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With the 1st big weekend of the year coming, many new eager Nugget Hunters are wanting to get out in the field. Some of you don’t have a seasoned Nugget Hunting friend to help you learn the ropes. Since my Field Staff and I offer detector training, we see the many mistakes some folks make. I’ll try to give some Field Knowledge and info to possibly help make your adventures more golden. Anyone who has good advice, please chime in. These are some of the items I recommend. I’ll mention detector technology type afterwards as my staff/I use different tools for the varying machines. Knee Pads - If running VLF detector, Knee pads and preferably ones with no metal. I’m at the point now that I personally don’t use them because I have pants that were designed to hold knee pads. I have Duluth brand but now there are many and including Military BDU pants with knee pad sleeves built into the knees. Footwear - Non Metal Boots or Hiking Shoes. This is especially needed if you swing a bigger powerful type detector (GPZ-7000, GPX-5000 or below). The new GPX-6000 is not as bad and some regular boots/shoes are OK, but you’ll learn how to walk without getting the feet to close. As for my preference of footwear, I have Danner Slip on non metal boots and Merrell Hikers. Magnet - Strong Rare Earth Super Magnet. This little tool is so important in fast recovery and or identification of targets. Many folks have no clue why we want a good strong magnet. I myself keep the magnet on my metal pick at all times. Non Metal Recovery Tool - Non metal Nugget Cup or Trowel/Scoop. If you swing VLF and trying to get the tiny dinks, I prefer the nugget cup. If looking for bigger gold or using bigger machines, the scoop/trowel is fine. Caution – You can’t use your bare hand on a VLF as the detector will respond to the minerals in your hand. Jewelry/Metal - Remove your rings and leave them home. If you wear a watch, get one with a non metal band or don’t wear one on the arm you use to swing the scoop across the coil. Pick - I like APEX brand as I get the rare earth super magnet on it and they come in different sizes/models. I’m a bit over 6’ tall so I prefer a little longer of a pick. 24”/30” are ideal for taller folks and especially if you run a deeper big machine. 18” handle is ideal for most folks swinging a VLF type detector and or if you prefer to carry the pick on your hip. Realize 24” handle length is hard to have on your hip as it gets caught up in your legs when walking. I wear the 24/30” picks on my back. Harness - I like the Doc’s Ultra Swingy Thingy and use it with all my Prospecting detectors. Not only does it allow me to carry my pick on back, but it has a bungee to help with the weight of your detector. As a bonus, it holds up my pants so I don’t get burnt on the plumber crack. Seems older guys pants don’t hold up as well as when we were younger. Trash Pouch - You’ll dig more trash than treasure so do your part and pack it out. No use in finding all those bullets and foil over/over and over each trip. Nugget Holder - Yes you should keep one on you at all times. I prefer plastic pill bottle, film container or scrotum pouch. Not a fan of glass vial as they can easily break. Also the glass will dull the gold. Swing Arm - There are a variety out there and the one off my GPZ-7000 goes with me at all times for many different detectors. The swing arm allows much better coil control and longer detecting hours with less fatigue. The SDC-2300 is a prime example of a detector that should have a swing arm. Same with GPZ-7000. Heck, even my Equinox with a larger coil is much easier and better to use when using a swing arm. Test Target - I like to use the size of test target for the expected size of gold I plan on finding at a particular site. Get a small #8 lead bird shot and tap it with a hammer to give a little flatness. Glue it to a plastic poker chip. If you are hunting in areas with bigger gold, then have said like size test pieces to bury and listen/tune the detector. Coils- If running VLF detectors I recommend you get the smallest coil possible for that detector for most areas. The smaller coil actually goes deeper and gives a cleaner signal response to small gold than the stock coil. There’s more smaller nuggets out there than bigger gold so keep the odds in your favor. If hunting for larger gold with VLF, the stock coil or even a larger coil is preferred. Don’t think you’ll get the depth of a PI with a bigger coil on your VLF in most gold type soils. PI’s rule the depth on larger gold. In tailing piles I actually prefer a VLF with good discrimination while running stock coil or even bigger coil. Todays newer PI and DVT detectors don’t have Iron ID, but hopefully things will soon change (come on Minelab – you can do it). If using PI or DVT, use the coil size for the terrain you are in. Yes there’s always exceptions. Spare Battery - Always have a Back Up Battery, always. Headphones - I highly recommend them for most areas I detect. Wind is a killer on deeper weaker and or smaller nugget sounds. Good headphones allows you to hear the detector much better. Location - For a beginner, don’t expect to find gold in unknown areas. Go where nuggets have been found with a detector. Never leave gold to find gold. As your nugget hunting skill progresses, then you can Prospect for new areas and ground. Spare Tire - Always keep one that holds air. Know where the jack is and how to use it. A few newer type trucks have a key that drops the spare. Know where the key is, know how to use the jack/change a spare. Phone - If swinging a bigger machine, your cell phone will give EMI to your detector. Try to keep it in the OFF position if possible. 1st Nugget - Take as many pictures as possible and soak in the moment. There is only 1 first and you want to remember forever. DP - Share your hunt experience with the rest of us here on Detector Prospector. As mentioned in a previous post, some of us Old Guard are fading away and we need some new young guns to keep the powder burning. Again, These tips/knowledge is just from my standpoint and always have exceptions. If something mentioned in this post gives you a better chance to find some gold and share a smile, then we are all winners. I look forward to reading from others who have tips for the newbies so chime in.

Gerry. Do you have a favorite discriminating VLF? Maybe one that goes the deepest for instance? Or one that discriminates the most accurately? I am seeking something that can search an extremely trashy area that my 7000 will not work in...unless I want to commit 10 years to the spot and dig every can shard 😄

I want to know if "Deep Woods Off V Ticks", keep ticks off of you. Permethrin kills ticks but is Deep Woods Off V good enough to keep ticks off of you. There never use to be many ticks in northern Michigan. Now there everywhere.

I'd like to use my earbuds this summer in stead of warmer earphones. How do I pair them?

I am new to this forum and fairly new to prospecting in general, but I have jumped in with both feet though and I staked a claim nearby where I plan to do a lot of practicing. There are a lot of inside bend gravel bars in the area, and I am wondering if you can successfully detect for gold on bars mostly covered with large round boulders? Is this something that a Goldbug 2 would be capable of? Or would you want to go with an ATX Deepseeker 20" mono in a place like this? I am hoping to decide on what type of detector to buy and any input would be much appreciated. There is not a lot of bedrock in the area. The river was raging this winter and I'm hoping to scour the bars and river banks. I just don't know if this is the type of ground that is conducive to detecting. Thanks!!!

I've had an AT Gold now for about 12 months I guess, I swapped it for my QED PI machine as I never used it and the guy with the AT Gold never used it as it wasn't ideal for his soil conditions in Australia. Since getting the AT Gold I'd only ever fired it up a couple of times to test how it performs on some nuggets/shot pellets and to see how well it does on my coin test garden, other than that it's been hanging in my cupboard waiting for a day I need it. That day came as I wanted to buy a Detech Arrow coil and had to work out which detector to buy it for, it came down to the AT Gold or the Gold Bug Pro, seeing I have so many coils already for the Gold Bug Pro I decided I'd buy one for the AT Gold, both detectors perform equally well on small gold, and I've no idea how the AT Gold performs on coins as I've only got it's stock coil 5x8" coils which I guess performs similar to the 5x10" on the Gold Bug for coins at depth in my soil so I would assume it performs reasonably well. For this reason and that the Arrow coil is made for such a small range of detectors due to some manufacturers preventing aftermarket coils for their detectors the AT Gold seemed the best choice for me. So I've paid for my Arrow coil and it's in the process of being shipped at the moment so I thought I'd best dust off the AT Gold and learn how it behaves properly and get used to using it, however when I turned it on it went absolutely ballistic, the most crazy EMI I've ever seen a detector do, I noticed the battery meter was saying they were flat so I promptly turned it off and put new batteries in. This improved the situation somewhat, but in the top 3 sensitivities it was still very erratic, the higher the sensitivity the worse the EMI, I wasn't sure if this was normal as I'd given it so little use since getting it. Then I remembered I took a video of it in my coin garden when I first got it and to my surprise I was using it in the highest sensitivity and no EMI at all, so something was up, either there is a new source of EMI around or I've got a problem. I tried more batteries, I tried doing a factory reset by turning it on with the button held down until it does it's little blip noises indicating a reset, I tried cleaning the contacts on the coil cable with 99% pure Isopropyl alcohol and nothing changed it. I tried unplugging and plugging in the coil many times and making sure it was very secure. The exact symptoms were in frequency shift F1, F3 and F4 it was erratic even 4 notches off maximum gain, in F2 it was more stable and would work 2 bars off maximum gain. At 1 bar off maximum it would EMI false about every 10 to 20 seconds, and at maximum gain it would just go wild. So I drove to an area away from my house into the middle of nowhere and fired it up and although it improved slightly and with it in F2 with 2 bars off maximum gain it would still false about every 30 seconds and would just go nuts in maximum gain. I also noticed performance had dropped, I was sure when I got it I was able to detect a #9 lead pellet, albeit very close to the coil, now I was having trouble detecting a #4 lead pellet even touching the coil. I went home again and cleaned the contacts on the coil cable's connector and the control box again using significantly more alcohol in the hope it would help and it didn't. I decided to turn it on with the coil unplugged and see if the control box would behave and it did, flawless, maximum gain and no EMI so I didn't think it would be a faulty control box, I was sure it had to be my coil has gone bad or I have a problem with the connectors. I was going to just wait for the Detech Arrow to arrive and see if it worked then when I decided I'd give it another go at cleaning it, this time I used my electronics clean and lube, I use this stuff on my GPZ coils to keep their contacts clean as they often get dirty as I usually take a couple of coils with me when I go detecting and the one not used in the backpack gets dusty dirt on it. Anyway, a squirt of this stuff onto the coils cable pins and into the detectors plug socket and let it dry for a minute or two and then fired up the detector and EMI gone, maximum gain in F1, F2, F3 and F4 are now no longer a problem, even inside my house, even standing right next to the wifi router it is flawless. That's how I vaguely remembered it. I then tested some shotgun pellets on it and now it's picking up the #9 lead pellet again, and gets really good depth on the #4 pellet that was only just registering when it was playing up. This is the exact cleaner I used, I'm sure there are alternative products on the market as you can only buy this stuff at Jaycar in Australia and New Zealand. So if anyone has an AT Gold, Pro or Max that is behaving in a similar way don't write it off, or automatically assume it's a faulty coil, even if it works with your other coils as it maybe just a bad contact on the coil cable's pins, the AT detectors seem very susceptible to this problem from a dirty cable by the looks of it. This detector has never been in the water, and even the first owner rarely ever used it as it didn't work in his red Aussie soils and he had a GPX for that anyway and I'd only used it for an hour or so since getting it, so it was a pristine detector, when I got it it looked barely used, not even many scratches on the coil, yet still something caused the connector to be contaminated, maybe my greasy KFC fingers or something when I tested it, unlikely but you never know 🙂

Here is a story about a Museum that bought a previously found coin on eBay France! https://www.livescience.com/rare-charlemagne-coin-found?utm_source=notification

I'm after some advice on the Target ID numbers for gold rings with the CTX, I've made my super awesome silver finder profile for my CTX for the NZ silver coins and it's absolutely working a treat, I can do lazy mans detecting and just walk along plucking silvers but my profile is missing gold rings obviously, it's just aimed at our NZ silvers, I was going to use it's second slot for discrimination pattern 2 to add the common range for gold rings in just in case I'm feeling adventurous and want to dig something other than silver coins. With the silver coins it was relatively easy to put their ranges in, but I really have no idea what numbers to look for with gold rings. I haven't really bothered to get used to the target ID's for the CTX at all as it's ID system has been so accurate I've just fine tuned it to pluck out silvers. If anyone has a basic idea of what number ranges I'd be needing to incorporate to add gold rings into it that'd be very handy. Even silver rings would be a nice addition although they might be picked up in my silver coins profile I would hope. Go easy on me, I'm rather new to the CTX, I do like my silver coins cherry picking settings that I've got going though, only because they've been working so well. It really helps with my mild relatively junk free soils so the CTX becomes the ultimate cherry picking detector.

I was recently using my 24K to detect in an old drywashing area littered with hematite hot rocks and it was quite difficult to gain any ground because they were plentiful and of all different sizes including pea sized in all the tailings and header piles. The ID numbers weren’t coming up when I did hit those so I started ignoring them where it didn’t show up and continued. This method worked as I was able to pick up small bits of lead that did have ID numbers. It was pretty slow going andI finally switched over to my 3500, but if there was any small gold present I might’ve missed it with that as well (at least I know there aren’t any larger nuggets there). I plan on going back there With my Vlf when I have more time. So I’m curious, what setting or technique do you do with a vlf when you encounter this situation? I tried lowering the sensitivity as low as five which helped a bit, but it was still overloading on some of the rocks. I lifted the coil off the ground as well when I did hit a target which seemed to help. I was also using my smallest coil already also (6-inch).

I found this content really useful...Especially If someone likes to dive with the machine and wants a short setup like me.......

Recently I've lost my XP Mi-4 pinpointer, I took it away with me on holiday at Christmas and never ended up using it, now I can't find it for the life of me. I searched for hours yesterday going through everywhere I thought it might be. I've ripped my house apart looking for it so I can only assume I left it somewhere when I was away. So if anyone has seen a Mi-4 roaming the streets looking disheveled and homeless please contact me so I can try and make contact. Now, this prompted me to do something about it so I don't create anymore stays, in the hours I spent looking for my XP pinpointer I managed to find most of my other pinpointers that I don't often use, my main ones that I had within easy access were my Carrot AT (Favourite) and it's spare in case it dies, my F-Pulse and my TRX. The rest rarely if at all get used for anything and they were just purchases while I migrated my way up the food chain to the one I liked the most, the Carrot AT. In at attempt to remain more organised I've slapped together a Carrot holder, now I don't need to keep them hidden away in a drawer somewhere where anyone who opens the drawer may think I have a stash of various colours of adult toys. I'm no carpenter, in fact I'm useless at such endeavors but If I put my mind to something I can usually get there in the end. I just used scraps of wood I found around home and a lick of paint and it worked out OK, I'm never losing my Carrots again. I made a few extra spaces, one for the missing Mi-4 and another for the next new great Pin Pointer that's highly sensitive to small gold some manufacturer is going to release for me. In the mean time I'll fill one of the holes with my other TRX which I gave to my daughter as a toy as it's not very sensitive for some reason, it has some weird fault, I'll ask her if she wants to store it in my rack if she hasn't lost it or thrown it out when she gets home from school. I added a little bit on the side to store batteries as I'm always looking for them too 🙂 I just used a hole saw to cut the holes the right size to mount the Carrots, the F-Pulse being a more odd shape needed a slightly bigger hole and I put that little metal plate under there to support it's odd shape. Does the trick, no longer will I have to tear my house apart looking for missing Carrots.

TOP MINELAB EQUINOX MISTAKES (I know ‘em, cause I’ve made ‘em...) 1/ Not using cross sweep to determine how consistent a signal is. This results in a lot of elongated targets that sound good in one direction getting dug up. 2/ Not using pinpoint to determine how solid, what size and shape a target is also iron wide / narrow. Pinpoint can also tell you when the machine is responding to part of a larger object—like wire. The machine’s high Gain causes you to dig too many “flyspecks.” 3/ Not using the depth meter to get an idea of target size and location in the strata. The depth meter can help to correlate the other information you are getting to give a better idea of where and what size a target is. 4/ Sensitivity too high (targets don’t stand out), or small surface targets dominate the signal. Target tones become clipped sounding, machine loses depth. 5/ Bias too low (targets don’t stand out), dig alloys. 6/ Recovery speed too fast, targets don’t stand out. 7/ Using a large coil with too much sensitivity—targets don’t stand out from the larger detection field. 8/ Using a large coil with the recovery speed too fast—machine does not have time to process the information from the larger detection field. 9/ Large coil, black sand or high saline, (or fast salt) sensitivity too high --less depth than stock coil. cjc

I am currently using the Equinox almost exclusively with the 15" coil for fast coverage. I feel it does a great job for the type of hunting I do on ballfields and parks, and it is no slouch when it comes to finding really small items either. I really never use the 11" coil, but occasionally I will switch over to the 5x10 when overrun with signals. Seeing how the Deus II does with the 9" coil has me wondering if going with the 11" might somewhat negate the benefits of the Deus II.

I've never used a Deus I so I have no context or knowledge about what options the Deus II has for audio out. If I understand correctly, there is no Bluetooth. I currently use an Equinox with the wireless module plugged into my favorite earbuds. Is there an option like this or do the earbuds get plugged into the remote control? I don't want to wear the wireless headphones because I live in Florida and will likely drown in the sweat. I tried looking at the manual, but I didn't see what I was looking for. Thanks for any insight you can give.

I got an email inquiry and wanted to share my reply here….. Hello Steve, What's your thoughts on cold weather winter metal detecting, I'm thinking of trying it....... i.e. lowest temperatures for metal detector use, best metal detector for cold weather, etc..etc... Thank you There are no particular limitations around cold weather detecting other than your comfort, and target recovery. The last is why I stop detecting in winter. If snow is in the ground I can’t get to what I want to find, and even if not, the ground is frozen. Frozen dirt is like digging in asphalt. Some very dry desert areas are detectable in frozen conditions, but anyplace with moist ground you may as well just forget it. You can detect snow, like recent drops in playgrounds under equipment, or ski/sledding slopes. Jewelry would be the main goal for those doing that. A small pick or digging shovel works well as long as the device can chip/dig in snow compacted into ice. You don’t detect fresh loose snow, but well traveled packed snow areas. Any detector will work. Some LCD displays may grow dim or even blank in very cold weather, but no way to know which machines are prone to that short of trying them. So in general it would be best to be set to dig more by ear than eyeball. Use low temp batteries like Energizer Lithiums. Some newer models with built in NiMh batteries may get shorter run times due to cold batteries, so replaceable batteries would be more reliable. But not something I’d worry about too much initially. Personally after living a lifetime in Alaska I’m over cold weather, and simply choose to detect when it’s more comfortable. Hope this helps, Steve H The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee. Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows. Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows. He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell; Though he'd often say in his homely way that "he'd sooner live in hell." On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail. Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail. If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see; It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam MCGee. And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow, And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe, He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess; And if I do, I'm asking you that you won't refuse my last request." Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan: "It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone. Yet 'tain't being dead--it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains; So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains." A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail; And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale. He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee; And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee. There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given' It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains, But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate these last remains." Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code. In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load. In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring, Howled out their woes to the homeless snows-- O God! how I loathed the thing. And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow; And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low; The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in; And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it harkened with a grin. Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay; It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May." And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum; Then "Here," said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum." Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire; Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher; The flames just soared, and the furnace roared--such a blaze you seldom see; And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee. Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so; And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why; And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky. I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear; But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near; I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take peep inside. I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked";. . . then the door I opened wide. And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar; And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door. It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm-- Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm." There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The Arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

First off I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and 2022 is full of outdoor detecting adventures that exceed your wildest expectations. I personnaly can't get out enough and when I do frankly a loser day is a winner for me.....of course a few nuggets will make it even better! I'm tossing out to the readers a location I found about a year ago. It's very unmentioned on the web and pretty much anywhere. The townsite of Saint Marys outside of Imlay NV. It's on the banks of the Humboldt River. Only one stone foundation still around. This location is commemorated with a trail marker on the California Emigrant Trail. When detecting I found and unbelievable cache of boot tacks. A saucer, square nail and a small intact perfume bottle. I was using my now in mothballs Whites DFX 300. I can't blame the equipment I'm new to detecting. I plan to go back with my Gold Bug and see if I can find more than boot tacks. The reason I'm posting this is.....does anyone have any information about this townsite? Have a safe New Years to all.

Would like a little input. I just sold a New Nox800 and took a $60 loss.Because when I bought it in July 2021 thought I would be using it but turned out I was kinda busy and Sold it yesterday. But I was looking around and saw the Nokta Brand ,Never heard of them but after reading a tads I liked what I was reading about the Nokta Makro Anfibio. Seemed like the price was right and it seems that its built in Istanbul Turkey(Better then everything else made in Asia} I see that a New Nokta Legend Pro is out and Not sure if its better then the Nokta Makro Anfibio?But I feel that there might be a replacement soon with the Makro Anfibio since its a few years old and seems every metal detector company are upgrading their detectors much sooner.............JT

As if that were not enough, after having to create a new straight rod for the detector that I used immersed for 20 minutes, considering the new storm that arrives, today I have chosen an even worse scourge ... I have been waiting for months to complete a decent trolley that will help me transport cylinders and dpv without sinking into the sand and today might be the day🤣. It is out of the question that I buy balloon wheels at that price and I don't like the Idea of punctures happened in the past. So I'm recreating from a scratch the trolley with a bigger contact surface hopefully good to better distribute the weight on 6 wheels. Now the big problem that separates me from finishing the structure and mounting the containment sides Is a mix of aluminium and stainless steel not properly friends when soldering. Question now Is: Will this project finally see the light?🤣 At the worst, this crap will finish with bolts😁...

Hi to All, Not much meat on the bones here for the experienced hunter, so read on at your own boredom. I did not realize that I had never posted on Steve's site before, so part of pinning this on the board is to escape the Lurker rap. The other reasons for posting? So we can review common sense principles that I wandered away from that you should respect: Always power up your detector before leaving the house Always run a target over the coil of your detector before you leave the house Have a backup detector and always take it with you when you leave the house If you choose not to have a backup and have only one detector that is a rare older design that nobody repairs, grief is in your future At the beach over a week ago my detector would turn on but not respond to targets run over the coil. The machine in question is an Eric Foster Goldquest Aquasearch v.2, which is a pure PI designed for beach/shallow water only. No many around anymore, no parts available and few if any work on them. Bad place to be, and I put myself there without anyone's help. What I realized right away is buying a top shelf backup PI right now is next to impossible- they do not exist in number. Garrett buying out White's made the TDI Beach Hunter scarce, plus everyone is holding their Dual Fields and/or Surf PI's. The used detector market is hotter than the used car market. Thanks, but no Seahunter or 7lb ATX for me. It may be a multi-freq machine is in my future because it is the only viable option- we shall see. As for the Goldquest Aquasearch, after many failed inquiries I found that East Texas Metal Detectors works on Eric Foster machines. Thank you Steve H. for the suggestion (via earlier post search). All is well for now in Redondo Beach. -Jerry

Hello wasn’t sure which forum to put this in, I was curious if anyone is involved with any type of a equipment share agreement with a club or individually with other partners? Where are you interested in maybe starting one? Knowing how expensive some of the better detectors are, I was curious about the feasibility of sharing one with other partners. It would be especially beneficial for someone like myself that probably only detects for a total of just a few weeks if that out of the year. I realize there’s a lot of risk if it’s not done correctly. It may be necessary to have that based on credit deposits or other means of ensuring the safety of the equipment. And to reduce wear and tear on the equipment, one option is if partners owned their own coils and covers, and borrowed or rented the main unit when they go out. Sure would be a affordable way to be able to use a detector like a GPZ or 6000 for a lot less, especially for those of us that can only go for a short periods. I guess there will be other details like who owns it and what happens if people want to quit. That can be ironed out in the agreement as well, There are some great resources of other types of equipment share projects online along with their agreement forms to cover this. Also, are there any commercial companies in the western US that rent them, particularly in Az? I know some people buy new ones and then flip them after their trip but that’s a big loss that I don’t want to do anymore. Anyway, let me know if you’re interested or if you can answer any of my questions above. Thanks, Anthony

I chase the old gold pocket prospectors who worked out the pockets long ago. What they missed were cleanup during the 1930’s depression. Over the last 170 years the ground has been worked hard by ground sluicing and fires. The hillsides are steep, rocky and thick in brush, vines and canyon oak. The lower elevation red soils favor buckbrush with the east belt soils favoring manzanita. Over the years I have come up with a method for picking up the old timers leftovers that requires crawling under and through these hillside thickets. I have patch-worked together a couple of VLF detectors and I have a good PI detector for the hot ground. What I looking for is a rugged waterproof wireless multi frequency (either in the coil or controller) VLF detector with a 9x5 enclosed Double D coil, an adjustable 150 ohm wireless headphones with one ear cup and a telescoping shaft. In a full multi frequency and individual range of 14, 20, 30, 40, 45, 50 kHz with adjustable polyphonic 5 tones. A modified the Equinox 800 costs to over $1200, the XP ORX is too limited and along with the Deus untested on these California soil types. I have had luck with the Makro Gold Racer but it is limited to 56 kHz & I hate the tones. The Minelab 705 has been a good fit but is dated and limited to 3, 7.5 and 18.75 kHz. The Nokta Makro Legend may be a fit along with the XP Deus II. However far and few between when I get to the top or discover a long hidden camp I scan for coins. Any recommendations based on real gold prospecting experience on mineralized ground?

Second video by Gary Blackwell of the Deus ll Beta