araratgold

Found another nice bit in one of my flogged spots today, beside a little patch in State forest. Went 3.6 grams. Also got an 0.2 gram crumb. 
Rough reef gold, as were all the bits from here. 

Only out for a couple of hours today, going to put a full day in tomorrow ! 

How well do these new Russian coils go ! Still had none of the problems that JP was talking about, and it balanced fine over the ferrite ! Ground here is bloody noisy in patches, but was still able to run Normal HY over most of it, which I could NEVER do with the GPZ14 or GPZ19. 

 
Rick 

26 minutes ago, Norvic said:

I like your phone analogy MN, tis unreal that the consumer can spend about the same on a 6" phone as on a 60"TV, both Android except iphones of course.

With ML it seems they push the SDC for those who want smaller coils, the Z for their 14 & 19. Hard to understand why they put that chip in the coil connector not in the coil itself, why bother...…….. buh ……………..ML works in mysterious ways but you cannot knock their detector technology as they are light years ahead. 

Got to agree with you Norvic. I thought when the ZED first came out that the chip was in the coil, but learned later it was actually in the plug. If they had have put the chip in the coil, we would all be stuffed !

Probably a mistake on their behalf, because now there is nothing they can do to stop the flow of aftermarket coils.

Rick

Likewise Norvic, I have found I can use normal a lot more now. Stability is great, as is EMI resistance.

In addition to my awesome 17 X coil, I have a 12 round and a 22 x 21 coming. Can't wait to see how well the big " Russian jobbie " goes on some deep ground !

The way these coils are performing, I can see Minelab taking a big hit to sales of their GPZ19. 

Cheers, Rick

3 hours ago, jasong said:

Heard! Carrying and packing/repacking all that stuff every target can be a real test of patience. 

Appreciate you taking the time to make this one. Agree with Strick, footage looks real sharp. Good to see a video where I can hear the sounds.

Gidday Jasong,

Thanks. I finally have a good video camera, and it has a plug in microphone that I have covered with some sponge to dull the wind noise. The stock built in microphones are terrible when it comes to windy days !

Cheers, Rick

2 minutes ago, jasong said:

Wow... That signal was a screamer in HY, not that far from overload. If you are completely confident that you gridded that specific spot and that wasnt even a whisper with the stock coil then that's crazy impressive.

Would be awesome to see a comparison of a signal like that if you happen to have a hunting buddy with a stock GPZ, or feel like switching coils for benefit of a vid. If it's that big a difference I for one would void my warranty and forget about resale value as that much difference can easily pay and more.

All the reports from people who have these new coils are good, and from what I have seen in a week so far they are impressive, much better than the stock coil.

I would like to do comparisons, but I hunt alone, and it was hard enough carting a video camera with small tripod around with me, let alone a stock coil as well ! Not to mention having to swap the coils around, which is not as quick and easy as swapping GPX coils, plus I don't want to be changing too often as I don't want to possibly damage the adapter lead.

Cheers, Rick

Got out today for a few hours in between showers and managed to get one nice little 1.5 grammer in an area I have carefully gridded with stringlines. Was detecting in HY Normal, sensitivity 18 and no smoothing. 17 inch X coil.

Ground was damp and normal moaned a bit, but the targets still yelled out. Normal general ran noticeably quieter that normal HY.

Filmed in 4K with a new dedicated video camera, hope you enjoy. The X coil is dynamite, and I can see many more nuggets coming ! ?

Cheers, Rick

All good thanks JP, no offence taken at all.

Cheers, Rick

Gidday Jin,

I've been using picks made by " bluejeansronald " for a long time, they are great.

Contact him through Prospecting Australia Forum, he also has them on eBay from time to time.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15914&p=1

Pictures of them by Mbasko down the first page a bit.

Cheers, Rick

4 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Or it could be because a “Coil Not Connected” problem is too scary to deal with?????

Rick, the idea behind the Ferrite is to calibrate the detector so it does not make a noise on X signal in the ground (of which Victoria has huge amounts). When X signal is present it adds additional noise to the audio akin to not achieving a correct Ground Balance, it also means your ‘G’ Balance will try to compensate thereby causing a ripple effect to the general behaviour of your machine. If anyone refuses to use the Ferrite then I HIGHLY recomend they use the Auto Ground Balance mode. 

As an example every time you visit a location your machine will behave slightly differently depending on where the X balance ends up which then affects the G balance, this might explain why some targets are still present (although you have mentioned not finding anything of note for some time at the location).

Using Auto Ground Balance also opens up another can of worms in the form of Salt and Saturation signal, Salt will be problematic on any larger coil on GPZs, Saturation signal is very bad on the X coils. Any of these signal responses WILL throw the X balance out!! This is why I advocate the USE of the Ferrite and to use the SEMI-AUTO mode at all times. Edge of detection targets really benefit a lot from having a correctly set X balance through the use of the Ferrite, after all this is what the GPZ 7000 is all about, DEEP gold! Why allow any sort of noise into the signal train when you have the option of removing it? 

Out of curiosity are you using Audio Smoothing at all? Also Volume, Sensitivity and Threshold levels would be interesting? 

JP

JP,

I understand the theory behind the ferrite. I use semi auto, and as you know, the machine "learns" the ground and compensates as it goes. As I said, I have found no positive difference in using the ferrite, after many tests of in ground targets, which is why I stopped using it. In fact, if anything, I found the the ferrite can actually over compensate for the ground, especially if you are in quieter ground. Just my findings, yours may be different.

I use no audio smoothing, my machine runs just fine without it. Sensitivity at least 16, usually 18, and often 20 when night detecting. Threshold 25, volume 18, threshold pitch 37 and volume limit 16.

As you know JP, ground noise is a delicate balancing act. I always try to use normal, but when ground noise gets too much you have to go to difficult, with the corresponding loss of depth ! Deciding the point where ground noise is negating the benefit of normal is the $64K question !

Cheers, Rick

16 minutes ago, Jonathan Porter said:

So the coil Ferrite balances OK? I presume you were using High Yield Difficult? Give General Difficult a run on stick and knocks and see how it goes. I also presume this is a Spiral wound coil?

Not stirring the pot here am genuinely interested and value your feedback.

JP

Gidday JP,

Did not even bother with the ferrrite, haven't for  about a year now. To be honest, I have not seen any improvement / difference between using the ferrite or not, when testing over buried targets, or general prospecting.

I was using HY Normal for most of the time, just to see how much ground feedback I got. The ground where I was varies from medium to nasty, with lots of hot rocks and hot pockets of clay. A bit of ground noise where I got the 2 targets, but the two targets still jumped out ! Other areas the ground was too noisy to run normal, so went to difficult and HY.

Tried a number of different settings, including general difficult, which is generally my go to for raw prospecting. No bump sensitivity at all. Same with general / extra deep. These coils have excellent build quality !

The coil is a super D similar to Minelab, not spiral wound.

EMI was also good too, considering the wet and windy weather we have at the moment.

Cheers, Rick

Gidday All,

Managed to get two hours in today before rain chased me home with the 17 inch Russian X coil.

Blew me away just how good this coil is ! I purposely picked a small area of State forest that I have flogged for the last 10 years, with all 3 different GPX detectors, with coils from 11-25 inches, the SDC, and even a QED. This spot has yielded many ounces of gold to me from 0.05g up to 33g. I had declared it " dead ", as my last 10 or so efforts with the standard GPZ14 and GPZ19 have yielded nothing more.

2 hours in today, nearly back to the car, and I get an obvious signal. This was slightly downhill from a small patch of small reef gold, in an area that I have literally smashed.
Coil was about 2 inches above the ground because of sticks and clumpy grass. Removed said obstacles and signal firmer. 4 inches in and I am in nice gravel, target now screaming, out pops what turns out to be buck shot. Bugger, but this is from a spot that I have NEVER managed to get a target in ! 

Moved about 10m along and same thing, another obvious target, once again coil 2 inches over the ground. Dug in and same again, 4 inches down in nice gravel, target screaming louder than the buckshot, out pops what turns out to be an 0.65 gram bit of reef gold ! I'll be buggered, I thought ! 

Rain then chased me home.

Coil was very sensitive, being able to pick up my 0.11g test piece at 2 inches. I tried knocking the coil against a tree a few times and no bump sensitivity. 17 round weighs the same as the GPZ14. All in all, a fantastic coil. Don't know what the Russians have done differently, but Minelab need to have a good hard look ! 

Further testing to come when our shitty weather finally breaks.

Cheers, Rick

48 minutes ago, Aureous said:

Nukem, talk to a dealer who there at the conference. Tell them that you heard about the 3 different machines including a new Pulse gold unit due out this FY. If you know them well enough, you'll tell right away if its true. I've heard it from 2 dealers and confirmed it with a 3rd. The SDC is almost 5 years old and the GPZ is 4 years old in November. They are BOTH due for a replacement this FY. ML upgrades their units in each market niche every 4 years on average.

The GPZ is already OVER 4 years old, got mine first week of March 2015.

Cheers, Rick

51 minutes ago, RedDirtDigger said:

Info coming in few months...release in november for christmas maybe?

maybe just once Minelab will provide a detector with a longer shaft that a tall person can use comfortably and give you a control box cover to protect your big $$ investment! ...and plastic that doesn’t break and charger wires that are not thin as hair. Its the design package that lacks not the platform.

im a lover not a minelab hater, i have had most gold models since the 2000, its just that they never listen

I'm hearing you RDD,

Even way back when I was a Minelab dealer I wrote to them numerous times about the lack of quality of their chargers, curly cables, and the fact that the shafts were too damned short ! They only thing they did improve was the curly cables, which are at least serviceable now ! The shafts are still too short for anyone about 5 foot 10 or taller ! The wires on the chargers are still very light weight and fragile, and not up to the job when you are knocking about out bush ! The wires for the SDC headphones at the plug were a disgrace !

For the amount of money we pay, and their supposed " military spec ", some of the stuff they produce is just crap !

Rick

Bang for buck you cannot beat a new 4500, with an EVO coil. Will work anywhere in Australia !

Rick

RR,

I won't use anything less than a PI here in Oz for serious prospecting. The noisy ground and hot rocks will drive you mad with a VLF !

The ZED is my weapon of choice, but I also have a new 4500 with an arsenal of coils as backup.

You can pick up GPX 4000's for a song, this is what I would consider to be the minimum these days, especially if you are detecting in well done areas.

Back in the 80's to early 90's when big slugs were lying around in virgin fields the VLF's did well. Not now, as they only get the tiny crumbs that PI's have left behind here in Oz.

Good luck with it all,

Cheers, Rick

Nice JP, and it's great that your lads come out with you. Father and son time is precious !

Cheers,

Rick

2 hours ago, Hard Prospector said:

I need a new lower rod for my Gold Monster, any suggestions where to get one would be appreciated.............Thanks!

Minelab dealer !

12 minutes ago, PG-Prospecting said:

Yes I meant that the big coil tires me out quickly.  I Always try to take my time and swing slowly.  

 

araratgold -  Are the evo coils much better then the commander coils?  I know my buddy who found a number of patches in VA runs a 14X9 evo coil as his primary coil.  

Yes  PG, no question the EVO coils are better. 

Don't get me wrong, the commander coils are good, but heavy for their size !

The EVO coils are lighter, punch deeper, and seem to handle EMI much better than anything else on the market, with perhaps the exception of the Coiltek Elite coils.

Rick

PG-Prospecting,

There is no question that the ZED is heavier than any other detector, but it is manageable.

From all the testing I have done with my 4500 with EVO coil vs the GPZ, the 4500 is only marginally behind in most cases. ( I have both machines ).

Where the ZED shines is on porous / reef gold and gold that is standing on edge.

Is the price difference worth it : For me yes as I spend huge hours each year prospecting and my ZED has paid for itself at least 20 times over. For the average bloke the 4500 with an EVO coil will do most things the ZED can do, for less than half the price, and with less weight ! The 4500 is also more versatile with its many coil combinations ( DD, mono, AI ) and ability, for example, to run a DD in cancel under or near powerlines, or an AI beside an electric fence.

PS : I am in Victoria, Australia, so don't know your specific region.

YouTube channel :  https://www.youtube.com/user/AraratGold

Rick

I've just bought a Phantom 4 Pro Plus, to use as Pat has, for an aid to raw prospecting. It will be especially handy for my annual trip to Western Australia, as I will be raw prospecting at the outer edges of known goldfields. Check out this clip I did today, it's maiden flight. Unbelievably clear and stable 4K footage, and what a blast flying it ! Had a minor heart failure when I got out over the ocean, but composed myself enough to bring it home, then manual landed it ! Later I got my head around the auto takeoff and return to home feature.

Cheers,

Rick

Gidday Guys,

My name is Rick and that is my video.

I was hunting in normal ground mode, high yield, no smoothing, sensitivity at 17, auto tracking

I always try to run normal because it punches so much deeper than difficult and gives brighter responses ! You do get ground noise ( groans ), but the targets still come over the top of the groans.

The area I was prospecting ranges from noisy to very noisy, ( broken down ironstone ) and very variable, but the big ZED coil seems to handle the ground better than the 14 inch coil.
I will often cross check iffy targets using difficult, because if it is ground noise the target will usually disappear after a few passes. And yes, kiwijw, that's what I was demonstrating.

I have yet to track out even a faint legitimate target. 

Hope this answers your questions !

Cheers, Rick