Doc

Dear Steve, Thank you for the in depth review of my newest products. A couple of things I would like to add and clarify. #1 I agree 1000% with Steve, get yourself screen protector film to protect your screen from scratches. A cover can even make scratches worse because the dirt gets between the cover and the plastic of the cover. A screen protector stops the dirt from scratching your screen. #2. While the arm rest covers for the Gold Monster and Equinox look the same, (They are the same design style) THEY ARE NOT. So always specify which machine you are ordering for. If you lay one cover over the other you will see that the Gold Monster arm rest cover is significantly wider than the Equinox, which is narrow to match the dimensions of the plastic cuff. I wish they were the same, then I wouldn't have to work with different dimension cuffs when we are fabricating them. #3. The extra "hook and loop" tabs on the Equinox cover is to achieve a perfect alignment of the small side holes, directly over the side buttons. These are small buttons, two on each side of the detector and likewise the holes are small. Accordingly I wanted those holes to stay directly aligned over the buttons. In order to accomplish this we stitched a piece of LOOP inside the Equinox cover directly below the button holes, Then we give you extra piece of adhesive backed HOOK. You take these HOOK pieces and peel off the back to expose the adhesive. Stick them on your detector directly below the 2 buttons on each side of the machine. Now when you get the cover on, get those holes perfectly aligned and press down on the LOOP inside the cover and it will adhere to the adhesive backed HOOK that is on your detector and those holes will be, and will stay, perfectly aligned. #4. I know many of you have your own backpack or hydration system that you have rigged where you can use a bungee and it works well for you. The only issue I have ever had with backpacks or hydration packs is the "D" rings are too small and they have a tendency to rotate so they actually hang like a "D" instead of a U. That is why I had manufactured these large barred "O" rings. The bar keeps them from rotating, and the large "O" means you can attach your bungee without even looking because it is such a large "target." Those "O" rings are also available from me along with a piece of webbing so you can attach them to your favorite rig. Inexpensive, $5 plus s&h. They are tough NY-GLASS material. Thanks again. I just wanted Steve's opinion and input on these products, but I really appreciate the extensive review he did. Have a wonderful 2019! Keep you eyes peeled for several new innovations from Doc's Detecting Supply coming this year. Doc Doc's Detecting Supply The largest Certified Minelab Dealer warehouse West of the Mississippi

Thank you, I appreciate the endorsement. Doc

This has been a long time coming. All of these items are now in stock and available. (They just cleared customs Friday) You can usually purchase them through Ebay or your local Minelab dealer. New Cover Sets for Minelab Equinox and Gold Monster 1000. And new Qweegle™ Double adjustment point bungee made with highest quality extreme grade Marine Bungee. I had announced these products before as I was getting various prototypes, but the entire production run is now in my hands as of Friday when they were released from customs. While the Qweegle ™ is available by itself, it will now also be supplied with the Ultra Swingy Thingy which has had a new improvement as well. I didn't like the "D" rings that the bungee attached to as #1. They were very small, and #2. They had a tendency to rotate and end up not situated correctly. So I designed a new LARGE non-rotating "O" ring. You can snap your bungee on it or take it off without ever having to look at it. This "O" ring is available by itself with a piece of webbing for you to attach to your favorite backpack or hydration system, so you can use the QWEEGLE™ Bungee with your favorite harness system. The QWEEGLE™ works great with Minelab's Pro Swing Harness. The QWEEGLE™ (rhymes with Beagle) Bungee has these great features: • NO METAL Shaft Clamp! • Fits any detector shaft, guaranteed. • All parts are made of Ny-Glass the most durable and expensive "plastic like" parts available. • Best Quality Marine Grade Bungee Cord, Extreme durability • Quick on / off Shoulder Clip to get the bungee on and off easily at the "D" "O" ring on your shoulder strap. • Shoulder Clip is a quick adjustment point that can be used to quickly adjust the perfect length of your bungee instantaneously. • Shaft attachment quick adjustment device allows you to instantaneously adjust the length of the bungee at the point it attaches to the rod. Simply tug the bungee into the "V" groove to lock it in place. Tug the bungee out of the groove raise or lower your detector for the proper height, tug the bungee back in the "V" groove. • Instantly detach the detector from the Queegle™. Pull the bungee out of the side slot of the shaft adjustment point, and you are detached from the Queegle™ and can lay your detector down.

Hey Dave, Sorry I just saw this post. I actually have been field testing this unit. It is a help but it has a tendency to want to slip off of your shoulder. I think a strap that attached to the unit in the back, then went under your left arm and attached to it in the front would keep it from slipping off the shoulder. The other thing I have noticed is a lot of the comfort comes from making sure you get it adjusted properly. You have to keep the support high enough to keep it off of your shoulder, otherwise it just transfers the weight to your shoulder. The owner and I get on very well because we both like to invent things. He is very innovative with his designs. Doc

Dear BH, I've been in business since 1992. Minelab Certified Dealer. I advertise in ICMJ magazine. Pretty active on the forums. Al, the Mohs Surgery I had to remove that skin cancer was no big deal. Especially since they got it all 100%. The way information travels in our prospecting community is a little frightening. I had a customer come in the other day and (Honest to God!) he says. So I heard you had to have surgery for brain cancer, how are you doing? I'm doing great, but I didn't have brain cancer! You have to have a brain to have brain cancer. I'm a prospector, I need a detector and a pick, a brain is optional equipment. Merry Christmas! Doc

Fred it depends on how you like to use it. It gives you plenty of options. If you like the loop to hook onto the rod attachment point, like you have done, that works great. However you can also not use the loop as an attachment point, you simply pull the bungee into the side slot of that plastic rod attachment point, and then adjust your detector where you like it, and tug the bungee up into the pointed groove to lock it in to the perfect length. Nice nuggets! Doc

Lucky and Robin, Miss seeing you guys, we will have to catch up soon. Doc

I don't have it listed on Ebay as of yet. Is your first name Joe in Coulterville? If so you said something about liking my bungee cord better than the Minelab cord. So I made you a bungee with all the new attachments but I used the thick white bungee cord. See how you like, I think you will love it. If you want the exact one I was showing here with the black bungee cord, send the other back an I will replace it. What you ordered on Ebay was no where near this cord. I sent that one along as well. Doc

No Check. That was gratis because I wanted you to field test it for me. Doc

Dear Fred, I would play with the positioning of the adjustment piece with the strap before using the 3M adhesive patch. I prefer to tilt the adjustment slightly to the side, towards the hand I use to make the adjustments. So as you can see from the picture I have it mounted slightly to the left. The strap on the rod adjustment piece is really long to accommodate some of the weird detector shafts out there. That Garrett ATX Deepseeker Pulse Induction machine has an upper rod the size of a baseball bat. You can deal with the excess strap, by cutting it to size and putting a little Elmer's glue in between the velcro and the strap at the end to seal it up. Or, you can use the small velcro strip I have supplied and double over the strap back on itself and secure it with the small velcro strip. Let me know how it works for you. Interested in pictures and your assessment. Thank you, Doc

OMG -LOL ? Oh hell no, I'm not old. Can't see, can't hear, OBVIOUSLY I can't read. Yes we used to go to Imperial Beach down the way from Coronado every year. Sorry about that. I feel like Roseanne Rosanna Dana. On the old SNL she would go on an on about some subject, "What's all this non-sense about "ENDANGERED FECES." How can Feces be endangered? There is plenty of feces to go around." She would go on a 5 minute rant until Chevy Chase would say, "Rosanna, it's not endangered feces, it's endangered species." Oh, well, then. never mind! Doc

Dear Fred, The one after the Swingy Thingy is the Ultra Swingy Thingy. But I thought I would send you the new bungee when I get them in. We are all waiting for it to get cooler, trust me. I have never been to Colorado Beach in my life. I don't even know where that is. In fact I have not been through Colorado since before 1983. Only time I was in Colorado was when we lived in Illinois and would go to California on vacation and travel back through Colorado. So it isn't me. But if I ever do get up that way I will look you up. Doc

Fred, Do you still live on Normal? I need another Field Tester. My records show you have a Swingy Thingy, but not an Ultra Swingy Thingy, is that correct? JW, That car reminds me of a story that gives me chills every time I think of it. Not related to gold unfortunately, still a valuable, "look before you leap" lesson to be learned. So the time frame is 1971. I was a police officer in a town in Illinois. Second in crime rate in the State of Illinois only to Chicago. We had a nice size police department, 185 sworn officers. Small enough to know everyone, large enough that we weren't Mayberry PD with Barney Fife and Andy Griffith. My first assignment was as an undercover narcotics officer. I was undercover for 6 months. I was a real young looking kid, I could have passed for being a high school student, so they threw me to the wolves early. I had just come out from undercover and had been assigned to patrol and to a Field Training Officer, after all I was still a rookie. While I had earned an Associate Degree in Police Science and actually had done two semesters of internships on the same Police Department, you learn real police work on the job. So I had the misfortune to be assigned to the absolute most arrogant, burned out cop on the job as my Field Training Officer. This guy drank on the job, left me sitting in the squad car while he ran into his girlfriend's house for a quickie, this guy was a shining example of everything you did not want to be as a cop. Anything I learned was from observing other Field Training Officers teaching their assigned rookies proper procedures. So this town in Illinois sits on a river. A pretty substantial waterway that feeds into the Mississippi. Taking the squad car down by the river between calls was a standard thing to do. The cooler air coming in off the water was nice, as you sat in your squad car trying to catch up on writing reports. I would write reports while my partner would sleep. The river area was devoid of any significant buildings because the river would flood every spring. So it was littered with all kinds of crap that had been dumped, abandoned cars, old tires, dumped refrigerators, stolen bikes, rats and dead bodies. There were actually some remnants of an old marijuana field that was down there from the 40's when there was a hemp rope factory near by. We'd catch kids down there every once in a while trying to harvest the Marijuana, apparently they wanted to make rope to get a Boy Scout merit badge or something. ? In 1971 the Movie Dirty Harry was released. Good ol' "Make My Day" Harry Callaghan. Well every hot shot cop had to have a 6.5 inch 44 Magnum gun like Dirty Harry after that movie. Our duty gun was an M&P model 10 (I believe) with a 4 inch barrel .38 caliber. You had to carry that gun. You could carry a longer barrel, but you could not carry anything larger than a .38 caliber. Now while that was the rule, there was nothing that said you could not carry a backup gun, and there was no specifics as to what that backup gun could be. (Mine was a 5 shot .38 caliber feather weight S&W snub nose that I carried in an ankle holster) My idiot partner's backup was a Dirty Harry Special that he carried in a shoulder holster. So this nitwit is carrying his duty gun in a standard issue SAM BROWN holster rig, and a 44 magnum 6.5 inch, in a shoulder holster while wearing a police uniform. He looked retarded. So he says to me, hey kid, let's go down to the river for some target practice, I got some new "hot loads" I re-loaded myself and I want to see how well they work. So we go down to the river and he jumps out of the Black and White, and without any warning fires a round into the door of a rusted out abandoned car. That particular car had been there for years. It totally caught me off guard as his quick action was as if he was trying to practice exiting the squad and firing at a suspect who was firing back. I pooped my pants a little. I don't know if you have ever fired a .44 magnum, but let me tell you those rounds are loud, and that gun has a pretty good recoil. Well because he had reloaded these rounds with extra powder his first shot was absolutely deafening and the recoil almost sent the weapon back into his forehead. It was such a violent explosion that it sort of stopped my partner in his tracks to reassess whether firing anymore of his homemade rounds was prudent. He said, "I think I'm going to try the regular factory rounds to see what the difference is. He proceeded to dump his homemade miniature metal sticks of dynamite onto the hood of the squad car, and reload with factory rounds. I took that opportunity to go check the car, as I had a really bad feeling about the lack of common sense my partner had exhibited. As I approached the car, somewhat shocked at the huge hole in the car door left by the round he had fired, my eyes fell upon a body of a man lying in the back seat right behind that door. I yelled at my partner, "You idiot, stop what you are doing and get your ass over here." As he approached the car and he saw what I was looking at. I saw the blood drain from his face, "Jesus Christ, what the f--k? Why didn't you tell me there was someone in the car before I began shooting?" WHAT? Now it was my fault that you acted like a mental patient on meth with a gun, jumping out of the squad before I had barely stopped and fired a round before checking the area? The bullet had passed though the passenger side rear door and exited the driver side rear door. But! Had it passed through the body of the person in the back seat? I'm shaking this guy, obviously some homeless drunk trying to sleep it off, yelling wake up, are you OK? At the same time looking for any signs that he had been shot, looking for blood, any signs of life. No movement for like 3 minutes. Meanwhile my partner is outside the junker puking his guts out, lamenting that his career is over, interspersed with a really insane commentary about how, "WE" could just throw the body in the river. I'm thinking, oh no buddy, this one's on you. My next radio call is to dispatch to give me a duty lieutenant, the crime scene unit, and have an ambulance on the way. Midway into my partner's really well thought out plan on how to handle his stupidity... which I believe I heard included shoving rocks and stones inside the bum's pants so he would sink in the river. The bum started to groan and wake up. That bullet had passed about 3 inches above his head as he was passed out in the back seat of that abandoned car. He was oblivious to what had happened. He was also alive, and unharmed. I checked him over to make sure he had not caught a stray fragment, he was good. There were some metal pieces from the door that were stuck in his old stinky padded jacket. God protected this poor guy from what would have been certain death. I contacted dispatch and had them send the paddy wagon to transport the "luckiest man in the world" to the drunk tank where he would be fed allowed to sober up, given a shower and clean clothes and released in the morning. My partner was busy thanking God, Jesus, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all the Angels and Saints, all the omnipotent soother sayers, knowers of all, Lord High Masters of the Univererse and Captain Kirk, Commander of the Star Ship Enterprise. He begged me, "Partner you can never tell anyone about this. It was an accident, you can see that right?" (Oh now I was his partner, not a shite eating no nothing who could only hope to become half the cop he was. He had to be kidding? I wanted to become an alcoholic, burned out embarrassment of a cop? ) "No, here's what I can see. This wasn't an accident, this was sheer stupidity on your part. And it just adds to the list of stupid things I see you do every day. You don't want anyone to know about this? OK, here's my conditions, take 'em or leave 'em. You're going to get your head out of your ass. You're going to start going back to your AA meetings. If I ever see you take a drink again, I tell everything. You're going to start acting like the "great cop" you claim you are or more accurately were. You're going to stop sleeping on the job, f--king your girlfriend on duty, and you're going to teach me to be a cop. You're going to teach me everything you know about how to stay safe and alive, and how to be ethical and a real asset to this community. If you don't think you can do that, then you need to resign as a Field Training Officer so I can find someone who will train me. Otherwise, I write the report that will most certainly result in a board of inquiry, and your possible dismissal. "I know what you're thinking. Is he bluffing or would he really turn me in? Well to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I'm not really sure myself, it's sort of a blur. But being this incident could have resulted in the death of an innocent person because of your stupidity and carelessness and would most certainly blow your police career off the face of the earth, you have to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well do ya, punk? MAKE MY DAY!" OK, I didn't really say that, but damn it, if I had the presence of mind to have said it, that would have been EPIC. Bottom line, was from that day forward, my partner did change. He went back to AA, he got himself sober, and he was like a totally different person. He actually was a good cop. He had a lot of knowledge, a lot of common sense street smarts, and he went above and beyond. We became one of the best police partner teams the department had. I don't know what the circumstances were that led him to being an I don't give a damn burn out. More than anything I think it was the hopelessness that comes from being an alcoholic. I went on to become a Field Training Officer myself. Then I was promoted to the detective bureau. From that fateful day at the river, until the day I resigned from the police department to go to polygraph school, I never saw my former partner take a drink I never saw him exhibit that "burned out cop persona" that I had previously known. So the moral of the story, is always Be Careful Out there. Sometimes in the excitement of the moment of looking for or finding gold, we throw caution to the wind. Not worth hurrying back to an old patch with a new coil if you get rattle snake bit on the way, or roll your quad and get injured. I speak from experience. I have had a torn rotator cuff, and smashed elbow, that led to them cutting the head of my radius bone off. I have rolled my Toyota Tacoma. All this and I was trying to be careful and still there are dangers out there. I have seen guys out on the gold fields of the U.S. carrying their guns, which is fine, I carry mine as well. But before you discharge it, make damn sure you know where that bullet is going. Sometimes it's hard to remember we are not the only ones out there. God forbid, your round would hit a detectorist in a gully 10 ridges away that you didn't see. Sorry for the long story on a mostly off-topic issue, but I have been carrying around about 200 stories in my head that sometimes I have to share just for the sake of my own sanity. Doc

Thanks Chris. Doc

Dear Chris, I figure the new QWEEGLE™ Bungee is the logical compliment to your World Famous HipStick™. I am going to start including a little double sided tab of foam adhesive tape to put on the back of the wrap around strap on the rubber non-slip pad. The rubber non-slip pad does a pretty good job of keeping the rod adjustment part from rotating around on the rod, but once I figured out the perfect position where I wanted it to be, I used the double sided foam tape to secure it in place. Doc

Look at you Peg. Way to go! Doc

I weighed the Gold Monster Covers today and they are 2 ounces each so you could ship 4 to New Zealand for $13. Doc

Actually it's the same price $13 for shipping 2 as it is for 1. 1 ounce through 8 ounce is $13 They weigh about 3 oz each. So combining orders would be the way to go. Doc

$39.95 plus S&H $5 in the U.S.

Phrunt $13 USD to ship to NZ. Doc

Well they got the fit looking good. I am a bit adverse to black because it absorbs too much heat. Green seems to be the color of choice next to CAMO when I polled users. Detectorists are a stealthy bunch. There are some other features I included in my design. I don't like covers that shift around. So on the side panels, on the inside I stitched a tab of "HOOK" material on each interior side. Then I supply the opposing "LOOP" tab with a peel off adhesive back so you can mount that on the edge of the detector. That way the cover locks onto the detector, via the hook and loop and prevents the cover from shifting. Doc

I got the first few covers from the production run of Gold Monster Covers I designed. I got a limited amount sent to me before the bulk of them will be shipped. It will take about 30 days to get the bulk of the production run, but I am really happy with the way they have turned out. The Gold Monster cover is made of a tough Green canvas with a neoprene lining to offer protection to the detector. I also designed a cord wrap, that closes with a hook and loop strip. I designed this to protect the coil cable and allow you to secure that cable without using that plastic cable pinch that has been molded into the vertical support. First it is very hard to get the coil cable in and out of that little plastic pinch, and second I am afraid over time you may damage the coil wiring. The wrap allows you to easily change the coil and not be pinch that cable all the time. This thing was a real bear to design because of all the weird angles. I think the testimony to the difficulty of the design is that I don't think anyone else has designed a cover for this machine yet. See the pictures. Doc

I too have used snowboard bags. It just does not seem like anyone has made a bag large enough to hold the machine and a 19 inch coil. This particular bag is a bit more compact than a snowboard bag. A little shorter and wider. Phrunt, I love that camo bag! Doc

Hey gang, I saw this Gladiator wake board bag at Overton's and thought, "That looks like it may be a great metal detector bag." Typically I find that bags made for other sports seem to be much better padded and better made than bags made for metal detecting. So I ordered one. This bag kicks butt. I really like the fact that it has a lot of padding. It is really wide. It has a big zipper mesh see-through pocket for accessories. And a little zippered pocket for bits and bobbs. And it's only like $39.99. I tried to find out who manufactures these but I wonder if this is Overton's own private brand because I couldn't find anyone else that carries them. They were on Amazon, now they say they are no longer available. I don't know if that means they are closing them out or what. https://www.overtons.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Gladiator-Padded-Wakeboard-Bag&i=320417&CAWELAID=120030620000073070&s_kwcid=adwords__&gclid=CjwKCAjwkrrbBRB9EiwAhlN8_ANDn26En6JkGu7SOuRtBNkNY64eVkifk97X0etDJT7TZoitbkVVDBoC2QsQAvD_BwE Doc 

Thank you Fred. Doc