Aureous

1 hour ago, rvpopeye said:

Is that the best you can do ? 🤔

I'll try to do better next year....promise 😉 

I think my last days detecting for 2023 is now done. Gotta head off to catch up with Family for the next 2 weeks and take stock of what I'm doing next year. Single again, homeless and unsure of what direction to take. 2024 is gonna be interesting! But, my gold take has been an eye opener....almost exactly the same weight as last year, around 5.25oz but the number of pieces of gold has skyrocketed! Last year I managed to find 774 pieces...this year its 1604! Over double.....no doubt attributed to the GPX6000. Next year, I'm gonna dabble with getting a Legacy Minelab PI modded up and using CC coils or anything else that gets me depth on the big stuff. By this time next year, I'll see how that has panned out. Think I'm gonna need the money somehow lol. Just putting up a few pics of just some of the gold I've found this year. How has everyone else done? December is 'pic time' 😉  Merry Xmas everyone, and here's wishing you all a golden 2024!

I find the Bounty Hunter section totally baffling.... why so many similar and collectively useless detectors in their line-up? Surely none or very few of these are actually being manufactured? I am hoping they just have lots of leftover stock from decades of zero-investment and sales.... any newbie looking at that website would be totally bamboozled and confused as to what to buy. Fisher and Teknetics are less cluttered but collectively, thats a sh*tload of detector models to browse through.

6 hours ago, GoodAmount said:

It’s sad to see high quality brands lose their edge when they succumb to the lures off-shoring manufacturing.

Its happened in so many industries, its sickening....even Minelab are having their cheapest, crappiest detector built in China now. Manufactured to fail...

16 minutes ago, GoodAmount said:

I wear Oliver AT45 boots. No metal, great toe protection for rolling boulders, high tops give a bit of extra snake protection and they cost marginally less than Keens.

https://www.oliver.com.au/45-series-150mm-black-zip-sided-boot-45645z

Oliver boots are now made in China and hundreds of bad reviews are now showing that the quality has dropped dramatically since. Most Aussie detectorists are using Redback and Blundstone. Myself, I use nothing but Redback 'Banana Suede' slip-on work boots and have for many years. Super comfy and last for 2-3 years before replacement is needed.....I wear them every day without fail. In a single year they would walk 2500km (thanks to Samsung health app) and boot-scrape C.50,000 metal detected targets. Worth every penny 🙂 

15 hours ago, phrunt said:

And here was me thinking this would be in the top 10 gold mines in Australia.

These guys only mine their customers..... 😞 

1 hour ago, phrunt said:

Small target sensitivity is something I'm always interested in and its frequency maybe better for tiny targets, has anyone noticed this?

'Englands History' channel on YT has a good overview on the Accupoint, he shows a tiny bit of foil being heard where his XP pointer doesnt. Check it out here: Accupoint review

The Director of sales of Minelab when the 4000 was released said 'Coils sell Detectors'. The more variable the detector IS for different environments and tasks, the more attractive that detector becomes. Something very obvious to us end users, but that which is completely oblivious to Codan's board.

32 minutes ago, EL NINO77 said:

I think that Garrett has 2 possible paths in the field of... building coils for a PI detector...
  first... He can make other different sizes of "DoD" coils, which will be even more optimized for better reach for a certain size of gold..." remember that these coils combine the benefits of the DD coil in mineralization with the reach of targets... as well as they have the same sensitivity as a concentric coil for small targets...

  2 Another way is the possibility to go the way with small coils of the classic DD type .. as was the case with the small 3X7" and 5X10" DD coils for the PI Infinium ..

Yes, all of the above options are absolutely worthy of prototyping and evaluation. Smaller DD coils are sorely missed options for the 6000 also at the moment. 

23 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I had the coil just long enough to determine it will not ground balance on hot ground. No matter the mode or setting it would not ground balance on a Tahoe beach. It would ground balance in my yard, but only in Large or Salt mode.

This is an indication that the manufacturer hasn't deconstructed a Garrett coil to inspect the shielding values nor the position of the screen wire. Both crucial in allowing the cpu to set ground balance values. Just testing the inductance & resistance values via the coil plug won't cut it.....

26 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

NEL I think is also based in Bulgaria and they have also gone silent. Both were great suppliers of aftermarket coils and both would have been perfect to do Axiom coils. I suspect politics screwed us on that.

Nel is another Ukrainian coil manufacturer like Mars and Cors. I understand that Nel and Cors have suspended manufacture due to the war but Mars are still going on a limited scale.

7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Yup, it surprises me to hear that everyone in Oz uses the 5” coil. I thought Oz was the land of big men, big gold, and big coils! 

Yeah, absolutely correct....and big mineralization! The 5" is quieter. Even with my 24K, the 6" CC coil was my go-to coil. I wanted a 6x4 DD but couldn't get one for a sensible price anywhere 😞 

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

As Malaysia where they're all made has no bad inflation issues, shipping has largely recovered and returned to normal pricing there is little excuse to do this other than trying to make more profits riding on the tails of their previous success, only problem is in coin/jewellery detectors they now have stiff competition, in fact the competitors now really have the edge, especially Nokta with the price / performance ratio.

The mighty always fall at some point and healthy competition is something they're not used to, and clearly don't know how to react to.  The powers that be at Minelab likely know very little about their detectors, and the competitors machines and public opinion of them.

This whole subject has been covered in another thread/post but you've nailed it completely Simon. Minelab/Codan have the ability to weather any/all costs-of-production with their low cost production regime and 500-800% markup. This completely discounts any variance in the US$ exchange rates being a crucial issue...but of course does add a small percentage of fiscal stress. But the big issue is the large drop in revenue and profit this last financial year, which  has panicked them into a rash and impractical decision to ramp up prices, instead of stimulating sales with new product/s.  Simon, your last sentence sums up ML's problem perfectly. If they want to stay at 'the top of the heap', someone needs to shake the sh*t out of the board and place a product specialist (who knows the products, industry and community) next to them, advising constantly. I fear all they have done is allow Nokta to trample all over them in the future.

5 hours ago, Redz said:

3d printers for polycarbonate and a variety of plastics are quite reasonable now. I purchased one recently for some other projects. It also should not cost much to ask someone to print a few if prototyping for the smaller sized coils you want.

Yeah I saw a couple web pages showing 3D Printer CAD files for prototype CC coil shells of the 'right' sizes....well worth thinking about. 👍

2 hours ago, Geotech said:

I don't know if Don is still making shells, but he's the only one I know of to try.

Get some microballoons to mix in the epoxy, it will make it much lighter. I bought a bag somewhere, maybe AliExpress.

Yeah, good idea, air tends to not weigh much lol... I tried that many years ago and I added too much....the epoxy cracked. Steered away from it after that, but I'll give it another try when I play with the CC idea next year. 

1 hour ago, Geotech said:

Try Don Bowers (dfbowers) via the Geotech forums. If you epoxy-pour the coil you really don't need a bottom.

Thanks Carl, I saw Dons original website was non existent and thought he was retired? I thought about expoxy'ing the coil but was worried about the weight...but seeing how I currently can only find small'ish shells (Ive got a couple of Bill Hayes 12" ones lying around), its probably not worth worrying about....I'll give that a try I think 🤔

Anyone know of any person or company, worldwide that sells coil shells? Thinking about building a smallish CC coil for the Legacy Minelab PI's. I only know of a Bulgarian and Ukrainian seller but neither has coil covers to accompany their shells. The Ukrainian one (Pictured) is only a 9", so the receive coil will be C.5" at best.....so should be sensitive but not great overall depth for larger targets. Any ideas????

44 minutes ago, phrunt said:

You really need to try an older GPX on this ground, especially with a DD coil, I think you would be pleasantly surprised.  Borrow or hire one or something, there has to be a way to try before you buy.  Someone may meet up with you with one.  If the concentric deals with it in DD mode while also controlling EMI and having some decent sensitivity I will be a very happy person

Its a very exciting development, pity its through X coils though.....great product but crazy pricing. If I had a decent ABS coil shell to work with, I could build a CC coil for about $150, costs only. Plenty of old ML DD coils floating around to deconstruct & obtain the transmit and receive coil specs from. When I had my 4500 (and earlier models) I built maybe 9 coils for it. Using old Hayes USA and Bulgarian shells. Also a pity that Detech only ever made big CC coils for the legacy ML machines....the size that X coils are developing (or slightly smaller) would be killer....

1 hour ago, Luis said:

What would be the price Simon?

Something insane....probably 4x what any other coil from Eastern Europe would cost. Sell a kidney and you might be able to afford it 😁

On 11/28/2023 at 6:21 PM, Nedkelly said:

Yeah OK, might be worth looking into as it would easily be 2 years since it was done. I've had it over 2 years myself. 

If you're on FB, it might be worth joining a group called 'modded detectors and gadgets Australia'. Lots of advice direct from dozens of users. They mostly seem to suggest that Mick from Detectronics has the edge with new mods these days. 👍

Wow NK, quite a bargain! Lotsa goodies there for the $$. The PMC Scarab coils are a bit weighty but punch deep and very robust. The skid plates never wear out lol. The whole kit would benefit from a good suspension system with a hip stick and swing arm. Might be worth sending the 2200 back to Woody or Mick to get the latest mods done if it was done more than 2 years ago. Quite a lot has changed I hear...

The 12x7 is super quiet and stable, better than any other mono coil out there. The edge gap until a signal is heard is maybe 1cm.... so its not much. The 10x5 is pretty much the same and on some targets, its worse. The 10x5 is sharper and slightly more sensitive. Plus of course, its smaller and less prone to mineralization noise due to its size. Both coils are great and best to have both in your arsenal I reckon.

20 hours ago, Nedkelly said:

I just want to cross them off my bucket list. Bit of a holiday really. I bought a modded SD2200 for $1700 off a full-time prospector from WA and he said to make sure I catch up with him when I go there. Between him and his mate they have leases all over the place and I'm welcome to detect on them, so that makes things a lot easier. He doesn't like detecting, they just rework all the old tailings, ect.

Yeah, fair enuff....I'm the same with QLD. Never been there but wanna get it off my chest. Detected in every state except QLD and TAS....'spose I'll get to Tassie one day too. 

Word has always been that the SD's allowed for the deepest detection for big gold. The latest 2200 mods allow for both a low frequency and a latent timing change...couple that with the 'Deep' audio and some large coils and you have something that equals or beats the 7000. A lot of experimentation is needed to select the right coils for the task. Think I'll build my own test patch for that. Fun times ahead for 2024.

38 minutes ago, Jonathan Porter said:

All the small target sensitivity comes from the “Difficult” part of the Normal/Difficult combination of the Normal timings mode. If the target signal sounds louder its because the Normal part of the timing is also seeing the target assuming the ground signal does not drown everything out.  

I'm completely bamboozled by your statements.....all I know is that thin, tiny metallic targets are more easily heard or sharper in normal...when ground conditions allow. You may be referring to one of the three channels being split via code? Great to see you back JP, hope things are well with you in Banana Bender Land 👍

NK, no need to come to Vic or WA when you're getting results like that. I haven't found a multi ouncer since 2005, despite the Golden Triangle being on my doorstep....so you're not alone. I too have seen the changes in gold sizes due to over-detecting of the good patches and technology changes. I'm gonna get an SD2200 and mod it up next year and gonna chase me up a few big'uns fer a change.