Steve Herschbach

I guess you want some kind of answer for why you don't think the Equinox gets better separation than the CTX. The problem is where I hunt in dense targets the CTX goes blind on items the Equinox easily detects, so from my perspective it's a straw man argument. In other words, I disagree in general with your basic premise though of course there always will be specific situations where a CTX might do better. Yes, large coils can provide some sort of "see around" capability, that's well known. Bottom line if the CTX works better for you then that's what you should use. My experience was just the opposite, and I sold my CTX immediately upon getting some hours with the Equinox. A CTX with a 17" coil is a target hog though and I'm not knocking the machine at all. Different strokes for different folks, ground, and targets.

Do you want to use discrimination or not? You should dig everything, but if that is not practical, then use discrimination. Some people can dig trash all day, others not. The basic rule is... as long as any targets remain a nugget can still be found. The only truly hunted out location is one with no remaining targets. Hunted out = nothing goes beep. Many people hunt tailing piles that have been screened and so the idea is looking for large nuggets that went over the screen. Therefore the preference for larger coils. If the tailings were never screened and are comprised more of small material that might have small gold then a smaller coil might be better. There are no rules, only preferences and judgment calls about what works best for any given situation. Out of box thinking and flexibility go a long way in this endeavor.

Separation what? Sounds like you are saying you think the CTX ids better and has all the separation you need, and you don’t think the Equinox does better? Sounds more like a statement than a question, but I’ve not had my coffee yet and so may be missing it.

It’s not my advice, it’s how recovery speed works. It’s in the manual. Low recovery speed in dense trash misses targets. Out of electronic tune... nonsense. Why have a control if that were true? Maybe in a theoretical air test type way, but that ignores why the control exists. I said it above... here it is again. If any control has a perfect setting and no other setting is good for anything then the control would not exist. The machine would just be dialed in at that perfect setting. May as well say that the only sensitivity setting you should use is maximum - horrible advice. You will never actually learn anything without experimenting in the field. Pick a dense trash location and vary the control and see what happens.

What was the question exactly? Sounds like you are happy with what you have, and that’s great.

I’m very impressed especially by the number of chains you are recovering!

Thanks, I’m glad you found it helpful. When starting out leaving controls alone is best, but then picking just one and experimenting with it in the field to learn exactly what it does takes you to the next level. Problems occur when people adjust controls not knowing what it is they are adjusting. Adjusting multiple controls at once if you don't know what they do is always a bad idea. In a nutshell if targets are sparse, use lower recovery speeds. The higher the target density, the more benefit to higher recovery speeds. Hot rocks also qualify as targets, so there is benefit to running higher recovery speed in highly mineralized ground. Here are some more articles...

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.