Jump to content

argyle

Banned
  • Posts

    229
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Forums

Detector Prospector Home

Detector Database

Downloads

Everything posted by argyle

  1. It's one of the Whites Pulse units for the African market Idaho, with a 6" Coiltek mono on the end. Just a different stickered SPP. Not sure why he's mentioned the Zed, but he seems to be cruising with the Whites unit..
  2. Are you going to follow me around spellchecking JW? If you are, at least grab a beer on your way back. The Falcon was as useless as the old 'Gold Spear' was. Compelety useless both of them.
  3. That all makes sense, most definitely. Then again we have coils say like an 8"DD PI coil being made by Detech (great little coil btw), and hardly any guys buy them, maybe lucky to move a dozen across the world in six months. But a single size range of Bigfoot in the 8design across many brands would be a must have for most detectorist's for sure.
  4. Hey just out of interest Rob, what are the rocks you have in the pic?
  5. It's very hard to come up with a true ID chart for either trash or raw metals Rob, with the XTerra's. As a single piece like the one in your pic at 12, will come up with a different ID in an air test, then when in the ground at six inches, and then again a different ID if that piece of junk had turned and is showing it's non-ruptured side, numerically and tonaly. Then if you have discriminated out segments, you can force the XTerra's processor to place the target into a different bin again, or make it jump segments away from a solid one segment hit. Gold for instance is a constant changer on real in-ground ID, for both rings and nuggets. No true chart can be made there. Only theoretical air test charts that are way off the map. Coinage is much more stable as you say, as is the only metal we can safely call shots on, and even then we gotta get used to half edge to full on edge coins in-ground to make a true chart. Your pic is far too low resolution for me to pick anything else out of it.
  6. Great idea with golf ball-driver.. Comfortable! But what's the shoe-horn looking one Luke?
  7. I used to make up diggers out of old hunting knives, types with a good enough quillion, and grind a few serrated groves on one side around the four inch mark. But I haven't dug a plug for years, and prefer screwdrivers. I can only use fat round handled ones due to hand-bruising. And the ones I'm on now have a 6" blade and are of a good quality. Picked up half a dozen on special I was so impressed with them.
  8. Yeah definitely GB... What I directly like are the YouTube clips when a guy is using a machine I've never used, but are interested in buying one. Mainly for the Audio on the unit, even though the audio can sometimes be a bit off due the compression of files, I can still get the gist of it's sound. And the clips where someone runs through the settings used and why, then hearing signals he's passing up on, then on to judging a signal, quickly throws in a little trick to throw off ferrous judgement, and decides it's a dig and is rewarded with a coin, are my favs.
  9. Good buy Terry! Here's a little history on it's previous platform, and just a few tips I managed to teach myself over the years with them. Don't take too much notice when I mention hot ground a lot, they behave extremely well on benign ground as well. I couldn't believe the US relic hunters never took them on, as they hit a three ringer at well over 20 inches on any ground. The discrimination isn't much chop on them, as the disc was only put on them for small surface iron and tin on the goldfields. By the time the Minelab PI's came out, nobody cared any longer about our greatest range of VLF's, most of us were too busy becoming SD mad to bother. Except, I never let a good dog die. So I stayed in touch with my older units and bought new ones, to compare, use, and get them set up properly along side my SD/GP's. How good is the Eureka Gold on hot ground compared to other detectors? That question is quite often asked by those who have a true want for that knowledge, and they deserve a straight answer. Utilising both tracking speeds, when well set up and with the right coils to match the frequency in use, and the right add-ons to make them sing, they are deeper, more versatile, more sensitive and far easier to use on hot ground than any other VLF. Across the entire range of Minelab gold VLF's, there has always been confusion over a proper threshold setting. The often quoted 'just audible' setting of a threshold was one of the main reasons people put VLF's down. Both in the user manuals, users who fling the coil around too fast ...the list goes on. The proper threshold on hot ground, any ground type for that matter, is a nice and high full sound, stable and rock solid threshold that cannot be wavered on that ground type.. Allowing the highest sensitivity they can muster. Causing lovely repeatable dropouts in the threshold on deep signals on heavy ground. Missed by a mile with that 'mosquito buzz setting', the worst throwaway line in detecting. Here is a rundown on the Minelab VLF models that kicked off the Eureka platform. It may be of slight help to those who own or are looking for a gold VLF that does a hell of a lot more than just tickle itself into girl-scout dirt. Goldseekers 15000: Minelab bought an Australian company that had manufactured two decent early VLF's, they then went on to produce the Goldseekers model in the early to mid 1980's. Although the balance had more drift than the later models, they had the most proficient ground balance put on to a detector at that time. They ate our old A2b's. Around 8khz, very tough metal box, 8" round stock coil plus an 11" round. These started the 5 pin coil connector range. Eldorado MK1: A low frequency unit, metal box, looking exactly like the Goldseekers only with green on the box in place of red. No disc, no nonsense, threshold based, and a very stable ground balance. A most underrated unit. They cruised over hot ground a little better than the Goldseekers because they were slightly less sensitive, but held their balance and threshold level a little more stable. They took the large coils well, and were on par with any later model Minelab gold VLF on big deep gold in hot ground. Not very sensitive on the very small gold though. You could size deep coins with this unit too, and the audio and pitch was so good on the machine that you could judge junk against coins by sound far better than any coin discriminating detector on the market at that time, and half of them today. Eureka Ace Dual: We called them Dual Aces because it rolled off the tongue better. This was the one! This green box machine will still out detect any current model Fisher, Whites, Tesoro or Garrett VLF units on truly mineralised ground today. Deep large, shallow and small. That's how good they were. Carrying a twin frequency choice of 8khz and 20khz, they still have the most stable manual ground balance of any VLF ever produced. They were nice and sensitive but still handled heavy ground manually like a champ, a real pleasure to work with. Mounted with a half rounded clip, they could be set up on a straight shaft, upside down on the top of the shaft directly in front of the hand grip, so the ground balance dial was in your right index fingers range. You could ride that ground balance to your hearts content. Eldorado MK11: Another plastic box unit. Yellow in colour and running in 8khz. Made as the cheapest basic gold VLF just to fill the entry level stage. Minelab's worst ever detector. All they had to do was make the ground balance solid and unwavering. Instead, we got the most drifting ground balance ever made, and I mean drifting! And an extremly broad response, that when combined with it's lack of sensitivity, made for a very sour unit. Completely useless for any type of detecting. GT16000: Here starts our Auto ground balance and Auto tracking, along with a microproccesor. 8" round stock coil. Later the 6" little sensitive round and 11". Mounted on the pole with a half rounded clip on. Brilliantly designed units and so far ahead of other manufacturers detectors that it simply left all other units, bar the manual balancing Minelab's, in shock. Although the Auto was breakthrough, some of us preferred the Dual Ace later on as we had full control on running positive balance with them. But a delight the GT still was. FT16000: The FT were similar to the GT, with a slightly faster tracking speed. Some did not like the faster balance, but I preffered it, as the proccessor seemed to function quicker than the GT, and big coils on hot ground seemed to suit it's pickup on ground changes, with a nicer sharpness to threshold dropouts .... and those were the main signal we were looking for. Later the FT would be marketed to America as the Klondike. Both the GT and FT had a discriminator on board. But only escaped mental patients would use the function. Some very impressive large aftermarket coils were made to fit the entire 5 pin range, and then the 4 pin series, thanks to men like Barrie Johnson, Bob Hollins and a few others. They also started the spurn of aftermarket signal enhancers and modifications, because we finally had units worthy of mods, thanks to men like Ken Roberts and quite a few others that had cut their teeth modding early Whites and Garretts. They helped us to tame the hot ground with the 5 pin range of Minelab's. XT17000: Blue plastic box, the first to slide into a stem mounted clip. The second twin frequency unit, this time in 6.4khz and 32khz. Tone dial on the rear being adjustable with a flathead. A nice tracking speed, lovely sensitivity, but you could do more with this unit by the tone dial, and it helped to run a more varying threshold. The coil range starts to really open up from here on in, with the stock 8" round, 6" round, 10" elliptical, 11" round, 17"elliptical. Big round West Australian coils, the list never ended Goldstriker: Red plastic box, Similar to the XT17000. But only ran in 32khz and had the tone dial on the face plate. 10" elliptical stock coil. They played with the signal responses on these models, running a boost, coarse and fine. They all seemed to behave a little differently that the boost, normal, enhance on the other models. I felt they handled a bit too delicately than the 17000's in a few areas overall, and weren't nearly as good a unit. XT18000: Version 1 This early model carried, for the first time, 3 frequencys. 6.4, 20 and 60khz. With the coil choices available on the 4pins, stock 10"x5" or round 8" depending when and where you bought it, the 11"round. The Coiltek 14.5 inch all terrain beauty was and still is, the best large coil for both the 5 and 4 pins ever produced. This first version was by far the most sensitive to date, it had an immaculate ground tracking speed and smoother everything. Nice loud audio. The 60 kHz was so good on these you could actually feel it tickling it's way into to first inch of ground. Unfortunately they would blank out over surface targets or on heavy ironstone outcropping. But this was soon to be changed. The tone dials have always been a bugbear. Those dials can cause added drift on the thresholds audio level. Slight, but annoying. I always felt a solid fixed, but still changeable tone control, would have been a better option. XT18000: Version 11 Minelab employed a fellow from overseas to work with them (Professor Paul) He improved on the original unit, did incredible things with the internals and stopped this blanking out. This unit became the most stable of the platform to date, in every way. A threshold so stable it was physical. This model would later have a major cosmetic and battery system change, along with a twin tracking speed, to became the Eureka Gold. Golden Hawk: They tried something different with this machine. Placing it on an supposedly ergonomic shaft, looking very much like a version of an mini SD. But was extremely un-ergonomic. Mounting the SD looking box clipped under and onto the handgrip. A heavy battery hooked on via a lead in the same way the SD did, belt mounted. All dismantled and folded away in a two foot long zip up carry bag. One lot of accessories, belt pouches, bag etc. came in kaiki, another type you could get came in camo. The same 3 frequency's as the 18000, but with a double tracking speed, and a slow and fast recovery switch. Neither of which seemed to show any real difference in either setting. These had a terrible audio. And came with a dull 8" stock coil. The accessory 15" black coil you could buy for them was probably the worst coil Minelab ever made, a really bad coil. An absolute stinker. Most of the units above ran an enhanced, fine or boost signal setting, apart from the good normal setting. All of those settings other than normal, were particularly bad to use. Enhance upset balance timings, fine was a horrible little sound, and boost would more often that not send the unit into spasms if a crow flew overhead. Here are a few notes that may help some get the best out their Eureka Gold. They are a much maligned unit, as were the previous XT models, due to the introduction of the PI detectors. There was a lot of rather bad instructional hints and recommendations given out by dealers and detectorist's who were more often than not mis-using the detectors and giving bad advise on the use of them on the goldfields. It is no wonder that most people think these units only hit surface to a few inches deep, or cannot be run on hot ground. Here are a few of those terrible pieces of theoretical nonsense: * Having the threshold set low at a slight mosquito type buzz. * Coil off the ground. * Sensitivity lowered when not needed to be. * Fast movement of coil when in motion of swing. * The very idea that these VLF's are somehow not deepseeking detectors on mineralized ground. Here's a few facts that a lot of those part time VLF users never picked up on. The threshold must be set at a high stable level on the ground being detected. The level of mineralization must not be able to waver the threshold! It must remain stable and un-wavering. No mosquito buzzing. You must run these units with an Amplifier! ( they really should have been in-built at the design level by Minelab) The internals of the machine must be heard. The tracking balance's change, as you swing, must be full in your hearing. If you cannot hear that internal balance change, running with the correct height of threshold in the ground you're on, how are you going to hear that ever important drop-out of threshold that a deep faint signal gives, or the very soft rise of threshold that a small shallower targets let's out that isn't quite strong enough to break through and give a clear easy signal. The tracking balance on these units is the best produced by any manufacturer. The only way to ground balance to get the tracking to kick in, is to slowly drop the coil to touch the ground, slowly raise it, back down again and let the tracking balance soak it up. As soon as it does it bites in hard and becomes one with the ground. And that's where the coil has to stay, ever so slightly touching, riding over dirt and sand and rock with the touch of a spider web. Speed of the coil swing should be used in direct correlation both on the ground you're in, and with the tracking speed used. You will hear how fast or slow to swing because you will hear how the internal tracking balance is processing and tracking through the ground. Every time that coil comes off the ground to a few inches in height the tracking breaks and balance tries to re-set. The sensitivity should always remain at it's fullest setting. The only time it should be turned down a touch is when over extremly bad ground. Ground that gets our PI's warbling and groaning. And by running the threshold at the correct height, believe me, there isn't much ground you have to touch the sensitivity down in. You drop that sensitivity level and you drop your depth in half! Wether it's an inch or a two feet, depth is everything. Touch that sensitivity and you touch every signal in a bad way. Coil to match frequency is important on these units. Stock 10"x5" elliptical or Coiltek 6" round for 60khz only. 11" round for 20khz 14.5" Coiltek All Terrain for 6.4khz It is no coincidence that these coil sizes are made for the Eureka. 60khz is not a deep seeking frequency. It simply will not give depth. It tickles nicely into the ground for an inch or so. You can hear how deep it goes if you have those internals right up in your hearing. Use this frequency on the 11" round or 15" round and it dissapates badly. 20khz is the most responsive pound for pound. But beware ....that frequency is not a deepseeker either. 6.4khz. Ahhhh .... All controls set at their premium for the ground your on, and working with the 11" or 15" coil, this frequency is crystal clear and deadly! Don't fool yourself with airtests, this frequency is just as dull in an airtest as the airtest itself is. Or set targets placed into disturbed ground. Both these scenarios are only enjoyed by Vlf's of other brands that don't like to play in heavy ground. This 6.4khz frequency loves giving you notice to metallic targets in undisturbed heavy ground. It's a gold getting sleeper. Tone control on any threshold based unit is so important. Change it to suit your hearing. Change it in certain ground. And change it to understand the differences in 'broadening' a response on a tight signal, and 'sharpening' up a response on a deep target. Both the Fine and Boost settings should never be used on the Eureka. They are not needed and do not 'enhance' a signal in the ground to any benefit, in any frequency, when working ground. I was very surprised the settings were placed on again. Neither Slow nor Fast Tracking speeds, regardless of what the manual states, will NOT track-out a target before or after repeated sweeps. That was just a left over precautionary statement both from the earlier auto balance vlf range manuals, and once they realised the PI's auto tracking could behave that way on feint targets with a mono coil on. In 60khz, you are really only detecting an inch or so for very very small gold, and wait till you have that sound working way up in your hearing, you can actually hear the internals of the machine tickling around every grain of dirt. It will hit on larger pieces deeper of course, but it was made to tickle shallow, not to push a heavy amount of gain through the dirt. As for settings in any frequency, top volume, top sensitivity, the same tracking speed you'd be using on that ground type if it still suits the immediate area, normal signal - never fine or boost, and never in Fixed Balance as both tracking speeds will not be thrown off if the coil swing speed on that immediate ground suits the tracking speed your in. Fixed Balance cannot change for you on a foot long swing, so you will not pick up a soft signal, mainly dropouts of threshold signals, in Fixed Balance when that ground changes, and it will change. You gotta trust that tracking. But just as important is the coverage of sweep. The 14.5" All Terrain coil has a 4" sweet spot at depth, at the centre of the coil. The Minelab 11" around 3". The stock 10"x5" has a queer drawback at depth to it due to the skinny elliptical shape. The 6" Coiltek a nice 1" at depth sweet spot, dead centre of coil, as a round coil should be. I'd probably start a war if I told you the depth difference between one of these in particular that I've set up, in comparison to my gp and sd's. But only with a detectable surface of fingernail size and up. But I can tell you after years of changing coils and frequency's over targets, that I only detect with the 15" in 6.4khz, sometimes in 20khz but not often. And that this combination is the best to use. I only use the Eureka on very hot ground, or to seek deep targets on mullock heaps/tailings. Don't worry at all if pulse induction units have been over the area you are just about to detect. The very same measurement of forward swing applies to our PI coils as it does to the Vlf's. And using a gpx or earlier model PI does not necessarily make a man into a thorough operator, in fact they tend to be much more sloppy in regards to obtaining true ground coverage than those that cut their teeth on Vlf's. Fast tracking is the best mode in all ground I found. Both mad heavy ground as well as smoother deeper ground. It goes about it's buisness quicker and handles the correlation between the other settings in a way that just seems natural for the unit to behave in. Slow tracking (when you have your set-up well up into your hearing of the internals) seems to want to play catch sometimes, it does not feel right in general detecting. Except in 60khz. Slow tracking on any ground suits it because of the much slower movement of the coil you use. Plus the 60khz does not seek deep, so the tracking balance has far less work to do due to lower level of processing it has to do. Searching in 60khz is much like hearing in a miniature world. So the Slow track speed suits the gathering of information at that slow speed of the coil. One thing I really should mention are the types of signals gold gives on the Eureka. The loud signals of close to the surface targets are unmissable of coarse. But gold, being a very low conductor, apart from largish screamers close under the coil, have a lovely 'Dong' type sound on these detectors. It has been that way through the entire range of Minelab gold Vlf's, the XTerrra being the only exception. Here are the signals we must pick up on while we are listening to the unit working, the ground change, and the ever present mineralization in the form of groans, pips pops and squeals. Of which nearly all can be deadened enough to work through the ground with confidence, by having the settings at their best levels over that ground. Depending on coil size and frequency used, the signals below would differ on each combination. Hence our need for different size coils and the frequency used in correlation to the ground we are on ie: ground we think is shallow - meaning you don't think gold would be held deep, deep ground that wouldn't hold gold near the surface, just how heavy (mineralized) the ground is ect. There are 4 types of threshold signals that are made on the deeper gold targets. 1. Threshold Rise: These are the signals that are well under a signal response, so they make a slight rise in threshold, repeatable and excact from all angles, unlike clay domes. Just not a big enough signal due to depth or size, to cause even a slight 'dong'. 2. Threshold Suck: If on the same ground as above, but the piece is a bit deeper, it will draw the threshold down instead, giving the impression of trying to suck it down. But the piece isn't deep enough yet to cause a quick break in the threshold ...a dropout. 3. "Dropout 'Dong' Dropout" When the piece is again deeper than the above, it will produce a very quick dropout of threshold, then a very slight feint 'dong', then the other side of the dropout. It is a nice even signal of it's own. Unmissable. 4. Full Dropout: The piece is deeper again than above, but so much deeper that it cannot produce even a very slight dong. A full quick dropout is simply a nice quick compleat dropout of threshold, pure blank, but only along the deepest part of the DD coil, the centre of it. These are the true deep signals. They come in clear, especially on the bigger coils. They are so clear that you start getting used to sizing the piece by simply moving the coil left to right back from it then forward again. Once you get used to a coil and frequency combination, the judgement of size and depth of a target gets easier. Thankfully we have the most rock-solid 'True' threshold ever designed on a detector to work with. That threshold is everything! Minelab never put on a true high level sensitivity/gain control on the VLF range, only the silly Signal Boost setting. They knew the highest level of Sensitivity needed to keep the units stable and ran with it.
  10. Being a depth of sliver thread that Eklawok started, and seeing already a couple of coins that have been found by detecting have been posted up, (geez they didn't leave much room on the Liberty Dime for the full date) it would be nice to see a few more pics and explanation of type of coin, depth found and with what type of signal initially made you dig, the rarity of it ect. Just a thought, but it would be good to see more coins on the thread. I can't join in, as all my pics of American, Australian and British silver coins found, taken after I bought my first digital camera, got wiped off a computer...
  11. Our early silver coins had a 92.5%silver and 7.5% copper mix. The later version a 50% silver then copper zinc ect. mix. Guys specifically hunt these and other Australian pre decimal, along with early British and American coinage. A lot of this detecting takes place on very mild ground, some of which holds very deep coins due to water soaked ground types. The silver coins are high conductors of course and bang out loud over ground conductive to detectors. The ones at the limit of detection, with most good VLF coin detectors that have the ability to give the hint of the required tone at that limit, then degrade them to iron, and also have the advantage of being able to 'size' those hits at the full iron degradation at depth, achieve a higher success rate. The average depth I reckon can only ever be judged by the ground type being detected, regarding depth a coin can sink to, so no real average depth for me there. With the exception of silver coins on the goldfields. Nearly all are surface, due to the inability to sink. The exceptions being deep coins dropped in tailing piles during the dig, or in gullies that fill with wash over the years and get covered. Just as off-note, the first coin I ever hit with a detector was an American silver with the lady and stars around the outer.
  12. Their really good Terry. Protects coil leads and leads along the shaft like Amp to control box ect. They last about a month then look pretty ratty. I stick an eight inch long, quarter inch thick self adhesive rubber at the even-balance section of the shafts too. Just for extra comfort while the detector is shouldered for hiking in and out, and comfort carrying it one handed. Ha ...my phone sent twenty or so of the same texts to my brother last week...
  13. No worries... Good to hear your old Xt 70 is still in the family anyway Fred. Funny thing about XTerra owners, and probably all makes I guess, is that everyone across the board works out little secrets with them, depending on the modes they run and the freq of the coil they favour. And with all the digital units on offer nowdays, you get the choice of running full automatic and let the unit do it for you, or you can take complete control back off it and run your own way.
  14. I was hoping you guys would get a fat elliptical for the new big one. Looks like 19"x17" maybe 16 and a tad... There is something about signal response the fat's have on all the ones I've used that I really like. They don't suffer like a skinny elliptical.
  15. I only started wearing the Ariat's three years ago. The one at the front is from my daily wearer and general detecting boot pair. I can't wear them trenching or reefing as the soles are too flat and I slip all over the joint (think these were made for the horse working people) I thought they wouldn't last six months but their still going strong. I was so impressed I bought another pair, the one at the rear, just breaking them in now. Looking forward to your next clip...
  16. I get caught out by that myself Steve. You know when a manufacturer announces a new model, and refers to the 5 modes of operation, including all-metal. Plus they mention Threshold ...so naturally I automatically think 'you beauty, here's a new machine to try. Only to find out the all metal is a processed disc mode, and the threshold is merely a blanking of a non-true threshold over a rejected target. I wonder, years after Minelab first put out the true automatic ground balance and tracking, how many guys bought an Auto Ground Balance unit, only to discover it's that particular manufacturers nickname for fixed pre-set ground balance.
  17. I may have told you before, but I really like that sample hand blower at the end of the clip. Hey is that an Akubra Bronco you're wearing mate?
  18. The All Metal Mode on the XTerra is actually a discrimination mode that merely 'accepts' all metal, and will give you both numerical and the tonage you have chosen ie: 2 tone, 3, 4, or Multitone for each segment the target you hit falls into. One reason I love these units so much, especially for coinage, is the way these detectors gauge a coin, especially on-edge coinage, with such precision and nice to the hearing of tone. Along with their ability to judge junk. The earlier range of 30, 50 and 70 were much more precise numerically regarding non-ferrous targets, and they nearly always presented you with a jumping ID to judge ferrous hits. Slanted coinage would only jump one segment away. Hence the reason a lot of users preferred the early range. Tonal wise, the later range 305 (now discontinued but were the best bang for buck detector ever made) 505 and 705, with their more refined processor and more precise tonal quality for judgement, are a leap in front. The second all metal mode on the 705 is what they called Prospecting Mode. But this is still processed very slight form of disc mode, even with iron mask at 0. The Pure All Metal Mode I was referring to is on all three machines. It's simply the ground balance push pad that allows you to manually set your ground balance. Once activated, you go through your routine of pumping your coil to hit the - and + pads to achieve a non-wavering sound for perfect balance on that spot. It's a pure and open mode that carries the transmit and receive signal to the furtherest reaches of the detectors power. I merely played around with modulation pitch changes via mods ran through the headphone output, to replace both ground noise and metallic target responses from it's output to my liking, and to put it to good uses for what I wanted both for general hunting and gold detecting on hot ground.
  19. No I like the 7.5kHz across the entire coil range Terry, prospecting included, but more especially on coinage as the 705's processor runs 'truer' for want of a better word, when working around that frequency. And the Auto Ground Tracking behaves better in that frequency on hotter ground types (the noise cancel function is merely a frequency shift of . point whatever of a kHz above and below) but you stay close to the 7.5 regardless. Fav freq/coil combo for under a gram is still the 6"concentric in 7.5kHz. But I do not specifically target sub gram pieces. Download the manual online, it's an extremely well put together users manual. And while it may seem hard to get through at times, it's very simplistic when you have a machine in front of you. The rest I'll pop in a post soon mate.
  20. You're not wrong there Steve, that's for sure. It's always 'close but no cigar...
  21. I use cohesive horse bandages Terry, on all my units. They only adhere to themselves and have a nice spongy grip. Because my units units spend a fair bit of time on the ground, the bandage helps me grab the detector quickly to check holes. I'll pop a post up in a few hours and run through my thoughts and use on the XTerra's and that'll hold most answers to some questions you've asked.
  22. Hi Fred... The inventor, Professor Lawrence, that improved the XT18000 and then Eureka, went on to discover VFlex, I reckon is a genius. You know, a heck of a lot of guys sold their 705's and re-purchased a good used XTerra70. Where you coin hunting as well as prospecting with your 70? Even though the 705's are more refined across the board, and the tonal superiority they have over all other detectors is an absolute pleasure to listen to, there was always something very stable and crisp along that first range of XTerra's, 30, 50, and 70. But the 705's have little secrets and nice quirks regarding judgement of trash targets that you get used to over time, and really appreciate. Across the XTerra platform I've had literally dozens of units. And out of the Minelab and Coiltek coils I favour the 6" concentric 7.5kHz for multipurpose use as they are one of those 'hot coils' that you find amongst many manufacturers ranges. They are very deep for their size, and isolate and separate targets far better than the same size DD. When prospecting mode is brought into play you can really push that threshold through right to the very edge of the receive cone tip. I also use the 6" concentric on reef workings, following gutters along old tracks or over natural formed gutters on the goldfields and there can be some pretty hot ground to deal with, but handled easily. A lot of guys bag the 705 for prospecting. That's fair enough, we cant all like the same machines. And most certainly wouldn't use a concentric, but I like them. The stock 9" concentric that comes with the coin-pack or the twin package is easily the most underrated coil. It's deep, and isolates far better than even the 6"DD. Most guys don't use them, as we all quite often do, we tend to blame the stock coil on most machines for different reasons and quickly buy another coil. The stock 9"concentric has a perfect sized inner receive ring. Not too big like the old Fisher C's, not too small like stock Tesoro's. Minelab made a huge mistake in making them an open design though. Getting caught up by every little twig. Be much better if they'd have been a closed coil so you could gently glide them along the ground and give your arm a rest. The stock 10"x5" elliptical in 18.75kHz I have distinct hatred for. I don't like the skinny elliptical coils on any machine. As they cause a quite a big loss of depth and misses of signal response due to the blade of the DD moving back to the centre in a queer way. But some rate them as their favorite. I do not like the 10.5" round either, badly balanced and the 9" stock leaves it far behind it I think. I favour the 7.5kHz coils all told, because the XTerra's run true in this frequency. The other two frequencies are merely digital equivalents. Coiltek's All Terrain 14.5" are fantastic, as are Minelab's new black version of them. I do not like the new ribbing on them though, the earlier WOT had much better balance. I use them for general gold detecting over hot or mild ground, and for open lightly junked areas for non-gold detecting. The 6" 3kHz coiltek is a bit of a dud. Attracts EMI terribly and aren't very deep, which you would think would have been the opposite. Nel have a fantastic range to boot. All sizes and all DD. I've played a lot with audio pitch modulation changes on the current 305, 505 and 705 in the form much similar to amplifiers/dampners, utilizing the push pad manual ground balance mode, the mode you open up when manually ground balancing. It's the Purest form of an All Metal Mode ever engineered on a detector. Depth is unbelievable.
  23. The big 4 in a VLF eh ....Multipurpose. Let's see now ....I should be saying something like "in my humble opinion" but I'm not a very humble guy (I are in person though) plus it ain't church day. So I'll just come straight out and tell you that the most all-round Coin/Jewellery, Prospecting, Relic and single freq beach VLF detector ever made, and is still in production, is the XTerra 705. If you haven't used and mastered one already Terry, feel free to give us a hoy and I'll give you the complete run down on them, and directly compare them to every detector you'd like to mention on in-ground un-dug targets, all the way from benign open parkland, heavily junked areas, sand, and mild to the hottest of gold bearing dirt.
  24. Most definitely bargains to be had on used detectors. A bit of a danger with regards to the past owners usage and care of it, but bargains all the same. Though with the cost of new detectors being relatively low now, a new unit would be nice. I think there are a vast amount of detectors, both not in production any more, and current new to the market models that really excel at it. So many in fact that I wouldn't even single a couple out. Except to say I've a favorite in the 705 and 6" concentric coil, and that's in a freq of 7.5kHz. Not really a frequency for micro gold is it. But it is when working the unit in the right mode. Inland gold jewellery, micro included, is a very niche form of detecting for sure, and very hit and miss regarding the worth of those hours put in. A very interesting and off-shoot type of single hunt detecting. In fact I do not think there are many that spend a high percentage of their detecting time solely on gold inland, micro or not. But the satisfaction reward of finding jewellery is a pleasing thing for both those that target it, or come upon it while detecting generally. And those that like keeping finds for show pieces. Gold itself at parks and where people congregate on grass or dirt is very hard to come by when detecting, even if that's the main point to the hunt. Along with the low amount of it, comes the minute, as in small, trash targets to be judged or dug in comparison to coin hunting. The exception being specifically targeted inland areas for dropped gold. The first of what I call top areas, start with one my older brother and I worked out when we kids. Grass underneath and around old clothes lines. Especially if that house has had many owners, females making up the majority of the householders. The goods dropping out of the pockets of blouses, shirts and slacks. Unfortunately they are undetectable areas due to the literal solid sheets and waves of old metal from pegs. But if you dig a foot and half down, depending if the ground gets nice water soakage through the years and worms get their bubbly holes going, and sift the dirt through sieves, the amount of earrings, bracelets, rings, necklaces, watches and coins is staggering. The best detectable gold area I would say would be the grass lawns on public swimming pools. Let's face it, people are sitting or laying practically naked and have their valuables either on them or on towels on the ground with them. Permission must be granted of course. Or you need the cunning of a fox ....something I'm sure we aren't all respectful of in terms of protecting our hobby. But one in which I've been guilty of. The sweetest of gold areas. Second equal best that I like are inland swimming holes and picnic spots along creek and river banks. For the same reasons as above. Only I do not get the coil under water, those that do would double my take on these areas. The other is golf courses, public and private. Top spots. Don't forget the permission though you fox. No damage left behind, and a lightly junked dreamfield goldfield. The other thing on micro gold or larger, apart from the pleasure of the find and the nice collection a person racks up, is the monetary value. Something which I find is much overrated. The seawater hunters take is far higher than that of inland hunters, and the ones that go at it strongly hit many ounces per season. But I find the actual re-sale value on both gold in it's % form and actual jewels on rings to be extremely low, even after sourcing many buyers. Costs to the buyer and their profit have to taken into account of course. I spoke to a jeweler at length that owned her own shop in a large complex once, and the things she told me about the industry blew me away regarding their price to full retail.
×
×
  • Create New...