremely high value women's gem set rings give really lousy signals due to large prongs or multiple prongs, and some oddball creative designs. You only have to pass on the wrong ring once, to pass on a find of a lifetime. That all said, even though it uses DFX as an example, this is the best jewelry cherry picking book I’ve ever read personally, and why I still own a DFX, which I only use for jewelry detecting. But the methods apply to all capable brands and models, and I highly recommend anyone into jewelry detecting have a copy. Plus, here is the Mike Hillis book list, with which I whole-heartedly agree. DFX Gold Methods by Clive Clynick You can find all these great books, and many more, on Clive’s Website. He is also a forum member, so you can Contact Him Here

Should be a really great match for the T2/F75, except the weight. Going to ruin that weight and balance ratio, but on ground where you can let it ride on the ground probably not too bad. I really wish there was a “non-epoxy filled option.”

Very impressive. I love the coin, because where I lived in Alaska it was an impossible dream, just a bit out of range for age. My stuff was mostly 30’s, rare 20’s, and teens all but unheard of. I had as much chance of finding 1800s coins as finding a gold coin, maybe worse actually. So count me as a super thumbs up! 👍🏼

Good to see you posting again Reg, I missed you. Happy New Year, and may your pockets fill with gold in 2022!

Shipping costs have gone up dramatically during the pandemic, which in turn raises the price of everything in the supply chain. Simple economics 101 for yet another issue everyone wants to politicize these days. It makes shipping low value/high bulk items uneconomical, and painful when you have to do it anyway. Try ordering some large styrofoam blocks online to get the idea. I had this issue forever in Alaska. Shipping Keene marlex dredge floats for example. Anything large and light gets “cubed” out for volume, and extra shipping charges apply. Large Coiltek coils, picks with long handles…. anything that makes the box large can make shipping cost exceed the profit a vendor is making on an item, and only answer is shipping surcharge. In the old days it was so extreme, everything so high price due to shipping to Alaska, we had a nickname for it. The Alaska Gouge Factor. Complain about high price, answer always was shipping. It got way better the last couple decades, with prices in Anchorage not much different than Seattle. Even lower, as no sales tax. But going the other way fast now. Its getting harder and harder to sustain free shipping on items. I am on west coast, and the price to ship a box doubles or more, once it goes east past the Mississippi. It’s affected my selling online. I used to just do free shipping. Now I’m back with eBay, mostly because I can sell the item for a base price. By plugging the dimensions and weight in, it calculates shipping for various methods, let’s buyer choose what they want to pay. If they are too far away it may be too much, so they don’t buy, but in such cases I’d not want to eat the shipping either, so it works out. If they want it bad enough, they pay the higher shipping. Their choice. eBay made me getting the resulting shipping label a one button process also, so once set up it’s really streamlined. Just got the new higher shipping costs for USPS two days ago, so timely subject.

Interesting. Smell based detecting. If a rat can find it, a device could be made that “sniffed” the air for the same molecules the rat is detecting. A Nobel prize awaiting somebody. Cute little guy. RIP Magawa.

Been said already many times. Long story short Monster for ease of use. But to go above and beyond, IF you are willing to learn the machine, the Equinox is the better choice for me at least. But again, you have to be willing to make the effort to get the extra functionality out of it. Bonus is it will also cover you for coins, beach, relics.... most people genuinely need nothing but an Equinox. It is still the most versatile detector made, bar none. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/7468-my-tips-on-nugget-detecting-with-the-minelab-equinox/

No wonder metal the place is a hotbed of metal detector development! “The world's oldest known gold artifacts, a couple of 6000-year-old goat figures with holes punched in them, were not found in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley or Egypt, they were discovered in 1972 in a grave by a tractor operator laying some electric cable in northeastern Bulgaria. [Source: Colin Renfrew, National Geographic, July 1980] The largest golden goat was about two-and-a-inches long. It was discovered along with about 2,000 other gold pieces (weighing more that 12 pounds) in 250 excavated graves in an ancient cemetery near the Black Sea town of Varna. The pieces included golden necklaces, breastplates, chains, bracelets, earrings, a hammer, and a bowl painted in gold. The find was shocking. Most cultures still used stone tools in this period, a few had developed copper axes and awls, and the development was bronze was a thousand years away, and iron two thousand years. The gold pieces date back to at least 4000 B.C., and they may go as far back as 4600 B.C.” “The first residents of Bulgaria to be recorded in the written historical record were Thracians who are believed to have been around since at least 3000 B.C. according to the archaeological record. The Thacians had no written language so all that we know about them is inferred from Greek or Roman accounts or the archeological excavations. A mound discovered near Varna, dated to 1000 B.C., contained a four wheeled chariot and the skeletons of three horses, one with silver bit and harness. Next to them was the skeleton of a woman with a spear in her chest that may have been a human sacrifice. Another grave contained a 30-year-old man with 70 bronze arrows and silver and gold armor, and a an 18-year-old woman with a golden crown and knife blade lodged in here ribs.” “On a wooden chest containing two different sets of gold treasure left behind by the Getae, a Thracian tribe at the largest mound at the Sboryanovo Historical and Archaeological Reserve in northeastern Bulgaria, Svetla Dimitrova wrote in se times.com: “Weighing more than 1.8kg, the treasure was from the late 4th or early 3rd century B.C., buried as part of the funeral of a Getic ruler, archeologist Diana Gergova said. We found the chest in a vesicle at a depth of 8 metres … Inside were two sets of gold objects. The first was a set of women’s jewelry, including a unique tiara of a type never found before. There were also four spiral bracelets and a ring with an incredible haut-relief image of a lion,” Gergova told SETimes. The other set comprised an iron bridle and a number of gold items the bridle was decorated with, including horse harness decorations and buttons, as well as two large round pieces with the image of the goddess Athena and an exquisite forehead piece with a horse head.” [Source: Svetla Dimitrova, se times.com. January 18, 2013]” Much more at https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub362/entry-6012.html, well worth the read.

I'd like to try nugget hunting with one, but not enough to buy one. If they can even be had outside military channels. But the circuit could be the basis for whatever replaces the Gold Monster some day. If ever. Minelab said no more single frequency, and that includes any future gold VLF models. Nugget capability on Equinox in Multi was almost an unlooked for accident. I can only imagine a machine tuned specifically for nugget detecting, and this machine looks like something very similar. But ditch the housing, please!

Sorry to be a whiner Carl. It's mostly just frustration. I so much want a U.S. company to be leading the charge like we used to do............. I was worried about the epoxy filled pod from day one. Makes it as unserviceable as the Equinox I'd think, and I had heat buildup concerns, although those may have been unfounded. Certainly makes no sense if there are to be dry land versions. And for me personally, I get why knobs are a zero visibility thing for divers, but I'd lose them just over serviceability issues. Better off with something more like ATX has, and just wipes clean. Good to hear the battery change etc is getting done, as that is key.