blackjack

Off topic maybe, maybe not, it is quite amusing to see a lot of people trying to workout where that nugget came from, what is everyone going to do start a rush. Kiwi's have a great sense of humor, I've seen that guy on a comedy series here in Aus. but can't place him. You could bunch Aussie, Kiwi and Pommie humor together, can't separate them. Sorry but the Yanks aren't in the same class. Having said that, as individual comedians the Yanks win hands down. Funny that he's blaming Australia, we just haven't been forgiven for that underarm incident. I get it we have the same problem of being left off the map here in Tasmania. Will the last person to leave New Zealand please turn off the lights.

I don't nugget hunt at night, we have some nasty snakes. Granted you may get mauled by a Kea or pecked to death by a Kiwi !

Life is full of irony, and it's a small world as you and I know, but as Steven Wright once said, ' it's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it !' I do like to quote comedians and before long you may hear me quote George Carlin as well, I will try not to repeat myself, but that's called getting old, given enough time people hear us repeat stories, and each time they may get a different version !

Yeah clicked the wrong button, Nice, that photo of 'The spa' pool is spectacular. Did you mean Crawley boathouse on Mounts Bay rd. near the University. I know it well I grew up nearby.

Nice that photo

P.I. machines have been around since 1995, to my knowledge. The latest generation of VLF's are just as sensitive on small gold, more sensitive than older generation P.I.'s from what others say, and have their place in shallow ground as well as having far better discrimination. In the perfect world a P.I. machine as well as a VLF would be what you need, there are times when a VLF can be used. But we don't live in a perfect world, well at least I don't and there's one factor no one on this forum seems to consider, cost. The cheapest P.I. machine I would consider is the SDC2300 if my budget allowed, but at $4,500 au I can't justify the cost, maybe if I lived on a gold field. A quick glance at my gear will tell you that I use a nox 800 $1050 au on special last winter. It does handle mineralized ground pretty well for a VLF, at least the ground I've used it on, Western Australia and here in Tasmania were some ground has so many hot hotrocks that you need to notch discriminate, 11- 16 or some variations of that range, so it's versatile. For those of us on a budget it's the only way we can get out and nugget shoot. Please correct me if I'm wrong Gold Catcher but it seems your only VLF is a GM 1000, a great switch and go machine, based on what others have said, but you could do better in my opinion which may have you look at VLF's differently. I don't want to start a debate P.I.'s vs VLF's for gold hunting, in clean, mineralized ground we all know the answer.

Hey man more interesting finds the tobacco tin is in really good nick, low rainfall no rust ? those stars must drive everyone nuts, I haven't come across them in Australia. Is the pick usable, if you put a handle on it ? Two crevices packed with 'junk' and no gold, just goes to show how rare it is. My sniping has been limited to mainly one river and being a remote location we rarely come across man made stuff, in fact never so far. Levi from 'Tassie Boys Prospecting' works the same river and although I don't watch his videos, I do skim them. He puts in far more water time than than us, but I don't recall him finding relics either. So I can't compare but I would of thought lots of heavies including lead, there would of been some gold. One thing that in our limited experience and Levi has mentioned it as well, is the type of bedrock, where there is tillite and therefore a rough, course, bedrock there is gold, provided it's a suitable low pressure zone. But we do encounter another type of bedrock that erodes to a smooth surface and does tend to have less crevices but even when you find a likely crevice there's rarely any gold, even in a classic low pressure zone. what are your experiences regarding bedrock. Just to round of the man made/relic thing, when I first started detecting in some very remote locations in W.A. I naively thought that I was the first person there until I found a match box or boot horse shoe. The old timers were every were. In a desert location has anyone come across a three rut track, I followed one for miles and couldn't work it out until I was watching a cowboy movie.

Hey man that's quite an adventure. Really bad luck to get that sick on holidays, was the bleeding caused by the food poisoning ? Sounds like you made the best of it. I haven't been to Karijini, but been to Paraburdoo, I would like to see some pics, why don't you post some, not gold but gold country, I'm sure people would be interested. It's one thing I miss living in Tasmania red dirt desert country. I'm heading to Tibooburra in far N/W N.S.W. next winter to escape the cold, it's been on my bucket list for years.

Yeah you said you got medivacced nothing to serious I hope. So clearly I know enough about computers to get myself into trouble, so I need to ask, the rest of you can have chuckle at my expense. when I open that file at my end it gives access to my computer, tell me I haven't opened my desk top to the world. I'm going to have a hard time explaining it to my wife, maybe I just won't tell her. The Axiom is pricey here $ 7,385 au.

Hey mate, interesting to here the history behind sniping I figured that may of been the case, same thing happened in Tasmania with dredging, only thing, when they stopped, it didn't lead to sniping. It's a pretty new thing here. May is a great time to do the trip you did, shame you couldn't come back through Meekatharra. Platypus, we had a visitor to our camp I'll send the video, but I'm tech dumb, hopefully you will get it 20210416_215407 (1).zip 20210416_215407 (1).zip

I was thinking the same, must have become world wide because I'm in Australia !

Great Information Lunk, Thanks for taking the time to relay it to us. You did say you didn't test depth or weight, just doing a comparison but can you give us a guess at how small a piece these detectors are able to pick up, say at 1"

Yes mate I wouldn't want to live in a city again, my wife and I have been in the country for 40years now, the last 25 here in Tasmania we have gone to the next level, 50 acres and we can't see our neighbours, but they are good people all the same, we don't lock our doors my shed doors don't even have locks and the keys are left in the car. The birds are a bit noisy in the morning though !

Despite the well meaning solutions put forward, I think Smigo is perplexed by Garretts attitude, Garrett recommending fabricating a skid plate is silly to say the least. Sorry I'm still behind the parapet !

God bless America land of the free, and I'm not being sarcastic, I honestly mean it. Especially when you consider the Nanny state that Australia has become. But although I really believe the U.SA. is the land of the free, I'm with you Reg, they just don't get irony. Too late I've already ducked behind the parapet to avoid the return fire.

Finally to add to what Phrunt said as well as my previous thoughts, when recently, I was considering a new waterproof detector it was this forum that I looked to for 'guidance' not face book or youtube, lets hope that forums like this can continue to stay relevant and provide a trusted source of information, but as with all information, a filter is required. Combined knowledge not ego and opinion.

100% what phrunt said .

I can relate to the youtube, facebook thing. It's the younger generations go to. I'm old but not an old fart, I don't have a face book a/c but I do watch a little youtube, but I filter it. I apologize in advance but I do like to illustrate my points so if you are young with an attention span to match stop reading now. I recently hooked up with two young guys half my age, they were interested in looking for gold, in particular sniping as they were 'following' a well known youtuber that operates with considerable success down here in Tasmania. I told them I knew which river he was operating in even though he never mentions locations, I recognized it from one of his videos. We went there and last summer, had a really good season, we even ran into the youtuber on the river even though it's a remote location. So the partnership has been good for all of us, I fast tracked them onto gold and they gave me the opportunity to do some sniping in remote locations in company. They are great guys and we get on well, but you would think after what I described above and considering my age and experience I would have gained some credibility. No they get all there information from facebook and youtube, if it's on youtube it's true, they are intelligent guys but when it comes to social media they just don't seem to have a bullshit filter. I've been detecting for 45 years, one of my partners decided to buy a detector based on a youtube recomendation. I advised him that with out notch discrimination and the high frequency that it ran at, in highly mineralized ground he may have some problems. He pointed out that it ran fine on youtube, I pointed out that the youtuber was running in pipeclay soil with no mineralization, I was ignored, the result is that its not useable in our highly mineralized soils. This the reality of todays marketing strategies and this is why Garrett are focused on facebook. As a former CEO of face book quoted 'we have completely rewired their brains so that they reject reality and embrace tribalism' tribalism in this case being facebook.

California looks pretty cool sniping rivers and desert and some nice looking gold

Hey Deep Beeps, Yes I was joking about the flies and heat, definitely something I don't miss about the mainland, I grew up in W.A moved to Tasmania when I was in my mid forties, 20 odd years ago, so I know it pretty well, I started detecting over there in the mid seventies. Small world, you mentioned Karijini NP my first big trip metal detecting was to a place just S/W of there called Top Camp on Fords creek a tributary of the Ashburton River in the mid seventies with my dad, we were the first in there with state of the art Garrett Groundhogs We started sniping late summer before the last, last summer was our first full season, so summer is the best time. Winter is too cold and the rivers have too much flow so you are limited to smaller creeks if you can brave the cold the water in winter can get down to 2 degrees centigrade [ 36 fahrenheit] Summer is about 12-14 c. We work the same river as Levi and have bumped into him on the river a couple of times much to his surprise, it's all pretty low key and secretive over here, everyone's staying tight lipped, about locations. As a sniper you would know how easy it is to work out an area. At the moment are waiting for the river levels and flow to come down. We had some big floods last winter and are curious to see if there's been any replenishment to the areas we cleaned out last summer. See my post in Tasmania's Largest Nuggets on this forum for some pics, if you are interested. Keep your crevice hook sharp and stay safe.

So I may be in an odd place as a Equinox 800 user, but my main use is nugget shooting, with a bit of relic hunting just to swing a detector. I needed a waterproof machine, but really only water resistant, in fact I sold my Excalibur II to buy the nox so I'm not interested a submersible just something that can handle a dunking when I take a spill on the kayak. Unless the new 900 is better on gold than the 800 then at $500 au cheaper the 800 is better value to me. Okay the 6" coil cost me $200 au but that is offset by the fact that the 800 came with the WM08 module. I can live without the telescopic shaft. Swings and roundabouts. Phrunt has addressed this I'm just giving another perspective. As to faulty ears well it may be a case of famous last words, but I use a pick to dig and move rocks not the coil.

Spot on Chuck I bought an equinox 800 4 months ago, added the 6" coil and would like to have a telescopic shaft, as well as having more confidence in it's waterproof abilities. Sound's like the 900 ! Whilst Minelab are in the detector business, would it be too obvious to observe that they are in the money making business a little more. Us minions will never outguess big business, buy the 900 and be happy for new buyers when Minelab supersede it, as I am for you.

You both make valid points, targets are missed, case in point is The Leonora specking patch, its been throwing up gold for 45+ years. But when you hear from a reliable source [not youtube] that has gone over ground thoroughly with new technology and found gold each time they use the 'improved' version you have to also acknowledge that the technology is indeed improving. Especially when the targets are getting smaller and deeper. When GPS technology improves to the point of being mm. [or inch] perfect we will see the end of missed targets. I for one hope that never happens

Interesting topic it seems that California has similar rules to Tasmania. Rules are in place for the minority that given a free hand will trash the environment. For the rest of us this is an unfortunate fact we must live with. Tasmania allows river sluices to be used, but when there is no flow doesn't allow the use of a battery powered bilge pump. Like politics we are catering to the lowest common denominator.

That's funny !