Rick Watkins

Hey steve, how much more depth do you expect from 18" to the 25" ?

I never caught what happened to gold last week when it jumped $50 then dropped again $50,what was the reason for this one steve?

That had to be a terrifying ordeal for the children, I remember when earthquake happened I was 6 we never new just how bad this was untill way later.

Well He's not an obnoxious feller he just gets so worked up and excited about this spot I guess he couldnt control himself. Im still laughing about the charger klunker found in Mongolia, maybe in a week or so I will get on this and get his charger ordered. (POSSIBLY)

Thats funny klunker, I think I may tell him that very story, I dont want to be one sided about this turf anyone that would ask me to share this I would. Its just the way he took over that bothered me. Like steve said he shouldn't do a lot of damage. First time I ever wished for UPS to be slow. I will atleast ask his wife before I detect his back yard though. Amazing his minelab 3feet from my DFX never talked to mine but his was making a whole lot of strange sounds funny thing. Thanks for the info. On charger LOL.... RICK

We have a small park in my town that has been here since late 1800s , no one has hunted this that I know of including me, didnt want to stir up any of the garden club members so I left it alone.Last summer they completely redesigned the park (maybe 1/2 acre) they removed all the sod and put down all new sod. Never gave it a second thought until last week my father in law said we should try to find what they did with all the turf, I called a buddy that hauled it off in a dump truck, he told me where it was out of town 1 mile. I went out to my new find that day, and there it was all spread out like he said. I saw someone parked near the area that lives here also , I was getting my DFX out and he came over to see what I was doing . I told him the story of the park sod that was all to myself now, not having any idea that he had a brand new old Minelab in the box still. (Explorer 2) bought it on eBay was going to resell, didn't know how to run it. He followed me while I started picking coins up pretty regular, then he left next thing I know he is back and with his detector right beside me asking how to run it. I told him I wasn't familiar with it, still following me yakking with his minelab making all kinds of racket. I couldn't even tell what my machine was doing. He did find 2 coins and his battery was going dead, he said he didn't have the charger to charge it back up wants me to find him a charger so he can hunt my new find. I am laughing about this ordeal but I'm a little slow to find him this charger. Out of town nobody out here to bother you my own private stash or so I thought. I figured I had better come back tomorrow after work in case he got charged up and gonna wipe me out, so after work headed to my turf and sure enough footprints were everywhere on fresh dirt, detected anyway for 2 hours, found around 45 coins now that minelab didn't , makes the old DFX shine now. Even though operator didn't have a clue how to run it and he was running with a dead battery. I am laughing about this. Oldest coins here so far are 1919 but im sure there are older. Question is should I find my new detector buddy his charger quickly like he moved in on me or maybe stall him a bit? LOL. Anybody know this minelab EXPLORER 2, AND HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO MY OLD DFX? THANKS RICK.

Great review steve, Looking forward to hearing more on these two after alaska is checked off your list. maybe garrett will be listening and come up with a lighter version down the road.

Thanks, sjmpainter

Cool little cover steve, wish I would have known about these when my gb's were new.first time out with my new one a bank gave way and covered it and my arm , a little blood on the arm but gb control box took a beating, instantly looked 10 years old. They sure would be good like you say for setting down on the ground, and keeping moisture away. My spare gb died last trip to desert, not sure what happened yet, took it all apart couldnt find anything obvious wrong, guess I will send it to the doctor.I would use one of these covers if they pop up avaiable somewhere. Great idea. Rick

Bad thing is they may never have the time to enjoy it by the time the dust settles

Yea, sounds like they could have been stolen from San Francisco mint in 1900. Hope not for finders.

Nice, must be some nice sized gold in the creek yet it looks like.

Yes it is the gold on yellow background, not very good picture, I had a local geologist buddy of ours look at these, he told me that was as wide as the vein was maybe one quarter in. wide. Im not sure besides the calcium (on other side of most of them) what the host make up is for sure yet. this came from winnemucc area . They have found a few pieces before here not many. Weighed these in the rough 29.5 grams. Biggest piece was 10.3 grams. looked at them with a loupe and they are full of the yellow stuff.

This is what I found with tdi, the two by themselves got with gb2, tdi couldnt see these .its going to take awile to clean them so I will show them now. Also picked up a few more targets while I was at it.

Yes I will post some pics when I get cleaned up a bit and weighed.

Hi steve, just thought I would drop a line on testing tdi at winnemucca 3 days. Ended up pretty good. walked a lot of the desert, found a lot of lead. Then I found a nice little area that has been over by numerous detectors before. The ground was to hot down there to run with geb off, so ran with it on Gain around 9 ground balance 9 to9.5 pulse 10 most of the time, low conductivity a little noisy but I could work with it fine.i havent weighed any thing yet nice heavy pieces though. Area I found I would test tdi against gb and there was two pieces tdi could not see at all. These were all flat pieces of vein very thin. Anyway was great weather after snow first morning, overall pretty pleased with first pi machine, especially knowing mineabs and everything else has electrified the ground here before me.

Thanks guys for input, I was afraid you might tell me this steve but I do have hopes for this unit still , there has been several 1 oz. And bigger pulled from here but I dont know how porres they all have been.my hopes are high and untill I get sufficient enough with this to know the difference. I may be heading down there rain or shine just to put some serious time in on this machine anyway, im still carrying my gb in my pack with me though. thanks goldbrick also, sweeping is another thing that needs to be correct sounds like. I might be gong down in a couple days steve if your bored and want to get wet your sure welcome.

Recently got this tdi, have studied over and over everything I could get my hands on to gain a little knowlege of this PI. I have only hunted 3 times so far(6hrs.maybe) what a cool, machine never been around them but wanted to try one. First time out was overwelming, almost, wrote everythig down I did. 2nd. Time out was getting to understand it now, alot of experimenting found 8 coins and a lot of you name it.running in all full gain pulse 10 in this ground gb about 8. Wasnt sure if I had brought a long enough shovel for it's capability, wished I had a tape I dug 2 beer cans burried easily24 inches first 6 or 8 inches was dirt and rock then pure wet sand.It would have hit these even deeper, you guys that run these already now that. Trying to teach myself the different variations of targets, gonna take time for sure. Have a few questions I hope to get some answers to. By the way I ran 2 coils experimenting.(7.5-12") I did some air tests with some nuggets I have found with gb2, apparently the current doesnt hold well on porres nuggets under 6 grams, maybe my settings, but I tried with it set full power and didnt get much response on the porres, I think I read it cant hold current very well on targets like these, is that true and to what extent? Havent got to do any under ground testing yet ground still muddy and frozen. Thanks for any input here rick I want to take this to the desert shortly, now wondering if it will still go very deep on these big nuggets that could be over half ounce we now there are more here, just want some input on this dellima. just hoped it would go deeper than gb2 that have found several BIGnuggets here.

Thanks ray, that is some very good information, you guys that are willing to share all that you have learned over the years make it alot easier for someone to go for themselves and gain this knowledge. I dont have the time that I would like to spend at this hobby, seems like you plan a trip you've been anticipating for a long time then its time to load up again, hard part of getting all this knowledge is getting it to stay in my pea brain long enough anymore, I do keep a lot of notes of info. That I have learned, alot of it from this forum alone. Rick

Steve, you guys ever figure totaled gold finds at moore creek mine from paying customers? Thats one place I wish I had the chance to experience, I've seen a lot of pictures from steve and ritas Trips there. I had the chance once to sign up with them but thought I was to busy, wish I would have now. Sounded like a heck of an experience. Maybe one day you will make another find like moore creek and srart up another pay to mine down in the lower part of the nation, just a thought. Rick.

Wow steve what a haul, sounds like you figured the horsepower out quickly with this det, with you doing all the heavy work testing new equiptment and reporting like you do your saving the average guy like me very valuable time and patience in the field to say the least. Sounds like a very stable detector for those conditions. I had a dfx over there in the sand a few years ago, wouldnt get very deep there for sure. By the way the drywasher book showed up a few weeks ago, very good info, I didnt know if you seen my post where I thanked you so thank you again. By the way did buy that tdi, no one told me you could pick out beer cans at the chineese border. I love it so far Rick

I switched to nugget busters last year , I like mine also they are pretty quiet.Balance is nice if you want lift one side off of ear and balance to the other, you can still hear targets and listen for snakes with the other ear when there out roaming. Rick

Thanks I may send 1 in and see if they will sell me the same switch for the other . Save shipping both detectors at once, then I can see which knob they use for further reference, and install new knob myself. Maybe having a spare around isnt that bad of an idea either, should be a very common switch similar to some c.b.radios Rick

Steve was your problem with switch itself or did they tell you what was main problem? Thats 5 detectors now I know of that had this problem. Rick

Thanks eldorado, I wonderd if switch was main ptoblem, now I know of 4 that have done the very same thing, I wonder if they replace with original switch or update? Very annoying to say the least. I wonder if radio shack has maybe a beefier control, easy to solder in I would expect, simple variable control switch I imagine. Figure in time spent messing with dial in a day not detecting adds up considerably , time not spent over targets is adding up. Thanks rick