schoolofhardNox

Thanks! I'm always amazed on how much junk is on our beaches. Cleaning up some spots on my regular beaches doesn't do me much good when they are sanded in, but later in the season I may be able to hit some deep silver with the surface junk gone.

I second that opinion. The 5000 rocks, but it can be intimidating at first, so read a lot of posts about the settings and maybe down load the manual before you buy, if you buy.

Beach hunt # 4 this past Thursday, and finally some more time with the GPX 6000. The difference between low tide and high tide was minimal, so it was a great time to do some tests with the GPX on a very high EMI beach. I started off right away with the 14”DD coil and ran the EMI option. It ran rather well even when the train approached. It did get chattery when the train was passing by, but it seemed to quiet down faster after the train passed. The 5000 would take a long time after the train passed to do the same. So that was nice to see. I spent a total of 6 hours with the 6000 almost exclusively with the 14” coil. I tried the 11” mono for about 15 minutes, but the train induced EMI made that futile. This is one of those times I would have like to have an old-style DD coil and a cancel mode option. The 14” DD did hit on some old style pull tabs at 12 -13” and gave a rather decent signal, even close to the train tracks. That was also nice to see. I also did notice that Steve Herschbach’s findings using the toggle between normal and difficult worked on the 14” DD coil as it did for his mono coils. I could (if I wanted) choose to not dig little bits of aluminum and other small targets by disregarding the high-high signal. I did not for most of the hunt just to see what comes up. I did after a while dig only high – low and low – high signals in an attempt to dig nickel type targets (nickels, pull tabs, gold rings) and also dig higher conductive targets (cents, quarters, big iron). One thing I can say that I noticed is the sluggish signal the DD coil gives as opposed to the mono coil’s sharp response. This is also true for the quality of the signal in the headphones, as I find the DD coil gives a muffled tone, whereas the mono coil gives a nice sharp, and quick loud tone. Let me know if anyone else has this happen. I don’t think under these conditions the 6000 will replace my 5000 anytime soon for beach hunting, but it still will have a place in certain conditions on the beach, mainly when some 6-12” of sand gets removed. With heavy EMI and some sand gone, the 14DD may go a bit deeper than the 5000 running in cancel mode. And finally, for the last 2 hours I ran the GPX 5000 in cancel mode and ended the day that way. I was not expecting much, and even the two other detectorists quit after about an hour. My one distraction was the 2 bus loads of either junior high or high school age kids that invaded the beach and surrounding areas. 😵 Honest to God, they never stopped scream talking the whole 2 hours they were there. Finally, they moved on to other areas, and continued their chants. A great day to be alive and hunting a beach.

My money is on it being real. Hope it is. Great find either way!

I use this for my Marshall amps. They get the dirty crackly pot sounds, so I just bought something specifically for electronics. If it's out of warranty, then I spray it. But back to the Minelab's newest PI? Only Minelab really knows if there is going to be one or not. But if it's going to be a simplified machine with not much user input, I'm waiting to try one first before I bite this time. I like to have more control options at hand then just some basic setting changes.

I love any weather that keeps the public off my beach😄 They probably make a fiberglass one, but I usually wait until it's too late, so I buy what I can get.🙄 Each shovel lasts about one season, so it's not so bad. I use it as a pry bar for some deep rocks too. The weather is starting to get to the 60's, so not beach clearing weather by any means. Hey, remember what I'm swinging already 😄 That GPX with a 12.5" DD coil fully extended has got to weigh about 6 lbs. Although a 5 lb shovel on the other shoulder may just about balance me out 🤔 I tried a heavy duty shovel and it's just like having my Xtreme scoop - way too heavy for this light weight. 🧍‍♂️

My 3030 leaked a lot. I lost 3 rechargeable batteries with it and I finally had the machine rebuilt so that I could use it. I have not tried it since I got it back. I just don't trust that little gasket design on it. I would have at least done some kind a 2 gasket design to maybe saved a couple of drownings. My personal opinion is that a gasket change isn't going to solve that issue. Mine leaked when I laid the machine down near the water's edge. The waves crashing into it made it leak.

If I lived close to a beach, it would change how I detected as well. I would be more inclined to scout out a section longer instead of just wandering, knowing I could go back tomorrow. Driving 2 hours puts some pressure (self inflicted 😄) on me to find an area that produces or go home empty handed. The long ride back is much more palatable if there is at least some silver kicking around my finds pouch. Last year Joe, I had the same situation when a patch for silver opened up. Lucky for me it was in an area that did not get covered up fast. I enjoyed it for many return visits, but each visit was a week apart. If I lived close, I would have hit it every day for a couple of hours and really cleaned up.

I dig way more than I need to. I could have spent more time on the iron targets and probably not dug the larger targets. But those small pieces of lobster traps can fool you almost always when they are at depth. I do it mostly to see what this beach is made of. This beach is different from my other beaches. It has a lot more lobster trap pieces, a lot of small melted aluminum globs, and some kind of zinc remnants. I need to know what's there before I pick and choose my targets on sanded in beaches. In prime areas I dig it all, even knowing the iron targets. 15" in some areas, but the EQ was having a rough time even on dry sand. Not sure why, maybe I had the sensitivity up too high at 22. I can relate to seeing a gold chain dangling. The same thing happened to me while digging a deep iron target with the CTX a couple of years ago. Mine partially fell out of the sidewall when I was digging. Takes a minute for the brain to catch up with the eyes 😍 Who knows how long any of us get to detect before we can't do it anymore. I just started to use a scoop when I dig close to the water's edge. I always use a small spade and dig from my knees. That's either building my muscles around my knees or ruining them. I'm betting on the first part, but if they go, I'll be cleaning all the crap I have found for over 50 years 😬

Beach hunt # 3 is done. I tried a location I have not visited for about 3 years now. A newer, small beach that I was hoping would have been ripped up a bit from previous storms. It was fairly sanded in, as the 1980’s coin layer was sitting at about 15”. This beach did not fair well for the Equinox, since targets were out of its range. I used it for only about 1 hour. Another long hunt, 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM and a 2-hour ride home. Used the GPX 5000 for most of the hunt. A bit more EMI here and the 5000 was a little noisier than I would have liked it to be. A decent amount of clad, a 1937 British three pence coin, a small .925/CZ ring from China and that’s about it. As always, still good to be digging and walking the beach. I did my fair duty of cleaning up some beach trash…… So, now where is my GOLD ring???

Yeah but, a GPX 5000 "D" has a nice ring to it. Just think of how many more silvers can be had if they just add the letter D. 😄 So far I have not had any salt issues that have surfaced. I'm sure there is damage happening inside but no issues yet. I did have one knob freeze up on me so hard that I could not change settings. From then on, I use electronic contact cleaner on them and they work fine.

I would think there would be a market for one if it had full discrimination attached 😄

Awesome number of silvers. Considering how long detectors have been pounding parks, you did extremely well. Your wife is a Saint!! 👍

Nice set up. I hope you can figure out how to keep it upright and still be comfortable enough to hunt. I don't know about you, but for me I never do well at detecting if I only have a couple of hours to hunt. It takes me a while to get into a good groove. I do hope your obligations don't press too hard on your soul and everything works out well for you in that respect. Detecting is how I rid myself of stress. Without it I would be in divorce court 😄

Surely there must be an buyer's outlet for old astronaut suits???? That would solve everything....no modifications needed. From the pictures, you are half way there anyways. It would be nice to have something that you could never feel the cold no matter what the temperature of the water was. Also those rings are sweet looking. I'm gold-less so far for 2 hunts, so I get to stare at your gold to make me feel better. Nice hunt there Joe.

I got a better idea.... sell your house, buy one in New England on the coast and then trade for my house. 🥰

Thanks. The beaches are hit fairly hard by locals, so the deeper, better stuff comes later as the winter takes its toll on the beach. Once we lose all that sanded in effect, the deeper targets start to appear at depth. That's when the PI reaches just deep enough to get the goods before the beach erodes some more and the VLF's can cherry pick it. My dream is to live 5 minutes from a couple of beaches, so I can detect all week.

Most of the time if you get to talking with them, they end up being OK, but from a distance you get the stink eye. 😄 I think the problem was that I was detecting an area he already covered. There were two holes on this little island spot that emerges as the tide recedes, that he dug. When I left there were another 10 holes dug there. I think he was worried I found some great stuff. But I was digging it all, so mostly deep pull tabs and other junk. Thanks. If I lived closer to the beach, the hunts would be shorter. But driving all that way, I have to get the most out of it. Once a week is not enough but that's what I get, so I maximize my hunts. Usually my body tells me when we're done 🙄

I figured I'd try and keep my beach hunts in one thread if I can remember 😶Beach hunt # 2 is in the books. Headed to my heavy EMI beach to try the 6000 there. This is actually my better gold beach too. There were too many people there to try the dry sand, so the 6000 and 5000 stayed in the car. I figured I would spend some needed time with the Equinox. It did fairly well last hunt and I really needed to get some settings down. So, from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, I ran the 800. I was in the digging mood, so I dug a lot of junk targets. Not much change on this beach, as there are a lot of regulars hunting it. I was not alone, there was another guy with the Equinox giving me the stink eye for detecting his beach 😄. Every season I break my spade and yesterday was the day, so I am good for a while now. Not much of a low tide, but it did expose 3 rings. Each one looked good for a short while, but that mother’s ring was deep, and I really thought it was going to be 9K. So, 3 junk rings to add to the collection. I finally hit silver with a nice 925 bracelet. Another odd find was one that was going to burn a hole in someone’s pocket. A BMW car fob. That can’t be cheap to replace. Since everything is sanded in, I may just run the Equinox until I see some erosion happening. This also gives me time to try some new beaches to see what I can turn up. It’s always great to get out and exercise the old legs for the day. Weather was perfect, light breeze, cloudy, and warm – the perfect detecting weather!!!

Nice haul. Lots of coins and some silver to boot! Cool Austrian coin too along with the silver? ring. That's some hard digging there!

It's hard to know what went on there on that path. Maybe they scraped some dirt 50 years ago, maybe a washout took the coins and relics away, or as always feared, somebody got there first and cherry picked the coins. Either way you don't have to wonder what might have have been there if you didn't detect it, and saw them covering it up with the new boardwalk. If there were some coins hiding there you would have found them judging by what you were able to recover. You didn't miss any, they just aren't there for some reason.

Nice haul. You definitely have the beach conditions pegged!

Thanks. It may not be a defective coil. It seems that detector manufacturing is taking a turn from what previous models were designed to do. They are more focused on a particular task (and customer) as opposed to working for a broad range of scenario. They will still work other places than they were not specifically designed for, but I have to remember that this is a gold machine and when they say all gold, all soils, all the time, they meant gold only!😄 Even the DD coil is engineered differently than previous DD coils were. That is why after market coils are a necessity for me. My biggest fear was that I am limited to just a couple of options when I run into trouble, like I did on that beach. It didn't like the damp sand.... so now what? It goes into the trunk and the 5000 comes out 😄 The 6000 worked awesome with the 11" mono coil for regular dirt hunting the 14DD, not so much but still had its pluses. I will try again with both coils on a dry sand, but heavy EMI beach. But rest assured, I will have the 5000 and Nox standing by. It's just such a different machine that the 5000 is. I understand why they kept the GPX name, but for me it's not the GPX I grew to love. Now the gold guys??? They are in heaven with this machine. I envy them for bringing fun back to nugget hunting.

I agree. My wife is a certified health coach and she's always telling me how to keep fit for detecting. Getting the right nutrients when they are needed is a good start. But, I also agree that proper footing can do wonders as well. Add dehydration to the mix and it seems to aggravate or initiate a lot of muscle and joint issues for me. I had the same thing happen on a long awaited hunt... First scoop into the hard packed shell sand, and the scoop twisted. It shot a pain right up my leg. I thought I was done for the day. But like others, I gingerly limped along and soon after it was still sore, but bearable. It's a terrible joke life plays on us allowing our brain to think we are still 20 overriding our body's screams that we are old!!! 😆

Yeah, 2 of those lobster traps washed up on the beach I hunted too. It's the broken pieces that are annoying to dig. You can't pass them up and they can sink fairly deep too. If it's sanded in that's all you get. Some of the targets look like they were either dredged up or were there for a bit, but most targets I get in these conditions look fairly new. We just have to wait it out.