Steve Herschbach

Hello Dean, Welcome to the forum! I am of course a fan of the ATX. I agree with Sandy - I think the falsing is inherent in the coil due to the short delay time being invoked to increased sensitivity to small gold. The problem can be addressed through design - I know a lot of effort is expended by Minelab to get coils running quiet. Part of the issue is running the machine maxed out. I run at the highest sensitivity setting on the machine. Lowering it reduces falsing but reduces sensitivity. So you can choose to alleviate the issue somewhat by running cooler. Coil scuff covers also help by acting as a buffer to knocks and sharp hits. It is worse on loose rocks and rubble and not bad at all if a bit of grass or weeds acts as a buffer. I find the ATX runs perfectly in grasslands. Myself I have basically just learned to handle the machine in such a way to reduce the issue, which means just going really slow and taking it easy in the rocks. Not a bad habit to conform to anyway. When I finish this modification I swear I am never heading down that road again. It is its own sort of fun but really I just want to go detecting. There probably are people who would do mods like this for a fee. I am sure Paul will chime in with ideas.

Great snake photo Fred. Glad your new detector is working good. If you are willing to share a new thread with any observations or tips on your hot rock experiences would be appreciated I am sure.

There currently is no import/export function and it is absolutely the number one thing limiting the usefulness of XChange and the GPS system as a whole. That said I think I may be able to hack the system via a script. Hacks already exist for the CTX 3030 that can be applied to the GPZ 7000 but they are not something just anybody can do. Anyone interested can find details at Access and Export XChange Data and Direct GPS Track Data Extraction. I have used this information myself to import and export data from the GPZ to Google Earth and from my Garmin system. An issue related to this is using two computers. Let's say I use a home computer for most work with XChange and use it as the main data repository. Now I take a laptop onto the field, and because the GPZ fills up to the max with data I dump it all to XChange on the laptop and erase the GPZ. Now I have some data on the laptop and some on the home PC. How do I get it all onto the main PC? An export/import function makes that easy. And of course makes it easy to use with other programs or Google Earth. I currently use a USB stick to store a master copy of the XChange file and move it from my laptop to my PC and back as needed, which is cumbersome. I honestly do not see people really getting fully on board with this until an export/import function is implemented. Since this could serve both the CTX and GPZ user base a simple hack via a script might be worth a few bucks to the person that develops it.

My own inquiry to Minelab got this response: "MINELAB, OR ANYONE ELSE, CANNOT SEE OR ACCESS ANYONE’S DATA, IT IS NOT STORED IN THE CLOUD, IT IS ONLY STORED ON YOUR DETECTOR AND PC (WHEN UPLOADED)."

Well, heck, posting this just cost me $264! Got the rod assembly on the way - stand by for Gold Bug 2 conversion.

You can download Arizona Lode Gold Mines and Mining", Bulletin 137 below in its entirety as a pdf file. http://www.azgs.az.gov/Mineral%20Scans/gold_bull137_ocr.pdf Part IV begins on page 239: PART IV SOME HINTS ON PROSPECTING FOR GOLD By G. M. BUTLER, Director) Arizona Bureau of Mines Unfavorable Areas The saying that "gold is where you find it" is certainly true. There are, nevertheless, certain conditions that are so unfavorable to the occurrence of gold in any considerable quantity that prospectors would do well to avoid areas in which these conditions exist. Among such unfavorable areas are the following: 1. Areas where large masses of granite and related, coarse grained, crystalline igneous (once molten) rocks outcrop, particularly if these outcrops are not cut by dikes or other intrusions of finer grained, usually light colored igneous rocks such as porphyry, rhyolite, or andesite. 2. Areas where large masses of gneisses and the other crystalline schists outcrop unless they are cut by or in the vicinity of dikes or other intrusions of igneous rocks. 3. Areas where large masses of sedimentary rocks such as limestone, sandstone, and shale outcrop unless they are cut by dikes or other intrusions of the relatively fine grained, light colored igneous rocks previously mentioned, and, even where so cut, sedimentary areas rarely contain workable quantities of gold unless the sediments have been metamorphosed (changed in character by pressure and heat) to marble, quartzite, or slate. 4. Areas where large masses of dark colored, relatively heavy igneous rocks, such as peridotite, diabase, and basalt or malpais outcrop. 5. Areas in which nothing but the unconsolidated or loosely consolidated material that fills the valleys between the mountain ranges in southern and western Arizona outcrops. A study of the geological map of Arizona described in. the back of this bulletin will enable anyone to learn where the great sedimentary and valley-fill areas are situated in Arizona and to avoid them. The great granitic and schistose masses are also shown on that map, but its scale is so small that intrusions of igneous rocks hundreds of feet wide cannot be shown thereon. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the granitic and schistose areas to determine whether the conditions there are unfavorable. It is not true that valuable gold lodes never occur in areas described as generally unfavorable, such as in a great mass of granite without intrusions of other igneous rocks, for instance, but a prospector will usually save time and money by avoiding such areas. Favorable Areas 1. Probably the most favorable area in which to prospect for gold is one where the country rock is made up of surface flows, sills, dikes, and other intrusions of relatively fine grained, light colored, Tertiary igneous rocks such as rhyolite, trachyte, latite, phonolite, and andesite. 2. As has already been suggested, prospecting in areas where there are outcrops of granitic or schistose rocks that are cut by dikes or other intrusions of relatively fine grained, light colored igneous rocks may prove profitable. 3. Areas in which the country rock is some type of porphyry, especially if several varieties formed at different time are found there, may contain deposits of gold that can be worked profitably. 4. Gold lodes that may be worked profitably are sometimes formed around the borders of great masses of granitic igneous rocks, both in the granitic and in the surrounding rocks, but more commonly the latter. 5. Areas in which some gold has already been found are naturally more favorable than places that have never produced any gold. This statement applies particularly to areas where considerable prospecting has been done-any area in continental United States excepting much of Alaska. Structures that May Contain Gold The term "lode" as used in the Federal statutes is applied to all deposits of "mineral in place" formed beneath the surface of the earth. When gold is found in sand or gravel, either loose or cemented, the occurrence constitutes a gold placer deposit. The gold found in lodes has arisen from great depths in solution and has been precipitated or deposited from such solutions by relief of pressure, cooling of the solutions, and other causes. There must, then, be some form of opening or zone of weakness through the rocks along which the solutions may rise. Although the mineral-bearing solutions sometimes find their way toward the surface through masses of porous material that have roughly the form of vertical cylinders, lodes are usually long and relatively narrow. From what has been said, it should be evident that the existence of openings or lines of weakness in the rocks is the condition that fixes the position of a lode. Most frequently, the solutions rise through a crack or fissure that extends a long way downward or through a series of interlacing cracks or fissures. If the solutions precipitate or deposit ore minerals and gangue (the worthless minerals deposited along with ore minerals) in a single, clean-cut fissure, filling it full of ore minerals arid gangue, the result is a simple fissure vein. If there has been movement of one wall relative to the other, parallel to the fissure, and ore minerals and gangue have been deposited in the fissure, the result is a fault fissure vein. Both simple and fault fissure veins are commonly called by miners "true fissure veins." Where movement or faulting has occurred at considerable depth and the pressure is great, the walls of the fissure may be polished or "slickened" and clay-like, finely crushed rock called "gouge" may be formed. Subsequent deposition of mineral in the fissure would force the walls apart and the gouge may then be found along both walls. After the vein has formed, the movement or faulting may be resumed and "slickensides" and gouge may then be formed in the vein material itself, or, if the pressure is then relatively light, the vein material may be broken into fragments, thus forming one type of so-called "brecciated vein." If the mineral-bearing solutions rise through and deposit ore minerals and gangue in the zone of interlacing, closely spaced cracks, the result is a shear zone and that is a very common type of lode. The contact between two different rocks, especially an igneous rock and something else, as porphyry and schist, or two different rocks, is usually a line of weakness. If a mass of igneous rock is involved, shrinkage occurs on cooling and that shrinkage tends to cause the igneous mass to pull away from the rocks with which it is in contact. If solutions pass up through and deposit ore minerals and gangue along such a line of weakness, the result is called a contact fissure vein. There are a number of other varieties of lodes, but they are rarer than the types mentioned and it would unduly lengthen this chapter to describe them. It should be emphasized that most of the structures mentioned contain so little valuable material that they cannot be mined profitably. Nevertheless, they are the things that must be sought and any such structure 10und should be carefully investigated. Furthermore, this investigation should not be confined to the vein matter itself, but should include the walls since they are sometimes impregnated with material that has been precipitated from solutions that have penetrated them. They should be assayed, especially if they appear to be softened and altered. Moreover, the wall rock itself is sometimes completely replaced with vein material to considerable distances from the vein itself. Surface Characteristics of Gold Lodes The actual outcrop of a lode usually consists of a zone or band of material that differs in character from the material on both sides of it, but the discovery of such a zone or band does not prove that a lode has been found. It might consist, for instance, of a bed of limestone between beds of shale, all turned up at a steep angle and eroded. The outcrop of a lode has, fortunately, other characteristics that make it possible to recognize it as follows: 1. It does not consist entirely of any single species of rock. It may be composed almost entirely of some species of rock, but there will be veinlets running through it in that case. 2. Because the solutions that form the lode usually deposit sulphide of iron along with the gold, and sulphide of iron is changed to yellowish brown to dark brown oxide of iron when exposed to the atmosphere, the outcrops of lodes are usually heavily "iron stained." Stains produced by the oxidation of minerals that contain other metals than iron may also be present, such as green or blue (copper), black (manganese), light yellow (molybdenum or lead), lilac (cobalt), etc. 3. Because some of the iron and all of the sulphur, as well as other soluble ore and gangue minerals, may be carried away in solution when the lode is exposed to atmospheric weathering, the outcrop is apt to be decidedly porous. The grade of dense outcrops is usually very low. 4. The gangue mineral most commonly associated with gold is quartz and a gold lode that does not contain some quartz is rare indeed. Low grade gold veins that consist almost entirely of quartz are not uncommon. Other gangue minerals sometimes associated with gold (usually one or two of them are present except in the almost pure quartz or quartz-pyrite veins) are carbonates (particularly calcite), adularia feldspar, sericite (very finely granular white mica), fluorite, etc. It should not be assumed that a valuable discovery has certainly been made when a lode that consists of heavily ironstained, porous rotten quartz, where it outcrops, has been found. Such material often contains little or no gold. By crushing and panning it, the presence of gold can sometimes be ascertained, but the only safe method to use to learn whether it is valuable is to have it assayed by a reputable assayer. It should be remembered, however, that few lodes contain even approximately the same proportion of gold for any distance along their outcrops. Gold, as well as other ore minerals, is concentrated at certain points in the lode in what are called "shoots," "ore shoots," "ore channels," etc., of relatively limited extent. Moreover, values may be concentrated along one wall or at a certain distance from a wall. If, then, a lode has been discovered, samples at numerous points along its outcrop and from various positions in it should be crushed and panned or assayed before deciding whether the ore is or is not valuable. Identifying Gold Sometimes specks, grains, or thin plates of gold are visible in the outcrop of a lode and, in that case, they may be recovered by crushing and panning. It is, therefore, important that a prospector should be able to identify such material and, especially, to distinguish it from other substances with which it may be confused. Ores of nearly all substances excepting the very rare metals like gold, silver, and platinum, usually occur in masses of such size that they may easily be seen, and anyone familiar with these minerals will recognize them by their physical characteristics. It is usually unnecessary for a mineralogist to assay a specimen in order to ascertain whether it contains considerable quantities of copper, zinc, lead, manganese, etc., for instance. Such is not the case with gold, however. In the great majority of instances, it occurs in tiny grains that are distributed through the gangue or included within other minerals and are quite invisible. They may be sometimes recovered by panning, but frequently they are so small or are so firmly locked up in other minerals that only fire assaying will reveal their presence. Rarely, gold is combined with tellurium to form minerals that are called tellurides and they can be recognized, if present in visible grains, by a mineralogist who is familiar with their characteristics, but there is no known deposit of telluride gold ore in Arizona, and it is not likely that one will be found. It is fortunate that telluride ores do not occur commonly here since special methods of assaying and treating them must be used. In spite of the fact that visible gold is not common in lodes, it is important, as stated, that prospectors should be able to recognize it when it is found. They should be able to do so by the fact that it is the only soft, yellow, metallic lustered substance found in nature that may be easily flattened without breaking and easily cut with a knife blade or indented with a needle or any other small, sharp-pointed instrument. It may be confused with pyrite, chalcopyrite, and several other sulphide minerals, but pyrite is so hard that it cannot be scratched and all sulphide minerals that resemble it crush into a black powder instead of cutting cleanly. Gold is sometimes confused with plates of yellow mica, but they are much softer and yield a white powder when scratched with the point of a needle. Sometimes there is so much silver present as an impurity in the gold that the color becomes almost silver-white, but it is rarely that there is not some yellow tint to the alloy. Chemical tests are necessary to distinguish gold that contains 20 per cent or more silver from metallic silver. Seeking Gold Lodes Many gold lodes, but by no means all of them, when exposed to erosion, disintegrate and the gold in them washes down into the beds of streams that drain the area. A common method of prospecting for gold lodes is to pan or use a small dry washer on the material from washes and stream beds and to endeavor to trace the placer gold back to its source. If placer gold is irregular in shape and more or less jagged or if quartz is still embedded in the grains or nuggets, it has not moved far from its source. If, however, it is smoothly rounded or flattened and contains no quartz, its source may be many miles away. If particles of gold have been found in a stream bed or wash and have been traced up stream to a point where they suddenly become much less numerous or disappear, the gold has probably come from a lode directly uphill from the point where it was last found in the stream bed or wash. By trenching or panning and dry washing the earth on both sides of the wash and up hill therefrom, it may be possible to determine in which direction to seek the source of the gold. If the direction from which it came can be thus ascertained, it then becomes necessary to remember what has been said about the appearance of the outcrop of a lode and to hunt for one. It should be said, however, that even if the outcrop of a lode that has been the source of placer gold is found, it may be too small or two low grade to be mined profitably, although the placer deposit formed of the gold released from it is large and rich. It is always possible that this placer gold may have come from a wider or a richer part of the lode, that has been removed by erosion. It is also true that some valuable gold lodes do not yield much, or any, placer gold, and this statement may apply to all the lodes in an entire district, such as the Oatman district in Arizona. The absence of placer gold should not, then, deter a prospector if other conditions appear not unfavorable and, especially, if gold has been found in the district. When no placer gold is found in a district, it is necessary to search for a lode or indications of the existence of a lode without the guidance of placer gold particles that have been shed from it. One should, then, search through the gulches, washes, and stream beds for pieces of "float" (fragments of ore minerals and gangue, such as "rusty quartz," broken from a lode and washed down therefrom). Their angularity and smoothness will give some indication of the distance they have travelled, but they are usually too scarce to be followed back to their source in the same way that 'placer gold can be traced. Having decided to try to find a lode on a given hill or a mountain, it is usually best to walk along the slope, endeavoring to keep on the same level, and search carefully for float or other indications of the existence of a lode. If nothing is found at one level, climb a few hundred feet and again circle the hill or mountain at that level. Continue alternately to climb and circle until the top has been reached. While climbing or circling, if the ground is covered with broken rock or soil, look for the following things that may be caused by the existence of a lode at the point where they are seen: 1. A trench or ditch that does not run directly down the slope of the hill or mountain. 2. A sudden change of slope. 3. A sharp notch that crosses a ridge that has a rather uniform altitude on both sides of the notch. 4. Several springs in a line. 5. A sudden change in the kind or quantity of vegetation (may indicate a contact or, if the change in vegetation is found over a narrow strip of ground, a lode may be beneath). 6. A change in the nature of the rock fragments (indicates a contact). It is true that there are many possible causes for the existence of all the things just mentioned, and that the presence of a lode is only one of them, and not a very likely one. Nevertheless some trenching should be done when such features occur, especially if float has been found below, and not above. When digging in search for a lode on a hill side that is covered with several feet of loose rock and soil, it should be remembered that float works down hill and a lode should be sought several feet above the point where the highest float is found. Sampling Lodes When a lode has been found and it is decided to have one or several assays made, most inexperienced prospectors make the serious mistake of collecting samples that are altogether too small. The majority of the samples sent to the Arizona Bureau of Mines to be assayed are each a single fragment weighing a pound or less or two or three smaller fragments. Such "specimen" assays are a complete waste of time and money. They furnish almost no indication as to whether a lode has been found that can or cannot be mined profitably. Not only is valuable ore concentrated in shoots (Page 249), but the grade often varies greatly at distances of only a few inches in a shoot. A single specimen might easily assay $50 a ton and yet represent only 2 inches of ore. On the other hand, barren specimens can often be found in lodes that will run $50 a ton, for instance, as a whole. The only safe way to do is to cut very large samples clear across a lode so that each truly represents the ore that might be mined at that point, and crush and quarter them down or send the whole sample to an assayer. He will charge no more for assaying a 10-, 20-, or 30-pound sample than for a one-pound sample.

I like this video because it adds a bit to the question asked at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/806-zed-scores-big-on-civil-war-relics/?p=7845 about the Extra Deep mode. This mode is really not named properly. The video makes clear that General is more powerful than Extra Deep and so under most normal circumstances Extra Deep will not go deeper than General. So what's up with that? General as it notes in the video pushes the detector hard, and so it gets very good performance on small gold and the best depth on larger gold. However, it is also going to light up ground noise and hot rocks in the worst locations. And like everything metal detecting, depth is always relative to ground conditions (no air tests please). This means that in severe ground Extra Deep will run quieter and allow large nuggets to be heard where with General they will be lost in the ground noise. Deeper in a relative sense, not deeper in an absolute sense. Does that make sense? They may have better called the modes Small, Medium, and Large. From a occurrence distribution standpoint small gold is always more common than huge nuggets so going for smaller gold does tend to be a High Yield strategy, as most larger gold will still be found anyway. Many areas will also be good for General when seeking the largest deep nuggets. But the so-called Extra Deep mode looks more useful on what it does not detect than in what it does detect. This will be a mode for attempting to pass up on annoying smaller targets or dealing with severe ground while still finding larger items. Severe ground mode is a possible option for very bad ground but it locks you into High Yield and so tends to be a last ditch method sacrificing deep targets. It appears to me a person may want to try Extra Deep and Difficult as an alternative to Severe when chasing very large gold in very bad ground.

I am very simplistic in my methodology. I map existing gold deposits and look for relationships with certain rock types or structures, like faults. Better yet, this work has almost always been done for me so all I need to do is seek out the appropriate reference material. You will often see certain rock types come up again and again when researching gold. Greenstone, schist, and slate. Gold commonly occurs in veins associated with these rock types. There also is a close relationship of gold with granitic intrusives. In Alaska gold and quartz monzonite (a granitic rock type) intrusives are closely related. In California Mother Lode country you have strong associations with both rock types and certain faults. Faults provide a pathway for mineralized solutions. From http://www.mindat.org/loc-98002.html "The northwest-trending Mother Lode Belt traverses western Tuolumne County and is associated with the Melones Fault Zone. The rocks of this belt are typically metavolcanic, metasedimentary, and ultramafic, some of which have been hydrothermally altered to assemblages as described below. Mother Lode Belt mineralization is characterized by steeply dipping gold-bearing quartz veins and bodies of mineralized country rock adjacent to veins. Mother Lode veins are characteristically enclosed in Mariposa Formation slate with associated greenstone." So on a larger scale you simply want to put yourself on ground that has certain rock types according to your research. Here is a map showing the relationship of gold with greenstones and faults in part of Australia. Quartz tends to be a sign that mineralized solutions were traveling in the rock system, that may or may not have had gold in solution. Most quartz is barren. Gold also needs a reason to precipitate or drop out of solution, and iron acts as a precipitate or reason for it to stop and deposit. Quartz and iron stones together are a very good indicator. It is not just rock types but faults and regional geology. Gold very often clumps on a map into certain areas, and these often are strung out in a certain direction, known as a trend line or simply trend. The trend follows certain rock types and faults known to be associated with gold and most are very well known, like the California Mother Lode. Here is a map of a portion of the Battle Mountain trend in Nevada. If you want to get real serious, here is one of the best references available Models and Exploration Methods for Major Gold Deposit Types This stuff can seem like Greek but if you go slowly and use Google a lot to learn words you do not know eventually this stuff makes a lot of sense. It literally is your map to treasure. However, I do have to close with this, that relates very much to what Lunk has said..... But those who have been engaged in practical mining for long, finding by experience that no two mineral fields are exactly alike in all their characteristics, have come to the conclusion that it is unwise to form theories as to why metals should or should not be found in certain enclosing rocks or matrices. Some of the best reef gold got in Victoria has been obtained in dead white, milky-looking quartz almost destitute of base metal. In South Australia reef gold is almost invariably associated with iron, either an oxide, as " gossan ; " or ferruginous calcite, " limonite; " or granular silica, conglomerated by iron, the " ironstone " which forms the capping or outcrop of many of our reefs, and which is often rich in gold. But to show that it is unsafe to decide off-hand in what class of matrix metals will or will not be found, I may say that in my own experience I have seen payable gold in the following materials :— Quartz, dense and milky, also in quartz of nearly every colour and appearance, saccharoidal, crystalline, nay, even in clear glass-like six-sided prismatic crystals, and associated with silver, copper, lead, arsenic, iron as sulphide, oxide, carbonate, and tungstate, antimony, bismuth, nickel, zinc, lead, and other metals in one form or another ; in slate, quartzite, mica schist, granite, diorite, porphyry, felsite, calcite, dolomite, common carbonate of iron, siliceous sinter from a hot spring, as at Mount Morgan ; as alluvial gold in drifts formed of almost all these materials ; and once, perhaps the most curious matrix of all, a small piece of apparently alluvial gold, naturally imbedded in a shaly piece of coal. This specimen, I think, is in the Sydney Museum. One thing, however, the prospector may make sure of : he will always find gold more or less intimately associated with silica (quartz) in one or other of its many forms, just as he will always find cassiterite (oxide of tin) in the neighbourhood of granite containing muscovite (white mica), which so many people will persist in terming talc. It is stated to be a fact that tin has never been found more than about two miles from such granite. From what has been said of its widely divergent occurrence, it will be admitted that the Cornish miners' saying with regard to metals generally applies with great force to gold : " Where it is, there it is" : and " Cousin Jack" adds, with pathetic emphasis, " and where it is generally, there I ain't." From GETTING GOLD: A PRACTICAL TREATISE FOR PROSPECTORS, MINERS, AND STUDENTS. BY J. C. F. JOHNSON, F.G.S., 1897

I am sorry I did not answer this sooner. I was away and did not have access to my GPZ, and then overlooked it when I got back. No, this is not normal. I saw nothing about it in the manual but wanted to verify on my GPZ. I set for Extra Deep and was able to access and choose any ground type. However, the manual notes and I also verified that when setting the Severe ground type, you are locked out of General and Extra Deep gold modes. The Gold Mode function grays out and is locked in High Yield. Do a master reset of your GPZ and if you continue to be locked out of the ground types while in Extra Deep I would contact your dealer or Minelab.

These images are copied over from the thread at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/818-relic-hunt-with-gpx-5000/ It is such a brilliant idea I just wanted to be sure it did not go unnoticed by people and so this thread highlights the idea. It would work well for other detectors - I have considered doing it with my Gold Bug 2. The only problem is the cost of the DEUS rod assembly, a ridiculous $264 at http://www.bigboyshobbies.net/full-xp-deus-rod-assembly

The price reduction had nothing to do with Kellyco acting as a distributor. AZO gets their detectors from Kellyco. Additionally, Nokta always set the MSRP, not Kellyco. When Nokta and Makro combined, the new Racer was in the works and was slated for a much lower price. The company decided it was necessary to lower the price of the FORS units to be more in line with the Racer. The price change was announced here almost a month ago http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/660-important-announcement-nokta-fors-price-change/ The price reduction also lead to rumors the FORS were being discontinued, which is not true http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,76499,76588#msg-76588

Sorry it was not gold! The GPZ coil has a complex field that produces complex sounds at times. I fixed the video link. No need to embed, just paste the address of regular (not mobile) YouTube page into post. Same address you get if you email it to somebody.

Hi Bob, I will be doing some Treasure Talk blogs on the GPS system. But realize it is not new. It is basically the same thing as used on the CTX 3030 for a couple years, and these questions have long since been put to rest. The GPS is off by default. If you are worried about it, just leave it off. If you elect to turn it on, the GPS is transmitting nothing anywhere. It is receiving information from satellites to determine your position and the time. You can use the tracking but not have the unit save anything. It just all goes blank when you turn the detector off. Or you can have it save tracks and other location and status information on the detector when it is turned off. It still goes nowhere. unless you decide to save it to a computer. It still goes nowhere, but once on a computer connected to the Internet nothing is 100% secure. The level of concern on these issues frankly surprised me and so I will be treating it a bit differently in my blogs on the subject. I do not think any amount of reassurance will matter to those inclined to believe their data is at risk. So my goal is not to in any way try and convince anyone they want to ever turn the GPS system on. Just leave it off and forget about it. However, for those that do want to use it, I am going to do my best to share some information on how to do so. My GPS is in full use every minute my GPZ is in operation. The map and track screen is my hunt screen. This was also discussed previously and in more detail on this forum at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/752-gpz-and-gps-software/

I think JP, Chris, and I were interested early on in being active on as many forums as possible simply answering questions as best we could. Sadly it just did not work out like that. It won't really matter though as ultimately the machine will prove itself in the goldfields. I know a year from now people will be able to look at our Treasure Talk blogs on the GPZ and know what the score is.

If it was $6000 people would be complaining it devalued their used GPX 5000. No worries about that now!

I have found lots really great things but few I can think of that I would characterize as strange. This comes close though. When I visited the UK back in 2010 for a couple weeks of hunting for ancient coins and artifacts I found a lot of stuff that at first glance meant nothing. I was told to bring everything back to camp, no matter what, because some really plain looking items could have great value or rarity. Some stuff I never knew what it was until I washed the mud off that night. I found this rolled up piece of lead and thought nothing of it, just put it in the pouch with my daily pile of stuff. That night Chris Meitiner, the guy running the show and an expert on local finds, told me I had found a possible curse tablet. The Greeks and Romans would inscribe a curse on a sheet or strip of lead, roll it up, and nail it to a door, bury it, toss it in a field, etc. The curse was usually to bring some form of harm on an enemy. Rolled sheets of lead were most common but strips like mine were also used. It could be up to a couple thousand years old, no way to know for sure. Might even just be a rolled up strip of lead! I would have to unroll it to find out for sure, but am not going to do that. One thing for sure, whoever rolled that lead up and tossed it in the field would never have imagined it would end up traveling halfway around the world to end up on a unknown land on the other side of the ocean. Metal Detecting Ancient Coins at Colchester, UK - 10/1/2010 Example of a Curse Tablet Another Example of a Curse Tablet

Price, weight, lack of accessory coils - actually lack of any accessories at all (batteries, scuff covers), no discrimination, possible issues with salt ground, roots.... Etc. The GPZ 7000 has flaws, most of them covered at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/725-reasons-not-to-get-a-minelab-gpz-7000/ but if anyone comes up with new ones please bring them up. That thread is the best place.

Minelab has always faced criticism with every new model, most of it oddly enough coming from Australia. You would think there would be some pride in this upstart company from Australia putting the erstwhile U.S. leaders to shame but just the opposite. I also think that my initial feeling that the GPZ had its biggest advantage over the GPX in bad ground may have been incorrect. That was before I started using the Normal ground setting much which is of course intended for low mineral ground. The results have been stunning to say the least.

From http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t21298p30-the-gpzed-so-far#206926 "Now I know the GPZs performance,over that of the GPX 5000,aint some phenomenal increase,as was with the introduction of the SD 2000 compared to the days of VLF,but after 2 whole days of testing/prospecting and picking up targets of all sorts,over flogged ground,If anyone here were to tell me that the GPX 5000 is an overall better detector (performance wise than the GPZ 7000,less been given a poor working or faulty GPZ to compare it with) I can only say to them, "you've either got no mineralization in the ground,where your operating your 5000 over "whilst In Normal/General" or you'v got no grey matter functioning properly between your ears." - Kon Details behind that opinion at http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t21298-the-gpzed-so-far#206677 Coming on the heels of this report http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t21243-3-gpz-s-in-the-field-for-a-week-review it gives me hope that even the knockers in Oz will be forced to accept reality at some point. The GPZ actually works.

Real sweetie on eBay right now, only two days left. http://www.ebay.com/itm/WHITES-METAL-DETECTOR-TDI-SL-USED-3-X-WITH-EXTRAS-1-OWNER-DUG-CIVIL-WAR-RELIC-/171733118272?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27fc176d40 Only used three times, straight shaft modification, over 7 months remaining warranty. And going for a great price. I need another detector like I need a hole in the head but I am even tempted to put in a bid!

Holy crap, that's awesome! I wish that DEUS rod was not so expensive, a lot more people would be modifying detectors to work with it. Kind of gratifying and will take the opportunity to pat myself on the back. Over ten years ago I started pointing out what I thought was obvious - that PI detectors would see use for all types of detecting, especially relic detecting. From http://www.detectorprospector.com/steves-mining-journal/beach-detecting-minelab-gp3500-alaska.htm : "I know these detectors are expensive, but if you have a serious need to get some REAL extra depth, you need to look hard at the Minelab GP 3500. These things would be awesome for hunting Civil War relics in a "worked out" location." People thought I was nuts. Yet now at Diggin In Virginia (DIV) nearly everyone is using a PI. Big gun Minelabs are often seen at the beach. And yes, smart coin hunters can do amazing things with a PI. If high value targets are found, when the VLFs run out of steam, savvy operators will turn to a PI. I can't wait to see where ZVT takes us. Thanks Paul!

Two gram gold nugget?

Hi Paul, Not sure how my modified ATX would help you out much. It will weigh in about the same as the SDC and not be as compact. It can run a 12" x 10" coil but has no provision for mounting the larger ATX 15" x 20" mono. On the other hand, it get your hint! I am not one to leave things unfinished and so it has to wait until I wrap it up. It was more a project to make a point with Garrett than anything else and so got sidelined when I hit my busy time. I do want to get it finished however as I really do not need two ATX detectors and want to eventually dispose of it along and the Infinium coils. Part of the weeding down the gear thing. Rest assured you are the first person I will think of when the time comes. Another option not mentioned so far would be a 3.5 lb White's TDI SL or SPP model.