klunker

 The increase in the gold price is wonderful. Looks like my losses will be less this year.

7 hours ago, 2Valen said:

Send it to me and I will put it somewhere safe for you

My gold is on it's way. Please return the magnifying glass and the pin head.

It's been a long time ago. I don't  remember if it has to do with the gold I find or the Jeep I drive. I'll have to think on it.

 Dang! The X coil packaging looks to be of better quality than some companies detectors.

                                                                                   Throw rotten eggs and tomatoes HERE

4 hours ago, mn90403 said:

 

Be careful Klunker, you have K powers you don't know how to control it seems.  Even 2 year olds are affected (infected?) by it.

  Far from it Mn. But my mind does have a lot in common with a two year olds'. In order to remain somewhat on topic -- What will be his first detector?

  The only thing that I know of that is an inherent warranty concern is the display screen developing obnoxious black lines or going completely blank. It might be worth contacting Minelab and see what the cost of repair would be. Other than that just be aware that the plastic used in the 7000 is just plain cheap. That being said, I have used mine for killing snakes (sorry Fred), fending off wild animals and even hauling it in my Jeep and it has survived just fine. You might want to put in a good inventory of lower shafts - about a half dozen or so. 

I am soon to start one of my own. Others will pale in comparison. If the snow melts.

23 hours ago, Gold Catcher said:

 I am more optimistic in the desert areas down south.

 OK CG. Now that I better understand what you are looking for here is a good plan (and bad idea). Get yourself a stout, mindless, obedient little burrow, make him pack all your food and water and head deep into an unexplored desert. When you get several days away from civilization you will find that no burrow is mindless nor obedient. It is inevitable that the further from civilization you get the greater the likelihood of his escape from his cruel servitude. While you are chasing the recalcitrant beast (your very life depends on catching it) you will find a fantastically rich undiscovered load - - - and the bones of the last prospector that followed my plan.

 I'll stick to my forested  mountains.

Well GC. There you go thinking again. I will warn you that if you keep it up you will be cursed with the affliction of finding substantial quantities of gold.  I doubt that, at this point , I can save you from yourself so I'll share some ideas that have worked for me.

 As far as the "mother load" area of the Sierra Nevada range goes I would be very surprised if there was an acre that had not been prospected for gold by the mid 1860s. But they didn't have very good detectors back then and the only way they could recover the gold was to see it and reach down and pick it up, throw the gold bearing dirt in the wind and hope the gold dropped before it blew away or concentrate it with water - and there you have a good idea. Look higher than any available water. there was rainwater but rarely enough for profitable washing. If you go to the higher elevations the rain soon turned to snow so even if it was a rich placer the working season was unpredictable and short so these areas were often abandon before they were worked out and a lot of good detector ground is still available and perhaps some that was discovered but never worked

  Another idea is pocket hunting. I am absolutely certain that I will be here bragging about a stupendous pocket discovery before this coming season is over.  

4 hours ago, phrunt said:

that sucker is worth a fortune.

We all know GB is "lucky" in his find but let's not forget it took a lot of "not so lucky" to develop the excellent skills he has that are so necessary to be so lucky. 

 STRICK! STRICK! You must find a rare double eagle very quickly before Mr. Goldbrick becomes unbearable.

Judging by the photos I would say you likely have a million dollars worth of gold on your property.

Judging by the photos I would say you likely will will need two million dollars to recover it.

10 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I brightened the face of a little kid

Would yo be willing to plant a nugget and brighten the face of this little kid?

great story!

 I could send you a map of my little corner of the Sierra Nevada mountains with little red "Xs mark the spots" on it and guarantee that you will find some gold - - - - -and bears, and mountain lions and rattlesnakes and poison oak and mosquitoes and - well you get the point. But your the one that mentioned "adventure".

 What's that you say mn

10 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Sounds like a 5000 setting!

 Your 7000 doesn't have "fine gold"??? To access the fine gold setting you must go into the GPS settings, turn off the back light hold down the right arrow while pushing the globe icon button three times with the detector inverted. Come up here to do some detecting and I'll demonstrate it for you. - - - -Or I might have not completely sobered up and meant to say "high yield".

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I’m curious what others think

 I'm the laziest detectorist there is. I avoid putting on extra weight because I don't want to carry the extra pounds. I use the 7000 because the danged heavy thing works. But if a detector came out with equal performance and less weight it would out produce the 7000 by a large margin in that you could detect longer hours, you would be more likely to make full swings thus covering more area, you would more often poke the coil into and under tight spots and you cold more efficiently swing it over your head when working extremely steep ground.

 The next question would be "what would I be willing to pay for it?"

Welcome!  The 7000 can be as complicated as you want to make it but I like simple, being so myself. So here are some things to try that may get you to a good  starting point.

Turn the danged thing on.

wait until you get a tone in your headphones or speaker.

bypass the green quick start page. Most here will disagree with this but I can explain why later.

set gold mode to fine gold

set ground type to difficult.

set noise cancel to auto and let it do it's thing.

set sensitivity to about mid range 10 to 12.

set volume to where you like it.

set threshold pitch where you like it.

set volume limit about half way.

set audio smoothing to high.

set ground balance to auto and swing the coil close to the ground (where there are no targets) while the auto ground balance is working. leave the ground balance in auto

 This should give you a pretty quiet detector with above average performance compared to other detectors. When you get a bit more familiar with the 7000, start tweaking things more to your liking (tones and volumes) and ground balance, ground type and sensitivity for better performance. A 7000 working poorly is still a very good detector but one set up well and in experienced hands can be fantastic.

You should also see if you can find any mining history in your area. I do a lot of "prospecting" indoors.

This forum is likely the best there is for getting excellent information about detectors and detecting.

 Best of luck to you in 2020.

Yes.

 OK mn, This is what I want for 2020. I want the "2020 Bifocal"! That would be a P.I. detector with GPX 5000 capabilities and an embedded VLF using common systems where possible such as power supply and audio circuits. Perhaps this could be done with a pair of fold up coils where you swing one down and the other up and it would automatically switch the detector between P.I and VLF. A Gold Bug and a 5000 duct taped together would still weigh less than a GPZ7000.

 I would like to further explain my "2020 Vision" but my keyboard has become blurry as I seem to have lost my glasses.

What "2020" Vision Would You Like To "See"

Insert "40%" reply here ______________________________________________________________

I think I stay outa' this one.

 I figured out, way to late in life, that I wasn't indestructible. The last time I took my commercial drivers' medical exam I nearly didn't pass because of hearing loss. The funny thing was, I realized I was more concerned about the effects on my detecting than I was about loosing my C.D.L.

1 hour ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Just my 2cents

J.P. Would you like to have your 2 cents in cash or wired directly to you Swiss account?

Thanks for the tips

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

The lesson about removing your thumb 👍 before you swing and strike with a pick 

 OK. I did that. now how do I reconnect it to my hand? Or did I miss something in you safety instructions?

 Y'all lost me. I'm goin' back to my steel gold pan and wooden sluice box.

2 hours ago, rled2005 said:

have been pondering this one:

 Probably a nice scale but I don't see the point unless you intend to use it for other purposes besides gold. Gold buyers and refiners always do their own weighing so let them buy expensive scales. The only time I have wished that I had very accurate scales for small bits of gold is when I smash a few colors out of a chunk of quartz. But you never know. I might wash up on the shores of New Zealand one of these days then I would need a scale that weighs tiny bits in grams.

 Ha! If it don't weigh in grains, penny weights and troy ounces than it aint suitable for weighin' gold. The exception would be my Fairbanks Morse dock scales that I use for the bigger stuff.

4 minutes ago, fredmason said:

for general field use my cheap digital scales are fine

  Same here. I bought an inexpensive scale from Doc (U.S. Balance) nearly 20 years ago and I can't imagine a circumstance outside of lab work where it would be inadequate.

  OK. I have outlived my 4 legged prospecting buddy and I know he will never be equaled but all of these posts are making me realize how much I miss having a non-human prospecting companion. Therefor I will start considering a replacement. But I'm going to have some very specific and discriminating criteria for my next dog which will include the following.

1. I must have at least three good working legs.

2. It's ears must stand up straight or lay flat or any combination of the two.

3. It must wag it's tail energetically - if it has one.

4. It may fart in my Jeep but NOT in my truck.

5. It must be silly enough to make me laugh when it does something stupid yet serious enough to not laugh when I do something stupid.

  If any of you have such a dog let me know what you will pay to be rid of it.

Thanks. Klunker