Steve Herschbach

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.

Compares how Mark? I just talked about how the Gold Bug 2 and GM1000 compare in my last post and have gone over the subject in several other posts also. The Gold Bug 2 in general has the edge for the tiniest gold and in general is better suited for mild ground. The GM1000 has a slight edge (compared to the GB2) on larger gold in more varied ground conditions. What is it you are trying to find out specifically? Yes, you do have to dig the gold nuggets you find when prospecting with a metal detector. Occasionally you will come across a "sun baker" sitting on the surface but that has only happened to me a handful of times over the years. The larger the nugget the deeper you can detect them. Unfortunately most gold nuggets are small (smaller than coins) and so generally can't be found too deep. I have dug many tens of thousands of gold nuggets and most were only a few inches deep. 90% were less than a foot deep. Only coin size and larger nuggets are going no to be found more than a foot deep, and only multi-ounce nuggets can be found at depths exceeding two feet. A few of the larger nuggets pictured had me digging holes about a foot deep with the GPZ 7000. Machines like the GM1000 and Gold Bug 2 excel at chasing tinier bits and that being the case many nuggets found using machines like them are quite small and quite shallow.Eleven small nuggets found by Steve with GM1000 - Click for larger version. 14.9 grains total, largest 4.4 grains Smallest at bottom 0.6 grain and 0.3 grain

When you are like me and used to running machines hot and on the ragged edge it takes some getting used to going totally automatic. It goes back to me trying to identify what it is exactly that a detector does best and then use it for that. Personally if I were trying to beat tidbits weighing less than a grain out of a small area I would probably use my Gold Bug 2 with 6" coil. It's a great little scrubber for finding the tiniest bits. But for general scouting the GB2 does not penetrate the ground very well and the manual tuning must be kept on top of also. The nice thing about running the GM1000 in auto sensitivity is you can just blast around and know if the ground gets better or worse the machine will adjust accordingly. When I am scouting I am not crawling along listening for whispers, I am as much just eyeballing the ground and seeing what I can see. This is where the boosted audio on top of silent operation works well. Just go for a spin and enjoy the quiet and views, but get over a target and "bang"! For my ground a 14" elliptical would be sweet as again it is more about just quickly covering area more than anything. Great little recon unit for when I don't feel like getting all harnessed up with the GPZ.

A review of the new coil is disappointing Link deleted since Findmall update broke old links