Steve Herschbach

Thanks for trying!

Yeah but now that you bought it it’s gone. The links no good.

Nice to have you back Rob... your posts are always welcome! If Minelab ever produces a small coil for the GPZ 7000 and a import/export function for XChange I will consider getting another GPZ. I expected both those items by now and Minelab failed to produce. We should not have to be relying on the aftermarket for coils and software hacks to get support on the most expensive consumer metal detector ever sold. The idea I have to cut the end off a $1500 coil cable to make another coil work is ludicrous to me. Instead now all I have to do is hope for a 6 x 10 coil for my Equinox

This has nothing to do with ads or pop ups. I am talking about objectionable posts by forum members. There are no advertising pop ups on this forum and never will be. We are talking links in posts. The banner ads here are served by Google or Amazon and not likely to be an issue. They pay for the forum in fact.

I picked up a second 6” coil for myself on a recent visit to my old shop in Alaska. You might give them a try as there were several on hand at the time. AMDS Contact Info

Now moved there...

Due to an increase in spammers hiding little porn links in their posts I am bumping this up. If you see anything like that please flag it. The forum is busy enough these days I don’t read every single post and can miss them. Thanks!

There are no aftermarket 7000 coils... yet. Therefore no statement. People running a prototype coil are definitely on their own. I posted Minelabs published statement on SDC aftermarket coils a month ago. I would bet a GPZ statement would be similar. The 7000 at least is designed for using more than one coil. It’s the cutting off and reuse of the Minelab end connector with chip that could be problematic - instantly voids coil warranties at the minimum. And could impact resale value. SDC 2300 PRODUCT NOTICE & WARRANTY STATEMENT Recently, Coiltek has introduced aftermarket coils that can be retrofitted to the SDC 2300. These have been developed independently of Minelab and Minelab has not had any involvement with these coils. Minelab cannot and does not provide any information or support regarding the use of these coils. Minelab does not guarantee the SDC 2300’s performance when used in conjunction with these coils. The SDC is manufactured by Minelab in a standard configuration designed to be robust and offering easy to use high performance; any changes to the product may alter its performance. Further, such modifications may materially impact the ability of Minelab to support and warrant your SDC 2300. The SDC 2300 is not designed for changing coils nor for use with other coil sizes and specifically any damage which is assessed by Minelab or its Authorised Service Centres (ASCs) as having resulted from such modification will not be covered by the Minelab warranty. All Minelab detectors are engineered in Australia, manufactured to exacting standards in ISO 9001/2000 quality accredited facilities, and backed by up to defined transferable warranties. Review the full Minelab warranty period, terms and conditions on our website.

Hi Paul, I am sorry that you and your family have been dealing with so much. We all have issues but it can be tough to bear when multiple things hit at once. Metal detecting can be wonderfully therapeutic and for me is almost a type of meditation. When I get “in the zone” time and troubles disappear for awhile. I therefore think getting back into it could help you with more than just finding stuff. You have a great machine they can do most anything well. Good luck and best wishes for your sisters recovery. And welcome to the forum! ? Sincerely, Steve Herschbach

I pull it out, put the tip to the ground, turn it on. That’s it. If it seems over sensitive poking around just touch the button again to rebalance/detune. One thing I noted recently is that the pinpointer sensitivity drops off rapidly if the detector coil is too near the pinpointer. The detector silently suppresses the pinpointer sensitivity. It shows up starting at about two feet but is very noticeable at a foot. In other words, if the coil is next to the hole the it will affect the F-Pulse sensitivity. This was with Equinox in Multi. It is probably not an issue with some detectors and some frequencies. Bottom line was I am going to research this more and compare with different detectors, other pinpointers, etc. I have no idea how prevalent this is but it is an issue with at least some detector and pinpointer combos. My quick fix is I now make sure my coil is at least a couple feet away from the hole and pinpointer when working them. I will start a new thread on this soon and may ask others to try their detectors and pinpointers to get more info. All you have to do is put the detector on a bench, coil in air. Turn pinpointer on over two feet from coil and air test the pinpointer with a coin. Now get closer to the coil with the pinpointer and air test again. Any sensitivity loss with the pinpointer will be apparent.

I am nearly always running recovery speed 5 or 6, with 7 occasionally and 4 rarely. I basically never use 1, 2, 3, or 8. Not saying there is anything wrong with those settings for other people and places. It’s just what works for me doing what I do.

The basic idea is actually very old. One of my first detectors was a coil printed on a circuit board and a few components. You would take an AM radio and tune to a certain channel. A coin waved under the toy... and that is all it was... made a signal on the AM radio. The XP Deus is proof an entire powerful metal detector can be built into a coil with a remote that actually is just a controller. All the heavy processing is done in the coil. The only reason we have not seen much of this with phones is the connection speed, but new phones with low latency connections will no doubt result in a very good detector... sooner or later... that uses a cell phone as a controller. I don’t expect it much from the traditional manufacturers however as it gives them less to sell. XP really wants to sell you that controller. It will probably take a newer party to make this really happen the way it needs to be done. It really is inevitable.

Recovery speed allows one to swing faster but for some reason people are interpreting this to mean they should swing faster. There is absolutely nothing that says because you increase recovery speed you should increase your swing speed. Personally my recovery speed setting and how fast I swing my detector have almost no connection. I am almost always going to slow down as trash gets denser, no matter what the setting. Again, from my perspective and how I operate it is ground mineralization and target density/depth that makes me slow down or speed up the coil. I never ask myself “but what is my recovery speed setting” as I make those decisions. It’s all about how the machine is reacting. Hard to say really as it is all such ingrained automatic behavior on my part. Long story short in my case when I hit dense trash I am probably going to increase recovery speed and keep my swing the same or slow it down, not increase it. Fast sweeps are for wide open spaces and sparse targets.... ground coverage.

I doubt you will get much F-Pulse feedback due to the thread title so thought I would toss in that my Fisher F-Pulse has been my go to pinpointer since I got it. Though the new Nokta PI pinpointer looks like a possible option to consider at this time. Nice finds!

People always talk about recovery speed and theoretical max depth, as if max depth is all that matters. Recovery speed is primarily a way of getting good target separation in dense trash. Higher recovery speeds may decrease max depth but get more finds in dense trash. Is not the goal to make more finds? All this focus on max depth is overdone and generally misunderstands why the control exists and how to apply it properly. The simple “increased recovery speed reduces depth” idea has lead many people astray. The faster available recovery speed is perhaps the biggest performance advantage of the Equinox over other Minelab detectors.

I will have to use mine someday I guess and see

How can anyone not love hidden treasure! ? More on the story here with photos

“Let us take you back to Reno over 147 years ago. In the year 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant was about to go into his second term, mining was the main source of economic prosperity throughout the western United States, and the entire state of Nevada's population was less than 50,000 people (1870 Nevada Census). During this time, the Free Masons were a prominent fraternal organization. They lodged their members and had held meetings in several places across the great basin. This includes: where Reno City Plaza now sits, the 13th Masonic Lodge on 1st street, and the recently demolished lodge next to the Whitney Peak hotel. During the lodge's demolition in late winter of 2019, construction workers found a tin-container placed inside a large rock of sandstone. The general manager of the Whitney Peak Hotel, Eric Olson, recognized the box as a time capsule placed by the masons. Olson, who also practices free-masonry, asked to have the time capsule properly removed by specialists and be interpreted by practicing historical experts and masons-alike. "I knew that it was a time capsule because, as a Free Mason, history is something we take pride in," said Olson. "I wanted to make sure whatever was inside of that container needed to be taken care of properly by a professional."” For the rest of the story and a list of the finds visit the source article.

Down for over a week now. That is notable. As a website owner such a thing would be considered a major disaster. I get worried here just over the forum running too slow... an outage is a freak out event. It has the hallmarks of a meltdown with no backups made recently. Google is already delisting it in results. Not good. White's may not care. The manufacturers by and large have moved on to Facebook as their preferred messaging medium.

I can’t claim to be an expert on two box detectors though I sold quite a few. The only one I ever used was the Gemini 3 since I was a surveyor for a few years and they were pretty standard fare in a lot of survey rigs due to the ability to separate the transmitter from the receiver and the line tracing option. They also seemed to be the model of choice for the “treasure hunters”. Seems like most of the Gemini units I sold were headed to Mexico to look for lost treasure. Important note: The chart and depths quoted below are based on optimistic low mineral conditions. Real life results will probably be less impressive.

Not that I am a meteorite expert but I am not seeing any reason why this would be a suspect meteorite. Zero sign of a fusion crust, just looks like a common rock to me.

Any metal detector made by a major manufacturer that sells for over $200 is a “good detector”. They all work better than the best of the best made not all that long ago. The technology is old enough that performance differences are hair splitting. This in turn fuels never ending YouTube comparison videos just because the performance actually is that close. The Garrett AT series was a game changer at the time, putting a full feature detector in a light weight, affordable waterproof housing. People take that for granted already, but it is the Garrett AT Pro that paved the way for all to follow. However, the AT series is now long in the tooth, and you can invest just as little money now for alternatives that may have more desirable features. The AT is no longer a low price option in that regard. It did get where it is however by being a real bargain for quite some time PLUS a well oiled marketing machine. Garrett figured out social media way before the competition, half of which is still clueless. The truth is all the best machines are very competitive and so it is the operator more than anything that makes a machine shine. Knowing your detector and putting it on good sites is the key. A top notch operator can grab any one of dozens of machines and do well. Bottom line is the Garrett AT series are good detectors but I do think others now offer similar or better bang for the buck. You can’t really go wrong with an AT either - they are a well proven safe choice. Click on image for larger view...

In English....

My favorite detector Welcome to the forum!

Weighting is a term Minelab used with the Equinox to refer to which multiple frequencies are used and how they are "mixed" together in the modes. Since the MX Sport is a single frequency detector the term does not apply. There are all sorts of reasons a detector might hit a target that another misses, but without having both detectors on hand with quite a bit of time spent over the undug target trying various settings on the machines it is impossible to tell where the difference would be.