Mike Hillis

Thank you for that review, 1864hatter, and congrats on your gold. HH Mike

I need one of those for the wife. I went fishing and took her along. Drove around the lake until I found my spot for the day. Got there and got out of the truck and heard the words, "I've got to pee". I get back in the truck and drive her to a toilet. (she is frail with bad hips). When finished I drive back out to the spot, get my gear out and get all setup when I hear this, "honey I'm sorry but I got to go to the bathroom again, #2". I pack all my gear back up and drive her back to the toilet. When finished I drive back to my "spot" only now to find someone else parked and fishing my honey hole. sigh. This is one I've been looking at, the bumper dumper. But your chair model ( with arms for support) looks to be a better idea. Especially if I can integrated it into a bumper dumper.

I was excited about the AT Max until I saw the operating frequency. 13 kHz needs extra attention to deal with EMI. Hopefully they are changing it back to the ATPro's 15 kHz. I can hope anyway. I'd look at it again if they did. As of now its dead on arrival in my book. HH Mike

That is a good post, Deft Tones. I like the way you tracked down the lead. I wish all those rings would have been 18 kt for your sake. HH Mike

That looks much better. I'd be willing to run that one. HH Mike

You know, I never use the stock coil on my V3. Its always the 9.5 concentric, or the 5x10 DD, or the 10x12 SEF or even the 12" 300. But never that D2 coil. From the moment I first saw the D2 at the V3 release I've been turned off it. It looked garage made cheap. It would be ok if I made the coil in my garage for use on the V3. But not as stock on a $1700 detector. Side note. Coils are not parafocal on the V3. Each coil requires program tweaks. Good luck with your new V3i. I have stuff I want to post but no time. HH Mike

Thanks Mark, Sometime my charts are hard to read as I'm making them for my own reference. They also get a bit time consuming so it takes a while to complete them and I have to be in the mood to do so after I get the basic information I'm looking for out of them. HH Mike

You'll need to map your Gain and Sensitivity settings to get a grasp on whats what. Here is mine... Its a work in progress. I believe this is with the 9.5 concentric Mike

Tom, You do know we don't really want to increase the competition, umm... I mean grow the hobby. Some ideas: Think virtual Pokemon. Sell a $1 metal detector phone app with $99 in hardware. First company that gets a metal detector app on a cell phone will win this game. Think $100 Dues. Promote regular treasure hunts like you did with the Easter hunt. Once they get the bug an upgrade in equipment is a given like any other hobby. If I was a metal detector dealer I'd already be doing this. I have an acquaintance that is really big time into solar observing. He creates solar viewing events. No he doesn't make the sun do anything special. He just goes around and makes it possible for people to have a chance to look at the sun. Sets up lots of scopes at different events and lets people look. Metal detector dealers could be doing the same thing at fairs, special school events, boys/girls clubs, scout clubs, etc. Anywhere there is an event where poeple are gathering to have fun, there should be a corn box with some trinkets where you can hand a kid a detector and let him find and keep a trinket. Think bubble gum ring or something. Kid has fun, parents get an idea for gifts or something. Another words in sight, in mind, out of sight, out of mind. Too bad you don't have dealers/distributors selling anymore . HH Mike

You...threw....away....maps????? (My best incredulous voice) I could see my wife throwing away a map or two when I wasn't looking, but not a card carrying member of the male human species. Maps are like sacrosanct. You keep them forever. HA! Mike

Thank you for looking for me, tvanwho. I was hopeful. Mike

Got to get another thumb drive now. Thanks for the link. Mike

I dunno. I don't even know if it has it. That is why I'm asking Mike

Hi All, Working on home LCD VDI project with my GSII that I hope to be able to put on the Lobo St. However I can't tell if the Lobo ST has the same chip. I found a schematic for the original Lobo that shows that it does have one but I can't find anything clear on the Lob ST that would show me for sure. Could someone who owns a Lobo ST, when you have time, look at the board and specifically look for this chip...an LM358. Could also be a LM358N, It would even be helpful if you could take a picture and just reply to the this post. I found a couple of pictures on the web of the Lobo St circuit board but the resolution isn't good enough to read the labels on all the chips. This is what it looks like on my GS1I Appreciate it. Mike

I like having both available but good audio discrimination (tone id) means I don't have to look unless I want to ....but, having said that, hunting low conductive targets located in low conductive trash basically requires good visual discrimination of some sort as audio alone doesn't work in that scenario. HH Mike

I like everything I read about it but the frequency drop. I wish they would have continued with the ATPro's 15 kHz. That frequency played well with my EMI. 13 kHz requires special treatment and there is no mention of any special treatment for EMI other than a frequency shift. Today's used detector market isn't too friendly on the buy and try. In fact I have never seen it this depressed since I got involved in metal detecting in 2003. Makes me pause a bit and put some real thought into how much I want to spend to scratch the curiosity itch. Even more so if I buy too soon and get the lemon flavored version like the first time. ....13 kHz ,,,,,,,yeah...I dunno. That has me on pause. I'll think I'll sit on the sidelines and watch how it plays out. HH Mike

Just need a few big ones to pay off. HH Mike

What a concept. How big would a buried nugget have to be in order to be detected from 175 feet in the air? However much tongue in cheek my first question was, Wouldn't it be neat if you could significantly charge the ground in an area in such a way that surface/shallow metal resonated in some such a way as to be picked up by an overhead sensor? I mean, we're grinning and nodding and winking at the request but at some level you have to admit that you would think some such activity could be possible. Try this on for size. What if you used an infrared heat sensor/camera and looked at the heat residuals of surface objects at a particular time after sundown or ambient temperature? Gold would either cool more rapidly or more slowly as compared to the surrounding soil and rock. It might take a little time to build a background database to compare results to, but I would think that is something that is totally doable. Combine it with GPS, put it on a drone and fly the grid. Analyze, and recover. HH Mike

You would think someone who has obtained that age would know better, or at least be able to extract themselves given the time. I wonder if the gentleman had gone deaf from the wife's "encouraging" words during their wait for someone to stumble upon them? HH Mike

The arm cup design tells me its not a 1st Texas unit in use and the grip angle says Garrett. Notice the upper rod extension method. First Texas figured out the arm cup and made it a non-issue. I put them on everything now. HH Mike

"Fist full of Gold" is about the best comprehensive layman's book I've ever read on the subject. HH Mike

Thanks Steve. I'm really nobody special. I just get obsessed with things sometimes and detectors are easy to obsess over. HA! Funny you ask about the F5, Bryan. I haven't used my F5 in quite a while, not since I got the F75 LTD w/DST and I unpacked it Wednesday and prepped it in anticipation of using it on my next outing. The F5 is not like an Omega at all. The F5 is a....finesse type of unit, a true professional model, general purpose metal detector that you can use for anything, anywhere. Ok...its a single frequency unit and it has the same limitations as any other single frequency unit. Its not a Minelab Explorer killer or a CZ Quicksilver but its can hold its own with any other single frequency unit if EMI allows. The three things I like best about the F5 is its ground balance range, the separated gain and threshold settings in Disc mode, and the weak signal audio boost feature. I can ground cancel to a spot on neutral balance point in my ground with plenty of upper room left. I can perfectly adjust the gain and sensitivity to my minerals, and I can boost the tiny signals. Best of all, it can run at low gain settings without loosing the hots. I'll make a F5 jewelry post in a few days and gush over it. HA! It's only down fall is EMI. When the EMI gets high, you end up setting up for EMI and often times the compromise isn't the best, especially when hunting tiny targets. The F5 also has a fixed sweep speed limit you have to operate within and it is totally unforgiving about it. If you exceed it you might as well be swinging a broom. There is not enough time to discuss the F5. This will be my first time out with the F5 and the ProStar headphones. Looking forward to my next outing. HH Mike

I really need to post script my comments....The ground minerals where I detect on a routine basis are stronger than what most people would normally encounter. All the units work great in normal dirt. I don't have normal dirt. In fact I don't even think it can be called dirt. So when I am discussing detector performance I am speaking specifically to my how it works in my dirt or what ever you call it. I live at the base of granite mountains. The granite breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and has been washed out in large alluvial fans and on outward. So I'm basically detecting granite. When we want grass, we bring in fill dirt and lay sod on it. The park across the street from me gives a 1 (not.1) reading on my F75 FE304 graph using the little 5x10 DD coil. That is one bar below max. The greater the fill, the better the detector performance. As the fill layer decreases the detector performance tends to get erratic. Now I can go into the river valley and detect in the silt and do ok unless I hit sand. I can do ok on the other side of the river unless I get on top of a lava layer. Then I'm back to that fill scenario where performance depends on the depth of the soil over the lava. That's home. Travel adds more variation. When I have the opportunity I always try to get a detector to perform well in my area. But when all is said and done, my ground conditions are not considered the norm. What I'm basically saying is that my views are about how the units work in my conditions and many people will not ever experience my conditions. HH Mike

The ETP can keep its depth potential longer which means you can run it with lower sensitivity settings, allowing it to run quieter but not dead in high minerals, which in turn allows the use of larger coils. The F44 modulated audio goes dead pretty quickly in high minerals which required a higher sensitivity settings to try an keep the audio alive longer which in turn activates more ground and becomes self defeating. HH Mike

I've never liked the 5.3. I don't the form or the way it swings. I wish they'd make a 7" concentric instead. HH Mike