Reg Wilson

The wireless system that I use is the Quest Mate, linked with Bose noise cancelling ear buds, and Bauhn noise cancelling headphones worn over the buds. The headphones are not linked to the detector but are used in noise cancelling mode to help overcome the diesel noise from the Polaris diesel engine. This works just fine with the normally noisy engine almost totally blanked out.

Well that seals the deal. Now i've gotta have one.

Does the large coil come with a bidet?

You need to put a drop of whiskey in the 'bladder' to stop algae from forming.

I want to hear what Jonathon thinks of the new machine. There were dealers from all over, under threat of death to keep it 'mum', but needles to say, Jonathon must of been there, or if not, must have already been kept in the loop, maybe testing before release. These other dealers don't have his experience, so I for one wait to hear from Jonathan.

Released at Ballarat. Why not? Now for price and availability. Looks light, a whole lot lighter that some that I've swung.

A new harness for the new beast. Is that a clue that it weighs a ton? I hope not or I'm out.

Better to be an early adopter than a double adapter.😗

Just a thought. I wonder if my old mate Bruce Candy had anything to do with this new detector, or has Bruce faded into retirement and left it up to the younger 'whiz kids' to come up with new ideas?

Never had a Minelab detector that didn't pay for its self in a very short time. Count me in for the next top end development.

PI detectors have probably found me the most gold. Both prototype and production models, but a prototype GT 16000 found me the most gold in one day. !03 ozs.

I think that the massive totals found years back would have been with machines like the Garret Deepseeker, maybe the Whites or even the Bounty Hunter RB7. Later came the Groundhog and then the first Minelabs like the 15000 and shortly later the ground breaking 16000, the first auto ground tracking detector. The coming of the first Minelab pulse induction produced some pretty big hauls. A friend of mine returned from a short trip to WA with over 400 ozs. It damned near covered a pool table. Today I use a 6000 which suits me fine, but I doubt it could ever produce as much as some of those old machines. It was a different time.

Without a doubt the 12"x6" hybrid wound X coil would be my choice, however they are not being made any more, but if you get a chance to buy a used one, grab it.

Can't see how shielding could be such a big problem as from the 16000 to the 7000 and 6000 plastic has been the casing used. Lining the casing with metal foil should do the job. I was very tempted to 'hotrod' the 7000 as is is a ridiculously heavy beast, and by using Kevlar just as a beginning, the weight could be reduced dramatically. I have used Kevlar in coil building and it is amazingly strong and does not require a very thick application as does plastic or polyester. Nuggetfinder and Xcoils have demonstrated that coil weight can be reduced and a Kevlar coil would reduce the weight even further. Admittedly price would increase by using Kevlar, but I for one would be happy to pay extra just to avoid the 'Neanderthal' barge that we have been forced to swing. What sort of tester would give their blessing to a detector that could have been designed by the 'tea lady'? We are talking big money for these detectors, and the 7000 in particular falls short in design genius in the unnecessary weight this machine is burdened with. The electronics are revolutionary but the usability betrays the fact that not enough consideration has been given to the possibility of long term physical damage suffered by by the users of heavy detectors. I sold my 7000 because of the pain in my wrist caused by a motorcycle accident where as my 6000 gives me no trouble at all even after long periods of time in the field. If an 8000 eventuates I hope that Minelab have learned to build a lighter version than its predecessor.

There are no American made cars in Formula 1 nor American motorcycles in Moto GP. Why? Beats me. It seems that there are some areas where America does not dominate.