Northeast

Dave, that is a cracking offer and thanks. However, the ‘what would I compare it to’ is the issue. A Sadie, a Detech 11” Ultra Sensing and a NF 20” Advantage are my 3 coils and really they cover everything I need at present. And I don’t even know anyone locally with comparable coils to the x-coil 15x10. It would be comparing apples with oranges so no real point unfortunately. Getting it back to you wouldn’t be an issue. I will make some enquires and if things change I’ll let you know 👍

If someone sends me an x-coil I would gladly test it on the QED 😁 I promise I'll send it back! If you were to go with the 15" X 10" x-coil you could possibly forego the 14" Coiltek and replace it with a 20" spoked Nugget Finder? Being an older style bundle wound coil it should handle the ground better whilst also giving you a big foot print for patch finding, good depth and it runs nicely on a QED. It is also surprisingly light and well weighted on the QED for its size. Between your 11" Detech and a 15" x 10" x-coil I'm not sure that the Coiltek would be filling much of a gap? Just my thoughts 😉

No point starting a whole new thread for 1 pic of some gold - hope it is alright to attach it to the end of this thread JP? Found with an Equinox 800 in Gold Mode 1 in amongst some trash next to a relatively large old timers hole. Essentially right on top and an easily found target but I honestly probably wouldn't have found it without a VLF. So much trash around I doubt that I would've persevered with a PI. Smack on 1 gram 🙂

I thought that is similar to what I had read somewhere. Perhaps from JP on here? Perhaps heard it on the GPZ Minelab vids? I can’t remember. I am having 2 guesses about the future announcement. 1) An updated 5000 simply in a better housing with built in battery and wireless audio, etc. 2) An updated 7000 in a lighter housing with a little bit of new tech involved. Not announcing either properly now so they don’t hurt current sales of their 2 flagship detectors.

Brother-in-law has recently got himself an SDC and got the 14X9 Coil tech for it. Had a go over a very well flogged spot. Christened it for him with a real tiny bit of gold, maybe a 0.01 gram piece. Ran perfectly on sensitivity 5 in areas of hard pack clay and some with hot rocks that really annoy the QED. He went on to find another 4 tiny lead shot pieces in about a 20 foot X 20 foot area that should not have had anything left in it. I thought the larger coil coil might have lost some sensitivity to the really small stuff but it seems not. Very impressed 👍

If I still had my Z there is not a chance I would do it - even if I got a professional do it. Just too much money involved but that's just me, each to their own. Be great if the NF coils are just plug and play for you GPZ mob. Re: tiny sized gold that the GPZ will find, have a squiz at an old thread of mine here. The first pic shows a piece a similar size to the echidna's nose on an Oz 5 cent piece. Not sure if you are familiar with a 5 cent piece but it is bloody small 👍

Hi Craig, I can't answer much about the GPX. But, the GPZ with its standard 14" coil will detect gold absolutely small enough as you could want I reckon. I believe it is comparable with SDC size gold and with your mild NZ ground and therefore the ability to turn the Sensitivity right up you will be hitting on tiny bits. Who knows when the Nugget Finder GPZ coils may be out but hopefully there is a sub 10" coil in there somewhere. Always the x-coils available now if you are ok with cutting coil leads 😬

I suppose the issue with cans is that cutting them is time consuming, different sizes will give different ID numbers, you have to drink a lot of cans of drink 😁 Something like this (or a round version) should be cheap, easy and give a consistent ID figure on your detector. As long as your detector has ID numbers?

Interesting. Whats lead worth a kilo?

Love your honesty Doc 👍 The issue may also be the name - it was always going to be a long, drawn out SAGA with a name like that 😉 Best wishes with the fixes and amendments - hopefully not too lengthy or costly.

It’s certainly painful. I’ve had a ‘crack’ at getting rid of it a few times but it’s hard to SHIfT. Local Anusthaetic provides some relief. Lunk, perhaps those that don’t get it are fossickers and not prospectors 😉

Ok. Same procedure as above but with the 11" Detech Ultra Sensing coil. Laid on table, factory defaulted, Quest on full. 5 cents 25cm. 20 cents 19.5cm. (weird result considering the size of a 20 cent - must be the metal makeup of it?). 50 cents 28 cm. 👍

You mean you got the same results as this - "Laid on the kitchen (plastic) table with the coil vertical and a plastic ruler stuck just under the coil. Factory Defaulted. Quest wireless on full. Can't hear a threshold but can just, just, hear a few tiny noises popping through at times. EMI considering we are inside a house. 5 cent piece - 18cm nice and loud. 20 cent piece - 19.5cm nice and loud. 50 cent piece - 22 cm nice and loud." OK. I will stick the Detech 11" Ultra on and see how we go 👍

Yep, big drive! Hopefully the tested stuff I have posted over on PA will provide some direct comparisons for you. If that checks out same or similar then we can stick the 11" Detech Ultra's on and test them the same way 👍 Considering these were done on a kitchen table and we don't have to take into account the ground mineralisation and they are in the Factory Defaults anyone should be able to compare notes. Phunt - do you have a Sadie? The Quest wireless, the provided speaker or any other aftermarket BlueTooth setup should be the only variables that we have to deal with.

Yes and no, Dave does have the new GB mini-update that lowered GB a little. I'm wondering if it is a dodgy coil too. The hum on start up with factory defaults is a concern.

Hi Dave. As with many detectors it is possibly better to start with a Gain of 1. Even on the GPZ I would start lower and then bring the Sensitivity up, up, up until it starting getting ratty and then moved it back 1or 2 until threshold was steady again. There is a good vid on here somewhere with Kevin Hoagland and Bill Southern at a GPAA (I think) convention giving a talk and they discuss setting Sensitivity/Gain. (It is here - second post down). You should be able to get good depth on targets - even with the Sadie. Especially a 10 gram slug of lead. A few days ago I headed out with the Sadie and actually put a few good hours into it. Mostly I’d used the Detech 11” ultra sensing. Ths B - 44. Now range was 40-52 so Null would have been 46. So 44 was ‘2 below Null’ - i was in a small target area. THS A - 50. This seems the sweet spot for me for all my coils. Gain 5. A couple of points higher than what I can run it on the 11”. Smaller coil = less EMI I suppose. Mode 2. I did start the day in Mode 1 but this started to get some EMI spikes when it got real hot so bumped it up to Mode 2. With these settings it was silent and I did pick up a few targets that I have previously missed in a small area that I have smashed with 4 different detectors. Unfortunately no targets were gold. I’ve just turned the QED on in the kitchen to test some pieces with the same settings locked in. 9 gram piece in the photo - 19 cms (about 7.5 inches). Small specimen piece about 3 cm (bit over an inch). This was all with the speaker which I normally don’t use. Headphone settings using the Quest may have been slightly different Your THS-B range seems very large. I know each QED is different in that respect but not sure if such a large range is the norm? Maybe the more recent upgrade variant has changed something. Perhaps a question for Howard. Keep trying, you’ll get there 👍🏻

I didn’t want another dog. Still don’t. It’s not even my dog. But apparently I’m her human. Poor judge of character I reckon 🤣

'ello, 'ello, 'ello, what's all this then? https://www.nuggetfinder.com.au Wonder how the dongle is done?

I actually haven’t tried ground balancing over a little pile of them in that other spot. Might be worth a try. They might be what is better described as cold rocks? They are positive numbers on the Equinox. A DD might not change anything with them but will give it a go also.

A vid of the targets I found with the settings I showed on that first vid. All rubbish unfortunately but not surprised. The threshold is uncomfortably loud but with the Quest, some sports earphones and a lower Pitch it is comfortable to listen to. Hope it you helps you Dave and anyone else that is interested. Maybe you will work out what not to do 🤣 Reg, JR, Phrunt - happy for constructive critiquing 😉

Yes and no. I see others over on AEGPF that run a Null THS B and the THS A at Max (90). They can then also generally up their Gain as well. As with many detectors personal preference is key. Some like a silent machine, I prefer a threshold. Mode 1 runs its 'pulse' very quickly which is better for small targets. But I think the theory is that it can also be more prone to ground noise. Thus, people try to use as lower Mode as possible but if they can't gain a GB at Mode 1 they increase to 2. If they can't GB at 2 they increase to 3 and so on. Phrunt is very lucky in that his ground is so un-mineralised that he can run Mode 11 and still achieve a GB. Mode 3 is pretty standard for me with the Detech. I have noticed that on different days some Modes can be quieter than others with regard to EMI. Holding the coil still on the ground and moving up through the Modes you can hear different pulses and noises coming through. Yesterday Mode 3 and 5 were the quietest at my location. Just different frequencies picking up different things I guess. Another vid coming in a minute.

Dave - you beat me to it!! I made a video for you (and anyone else) and have been trying to navigate iMovies and Youtube. Not easy the first time through but will be from now on. My first vid about detecting so be gentle. I will watch yours now but from the write up you have put above we have gone about things a little similar but a little different also. I'm sure no 2 detectors or detectorists will ever use things in exactly the same way. Probably a couple of things to mention. This was to set up for small targets. The speaker is very loud but that was just for the vid as I had no idea how it would come through the Go-Pro. Setting up for large targets with bigger coils is similar only send the THS-B up instead of down. I am still to test a higher Mode or a lower Mode as being better for larger targets. I think the theory is a higher Mode but will have a play. Of course, this just my method 👍 Cheers, NE.

But I don't live in NSW - I live in Victoria 😉 Murray Cod season opens in about 2 weeks. Hopefully it is more successful than my gold season has been. The Tuena thing - enough gold 'anomalies' to extend to drilling. Sounds good but too deep for a 'tector - even the mighty Zed! Hope you're doing well Mitchel 👍

Hi CCRV. Perhaps try a Factory Reset and start from scratch. Just in case there is some outlier setting in there somewhere giving you an issue. My guess would be High Yield difficult as being your best bet. Threshold at 35 is a question mark for me. I would think you will be missing the little fellas with that settings. Noise cancel, ground balance and ferrite balance over the hot ground in semi-auto tracking. Sensitivity at 1 and bring it up until unstable and back it off 1 or 2. Just my guess at what will quieten things. Audio Smoothing and Ground Smoothing would be next if that all doesn’t work. Best of luck 😉

I'm the same as Lacky. Profind 35. Only one I've had. Works fine.