Desert Dawg

I was out there last fall camped on the gold fields north of the planted hunt detecting, met some nice folks that had been to the hunt the day before, one guy had won a detech pinpointer. Another couple who had driven their rhino out to the gold fields from the campground at the lake, they found a nice little nugget.

Nicely done video!

Someone has X-rayed a equinox coil. Pretty good sized circuit board inside!

https://md-hunter.com/minelab-equinox-coil-x-ray-is-it-really-the-half-of-machine/

I would be considering new a GM1000 from Minelab, or a Gold Bug 2 if buying used. Gold Bug 2 has a big learning curve. GM1000 is  simple and works.

Nice looking little creek, first gold with the detector is the hardest, it will come easier now.

I was just wondering if there was any plans of aftermarket coils being produced for the Minelab GM1000? I can think of a couple reasons why they would be welcomed. The coils seem to be impact sensitive, and the coils do not have good edge sensitivity. Am also wondering if a concentric coil can be built to work on the gm1000? I tend to prefer concentric coils over dd's for vlf nugget detecting.

Hybrid Half Sine Wave Nugget Machine.

Get a larger coil from Miner John, his coils are the best match for the TDI machines, even better than oe coils.

Wow, very impressive, we all know the amount of work gone into finding that jar of gold!!! Congratulations!!

I got a .55 gram porous nugget with the 14x9 evo/4500 last may in nevada, at a solid 8" depth, it was not a bell ringer signal but was easy to know something was down there. This was on a thrashed old patch gone over by many machines.

I sometimes gauge a coils ability to hear tiny gold by the size of shotshell shot they can detect, my 14x9 Evo hits on #9 dove load shot pcs to 3" consistently and plenty loud in alkali gold areas I hunt in Nevada, am very satisfied with that,  my 14" round elite mono barely can hear the #9 dove load shot pieces close to the coil. Just another way to gauge coil sensitivity to small gold. The Elite 14" round can hit 1.3 gram nugget at 13" in same soil. So it pays to have a few different coils with different strengths. I run mostly in Sensitive extra.

Let us know how that Sadie works on the other two nuggets.

Not too good of odds on those tiny ones, miss two and get one, maybe the new coiltek 9" round mono elite will pick em all up? The new Elite 9" comes out in May.

That new form of ground balance is what interests me the most on the CZX nugget machine they are working on. Maybe VLF can play some much needed catch up to pi performance and depth in alkali ground.

26 yrs total between two.

Great catch Steve. Either machine could be something new coming to market. Maybe not what they appear to be.

If you must go with a SUV type vehicle the only rig I would recommend is same as Steve H. A late model Toyota 4Runner in 4x4. You can't beat that 4.0L engine, driven 63 mph max it can get you over 20 mpg. Plus it has plenty of power to tow a travel trailer if needed, but don't expect over 13 mpg towing.  I hear they are soon planning on putting the 3.5L in the 4Runner I wouldn't recommend that engine/trans combination, too much downshifting amongst other bugs.

One other thing I would recommend if your going offroad very far, be sure and buy a set of tires with 3 ply sidewalls 8 plies tread or 10 plies if you got a large truck, such as the BFG TA/KO-2's or General Grabbers X3. There are not very many tire carcasses with 3 ply sidewalls on the market you will need these to ward off the sharp rocks from the sidewalls. They will get you there and back much better than standard tires. A lot of the 4 ply offroad tires look tough but are really not. Most of those have 2 ply sidewalls.

Maybe that was some of that hybrid machine gold!!

I run a Leer 180 camper shell on my 2006 access cab LB 4x4 tacoma works out well for sleeping for me. Most SUV type vehicles are pretty cramped these days for sleeping. As for newer used toyota trucks I would recommend a 2013-2015 over the newer third gen tacoma. It has that 4.0L engine with a lot of get up and go to it, and the auto transmission matches it well, not a lot of downshifting like on the newer models.

The composite bed in the truck is great for camping, way less conducting of the outside cold in with no metal bed.

Congratulations are in order for the upcoming retirement.

Possibly made by Gary Honan in N. Calif?

Wow! Exceptional nugget for these days.

I agree with Steve, the VLF's have plateau'd yrs ago on depth, my current experience with them is they are great for surface tiny gold 1-5 grains to maybe 3-4" max. We have to face it we are hunting mostly well flogged known gold areas now days and all that is left to find is 1-5 grain size nuggets, and extremely deep, 10" to 17"  deep, 1/2 gram to 3 gram nuggets missed by the earlier sd and gp machines. The GPZ is doing a bang up job on the 1/2 gm-3 gm size nuggets to depths its hard to believe, it seems they get around 3"-4" more depth on gram size gold than my 4500, from actual observation of digs.  The pi's like the gpx 4500-5000 are still a viable machine to use with the new tech flat wound coils, but not so much with stock coils. Hopefully there is more new tech machines available in the near future with the ability to find this type gold.

My best guess would be 1500 tops.

I want to see that hybrid vlf/pi nugget detector!!!

Since I retired I try to fund my nugget detecting hobby entirely by doing a little buy/selling thru the yr on Craigslist to make a little extra cash, its surprising how a little money here and there adds up over time if saved. I bought my 86 CT110 Honda for transportation in the gold fields 3 yrs ago by selling off stuff in the garage that was not being used, camping equipment, automotive, etc. Now i am in the process of selling the ct110 and upgrading to  a Rhino side by side UTV after saving for a yr. I work at upgrading my equipment in the winter months. Always sifting current detecting equipment to see if its being used, if not its sold.