mn90403

Adam, Thanks. I've been given those suggestions and today I took it lightly and limited my time. I don't want to stretch the mesh too soon. The family is not here to surprise me with things to do so I'm taking it easy.

Norvic, Thanks for the perspective. We all have our challenges and given a chance to compare situations it shows me and the rest of us what to expect. Being as this is my first surgery it supplies the mind with information not previously considered. I'm hoping this thread will allow more stories to be shared which will provide experience, strength and hope to move on to the next steps. Mitchel

Today was my first go at detecting after left inguinal hernia surgery last Friday (5 days). I had to get my fix and see my favorite beach. The first challenge was to put on my rubber boots. I could get my right boot on normally but when it came to the left sock it was not possible or wise to bend my leg and twist it at the angle I normally would. Once the sock was on I could jam my foot in pretty much ok. My idea was to 'cherry pick' but conditions really weren't good enough to have many choices of what to dig. I walked and walked (with no pain) but there just weren't many targets on the way out. Conditions weren't very good at the bottom of the slope. On the way back there were more targets and the uneven slope made me start feeling some tingles from the incision and the repair site. Digging was comfortable with the left hand only with my arm scoop. Bending and pulling at the sand was restricted so that I didn't over-do-it. I don't use a foot/shovel scoop. Using two hands caused pain that I wanted to avoid. In the end I had 1 quarter, 1 dime about 5 pennies, 5 pieced of trash and a really deep (18") aluminum can bottom in my collection. That was good enough. So, my questions are: "What did you do for your rehab to get back to your digging?" "Do you have any cautions or horror stories to share?" I'm not ready for a nugget trip based upon what I learned today. That could be too challenging until I have more healing time.

Into the future! 3023

Dave, What is that big 'rock' on the back of the quad? Gold? Mitchel

It is closed now but here is a bit of history. I couldn't find another thread on it but if there is just add this to it.

I hope the Pro wasn't a back breaker!

A coil scraper type of detectorist may get different results because there would be less air between the coil and ground. Maybe the target needs to be reburied to get true depth difference in your test? If you are waving above a target, then it would show how 'forgiving' a coil would be if your swing was 'off' and still find the target. This in part is the old statistics argument. If you give me a set of results then I can prove multiple conclusions. Where do you hold your coils when you noise cancel?

This was our discussion about it before: I remember when the regulations you cite came out and I think we came to the conclusion that if you go onto a mining claim and take meteorites then that is taking from the claim owner and is not allowed. If you collect meteorites from open land then it is ok according to the regulation. Barry would be my authority on the matter as he has studied the Barringer case. I don't know if there have been any updates and also don't know if one state is significantly different from Arizona where Meteor Crater is located.

If you attend the club meetings I go to in the Los Angeles area you will know it is not the same. Clubs are losing members because of age and no buzz about good ground. Relics and the beaches are different. Younger detectorists there competing with us old guys.

Just like a new model of a car. It has to contribute to the bottom line. You have your design and technology waiting to satisfy a known market.

Simon, For all of the reasons you have listed (including cost) and others reasons from Steve, jasong and other contributors, it has added up to detectors used by OLD PEOPLE! Where is the new generation of YOUNG DETECTORISTS in the gold fields? Most of what I hear from forum members is that it is difficult for them to get their kids, grandkids and younger folks interested in nugget hunting. There are too many other things to do. Now they are trying to kill the gas engines which get us way out there so an era is coming to an end it seems.

What exactly would this AxiomZ marketing brochure have to tell you so that you know it is an improvement over what we have? Could a marketing department put bells and whistles on a similar performance detector and get us (you) to buy it and not call it out for being not enough improvement for the bucks laid out? Our patches have been decimated and you can always say that nothing gets it all but that doesn't bring back what has already been taken either. The expectation that a new detector is going to pay for itself going back to old patches is a high hurdle to jump. New patches are hard to find but those are still the most rewarding for a detectorist looking to make a buck.

There is a little bit of a different market channel offered in the U.S. from the GPAA. I don't know how successful it has been but a few years back if you paid for a Lifetime Membership they gave a GM 1000 as a bonus. There were some other combinations of this leading up to the present. Now if you buy an Axiom you get a Lifetime Membership ... or at least it was. I don't know what the relative number of units are or the number of members of GPAA but it is a channel of potential significance. Most of the people in that club and many of the others I belong to haven't upgraded their detectors in years.

My situation is minor compared to what you've been dealing with. Congratulations and we'll both keep on digging just as soon as we want.

I wonder what ML's boxed and ready to ship from Malaysia price is with that exchange rate of what they pay? They don't really have to take delivery of all of the product in Australia, do they?

I knew it was coming for about a month. I don't know exactly what I did to do it but I don't think it was metal detecting. It could have been. This is the first time I've been cut on so the pain is different that any previous break or strain. What was the nature of your surgery?

I had hernia surgery yesterday!

Simon, You have described your experiences well. It's as if you are a fortune teller. Now I have gone to the same general area but a different spot that still holds a lot of trash. My settings have been refined between the volume of the detector and the SP01 and it really makes a difference to my ears. I was out on an overnight trip. The first day I found one little nugget, the largest at .22g and then the next day I found 3 more for the total of around .7g. Some of these pieces were just as you described, small and deep with one getting near 5 inches. None of them were surface nuggets. I did go back to the previous location and it seems that even with the dumbed down settings I've gotten it all there. This new location is quite different even tho it is near. It has had much more digging activity and other trash has been added and it is still left. You had to 'pick and choose' what to dig. It's a club claim and we also didn't want to spend so much time on it that we took it all. My total hunting time for the two days was about 4-5 hours. Two other detectorists had lesser results than mine. What I was able to do was 'hear the gold!' I didn't dig everything after a time. There were some targets that had a 'sharpness' to them that didn't say 'dig me.' And I can clearly remember each of the 3 targets on the second day with their nice mellow sound. After a scrape with the pick or a boot scrape you knew it was the sound you were looking for. That didn't mean it was going to be a quick recovery. Once the dirt gets moving then it becomes difficult to focus, scoop and recover. I'm a bit of an impatient scooper. I've had to change my style so I don't scoop, wave and throw out the target and have to re-scoop. Anyway, that is my story now, but the bottom line is that there is more gold at this new place than the other places nearby. Thanks for the videos, tips and advice on this coil. I wouldn't have it without you. The .22g first day nugget. The .11g 1st nugget of second day that took me 15 minutes to scoop. I thought it was smaller but it had the nice mellow sound we all like. I was on my way to take a break and 'show off' my tiny nugget and I got this flat .18g. And finally getting near stopping time for the day before we were off to do other stuff I got this .16g that said 'dig me!' It was down a bit over 4 inches.

I'm just trying to generate some updated feedback. It would include field use by purchasers and point out the pluses and minuses I would hope.

Gerry, You ARE an EXPERT. Mitchel

My stainless scoop is the pull design and it has lasted for many years without bending or warping. It is a really good scoop for quick, surface patches. I went to Mike's business and watched him build some and I bought a short handled on for my wife. It is very stout also. Maybe even a little too heavy but it will last forever. As KOB said, the scoop market changed over the years. They got bigger and I bought a couple of big scoops from Europe. They are beasts and all SS. It will wear you out carrying them so they mostly sit at home but on deep days nothing will beat them. That brings it back to Mike making a scoop similar to the square basket, carbon handled scoops. I don't know if he makes those. I wish Merrill would have had Borderline make his scoops.

What is the latest? Which one does what better?

This is just my recent experience using AI. It is a bit of a rabbit hole but it keeps me from thinking that this AI is going to be an end all, be all. I was once a research manager for a M&A company. This was before the internet. We had CD's, data bases, books, libraries, etc. Someone had to determine the search terms, the semantics if you will of what to look for. It becomes quickly apparent that there are many ways to search and you get many results and some are better than others. So ... one of my few ChatGPT sessions so far not about detecting but about ... I asked ChatGPT a couple of nights ago for a ceviche recipe. I don't know how much different that is from asking Bing but it kept sending me to one recipe which was called Best Ceviche recipe. I didn't like that one and kept looking at others. So then you have to add more details ... shrimp, scallops, fish ... then you have to figure out if you want to use just lemon or lemons and lime ... you don't even get to the part about flavor preferences. What if the ChatGPT was a French Chef and not from Central America? Is that a form of bias? There are several detectorists and on YouTube who do comparisons of detectors. What will the AI say when you ask it what is the best detector for nuggets? Relics? What bias is going to be used to make the list of detectors listed? Will there be AI based SEO companies? (Search Engine Optimization) Now, if you are a fan and you want to bet on a game will your AI have a bias? Can AI ever understand being a fan? Clearly AI could not be right when it comes to betting. It will have limitations about anything that has to do with the future. Everyone will have their own user experience but is it right, wrong or the only answer? hardly