Steve Herschbach

I am just guessing but I think it will be some time yet. Months? Not sitting around holding my breath that is for sure. I am very curious myself as the FORS Gold and FORS CoRe are basically the same 15 kHz performance and the Racer at 14 kHz by all accounts so far nearly identical. The big question for me is how high will they go with the Gold Racer. Don't forget that performance on a U.S. nickel is a fairly good substitute for performance on a 1/4 oz gold nugget.

Well and there is the rub. Everyone else has all sorts of things on their minds not really on my own. I see this as a Gold Racer preview in the physical aspects. What the Racer does on gold interests me but tells me nothing about how the Gold Racer will do on gold except that the Gold Racer should do better. So my personal interest is mostly in weight, balance, feel. For what it is worth I will do some playing around with small nuggets in the morning. I will do what I can but for me the Gold Bug Pro/G2+/F19/F75/FORS Gold/FORS CoRe/Racer/Gold Racer project is going to be a summer long thing to sort out. There is a lot of really hair splitting stuff going on with all these machines and without actually having a Gold Racer none is flat out trumping all the others. The good news therefore from a performance perspective is I do not see how anyone can go really wrong with any of them. The biggest difference is in the gated audio response of the Fisher models versus the blended audio response with the Makro/Nokta models.

Had a shiny new Makro Racer waiting for me when I got home, and a sweet little detector it is. Bad timing because I am ridiculously busy right now but I hope to have something to post by tomorrow evening. It already is the most over analyzed detector on the market though and all of it is just adding up to what was said all along. FORS CoRe in a lighter, more elegant package. In the meantime for others who do not follow such stuff here is Tom Dankowskis report so far http://www.dankowskidetectors.com/discussions/read.php?2,72545 http://youtu.be/nvw4o8J3wFo

The thing is this is not a first machine by an unknown company. This is the company that has delivered the best technology ever since the SD 2000 was introduced. Not everyone is a skeptic. Many have waited for five years for what is said to be the next level in gold prospecting technology. Those who bet against Bruce Candy have generally been shown to have placed bad bets. So yes, there are indeed serious prospectors who will not blink at buying one immediately whatever the price. Their only concern is being first in line, and a deposit insures that. Two years from now this will all be history and the GPZ 7000 will occupy the top of the heap with as little controversy as the GPX 5000 has enjoyed the last couple years. Hopefully by then the speculation will be on the GPZ 7500 and what improvements it brings to the table. The GPZ 7000 is not the end, it is a new beginning.

Well Rick, the shorter the pulse delay, the hotter the PI, but it can also introduce ground issues so it is not quite so easy as just cranking it up. Some coils may not work properly. Reg can elaborate if he wishes but that is the gist of it. Reg, what we are talking about is a spongy little specimen I found with my SDC and called Rick over to see it dug. It was several inches, loud signal. We could not get a peep out of his TDI no matter what settings, with specimen on coil. Even I was surprised, thought the coil was bad. We tried the 5" x 10" Sierra coil. Still nothing. The gold is also low purity, so just a perfect "invisible specimen."

Here is the answer I got: Part number is "8005-0080 Strap, Shaft With Buckle" for this item. It is not set up as a standard accessory item to purchase, but I suggest anyone wanting one to quote this part number to their dealer and see if it can be ordered. I do not know the price and have been too busy to contact any dealer friends about it. Not likely to change for a couple weeks so I just figured I would post this in case anyone else can find out price/availability.

None of us know what tomorrow will bring or if it will come at all. We can try and make some educated guesses though.

Yeah, something wrong. The Ace is a simple silent search machine. Totally silent except when over a target. Believe it or not I had a blast with the Ace 250. Actually a unit I would have not problem using as a park jewelry hunter where depth is not the goal. Very impressive unit for the price.

Gold has been pretty steady in the $1200 - $1300 range for around three years now. It seems to have set a strong floor in that range. Now Citigroup is calling for gradually rising average prices going forward. http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2015/02/09/gold-miners-cheap-oil-strong-dollar-boon-for-newmont-mining-barrick-gold/?mod=yahoobarrons&ru=yahoo "We remain positive on our gold coverage with Citi’s Commodity team expecting gold to average $1239/oz in 2015, $1260 in 2016 and $1340 in 2017." Actually looks like a reasonable and sensible forecast for once instead of all the hype about $3000 gold or $500 gold.

I had a bet with Minelab it would not take a dealer long to ignore the signed NDA and start posting. Already started, and hype dial being cranked as high as it can go. Funny thing is people say otherwise but they really want hype. They want to be sold. Not everyone of course, but many. There is a deep desire for wish fulfillment at work, and people basically being told what they want to hear. It is no fun being told you still have to work at it, and the 20% will go on making 80% of the finds. People want a magic wand. I have always been a believer in understating things so that people get pleasant surprises and to in effect lower the bar for success. Boosting the bar as high as it can go may get people all fired up but it also raises the risks when the bar is inevitably not cleared by some. The higher the bar, the more people that will come up short. It can backfire in a big way. I just have a feeling this new detector release is going to set records for forum frenzy. I am glad I constructed a fortress here to hide in where I can keep the craziness out.

What do you mean Harry. I used the Ace 250 a lot. Great little detector. Only went beep when I went over stuff.

TDI is great choice due to ability to disable ground balance. Excellent beach detector and a true shame that White's never put waterproof version into production.

Thanks Jeff. All I can say is I am not holding my breath. Good news is that what you have is probably about as good as it is going to get. I am a big Surf PI fan - tremendous bang for the buck. The ATX serves me better personally because I use it on dry land more than in the water but if I get in the water it works also. The Surf really is a dedicated water machine. Water machines cost a lot to develop, sell in relatively small numbers, and are a big source of warranty issues. Just not something the manufacturers are anxious to work on. In theory if Fisher ever makes a PI again they have the CZ-21 housing which was the housing for the old Fisher Impulse they can use. But again, not holding my breath. And welcome to the forum!

Hey Rick, No, I am not much for attempting electronic mods. The ATX is only the second time I have done a body modification and that will be the last of those when I ever finish it up. From now on detectors either do what I want or they do not. I will leave the mods to other folks - I would rather be detecting! I had every intention of testing the porous gold on my TDI but frankly it seemed like a waste of time so I just went ahead and sold it. The TDI has joined a very long list of detectors in my rear view mirror.

Take that Australia, and found by eyeballing it even! Life just got better for this herdsman http://www.ecns.cn/2015/02-06/153910.shtml

Even the Aussies were debating that, apparently at least four of them in Australia.

Nice photos at http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t20751-large-nugget-found-at-inglewood Supposedly about 6" deep. There are still monsters out there you can find with anything if you can just get over them. And are smart enough to dig the giant "obviously junk" target!

Reg is "the man" on the TDI these days. He normally hangs out on the Findmall TDI forum at Link deleted since Findmall update broke old links but has not posted in a couple weeks.

Hi Skip, It can be a tough call at times. I am lucky. Great people here while at the same time certain people I would just as soon not show up here have not. A certain exclusivity here will not hurt my feelings. Some of the Aussie forums used to be truly great back in the day. That is where I first found JP and back when I was a Minelab newbie I hung on his every post, and that of some other knowledgeable people who unfortunately are no longer with us. Then it seemed they descended into chaos over time and many good people simply left. Now it is more drama than information. Kind of like watching the Gold Rush shows I guess. Anyway Skip, I appreciate your efforts in keeping it clean. You guys have a great, active forum.

You are welcome here of course JP. I have already decided not to post elsewhere unless perhaps to correct outright incorrect information. Like somebody says it is green, I will say, no it's blue. But no debates with anybody. I try to be helpful but on too many forums it gets tossed back in my face so I am just going to withdraw from discussions elsewhere. I am all for freedom of speech but that does not mean anarchy. You cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. You cannot talk about bombs on planes in an airport. You cannot insult my wife in my house. And people are either respectful on this forum or they will be ejected without explanation or recourse. I have seen a lot of once great forums ruined by lack of moderation. It is not going to happen here.

Minelab has never posted anything anywhere so you can blame me for the post and the picture. I promise I won't say anything else until there really is something else to say.

The Minelab dealer conference was held in New Orleans this year and I am fortunate to have been invited by Minelab. I have never been to New Orleans before so that alone has been enjoyable, though it may have been a lot more fun 30 years ago! Better was meeting with the Minelab team and learning new product details. The icing on the cake was being able to rub shoulders with various people involved in the industry, mostly as dealers from all around the world, but also people in related fields, like the folks from Coiltek. This was the first world-wide conference and I was surprised to see nearly half those attending had traveled from all over the world to be there. I have signed no less than three non-disclosure statements now for Minelab recently so unfortunately this post is a bit of a teaser. I simply can't say anything yet about the GPZ 7000 or anything else. If you ask even by email or PM I cannot respond at this time, but you do not have long to wait. When I am given a green light I will let forum members know and in general it is only on this forum that I will be commenting or answering questions. There may end up being leaks elsewhere but if so they will not be coming from me. I can say however it is obvious that Minelab is committed to remaining an industry innovator and leader and that they have formidable resources at their disposal to help insure that continues to be the case. I want to thank the many good people at Minelab for affording me the opportunity to have some input, however small, on products that make a difference in my life, and for inviting me to the conference.

Hard to go wrong with an Ace, even an Ace 250. If prospecting, basic $499 Gold Bug. However, I am walking out door to a Minelab meeting that starts in an hour. My big advice? Wait!

Oh and thanks guys, I went ahead and wrote that article! http://www.icmj.com/article-notloggedin.php?id=3197 Something to keep in mind is I am not trying to argue with people who are expert detectorists over niggling details. There are a lot of new people out there who can be very easily mislead by dealers with air tests or by watching any of the very many really bad videos out there. My hope is to help them out.

Well, it can all be useful in different way, not least just in keeping ourselves entertained! Tom, bricks can and have been used to simulate mineralized ground, but again the key word here is simulate. I can set up a situation where two of exactly the same detector has one that air tests far better than the other, only to have the result switch 180% degrees in the ground. A detector air testing better than another, even the same model, does not automatically mean it will detect deeper in the ground. I do not know how to say it any plainer than that. Most of the time, yes, but not always. I do most of my work with ground balancing PI detectors, and to remove the ground from the test equation is removing the sole thing that really matters. A non ground balancing PI will kill a ground bslancing PI in most air tests. A horribly mis-balanced VLF can outperform the same properly ground balanced VLF in an air test also. Having said that, I very much admit I do lots of air tests. They have there uses. But right now I have several things on hold pending true in ground tests as that is the only way I can find out for sure what is going to work best for me. Great subject actually, backed by a lot of "beliefs". Be a good subject for a study with a video. There are several very good studies done if you do some Googling on the testing on mine detectors in mineralized ground. Would post the myself but I have a meeting to catch! The real point I am making is question everything others do, especially as regards air tests and even in ground tests, and even in videos. If I do not do the testing myself I have no idea really, and even then I can mislead myself if I am not careful.