Steve Herschbach

OK, this is weird. I just got a message left on my phone from Minelab 601-401-8150 from Axel? Returning my call about an Equinox problem? Are they trying to call OP but accidently calling me? I have no idea how the guy got my number, or why I got the call. Am I being trolled? All too odd.

Great idea Gerry, and a big thank you from everyone at DP!

Hi Keith, Thanks for the clarification. I did not want to see you getting tarred for Naperville's lack of response. But it does set up a Catch-22, where people can't get service from you, due to inability to make the initial contact with Minelab.

Basically, no. The DFX is a good detector, so good I have one myself. But nugget detecting is dead last at what it is good at. Since you have one you could use it, and any detector in theory can find gold nuggets. But reality is you are going to be hunting areas that have been pounded for decades with better machines, and the easy stuff is generally gone. That makes having cutting edge performance while nugget detecting more important than most other types of detecting. If you must give it a go, use the smallest coil you can use, and review this article:

I waited so long for this coil I lost interest. Hopefully whatever comes after the CTX and Equinox, does not have a three year gap between release, and useful accessory coils arriving. Coiltek does appear to have scored with one out of three. The larger 9x12 elliptical is pretty much limited to water hunting, and the 15” round is just too heavy for the machine. Reviews on the 5x10 have been uniformly positive however, and it is priced right, so a very worthy addition to the lineup. Thanks Coiltek.

The pandemic did not help, adding an extra year to the three it’s now taken, to get my treasure find released and returned. I’ll admit that has let the air out of my desire to go back for another round. I waited a year to get my first treasure find back, but now that time has doubled or tripled. Some of us are too old for those kinds of waits! I did get notification that my gold find was disclaimed, but still not at end of process for some reason. I do not understand why the long delay after finds have been officially disclaimed. I imagine Tim is caught up in the same delay. Apparently finds have piled up at the processing end, but the authorities have done little to add resources for getting finds back, and things are just getting worse with time.

Are you attempting to contact Minelab corporate, or the U.S. service center? They are two separate outfits, with actual detector repair sublet out to Detector Center. Detector Center is Keith Leppert of Ft. Bedford Metal Detectors. Good folks. Minelab “Customer Care” seems non-responsive lately, but Keith is normally on top of things. This is the Minelab U.S. service center: Detector Center 190 Oak Shade Road Alum Bank, PA 15521 Phone numbers are 630-401-8154 and 630-401-8159 email info@detectorpro.com These are the Corporate Offices: MINELAB AMERICAS INC 123 Ambassador Drive, Suite 123 Naperville, IL 60540, USA Customer Care: 1-877-SOS-MLAB (1-877-767-6522) Toll Free: 1-888-949-6522 T: 1-630-401-8150 F: 1-630-401-8180 E: service@minelabamericas.com for Service E: info@minelabamericas.com for Consumer products E: countermine@minelab.com.au for Countermine products

It was a crazy snowy cold week for sure, and equipment failures sure do not help. In other words, just a normal prospecting trip! It does seem like there are times when nothing goes well, and sorry you are the one that got hit this time Steve.

Thanks. I was posting daily, but from here on out I’ll be absent a lot this summer. JP I know is very busy. If you are referring to the GPX 6000, with each Minelab release people just get weirder. From my perspective at least, the 6K has already come and gone, and I’m on to other things. I felt like with Equinox, the engineers and I were finally reading each other’s minds, and that was even more the case with the 6K. Both are almost 100% reflections of my desires for detectors, and with minor quibbles Minelab is delivering for me. I sensed a dramatic shift in priorities and direction with Equinox, that continued with Vanquish, and now the 6K. I’m really thrilled to have been involved in GPX 6000 development, and could gush on for hours about the detector. Unfortunately, innocent enthusiasm is beyond the comprehension of some jaded forum members. It is read as something it is not, and when demands for video proof, and the negative nellies start start up with the uninformed commentary - that’s when I stop. I’m not going to argue about a detector I’ve been using for a long time with people who have never touched one. And truthfully I’m probably too personally invested in the project to be objective about it. I am shutting this down for my peace of mind. It’s best I assume the role of detached observer instead of being an involved party. So I’ve cleaned out my previous commentary. Those who paid attention should know the score, and I’ll leave it at that. It’s weird having the machine in my possession, and having to shut up about it, but there you go. I’m meeting privately with a few people to put it in their hands however, so they can comment, or at least see what people here can’t accept on my word. But as long as the engineers respect what I’m saying I’m good. I only need them listening, and the rest genuinely does not matter. I get that now. I’ll turn it over to others, and my apologies for essentially giving up on this nonsense. There is excellent ongoing commentary and here also from first time purchasers that is rightly taking the lead, and kudos to those taking the time to post there. Best wishes to those who get the GPX 6000... I hope you end up as happy with yours as I am with mine.

Yeah, I suppose that one would actually submerge, but wireless does not work underwater so no joy there.

No, and will not. Drop in ziplock bag, close bag, poke headphone through plastic, done. But I use one of those for my electronic car key while at the beach.

Looks and sounds like electrical interference, very common on V series. White’s V3i and EMI

Because as a life-long prospector, first thing I want is a look at a fresh surface. Probably a difference between prospecting and rock collecting. I don't care about the rocks per se, but what they tell me. Any rock not worth breaking is rarely worth anything to me, though I do have a few doorstop rocks, or rocks I keep just because they are pretty.

Should not happen, I suspect the battery is going bad.

That need not be the case at all. The machine is very simple to operate (basic start guide below). The issue at hand is nugget detecting. VLF discrimination in mineralized ground is unreliable at best. You should not use discrimination, but should be using all metal, digging all targets, and leaning hard on a magnet on a stick to separate ferrous from non-ferrous. It is absolutely impossible to reliably separate gold nuggets from lead, aluminum, or any other non-ferrous items from other non-ferrous items, and at a minimum you must dig all non-ferrous items. Brass, copper, and silver do tend to deliver higher probability numbers, but so will large nuggets. If you wish, I recommend using all metal, in conjunction with the meter reading, to make a dig or no-dig decision regarding ferrous. A ferrous object should bang repeatedly to far left, never bouncing above 40. You do ten sweeps, you get ten far left readings. If, on the other hand, you get one or more hits that bounce higher, especially if the bounce over 40, dig it. I've seen nuggets in bad ground read ferrous over and over, with only rare spikes to non-ferrous. But be aware that some ferrous also spiked high, and you will dig those. As you should, unless you like leaving nuggets in the ground. Look for reasons to dig, as opposed to reasons not to dig. You must dig targets, and lots of them, if you want gold. By using all metal, and using the probability meter constantly, you will learn the odds via meter readings and repetition, and can shift the odds as you please by modifying the resulting dig/no-dig decisions. How that meter responds is key, and that varies with how fast you swing, and how the coil approaches the target. Bouncy numbers are common, and the weaker the target, the less you can believe what you are being told. In truly trashy areas I get more picky, in less trashy areas I get more aggressive. The last method is go to the discriminate "beep mode" and use the actual tones and rejection settings, just like coin hunting. This makes dealing with the worst trash easier, but it also tends to miss more gold, so for me it is a last ditch approach for the trashiest locations. See my detailed review of the 24K for more on that. Goldmaster 24K Quick Start FACTORY RESET - Hold the Down button when turning on the detector. Press the Pinpoint button when “Fd” is on screen, to reset the machine to factory defaults. Just in case. VOLUME - Set the volume to your preference (tap Speaker button, use Up and Down buttons). THRESHOLD - Set the threshold to a faint hum (hold Speaker button, use Up and Down buttons). For silent search, turn the threshold down until it can’t be heard, but no farther. SENSITIVITY - Set the sensitivity to a level that ensures smooth operation (Up and Down buttons). The 24K will generate a harsh overload sound if the coil is placed on ground too mineralized for the setting. If this occurs, reduce sensitivity until the overload tone does not occur. GROUND BALANCE - The default mode is automatic XGB ground tracking. Simply raise and lower the coil over the ground a few inches, two or three times, and start detecting. Alternately, lock the ground tracking by tapping the Lock button (a Lock symbol appears on screen). While the tracking is locked, you can press the Cross Hair button to perform a Ground Grab. This updates the ground setting to what is currently under the coil. With a combination of Locked tracking and Ground Grab you can easily update the ground balance point as you swing. DIG ALL TARGETS - With an emphasis on the faintest targets. A magnet on a pick or a wand can make quick work of excavated ferrous items, while recovering all non-ferrous targets. If an operator wishes to avoid digging ferrous items, employ the meter to ignore items that repeatedly, and reliably, produce far left meter indications. However, always remember that discrimination is unreliable on weak signals, and strive whenever possible to dig all targets while nugget detecting. RETAINED SETTINGS - The Goldmaster 24K will retain your settings when powered off. Once you get the machine set for a particular area, it will be ready to go next time you power it up. When in doubt, repeat the steps above, starting fresh with a factory reset.

I suppose Garrett could make the TDI Beachhunter again, but with the ATX I doubt it will happen. The various TDI models are probably history now, fodder for the modification market for years to come. Anyone interested in what might have happened if TDI development continued should follow the Fisher Impulse AQ development, as the AQ is basically a highly tuned and refined TDI.

Could be a welding remnant, not uncommon in mining areas.

It's just photo glare and a non-issue. Try and take your own photo of a glossy black anything that has curvature - it happens. In fact it's almost impossible to get it to not happen without a proper lightbox.

Park 2 is a good alternate nugget mode. Equinox Gold Nugget Tips Other than that, looks like a typical day of nugget detecting. Sorry you did not get over a nugget, but looks like plenty of targets left to dig. Any one of those could have turned out to be a nugget, so never give up until nothing goes beep. The iron nodules may be just that, some kind of jig shot and other misc metal found in mining camps. The other item is probably copper?

The irony is Garrett can to a large extent be credited with popularizing what was called electronic prospecting. The 15 kHz Groundhog circuit paved the way, and Garrett’s partnership with Roy Lagal means most placer gold prospectors have heard of Garrett for the gold pan at least. But early on, it was Garrett, and all those Hand of Faith ads (found with a Garrett), that had a lot to do with where we are today. This all being the case, I always thought it odd that Garrett backed off, and did not make nugget detectors a pressing priority.

Can’t really tell looking at exterior if it is sedimentary or not. There is a hint of concretion in the shape at least.

Looks like a waterworn piece of vesicular basalt, not a meteorite.

I agree with all that except with everyone who wanted a 24K having one already. It was my pick for best LF detector at the time, having let my Gold Monster go in favor of the 24K. Whites was already going down when the 24K came out, however, and I don’t think it got near the market penetration it deserved. Certainly not overseas. I’m pretty excited by what I’m seeing. I’ve been trying to wake the U.S. manufactures up for way too long, while they go out of business one by one. Garrett has the financial resources to put up a fight, and the Whites purchase proves they are serious. Simply adding Garrett’s excellent high speed wireless to 24K would be a nice improvement. The other low hanging fruit is coils. Old, thick, foam filled coils like the White’s 8x14 DD need to go away, replaced with modern coils. Garrett has a very nice coil selection compared to White’s 1980s era designs. But other than that I’d not mess with the 24K much, as Whites had it pretty well dialed.

Availability? Don’t ask. But pricing looks reasonable, coils especially. Minelab GPX 6000 Lithium-Ion Battery part # 3011-0432 US$165.00 Minelab GPX17 17″ Mono Coil part # 3011-0427 US$369.00 Minelab GPX14 14″ Double D Coil part # 3011-0426 AUS$499.00 Minelab GPX11 11″ Mono Coil part # 3011-0425 AUS$449.00 Minelab ML100 Wireless/Wired Headphones part # 3011-0435 US$139.95 Minelab GPX 6000 User Manual Minelab GPX 6000 Accessories & Spare Parts Minelab GPX 6000 Video Training Series