Lanny

I certainly was impressed! I wonder if Makro has a PI in the works? Thanks for dropping in, and all the best, Lanny

I know, no photos this time as I left my phone (only camera I had on the trip) in the truck as I wanted no possible interference from the device while I was conducting my test. Thanks for dropping in to say hello, great to hear from you as always, and all the best, Lanny

Indeed the SDC does love small gold. Touché as the French say. In my wish list, I was referring more to the big brothers (SD/GPX) that allow a choice of coils, something that might have made the SDC just that much sweeter. All the best, and thanks for your kind comments about the story, Lanny

Tried out a new detector on Saturday:Due to some unavoidable delays, I finally made it out with my Makro Gold Racer on the weekend to see what it could do.I don't know about where you live, but winter here just didn't want to let go this year. I mean, we had one of the coldest, longest winters we've had in forever, and snow, snow, snow (we're about four feet over the average mountain snowpack at the higher elevations as I write), but Old Man Winter finally took a breather, and so I got a chance to head to the mountains to swing the coil again.The place I picked was one that didn't have a lot of exposed bedrock, just a small section really, with the rest of the ground covered with six to eight feet of overburden on top of the bedrock, and that's just too much overburden for the size of gold I commonly find.As for the weather that day, it was a true mixed bag. I mean this time of year, we can get all four seasons in one day! Saturday was no exception. It rained early in the morning, then the sun came out and it was nice and warm, then it clouded over, started to rain again, then turned to snow, then the wind blew a cold blast of air for about an hour, then the sky turned blue and the sun came out once more, the wind stopped, and the weather did its best spring imitation for the next three hours.I unlimbered the Gold Bug Pro first, and you can't make this stuff up, within three minutes, I'd found a three gram nugget, one my wife said looked sort of like a four-leaf clover. And, Nature indeed had made it look kind of like one. The nugget was sitting in some tough clay that held a lot of former river stones, so it seemed to me that it was likely what used to be the bottom of a crevice long ago, as the surrounding bedrock had been cut down at least a couple of feet by the former placer miners whose actions would have left the sort of deposit I've described.I kept working the exposed bedrock and any places I could find where bedrock had been tossed out in case some gold had ridden out with it. (I have found nuggets this way before.) I really took my time and went slow, because I wanted to be sure I'd cleaned the area before I broke out the Gold Racer so I'd have as accurate a comparison as I could. By the time I'd finished with the Fisher, I'd gathered another gram and a half of small stuff that I'd thrown in the bottle.My wife had wandered off, and I found her panning near the foot of channel wall, but she wasn't having much luck; however, she pointed out something to me that I'd have completely missed. To the north and east of where she'd been panning, there was a short section left of what had been a bedrock drain, and there were small sections of bedrock still exposed that the boulder clay hadn't reclaimed.Nevertheless, I headed back to the original bedrock I'd worked with the Gold Bug Pro, and I broke out the shiny new Makro Gold Racer. The ground balance worked flawlessly, and setting the sensitivity was a breeze. The ground was moderate to a little hot, so I didn't have to worry about adjusting the ISAT, and I was pretty familiar with the types of hot-rocks I'd likely find, so I knew most, if not all, of them by sight. I started by running the coil slowly over the areas I'd hit with the Bug Pro, and after a few sweeps, I had several quiet but distinct signals. When I dug down, the signals got louder. I called by wife over, and she took the dirt with the signals and panned them out. Neither one of us could believe the tiny gold in the pan! The Gold Racer really did deliver on finding small gold. However, the first bedrock area was not where I realized how good the Gold Racer could perform.Remember I mentioned the bedrock drain? I headed over to it with both detectors. First, I scanned the small exposed areas exceptionally carefully with the Bug Pro, and I got a few small pieces, then I ramped up the sensitivity on the machine as far as I could, fought the background chatter, and all in all, liberated about half a gram of gold from the bedrock. I swapped out the Bug Pro for the Gold Racer and covered the same areas again. Almost immediately I had a signal. I couldn't believe it, but the signal was clear, and I could see a previous dig mark where I'd nailed some small stuff with the Bug Pro, and the Racer was giving a crisp signal, quite unmistakable, right in the same dig hole! To make a long story short, three inches of bedrock later, a nice picker was in the bottle! This blew me away, as the Gold Racer had found the target while running nice and quiet, with the sensitivity not ramped up, yet the signal was very clear.I kept at the small sections of bedrock, and kept getting quiet, but clear, signals until I'd added another gram and a half of small gold to the vial. (Sometimes I'd get a break in the threshold too, but when I dug down, the signal either disappeared or it turned out to be a target. [Some heavy iron deposits in the bedrock did give a weak signal, but I soon learned that due to the broad nature of their signature exactly what they were.]) What this weekend's outing made me realize is that if I'd have given the Gold Racer a run the end of last summer, I'd have undoubtedly recovered a lot of small gold, and I do mean a lot, that the Bug Pro just couldn't see (this test was carried out with virtually the same coil sizes on both machines, elliptical shapes and DD's as well), and knowing now what I likely left behind last summer makes me a bit sad. (Out of six grams of gold for the Saturday, a gram and a half was fine stuff from the Gold Racer, and that's a pretty good added portion of gold recovery I'd say.) In fairness to the Gold Bug Pro, let me say this: I've found lots and lots of gold with that great little machine, and it's super easy to learn how to use making for a quick learning curve. In addition, I don't have an unkind word to say about the Fisher as it's paid for itself many, many times over, and I will continue to use it, and I'll continue to train others how to use it as well. Moreover, let me say that the Bug Pro doesn't run at nearly as high a kHz, so it's unfair to compare apples to oranges that way, but I wanted to see what I was leaving behind, that's all. So, I learned my lesson well on Saturday, and I gained a whole lot of respect for the little Gold Racer for how sensitive it is to small gold, how good it punches into the ground to find it, and how quietly it goes about its job of doing so. Furthermore, The Makro is a great little gold machine I can swing all day long, and I'm looking forward to really taking it for a long, dedicated run this summer to add more gold to the poke because it sure gets the job done in style! (How I wish some fine company would produce a light-weight gold-hungry pulse machine with excellent capabilities or that Minelab would find a way to lighten the technology package of their GPZ 7000. Wouldn't that be great?) (I'd like to thank Steve for pointing me in the direction of the Gold Racer, and I'd like to thank Dilek at Makro for her exceptional customer service.)All the best,Lanny

Truly exceptional customer service and Dilek is a uniquely rare treasure in her own right. Thanks Makro!! All the best, Lanny

Interesting information in this thread, thanks. All the best, Lanny

The find of a lifetime, what a rush! All the best, Lanny

Phoenix, fun post! Enjoyed the picture a lot. All the best, Lanny

Condor, Thanks for your informative write-up as I'm always interested in what new tech is being applied to detecting. All the best, Lanny

Great tree! What a dream that would be to wake up to . . . All the best, Lanny

Loved the picture and the wise words! All the best, Lanny

Found this answer for you: When you push down the plunger down, the rack gear on the plunger shaft turns a pinion gear on a magneto (a type of electrical generator) shaft. The current this produces sets off the primer charge, which in turn detonates the dynamite or whatever explosive you happen to be using. All the best, Lanny

That's an incredible find, and it's certainly a unique piece as well. Thanks for posting. All the best, Lanny

I sure don't have one, but that's a great gift for sure. All the best, Lanny

JW, great write-up! All kinds of good information you've shared, lessons learned, aha moments, etc. Great stuff, and thanks for taking the time to post it as well. Sounds like you're having lots of fun learning the detectors and finding the nuggets. All the best, and a Merry Christmas to you as well, Lanny

Lots of good info. in the responses to this post, thanks to those of you that took the time to respond. All the best, Lanny

Absolutely beautiful find! Congratulations. All the best, Lanny

If you can find a local that knows the area and that will let you tag along, invaluable. As others have stated, join some clubs, instant bond with others sharing the same passion plus lots of good people that will likely share some priceless tips once they see you're serious. Oh, and if someone says something like, "If I was going to use this detector for this . . . or if I was going to look in a particular place I'd do this . . . ", pay attention! It doesn't matter how many books you've read or videos you've watched, there's nothing like getting first-hand advice from someone familiar with any particular gold field with any particular recovery method, or with any particular detector. Good luck, and welcome to the passion as you find someone that will give you real-time lessons in the field, Lanny

Good seminal discussion, interested to see what others have to offer on this intriguing post. All the best, Lanny

This is also outside the question, but in relation to the last response about the pan. The last few years I've been in a spot with lots of nuggets (old bedrock workings) where if I'd have taken the time to sift and sort every signal, I'd have recovered far less gold, so I use the plastic gold pan for a "speed" tool. I look at the display when there's a good tone, throw the target material in the pan and keep at it recovering as many possible targets in the time I have available to hunt the old workings. Then, when I need a break, I carefully pan (using a safety pan as well) the material to see what I've recovered. Saves a lot of target separating time and leaves me with a nice catch of nuggets in the poke at the end of the day allowing me to cover far more ground. Oh, and I must add, when nuggets are travelling in crevices, lots of smaller gold drops along with them as well (most of the time, but there have been exceptions), so I also get the benefit of having cleaned crevices to get the nuggets but having the bonus of fine accompanying gold as well. All the best, and I know this is straying from the seed ideas of the post, but I thought I'd share how I've found a plastic pan valuable as I can quickly scan it to ensure the target's made it into the pan as well, Lanny

JW, great to see you posting as well, and I really believe there's a place for a little VLF right alongside any PI. As you've stated tight places, but also light weight, great discrimination, ID display meters, etc. All the best to you and yours as well, and the same to all the rest of you, Lanny

I have found tiny gold with it, and I've found meaty nuggets with it. I've found lots and lots of coins with it, but what I've found is that there's far more to learn about how to truly use all of the features on the 705; there's a lot packed in there. It's not a whack it together from the box and "instantly go" machine when it comes to gold detecting. There's a learning curve for sure, so that's why it's probably not as easy to get started chasing nuggets as it is with the Gold Bug Pro for instance. So, the 705 isn't as user friendly, but it sure can find nuggets. Now, I've not used it in extreme ground, but I don't think that's any VLF's forte, and on another note, the detector could benefit from a signal enhancer to boost the headphone volume as the stock circuit (at least on my machine) doesn't really ramp up the audio to help with those tiny whispers. I love how light it is and the discrimination really works, but you lose considerable depth if you're using the disc circuit to hunt nuggets. I've used it in abandoned placer excavations that were full of bits of bucket, track, and blade shavings where my PI was driving me insane with countless, endless hits, so I used the 705 in discrimination mode and pulled out nuggets that were hiding amid the iron and steel clutter; that was fun as otherwise I'd have just walked away with the PI and been skunked. To review, steeper learning curve than some of the newer VLF's, lower volume output to the headphones, love the light weight, love the discrimination, love how it finds tiny gold, it gets pretty easy to ID annoying hotrocks with it, I can scrub the coil on the ground without falsing, battery life is good, solid coin circuit, Minelab reliability. I read once on another cryptic post that the people at Minelab research had packed far more into the little 705 than was needed to do the job it was marketed for, and I've found that to be true; there's lots of things it will do that are not evident at first look, and I'll confess, I still have no idea of all that it will indeed do, and I'd love to hear and learn more. I haven't really drilled down on the various coils and frequencies (like JP) as I've got the goldpak and have simply used that configuration. I've put rookies on it, and they've found gold with it, but I knew in advance I was in a hot area with good gold, so the chances were good for them to snag a nugget, but at least they understood the basics of the 705 well enough to find the gold and be comfortable using it. All the best, Lanny

Steve, Well said, and as most other contributors have similar ideas, I liked however how you added discrimination to the mix, for when you're detecting dredge tailings or detecting around old mill sites, lots and lots of trash can be present that will drive anyone nuts. As for me, weight and fatigue are factors, so the heavy PI's rule when the heat won't kill you, especially if there's extreme mineralization or if going deep is a prime need, but I'll run along as often as I can with a great VLF, with discrimination and target ID, as my mind is more alert due to less fatigue from not having to lug around a beast all day. I too look forward to the day when there's a great PI that'll do what the best heavy brutes do but all packaged in lighter materials. And wouldn't it be wonderful if it had great discrimination too? All the best, Lanny

Lots of nuggets in your post Doc, and lots of years of hard-won understanding to boot. Thanks for taking the time to post what has been sifted, sorted, and garnered from being in the field and being successful. I too have heard from many people that they can't find a nugget, and I think you've provided the best answer I've heard yet to explain that failure. Sometimes, it just needs to be put into words . . . I'll add one thing that I get tired of all kinds of nugget hunters saying: "The Old Timers/the Chinese got it all." Such a misleading stereotype. I have found so many great nuggets in areas where the Old Timers and the Chinese worked places supposedly to death, that I deliberately spend a lot of time carefully looking where they worked! Those old boys knew how to find gold, and they didn't come close to getting it all. Add to that the fact they had no electronic technology to see into concreted material, to see deep into bedrock cracks, etc. and looking exactly where those argonauts of old found the gold is the perfect place to look especially for beginners, and I'll add something Ray says, "Check the margins of any area they worked" as that has led me to a lot of nuggets as well. All the best, Lanny

Wisdom is applied knowledge. Nicely done Doc! All the best, Lanny