TE Gold

Interesting. I had a gpx 4500 with 12" evo, 14x9 evo and 15" evo.

I now have a gpz and gpx 6000.

I have both NF Z search coils. 

The NF evos I found pretty noisy and difficult to tame, but never really gave the standard bundle wound coils a fair go. One of my mates in WA also used the Coiltek 14" and one of the Romainian coils and reverted back to the 11" bundle wound commander and swears by it.

I have had excellent results with the 12" NF, I don't need more sensitivity,  I have the 6k for that, I need stability. I find the 12" quieter than the standard 14x13 and of course lighter and better balanced. I often thought about going down the x coil path, but if it's really only going to give more sensitivity,  it's not what I'm looking for. Thanks for sharing Phrunt.

I have question for Phrunt, have you used 12"NF Z Search?

Are the equivalent X coils really noticallby better, not the CC just the spirals?

If, btw you decided to buy 2 aftermarket coils, a booster and a set of headphones....that would probably go close to the same money as an algoforce!

I had a 4500 as my 1st serious detector.

The best upgrade available are after market coils. I had 3 nuggetfinder evolution coils that were great. 

14 x9, 12" round and 15" spoked.

I I had to choose just one , it would be the 14x9. It was a really good coil to swing, shape wise and weight wise. It was also very sensitive and gave good depth. I found more gold with that coil than any other with the 4500, having said that, I also used that coil more than the others....

Next best upgrade is a really good set of headphones. I'm not sure what is available in the US, but 300 ohms are the go.

Love to see how the ground balance went Phrunt. Did it need adjusting?

Hmmmmm! Wonder how it handles thunder storms?....

Great report.

De hydration....I know a thing or 2 about this. I live in Darwin NT, where it's tropical. We have 2 seasons wet and dry. 

Darwin area is flat. Its like a huge flood plain. Where the gold is, there are hills, but nothing even remotely like NZ,the US or even the rest of Australia. 

De hydration is bad, very bad. Symtoms often include a headache to start. When it sets in, you can become confused, and make bad decisions,  due to thinking you are just a bit out of shape, and pushing on....harden up princess mentality. I have nearly come unstuck twice. Once where I was walking back to my car, and on the way followed a track that I followed blindly, the track took me up a steep hill, probably a good 800 yards, down a saddle, then down, winding its way towards my car....I thought, but actually it took me back up the hill, on the opposite side of the saddle...I decided to have a drink....there was 1 small mouthful of hot, and I mean near coffee hot water left in my bottle. I consulted Google maps, and couldn't work out what I was looking at.....De hydrated confusion had already set in. I sat in the only shade available, and it was sparse, I was breathing hard and my heartbeat was up. I rested for about 10 minutes and checked for a land mark where my car was....a dam. I had followed the winding track that lead me away from my car! In my confused and now very thirsty state, I made a direct line to my car, that involved two valleys and two more up hill climbs....I obviously made it, and dived into the dam, after drinky the melted ice from my cooler in the car. Vomited a couple of times.

The 2nd story is much worse....I actually put myself in much more danger, I won't go into it here, it's a good yarn....involving crossing a swamp, and cramps in both legs....there was a very real possibility of Saltwater crocs in said swamp!

If it gets to the stage of cramps, you could be in very real trouble, I'm 56 years old and an ex paratrooper, so know what pushing myself is all about, and I pushed myself that day! 

Stay safe and drink lots of water. I carry a filter on me every single time I go detecting, I also carry more water than I think I need, and carry eze a cramp (pickle juice) as well as hydrolite type tablets to dissolve in water. De hydration effects your balance as well as decision making processes. Sorry for the long winded reply.

Stay safe and good hunting.

Bloody Victoria. 

They just want you to sit at home except on footy days, where you are allowed to leave your house to watch a game.

Vic gold hunters, not for what they find, but Glenn's explanations of old timers workings and his understanding of historical gold  mining and living.

Goldfields goose, because he is authentic, and is "us".

If you want a larger coil as a patch hunter, I would suggest that the 17" minelab coil is your best, and only way to go. I would not expect a larger coil from NF for a fair while, perhaps the 14 x 9 coiltek could be a choice.

I guess you could try buying one on line from a store in Australia?

$8K aud is about $5.1k USD, how much is a GPX 6000 in the USA?

Would it be cheaper to buy one in Aust even with shipping? Could be a reason for price increase, a weak Aussie dollar.

Something to consider that I never see anyone write about.

I had a 4500. With the amount of different settings, when you are not finding anything, you start to question yourself with the settings.

You can lose confidence.  For me, confidence in your settings and equipment is everything! 

The 7000 seems have a great filter, eliminating a lot of ground noise, and handles emi a lot better. I know I have found sooo much more gold since going to the GPZ no mod would convince me to back to a 5k or 4500k. I also have a 6k, and I don't use it as much as the 7000 either.

Mosquito's, sandflys, flys are my worst critters, occaisional Saltwater croc, death adders at night, getting lost in the day, because it's so bloody hot and humid is my biggest danger by far.

Yep, definitely don't bother coming for our gold, it's all gone now, so sad.

It looks much bigger than 2 oz.

I would have thought 5 oz at least from that pic.....maybe small hands....kids size.

And I keep reading how dangerous Australia is! At least yoù wont get eaten w hi ile on land.

Great photos mate and some beautiful pieces, love the water worn big nugget. 

All the best for the next journey, thanks for the post.

On 7/16/2023 at 3:41 PM, Gold Catcher said:

Get yourself a Coiltek or NF coil, do the audio fix, and you will love this machine.

GC

I have a coiltek. Don't think it needs an audio fix.

I love my GPZ. It works 1st time every time. It sees gold that the 6k does not. The 6k sees tiny stuff that I'm not really looking for anyway. I got the 6k as a patch finder and to use during our wet season with the dd coil, when storms are an every day event. The dd works ok with the storms, but generally,  it's too hard to prospect then anyway. The only thing I love about the 6k is the light weight, that's why I want it as a patch finder, apart from that....meh.

My 2nd 11" coil has become unusable,  same as the 1st, so touch sensitive that grass will make it scream, I am really trying very hard to like this machine, but at least I know my zed is reliable. My backup and sometimes patch finding gpx 6000 is becoming a bit of dark cloud.

The 12" nugget finder is a very good coil, it's more sensitive to smaller gold than the standard coil, while still maintaining about the same depth on bigger gold. It is significantly lighter than the 14" coil, and you do notice the difference.  This of course means being able to swing for longer and keep concentrating due to less fatigue, which means more gold. I have found nuggets as big as 5.5 ozt and as small My scales won't weigh. 2 deepest nuggets I found were an 11 grammar that was very deep, and just a signal and a 44 grammar both of which were past knee deep.

I have never had a chance to see an Axiom in person, but it's an impressive machine from what I can tell.

The SDC 2300, oth, I witnessed in action. It's an amazing little bugger! It was a machine I recommended to a mate starting out, and it served him very very well. He bought a coiltek 14 x 9 coil to go with it, and found some really nice gold with it, including a beautiful 2.7 ozt piece. It works really well in some of the hottest ground I have found. Will try and find some pics.

I have never had a chance to see an Axiom in person, but it's an impressive machine from what I can tell.

The SDC 2300, oth, I witnessed in action. It's an amazing little bugger! It was a machine I recommended to a mate starting out, and it served him very very well. He bought a coiltek 14 x 9 coil to go with it, and found some really nice gold with it, including a beautiful 2.7 ozt piece. It works really well in some of the hottest ground I have found. Will try and find some pics.

G'day oz gold. I have used the 17x13 z a few times now, but sadly have not been able to run in normal yet.

The grass is still very long atm, and I have cabin fever bad....I want to go over a patch I have already hot very hard, and at least try normal, I have a plan. It's on a slight up hill incline, very slight, and the gold I have found has all been at the same level, only about 6 to 8 inches Max, but.....as I go further up hill, no targets at all. Maybe if I can stand the ground noise in normal, I might get through the over burden to the same level......but as the ground will be damp for at least another 3 or 4 weeks, if we don't get anymore rain, I will have to wait.

Think it took me a good 5 or 6 trips  and it was .85 of grammar.

Then another 3 or 4 trips before I got another one,  got a 6 grammar and 3 sub grammars. I was working an old good rush area in the NT, and was getting real frustrated with boot tacks and bullets, but now I look for un worked ground. There is plenty of ground that has gold on it, that is not viable for the big companies.

Hooked ever since. Rarely have a trip without at least 1 nugget these days.