Steve Herschbach

Holy Cow! You are one hard working animal Steve!! Not to mention quite considerate of the new girlfriend going above and beyond. So hard working and very smart! I cannot imagine going to that amount of work for a little gold these days. You have a few years on me but obviously are feeling younger at heart than I. Very impressive and a great tale, thanks for taking us along for the ride in the comforts of our homes.

Lots of great posts here by everyone - I guess I just needed to stir the pot! ? The White’s Goldmaster 24K is lighting up the White’s Metal Detector Forum. Looks like White’s has a winner.

Great post Gerry! I like hitting the tot lots etc. with hot detectors just for the fun of it and to keep my nugget hunting skills fresh. It’s so easy it does not matter much what I find and as you have shown there can be nice surprises. Just to be real though we need to let people know lots of aluminum gets dug also, and in recent years all this little glitter stuff that adorns clothing, shoes, etc. has become a common trash find.

Thanks Gerry - great to see info on this new White’s model and your initial success with it! I hate being gone when a new release hits the streets but you are doing a fabulous job getting the info out while I was gone. Thanks again - great stuff. Looks like White’s has a winner! White’s Goldmaster 24K Information & Specifications

The combination of ground balance control and sensitivity control tells you. If you can run the ground balance control to both extremes while at maximum sensitivity and the detector does not react to the ground when bouncing the coil over the ground, you have low mineral ground. If the ground does react but easily ground balances to a stable setting while at maximum sensitivity you have moderate ground. If you can't get a decent ground balance at max sensitivity then you must lower the sensitivity until the machine becomes stable enough to get a good ground balance. The lower you have to go, the more extreme your ground is. What is considered low or high mineral ground is relative to the detector. A PI may be just fine in ground that drives a Gold Bug 2 nuts. I don't tell my detectors what to do. My detectors tell me what to do. You need time and experience to learn how to hear what they are telling you. In simple terms, if any detector is extremely erratic, the machine is yelling at you saying "lower the sensitivity/gain". The assumption there is that the detector is working properly, there is no electrical interference, and it is ground balanced as well as can be. GB Numbers = Mineralization?

Hi Mike, What's not repairable? Minelab has stated “fixed cost and affordable repairs will be available for Equinox outside of the warranty period”. You are implying that fixing something by opening it up and soldering something is inherently superior to simply replacing an entire board or entire pod. In this day and age that is simply not true. If it costs more to fix something than it is worth, get another one or get something else. I used to sell high end Husqvarna chainsaws - professional models. Quite expensive, and I had a service shop to fix them. As labor costs piled up over the years fixing a chainsaw got to be a not inexpensive option. Finally even Husqvarna started making models that were good enough and low enough in cost they would work great for average users, yet taking them into a shop for repairs would quickly approach a significant portion of the replacement cost new. The market split. Pros still might get a $900 chainsaw and spend money repairing it. Most people though get a decent lower price model that A. will probably last their lifetime and B. if it finally does die, is not worth repairing. This scenario repeats endlessly these days as labor costs for trained technicians rise faster than manufacturing costs. I used to really push getting top end expensive product as being a "best value" option. However, when it came time to get a lawnmower in Alaska I faced two options for a place where the lawn is under snow half the year. Spend a lot on a Honda lawnmower with the idea it would last me forever. Or just buy a much less expensive model that would probably do the job (and did) and figure I would just replace it if it died. Even two cost less than the Honda. Turned out to be the right decision for me - heck, I never even really needed to change oil or sharpen the blade with the amount of mowing I did. I don't think this is a marketing model per se. The Equinox is simply a detector design, though it is not hard to see others following suite due to the fact it is selling well. If the physical design and all that goes along with it troubles you I am sure at our age Mike that alternatives will exist for as long as we are around. Minelab is far from the only brand, and Equinox far from the only detector they make. There is a vast used market. Don't worry, be happy

It was just one copied from the referenced link - fixed.

You are too kind.... the lack of anything remotely resembling poor behavior is a real testament to all the forum members. I was more worried about a troll or spammer joining in my absence and going nuts, and even considered disallowing new members while I was away. I did also figure if anyone tried that you would all step up and just run them off. Part of me just wanted to see what would happen though so I just let it go since truly nothing could happen that I could not clean up on my return as if it had not happened at all. I know people want to know where I went and what I was doing. Yes, I went to some old haunts in Alaska. It would be hard to have a better time than I did in all respects - truly a fabulous trip and wonderfully relaxing. Other than that I have emails and posts to catch up on first. The tale itself will be a long story since I am going to backtrack decades and tell you all a genuine story full of context and photos. What I did the last few weeks will simply be the exciting ending you will all have to wait for. Yes, I do like building a little suspense. I think the tale will be fun and enjoyable for all so all I can say is get ready for a peek at a part of my life in Alaska over the years. It will also be a journey through models over the years and how improving technology really can make a difference. I am looking forward to telling the story as much as as some of you may be in hearing it. Note Sept 1, 2018 - The story is told here Thanks again to everyone for running a great forum. Yes, that is what you all did while I was gone - good job!!

Well, that's not really the idea either which is why there has to be a limit. The bottom line is use them any way you want, but the 20 per day limit stands, amd so keep it in mind. It's like money - you only have so much so decide for yourself how you want to spend it.

The Garrett ATX was one of my favorite detectors - easily my favorite Garrett detector. Yes or no however depends on your desired use. For me the ATX only makes a lot of sense if you need its waterproof design. You are paying a large penalty in price, weight, and limited coil options due to the ATX being in a waterproof housing. I lobbied endlessly for a lighter weight dry land version of the ATX but have given it up. I have to admit I sold my last ATX more as a form of protest over being ignored for so long on that issue than any complaint about how it performs. For that matter I would rather the ATX circuit had been stuffed in the Infinium box. That design was not perfect but at least it could be easily hip or chest mounted. Bottom line however is I always liked the ATX circuit and was very satisfied with its performance.

In general I do not believe in the use of canned settings provided by others though I do share my settings since people want to know. Ultimately that is like learning to drive by asking people on forums for gear shift and gas pedal settings for a car. You learn to drive by learning the appropriate gear and gas setting for the conditions. A hill pulling a load needs different settings than a flat paved highway without a load. This is no different with detectors, and almost all issues with a properly operating detector can be traced to either improper ground balance and too much sensitivity. You are seeking the maximum settings that allow for stable performance, no more. Beyond that, and trained detectorist can tolerate higher performance settings which may introduce more noise, and then it is the ears and brain kicking in to decide which sounds are good and which to ignore. For the novice however it is all just noise and so when starting out I recommend not pushing beyond settings that are stable and quiet until you are more familiar with the detector. You have to learn how to walk before you can run. PI detectors are susceptible to electrical interference and incessant signaling in an area on one visit and quiet the next with the very same settings is a sign of this. Finally, you can't totally discount that perhaps the detector has a problem like a bad component or coil. The ATX is a forgiving detector and it should not be hard to find settings that provide quiet stable performance. If it continues to be an issue then maybe the machine needs to be checked out.

All PI detectors by design inherently ignore ground and saltwater better than VLF detectors. Early PI detectors were originally dedicated to saltwater beach use because of this, since even without a ground balance circuit they handle the conditions well. This is another way of saying that basic PI detectors are inherently less sensitive to low conductors than VLF detectors. However, in the process of developing PI detectors that are more sensitive to low conductors (gold specifically) the machines also became more sensitive to ground and salt. This is the basic inherent problem in all metal detector designs. How do you enhance the response from desirable targets while dealing with the inevitable enhanced response to undesirable items? Ground balance attempts to address that concern. Still, in most low mineral ground not only is the ground balance control ineffective on a PI like the ATX, but in fact you can get better performance by shutting it off completely. I the case of the ATX, this is done by resetting the machine to factory settings and then leaving the ground balance control alone and tracking off.

I do a little basic bench testing with most new detectors I get, just to get familiar with controls and target responses. Other than that however I prefer to learn by doing and since my main goal is finding stuff I get with the program of actually doing just that as soon as possible. Detectors are either going to impress me in the field or not but then I do have the benefit of decades of use on various detectors. It's nothing to me to just grab a new model and fall right into using it. For anyone unfamiliar to detectors and what the controls do, some time spent with the manual on the bench is generally time well spent.

Really nice mod - very professional looking!

Hi Nenad, That might be the case but since there appears to be very little posted about this model I decided to give it a little love is all. The timing is immaterial. My comment about most people probably opting for the Multi Kruzer is not meant as a put down of the 14 kHz model but just my guess at what most people would probably do. The fact is I think Makro is putting out great units at attractive prices and the 14 kHz model should not be overlooked by those in the market for a detector of this type. Which again is why I posted about it while it goes unmentioned on most other Makro related forums.

Excellent finds Noah - looks like the Multi Kruzer and you get along just fine!

Well at the end of the day there are many good choices in detectors and from my perspective dozens of VLF detectors will do the trick for me. I personally find gold myself by putting myself on good locations through research and putting in long hours of work. The detector is merely a tool, and the main requirement for me is to have a detector applicable to the task and to know it well enough to get good performance from it. This basically means knowing what the controls actually do and how they interact as opposed to using canned settings provided by others. I do not consider any one particular VLF metal detector to be what makes me a successful prospector. They come and go - the only constant is me and my prospecting skills. Sticking with the original post I prefer the 19 kHz First Texas models for gold prospecting over their 13 kHz models. Once you widen the debate to all available detectors it's down the rabbit hole, with much of the response devolving into a popularity contest. This is a meet and greet forum and these type questions are better explored in depth on the various other forums.

Hi Jim, Welcome to the forum - thanks for joining!

Welcome to the forum Leighton. I have used the T2/F75 and G2/Gold Bug Pro in their various flavors (First Texas owns Bounty Hunter, Fisher, and Teknetics and many models overlap). There is no way the T2 has twice the depth of the G2. The two machines are extremely close, with the T2 leaning to a slight edge over the G2 on silver coins due to the lower 13 khz frequency. Conversely, the G2 has an edge on low conductors like gold due to the higher 19 kHz frequency. There is lots more info on these machines on the First Texas Forum and some comparison articles on the Metal Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum The differences in performance between various single frequency detectors operating in the "teens" frequency range of 13 to 19 khz is minimal and I recommend looking more at the feature list to decide what will work best for you.

Hi everyone and appreciate the comments. I am on the way home and have some catching up to do. Thanks for keeping the house clean while I was gone! In any case I had a great time and tales to tell in the not too distant future. ?

I just spent two months overhauling the website and could use a break from the keyboard. I promised myself a reward when it was done and now it’s time to collect. I am going to be off grid most of the next couple weeks and for those times when I might be in range I am not going to think about it. That being the case you are all on your own until the end of the month. My absence is in itself is an experiment just to see what happens. You are all a really great bunch of folks so no worries on my part. I hope you all enjoy both the forum and your own adventures. If things get a little sloppy I will sort it out when I return. So take care, have fun, and see you all on or before Aug 1st. The goal when I get back will be a day by day accounting of the adventure with photos and hopefully some good finds to show. I know the adventure will be there regardless of finds - going to be a good time. Again, best wishes to all, and thanks for being the best forum members ever! Steve Herschbach DetectorProspector.com

The video is publicly posted on YouTube. That means it has been released for general viewing by the public. I am also not a dealer, which makes that moderator response total nonsense. Maybe dealers can’t comment but everyone else sure can. All companies know that telling dealers anything is going to leak. That being the case telling dealers is in effect a controlled leak because companies know dealers as a group can’t keep a secret. I used to post on the official White’s forum just to help people with Whites products but got ran off for posting about the White’s Sierra Super Track. Not a White’s detector I was told, violation of the rules. That did it for me. The last place to go for the latest information on new Whites detectors is the “official” Whites forum. However, this is a White’s forum also. I think good feedback is important and you guys are doing a good job at keeping it clean. Please keep doing so. Tom at Whites has been trying hard to improve things and the goal is to help him help us. There are testers for the Goldmaster 24K and at some point we will hear from them. I was not one but that is not White’s fault. I have been busy on other stuff.

Here is an old post on Rob’s forum about Bud’s large specimen that has a good photo and details of the find.

The Sand Shark cannot ground balance. As a result I would rather use most any VLF instead. The reasons prospectors use PI detectors is because ground balancing PI detectors can ignore ground and hot rocks a VLF or a non-ground balancing PI detector will signal on. Half the battle of nugget detecting is removing ground signals.