mn90403

Try to sell some of it and the buyer will whip out an xrf and tell you what it is!

I've just been out in the field with the GPZ 7000 and I could not possibly use it without a weight assist. I'm using my HipStick that I use with my other Minelabs (3030, 5000). I use the 5000 harness but there could be others. It is simple to unhook and I don't feel like I have put on armour to go out detecting. JP has a video where he put it together for the 4000. The ProSwing bungee is the BEST. When going up or down a slope it can be adjusted with one hand to perfectly balance the coil. Without this my arm would be unable to prevent fatigue and tennis elbow from flaring up. I don't even need the extra arm which is good because I'm using that one for the pick. Here's the site to get one: http://detectoraid.com/ Mitchel

How much is that WM12 in the window?

Guys, guys, guys ... you don't get robbed in the gold fields or shot. When was the last time you heard of that? (It happens and we can make a thread if you know of it.) Where you get robbed is in the city. That is where they keep the thieves. Where you get robbed is in your home and on the streets if you leave something in your car. Most of these thieves don't have enough people to rob out in a desert. They want someone close to where they live. Sometimes I take some of my gold finds with me to show and people say 'Aren't you afraid someone will take them?' Most 'miners' won't steal it. I think it is often times safer with me than left at home when no one is there! Get the insurance you think you need and where you need it.

Happy Birthday and good gold too! I'm going through your neck of the woods next week but it will be at night. Did you leave any gold? Mitchel

I put my coins in a tumbler with sand for about an hour. Add some detergent and then Steve is right, CoinStar them. If you do Amazon you don't have to pay a fee.

The advice you seek should come from someone who owns one of these detectors. Do you know anyone that owns one? Where did you get the number of 3.5m?

I see you also have a wrap for your unit. Good idea.

Nice job!

Can the 3030 use the WM 12 or the 7000 use the WM 10? I tried with the 7000 and the 10 and couldn't get a connect. I'll be trying again. Anyone else try it?

I know what you mean about hard to see screens. I have some Maui Jim sun glasses I found on the beach. They are great but they make it difficult to see the 5000 control screen and the 3030 screen and other Minelab screens. It is one of the reasons I like to detect at night.

Lunk, Good job. You were one of the ones I was waiting to see post. Thanks. Mitchel

Steve is right. Digging a hole on a beach seems like a natural and you think you don't need to fill it. That is not so. Our holes are deep and have a sharp edge. The runners who come back behind me who step in my hole would be hurt. I would be hurt if I step in your hole. Don't hurt me or anyone else. Some beaches have already been closed and the life guards enforce it along with the police.

Nice nugget. At first it did not open for me but the picture is there.

Thank you for your prospecting procedure. It serves as a 'model' for prospectors with and without metal detectors. We all know that more gold has been 'found' without detectors than with. The early prospectors in the states would take off with their mules and pans and seek out features that held gold. This is not luck. (Except for that storm that made them go to a different set of mountains.) They weren't looking for gold on a sand dune! They didn't have Google Earth to 'pre-prospect.' Some of us have been lucky. We have found gold in placer deposits that moved to its found location without a direct link to a specific lode. No known gold feature clues would be available for the find. (My 20.5/8 ozt specie is both luck and work.) We also have been unlucky by going to places just as you describe and there is no gold to be detected. Now, armed with the great confidence you have we should move on to the next set of gold clues and be confident (not lucky) to repeat your success. Congratulations again. I hope to be more confident and less lucky.

Peter, Thanks for the history. Steve has assembled a good readership of the experienced and newer to detecting followers and sharers. He can always use more experienced sharers and so can I. Glad to have you here. Mitchel

Let me be a little more 'positive' in my approach to finding about the best operators in our industry. We've heard about some of them but many we have not. Who is the best of all of the people I know? Who is the best in each of the clubs? Who are the best of the present and past by both deed and reputation? What are they doing or did they do that I am not doing?

So Steve, this brings up the question which may be due for a separate thread which would be 'Who would you least like to 'follow' in a hunt?' By this I mean ... who would least likely miss something on a field, a patch or hunt? Who 'knows their stuff' best within your hunting group or within the industry. Kind of like a 'detect off' of operators. This would be one of my scenarios: I am given a choice between two one acre fields to detect. The fields are 'equal' from a geologic standpoint with small placer gold. One field has previously been detected by a novice and another field has been detected by an 'expert.' I want to find as much gold as possible. Which field do I choose? Now let's say the fields have both been detected by experts and I am told the name of the experts (JP and SH ). Which field do I choose? Now let's say it is your choice to follow a certain operator on a field. Who are the operators you would like to follow least to get their 'crumbs?' So fellow prospectors ... who are the operators that consistently use their equipment at the highest level ... just like the expert marksmen or fishermen?

CTX 3030, GPZ 7000, GPX 5000

One of the 'selling points' of the 7000 detector has been the idea that an operator could go back to where gold has been found and you will now find more. The operator will find gold that was missed and gold that was deeper than the previous detectors could find. (The machine could be worth more than 20%!) I think from what I have not seen posted by many operators and what I have heard from a few of my friends is that this is somewhat of an illusion shattered. Many dozens if not hundreds of detector hours on certain patches has indeed depleted them of big and small gold. Being the first operator with this new detector on a big gold site has not won the day. (Of course it is very early.) The research shortcut of going back to old patches has given my friends less than spectacular production. Now we will all move on in our search for gold with a more powerful detector to patches less detected or perhaps undetected. (75/25?) If motivated, operators can do this with the old machines also. (80/20?) The advantage this new machine will give some of us will be the renewed spirit and for some the very real advantage of being more powerful than our old machines. Anything that pushes us for a few extra minutes, makes us go on an additional trip or gives us the ability to find more gold could bring us in contact with that nugget of significance. How does one separate this between a machine and an operator? Ask the operators you know how many different types of machines they have used to find gold. Some will be restricted to one or two machine types and others will list many machines or even no machine. These are the men and women who use a detector as a tool in area that holds gold. That is the 80%. The new machine will become an excuse to go to some places not previously detected or a difficult place and gold will be found for them with this new detector too. Will it be 80/20? 70/30? 50/50? What will matter most is using it. Jim Straight's old adage holds true again: A detector in a closet only finds dust! I hope we all find more than dust this year.

Rick, You are right about a 5000 and relics. I used a 5000 on the beach for many months before getting a discriminating detector. The pulse beach machines are very effective if you want to dig everything. If you have some deep history you are in luck with the price of these used machines as some of your deep objects are man made and larger than gold flakes. Mitchel

Dale, I hunt the beaches more than the deserts to tell the truth. I've got a 5000, an eTrac, SE Pro, 3030 and a Gold Bug Pro and my first detector a Whites 6000 Di Pro. I added the 17" to the 3030 and it helps me find deeper objects under a thick sand beach. It has easily paid for itself as all of my other machines (except the GB Pro)! You challenge yourself more than I do with your trips. I need to do more research and go exotic also. Mitchel

Dale, Nice relic finds. What is your 'go to' relic machine? Far North Queensland ... I've watched every minute but it took me several sits! You are expanding the 'known' gold zones in Australia for us. Thanks.

Dale, Nice to see your post. It is early in the morning here so a bit later when the sun is nearer to up you will get more response. I'd like to hear more about England but of course about being a full time prospector for over 6 years. Are you using the Zed now? Mitchel

Thank you JP. We'll take all the spare photos, videos and settings you care to pass along.