schoolofhardNox

3 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Hard work but you knew that coming in.  Spring is around the corner (Monday is March 1st!)  Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share.  As always I'm left with questions:  Why so few pulltabs?  What was the depth range on the coins?  And is the mineralization low on this beach?

You beach & water detectorists sure have to deal with a lot of sharp items.  Makes me wonder how many barefoot walkers/swimmers/etc. end up visiting the first aid station (or worse).

Ahhhh Pull tabs.... in this particular area the ocean takes care of those for me on a regular basis. The rough sea hits certain sections hard and rips sand away. Here about a foot was removed and along with it all the tabs, bottle caps , and other light trash. Once I moved to a new area, a few bottle caps and zincolns showed up. Coins ranged from about 10" to 14" on average. So this would mean that prior to the sea cleansing the sand away, the coins would have been buried from 22" to 26"  I can't hit them at that depth. Not even a peep. Mineralization can be high in places with black or purple sand, but in other places it is a low concentration of black sand and normal beach sand. The purple looking sand seems to affect the GPX a bit more than the black sand does.

1 hour ago, MSC said:

Nice finds schoolofhardNox glad the 5000 is working for you.

Thanks. It is my number one machine for finding deep silver & copper coins. Nickels and gold don't come in as solid as copper and silver do.

6 minutes ago, Badger-NH said:

That totally blows.  Why can't they use a connector like the Equinox that accepts any headphones?

 

I guess because they designed it to be a machine that is used in and out of shallow water (10ft max), it would be impossible to use a quarter inch jack.  You can pick up a 5ft cable for around 10 bucks and have it wired into any headphones you like. That's what I'm doing and all I can think of. The Equinox and the CTX all had a special waterproof connector. To use standard headphones you have to use their module which increased the price of the equinox. I know a lot of people (me included) That do not use the Equinox adapter, I wire in or go wireless.

7 minutes ago, Badger-NH said:

If it comes with waterproof headphones, why would I want those?

I'll probably want to go wireless.

Even if I did want waterproof headphones, why can't I choose the ones I wont?

.

You can but you have to get a set made for you because of the special waterproof connector. I'm having a set made from Tony just to have a spare. Or....maybe just have someone make you an adapter for it so you can plug in any  1/8" or 1/4" set of headphones??

It's tough to get a handle on a new machine even though a user may have a lot of experience. You did a great job not messing with his settings and just trying it out.  I think your observations are spot on about the machine as it was set. Also spot on are your observations on how long it really takes to completely feel comfortable learning a new machine. It's a never ending process. If you had that machine for 6-12 months and used it regularly, I bet you would get it to work for most of your hunting encounters.  Also, they make a tall man's shaft for it now too.

I have to add to this thread, my perspectives on my limited usage I have had with the AQ. I knew from the beginning I would be using this machine counter to it's normal usage. There were 3 situations on my beaches that I thought I could use the AQ with success. It has performed well on 2 of them, one in particular: when a lot of sand was removed from the lower slope and a clay base was located around the 8-10" range. Above the clay was about 6" of packed rocks. Above that was around 2" of regular wet sand. I saw 2 Equinoxes and an Excalibur beating up this patch that was exposed. I waited, and as soon as there was  room, I entered the patch saying hi to the three people I had met before. I had the AQ in Tone mode, but switched to mute mode as well. In a short time, I hit a lot of low conductor targets. I think I hit 8 or 9 nickels all in the 8" range. If I had more time that day (sun almost down) I'm sure I  would have hit gold if it was there. That is one scenario where the AQ would work on regular beaches. The second scenario I will hold onto for now 😄 The place that it did not yet work was on dry sand. Not sure if it's just me, but it seems that wet sand (salinity) is somehow needed to get those depths. Kind of the same thing that happens to me when relic hunting in the woods during spring. I know water always aides in depth, bit I was hoping there would not be as much of a loss of depth with this machine.  I envisioned it getting the extra depth on dry sand that the GPX does not have for gold and nickels. So far it's a no, but time will tell. So it is a niche machine but it has value for regular beach hunting under some conditions. I agree that people that think it has no discrimination characteristics are misjudging the AQ. I think when the dust settles, the AQ will be a weapon of choice for many people.

5 hours ago, Dances With Doves said:

I have  probably   taken  a 1000 pounds of junk out of the beaches in all these years  as opposed  to the many people who are polluters     on  our beaches.I think there is a $1000 fine for those who throw junk in the water but very few ever get caught.One of our thin but very long beach looks like a junkyard after a long hit weekend.

I hear you on the junk. I remember telling a lady that stopped me and ask about my success on the beach, that this is what beach detecting is usually. I told her it was mostly a junk day today and she was shocked at the amount of pointed iron, bottle caps, fish hooks, etc... that I had found. My last words to her were that I was an unofficial, unpaid sanitation worker 😄

1 hour ago, Ridge Runner said:

I’m sorry to hear that he’s not willing to spend the time to learn to use it . Some people just don’t want to learn new tricks you could say.

 Maybe he too should been the one to pass it up and let it go to another .

 If he’s a friend keep him they can be hard to find.

 Chuck

Some people definitely are not going to like any PI machines. Sure everyone wants the depth, but when it doesn't operate the way a VLF does, is a deal breaker for some people. They want discrimination, with numbers and multi tones etc.. Plus Gigmaster is trying to do a lot of videos, so days learning a machine means nothing to show on Youtube.

4 hours ago, okara gold said:

Just sent a pair of faulty AQ headphones to Tony. He said no problem fixing and improving them.  Should have them back in a few days. Still waiting for my AQ repair from First Texas. It’s been in their hands for 7 weeks and 3 days. But who’s counting?

Yep, Tony is the guy for the job. I sent mine in yesterday and he is repairing it and making me another one of his too. He gets them back fast and done right! Great guy!

The AQ's beach tests have already been shown in detail by Joe.  We don't need more tests. What people want is the finished unit before the next detecting season is over. Time is precious. They also want a price so they can decide if they can purchase the unit. That is all we have ever wanted. Heck, people are on waiting list to get the first run units, even though it sounds like the new version is almost there.

I'm 50/50 on it. Although it may sound like a good idea from your point of view and it may make you happy to be able to help, it may be the exact opposite from the husbands point of view. It may trigger scenes of what happened to them and open up partially healed wounds. He would relive it all over again. I'm torn like you, as I would love to return something to him. But I think the best advice already given was to contact law enforcement and have them reach out to the husband and give them your contact info. Who knows it may be an outright NO, but maybe later on, maybe years later, he may need that favor. You never know how people deal with tragedy or what stage in healing they are in. 

On E bay there was a time when you could buy a lot of counterfeit coins made in China. They showed them with the copy stamp, but you would get them without it many times. I bet that is one of those coins. They copied many coins including non rare, common date  large cents too. Apparently, they liked the old looking large cents 😄

My only interest in the 6000 for relic hunting would be to find tiny brass items. I mean tiny! Some rolled brass beads are 3-4 mm long. Other brass items can just be shavings from cutting brass in strips.  The 5000 finds them occasionally, but only under ideal conditions. Also for slightly bigger pieces, a bit deeper than what I am getting now.  For the beach it would be for the EMI cancellation, unless it's just like the anti interference coils, or for real deep coins, but it doesn't sound like it would beat the 5000. So just slight interest on my part for the 6000.

Wow Steve!! That conversation is riddled with lots of insight, and some very interesting numbers and facts. I'm hoping a true relic machine is in the works. I think Minelab laid it out quite bluntly how they are positioned and how they have everyone on the run. If that is correct, we may see some of the other foreign smaller manufacturers fall. It may also mean that White's rebirth may not materialize or matter much. If they keep advancing like they are, and start to really advertise heavily, then I don't feel anyone is going to match them.

Spring of '69 for me. It took us a while to try and figure out when it was, but lucky for me my cousin (actually my dad's cousin) was 10 years older than me and he introduced me to metal detecting. I was 7 years old in the spring of '69. He took me all over the place detecting, roughly once a week. During the winter we would refinish antiques or go post office hopping and get all the new commemorative stamps that had just been released. He figured out when I started because his girlfriend had bought a 1970 Nove SS and we were detecting a good while before that. I wish I would have kept a log of my first day detecting.

5 hours ago, Carolina said:

Looking world wide I think they will have no problem in the $2500 range. They have years of R&D as well as the only PI that accurately discriminates iron. I see a well used out of warranty gpx 5000 here for sale $2600. It took me less than a month to pay for my first AQ and nearly the same for my second. There may be a third once the new version shows up. Good luck everybody and stay safe from the virus !

I don't think the price is out of wack either. $2500-$2800 I think is max though. I have always believed that these two conditions will always make you money. 1) Have a real, solid, truthful product. 2. Have a great customer relations/service. I feel the AQ is more than qualified in it's capabilities, but fails in the customer relations. I don't really remember when it became fashionable to ignore talking with your customers, maybe 30 years ago, or maybe when lawyers scared manufacturers and told them to do a "say nothing" approach to business, but it's wearing a bit thin with me. I remember when White's was a very easy company to do business with... great customer support and really good prizes for find reporting. I never had a Tesoro but having that warranty and low prices kept them in business as well. But something changed and now we are out of the loop. How can someone buy a product when you don't know what it costs, when it will be available, and if it will be reliable? I feel real bad for anyone on the list that is waiting for a machine.

The round thing  (top right) is an ox knob. Great job finding the 2 Spanish silvers. Kind of oddly shaped holes in those Reals. If you find any more crudely holed coins, I would start to wonder if you are on an old trading area or someones personal savings on a string, that broke. How close to each other were those silvers found?

I think the 100 % discrimination comes from the personal choice to not dig anything that sounds different than a clean "certain type" signal.  Lejag's 100 % discrimination (I think) comes from the personal choice to not dig anything that sounds different than a clean "certain type" signal.  Lejag probably knows what a good gold signal sounds like, so he probably does not deviate from that. You will never know if he misses any gold or not. Most people will be more lenient on their signal parameters and will dig more bottle caps, hairpins, and iron. If you don't want to dig those, you will need to be more stringent on what you dig and not worry about possibly missing some odd gold. I know that odd shaped gold will probably fall out of those parameters. Crosses, ear studs and possibly shallow chains will probably not sound like a gold ring will. If you are strictly in the water then it's probably better to pass on some signals and concentrate on that deep gold. On shore it's easier to dig it and see what the odd ones may be. It really is a deep gold machine. If you are getting too many bits of aluminum and other low conductor trash, and you can't tell the difference from gold, then it's probably better for you to move on to a better spot that does not have as much trash. Just my thoughts on it.

I think some detectors just don't respond well to nickels at depth. I have the Nox 800 and it hits nickels ok. The GPX does not hit nickels as well as the Fisher AQ. At least at the beach that is what I found. If I want nickels, it would be the AQ all the way. I really think nickels are harder to find or give odd enough signals on a multi frequency, that many people pass them by. Shallow they read well, but at depth I think they read all over the place. I have found places on the beach where I find nickel after nickel,(with the AQ) sometimes 10+ in a small area. They don't seem to give that strong response that silver or copper does.

Good to hear you are doing better. I have a bad habit of not hydrating enough when I beach hunt. I rarely drink anything all day and sometimes driving home I would get huge leg spasms. Bad enough to have to pull over and get out of the car. It was due to dehydration and loss of important minerals. I now fill up 3, 16oz bottles of water and mix in an electrolyte mix. Presently I am using Ultima, but have used Nuun brand, but I like the Ultima better. Since then I have not had any issues. The drinks work well and contain sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc... I just put a bottle in my pouch and drink as I go. Good luck on your journey to recovery. I think if you introduce the weight training and some cardio, you may even be able to get off the blood pressure meds eventually.

6 hours ago, geek4gold said:

Even if an adapter were made the old GPX coils may not be in sync with the 6000 technology. I for one don't know why ML even called it a GPX.

G4G 

Maybe they didn't want to start a new series and that will be the last GPX model. 

34 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

Amen to that, I know technology has provided better results over the years but like you, I'm stunned on how much is left to find. Here we have spots that were dredged over and over and still have given up 40 plus gold in one season. 

Very nice report on the hunt also, Love the color of the 14k. 

Sorry about the stock head phones, to many times have we seen the stock AQ head phones fail.  Wish I worked at First Texas to solve these issues. I just fixed two sets of excal head phones for a friend, one the stock yellows, the other GGA's. Then I replace the coil on a Old Sword model that had the original stock, big cord red head set.. still working after 30 years. Something to be learned there....

It's amazing to me how much is lost. Not only silver and gold but all the junk too. But the good stuff hides deep and leaves something for future generations I guess 🙄 I'm still hoping someone goes out and actually makes a pin pointer that I can HEAR with the sound of the ocean in the background.  Yep, them headphones are a weak link to a really great machine. Twice they have broken just when I needed them the most. Why can't they die on a crappy hunt 😂 But fun it was and now it's back to using your head to find the goods. It doesn't take many brain cells to find all that silver when the beach clears away most of the sand and every other swing of the detector gives you a loud signal. Almost can't believe it.

2 minutes ago, Aureous said:

There are a few technicians here in Oz that have huge experience with GPX repairs, circuit boards etc. I can recommend Detectronics and Detectormods. The GPX PCB diagram is well known now, thanks to ML being hacked by Chinese spies several years ago. A few hundred bucks might completely repair it and then you have a $3K+ machine that you can trade-in or sell towards a 6000 or 7000. Worth a thought. 

Worth more than a thought. That sounds like a great idea!!! It may cost a bit to send part of it down, but just the box should do it. They have coils, cables, etc... If it were me, I would jump on that offer. They also do a lot of mods too. Something to consider as well.

21 minutes ago, Calmark said:

I'm in a similar situation with a GPX 5000 with extra coils I bought 3-4 years ago for close to $3,000.  It had no factory warranty left though it did have 60 days from the place I bought it.  Being relatively new to the platform I wasn't sure the random noises and occasional fits it made weren't more than EMI or something like bad ground patches, etc.  After about 6 months and dealing with increasing spurious noise problems I sent it in for a checkup and repair.

There wasn't much found to be wrong by the repair place other than straightening an internal switch pin and I thought maybe I was just being hyper sensitive or something.  But then my dad bought a brand new GPX5000 and it had none of the issues I was experiencing.  So I sent it back for another look since by then the problems had only become more frequent and more intense.  I was told after the second check up my GPX would need a new board at the cost of around $2800.  At that point I stopped taking it out due to how it became frustrating to impossible after the first 15 minutes to use.  I relied solely on my SDC 2300 for future hunts.  The SDC makes a great back up unit and kept me in the game.  😀

Missing the ability to cover more ground and use my 2 NF evo coils, I ended up buying a used GPX 4500 for $1500.  I figured that was about half the price of a repair of the 5000 and I'd be back in the game for cheaper.  My GPX 5000 has been sitting in the garage unused for a couple of years now and I've wondered what I can do with it like get a cheaper repair or sell it off for parts to recoup some of what I spent on it.  I'll definitely be very interested to see what you all can recommend to Swegin to help with his GPX situation.  

 

I bought mine used and have those random noises as well. But it's usually EMI. Not sure if you can get a smooth threshold anywhere in the USA 😄 Unless the noise is excessive, I would try the 5000 again and see if you can quiet it down a bit with settings and just get used to a little bit of noise. It's a great machine and if the 6000 eliminates the EMI with out loss of depth, I would say sell it all and get the new one. I'm used to never having a completely quiet, stable threshold, so hopefully you can come up with some settings to use it again.

29 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Does the seawater eat away silver or just corrode it?  My RoT for bullion value is denom x 0.7 x spot.  For example, at today's spot of $27.40 that's about $19 for $1 face value USA 90% silver coins.  Your original post looked like it had almost $100 bullion worth in quarters and halves alone.  Again, I'm assuming not much loss.  Typical wear doesn't result in much loss until they get down there below G grade.  Not gold for sure, but still something. 

Good reports and nice to see you are getting out in the middle of winter.

Most of the time it corrodes it and leaves pits. But if you get silver out of stagnant salt water, it starts to decompose the coin and you lose a lot more silver than if it pits. There is loss in both scenarios, but stagnant water hurts more because the coin is always attacked by sulfur and chlorine for the most part. I detect all winter long if the weather permits.  As long as it's above 25* F, and there is some sun, it's not that bad.