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Overall I like your approach (and review) -- no drama! I see you are in Florida (looked up Cocoa Beach -- halfway up penninsula on the Atlantic coast, to save others like me who want a drone's eye view 😁). Thus your depth and 'sensitivity at depth' reflect that. One thing which might be a typo: Equinox 5 lbs? How about ~3 lb w/11" coil. Even with the 12"x15" coil (which at present has no comparison with the Deus 2) it's more like 3 1/3 lb. (That coil is 170 g heavier than the 11" when both are outfitted with scuff covers.) But Deus 2 is lighter? No issue on the qualitative result. For water detectorists it looked from the start (before the first detectors was in a reviewers hands) that the Deus 2 was going to be the clear choice. The Minelab Excaibur was possibly the bigger bullseye than the Equinox. You (and others) are confirming the beach and water features and performance that XP advertised. For land detectorists who don't have the pristine low ferromagnetic mineralized ground, the jury is still out, IMO. I look forward to objective reviews such as yours by more landlubbers.

It was mentioned to use GPR, which may be in the right direction, but yes expensive. another ought would be LIDAR, which can be attached to drones and used to find bedrock deposits. Priced range from $250 and up to (beyond my price range). Auto makers are starting to install in vehicles for crash protection, apple has an app, the US gov has a web page that already has many areas surveyed (free) https://www.lidarusa.com/products.html https://www.microdrones.com/en/content/drone-lidar-in-mining-go-with-the-workflow https://spectrum.ieee.org/sweep-lidar-for-robots-and-drones

I owned USdronerepair and for 3 years modified DJI drones to not fly away by increasing the gain of the GPS module and remedying the onboard cross talk and EMI. I kind of single handedly transformed the consumer drone industry. I have some experience and unfortunately sometimes think too big, detectors are a whole different ballgame and require much more software implementation and this is something I have nearly zero experience with.

Is there anyone on here that use a Drone to survey the area you plan on nugget hunting are coin hunting ? I was thinking about getting one to look over land that has a lot of trees that could have a old home site you can't see from the road. I'll let you know up front I don't go where I don't belong. If I do find something of interest then I'll spend the time looking for the owner. Drones are like detectors and that is just how much money you want to spend. Chuck

Beach hunt # 21 was the post storm hunt I was really looking forward to. I watched a couple of videos from the storm hitting some beaches, and it was impressive watching all the wave and wind action. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the beach I wanted to hunt, I saw zero damage to the beach. ZERO. 😩 So, I tried the Equinox hoping that some small gold may have been exposed from some storm action. No go on that either. The upper beach area that I did so well on this past Friday, was completely snowed in. The tides never reached that area, so I wandered around wasting a lot of time with the EQ. Finally, some form of common sense entered my brain 😄 and I packed it up and left for my back up beach. Now, with about 2 hours left to hunt, I hit a decent amount of clad, some very big and deep lead, a drone, and what I think is a solar rechargeable pathway light. I barely managed to get that one silver dime pictured, but I was really happy to see it. Fairly cold at 19 degrees when I started but warmed up to a bit over 30 by midday. I also managed to rip my waders (they were cheap ones anyways) and just dodged a seagull dropping a clam on the shore to crack it open. Landed about 5 feet from me. Man, them things come down hard. Kind of a funny day in an odd way. 😶 Not what I expected by a long shot, but still nice to get out detecting.

That's the kind of no nonesense marketing I like to see. A big thumbs up to Detech for this video. I would like to see a drone shot of the entire 'lineup' but that's just the last knife-full of icing on the cake. I really appreciate the 3rd party aftermarket coil manufacturers, particularly the ones that make coils for a wide range of detectors (besides Detech, Mars and Nel/Cors come to mind -- all Eastern European companies with manufacturing done there?). And hats off to detector manufacturers who allow and cooperate with these 3rd party aftermarket companies. Options, you can't have too many options....

I ran large gauge wires directly from my battery (put a 10amp circuit breaker on the battery for it first) to a separate marine grade female cigarette lighter plug with a cap into my truck cab to cleanly power and charge my higher amp accessories like my portable fridge, HAM and CB radios, and my detector, drone and camera battery chargers. The system works really well and there’s no issues with it shutting off with the ignition.

The last drone video was over Ballarat Hill next to Vaughan township. Wedgetail Eagles are locals, spotted a while ago so I know they live in the area. All jokes aside they are local wildlife and they do not like drones. They are protected and numbers have been increasing, I do check before flying and have had to abort flights because they are hovering about. I just keep the drone on the ground and reach for the DSLR with a telephoto lens and enjoy having them around. Beautiful big birds with a bit of attitude..

No Wedgies either, I hope! It certainly looks like you’re in the right type of habitat for them. You’re getting a lot of use out of your drone for reconnaissance, very nicely done!

Just including an updated version of an older drone video, flying over another goldfield trying to identify private and public land boundaries before swinging the detector. The hole in the hillside were on private land, so I flew over for a closer look whilst staying on the public side of the fence.. no livestock, farm house or farmer with 12g..

I'm using a DJI Mavic Air, video set at Auto at 1080P 60fps with an ND filter fitted most of the time. I use an Ipad Mini mated to the controller, the Ipad serves as a digital map and satnav when out on foot away from the car. Usually in the car is a pelican style case for the drone with everything I need. Compact and versatile with decent video output it perfroms well for me. I have four battery packs for the drone and can recharge in the car, but four is plenty for a normal weekend away. Got to the stage I even do a quick fly over when picking out a spot to pitch my tent, it has found me a very nice camping location complete with a great fishing and prospecting. The day will come when these gadgets deliver pizza..

GotAU I am lucky that in Victoria a lot of historical maps and information has been digitized, so is fully available to the public. Lots of information to research areas, perhaps too much at times. My method is to identify an area of interest, locate and reseach reports and maps etc. I print out a topographic map, identify private and public land. Make sure I am not on a working or active mining claim. Make sure I am permitted to prospect in the area and go from there. Google Earth research to identify points of interest within the area, followed by drone flights and putting on a pair of good boots. At all times I update my printed map using an old school pencil. Many times on my walks I spot broken pottery or glass, bricks or other bits and pieces that tell me there has been a camp, test holes and other indicators that I should start detecting. The old map I included with the Google Earth image highlights areas with reefs and shafts, granite and alluvium. Just part of a detailed process involved in narrowing down areas of interest. Finding 'shallow ground' with nuggetty gold is one thing but narrowing the search from 'excavator shallow' to 'small coil shallow' is for me the real challenge. A complex but enjoyable process, I suspect many more experienced prospectors instinctively know what ground is of interest. By instintively I mean hundreds of hours of research and hundreds more of real world experience..

Great video Karelian! Thanks. What type of drone do you use? Video quality is great!

Just keep your 'cotton picking' drone out of my spots. At about the two minute mark I can clearly see where I worked four different patches, one in the company of JR Beatty, which yielded over a hundred bits. The land owners were on percentage All of that lower country is private property, and if an eagle doesn't get your drone a 12 gauge just might. (just kidding) Fence jumpers not welcome.

What fun, and a pretty place too! Looks like there could be some places one should test or detect there, and that name- “Nuggetty Hill”. What is the prospecting history there? As for a drone being helpful for prospecting, I agree. Used mine before to see if there was any exposed float on a hillside above me, it worked well. And you could attach one of those high tech $5K super long distance gold spears to your drone too, who knows what it may point to flying over Nuggetty Hill again! 😉

I watched that vid yesterday ! Nice drone truck ...you could hover over a spot and blow away everything except the nuggets ! Make yer boots last longer too.. I want to know where those jet packs they promised everybody would have back in the 60s are being hidden !

I made this 12v 35Ah (420Wh) portable power battery with left over parts, but you can do it for $100 to $250, depending on options you want, such as solar charging, vehicle charging vs. 120v charging, adding a 120v power inverter, etc. When fully charged, it runs our refrigerator for a day and could provide about 6-8 charges for GPX-6000 batteries without drawing it down too low. The battery is based on a low cost 12v 35Ah deep cycle gel cell made for mobility scooters and trolling motors like this: ML35-12 - 12 Volt 35 AH SLA Battery- Mighty Max Battery Brand Product https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K8V2VD0/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_5R2WR55KHZYEF1202G21 The Renogy 20amp DC-DC battery charger lets us charge it from solar panels and from our truck batteries- it will automatically charge when the truck is running too: Renogy 20A DC to DC On-Board Battery Charger Flooded, Gel, AGM, and Lithium Batteries Using Multi-stage Charging https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q5VYPCF/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_YD8N92AHJP683K2SA7HH?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 The case is a $9 HF plastic ammo box with a built-in handy cover storage area for cables, connectors, etc. I cut about 1/3 off the side of the tray and used it to mount the switch panel and 12v and USB charging plugs to: https://www.harborfreight.com/tactical-ammoutility-box-64113.html And I added a switch, voltage meter, USB power plugs and a cigarette lighter plug port like this to it: Linkstyle 4 in 1 Charger Socket... Linkstyle 4 in 1 Charger Socket Panel, 12V 4.2A Dual USB Charger Socket Power Outlet & LED Voltmeter & Cigarette Lighter Socket & LED Lighted ON Off Rocker Toggle Switch for Car Marine Boat RV Truck https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JHH5YP4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_H1ADSMJJS3CJ91M7JEBS Also adding a 13.8v step up transformer to run my refrigerator and drone charger as they are designed for slightly higher voltage than the 12v a automotive battery provides after the engine turns off: DC-DC Boost Module 9-12v to 13.8V... DC-DC Boost Module 9-14V to 13.8V 10A 138Wmax Power Supply Converter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AW1JKO8?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share This project is in progress still (adding fuses and additional plugs) so I can send more info to the build, including how to make just the basic version with the parts listed above and just a few more. Just PM me if interested. -Anthony

I don’t have a GPX-6000 (yet), so I was going by what both Rob and Jerry said about it’s rating, it looks like Rob is advertising that battery as 100Wh. I was a bit surprised about that because it would be a pretty large lithium battery (My drone batteries are 60Wh and they are twice the size of a 6000 battery). So if it were true, that 500Wh Jackery of yours would not last five charges because you wouldn’t want to run it down to zero. 25% is a good stopping point which would only give you about four charges if it was truly a 100Wh battery and about twice that if it has a 42Wh battery rating. 42Wh does make more sense, what is the output voltage of it?

I have. I'm originally from the American Southwest (Nevada/Arizona area) and we often used drones to scout vast areas for quartz float. It was much easier than walking a few hundred yards up and over gullies/gulches to see the same thing we could see from a drone in about 60 seconds. Very effective tool IMO. -Bryan Alaska Mining & Diving Supply 907-277-1741

The importance of using a good quality metal detector suitable for prospecting has been widely explored in great detail. The introduction of the GPX 6000 highlights the gains in technology and thank goodness, ergonomics. Weight and Balance, at last. Matched by performance and cutting edge technology.. The one fact remains that at the end of the day the key is to get the coil over the gold. Some truly magnificent gold that has been found, could have been detected by any half decent prospecting machine. Still we should invest in quality and the new Minelab sounds superb. We need to utilize every tool at our disposal. Often after extensive research, Google Earth images, maps, books and word of mouth can all lead us to a certain goldfields. When we arrive there is a lot of suitable ground to explore. Perhaps too much ground and not enough time to give it the attention it deserves.. In an effort to narrow the search I have started to use a drone when exploring a new area. It allows me to gain perspective, to more clearly focus on areas and features of interest. When the terrain allows it, this will same me a lot of time and increase my odds of putting a coil over a target. Viewed from the ground vegetation can mask features which kind of pop up when viewed from the air, the drone allows me to focus on a smaller area of interest.

Now if they can adapt that to my 800 I'm sure that I could find some gold somewhere. Thanks for sharing this new detector article, it is interesting and sounds familiar to something else I have read about. The other article was using a drone I believe, and this just takes it a step further.

This is a topic relevant to every(?) form of detecting -- ground coverage. I'll list several questions concerns I've had but any replies of course aren't limited to these, nor do they need to address any of them. Just tossing out some ideas to prompt further discussion. 1) What methods and efforts do you apply to ensure full ground coverage in the cases where that is one of your goals? 2) Is your sweep a straight line path or an arc? 3) How long is your sweep? 4) How much do you overlap consecutive sweeps in the direction you walk? 5) How much do you overlap side-to-side swings when following parallel paths (e.g. when walking two side-by-side swaths in the same direction how much does the left end of one path overlap the right end of the next path or vice-versa)? 6) Have you ever measured your coverage? How well do detectors with GPS (e.g. Minelab GPZ-7000 and Minelab CTX-3030) monitor ground coverage to this detail? Have you used other devices to measure ground coverage. E.g. I can imagine a drone with camera could provide useful data. Are there smartphones app that would help quantify coverage?

The audio is pretty unique on the Tarsacci, actually. Not like any I have heard on another detector. Mixed mode is pretty cool when you have applied ferrous or ferrous + notch discrimination. Salt balancing is a little tricky. I'll definitely be down for a few visits between now and fall, if nothing else than to just enjoy the scenery and some of your coffee and perhaps some drone video flyovers to plan for next fall. That Brown Bess butt plate was a fantastic find.

GB, I know that you helped my grandfather with his 800, now I am also learning it so that it won't be left in the corner. Just tossing out some ideas to prompt further discussion. 1) What methods and efforts do you apply to ensure full ground coverage in the cases where that is one of your goals? Every time I go out I take a cooler full of beverages to stay hydrated and begin. I take the first beer out and drink it real fast so I can get going to the area. 2) Is your sweep a straight line path or an arc? I first start out with a straight line, but after about the 3 beer it starts to go to the right for some reason. 3) How long is your sweep? I will start to turn back to the starting point after about the 5th beer just to make it a good day covering a lot of area. 4) How much do you overlap consecutive sweeps in the direction you walk? Well that really depends if I am on my 6th or 7th beer by then. 5) How much do you overlap side-to-side swings when following parallel paths (e.g. when walking two side-by-side swaths in the same direction how much does the left end of one path overlap the right end of the next path or vice-versa)? By this time I really don't care to much about overlapping where I have been, because I am enjoying the detecting so much and a few more beers. 6) Have you ever measured your coverage? I tried to do that but somewhere I lost my 1 foot ruler that I had in my back pocket after getting another beer. How well do detectors with GPS (e.g. Minelab GPZ-7000 and Minelab CTX-3030) monitor ground coverage to this detail? I have not used any such device such as that, but have kept an accurate map of where I laid those empty cans. Have you used other devices to measure ground coverage. E.g. I can imagine a drone with camera could provide useful data. I save my money for more important supplies like beer, who needs a drone. Are there smartphones app that would help quantify coverage? With an 800 you don't want to use a phone near it to cause interference. Besides I can't answer the phone when I'm on my last beer. I hope that you don't get upset on the way I have answered these tough questions, and some day maybe we can meet up and have a beer together. Maybe go on a quick hunt as I have a good cooler that holds plenty of ice cold soda and water.

This is a very cheap IR camera I found even cheaper on sale and decided I needed to figure out how to use thermal imagery in prospecting somehow, in mostly as yet to be determined ways. It wouldn't be good for a drone since no remote control, but it's an inexpensive intro thermal camera to learn with for anyone looking to dabble. You can see it's sensitive enough to see the heat left behind by my foot on the floor after I lifted my foot. The main experiment I want to try this summer is to look for large nephrite jade boulders buried in alluvium. Theory being the jade boulders retain heat longer than the soil. Or maybe vice versa depending on material and water content of the ground. Hoping a large boulder buried just out of sight will leave a subtle heat signature at the top of the ground such as you can see with the faint heat left behind by my foot.