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Hello New to the forum and this is my first post on here. (Sorry if I should have done a separate introduction post) I have read so much great info on here over the years and finally needed to join to ask some questions and advice. I plan to upgrade to a PI as I will visit locations with larger gold in hot ground. I am considering an old Minelab SD2200D or whites TDI if i can find one. I am worried the whites wont be sensitive enough on smaller gold. Also the ATX.. I love the fact it is waterproof and seems ok on smaller gold too. Are any new PI machines in the pipeline between 1.5 and 2k new for next year? Having zero experience detecting gold with a PI I am not sure the best route to go down. The waterproof aspect of the ATX is very attractive. However having owned a few garrett detectors I am not sure how bad the falsing on the ATX is when you knock into brush or grass. Ok this can easily be ignored. Am I over looking any machines new or second hand in that price range 1.5 -2k What is your advice please. Thanks in advance.

In anticipation of cold weather dredging I decided to spend some money on new dive gear. I was able to get a great deal on a Bare Pro D6 dry suit off Ebay. Turned out to be an excellent purchase. The suit was brand new with tags still on it and came with a new set of gloves and hood as well for 499 shipped. The size was an extra large short witch is perfect in length and the chest is a 44'' also perfect, but a bit large in the mid section at 35'' witch actually turned out to be a blessing as I was able to wear my heavy Filson wool gear under for some extra warmth. The boots are an xxl size there again I was able to wear two pair of wool socks for a perfect fit. My old suit is a Bare Pro D6 in large regular, bit too long for me but a good fit with out too much under gear on. Had that suit about six years and it is in need of a new neck seal and a good checking over for pinholes. Rite now its more of a wet suit than dry. LOL. I was out dredging last Saturday in the new suit. Fist time in a while I was warm and dry. Pretty excited about that considering the temp was 22 F and the water dam cold. I also purchased a full face mask, instead of going with goggles and a mouth piece. Ended up getting the new OTS Spectrum mask for 399.00 witch is cheap for a full face mask. It comes with out a regulator so you need to supply that, but most any will fit it. I did come to find my cheap Oceanic regulator is not a good cold weather/water dive regulator. I really like this mask a lot but fair warning, OTS claims one size fits most with the double seal, but if you have large face best to try it for fit as I have a small face and I cant see it fitting comfortable on a person that needs a large. As far a my head I wear a 7mm Bare dry hood and 7mm three finger mitts with Kevlar palms for my hands. Here is a pic from Saturday. Sure wish that sunshine could get down in the canyon a little bit. If you look close at the picture you can see steam coming off the river, that water is about 38 Deg. F. I think the air temp was about 18 Deg. F. Stayed nice and warm in the new gear but as I mentioned my regulator was my problem. Keep freezing up in the cold water and cut my dredge time short. I did manage to clear out a yard or so of pay dirt for a total of 1/8 ounce of gold for the day but I was having to surface about every 5 minutes and put my mask in front of the exhaust on the dredge and that was a bit much for me. Funny how you plan really carefully but overlook one item and that negates all the planning. So - I'm in the market for a good cold water regulator any one got suggestion? Heading back to town coming out of Turnagain Pass I snapped a picture of the Chugach Mountains over by Girdwood. Enjoy!

I am currently working a GPAA claim in Arizona. Seem like every time I start working an area with my dry washer someone seems to think they can get my spot when I leave it. The next day I return and some body will some times be in it. Is there any rules that govern the spot you are prospecting so you can return to it the next day without some one being in it? Not looking for a gun fight or any trouble. I would just like to return the next day and finish where I left off.

No, not talking about carrying around the patella of Jeff Williams’s buddy Slim while prospecting with a metal detector but, instead, the possibility of metal detecting after having had knee replacement surgery. Probably due in part to excessive jogging and running before, during and after military service, I’m now the owner of a very arthritic knee and considering getting a knee replacement. Almost all such replacements use some type of metal as main components. Just wondering if anyone reading this metal detects despite having a knee replacement. Does/would a metallic knee replacement make metal detecting impossible because the materials used in the replacement would constantly be giving false readings? I checked for previous threads on this topic and, to my surprise, didn’t find anything, which is why I’m bringing the subject up now. Since a lot of baby boomers, who probably comprise a large percentage of detectorists, may have/will eventually have knee problems I look forward to any insights they or anyone else can share!

I've been coin and jewelry hunting for years but had never considered hunting for nuggets until the past two weeks that I found Steve's forum. This place is like a breath of fresh air compared to the other "popular" detecting forums out there. I've chatted with Steve a bit about starting prospecting and he's been great. My question is after you decide on a detector where do you go from there? Do you join GPAA? I just learned about this organization last night and I have one claim near me that gets 3 stars. How do you go about finding the places to hunt? I'm coming from the perspective that I hunt on land 90% on permssions and 10% on parks as well as driving to one of my beaches in Ventura and going from there. Is it more of who you know (in terms of getting good hunting grounds) or what you know (where to go) or a combo of each? What would be the first steps to take besides the right detector?(I'm currently in negotiations with my better half on why I need another detector) Thanks Skate

Finally; i get to my first post, and to the one and only Reg Wilson , probably the luckiest son of a gun this side of the black stump. I`m from south oz and i use an SD2200d primarily for it`s depth on large slugs, i don`t get out that often, not anywhere near as much as i would like, that`s my lot at the moment so i`ve got to cop it. Now; to some question`s, did you guys use that 36in monster coil over most known big slug old timer diggings in vic, if you did, i think it`s pretty pointless for the rest of us to go over that same ground, as we don`t have coils anywhere near that large ,don`t you think? Do you think in the public detecting grounds in vic ,that any slugs larger than 20oz still remain in the 3-4 foot range, i don`t believe that they do, would be interested in your opinion on this.I recently tested my SD on it`s deepest setting, i cut the top of a coke can jumped in an old timers hole, measured 1 metre with tape measure, and with just a 11in dd coil picked it up easily, the sd`s were used for many years, so i would think that those big slugs at 3-4ft would of been picked up at that depth with these machines, and i believe after testing that a slug of 100oz or more could be got at upto 5ft going by the test i did, i would be keen to hear your take on all this. Was at Wedderburn recently, specifically at Queens Gully for the first time, what an impressive gully never seen one quite like it, and the old timers scored some big slugs from that gully,and i can see why, I had the 24in dd monster on, and got this clear signal, after digging a foot had to put on the 8in coil to pinpoint, then digging down another foot out came that little thingy you find on the top of a coke can to open it up. This coil picked that little piece of alumn at 20-24 in measured, which really shocked me, i don`t think the zed could do better than that on such a small piece, have you dug much small gold at this sort of depth coz that really impressed me? I probably have a 1000 questions to ask you, but i wont overwhelm you, i`m sure you have better things to do with your time( like digging up more big lumps, please Reg, leave me at least one!! ha ha ha) Post was to Reg, but if anyone else would like to chime in, go for your life!!

What do you consider the best metal / gold detector and why?? I am looking for a detector that can do both. I know most gold detectors run at a higher frequency that a standard detector. I live in an area where I can do both in Northern California Sierra Foothills. I would like to have one detector instead of two which I may end up with if there is not one brand detector that can do both Gold & Coin detecting. Will appreciate your feedback greatly. Thanks Bill

Hi everyone I'm looking the deepest detector on gold buried abou 50 centimetres ( 25 ") Probably golds are in glass or are free. There is about 400m2 for check , there is no rubbish What can you suggest ? Garret ATX or Lorenz X6 or Z1 Who does have an experience in this topis?

I have been doing a little sampling on the banks of a creek and have found there to be quite a bit of fine gold and a few nuggets around. What amount of gold found sampling would prompt you bring in a dredge? And do gold concentrations on the banks usually correlate with gold in the creek? I appreciate all the help I can get!

Has anybody got any info a good prospecting shop in Socal.

I have a new GM 1000. I have never done any detecting for gold before and could use some help deciphering the area I am detecting in. I have been reading mining reports that say this area has a lot of shallow gold in it but after few days of detecting (total 15 hours) all I have is bullets, bird shot, tin foil, tin cans and a few magnetized rocks I have found. I am not sure I am detecting in the right type area? I have been concentrating on the deeper washes in Sw Arizona. I have attached some pics of the area. Maybe I should try higher ground. Just getting a little discouraged and need some help on the type of area I should be looking for. Do my areas look ok?

I'm new to nugget shooting and have recently got a Gold Monster a couple weeks ago. I wanted to get a little time on the machine and there's snow on the claim I have access to so I took the machine out to some nearby dredge piles to play around. I got about 8 hrs on the machine so far. These dredge piles are about 15' high and I quickly found out how dangerous climbing around steep, frozen big boulders was....lol I did get a few "hits" on the GM on top the piles but after carefully removing rocks one at a time I realized whatever set the machine off kept falling down in between the rocks deeper into the pile the more I chased it? Very little small gravel/soil type material....just big cleaned rock. So I learned that hunting the tops of these piles will most likely end in defeat or injury. I hunted just a few hrs on the wooded flats near the base of some piles. So far I've dug lead bullets, casings, some iron, and new aluminum so the machine is working, etc. My question may sound stupid but I'll throw it out there..... Is there a semi productive way to search these piles? Should a guy just search around the bottoms and flatter ground where maybe some of the finer material has finally settled? I'd taken a rake along with me when I went but never really used it as the rocks in the piles were much bigger once I got up close....lol PS.....Having only driven by these piles for years I must say that once I actually crawled around on the piles I was VERY impressed how much material those old dredges dug outta that creek.....amazing to say the least.......... Thanks

Was out in a regular field spot with the F75 again...this week, got a couple interesting buttons. I am curious if anyone can identify the button I enlarged. I do not have a good button book yet. I blew up the center silver plated eagle button. It is 19mm give or take, and says Armitage PHIL on it so should be pre-civil war. I do not see any letter in the center of the shield, and really don't want to damage it to clean it up at the moment. Sorry for the fuzzy pics...phone camera not impressing me so far. Also, if anyone has an inkling as to the top right piece... Thanks.

This is made of lead and has threads

I just sold my X5 and trying to sell my Coin$trike with the intent on putting that money towards the XP Deus, which a friend of mine sales and swears by it. Well I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on the XP Deus and I start reading about the ML Equinox 800. Now, here's the problem... I'M SO CONFUSED!!! I love what the XP Deus has to offer, but I'm liking about what I'm hearing about the Equinox 800. Has anyone done any comparisons? Should I do as previously intended and by the Dues or will the features of the Equinox compare to or exceed the Deus saving me money in the long run. Once again, sorry for harping on this, but I'd love a little experienced guidance. Thanks "D"

A couple weeks ago when I got back from a hunt my wife asked me "what did you find" and I had to respond "nothing worth mentioning" (meaning no old coins or decent relics or jewelry). She then said "well, maybe you need to find a new spot." Now, my wife wouldn't know which end of the detector to place on the ground (because she couldn't care less about using one), but her advice rang true. Coincidentally I was reading the October issue of the ICMJ Journal and there was an article there by Chris Ralph (who posts here, in case you weren't aware of that) titled Is it time for a change? New ways to find more gold. How appropriate! I see this quite often in this endeavor. For example, advice which seems like it is specific to one detector applies to many, sometimes all detectors. Even though finding native gold poses different challenges than coins/relics/jewelry, there is a lot in common. Chris's article covered quite a bit of detail. For many reasons I don't want to try and reproduce what he said. But a couple key points are 1) instead of going back to the same spots where you've been harvesting gold for a long time, with diminishing returns, start fresh and find a new (with emphasis on minimally searched) location. 2) Try using different equipment. For the latter, he was giving examples of changing from detector to dry-washer/sluice/etc. or vice-versa. But even a change of detector model or just the coil for a coin hunter could break the trend and provide new insights (and valuables!). Regarding Chris's point of finding a new location, I know in my town there are way more old parks that I haven't searched than the ones I have. I've made the mental excuse "I bet those have been hunted hard" but I don't know that. It's kind of a 'sour grapes' rationalization. They're harder to get to (farther away), they have more human use (most of us like to hunt in solitude/peace), and maybe they require more work (new research). But all that seems minor compared to the potential.

This video features the Deus but there are lessons here for anyone chasing fringe targets....

So Im open to any suggestions using my XP deus. There is a very old site that used to be a school but now is an old church. Not being used much but the grass always seems to be pushed over as opposed to cut and bagged. So been hard to get my coil to the ground. There is an old wooden baseball diamond back stop thats falling down etc. Whole diamond is tall grass just being mowed over on its side. Don't know why they don't actually get a real mower in there and cut and bag it. I wonder if I should try non motion mode and just keep poking at the ground best I can? Has anybody ever used non motion modes? I havn't tried it yet but thinking of going back and trying that.

It has been a while since we last heard from Klunker on this forum. I sure miss hearing his insights on detecting and his other commentary. I don't know if he is just too darned busy detecting and finding gold? Or his computer broke? Or if he has been banished from the forum from the powers above . Any which way, I sure miss his 2 cents worth. Please come back!

Hello all, I find myself spending - what I think - is too much time on chatter with my X705. Trashy areas that within the chatter of tones/numbers from trash, a diggable tone/number pops up. But it is never consistent, even after changing my direction and speed of swing etc. Yet I still seem to spend too much time and energy on that signal that turns up as nothing. Now I have gotten better at picking targets out of clutter, and of those times I do note that the signal was indeed "Consistent" . So I have proven to myself - the solid signal means target and warbled-inconsistent tones are not. I keep telling myself to leave it and keep moving, but tend to second guess myself wondering if I'm walking away from a good target and the proverbial "What if". So is it best to keep my first thought and spend that extra time? Or good for the odds and better to move on and spend time on known targets. Cheers G

Hello all, Over the past few hunts with a buddy of mine, there are a few differences that stand out between us in our results. I am using an Xterra 705 and he is using an AT pro. Both of us using a 9" to 12" double D. The first thing I notice is that he covers FAR more ground than I do. He walks real fast and his swings are very broad with no overlap. Sometimes a 2 ft gap or more between his swings. Me, I seem to miss targets when I try and keep up with his pace. I have seen my machine miss some altogether on a sweep, then show up on a slower pass. So I then slow my swing and back to my overlapping. He is also quick with his Target ID . He doesn't spend a long time deciphering the target. Me, I seem to spend a lot of time on false singles - never a solid, consistent signal - but a coin number or ring number faintly pops up quick, in the trash clatter. So I spend the time, coming at it from different angles and slower and faster swings. And it is usually nothing of course....or so deep, I'm not digging anyway. And at the end of the day, he usually has double the finds, plus a ring or two (and usually no ring in my pouch is due to my impatience with trash and not digging everything). My first reaction...Buy a bigger coil. And this will indeed help me in gaining more ground coverage. But I still need work on Target ID and as in my other post, know when to walk away. I also question the machines and each ones reaction times? Are AT pros a "quicker" machine than an Xterra 705? Just the nature of the beast? Any advice on technique would be very much appreciated. Especially related to the Xterra. Cheers G

New member here and glad to be a part of this great forum! As someone who's looking forward to actually going out into the field with a metal detector for the first time, I'm interested in finding out how experienced nugget shooters actually "set-up camp," so to speak. Do you drive right up to the area you're going to cover in a 4-wheel drive vehicle? How close can you usually get to the exact ground you're going to search? Does anyone ever take a travel trailer out to those areas and stay a few days? Again, if so, how close are you usually able to get? Does anyone drive to the area in a 4-wheel drive and then ride to the site on an off-road motorcycle (or even off-road bicycle, if that's even feasible)? I'm interested in getting started in Arizona and Southern California but would eventually like to do some detecting in different regions of the West Coast up to Alaska.

Gerry McMullen and crew are doing a nugget detecting class November 3 - 5 at Rye Patch. This is an excellent chance for anyone having really difficulty finding that first nugget to get some expert help. This class is usually for people who buy detectors from Gerry. However, I contacted Gerry and he does have spaces available and they are open to anyone who wants to participate for a fee. You can find details and contact Gerry about costs at http://gerrysdetectors.com/event/gold-detector-training-6/ It can be extremely hard to get that first gold nugget and it is impossible to overstate just how much it can help having people who know what they are doing take you by the hand and show you.

I was out in a seemingly dried up creek panning for gold in southern Illinois. A lot of the local creeks going under the roadways were about dried up I noticed, even some rivers. I stopped at a creek out in the boondocks that was 40 feet wide and a gravel bottom but hardly had a trickle and a few inches deep of water flowing. I never expected to encounter quicksand in pea size gravels but in one area closer to the bank with seemingly no water present, I went in up to my shins unexpectedly. Being 500 feet from the bridge , on a Sunday, in the country,well screaming for help would not have worked too well with nobody around !! Fortunately, I got out ok and told myself, lets get outta here. No gold was showing up and I was kinda scared. Not worth the risk. I know when we were at Ganes creek gold mine they warned us not to go in areas where they were washing gravels by the big sluice. I never understood why until now. Be careful out there. Its not just quick sand but quick gravels too on what looks like solid ground. Has anybody else had this happen to them? How do you get out if you do go in too deep and nobody around to help you? -Tom