Erik Oostra

Not sure how a F75 would go on the beach.. I know the Nox (600 and 800) with big coils (both ML and Coiltek) punch deep on the beach, not matter how wet or salty the sand.. All my silver coins were found on the beach with a Nox and I've compared them to the Gold Bug Pro, Gold Monster, Gofind and a X-Terra 705 in the same location.. The F75 is an unknown beast for me.. but I don't think I'd swap it for a Nox for beach detecting..

Here's my collection so far..

Thanks Badger, I didn't know that.. another steep learning curve..

Thanks rvpopeye, these finds were over a few days at different bays around the island.. the coin was at a place i've called the 'silver mine' where i was trying out my new 15'' Coiltex coil on my Foxy Noxy.. early days yet but it does seem to punch a bit deeper than the largest Minelab coil, at least on the beach.. also found a few silver 'ram's head' shillings and an assortment of 6 and 3 pence..

Thanks for your advice F350Platinum (and others), but my Foxy Noxy was bought second hand (like all my detectors).. I'm thinking about pulling the battery out of my Nox 600 and putting it in the Nox 800.. and just share it between the two.. I've seen the videos on youtube on how to replace the battery but I can't find that particular battery in Oz..

My Equinox 800 no longer charges, the green light flicks on and off as if its doing its job but the battery is not holding a charge.. as soon as i turn it on i get the 'battery flat' sign.. I'm one of those pedantic bastards who always runs their battery flat and then fully recharges it, for fear that otherwise it'll create a 'memory' half full.. Is there anything I can do about this? or is my poor old Foxy Noxy a write off? Any advice will be much appreciated.. even slaughtering a black chicken at midnight during a full moon, if it works I'll be a very happy man!

This digging everything malarkey is working out well.. here's some more finds over the last few days.. the best one is the silver 1 florin - 2 shilling coin (King George 1912).. I had no idea there was such a coin.. another great find was the other butterfly brooch, just like the one I found a few months back.. they've got to be a pair.. there was also a Ripcurl watch and a radio from a weather balloon..

These second-hand detectors are for sale in a 500km radius from Townsville, North Queensland.. including a GPZ for $6900..

G'day Strick.. In my local area (Townsville, NQ) there's a load of GPXs (4500 and 5000) for sale on facebook marketplace.. Sure it's got nothing to do with global supply restrictions but rather the introduction of the new kid on the block (GPX 6000)..

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the GPX 5000, a trusty dog as far as I can make out.. It mightn't dig as big a bone in deep holes as the old dog, but the trusty dog will sniff out more smaller bones in shallower holes.. Or so I'm told! Yet to find any gold that isn't in jewellery! Until I hear some more reports on how the young dog handles itself in North Queensland, I won't be letting my trusty dog go for a while yet..

I’ve been following the battle between the old dog (GPZ-7000) and young dog (GPX-6000) with keen interest.. From what I can make of it, the young dog’s winning its battles in the USA and the old dog in Australia.. So far it seems the old dog can handle a scruff on heavily mineralized and ‘hot rock’ infested grounds better than the young dog, who prefers milder grounds.. But it’s too early in the day to scorn the young dog, it’s only just finding its feet in the world.. The old dog might’ve fought it out with other GPXs and always come out on top, but this young dog seems to have more sense of geology than its cousins.. Maybe a few more dust-ups in the old dog’s yard might do the young dog some good.. Or maybe the old dog won’t let the young dog anywhere near its yard no more? Maybe they should flog it out on neutral grounds somewhere, another 'Rumble in the Jungle'? Only time will tell who emerges Top Dog of the World , as with most other dog fights.. Hackles come up and fur starts to fly..

Go with the Equinox 600.. It leaves your other choices for dead.. Multi IQ is the bee's bollocks! Don't waste time or money on single frequency detectors.. If you aim to search beaches, home-sites and parks for jewellery and coins, then the Nox600 is the machine for you.. and it's got a great selection of coils!

Very true, I've often thought the same.. everyone seems to lose the little buggers.. That's half the reason I kept going into 'coin mode', all those 2 dollar coins add up quick.. it feels like the detector is paying for itself with some dollars left over for a case of beer at the end of the week.. It's rarer to find jewellery (but always a bigger buzz) and most of my finds I've given away, it's been a bit like 'if the ring fits she was obviously meant to wear it'.. but i'll be hanging onto the necklace a bit longer, not that'll wear it but because it's chunky and heavy and gold.. and bragging rights at the pub! 😃

How about GarWhit and NokMak? Those names just ooze of the tongue..

Here is a map showing the different bays on Magnetic Island.. Those on Five Beach Bay are only accessible by boat or sea-kayak.. all the others you can get to on foot or some by 4WD tracks, the Radical Bay track got wiped out during the last wet season so now the best way in is from Horseshoe Bay through the national park..

It's another lesson re-learned that's for sure mn90403.. I used to dig every thing as well but at these beaches 'coin mode' was usually the way to go, where hunting 1 and 2 dollar coins (and 50 cents) became more important than finding bling bling in amongst a load of 'dodgy' targets.. a very bad habit to get into.. At the island's other bays I've also started to hunt with a GPX5000, especially along Geoffrey Bay which is usually ignored by my competition.. Everyone drives along this bay to get to the ferry terminal or shops and not many tourists go there because its neighbouring bay has stinger nets, a surf live-saving club and public facilities (a beach hunter's paradise).. but along this bay I'm finding many old silver coins ranging from the Queen Victoria era to WWII as well as Australian pennies and half-pennies, 6 and 3 pence.. With a GPX on along this bay I dig everything and this has also yielded a few .303 and .308 bullet castings and some Victorian jewellery..

Here's a better picture of the bling bling..

Up here in North Queensland we've got 2 seasons, wet and dry.. It's 'game on' all year round.. when I first started on the Island in 2019 (I'm also a newby) there was only one other beach hunter, that was 'old matey'.. now there's at least 5 others, some islanders and a few mainlanders.. This is all my fault! I just can't help but claim bragging rights at the pub and now everyone's on to it.. even worse, I've also told them the best times of day and all about hunting at low-tides.. Still, the competition is very friendly and I don't begrudge the others for some amazing finds..

Sorry F350Platinum, I should have said those dollars (gold coins) and cents (silver coins) are Ozzy..

This morning was the first time in 6 weeks that I’ve had a chance to hunt my local beaches at Alma Bay and Horseshoe Bay.. I didn’t bring a detector with me to Canberra where I was helping out after my old man had a hip replacement.. Being away from the island has turned out great as for the first time in years I dug everything.. At these beaches I usually disregard low target IDs on the Nox800, anything below 13-14 nearly always results in pull-tabs, bottle tops or bits of foil (or 5 cents).. I got into the very bad habit of switching to ‘coin mode’, where I look for low 20s to shoot 1 and 2 dollar coins (50 cents usually reads 17 and 20 cents reads 16).. But the sheer joy of getting back into it made me dig every target.. I’m both very happy I did and kicking myself for not always doing so.. At Horseshoe Bay I found a chunky gold necklace (585 hallmark) and at Alma Bay a little gold ring (375) with little purple stones (maybe amethyst?).. And a fist full of dollars.. It’s really made me wonder what else I’ve left behind.. The necklace rang in at 3-4 and the ring at 11, both were just below the surface in wet sand.. It felt as if they were waiting for me to find them, since I’ve been away we’ve had the Easter holidays and 2 public-holiday long weekends.. These are usually good times of the year to get out early in the morning to hit those beaches, and the island's other beach hunters know it too.. But I haven't been so lucky with the bling bling in a long time, it’s definitely back to digging all targets..

Maybe it was Ned Kelly's shotgun? 😆

This is from the Queensland Government website regarding found property.. Found property If you find property that someone has obviously lost, take it to your local police station. If you find goods or money, you can’t keep them. In fact, police can charge you for keeping goods or money you’ve found that you don’t hand in. If you tell the police that you’ve found something of value, they may later return the goods to you if they can’t find the owner. I can't find any mention on the Queensland Police website about how long they hang on to found property before the finder gets to keep it.. It does say that: "if these items are not claimed by the owner within 30 days of written notice (i.e. publishing on this site), then the Commissioner may destroy or dispose of the items."

6 months.. Wow! 1 year.. Even bigger Wow! Thank you very much for that research Valens Legacy, is that the same for other U.S states as well? I'm pretty sure it's 3 months in Oz but you've got me thinking now.. I'll have to find out..

Phew! I've seen the flip side of this at my local metal detecting club, where owners post on the club's facebook page hoping to recover their jewellery.. and sometimes offering huge rewards.. one woman offered a AU$ 1000 reward to find her lost wedding ring, plenty of punters took up the challenge but none ever found it 😬.. In this case the ring had a lot of sentimental value as her husband had passed away..

Has there ever been a case of cops or owners monitoring forums such as this to find lost property? If so, were they successful? Could this lead to prosecution for the unfortunate detectorist for not handing it in (or even accusations of theft)? Or perhaps the detectorist was lucky and got a reward for her/his hard work?