Jonathan Porter

It’s my understanding there were some coils sent to the US. A lot of dealers have only ordered small amounts and even then they didn’t get all they’d ordered because there was only so many to go around. (We only got a portion of our orders) NF have said on their web site there will be more models made in the future so if the 12” doesn’t meet your requirements hold off till a coil size they make does. COVID19, crazy world wide demand for coils during our winter and then crunch time leading up to Xmas have all added up to what was made available on the first production run. Bring on 2021 and a hopefully brighter future for all of us when the pall of COVID19 starts to loose its grip.😷😇 JP

Hence the reason why I deliberately went to some quiet ground. 😕 It is a lot of money I agree and if unsure people should wait for more feedback from a greater variety of sources. Shouldn't be too long, there's 200 of them out there now. JP

I also spent 3 years of my life field testing the GPZ 7000 for Minelab, people might want to steer well clear of that too. 😅

All good points Steve, I feel a lot of what Minelab do is based around their PD, if something is unique and requires a lot of R&D to develop from scratch then pricing would be dictated by what they think the market would be willing to shell out for something that offers significant performance differences. Case in point the GP Extreme to GP3500 did not vary that much in price because they were extensions of each other with only minor changes over the model run, same could be said for the ‘to date’ GPX range however there has been a huge amount of time go by since the 5000 release which suggests things could be different on an unconfirmed model. All speculation on our parts but jolly good fun nevertheless, I know some of the ML engineers follow this forum so a big G’day to them and ‘wipe that cheeky smile off your faces fellers’ 🥵🥴🤣 JP

I’ve been fortunate to have got onto some pretty good very deep finds over the years, this one was good fun because two forum members were with me when we dug it out. Actually I could not have done it without their help because it was 2 feet into the calcrete with about a foot of homogeneous soil sitting over the top. Thanks Trent and Paul. 😇 From memory final weight was around 100 grams of metal, GPZ7000 with GPZ19 coil using High Yield/Normal. JP GPZ14 coil in the hole during pinpointing to give an idea of the depth.

For those interested and who even care 🥴, I was using the unbranded proto during the detecting session and when I got back to the shop for the weigh in I put the nugglets on the MTR unit for the photo opp. 😇 Scales weigh down to 0.00 of a gram, so to me 0.00 means the flake of gold was less than 0.01, hence why the scales show 0.00 gram. 😳 Here’s a pic of a different set of scales when I weighed it on the front seat of my Landcruiser when I was still out in the field. At the end of the day I start to lose interest when they go much below 0.10 gm, too much bending and scraping for me I’m afraid.

Thought I’d go to some quiet ground and see for myself how sensitive this new NF Zsearch coil is, been meaning to do this for a while but prospecting keeps getting in the way and I’m not a good one for chasing the tiny stuff. 🥴 Settings used were: Gold Mode, High Yield Ground Type, Normal Threshold, 26 Threshold Pitch, 40 Sensitivity, 16 Audio Smoothing, OFF Ground Smoothing, OFF Ground Balance, Semi-Auto and Manual Ferrite Balance, Calibrated at start till there was zero signal then checked after an hour First piece was tiny, finger wetting to pick it up tiny, but a very clear signal.😳 Then I got a screamer signal that was so obvious even though I know this place well. Then it was on for young and old and I could do no wrong till the sweat and humidity drove me out. I filmed one of the deep ones, that was fun trying to do everything one handed. 😬 One of the pieces would not weigh on my scales, which is pretty impressive. Gold found for the session with the new Nugget Finder Zsearch 12 inch round

More is oft times less, so what might work in one ground type will not necessarily work in another. To achieve a universal coil that is acceptable “everywhere” first the coil needs to meet a very high standard dictated by Minelab itself, X balance being the main one and minimal Saturation signal being a high-order second. There’s no point in having a specific coil design that only works in homogeneous quiet ground types, Minelab have always had a winning formula based on detector design that is always aimed at working in Australia’s highly mineralised ground types, as history has shown if they can get it to work well here it will work well in less challenging areas too! The ZSearch 12R X balances extremely well (It’s been remarked “better than the GPZ14”), the 12R also saturates less than the standard GPZ14, both of these things provide an advantage straight out of the crate in the vast majority of detecting areas in Australia, especially Victoria. Because of the construction methods used the Zsearch 12R is also a LOT lighter than the GPZ14, the main bugbear of a lot of detector users around the world, both in people choosing ‘NOT’ to buy and people opting out. Lastly I can attest to a big improvement in sensitivity over standard and also less EMI and less Salt/Conductive signal, so the combination of less weight, less EMI, less Salt, less Saturation signal and correct electronic design tolerances all add up to a VERY obvious improvement in even the worst ground types. If the first NF GPZ coil does not meet your needs then don’t buy, I for one applaud the honesty they’ve shown on their website which IMHO is highly downplayed based on my own personal experiences. Nuggetfinder have plans for more models in the future and when that happens I’m sure we’ll see more innovation as time goes on. Every coil bar 2 in our allocated stock have pre-sold with customers picking up their coils today. I now have customers buying into GPZ because of the weight reduction alone. Because I helped develop this product and because I sell this product I’m happy to sit on the side lines and let others experiences filter through. All I can say is my own observance, especially going over ground that has seen me frequent these areas hundreds of times over the past nearly 5 years, I am once again pinging nuggets during one-on-one training sessions, no small feat I can assure you. Nuggetfinder have sold out on their first manufacturing run, already that number exceeds other figures quoted on this forum. Now it’s time to let things settle and let the early adopters have a chance to go out and play. JP

You ever had a day when you just can’t do anything wrong? Yesterday was just such a day! I was up at ‘sparrow’s fart’ and hit the ground with the sun barely in the sky. On the drive out I was positively euphoric, I just knew in my bones it was going to be a good day (I had no idea I was going to do well on the gold, I just felt fantastic and that all the stars were aligned regardless of finding gold or not). Being in the right frame of mind has a really big impact on how the day can play out regardless of what equipment you are using. I honestly could care less if I found gold or not, my mind was just keyed to being content with being alive and happy to just be out there and doing it, anything of a gold nature that came my way was just a bonus. Usually I can tap into this in varying degrees as it requires concentration and effort, but yesterday it was just flowing of its own accord and I got to take a lazy back seat for a change and just let it flow for the whole session, pure detecting bliss. 😇 First cab off the rank was a plucky 8 gram chunkster at the base of a tree (how I’ve missed that over the years is anyone’s guess), I just pulled up and wandered over to it as calm as you like. Next signal was a point 3 just to ground me back to reality again, then an hour later I got my coil right over the sweet spot of a deep dig me target signal. And now I was in the money! The rest of the session was a blur till it got too hot and I ran out of puff digging deep holes, I just meandered about excavating nice gold all around my old haunts where I’ve pulled gold for over 20 years, simply amazing. Never ever give up folks, in variable ground there is always the possibility that there is something left, it’s just a matter of having the right mindset and faith in your equipment whilst maintaining the fundamentals of good technique, then voila gold!💗😜 A totally astounding detecting session.

That would have been Sid Major, from memory he had a lease out near the Airport but am unsure about the round-about one nearer to town, although I have detected gold in there in the long distant past. I first came to Clermont in 1994 so that was well before my time, the first Minelab dealer in Clermont was a guy called Graham Pepper. Gosh there must have been some gold to be had back then!! Clermont was a beast of a place for VLF, so the vast majority of ground went largely undetected till 1995 then it went ballistic. JP

The joys of summer heat 🥵, early first light starts, gulping of coffee then the inevitable knuckling of sleep out of rheumy eyes as you ‘head fog’ drive the 20 minutes or so to secret dusty locations only ever visited in summer after the sweaty crowds have gone home to roost. I prefer it if there has been a few thunder storms to wash away all the tyre tracks and footprints, the myriads of patterned phycological evidence that beta-blocks the feeling of success right out of your very soul before you even start the first swing of the coil. 🥴 Argh yes the joys of summer bring on the freshening. 🤣 It’s been 2 years since I scored anything decent at this location, I’d given it up for dead but always find myself drifting back to try something new, just that one more time.

I’d be more worried about some of the mobile phone apps that you download for mapping, no one seems to have a problem walking around with one of these tracking/logging/listening devices in their pockets. 😁

12 inches

I’ve done a fair bit of time on the ZSearch coils off and on throughout the year and in my environs X signal is a real bugbear, being able to calibrate that out completely relative to electronics temp is really important in the ground I work in. The next big bugbear is Saturation, a lot of care has gone into the new NF coil to get both these things right, the ZSearch 12R saturates less than the GPZ14, no small feat considering a smaller coil is more prone to saturation signal than a larger one. X calibration aside IMHO there are four clear positives to the new Nuggetfinder coil, minimal bump and knock sensitivity, way less Saturation Signal, 300 grams lighter and lastly its definitely much more sensitive over standard. All of theses things add up to my finding gold in known test patch locations and not all of it has been sub point 0.2 gm. JP One of the early prototype’s, the final version is even better electronically than that pictured. Pic taken during comparative field testing.

It’s a lot of coin that’s for sure, but buying into the GPZ was what set the trend, it’s an expensive ticket to get to that game. 🤕 I just convert everything to grams, the ZSearch 12” is AU16 grams at current gold price, I can live with that because I’m fortunate enough to live in a location where that’s achievable. A GPZ on the other hand is AU120 grams, that’s a much bigger stretch for those of us less fortunate. JP

Minelab XT 17000 for me, it was the machine that made detecting for a living possible. I clicked on this detector which then set me up for the SD2000 in 1996. Coming a close second was the Whites Goldmaster2, this machine taught me about manual ground balance and how important it was to maintain it, that information then helped me understand the limitations of auto GB and how to keep things in check. I missed out on the GB2 because it was released in 1995 and of course the SD2000 was kind of dominating all my attention by then. I didn’t actually get my hands on a GB2 until many years later when Steve very generously gave me one when he came out for a visit, I’ll never part with it. JP

The 12 inch ZSearch is definitely more sensitive over standard and has good depth that is on par or slightly better than GPZ14 on nuggets up to 8 grams or so (biggest I found at depth and compared during testing). It really shines in hot variable ground with a lot less saturation signal than the 14, which is impressive because you’d expect a smaller coil to saturate more readily. The Ferrite balance is very good. Nuggets a friend got off his old patches last week

There’s good points in the all the replies here, here are few of things I’ve noticed over the years with GPZ. Super D coils have a spacing between the receive windings which does cause a double blip of sorts, BUT that double blip often does not occur so much with non-ferrous targets unless right on the surface. So a clue no matter the speed of the sweep is to listen for the single more mellow high/low signal responses rather than the double blip signals. A brisk coil pace that is varied via good coil control is very helpful in this. The width of a signal is relative to the depth of the signal plus size, so even a small tiny nugget will widen out the further from the coil it is (relative to max range of detection distance). If you were to look at the threshold as a single line with slight variations in the line (bumpy rather than perfectly flat) then a target signal is the change in the pitch and volume of that line as the coil receive gets disturbed by the target as it transitions through the zone. This is why its important to have a good range of controlled motion from the non-target stage leading into the target, peaking at the centre of the target (dead centre of the coil where both receive windings see the target equally) and then slowly returning back to threshold again after completing the tail out movement. A good ‘range of motion’ rule of thumb is the ‘tail out’ movement distance should be about double the distance of the ‘lead in’ movement distance to achieve the full gamut of target information possible. Controlling the coil as carefully as possible (height, tilt, lift and tilt and speed) during this point is very important to manifest edge of detection signals properly. Varying the speed during this process is also very important for comparative purposes because a lot of targets are swing dependant, so long as a good rang of motion is maintained. A good operator soon becomes very proficient in controlling the coil so that the speed, range of motion relative to a suspect target, height of coil relative to localised saturation signal, controlled and even exposure of both receive windings relative to target, understanding the amount of passes that can be achieved before the Tracking G starts degrading target signal, all blend together to provide the best target signal information possible to help make a decision to dig or not. Hope this helps JP PS I’m not an Expert, ‘X’ is an unknown quantity and a spurt is a drip under pressure. 🤣

Had a customer GPZ follow up Training session this morning, so targeted an area with the Zsearch 12"/13" prototype for missed small bits. Managed 2 in old dig holes and one deep flake. Got hot quick though, argh the joys of summer.🥵

One of my most amazing finds, got this one while testing the proto GPZ. 90 gram crystalline piece

Our ground requires Difficult 99% of the time. In Normal things are a bit different signal wise over Difficult, so HY will give more ground signal and more conductive signal but the difference on big gold deep is less profound, whereas in Difficult there is a distinct difference between the two with the cross over being around the 9 to 20 gram range if the nugget is solid and deep, this is most obvious when the depth gets past 14+ inches. As an example I always detect in HY Difficult and get the bulk of the gold in that mode, if the size is up there and there is depth I’ll go over the same ground again in General in the hopes of a chunk. Nuggets found first pass in HY Difficult on a Virgin patch this year Pieces picked up at depth on 2nd pass using General Difficult (note some are small, this is because General runs at the same delay as HY so still has good sensitivity)

Always detect back to your vehicle or start point, I am often amazed by the amount of good nuggets I find within 50 feet of where I park my 4x4. This 26 gram chunk was a good solid broad hit in HY Difficult yet when I checked it in General the signal was more subdued suggesting it was going to be less than 1/2 ounce, got the shock of my life when I threw it on the scales. I’d say the rough exterior made it more of a Fast Time constant target than the weight implied. So a 14 gram morning bonus’d out on a lucky find because I kept the motor running after a long hot session. 😎 Always a nice feeling when they won’t fit in your container. A 40 gram session is always greatly appreciated by the bookkeeper

The Bose headphones are superb especially if you work in timbered country. Most wind noise through trees is low frequency and the QC cuts that noise right out, they are also good if you work in areas where there is a lot of road noise from vehicles etc, but not good if you don’t like surprises when a car drives right up to you and you don’t hear it 🤫 😳 They work very well with the SP01 Enhancer and the B&Z booster, with the GPZ I feel a ‘booster’ is a necessity using the Bose QC NC headphones. I run my volume on 7, Volume Limit on 10 and Threshold 25 then vary the sensitivity to whatever the are I am working can handle. Suggestion: Set the sensitivity early in the session not later on as your ears/brain become accustomed to loud variation and you will not get an accurate idea of how variable the volume of the audio is. I start at 9 and slowly increase from there listening to the general detector behaviour anywhere from 9 to 15 is my general range working in my areas in Difficult. Be aware Normal has much higher volume levels than difficult so it might pay to lower the Main page volume a bit lower for booster use. JP Pics of the 3 ounce ugly duckling nugget I found last year, before and after shots. Pic of a 24 gram slugster found at 2+ feet a few weeks back

Some pics of my now sold crystalline collection. JP Palmer River Crystal piece I found many years ago Enrichment piece, not crystalline but beautiful

Been a while since I posted to this thread, this year has been good for me on the gold front with some nice finds. Theses pics are of some of the pieces I found during testing of the NF coil, I’m now at liberty to show them off on this thread. I’ll be posting up a fair few more pics of gold finds once I get the thread revived. I’ll also include some pictures of what the locations look like as this is sorely lacking this day and age due to secrecy. This thread is not meant to be political, just sharing some of my gold finds for others to enjoy. JP Fern leaf gold, sold this one for AU $150 per gram Nice solid 9+ gram piece found deep on the edge of this gully