cobill

@phrunt Can you put a tape measure against the Target ID...looks like about 1/2" tall?

Bill

@phrunt I haven't been able to find the Target ID font size on the 2.7" LCD screen, which seems very busy. The Manticore Target ID is great! Can you clearly see the Target ID while standing or do you need to bend over? Is it possible to  increase font size on the LCD? Some of us older guys have problems reading the "fine print" on today's packaging.😂

Bill

6 hours ago, Doc said:

I would think, the appropriate length would be about 1 inch give or take right at the "D" ring on the harness.  Too high it's going to poke you in the face.  You want it short enough to take the weight of the detector and transfer it to your waist without it pulling on the "D" ring down and transferring the weight to the shoulder strap.

When I was playing with the Hip Stick years ago, it actually felt most comfortable when I moved the Hip Stick back on my waist a bit so from the side view it would have about a 20 degree angle tilted forward. sort of like this angle /  then the bungee going to the detector from the Hip Stick would be about this angle \.  So the weight distribution is not straight down, its more down and back.

I like your idea of the bolt into the bottom of the socket.  But I would make the hole in the socket larger than the bolt, but not as big as the head of the bolt or use a washer.  Then don't screw it in all the way.  That allows the ball to wiggle in the socket and have more play, but it won't come out of the socket.

One of the other issues I had with the Hip Stick is that it was not infinitely adjustable.  It needs to be telescoping so you can putz around with it until the length feels comfortable.

Doc

@Doc Thanks for helping me last nite on the hip stick order! Your engineering knowledge & manufacturing background + metal detecting experience will greatly improve future hip stick & harness designs(better than ML Pro Swing). Keep us informed on the next accessory to purchase, we need you!😁

Bill Moore

Laporte, CO.

PM sent.

3 hours ago, Amgminingco said:

Oh man, il have to break out the 5000 from my dads house down the road later today, I haven’t ran that guy in 8 months or so and have forgotten all of my settings but I will here shortly. The main thing is the nuggetfinder coils, I learned the stock minelab coils are very very noisy and do not do a sufficient job in depth for smaller nuggets. The number one thing I can say is your detector settings and proper ground balance is the #1 key to have a good machine. The gpx5000 with the nuggetfinder Sadie coil is just as effective at depth and small target identification at depth as the gpz7000 with the nuggetfinder z search 17x13. The only reason I use the 7000 is because it has a bigger coil and does the same as the 5000. The Sadie coil is only a 9” elyptical coil so it takes much more swings to equal to one swing with the 17x13. That’s literally the only reason I don’t use it. Love that darn gpx5000. 

@AmgminingcoGuess I should have asked for the GPZ settings, which I'll probably use more often...like you did! Were you running Extra Deep, General or High Yield? Thanks,

Bill

@AmgminingcoGood story and big, beautiful gold! I have also sold my GPX 5000s twice, kept my NF Evolution coils and just recently picked up another used one from Gerry. Can you share what settings worked for you? Thanks and looking forward to more stories and gold pics.

Bill

@jasong Great project and very complicated for us dinosaurs!😂 I watched The Prospecting Geologist YT video this morning on 3D & LIDAR and got lost after 3 minutes. You could make some good money printing maps for customers(I would buy one on NNV) and I guess we know where your headed next.

Happy Thanksgiving, 

Bill

DSMITH, 

Maybe @steveg (Steve's Detector Rods) can produce them in OK and distribute them in CONUS? Not sure about patent infringement...only @nvchris (Chris Porter) can answer that one. Happy Thanksgiving,

Bill

DSMITH,

I use & love my hipstick and you may have to contact Chris Porter or order one from JP in AUS: 

Bill

1 hour ago, Lunk said:

This combination of Gold Mode and Ground Type handles the local alkali ground very well, allowing the faintest signal responses to be heard; and good thing, too, as I would have certainly missed a couple of nice bits had the threshold been variable due to ground noise or EMI masking. They were buried at a depth of 18 inches and recovered from cracks within the weathered shale bedrock. A friend who was detecting with me swung over the undisturbed target zone with the Minelab GPX 6000 and 17-inch mono coil and there was no discernible response, so that added to the anticipation of deep, chunky gold…not exactly the large gold I was looking for, but at 3.3 grams and 2.2 grams, I'll happily put them in the poke any day!

Keith, beautiful gold you found at RP. Was this area heavily hunted in the past and missed by other detectors, coils, settings? You must have had some open areas between sage bushes to swing that GPZ 19" coil. Thanks,

Bill

On 10/19/2023 at 7:25 AM, jasong said:

Anyways - in my experience the CCs aren't quieting the soil down for me, but they aren't making it worse either. They definitely are quite a bit deeper. This 22CC + GPZ is by far the deepest setup I've ever run, and I am wondering if it's actually deeper than something like those Mothership drag coil setups people are considering. 

@jasong

I've given up on the concept of trying the Mothership drag coil setup, too many problems with coil control (Doc said it's a PITA around bushes/rocks) reduced sensitivity and depth. Now I'm looking for a 22" CC coil for better coverage, sensitivity and depth. I've heard, just last week, there are still big lunkers being found in NNV and it's time for me to find my first 1 oz+.

Keep those reports coming.

Bill

@Gerry in Idaho wrote this Silver & Gold edition W&ET magazine article back in 2009 and there is lots of good info in it.

Bill

PlacerDigsWE&T.pdf

@phrunt WOW, that's amazing...gotta make the blood flow, gonna need a bigger pick/backhoe. Love his bungee setup, any idea who makes that? @1515Art I hear you, but the GPZ is still the BEAST, just need some accessories to take the load off your body.

Thanks,

Bill

8 hours ago, Northeast said:

I had a lot of trouble finding any real settings online for running the big AI coil with a GP3500 so tried lots of different things and was actually a bit underwhelmed by the depth the coil achieved, especially on a quite large, solid, round sinker at just less than a foot deep. 

@Northeast Thanks for your detailed reply, not much info is available online & I also found a WA post that said "the AI coil must be run in DD mode and there was a massive loss of sensitivity and depth".  Maybe better to try Woody's www.detectormods.com  concept, can change layouts, save some frustration, time and money:

Bill

@jrbeatty I've been thinking about finding bigger deep gold in the US and recently heard about a 6 ouncer found with the GPX 6000 in NV. The old timers found alot of big deep gold in AZ and NV using analog SD 2100s, GPs and 18" coils, but they never had access to larger coils like we have today. I keep reading your exciting big lunker posts and those from @Reg Wilson, lots of good stuff! I'm planning for 2024 and wanted your insights before taking the X Coil CC large coil leap. This post is now over 2 years old, any thoughts you guys can share or updates from Australia?

 @jasong I was wondering about using the 22" X Coil CC in NNV, since the RX coil would limit searching in tight rocky/brush areas. I also read on X Coils FB page that you have to overlap swings alot to insure good ground coverage. I was also curious about it's ability to locate big deep gold and would you be able to run in General or Extra Deep with Normal Ground type(for  max depth). Definitely a BIG investment ($2,100 AUS plus a Western Union transaction) for one heavy 1300 gram coil!😁

Have you had a chance to run your coil in NV or AZ yet?

@1515Art Has a 22" CC, maybe he can update us and chime in. 

Bill

On 5/15/2023 at 6:20 PM, GotAU? said:

How about pulling the 40x20 CT Mothership coil sideways on a little PVC pipe cart or sled?

@Northeast I'm also contemplating a cart/sled setup for deeper gold in flat areas. Here is a pic of one of Doc's designs using an SD 2100, according to Trevor @Coiltek the older ML analog SD & GP units work best with large coils. What did you decide?

Bill

Chuck, 

I went several years ago before they moved the Base Camp up the hill...accommodations look alot nicer. The hospitality of the owners, friendliness of other hunters, and some AMAZING local seafood was the best I've ever had, anywhere. I found one 6 gram iron covered gold nugget on the old Snowflake claim (loaded with iron, railroad spikes, etc.), my biggest nugget to date. Make sure you reserve an ATV, lot's of ground to cover and most spots are miles away. Plenty of mosquitos (bring repellant) and bring lots of cash...Betty sells large gold nuggets at the end of your week... in case you don't find some.

It's not the gold you find, it's the golden memories and friendships you make that counts.😁

Bill  

On 3/7/2023 at 7:11 PM, Jeff McClendon said:

Very impressed with my GPX 6000 Coiltek Goldhawk coil. It is doing very well here in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. 

Jeff, where are you at in AZ.? Maybe we can meet while I'm in Q 19 - 22 March?

Bill

Rolland, 

One of the biggest contributors to EMI and instability that I have seen is detectorists having their cell phones on while in their pockets. I was helping a friend with his brand new ML GPX 5000 at Rich Hill, AZ. and my 5000 was running dead quiet, while his was unstable and noisy. I asked him to empty his pockets...his cell was on, he had car and house keys, change,  a wallet and other items. Once he removed all those metal and electrical items, his GPX 5000 ran quiet.🤔

Bill

I've been checking Cabelas, BB, KCo, & other's, no ML Manticore units to be found.

Bill

Steve, 

I thought you sold AK Mining, are you back as an owner in the business, a consultant, or??? I went into the store several years ago, very impressive for AK and a great asset for miners. Wish we had a brick & mortar store like that in the USA. Thanks,

Bill

On 2/26/2023 at 7:33 PM, WesD said:

Years ago I ran into a miner up in the Sierras that got to talking.  The guy was a very savy miner and spent some winters down in Baja. He and his partner or it was his buddys, dug 1 mill in one season. I asked how they got the pile back home, as thats quite the handful. He said, carefully hidden in the frame of their truck.

Wes, 

Please explain to us non-Baja risk takers/explorers what the "dug 1 mill in one season" means...1 million grams, ounces, $ of gold nuggets??? We want details and you guys should write a book.😁

Bill

14 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

My choice of Headphones. I hate cheap headphones and prefer the brand Killer Bee and the like the Wasp model with dual volume control for each ear.  Made in USA and Lifetime warranty.  Yes he'll back them up if you do your part when 1st purchased and fill out the warranty.

These are 150 Ohm headphones and the guy "John" who builds them also used to make the very popular SunRay Gold. These headphones and the Black Widows are fantastic at blocking out ambient noise.  In fact I think the Black Widows are even better than the Wasp, but Wasp are more comfortable to me, I wear glasses quite a bit. 50 yrs my ears (yes I have bad hearing). 

I'm a creature of habit. For 20+ yrs I've been using the same 2 brands (Sunray and Killer Bee) of headphones built by the same guy. 

Gerry, I've heard from a reliable source that the SunRay headphones are going out of business now that Joe D. has passed and nobody wants to buy his business.  Glad that I have 2 pairs available, nothing comes close to what "John" makes!

Bill 

I found Condor's 2016 post and thought I would share it as most of the replies on this thread don't have an earbud or headphone solution:

Disclaimer:  My testing is not rigorous nor scientific in any way.  Individual hearing is highly subjective and what works for me may not work for you.  As always your mileage may vary.

Detector: Minelab 7000 - HY, Normal, Sens 20, Volume max

Earphones:  Etymotic 4s  100 ohm impedance

Adapter: APureSound 75 ohm impedance 1/4 inch headphone jack conversion to 1/8 earphone jack.

Amplifier:  FiiO A3

I have always used the Ety earphones in all my previous GPX detectors.  Headphones are just too hot and cumbersome for me.  The Ety's are top of the line In Ear Monitors with balanced armatures.  Ety was primarily a hearing aid manufacturer and got into the earphone market for high end earphones.  The 4s cost in the neighborhood of $300.00.  Their 3 flange silicone ear piece is super noise isolating, but not particularly comfortable.  If you are worried about hearing snakes, cougars, bears and such, you won't like this much noise isolation. 

Until I went out with Lucky Lundy I was very happy with using the WM12 external speaker for all my detecting.  But after seeing his results with really good headphones, I was convinced I was missing some of the super faint targets.  I switched to another brand of earphone while I was out there at Rye Patch and was getting decent results but the audio was harsh giving me more of an audio fatigue.  

So, for the past couple days I've been playing around with different audio setups trying to find a good balance.  After locating a few undug faint targets, I switched back and forth between audio setups over these targets.  My results were interesting but not particularly life changing. 

Adding 75 ohms of impedance bringing my total impedance to 175 lowered the available volume sufficiently for my 62 yr old impaired hearing that I added the mini music amplifier to give me more volume.  My unscientific impression of adding more impedance felt like adding audio "smoothing".  The audio seemed a little more stable and less jittery.  Again, I switched back and forth over the same targets adding impedance and then without it.   I even switched between the wireless WM12 and a direct connection to the detector, which did not seem to make any difference in the quality of the tone.  I also ran Beats sports earphones with 27 ohms impedance.  The audio sounded really harsh with too much uncomfortable scratchy highs.  Adding the impedance made them tolerable, but not great.   Results: Running 175 ohms impedance produced a smoother, more stable background but lowered audio volume. 

The most significant thing I found in my testing was playing around with the Threshold.  I had been running Threshold at low 30's with the external speaker, but with the earphones that's just too much "noise" too close to the earbones.   With these In Ear setups I found that I could run the Threshold at 0 and get perfectly identifiable target tones over these tiny, tiny targets.  The best I can describe it is the detector has a rhythm of background beeps and bleeps, but over a tiny target the beeps stretch into a faint hum.   A good target will come through loud and clear without any confusion.

My target results are impressive.  The smallest nugget is .09 gram.  I found all these over the past 2 mornings in ground that I've been over dozens of times.  I am certain that the earphones with their noise isolation improved my results, but adding the impedance probably just made the audio a little more comfortable.  Bottom line, good aftermarket headphones already have between 100 and 200 ohms of impedance.  Frankly, I don't think adding more than that will produce much benefit.  Adding the mini amp helped me, especially running with 0 Threshold. 

11 minutes ago, phrunt said:

I just like to turn the volume on the GPZ down, turn the sp01 right up to max and let my speakers do the talking.  The lower that GPZ volume the easier the little guys are to hear for me.

Phrunt, so what do you use for windy days...the Koss 30 headphones are pretty poor audio quality.

Bill