Mike Hillis

My only beef with the F44 was the poor modulated audio volume. The modulated options start out too low and just go downhill from there. With good headphones, in good ground, nobody would care. In bad ground even good headphones don't help and I couldn't get it improved. The main reason someone would purchase the F44 is for the custom tone mode and when that can't be used the detector doesn't really meet the design intent. Perhaps they have improved it after release. I dunno. I really like those Triangulated (teardrop) coils though. I use them on other units like my F75 and F5 quite happily. Speaking of headphones, the Whites ProStars seem to help with all the newer 1st Texas unit's audio modulation issues. If I remember right, Jackpine recommended them to me and I bought a pair and they work really good. I bought a Land Ranger Pro (LRP) because I wanted the Disc 3 mode with it's Notch feature, however the LRP couldn't handle my minerals and wasn't usable. That really bummed me out as I really wanted that Notch feature. The Eurotek Pro (ETP) even with its preset ground balance, is the keeper unit of the three. I begged them (literally) into letting me keep my last ETP prototype unit and then bought the production model. It operates like the Land Ranger Pro's Disc 3 mode with the inclusion of a iron volume control instead of a Disc function. It is great! But even though the final production model ETP has a slightly different feature set from mine, the basic performance is much better than the F44 or LRP. I can't run the ETP sensitivity any higher than 6 most places but I love it. So enough with the Hillis chronicles.... HH Mike

Its motion all metal, however it also has visual TID like all the Fishers. Good headphones are a must with the F44. HH Mike

F44 is low cost option

Deft Tones, I sing to the park. I go around singing "silver and gold, silver and gold, somewhere around here is silver and gold, silver and gold, silver and gold, common park, give me your silver and gold" HH Mike

You would think the aftermarket coil manufacturers would build us something but no, they are too busy making the same old coil and everyone of them is making the exact same coil. sizes. Unbelievable when you look at them. Its like they are under some sort of mind control where they all have to make the same size or they'll all die or something. Its like how the relic hunters look down on the coin hunters and the coin hunters look down on the clad hunters and the clad hunters look down on the entry level metal detectors. HA. Well all them look down on me cause none of them will make a coil that benefits me other than Tesoro, and Tesoro doesn't make a detector to use it on. Rant over. I'm feeling an uncontrolable urge to lock step with a NEL/MARS/CORS/DETECH/etc march toward a cliff somewhere. HH MIke

If I could find a 4-Pin Delta Cleansweep I'd get another Lobo ST.

Gold price trending graph. Comparing to Steve's post showing the fine jewelry and watch sales you can see that the jewelry/watch graph is fairly flat starting in 2002, ignoring the special cause dip in 2008, until it starts the downward trend in 2012 that doesn't let up. Comparing to the gold price graph you can see we hit our sustained high prices in mid 2011 through 2013 and then dropped to the new norm. That new sustained norm from 2013 on wards reflects in the steady decline in sales. The other thing that hurts is the sustained clamor of the gold commodities market. The only way they can get people to buy at today's prices is doom and gloom adverts where they are trying to portray a commodity as a monetary unit in a crisis. You hear this going on on all the conservative talk shows on the radio. Just be aware gold has no value until you sell it. You can have it appraised and place an artificial value on it, but it's real value is only realized when it is sold. That is a good idea, Steve. Why don't we all come back and revisit at the end of 2nd quarter and see how we fared? HH Mike

My local Whites Dealers Easter Egg Promotion for any of you close by folks.....

My first quarter 2017 result are zero, ziltch, nada for gold jewelry. Never been like this before once I got some stuff figured out. I got used to finding a piece every time out, or at least every other time out. This quarter has resulted in no gold at all. My most productive sites have dried up. And its not due to competition from other hunters as i still find plenty of coins and gold range trash. Just no gold. It is not being worn by the normal patrons at these sites like before. The high price of gold has changed everything. First, people sold off due to the price. Second, they changed their buying habits due to the price. Third, the economy is depressed resulting in a further reduction in buying habits. The game has changed and I am having to learn to change with it. What were once regular patches for me have dried completely up. I'm having to do a complete reset. I know what to do though. Re focus like a laser on the critical number one key process input: People. HH Mike

I got a bunny in Albuquerque! I don't know how I'm going to tell my wife I went to see a bunny about a good time, though. HH Mike

As an individual we all have a limit, Steve. I would imagine most of us have multiple units and coils, which, if we sold it all could raise two, three thousand or more in a normal resale market. However, 'normal' in regards to resale appears to be a relative word as 'depressed' is apparently the new normal. I am in a treasure quest mode. If the new detector would actually increase my acquisition of the sought after treasure then the desire to own one would increase to the point where I would have to have it, which in turn would motivate me to do whatever i needed to do to obtain it. If that was the case, if I couldn't swing a new one, I'd seek a used one, even if I had to wait a year or three to make it happen. It would become a goal. Buy and try is pretty much out of the question in today's depressed resale market so I would have to "know" that the unit would do what I needed it to do before I'd sell all of my other proven equipment, eat the loss resulting from that sale, and then add what ever additional dollars might be required to obtain said new high priced metal detector. That said, I have put back some cash for the next generation of metal detector that would actually help me in my particular treasure quest. But it is saved for something that I "know" will help me. Not for "buy and try", not for "caught my eye", but for a unit that I know for sure will increase my treasure recoveries above and beyond what I have already proven. My nickel, HH Mike

cool topic

Tom, On probes, try to stay at or under 3/16" of an inch diameter. 1/8" is great for information transfer but too thin for recovery. 3/16" is ok at information transfer and holds up better for recovery efforts. 1/4" is poorer at information transfer but holds up better for recovery. With an 1/8" probe I can tell if I'm touching a rock, a root, foil, canslaw or pulltab or a coin. Most important part is get good at fast and accurate pinpointing with your detector, and fast probe use. You'll find that anything in the top 4" is faster to retrieve with a probe than then time to takes to dig out the electronic probe and turn it on. (I don't walk around with the electronic probe turned on). Anyway...again..good luck. HH Mike

If I'm planning on wondering around on foot with with my head down looking at my coil all the time for a long length of time out in the boonies I always take a GPS, a good compass and a topo map, the same things I'd take on long hiking trips. I still take the GPS even when wondering around in my known familiar areas mostly to mark spots but there have been times it got me back to my truck without me having to stop and climb a ridge top to see where I was. HH Mike

I use the screwdriver probe. If I can't find the target in a reasonably amount of time I break out the TRX or Sunray. If they don't hit on the object then I'll cut a three sided plug. I guess it might be faster to start with the electronic probe but I learned to probe before I bought an electronic probe so I got pretty good at it. A good probe transfers a lot of information to your hand. The hard part is being patient and not just jamming the thing into the ground. Good luck on your ring hunts! HH Mike

The mineral range is available on the Teknetics T2. It is the first 1 through 10 numbers in the 40 point ferrous discrimination range. Makro copied it and other things in the Racer series. HH Mike

And I'm running off at the mouth....the Fisher GoldStike never lost sensitivity to gold at any of its available ground balance settings but I don't know if it actually balanced all the way to salt. Mike

But, and I say But,.... if they have figured out a way to cancel wet salt and still respond to gold targets that share the same phase response....well then that would be a game changer for beach hunters. HH Mike

What you are reading is marketing speak for salt compensation. The key words are " conductive and mineralized at the same time" All they are doing is creating a multi freq coil that will allow their single freq units to simultaneously ground cancel at both conductive and mineral balance points. They will still be gold deadened in wet salt like any other unit as the wet salt ground signal is too strong to overcome it's masking effects. But, they will have a dual frequency coil for use in mixed soil conditions. HH Mike

that is what you are looking for!!!!! Very nice! HH Mike

Nice rings! Did you have to deal with any tiny ferrous while hunting low conductors with the TDI? HH Mike

11 grams of 14 karat is a nice find! Congrats! HH Mike

My plate is too full right now. Sorry. Mike

Thanks Steve. I appreciate the effort and found it helpful. It is the CZ functionality and the "bullet proof" construction that has me interested. I'd like to do more real treasure hunting this year and there is a hole in my kit that something like this could fill. F75 on the ground, V3 inside structures, and a good heavy duty all purpose unit like the CZ-21 could really round me out. My real question if I jumped would be making sure I got a hot unit and not a cold one. I would classify 'Hot' as being one that could air test both a nickel and a dime at 11" or more in Disc mode. I wouldn't want a CZ-21 that only gets 7 or 8 inches on a nickel air test, especially since its locked in salt mode. I guess if I decide to get one I could call the factory and see how hard it would be to get said unit. But it looks better and better as I spend time plugging it in and out of my equipment gap. HH MIke

Hi Steve, with the CZ-21 being locked in salt mode, how does it do on jewelry in the water and on land? Coins? I have never seriously considered a CZ-21 before but your post put it on my radar and it seems like it would be a great tool for those nasty sites, like caves, under porches, wading and swimming areas, sumps and such like. It just seems to me like an Exanimo tool that begs more attention. HH Mike