schoolofhardNox

Nice looking finds. That R looking thing is interesting too. The "not" ox knob looks like it's made of lead and may be a fishing net weight or a weight for something else. Fun place to dig when you don't have a lot of time, being as it's right next to where you live.

Nice looking gold! Must have been fun to see them all come to light! 😍

I too think the gravel layers are going to cause havoc for the VLF/ Multi's. Kind of like disturbed ground did on my E trac and CTX.  I would pick a small area and go over it with the large EQ coil, then go over it with the Tdi and see how many targets it can hear (without digging them all). That will tell you everything you need to know about conditions. Cherry pick certain signals and see how it goes.

Nice pendant and chain! Neat idea using a silver quarter to make that coil. Well done.  Is that an old 1800's flat button you found?? Kind of looks like one.

I'm not sure if this is the same reaction other PI's get, but on my GPX, coins hit louder and narrower than big nails do. Nails, for me, sound longer, and coins hit faster if that makes sense.  Coins are a shorter signal but ramp up and ramp down quicker.  Also coins sound the same no matter what direction I swing from. Nails can sound different from some angles. This for me has been true to about 9". After that coins are a smooth quieter sound while iron is a bit ragged and unsure and sharp. I can always get a nice sweet, quiet, even response on deep coins. Deep iron sounds unsure and iffy. Kind of like when you want to make a bad signal into a good signal. That works up to about 15" After that all bets are off. After 15" it may sound like ground noise, slight EMI, or kind of a wavy, distant ghost sounding signal. After 20" I just hear threshold 😄

6 hours ago, mn90403 said:

Our beaches have become very clean for two reasons.  One is that we have many detectorists.  The second is that it gets sanded in quite quickly after a storm and also in general.

You did good but I know you want to do better.  Thanks for the photos.

I like that the beaches have a lot of detectorists (as long as they are not PI detectorists) That leaves the deep stuff available without digging the shallow stuff. The sanding quickly part I do not want 😄

1 hour ago, Tom_in_CA said:

I never get tired of beach black toast silver   😍

I do.... I wish sometimes they would come out like dirt silver does - Nice and shiny 🙂

12 hours ago, kac said:

Got a couple beaches here that are similar so I use my Multi Kruzer on them. Go insane with the pi. Sacrifice depth for sanity i guess. Looks like you did pretty well anyways 🙂

Thanks. It's really getting harder to sneak out any silver there. It just involves slowing down and digging more. As for the trashed beach, I'll hit it again when there is a really low tide. This is an old beach, older than my good beach. It's regularly hit by a lot of detectorists and I'm sure they just dig the absolute good signals. I know a lot of Excal's and EQ's have hit it. Not sure about any other brands, but they definitely cherry pick it. Makes it hard to search for the deep targets there. I'm definitely happy for the silvers I found at the good beach, just a bit disappointed that I could not try my method on this beach. It has the potential for Seated coins. If I lived closer, I would clean out sections and go for the deep ones.

4 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

The day wasn't a total lose and you came back with some nice finds.

Good going and I wish you better luck on your next hunt.

Thanks. I'm very happy I did get a bunch of silvers. There are days early in the season, that I could not even find 1 silver. It's funny how things work out sometimes. I guess that is what draws us back to the beach every season. You really never know what you are going to find, no matter how well you plan it out. The beach decides what you get 😄

So, I decided to try another beach to see if the conditions were the same to find silver. I spent about 2 hours there before I could not stand it anymore.  For such an affluent town, the have the dirtiest beach I have ever detected on. The amount of junk targets and iron were overwhelming. I could not swing without hitting multiple targets. I got a bit of clad, and an 8-gauge shotgun shell casing, so I flew out of there.  🙄 The drive back to my favorite beach was now the goal to save the day. I wandered around for a bit with no luck, so back to the same area where I did good before. I expanded out a bit and the silvers turned to clad. Lots of dimes as expected, as they are hardest to find deep. Found a decent amount of silver. I did not take pictures of the trash, but here are all the good finds from that beach. My beach days are numbered, as the crowds are already starting to show up well in advance of Memorial Day opening. I may try another new beach next week for a bit and see what happens. Weather was beautiful…. The people ?  -  a bit strange. 😵

9 hours ago, Mikeguard01 said:

No emails here. I guess I was dropped of the list.

 

They may only have a few available and went by the previous list. Your number may still be called. But e mailing them may be a better option. If you are still interested, let them know it.

5 hours ago, UtahRich said:

Hi Valens Legacy,

Thanks for the comments.

The trash ratio was quite good compared to some places I've hunted. There were 6 square tabs, 10 pull tabs / tab rings / beaver tails, 1 squashed screw cap, 4 fishing lures, 1 and two halves sunglasses frames, 2 rusted bolts w/ washer / nuts, 1 - 9mm casing, 1 wad foil, 2 large rusted split rings like those used for car keys, and 3 corroded zincoln cents.  I think that is 33 separate junk targets. Some of the tabs were right together and made for quick recovery.  I used a waterproof pro pointer AT to speed locating.

Keepers; No nickels, which surprised me. A clad dime. A copper memorial. 5 rings and the bracelet.

Targets came pretty quick and the area is not so big. I made two passes.  

I'm hoping to get out again.  It was 73* Monday, and snowed 3" Tuesday. I have some more areas Ive scouted but have work and some yard projects still to be done.

 

rich

The key statement that stands out to me is " 1 wad of foil". That would tell me all the very light aluminum was swept away! I would dig all numbers from 1-9 as well there.

Awesome hunt. That ghost town hunt can wait 😄

4 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I'm determined to get some gold, but know the realities. Any find is a good one. She likes the quiet time when I'm gone. 😀

Most of the gold I found was in the 1-9 range. That is where he tiny stamped gold charms are, along with crosses, studs, and some small ladies rings. Broken band small rings read there also, along with most small linked gold chains. Above those numbers and you are in the normal ring range. Everyone wants that 1/2 ounce ring, but there are a lot of chains and small gold out there lost over the years.

Beautiful ring. That's the nicest Tungsten ring I have seen found!

Hope you are wearing something good on your feet. Glass and fishing hooks hurt! 😄 I would try from the shore to just above the knees. That will tell you what settles there. If it's all light aluminum and tin foil, and no sinkers or nickles or quarters, then it's either farther out, or buried too deep. Does the river ever go down like a low tide? That's the time to get out as far as you are comfortable.

Almost looks like Silicon Carbide but with less colors.  I hope someone knows what it is.

Great view of the beach! I have a box for each beach that I keep all the junk finds. I save it just in case there are rumblings that detecting may be banned from a beach. That way I have a show and tell ready to show the benefits of detecting at a town meeting. One look at rusty fishing hooks and pointed, rusty nails and maybe that can make or break the deal. Plus, lead and copper/brass have some good value as scrap.  That soft metal may be part of a flattened ring - Aluminum or silver?

I takes time and some luck to hit the beach at the right time and right place. It's not always apparent where the good spot could be. I recommend wandering around if you are not getting much in that area. That is how I find my spots. Sometimes they are not more than a 20'x40' stretch, very easily missed. Throw the change in a jar. You will be surprised how quickly it fills up.

23 hours ago, kac said:

Not a matter of not having more controls but the right controls. A turnoff for me is having a machine everyone else has that is so automatic that just leaves the chance of finding something just a matter of walking where they didn't. Removing the skill factor takes a lot away from the hobby for me.

That is my biggest concern. I need to be able to tweak a machine, but not like the Blisstool😄 I already speak another language and I do it poorly, so I don't want to control everything.  Also, the skill factor is a big one for me too. I like the adventure that detecting brings. The thought put into where and how to hunt a location. I guess if they make it simple and very effective, it becomes more of a race to get the goods. I guess what Gold Catcher said is true. You still have to have the insight to find the actual location. That is what will make the difference in a flooded market.

I probably didn't word it correctly. I'm not asking for more controls for the sake of controls. What I was poorly trying to say is that removing too much from us leaves us vulnerable to no options if the machine, for some reason does not work in my area. Even though it says all gold, all soils, all the time, I'm a bit hesitant to give all the control to automated features. Even though the 5000 has a lot of combinations in it, I can say for sure that the 4800 would not do for me what the 5000 does because of the 5000's extra timings. The Blisstool 😆 that is an example of what I don't want. Even when it came out it was a no go for me. After watching one video that was supposed to make it look good, I saw things that I did not like. Anyways, my point was that if it works, I will eat my words, but if it doesn't work as advertised, you spent a lot of money, and can't do anything about it. If the Equinox did not have single frequencies, I would not have been able to continue some of the archaeology projects I was on, due to EMI. It was an option that made the difference in success or failure. I hope it does work for all the gold guys that can find great things without any need for different settings.

36 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Step back ~70 years and ask the same question about automobile transmissions (automatic vs. manual).  We still have both available although automatics dominate the market.  Auto racing experimented with automatics in the 1970's but AFAIK the current top-of-the-line racers still use manual trannies.  (Well, some of those have pushbutton shifters....)  So the new tech hasn't performed as well as the old at the very pinnacle of performance demand.

Or back ~30 years and the introduction of Graphical User Interfaces (GUI's) to replace command line processing (remember MS-DOS?).  LINUX/UNIX (with both options) is thriving, admittedly with a small market share.

One thing I've noticed from the sidelines (but it's been emphasized in other threads, by Gerry and others) is that for once we enthusiasts aren't the catered to buyers of the newest state-of-the-art detector.  ML might have been satisfied to just sell the GPX 6000 Africa -- its apparent primary market.

One big difference (of many) between autos and detectors -- automobiles have never been dominated (that is, monopolized) by a single company so competition prevented what you envision.  I guess we'll know eventually if your Orwellian nightmare becomes a widespread reality.

True. I guess if I were the manufacturer, I could cater to both sides and sell more machines. Why not upgrade the 5000 using the existing options, or redesigning of the original controls, but also put some really good presets in for those who just want to turn on and go detecting? They kind of did this with the Equinox, why not the 6000? Alienating any market is a bad idea in my book. They may not need us in this particular situation, but maybe they will need us in the future? IF Alexandre comes up with a land version of the AQ, I, for the first time in a long time, would consider it over Minelab. In the old days, I was a true White's guy. I did very well with them, until they left the door open for Minelab to enter. The only reason I bought an E trac was because their Vision (aka Spectra V3) was delayed and unavailable when I needed it. In a way Minelab disregarding sales in the US is kind of a slap in the face for all the loyalty we have shown them. Maybe it's a calculated risk or maybe they just don't care, but it's distasteful to some of us who have posted great finds with their machines.

35 minutes ago, kac said:

I think in general companies strive for automation and simplicity to attract new customers rather than cater to the needs or wishes of existing seasoned customers where the sale is over. Seems like Nokta still tries to listen to customers wishes and wasn't too long ago Garrett had a questionnaire for a wish list of features. The rest of the companies, feature requests seem to fall on deaf ears and they just do their own thing.

You would think it would be wiser to listen to existing customers and put in the features they want as many new people to the hobby are attracted to the hobby from existing users and learn from them.

If I were Nokta, Fisher or Garrett, I would be introducing something soon and take advantage of the opportunity to gain back some market share.

7 hours ago, mn90403 said:

I don't know what to tell you other than markets and technology move on.  I think the people at Minelab which have been there from the beginning and the new people that have been added make for a mix now that still produces quality detectors from a marketing and technological standpoint.  There are not too many people who would 'trade back' the latest detector for an old one if they have had a chance to use the new ones.  I still have all my old ones that I don't use any more ... or at least not much.  You enjoy a 'sweet spot' of using a powerful detector (the 5000) and most admit the number of adjustment on it are daunting.  I have one too.  (I also had one of the AQs like you have but sold it.  So I'm not only stuck on Minelab.)  When the 7000 came out (it was not a continuation number) I stopped using my 5000 but I'm also aware that the 7000 does not make a good relic detector.  I can't use it at the beach either.  Maybe this 6000 should have been named something else like Gold Demon then there would be 'less' expected of it as a continuation of a line of detectors.  I'm certain that the 6000 will find its fans and its gold or Minelab would not put out such a high end detector.  Their 'new' market has to be younger people than us with a few extra thousands to just take a couple of weekends a year and go out and find several ounces of gold.  It may happen.  Look at all the new finds in England this past year with the lockdowns.  The 'proof' in the 6000 will be its ability to ignore bad ground conditions.  If you can 'turn it on and go' as a high end machine like a Vanquish then they are one step closer to the holy grail.  This means it will ignore salt, mineralization, hot rocks and other impediments to gold prospectors.  I hope there is someone like you who will make it work for relics too and it can be made to ignore iron but I haven't read much about that.  Maybe with fewer adjustments it will just be a better detector for more than just gold.

Agreed. I too have moved up from the old machines, (hence trying the AQ) not just because they were new, but because they worked better. My fear is that the future will limit who decides what works better. I've noticed that when a manufacturer breaks into the market, they are very willing and eager to make the best machine possible. But after a while it seems they are more worried about market share and not as much about quality or what we are looking for.  So let me pose a question to anyone who has the 7000: Do you feel you could have gotten more out of the 7000 if it allowed you more control and more choices than it offered you. In other words, if it had some or most of the GPX controls and options, do you think it would have allowed you to gain more gold? How about if you were allowed after market coils?? I'm sure the 6000 is going to find many good homes and probably some that will not like it, but at the prices they are now going for, trying one out to see if it's good, is out of the question for most people.  Technology always moves on and that is a good thing, but limiting choices counteracts that technology in a way. I hope it is a great machine, but we can only wait and see as always. The proof comes out when some of the most experienced gold people get their hands on it. If they like the lack of adjustments, and it produces gold in worked out areas or trouble areas, then we know it's real and not just fancy advertising.

Not sure where this belongs on the forum, (or if it even belongs here), but this seemed to be the best category to discuss this. Ever since information on the GPX 6000 started to trickle out, I had this nagging feeling something in detecting has changed for those of us who like the thrill of getting to know a new detector. I never would have envisioned the GPX line morphing into a simplified detector. After having the GPX 5000 for a bunch of years now, and using it for relic and beach hunting, I could not imagine relying on a machine that adjust everything for you. I get it that money talks, and when you are a publicly traded company, you go for profit first, and then deny it 😄 And now that there market has switched to an area that probably has very little experience with detectors, the GPX 5000 must have been daunting for them.  So they cater to that market. But I was hoping that a new GPX would fix some of the issues that the 5000 had. I was naive. Minelab has never kept the good parts of their previous machines and just added the the things that needed improvements. On the E trac, the best part of it was the depth it had in finding deep silver,  in long tones, multi. Also the bouncy numbers helped ID deep Indians. When the CTX came out, it lost some of that fluety tone and they tried to straighten out the numbers to a number 12 line. So a two dimensional screen that worked well was transformed into a 2 dimensional screen that bunched most targets on one line. The The EQ comes out and squashes out the numbers even further. So why I thought the 6000 would not do the same is beyond me. I guess I'm disappointing that the "trend" is to make machines where the manufacturer decides on how your machine is going to be set. I hope someone in my area gets a 6000 and is willing to bring it to the beach to compare settings on deep silver. If it wins, then I will eat my words. I know I will get some slack with people saying it's a gold machine, not a relic or beach machine, but to them I would say.... you should be worried when a company controls your ability to fine tune your machine. Thoughts?

1 hour ago, F350Platinum said:

Wow that GPX is incredible. Even your "junk" is cool. Nice shootout!

Thanks. it is a really good beach machine when you find your beaches settings. You're in VA and it is a great relic machine for your iron rich dirt as well. Many relic hunters have found a lot of deep Civil War relics with the GPX. I can live with losing some of my machines, but not the GPX.

4 minutes ago, tvr said:

Titling it and using the edge of the coil helps a lot with that.

Yep, that was the part I forgot to mention to him 😄 The Devil is in the details!

38 minutes ago, Jim in ma said:

THANK YOU SHN for letting me get my feet wet with the AQ.

The part I had the most trouble with was pinpointing a shallow target once I got the target out of the hole,

being chest deep and digging in running sand I dont have the time to check each scoop, I dig and dump piles next to each other so when I go back to check witch pile the target is in I can now judge by the strength of the signal witch scoop pile it should be in.

Missing in the pic is a silver wave ring that has already been claimed.

Joe you have helped many others including myself keep it up, Thank You

Thank you for letting me pillage your site 😄 I think, if I had not forgotten to mention to you how sensitive the edge of the AQ was, it would have made finding the target out of hole easier. Most people that I read about have problems finding the target location while still in the hole. The fact that you got the targets out shows your PI & water experience. I told you not to show anybody your finds... there goes another silver ring 😆 That Buffalo cleaned up really nice! I think you did well just getting your hands on a new machine.