Steve Herschbach

I assume I have an R1, still use it, never had a problem with it. I’m betting most owners don’t. I really like the Carrot also, but the Fisher gives a bit better depth in my soul. Not a demon on tiny stuff though.

Yup, have a website account with current email, have warranty registered multiple machines, Find of the Month winner, etc. And just what does that website account do for registered owners? Not a thing as far as I can tell. Minelab marketing does a very poor job engaging existing owners, but then they all do.

No, you charge what the market will bear, and the Gold Bug Pro has a name that sells. I used to sell outboards. Most outboards come in pairs as far as manufacturing. They are the same motor, but tuned up for different horsepower bands. You pay more for a 15 HP than a 10 HP even though it is the same motor. Only in the basest commodity products is there a direct correlation between production cost and retail. People will willing pay twice as much for a brand name product instead of the exact same thing in a generic package. They sold a zillion Gold Bug Pro detectors in Africa, and you could probably not give away a F19 or TRP there to the gold prospectors. Just like they had to come out with the F19, G2+ and now TRP because coin and relic people would not buy a Gold Bug.

Oops, right you are! And well it should be and makes more sense. Guess I was color blind to red for some reason when I looked!

They don't even send me marketing emails anymore; must have really pissed off somebody in marketing!

Ultimate was one of my all time favorite coils. I considered it, but did not want to go "coil crazy" so two will do.

OK, this is sort of funny. I notified First Texas of the error. They sent me the correct pdf and wanted to know where I got the one with the error. "Your website" I told them! Here is the correct pdf for those who would like it, and I updated the jpg in the original post so it is correct now. Thanks GB. Now let's see how long it takes for the link above to get corrected - I will delete the attached pdf when that happens. bounty-hunter-time-ranger-pro-new-2020.pdf

I like the blue and black color scheme... owned too many black and gold detectors. But seriously the coil thing is the biggest deal, and for anyone wanting a machine that especially was for gold prospecting or even relic hunting, the F19 with 5” x 10” DD is probably the way to go. Double so if the goal is to own only one coil - the 5” x 10” may very well be the best all around coil for the 19 kHz models. In my nugget detecting reviews where I previously recommended the Gold Bug Pro I will be updating soon to recommend F19 instead. The only way you can get the 5” x 10” on the GBP is as part of a dual coil package, which effectively makes the GBP more expensive than the more capable F19. Even at the same price with same coils the F19 is the better machine... the Gold Bug Pro is getting a premium just for the name! 😳 I’m a little oddball in that stock coil sizes tend to be my least used. I flip between extremes from the largest coil to smallest coil. For instance on my Equinox the 6” coil and 15” coil do the heavy lifting. So with that in mind I am rounding up a TRP with 7” x 11” coil and just ordered a NEL Snake. Kind of dumb as I really don’t need this but I want it and as Simon notes we only go around once. Anyway, the 3.5” x 6.5” DD will end up being my “stock” coil with the 7” x 11” for when I want ground coverage.

We now have four coils for the White's Goldmaster 24K and GMX Sport. The two models have coils with different labels, but they are all compatible between the two models. White's GMT and MX Sport coils ARE NOT compatible with the GMT 24K or GMX Sport. There are: 8" x 14" DD 6" x 10" DD 6" (actually closer to 6.5") round concentric 4" x 6" DD This is not perfect but it gives you a pretty good look at the relative size of these coils. Click for larger version. Search coils for White's Goldmaster 24K and GMX Sport metal detectors

Thanks Keith for the great and very detailed commentary, and glad to see you back. Your report gives people who want to take the Tarsacci off the beach a much better idea of what to expect.

I’d have done a factory reset in a heartbeat. If you’ve not done that way too early to be even thinking about a return for service. Far from holding off on resets mine gets reset fairly often, just about every time I make a major location change or even just change coils. I have no real evidence to back this up, but in my opinion the longer you go without a full reset, the better the chances of a glitch occurring. Especially for people that fiddle with the settings a lot.

You are not reading it right. It’s not that Minelab does not consider North America a sales target for gold detectors. What they are doing is reporting what is selling and where they are selling, and it’s that gold detectors sell far fewer numbers in North America. How many people in the eastern U.S. nugget hunt? It’s just a small niche market here and always has been. A market that frankly has peaked and is in the decline, though gold breaking over $2000 could change that. That’s not Minelabs fault, that’s just reality.

Completely different than the one pictured earlier, definitely looks more like a true GPZ coil. Hopefully questions about the connector situation will be resolved soon.

I’ve never seen anything anywhere about anyone actually taking a GPZ battery apart.

Another thing to do... speculate about what Minelab is releasing next!

Well, I have to admit I am disappointed Dimitar has never shown up on the forum to answer questions about the Tarsacci. When we talked he mentioned he might but so far no show. I hope it’s because he is too busy working on a gold prospecting version of his technology!

That’s a heavy duty endorsement. Tarsacci newbies would do well to take note also of what Keith says about the learning curve.

Very similar to a CTX 3030 pack... instructions on that here.

You mainly get better ground coverage. Depth depends on the target size and ground mineralization. First off, small coils get better depth on the tiniest nuggets over the larger coils, no matter the ground situation. Using a larger coil may get you less depth on the smallest nuggets in any ground. This Gold Bug 2 chart illustrates this well.... Coil Size vs Depth Fisher Gold Bug 2Source - Field Testing the Gold Bug 2 by Gordon Zahara In addition, a large coil "sees" more ground than a small coil and so is more affected by ground minerals. In low mineral ground you will see an obvious depth advantage on larger nuggets, maybe 10%-15%. As the ground minerals get worse, you will experience more feedback/overload and have to reduce sensitivity/gain to compensate, so you hit a point where there is no depth advantage at all. In very severe ground, a smaller coil may very well punch deeper even on larger nuggets, and especially on smaller nuggets. All coils are trade offs and none is perfect across the board for all situations, which is why you need multiple coils. There is no free lunch.

I don't think the concern is leakage, the concern is operation/performance characteristics and results in deeper water.

These guys show them on their website but I’d be careful to confirm they actually have them. Just as likely you order then get told they are back ordered. https://www.metaldetector.com/whites-4-6-dd-coil

Since I just had to delete a post critical of breaking laws, let me point out that is tongue in cheek. The vast majority of us are under advisories regarding staying home and not congregating in groups. And in virtually all cases but a very few it’s ok to be outside, walk the dog, ride a bike, whatever. Just stay away from people. In other words, normal metal detecting. There can be no harm in detecting when nobody is within 100 feet, and it certainly is less risky than going to the grocery store, which people are doing every day. So let’s not go into “Quarantine Shame” mode here. Thanks.

Compare that to prices for most Minelab gold detectors and you will realize what a bargain it is.

Nope, you are the one breaking this news, and news it is! The good news - five key products!! The bad news - 2021 It says fiscal year, which for Codan is July - June the following year, so if you want to hang your hope on that you might say this fall. I'll not be holding my breath though the way detector releases have gone as of late. The report where you got that (dated March 3, 2020)... https://codan.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Codan-Corporate-PowerPoint-Final.pdf I see X-Terra is missing from the recreational listing so soon to be discontinued. And looks like GPX 4500 is still priced in with GPX so rumors of its end may have been exaggerated.

If you mean a similar one for UK coins, etc you would have to use my template to create your own.