Andyy

Depending on the ground, the std coil Zed will get 1/2 grain and lower, but you need to almost be touching it. A buddy of mine runs the 8" coil on the SDC and kills it on the dinks. The SDC's advantage is: 1) it probably gets an extra 1-1.5" deeper on dinks (just my estimate) 2) he can fit the head of the coil in more areas (between the high in the bedrock) - very beneficial The perfect machine is one that incorporates the SDC and ZED capabilities. The GM1000 will get gold that both of these machines miss, but only in quiet ground. So ... in my mind, Norvic already has the two best machines. Just need bigger and bigger Xcoils for the ZED :)

Don't worry, Dave. I hear these coils are filled with VooDoo. That's why people seem to be doing so well with them. They're probably made of seal skin, puppy dogs, and tears from orphan children. Nobody really knows.

Seriously, one of the most informative books on prospecting that I have read. Andy

Yep, that is a way cool post, Strick. It makes me want to go out and get an MRI. Or not …..

Hey Norvic, I am not sure if you have a 10" X coil in the mail, but that would definitely be one to test with the SDC 8" coil. I have been out with a buddy that probably gets the same size tiny gold as the ZED, but a couple inches deeper. Part of this is the fact that the 8" coil can really get in places. 14" is forced to ride the high ridges and therefore be spaced out farther from the gold. I would be curious if this smaller ZED X coil compares. Again, I STRONGLY believe this is why ML will not make a small coil. It has already been proven that the wire fits and there is customer demand.

My connector just arrived. The male end looks like you could put some heat shrink around, but definitely not the female end. Either way, I would agree that the liquid electrical tape will be a good safe guard.

Excellent review and much appreciated. I will keep this in mind when reviewing the 10 inch X coil.

mmmmm….. Tacos …. (can't focus … only see Fire Sauce). Well back to detecting. I get bored sticking with a single area, so I generally hop around. I have one area near Wickenburg Arizona that was a hill side patch with really hot ground. A short walk away from this hill and I cannot swing the detector without major groans. The ferrite ring does nothing for me. No setting helps. The reason I like this area for testing is because all the gold was less than .25grams. So it didn't make me a lot of money, but it was fun. And I gridded it. So I am really curious how this coil handles this patch and maybe some others within walking distance. And if it doesn't work here, I have some areas in Bumble Bee or Poland Junction that are good tiny gold areas to rerun.

Shipping on these coils is faster than I expected. I ordered on 6/5 and I had an attempted delivery 6/22 while I was out of town. So I will be picking up the coil on Monday at the post office. It'll probably take me a bit to make my lead and get out to test at some patches (assuming I don't damage anything). I am really not sure if the 10" coil is just hype or a psychosomatic improvement. There have been small patch areas that I have come back and hit multiple times with the same settings and found more gold. EMI has a huge effect on this in my area. But as has been said, we all like to tweak things just to see if we can get another edge. So for me this is something else for me to experiment with, since it is obviously not in Minelab's immediate commercial interest to pursue the smaller coils. I do not believe anything JW or anyone else on this thread, has been said to be misleading. Having both sides of the fence to think about is appreciated. It is up to the individual to prove or disprove what has been said. This is how I plan on viewing my future testing. This coil could be a dud in my areas. Either way I will learn from the experience and pass on what I find good or bad.

Plenty of ways soldering can go wrong. Glad that all got straightened out.

I don't sell my gold. My hope is that the price rises so that I break even. Sometimes the gold found won't pay for gas or even the caffeine that keeps you awake on the long drive home. But I still LOVE it

I'm looking for machines that keep the circuitry as far from the coil as possible ?

Now why would you need a GPX X-coil when you can now get the 10" coil on the GPZ? That really is the only drawback I had found with the GPZ. I have a 10" X-coil in the mail too. I am curious to see how well it does competing with the standard 8" SDC coil. Once all of these coils get delivered, we should have a pretty good idea.

Shoot... you beat me to the stock market. Do good in that and I could be prospecting full time.

This website is one of the best for learning about machines. Do a search and you will find a guide giving pros and cons of each. Then read through what others are having success using. When you decide on a machine, see if you can get a used one for starters. I have never paid full price for a machine.

If you have proved your ability to find gold and have had boots on the ground in that rough area, night hunting is great. If not.. I would spend your time researching. I cannot comment on your machine. I have used 705, Gpx5000, Gpz 7000, and GM1000. I didn't like the 705 but others do. My preference is a gold only machine. And each machine has its advantages and disadvantages based on each particular area. Also knowing what size gold you are looking for will determine what machine type you should use.

RRPC is pretty good to start out with. But you are going to have to work your butt off, as hundreds have likely been there looking already. Plan on checking every bush a little harder and digging off a little more overburden in the high probability spots. If you can, find open claims around there that look good (same geology ... etc.), that would be my focus. But to be honest with you, I wouldn't be out there in 95+ degree heat. Your mental fortitude will curb quickly and you won't tend to be as thorough. And at your stage of the game, this is really what you are working on ... a good repeatable technique. If I were you, I would spend more time researching over the summer. My .02. Either way, I wish you luck.

Small gold, eh? In our areas, 3g is called a whopper :)

Yep, them darn parrots got our car weather strip when we went to Milford Sound. Evil buggers. But I wasn't charged, at least.

A warranty is only good for 5 yrs, anyways, right? I am near the end of my warranty, anyhow. Now it's just working the approvals through the wifey .. lol

Superman step aside. Reg is my hero! I often wish I could go back in time and know what it was like in the beginning of detecting. All that time chasing girls when there was more large gold to be found. What was I thinking ??.... (don't answer that)

Thank you for the added info, JW. If it is just cutting out the chip and re-soldering the connector back on and adding shrinkwrap, I can do that easily enough. I can't imagine what a smaller 10" coil will get. (or 10x9) I have a scale that goes down to .01g, and I already get gold that the scale cannot measure. Tough to get out of the scoop, but I'm now better at the small gold recovery method. I don't lose these pieces like I used to.

So is there a link or website for showing what is required to modify the GPZ to accept the new coils? I have a vision on what I think is required, but not entirely sure. That small 10" coil is really getting me interested.

Interesting, Mitchel. When I went to New Zealand, this was also the case. Well now I'll have to go over to Australia to confirm for myself, and you will have to go to New Zealand. LOL.

Darn ... the gold gods are evil tossing out bbs. And I thought those little bugger with digging legs were only common here in the states. I am always amazed at their ability to get down in the tiniest of cracks. Still, it sounds like one hell of an adventure Mitchel! Meeting new friends is the best.