Reg

I find the discussion about using a PI to find small gold and whether it can be done somewhat amusing. Ask a lot of PI users and they can tell you they have seen a PI in use many years ago that could do just that. How do i know this? Well, many years ago a lot of the invisible gold being discussed at that time was gold found around Greaterville AZ. John Blennert had found lots of the stuff and used to have fun challenging PI owners to try to detect it or build a detector that could. In some cases, the gold tried to be detected was several grains in size. In fact, there were a couple of the "invisible" nuggets weighing about 8 grains totally frustrated a lot of PI owners. Lots of owners tried to detect those nuggets and lots of owners failed. One detector could detect those nuggets even for a couple of inches in distance with a nice strong signal. John B. used to joke how some owners would pound the gold and the ground trying their best to detect this gold. Some said it couldn't be done. He used to laugh and say they couldn't pound it flat enough to detect it. Well, many years ago John Blennert challenged people to build a detector that would detect this gold known at that time he called invisible gold as well as gold down to a grain or less in size. Well it was proven it could be done and was. The detector operated at about 8 usec and could detect a lot of those nuggets not detected by the present PI's of that day and most made today PI's made today still failed. Discussions and displays were held in places such as at the old 24K club and many of the well known PI users in AZ saw it happen either there or somewhere else including at least one other member of this forum. This member saw a demonstration at Greaterville. How about it Fred, remember when you were at Greaterville along the well known AZ twins that frequent the Nuggetshooter forum and saw a demo? The truth is, the question of whether it can be done and at what delay was answered many years ago. So, to me this discussion is old stuff but still fun to hear all the speculation of what needs to be done. Reg.

This detector is a real sleeper. I am trying one now and I find it basically really is the SL but lacking the adjustable delay and conductivity switch as mentioned. The two mono coils that come with it (while supplies last) make this a great deal since the SL actually works a little better with mono coils. My testing of this unit displays it is no slouch, especially for the price. For example, I used a 2 peso gold coin (1.66gram) as a test target since it is quite standard and available for others to test and found this unit with the controls set at preset could detect the 2 peso coin with the 12" mono coil at 8" with a very distinct signal and close to 9" with a very weak signal. Maxing out the gain control gained a little but not much. This testing was done inside on a noisy day. On a previous test inside I managed to hear the coin at close to 10" when using the 12" mono but the signal was quite weak and required just the right sweep speed. Outside in my back yard I have a power pole with a transformer on it so a higher voltage is there. As such it is a little noisier but the noise reduction circuitry does minimize noise problems. Personally, I don't miss the delay control since I seldom used it anyway, but I do miss the conductivity switch. I prefer to run in the low conductor mode when nugget hunting and reducing the GB setting to enhance small gold signals. Using either single conductor mode on the regular SL does reduce the noise a little. Now, I can only adjust the GB control as a means of tweaking. This is no big deal since I can listen to the audio to determine larger iron targets. Also, many people are afraid of missing larger gold so they want to run in ALL anyway, so this detector certainly fits the bill. With the additional 6" loop as an added feature at this time makes this deal is even better. I tried a 2+ grain nugget I often use for a test piece and the detector hits it fine up to maybe 2" from the 6" loop. I really didn't do much better with my 5" by 8" elliptical loop with the foldback design. Now, this small nugget does sound off when close to the edge of the 12" loop, but no signal when passed over the center. I like to use the GB control to tweak the detector. For example, back off a little on the GB an go slow and small gold is enhanced a little. Advance the GB control a little and, again, go slow and more and more iron junk generates a low tone. So, I decided to try some extremes in my back yard where the gound is quite mineralized. I found with the controls at preset and using the 6" coil, I could tweak the GB from 4 to max and get very little ground noise if any regardless of how sloppy I was with keeping the coil level. Targets changing tones was about the only real noticeable thing I did notice from one GB extreme to the other. This is sweet to say the least especially if one is going to be out on the desert hunting. Now, keep in mind the ground is quite flat where I tested it so things could change over really rough uneven ground, but personally, I think if it does change, it won't be much. Overall, I feel this detector is a really great buy for someone who wants to try a PI but doesn't want to spend a lot. Oh yeah, the more I use it, the more I like it. Why? Fewer controls to get bumped is one big reason. Like the other SL siblings, this detector has an ideal sweep speed for maximum depth on small gold and that speed is slower than most people go with their VLF. I strongly advise people to experiment with small gold targets to find that ideal sweep speed and get used to hunting at it. The biggest mistake I feel people make is go to fast with any TDI models. It isn't that much of a problem when looking for coins, but it does make a big difference when looking for the really small gold. Reg