Mac

I didn't comment on their proposed reg changes but am curious when the results of their decisions emerge?

Thank you, JW, much regard for your kind words. I was hestitant to be so expressive, due to how that sort of thing can be perceived. So much appreciate your backup on it! And thanks for the warm welcome ... this is such a great group

How important is bench testing the ATX versus just learning the detector's response via actual detecting? I have read that some detectors give very different signals on a bench test than when signaling on the same item that's been buried in the ground, and so it being not too helpful/ worth doing.

I second everything Mike said. This forum and the one before and all the other forums of the past, which Steve was admin on and placed content, were/ are second to none and on many levels -- not just expertise at a level that's hard to come by, but a man who cares/ gives a damn, which shows in every thread via the responses and posts made, which takes massive investments of time/ energy and a 100% full time commitment, not to mention such high value thoughts/ expertise/ knowledge/ tips/ ideas/ experiences/ guidance/ equip analyses and so on. Just top tier all the way around and rare. And a humble guy despite all of his accomplishments -- here in the great white north he's a bonafide legend among prospectors/ miners/ detectorists. Everyone knows of or knows who Steve Herschbach is. Plus, a talented writer with a knack for teaching and able to dive into complexities with ease and not confuse those who have far less knowledge, namely myself. Prior to 2010 I bought almost everything I own at his former business, Alaska Mining & Diving. I've been a lurker on this forum, and other gold forums for years, but only visting in the winter months when it was not doable to be out actually doing the fun, and yet that's backwards, I should have made the effort to join/ interact during the summer months, during the "in-season zone" and made connections and learned more. My stubborness has a downside just ask my wife. In close, I appreciate the forum including all members. I just wish all the forum posts/ comments could be played on the radio instead of read. That radio would be continuously on and I'd feel no stress about wanting to soak up more knowledge yet also wanting to be outside out of cell range.

A few hours of online research and a series of texts with a fellow sciences buff has me thinking -- but not with any certainty -- that it might be a case of the detector having detected electrical currents in the air/ positively charged streamers emerging from my body in response to negative charged particles in the dark storm clouds overhead. And I wasn't paying attention to the skies. And because I was in a gully, I wasn't the tallest object on the mountain thank goodness, yet was emitting positive charges, so it makes sense that a sophisticated detector such as that would have the sensitivity to pick up ionized air. What is interesting is just prior to that crazy alarming, I'd been tucked down, chest to knees position, and head to chest, just to get the detector submerged to test some float. Well, I learned that is the very same position that is advised for mitigating risk of being struck by lightning when in an area outdoors that offers no protection. I'm still investigating it but will be modifying my habits regardless of the findings. Have learned we're at extremely high risk of being hit by lightning when have a detector in hand, even on the bluebird days with no clouds, especially when on a beach or near/ in water. P.S. I have ordered a "lightning detector" unit which is very low cost ($35). It alarms when the atmospheric conditions pose a threat for being struck by lightning from x distance -- a worthly device for any outdoorsman to have, especially those of us with metal rods in hand.

Steve, thank you for taking this time to educate me. I was not aware of much of this. Your perspective repositions my own. I admit that as I scan that dissertation of mine I find myself rather embarassed for the uneducated rant, especially as a new member. I share that serious nature of yours and value the advice (to not just carry into the field one detector; and also to rely on it) ... to rely on it means first mastering it then trusting it, and I think that right there is my problem. It's me with the problem, not the detector; I have not yet built my confidence high enough to fully trust what the detector is doing/ telling me. What doesn't help is the ease in which frustration gets the best of me especially when using a technology I've not mastered.

I have the same wonderings and also enjoy reading/ listening to the experiences/ stories from others. I have been into prospecting for most of my 56 years but have only been into detecting for a year, so have limited experiences. All of mine are close calls rather than cool finds lol

Wow. Hours of silence then a signal that strong! I'd have been digging as furiously and grunting like Tuco in the Good, Bad and Ugly! I'm surprised to read the ATX trumps the 7000 on hot rock rule out. That's good to know

Wow! I just posted an experience on a different page (this website; the forum as regards detecting). Last night, my Garrett Pro-Pointer AT behaving crazy weird on a mountainous expedition. Signaled on submerged quartz and also tundra moss, which I dug but then the signal ceased. Ran the tip and terminal side of the PP on the soils and materials dug, but nothing sounded. As if the alarm hadn't happened and so I questioned myself. A few minutes later, same area, same thing. Alarm sounded on a large quartz vein in a 30lb piece of slate. Pulled it from the water and then the pinpointer didn't alarm! WTF! Well, I carry a backup pinpointer (White's brand) and that signalled strong in the same area of the quartz where the Garrett first sounded, then went silent. No visible gold on the stone but a massive oxidized quartz vein on it, so needless to say I found room in my backpack for it and brought it home to run the Gold Bug 2 and Garrett ATX over it today. The Garrett Pinpointer? Not a cheap tool. Have banked on it. But 100% lost confidence in it now. How can a tool be used when a user lacks confidence in its reliability and efficacy? The answer is obvious. Also last night, with both pinpointers I experienced wild crazy bad interference like alarm sounding on both of them. But the Garrett had such a weird odd alarming that it was like it was sounding an alarm different from what it's programmed to do. I mean an interference of some unknown source that made that thing make a nonstop noise markedly different in tone and volume than any use of it to-date. Just odd. And was in the mountains around nothing and no one and no electronics at all. Just dark clouds above so I wondered if it was detecting conductivity in the skies and got the hell out of there. You know, reading the above comments as regards these problems is disheartening. I own the Garrett ATX and that's no cheap detector, nor is the Garrett Pro Pointer AT a cheap tool. We all expect to pay more for quality and maximum performance but when paying more for less reliable performance and questionable quality is unacceptable. Garrett may have great service but it's irrelevant as far as I am concerned. It seems as if they put their focus on the backend (service as a result of problematic gear) rather than on the frontend such as quality engineering and pre-distribution quality assurance, which is a common sense business strategy that avoids the backend and prevents customer dissatisfaction and all the costs. What really gets to me as regards problem detectors is it's not just about the expensive gear purchased that drives our costs as detectorists, such as our out of pocket costs to buy their gear, but the opportunity costs we pay due to poor quality gear that misses gold and other costs also, such as wasted time dealing with their service dept. Given this is the norm for detectors, which I had no idea until just now, makes me all the more determined to maintain my skills as an old fashioned prospector reading the natural signs to find where the gold is and not rely solely on detectors, but use them as a tool in concert with the other tools that DON'T miss gold! I might have to make some inquiries as a business consultant; have quality management and quality measurement expertise and now have reason to question if the Garrett folks have this knowlegde. Doesn't seem to be the case per my readings of how many problems that a great many detectorists are experiencing ... Garrett's brand is strong and they have much to lose. They want to compete with Minelab, they have to match the Minelab quality, which seems to be less frought with issues than Garrett but that is an assumption only. I wonder what the military experience is in terms of the quality (reliable, effective high performance) of Garrett's equipment? Sorry for the dissertation.

Detected an unexplored alpine area last night using only my pinpointer; a mountainous area close to home, hiked in and detected above the tree line. Skies were cloudy with darker clouds moving in but no thunderstorms. No overhead nor underground electrical wires in the area. No antennas anywhere nor engines nor even a road within 2 miles. And no cell phone on me (cell phone and satellite phone was in my backpack, which was about 40 feet from me at the time. Not likely any military jets/ aircraft in range either (those do fly over but no jet noise was heard all evening). So why the detector acted as it did perplexes me and kind of alarms me too if honest about it. I wonder if the detector detected electricity in the skies? Is that possible? I searched online but the info is too generic. When skies got darker off to the west is when the detector went absolutely nuts. As if I'd walked into a vault with metal on all sides of me. Was doing great for about 2 hours, no issues at all other than coming across signs of grizzly activity. Then something very odd happened. My Garrett Pro-Pointer AT started going crazy -- I was kneeling on wet tundra moss, with my gloved hand (neoprene material) in frigid cold glacial runoff, detecting on submerged quartz veins and getting a signal, a definitive hit type alarm. Then, under 20 seconds later the signal was lost. I stood up and when I did so, holding the detector out from my waist, with an extended arm, pointed at nothing other than the hillside opposite of me across the tiny creek, the pinpointer began sounding nonstop, I mean nonstop yet nothing 3 feet in every direction. I powered it down then turned it back on. Same thing. I tried to remedy it via button presses to reset it but still same crazy nonstop alarming and so, looking up at the skies it provoked some concern as to perhaps my detector detecting conductivity in the skies overhead, which at that high elevation (4500 ft) meant I was a lightning rod, and so I headed back. Without stopping to check the pinpointer along the route. Back at the truck I turned it on and it was behaving normally again. The nonstop crazy wild beeping was gone. I tested it on the controls (nonmetallic items then metallic items) at the truck and it behaved fine/ normally as it was prior to that incident. Am totally at a loss as to what happened and why. Does anyone have any clue or idea even as to what this may have been due to? In the event other details are needed, clouds pretty much blanketed the skies in all directions; darker clouds to the west were perhaps just 2 to 5 miles distance. Lighter to grayish clouds overhead and in other directions. No wires/ human developments of any kind for at least 15 miles to the south and 40 miles to the west and nothing but alpine wilderness the other two directions for thousands of miles. No highway just a rough gravel road so no engines nor CB radios within however many miles. I'd dunked my boots earlier so was barefoot at the time and had no metal on me nor anywhere near me, the digging shovel was about 8 feet from me. Just me and the glacial water and the mountains.

Thanks much, Steve and Mike. I regret not having joined this site years ago.

My vote would be White's GMT -- it's competitively priced at just over $700 and does everything the Gold Bug 2 does, plus it has automatic ground balancing, rather than manual which is what you must do with the GB2. If you're in moderately to highly mineralized areas this is a key selling point because it's your ground balancing settings that make or break success. If GB2 is in hand it's you who must make those decisions on what the settings are. Whereas White's GMT does it for you.

It's quite an undertaking to engineer these changes. The former site is extensive. I have never bothered to join in the past due to 100+ days in the field every summer doing fishing and mountaineering as well as prospecting and mining. But I have spent countless hours on the site as well as on the Steve's Journal site (which may be part of the old site I don't know), soaking up every ounce of knowledge that I desire and to shorten my learning curve on detector use, which I have only recently become passionate about/ obsessed with mastering the art/ science of. So, point to this dissertation is to say I have a lot of experience on that other site. And so, per my take, this new site is a significant improvement in terms of its organization of content and is a clutter-free site and has more "white space" -- which makes it a lot easier on the mind, far less stressful and more enjoyable. Content hasn't changed; your website content and members' content is far superior than on other sites and so there is nothing to improve there -- is/ has been absolutely world-class across the board. Best of the net. No other site in this field compares. So for me, Steve, as a new member, yet one whose visited the other site and many other sites and forums on prospecting more hours than I can count on dozens of hands, well, your efforts are noticeable -- cleaner site as stated; pages and their content load immediately (but have a new and fairly sophisticated laptop), no glitches at all thus far, ads on the page more professional presented/ classier and not as obstructive as before. Hell, I clicked on 3 of the ads. Their presence doesn't take anything away from the site. I also really really like how you have structured and organized the pages that contain the articles. Plus, you've updated the article content or at least updated the date to 2018. I was reviewing the Chugach National Forest data for the prospecting sites in Hope-Sunrise District, in prep for next weekend when my wife and I make the drive from Wasilla. It's the same information that's in the booklet produced by the source (Chugach National Forest) but on your site it's an easier read, and so improvements in article access and how they're presented on the page is very appealing for me as a junkie for knowledge. You've done well and it's not taken for granted. Cheers! Mac

Greetings ... I'm in Alaska, and a new member as of just now. But have been coming to this site for several years to read/ study and learn from others; and have gained much knowledge in the process. I have done the basics for 12+ years -- panning, sluicing, and sniping for gold -- most of the time with my wife, whose passion shifted to detecting instead. Well, she influenced me to give it a go and I am now hooked! There is just no greater joy outdoors than swinging a detector and digging! But am still in the process of mastering the science of it. We own a Gold Bug 2 (6.5 inch coil), Garrett ATX (with 3 coils including the deepseeker and closed coils), and 2 pinpointers (Garrett Pro-Pointer AT; White's Bullseye TRX). It's a true honor to be among the folks on this site, particularly you Steve.