beardog

Thanks for the replies - been using a free pair I got. Shallow ear cups and cord a bit short. Time to move on.

I am wondering if the Nugget Buster headphones would be compatible with my GMT? I see they have an ohm rating of 150. My GMT has a suggested ohm rating of "at least 60" ohms. With the 1/4 inch jack, would these work for me?

This thread is getting dragged off topic, sorry for that. I guess we all have our own comfort level and ideas of what makes us secure. The HipStick - I had heard of these before but this is the first time I have seen one. They look very efficient and functional. I have been wanting to make something to relieve the stress of swinging all day. Now that I have seen one I have some ideas for my own creation. A great addition to my gear! Cell Phone? What's a cell phone? featherdfishead - I love merino wool - getting harder to find every year tho. Fortunately, it last a long time.

This is a great post! Do any of you actually practice your bush craft? Building a shelter, starting a fire in wet conditions, location of secure camp site and possible food gathering? Swiss army knives would not serve well in an emergency situation, a good bush knife is needed in an emergency, something rugged and at least 6 inches long. Heck, it would be hard to skin a fish with a swiss army knife. Also, a pistol is always in my pack. Not so much for self defense put mostly for emergencies, it is the number one best signal device. The universal "three shots fired" distress signal. I carry about the same as everyone but I practice bush craft. It allows me an added level of confidence during those times when I think, "should I go any further". I always like to see what is over the next hill. One other thing I don't see on anyones list is an extra pair of socks. What a difference a clean, dry pair of socks can make for that long hike back. As usual - great thread!

Seems to me the "gain" knob is mis-named. It should be named "loss". With the initial settings for "gain" on my GMT marked at 7 1/2 I have only found "loss" to be the setting that will produce the best steady hum, usually having to run gain at 2 - 2 1/2 in ground where I hunt. This "gain" setting, on the GMT, (7 1/2 ) is where ferrous is nulled - it's just a bench mark. When trying to balance the "gain" and the SAT on my GMT in order to keep a quick Thold recovery, swing speed is very critical. These two functions, gain and SAT, must be balanced and an adjustment to swing speed is necessary or you will get lapses in Thold recovery. (this is the "steady" part) In really mineralized ground, the hunt is slowed way down, especially if there are cold rocks in the matrix. These cold rocks cause the machine to think harder and take longer for the electronics to respond, forcing swing speed to be the end adjustment. Low and slow, coil to the soil, snails pace hunting . zip, zip! Did ya hear that!

Be nice to know an average depth for nuggets found. How many ZED users are digging nugs 4 - 8 inches. Sure, they are using the big gun but are they finding gold that other machines could not? That is what I wonder about. Like any hunter, do some ZED users just have dreams of the "big one" or do they actually, consistently find them? Until I know that I'll stick with my GMT, Infinium and ATG. (after this survey, really wanting a GB2 tho) Hey, I could find a pounder with what I've got - you never know!

Unflippingbelievable!! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it.

OR, they are downloading overstock and the less popular. Is OZ getting ready for something new?

Thanks a bunch Steve - Yup, I've got some learning to do! I've watched Jimmy Normandy demonstrate the use of the GMT. Hard to digest it all but getting out to use it then rereading and watching the info is how I learn. Also, asking questions and taking one step at a time is best for me. Funny, when I was looking into buying the GMT and asking questions on forums, answers I got were pretty simplistic. "Just set to initial settings and go hunt". That is what I heard most. I knew there would be more to it than that! I am "that guy" that goes to the school of hard knocks. Yup, I choose the hottest ground I could find. That is where I will learn to use this machine, the ultimate test. If I learn there I will be ready for the hot grounds in big nugget country out west. However, being up here in Northern Vermont, I am looking for crumbs, making it necessary to learn the fine tunings of this machine. Not having been able to put the V-SAT and the gain together for smoothing the Thold (great to get that info after this hunt) my objective for this hunt was to see how smooth it would run. I had a low gain setting and ran the SAT at the initial setting, not wanting to take to much on at once. (never mix two variables when experimenting) So now I can take one step forward. I am happy with the smooth Thold experience I had, hearing the different tones, using the Iron ID trigger and, most of all, knowing the hot rocks I was hearing. Running in auto track was really cool and altho it didn't completely cancel every hot rock, it gave a good ID tone and nulled them enough (with 2 - 3 pumps) so I knew what they were. It's a "new" machine bought from that dealer in Florida. Fall is here! In six weeks the ground will be a frozen block of ice, as well as the rivers. No hunting for 5 - 6 months after that. I need to cram a lot in over the next few weeks. Steve - I hope you know how much you are appreciated - Thanks again.

Thanks John - that's what I wanted to hear. Didn't want to do anything I would be sorry for.

1515Art - Good suggestion, I am thinking about plugging the top of the bottom shaft but the holes in the upper shaft would still be there. Then, I could use silicon to plug the holes on the upper shaft but the locking buttons, at the bottom of the upper part, can still take in water. I wouldn't want to silicon those. My question about drilling the hole in the lower shaft is because the carbon fiber may not do well if the fibers are cut, even a small hole may cause fuzzing of the fibers and may allow water to soak into the fibers, causing them to swell and separate. I'm not sure about it so thought I'd try for an answer, maybe someone has done this.

I was surprised, never having run a high kHz machine before, I nearly went off the road at first! Got my machine last week and got to hunt about 6 hrs. this weekend. Got skunked but was happy I got the feel for the machine and kept it on the road. I really got to see the difference between my PI machine, my AT Gold and this GMT (my red hot poker). This is the first time I've had two VLF machines with kHz ratings this far apart and the first time running 48 kHz. I'm laughing about it now. I was totally caught off guard and figure I might have been a little to cocky, so it makes me laugh. Another life lesson learned. And, I picked the river where I knew the hot rocks covered the bottom, shallow overburden and lots of exposed bedrock. So, how's that for cocky? So, I went up the river hearing, boing, boing - boing, boing - boing, boing - Ha! I loved it! (I was thinking, "I know you and.......I know you and.......I know you"! One thing I found concern with is, the Thold wouldn't run smooth till I turned the gain to 2 - 2 1/2. I need to do some testing to see how much I am losing by having to do this. Are there other tweaks to smooth the Thold without losing gain? It was a beautiful early fall day. Clear sky, light breeze and in the 70s. It was a great outing and the first outing with my GMT. So far, so good.

Just thought I would relate a happening on my past hunt. In water about 30 inches deep I got a hit. I set my machine on the bank, control box lower than the coil and started moving some cobble. I grabbed the detector to do an iron check before committing to the dig. WOW! I'm glad I made that decision! I had carefully searched in the river and watched the depth but forgot about the adjustment holes in the upper shaft. The shaft filled with water (apparently) and when I laid it down the water rolled back and was draining down thru the iron test trigger. Can't be good! I am wondering if drilling a hole in the bottom carbon fiber shaft is a good idea?

Here is the mod I did on my Infinium.

Ivan - I am new on this site. Haven't figured out to post photos. I have some ready to upload as soon as I find the paper clip. Or, how do I post pics?

The S shaft - seems manufacturers don't get it yet. The S shaft needs to go. I would like to see straight shafts with an upright handle that could be adjusted forward or back to suit the user. I can hike, climb, dig, wade and shovel all day long. At the end of the day the most stress is arm and wrist, because of the S shaft. When I bought the Infinium with that 10x14 DD - it was a joke. After one hour of use fatigue set in. I was ready to s$%t can the whole thing! I bought an Anderson straight shaft and did the under elbow extension with the box - after the mod, you could not get me to part with the Infinium. What do I think? Manufacturers have a cheap "stamp them out" process dedicated to their bottom line. User comfort cannot compete.