auminesweeper

Well I get them from the company I have dealt with for over 12 years and just post them back home to Aus, I don't think I have ever paid more than a $1000.00 including postage so it keeps it under the taxable threshold.

No they don't, He was the sole importer and all Aussie Whites machine had to go through him, I had words with Steve Howard at Whites about 3 years ago because GS added about a $300 price hike to all of their machines and I told him that is would destroy all the good work that the previous owner had done and people would just not buy them from him because it is cheaper for people to import them from the US or here and he said there was nothing he could do and that GS told him that they had to raise the price, With the birth of the GM and the Equinox the home team and Nokta and Deus have cornered the VLF market as I warned them they would, It annoys me because I did my best to promote Whites in Australia and I did try to tell GS this was going to undo all the work that had been done but they would not listen. The last time checked 3 months ago they were charging $1550.00 AUS for the MXT AP and now they are selling the MX Sport for $1350.00, The point is I can supply them to folks for $910.00 AUS plus about 30 to 50 bucks postage So anyone who buys from them would be a fool to shop there. http://www.goldsearchaustralia.com/index.php/our-products/whites-detectors.html/

Yes but numbers from 50 and Up mean Iron and the higher the number the worse the content, It does not mean how much there is just means that it is higher meaning Worse and below 50 means Alkali/Salt based and the lower it goes the worse it is, Although it is very rare to find levels where the numbers go below the 30's, I only picked those numbers 14/86 because they were equal parts but from the opposite end of the scale to each other. They are not measurements of how much Iron there is, Above 50 = Iron, Higher =Worse, Below 50 = Alkali and lower means = higher in Alkali. These figures do not relate directly to the Three scales below. A number of 57 is quite low in Iron but a number of 84 should tell the user that the Iron content is quite strong, Any of these systems are only a guide and it gets confusing because the MXT uses half of what the GMT says via a GND reading, but if you run the 2 machines side by side the GND numbers do not match and then you have the three versions below, So with 5 variants all claiming to be a measurement of the ground it makes it impossible to know which is right, Whites has their GND and Disc scales as do Fisher and ML have their version and their disc showing Fe/Co and then there is the scales used by companies from the EU, The whole thing is a mess because there is no standard measurement, The Whites system seems to be the best with -95/+95 and the GND meter with Iron on the Disc being below Zero and Non Ferrous being above Zero. because zero being the starting point as with Speed whether it is MPH/KPH and Temperature and the list goes on, but when it comes to detectors the whole thing is a Mess. 0 – 10 Wet salt and alkali 5 – 25 Metallic iron. Very few soils in this range. You are probably over metal. 26–39 Very few soils in this range -- occasionally some saltwater beaches 40–75 Red, yellow and brown iron-bearing clay minerals 75–95 Magnetite and other black iron minerals 7 Bars -------- High over 1 over 2500 2 to 6 Bars -- Medium .026 - 1.0 61 - 2,500 1 Bar --------- Very Low 0.006 - .025 15 - 60 none -- less than .006 less than 15 3 --- 7,500 --- uncommon but not rare, heavy mineralization 1 --- 2,500 --- heavy mineralization, not uncommon in goldfields 0.3 --- 750 --- heavy mineralization, but not uncommon in some regions 0.1 --- 250 --- medium mineralization, typical 0.03 --- 75 --- light mineralization, but common 0.01 --- 25 --- light mineralization, often low G.C. setting blank <14 --- quartz & coral white beach sands

It was my understanding that Iron oxide was the base layer/ingredient for Iron, As in one of the three main ingredients of Iron. Fe2 o3, So I call it Iron Oxide because it is a lot easier to call it that or remember how to spell or pronounce Magnetite (ferrosic oxide) Fe304 OR Maghemite Fe203(gamma ferric oxide) Both of which I copied from that link you posted. bottom line is they are all Iron variants, So I find it easier to stick them all under the one label. When heated up like back when the big bang happened Fe2o3 then turned black and became Fe304 or Black Sand (magnetite). QUOTE:- from Page 19 from MXT Pro/All Pro Manual. B. Checking outcropping or veins, the ground phase can also be useful in a similar way by indicating the consistency or change of the veins ground phase. Generally speaking, the ground numbers will hold fairly consistent in most open terrain areas, such as hydraulic sites and desert areas. GND readings in the high 70’s and 80’s are considered heavy iron mineralization. Alkali or salt areas will display much lower numbers, possibly into the 30’s and 40’s. NOTE- Watching the change in Ground Number in the upper right of the display, you will first look for a change to a high number indicating high mineralization or black sand. When that streak is identified you will then look for the Ground Number to lower again at one end of the streak indicating where the flour gold or gold ore may be concentrated. End Quote. QUOTE, Iron(III) oxide or ferric oxide is the inorganic compound with the formula Fe2O3. It is one of the three main oxides of iron, the other two being iron(II) oxide (FeO), which is rare, and iron(II,III) oxide (Fe3O4), which also occurs naturally as the mineral magnetite. As the mineral known as hematite, Fe2O3 is the main source of iron for the steel industry. Fe2O3 is ferromagnetic, dark red, and readily attacked by acids. Iron(III) oxide is often called rust, and is acidic in nature and to some extent this label is useful, because rust shares several properties and has a similar composition. To a chemist, rust is considered an ill-defined material, described as hydrated ferric oxide.

I like the Ground Phase on the MXT's, Although it can be used to follow the black sand "50" is the mid way point/starting point So a GND reading of 86 is fairly hot but also a reading of 14 is equally hot because they are both +/- 36 of the 50, Numbers above 50 relates to the amount of Iron Oxides present and numbers below 50 indicate the amount of Alkali's (Salt) are present, with this system or any other for that matter can help you decide which coil type or size would be the best option, More so when in ground with lower numbers because detectors loose sensitivity the further the numbers dip below 50 So that is the time to deploy something like a small concentric in order to recoup some of the lost sensitivity. High GND numbers are a double edge sword and can bite you on the rump, Because for one you have to drop the gain and the bigger the coil the lower you have to go, People often blame the Ground for this but ? in a way it is to blame but when your detector picks a high Ground Phase number to suit the ground conditions, It actually makes the detector very sensitive to tiny bits of metal and ground conditions, You can prove this to your self, If you own a Whites machine or and MXT/GMT get your self an 0.02 gm bit of lead and stick it to a ruler and set the machine in tracking and turn it on and once it has fired up then lock the GB and the GND meter will be locked to 50 now max out the gain and wave the bit of lead in front of the coil and if you are lucky the machine should just about pick it up, and make a note of the distance, Then shut the machine off and leave the tracking locked and switch the machine back on so it's GND/ground phase reads 85/86 and max out the gain and wave the bit of lead in front of the coil again and check the distance and compare the two tests. The change in distances between the two is quite a bit, When out in the wilds and your GB is reading in the high 80's the machine is going to tell you to turn it down so you are going to loose depth and sensitivity and the only way to redeem some of the sensitivity is to go to a coil like the 5.3 and work the gain back up until the machine starts to get noisy and back it off just a touch. If you want to find the small stuff with a VLF in hot ground then forget the 6x10's and go smaller because the smaller the coil the less ground the machine see's and the higher you can run your Gain, Mix that high Gain with the high GND/Ground Phase numbers = sensitivity to tiny Items helping you to use the higher GND/GP in your favour and in shallow bedrock and soil less that 8-10" deep you won't be missing much. Air test don't mean much apart from show how different coils react But if you air test you machine at it's mid GB point and then up near it's higher limits you will have a good idea how it will respond to tiny bits in hot ground and if you back the gain down to 75%ish it will paint a better picture of real world usage, hope that helps, John.

Yep for sure, I wonder how many ounces have been found since by ordinary prospectors, and since then detectors have been used for everything from finding nuggets to clearing mines along with many other uses, Who would of thought a simple hobby would be so far reaching.

Yep he is a fast learner and he has all the right gear so success is just around the corner. the recent influx of LF machines has opened a lot of peoples eyes that were once blinkered by PI machines, finally people are taking note, they seem to forget that the biggest nugget ever found with a detector was found with a VLF in the GT in a time before PI's were invented, Since then Recovery speed has got better so has Disc and ground balance systems work in all but the most extreme conditions, Not to mention that even big Coils are a lot hotter than the little ones we use to use back in the 80's. My largest coils can see bits down to 0.02 on the surface. Even though I prefer VLF's I like searching hot ground because I can get the detector running right on the edge and a few things happen that either people don't know or they just ignore but in shallow ground and junk sites these LF machines really come in to their own.

You can cheat with an auto tracking machine if you want to up the GB a bit by ground balancing but only lowering you Coil down to 4 or 5 inches off the ground or even higher and you can make it go the other way by only raising it by about 3 inches from the ground and by letting the coil linger on the ground, So you can off set the GB to suit although you have little control by how much, I know with one pump of the coil it will be slightly negative and at two pumps it will be slightly positive and by the third pump it will be more so making a bit more noise as you lower the coil, but as a rule it always ground balances with 2 pumps of the coil or if I have had the tracking locked If I press and release the ground grab it update to the current GB setting that the detector see's without have to pump the coil and it only takes about half a second or less for it to GB it's self, Manual GB is handy for those who like to tweak things but if you only have Auto track and Lock you can imitate it to a fair degree.

Somebody once said beware of the man with only One Gun because he proberly knows how to use it, Detectors are the same, Although my VLF is a new older design I never worry about what others are using or how much more theirs cost, I have seen the Gold others have found and I know what I have found and I have used it from the UK to Gympie QLD and the GT, So a person needs to trust the machine and if they know it well enough then most of all they need to trust them selves, All the modern Hi frequency machine are very cool and the ones you have can a will do the deed if you let them teach you, forget your bad habits from past machines, If prospecting is your thing then work on that mode first and watch Chris Ralph's videos over and over til it sinks in. He's a good teacher not only does he tell you what things do but how and why. Too many videos tell you how to change things but they don't tell you why or the cause and effect involved and the manuals are not much chop either, this is why doing your own testing is important when you don't have others around or close by to help.

Well Mate, every time you start to have doubts go and read Steve's list about Gold detectors just to remind your self how good they are, That alone will give you the driving force and keep you focussed, You Own some of the best gear on the planet looking at your list of gear, So believe it. ML did not rerelease the 4500 by accident, As for JW finding a nugget 0.23 grams I bet if he tried harder he could find a smaller one with the Equinox if he tried, With yours I would be testing it out using fired Bricks and buckshot working on your settings until you can get out because you will know the machine much better by time you get out in the field, There is no substitute for really knowing your machine before you go out detecting, Searching for Gold is hard enough which is why you don't want to be learning the machine when you should be detecting then you can concentrating on looking for Gold listening to every little squeak and chirp as well as using your eyes to follow the geology that will lead you to the gold.

Many folks chop and change machines search for that magic machine but it does not exist, The machine a person should stick with is the model they had the most success with which is why I won't change my VLF, some folks have bought and sold at leased 10 maybe more machines this past year and they are back to square one, If people would finesse their skills with the machine that they were most successful with then they would not need to keep wasting money on machines that are a repeat of what they already have I won't change my VLF, because if I want to find tiny nuggets I use the 5.3 coil and if I want to go deep I use the 14x10 or the 15" Concentric which works like a VLF version of a Mono, A GPX 4500/5K would be next on my list and another GMT because both of these two are bench marks and if a person has no success with these two then it's down to their skill level, Makes and models can only help do so much. the rest is down to doing the hard yards. We can only blame the machine for so long and chopping and changing is not the answer.

I hope Whites always keeps that GB system because it is so good and fast, I would like to see them add a see through mineralization feature to that GB and then depth would be improved along with target ID, But I would like to see Whites add 2 extra push pads to the MXT for manual GB.

No GB it is the Detech Excelerator EQ2 Pro 14x10, I have one on the machine and a brand new one still in it's box as a spare. This is It, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DETECH-14-x-10-DD-Elliptical-COIL-for-Whites-DFX-MXT-Series-M6-and-MX5/273363022240?hash=item3fa5b4b1a0:g:5bEAAOSwQz1bKBgR

I have a 14x10 on my VLF and next to the 5.3/6" coil it is my favourite and it is the same weight as the standard 10" DD but it adds a few inches depth on coins and on larger items it goes really deep.

It's not just you, that is the world we live in now, $1000 for an Iphone and they bring out a new one 6 months later, and the new comers to the hobby who work for these companies are trying to do the same to detecting and we have had quite a few machines put on the market that are less than Inspiring even on a good day, I would much rather they spent a couple of years getting it right than blow my hard earned cash and regret it a week later as we have seen in the past,