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Gaustad18

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location:
    Scottsdale, Arizona
  • Interests:
    Meteorite hunting and metal detecting.
  • Gear In Use:
    Fisher Gold Bug 2

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  1. Good luck! I was just there a couple of weekends ago along with DolanDave. We found a few chondrites and irons. Weather looks nice this week.
  2. Hope someone finds a piece of this! The only discouraging thing here is the terrain. Heavily wooded areas with lots of snow. But there's still a chance. This is also the first radar-witnessed fall in Maine, which is pretty cool.
  3. Hey Phrunt, a couple more options just came up for me. A friend of mine may be selling his 4500, and I could get a good deal on it. There's also a nice 4500 on ebay that is at a good price too. I would save a decent chunk of change here by getting the 4500 over the 5000. In your experience, how would you compare these 2 detectors? I know the 5000 has some additional soil settings, but how does the 4500 truly stack up against it? Do both machines run fine in hotter ground?
  4. I really appreciate all of the comments so far. Lots of great information here. And thank you Steve for detailing the differences between the 2 detectors. For right now, I think I will go ahead and keep looking for a used GPX5000, as the cost makes more sense for my situation. It will be a good starting point for my first PI machine, and I can always upgrade later on to the 6000. I know that the 5000 comes along with more attachments and will be a little difficult to configure the settings, but I'm sure I can get the hang of it and can always ask more detailed questions in the future here on the forum. I've already learned a lot here so thank you everyone!
  5. I appreciate all of the information! For meteorites, the sizes depend. The smallest ones I have found detecting are around a gram, but that one was pure iron, so it made the GB2 scream. I assume that if the GB2 could pick that up, then it would also be pretty loud on a PI machine. There are a lot of small irons at Franconia, along with stony chondrites. The chondrites contain a lot of nickel and iron so they set off the GB2 as well. The largest chondrite I found was right on the surface, weighing 16 grams. I may make a post about this trip on the Meteorite hunting forum because it was a lot of fun and I was glad to have some success.
  6. Does not appear to be a meteorite, or carbonaceous chondrite, at that. CCs are very rare, they make up less than 5% of all meteorite falls. The rounded holes in your rock may appear like regmaglypts, but they don't match up from the ones seen in meteorites, and the rock seems to be water-worn. I agree with Hardtimehermit that it's probably some sort of river rock.
  7. I've been researching the Minelab detectors and I would like to make a sizeable upgrade from my VLF detector (GB2). I would like to own a new PI detector that can handle hot ground better than the VLF machines can. I should first point out that I will mainly be using the detector for hunting meteorites, but I foresee myself hunting for gold in the coming years as well. Currently there is the great deal going on with the 6000 for $4500. I have also been looking at the GPX 5000 as it can be found used for around $2000-$2500 on ebay. I've read a lot of posts saying that the GPX 5000 is a good all around detector and can handle hot, mineralized ground quite well. On the other hand, there have also been great reviews on the 6000 for finding small gold, and the ease of use and lighter weight is very attractive as well. Just wanted to ask what you guys think the better option is for handling hot, mineralized ground, as that would be the primary ground I would be hunting starting out. I'm leaning towards the 6000, but I've heard that it can have issues with hot ground, and if that's the case, then I might just want to get a used 5000 at first, and then I can always upgrade to the 6000 in the future... My main considerations are cost and handling hot ground. I can deal with the heavier weight that the 5000 brings but if the 6000 truly is leagues ahead of the 5000, then I will probably go with the 6000.
  8. Thank you for the tips, Aureous. I will try this out on my hunt next weekend. The chondrites really zip on this machine, so I'm still trying to figure out how to really tune in to their unique sound. I think reducing the sensitivity a bit will help a lot as well.
  9. I know that this thread is 10 years old, but there is a lot of excellent information on the Gold Bug 2 here! I'm still in the learning curve part of this machine and have been frustrated with how noisy it is. I will slow things down and I think that will make a huge difference.
  10. Hey guys, I have been using my Gold Bug 2 out in Franconia, Arizona, mainly for hunting meteorites. I have found a few small pieces there and am really enjoying this machine, as it is extremely sensitive and screams when it goes over a chondrite. With that being said, I am still a beginner with this machine and would like to ask for advice when dealing with hot ground and hot rocks. There are tons of hot basalt rocks, ironstones, and other hot rocks at Franconia, which makes for very noisy hunts. It gets frustrating as I start out because my machine seems to pick up everything and it's tough to differentiate what the sounds are sometimes. Do you guys have any tips or suggestions for the best settings to use for this machine, and what coil size is best? I am currently using the 10" coil, I feel like this gives me some more coverage than the 6.5." The settings I use when at Franconia are as follows: -Sensitivity and volume: 10 -I ground balance the machine every hour or so as I am hunting, pretty easy to do on this machine. -I don't use the iron disc mode or the audio boost. The meteorites I am looking for contain a lot of nickel and iron so I'm not sure if these settings would help me or hurt me. -I keep the default setting for mineralization. I have gotten better with detecting and have heard great reviews of this machine. It is noisy on hot ground, but when I do swing over a meteorite, or even trash, foil, bullets, wire, it screams. Would like to hear what y'all would suggest and some settings that could be modified for using in hot ground. -A.J.
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