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I bought a Nokta Makro Pulse Dive, but I won't snorkel, I need to buy goggles and snorkel, what else? I have no experience, but I am willing to work hard to learn, only by using Pulse Dive can I avoid crowds, and that is, what kind of bag to use in the water to reduce drag to collect!

Are there a lot of entrepreneurs in the prospecting/detectorist community? There seem to be similarities in the personality traits: curiosity, independence, hopes of hitting it big, good at doing research, sense of adventure , etc, etc. I'm a startup guy myself - been doing software and web development for the past decade and a half, worked on startups in areas like security, telecom, health, social media, etc. Honestly - most of the projects have been kind of boring. A prospecting-related startup could be a lot of fun - and might be a good excuse to do more camping and exploring. Off the top of my head, I'd think that a hot area might be utilizing machine learning and and other data science techniques to aid in hobbyist prospecting (and integrate this data with GIS and other applications). As a newcomer to the field, it would be educational to hear about the pain points that could be addressed in the form of a new product or service. Anyone else around here kicking some ideas around in their head? I'm always open to brainstorming/collaborating.

I get to share many more stories, photos and sometimes videos of amazing gold discoveries than the average person, mostly do to the fact I sell metal detectors and my customers are usually happy to share their Success stories. On occasion I get to see some finds that I can never show or share as the finder has asked that of me. Boy has there been some crazy amounts of gold being recovered with detectors still. Sure wish I could tell you all but I'd then piss off some of those who take me for my word and I'd prefer not to lose that friendship. My question is, what do you folks do when you find something substantial? Is it best to keep amongst your few inner circle or is it ok to let everyone know? Yes I want to share MD'ing finds as I sell detectors for a living, but also, I have personally been walked over for giving out to much info. I try to walk a fine line and keep everyone happy, if it's possible. I myself have been fortunate and found a few trophies and even caught a couple on video, but after viewing the video, realized the video could cause a mini gold rush. Do you share and tell all or keep most of your finds to yourself? I really don't think there is a right/wrong answer? Thanks for your input.

big seeded hunt coming up in 2 weeks in central indiana and all I have is my old Headhunter Diver water machine. Thick mowed grass hunt. Should I get something with a small coil like an old Tesoro Compadre or Ace 250 or? Will I need my Garett Propointer or just eyeballs to pinpoint? And I do have tennis elbow right now, what to do about that as well? Wear a compression band around elbow and forearm? I know my Garrett Propointer sometimes picks up interference from the Garrett Ace 250 which would be bad news in a speed hunt. Any tips on competition hunting appreciated. Do I need headphones, full earcups or the little foam ones? Thanks. -Tom V.

Hello everybody, I have 2 questions today. First, I would like to inform me if there is any trick to understand the mineralization of the ground that you are about to search with your metal detector in the fields and in the woods. Second, I am a minelab safari owner, (I am interesting about coins and jewelry mostly) and except the stock coil (11’’), I also have the Mars MD sniper coil (10’’X 6’’). What would you recommend for bigger coil? Consider that except fields and woods, I do a lot a lot a lot of beach metal detecting. I want something deeper but not losing in target separation and if it is possible the less effect of ground mineralization and iron masking. I was thinking about mars md tiger (13’’x 10’’), mars md discovery (13’x13’’), nel tornado (13’’x12’’) and nel thunder (14.5’’x10.5’’). I am waiting for your recommendations. Thanks.

Hey All, I posted my one an only post in May and I was looking at potentially buying an ORX or a 800 NOX. My uses would be roughly 2/3 gold 1/3 everything else. Here in Canada the prices are about $100 Can different. I was leaning toward the ORX due to its higher frequency response light weight and simplicity of use. But then life and COVID and closed US Canada border stepped in and I have procrastinated in buying one or the other. Trouble is this has given me more time to think about it. The apparently note I said apparently overwhelmingly underwhelming use of ORX in the goldfields has given me pause. The continued development of NOX 800 has given me pause. Thinking harder about what I want to do has given me pause. For example an ORX in a riverbed (say the kettle in BC/WA) in the water (not deep) some - is this a good idea? Why has the ORX not apparently been well accepted? Lack of water proof? Lack of tweaking controls? Expense of additional coils? Does the NOX 800 absolutely do everything the ORX does plus more flexibility? What? Now I'm wondering if a two detector set up might be better say gold kruzer and vanquish 540 together about $300 more than NOX - certainly affordable. A gold machine and a more versatile than the kruzer from what I can tell machine in the vanquish. Man these choices are confusing... -Ed-

I’m seeking some wisdom in taking the next step in my prospecting journey. Up to this point, most of the gold I’ve found has been in riverbeds or washes. I’m not quite sure how to move from them into the hillsides. Here’s a current scenario, perhaps as a template to discuss. Recently, I’ve found a little desert wash with a fair amount of small, detectable gold. It’s within a broader area generally known for old-time dry washing. I can find no signs of old workings in this relatively short wash. Nevertheless, there are a few, very recent spots where someone has vacuumed and drywashed small portions of the bedrock. When I come across something like this, I typically test things out to see if someone else has been both onto and missing anything. Indeed, things were both found and missed. Over the course of several trips, I detected 55 small nuggets concentrated along the shallow bedrock. Pictured here are the results from my last trip. Twenty seven pieces detected in one half-day. I found that even an inch or two of overburden was masking many of the signals. So, out came the rake and up came the signals. As I mentioned, this particular wash is small and shallow. Perhaps, it is 1-3 feet wide with a lot of of exposed bedrock. The overburden is anywhere from none to 1 foot deep. In only a few places, at the turns, do the banks accumulate up to 2 feet deep. I have yet to find detectable gold in any of the surrounding washes. This leads me to wonder if there is a hillside source for these little nuglets. I’ve tracked them to the point at which they peter out moving upstream. I’ve been thinking this may or may not be the starting point since eons of erosion could have taken them in either direction before the current topography set in place with such a shallow grade. My overarching question is how do you approach moving from washes into the hillsides in search of a possible source? Do you loam the hillsides before electronic surveillance? Or, vice versa? Do you set off detecting the area in a systematic fashion? Do you only detect at reefs or contact zones? How deep do you typically find desert hillside gold? Any tips, or advice, or preferences are points of valuable reference for me and would be sincerely appreciated.

Ok I was just curious and I have been trying to find out without any luck so I am going to ask this question here...... Who owns the long John Latham magazine and lost treasure magazine copy rights? What if I wrote a little article about metal detecting research or whatever and wanted to use an old article or story for a reference that was in one of these old magazines that are no longer in print.....how would I go about getting permission to use the old articles or the rights to use them?? Anyone know anything about this kind of stuff??

Photo from both ends What do you do with this stuff from years of detecting. All the gold and silver & diamond jewelry was sent to a refinery and provided me a few thousand dollars spending money, Have a lot more jewelry that is not displayed as there isn't any more room. Hundreds and hundreds of keys and tokens. this is just some of my finds over the years. March box cars, civil war relics from VA. Guess I just leave it and let the kids sort it out.

For several years now I have been dragging my buddy to new places that I thought would be good spots to detect. We both have darn little to show for all our effort. To make up for it, I got a well known nugget detectorist to take us into the field for some lessons. Here are three important take-aways from that trip: 1) High hills in old burn areas are great places to identify new nugget fields. 2) He showed us such an area where there were a great many very small-scale mining features that were invisible In Google Earth, yet the burn made them quite visible from a hilltop. Our guide said that based on his detecting experience, there were many more overlooked gold pieces to find here and in similar areas. 3) It can be easy to recognize the presence of hidden pockets in old burns by the discolored downhill soil these pockets shed. He said this was a common occurrence, and even if they have been mined historically, there were still gold pieces to be found in these places, but again I couldn't see a thing on Google Earth. He's a great guy, he's very knowledgeable, and he's expensive. I don't have his permission to list his name here, but he may added it at some time. EDIT: He said I can use his name. It's Ray Mills of Redding, California. His online name is AUTrinity.

Looking for recommendations on a reliable backpacker model for small nugget/hardrock detecting. likely will be charging it on portable solar for extended hikes. I'll be in remote country over scree fields, rocks, peaks and creeks far from wheeled and motor transportation. I have the Mine lab 5000, but it is a bit to heavy for my adventurous soul. the 5k works great around home country.

my grandkids broke one of the battery door push pin connectors to my amigo II, does anyone know where I could find a replacement one? It appears to be exactly like the one on my old whites goldmaster II. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank's to all that reply.

Hello everyone, can you tell me a list of metal detectors (all brands) which have tracking ground balance and adjustable Threshold? Thanks.

Here we go again, when autumn approaches, the evaluation of the most suitable vehicle means to prepare anything to face the peace of the beaches that will gradually begins empty ... Unfortunately for me, no more dinghy this year and considering the terrible weight of all the ballast I'm forced to bring downthere, plus another tool I'm planning in these hours, this time I'm in real troubles. At least 150kg, to be carried by hand and never on my back again, possibly. I tried to build two different trolleys with solid wheels, but with all the weight, I only managed to sink into the first meters of sand and to get into the water it was a nightmare. if any of you use special wheels or have built a personal cart and want to share pictures to get an idea for a project, that would be really great ...

I've been sorting silver, and thought I'd ask about this vintage sterling silver Turquoise cuff bracelet. This came from a local estate, and I'm wondering how can I determine if the Turquoise is high quality, or run of the mill tourist grade? TIA!

Sometimes while out detecting I wonder about the likelihood of digging into utility lines. The obvious one is sprinkler heads or lines, but those I've encountered seem pretty sturdy, although if plastic there could be a problem. In my current park site I uncovered a Romex electrical line (not in a protective conduit) -- sample photo below. It was only about 6 inches deep and my detector was picking up the copper wires inside. Fortunately it turned out to be inactive although I don't think I broke through the insulation. I just covered it back up and made a mental note since its signal could be picked up elsewhere along the line. Another, possibly bigger issue is what to say if someone approaches and asks (or tells...) you of their concern, whether that is for my safety or just of the utility line itself. Of course they are supposed to be much deeper than I dig, but that assumes whoever buried it was knowledgeable and responsible. For example, in front of my house along the public sidewalk there is a TV cable (merely electrically insulated) which has been pushed to the surface by a tree root. I'm sure it wasn't buried more than a few inches originally. Every time I mow I wonder if I'm going to cut it. I'd like to read about your experiences with this issue.

I found this strange copper ring near a sand play pit in a park. The writing looks medieval. It is one word repeated inside and out of the ring and is gibberish to me. I wonder if it has a mystical meaning. The ring extention has been done very crudely and certainly not by a jeweller. Can anybody help with suggestions? Thanks!

Hello everyone, I am a treasure hunter from the Loess Plateau in northern China. I am very happy to come here to meet you. With my current simple experience, I cannot determine the use of a machine suitable for our local soil. I would like to ask all the experts to consult. The pure loess plateau here is less mineralized, the soil layer is pure, and there are very few rocks. I am currently optimistic about the machines, Whites Spectra v3i, AKA SiGNUM MFD, mostly Xp35 and Minelab. I want to buy a deep A good machine is mainly looking for silver coins and copper coins. I hope you can give excellent suggestions. In addition, I want to know if the depth of the Whites TDI SL pulse machine can exceed V3I and Aka. Please give excellent suggestions from friends who have used it. I will be grateful for this, thank you all!

Hey All, Iv been trying to locate a Refiner here in the USA that can process a small batch of placer gold (2oz) and fabricate some 18/22k jewelry stock. I am an amateur jeweler and have tried many times to smelt my hard earned gold into some usable material and have not had any luck thus far. So, I know I can send it off to a refiner and get generic stock back but the point is to use my own gold for some special pieces. I know someone else out there has gone down this road before, and i would so appreciate a lead on a reputable refiner/fabricator. cheers!

Hi - I have a mint Coinmaster 1 TRDX machine that I got at a yard sale. It has all of the components and fired right up with fresh batteries. I was just tying to find out when it is from exactly but can't seem to find it online. It has a Date of GG. It's a fun machine to use as it brings back old memories as a kid in the 1970's out finding stuff with a similar machine my buddy had. Thank you in advance for your time, Dino

My great grandfather was into detecting and I am thinking of getting into it. It seems fun to get outside, to get away from life, and be with people I like. The potential to find great treasure is very exciting. The whole hunt and surprise of what you will find is exciting! What do you think? Should I get into it? What would be good starter tools.

I took my new F19 out for a spin at the creek and it failed me 😢 Didn't even find one nugget. I guess I'll have to send it back as defective! All kidding aside, it was a good time detecting and panning the creek bed. Hot rocks were terrible though. I consider myself a competent coin shooter, but hunting for little specs of gold in all metal mode with a highly sensitive machine is somewhat new to me. The hot rocks were horrible. I kinda started noticing the difference between them and "good" targets. Still, how do you guys deal with this? I tried ground balancing over them and that helped a little, but certainly not a solution. I turned down the sensitivity to about half and that helped, but I really don't like giving up that kind of depth. I'm thinking a smaller coil may be better? Any tips are appreciated. Thanks.

Hey everyone, I hope all is well. Prospecting for gold is something I have always wanted to do. However, I do not think I will ever get the chance to go out west and try it out. So with that said, I have a few questions about electronic prospecting with a detector. how much does it supplement your income? What about chiggers and ticks, do you have to deal with those pesky critters too out in dry climates? Other than your machine and digging stuff, what else does one take along while prospecting for those just in case you need it scenarios? Do you hunt mostly on a claim or public land? Sorry if this is downright boring for some of you but it is something I have wondered about.

As usual, some of us got off topic a few days ago on this thread: We got into a discussion about insect repellants, what works in some areas and for some insects, etc. I have a question and decided to start a new thread, on this specific topic, which will also probably get hijacked. My specific question to 2Valen is: what concentration of Permethrin are you using? I have some spray stuff but it's only 0.5% Permethrin. I doubt that's what you are dilluting. Also, you say "add the correct amount...". Could you be more specific. I get eaten alive by chiggers and although spray Deet works OK, they still seem to find a way around that to a limited extent.

I just recently got one of these Russian boards, which IMO looks like a good piece to work with. I read over the supplied build instructions which are fairly clear, but in a way are not totally, at the same time. I have worked with circuits quite a lot over several years, I went back to a site that discusses working with timer IC's of which in this build uses the 7555, a CMOS version of the vaunted 555 that uses 1/10th the power. This is where the MD transmitter freq. is produced. There are several ways to construct the oscillator and in the case of this design, I find one very small issue. Since as I mentioned, I just got this board and still working at putting it together, obviously I haven't tested it. Here is what I am here to discuss with anyone looking at this version, thinking about building one, or has one working. The 555 system has been know to experience unstable responses if there is no Capacitor connected from pin 5 to ground ! There is no Cap to pin 5 included in this circuit design and it uses a few other features that differ from the basic osc. circuits A .01ufd cap which on this board can be installed on the back side of the board from pin 5 to the nearest ground buss and should be some improvement to the function and stability of the circuit, it is 'optional' and it will work without it. It is a very small mod but in my experience sometimes that is all it take to work or not. I also suggest to use .100 inch header pins for connecting any of the peripheral parts. Doing this makes it easier to R&R the board for working on it, you will need to be extra diligent about connecting everything back in the proper place but if you have gone this far with this project, that is a no brainer. There are a couple of places the .100 header pins will not fit perfectly but you can get around that with the use of a single break away pin and just a tiny bit of force to re align so your connection will fit as you continue assembly. 3 pins on the right of the rough GB Pot on board are one place, another is the 2 holes just to the right and above the 4 large elect. caps around the Vreg, LM7808 or LM7809, also using a 7809 might give you a slight bit of bump in performance. Since the circuit uses a +12v supply battery, there is still a bit of margin left so that the dropout V is going to remain above the output V of the regulator until batteries are getting too low. Using a battery carrier that holds 8 AA cells, alk or even NiM rechargeables will or should work and you should still be able to get this inside the housing. The use of NiM may exhibit an issue with the 7809 so make the choice based on what battery V you plan on using. One could also use an extra bat pack in series to push the V higher for the input, as the 78xx can handle up to 30v input, this will give you a lot more operation time before the dropout V becomes an issue. I would also think installing some reverse polarity protection here, 'NEVER a bad addition to any circuit and simple, a couple of small diodes and a fuse added to the project, around a 200 milliamp mini fuse is a good rating, put some extras inside the case. The current draw of this unit is very low so you can run your batteries way down this way and still keep going, having a small solar setup would be a good thing to have with you to boost batteries also, you could make it to fit over your hat!!! I am in the U.S. and have considered doing assembly of projects in the future,,, if my board works out. The one good thing I like about this system is that it should work with several different coils out there and one can even construct their own coil if using careful attention. Coils are really not that hard to make if you have and follow the instructions. Making the casing is probably the worst part of it, using resins and hardeners. Shielding is a bit critical here. I will mention that it is almost essential that you have an oscilliscope to build one of these for adjusting the timer section freq. the 5k pot on the left side of the 7555 and also setting amplitude on the upper right of 7555, the one just left of the 14 pin IC spot.. If you don't have a scope, there are apps online that make your PC work as one and you will have to learn how to use it, or get someone that knows to help with it. Also a transistor tester is helpful and when working with these parts, you MUST know the pins and install them RIGHT if you intend to have it work but you already know this if you are thinking about assembling one.