Norvic

Yeah, tried number of times using a scoop went back to old method, just pick up small amount of soil with ? nugget in hand, run coil back over suspected dug out soil, if no signal drop dirt carefully through fingers over top of level coil, you`ll know when is on coil then just move around with finger. Reading back through my method, sounds a wee drawn out but with practice is easy as. Important for quick recovery is to know your coil-MD and spend a wee bit of time pinpointing with coil before & after dug out, usually once dug out you`ll pick it up with the coil heel or toe (DD coil, side with concentric or mono, coil held vertical.) which narrows down the pinpointing easily. I think tis whatever you are comfy with.

OK, I`ve found the courage, I think, Stripped the SDC right down the C/Bs with pot switches, coil plug, H/Dphone plug complete as per image below weighs 216 grams. This section complete with a couple of 3.7v LiPos hard wired in with the Pro-Sonic transmitter also hard wired, giving 3 Mini USB female plugs to charge .LiPos will be probably rectangular type that have their BMS in cooperated. Doubt I`ll used the SDC coil shaft as whilst it is quality feels heavy compared to say the GPX shaft. Anyway I`m "pissing into the wind" until tis a goer so will post back once and if it survives to detect again. NQ AU Wet weather project.

Now if I taught you to be a good Boy Scout, I`ll have to get you to return the favor, left me %$^#@&* Z battery & RC at home in the charger other day and had to use the 2" paint brush ( Please don`t tell anyone tis embarrassing no)............ Unfair SS you started before the gong, but good to know the GoG approves of our tradey approach.......18s going to be a big year for sure.

Well SS looks like we`ll be the only serious work like looking fellas on the goldfields, the GoG will favor us for sure and fill those pouches with that lovely yellow stuff, even our Boss will love us as she empties the wash machine.

Checked em out here in OZ, C172 they look like from your photo SS, must get a few for next season. Bugger you Paul might be hot but these scrawny legs need protection.

Tis difficult to give general advice on how to find gold, when I started out there was no info out there, no internet and there was just a very negative "consensus" that you just can`t expect to find gold with a box of electronics, but in saying that the gold was out there almost just "laying around". Now we have the internet, DP and know that those electronic boxes do indeed find gold. Just after 40 years it is not "laying around" like it was. I guess the most important approach hasn`t changed, be positive and have faith in yourself, your detector and the Goddess of Gold will come across but no doubt she`s an outright tease. No thrill comes close to digging up your first nugget except the thrill of your 2nd, 3rd etc etc.

Crikey, a beauty but for me the original would look better, although I guess it was just a lump of quartz freshly broken from the reef rather then naturally eroded, just gold loses something once acid bathed to my eyes. Mind you I`d still love to find that 44lber.

I`m with TK, mark each find using GPS, it will help you see a trend, whether it is altitude or on a particular side of slopes, usually a relationship to a particular feature is revealed by this. Particularly when you can view and compare finds on topo and geo maps and now days Google earth as well, but remember this is only an indicator and there may be those patches that are "rogues", that send you back to the drawing board. Maybe with more saves you`ll realize you just missed a relationship with a feature, maybe you never will. I am very fortunate that I started doing such religiously when the hand-held GPS first become available. That databank of find waypoints down the track is invaluable, thus I recommend to all young fellows getting started in this game, always save those waypoints, pondering over maps with a lot of waypoints can help you avoid cabin fever at the least but in time lead you to more of that magic yellow.

NE, I note you use the 14, I`m talking normal with the 19, with the 14 I mainly use difficult although that is slowly changing as I learn how to use semi-auto and better coil control(slow down with age). My grounds up here vary from quiet to noisy, from my time spent in Victoria or any other state I`ve worked not a lot of difference in grounds although you do have more such challenging ground then NQ. Certainly we have ground that yields 172 hot rocks/day. Of course this is my take

In the ground I do, I`ve found like in this and all endeavors nothing can be written in concrete, an open mind helps a lot. Currently I do not use audio smoothing, instead of turning Volume up on the Z I leave it on 8 and use an audio booster, general, semi-auto GB, normal and sensitivity 20 if the ground allows and I switch into Extra Deep on reruns over the ground. Extra deep has scored quiet well in some deep black soil which just sucks the depth right out of the MD. I reported in a earlier post of a 19 gram solid that was only 12-15" deep, I had missed it with the 14Z, with the 19Z until I switched to Extra Deep 19Z, (I would think I should`ve got it 35 plus years back with a A2B, but that was my thinking back then) just a note here whilst this confirmed Extra Deep was not a setting to not use, maybe the fact I got it in extra deep may have been that I hit it at a slightly different angle, I was listening better or a host of other reasons. I just know the open mind approach is the go. My appreciation of the Z19 and JPs advice was made after a frustrating goldless first Z19 day on ground I knew had deep gold, I followed JPs advice on the 2nd day same ground it was not a goldless day.

The Dtek, (actually spelt D-Tex) I speak of, were only trading in the early MD years to my knowledge. Their main products were the Search King, the Gold King and there also was a Money King I believe. I have found some info on them as per below but there is probably more on the net. https://www.treasurelinx.com/d-tex.html

JR, that is good news about NF, to me ML make top detectors, the aftermarket coil manus gave us a top variety of top coils to go with those top detectors. A partnership with all gain to our time behind our MDs for us the consumer.

That coil reminds me back in the A2B days the large concentric coil made by Dtex (spelling may be incorrect) was the coil for depth and was no slouch in sensitivity. It would be great to see these aftermarket coil manufacturers be given the green light for Z coils, I think they would do what they`ve done to the PI coils and by now maybe we`d have a selection of coil sizes and performance gain coils that push the depth boundaries even further. Hopefully whatever it is that stops these innovative people doing so is overcome.

To me JW you`ve struck gold re..."I always "believe" the gold is there, but I NEVER dwell on the thoughts that I MUST find some".... if I may add a bit "I`ve just gotta be good enough on the day to find it". Firstly faith in yourself faith in the detector will follow.

I know of a very successful prospector in OZ here that had such a knee replacement, once on the mend he had no choice but give up his GPZ 7000 and return to using a PI with a smaller coil, only one thing will stop him prospecting I suspect.

Very true, one cannot talk about detector depth without taking into consideration other variables, GB advances, different timings, even audio advances, and importantly different operators and who knows in what direction progress will be made in the future. I have a patch that with a lot of time with the PIs especially the SDC, and the Z you will get a few colours but only shallow yet that patch yielded to the A2B onto the GM2 thousands of colours with very few above a gram in weight in bugger all time. No doubt the Monster with time will score a few more there. Another patch is different and it has yielded gold at depth and I know it will be so for many more years giving up more to tech advances whether GB advances, different timings or simply depth advances. The Z 19" s magic exploited that and proved it up, if that patch were pushed many more ozs may come to light, but for me I`m content to leave it as is, a top proving ground patch, plus I`ve experienced what pushing returns, mostly not enough to pay for the diesel. That completely hunted and dead patch will have this old fella on it in a blink if I too get those GPS Coords , Steve.

Couple of months ago there was a story in Ozs Gold Gem & Treasure Mag that told of a visitor in WA that found a 400oz patch. Now that`ll stir the lad for sure, however I think the reality is be content with a few nuggets and the experience, tis a big island OZ. But saying that if you don`t give it a go you`ll never know and that I guess sums up prospectors attitude and why the hell not. MN see if we can get him in and post, stir him up a wee bit and capice no .................

Steve, as ML have as you say upped their detectors volume output (certainly on the Monster) then this deaf old codger will celebrate the day he can throw away those bloody nuisance boosters that don`t matter where you place them they are a problem, if Steve you are instrumental in getting a bit of volume out of ML I`ll have an extra drink to you every day I detect. Bloody cluttering up wireless with wired boosters

For me the PIs I`ve used topped out in sensitivity , depth and smoothness with the 5000, the GPZ has gone another step and increases that sensitivity, depth and smoothness again. These gains prove themselves over and over when I wander back to old patches. I believe these gains were made in the PIs with better capability to handle ground conditions through GB refinements and timings. The SDC illustrates this, I believe that has a lot to do with its single coil and it being "paired" to it electronically. The Z has shown to me conclusively this is where it shines, its auto ground balance seldom gets it wrong if you get a persistent signal although very weak as you swing over the target a few times you can almost bet it is metal. I found I can trust the auto GB on the Z over the PIs(other then the SDC) this has lead to covering more area each day thus increasing production, this is especially so when patch hunting. I`ve included the Z in my post because the thread is about depth comparison, between detectors. To me the Z has proven beyond doubt of the detectors I`ve used it ticks this box out there in the field where it counts, for me the 5000 comes a close second. I must state I take the replaced detector out into the field usually only once with the upgraded new detector, I am not into testing detectors rather I let their production prove them up.

Sure did but we are a bit behind, check out the Equinox Fan club. Thought something was on a few months ago, tis the way Steve was holding his head.

Days without gold? I`m slow, took me 3 years when I started and I know now I went over a lot of detectable gold, now I get a wee bored if it takes a week when patch hunting, so I`ll return to an old haunt just to remind me what it looks like. Tis a skill that no one has or will reach the pinnacle of, ah but gaining that skill is the journey that sets it apart from other hobbies, gold detecting is an extremely frustrating but very rewarding challenging hobby. Enjoy that challenge, just look around at the surroundings when your out there, the best work office there is.

Would be lovely no doubt if the CTX, Z and ProSonic were compatible wireless systems, I`d have the ProSonic remote on both the CTX and the Z in an instant. Now a wireless headphone seems to be on the agenda, hopefully it will be say compatible with the ProSonic to get some kind of compatibility going. I note the Equinox listed specs. state that ordinary Bluetooth headphones are compatible(if I`m reading them correctly), as well as aptX etc. maybe ML are sorting out a standard, but with advances in tech that can hold progress back pffff who knows.

Yeah, this old codger has joined Facebook because one of the properties I prospect on has FB as the only means of contact for permission. If I post about a particular brand of detector it is because it has some feature I feel makes it more useful for me, usually it is a feature that no other brand has. Thus why the Deus, Z, QED, Monster and Equinox ticked my boxes in the last few years, I guess that is the strength of this well run 4M, I can do that here without being "shouted" down because my opinion is not the "consensus". Thus I feel on this 4M what this thread is about is very applicable, if a particular detector gets "bandwith" here it is because it deserves it.

I concur with Dave, the problem of access on pastoral leases has over my time chasing yellow become a major. 40 years ago it was just a matter of approaching the lease holder and you were in but now as properties change hands and we lose that personal contact it is becoming near impossible to get permission. Theft of fuel etc, fences being cut, wildfires being started, mucking up roads when wet, cattle being butchered etc etc, we are reaping what we sow unfortunately. The privilege we enjoyed has been eroded simply by the total lack of respect a few show. I started out on 4Ms with the belief that this electronic gold rush needs that those of us who are privileged to be and enjoy this era should share these memories by telling and showing of our finds, unfortunately because of some characters nature the repercussions of trying to leave these records has been blown away for me. It is a big ongoing negative of what is a very positive journey. I take my hat off to the Gold Hounds, to Reg Wilson, JW and others who open up, the pleasure you have given me by doing this cannot be bought, many thanks. All brings to mind the truth in an old saying "Gold brings out the best in mans ingenuity, the worst in his nature"

Too true, I recall my Dad coming out with me on one patch in VLF days, I had cleaned it up and Dad come out to help me rake it and get the "scraps". He shook his head and had a shot at me for not spending that time with the rake in the garden at home. I think gold was around $200 an ounce then and we didn`t get an ounce for that day. I could not talk him into coming out again until many years later, same area but with the SD2100, got a few ounces for the day but that was it Dad was not going to be even a late adaptor no way and he did not accompany me again. But did the 2100 cement my bad case of gold fever, and certainly reinforced the idea that early adopters have all the fun. I have not been back to that area with the Z as yet but I`m betting the fun continues.