Jump to content

Mike Dawson

Banned
  • Posts

    41
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Mike Dawson's Achievements

Contributor

Contributor (2/6)

19

Reputation

  1. I still have to find gold with the Impact on Australia,s Victorian goldfields. Went to a surfaced area near Maryborough where many years ago my mate found a 1 oz. nugget a a 30 oz nugget 6 feet apart in a few minutes. Detected there for nearly 2 days in GEN all metal mode and found nothing but some silver foil and hot rocks.I did not find any other metallic rubbish.Area very clean.As previously stated I am in two tones when in GEN mode and the rocks give nice quacking sound. Got bored and started testing the Impact on a squashed drink can lying on the ground. In GEN mode it was giving a good signal at a puny 12 inches and petered out at 15. In DEEP mode I got 24 inches and petered out at 27 inches.Thats double, so why bother using GEN mode? Again I buried a 1.5 inch diameter rolled up piece of foil 8 inches deep in the red clay in the surfaced area and GEN picked it up nicely with a shrieking very high pitched tone signifying it was non ferrous metal. However in DEEP mode I was getting a loud sharp signal 12 inches above the ground, but not the very high pitch sound as in GEN, So no contest between the two.The ground varied from 50% to 80% on the mineralisation meter but DEEP mode just kept on plodding on irrespective of the settings and made a mockery of GEN mode. With the default setting of 40 in the tone break any hot rocks did not give a tone but a broken static sound in DEEP mode and was rejecting them.To look for gold nuggets I reduced the tone break to 15 so as to not get the same outcome , and if I want to hear all iron and hot rocks maybe even lower to 5. The moral of the story is the goldfields have been picked clean of nuggets over the last 40 years and we need to be very lucky or know our machines capabilities perfectly and be very persistent in order to be able to one day find a nice gold nugget.Its ironic that 37 years ago you had a much better chance of finding large nuggets with a Whites 5000D than you have today with much better detectors.
  2. John,I was nearly ready to buy the Fors Gold+ and saw the Impact was being released soon.Before that I was looking at the 705 and Eureka.In the meantime I saw the screen on one of the Racers and it was so much better as you say, so I decided to go for the Impact.Also I rang Nenad and asked him which of the two I should buy and he recommended the Impact.All I really need is the two tone all metal mode and its stability in very high mineralisation to be able to use it in the GT. in Victoria.As I previously said VDI numbers are not reliable as some targets read out numbers in a range from 19 to 85. And the tones are really good on the Impact. For a AUD 1280 price tag on this machine it is a good all rounder for beach and goldfields for those looking for an inexpensive machine and to get their butts out of the lounge chair and lead a healthier lifestyle especially for retirees . Rob.
  3. The Impact is still a versatile detector just at home on the beach in wet sands looking for silver pieces of eight on Florida beaches and in the Australian goldfields.You cant say so about too many detectors. There is a use for any situation; .the 20 Khz is for gold nuggets.!4 for gold jewelry and silver and 5 for deep silver.Do doubt Nokta have designed this unit to bring in as much sales as possible.They will sell well in Europe and Russia which combined is a huge market.That is why it came out first.I have no doubt they will bring out the Impact Gold in 2018 which should feature only 20 KZ and fewer modes and more appropriate default settings for finding hunting nuggets. They did this with the Fors series but I did not like the side positioned menu on the box.If not for the Impact I would have bought a Racer 2.But I prefer the Impact to others because it has the vital two tone option in all metal mode and this feature to me puts it ahead of all other VLF,s. They have included a menu at the back of the manual and at one glance explains everything.Without that I agree it would be a very daunting machine to operate to its full potential. If someone had not stolen my Whites 5000D with 16 inch coil I would not have bought the Impact although it was a 37 year old detector.But for what we wanted it for just mucking around in the bush it was ok.Also I see no point for you in buying the Impact as the Whites MXT will serve you well enough. Mike.
  4. Hi John,its good to be able to handle yourself in a pub brawl as we Aussies love to do. I learnt boxing from an ex Australian champion boxer at South Brunswick in Melbourne and we wanted me to fight at Festival Hall in professional fights. Instead I became a professional engineer and eventually walked out because they turned me into a paper shuffler But thanks for the MXT link.I see the MXT operates at only 13.9 KHz.I think that is not as good as 20 Khz which is "hotter" on gold. My Impact gave a stronger signal on 20 compared to 14,that is because gold is a low conductivity metal as you know. As I repeated many times the Impact operates well at 20 Khz in very high mineralisation, at 70 gain and 6 isat which is the default settings. Never had to adjust those settings to compensate,only GB every 10 minutes or so.Will use tracking mode next time and lower the audio tone from 33 to 15, more suited for gold. At 20 Khz and the standard coil the Impact is very sensitive to 0.1 gram steel at 4 inches deep in low mineralisation.Half that for very high mineralization. Only drawback it is not waterproof like the MXT which is a big issue and most likely why Steve prefers other brands,although the Pro Pack provides a rain cover.PT says the MXT is only slightly behind the Impact in performance but he has yet to test the Impact in very high mineralisation as he did his test in warmish ground? Low,medium or high? but not very high when mineralization is 80% on the meter.I feel he really needs to put it through its paces and get to red line it.Will the Impact,s COG mode work in extreme mineralisation? ie 100% on the meter. 99% of Yanks don't know what I am talking about. Well I GB,d it successfully at this one huge patch on a hill..Can the GPX or GPZ do that? Lastly that one oz. nugget found at 18 inches? what type of ground was that? From medium ground to very high may mean a reduction in depth of 50%. so 9 inches. In this type of soil I don't think I ever found a 2 oz. nugget deeper than 6 inches even with a 16 inch coil using a VLF.Personally I think the Impact needs a little bit more grunt on goldfields to keep one step behind the PI,s and should be fitted with the IM 40 16 inch coil.Best regards,Mike.
  5. Steve,I think we need to cool down and start afresh as I really cant see the point of arguing. I am an easy going person and never try to belittle peoples thoughts or ideas unless provoked. I like your forum because here unlike the Australian forum I am on there is no out of control bullying,intimidation and personal abuse and insults. I sincerely want to keep it that way so I apologise for our misunderstandings,after all you are in charge here and I will try and abide by your rules. Yes I have registered on all major forums worldwide only to inform people about the Impacts prowess in highly mineralised soil only to find they are not interested or plain do not believe me.So it has been a very frustrating exercise. If I had some standing in the detecting community like you maybe I would have got a better response.I could not care less personally if they accept it or not but I tried to help people out but was totally ignored.The guys on the Finds Treasure Forum even told me I did not know how to use the Impact and even questioned if I owned one because I tried to convey to them that using the target ID numbers to make decisions in very highly mineralised soil is unreliable.Not one even bothered to reply to me in a constructive manner, so have nothing in common with them. By the general public I meant all members of major metal detecting forums. I read all your posts about the Impact including the ones on Finds Treasure but did not know you have tested it in a goldfield in 2016 until today so it must have been the prototype. Apparently you have no use for it where you go but did not elaborate why.I would be interested to find out how mineralised your soil is.But we now know better where we stand.So anyway it still seems I was the first to test it in very highly mineralised soil and put out the information about its stability in that environment at least 2 months ago,unless you have any further comments to divulge. I have no chip on my shoulder but you have the knack to turn everything I say into a negative connotation due to your highly emotional nature. I sincerely wish you all success in your future endeavors. Mike Dawson,General Custer, oldtimerROB.
  6. Hi orhirboy.Sorry for the delay.Wow I thought I was an old timer but you beat me by 4 years.By coincidence I also bought a Whites 5000D, but in 1980 from the disposal shop in Elizabeth Street Melbourne across the street from the main post office and paid $400 for it.Went to Wedderburn that Easter and the bush was thick with tents and cars just like a major gold rush. Like everyone else I found nothing that day but did a lot of walking which probably delayed my heart attack 32 years later.Then 2 months later I went back and only found a couple there which I got friendly with and near Chinaman's Hill I found a 1 gram small specimen.The following year I found a half oz. nugget at Cup Gully which was all surfaced at least 7 foot deep but I found it 6 inches deep in the side of the gully.After that I bought a 16 inch coil which enabled me to find bigger nuggets 1/4 to 3 oz. beauties and they just kept rolling in.So now I am back with a more sophisticated machine than the Whites which is more suited to the very high mineralisation found here and much easier to use.Plan to get the 16 inch coil next year.The important difference now though is the nuggets have become very scarce but I recently bought over my Russian wife who sticks with me through thick and thin on the goldfields.Best of luck.Mike.
  7. Thanks John for sticking up for another Aussie here in the US.I think Phase Tech will be cross with us for leaking out his three best non Minelabs VLF,s for nugget hunting although I did not mention him by name specifically ,only leaked his findings.Don't forget PT also is a Minelab dealer but only sells the GPZ 7000 by memory and now possibly also the GM. PT,s favourite gold detector is the GPZ. I don,t understand PT when he says the Impact and others are best used for trashy areas due to their good discrimination when I have used it in very clean goldfields and only identify hot rocks. and very rarely iron but never eliminate them.Find it extraordinary that Steve found me guilty of implicating him in any conspiracy about hiding the truth about the Impact when nothing like that even occurred to me.I was referring to the general public.I have been reading all his posts about the Impact but the most important one -about testing the Impact on goldfields was not done by him. I was expecting him to do it but in the end he lost his chance and Phase Tech beat him to it. So PT can claim second place after me,but as I have said before no believed me about my findings as none in Australia bothered to reply to my findings. To his credit Steve was the only one to acknowledge me on this forum and seemed to accept my findings and being administrator really livens up this forum to make it the best around.A little bit of banter does no one any harm unless it becomes personal and I know Steve means well. It seems me and PT really got the ball rolling for the Impact on goldfields.My only beef with Steve is he is talking about scrubbing the Impact from his arsenal because it is slightly heavier than he is used to but he has never tested the Impact on a goldfield and does not know what it is capable of. Of coarse they won,t match PI Minelabs in the depth department but PI Minelabs can,t match the Impact,s price by a long shot.It does not bother me that 99% of Impact buyers will only use it for coin hunting as it does what I want to use it for and for the money I paid for it.I suppose I too can boast I have been using a Whites longer than Steve, for 37 years actually, and Nokta is only a very new brand so a few measly years more than me is nothing to crow about.We both started using the best Nokta detector so far about the same time,me in late June. But Steve is right when he says if Mike likes it that is all that matters.but infers I am easily pleased and the Impact is not all that good.But I like it for all the right reasons.Anyway thanks John for giving me great moral support about the Impact.I have been out in the cold about it some time. Best of luck,Mike.
  8. I found the Impact very quick and easy to assemble,and the unsightly coil hidden away is a step in the right direction for the third millennium AD.I am sure the ancient Greeks who built the Acropolis would have approved it as a thing of beauty, and the Romans its practicality. Ironically I bought a cheap detector from China for $50 for my wife to pinpoint anything dug out of the ground and it too has the coil inside the rod/shaft. The wire connections were not colour coded and the detector gives a constant signal when not over a target and goes quiet when over one. Unfortunately it is impossible to extricate the rod from the detector housing as the friction is too great and now I can only consign it to the kerbside.The problem could have been easily fixed and the wire polarity reversed if the cable was wrapped around the shaft.
  9. Hi again John and Steve. Thanks for all your input about the Impact. First I really get the impression Australians are out to ignore it so hopefully it will just go away.I posted comments about it in the Australian Prospecting Forum soon after my first field test in June at Havelock,Victoria famous the numerous smaller nuggets found there around 2 to 10 oz. The area is very highly mineralised with extreme mineralisation in certain areas where detectors can,t operate; I did however think I GB,d it once on this extreme stuff when I tried it with COG mode but don't quote me on that as at the time my wife wanted to leave in a hurry as it was too cold.I need to go back to that place when the weather is warmer just to try Gog mode again.I was very disappointed in there being no comments to that test on that forum and felt like people just did not plain believe me and made it all up. Until very recently I have been the only person in the world who has posted anything about testing the Impact in goldfields.I really don,t think even Nokta really appreciate how good the thing is in goldfields.It is due to the very good sat system it employs. They really should have got someone test on Australian goldfields as they tested it on five continents and it seems they all tested it in backyards.John, the 20 Khz is much more sensitive on small gold (1 gram in weight) than the 15 Khz and goes deeper. The 50 Khz is better for very tiny gold but suffers considerably in very high mineralisation, like the Gold Racer. So I prefer something which will be more stable and find 1 gram and above larger nuggets. This week I have some ammunition to fire at the Minelab detractors because an Australian expert and supplier of Nokta,Makro and Minelab has finally tested the Impact in a goldfield and was very impressed at its performance on mineralisation,and also the advanced features it has.It is only right that I do not mention him by name as he might want to post his findings soon on this forum. He rates it the best of all the VLf,s ahead of the Whites MXT and Racer 2. as a nugget machine due to the two all metal modes, the GEN and GEN D and the stability in mineralisation.He describes the two tone feature in all metal mode as awesome. I think I have made the right decision to buy an Impact as it is the best nugget hunter at the moment in the USD 850 price bracket,although you Steve rate it as too heavy; and also as I spend my time to living 50/50 between Australia and Belarus and plan to take it there to detect for gold/silver jewelry in the many public beaches on rivers and lakes,as the country is virgin territory for detecting as no one owns a detector. I don,t know the level of mineralisation there but the Dnieper River is very ancient and has probably leached minerals from the surrounding countryside over millions of years. Once Nokta realise what a good machine the Impact is for nugget hunting, I am sure they will quickly put out an Impact Gold which will have only four or five modes and should also be lighter as there should be less components in it. Cheers and have a nice one, Mike.
  10. What???? The GM 1000 is also unproven and been released a lot later than the Impact,but plenty of people are talking about it on this Forum versus the Impact which is largely ignored. Do I really care though? just find it curious/suspicious.
  11. Hi Robbie, I find 20 Khz is the best all round frequency for gold.With it I found a extremely tiny 0.1 bit of steel at 4 inches with an 11 inch coil. I have 14 Khz (but never needed to use it to compensate for hotter ground) but the 20 picked up a 1 gram piece of gold much deeper.The 20 will go deeper on large gold compared to a high freq.( 56 Khz) VLF machine.In very high mineralisation depths are halved compared to low mineralisation, so that tiny piece would have registered at only 2 inches depth.I see your GM 1000 is very basic,it only has volume level and sensitivity meters on the display.If you are on goldfields you need a mineralisation level meter and a display to show you how to adjust all the different settings like Fe vol, threshold vol., disc. level, front light on/off, display light level, ground tracking on/off,and even isat. I also have a vol. enhancer and pinpointer,depth target finder controls.
  12. Hi Paul, I think the Impact is much better than the 705 or Eureka simply because it has far more modern features being released in 2017.Its really funny some people prefer the Gold Bug 2 over the Impact although It is 20 years old.The Impact is a general purpose detector much like the utility first manufactured in Australia.You could go to church on Sundays with the whole family and on Monday take the pigs to market.Better than a sedan. I can go detecting all year round and to the beach looking for coins in summer then go for a dip. The general mode is for nuggets ( with one or two tones ) and the discrimination modes for coins.Building a specific detector just to hunt nuggets is ok but it will be useless if it cant handle the very hot ground where I go.I find I have no one to talk about the Impact and its performance on goldfields. It is really embarrassing being the only person who has tested it in harsh mineralisation goldfields as no one has done it and havent a clue what I am talking about. If they have they are keeping their mouth shut I suspect not to upset Minelab or some other politically motivated reason. So thanks for your considerate words but I may just be a bystander on these forums in future. Best of luck.
  13. Well its good to know you trust me on the Impact.As I told Steve Herchenbach I never had to lower the 20 Khz frequency or gain because of high mineralisation,which is great because 20 is better on smaller gold.5 and 14 is better on silver.I have used it in very high mineralisation.The Impact overloads when the mineralisation meter shows 100% but is extremely stable below that.No ground noise. Hard to believe in a VLF but true.When on auto GB sometimes it will give a false signal because the ground conditions have changed and I re GB.I re GB every 15 minutes as it is quick and easy.I have not tried tracking mode yet but that is my next goal.Where VLF,s fall down is their lack of depth so I am looking forward to find something small fairly deep,say 12 inches but not too expectant. I think the Impact has satisfied most of my expectations, ie. I can use it in the GT. and also got my 1280 bucks worth.
  14. Hi Nenad, I was wondering when you would finally take the Impact for a spin out to the diggings (unfortunately I only saw your 8 April post today, 27 Aug.) I am glad someone other than me has used the Impact on goldfields and found out its pretty good although you have not tested it in high mineralisation and I look forward to hearing from you on that.I assume you tested it in SA goldfields.Here south of Buninyong we have low mineralisation also with some hot patches and the quartz is milky white unlike further north. You will see its full potential when you take it to say Havelock/Dunolly. It has been too cold to go camping/detecting the last 6 weeks but we plan to go to the Inglewood to use it where the ground is even hotter by memory but not as hot as the hill we tested it on near Goldsborough and it did well. It was actually great fun weeding out the many hot rocks there in GEN mode but I dug them all up just to see they were not gold.Only clocked up a total of 35 hours so far on it without finding gold but I have not detected for 20 years so I am starting from fresh. One trick with using it in GEN mode is not to turn the volume right up to max. but have it about 90% max. so you can hear any overload on large targets. I might have missed a large shallow nugget but that is unlikely given the state of our goldfields.The only unknown for me is how deep will it go on say 1 oz. nugget? in high mineralisation. I have dug up a 0.1 gram bit of steel at 4 inches in low mineralization so it is very sensitive at 20 Khz.GEN mode is easy to use for beginners because it does not have tone break and notch filter settings.
  15. Well if you can,t accept my tests on goldfields theres little I can do. I repeat the Impact is not noisy at 20 Khz.
×
×
  • Create New...