mn90403

They have a 'line' of other detectors. https://www.questmetaldetectors.com/?utm_campaign=fda13244-3418-4096-9760-337a9325d276&utm_source=so&utm_medium=mail&cid=9f291e3e-25f9-4b6c-b3ea-607265ef1ea3 Some are getting the QED 'confused' with the Quest. They are two different detector producers. I visited this company a couple of years ago when they were in the San Gabriel Valley and I bought a wireless system to use with my 2300 but I rarely use it. Mitchel

There are still some treasures out there in them'thar hills! https://www.ksl.com/article/46667233/7-legendary-treasures-in-utah-and-the-west-that-have-never-been-found

JW Let me share with you my opinion ... you are wrong to think that anything you write is the SAME OLD! Keep'em coming if you have the time. You have a number of avid readers and I am one of them. Mitchel

JW, Thanks for the post and the 'proof!' I see and believe. I also see you still have the handle on your Zed. Is that out of habit or weight? Are you working the coil extra slow near your old dig holes or are you giving it a normal swing? I tried one of Chet's small Xcoils and it was not 'light' which let me know there is a lot of windings in it. That was a surprise. The bigger coil didn't seem as end heavy for some reason. Mitchel

Subjective questions get subjective answers but sometimes there are jewels hidden in the logic.

No waste of time Simon. You let your fingers sing. My wonder came from knowing the price of the X for GPX price vs the X for GPZ price and wondered about the savings difference and not having to make a dongle for the Z. There is the 'bang for the buck' consideration for some of us. I also wonder what JW thinks of the X QED vs the X Zed. I've had lots of training and the last one with Gerry emphasized what you said about no combination of coil and detector sees it all. He demonstrates with gold on the table and air tests that no matter what PI or Zed you choose, they all miss gold. VLFs don't miss it in air tests but they can't see it deep as the other technology. They are also hindered by mineralization which can mask shallow gold. I appreciate your effort as I almost deleted the question before I posted it. There may not be a real answer. But somewhere in the mix right now without regard to price there is the ultimate performance model and Chet seems to be close because he says he's not taking off his Xcoil. Mitchel

Which combination of Xcoil will do best? Does it just push the existing hardware to a new level or is there a 'sweet spot?' If someone has a GPX and a Zed should they only get an Xcoil for the Zed? Is there something compelling to make someone get a QED X vs a ZedX or GPXX? Is there an X2300 coming?

We've just finished giving the ring a thorough cleaning. My discovery is that it says 18k rather than 10k! It's still a keeper. Mitchel

Steve has my dilemma stated correctly when I can only make trips of 3-4 days or sometimes only an overnighter. We like daily production of any size. If you've gone to Arizona and maybe Quartzsite and found a wash that produces every day that is cool beans ... or hot if you like them that way. Mitchel

I get an email from the UCLA Meteorite Collection which is on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. I've attended a number of their lectures in a small lecture room which is usually attended by less than 50 people. You have the ability to ask lots of questions and see the meteorites on display in the gallery. The November lecture and link to the website is here: https://meteorites.ucla.edu/events/ The January lecture is going to be of importance because they will be discussing one of the largest stony meteorites ever found. Here is the preview: Advance notice of the next lecture Title: "A coming out party for a large stony meteorite" Lecturers: Dr. Peter Utas, a physician meteorite collector, and Dr. Alan Rubin of UCLA When: 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, 26 January 2020 Large iron meteorites are common, big stones are rare. Our atmosphere presents a formidable barrier to large rocks, efficiently transforming boulders into pebbles. But a few survive the fiery plunge. Peter reviews the roster of these great intruders, with a short description of several, and introduces a rare survivor, NWA XXXX, the 15th largest surviving stone. Discovered five years ago, in Mali or Mauritania, this flight-marked 205-kilogram specimen was largely buried, the soil-line still clearly visible. Rubin describes the analysis and classification of chondritic stones; naked eye examination of hand specimens gives important clues, but quantitative techniques are needed to avoid being misled. Hand samples of chondrites will be available for examination by attendees. Admission Free and open to the public.

Ah, why did I think you were much farther north? hummmm When they were talking about the panning I thought you could throw out a line and pan at the same time. I guess I didn't read the story closely enough. Things are good here. More time with family now than with prospecting but I'll slip in a trip here and there.

Rob, Actually I didn't know much about the area. As far as I remember, that is the first nugget I've ever found at LSD or SD or Stanton for that matter. It was my first time to drive up that far. You guys have not shared your secrets with me. haha My best find until that nugget was a pocket watch case (without the watch) that was found more north and east of Jackass Flats than this area. Mitchel

Adam, The next time you go prospecting or fishing just stay at home. https://www.crookwellgazette.com.au/story/6495003/mining-company-explores-tuena-for-large-gold-deposits/

When will you get a chance to use that? Is it too hot there now?

Did he leave any gold in the patches?

Fred may need some sleeping 'help' to make the trip! That bush requires a lot of planning and equipment. Did Paul leave anything behind? haha

Fred, The exchange rate is still good. Victoria has lots of inexpensive places to stay but you might want to be in Norvic or JP areas but I know you like WA but it is a long way to a hotel there. Mitchel

I didn't know if I was going to find any gold but I knew I could bring back some pictures. haha

Let me start of by saying I heard about and saw some pictures of hugh silver and gold found in Arizona. If I find a link or the discoverer wants to post up his pictures I'll let you know. This find is not about that. This find is about a couple of good weather days in Arizona near Wickenburg if you follow on the map. I went there because of Bill Southern's outing that was very well attended. He'll have some pictures on his forum which I'll try to link here. https://nuggetshooter.ipbhost.com/topic/34683-outing-pictures/ Minelab America was there giving away something to everyone who attended and they also had a raffle which benefited AMRA to the tune of $2700! This was near the second day and where the nuggets were found. This first picture is a panorama of the area where I went the first morning. It is near a GPAA claim was a nice specimen was found last month. As you can see the desert is not really dead. It has many living plants and animals. The fallen cactus is a saguaro. You normally only see it standing with its green skin but inside it is an engineering masterpiece. It is made of many rods that give it strength. The next set of pictures is of the cactus that makes cowboys strong and forget about pain. These are the jumping cactus that get you over and over again. I finally dug a hole but it was hot ground. If you enlarge these pictures you will see in the picture some wild burros. There were about 10 with a couple of black ones. The next day we stopped by an old mine on the way to a different claim. Chet got us near and then we went off a less travelled road and we had to turn around. This is him coming out. I didn't take my phone detecting this time because it lost power trying to find a signal. This was the claim where Chet found a nice 2 g nugget and I found the .25 g nugget. These were my pictures on the way out at the end of the day and before my 6 hour drive back to Santa Monica. I took a couple of bad picture of the nugget this morning with the phone. It makes me want to get a better one ... nugget and phone that is!

Ok, I missed that for my memory with all of my driving! I've been invited to places in Mexico that have probably not seen the power of the Zed but I've not made the time and I have 'issues' about safety and not knowing the language. I'd be at the mercy of fines, payola and forfeiture of equipment from the beginning to the end. Others don't seem to have this problem.

I should also add ... will it beat an X/Q also? 😁

Ok, I just came back from an outing of Bill Southern's. Minelab America happened to be there. I had a good time and I took some pictures and found one little nugget which I'll post in a different thread. I also learned some things which are pertinent for this thread. Chet was there with his Xcoil and just as JW says, he has on an Xcoil and he doesn't take it off. It causes him to be thorough and find missed nuggets and others because he believes it will do it. Today he found a very pretty 2 gram nugget that many detectorists including Doc with his 7000 missed and it was only 5 inches deep. I also missed it because I wanted to go farther up the wash to the less hunted areas. Chet will just be methodical where everyone else has been. So, the coil works if you work it. More stuff I learned is that there is no Minelab small coil for the 7000. They believe most users want the big coils and that's the market they want to keep for that machine. I wish they would let someone develop the small coils for them but I didn't try to delve into that. Perhaps they are satisfied with selling a Monster or Equinox to someone who wants small gold. I'm done with the subject. Something else I learned is that Minelab is a company that makes metal detectors. They develop new metal detectors on a regular basis as a result of that. Check with people you know who test and see what they are doing. This might be a secondary reason for no new coils for the 7000. They are busy with other projects. It sounds like the Xcoil is the best game in town to light up the old patches and if you have the time get it and you might not want to get the next generation when it is available. Does the Xcoil miss any nuggets? haha What can the next generation do to find gold? Deeper? Discrimination? Smaller (do we really need that?) Species? ??? Lighter? Cheaper? Make Steve's PI Challenge? Will it beat an X/Z? Inquiring minds want to know. Mitchel

Here where i live i have lots of open ground that never have been metal detected & most of these hills are gold bearing...just have to look for shallow gold deposits. Most creeks been rich in gold as also the rivers. . Last photo is of us dredging with our Trev's Style Dredge. .. Where do you live?

Gold gets stolen and stories get told. Here is the first part of a series on the 20 greatest gold heists. They are an interesting read. I'm sure there are others out there you've heard of also. https://coinweek.com/bullion-report/the-biggest-gold-heists-of-all-time-part-i/

Nice hole Norm! Was it near home or are you already down south? Mitchel