GB_Amateur

Made me look! It says it works for the Fisher Gold Bug but doesn't mention the Teknetics G2, which I realize is a pistol grip (nor the Fisher F19, for that matter, which isn't). 730 g. Hmm. I wish our forum member steveg would make this kind of shaft. I'd rather send my $ to him.

At what value of gain/sensitivity are you experiencing these problems?

Several years ago (25, in fact) I bought some Army Surplus liquid insect repellant which was somewhere in the 60-75% Deet. A nice young woman had just gotten a brand new laptop from her grandfather as a graduation present and she let me use it. After doing whatever it was I needed it for I carefully placed it on a shelf, awaiting her return. A less careful person threw a towel that had been wetted in the Deet on top of the laptop. So much for looking nice (at least it was closed). The Deet started to disolve the plastic. I don't know how dilute you need to get it so this doesn't happen. I've used 25% quite a bit without problems. Since reading about Picaridin here on DetectorProspector.com I've tried it (20% concentrate). It's supposed to be safer.... That's the stuff you put on your clothing (not on your person), and it washes off after a certain number of times going through the laundry, requiring re-application?

Thanks for that, Joe (or whatever you name really is 😄). Brings back a lot of memories and I'm not even talking about the detecting. Do you know if that was a PBS documentary or something by a local TV station? The narrator sounds familiar but I've never lived on the East coast. I did a little math, memorization. It starts by saying "$300k in 6 years, between them". That's $25k/yr apiece. (Later the narrator says $40k/yr each so I assume that just means they got more productive with time.) Presumably that is gross so they still had to pay for equipment, travel (gasoline and auto depreciation). I recall in 1980 I took a job for $22k as a programmer-analyst w/4 years experience. Nothing special about that salary but it was decent at the time. And it wasn't nearly as much fun as they were having. Having to go to the library to search newspapers, magazines, books,... just to identify your finds back then. And without Ebay, etc. it was much more difficult to advertise to the collectors of the specialty items -- e.g. toys and tokens. But of course, less competition in the water and many decades of lost jewelry and coins in undetected waters. For sure, though, they earned it. Had to laugh at the size of their coffees. I bet back then that was the largest size you could buy. Today it's the smallest.

I see metal detecting as having similarities to sports betting. There are disadvantages of being well known as successful. Now if people think you know how to pick stocks (even if you don't!) then there are few downsides. Everything you own you recommend and your followers drive up the price/value -- TYVM! A kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. But back to your request, if someone wants to be known I see no problem with that, either. Anyone who comes here to share knowledge, legend or not, is an asset in my book. Legends presumably have more to share, and Joe (one of several here) has done an excellent job of that.

Thanks for the clarification, Jeff. What surprises me is that the lowest cost and probably best for a newbie (whether s/he's the one making the purchase or borrowing from a seasoned vet) doesn't have a feature that seems like something that would make it easier for someone new to the game to get off on the right foot. I agree that more experienced detectorists (such as yourself) have developed multiple pinpoint methods which they quite possibly prefer. I did a little surfing and found the following comparisons: Garrett Ace Series (originals) 150, 250, 350 -- similar to the Vanquish, the 150 doesn't have a pinpoint feature but the others do. Garrett Ace Series (upgraded) 200, 300, 400 -- same thing -- pinpoint only on the two more expensive / higher end models. Minelab X-Terra (upgraded from 30, 50, 70) 305, 505, 705 -- all three have a pinpoint function. Fisher F11, F22, F44 -- all three have a pinpoint function. I don't know if the X-Terra line can be considered low cost when they were released (in the same ballpark as the other three above, that is). It's been argued that the Vanquish's target (competitor) detector is the Garrett Ace Series so maybe that was Minelab's thinking. Of course they want you to buy a more expensive model. (No need for me to go into that anymore, at least I'll save my typing on this subject.) Definitely understand where you're coming from there, Jeff -- lotta features and performance packed into a low cost product.

So the bottom-of-the-line, most affordable, beginner detector doesn't have a pinpoint function?

Typical multi-century old homestead? Noting that it's still occupied, they didn't stop tossing trash recently just to make it easy to recover the old stuff. I didn't notice anything in his pile that was prior to 20th Century, but you know it's there. Here's a Hoover Boys video where they show more Apex beeping than in the AquaChigger video, and definitely score much nicer finds, although I think only the lead guy (one shooting the video) is using the Apex: Gotta say, I wonder why these guys (both videos) don't just take a grinding wheel on a portable drill out there to ID their finds. (Just to be clear, yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

Were you referring to the same sized coil for this statement (both V10)? Nice hunt, particularly given the thick ground cover.

But way more satisfying. It takes skill to recover those tiny jewelry pieces, even the high conducting silver ones.

How clean do you have to get those scrap metals? And do they just weight what you bring in and give you a fixed per pound price? I've accumulated quite a bit of copper but haven't gotten all the dirt cleaned off/out. For example, some of the tubing, after sitting in the ground for a few decades, is full of soil. Is this a case where you've developed trust with the scrap yard and when you say for example "it's copper", that's enough?

I've found several of those, too, and consistent with yours, most have come out of the hole broken. I never know if I broke them during recovery or if they were that way when I happened upon them. As with your experience, the zinc lids are almost always deteriorated badly enough not to be worth saving. (And I save a lot of junk!) On the Equinox they tend to TID somewhere in the zinc penny to aluminum screw cap range, at least when down 10 inches or so which is where I tend to find them. The digital TID value has always surprised me since they are so large -- I expect higher. I've found them in parks and school yards as well as in the yards of individual (private) residences. I have a feeling people took the loaded jars in their lunchboxes and then, intentionally or not, tossed them out. Kinda the forerunner of aluminum drink cans.

I assume your first picture isn't the one you found but rather a similar one that hasn't been in the ground? That company made several different nail trimmers. I have a lot of hand-me-downs and some that were mine originally. I don't know if they are still in existence. They used to have 'made in USA' or just 'USA' inscribed in them. Eventually not.... Certainly the value of a find varies a lot more than simply the cash value. Memories can be priceless. Good to see that one has special meaning to you. When I go out West detecting I drive my vehicle loaded down with camping, detecting, and other equipment. I decided to try and take at least one thing that either belonged to or was given me by relatives, living and deceased. I have items from three grandparents, my parents, my father-in-law, my mother-in-law, at least two of my uncles, one of my aunts -- all of them are no longer around. It's comforting to remember those who shaped us.

Come on..., well..., oh..., oops. 😅 Tell you what, I'll put the 12"x15" on the Eqx and the Detech Ultimate 13" (round) on the F75 and do some tests in the next couple of days. I have a 5" deep 'copper' Memorial penny and a 6" deep 'nickel' 5 cent piece. I've developed some shims which allow me to accurately & measureably raise the coil off the ground until I reach the depth limit. (My shotgun test stand has some nearby iron bits which need to be removed before I can do extreme depth tests where you're listening for faint signals.) Given the coil equivalency formula I've developed (square root of width times height), trying to compare stock coils (11" round for Eqx and 7"x11" eliptical for F75) doesn't give a very good match. However, square root of 12x15 = 13.4; that's pretty close. Stay tuned.

Steve got it right -- I was referring to the F75's motion "all-metal" (minimally filtered) mode -- a feature the Equinox doesn't have. This is based upon my test station investigation of a coin (now I forget -- should dredge it up -- but think it was a silver dime). In my test setup the ground reads 3 bars on both the F75 and the Fisher Gold Bug Pro. I don't know how the two detectors compare in other (milder or stronger) mineralization. While we're discussing this particular aspect, two other things come up. The F75 also has a non-motion all metal which I think is the same circuit used in pinpoint mode. That is even deeper than motion all-metal, but the signal drifts with time which is why motion all-metal became the standard many years ago. Also, the F75 has what is called "mixed mode" meaning it can run in all-metal and discriminate modes simultaneously. However, that doesn't allow you to squeek out more depth on the discriminate side. As such, not only do you lose digital TID readout for weak/faint signals (just blanks out or shows '--') but also the digital TID becomes unreliable even when the all-metal mode is still going strong. Again, all that is in my 3 bar mineralized ground. I gave the two detectors equal/neutral score for balance. I do agree that ergonomics-wise (balance, but also other features such as the adjustability of the side lobes of the armrest -- something I'm not aware of in any other detector other than its sister Tek T2) that I've never swung a detector like the F75. Early this year I had problems with my left wrist (I swing the detector with my left arm) and modded the Eqx with the ML X-Terra S-shaft and added 0.25 lb counterweight. I did write all that up here and was thankful to shaft maker Steveg for his advice and explanations. Anyway, since doing that my wrist (which suffers from osteo-arthritis, as I since realized) has improved a lot. I doubt that is due to my shaft mods alone (how would I know) but, interestingly I never notice arm or back fatigue anymore on my typical 3-4 hour hunts. Used to be (with all my detectors, if I recall) I had back pain for the next 12-24 hours. Again, it could be a coincidence unrelated to my shaft change but I'm not turning back the mod. 😁 As a result I decided to give the 'balance' category a neutral score.

I've been discussing qualities of Minelab lately (mostly in a negative light) and I decided to step back and ask myself why I use their Equinox 800 almost exclusively. It's worth starting out by saying I'm an old coin hunter (where 'old' is meant to refer to 'coin', although it also applies to 'hunter' 😁) the majority of the time, and and native gold hunter when the opportunity presents itself (not often enough). I've never detected near salt water and only occasionally (in shallow creeks) detected in water. Relics and jewerly aren't ignored but they typically only show up when I'm coin hunting, as peripheral bonuses. I want to emphasize from the beginning that I'm not reviewing/comparing these two for all conditions or even conditions that might apply to the average detectorist. This is all about me, well, about my conditions, particularly my hunting preferences/goals. Although that may seem selfish/uninteresting/unapplicable to readers here, in the least it might get you thinking about how different detectors 'weigh in' for your type of detecting. A Minelab GPX 5000 might be well worth the cost and backbreaking swings for someone, but if it doesn't fit your intended targets and locations then you wasted a couple thousand $ and may not even be maximizing your intended finds. I'll put some more caveats at the end, but basically I've broken this into three parts. The first are some quantitative/qualitative properties that are easily measured/stated. Next are the less quantifiable features/performances that mean the most to me. 3rd I list qualities that I determine are important but for which I don't see a significant advantage for either model based upon my usage. And finally I'll mention some of the things which most comparisons emphasize but for which I don't because..., well, you can read the reasons I give then. For completeness, the Fisher F75 is a 13 kHz single frequency IB/VLF detector whose initial model was released 11-12 years ago. Although I own the F75 limited (Black), I'm instead comparing the F75 plus since it has all the features I use at a lower price. The Minelab Equinox, both a simultaneous multifrequency and selectable multifrquency (5 kHz to 40 kHz) was released early 2018 with two models which continue to be the only ones available. The 800 model has more features. That is the one I own and compare here. One final clarification: in the second section, '++' means a feature/performance which is very important to me, and '+' means important, but less so. I emphasize 'to me'. That is, it might be a small or meaningless difference to many but it matters a lot to me. I suspect many of you have noticed I haven't included such fundamental features as waterproof/submersible and multifrequency/single frequency. The former is because it doesn't affect my hunting requirements. The latter is a bit more complicated. Rather than mentioning operating frequencies, I chose to emphasize the performance features. I don't really care what frequency/frequencies are being used as long as the detector performs (or outperforms) in the categories that matter to me. For example, simultaneous multifrequency improves the accuracy of the TID for deep/weak targets. The Eqx 800 got a ++ there. It should be clear that in the center section, which IMO is the most important, the Eqx 800 clearly outperformed the F75. My preference for the Eqx 800 as my primary and the F75 as my backup is thus justified. Update 1: based upon some questions that follow in this thread, I will do more detailed depth test comparisons to clarify my claim that F75 has more raw depth. I'll report those results in this thread as soon as I finish and will put another update on this post to call attention to it. Update 2: I've done a detailed hybrid (in-ground + air above ground) depth test in my test garden and those results can be found later in this thread. As such I've removed the 'raw depth' line in the above table since it's been superceded in much greater detail in the later post. If interested you should read that.

And you are where? Then you won't mind letting some of us in on the bounty!

I think we can get mesmerized by gold content (purity X weight) and lose site of beauty. IMO that's one good looking ring!

Well stated, Mitchel. Although it's true that one piece of gold removed from a claim is one less piece available for future prospectors, it's also unfortunately a human shortcoming to blame one's poor performance on anyone or anything but where it squarely belongs. Thanks for driving another spike in that vampire's heart.

Did you use surfactant (such as Jet-dry) to break the surface tension? (I'm assuming it's safe to the local environment....) Always good to see gold recovered as long as the planet is respected, whether with the fanciest detector or the simplest pan. Thanks for sharing and I hope your next excursion is just as rewarding, if not more so.

Oh, my bad for tying these two statements together. (WHO = World Health Organization).

Nice milestone! I bet there are more there on your property (maybe even a silver dime), so keep hunting. Definitely don't clean that. It looks better than > 90% of the Wheats I find. This is exactly what coin collectors like to see (even though this one has very little numismatic value) -- natural toning. It's the green scale buildup that deserves work. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just keep up your detecting and you soon will.

Well done! Palladium (a member of the Platinum Group Metals = PGM) has been above $2000/ozt most of the year with a high of around $2800 before the Virus took hold. Even right now it's value is still higher than gold. Will be interested in the weights you get after getting home from vacation. Always good to make such finds when still in early learning mode -- gives you a lot of confidence. In the meantime, you've obviously found a detector's garden spot so make the most of your time remaining there and show us even more loot!

Sounds like a good choice. Nokta Makro's predecessor to the Gold Kruzer was the Gold Racer. Steve H. wrote this one up based on his own experience, and he had input to the designers/manufacturers on its features. I think it was the first detector in the 40-70 kHz region that was actually successful at finding coins on a consistent basis. So it's basically a gold detector that will still find coins. If you were primarily going to use it for coins there are probably many better choices in your price range, but for a detector whose primary purpose is gold, probably not. Have fun with your new toy, and don't forget to read the manual multiple times!

Maybe, but what you've posted looks exactly like what you get when you go through their webpage and click on the main icons. I haven't checked the Ebay new prices in a few weeks, but I sure hope it doesn't cost $899 for an F19, for example. Yes, it says MSRP but you could get that detector new for $449 a few weeks ago on Ebay. May have been the end of a sale, though. Updated 26 June: Serious_Detecting (EBay store) has new F19 w/5"x10" coil for $449 with free shipping (in USA). Show_Me_Treasure has Buy-It-Now pricing with free shipping in USA on two used F19's, one with 5"x10" (mfr date Nov 2019) for $325 and one with 7"x11" (mfr date Aug 2019) for $297. Anyone wanting a Bounty Hunter Time Ranger Pro -- same detector, with 7"x11", new for $399 including shipping(?) -- might want to take a look at the used market. I don't think First Texas transfers warranty on most models so that is something to be considered, however.