Steve Herschbach

Sorry, was out of town and not many other people would know this stuff. Not too many memorize lists of books authors wrote, and most of Jim's titles were obscure. I sold Jim's books for many years and here are the ones I know of: "Advanced Prospecting & Detecting for Hard Rock Gold" "Nuggetshooting Dryplacer Areas" "Successful Drywashing" "Magnificent Quest" "Follow the Drywashers - The Nuggetshooter's Bible" "Three Hours to Gold From Southern California" There was no volume 1 or 2 of Follow the Drywashers that I have ever seen listed in the way you might be thinking of them. I forget Jim's rational on that but I don't think there was a three volume set. More like a couple of his other books were volume 1 and 2 but never officially designated as such or something along those lines. First and second editions? Could be wrong about that though. Been a while.

Day late and a dollar short here but simple answer is if I were looking for gold with a metal detector between the two choices it would be Crow Creek all the way for me. There was a of gold found there with detectors but the sad reality is it has been pounded to depth. That means you now have to "scrape and detect" to have any reasonable chance at success. Scrape and detect at Crow Creek in 2011 - I and others found quite a bit of small gold along this bank. I found it like I usually do - just pick spots and get to work. If nothing shows up in 30 minutes, move and try again. Detecting Micro Gold Nuggets at Crow Creek - 9/13/09 and small gold found.... The detectors do not matter much as long as they are hot on tiny gold. It is the way you slowly scrape the material to get the gold closer to the coil that matters most.

What settings are you using? Setting sensitivity too high (the default of 20 can be too high) is the most common problem. Is this a saltwater beach? Are you using the Beach Mode? Are you checking for electrical interference. Yes, the machine could have a bad coil, etc. but without more information there is no way to say more about it. The Equinox is working well for huge numbers of people so this is either an issue for your particular detector or the setup. Minelab Equinox Essential Information

Not an answer to the question per se - just more info. https://www.minelab.com/usa/customer-care/stop-counterfeits

There is a Minelab Equinox Forum that covers topics like this in detail. See the Minelab Equinox Essential Information thread there for a quick guide to subjects. And yes, any countries that favor coins with ferrous content (U.K., Canada, Australia, etc.) have an issue with coins reading like trash. You have to hit that horseshoe button to not reject any items. Some Minelab Equinox VDI Numbers Another Equinox Target ID Chart Target ID Numbers Can Vary With Search Profile & Frequency Canadian Target ID Numbers Australian Target ID Numbers

The only coil I ever stuck in the water while using a Minelab PI was the Coiltek Platypus coil. At 12" x 8" not super deep however, but they were waterproof. And apparently out of production now. Most stream bottoms are pretty irregular where you might find gold - a flat bottom in not a good sign. More like "big rocks, big gold". That being the case going too large may not be the best idea anyway. I would lean 14" x 9" for that reason instead of round - to better get in tight places.

Welcome to the forum! So do you want a high frequency VLF that is hot on small gold or do you not? “Too sensitive” is the name of the game. From my perspective all over 30 kHz units are roughly equivalent and all are edgy machines. I can find gold about as well with any of them. If you are looking for head to head testing that proves any one of them to be significantly better than the others - good luck with that. Whether it is a twenty year old Gold Bug 2 or the latest hot new machine, dealing with ground issues, hot rocks, and chatter is just the way it is. None of them is a magic bullet. Once I get my hands on the new Goldmaster 24K I am thinking this flood of new high frequency nugget detectors will pause for some time. That being the case I am going to do a more in depth critical comparison of all the models then I have ever attempted before. But that will be more towards the end of the year as I need time to round up a 24K and get good with it first. Covers make them all rain proof but if you think that the detector itself being rainproof is important than the Gold Kruzer and Gold Monster do have that. The Monster can be run totally automatic and can run silent if you want to give up that noisy edge. Though so can the Gold Bug 2 for that matter if tuned properly. The Gold Kruzer has far more control options and is more kin to the Gold Bug 2 than the Gold Monster. I found I liked the Gold Monster more than I thought I would given the lack of control options. However, my own personal tastes are for detectors with more control, not less, so units like the Gold Kruzer ultimately appeal more to me. If ground balancing and hot rocks trouble you, and price is no object, the Minelab SDC 2300 is a great PI option. Related thread Which Nugget Detector?

If I can’t get a detector to chatter it’s useless to me. I run my detectors hot and anything that runs quiet and stable under 100% of conditions has been too dumbed down for my use. Yes, I want them to run silent if I want but I also want to be able to ride the edge, and that means some noise. But that’s just me - the other side of the coin.

The whole thing was obviously a leak. This can’t be a TDI Pro in a Beach Hunter case since it won’t fit and there are heat issues. The TDI SL Board was made to fit specifically into a Classic ID / Beach Hunter ID box however so it’s fairly obvious to me this is the TDI SL stuck into a Beach Hunter ID box, with some controls removed. This was confirmed by the guy running the prototype in the video. For a detailed page to be set up one might guess the machine is close to production but my guess is the Goldmaster 24K is the priority right now. With this to follow by year end. However, because it is a leak and Tom is being coy, White’s can still not produce the model at all and have full deniability. Looks good but don’t hold your breath until you see an official announcement.

Seems like I posted about that myself at one point - must be getting old! Thanks for the confirmation Goldpick. That kind of says it all. There will no doubt be something some people will continue to like specifically about the old coils but buying new now my pick would hands down be one of the X35 coils for overall versatility.

Mitchel highlighted why the forum was split up. By default new detectors get the buzz, but that can get old for some people who object to what they call hype. This got tagged as a “minelab forum” by new visitors. If they owned another brand they left. Or it turned into the GPZ forum. Some owners of other detectors found that stifling. I will never forget the Garrett Infinium owner who quit the forum because of us “GPZ snobs”. The Equinox was the last straw. It was obvious to me it would overwhelm this forum, so I had to create a forum just for it, and all the rest. Most of the brand specific forums were just the old archive forums, renamed into live forums. Again, I do use my own judgement in cross posting to make sure people here know about a new detector. So you will see posts here initially about the Makro Kruzer or White’s 24K. Once things get rolling with those machines however posts about them will be on the manufacturer specific forum for those genuinely interested in the specific detector. Most of Gerry’s 24K double posts will be merged and moved today to the White’s forum. If you really are interested in the 24K then watching there would be wise. Thetr are no right or wrong answers on all this. If however you look at all the forums there is a discernible pattern for what goes where. If you don’t want to miss anything, make the Unread Content link your main page instead of any one forum.

There is also the Unread Content link which covers all forums and which you can custom filter into “Activity Streams”. Page space is at a premium and so adding thumbnails to the sidebars is not much of an option. That sidebar is there specifically to draw attention to posts in other sub forums. As are the home entries. No matter what however, if you don’t look around now and then you may miss stuff.

It does not really matter. I move stuff when I think it appropriate. In general anything to do with nugget detecting goes here. However, if the information is detector specific and includes details on how to run or operate that detector I generally post or move posts to the specific forum. In other words, just posting gold found with any detector tends to stay here. However, if it is more like “how to tune or find gold with this specific machine” then it may end up on a forum specific to the brand. I watch that sort of stuff normally and take care of it. I have been gone and am currently going though all the threads. I do purposefully post cross links when information is appropriate to more than one location. I also may let posts ride here until they get to page three, then move them to another location. Again, just generic I found gold stuff will end up here. The tags are a hint. Look at this as the “gold found” or “stories trips and adventures” page. If the post is more about the hardware itself, then it tends to end up on the manufacturer forum. If a thread gets tagged as being specific to a particular detector, like “whites goldmaster 24k” it will eventually move to that manufacturer forum. If you want to find out all you can about how the GPZ works, look on the Minelab forum. If you want to see stories about gold found with the GPZ, look here. Obviously there is overlap. To repeat however, don’t sweat it. When in doubt post here. As far as reading, get out and about more! I read them all.

Cool. Saint Louis Ordnance Plant, 1943? http://www.odcmp.org/1101/usgi.pdf Small-Caliber Ammunition Identification Guide. Volume 1 Small-Caliber Ammunition Identification Guide. Volume 2

I agree - lots of people passed on nickels and still do. I certainly have done it a lot when chasing silver. I am not sure which exact company or model first featured target id meters but the 1983 White's catalog features the first White's with target id - the Coinmaster 6000/Di Series 2. First mention in a White's catalog of "VDI" Visual Discrimination Indicator. Click on image for larger version. Before this meters just showed depth and battery indications or trash/treasure type displays.

Ok, now that’s a really great specimen and I am not just saying that. Nice contrast of colors between light, dark, and gold.

Honestly it is a bit too early to tell since the coils are not in wide distribution yet. My sense is that the X35 coils will end up replacing the older coils entirely but I could be wrong about that.

From https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/6924-world-bored-with-high-frequency-detectors/?do=findComment&comment=73652 GOLDMASTER 24k AVAILABILITY Thanks for your patience as we launch the Goldmaster 24k. We had larger than expected pre-orders as well as some part-availability issues, so we are running about one week behind on launch. White's Electronics will begin shipping Goldmaster 24k's starting late the week of August 6th. We apologize for the delay. White's Goldmaster 24K Information

The GPX models may seem intimidating but actually they are easy to operate. Just resist the urge to mess with all the settings. Kind of like the Equinox - people do more harm than good more often than not when straying too far from the defaults, which work just fine. Beginner's Guide to Tuning the Minelab GPX 5000 Minelab GPX 5000 Information

Best of luck with the new detector! Mine has been very good to me.

Minelab underwater headphones are not known for loudness. Sorry to say I can’t possibly tell if what you are experiencing is normal not loud or abnormal not loud. I guess all that matters is that is it loud enough for you? If not, maybe time for a replacement.

Might be “just silver” but that’s a high quality find. Fingers crossed for diamonds Mike!

Tom, good to see you putting in the hours and being rewarded with the finds. Hope to be doing some water work myself soon.