Steve Herschbach

Back in November there was interest stirred up by reports of a dedicated gold nugget detector being made for XP for sale in Africa - the Depar DPR 600. Details were confirmed later by GaryUK who is tied in with XP and has tested the unit (and stars in the video below). The main news he related was that XP intends to market a version of this dedicated nugget detector outside Africa in 2017. September 2018 - New XP ORX announced. The machine will be a very limited version of the upcoming DEUS V4 update. In fact I think the testing of this unit in Africa was key to the development of the V4 update. The new machine will come stock with the V4 high frequency coil and looks a lot like a DEUS. However, the software will be locked into several versions of the Goldfield program and will not have any functions needed for anything except nugget detecting. Final features may vary in the final US/UK version but here is what Gary says about the DPR 600: The DPR has no pinpoint mode, no expert menu, no multi-tone, no notch, no coin mode, no non-motion menu, no user updates (USB download will only support bug corrections). The current DPR version has no wireless headphone support, no headphone controller, does not support the DEUS coil with lower frequencies (only works with the two HF coils) and only supports 3 high frequencies, not 4. The DPR has a 2 year warranty the Deus has a 5 year warranty. These details were gleaned from Garys post on his forum but it may not be visible to people who are not forum members as I am currently. Andy Sabisch has also confirmed the existence of this new model planned for 2017 at Findmall. The bottom line is this machine will resemble a DEUS and will have a very limited feature set focused on nugget detecting, but at a lower price. No idea on price or availability for as we all know the V4 update is running late. There is nothing here per se for current DEUS owners because the V4 update will give a DEUS owners all the features of the new machine plus tons more. But for somebody looking for a very light weight nugget detector this new machine may very well offer an upgrade over existing single frequency models. I have always thought the DEUS was overpriced for people who just want to nugget detect, although it does have the capability. A dedicated nugget detector at a price more in line with what you expect of other VLF nugget detectors could be a very good move for XP in my opinion.

That is too many people lost close together - I am sorry to hear it. That is the first gold I have seen posted found with the Racer 2. Have you seen any way in which it is preferable to the Gold Racer? I have a theory it might handle some ground more smoothly than the Gold Racer due to a lower operating frequency while of course also giving up a bit of hots on tiny gold. Notching might be handy for certain hot rocks or trash.

Still looking for my first one. Great finds and better yet one to share!

If I Google "alarm metal non-ferrous gold silver gpx 5000" I unfortunately get many returns for fake GPX 5000 detectors. No GPX 5000 can tell gold from silver and they do not have an "Alarm Metal" function. Google search result Unfortunately it is almost 100% certain that you have counterfeit machines.

530 pages of rock and mineral collection sites all over the United States.... Bob Beste's "Location Guide for Rockhounds in the United States, 3rd. ed. 2005": Part I--Alabama through Idaho (PDF, 155 p.) Part II--Illinois through North Dakota (PDF, 186 p.) Part III--Ohio through Wyoming (PDF, 193 p.)

Some video posted in the last 30 days....

Welcome to the forum. The only way I know to be sure you are getting the latest version of the MX Sport is to buy one direct from the factory. People appear to be happy with the latest version. Buying a used MX Sport could easily get you one with problems that would require a return to the factory. Even buying one from a dealer could present a problem since you have no idea how long the dealer has had the unit on the shelf.

Fun to hear the guy yell through his regulator! Makes me want to get back into scuba. Great find, thanks for sharing the video!

Posting on the other forum is fine, when I move it here a link is left for 30 days, giving you double coverage. But yeah, if people don't post here there will be no posts here!

The Minelab Pro-Sonic is already in dealer hands in Australia and should be available from U.S. dealers any time now.

Some bubbles may be released from the speaker area.

Some random photos..... Wildlife sightings were rare on this trip, but I did look up one day and see an emu watching me. Second only to the ostrich is size, these birds can reach six feet in height and do up to 30 mph in a sprint. This tree looked like an oversize banzai to me. I always got excited running into large amounts of quartz but it always seemed to be barren. Spring was in full bloom in the desert. This expanse of quartz did not produce any gold, but see that little arch in the distance? Here is the arch closer up. It is actually small, just enough room to crawl through. Yellow flowers everywhere. JP finds a small lizard. Escarpment in the distance. This quartz reef went as far as I could see. Flowering bush. Scattered quartz and iron rocks always got me going. Good stuff. More flowers. Cool banded rock. Some places look like planned gardens.

Years ago I was detecting in Hawaii and found a plain 14K band. My wedding ring of the time was very worn, so I threw it in the smelt pile and decided to wear the one I found instead. A couple years later I found an identical plain band (they are common) so took to wearing it also for a few years. I told my wife I loved her twice as much as when we married and so needed two rings, scoring points. Strangers who commented I told them I had one for each wife! I found a third plain band and even was up to wearing all three for a bit, then decided I had gone too far and went back to wearing just the one.

Congratulations to everyone at Nokta and Makro! We are all looking forward to exciting things from both companies in 2017.

"There’s gold, and it’s haunting and haunting; It’s luring me on as of old; Yet it isn’t the gold that I’m wanting So much as just finding the gold." From The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service

The early days of our trip we did not see many flies but now they were coming on strong, as can be seen in the photo above with the Spiny Anteater. The flies were not biting flies and so not a worry in that regard, but they are looking for moisture of any sort and are attracted to a persons face. Absolutely maddening and bad enough at times to force the use of head nets in order to maintain concentration while metal detecting. Another insect would make for a scary surprise if I was not paying attention as I wandered around between the small trees and bushes. The Golden Orb Weaving Spider likes to make very large webs spanning the space between a couple bushes. I am usually watching my coil and I wandered into these a few times before I learned better. They are not aggressive nor particularly dangerous but they can put a fright into a person when wrapped around your face! Sunday, September 11 we moved camp back to the Meekatharra area, and on arrival I found one tiny nugget. It may have been tiny but that was a needed change of pace. The next day was even better when I scored three nuggets that each weighed 2.9 grams - how weird is that, for about 9 grams of gold. The next day I beat that with two nuggets, one 6.9 grams and another at 3 grams for about 10 grams that day, making my total for the trip so far just over an ounce of gold. These last two were found around some large ironstone dikes with nearly no quartz visible. We made time for a run into town to replenish supplies and wash clothing. Once again I was reminded that the exchange rate was not bad but the price on most items was just much higher than one would expect in the States. The next few days saw some gold bits but nothing exciting. My journal, picking up where I left off last: Sun Sep 11 - Move to Meekatharra, gold! One tiny nugget. Mon Sep 12 - About 9 grams, three 2.9 gram nuggets. Tue Set 13 - 10 grams, 6.9 gram nugget plus 3 grammer. Go shopping in Meekatharra. Total now over 1 ounce. Wed Sep 14 - 0.01 nugget (my notation for too small to weigh on my scale) Thu Sep 15 - 0.01 nugget Fri Sep 16 - Hardpan scraped area (more on that later) 4 grams. Sat Sep 17 - No gold Sun Sep 18 - 1/2 ounce slug! Storm. Chris had wandered around and found an area with chain marks and dig holes on the 17th. We went there the morning of the 18th to hunt it to see if they missed anything (who doesn't?). Both JP and I scored nice slugs that day but Chris, who found the place, unfortunately only got one small nugget. The day was cut short by a short lived but very intense storm that tossed things around in camp.

That claim of detecting paper money permanently turned me off of D-Tex detectors. No wonder they were one of the early casualties of the detecting world.

Jim posts on this forum so he may comment. He has made some amazing finds but like all successful prospectors he works for it.

No, I would anticipate that all coils made for the Impact will run at all three frequencies. I could be wrong however. Sneak peek of upper half of Nokta Impact culled from Christmas greeting at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/2758-merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year/

The 950 concentric is a coil used on many White's detectors and is a good beach coil, but for in water use it floats like a cork.

New Treasure Talk blog by Chris Ralph... Detecting for Natural Metallic Silver

The same way the GPZ, CTX 3030 and Garrett ATX do it. The cable runs up inside the rod and attaches to the control box. The CTX and GPZ do use lock tabs that can work in any position, and the Impact may also.

I was looking at some old metal detector catalogs and got a chuckle out of these charts from the 1973 Garrett catalog. People get up in arms about advertising claims these days but get a look at these. To their credit they say "large metal objects" and do not define what that is (dump truck?) but we are talking 1973 BFO detectors here. I need to ditch my new detectors and get one of those old machines! Unfortunately depths were measured in inches then, not feet, on normal targets. The irony is the page is addressing "misleading advertising". Garrett approximate coil depths on large metal objects

Good job. There were many times in the past when I wish that I had a Pack Vac around. I used to do a lot of bedrock sniping. Not so much any more. Thanks for posting!