Reno Chris

That's an option that can be made to happen. I was even thinking of trying the SDC 2300 which also does have a salt mode. JP is right that slowing the sweep speed way down does help a lot, and while I did not mention that in my post above, I did do that, I does make a big difference and it is a technique I was using. It doesn't completely solve the problem, but makes a much bigger difference than raising the coil. I guess another option is to wait a month or two and return (at least to noisy patch areas) when the ground is fully dry.

I was recently out in some of the Northern Nevada salty ground gold areas and tried raising the coil on my GPZ - I wish I could say it was a big success, but it was not. I ran for a bit with the coil as high as150 mm (six inches) off the ground and it was still pretty bad. The detector was groaning continuously, and I was listening for tone changes within the continual groan. I've run the GPZ over salty ground with reduced sensitivity, in difficult ground setting, even in severe ground setting. Severe helped a little but I figure if I have to raise the coil 6 inches, turn the sensitivity way down and run in severe ground setting - and the GPZ is still not in a decent ground balance, well I might as well get my GPX 5000 out of the closet and use it in salt mode, as I'd probably be better off. I've had a couple of exposures with the GPZ and Northern Nevada salty ground in the couple weeks after a rain and all I can say is that salty ground is not the strong point of the GPZ. The next version of the GPZ really needs a salt mode. Damp, salty soils ground balance much differently than moderate to high iron soils that are well drained. With a couple of exceptions, the ground out there In the Northern Nevada gold fields has comparatively little iron, and when dry, they are not difficult to detect. However, we've had a wet time with periods of thundershowers in recent weeks, and it does take several weeks or a month of dry weather to dry out the soil down to a depth where the salt is not a problem. Not all the ground out there is salty, so in times like these when we've had rain, one should focus one's detecting in the better drained areas with less salt. So what did I do? I just put up with all the moaning and groaning and figured I needed to return to the locations with heavy salt in the soils when the ground eventually dries out.

Choice of detector - VLF or not - is based first on what you are doing. Choose the right tool for the job you are performing. If you are hunting nuggets in gold fields, that is one thing, but if you are hunting relics in British agricultural fields it is a whole other thing altogether. The two are only distantly related. Hunting valuable relics in fields full of thousands of years worth of trash in addition to valuable stuff, you need good discrimination, and a VLF is the only viable choice for that application.

You need to actually read my post. I was talking about two campgrounds, not the beauty of one river vs. the other. Yep, I agree that the NFA is the prettier of the two, but the Bear River campground is the better of the two campgrounds - which is what I was saying. I can hardly believe that they made it $28 a night to stay at Mineral Bar campground. Its a dump of a campground, but that is Taxifornia for you - they figure all your money is theirs for the taking.

I went by the Bear River campground recently and every single spot was taken - not a space available. It was kind of a disappointment. Mineral bar is right on the NF American - I have panned gold there on numerous occasions. There is some limited metal detector potential. It is easy car access, though the road down is steep. Mineral Bar is not as pretty as the Bear River in my opinion, but better gold potential.

I was in the same region ,but didn't see you. The weather was pretty poor for May - but you never know with the weather this time of year.

An Edwardian Sovereign! From an age when the sun never set on the Empire!

Sorry we didn't get to talk more - the weather really stunk, and Steve and I left a bit early.

Its been a problem with no solution so far. The GPZ 7000 by Minelab is an expensive detector and folks who are out using them daily (or nearly so) in the goldfields are wearing out the coil covers and Minelab has not yet provided any replacements. This is a problem as the coils are quite expensive and replacement coils are not even available either. Guys have been patching up and repairing the old coil covers as best as they could and hoping ML will come out with replacement coil covers soon - but no one really knows when they will be available. Well, private enterprise to the answer - Razorback Coils / Miner John Designs, a third party coil maker, is now selling GPZ 14 inch coil covers. At least now the prospectors who are running the GPZ have an option other than putting a band-aid or some other sorry excuse on the old cover. The new ones by Razorback are supposed to greatly outlast the stock cover and are available here: http://razorbackcoils.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/show/5908106

The extreme is an excellent detector, I found plenty of gold with mine. It should have no problem with a 6 grain nugget unless it is a quartz specimen piece. Another thing is that a vial of little bits weighing a DWT sounds off like one of the little bits individually, not like a solid piece weighing a DWT - this is true of ALL metal detectors. Its the same reason a delicate 14K woman's jewelry chain weighing 5 grams may not respond at all on a detector while a 14K wedding band ring weighing 5 grams will scream - in spite of the fact that both are 5 grams of 14K gold. Shape of the target does make a huge difference. Steve has written about this a number of times. So not hitting the little bits is the norm because they do not add up. Not hitting the 6 grain piece is something wrong unless its a quartz specimen piece and not a solid nugget. Which stock coil were you running? the extreme came with 2 stock coils. Make sure you are not running a mono coil in cancel mode - that will greatly reduce sensitivity.

Thanks for the kind words... You guys are too nice.

I've dug one 0.58 ounce nugget at 18 inches, but that was an amazing depth for a specimen of wire gold - its still the deepest piece of gold I have dug with the GPZ, and a target that simply could not have been found with any other detector. I dug a one inch iron piece of trash at 24 inches. That is the deepest hole I've dug with the GPZ - I was sure I was digging in undisturbed ground until it came out of the hole. I've swung over small pieces of lead in a test target garden that the owner said was at 36 inches. Many folks who bought a GPZ 7000 have been totally convinced more deep nuggets remain in their patches. The results we are seeing both in the US and in Australia are that there are a few deeper pieces but most of what guys are recovering from old pounded patches are small bits, specimens and prickly, wiry gold. Just because someone believes that deep gold is present, does not prove that it actually is. The GPZ is a great detector, but like all other prospecting equipment, it cant find gold if it isn't actually there to be found.

The socket on the back which is covered by a cap is a USB port for attaching the GPZ to your computer and uploading software, downloading GPS data, etc.

What about Mountain Lions in the lower 48? More a concern to me than bears. No so many apples this year, so not so many bears.

The SDC does give surprisingly loud signals on smaller targets, but does not overload on little gold. However if it goes over a larger piece of gold it certainly can produce an overload type signal.

Most I think get re-cycled for non military uses in finding and removing land mines. There are non-government agencies involved in land mine removal for humanitarian reasons. I would like to hear your thoughts after you've had a chance to give it a spin as there are few of them out there being used for prospecting and it would be interesting to know.

Just trying to give you the facts rather than a dream with no truth behind it. You can hope but the chances ML will replace the guts and turn your F3 into an SDC 2300 for cheap are near zero. It's a pipe dream. The guts is all the research and development they put in, and I am fairly sure the coil would not be compatible, so darn near everything but the plastic housing and shaft would need replacement. To do that on a one at a time basis, it would cost ML more than they pay to manufacture a brand new SDC 2300, because they would be doing it one at a time by hand rather than by the hundreds in a factory run. So sure, I can see why you would want this, but I cant see one reason why ML would want to do so. Let us know what you think of your new detector once you have it in hand.

Everyone wants something for nothing..... or at least 80% off! Unless you actually buy an SDC 2300, you will have a tough time buying the internals for one. No, they don't sell kits with directions as to how to modify an F3 to turn it into a 2300. Why would they? No the internals are not the same, so it can't just be re-programmed. Just because something looks similar on the outside does not mean its the same on the inside. This is a detector not really made to find gold. Will it find gold if its shallow enough and big enough? Sure. So will any other detector if it shallow enough and large enough. Is it as good as an SD 2100? Hard to say..... Not many folks using the F3 to find gold. I would do more research before swallowing a sales pitch. These are probably used units bought from some military as surplus.

The proverbial snake in the grass!

I am guessing that is likely the case. Even if through alterations and rigging you could get the AA battery pack to work on the GPZ, it would not last long. The 3030 Li battery pack, which lasts a good long time on the 3030, lasts not more than 4 hours on the GPZ as the GPZ just seems to consume a lot more amps. I am told the AA battery pack lasts only 3 to 4 hours on the 3030, it would be probably well less than 2 hours, maybe closer to one hour on the GPZ. Enough to get you through the end of a long day if your battery ran out, or enough to allow you to dig that last good sounding target you were digging when the battery died, but not a lot more.

I had lost my SDC adapter lead, but after about 4 hours of searching finally found it. Like Steve says, early season working out the bugs. I will be better organized next time.

A blasting cap crimped by teeth - a good way to blow your head off - you can still see the teeth marks.

Got there a bit after 2:30 pm and looked for you, but didn't see you.

Hope those 5 are just the first of many.

I was thinking the same thing, so I recently acquired a lead bar, 13.5 ounces troy, a troy pound and then some, and not owning any pound sized nuggets myself, I figure its the perfect stunt double for that really large nugget for testing the performance of the GPZ. Good for testing and experimentation. I am figuring extra deep is not for bullet sized targets, but for large brass belt buckle sized targets.