Bill (S. CA)

You are back with a vengeance my friend! Well done. Love the rings, the pirate ring is especially cool! Bill

Hey guys, need a little help here. My buddies and I would like to try some gold prospecting with our metal detectors and we all live in Los Angeles. We are experienced detectorists but when it comes to prospecting we are novices. Can you recommend any areas in the Los Angeles area that might be good for guys like us just starting out? My buddies have Equinox 800's and I had a Garrett Goldmaster. Thanks for any advice that you can offer. Bill

Nice to see you out there again, Joe. The old gold can run but it can't hide from you. FYI to all, and not sure that it means anything at all, but I got the new Kellyco catalog in the mail yesterday and it advertises the AQ as "coming soon."

Hey Jim, very intriguing idea that you have there. Let me run this by my friend and see if he is interested. Would your friend charge to do this and if so how much? Fisher's design was unique but I guess short lived. From what my friend remembers the handle broke off at the shaft mount. Appreciate your taking the time to take the pix and respond to my post. Bill

Hey guys, an older friend of mine has a nice condition CZ70a Pro that he would love to hunt with again after many years but there is one problem: It is missing the upper shaft/stem/handle assembly. Apparently the handle broke off years ago and the upper shaft was lost or tossed. He has the control box and lower shaft. Yes, I know he could pouch it but he really wants to mount the box on a shaft. Unfortunately the mount used for this detector was only used on the CZ70, CZ70a and CZ70a Pro. I spoke to Fisher and they no longer carry parts fo that model. Does anyone have that the upper shaft/stem/handle assembly they would be willing to part with? I've attached pix for your reference of what he has left. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Lastly, I have spoken to Anderson Shafts about possibly making something but if I could find the actual part that would be very cool. Many thanks, Bill

Fascinating post, Joe. You are never lacking for ingenuity. I think the reason that companies like ML aren't developing products like this is simple: the creative development team guys don't hunt.

It reminds me of the question "what's heavier, 5 pounds of feathers or 5 pounds of lead?" I've tried a counter-weighted Equinox and to me the more weight you add the more fatigue you encourage. Not for me. Honestly, I wish that there was a version of the old Bigfoot coil that would run on a MInelab. I remember a couple of guys who hunted with those on their White's machines at Santa Monica years ago and did really well. These mega coils are just too darn heavy.

Thanks for the feedback guys. It sounds like a counterweight is a good idea if I decide to go for this coil. I had a chance to borrow a 15" ML coil and didn't care for it. Too nose heavy for me but I don't have a counterweight on my 800. Bill

I"m curious if anyone has tried the Coiltek 15" NOX coil and if so their thoughts on it. This is the coil: https://coiltek.com.au/coils/nox/15-nox-coil/ I used a WOT coil for several years and liked it but ultimately the weight did me in. The coverage area of this new coil intrigues me but I am concerned about the weight. Bill (S. CA)

For those of you who hunt saltwater beaches with the Apex I can confirm that the update does give better stability in the wet. I used my updated detector at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles this weekend and it was rock solid. GB was a consistent 11/12 with very little falsing even at max sensitivity. I dug an Iphone over a foot down in the wet sand and it was a good solid signal. The Apex is in my view is a salt water beach sleeper that offers excellent performance for a very attractive price point. There were eight guys hunting when I was there and they all had a certain brand of machine that pretty much owns the beach these days. In comparing finds with them the Apex held its own. I have used that certain brand of machine since it came out and can tell you that you don't lose much, if anything, with the Apex.

I've picked up a 1970's-era Garrett BFO in decent shape but it is missing the battery tray. Kellyco and Garrett no longer carry them, though Garrett says that they have other trays that should work. I'd really prefer to get the one that matches the detector. Anyone got one laying around that they would part with? I've attached pictures of the detector and what I thinkis the correct battery tray. Thanks. Bill

Interesting. Almost makes you wonder why Nokta/Makro didn't offer interchangeable handles. It would be easy enough to do and they obviously have some ingenious designers. Personally I prefer T-Handles because I feel like I can get more torque on tough plugs and digs since the handle is attached directly to the shaft. I've used "D's" before and there can be give to the handle if it isn't super sturdy.

Chase, Just curious as to why you prefer a "D" vs. T handle. Bill

Joe, I was wondering why you had gone quiet. You always thank the Lord when you hit a gold. Looks to me like He was watching over you. Rest up my friend, and so glad that you are still with us! Bill

Fantastic finds. I'm in S .CA as well but was land locked all weekend. A friend hit big at a cut north and I saw there were cuts south as well. What machine were you hunting with?

Love those signet rings, Joe. Nice hunt, way to go my friend!

Gold chains read "1." I've dug several at the beach as have my buddies. One friend even dug three "1's" and it was three pieces of a gold chain. The Equinox is the only machine I have ever used that will find gold chains. By the way, they were in the wet sand. So dig the "1's" at the beach!

Well put, Dewcon4414. Gigmaster doesn't claim to be an expert and is quite honest about his lack of experience with the detector. I personally commend him for not coming off as your usual self-professed expert on a machine he has barely used. Also, for those of you who haven't tried to do videos of your hunts, they are exceedingly difficult to produce and edit. It's not like you have a camera crew and director along with you. As far as I am concerned, anyone putting the time in to post videos of this or any other machine should be commended.

Nice ring, Joe. Just a few random comments...First, Fisher should really consult with you before going into production. You could save them a lot of time, frustration and money! Second, I don't know how things are for you since you are out in the water, but here in S. CA the beaches are more crowded with hunters than depositors these days. A buddy of mine was at Santa Monica yesterday afternoon at around 3:00 and there were FIVE other hunters up on the dry! On a Thursday? I've been hunting these beaches since 1980 and I've never seen so many hunters. Plus we are getting 24/7 shifts, too. I was out with a buddy on Tuesday and ran into a guy and his wife who had been at the beach since 6:00 AM. He said when he got here a group of guys was leaving who had been there since 3:00 AM and they had encountered more hunters who had been there since midnight! It still pays to be good and lucky but it used to be that you had to monitor beach conditions like tides, periods, surf, swell direction, etc. Now you have to add "number of hunters" to the mix! Oh well, it's still a lot of fun and when you are hooked, you are hooked! Keep the gold coming! Bill

Hey guys, this is really for PimentoUK. I just wanted to confirm the thickness of the shims which according to your post are: Shim plastic is readily salvagable from packaging, household items. Thicknesses around 0.2 mm ( 8 thou ) seem a good starting point My reason for asking is that this is literally the thickness of 2 sheets of paper. That seems awfully thin. I haven't found any plastic that thin around my house. Thinnist I could find was .4mm. Is that too thick? Apologies if this post is redundant. I sent you a message through the forum but had my internet crash and don't know if it got you or not. Bill

I can't believe that price. Despite the pink.

I would agree, midalake, that the sea water is not the issue. My friends who have had their coil ears break don't hunt in the water. Some good points being made here. I believe that Minelab needs to understand that updates just aren't software-related. They can also be mechanical. I think they should give thought to sending owners sets of shims or redesigned washers to address the current problem and then do a fix on the coil ear design. With the number of Equinoxes that I see out in the field this is going to be an ongoing sore spot for them for years to come that doesn't need to be.

Perfect! Thanks for doing that. I will be going through plastic this weekend to make my own.

I really like your plastic shim solution. Any chance you could post a picture or two for those of us "challenged" folks? But I guess first we should all take a good look at our coil ears to see if the cracks are coming before our warranties run out. Thanks again for responding to my post. Bill (S. CA)

Pimento, Very nice reply to my post. I was hoping for an engineer's take on this. Interesting that you address the cause of both types of cracking. My initial thoughts were that bolt over-tightening was the main culprit. If in fact, outside of molding defects, the washers are the issue I'm a little surprised that Minelab hasn't made thicker washers for Equinox owners. Seems to me it would be a very inexpensive solution rather then having to swap out coils at the rate they are. I like your shim plastic solution, very nice DIY idea. Do you feel that the Detect-Ed Coil Savers would do the same thing? Bill (S. CA)