beardog

Go ahead, knock the Infinium. Let the elitist expose themselves - go ahead! The Infinium is, hands down, one of the best mid priced detectors out there. Don't matter where you go, wet or dry, it does a good job - unless you want to dwell on the minutia. Give me any mid priced VLF and I will beat it, without a doubt, with my Infinium. So, all you Zed waving elitist, who have forgotten what detecting is all about - take up my challenge - try to beat my Infinium with any VLF you chose. Ya, I thought so...... One more thing, have you paid for that Zed yet, I mean with gold recovered? So there, the next time you want to start bashing machines just remember, people love what they hunt with and have confidence just as large as the Zed collective.......probably a better day not kicking themselves because of the sky high price. In the end it's all about the end of the day and the experience of the great outdoors. I have confidence in my Infinium -

That GMD shaft........now your talking! I guess someone's been listening.

Hate to burst your bubble Jim, there is no motorized equipment allowed within 300 ft. of any active waterway along the Klamath. You may already know that, I think I've seen you over at the 49er's site.

Well, it all depends - it depends how well you know the Infinium and it's tones. You MUST and I mean MUST learn to hunt with a steady Thold. Learning the tones is critical, along with G ballance and steady Thold. If you can accomplish these things, then, you have to listen to any small break (whisper) in the Thold. Pay attention to the "whispers" especially if you are on good proven ground. That's where your small gold will begin to appear, in the whispers. The 8 inch mono, for me, is the only way to go with the Infinium. Also, a conversion to a straight shaft with under the cuff mounting of the control box is a must if you want use the Infinium for long hunts. (yes, the stock shaft is a joke, especially with the 10x14 coil) Go to findmall under Infinium for full description of the conversion to straight shaft. You won't regret the effort. I regret the bad press the Infinium received on it's release because of the bad build and the coil/connector problems it had. I stuck with it and eventually learned to love it, after much struggle and making the mods I cannot go hunting without it. Not only is it a good gold machine, it literally kicks butt in the relic world getting more depth (than most machines) and the ability to hunt on hotter ground. If you want "tiny" go with a Gold Bug or GMT - you will, however, lose a lot of depth compared to the Infinium.

It's all very simple - we all know what is happening to our mining rights - we all know brick by brick we are being driven off the land. This regulation, that regulation, rules, dictates, license, fees, permits, inspections, protected areas, endangered species.......on and on. There will come a time when there are just to many hoops to jump thru -

This is (kind of) like talking about religion or politics - it will never be settled. A straight shaft with adjustable grip is the way for everyone. Custom comfort......

A straight shaft with an adjustable forward/back upright handle would be the ultimate for me. BAN THE S shaft!

All this info reminds me of just how much I love my Infinium LS PI machine. Say what you want about it, it's a soil slayer, dig everything, multi-tone machine. Of course, it does have the iron ID feature by cranking the disc knob around, but who needs that? I'm "old school". The less bells and whistles the better and the Infinium gives me this. This machine, for relic hunting, should not be overlooked by the deepseekers. It kills on ferous, the slightest sliver of iron, no matter how tiny, shouts out, within an inch or two from the surface. At 16 inches with a bottle cap size object, no problem. (of course, depending on ground conditions) What's exciting about the Infinium is that it is truly an "all around machine", finding gold as well as any other conductive targets. It does have it's quirks and I did have a struggle when I first purchased it (as a matter of fact I hated it for a while) but eventually learned to respect it. So give me a machine that I can ground balance, adjust TH, throw in some ground tracking and I'm there. It don't even need to have a disc mode either, just learn coil language. That's why I love this site, this forum. It makes me appreciate the simple things.

With the situation in NorCal, the way it is now, all you will be able to do is pan or go ground fishing. Yup, they are inch by inch shutting it all down, stealing land and putting insurmountable rules and regulations in front of anyone who attempts to gain access to public (opps, I meant Federal) lands.

gotta be a find of a lifetime.....so big it's taking days to clean it up for show!

I pulled the following paragraphs from a link to a site: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1290/report.pdfthat Steve H. posted a while back in another thread on this forum. (scroll down to "gold deposits" for this info) Keep in mind, this info is gathered and reported from the Klamath and Oregon gold districts exclusively. Here is that info: -Most of the lode deposits are described as fissure veins, meaning fractures, usually faults, into which vein material has been introduced. In general the mineralogy of the veins is simple. The major con- stituent is quartz, which is usually milky white. Commonly it contains drusy cavities, and some quartz veinlets have a median cavity into which small crystals project. Calcite commonly accompanies quartz in minor amounts. Other nonmetallic gangue minerals include sericite and, rarely, albite. Pyrite is the most widespread metallic gangue mineral. It occurs in quartz, in wallrock inclusions, and in the wallrock next to the veins; it forms individual crystals and veinlets. Other metallic sulfide min- erals which may be present in subordinate amounts are arsenopyrite, galena, and sphalerite. Still less common are chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and molybdenite. The amount of sulfides in most quartz veins is less than 3 percent but may be as much as 5 percent. Gold occurs almost exclusively in the veins. It occurs as free metal in quartz and in the sulfide minerals, mainly pyrite. Gold tellurides have been reported from some veins. Many veins contain wallrock fragments; indeed, in some of the most productive veins wallrock fragments are abundant; veins in slate are commonly ribboned with included fragments, and the quartz is bluish, due to comminuted slate (Ferguson, 1914, p. 59-71). - Ok, what I want to know is, are vugs (like in jasong's vid) the same as "drusy cavities"? Can the formations (vugs) be determined to come from gold bearing veins? How consistent are vugs as an indicator? Thanks in advance -

I subscribed to jasong's youtube channel. One of his vids is about vugs, crystals and their relations to gold. I found it interesting that his approach to narrowing the search by locating "indicators" is the same as mine. In a couple of earlier post I made, "dikes" and "the tunnels" I eluded to these indicators and made the statement that, "sometimes, in order to find the gold, you have look at what's under your feet". jasong's vid brings this statement to the forefront. jasong also talks a bit about how gold is formed in the vugs - pretty interesting. He also gives brief descriptions of other indicators, those being crystals. Maybe we could have a discussion?

same thing I was thinking.......placer gold!

Something to remember, once living in any climate for a time, winter always seems cold. That's just the way it is. The thing is, do you want to shovel snow or not? If I were to move to Az I would pick Black Canyon City - it's in the heart of gold country. The club I would join would be Roadrunner Prospecting Club (RRPC). They have it all and their claims offer everything from dredging to metal detecting and have claims in every gold district in Az. Black Canyon City is in the heart of it all and the history there is rich. It is mid - way between the high mountains and the low desert. When becoming a member of RRPC you will receive an extensive list of claims with maps and directions on how to get to the claims. Also, group outings and potlucks! A great club!

EXCELLENT!! Gee, my hands are so smooth, maybe I don't work hard enough?!

Never judge the price of a bag of gold at todays prices - you just never know what's around the corner.

Another thing that amazed me was the machines used and the newbies that found the hoards. It renewed my vigor and refueled my desire and dreams. You never know, each and every time you go out hunting, you just never know.

7 minutes: 10 greatest metal detector finds - awesome! Babes not included.

I'd give a "pretty penny" for that backpack!

No. 1 and I use headphones always. I would rather have the depth and sensitivity. I like learning all the tones and chatters so I can identify the good targets. It's almost like, when I'm detecting I listen for the oddball tone - that one that is not among the chatter and odd tones, the zip. Of course, we all do that even with a smooth thresh hold but to get the max from the machine I push myself to learn the bad - it's all right there, just listen. First, I must stress, I learn to run the machine perfectly smooth and I do that for lots of outings. Once learned how to master the machine I go for more power, little by little, learning the tones along the way. This can't be jumped into and takes nerve cause it can drive a person batty. Volume on detector high, when available, then adjust headphones to just audible. Ok, - even a blind man could find gold the way I work. Ok?

In my understanding, a patent gives the holder of that patent much more freedom to develop that land. For instance, the right to put up buildings, build bridges, cut timber and many other rights needed in the development of the property. The first step to getting a patent is to first locate a deposit and file claim to it. Then, for further development, a patent must be applied for. Is that correct? If so, what is "fair" and what is not "fair"? If I should make a new discovery on unclaimed land don't I deserve the right to further develop that land? Anyone with the determination, anyone, no matter the percentages, should be able to realize their rewards for their hard work. Sure, there are X amount of acres of BLM land out there and there are X amount of people, but, there are only X amount of people who have the where with all to accomplish the goal of actually finding a deposit. I feel this whole thing is more about Gov'ment control, and, yes, greed. The greed however is not on the part of the people who do the hard work, but rather, the greed is from those who did non of the hard work. These greedy people have their fingers deep into the machinations of Corporations and Gov'ment. No stone will be turned before guarantee of their profit. 25 years to get a patent - that's how long it took for the greedy ones to get their hands on a cut of the profit. (back room deals, campaign money, lobbying Congress, tweeking the law) It's a jungle out there!

My comments were not directed at any one individual. I'm just saying, the ZED has a boasting of "finding the big, deep stuff". In my mind I would only make the plunge if I found that claim to be true. Yes, I know, it can find deep stuff but come on, it's time for something big and exciting from the ZED and those who swing them. I know it has been done before with the Zed but we are not in OZ. Actually, I am cheering for the big gun swingers. I want to hear of the "lucky strike" and feel that the investment would be rational. So far, many reports of dinks and not so many of pounders. So, what I am saying is, get out there and get the goodies so we can all enjoy sweet dreams and visions of our own attempts at success. (if we so chose to invest) I want to see some deep biggies coming from the ZED!

For hardcore nugget hunters, what is the advantage of this? I mean, say for instance, how will it beat my GMT? This, to me, looks like 'just another product" with a blur of many machine from the past. It's always fun to get a new machine but I'm not convinced yet.

But, but, but - if I've got a mid range priced detector and I find $10 or 20 or 30 bucks worth of gold, my end of day experience is really great, isn't it? My hunts are no less exuberant than those who swing a big gun, finding the same crumbs that I can find, proving that it is not "completely" the machine. I have as much fun, as much adventure and as much quality experience as anyone, spending much less, realizing a much bigger return with my smaller investment. Let me make one thing very clear, I do not go to the "old fields" to hunt (although I have started there at times) but rather, I go where no man has gone before. This to me is the ultimate adventure - to find gold that is not in a pounded "old field." Like those who went before us, having had the exuberance of finding the "lode," is one of my biggest dreams. So, all you ZED swingers - get out there and find it! I've seen enough "dinks" in my life, show me some pounders. Then I'll be impressed - Let's all remember - Steve's big rewards weren't found with an elephant gun.

gambler - Steve said, "it's the man behind the machine." He also said, "Me personally given what I have on hand I would probably grab my F75 or CTX or FORS Gold+ depending on my mood." I personally love my Garrett Infinium LS for digging history. No bells and whistles and it's a dig everything machine. I am subscribed to many youtube channels of diggers. Most of the "great" diggers are using the White's MXT. Good target ID, good disc, good pinpointing. Also, the choice of coil is important. In trashy areas a small coil is best and a small DD coil is even better.