phrunt

Buyers need to beware there are a number of shapes and sizes of fake Nugget Finder and Coiltek GPX coils on the market at the moment out of China. The Commander coils have had fakes sitting on Chinese Auction sites for some time however more recently a large range of both Coiltek and Nugget Finder coils have become commonplace among sellers, from 8" to 25" they have them all. They've always had a few but lately the number of coils available has really skyrocketed. The Commanders have also the range of fakes available so really buying many second hand GPX coils now comes with a higher risk of fakes. People buying these coils from China likely are aware they're fake, if not they really should be, it's the people who buy them second hand off someone who bought one from China that I feel sorry for as they're the ones thinking they're getting a genuine coil, and paying the price for it too. If you're buying a second hand coil from someone, really try and get the purchase receipt to see it's genuine from a real dealer. They're not being as bold with the advertising with the NF not putting the label on the photos but with the Coiltek they are, the likelihood is the Nugget Finder do have the label on them when you buy them or buyers that request them branded will get them that way, it's not like the Nugget Finder stickers would be a challenge for them to duplicate. This poses quite an issue for those that buy second hand coils too, as you'll never know if you're getting a fake that someones bought from a Chinese auction site, found it to be terrible in performance and offloading it second hand for more than they paid for it when people are thinking it's a genuine coil so paying the normal second hand market price for it. This stuff really annoys me so I like to make people aware of it when I stumble across it. Some photos from the auction site You'll note 50 orders of that coil from that seller, and all positive reviews, I'm not sure how that happens and I often question if the Auction site ratings are faked. See the stock levels, 950 pieces available, from just one seller of the many with them. Note all the different coils he's selling in the colour selection field, the bright blue ones are 8" Commanders, weirdly coloured, but other sellers have them in the standard colours. Also, to show what they're selling is what you get some of the buyers had put photos of their coil in their review, these are genuine reviews. Note the guys fake GPX detector box in the background ? A fake NF coil seller, he has various models too. This big sucker is a 25" mono. They've even got stock of fake SDC coils. And the VLF aftermarket manufacturers are also becoming targets, note below a fake Cors Strike coil (Nel Tornado) It's hard to know about the review system as the fake Nel doesn't have good reviews and only 2.5 star rating unlike the fake Coiltek with 5 star and 31 positive reviews. So everyone needs to be very careful, not only buying second hand detectors which have many copies available especially First Texas, Whites and Minelab models but also when buying second hand coils, and if someone out there thinks maybe these coils work well, it's very unlikely, and you can bet they're not the quality of the originals too.

I agree, mines still in the original bag, I doubt I'd be able to sell it here with such a limited market, I don't even know where it is now, perhaps lost forever but no great loss. It should be an optional extra, but perhaps not at the mental price they charge for it, I don't know how they can justify such pricing.

Did it mention the Impulse Gold? perhaps that is a 2023+ release?

And look what we have here!!!! The 10x6" coil for the GPX 6000. I'll put a video of it in action up in a few days, hopefully with a gold find on it from the manufacturers. I'm told It finds targets the standard 11" coil misses.

That is the problem, I wouldn't, if it's not the best I wouldn't waste my time swinging it even if it was free. I have pristine coils in my collection because I don't want to use them, the 14x9" would likely join that group.

Thanks for the insight Geotech, your blunt honesty is always appreciated. Sad to hear a lot of that, but not a surprise as most of it was clear as glass. It seems they really have no desire to make anything other than entry level gear using their current technology, perhaps that's where the money is, it likely is especially if they have little chance of competing with the other brands anyway. They've had a good run, every dog has it's day. The GB3 you speak of with auto tracking and wireless would have been a reasonable seller I would think, sure probably not a big money maker for them as people would just think I've lived with the original for 20 years and got used to the manual GB I'm not paying for a new one to get auto tracking and wireless which I can just add on a little $20 Bluetooth transmitter to get. ? They would likely sell more of them than they will the current GB2 especially to new buyers that haven't had one before with it being more modern it would be more appealing. I know I would have wanted one so that's one sale at least ? I guess all that FT has left for me is the Impulse Gold, I'll wait and see how that turns out, if it ever does. As for this comment from Bohemia Miner..... I also assume you mean Gold VLF is best as if it's up against the other detectors it's a LONG LONG way from the best. A GB3 would be great. The only reason to continue the GB2 is customer loyalty. Ask 10 old time prospectors which Gold detector is the best and at least 80% of them will reply, "Fisher Gold Bug 2"! Those same people aren't gong to be rushing out to buy a GB2, they have one.... If it dies they might buy another... possibly second hand, or get it repaired if possible. I'm not an old time prospector but I don't find the GB2 to be the best, most sensitive to tiny gold? possibly but there is very little in it and for most other reasons I'd rather use something else. I like it's little coil and how it's not bump sensitive at all, but some of the competitors have non-bump sensitive very sensitive coils too on detectors that handle ground better but for me the biggest flaw with the GB2 is it sucks around hot rocks, absolutely sucks. It's too busy making it's boing noise to worry about sounding off on the nugget next to the hot rock, it's about as slow as an old model T Ford, similar vintage too ? vs other detectors that are like Mustangs and quickly recover from the hot rock and let you find the gold. I don't have hot soil but I have hot rocks, and lots of them ? Out of those 10 old time prospectors that 80% think the GB2 is best I would guess not many of them use the GB2 as their primary VLF anymore, for me it's a specialty VLF for certain tasks and other than that, it's my antique collectable.

I look forward to your evaluation. I really like mine.

A newer faster processor would likely use less power not more. The faster processors were getting the more heat they were generating so it became vital for processor developers to lower the power draw of CPU's to try keep them cooler though new technology, CPU speeds stopped increasing at dramatic rates and size and heat became a focus for some time. Now some ARM CPU's run without a heatsink that have the clock speeds of older CPU's that needed a massive copper heatsink. I wish it was as simple as banging in faster processors, surely it can't be or they would have done it. Although the code for the software is likely written based on the processor in the detector so would need ported over or rewritten/highly modified. Employees move on, so in the case of some detectors like the older Fishers are the people who wrote the code even there? are they capable of modifying the code to modernize the detector? Maybe they didn't keep up with the times themselves. The GPZ seems like it could desperately use a faster processor right from new, you'd think they'd be able to get a higher clock speed CPU for it now without a dramatic code adjustment, it's menu system really lags while navigating, especially if the GPS is turned on putting further load on the processor. I don't think we give the engineers enough credit though as we armchair engineers think they can just buy a faster processor for $20 and make a whole new better detector by just switching the part order. Although ideal it's unrealistic, it has crossed my mind many times why they don't take advantage of newer processing technology in older detectors though.

So then they expect you to sacrifice depth by using their 14x9" coil to get some weight to help in the water. When the 11" stock coil is deeper why not just use that, does the extra weight give more benefit than the extra depth the 11" will give you? I'm no regular beach hunter but the targets I was finding were deep, and I went with a PI as an experiment and was finding coins all over the place my Equinox missed so I'd want as much depth as possible at the beach. I'm struggling to find out a reason for me to buy this 14x9" coil, the deal I can get it for is too good to miss really but I just can't justify it and it's annoying me ? I almost sent the message yesterday saying I'd buy it, I had trouble stopping myself! I would prefer the 15" but I can't find anyone saying it's deeper than the standard coils. The problem with that is I had the same problem on my T2, I bought the 15" coil for depth and it was no deeper than my Nel Tornado. Is there a point where size no longer matters on VLF's?

Well, by now the jury should be out on these coils.... I have the 10x5" and find it beneficial, while the Minelab 6" has the depth advantage on tiny gold it's only at the very center of the 6" coil where as the 10x5" has the hot nose so getting gold in areas with a lot of obstacles gives the 10x5" the edge as you can't get the center of the 6" coil up against a rock to get the gold right next to it where as those nose of the 10x5" can get it. I've not bothered using it in a coin hunting situation as I don't hunt junky ground so it'd be of no benefit for me when all I desire is maximum depth. As for the other two sizes I'm not so sure, I know a guy with the 14x9" Coiltek and he said it's got less depth than the 11" stock coil which I guess you'd expect, and it's heavier than the 15x12" ML coil by a significant amount. I'm struggling to see where this coil would provide a benefit? Maybe in the water the weight wouldn't be an issue but still, what benefit would it provide over the Minelab coils? He's now got it for sale for a significant reduction on the price he paid new for it... I so far can't justify buying it. The 15" Coiltek has a little more appeal to me as I want maximum depth but reading around I've not found people claiming it to be a depth demon, I've only read it's comparable to the 15x12" Minelab coil. Has anyone got it that actually finds it deeper? Coiltek claim demand for these coils is massive, and they can't keep up saying orders for them are months on backorder. To me this seems unrealistic other than for the 10x5" coil but it seems more like they just can't produce a large number of coils being a smaller sort of business and when you make coils for the worlds most popular VLF detector you have to expect sales numbers would exceed their production capacity. Sure the 10x5" is popular, but the others I can barely find anyone using, certainly no one is posting about their experiences with them other than promotional people Coiltek are using for marketing. So I'm chasing feedback from anyone that owns the 14x9" or 15", are they worth it? Should I pick up the cheap 14x9" my friend doesn't want, should I just buy the 15"? The coils are massively overpriced in NZ with the 15" Nox coil costing about half the price of a new Nox 600 and costing over $100 more than the 15x12" ML coil for the 15" Coiltek so it's hard to justify their high pricing.

You're only as good as the ground around you is to hunt, so for me size and success can't matter. I just take pleasure in hunting in such a nice part of the world where I never can get sick of the ever changing scenery. The drive to the locations, exploring the areas and enjoying the days are all part of the experience, I also love learning my detectors and the technology behind them, it amazes me what they're capable of doing. A good day for me around here. But I get to hang out in some nice places And drive past even nicer. So, I'm happy with my limited success. It's good training for when I go for a prospecting holiday to somewhere with larger size gold ?

Mono will go deeper, but has no iron rejection and will be more troubled with EMI especially if in an urban area. In low mineralisation you'll have the benefit of being able to crank the settings right up. If in very high mineralisation or hot rocks the DD may work better than a mono but in mild soils mono all the way for depth.

At about the 12 minute mark he says some interesting stuff coming from First Texas for the gold market. I assume the Impulse Gold.

The problem is, if they release a new model of the coil with stronger thicker ears the previous model owners will be demanding the new model coil as a replacement for their possibly weak coil. With the Equinox likely their biggest selling detector ever this is an issue. As a business would you rather swap out the occasional coil that hardcore users are breaking and the occasional weekend warrior breaks by very bad luck or would you rather adjust the design and have a massive PR disaster with many requests for new replacement better coils even without them being broken and with people even breaking their ears on purpose to get the new model? That also means admitting there is a problem that needs fixed? ? Minelab have clearly taken the first option, with replacing coils quickly and easily for everyone who breaks one. They've made it a simple process to keep people happy and say how good their warranty was. It's a shame for them the problem was unable to be fixed with a better plastic formula that looks the same but is stronger but this doesn't seem to be the case with some users breaking the replacement coils also. I've got coil ear strengtheners on my coils and I'd imagine my 11" and 6" are out of warranty by now, my 15x12" likely still has warranty although I haven't checked. I like the idea of people using epoxy to glue the strengtheners onto the coils but I don't like the idea of epoxy to make a permanent change, to get around this I've used some hot glue on mine, I can completely reverse the process as hot glue can be removed with rubbing alcohol. I could make my coils look like I'd never glued the strengtheners on if I wanted to and it should serve the same purpose as epoxy by binding the strengthener to the original ears, so far so good. As someone that's very fussy about cosmetics I used black coloured hot glue sticks too, and when using hot glue you can make it very neat by wetting your finger and shaping and adjusting it as it cools so you really can make it a nice tidy professional looking job.

I am guessing Steel Phase 01. SteelPhase was the nickname and business name of the guy making them.

Well if it's a prospecting PI it must be super light weight as the guy in the video is swinging something that looks very light, perhaps a bit too light so I think I'd rule out a PI, I'd say they're just planning on beating Nokta to the multi game. Good news none the less. As they say loose lips might sink ships.... Nokta gloated about a multi 2 years ago with their naming contest, since then Garrett has beat them to the party and still no signs of it coming in the very near future, now XP might beat them there too.

Well, Nokta are having an end of year promo, a little while until the end of the year yet so they're starting early ? Some pretty good deals really, more so the Anfibio and Multi deal but I guess they're not selling at the moment with the anticipated multi freaker coming, and judging by this promo sale the multi is not coming out before Christmas.... a long wait gets even longer.

The 11" DD Commander is pretty good for coin hunting, of course I'm comparing it to using a VLF but the depth it can get is pretty amazing. I have the 15x12" DD Commander also, that's a good coil also but I prefer the 11" as it's lighter and the bigger size starts to feel hard work and I didn't really notice a depth difference on coin size targets. Spend some time on the 11" and see if you think you need anything else, you might find you're satisfied. It also runs nice and handles EMI pretty well considering. The ultra sensing Detech might be a bit worse with EMI being a spiral coil and will more sensitive to small targets so tiny bits of junk might be more of a problem. The Detech Ultra sensing coil comes in mono and DD, they're a decent price too. I might give one of their DD coils a go one of these days, I'm not interested in buying any mono GPX coils, I've got a great selection of Mono's, it's DD's I'm lacking and I'm starting to get pretty interested in using my GPX as a coin unit with the deep coins around here as it doesn't get used for gold much if at all anymore.

I'm glad I'm not the only one that found the FT DD coils useless, I do however love the GB2 concentric coils, they achieved perfection there. The DD coils for my T2 are what inspired me to try Nel and Mars coils and enjoy the delights of their enhancements over the standard coils and then there was no turning back. Every opportunity I was getting aftermarket coils for all of my detectors that were capable of running them. So I guess I can thank FT for making such bad coils as it introduced me to the aftermarket coils ? I did give FT a good chance with my T2, I have the 5", 11" obviously and the 15" concrete coil, the only reasonable coil is the 5" but the Nel of similar size is still better.

As someone who hunts in a part of the world where in a park or beach situation I'm about as likely to find a gold ring as I am a nail or bit of iron I couldn't care less about iron bias. I set it to F2 0 and I'm all good. Bottle tops are my only problem but they're not all that much of a problem either with not all that many of them to cause issues, the most common sort are alloy off some types of carbonated drinks which are going to be an issue to anyone. I've soaked up the information in this thread just in case I need it someday though if I hunt in a more populated area of litterbugs. In saying that, I bet Metal detector users are the least likely people in the World to throw their bottle caps and pull tabs on the ground after having a drink ?

When I lived in Victoria I never really encountered dangerous critters, that all changed when we moved to Queensland. We had a few acres and snakes and spiders everywhere, even had kangaroos in the backyard every afternoon, don't mess with them. I left my shoes out on the deck one night and put them on in the morning only to find one felt really tight, there was a cane toad in it. A toad put my dog on a drip for a week near death from its poison, deadly to dogs that love catching them.

I remember when it was up for sale late last year, 15 acres and 40 buildings or something for 1.7 million AUD, an absolute bargain I thought. Here's the news story when it was for sale, has good footage of the area too Glad to hear the buyer is fixing it up and putting it to use.

Far more critters on dry land trying to kill you in Australia ?

I just saw Carl's name on it and seeing he's at FT it gave me hope ?

I'm surprised one of the staff at FT's kids or grand kids hasn't volunteered to do them a new website for a free detector or something. It'll be great if they do have a multi in the works, I'd be very pleased if they surprised us all and came out with one soon. Maybe they're going to try get this puppy off the ground