Mike Hillis

HA....yeah...you can't tell its 26 inches long from the picture.

I like my V3. Used it some this past weekend and enjoyed it very much. In my opinion its too hard to compare an instrument to a tool. The V3 being an instrument and everything else being a tool. Anyway.... Comparing tools to tools.. I watched one of TNSharpshooters comparison videos on an found, in ground target. It was a good video where he ran several detectors over the target, including the EQ800 and the Infibio (or maybe the multi-Kruzer- i disremember which). The Equinox impressed me in that video as it appears to be operating with the 'Trash Density" feature of the Etrac lock in High. This results in clean signal response of accepted targets in the midst of rejected targets. Could be wrong. But I liked the response. The Nokta/Makro did ok, but the EQ800 response was cleaner. I still do not have any desire to own an EQ800 as my needs are different, but I was still impressed non-the less. If that helps. HH Mike

I like running mixed mode with 3 frequency Correlate on my V3. I get to hear everything in the ground in the all metal channel but only hear the targets that correlate in the Disc mode. Another way I like Mixed mode is to reject the targets I'm after so that that they are only reported by the all metal channel.....reverse mixed mode is how its referred to I think. Mixed mode is very handy sometimes. I wish more models offered it. Sure you can hunt in the AM mode of the F75 but you have to watch the screen. With an audio mixed mode you do it all by ear. HH Mike

Man, that is a small bracelet. But its GOLD!!!! any day with gold in the pouch is a GOOD day. HH Mike

The typical definition of Mixed Mode is All Metal audio and Disc mode audio working simultaneously. I don't think of All Metal with TID as being mixed mode, although I guess you could call it that. I don't define it that way though and most other folks wound't either when they hear the term, Mixed Mode. The only ones I'm personally familiar with are Whites (DFX, V3, V3i) and Rutus (Alter71) I like chasing the bumble bee. HH Mike

Figure out what you want to focus on and then build your equipment and knowledge around it. HH Mike

I like to Notch. I like to do it to help me focus on what I'm looking for. I wish the Gold Kruzer had notch ability. A 4 TID number is always paper foil. I'd like to get rid of that number. I'd also like to disc out everything above a nickel so I don't have to hear it. I wasn't being mean about your post Ridge Runner. Just trying to understand how to visit about notches. I'm a notch fan no matter how you define it. HH Mike

I sell mine ever so often, especially when I get all hot and bothered about buying new equipment and need a little extra. Local guy will give me spot less 15% which is pretty good for walk in/walk out cash. HH Mike

I am so impressed with the Trash Density feature on my Etrac. Coping from the manual, emphasis mine: In Low setting, E-Trac locks onto the strongest signal target during detection and the detector displays the most stable Target ID. In High setting, E-Trac searches for the best accepted target signal during detection and then displays the most stable Target ID. I love this feature on my Etrac. Instead of blanking out all the time I'm only hearing whats inside my accepted pattern. I attribute my latest gold chain find wholly to this feature as the nulls were masking it on my first circuit. Went back through with Trash Density High and no nulls and the little 11-01 low tone peeped. Couldn't even pinpoint it without removing all the surrounding trash, which included a wire coat hanger. I was very impressed. That little 11-01 peep turned out to be 26" of .585 gold chain. I got to go back with the 8" coil and see what I missed. HH Mike

A little gold chain from my last time out...... More details in the Minelab forum as it was an ETRAC find. 26" long, 15 grams of 14K gold. Chains really give me gold fever as they weight adds up so fast. HH Mike PS....the dime is for size comparison.

I had trouble following Ridge Runner. They are all buckets. Whites' V3/V3i has 190 notch buckets (95 ferrous and 95 non-ferrous). Minelab's Etrac has 1750 notch buckets (35 ferrous x 50 conductive). Fisher F75 has 10 notch buckets (2 for Ferrous, 2 for foil, 2 for nickel, 2 for tabs and 2 for zinc). The Equinox has 50 notch buckets. AT Pro has 12 notch buckets containing 5 numbers each.....I dunno...I could go on. Notching is pretty common. It sounds like the ORX doesn't notch? HH Mike

The VX3 and EQ600 are pretty similar detectors. They both offer 3 frequencies selections. They both offer multi frequency choices. Settings are pretty similar as well. VX3 has better graphics, more target id aids, and a better coil selection. EQ600 has a better ground cancel circuit. And you have more control over the audio tones as compared to the VX3. My main beef with the VX3 is that I can't adjust the correlate setting. Its locked into 20 points. My main beef with the EQ600 is that it only offers a peak phase shift target id. I dunno...be a hard choice for someone coming into the hobby today. My advice is that since you have narrowed it down to these two...pick the one that looks like the most fun to hunt with. You'll find stuff with either one..so that extra little thing called enjoyment factor is important. Good luck. HH Mike

Thanks for sharing. HH Mike

My take is, "Hey...nice gold!" Thanks for sharing. Mike

Nice job, Gerry. HH Mike

just got to love it! HH Mike

I think its a great time, equipment wise, for people to be entering the hobby. Its too bad the weather disasters have killed the resale market and eliminated the buy & try & trade-up market in the USA. Garrett rode the ACE for a long time, followed by the AT series. First Texas rode the T2 for a long time along with the F75. Whites rode the MXT for a long time. Now....it looks as if it may be Nokta/Makro's turn. We will see. Will be fun to watch. I think the big difference for me is I no longer feel obligated to buy & try anymore. I'm set and happy, equipment wise, for the foreseeable future. HH Mike

phrunt.....that Le-Trap is a different design....square vs round...... Hmmm.... HH Mike

No, you are right, Steve. Just developer feedback on the Aqua Manta. Tantalizing feedback, but still just developer feedback. HH Mike

Well....not exactly new, but new to me. My wife was thrift shopping yesterday and picked me up an old used Estwing 12" steel gold pan as a surprise gift. I was happy that she recognized it and bought it for me and I think its pretty a cool pan. I normally use a green plastic pan but I think it will be cool to swirl a metal pan. She wants to see it in action. She "suggested" I go pour some gold into some yard dirt and pan it out and see how I liked it. I "suggested" that we go out Sunday morning to a local spot and see how it works on fresh gold. She then suggested we wait and do a road trip and make it a long weekend thing......oooh......better and better.... I have no idea how it will turn out but I'll let you know. HH Mike

The MDT-8000 is getting good reviews.... The Fisher Aqua Manta is getting good reviews.... HH Mike

Sorry everyone but I sold it to fund other things. Mike

Pam, you didn't say where you were hunting, turf, beach or what. Here is my advice. Pick a program that you like the way the audio sounds. Lower the disc to -30. Nothing notched. Put it in 3 frequency correlate mode. Set the Correlate setting to somewhere between 5 and 10 points. The default is 20 points and that is too big....10 is good, try for 8. 8 will give more trash rejection. And then just dig whatever gives a good repeatable response. You should be able to cover ground and get your coil over more likely ring targets and skip a lot of trash. Remember that Correlate is comparing the two strongest reporting frequencies. Due to the nature of the frequency selection, one of those frequencies will always be 7.5 kHz. It is easy to correlate high conductors because 2.5 kHz is close to 7.5 kHz, however.... For low conductors, there is a greater span between 22.5 kHz and 7.5 kHz. This means its harder to correlate targets between these two frequencies. So when you use fewer correlate points it removes a lot of low conductive trash. Rings conduct a lot better than most low conductive trash so you can keep most rings responding in a narrower correlated window. Bottom line is that you cover more ground and are only hearing and digging signals that have better chances of being a ring. Hope that that helps, Good luck, Mike

Very nice ring. Silver rings typically have semi-precious stones in them. Here is a good resource for identifying ring stones..... https://www.gemsociety.org/gemstone-encyclopedia/ Mike

Sweet white gold. White gold stones are normally real. Size the stone...... Mike Diamond Carat Weight per size table.pdf