Norvic

Been having same dilemma, and finally made mind up and ordered the xterra 705 today. I went for the 705, as it seems to have pretty sophisticated discrimination, has 3 frequencies utilized with respective coil change. With that it seemed top value to compliment the GPZ. Never regretted a Minelab purchase yet, come to think of it any detector purchase. We are just boys. 

Well I could`ve pissed down my leg I was so excited, I didn`t notice, although my original intent was to camp out a few more nights, I was home a little after dark that night to show the missus. Have kept quiet about gold finds for obvious reasons but replaying the event has got me all stoked up again, and is a good feeling to finally let it out. I feel these events should be recorded, to leave something of the electronic gold rush and what better way than through a forum of enthusiasts.

Like a kid in the candy store, you`d reckon the GPZ would keep me happy for awhile. Decided on the Xterra 705 Gold and ordered one, blimey when I grow up I definitely wanna be a kid.

Looking through your Amazing finds, the Ganes Ck one and this one from appearances could have come from the same area. However this ones from OZ I found about same time as The Ugly Nugget

Was prospecting new country what I call fringe country, got a few small pieces at head of small creek than down about 100m got a massive signal at dry waterfall of about 2 metres high, creek about 2.5 metres wide. Halfway down that waterfall I could see gold exposed, and probably been exposed for 100`s of years the above piece. It tipped the scales at 1.72 kg, crushed to give 42.314 ounces gold 4.442 ounces of silver after refining. From there down this small creek was a jewellery shop, all signals the heavy stuff not a piece of iron in creek. Creeks length about 300 metres max, then runs into a larger creek.

Never named it because it had no real shape, much like your Ugly Nugget Steve. Perhaps this story and photo could be added to Amazing finds.

Too much choice we have, tis confusing, my shortlist is expanding again also just received some info that makes me think I should also add the AT gold, just didn`t initially consider as I am a dry prospector. The F75 should prove AOK with its features.

In search of that vlf discrimating detector for trashy areas, ruled out eureka gold(weight), ruled out CTX ? over multifrequency & weight. Left with GB2, GBpro and Xterra 705 gold, with the Xterra on top because of its discrim properties and flexibility. Many thanks Steve for your concise and up to date reviews, definitely the best. Initially the CTX seemed most logical but I can see a single frequency is needed for my purpose, the Xterra having that with coil changes allowing it to go for lower frequencies for those coins. Something I haven`t chased for 20 plus years, but recall the fun I had doing so. My shortlist but???? no urgency.

Normal/High yield, smoothing Off, volume to 12 whilst on speaker, rest at default for me so far but the GPZ`s definitely training me and no doubt need a lot more use before anywhere near getting the max out of it. It is not the simple beast it first appeared to be.

Shasta... Nice and peaceful, sit back on favourite chair, have a coffee and watch the animals & sunrise. Enjoy.

No not a wallaby but I checked it is a rock I put up there. But it wouldn`t surprise me too much if one does get up there. Not only are they agile, they are very inquisitive, if I leave tractor parked out there near the knob overnight, it`ll have their droppings over it next morn, especially on the seat. They are nocturnal.

 As a young fella I used to think I was a game hunter, big hero and run around these ridges shooting them, now I am their protector. My wife and I being Wildlife Carers specialise in the Kangaroo family, the rock wallabies are to us the most intelligent. The missus was "talking" to one of them in their lingo(sort of a quiet cheeping) it jumped across the rock closer to her so she put her hand out it promptly came over and bit her on the finger and bolted. We reckon she had insulted it, they are a joy, seems our gold fever "inflicts" us with an appreciation of the environment we prospect in, this thread shows that.

I apologise, I tried to get it all together in one post but either my satellite internet conx is too slow or I was having a senior moment. Anyway enjoy my bit of OZ. Gold has shed from mountains in scenery shot over the rear of. About 200 yards to rear of home you can pick up quartz specimens with wolfram and molybdenite  on the surface, country is very mineralised with copper, fluorite, gold and tin all within a 5 mile radius.

Well I`ve tried to get the "natives" in the one photo, they are often down on the track early in the morn, but they haven`t cooperated. You`ll note two of them, well actually three one has a joey in pouch, on the rocky knob. That rocky knob is on the right of the across valley scenery photo which is about 100 yards from front door. The "natives" are rock wallabies, whilst they are a member of the kangaroo family, they are close to being monkeys, being extremely agile as they play in the rocks. About twenty live on the knob year round and are a constant joy to us, have allowed us to erect water tank at their "home".

Certainly not as spectacular and magnificent as  the photos of your backyards, but my view of this part of OZ I am privileged to call home.

Had got a few antiglare screen protectors for phone, fitted one of them, screen material is a wee soft. Seems I`ve fairly scratched it, probably with a tree branch. As it`s not something needed to view all the time maybe a slip-on cover to protect might be the way

Just got back from trip with GPZ and noticed what I thought was screen damage, on further investigation the screen has a soft plastic protector on it as standard, well mine has anyway. Will remove and replace with phone lens protector. Perhaps that is what is scratching rather than the screen?

Sugar, sounded crazy but is logical once you`ve read the info. Full of high density energy to start with, just love how tech and the people that develop it, revolutionises how we do things. 

I don`t think you`d wilt in OZ, is different but the same, if you get my drift. Zoe says so, she sounds exactly like they are here, a bitch, a one man dog but the best. Let me also presume, she rolls in the freshest of manure on occasions. Phueee!

That is magic, I awake to a totally different view, probably in contrast  the "opposite" which also is magic. Must get camera out one morn. share and show I also am blessed.

Zoe has adapted well to your cold country, they have a fairly heavy coat over here but that`s a super thick coat. And I complain of our heat!!!!!! Brrrrrrrr.

My GPZ is more like a Toyota, nothing fancy just gets the job done. Oh what a feeling.   I`ll get some more speed out of it once it trains me.

No I haven`t had to retrack on changing modes as yet. But I haven`t altered too much from the default, it gets the heavy stuff why bother? In a year or so with use I may change things, a bit slow I guess, after my time with the 5000 I hadn`t changed much from default. I just figure the Minelab Guru`s know what they are on about, they`ve proved that.

Being totally off-grid, with a wee over 1 tonne of lead-acid battery that will need replacing soon, battery tech like this gets me excited.

Jasong, is not difficult to get wrapped up in gold, good for the finances and very pleasurable too! At present our mobile devices with moving map software is probably the way to go in the field,certainly a valuable tool. Without moving map software on the Z it is limited that way, but it gets that heavy stuff.

Now to add to this would a piece of software to allow us to upload to and from our GPZ`s GPS to our moving map software be useful ?

My use of moving map software for a trip into undetected? country starts with marking a route on PC, using a topo map. I`ll select the route points to allow access as far as possible by 4x4 to area and a central campsite, starting from existing tracks then branching off bush bashing following ridges avoiding creeks and other obstacles. Google Earth is handy initially here also. I then transfer this to my Toshiba R500 notebook equipped with a magnet based USB receiver, this allows me to follow the route by 4X4 on a larger screen 12inch.

Once reached as far as campsite, I use OZI (Oziexplorer app) on android phone and record a track of each days prospecting marking waypoints of finds and points of interest. Each night I transfer this back to R500 which allows me to ensure I get a good coverage of prospecting area selected, and I can study correlation of finds on each day in relation to finds from previous trips close to the area of interest. Have been doing such since the mid 90`s thus have a fair database of waypoints and tracks.

The R500 has recently replaced a old slow 90`s notebook that died, I selected the R500 because it has a transflective (sunlight viewable) LED screen and can run Win7 64bit, plus obtained through ebay for $130.

I rarely carry paper maps, as most I have are old, with newer ones of better scale purchased digitally, plus our mines dept QLd has free downloadable maps that you can tailor with overlays you require on their website and then download already georeferenced. Hint- always check this georeferencing is correct once downloaded and imported into MMS(moving map software)

As Gold Hound states OZI is easy to use and powerful.

My disclaimer, I am not a pro prospector rather a serious longtime one, now retired, I prospect in our cooler months and have no affiliation with OZI other than am a very happy user following the programs developement since its early days.