Desert Dawg

Will the new Terra nugget version have solid coils, spoked coils don't do well on uneven terrain in gold country?

E. Musk will figure out an economical way to get it!!

Maybe its a multi IQ dedicated nugget machine? I just cannot see Minelab competing with Makro/Nokta's new 200.00 detector, profit margins would be so small per unit it doesn't make sense to me to compete in that arena. Unless they could move a massive amount of them?

Coil design has come a long way with the aftermarket Coiltek Elite and Nugget Finder Evolution coils, the medium size coils can add 2+ inches to depth depending on soil and conditions. It appears the X-Coils out of Russia are adding inches to depth of the GPZ. As for VLF's and coils I have a Mxt and use nothing but aftermarket coils on it. Much better design much better performance overall. As for detector technology I think the mfgrs are doing their job, we are starting to see more and more new tech detectors emerge on the open market with extended depth etc, MDT-8000, Equinox, etc, and more to come soon, Hybrid Whites, Fisher Impulse Beach and Terra, etc.

Used MXT Pro or M6 is a good choice, with 5.3 concenetric coil.

I highly recommend this Compadre for tot lot hunting for beginners to experts. It gets the goods. Thin gold Chains, etc, my compadre has the 5.75" coil. Its a great grab and go vlf. Not recommended for deep hunting, its good to about 6" depth.

I really like and recommend the GPX 4500, fair learning curve but once you got a handle on it, its a very very versitile machine. Does well on small gold with the new Elite and Evolution coils, my favorite coil on this machine is the NF Evo 14x9 its so sensitive I can get a #9 birdshot at 3" with no problem, my best nugget so far is a .55 gram at a solid 8" in medium ground with the 14x9. With my round solid 14" Elite Coiltek coil I can hit a 1.3 gram nugget at 12"-13" in mild to medium soil, I keep it simple with the two flat wire wound coils and a factory DD 11" along in case of emi or wet ground.

I think the right lightweight pi would sell like hotcakes. That said, its not gonna be easy to develop a pi circuit that is not full of detection holes, due to sizes and shapes of nuggets. We have seen this in the past with different machines and their limitations. Its gonna take a multi channel unit. Maybe Fisher is well on the way to developing such a machine for us, time will tell. Plus these days we require a pi detector that can really reach down deep on 1/2 gram to 2.5 gram nuggets. These seem to be the leftover nuggets 8"-17" deep in old goldfields that havn't been detected as of yet. Plus an added bonus would be a machine capable of finding grain size gold deep. Those are the two types gold left in the old goldfields we are hunting these days. The gpz has been in the forefront in last couple yrs with finding this type gold, but at the price point of the machine and the weight of it, I am much more interested in investing in a new machine under 4 lbs, and under 2K.

I got my money in hand for (2) Can't wait!

I am pretty interested in a nugget version of this AQ, initial tests show this AQ is near on par with depth of a gpx with a 15" coil. Due to the 7 usec timing it would make a killer small nugget machine once setup with AUTO GROUND BALANCING for the desert. I want something like this to keep tuned just for small nugget hunting, its so lightweight compared to a minelab big gold machine I could see owning one maybe if it pans out.

Congratulations on your 50th anniversary, you got 5 yrs on my wife and I. As for the detector question I am sure there will be more informed than me chime in soon, I do believe transmission is not able to be tweaked period that is fixed in the machine. Its all about the reception where the tweaking comes in.

Pretty cool news for sdc 2300 owners, three new coils. https://www.coiltek.com.au/coils/gold-extreme/

Thanks for your indepth review of the 24K there is not too much feedback out there about this machine on the forums. Will be interesting to follow your finds with the 24K

I am an avid MXT user, am on my third MXT since 2002, its a MXT Pro, I find the machine to be very adequate for my coin/jewelry hunting, using a combination of sound and vdi readings its a great jewelry machine. There are a lot of coils available to use on the MXT, I found that the 4.5dd Detech excellerator, 6"dd Detech excellerator, 5.3 eclipse and Detech 8x6 SEF are great coils for coin/jewelry hunting. As far as a nugget machine it does work decent, I run mine in Relic two tone for nuggets and it will get a 2 grain nugget down to around 2.5" deep with the 4.5DD the vdi is pretty useless in gold country. But its only a backup machine for me when nugget hunting. Overall I think its still a viable very versitile machine compared to the newest vlf machines on the market.

I have a remotely located beach here locally on a river, the mineralization is so severe I cannot detect a quarter over 3-4" max with my MXT Pro. This beach was used for a rock concert many yrs ago, I know there is some good stuff to be found on this beach but a vlf sure is hampered by the blacksand in the beach sands. Its also very full of trash from fishermen, sun bathers and the like which is pretty normal for beaches. Like Steve says above, his vlf depth in Reno is about half what most others experience in the parks they hunt. I was initially very excited about Fisher starting a new line of vlf machines with a different form of ground balance, guess that didn't work out as desired since they dropped the CZX project.

Maybe a pair of M6 Whites machines would be what you need in that area. Worth investigating anyway. I have a friend here does well with a M6 Whites machine. Unless you got saltwater beaches to detect then you would probably want the Minelab equinox 600's.

If they build or are building a land version of this for nugget detecting I surely hope they have auto ground balance rather than the manual gb seen here on the beach machine. I would be interested in a nugget version of this machine for sure, look how light weight it is!!!

Desert Rat! AuHunter! Hybrid!! Hint hint!!

Lots of cool coils available new to fit the umax, Nel, etc. 3x6, 5.5", etc. Same coils fit as they do the Lobo Super Traq.

Electronic panning for sure!!

And vco audio is what lets the GB2 go "boing" over a hot rock or zip zip over a gold target! I had just never seen it in print by minelab that the monster has vco audio. Thanks.

Was just wondering if GM1000 has VCO audio?

Rev Tech One, (Revolutionary Technology) ?

I have and use a MXT Pro, it still is pretty much on top of the vlf pile for coin/jewelry for me, I have tried some of the latest machines and gone back to the MXT Pro every time so far. Most my park finds are in the first 5" of soil, not worried about the latest and greatest, its very good on gold jewelry due to the khz freq, even with the 5.3 eclipse coil I can hit 10" on a coin if needed. The gold mode works well down to about 2 grain wt nugget, is limited in depth due to vlf but is a decent gold machine in some areas. Very wide range of coils makes the MXT very versitile.

This Gold Bug 2 is very effective on grain size gold to 3" depth, working the manual ground balance in alkali areas can be tedious, but overall I highly recommend this detector for tiny gold cleanup on patches.