californiagold

After staying hunkered down on saturday with the big storm blowing over, I woke up sunday to unexpected partly cloudy skies. The forecast was for more rain today, but it actually looked to be a long ways off. So I headed back out to same area that ive been detecting lately to try some new area. I wanted to get to the very back diggings of the gold area, but I stopped halfway at some of the other diggings about 120 yrds from last trip. I brought out the Gold Mak with 2 coils and I thought I better try to see if it could run in this bad ground. I previously only had Fors plus there. And the plus did all right there but Gold Mak is alot stronger. I had brought along the large 15" coil to try out and see if I could get a patch going and cover some ground quick. The ground was very wet from the storm and I had a hard time detecting with the big coil. It picks up too much bad ground at once to stay stable in all metal. It did run ok in the disc modes. It probably will run good there if the ground was dryer. So I changed back to the 10x5 dd. then the hunt was on. After finding a slew of lead, I finally found 1 tiny piece. little gold on gold mak really does hit good. Then another 10 pieces of lead before I got a little patch going with 4 more pieces. Then all at once the wind started blowing like a hurricane and within 10 minutes it was a full blown monsoon. I didnt bring the greatest coat for rain or the rain gear for gold mak. So as they say in kansas I got the hell out of dodge.surprisingly it was nice and sunny 1/2 hour before the downpour. Well that was the end of the day. I managed to find 5 pcs for .7 dwt. And found a little patch that might produce more later. My settings on gold mak today was all metal, sens. 65 threshold 25, isat 8, id mask 10. No tracking.Was a good setting for the area and still hits small gold loud. Good luck

Nice coins Ray. Sounds like you had a good day before all this weather hits. The poison oak looks like it is going to be a good batch this year. Now all we need is a few rattlesnakes to make it an interesting spring for detecting. I hope you find more coins again next time.

So many nokta/makro detectors introduced or some rumored about in last couple months. I feel like im at Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. I guess if you want a detector in your favorite color, they will make one for you in a week.

When I asked about the leds what I should have said was do they seem to be accurate or reliable for target indicators when you tried it. I ran a nokta golden sense before with ferrous and non ferrous lights. They were not always accurate for me especially on small gold right on the coil. they havent had led's since then. Just wondering if they were better. I wont be owning one of these new ones so I wouldnt know unless someone mentioned it. like you I feel vlfs have not really increased a whole lot of depth. I think ive found gold at previously detected patches because newer tech seems to hear the long range targets better. maybe I heard them before but they didnt hit good. and I still have excellent hearing, so I think that part of vlfs nowdays is better. and some new vlfs have better designs and displays etc. but ultimately im waiting for a detector to only detect gold and even tell you a size. But I think that is still near impossible. I have no issues with you either steve. I joined this forum because I think you have about the best around. and maybe I can help some new detectorist in some way. thats mostly my goal nowdays is to pay it forward online and off. I contribute to other forums for nokta/makro field test reports for interested parties, but I do consider this one my home forum.

I wasn't asking for a detecting lesson. I think I have a good grasp on that. I dont care about the lights really. I thought maybe one of the testers had sometime in on it. and could say how basic operating reliability is going. I was aware it is not sold to the public yet. I do read your post. Thats why I was just asking about field testers reports. I have ran most nokta detectors and im always curious how each one is doing in the field test thats it.especially the ones im not testing. if I offended you in some way. That was not my intention. the only reason I joined forums after detecting for over 31 years was to report my findings while testing nokta detectors and since then I also try to help as many as I can try to find gold. If I wasnt doing these things I would never have joined any forums. I would just be out there hunting gold having fun like always. But I also didnt join forums to argue with my fellow Americans. I did enough fightin when I was young for my country.

Couple years ago when I was running gold bug pro. I tested most of the coils for Nel in gold detecting situations only. as far as reliability they are built very very well and come with a very stout thick coil cover that doesnt wear out quickly. I found that the sharpshooter was the best all around coil for gold prospecting. You can cover good ground with it. (9.5 x 5.5) and you can still find very tiny gold with it. My partner still runs a gb pro and only uses the sharpshooter coil and is still doing very well with it. I personally think you can get an 1" - 1 1/2" more depth from nel coils versus the stock fisher coils. I think mainly it is because the targets that are right at the edge of detection are just louder and easier to hear. Of couse this does depend on a few conditions. I never heard of anybody having any issues with Nel coils. The larger hunter coil 12.5x 8 is also a good coil especially for patch huntin. it still will catch some birdshot size gold sometimes. but still finds small gold good and loud. It covers alot of ground quick and is good for finding a first piece of gold to establish a new patch. you can buy nel coils from dealears on east coast. I think the sharpshooter is about $110 and a 2 yr warranty. fisher coils sold separately are only 1 year. and the hunter 12 5 x 8 is about $120-125.

Steve I figured it pretty much would be just like gold racer. I was wondering how this set of lights was going to work. on display screen detectors. mostly in disc mode you get alot of chirps from the mineralization especially on nokta/makro detectors. This does produce quick target id's on the display. are the lights going to be sensitive to all these same false signals? if so they are going to be blinking alot. also will they show a target when there is no audio yet from a deeper signal. The original fors gold with vibration would give a repeatable vibe sometimes before actually giving a audio response. Other then that since i'm not testing this one. I hoping to see some hardcore consistent field testing to see how it holds up under constant use with several users.

Does anybody have any field test and results with this new detector. it would be interesting to see a video of how it operates while gold detecting in different gold mineralization rather then a guy from kellyco just playing with the knobs. not very convincing.

I would try a side nail belt. the hammer holder is a good place for the pick and it has other pockets for pin pointer and other stuff.

Not sure what actually you should do for tennis elbow (detector elbow) I. would keep using heat and I wouldnt stop using your arm. just give it a rest from heavy duty. put it on light duty. lol ive had better luck using heat and continue to use it. Isnt there a nurse here? Maybe they can help. Also thanks I will check out Doc's post on knee pads.

Pretty much seems to be a gold racer in retro packaging. Reminds me of the gb 2 days. I dont pay attention to kellyco. is this the first exclusive for them or have other companies done exclusives with them?

yes the good ol poison oak is leafing out right now. luckily I don't really catch it. I get alittle spot on my arm cuff arm once in awhile. but never any worse. plus on some warm days in past weekends I seen 3-4 lizards out and about so im sure the snakes will be next.

I wouldn't even want to ponder on how much junk I've dug. I normally only dig non ferrous targets, so lead is my main junk. but some lead can be a clue for if someone has detected there before and cleaned out the gold. if you find a fair amount of old lead{white patina} especially cap and ball rounds or blackpowder balls more then likely it has not been detected hard before. especially if these old lead rounds are out in the open areas. most start detecting a gold location in the open areas, then if they find any gold, then they'll get in and under the brush. white lead like modern day ammo doesn't always mean that there is still gold there. some of these might have been fired 10-15 years ago, and have devolped a white patina to them. but somebody might have been there 20 years ago and cleaned out a lot of the gold. but old detectors could have missed some of the smaller stuff, or might not have dealt with the mineralization well, like todays modern detectors. as far as gold to trash ratios that has just too many variables. 1 for 1 would be nice. good luck

Actually, I forgot to mention. Your post heading says eye patch trip. I thought for a minute that you found your way into a manzanita brush patch like me. And you came out of the manzanita with an eye patch. I was feeling bad there for a minute only getting a hole in my ear and a bum knee. now I feel better that you were at rye patch. lol

Nice finds lucky. that gold from rye patch is always cool looking.

Ive used the newer Nokta pointer around my 5000 with bigger coils and I havent noticed any interference. I think I saw guy on youtube comparing the garrett and nokta pinpointers. they both had pros and cons. I put my pinpointer in my back pocket.

Good find Brian. I have tried the coiltek mono elite 14" and it picks up tiny gold too. Pretty amazing. most of the time I could run on sens. Xtra where as previously with a blitz coil or commander I had to stay in fine gold at same location. I will be testing out the new 18" mono elite coil here in a few days for us good ole Americans. I will post how she goes. But early reports from Australia seem pretty good.

I wonder if there will be a gold racer 2. I cant keep up with all the nokta/ makro detectors. Seems like yesterday I was trying out a nokta golden sense, then a velox one and now many detectors later we are up to racer 12 or was it 2.

Lucky for me my swollen knee is gone down. now it is just purple like paul's flip flops. knee pads. well I tried a couple different pairs before but the damn things are always slipping down. I did like those gell knee pads. if anybody has a suggestion of ones that dont slip. Im open to suggestions. As far as playin in the manzanita, eye pokes, scratches, and injuries go with the territory. I actually like detecting in the brush patch. there is alot of gold in them thar bushes. I read in my great granpa's diary from gold mining in California that they used to torch vegetation at some places to have better access to the goldfields. Guess that might not be a good idea today. if it was paul might reach the prospector skeleton holding the nugget afterall. The regular brush patch characteristics is normal but about 10 years ago on a nice june afternoon the brush patch was rattling. up ahead I spotted a smaller rattlesnake up about 2 feet of the ground in a bush. only second rattlesnake I ever saw off the ground. of coarse the snake was in my goldpatch so I helped him to heaven with a long branch. But im glad my knee is better, im ready to get back in the brush. but now hear it might rain for a week.

Well my knee banging must have been a decent one. My knee is swollen pretty good today so no prospecting. hopefully will get better soon. I have to get back to my beautiful manzanita forest.

Hello, I headed back to clean up patch #2 where I found bigger gold last weekend. But before I made it all the way there on my hike, I was unfortunately tripped up by a low growing vine that manage to help me fall right on a rocky hill. I did save Fors plus from damage by hitting my knee right on a rock. after a few grimaces I was able to hobble the last 1/4 mile. I turned on Fors plus to all metal with a slight isat adjustment then proceed to ground balance. I was shocked to find out that fors plus would not balance. It made a strange noise that im not use to hearing. Ive ground balanced fors gold detectors probably a thousand times in the past. I finally discovered that you cant ground balance by pressing the pin point trigger. I guess the pain from my near broken knee cap threw off my detecting skill. I was happy to find out that Fors plus was ok it was just the damn opertor. So I started detecting and it wasn't long before I stood up from crouching to dig and I got jabbed right inside my left ear by a friendly manzanita stub. Was only seconds before I felt the wonderful feeling of blood running down my ear. Luckily it wasnt too bad. So I ended up gridding the 2nd patch and only getting a few more pieces. Total was 1.4 dwt. I was hoping for another decent nugget, but that was it. I did manage to find a 1800's black powder ball spill. There was 5 balls in one spot. Unfired. I collect those too. Well that is it for that little knoll, now it is time to try the other ridges where there is old diggins. Fors plus performed very well again and came home like a new car without a scratch. I posted pics of the gold area before, so I thought I would post pics of the local vegetation. This is where I spend alot of my time trying to track down new patches of gold.

I think this forum is great. there is alot of topics on tech and ideas. I think it is a responsibility to also help the new guy or girl. I dont think anybody started this thrill without help or seeing someone find a treasure with a detector that spark the interest. I notice everybody is more then willing to help a new detectorist with tips and such. I know everybody cant give away some of their great gold locations, but atleast aiming them on the right track helps. pay it forward is good for the detector society. I pretty much spend alot of my free time doing research for new people to try to get them a few gold locations going. Being on the gold is very important or people get bored and give up. it is definitely not easy to find gold. it is very good at hiding. I think it is also a good balance to have the successes of detecting trips posted to keep morale up and dreams going. I pretty much think this forum has about the most well rounded characteristics to be the most informative to help anyone at any skill level. manufactors definitely should keep an eye on this community.

Nice find lucky! Nothing is better then all the fun. the gold is a bonus.

https://youtu.be/4JYtgUnxUwg I only got a few lead videos and my first piece of gold until my media card in camera failed thanks to Paul jinxing me with his fancy gopro. lol I guess im going to have to go-pro and get one. did I mention for the hundredth time don't buy a cool cam brand hd camera. thanks also for the comments. and mazanita is a annoying bush that grows in thick patches in a lot of gold county. it will slap you in the face, poke your eye, and it loves it get your headphone cable tangled up. but I love breaking the manzanita to get even. other then that detecting can be so relaxing. lol

Probably next weekend I will run the gold racer again. I really like it too. it also has a very smooth threshold and you can find tiny stuff even though I throw in alittle isat to smooth things out, it still gets good depth and hits loud on small gold. So far I havent had some semi mellow ground to try the concentric coils. They were just alittle too noisy when I tried. I dont know if ill really ever use the small coil much the 10x5 coils seem to find tiny gold real well. if it gets any smaller I wont be able to see it. Plus I feel funny swinging around the little thing. after using 10x5 and larger coils on the 5000. I like to cover some real estate when detecting.