Gerry in Idaho

I was told he'd sit in 1 spot on the ATV, turn the pivot and that coil would cover a swath of ground about 30 feet. He'd pull forward 2 feet and do it again, pull forward 2 feet and again. I've seen drag coils out here as well.

Probably 20" round Super Lite.

Not yet as they recently cancelled the Spring one. With enough Covid varieties, we might not make it this year at all. Most countries are still pretty strict to foreign travelers.

Glad Dave was able to make it right with you. Yes the before pic was stunning gorgeous and what you received was...aye....gold. He's been around a long time, so he understands the importance of keeping customers happy. Yes, silver wire wrap really highlights gold.

Years ago I had a wise customer who was always trying to make things better. He spent much of his free time chasing gold nuggets at Rye Patch, NV in the 90's and early 2000's (when pickings were good). He always wanted to cover ground and chase the big ones. One time he calls me to order some Coiltek coil wiring (extension) as he has long dreams. I seen him out there with his new long shaft and boy was it longer than I had expected. Has anyone seen anything similar or just as crazy? On a side note, this beautiful Horse Nugget of 6 ounces was found in the road at Rye Patch proper. Seems most of us had walked over it for years thinking a beer can in the middle of the road when in fact it was the biggest piece of gold I have seen come from Rye Patch. I know one of my Staff found a 5+ oz'er one time and Chuck/Gracie from TX showed me a 5 oz'er, but this one has character. If anyone knows of bigger gold nuggets from actual Rye Patch proper or of a longer shaft on their Minelab, I'd love to see. Enjoy everyone and stay out of my swing path, all 30 feet of it.

As much of the Kalgoorlie area I was in (very flat), the bus cold get around quite well. Nice new ride and you have rooms for tourists too.

Advice from a seasoned detectorist is as good as it gets. Now you have Karma and a couple new people who are thankful for your knowledge. Great read and thanks for sharing.

1st off Matt, Welcome to the finest and most informative gold nugget detecting forum in the US...and has been for it's lifetime. 2nd, If you have a lady (your wife) who enjoys going along on such detecting adventures, hats off to you...you have what most of us don't. X-Terra 705. Did you make a mistake on its purchase? Really doesn't matter, it's old business now and over with. But how to get the most out of that detector for chasing gold. As Chase mentioned, the most important part of coil selection is for the size of gold and what reality is of the gold you'll be finding. Small 6" round HF coil is best for small pickers. 10" ellip HF is good for ground coverage in semi rough terrain and the 9" round HF (not the 7.5 kHz 9" round) is great depth in non mineralized soils (not very often, but some tailing piles when hunting marble size nuggets and above. Is a 15" round HF coil the best for bigger deeper gold. Most certainly, but also the hardest to find and most rare. My suggestion to you. Go do it a few times with small 6" HF coil and the 10" Ellip coil and see how much fun you enjoy digging lead. If finding small bird shot lead gets you excited, then I know you have the patience to be a gold hunter. If your next go around for a detector is in the near future (within the next year), at that time step up to the Equinox 800 and you'll have a detector that can be used in salt water beaches, better than the detectors you mentioned, is a better coin/relic detector than ones mentioned and also a better nugget unit than what you mentioned. Don't worry about that...until that time arrives though. Lead is your friend and small #8 and #9 birdshot lead find shows your proper coil control and operating of the detector. Keep chasing those and sooner or later the detector will mess up and you'll actually dig a piece of gold. All pictures are some of my X-Terra 70 and 705 gold finds. I used the HF - 18.75kHz coils of different sizes for all kills. We look forward to hearing of your adventures and seeing success when it happens.

When Minelab had their Worldwide Conference (last yrs was cancelled, someone coughed), I was scheduled to go for 3 weeks. I'm actually planning on doing 4 weeks this trip as I want to spend a couple weeks in the bush again. I love roo-jerkey, big scrambled eggs and chasing Au of all types. I'll also do a week of beach/water hunting and hope to meet up with the lady water hunter Jean. I hope some of you DP members can all come over and show us Yanks how to run a metal detector. My last trip to Kalgoorlie was only good for about 3 ounces with half of it being a nice speci. The 1st pic - I learned what fly specs were.

You did better than most Jason, but I know you worked for it. Don't be so hard on the new GPX-6000 this time, like you did in the 7000. What I like about you, even though you were not happy at 1st, you came back around and purchased another one, realizing the 7000 is a serious gold detector. Yes I too enjoy the old GP's, but for the majority of my hunts in non trash areas the 7000 is king...(but might be dethroned soon) - GPX-6000. We'll see you this next coming winter on here, unless you get a 6000 and need a quick fix.

You had me wondering Vicr so I just opened my box of Vanquish 540's and all coils have covers attached. I do not have the 340 in stock to check. Now that I think of it, possibly the early Go Finds may not have had coil covers either. Thanks for educating us and I guess I owe you $5.

I so much enjoy seeing other prospectors rigs and you guys in Australia take some serious thoughts into it. That is one fine looking home on wheels and I can see you took some serious time to think out each detail. Best of luck with it this year. Thanks for sharing... PS. I'll trade you a few GPX-6000's.

On my Meteorite Hunt to AZ 2 weeks ago (yes I'll post about it later) I put a new coil cover on my GPZ-7000. That trip put me in the field chasing meteorites for 2 days and gold nuggets for 2 days. When the trip was complete, I removed the 4 day old GPZ and the stinking $50 cover had 2 holes already in it. The X-Terra stock 9" round coils, the FBS series detectors, the Gold Monster Coils and the GPZ coils are all a softer plastic that easily wears out. The previous SD/GP and GPX detectors have the covers made of a harder plastic and it slides across the ground easier and last longer. I'm most certain the GPX-6000 will have coil covers on the coils when purchased. Heck for many years in the USA, Minelab was the only company that provided coil covers already on the coils. To be fair though, their detectors were 2 and 3X the price of American units.

I see you like to chase big deep gold and if that's the case I think a GPX-5000 with the 30+ coils options out there might give you more diversity and at a lower price. Now if you are like me and prefer lighter weight and better ergonomics and as a bonus, the GPX-6000 is said to perform better on smaller gold (the majority out there), then the 6000 is the way to go. You have a dealer in Anchorage that might be able to help you out. If for some reason he does not have the inventory when you are ready to purchase, or you'd like to get from a dealer who offers Field Training, just look me up. But give him 1st offer as he is in your area. I see you swing a 24K, how you like it? It was one of my favorite VLF gold only detectors.

Heck, The dealer who offered up the detector for free, he wanted to make $5 profit so probably took the coil cover off. You might be right though on the beginner models, but I don't sell enough of those. All Minelabs I have sold in the US for 20+ yrs came with coil covers. At least you won a free Minelab detector.

To be honest. This is the best kept secret (at least for the US Dealers) I have seen in my 20+ years selling Minelabs. Heck, nobody has even mentioned the GPX-6500 yet.

I like that rumor but I can not confirm at this time. My reasoning is Condor mentioned the DD coil on the detector when he seen it at the show and I do not see Minelab USA showing one thing and then selling us something different. This is not like picking up lady at the bar and waking up next morning to something different.

As of my discussion with the big bosses of corporate Minelab USA in Chicago, YES it's an option for the dealers. I expect most dealers will not offer the 15% off this detector as the margins won't allow for it, but a few of us ( being a VET myself - USMC), I'll try my best to make it work. I just can't see Minelab who makes the landmine sweep detectors for US Military and NATO forces and getting big government contracts for their technologies...just walking away from our military families....I absolutely won't and they know where I stand. Actually, I have yet to find a company that offers Veterans a better discount than what Minelab offers. Hats off to them for doing so...but I don't know for how long, as penny counters (share holders) might put the squeeze on any potential profit leaving their pockets.

As one of the few 20+ yr Senior Minelab Dealers and who is active on this fine DP forum (1st 3 months of DP's life and happy ever since. In fact I don't even waste my time, posts & share knowledge on other forums). I have come to the conclusion on the GPX-6000, just follow the Africans, as they seem to be getting info to us faster than the rest of the world. I have also decided this detector and its features are worthy of my Field Staff and I owning it. I also feel the same for my many successful customers in past and future. Here is the start of my Minelab GPX-6000 Pre-Orders list. Price of detector is $6000 for US customers or about 3 ounces of gold nuggets. If you want to get on the list contact Gerry's Detectors at www.gerrysdetectors.com or ring me up. Looking forward to filling up the Training Classes already on my website. Think positive and think big...

Chuck, The Equinox just keeps becoming more and more popular and this is going into 4 yrs now...my sales are just as strong. I don't think the $50 price increase had anything to do with CoilTeks introduction of the new NOX coils. The price increase was only for the US (if I am not mistaken) and CoilTek is worldwide. I think the 10" coil will do a few things the 6" can not, mainly getting the tip in tight crevices. The the extra ground coverage for a small coil is ideal. If it performs like most VLF gold detectors, it will soon become a standard for prospectors and folks detecting semi trashy areas.

What many people don't realize is how small of gold the NOX can find. Look at the pic of the little nuggie pickers Steve posted. Pull a dime out of your pocket and then look at the letters in the word "LIBERTY". Notice the size of the smaller nuggets to the letters. Folks, most people have no clue until they actually see it happen. The "Multi Purpose" NOX is actually 3 detectors in one. 1. Coin/Relic, 2. Beach/Water, 3. Prospecting. What's even more amazing, the Engineers have already set the algorithms up for the different modes. They are Factory Preset into the detector so when you want to chase gold nuggets, grab your gold detector "the NOX" and decide what coil is best for the terrain and size of gold you wish to chase. You want to hunt for old coins and relics or even want to follow me to Cancun/Bahamas, grab the NOX and lets go. No more GB-2, no more CTX3030, no more GM-1000, no more XP Deus. Just the NOX and the coils to match the hunt. Thanks CoilTek for adding 3 more tools to help my NOX find me more Treasures.

As a nugget hunter who enjoys finding my share of gold and then part of others. I myself would never use a Gold Monster-1000 over an Equinox 800. Never for any reason at all. the GM-1000 is old technology when compared to the NOX. Now, I do enjoy selling GM-1000's to folks and especially those who want the most User Friendly Turn On and Go gold detector out there. Many customers do not hunt gold as often as I do or in as many states and or countries. Simplicity is what is best for those who go only a few times. The GM-1000 is also a fantastic 2nd detector for the person who likes taking kids/grand kids, cheap friends/relatives or the wife on occasion. Just turn it on and start swinging. Most importantly to me, is to get the right detector for the customer, not necessarily what I use.

I just doubled down on my order, as I now see they adjusted the price more accordingly. I feel the 10" ellip and the 15" round will be my own 2 that gets used most. Can't wait to get back into some of those rough terrain areas that produce big gold with my NOX and find a few more. 10"X5" NOX COIL #C04-0018 $219 14"X9" NOX COIL #C04-0019 $239 15" NOX COIL #C04-0020 $269 Contact me at www.gerrysdetectors.com to get your coils ordered. Yes, all finds pictures are of my NOX usage. And as a VET myself, I also offer the 15% military discount on most Minelab Detectors.

Yes, we both want to make that happen and it would be nice to do some side by side comparisons of the GPX and GPZ. PM me the best month and possible dates, so we can start planning. Then we can share the info/knowledge on DP so we all can learn more.