Busho

Hi Equinox owners. I have had mine for several months but mostly used it for relics, now and then on gold in quiet ground, so mostly have not needed to even reall contemplate tracking. But now as the weather has really cooled off I have decided to try in more in various areas for gold. Now, when using Auto balance which I have up till now used it's all good. See the ground change raise n lower the coil, hear a variation, hit balance, see it change and go quiet. Ok. But I have tried Tracking and I see a ground colour, mineralisation, change, raise and lower the coil and there is ground noise. So, the ground balance I started in was say 15 by the numbers, but now it's changed whilst in tracking and still showing 15. But when I hit balance and pump the coil whilst holding it, it may go up to 60! Now thats a big change and the noise as I raised and lowered the coil corresponds with that, or agrees there is a significant change. But even though the tracking icon was shown and tracking chosen it didn't move from the initial balance. So I stop, press the track/balance and up it shoots to where it should be. My machine to me is just an manual balance, Auto balance detector and has no Auto Tracking.

I can balance say to 10, then manually change it to 70, or go into minus numbers, but when I put it into Track and raise and lower the coil, I can hear the pitch either rise or fall dramatically as I raise and lower it but nothing happens. Now and the a minor number change, but just by a few to several after repeated pumps, sometimes 20 to 30 pumps. Then it stops. Then I press and hold the button and it can change significantly by tens or more number values. 

How do you guys find yours performs in Tracking please?

15 hours ago, Ms.Molewacker said:

Though I don't prospect, I'd like to share this - HH and enjoy!

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/05/worlds-rarest-form-natural-gold-reveals-secrets/

That was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing it. ?

Ok, thanks. The Flat/spiral wound Evo's and Coilteks sure sparked some life back into the GPX's that's for sure. Interesting if something new has come into the mix. 

4 hours ago, LE.JAG said:

Hi,

you may already be talking about it, but I still put some photos
two large meteorites discovered in France

the first goes back to 2010  (Mont-Dieu)
on an old impact site, in the forest
who gave a few years ago a 435 kilos (1994)
it is 364 kg / discovered by a prospector with a PI (siderite)
 

and another discovery late 2018
again, on a known impact site (since 1968)
it is the biggest piece discovered to date and the reccord of France
477 kg / contains 11% nickel

discovery also with a PI

with this piece of 477 kilos and all the others discovered since 1968
the impact site to deliver nearly 6 tons ...

 

 

 

 

Wow, they're huge! They'd be worth a fortune wouldn't they? 

I cringe when I remember my earlier days detecting and am sure I've found a few small one's, tiny compared to those, and discarded them as junk. ?

On 5/19/2019 at 7:52 AM, schoolofhardNox said:

I couldn’t resist the good weather and one final beach hunt. First beach I hit was invaded by 3 bus loads of teenagers and a small pack of little kids. I think it’s one of those religious outings. One minute it’s quiet, the next minute it’s total chaos . So, I left to another beach and finished the hunt. This one is all GPX, as my metallic cuff for the Equinox was not in yet. I found a little bit of clad, with a decent amount of copper Wheats/Memorials and some nicely toned nickels. The good finds were limited to a Mercury, silver Roosevelt, silver wave ring, and a silver earring. No gold this time. Not a spectacular hunt, but a good way to end the season. Next week starts the archaeology detecting season that should go right into November. The last two pictures are from 2 seasons of CTX, Equinox and GPX hunting of beaches. I know a lot of people dread pull tabs, (especially park hunters) but on the beach Bobby pins and tent/canopy stakes kill me. Nothing like digging 16” looking for a stake that is really on the side of the hole at about 10” But I guess we all do our share of cleaning the trash from the beach.

Top haul.

7 hours ago, phrunt said:

I can imagine bobby pins scream on the GPX, tiny little broken bits of wire are regularly found here on the gold fields, I don't know what they're off but often about 1/4 of an inch in size but they scream like a big target.

 

Im convinced a lot of those little wiry things, we get em here too, are from broken off ends of broaches, pins and stuff like that. Found lots of, over the years, broaches, decorative type badge things, all minus their pins or with broken ones. Same for old safety pins and the likes. Im sure that doesn't account for all of them but I'm convinced it does for many. Scream in don't they!?

Great finds, well done. ?

What are the X coils? Are they flat wind like the Nugget Finder Evos and Coilteks Elite? I know nothing about them. 

Very nice piece. Good on him.

Sad. Not too many gold detectorists haven't heard of him. Legend.

Good one, smile says it all. 

Hi Pea Eye welcome. I have the Eq 800 too, great detector.

On 5/11/2019 at 6:30 PM, geof_junk said:

Midnight Gold is a term meaning claim jumping here in Australia, the haul you got is great mate.

 

Hi mate. Not necessarily. Has two meanings here in Australia. Yes the one you said but also for us from the VLF days it was common for us to go out on moonlit nights when the ground was, especially in hot areas, cooler and quieter because of that fact. It was common to do so in WA and in other states in the Summer. In the bush, not going where we shouldn't, but just because the ground was quieter and just too hot in the day. Moonlight detecting. Also at night industry and many common daytime comunications cease causing less interference as well as the all too common these days with PI machines Solar interference. Very quiet at night mate. Originally thats what it meant, and still does. But yes, there are the unscrupulous that go out and detect where they shouldn't at night.

Hi mate. Connected as in thats what fed the leads and gullys. Sometimes they were found, the reefs and indicators that did so, sometimes not. Some places like fields such as Castlemaine if im not mistaken, there is a reef working of some kind associated with all the gullys. That's not to say the ones found and worked were the only ones that fed the gully, just that those obvious and more easily found were. Then you can have a place like Talbot where there are numerous rich leads and gullys but no apparent reefs found or worked with many of them. Thats the short answer. Such is gold. 

After years I've seen this all happen over and over. There will always be a new machine being developed, or tweaks, or improvements. How many times I've seen a rumour come out and people rush to sell their machine simply based on that I have lost count. There are also those who just live for that moment they can say "hey, I know something" so that others can then hang off their every word. Lets say a new one is coming in say January next year. So what, what does it matter if I can tell you that? Whether you know or not it will come when it comes. I once years ago fell for selling a machine on a rumour, and what a goose I was, a few months later went and bought another of the same. This is just the same ole same ole, somone told me, I heard, this person said. I've even heard the "dealer said" one before too. So what if you dont have a new machine in the first week if one comes out. Iv had a few, been the very first, and I've also waited to see and it really just doesn't matter in the end. Sometimes the latest does not necessarily equate to the best for you or where you are or your real requirements. I had a 7000 for 12 mths, its gone and what works best in my situation is a 5000. 7's are great, but not the be all and end all. Same for the 5, its great but not the be all and end all. Dont be fooled into believing you "need" the latest and if you dont have it you've lost. ?

47 minutes ago, jasong said:

Or if they signed non disclosure agreements, someone could be feeding spurious information at a conference full of moles and leaky sieves in order to weed out the leakers. What were your 2 dealers names again? 

If on the other hand they didn't sign such agreements then they should be willing to step forward surely and be the first to the market with all this hotly anticipated info.

You mentioned dealers but earlier someone said testers also. Years back I knew 2 guys who were testers. They opened their mouths and very soon were no longer testers. That was the Sd2200. If any testers are blabbing and Minelab find out who, they'll soon no longer be one. 

1 hour ago, Aureous said:

Please note that Codan-Minelab's core tasks from FY16-18 were "To lessen dependence on the GPZ 7000" and create a "Wider metal detector product range" which was done by the R&D team over those 2 years.... the Investor presentations run to end of each financial year and that ends in 7 weeks. Hence the release of the info at the dealer conference a few weeks ago. 2 dealers have now confirmed the replacement of the Zed. When this will happen???... they both say before the end of this year. With 3 machines due out, its a matter of which comes first.

Really? Which dealers have said its happening?

Wow! This is better than an impending I Phone release!

20 minutes ago, phrunt said:

Where are you that you can look out your window and see roos everywhere? in the outback already or across the road from a zoo? ?

 

They come and eat the grass on our front lawn this time of year. Most country towns have them invade after dark for food. See them everywhere I go in central vic. Ultra common.  

On 5/7/2019 at 5:55 AM, Andyy said:

So I titled this as such because when it gets especially hot (here in Arizona) I start my hunts at midnight and go thru until the morning until about 8am.  For me, this offers multiple benefits.  There is more time with the family on weekends, which for me is #1; I cherish this more than gold.  And secondly, if it is hot out, I cannot keep my ground balanced, as some put it.  When it starts getting hot, I would tend not to look as hard and rush through areas. 

 

Anyways, back to the gold.  I was in a wash last week when I ran into some pretty good gold.   I found 11 small pcs adding up to almost 4 grams.  Now, for my night hunts, I won’t go every weekend, I usually skip 1 or two so that I get my sleep cycle working again.  But then there is Mother’s Day coming up and so my wife briefly mentioned that I should go this weekend, too.  An hour later I am charging batteries.  She walks by and says, “wow, you really have the fever don’t you”.   I just laughed.    She knows me.  She has seen me prospecting for 5 years and put up with it for 5 years.  One of the best decisions I made was marrying her.  I explain all of this because it was nice to come home and show her the source of the fever. 

 

So I went back to this area with my GPZ and started walking through more washes I had marked out on my gps.  Nothing for the first one, but the second one, I got a nice strangely shaped 2.75 grammer.  Now, I can kinda see a patten on my gps when I look at my finds.  I finish the wash and go to a wash that is in the direction of the gold distribution.  Good topography … I am in.  First couple of minutes of slow hunting in this wash yields, nothing.  And then I start focusing on a bench that is maybe a foot higher than the rest of the wash… and I get a signal.  A clear, still loud, but smooth signal.  My heart jumps as I begin to dig.  The dirt just fell away until 15-16” I hit gravel.  By now the target was booming.  I scrape the gavel back with my pick and I see a large piece of gold flip out!  It replays in my mind over and over.  Needless to say, you may have heard my scream at 2:15 in the morning (Arizona time).  LOL.

 

From there the gold kept coming.   I got a couple more pieces farther up the wash and then came back and placered the area for a couple more little ones missed by depth.  Wide range of sizes.  THAT is why I love the GPZ.    And it was nice to see my wifes face change to a smile when she felt the .86oz chunk fall into her hand.  Priceless.  All in all, my findings came to just over 1oz.  Who needs sleep ...

 

Andyy

That's excellent. Well done.

2 hours ago, thomasbracken said:

Hi Busho. The Otago hot rocks react just as badly to VLFs. In the hydraulic  sluicing mines just outside of Bannockburn a VLF detector will react with them every few seconds. Most are below the surface and will need digging. Only very few are visible! These hot rocks are water worn and are a very dull black color. They are most noticeably, very heavy. There are a lot in the rivers as well as everywhere else. Anyone who detects for gold in the Lakes District will come across them as soon as they start detecting. They must be masking gold, although, most of the Lakes District gold is too deep for any current detector to detect!  You have to detect bedrock to get Lakes District gold, and the only exposed bedrock is on stream banks where you dig out crevices, like nugget hunter nz does on the West Coast.

Ah, ok, thanks for that. Such vastly looking different country to here. Our grounds highly mineralised where I am but rarely do hotrocks become an issue. You get them of course but nowhere I have been or found is undetectable with my 5000 and mono coil. Thank goodness for that. 

4 minutes ago, thomasbracken said:

Hi nugget hunter nz. You know your NZ detecting!!!! The hot rocks that are everywhere in the Queenstown Lakes District make detecting with a PI detector nearly impossible. Looking forward to your video recorded testing  showing us the settings, balanced, no video/audio cuts, and proper optimum sweep speeds for each individual machine, as suggested by Busho.

Hi mate. That's interesting to hear about those hot rocks. What are they composed of that makes them such a pain? How do VLFs go, any way around them using those? There must be quite a lot of good gold in those areas being masked by those things.

13 hours ago, nugget hunter nz said:

WATHCH THIS SPACE FOR SHOOT OUT BETWEEN MONSTER AND NOX AND 24K  WITH NO BIAS

So with my thoughts of going back to a gm1000 that I loved or try the new 24k that theres little reviews out there I took the risk I live in nz and brought out of the states was deal I couldnt pass up the 6 round came free if I brought the normal 6x10 model so worked out cheaper than export pack .whites ate also in the process of realeasimg the 4x6 coil for 24k .. should arrive around 17th may . My friend still has both his gm1000 and nox 800 so soon as it arrives and I get few hours under my belt with the 24k I'll get some videos up asap with direct tests on all three in ground on real targets how small all three go depth so finaly will be something out there to help people make a decision ... I'm hoping it can compete with the gm1000 or might be a cheap 24k for sale in nz ?

Yeah, I'd like to see this too. Undug, try each in optimum setting for the ground conditions, show us the settings, show us them balanced, no vid/audio cuts, proper optimum sweep speeds for each individual machine, all swung the same and lets see the shootout. Look forward to it. ?

Good one, I'd be happy with that find. 

Hi Bolo. Newie too. Good luck on your hunts mate.