Steve Herschbach

Despite my own interest in the XP DEUS I doubt it will have a serious impact on the prospecting market in the U.S. unless a dedicated like the Depar DPR 600 is made available. The DEUS high frequency option as currently configured is just too expensive given the other options available to prospectors. You have to be seriously interested in the other DEUS capabilities as a general purpose detector to want to pay the big bucks for it. It is kind of the same problem the White's V3i or other top end units face. The V3i can in theory do ok as a nugget finder with its 22.5 kHz frequency, but the reality as we all know is you never hear of such a thing. The V3i can no doubt do the job, but why pay $1500 for a machine when a $499 Gold Bug can do as well if not better? And why pay $1500 for the DEUS when an $800 GM1000 or Gold Bug 2 can do the trick as well? The Depar DPR 600 however is nothing more than a DEUS locked into the Gold Field program and sold stock with the high frequency coil. At a current price of about $680 something like the DPR 600 would be very price competitive with other options on the market. I have to believe we will eventually see this option become a reality. September 2018 - New XP ORX announced.

The GM1000 has no target id, just ferrous/non-ferrous discrimination. See the "Gold Chance Indicator" below. It actually has nothing to do with gold per se so it really is a "Non-ferrous Chance Indicator"

Fabulous find - thanks for posting Tom! John Hull And The Pine Tree Shilling

It would be nice to see a PI from Fisher again. It was rather shocking to me when the Impulse was retired and nothing replaced it. For a major manufacturer like First Texas to have not fielded any kind of PI for years is unheard of.

I understand Chuck. My information was posted for other people.

I need full day operation also. My attitude is that if a detector needs a battery swap during my lunch break to stay light then so be it. If running time on one battery is paramount then we already have detectors that do that anyway so no issue really. I agree though and that all day operation on a charge is preferable and should be no problem with modern Lithium Ion batteries. Chuck, I personally would take a GM1000 over the TDI as a general nugget hunter. The problem as I have noted is that unless the mineralization is pretty severe then I think a good VLF is a better choice than the TDI SL. The GM1000 running in full auto is as close to a PI as you can get in a VLF, and even easier to operate. The main thing is it will bang hard on smaller bread and butter gold the TDI can't touch. The TDI does a decent job as a PI in high mineral ground but is poor in low mineral ground compared to a good VLF.

Others may want to leave the stock rod new in the box in case the detector gets sold later. Then use a GPX handle assembly instead, which will telescope to the desired length. Or use the included broomstick adapter!

Reactivity is like the exposure control on a camera. A long exposure/low reactivity setting takes a longer look at the target for more depth. However, adjacent targets that are too close by can sneak into the picture also. The shorter exposure/higher reactivity setting has less depth but less chance of nearby objects intruding. It does have the appearance of shrinking the coil footprint although the entire electromagnetic field is still in existence and so silent masking can occur. The ground itself acts as a target and so higher reactivity settings can help reduce the masking effect of bad ground and nearby hot rocks. However, in a trash free, low mineral environment low reactivity settings are better. For most intents and purposes you can treat the Reactivity control just like the SAT control for all metal. Both seek to enhance signals from desireable targets while suppressing or attenuating signals from undesired targets. The setting is adjustable/site specific and not a "set and forget" thing.

Great reporting Steve, thanks! I think in terms of what detector would I want to have while wandering around in the California mountains. Where I might find an old camp site that I want to detect in for old coins. Or a trash filled mining pit trying to find a gold nugget in the midst of the junk. Also the machine to ride shotgun with the GPZ 7000. A good general purpose VLF with all the discrimination options plus very hot on gold. Last year or more the Makro Gold Racer has fit the bill for me. My only minor complaint is that it is not quite as compact as I would like, and so the DEUS has been an alternative. Which is why I am waiting on the elliptical. Gold Racer at 56 kHz and 9" round DEUS coil at 59 kHz seem like a match up. The DEUS elliptical at 81 kHz should have an unfair advantage, or at least I hope so.

Metal detectors can sense both conductive and magnetic effects. Non-ferrous items have only conductive properties, whereas ferrous items have both conductive and magnetic properties. Many iron and steel items can unfortunately read non-ferrous. This thread goes into the details.

A few manufacturers have online warranty registration pages: Fisher Labs Garrett Metal Detectors Minelab Teknetics White's Electronics

Here is Mike's review

I guess that just depends on your skill and confidence. You might however need those headphones if the Z-Lynk battery goes dead.

I would be far more inclined to the TDI as a PI option than the Infinium even though the Infinium is waterproof. The coil options alone make it the more attractive alternative, plus you can get one with a warranty. Now that the Infinium has been discontinued used and no warranty is the only option. Unless a dealer has one hiding on a shelf still. A DFX / TDI pairing has possibilities as compared to the DFX / GB2. The Bug is going to do better with small gold but the TDI will handle bad ground better plus be a more useful beach machine. The TDI is a great beach detector, especially since it offers a "ground balance off" mode that offers extra power for beach detecting.

I think the Z-Lynk system is fabulous. Versatile, compatible, and affordable. Another home run by Garrett.

The DFX is about as good a beach machine as you will get in a VLF, where multifrequency is king. The only other route is to go to PI but I honestly think you overestimate the joys of digging bobby pins a foot deep. The more likely explanation is that It's getting harder to find jewelry on beaches for various reasons. You clearly like your DFX and I think you would miss it. It really is a decent beach detector, so what you really need is a better nugget detector. The Gold Bug 2 is a classic and if mastered hard to beat. It is a tough question really. There are lots of great "do-it-all" detectors on the market but when you try and mix nugget detecting and beach detecting things get complicated. Salt water responds like a weak gold target. So you can get machines that play nice in salt water, or machines hot on small gold nuggets, but you so far can't get both in one detector.

If you can't do the SDC the consider keeping the DFX and getting the Gold Bug 2 also. The DFX is a better beach detector than the CoRe.

All you can do is try it. I generally prefer tones as the theory is that completely discriminating/blocking items creates a depth loss in adjacent VDI numbers. These days it all being digital it really depends on how well the system is designed. DEUS V4 being so new I doubt very many people have real answers yet.

Since I still have a DFX myself I can vouch for it as a good detector. Being dual frequency it actually is a decent beach detector, better than the Beach Hunter ID. But also not waterproof. Then if you can get the SDC 2300 for just one other detector instead of the Infinium and Gold Bug 2. The SDC is as hot as a prospecting PI gets, and in bad ground will do better than a VLF so you get best of both worlds. The SDC is actually waterproof for saltwater use also. Anyway, I think your DFX and the SDC would be a killer pair. Oops almost forgot - welcome to the forum!

You can just start swinging if you want or give it a pump or two. It honestly does not matter much since the GM1000 is always tracking. I just turn mine on and start swinging.

Anybody have any luck? I was out of state at the time so could not make it.

Hi JW, If you go back to the original post all the nuggets were found with the GPZ with 14" coil except the ones separately pictured with a dime. Both the 1.2 gram and 1.3 gram nuggets found with the GPZ19 were about a foot deep. Best guess as I was not doing exact measurements. I don't think there would be any particular advantage for you given the size of the gold you normally find. Make no mistake. Nearly all the time I spend metal detecting for gold nuggets I am swinging the GPZ 7000. It does not matter what I am doing usually, scouting, patch pounding, whatever, it is with GPZ 7000. My comment about scouting was simply based on my recent reality. I saw a spot where some mining had taken place, and thought it might be trashy. So I grabbed the GM1000 and blasted over it. I discovered it was not as trashy as I thought, but main thing was I found that nugget also, which got me going then with the GPZ. And another time I was driving a road exploring, and saw quartz on a hillside. I jumped out of the truck and took a spin up the hill and a little gully, where I found an old scrape. I did not find any gold, and that does NOT mean the spot has been written off. I will no doubt go back with the GPZ. But if I had found even a spec with the GM1000 I would have already been back. Now it is just a place on my list to revisit sometime. I would never write a place off just because I could not find gold with a GM1000, but my interest sure goes up if I do! The bottom line is the GPZ is my main machine and so detectors like the GM1000 only get used for oddball jobs.

The Gold Monster 1000 is a VLF detector. If the ground is bad enough you need a PI the GM1000 does not change that. No new patent numbers attached! The GM1000 does ground track. How it's ground tracking compares directly to the GMT in bad ground I do not know. It was tested in Australia by JP so his posts in that regard are more relevant than mine. Aussiau reported from Australia. The Gold Bug 2 does not have ground tracking. The GM1000 also has auto-sensitivity. No other prospecting detector has this. It is possible that the ground tracking combined with the auto-sensitivity will allow a person to more easily operate on difficult ground than might be the case with other detectors. Notice I am not saying better, just easier. Look guys, it's just a decent little detector, that's all. Setting up a Gold Bug Pro and a GM1000 for a grudge match might be interesting but that is the level we are playing at, not even close to SDC, GPX, or GPZ territory. I am not trying to sell anyone on this detector and no matter how much anyone tries I am not going to say anything different than what has already been said. Entry level, entry level, entry level.....

I wondered why you flagged 30 targets when I would have dug the first one. FYI most detectors will identify something like a shovel blade as non-ferrous. My advice is forget the discrimination part, use auto sensitivity, and see if you can find metal with the detector. That is job one - just reliably find metal, any metal. Or determine whether it is hot rocks that are signaling. If it is not hot rocks or metal but just the machine making random noise, try another location well away from possible power sources. If you can't get a handle on what is beeping and why, contact the person who took your money first, since you purchased their service and support. If that does not work, give the Minelab route a go.

No worries Mark. Like I said, do you have some question in particular? Most people are looking for a "best" detector declaration. I on the other hand look at detectors like a socket set. I am the handle part that always is involved doing the real work. The detectors are just the sockets I swap out to get specific tasks accomplished. Some sockets get a lot of use, some very little. But I would not throw the one that gets very little use out because when I do need it, it is the only socket that will do the job. For somebody else with different tasks it might be their most used socket. So basically you just asked me for my opinion on a 5/8" versus 11/16" socket. They both do the same job in slightly different ways, and one excels where the other is weak. Which one works best depends on the job on hand and will change when the job changes.