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Rob Allison

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  1. Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments. I Brake for Bedrock - Na, just hit a nice little pocket earlier this year. They are always nice to find, but not super common. I have a bunch of video footage I still haven't uploaded from earlier this season. Rob
  2. Hello All, Here is a short video of a very nice crack/crevice we found earlier this year during the Summer Monsoons. Prior to this find, we were just weekend warriors placering various areas and metal detecting for nuggets finding a small handful of nuggets per day. We were not finding anything to really write home about, just the common US nuggets from about a quarter gram and up to 3-4 grams. Working one of these dry creeks, we were hitting a few nuggets in the cracks, but found one we decided to chase down deeper. Normally we don't do this, as digging down several feet or more to bedrock can be a lot of work, especially if you don't recover anything. We had a wild hair, so we decided to do so and this spot paid off very well. As you can see in the video below, the crack started off with two amazing gold nuggets, one was 2.2 ounces solid (just a flat lump) and the other was 1.01 ounces. The gold nuggets were almost side by side in the same crevice as shown. We ended up finding 3-4 smaller gram sized nuggets in the same crevice, but the bedrock popped right up and the gold just disappeared. It was a great moral boost for the Summer season, as it's normally pretty hot and nasty during the Summer Monsoons in the Southwestern US. The tools we normally use are shovels, metal rake, crevice tools, metal detector(s) and pinpointer. We were using the Minelab GPZ 7000 with the new Nugget Finder Z Search 12" coil in this video. The pinpointer we typically use is the Garrett AT Pinpointer (Orange one). Hope you all enjoy the video. If you would like to follow us on Youtube, make sure you "Subscribe" to our channel to see all the new videos. Wishing you all a Happy upcoming Thanksgiving and a wonderful prospecting season. Hope you all have some lunkers under your coils this season! Rob
  3. Hey Guys, Thanks for all the info. From my findings to date, Southwestern US region, the GPX 6000 is super sensitive, light and easy to use. However, I'm picking up much more ground noise, more EMI and twice as much hotrocks (mostly ironstones and basalts) vs. the GPZ 7000. I love both detectors, I'm very partial to the GPZ due to all the years I have used it and success with it. The new NF coil really makes it much lighter and a bit more sensitive over the stock 14x13. I'm using the GPX 6000 for more prospecting and exploring due to the lightweight and increased sensitivity to small gold. If I find a patch or rich gully, I can also pack in the GPZ to check out areas with more depth. I'm sure we are going to see a lot more smaller gold being found this season due to the GPX 6000. Rob https://www.robsdetectors.com/minelab-gpx-6000-17-searchcoil/
  4. Hello All, The new Minelab 17" Elliptical Searchcoils for the Minelab GPX 6000 have been flying off the shelves, definitely high demand. Due to the high demand, I haven't had much time to use one, everyone ends of taking mine ... LOL I haven't seen much larger gold being found at depth yet, but I'm sure it is. Curious how people and past customers are doing with this new 17" Searchcoil beyond covering more ground quicker? We still have a few left in stock from the last large shipment and more on the way if anyone is still searching for a new "Christmas present.!" Hahaha Would love to see some pictures or at least hear about any success with the new searchcoil. Wishing you all much success on the goldfield. 17" Searchcoil available here - https://www.robsdetectors.com/minelab-gpx-6000-17-searchcoil/ Rob
  5. Hey Gerry, I have to give you all the credit in the world, you are the furthest from a "armchair" dealer for sure. You are out promoting and using the Minelab GPX 6000 to it's fullest potential. Congrats on the success at Rye Patch, some beautiful gold for sure. Rob
  6. Hey Guys, Thanks for all the comments. JP - I agree, I'm still old school like with the SD2000, hunt very methodically - low and slow. I guess this is why it's hard for me to part completely with the GPZ 7000. I believe she's a powerhouse if you can handle the weight and really pay attention to what the detector is telling you. I also agree with Steve when he originally stated that most of the US prospectors would benefit mostly from the GPX 6000 over the 7000 due to it's features (hyper sensitivity to small gold and specimens, light weight, super easy to operate). I will continue to toggle back in forth depending on the ground and type of gold I'm chasing. There are handfuls of small gullies where I cleaned a bunch of nuggets up, so I'm looking forward to getting back to a few of these locations this season with the GPX 6000. P.S. If I could tell any electronic prospector something I learned over the years - Focus on what you have (detector) and use it to it's best ability. You can't worry about what you don't have or what you might miss. I hear way too many prospectors say well I could miss a specimen, I could miss a small nugget, I could miss a deep one. You can worry yourself to death about a "potential" signal that your detector never heard. Rob
  7. Hey Guys, Well its that time of year where most of the US Prospectors are searching for gold, in the Southwest at least. I managed to get out this weekend with some friends, just roaming around some old stomping grounds in hopes to turn up a few bits missed years prior. I was toggling between my GPZ 7000 with the NF 12" coil and my GPX 6000 with the 11" coil. My other two friends were using the GPZ 7000's with the stock 14x13" coils. Later in the day I can across some old piles left from prior mining and got a softer sounding signal and decided to investigate. My friends both had a few dinks now, so I was behind on the gold count. There's a lot of left behind rubbish in this area due to prior mining, hardrock and placering. I figured it was just another deep nail or something, but as I got down deeper, the target was actually on bedrock below the pile. I ended up scratching everything away from the bedrock and pinpointed the target in a crevice or depression (seen in picture below). Low and behold, it was a nice gold nugget, 4.6 Dwt's, just shy of 1/4 Troy Ounce. I was pleasantly surprised to say the least, didn't expect it. I thought this would be good time to see if my Minelab GPX 6000 would hear this target with the stock 11" coil on it. I walked back to my truck, got the GPX 6000 and hiked back to the target location. I figured this would be a crude, but interesting test as there is so much debate on depth and how now many believe the GPX 6000 is better. I fired the GPX 6000, balanced and make sure the EMI was good, then scanned over the target area with the nugget back in it's original location. I couldn't hear a peep of a signal, which honestly is what I figured. I didn't expect to find it, or hear it with the GPX 6000. I played around with a few settings and even had my buddies come over to check it out. They both scanned their stock coils (GPZ 7000 with 14x13") over it, both heard the target, but it was still faint (not a super obvious signal). This is one reason it's hard for me to put down the GPZ 7000, I have found many nuggets at depth, but deal with the heavy, bulky unit. I thought about going back and trying the 14" DD to see what it would have done, but for the most part, I never use the 14" DD, so it wouldn't have really proved anything to me, as I don't use it. It would have been interesting to see what the 17" coil would have done, but I didn't have it with me. I would think the 17" would have heard it. I'm swinging the GPZ 7000 with the NF 12" Round coil 90% of the time, the GPX 6000 about 10% of the time. There are some bedrock gullies I have revisited in years, so I'm looking forward to spending more time there with the 6000 and 11" Mono coil. I think I also might be able to pack the GPX 6000 into a few canyons as I wasn't easily able to do that with the GPZ 7000. Here are a few pictures below. I didn't have a tape measure, but Doc's pick is 22" handle length. I'm thinking between 18-20 inches was the true detection depth, but faint signal for sure.
  8. Hey Gerry, Ya, great addition to the information I posted about warranty/repairs. The Minelab Dealers Conferences were great, especially when they were just US based for US dealers. I wasn't a big fan of having the Conferences bunched up, International and US. I felt like it took most of all the attention from the US dealers, that have their own issues and concerns. I have to give you a lot of credit, you are one of very few dealers that would honestly express your concerns with them in a public setting. I can remember all the times you would let the big shots have it. It always seemed like 90% of the dealers would talk a big game outside the conference doors, but once it was time to tell them our concerns, it was like "Crickets!" On another note, we both have won many "Customer Awards" from Minelab Americas, including the Customer Care Champion awards, which I still have 2 sitting on my desk. That being said, I'm still chasing you for that "Eagle" Award, the highest award any dealers is awarded. Congrats for sure! Rob
  9. Hey Guys/Gals, Well I'm out in the field writing this, but I got a call from a customer today that purchased a GPX 6000 from us. His detector was going bonkers, tried everything to get it to settle down. Sounds like there is an issue and I contacted my Minelab Rep Deb. Any customer having issues on their GPX 6000 needs to contact Detector Center, or start by calling - Customer Service - Minelab Americas 1-877-767-6522 and hit # 2 You should be put in contact with Detector Center in PA, which they will send you a RMA and label to return the unit. Once they inspect/test the unit, Deb stated they will ship you a replacement. Contact the dealer you purchased from for further information on getting a Minelab GPX 6000 fixed (warranty issue/replacement). P.S. Also, it sounds like when using the external speaker on the Minelab GPX 6000, you can/will experience a lot more EMI, sometimes enough to drive you nuts. I haven't experienced this due to always using the headphones. Hope this helps, Rob
  10. Hey Guys, I have been hearing this, but have yet to have one of my customer with that problem yet. Many are thinking it was a certain batch of serial numbers or units that could be defective. I just got another batch in, so I'm hoping none of these are part of that group, if that is really the case. Goldseeker5000 - Humm .... Rob
  11. Hey Phrunt, I agree, we kind of went off subject, rather than addressing the question that was asked. I still remember when I was swinging my GPX 5000, my favorite timing was Special/Sensitive Extra, Fixed Ground Balance, Normal or Quiet Audio, Gain in the range of 12-14 for the most part and other settings I would just toggle around from time to time. Most of your settings like Threshold, Volume and such shouldn't change much after the initial setup. My favorite coil for general prospecting and exploring new ground was the NF or Coiltek 14x9 Mono Elliptical. I also ran Doc's Goldscreamer Power Pack Li-Ion Battery system, Signal Enhancer volume around 1/4 and a good quality headset, such as Sun Ray Pro Gold's or DetectorPro Black Widow's. What's really nice is the GPX 5000 is like an equalizer, you can raise/lower any of the settings at any point in time, allowing for a lot of experimenting over various targets. If you got a target, loud or faint, you could change the timings and see what responds better. You could change the audio settings and see if it sparks up the target response, check to see if Auto Balance or Fixed gets a better response. I found on deeper gold, max depth stuff, Normal or Sharp worked best. For small gold or bedrock hunting, I was 99% of the time in Sensitive/Extra, but a few times when the ground was really hot, I would try Fine Gold. Just some thoughts on the GPX 5000 and some of my settings. Keep in mind, there are so many combinations, I remember reading or hearing with all the timings/settings you could have hundreds of different combinations. Rob
  12. Hey Steve, I agree, not great on small gold, but when using the small Minelab Goldsearch 8" Round Mono, my Cousin and I were able to find them between 5-7 grains (smallest) on exposed bedrock. We found many of them this since in the Bradshaw Mountains, AZ hunting small, exposed bedrock drainages back in the mid-to late 90's. I can still remember purchasing my first Minelab SD 2000 from "Frugal Floyd Allen out of New River, long time good friend. Believe it or not, I still have the receipt in my safe that shows I paid $3850 for this unit back then. My parents wouldn't loan me the money, so I had to get a loan from a family member to afford this unit back then. It was well worth it, being on some of the old VLF patches first paid for the unit quickly, mostly on 1-2 Dwt sized nuggets outside the depth range of a VLF detector. Good old days .... Rob
  13. Hey Steve, Great post and what an awesome nugget! I also used to run my GPX 5000 in Sensitive/Extra for the most part with smaller coils up to around 14x9 Mono. The smaller coils, like the NF Sadie or Minelab 8" Round Mono, I could find them on bedrock under a grain at times, but like you mentioned 1-2 grainers no problem. The Fine Gold setting was misleading, many as you stated did think it was best for small gold, but Sensitive/Extra was much better on low to moderate mineralized ground vs. the Fine Gold.
  14. You have one of the first Minelab Pulse Induction metal detectors made. They were not that great on small gold, but worked excellent on high mineralization and depth. Also, it was the first detector in the PI series, so it was new technology and made many goldfields around the World almost virgin again. I still remember using the Minelab SD 2000, good old days. I doubt there is much resale value on them, maybe $500 as many of the SD 2100/2200's and GP series sell used for $800-1200. P.S. You can still get all the parts that will keep it running (coils, batteries, shafts and more). Hope this helps, Rob
  15. Hey Guys, I have to agree with many of your comments, including Phrunt & Steve. The GPX series, including the 5000 are some of the most versatile gold detectors on the Planet. Like Steve mentioned, if you were just dropped into a random goldfield, the GPX 5000 would probably be one of the best detectors to use overall. There are a gazillion aftermarket coils and accessories for it and it has 8 timings, allow you much more flexibility on ground and gold types. The last person that told a few of my friends that a Minelab PI was worthless and a VLF is just as good, as there are specimens and crystalline gold that a PI will not find, I wacked out a Trophy sized, solid gold nugget featured in Minelab GP Extreme ad. The nugget was 3/4's of a pound, solid, crystalline in nature. I tell people to buy the best detector they can, then go out and learn and really use it to it's full potential. You can't worry about someone showing you a piece you might miss, but rather focus on what you can find and give her hell! I would need a dozen detectors to cover a patch if I was worry I might miss a specimen, a piece of cornflake gold, a small .05 gram of gold or whatever. Just my thoughts, Rob
  16. Hey Steve, I agree with you. The GPX 5000 is still a great unit and for the price you can get it at now, $4000 MAP, Minelab don't even have any in stock and the demand for them is now higher than it was when they first came out. This kind of reminds me of the GPX 4500, it was around $3999 MAP, then dropped to $2699 and I couldn't keep them in stock and if they were still available, they would sell like hotcakes even today at that price. Figuring now, the price structure is $4000, $6000 and $8000 (GPX 5000, 6000 & GPZ 7000). I also agree, to compare a Equinox to a GPX for hunting gold on moderate to high mineralization is just someone speaking with very little experience in my opinion. I love my Equinox 800 also, but to hunt the majority of the goldfields with it over a GPX is just a good laugh. To conclude my final thoughts on the GPX 5000, it could be considered the most difficult PI to figure out, or give someone the most anxiety trying to figure it out, reason for many DVD's on it, DOC's timing stickers and Quick Start Guides. However, once you can get a decent handle on it, it's like an equalizer where you can find tune adjust the timing and settings to various ground conditions. Wishing you all the best, Rob
  17. Hey Guys/Gals, I agree, when you're searching for gold nuggets or even pockets of gold, you need to understand the origin of gold, how it's formed and the deposits it makes. Many gold districts throughout the US, some of the richest ones never probably produced a piece of gold bigger than a grain of salt. However, targeting free milling, pocket type lodes is where most electronic prospectors will have the most success. It's a needle in a haystack either way, but I would rather spend my time researching and looking in places where massive eluvial pockets have been found or historically large gold nuggets. See if you can find similar geology of these known gold areas further away and prospect and explore them for potentially over looked lodes, pockets and gold nuggets. The only true gold vein that I can say I located, with a friend was in a well known copper and silver area. There was no mention of any placers or dominate gold mines in the area, but a "foil gold" vein was located. If you could introduce some of this basic information in gold training, which myself and other do, it can be very helpful. Jim Straight, long time person friend and mentor was noted for his amazing knowledge in this area, especially in the California goldfields. Just my thoughts, Rob
  18. Kicking butt Purplehays69! Keep up the great success. Rob
  19. Hey Steve, That is surprising to say the least. I think there are handfuls of great trainers out there. You know, I think Minelab could get handfuls of very experienced dealers (dealers that actually use the product) along with some great field prospectors and assemble an amazing team of trainers across the Globe. However, when you toss in dealers that are trying to get the sale vs. really trying to train, this is the problem in my honest opinion. This is where I think maybe training should not be held by dealers if Minelab is hosting it. They probably have the right idea or concept by doing it with independent prospectors that are experienced and well rounded. I have no clue who these trainers are, as all the experience prospectors I know are not involved to my knowledge Rob
  20. Hey Guys, Well I'm one of those AZ dealers, but I'm not sure if I sold it to him or someone else. That being said, regardless who sold it, there is no "perfect" metal detector that will find all the small gold, small specimens, have great discrimination and such. I'm still searching for that perfect detector, reason I have like 3-4 that I use. It's easy to rant and rave, but I would recommend the customer to contact the dealer and discuss it, or at least give them the opportunity in all fairness. The GPX 5000 is an awesome detector, I found pounds and pounds of gold with it. I hated to part with it actually, but when the GPZ 7000 came out, I just had to try it. Many of my best nuggethunting partners/friends are still using the GPX 5000 here in the Southwest with amazing success. I'm real surprised that Gerry didn't show you what the GPX 5000 could do over others detectors, with is plenty. The GPX 5000 is still in my opinion one of the most versatile detectors on the market with the 8 different times, various audio settings and such. If you think the GPX 6000 is the perfect detector, then you will realize it isn't, there are things that it's great at, but there are also things I don't like (which is with all detectors, including even the GPZ 7000). This is going back to my original statement, in my opinion there is no "perfect" metal detector for all situations, but there are the "right" detectors for specific applications. For example, if a customer told me they were only hunting mine dumps and inside mines, I wouldn't suggest a PI for the most part. You would have much better success with a lighweight VLF, super sensitive to small gold and specimens, iron discrimination and such. Any VLF gold detector would work great in this environment, including something like the Equinox 800 with the smaller coil. Hope this helps a bit, Rob
  21. Hey Gerry, I sure hope, at least on Debbie's sake, they are not having her now train around the US beyond all the other stuff she is loaded down with. Heck, I might need the training, years ago a random detectorists said you have found thousands of nuggets, but you don't know how to run your detector .... LOL I told him it was easy finding thousands of nuggets, I'm eliminating all the iron rubbish and digging all gold using the new "Multi-Pulse Discrimination" mode. As I walked way, the prospector was messing with his settings for about 30 minutes, I think trying to find that mode Rob
  22. Hey Guys/Gals, I'm sure the 14x9 will be one of the first aftermarket coils from Coiltek for the GPX 6000. It has always been a long time favorite coil for all detecting needs. A smaller coil will also be nice, as there are goldfields with tons of brush, boulders and such that don't even allow a 11" round coil to hunt the majority of the ground. Steve - There is a smaller NF coil, the Z Search 12" Round for the GPZ 7000. I have been using this coil since the release and I really like it. They are back in stock again, plus they now have heavy duty skid plates for them. I have never tried a X coil to date on any Minelab PI or GPZ. Rob
  23. We have everything in stock currently for the GPX 6000's - Minelab GPX 6000's Lower Shafts Li-ion Batteries 17" Searchcoils (limited stock) all skidplates Doc's 5 piece Blue Camo Cover Kits Free shipping & Insurance, No Tax if you are outside of Arizona. Military Discount (15%) available with proof of service, active or retired. We would love to earn your business.
  24. Hey Trevor, That is great news! However, please do us a huge favor and allow the US market to get their fair share. Since Coiltek started selling coils, I have been there with you. I got only a handful of coils for the Equinox to date, while there are thousands of customers still waiting, most getting them from overseas dealers rather than the US market. I just hate to see a huge hype on GPX 6000 coils and we only get a handful to boot. Coming from a loyal, longtime dealers and supporter. Hope you take my honest opinion to heart. Rob
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