Steve Herschbach

No that is not normal in the slightest. And in my case I did not find the enclosed coils to be overly knock sensitive. Not immune to it, but I covered lots of miles with mine with no problem. In my opinion needs to be serviced or returned.

No, I listen for the sound characteristics, loud, soft, sharp, mellow, smooth, erratic, etc that all paint a picture about what kind of target I might have. I’m not thinking about what’s going on under the hood. Same thing when I drive - I’m not thinking about what the pistons are doing and how they are doing it.

Not half bad, though I still prefer the original….. https://bodhi3.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/how-metal-detectors-work.pdf More here….

There is no metal in mine. The top lace hooks are plastic, and been under a detector to prove it. They are breathable and waterproof. Sweaty feet have not been a problem for me but unfortunately I sure can’t say if it will be or not for you. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced such a thing with anything other than rubber boots.

I was out with Chuck when he lost the wallet. Between the two of us we spent hours looking for it. He of course tried to look everywhere he had been, and I tried to look everywhere I had seen him. Still when all was said and done turns out he had been farther up the hill than he had thought, so it did not get found by us. But I told him at the time, just wait, it will get found. It’s amazing how every foot of ground out there is getting eyeballed by people over the course of the year. And why nuggets are getting rare as we are all going over the same places repeatedly. Nice story Gerry, thanks.

Yeah but what does that really mean? Right now a CTX 3030 is MSRP fake price $2499 "on sale" for MAP $1999. So if they raise the BS fake price to $2599 the actual for what you pay price may go up to $2049 or no more than $2099. Still, we are talking a detector introduced over ten years ago in 2012. I hate the stupid MSRP and MAP pricing game. It is illegal in some countries but people in the U.S. fall for it all day long.

We generally pay far less for Minelabs than anyone else. But you should know. If a price increase was coming Jan 1st dealers should already be in the know.

Sorry a couple posts got temporarily delayed. Due to the volume of airline related spam attacks any post with a variation of the word airlines is held aside for manual review and approval. This can take minutes or hours depending on when you post. I've flown multiple times to Hawaii, Australia, the U.K. and more. I pack my gear carefully in checked luggage and have never had an issue. Any decent scoop with a two piece handle will suffice. But then I have never had a genuinely lost bag in 50 years of flying, and I fly quite a bit. A few delayed, yes, but never lost outright, so not something I worry about. I do use a good stout suitcase though, not the wimpy stuff generally sold these days.

The primary market for ground balancing PI is the gold prospecting market. The reason the mods get little interest except from a select few is that they add only very small gains, if any, and come nowhere close to closing the gap between the TDI and machines like the GPZ 7000. White’s did not go out of business because the prospecting world was lining up to buy the TDI, and it’s for no other reason than it being outperformed by other detectors in the primary gold prospecting market. I know fans of the machines hate hearing stuff like this but it’s the simple reality of things. The TDI still has owners for a few niche uses, but you guys have to face up to the fact that there are a vanishingly small number of you out there. Out of that small number the number that want to play around with the guts is a handful of people, nothing more. I say all that as a person who used and did as much as I could to help promote the TDI back in the day. TDI owners are like a group of old muscle car owners who are fond of the machines from “the good old days” but technology marches on, and the memory span for once great detectors is extremely limited. It’s really hard for me to get my head around the TDI coming out in 2008 and here we are in 2023 with it already being a relic from the past, but that’s just the way things are when it comes to electronics and technology in general. I’ve still got an iPhone 4 sitting around someplace, makes phone calls just as well as the new ones. Any takers?

The short answer is there is nothing substantial you can do to improve the performance other than getting it running again. This is an analog model and the advancements taking place now are in digital, a whole different world. The 5900 was near peak analog performance so not much you can improve, without going to digital processing. Coils are model specific so you can’t just slap any coil on it and have it work. As far as waterproof those coils are waterproof. The warning about saltwater has more to do with corrosion or accidentally dropping the unit in the water than the coil.

Price and value are two different things. My Keen boots are well over 5 years old with lots of miles, even been to the UK, Australia, and Alaska, and while a bit rough and needing a little shoe goo on the soles in a couple places are still going strong. That's good value in my book. But there are tons of alternatives in all price ranges and I'm sure you'll find what you need.

Much of what works and is published as gospel from Florida is completely useless in the western United States. Learning how your detector tuning options function and testing with them on your own targets in your own soil is the key to success with metal detectors.

Most of the people I know favor a desert type boot. I get into wet places more often so I favor waterproof boots. I can recommend the Keen Targhee II as light weight, lug soles, waterproof, and totally metal free. Lots of toe space, which I appreciate.

Read this.... From https://www.detectorprospector.com/magazine/steves-guides/metal-detecting-and-prospecting-library/ Determining Where To Prospect For Nuggets 2017 Detector Prospector Forum article by Steve Herschbach How To Find Gold Metal Detecting & Panning by Charles Garrett. The basics of gold panning and metal detecting for gold nuggets. The author designed and built his own metal detectors, and Garrett Electronics was established in 1964 to manufacture and market his inventions. Handbook of Geophysical Prospecting Methods for the Alaskan Prospector A dated but still realistic summary of electronic devices used in the prospecting industry, aimed at the individual prospector. Geophysics For Mineral Exploration - A Manual For Prospectors A more recent publication that updates the one above, read both. Principal Gold Producing Districts of the United States 1968 USGS Professional Paper 610 by A. H. Koschmann and M. H. Bergendahl - A description of the geology, mining history, and production of the major gold-mining districts in 21 states. Placer Deposits of Alaska 1973 USGS Bulletin 1374 by Edward H. Cobb - An inventory of the placer mines and prospects of Alaska, their history and geologic setting. Metalliferous Lode Deposits of Alaska 1967 USGS Bulletin 1246 by Henry C. Berg and Edward H. Cobb - An inventory of the mines and prospects of Alaska and their geologic settings. Gold Prospecting Research Material for Alaska - Detailed prospecting resources for Alaska. Placer Gold Deposits of Arizona 1972 USGS Bulletin 1355 by Maureen G. Johnson - A catalog of location, geology, and production with lists of annotated references pertaining to the placer districts. Gold Placers and Placering in Arizona 1961 Arizona Bureau of Geology and Mineral Technology Bulletin 168 by Eldred D. Wilson Gold Districts of California 1970 California Division of Mines and Geology Bulletin 193 by William B. Clark. A relatively up-to-date and comprehensive guide to the gold deposits of California. The Tertiary Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California 1911 USGS Professional Paper 73 by Waldemar Lindgren. A California geology classic. An account of the Tertiary formations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the origin and distribution of the gold-bearing (auriferous) gravels. Placer Gold in Southwestern Colorado 1960 by Ben H. Parker, Jr. - Excerpted from The Geology of the Gold Placers of Colorado, an unpublished doctoral dissertation of the Colorado School of Mines. Placer Gold Deposits of Nevada 1973 USGS Bulletin 1356 by Maureen G. Johnson - A catalog of location, geology, and production with lists of annotated references pertaining to the placer districts. Placer Gold Deposits of New Mexico 1972 USGS Bulletin 1348 by Maureen G. Johnson - A catalog of location, geology, and production with lists of annotated references pertaining to the placer districts. Placer Gold Deposits of Utah 1973 USGS Bulletin 1357 by Maureen G. Johnson - A catalog of location, geology, and production with lists of annotated references pertaining to the placer districts. Placer Examination Principles And Practice - 1969 BLM Technical Bulletin 4 by John H. Wells - The classic work on evaluating precious metal placer deposits. and....

No, there is the older SL and the newer EVO model. I've only used the older SL model - I don't know if they even make it still. The Evo is flat wound litz wire and supposedly superior. My old coil NF 14x9 on my old GPX 5000 and the 6.5 ounce nugget they helped me find....

For beach use I would prefer a standard mono over over the dual field coils. The 14x9 Nugget Finder would be on my short list for sure.

Great post Clive, thanks. I’ve never heard of mixed mode called tone on tone however. Nautilus called it “dual mode.” In any case the it eventually came to be referred to as “mixed mode” and is what most people would call it these days.

Yup, nothing in that video you are going to find with a metal detector. You'd do better with a $5 gold pan.

No gold nuggets or flakes in Texas but that's beside the point. I have an 800 and have no reason to upgrade, but if I did not have one already I'd get the 900. For the improved waterproof integrity and better rod if nothing else. The Equinox 800 and 900 both are excellent nugget detectors, but for Texas best be thinking more about gold as jewelry.

He is asking for dealer information or recommendations, not asking any of you to sell him anything. I'd certainly be wary of a first time poster either selling or buying as a member of the forum. That's why new members can't advertise on the classifieds here. But dealers? As far as dealers go it's their job to deal with new customers every day. Hopefully for them they actually have those! If they can't stand the heat they need to get out of the kitchen. This forum is supported via informational posting (I do not accept paid dealer ads) by several dealers all of which have ads in the forum classifieds. There are no dealers that advertise there that are not well known on these forums.

There were two cover designs. The old cover had a black o-ring and were more prone to cracking. The newer covers used the red o-ring and were supposedly less prone to cracking. So if you find a cover make sure it’s the same as the newer design you have.

As far as DeTech goes I think there are more issues there than just Axiom. See this new post.... NEL I think is also based in Bulgaria and they have also gone silent. Both were great suppliers of aftermarket coils and both would have been perfect to do Axiom coils. I suspect politics screwed us on that.

That is the question Lunk will no doubt be trying to answer. My bench testing on small gold versus the 11” Garrett DD if anything had the Garrett being more sensitive to the tiny bits. But that’s an air test, and we all know how I feel about those! In milder ground on some gold like 1/4 - 1/2 gram bits it might do well, but will it do better than the 7x11” mono which excels in milder ground? I’m doubtful. But Lunk will be the final judge. I do think the Axiom would benefit from some other coils, like a 14x9 mono and a weighted coil for in water use, but I do not and never did think that coils were going to open some magic box of unrevealed performance. “Just put this coil on and blow Minelab away”. Yeah, right. Like Garrett would not have done that if it was all that needed doing. The deal with Minelab and coils is different because coils have been a tool they use to artificially limit units and drive sales from one model to another.