Aureous

The smallest coil for the early GPX was the 6x4 PMC Magpie and no-one that has one will ever part with it. I think less than 10 were built before the company went belly up. But the NF Sadie is the best bet although the 6" Coiltek is also terrific. The Coiltek 9" Elite is the coil I use 90% of the time and has found me over 1000 pieces in the past 18 months.....but the coax cable they use is very prone to flex breakage at the coil insertion end. I've owned 2 of these now....the 1st I threw in the shed coz it was unusable and now the 2nd one is going the same way. Ive taped the bejeezus out of the cable on the lower stem to stop the noise and left only moderate flexibility for the last 2" of coax.

Ive walked into these bast%#ds many times over the decades and although beautiful, they creep me out when you suddenly realize you're stuck its web and its crawling over you lol They rarely bite but when they do, the pain is like a severe burn and it lasts for hours...

I just tried, but the quality is way too low....either the phone camera used was poor or the compression via internet transmission has lost the quality on the pic. I was almost expecting to see Spanish words under the coca cola logo though lol Not that I care where it came from (the Asteroid is an even bet haha) but it would be waaay cool if it was from the USA.

If the base circuit has already been designed, then extra add-on abilities might be difficult to incorporate. Another big problem is how to dodge, avoid or check the relevance of current Minelab Patents. Obviously, the PI ground tracking patent is no longer an issue, otherwise the ATX would never have been built. But, talking 'multi channel' is accepting that the MPS patent is no longer valid.....hopefully this is true. Hopefully, the DVT patent is also mute. Incorporating both of these into a new prospecting PI would surely add a massive amount of detection ability. But, if it HAS to be a single channel unit, then it SIMPLY MUST have a bias adjustment (like QED) to allow the user to adjust for max sensitivity OR max depth, depending on the size of the coils used. By utilizing this idea in a single channel design, the designer is freed from choosing either an SDC type detector or a low frequency SD2000 type detector.....you can have BOTH. Obviously, the voltage and transmit & sampling speed must also be parallel-adjustable to suit and I guess this will have to be synchronized via software code. Aside from these crucial requirements, the idea of using the current range of GPX compatible coils is a 'no brainer' and Simon, I applaud your suggestion. Quoting a certain ML past executive, 'Coils sell detectors' and NM would do extremely well to utilize the huge range of Coiltek, NF and other coils currently on the market. Flat wound coils have the edge over bundle wound ones and any new PI detector would simply HAVE TO incorporate this tech (like the GPX6000 has) from the factory. Light weight of under 2.5kg, with incorporated internal battery (who cares if you have to change over a flat battery halfway through the days detecting), strongly weatherproof (NM have this concept well covered already) with APTX LL headphones/speaker options, ground tracking speed adjustable to master variable ground, of course both EMI cancelling ability to work near powerlines or salty soils and iron ID would be nice but these variables would have to be designed into the circuit from day one....that day is probably passed though. Unless they already thought of it lol On top of all that, if they managed to keep the price at under half what ML would expect then I'd line up for one.... Simon, If the NM guys want an Aussie to test one on some really sh*tty ground, PM me 😁

This lends credence and value to my earlier comment.....why bother keeping such iconic brands tied up, doing nothing?? They clearly dont need these brands in their arsenal so why not sell them off to another company willing to reinvest and resurrect them? I weep for the Bounty Hunter and Teknetics brands mostly....such icons left to wither away is a shame. Fisher are keeping slightly relevant due to the AQ (warts and all) and the 'good-ole' Gold Bug range plus the F-Pulse, but even that brand needs some serious investment and invigoration. FTP's detector direction basically just makes me sad 😭

Ask any ACTUAL scientist who has been given all the data and the actual method of the AGW theory and they all say 'This is complete BS'. My science background is in Phytology where Co2 is a very important factor....it took me less than 60 seconds of reading it to realize that this is a major con-job. The climate has been changing significantly ever since the end of the last Ice Age approx 11,000 years ago, both up and down. The infinitesimal increase we are currently experiencing is absolutely nothing compared to what Mother Earth has performed to our planet in the past. Nature has adapted and evolved perfectly well to all of that and will continue to do so I suspect lol

Seems like FTP would be be kind to divest Fisher from their portfolio and sell the business so that such an Iconic brand name can be resurrected and new products actually realized on time. Its seriously getting embarrassing.... With such poor investment ideology, all of the FTP detector brands will soon fade away just like Compass, Tesoro and Whites 😒

Fully agree with Peter. The Nox is a far more capable machine with a lot more variable uses. The GM1000 is a unit you will either love (especially if you're a beginner) or hate. Seeing how you have experience with a GB2, I expect you'll utterly hate the Monster like I did. Owned it for a month and traded it for a 24K. Best decision I ever made lol

Not worth a second of viewing anymore.....ask anyone who's been on the show in the past. 90% fake or 're-enactments' of events that took place weeks before. Some notable people who were 'stars' of the show are now quite embarrassed to be associated with it. The Opal hunters series is a bit more realistic and a Sapphire mining show (by the same production company) is about to be aired this year too. Hopefully they will learn by previous mistakes.

The Bridge has wings and a comfy seat.....but usually poor food. Lots of good prospecting tour operators here to point you in the right direction and get you started here in Oz. Book a flight and stay for at least 3 months....you'll have the time of your life!

The frequency select mod allows more energy to be 'pumped' into the soil for use with big coils. Anything over 20" becomes very minimal gain over the extra weight of the coil though. Ground noise saturation is always a problem, but Proper adjustment allows super quiet operation with all sized coils though. Play with the settings long enough and you'll find the 'sweet spot'.

I've had plenty of 10oz+ years in the past and back in the 'good ole days', a 50oz season was 'acceptable'. Numbers wise, apart from 2020, every year since 2013 has been over a thousand pieces. Maybe the GPX6000 will get me back in the 'K' game again for 2022.

Since Sept 2020, I've mainly used my 4500 since I got it modded. So my % of gold with the 24K these past 16 months is about 10%. Whenever my shoulder gets sore, I switch back to the Whites to give it a weeks rest! At 3.2kg, my custom 4500 weighs a lot! Of course the 24K is like waving air around!

I got the transmit gain mod plus the multi-frequency select mod done. Included are heaps of upgraded other components also. In the high frequency setting, I can detect 0.05gm bits when using either a small bundle-wound mono (NF Sadie, CT Joey etc) or my Fave the 9" Elite flat-wound coil. The NF 12x8 flat-wound is also incredibly good. The more solid sub-grammers can be heard at up to 12" deep. The major 2 benefits are that you can alter BOTH the transmit AND receive gain to make the detector super quiet so that tiny or soft signals can be heard (without EMI induced warbly threshold) and the operation frequency can be adjusted to suit the coil size you're using. I use the high frequency predominantly unless I put on a big coil for deeper gold, if I already know its there. My 4500 was modded by Detectronics.

Just curious as to how well (or not so well) your 2021 went gold-wise. Not a terribly good year for me, lots of delays, weather issues, Family issues and car breakdowns 😒 But still got 605 pieces for 2021 for almost 5oz. Biggest was 8.5 grams with a 3.5gm and 3gm being the next biggest. No interstate trips so no big tallies.....maybe next year if Covid allows. Attached pics show just the last 2 months worth of gold, including the 3.5 grammer in the last pic. How did all you guys go this year??....any 'Biggy's'??? Happy New Year to everyone!

Looks a lot like Electrum, rather than JUST gold. If so, it would be worth a sh*tload more $$. But it could be just the type of acid process you used, that makes the gold look pale.... still an awesome result 👍

Minelab's business is NOT coils, its detectors. You'd be better off asking NEL, MARS or Coiltek.

All my own fault Simon, I ignored something which should have seen surgery many years earlier than I did. 😒

I got to 35 years of detecting when finally I got calcinitis/bursitis of the left shoulder tendon from an unacknowledged (ignored) RSI injury. I had to give up any form of heavy PI detector (thanks to Garrett in releasing the ATX, which was the 'straw that broke the camels back') and went onto using lightweight high frequency VLFs. Although the 5 years using Gold Bug2, GMT, GM1000 and the 24K provided me with an extra 6,000+ bits of gold, the constant pain and endless painkillers finally sent me to the hospital to get surgery. The pain hasn't quite gone but at least now I can use heavier detectors again. One key 'takeaway'... just because you're 50+, don't ignore pain just because you might 'expect it'. It aint always arthritis.

Thanks NE, I was asking questions re the 6000 14DD coil in high EMI areas (powerlines, comm lines etc) and the response was completely underwhelming...maybe thats something your next video might address?

Thanks Matt! 😊 Good to know. I know the shaft connections are a bit loose but I can live with that.

Seeing how this topic has numerous mentions across the internet, what are the range of faults exhibited? My nearest dealer is over an hour from me so I don't want to travel back and forth after picking mine up if I get a faulty one. So I know what to look for after collection and field test.

Test patches have been around since the 80's, I remember a friend building one in his backyard when Minelab released their GS15000! Always a great tool to determine depth, sensitivity and comparisons between machines and coils.

If you re-wind the coil with multistrand wire (litz or tin plated speaker wire) to 300-400uH, you'll have the correct inductance to not need any resistor. Keep the bundle very tight using numerous zip ties or tape so that the coil bundle resistance is low. Simply solder a thin length of fuse wire to the sheath (outer wire) of the coax cable and tape that to your graphite shield. No resistor is needed.

The Inglewood patch refers to actual lead weight I believe.