phrunt

You're famous 🙂

Looks a very nice detector.  One of the better looking modern designs.  The carbon rod looks great on it too.

I really hope you'll be writing up a story and taking many photos of your trip, I'd enjoy reading about it,

Have a good journey! A few coloured rocks in your pocket on the way home would be a big bonus and hopefully you get many but the trip will be the real gold this time.  Enjoy.

The guy using the 6000 needed one of these set to 3 minutes for his auto tune button, an auto auto tune 😉  It got quite bad on the second target, I didn't continue watching after that.   The speaker volume was much louder on the GPX than the WM12 was so it made it difficult.  I wonder if the GPX was using the external speaker causing the EMI issues on that second target.

The 6000 seems good on small targets.

I change coils more than most, in fact I've changed coils 10 times in a day when testing out various coils on bits of gold, by doing this I'd caused myself some lower shaft wobble, it turns out I'd cracked part of a clip on the shaft, the clip with the little rubber pad had a crack in it, so the shaft wasn't holding on tight.  I suspect the people that had upper shaft issues where it wobbles a bit have either got the same crack on the pressure pad or they've just worn the little bit of rubber out.  Fortunately it's a very easy and cheap fix.

Here are the part numbers for the clip mechanism

X2 8008-0056 Pressure blocks
X1 8008-0072 Camlock lever
X1 4308-0033 Pin

The part I'd broken was the pressure blocks.  They come in a twin pack for replacement and are very easy to replace.

You dismantle the clip by removing the pin, I used a small screw driver to push it out of the clip.  You then just use a small flat head screw driver to lever them off, pushing each side of the pressure block away from the camlock lever as pictured below.

This is the shaft with the clip removed.  You can see the grooves cut out of it where the pressure pads need to slide into so when reassembling made sure they're straight so they fit into the groove.

You can see the little circular lump on the left hand side pressure pad, it's what goes into that dug out groove.

This is how the rubber pads look, I guess they can wear out over time and if they do your shaft would be wobbly.

Minelab sell all the parts individually, so you can just order what you need for the repair.  They were very helpful with me, and had me solved by the next day using express shipping.  I bought a heap of the little parts so I have spares seeing I change coils so often.

In my case I just needed the pressure blocks, the pin and camlock lever were obviously fine.

So if anyone's putting up with some shaft wobble, it's cheap and simple to fix.

NZ tourist shops sell canned air to the tourists for as high as $143 a can.  They buy it too, a lot of it! now that Covid is around they're probably paying a lot more for some fresh air 😛

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/87066936/fresh-nz-ar-selling-cheap-in-china-at-44-a-bottle

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/canned-nz-air-hit-china

Would you believe it was a hot selling thing? forgot chocolate bars, kiwi fruit, wines, stuffed toy kiwi's and other things, the tourists wanted the canned air 🙂

Do you still use this old girl? One has popped up for sale in NZ for $220 NZD (about $210 AUD, $150 USD) with a Detech SEF 12x10” Butterfly Coil (new) along with the stock TS800 coil however it's coil cable has disintegrated so I'd have to make a new coil cable for it.

Is it worth buying do you think? It's in perfect condition, and the Detech is brand new.  The stock coil has just broken down on the cable with age, this detector appears to have had very little use.

I think it might be a decent deep silver hunter.

Mine was about a month or two ago if that, so the latest revision if they have even done a revision on them.  It's a 50ms delay on the Pro Sonic, which is slower than Bluetooth Low latency.  I assume that's under ideal signal conditions too.

I bought one, it had a slight delay, you'd notice it more if you were coin hunting than gold hunting using it I think as gold hunting you tend to use a pick and dig bigger holes, coin hunting you need as accurate positioning as possible so as fast audio as possible.  The audio on it was nice and clear, and the sound volume level was good, the delay was probably the biggest issue and when it drops signal it's kinda weird, the drops are far more noticeable than with the WM10 and WM12, not sure what's different there but the audio drops on them don't seem as severe or as long to recover as with the Pro Sonic.

Audio dropouts regularity were no different to the WM10 and WM12, same technology I guess.  It does drop out especially if your body gets between the Receive module and the TX unit so you're best to wear it on the side of your swing arm.

The other problem I had was my first one arrived with the decal on upside down so the lights and buttons didn't line up.

My replacement for the upside down one died within a week, would no longer power on or charge.  From there I just took a refund and gave up on the product.  I wasn't all that happy with it's performance anyway.

They need to make a modern version using aptX Bluetooth low latency then it might be a bit better and more versatile too.  I think it's extremely over-priced for what it is.   

I haven't been able to find one to buy 😞  I think it's discontinued.

I've noticed no ill effects from having the coil so close to the control box, nor the cable causing any issues, I have my cable tightly wrapped as far from the coil as I could along with a Velcro to hold it in place.   I haven't noticed any sensitivity drop from having the metal near the coil, it still appears to work just as it would normally. 

I used a kids broomstick handle from the hardware shop which was only about $3 and I spray painted it black. 

It's been doing the job well, I have a webbing strap that I run through the handle that has a easy to unclip plastic clip on it so I hang the Monster over my shoulder on my back so it's easy to take off and use.  I've taken that off and can't find it at the moment, it must be somewhere in among my gear 🙂

I'm very happy with the Mini Monster, I originally got the idea from Norvic who did the first Mini Monster I'd seen.  It's a great use for a detector I don't really use much anymore for anything else, and it's quick to put it back on the normal shaft if I ever want to.

6 minutes ago, dbsmokey said:

Thanks to Phrunt, I also have my 10x5. 🙂  Depth might depend on soil conditions, because I would argue smaller coils in Oregon sometimes equal better depth than large,  probably due to soil minerals.  I used the OEM coil bolt and there were no fitment issues.

Yes, yours was from the second batch my dealer received,  Only the very first batch had the problem.  Shipping from NZ to USA went smoothly and quite quick for you  The first batch I'm talking about appear to be a small very first batch Coiltek made, they only went to Australia and NZ it seems, all other's received a later batch where they'd made the hole the right size. 

I imagine the very first batch with the problem was quite a small batch.  That's the punishment I get for being an early adopter I guess 😉

It is a good coil, and I like it's sensitivity to small gold at the tip and tail, not near the depth of the 11" on coin size targets but you wouldn't expect it to be of course as it is a lot smaller of a coil.

I'm pleased to hear they've fixed the coil bolt issue, my 10x5" is one of the first batch and the ML bolt does not fit it.

I'm happy with entry level detectors, and a very large percentage of my finds could have been done with them no problems, I regularly fire up my Ace and others for a spin, I really enjoy using them, they're great fun and do remarkably well, I think the difference between high end and low end is very exaggerated, especially in my ground for coins, jewellery and so on.  It's more time behind the detector that dictates how well you do around here, more so than what detector you use.....

Enjoy your trip Steve, good luck on the gold and have a ball with your new detector!

Chase will keep the spammers at bay I'm sure 🙂 So just go de-stress and have some fun in your happy place.

I would think if tracking is disabled on the Equinox and no ground balance is performed then that's how the Vanquish would handle the ground? Possibly in beach mode as people think the Vanquish is almost the Equinox running in beach mode.   If that is the case and your Equinox works in those conditions where you typically hunt then the Vanquish will be fine, and as Jeff said, accurate target ID's are what the Vanquish excels at for me too.  As a beginner nothing is better than having accurate ID's to get you enjoying the hobby.

12 hours ago, 1515Art said:

My guess without the guy who’s done a couple it is probably the same gamble on any guy in any shop I find who will do it, I think I’ll just have to call around until Ive found someone that seems capable.

Adapter has been arranged for you 🙂

1 hour ago, 1515Art said:

Well, when I’d called them yesterday and Jeff wasn’t in I took the position it was the shop I was hiring and told the guy on the phone what I wanted and he was clueless about working on coils so I quickly said I would call the next day when Jeff was back. My guess without the guy who’s done a couple it is probably the same gamble on any guy in any shop I find who will do it, I think I’ll just have to call around until Ive found someone that seems capable.

Send me a message when you get a chance, I will help with a solution to your adapter issues.

We've never had a Nel dealer so I've always bought mine direct from Ukraine, they ship free anyway so it's just the annoyance of warranty if you had to send it back, although that'd only be about $30NZD, highly unlikely to happen though, has anyone ever had a faulty one?  This is the Nel/Cors dearer that's direct from Nel.

https://www.ebay.com.au/str/valerius1906nelandcorscoils?_trksid=p2047675.l2563

I've decided just to wait and see what Garrett comes out with before investing in anymore VLF's, and hopefully Nel will make coils for it.

The shortages won't affect many other brands detectors either, many are using 15+ year old chips no other manufacturers of any product would want 😉

You can bet it's hurting Minelab just as much as those wanting to buy it, they're the ones not getting the sales so you can bet it's not some deliberate stunt.  They just don't have them to ship.

10 minutes ago, Dances With Doves said:

Have a good  trip Steve and I hope I  can use  the Garrett coils on my Whites   Gmx.

That's a very good point, I wonder if the Garrett 24k+ coils will work on the legacy 24k.  The 24k was never on the market long enough for the aftermarket guys to make coils for it, I'm sure they will for the Garrett version.  I'm a bit focused on the aftermarket coils as I really love the Nel Snake.  That and the Gold Bug 2 small concentric are my two favourite gold prospecting VLF coils.

I honestly can't wait for the higher end version of the Apex to come out, thanks for your review on the Apex, I've resisted it as I just know they have to be working on a better higher end model and my collection is already too big to fit in my cupboard.

Things are looking up for Garrett, fingers crossed, and I have my fingers and toes crossed they stick with their current policy of allowing aftermarket coils.

The Apex does sound like a good detector when it's been positioned at their low end, and people are comparing it against their AT Pro/Gold/Max higher end models.   I'm very happy with the look of it, and the screen is awesome, hopefully they stick with that design.

I look forward to hearing how you go with it over time kac, so far it's sounding promising and I love that these entry level type detectors from various manufacturers are starting to get attention, it helps bring the prices down of higher end machines making them more accessible for people.  Garrett is starting to become competition again.

Yes, I have difficulty understanding bad conditions 🙂 I think If I had to detect where you guys do I'd be lost and not have a clue what to do 🙂 You are forced to be hardcore detectorists by your ground.  You need to know your machines a lot more than someone in my ground.  I'd really struggle in bad conditions as I've been so spoilt with benign soils.  They need to make a fully auto Equinox 1000 just so people like me could stumble into bad ground and use the detector without getting a headache.

Yup, it does appear the Vanquish only shines in milder soils and I completely understand the desire to have a lot of settings when the conditions don't allow the simplicity of a detector like the Vanquish and I am sure the Vanquish is not near as good as the Nox in bad soil conditions.   The GPX 6000 is basically fully auto replacing a detector the GPX 5000 with a billion settings. I wonder what will happen with the Equinox 1000 if they will continue the push forward to more simple detectors.  I personally really like simple, I believe the detector would be better at setting itself up than I would as I'm the first to admit I'm not a settings guru, especially when it comes to staying on top of the settings as conditions change. 

Geosense may make an appearance on Multi IQ in some form, automatically setting sensitivity, EMI channels, settings, detect modes and so on and if I did I'd be quite happy.  While fully auto may not be the best 100% of the time, if it does most of the time I'm good with that.  I hope if they do make the Equinox 1000 fully auto they still give some choices of settings on the higher priced Equinox 1200 though for occasions when auto just isn't doing the job right.