flakmagnet

A warbly response always makes my heart jump.

I have rarely had it be anything other than a nugget.

Any strange tone or response makes me perk up big-time. 

It is most times something good.

On the 5000 I used to get a weird, extremely faint, barely audible sound like a cutoff emi hit.

I called it a chirp.

It would only happen every once in a while but when it did it was usually a good target.

However, it was also the kind of sound that was easy to dismiss.

I happened to stumble on it when I got two similar responses fairly close together one afternoon 

and decided to dig them. 

Nice work Rob

Hey Rob did you see the pics that JP put up? He estimated he was down two and a half feet

when he got his 2.5 ounce…pretty scary.

Dave, the HipStick has been around since 2006 or slightly earlier.

I know this because that's how long I have used one.

Wow 

and

congratulations

Funny post Lucky…

Tortuga, if you are under 5'8" the way I am, you have to seriously rethink

where all your metal is located. I had to consider that even with the 5000.

Very interested. As always, thank you for sharing your knowledge.

Hope the ring and the 45 slug are not related…(nice finds)

It will take some concentration to get over the habits that are ingrained from previous PI's. 

Having this article and perhaps Bruce Candy's input later, will be a big help as the new habits are learned.

Looking forward to reading the technical reasons why these ground balancing methods are recommended.

Thanks JP and thank you Steve.

Nice shots guys…

Thanks for posting.

That is a problem I would love to have,

some boring old huge non-specie gold.

it's interesting that in DOC's post, he says the fellow gridded the area with a 5000 and still

these solid and smooth nuggets were missed. Pretty impressive testimony for the GPZ.

Hey Jason,

Great stream of consciousness / technical curiosity reporting.

A really interesting mix of technical know-how combined with not worrying about going off into the weeds.

Like Lunk's reporting, this kind of experimentation produces interesting observations and field-tested, useable information that expands on the manuals starting points.

Thanks for taking the time to let us benefit from your willingness to mess with the settings.

Continued good hunting.

Lunk, are you still using the audio settings you describe in the other thread? http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/830-lunks-zed-settings/

That's funny Steve, it really is a good shot.

Glad you decided to put it up.

JP glad you took a moment to clarify who those two gents are.

Well Lunk, once again you have come up with some great food for thought.

The first thing I am doing is copying your entire post and putting it in a folder marked 7000 notes.

I am sure when I am lucky enough to be able to get my 7000

your settings will be among the first things I experiment with.

I agree some of them are counter-intuitive

but sometimes that is what taking the time to learn the settings reveals.

Thank you for taking the time to share.

It will be fun to see where your experimentation leads.

A great thread.

There are a lot of forums out there about detecting for gold.

There is nothing like this forum.

Again, well done Steve and the many contributors. 

Paul that is a really cool looking mod.

If only ML would incorporate updated ideas like yours

and - on the GPX for instance - add a coil-cable stabilizer, which is a cheap and hugely helpful mod.

I suppose it is not very likely if past experience is an indicator, but we can dream. 

`Hi Jasong and Steve,

This is a great conversation to get to follow.

Thank you for taking the time to flesh out these ideas, 

they will ultimately benefit all of us.

Jason I especially appreciate your experimental mind-set

and Steve your ability to amplify and clarify ideas is quite unique and interesting to follow.

I'm pretty sure anyone would be happy with this nice looking gold.

I do note you have not picked up a bigger nugget, so if you feel I have lost the bet,

I will have to send you some sort of symbol of that loss.

Or, you will have found one by now and we're good.

Continued good hunting…it doesn't seem that luck is a part of it,

just a good detector in the hands of a good operator.

Oh and high five on losing 15 lbs, that's a real nugget.

Fantasy land and magic wands aside,

proper ground balancing with whatever detector is being used

is one of the most important and one of the most overlooked aspects of good detecting.

I look forward to taking the extra time it may require on the 7000 if that is what it needs.

It is a small price to pay to have the electronics working at optimum. 

There are a lot of prospectors who would not be able to be swinging a detector

for prolonged periods of time without the HipStick.

I am one of them.

Thanks Chris…

Fred, 

I am looking forward to hearing about your exploits once you get your new detector.

Kind of interesting that they want you to send the whole package in.

Sort of like getting a new car if the battery won't charge? Probably a bad comparison but funny.

Anyway best wishes and kudos for patience.