Steve Herschbach

We at History Seekers are joined by Russ Balbirona from First Texas Products to talk about the new pinpointers plus tidbits on the new T2+ and F75+. If you are a Fisher Research Labs or Teknetics Metal Detectors fan, this is a show that you do not want to miss. Note: this is a podcast recording of the 11/15/2017 show. After listening to it there was more about the pinpointers than the T2+ and F75+. In fact other than mention of a possible transferable warranty (they are vague on that point) there really is nothing new about the two models. Also a mention of new stuff in the next couple years.

Since Minelab is a publically traded company not all this stuff is secret. It took Minelab about five years and approximately $10 million to develop the GPZ 7000. That is just development. Then add in manufacturing, distribution, advertising, etc. http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/2703-cost-to-develop-gpz-7000-over-10-million/ I don't care what companies charge for products I don't have to own. I can choose to buy them or not. No point in getting mad at Maserati because they charge more for cars than I want to spend!

Welcome to the forum! Pictures very welcome here and work best uploaded directly to your post. I personally would be very curious to hear about your use of the GPX 5000 in the UK.

Detector manufacturers often make one main board for manufacturing volume and efficiency. The top model has all the features activated. Less expensive models they simply limit access to some features, but it is the same detector under the hood. For instance, a White's VX3 is the same circuit board as a V3i with a few features turned off. However, it is not a matter of going in and flipping a switch - the limitations are usually encoded in the firmware. A basic $499 Fisher Gold Bug is the same as a Gold Bug Pro internally. They just took away your access to the manual ground balance. Everyone does it and not just in the detector industry.

Very nice! I am finally easing back into serious coin detecting after years of silver being sidelined in favor of gold. Hopefully I will have some nice silver to show soon.

Poured rain here all night in Reno. Supposedly 3-4 feet of snow up in the high country - we will see when the clouds lift! We are off to a mild start and I am still out detecting, though I have mostly shifted gears to coin and jewelry detecting. I hope to stay active detecting through the entire winter - if not through mild weather here then by driving to where it is milder. It is heading into summer in Oz. Soon it will be too cold here for detecting in northern areas. And soon it will be too hot to go detecting in parts of Australia! On the other hand temps are just right for the folks down in Arizona. There is always someplace gold is being found. How are those of you who are facing an “off season” planning on dealing with it?

Getting hot VLFs to run well in bad ground is challenging. Generally you have to reduce the gain until the machine behaves. That may mean a setting of 3 or 4 instead of 10 but if the machine is overloading it is useless. Large coils are more susceptible to overload from ground mineralization. The Goldmasters can be run in the worst of ground if you just accept them for what they are. Coil failures are not uncommon. If the machine squeals no matter what, a coil swap is needed to eliminate that possibility. Coils and coil cables fail at rates far exceeding the control box on most any model of detector. The older foam filled coils were prone to the foam breaking down internally when subjected to ongoing impacts on rocks or other environmental stress.

I used them all - Goldmaster II, Goldmaster V-SAT, Goldmaster 3, Goldmaster 4/B, and GMT. They are all 50 kHz detectors except the GMT, which is 48 kHz. All share the same coils. The Goldmaster 3 was in some ways the most well thought of out of the series. When the 4/B came out White's made the switch from a control box that could be chest or hip mounted to the current coin detector type box. The 4/B was roundly panned by prospectors as a result plus the Fisher Gold Bug 2 came out about then, and that also put a hurt on 4/B sales. The GMT is actually more closely related to the MXT than the earlier Goldmaster models, which were pure analog. The main thing the GMT offers compared to the earlier models is automatic ground tracking. Just my opinion but any differences in depth and sensitivity are so small as to not matter between the various models. You could grab the GMT and I could grab a Goldmaster II or later and I would not feel outgunned. Click or double-click for larger image....

Again, fabulous thread! JR, Reg, maybe you can enlighten me on something I always wondered about. A large number of the big finds made early on in Oz were made when gold prices were low. That, and big finds were more common. I suspect that a lot of the gold got sold back then for prices far below what we can get now. I know I sold a lot back in the day for a lot less than I could get for it now. Of course at the time I thought the price was high and might go back down! Sometimes I do think that it is only the escalating price of gold that has kept people in the field. I like finding gold, but with today's diminished finds it would be hard to get very excited about prospecting if gold was only $300 an ounce.

Guys, don't start with this stuff please. It is a great story about a guy finding a large nugget. I don't care if it was a sunbaker and he just picked it up - it's a great find!

It is a separate Minelab part number but very hard to find. It's just a 12V auto charger but the end that connects to the battery has to be sized correctly. I have quite a few 12V car adapters and will try all of them and report back. I am sure there is a cheap alternative that can be found.

Write up is a news release from Minelab, no doubt because the nugget was found with a Minelab. Another brand could have found it of course.... but didn’t. One nice lump of gold!

Previously posted under a different title with link at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/4579-the-gold-norvic-and-paul-missed/ I am leaving this up since it includes the original press release above and the title might grab extra eyeballs.

From http://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/news?article=322833 15 Nov 2017 Queensland man unearths giant gold nugget worth more than $50,000 with GPX 5000 A beautiful 38-ounce gold nugget, worth more than AU$50,000, has been uncovered in North Queensland by a dedicated prospector using a Minelab GPX 5000 detector. The life-changing find came just moments after he uncovered a three-ounce nugget worth some AU$4,000. “When I found the first nugget I was super stoked because that was my biggest ever,” said the Queenslander who wishes to remain anonymous. “I would have been really happy with just that but after I’d calmed down, I went back to the same spot, restarted my detector and after just two or three swings I found the big one.” “It’s fair to say I was emotionally overwhelmed at that time,” he said. Weighing more than a kilogram (1,176gms), the nugget was 15cms (six inches) below the ground and discovered thanks to the advanced gold-finding technology of the Minelab GPX 5000 detector. “It’s just incredible. I’d been looking in this particular area for a while that day and I was about ready to leave but I gave it another quarter of an hour and then with five minutes left I got this fairly good signal – not too loud but I was confident it was gold – so I started digging. “At first, I didn’t know just how big the nugget was because the scales I had with me only went up to 500grams. It wasn’t until later when I got home I found out I’d broken the kilo mark. “It was beneath some vegetation so it was a bit of a challenge to get to, but now I’m thinking maybe those roots are keeping some other big nuggets safe ready to be found another time.” The joyous prospector has named his find the Arcus Nugget because of the role nature played in its discovery. Arcus is Latin for rainbow. Driving back to camp the day before, he saw a double rainbow for the first time in his life. Ignoring the adage that gold is found at the end of rainbows, he identified the section of ground beneath the highest point of the arc and decided that was where he would look the next day. “I said to myself that’s where were going to find gold tomorrow but I never thought it would be so much.” He’s now negotiating to sell the nugget privately. A man who loves the bush, he got bitten by the prospecting bug about 10 years ago. That was when, during only his second trip out, he uncovered his first piece of gold. While finding the Arcus Nugget was clearly his biggest day in the field, the dedicated prospector has had plenty of other success with his GPX 5000. Earlier trips into his beloved bush have netted him hauls of four and two ounces. “The discovery is always really exciting. The trip when I found two ounces, for me at the time, that was ‘wow’.” Minelab’s Townsville dealer, Peter Cragg (above), was amazed to see the nugget. “It’s a fantastic story and goes to show that there are still big nuggets out there ready to be found if you have the right equipment and can spot the terrain. He found more than a kilo of gold in an area which has certainly had detectors go over it before. It makes you think what might still be out there!” he said. Minelab’s GPX 5000 is a proven favourite for serious gold prospectors, featuring exclusive technologies including Multi Period Sensing (MPS), Dual Voltage Technology (DVT) and Smart Electronic Timing Alignment (SETA). Coming with eight timings, each designed for optimum performance under different conditions, the high performance GPX 5000 can handle even the most severe ground while still maintaining excellent depth and gold sensitivity. Learn more about the GPX 5000 and Minelab’s full range of premium gold detectors here.

Shhhhhhh!

Yeah, First Texas is moving forward on a new PI project. It makes me wonder if the CZX/Mosca stalled out and they needed a new direction? I don’t know but the subject has been discussed on two prior threads here: June 13, 2017 Alexandre Tartar Joins First Texas June 14, 2017 Something New In The World Of PI Detectors? Back to the F75+ and the release of one item of information at a time. Apparently First Texas will introduce a transferable warranty along with the Plus models. Definitely about time - warranties should cover the product for the warranty period regardless of whether it changes hands. First Texas was one of the last holdouts when it comes to the warranty only applying to the original owner. No more word on what the det3ctors itself does that is actually new however.

From http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/4488-minelab-equinox-multi-iq-technology-part-2/ “* 20 kHz and 40 kHz are not available as single operating frequencies in EQUINOX 600. The Multi-IQ frequency range shown applies to both EQUINOX 600 and 800. This diagram is representative only. Actual sensitivity levels will depend upon target types and sizes, ground conditions and detector settings.“ Access to the Gold Mode and therefore the 20 kHz and 40 kHz single frequencies is limited to the Equinox 800. “Gold Detecting Mode - Gold Mode operates the high single frequencies of either 20 kHz or 40 kHz to detect gold nuggets in mineralised soils.”

40 khz is the biggie Tom. There are piles of detectors that run around 19-20 khz and yes, that is a very good frequency for a general purpose nugget detector. Yet for many years people have gone to higher frequency machines like the 48 khz GMT, 71 kHz Gold Bug 2, 60 kHz Eureka Gold, 56 kHz Gold Racer for their small nugget detecting needs. The 45 khz Gold Monster is just the latest in the series of dedicated nugget detectors running at over 40 kHz. So while topping out around 18 - 22 kHz is good (more than good enough for most people), it has always been just a little short of where I have been hoping to get with a selectable frequency detector as regards both nugget and micro jewelry detecting. The Deus does a good job in that regard but for most people starting with no detector buying a standard Deus and then adding a HF coil option gets to be a real pricy situation at near $2K for a VLF detector with two coils. That will change if XP ever gets around to selling a model that comes with the HF coil as stock, as they have done in Africa (but nowhere else we know of). But then you get locked into 14 kHz on the low end. It may all very well be moot now as Multi-IQ proves it's stuff over time.

Here is a very new video that shows a Sun-Ray probe in use throughout. The big sell was target id via the detector. And as V3i/MXT Pro note -weight, wires, boxes, etc. were a turnoff for some. They were most popular early on with Minelab DD coil models that challenged lots of people's pinpointing skills.

I used to own a few of the old White's T/R detectors. In fact I still have one I keep around just for nostalgia sake. At over 40 years old they are long since obsolete technology. They can detect coin size objects at maybe 2-4 inches depending. They can't ground balance and so any mineralization at all really kills the depth. You can buy similar detectors here for $50 or less. The last couple I had were just given to me because they have no value unless in like new condition for people who collect old detectors. Surprisingly (to me) there are quite a few people who do that. As far as identifying which wires are which - I just do not know. That is why I offered the Geotech links. Coil Basics by Carl Moreland at Geotech

The Dual Field thing is just about the coil design on the Surf PI. It is not a combined VLF and PI but just a simple PI detector, and without ground balance capability. In general it is really a detector best used for beach detecting and nothing else. Stick with machines on my Nugget Detector Guide if you do not wish to go astray. I quite honestly have listed almost every machine worth your consideration as a nugget detector and you can safely ignore the rest. The X-Terra 705 at $499 packs an incredible amount of features into a detector in that price range. It competes well with detectors costing hundreds of dollars more. They were $799 not too long ago and at that it was a great machine. At $499 its a smoking deal. The Gold Bug Pro has been incredibly popular in Africa and so is worth a look also. Just be very careful with any machines you might purchase as counterfeit detectors are a plague in Africa. Deal only with somebody very reputable you can trust. If you get offered a deal too good to be true consider that a counterfeit may be involved.

Absolutely agree, great thread!

Welcome to the forum! If it was me I would try to find any newer used detector possible rather than work on a 50 year old relic. If that is not an option, I can’t help you personally with a wiring diagram. However, when it comes to that and making your own coils, etc. the absolute best source of information is the Geotech website and Geotech forum.

I have an ultrasonic cleaner - fabulous for cleaning jewelry, not much use for coins.