Gold Catcher

To me every gold is precious and worth a dig, so I don't discriminate to just go for larger stuff. Sure, when I mount the GPZ 19 I don't look for sub-grammers, but by the end of the day when my jar rattles it gives me a feeling of satisfaction. Do I have fun recovering a 0.08 g flake with the 14in coil, no! But it is the challenge to get it right as often as possible, not so much what it will weigh at the end. Most of the nuggets I find are in the 0.2-5.0 g range, only occasionally bigger when I am lucky, so my ears are tuned to the small stuff. But that's fine with me, I prefer consistency over the lottery ticket . I welcome every golden piece of eternity that has my name on it 🙂

Could very well be, I don't know either. The 14DD is not included in the Africa package. From that I conclude that they might not have the problems that we have here in AU/US. I suppose most over there are not as sophisticated and might not even understand all these differences, or they lack access to the vast coil armamentum due to price or supply issues. I think for most it is pure survival there with whatever they have. This is another reason why I am surprised that Africa is actually the biggest primary ML market (supposing also for the 6000)? Who can afford a 6k machine over there? That is likely 5-6 x their annual income. ML dealers there better have body guards.

Truly remarkable, thanks for sharing. I wonder though whether they really would need a 6000 over there. It seems that for most the 5000 would do just fine, i.e. when combined with a bigger mono. There likely is very little EMI in the vast desert areas and not much mineralization, with fairly loose soil. I think Geosense would be overkill. Even the Monster should do assuming you have a good shovel to dig.

Nice pick, Simon. And welcome back!! A pick I would love to have is a Supersede (see pic below). I think Nenad and JP had them some years back. Anybody knows if they are still available??

This picture I have in mind every morning when I go out detecting.....But to make this happen I need to dig first 🤣

Thanks, yes this has been my understanding as well. It's just that I probably would have changed to the 14DD way before having to go all the way down to gain 1 with the 11 mono

I like 2 the best 😁

That's an interesting observation. Is this really so? This would suggest that dialing down on sensitivity but keeping the 11 mono would be a better choice than switching to the 14DD when needed, to not loose too much depth. Unless of course it's so bad that even at sensitivity 1 the 11 mono would not be stable.

That's incredible, what a nasty stuff. I wanted to go to an area close to RP but after reading Steve's post (thanks again!) I decided last minute to drive down south to the El Pasos. Weather was supposed to be sunny and windy. I drove up a canyon and I was just about to gear up as a huge thunderstorm hit, out of nowhere. It didn't last long, but enough to make the ground soaked. Not a good weekend for prospecting.

Sounds good. I will be on the other side of RP in the Thunder Mountain area. Perhaps I stop by.

I will be in the Lovelock area tomorrow, weather should calm down by then. Good luck and be careful. Can't wait for that wet NNV salty ground tomorrow. Wish I already had my 6000/14DD !!

Got it, yeah that's a pretty amazing truck! To bad it's not available here!!

LC78 upover?

That sucks! This is the frustrating and awful part of our passion. I always have a lot of gear with me, including 3 ML detectors. I try to cover everything up, but still had break in's a few times. That will be a tough choice when having both the 6000 and 7000 in the car. Which one to leave behind? For now, I guess it is safer to take the 6000 (if it ever gets here). But still not good! 🤔

That sounds good too! Definitely a versatile combo! I am still debating what mule I should get with it. I love hiking, but traveling by mule is definitely more comfortable. As long as the truck is still there when I come back! The areas I go to are not always friendly.

I have to disagree with you on that one, LL. I just bought the 2021 4Runner TRD Pro and I love it. Best truck ever made for prospectors IMHO....👍

Just checked Ebay. I was totally expecting the 6000 would be offered for $20.000 or something like that. Was the same for N95 masks when the Covid sh.t hit the fan. The highest I have seen was 10 masks for $1600. Well, I am sure the 6000 will show up on Ebay soon, with no "sufficient" supply to the US coming anytime soon, apparently

One would for sure conclude that from reading the forum posts......

Yup. But the 14DD would be missing. Why is there always a catch with everything?🤔

I doubt they will do this soon though. It might eat into the 6000 sales.

Apparently, you can buy the 6000 online from Dubai. It says in stock. I placed a dummy order and it goes all the way to the payment page...And also cheaper. https://detectorshub.com/products/minelab-gpx-6000-gold-detector?variant=32965979308122

Soon someone will be the first to cut the cable on the 6000 to make a patch lead. I have no doubt. (Probably Simon....)

When I first saw the "40% depth advantage over the 5000" I knew this would just describe a general trend. I absolutely believe that this number was not made up but resulted from specific tests the ML engineers were doing at this time. However, I never thought of this number as something that is written in stone and that could be litigated in court as being true under all circumstances. Everybody who does metal detecting knows that these isolated test results don't mean much, if anything. Just like the star designation that ML gave their detectors. The message behind is the general trend that the engineers saw, nothing else. To me, the real field experience is all that matters, so what Steve has generously provided to us is so much more worth than any number, and his vast experience is all that matters to me. That being said, if one would be really anal about it, I am sure the ML engineers could reproduce their 40% claim with conditions they were originally using. But why doing this? The general sentiment and the extensive and yearlong field reports pretty much confirm the claimed advantage anyhow, albeit as a general trend only.

To me, even for small gold it is all about depth. The 7 hears 1 g nuggets as very faint whispers where no other detector can reach, i.e. in the desert with Caliche 2 feet down. As Steve said, the gold is mostly small here. But many targets are deep. In these situations the GZP has been shining, at least for me. I am very curious to see how the 6 will measure up at the detecting edge of the 7 for deep small(er) gold.

Thanks for stirring up the pot, Rob. I am waiting for the 6000 like a kid is waiting for X-mas (already fully pre-paid back in March...). But I would never give up my 7. It is fun- vs. gladiator style detecting. I happen to like both!