mn90403

How about entire thread?

I'll have to admit, I did push (12) the settings a bit for the shallow meteorites. I was concerned that the 19 would ignore smalls as a hot rock so I stepped up the sensitivity. It was still stable enough to hunt but we were in an area where most of them had been found so my count didn't go up. Two others that were hunting with me didn't find any before we moved on to explore. I went to the Hoppy GPAA claims (good in the past I understand) for the first and last time. There were no old dig holes in the pavement. I have been on much better areas of Gold Basin for meteorites. The gold nugget area was mostly mild but there were a few screamer hot rocks which is not always a bad thing. I've taken quite a few similar nuggets off that area and I was not the first.

My SE Pro 12" coil and my 3030 17" coil broke at the base of the ear. My fixes so far have been Gorilla glue to hold the entire 'ear' in place because it broke at the base make the screw tight. I was told that acetone would liquify the plastic and be like a plastic weld if you just need to reattach pieces. I haven't tried it yet. Now when it breaks I think will have to get rid of all the glue and put one of the brackets on like you have done. Thanks for the pictures. Mitchel

I've been out a few times now with the 19" and finally got over a couple of keepers! Yesterday I was hunting in a known meteorite area in Gold Basin, Arizona. Meteorites in this area are primarily surface targets to maybe 1 or 2 inches. You can still hunt in some areas for them without a detector. I started out with the 14" coil and found the 25g meteorite on the right. Now that I had located an area still holding them (and showing dig holes) I wanted to try the 19" coil. I didn't have to walk very far away before I got the 18g meteorite on the left. My first keeper of any kind with the 19" coil. Today we went a few miles away from where we found the meteorite and got the little .45g nugget that was 'missed' in a patch where I found several with the 14" coil. It was about 4" down. When I saw it and gave it a 'Find Point' I thought it was .2g. The sound was very faint but when I got to pinpointing it screamed. I was using JP's conservative settings. Before we went to Gold Basin we were in Quartzsite where I have very little experience with big gold at any depth. Actually I have very little experience anywhere with big deep gold so I'm trying to remember stories I have heard from others and go to those locations but I'll have to research more. It's just good to break in the coil. Mitchel

NE, You are correct about the technology. I have a ML 5000 and if you got near power lines it was a problem. There was a 'cancel' feature on the mono and dd coil selector which would help with this EMI. Others here will give you better info about this when they wake up! Mitchel

JP said: I've found a few pieces at this location that have shown signs of being crystalline, this one would have been beautiful in its original state. Yes, it is surely an ugly piece. It is very suitable for my collection. Should I give you my address now or by PM? Mitchel

Great digs Strick. My park finds are only a few coins. Mitchel

Ok, that's it. I thought it was too hot to be hunting at Christmas down there. Your season is over, right? Thanks for showing us chunky gold. Fred is booking his flight now. Merry Christmas. Mitchel

Bloody hell Norvic. Way to keep it in the family. Thanks for the share. Merry Christmas to you also. Mitchel

Dave, I think the idea of your lexan is probably the ultimate solution for use of the coil. You can put it directly on the ground, rocks, sand, etc. and it will still be 'above it' as Minelab recommends for this coil. What is that optimal distance above the ground? Is 1mm plus the coil cover thickness a proper elevation? (The center can't be put on the ground directly no matter what you do.) This would also satisfy JP's coil control concerns by keeping the coil flat through its swing. The coil could remain relatively flat as it bounces off the rocks so that their would be minimal damage to the coils. Mitchel

I've spent another day in the field with it and maybe Minelab accomplished what it wanted. It doesn't want us to use it like a bulldozer. They made it delicate so that we can think about the subtle difference in threshold needed to hear the deep targets. The silicon I put on has stabilized and strengthened the coil cover. That makes me feel better. The spray on truck bed liner doesn't really want to stick to this plastic but I can see the few scrapes I put on it. When I add more I'll use a brush. Now I just need some deep targets that the 14" coil didn't already find. Mitchel

I've sprayed the bottom of the coil cover black and put a silicone bead around the double edges and the center. There is actually a portion of the upper coil that is not covered. It is just sealed with black epoxy inside the white plastic. When I add some truck bed liner the next time it will have to be brush on because it takes a bit of time to silicon the thing. I don't want to do that very often.

Maybe the carrot didn't crap out. That is the way it works when the battery is low. We replaced the battery before we junked it and voila ... it is new again. I can't say the same for our old black pointer ... new battery didn't help it. Mitchel

Fred, I'm not a grinder. I do try to stick my coil where 'the sun don't shine' and that includes between rocks and under plants. Stuff falls into this cover. My first time out with the 19" all I hit were a few sand and ash piles in the desert and when I came home and took it off ... more than any GPX coil I ever used ... there was lots of sand. I could see it out of the box so I was not surprised but I didn't have any choice. Now I will seal it and be careful and add a nice coating to it often. (It would probably cost $100 for a replacement.) The next couple of days are going to be spent trying to seal this one on with a more durable spray coating. (Would that be so hard for Minelab to put on this cover?) I would have to say the coil was very pretty out of the box. A nice white with black trim of the cover. I even had a butterfly land on it and I tried to get a picture. This I thought was a good omen. The last time I saw butterflies on my coil was the day I was using the Nugget Finder 18" coil on my 5000 and I found the Goose Egg nugget. Mitchel

I'm not one prone to rant but I think it is time. My wife and I use Minelab products. Between us we have an SE Pro, E-trac, 3030 (6, 12, 17), 5000 (4 Commander coils), 2300 and a 7000 (14 and 19). I'd say that Minelab has a bit of our budget. We go to the southern California beaches for jewelry and the states of California, Arizona, Alaska and Nevada for gold nuggets. (I hope to get to Australia before all the nuggets are gone.) We are more successful on the beaches than in the deserts and mountains. My recent purchase of the 19" GPZ coil is the straw that breaks the camel's back (so to say)! I am embarrassed (and saddened) by the cheap and practically unusable out of the box coil cover included with this coil. It is light, flimsy, captures dirt and will not last more than a few bumps into our local bushes and rocks. How can we pay so much for a good product and get such shoddy protection for the coils inside? Now that it has me going ... this same problem exists with the coil covers for the 3030 and SE Pro. Years ago I removed them because it traps water, sand and salt which causes falsing. Those coils seem to be more sealed than the 19". I haven't found an aftermarket coil cover for these. I have found effective aftermarket coil covers for the 2300 and 7000/14. I had to because the soft material for the 2300 coil cover was almost as bad as this new 19" cover. Holes appeared in the cover within the first few weeks my wife used it and scratches began to appear on the coil itself. Our aftermarket coil cover is thicker (not much heavier) and more durable. I've begun to spray it with an automotive truck bed liner. It is sealed from the salt and sand with silicon. It now works great. I had to buy a similar cover for the 14" coil and seal it but there is not a similar way for this new 19" and there is not another solution yet other than the 'snowshoe' plastic some are making but our volcanic ash and sand will collect on top but I haven't heard of a better solution. (What is anyone else doing?) Would it take that much time for Minelab to design and supply a legitimate coil cover for the price? I remember when I used the GPX covers that now seem to be light years ahead of the latest covers. We just had to tape them to seal them and keep the elements out. They fit pretty snug and you didn't feel like you couldn't or shouldn't use the coil cover that came with the coil. It was good to go out of the box. Minelab is my preferred detector company. I own others. Their detectors satisfy my need to find. Many of their coil covers suck. Mitchel

I got tennis elbow from the 3030 on the beach without a harness. It does last for a few weeks and the best I can say is that no use of your arm is the best with a little ice. Anything more than that delays your recovery. I get my 19 tomorrow. What were your results? Mitchel

Meteorites by themselves would be my choice. They are not a rock, a mineral, a gem or anything more or less than OUT OF THIS WORLD!

I am here! Tomorrow we have a day planned but no plan for Monday yet. I'll get my coil on Tuesday back in Los Angeles. Where are you in the great state of AZ. Actually I stay in Blythe because I like the little hotels here better.

Thanks again. We're listening to you and Bill, and Kevin, and Lunk, and Steve, and Nenad, and Chris, and many more ...

Paul, We are going to be in Quartzsite this weekend. Maybe I will and maybe I won't have mine. It would be good to see you if you are around. Mitchel

What if you don't get the owner's permission? (Tough ____?)

My recent discussions and readings with some of you here on the forum and some not here has been a focus on 'hot settings' vs 'conservative' settings of the GPZ 14". As a user I have to satisfy myself with a 'discussion' of taking a conservative setting(sensitivity 6,7,8) and increasing the volume of the deep, weak signal vs finding with a hot setting(sensitivity 15+) trying to hear the deep signal among the chatter. One school of thought is that the conservative settings will sense deeper because you are not 'exciting' the first 10" of ground as much as you do with the hot settings. The hot settings are said to find more shallow, small gold but miss deeper targets depending on the ground. (It always depends on something, doesn't it? haha) Now JP comes along and tells us with the GPZ we are swinging 'double cones' that should be controlled correctly with the swing in order to get the deep targets we have been missing. This seems to require a bit slower speed because the brains of the GPZ can't keep up with the ground if you go too fast. I'll have to remember this for the 19" when it comes. Jason reminds me of beach detecting and my early days of hunting in the desert. Go fast and find the good stuff! You can find more good stuff if you don't spend time digging everything and you let your machine discriminate. In the desert you can discriminate with speed because the small stuff will be ignored. You can also discriminate with depth. (Give a surface scrape and if it is still there dig!) Another beach analogy works here when you find a couple of good rings in an area you need to slow down because you might be in a 'pocket' which would be similar to a patch. Pockets are produced by water, waves, tide and wind. Patches are produced by geologies outside of this discussion. My experiences of large and deep objects so far with the GPZ suggests that it 'sees' well beyond its coil size. When I bring the coil near a can it senses it many inches (if not feet) before I get there. When I swing my pick over or near it as in an air test I know the direction of the target. (I haven't experimented with pinpointing and sensitivity yet.) Large targets (not gold yet) that I have dug are not only heard under the coil but off to the side. I think this has helped me to find gold under bushes I did not find with the GPX. I'm enjoying this thread and thought I would include some non-professional user observations. Mitchel

Here is an example: http://www.cabelas.com/product/Rust-Oleum-Truck-Bed-Coating/2257223.uts?productVariantId=4593651&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=04449886&rid=20&gclid=CjwKEAiAyanCBRDkiO6M_rDroH0SJAAfZ4KL0_1q-MHJ3TIkUIz7BttV6ty3hhxbZ7AmaBaeaF5cfRoCGlzw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Here is the one I am using: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Dupli-Color-16.5oz-Black-TRUCK-BED-COATING-Aerosol-Vinyl-Polymer-TR250/39154399?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1250&adid=22222222227026955220&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=53853904511&wl4=pla-88049632871&wl5=9031040&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112562674&wl11=online&wl12=39154399&wl13=&veh=sem

I don't have the 19" yet and you guys are 'scaring' me about it a bit. But ... I've worn out a couple of the 14" skid plates and a couple of the 2300s and I'm not really a scraper so I have begun using a spray on it. The spray I use is like an undercoating but it is really called a truck bed liner. I've applied it once all over the coil covers and now I will 'spot add' depending on where it grows thin. It is tough and applies easily. It should also keep a cover from chipping or ripping. I am using black but it must come in colors. Mitchel

Quartzsite for you Paul ... just a day trip up from Yuma or down there depending on your starting point.