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  1. Hi everyone , I'm new to prospecting and already addicted after 2 months . I was lucky enough to meet an old timer who has been prospecting for most of his life but is to old to go out these days , so instead refurbishes old detectors . I picked up a sovereign gt and an old a2b gold hunter . To cut a long story short mike (old timer) had his whole yard set up for detecting in highly mineralised soils to trashy beach conditions . I learnt a lot in the several occasions I have been there as mike has pumped as much knowledge as he could into me. I've learnt how to use both machines well and found some great treasures with both machines . As with any hobby I purchased an sdc2300 , good machine in mineral soils and hard hit areas . Problem: looking for an all purpose machine , I got pulled into the hype surrounding whites mx sport and sold my sdc2300 ( In addition I sold the sdc as my wife found out the price and threatened divorce) and put my a2b in my mancave in a glass cabinet next to my sporting memorabilia. So down to the sovereign gt , I have ordered a nel attack coil for it , which will slightly improve performance I'm told . So I need a gold detector and an all rounder to complement the sovereign get : anyone with advice - I'm thinking between the deus, gpx5000( price is so high though) garrett at pro and whites mxt.
  2. Hello all OK. firstly not talking about dedicated beach machines like EXCAL II, CZ21, AND THE TIGER SHARK. What would be the best top 3 (decending order ) normal, single freq, prospecting, vlf machines that would be good on wet salt water beaches. I know they wont be as good or as ideal as a dedicated beach machine, but having this capability on a general purpose or prospecting machine would be nice. I'm assuming 14-15 kHz maximum freq, ruling out the AT GOLD, FORS RELIC & GOLD+.? I'm thinking:- MAKRO RACER 2, WHITES MXT & MX SPORT, GARRETT AT PRO, FISHER GOLD BUG/F19/T2, etc,etc. How much are they giving away to the EXCAL II or the CZ21? 20-30% in depth? Looking ahead, is this where the new multi frequency NOKTA IMPACT & FISHER CZX/MOSCA machines might be even better all rounders? thanks jim
  3. I have been trying to consolidate my detector collection the last couple years to conform to my new reality of life in Reno. Lots of detectors have gone away, but new ones keep sneaking in as I fine tune the mix. I am making progress though. 1. The GPZ 7000 - this detector got the most detecting time last year and found nearly all the gold that matters. Lots of people have issues with the GPZ 7000 but I get along really well with mine. It works and works well and for me it is a joy to use. I have no doubt most of my detecting hours this year will be with the GPZ. It will not go away until Minelab pulls the next rabbit out of their hat. My main nugget hunting unit. 2. Garrett ATX - if I am in the water with a mask and snorkel it will most likely be with the ATX. It performs well at places with intense mineralization like Hawaii or Lake Tahoe. It is bullet proof and folds up nicely for travel. I also can cherry pick coins fairly well with it and so it gets a bit of park use. In theory it can handle hot rocks that would trouble my GPZ but so far I have not found a place where I have had to resort to that. Even if Garrett came out with a light dry land version I would keep this machine as my primary water hunting unit. 3. Makro Gold Racer - Goes where my GPZ goes. It can find tiny gold my GPZ can't find and so is a good specimen hunter and bedrock sniper. If the ferrous trash gets too thick for the GPZ, I am getting out the GR. I have only done it once so far but I was thoroughly impressed with the 15" x 13" DD coil on this machine and it would be my choice for hunting big cobble piles or other tailing piles where large deep junk is lurking. It is rapidly becoming a favorite for hunting jewelry. The Gold Racer is the highest frequency machine sporting adjustable discrimination and a target VDI and I have yet to fully explore its potential. My main VLF nugget detector and a sleeper for jewelry detecting. 4. White's DFX / Bigfoot Combo - this is more about the coil than the detector. The Bigfoot is unique in its ability to skim large areas like sports fields for shallow targets. I use a pinpointer and screwdriver only; the name of the game here is quick recovery of lots of targets. I run the DFX in 15 kHz un-normalized mode which expands the low conductive VDI range and run in full tones. All this combined with the DFX Signagraph display is a superb jewelry hunting combo. I have used the MXT with this Bigfoot and gave the V3i several tries but the DFX finally won out. The V3i is appealing but ultimately overkill. I thought the MX Sport might have a shot with its 20 tones at replacing the DFX with the bonus of my getting a VLF water hunter, but I am pretty doubtful of that now. Regardless, the Bigfoot goes nowhere, only the detector attached to it might change. My main dry land jewelry unit but the Gold Racer is challenging it lately. That is the core units and they account for most of my detecting needs. What is missing there is a good deep silver machine for parks and yards, a good machine for extremely trashy old camp or cabin sites, and a waterproof machine with discrimination. One machine might do all that but I may settle for two, putting the full collection at no more than six units. I expect to be there by the end of the year. Current units in play... 1. Latest version Minelab CTX 3030. I sold my last one when the warranty expired. I honestly was thinking that since it has been over three years that a CTX 4040 might appear this year. I would like a better display, faster processor, and one more programmable target bin (split the ferrous). What we got instead was a minor 3030 update with better battery seal and locking armrest. I have one ordered and expect it soon. This machine can hunt the deep silver, hunt the old sites, and is waterproof. There is a high probability it takes position five in my permanent collection and there may be no need for a sixth. 2. XP Deus waiting on V4 update. Pretty much the top iron hunter at this time, and the ability to run 40 kHz intrigues me. The idea there for me was nugget hunting but I have a hard time thinking it can knock out the Gold Racer. I doubt there is a better iron unlocker, but truth is I do not do a lot of that. And the Deus fans will never convince me that buying a $500 smart coil is great when all I need is a cheap wired dumb coil. Fabulous machine though and very fun to use so who knows. It has a shot at the optional position six, which may just be for machines that come and go. 3. Makro Racer 2 - a really great all around detector. The main problem I am seeing is it overlaps so much with various specialty machines I also have. On the plus side it gives the Deus a serious run for the money and right this second if I had to keep one it would be the R2 due to my personal preference for the way it goes about doing things. That is not really fair though and I have lots of time yet to put on both units. The Deus V4 update with smaller coil could be a game changer. 4. MX Sport - this machine had a shot at being a waterproof VLF that could hunt deep silver and thick ferrous trash plus maybe replace the DFX. Multiple possibilities. First impression did not go well but I am trying to put that aside and see how round two goes. Now that I have a CTX coming things just got tougher for the MXS. 5. Nokta Impact - I am liking the thought of a selectable frequency machine that could replace at least two other machines. The Impact has just been revealed as having planned but not set in stone selectable frequencies of 4, 14, and 21 kHz. Given that it will no doubt borrow much from what is learned with the Racer 2 and my preference for wired coils this machine could replace both the Racer 2 and Deus in this shootout. All three should be playing together before the end of the year. I am drifting towards the idea of machine number 5 being a true multi frequency unit (CTX) and machine number 6 being a selectable frequency unit (Deus or Impact or ?). Selectable frequency is an underserved detector category at this time that I see as providing a marketing edge against the huge number of single frequency machines on the market so I expect we will see more of them going forward. 6. Fisher CZX? White's Half Sine or Constant Current? Possible wild cards are coming but I do not make plans around stuff like that. We will see them when we see them and other than rumors nothing appears imminent. Anyway, just a ramble, nothing more. Kind of gelling my own thoughts about where I am heading I guess. Everyone has to make their own choices for their own budgets and detecting needs. In my case it may seem like a lot of bucks wrapped up in detectors but people that know me know that I am otherwise quite the frugal freddy. Detecting is my passion and I forgo other things to spoil myself there. And the fact is they do pay for themselves - not many big boy toys have that possibility. Swinging a golf club is a money pit - I would rather swing a detector!
  4. Hi, I''m somewhat experienced and have owned metal detectors on and off for 20 years, mostly Whites. I am done with relics and coins (except gold). I want to strictly prospect mines, stream beds, tailing's, etc. for gold. I do not care about #19 lead shot size nuggets. I want larger. I live in California and will detect in CA and western states. My wife is new and I will be purchasing her a Fisher Gold Bug Pro for, general searching as well as beach etc. I have the dilemma of weather to purchase the... Whites MXT All Pro Whites TDI-SL or Fisher Gold Bug ll I'm leaning towards TDI-Sl for gold and prospecting. Any comments or help and guideline on the subject? Thanks, Doug
  5. I am pretty happy with 2015 looking back so not a whole lot different I plan on doing for 2016. Hopefully more detecting days. The main resolution for the new year however is a rule to keep a lid on my detector collection. So in 2016 I am only allowed one model from each of the manufacturers at any one time. And before I can get a replacement the existing one has to get sold first. I worked on getting there this year and ended the year where I need to be. The CTX sale (thanks Rob!) at the last second got me to my goal. Fisher F75 Ltd2 Garrett ATX Makro Gold Racer Minelab GPZ 7000 Nokta FORS Gold+ White's V3i XP DEUS Out of those I am going to sell the Nokta FORS Gold+ soon as being extraneous to my needs and will wait for the Nokta Impact instead. The F75 I may replace with the F19 or maybe just wait for whatever it is new that Fisher has cooking right now. So my core units starting out for 2016 are the ATX, Gold Racer, GPZ 7000, V3i, and Deus. I can't honestly say I NEED even this many detectors, but part of the game for me is checking out what new stuff comes along. This rule lets me keep doing that but will prevent me going crazy and loading up with stuff I really do not need. After all, I can only use one at a time, and there is only so much time in every year to go detecting. In any given year just two or three of my detectors see any serious hours of use. I would be happy to do as well on jewelry and gold nuggets in 2016 as I did in 2015 so the only area I want to focus on a bit more is putting myself on sites where gold coins might be found. Another reason why I got another Deus - for hunting old camps and other habitations from days of old.
  6. Makro Gold Racer and a small Nevada gold nugget it just detected The Makro Gold Racer has been one of my most anticipated new VLF metal detectors in years. This completely new model represents something I have wanted for a very long time – a high frequency VLF metal detector that does not skimp for features, in particular as regards discrimination options. A little background. First, I have been testing prototypes of the Makro Gold Racer, and this review is based on those prototypes. The final version due soon has a completely new LCD display layout, audio boost, refinements to other settings, and physical refinements like a change in the handle angle, etc. That being the case this review should be considered preliminary and final specifications are subject to change, as well as details you may see in my photos regarding the physical design of the detector. Second, what is the intended market for the Makro Gold Racer? The machine looks deceptively like many other detectors aimed at general purpose metal detecting. I want to emphasize that first and foremost this is a gold prospecting detector. There are only a few other detectors that directly compare to the Gold Racer which is running at a very high frequency of 56 kHz. Comparable detectors would be the White’s GMT at 48 kHz, the Minelab Eureka Gold running in its 60 kHz setting, and the Fisher Gold Bug 2 at 71 kHz. The intent with very high frequency detectors is to sharpen the response on extremely small metal targets. High frequency detectors are in a niche all their own when it comes to finding the tiniest of gold nuggets. This sensitivity does come at a cost however, in that the detectors are also responsive to ground mineralization and hot rocks that less sensitive, lower frequency detectors might ignore completely. There is no free lunch in detecting, and I want to caution anyone thinking that the Makro Gold Racer is going to be a magical solution to all their detecting desires to be realistic about things. Inevitably when new detectors come out people fall victim to wishful thinking, and I would like to try and avoid that here. When it comes to reviewing detectors I do the best I can to describe detectors to help people decide if they might be interested in them or not. Do realize again however that this review is based on preliminary information. Also, I honestly do not want people buying new metal detectors based solely on my reviews. There will be some of who want the latest and greatest right now, and I appreciate that, but being a first adopter does have its risks. My normal advice to people is to never buy anything based on a single review, but to wait for more of a consensus opinion to emerge. I have used the Gold Racer in the field, and I have found gold with it. Right now though if it is just a matter of you wanting to know if the Makro Gold Racer can find gold then I refer you to the excellent field review with photos posted by Ray Mills at the Detector Prospector Forum. In outward appearance the Makro Gold Racer resembles its immediate predecessor, the Makro Racer, but this really is a new detector, not just a Racer running at a higher frequency. Feedback on the original Racer has been incorporated as well as extensive testing and commentary from prospectors around the world. Besides the obvious color difference, major physical changes include completely redesigning the layout of the LCD display to better differentiate what are all metal functions and what are discrimination functions. All metal functions are on the left, and discrimination functions are on the right. I think the new display is more intuitive and better accommodates the extra functions implemented on the Gold Racer. The angle of the bend in the S rod handle grip has been relaxed based on feedback from Racer owners. The vibration mode was eliminated, shaving a tiny amount of weight and freeing up room on the display menu. The Gold Racer with stock 10” x 5.5” DD coil and NiMH batteries installed weighs in on my postal scales at exactly three pounds. Coils available at launch are the 10” x 5.5” DD that is stock on the detector. Optional coils include a 10” x 5.5” concentric coil, 5” round DD coil, and a light weight 15.5” x 13” DD coil. Makro Gold Racer with 5" round DD coil Let’s take a look at the functions. Under All Metal on the left side of the meter are the functions that apply only to the All Metal mode. On the right are the functions for the two Discrimination modes. The settings are independent in each mode, and once set can be saved when the detector is powered down. This simple and intuitive setup is also part of the power of the Makro Gold Racer. It is incredibly easy once each mode has been customized to flip quickly between the three modes, cross checking target responses to make a dig/no-dig decision. All Metal is the heart and soul of nugget detecting, and the Makro Gold Racer has an extremely powerful, smooth, and sensitive threshold based all metal mode. The Sensitivity setting is familiar to anyone who has used a metal detector, except that there are three base levels of sensitivity or gain. Significant boosts occur between 39 - 40 and again between 69 - 70. Most detectors max out at what is a setting of 69 on the Gold Racer. Settings of 70 and above are a type of hyper gain setting that takes the machine above and beyond, but in extreme ground overload signals may occur. Overload signals are indicated by a “warning siren” audio and the machine is telling you that there is either a large metal object under the coil, or that you are encountering extreme mineralization. In the case of mineralization, either raise the coil slightly while scanning, lower the sensitivity setting, or both. Overloads occurring at 70 will almost always be eliminated by dropping to 69. Rest assured very little is lost by lowering sensitivity to 69 or below, again, because many detectors cannot be set as hot as the Gold Racer even at their maximum setting. Do you ever run detectors and have the distinct feeling some performance has been left on the table, because the detector can always be run at maximum settings? Makro has given you that extra power for where it can be used, but in doing so they expect you will lower settings in places where that extra power works against you. Luckily, the audio alert makes it easy to know when this is. Most people do not know it but many detectors simply shut down and quit working under similar conditions with no indication at all to the operator, a situation referred to as “silent masking”. The threshold setting is the normal control that sets the volume of the slight audio tone that is key to any experienced nugget hunter finding the tiniest or deepest gold nuggets. The most minute variations in the threshold tone can indicate a gold nugget, and the ability to read the threshold is what sets most really good nugget hunters apart from everyone else. Makro has added a feature to the Gold Racer called iSAT, for “Intelligent Self Adjusting Threshold”. This setting consists of several levels of adjustment that vary the rate at which the threshold tone steadies itself. Higher levels of iSAT smooth the threshold more aggressively which aids in maintaining a smooth threshold in rapidly varying ground. Lower levels allow for faint variations to be heard more clearly in milder ground for extra depth and sensitivity. The Gold Racer can be ground balanced three ways. Holding the trigger switch under the control pod in the forward position activates an instant automatic ground balance. Just pump the coil over the ground a couple times, release the trigger, and you are done. There is a short delay when you release the trigger, and during this delay you may manually adjust the ground balance setting. The instant ground balance is neutral to slightly negative. Those that like a slightly positive ground balance need only perform the instant balance, then tap the right hand control button three of four times. The Tracking function on the control panel engages and disengages automatic ground tracking. This is most useful where the ground conditions vary wildly, a perfect example being mixed cobble piles or river bars. The tracking is very quick yet resists tracking out genuine gold signals as much as possible. This can also be an aid to anyone new to ground balancing detectors as it makes the process entirely automatic. The Backlight setting adjusts the illumination level of the backlit screen. The FD/Save setting allows adjustments to be saved when the detector is powered off, while the FD function resets Factory Defaults. There is also a Frequency Shift setting to help eliminate outside electrical interference from power lines, or another Gold Racer being operated nearby. This is set through a combination of control buttons but not visible on the menu. Finally, although this is a true threshold based all metal mode, the meter acts independently in discrimination mode at all times and indicates target id information when the signal strength is sufficient to do so. Makro Gold Racer - clear, bold display Under the Discrimination menu are settings that are completely separate from the All Metal settings and also saved or reset separately. Disc 1 is a standard two tone mode with low tone ferrous and higher tone non-ferrous. Disc 2 is a similar but deeper, more powerful mode. Quick switching between these two modes, each with fully independent settings, creates a many layered and subtle approach to target discrimination. Both discrimination modes are silent search, no threshold based systems. However, new to Makro models is the ability to set the point at which low tones flip, or “break” over into being higher tones. Typically 39 and lower target id will cause a low tone, and 40 and above a higher tone. This ability somewhat replaces the three tone mode on the original Racer because by increasing the Tone Break setting it is possible to create various coin detecting scenarios. For instance, all targets with an id number below copper penny could register low tone, and therefore copper pennies, dimes, quarters, and dollar coins a higher tone. Conversely, lowering the Tone Break setting would create a more conservative approach for nugget detecting by accepting a little more ferrous digging in return for possibly finding another nugget or two. The Sensitivity control on the Disc menu is the same as but independent of the All Metal setting of the same name. ID Filter is a variable discrimination control, with higher settings eliminating or blanking out id numbers lower than the current setting. This setting is independent for each Disc mode, and again flipping back and forth can create some interesting scenarios for comparing targets at completely different sensitivity and ID Filter levels. This quick mode switching between All Metal, Disc1, and Disc2, all with independent settings, is a very powerful tool once you get used to it. Also new with the Gold Racer is the iMask setting. I noted at the start of this review that all metal detector designs involve making trades of some sort. Extreme high frequency sensitivity to small metal targets does increase chatty false responses in extreme ground when in the discrimination modes. iMask attenuates or suppresses weaker target responses in the discrimination modes and provides a secondary level of adjustment separate from and in addition to the Sensitivity and ID Filter settings. If the detector is producing lots of quick, spurious signals in the discrimination modes, reducing sensitivity or increasing ID Filter settings or both is the first line of attack. If this does not work, go back to the original settings on those functions, and try increasing the iMask setting. If this does not work, again lower sensitivity or increase the ID Filter or both on top of the current iMask setting. iMask acts as a pre-filter giving an extra level of control to help deal with extremely bad ground conditions. Finally, Disc1 is a less aggressive mode than Disc2, so using Disc1 offers even another level of possible options when dealing with bad ground in the discrimination modes. The Backlight setting is independent for the discrimination modes, as is the Factory Default/Save Settings function. I think it goes without saying that there has never been a high frequency metal detector ever produced with this level of options and control. There are a lot of variables to play with here, and I would not be truthful at all if I said I have this machine all figured out. In fact, I think part of the fun with the Makro Gold Racer is we are entering uncharted territory. Until the final version of the machine is released, and until quite a few people get their hands on it and experiment, it is very difficult to say just what applications creative detectorists may find for the Gold Racer. It is a very powerful VLF gold prospecting detector, I can vouch for that. Applications also may be found for jewelry detecting and relic hunting in particular, and even coin detecting, due to the unique combination of features the Makro Gold Racer offers. OK, finally – some notes on real world use! Again, this is all based on prototype models and so I can only speak in generalities for this report. However, there is no doubt in my mind that even the prototype detectors rival anything currently available in a VLF detector for finding tiny gold nuggets. I can easily locate flakes of gold weighing under one tenth grain with the Gold Racer and the stock 10” x 5.5” DD coil. In fact, the machine is so hot with the stock coil I thought using a smaller coil offered minimal if any benefit, mostly because of lost ground coverage and possibly lost depth on larger nuggets. I would only use the smaller coil myself for nooks and crannies where the stock coil can’t fit, but otherwise the stock coil really is the way to go in my opinion. Keep in mind I did say grain not gram. There are 480 grains per Troy ounce and in my opinion I can find flakes all day long with the Gold Racer that weigh less than 1/10th grain, or less than 1/4800th ounce. Smallest nugget unweighable, largest 2.4 grams In trashy locations I generally preferred running in all metal and just checking the meter for ferrous targets, which tend to lock in hard at 21 or 22 on the numbers. In theory anything under 40 is ferrous, but to be safe I might investigate items as low as 35 or even 30 depending on the situation and amount of trash. However, as I noted most ferrous locks in hard around 20 leaving no doubt what the target is. In All Metal mode very tiny or very deep targets beyond discrimination range give no target id at all, automatically meaning they need investigation. The main reason I prefer to always hunt in All metal is the extra depth and sensitivity it affords, and checking targets visually is very quick and more efficient than toggling back and forth to a Disc mode under normal circumstances. For areas with too much trash where meter watching might get to be a bit too much, I normally use one of the disc modes set for two tone ferrous/non-ferrous. Iron targets just burp away, while non-ferrous target pop out with a beep. If even that got to be too much for some people, increasing the ID Filter to eliminate most ferrous responses completely can make for a quieter experience in really trashy locations. As always, I must include the warning that the more discrimination applied, the more risk of missing a good target. Use no more discrimination than needed to preserve your sanity! I used the Gold Racer to hunt a couple trashy areas where I just could not go with my big dollar all metal machine, and easily located nuggets in the midst of trash. For me personally the Makro Gold Racer fills in two areas where the high price big gun detectors come up short. The ability to find the tiniest, most dispersed gold possible, both in flake form or enclosed in specimen rock. And the ability to deal with really trashy areas where good discrimination is needed. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me was when I decided to give the 15.5” x 13” DD coil a try. Honestly, I did not expect much from it. You normally do not see a coil this large for high frequency machines because the ground feedback usually overwhelms them, negating any gains that can be had regarding depth. Instead, the Gold Racer seemed to be even better behaved with the larger coil than with the smaller coils. I hunted some cobble piles with it and it ran smooth as can be at higher sensitivity levels. I then wandered into some moderately hot ground with it, still with no problems, and was actually surprised when I came up with a couple small gold nuggets with it. The first was only 0.8 grams which I thought was pretty fantastic. So I put a little more effort into it, and found a 0.3 gram nugget. With a 15.5” x 13” DD coil on a VLF? That is really kind of unheard of, and I was thoroughly impressed. I am not sure what is going on there but I do know the Makro detectors can sense what coil is on the detector. Something different going on with that big coil? I don’t know, but the results and performance surprised me. Also surprising was that for such a large coil it actually was not bad swinging it for half a day. That could be from my using large, heavy detectors all summer however. Still, it was an eye opener all around and changed how I think my Gold Racer might get used in the future. It looks to have more use for covering very large areas blue sky prospecting than I would have imagined. This coil with scuff cover weighs 1 lb 11 oz (766 grams) as weighed on my postal scales. Makro Gold Racer with GR40 15.5" x 13" coil I would be remiss if I did not include at least a note on the versatility possible with the Gold Racer. I recently took it to a local park. Now, my ground in Reno is screaming hot, full of magnetite. The mineral percentage graph on the Gold Racer and similar machines all come up one bar short of maxed, and ground balance numbers run around 88-90. A magnet dropped in this stuff comes up with a lump of magnetite. As a result getting accurate target id numbers with even the best coin detectors past 5” is a chore. I know that sounds crazy but it is the truth. I ran the 5” DD coil and even then had to back the sensitivity down to 69 to prevent overloads in the worst areas. One thing about the Racer detectors that I have heard people complain about, and that is that they tend to up average target numbers in bad soil. For me this is a good thing. Many detectors will see target id number average lower in bad ground, and so fringe targets are more likely to get identified as ferrous when they are in reality non-ferrous. This is obviously not a good thing for nugget detecting. The Racer and the Gold Racer both tend to up average, and so targets like lead sinkers or aluminum that you would expect to give lower numbers often give coin like responses with the Racers. It is odd to see in practice. I got a good high signal reading near 80 at about 5” that when dug up turned out to be a common round lead fishing sinker. Out of the hole the target id promptly dropped to about 45. This effect whether by design or by accident is common with European detectors. I think it is by design because first and foremost these machines are made to pull non-ferrous targets out of ferrous trash. Improperly identifying a non-ferrous item as ferrous is the worst possible result, and so up averaging helps insure that non-ferrous items will not be missed. However, it also means these types of detectors are not as efficient at cherry picking coins as common coin detectors are. You get the coins for sure, but you dig more trash doing it. Still, I experimented a few hours and if you are content to live with the limitation I just described you can actually make some good finds with the Gold Racer under almost any conditions. The ID Filter works very well, and by just running it all the way to 79 it was easy for me to cherry pick a few coins though larger aluminum items like screw caps or big pull tabs often came up in the 80s also. I do think this is a result dependent on ground conditions to some degree, but really the Gold Racer is best suited for people like me who want to recover all non-ferrous targets. I prefer to hunt jewelry rather than coins myself, as one gold ring makes up for a pile of coins. And to hunt jewelry you have to dig aluminum, no two ways about that. The Gold Racer will suit me well hunting jewelry, especially micro jewelry like ear rings and fine chains. This report is very long, and yet I really am just skimming over the features and possibilities inherent in the Makro Gold Racer. I will close by once again noting that while everything regarding the Gold Racer is pretty much set in stone at this point, last second changes are possible. Look for more soon when the factory production models hit the street. I also get frustrated when people want information on new units, but then turn right around and characterize reports trying to provide that information as hype or a sales pitch. I have tried my best here to just present what facts I can without leading anyone to think that the Gold Racer is anything other than what it is. And that, in my opinion, is a very interesting, unique, and capable metal detector. I look forward to hearing for myself in the future what people think about it and the applications and tricks they come up with, because you pretty much need to toss anything you think you know out the door when approaching this machine. Many thanks to the folks at Makro and in particular Dilek Gonulay for providing me with the opportunity to be one of the first to use the Gold Racer. I admit that VLF detectors were beginning to bore me, and the Gold Racer has reignited my interest in seeing what they can do for me. Specifications and details on the Makro Gold Racer Disclosure Statement
  7. Hello all, here are some pictures of the Makro Gold Racer in the field. The Racer was used in areas previously detected with other VLF's. My detecting partner Chris was using the Racer and I as following up with another VLF going over the same targets. Many of the same targets could be heard easily by both units, however there were a bit less than a quarter of the targets that only the Racer heard very well. The targets that were in some of the deeper and grittier soil gave a weaker response. Both VLF's read the target but the as I said the Racer sound was much more distinct and in fact heard some an inch or two deeper. The ICMJ featured an article that I wrote titled "Piles of Gold'' just a few issues back. If you look very closely at the first picture you will see the Makro Gold Racer in action. That particular pay pile that we were working had been gone over with other VLF's and a few pieces were heard in the highly mineralized material of the heap. We assumed that was all we were going to get until we went back another day with the Gold Racer. Once we found other pieces we started taking the pile apart. We pulled a bit over an ounce of gold off that pile and have since found other piles. The video shows how many targets we were hearing sweeping the Gold Racer over the ground. As mentioned earlier, some of the targets could have been heard by other VLF's but the Gold Racer was ultimately what made us decide to tear into the pile. Chris did have a bit of luck with the Racer one day along a creek where the alluvial gravels had been worked. That piece was 14.8 pennyweight. One thing that really impressed me about the Gold Racer was its ability to give a better target response to some nice pieces that were on edge in the bedrock. Most of you know that flatter pieces of gold, especially lying flat, will give a better target response than round, marble type gold targets. The Racer showed me no difference in discerning round to flat and I like that. The unit is very light and maneuverable and I like that. Anyone who has detected with me knows my favorite saying "what brush?" and "that's not thick". It can be short shafted or long shafted so it works in the brush for me very well. As mentioned in an earlier post, I will let Steve do the technical assessment as he is much better at that than I am. I know that the unit is well built and many changes were put into the final product. I will be using it quite a bit. A few videos can be seen on TRINITYAU.COM I will have them posted by end of day 11/23/2015 Thanks, TRINITYAU/RAYMILLS Take it away Steve... Steve, I did my pictures the way I normally do but they came out large, reduce them if you need to, Ray
  8. A week ago I started an informal survey on seven US metal detecting oriented prospecting forums including this one. The survey here is at http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1244-if-you-found-a-gold-nugget-in-the-last-year-what-detectors-did-you-find-it-with/ This is what got posted on all the forums. I have been compiling results all evening and it is after midnight so I am calling it a night. However, I will release additional details on this forum, probably tomorrow morning. I would like to post a screenshot of the entire spreadsheet if I can figure out how to get it all on screen at once. Or I may just post a copy of the spreadsheet in the download area for forum members to access. I am proud to say that fully half the responses were on this forum alone, with the other six making up the remainder. There are a lot of active nugget hunters on this forum. The survey was not meant to prove anything per se. I was basically just curious to see what the detectors were that were employed to actually find gold nuggets in the last year. The survey has many shortcomings. It only polls people who were on the US forums in the last week who cared to respond. The forums have tended as a whole to be Minelab oriented and so it is not surprising results might skew in that direction. Still, I got a large number of responses and so some conclusions can be drawn. I eliminated duplicate and joke responses. I eliminated a couple borrowed units. It was winnowed down to just detectors that found gold for their owners in the last year. Everything else was pretty straight forward. The only thing of note is I put a couple Gold Bug SE responses under the Gold Bug Pro because they are basically the same detector. The SE was just a precursor model. Everything was compiled on a spreadsheet and totaled. 114 people responded as having used 220 detectors to find gold nuggets. That is an average of a couple detectors per person but the reality is a lot of people owned three detectors, and then quite a few just one detector. In general you could say many nugget hunters own a couple PI detectors (or a PI and a GPZ) plus a good VLF detector. If you really want to generalize things your could say people own a couple Minelab PI type detectors and a Fisher VLF. The Gold Bug 2 and the Gold Bug Pro were the runaway favorites in the VLF category. Tesoro is conspicuous in their absence. Only one Lobo ST listed. I was a bit surprised to see not one Garrett AT Gold listed. Except for a few ATX units Garrett is pretty much a no-show. White's does a little bit better but still only just over a dozen units out of 220. The TDI PI models are the most popular alternative to the Minelabs with 8 listed. As I noted Fisher totally dominates the VLF detectors with the Gold Bug 2 and Gold Bug Pro. And I was surprised at the very large numbers for both the SDC2300 and GPZ7000. The GPZ in particular due to it being very expensive and out for only the last 6 months. The adoption rate is phenomenal in my opinion. Here are two sets of results. The first is simplified for easy digestion. I have lumped similar models together and not listed onesies and twosies. The second list is the full per model breakdown. Make of it what you will, and thank you for participating! Simplified Results: 51 GPX5000/4500/4000 33 GPZ7000 33 SDC2300 32 Gold Bug 2 15 Gold Bug Pro 13 GP3500/3000/GPExtreme 8 White's TDI/TDIPro/TDISL/SPP 5 White's GMT/GM3/VSAT 5 Nokta FORS Gold 4 Makro Racer 4 X-Terra 705 3 Garrett ATX 3 XP DEUS Full Results: 33 GPZ7000 33 SDC 2300 32 Gold Bug 2 31 GPX5000 15 Gold Bug Pro 11 GPX4500 9 GPX4000 6 GP3000 5 GPExtreme 5 FORS Gold 4 Makro Racer 4 X-Terra 705 3 Garrett ATX 3 White's GMT 3 White's TDI 3 TDI Pro 3 XP DEUS 2 GP3500 2 Fisher F19 2 CTX3030 1 TDI SL 1 White's SPP 1 Troy X5 1 XT17000 1 SD2200V2 1 SD2100V2 1 Tesoro Lobo ST 1 White's GM3 1 White's V/SAT 1 Minelab F1A4 1 Garrett Scorpion
  9. G'day Everyone, As Opposed to asking which is the Best VLF and Starting A Brand War, I think the Most important Questions Are What VLF /S do you have and What are the most important Features To You about Your VLF, With Me Being an Aussie YEP you guess it I was Minelab NUTS But after Many years looking at Finds on the forums and wondering if I was ever going to find something Like I saw in The Magazines and forums, Anyway I went showing off my Sovereign GT with all the coils I had round A Mates House and he got out a Detector I had never seen Before and within seconds I was deflated And then we went detecting and I realized that Living in an Area with over 5000 years of metal workings I needed A Machine with A Fast Recovery .And Not Only that It Had to be Hyper Sensitive and After Spending Time reading reviews by Certain Young Alaskan Gentleman and dreaming about the Stories he told I ended up with My First MXT 300 and I Struck GOLD, ( 16.4 grams of 18ct ) On my Second Trip Out in The First week, So Back to the AMD forum and I found out about the GMT Goldmaster, So Out with My Bank Card Again and the Next Day I had A shite and Briney ( Bright and Shiny ) GMT should I say, and the first thing I noticed was the Ground GRAB and the Manual GB Ooooo So Then I was Back On the Phone Ordering the New MXT Pro, It has the Grab button Tooooo , This Grab Button Is worth its weight in Gold because I Never use my Machine without Covers on them and having the Grab saves me having to open the Cover to switch to Auto Track and then back to Manual and the Hand Made Custom Covers Keep my machines Looking Like New, I love the Fact these machines can be Turned On and I am detecting In Seconds and they will work Anywhere In the World, I sometime detect up to 60 hours a week and more some times and the Coil Choice means I can fine tune the machine to suit the Venue, The Manual says You should get about 40 hours from A Set Of Batteries But I have found that I have got over 57 hours out of them and they still were not flat, I would Like to Try some Energizer Lithium Batteries because they run Higher Voltage and with some equipment can last up to 10 times longer and Have many other Merrits, For those of you who Are world Travellers If you are going to the UK or Europe Make sure you bring a machine with A fast Recovery speed and if you do have Machines Like the V3i or the Deus they will Be Perfect Also, Tesoro's Are Lethal On English Hammered Coins Too, Anyway Thanks for Listening, ( yeah I Know) Reading. John
  10. Hey guys,i figured with a f3 soon on its way i would ask. if anyone has a recon for sale let me know please.
  11. In search of that vlf discrimating detector for trashy areas, ruled out eureka gold(weight), ruled out CTX ? over multifrequency & weight. Left with GB2, GBpro and Xterra 705 gold, with the Xterra on top because of its discrim properties and flexibility. Many thanks Steve for your concise and up to date reviews, definitely the best. Initially the CTX seemed most logical but I can see a single frequency is needed for my purpose, the Xterra having that with coil changes allowing it to go for lower frequencies for those coins. Something I haven`t chased for 20 plus years, but recall the fun I had doing so. My shortlist but???? no urgency.
  12. F19 Nokta gold SDC 2300 ATX Macro Racer/Gold Whites TDI SL CTX 3030 GPX5000 And the 7000, of course... Just trying to narrow down the next purchase.... Hunting NorCal mainly.... Hiking up and down very steep wooded canyons... So weight is a big, big factor! I was in a place last week that was so steep I had to put the 2300 in my pack and literally crawl out on all fours! Beautiful in the bottom, but looked like Hades going up the sides...lol.. Gotta lose 50 lbs now! :-) The ground sticks to my magnet like crazy. Red dirt, lots of buck shot size gravels, Didn't bother my 2300 tho... Saw a mistake by using the hockey puck coil on the ATGold underwater...bzzzzzt.. It is not an underwater coil !!! 100.00 shot...Did find one bullet before it fried tho....lol So what so you think I should be using...this is definitely billy goat country... But one more parameter.. When I come out of the canyons there is lots of ground to cover in burnt forests where I need a larger coil... I think I know my answer..And it is not altogether one of my choices above.... I think you know what it is Steve.... Grinning..
  13. My main plan this year is to put as many hours as possible on the GPZ 7000. That is definitely job one starting in April. I also will be using the Garrett ATX for in water beach detecting. The ATX will also be used with the 20" coil as an alternative to the GPZ in areas where I want more ground coverage than the GPZ 14 coil provides. For hunting gold nuggets or coins in trashy locations I will be leaning on the Nokta FORS Gold and for in town jewelry detecting my White's V3i/Big Foot combo. For 2015 however it does look like the GPZ and ATX will be doing the heavy lifting. What about you? What detector or detectors will you be counting on most for 2015?
  14. I was out hunting some dredge tailings yesterday and did some testing with the SDC 2300 and the Gold Bug Pro on some specimens. I tested a variety of pieces but the one that is most interesting is in the pic below. I previous tested this with the GPX 5000 with standard 11” mono and it registered only very slightly when touching it to the coil. The GB pro with the 6x9 coil in all metal mode will easily pick this up at 8”-9” in an air test. The SDC in an air test was slightly less at 7”-8”. I then put this at the bottom of an 8” hole without covering it up and retested. No change on the SDC but the GB was now barely able to pick it up. After filling the hole the SDC still had no problem but I couldn’t pick it up at all with the GB. Further testing determined that the GB would pick this up at only about 4”-5” when buried. I actually found this specimen about 4” below the bottom of an 8”-10” hole where I dug out a large square nail. Other observations were that on the buried test the GB was only slightly deeper in all metal than in disc. mode but the target response area is far greater in all metal. In all metal I tested with the machine ground balanced neutral and with ground balance at + 10 and – 10 on the GB screen. Also if I put one of the numerous hot rocks from the tailings over the specimen it almost completely masked it. After this test I carefully covered over a 15’x20’ area with both detectors from 2 directions and marked all targets. I got 7 targets with the GB and 9 with the SDC. The 7 with the GB were all seen by the SDC but the GB could not see the other 2 SDC targets. 6 were square nails and one was a small piece of tin. The 2 the SDC saw that the GB did not were a small (about ½”) tip of a rusty square nail at 4” and the item in pic 2 below at a about 6 1/2 inches. Not certain what this item is. Looks like some kind of melted metal possibly solder. It reads on the GB screen about the same as gold or lead but too hard to be lead. This screamed on the SDC and once out of the ground hits very hard on the GB also. I reburied it at about the same depth and the GB hit it fine. It seems that there are certain situations or rocks that mask targets from the GB. Last observations are that the GB seems much more sensitive to iron targets than the SDC. The deeper nails were stronger signals on the GB but on the specimen in the pic and some heavier gold specimens I tested the SDC clearly had significantly more depth in the ground (at least 25% - 30%). Bottom line the SDC will clearly potentially find more specimens than the GB in tailings if you have the patience to dig every target but with the amount of trash in the area I was hunting it would be difficult to have the discipline to dig all targets. I have gone out many times with the intention of digging everything but after 3-4 hours of digging junk ever couple of feet I usually fall back to using the Disc. to try to determine if its trash. Given the random distribution of specimens in the tailings this is most likely gives the best overall odds but that being said I have found a couple of nice pieces that in ground read and sound just like nails on the GB pro (Target id only in the high 20’s in disc. and 3 or more bars on the iron indicator in all metal. Once out of the ground or reburied they read in the normal 48 to high 50’s range in disc and 0-1 bar on the iron scale in all metal.) I am trying to video as many digs as possible to try to catch one of these to post showing the sounds and readings. It would be great to get some of the groups opinions on the reason for this.
  15. ATX - SDC2300 - Fors Gold - revised F-75 - Deus ---- it's raining new detectors in the goldfields and Steve is getting SOAKED! LOL. Looking forward to your take on the Deus.
  16. I am primarily a prospector but have also been coin and jewelry detecting since 1972. Like most people when in parks I use discrimination to pick targets but when prospecting I usually dig it all. Not always though, sometimes I am tired or an area is just too trashy so I crank in a little VLF discrimination to sort things out. The problem is when prospecting I have seen some pretty scary things. It is one thing to walk away from a dime because your detector called it a nail. Think about walking away from a solid multi ounce chunk of gold because your detector called it a nail. Not likely, you say? Far too likely, I am afraid. I and others dig big nuggets other people leave behind on a regular basis, and I know I have missed some very big ones myself in the past. It gets your attention to realize you may have walked away from $40,000.00. I have this pile of detectors headed my way to check out. One, the Nokta Fors Gold, showed up yesterday. Good first impression out of the box, but that is another story. The main thing is today I got it out along with a Gold Bug 2, Gold Bug Pro, F75, White's GMT, and CTX 3030. I rounded up a 1 gram gold nugget and a collection of nails and hot rocks and did a little playing around this afternoon. I am still waiting for the XP Deus to show up and a V3i so this was more about coming up with some methodology more than anything. My interests run more towards hot rocks and magnetite sand than would be the case with most people. So the particulars do not matter at the moment, except this. Discrimination sucks! You fire these babies up in all metal and they are all powerful detectors that do the job, with some amazing depth for VLF units (not counting the CTX which lacks a true all metal mode). It is pretty easy to compare units as it really just boils down to depth and how well they handle hot rocks, which is mostly a function of frequency and ground balance. EMI is a big factor in urban areas also but much less so when prospecting. So then I put the detectors in disc mode and I just cut the legs out from under them. Bam, instant lost depth. Also, target masking or so-called reactivity is usually a non-issue in pure all metal modes. Not so at all in disc modes, and disc modes that lack true zero discrimination settings mask targets immediately even when set to zero. Anyway, all I can say is playing around for awhile with these units and my pile of hot rocks and little nails was rather disheartening. It was just so darn easy to get that little nugget to bang out loud in all metal, then disappear entirely in disc modes. Or get detected but called ferrous. Or get masked by a nearby hot rock or nail. It just hammered home with me once again the huge difference in raw power between something like a GPX 5000 and even the best VLF detectors in all metal mode, and how that huge difference becomes an almost impossibly large gulf once you turn to disc modes. When you just go detecting in a park you do not see what you are missing. But in my case it was all to visible and really kind of bummed me out seeing just how far we have to go when it comes to metal detector discrimination. The only icing on this cake is that there is a huge amount of fantastic stuff in the ground, and not deep at all. It is there, quite shallow, just under or near that thing you discriminated out. If we could see through discriminated items rather than be blocked by them an amazing amount of stuff would come to light. Beneath The Mask by Thomas Dankowski The Painful Truth by Thomas Dankowski More Reasons Discrimination Sucks by Steve Herschbach
  17. Update January 2019 - I started reviewing detectors on the internet over twenty years ago. At the time it seemed I was providing a service since good information was hard to find. I enjoyed reviewing machines in detail for those who were interested. The internet was more friendly back in those days. Times have changed, and these days everyone with a video camera is a metal detector expert. In particular there is a trend where industry insiders like me are considered tainted sources of information, not to be trusted. Personally, I don’t need people questioning my integrity. I was doing this for fun and that sucked all the fun out of it. I am therefore no longer accepting invitations to review metal detecting equipment. I may continue to work with engineers on product development but in general will recuse myself from publicly discussing the equipment involved. If anyone wants to use me as part of their marketing efforts they can hire me outright. I'm available and will consider job offers that involve the sales and marketing of metal detectors. My thanks to those of you who have expressed your appreciation for my efforts over the years. You can find my collected detector reports here. The focus on this website going forward will be individual user reviews as part of the new Metal Detector Database with User Reviews. Check it out!
  18. Here is a list of nugget detectors sorted by weight with my own somewhat arbitrary categories. Weight is not everything as balance is also very important, as is the handle design. Obviously the ability to hip mount counts for a lot. Properly designed bungee systems can render even heavy detectors weightless on the arm. ULTRA LIGHT XP DEUS - 2 lbs with built in batteries, one ounce less with control box dismounted from rod. Fisher Gold Bug / Gold Bug Pro - 2.5 lbs. with 5" coil and one 9v battery (2.7 lbs with 10" coil) Teknetics G2 - 2.8 lbs. with 11" coil and one 9v battery Fisher Gold Bug 2 - 2.9 lbs. with two 9v batteries (may be hip mounted) Minelab X-Terra 705 Gold - 2.9 lbs. with four AA batteries VERY LIGHT Garrett AT Gold - 3 lbs. with four AA batteries Garrett Gold Stinger - 3.2 lbs. with three 9v batteries (may be hip mounted) White's GMZ - 3.4 lbs. with eight AA batteries LIGHT Tesoro Lobo Super TRAQ - 3.5 lbs. with eight AA batteries (may be hip mounted) Fisher F75 - 3.5 lbs. with four AA batteries Teknetics T2 - 3.5 lbs. with four AA batteries White's TDI SL - 3.5 lbs. with eight AA batteries White’s GMT - 3.9 lbs. with eight AA batteries MEDIUM Nokta FORS Gold - 4.3 lbs. with four AA batteries White’s MXT - 4.3 lbs. with eight AA batteries HEAVY Minelab Eureka Gold - 5.3 lbs. including rechargeable battery pack or optional eight AA batteries (may be hip mounted) Minelab GPX 5000 - The GPX weighs 5.3 lbs. not including the harness mounted proprietary rechargeable battery, which weighs another 1.7 lbs. Detector weight normally supported by bungee. Garrett Infinium LS - 5.6 lbs. including rechargeable battery pack or eight AA batteries (may be hip mounted) White's TDI and TDI Pro - 5.6 lbs. including proprietary rechargeable battery (may be hip mounted) Minelab SDC 2300 - 5.7 lbs. including four C batteries VERY HEAVY Garrett ATX - 6.9 lbs. including eight AA batteries Minelab GPZ 7000 - 7.2 lbs. with standard rechargeable battery
  19. Which metal detectors have the most reliable target ID numbers? Target ID is a function of depth - the deeper the target, the more difficult it is to get a clean target ID as the ground signal interferes. Other items directly adjacent to the desired target can also cause inaccurate numbers. The more conductive the item, the higher the resulting ID number, but also the larger the item the higher the number. Silver is more conductive than gold, so a gold item will give a lower number than the same size silver item. But a very large gold item can give a higher number than a small silver item, so numbers do not identify types of metal. Gold and aluminum read the same and vary in size so to dig one you dig the other. Only mass produced items like coins produce numbers that are more or less the same over the years but a zinc penny will read lower than a copper penny due to the change in composition. In general iron or ferrous targets produce negative numbers or low numbers. Aluminum, gold, and US nickels produce mid-range numbers. And most other US coins produce high numbers. Other countries coins, like Canadian coins with ferrous content, can read all over the place. The scale applied varies according to manufacturer so the number produced by each detector will vary according to the scale used. The 0-100 range for non-ferrous targets is most common but there are others. Minelab employs a dual number system on a 2D scale with thousands of possible numbers, but they are now normalizing the results produced to conform more closely to the linear scale used by other manufacturers. White's Visual Discrimination Identification (VDI) Scale Increasing ground mineralization has a huge effect on the ability to get a good target ID. Ground mineralization is nearly always from iron mineralization, and this tends to make weak targets, whether very small targets or very deep targets, misidentify. The target numbers get dragged lower, and many non-ferrous targets will eventually be identified as iron if buried deep enough. Small non-ferrous readings and iron readings actually overlap. That is why any discrimination at all is particularly risky for gold nugget hunters. If you want target ID numbers to settle down, lower sensitivity and practice consistent coil control. The target number will often vary depending on how well the target is centered and how fast the coil moves. Perfect ground balance is critical to accurate target id. Outside issues factor in. Electrical interference is a common cause of jumpy target id numbers. In general small coils will often deliver sharper, more consistent target id returns. Higher sensitivity settings lead to jumpier numbers as the detectors become less stable at higher levels. The interference from the ground signal increases and interference from outside electrical sources also increases, leading to less stable numbers. Higher frequency detectors are inherently more sensitive and are jumpier. So lean lower frequency for more solid results. Multi frequency detectors act like low frequency detectors and tend to have more solid target numbers due to the ability to analyze a target with different frequencies. Another issue is the number of target categories, or ID segments, or VDIs, or notches, or bins (all names for the same thing) that a detector offers. For instance here are the number of possible target id categories or segments each detector below offers: Fisher CZ-3D = 7 Garrett Ace 250 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 305 = 12 Minelab X-Terra 505 = 19 Minelab X-Terra 705 = 28 Minelab Equinox 800 = 50 Minelab Manticore, Fisher F75 and many other models = 99 White's MXT and many other models = 190 Minelab CTX 3030 = 1750 Fewer target categories means more possible items get lumped together under a single reading, but that the reading is more stable. Many detectors will tell you the difference between a dime and a quarter. The Fisher CZ assumes you want to dig both so puts them under one segment along with most other coins. People who use detectors with many target numbers usually just watch the numbers jump around and mentally average the results. Some high end detectors can actually do this averaging for you! But I think there is something to be said for owning a detector that simplifies things and offers less possible numbers to start with. The old Fisher CZ method still appeals to me, especially for coin detecting. So do detectors like the Garrett Ace 250 or Minelab X-Terra 505 for the same reason. The problem is that as people strive to dig deeper targets or smaller targets the numbers will always get less reliable. But if you want to have a quiet performing metal detecting with solid, reliable target numbers look more for coin type detectors running at lower frequencies under 10 kHz or at multiple frequencies and possibly consider getting a detector with fewer possible target segments. And with any detector no matter what just back that sensitivity setting off and you will get more reliable target numbers. ads by Amazon... Detectors often use tones to identify targets and often use far fewer tones than indicated by the possible visual target id numbers. The X-Terra 705 for instance can use 28 tones, one for each segment. However, most people find this too busy, and so simple tone schemes of two, three, or four tones may be selected. I think it is instructive that many people often end up ignoring screen readings and hunting by ear, using just a few tones. This ends up just being an ultra basic target id system much like the simpler units offer. Reality is that most people do not need or care about huge numbers of target numbers. For many just three ranges suffice, low tone for iron, mid tone for most gold items, and high tone for most US coins. The meter could do the same thing, but for marketing purposes more is better and so we get sold on detectors with hundreds of possible target ID numbers. Perhaps this is a digital representation of an old analog meter with its nearly infinite range of response but the reality is we do not need that level of differentiation to make a simple dig or no dig decision. Finally, a picture often says it all. Below we have a shot of the White's M6 meter. I like it because the decal below illustrates a lot. You see the possible numerical range of -95 to 95 laid out in the middle. Over it is the simplified iron/gold/silver range. Note the slants where they overlap to indicate the readings really do overlap. Then you get the probable target icons. -95 is noted as "hot rock" because many do read there. The M6 can generate 7 tones depending on the target category. I have added red lines to the image to show where these tones sit in relation to the scale. It breaks down as follows: -95 = 57 Hz (Very Low) Hot Rock -94 to -6 = 128 Hz (Low) Iron Junk -5 to 7 = 145 Hz (Med Low) Gold Earrings, Chains - Foil 8 to 26 = 182 Hz (Medium) Women's Gold Rings/Nickel - Small Pull Tabs 27 to 49 = 259 Hz (Med Hi) Men's Gold Rings - Large Pull Tabs 50 to 70 = 411 Hz (High) Zinc Penny/Indian Head Penny - Screw Caps 71 to 95 = 900 Hz (Very High) Copper Penny/Dime/Quarter/Dollar Note that the screen reading of +14 is noted as being a nickel or ring but it can also be the "beaver tail" part of an aluminum pull tab or the aluminum ring that holds an eraser on a pencil, among other things. The best book ever written on the subject of discrimination is "Taking A Closer Look At Metal Detector Discrimination" by Robert C. Brockett. It is out of print but if you find a copy grab it, assuming the topic interests you. Always remember - when in doubt, dig it out! Your eyes are the best target ID method available.
  20. I have seen a ton of ATX vs SDC2300 and ATX vs GPX5000, and a lot more. What I have not seen is a comparison of the SDC2300 and the XTerra 705 Gold Pack. I had an XTerra 70 Gold Pack that I just sold. I was planning on getting the SDC2300, but when I consider all things, I wonder if the SDC2300 is worth the extra money? I know the XTerra will have an edge in a few areas: Versatility: Xterra can use multiple coils for different types of hunting and varying depths (with different frequencies) Price: Depending on performance of SDC2300, does it REALLY warrant a $3000 price difference? Weight: XTerra= 2.5lbs vs SDC= 5.1lbs The reason for this thread is that I have a couple of SD2000 Gold Machines. I love them, and have learned all their little idiosyncrasies over the years. The XTerra with Gold Pack (10x5 18.75khz coil) was designed for prospecting small gold at shallow depths. This seems like the same thing the SDC2300 is designed for. I know all about the differences between PI and VLF. I am even willing to accept the SDC2300 as being superior in performance, but would I REALLY be better off spending almost $4000 for a machine that seems to be designed for the same purpose as a $1000 machine? HELP! Thanks - Mike
  21. The big question is what you think is the better gold detector ' ATX or SDC ? Sorry to put you in this position but your qualified to answer
  22. Yes, it is a sickness. Having tested and sent on their way for various reasons a: GoldMaster 3 Goldmaster 4b Original Lobo Lobo Super Trak AU-52 Diablo μmax And having on hand until further notice a: Goldmaster 4b chest mount GOLD bug Pro Gold Bug 2 MXT TDI Sd-2100 Whites DF PI I am receiving on Tuesday an ATX, I am now ready to take the field and look for AZ gold. Now any normal person would have set off years ago with his first gold detector and found out whether he really had what it takes to find gold. But then, who said I was normal. The current plan is to find out if the ATX can replace all of the above stuff except for the GB2 and the SD-2100. The former because NOTHING can touch it for finding crumbs. The latter because I just got it and I need to scratch the Minelab itch a bit, plus I have met someone who loves this detector and is willing to help me learn it - especially for meteorite hunting. In my own defense I can only offer the fact that metal detectors fascinate me as devices. I have derived endless pleasure puttering around on my 3 acres or so of AZ desert trying to hear what the various machines are saying to me about the ground and it's contents. So Thursday we head up to a club claim and start the "Survivor" process.
  23. Good day, Steve! Sorry for my english Please help me. I'm interested in hunting for nuggets. Steve read stories about Alaska - very interesting! I'll choose my detector. I do not know what I mineralization in the country, but many hunters use PI machine. Basically Minelab. Quite often find nuggets from 0.5 grams to 20 grams. 1. Help me in choosing among VLF machines that will provide depth on the nuggets 1-5 grams. I think about MXT pro, I will reel coil DD 6 * 10 "compared to the coil 12." 2. Steve, I understand from your stories 14 kHz frequency copes better with the mineralization than Let's say 19 kHz the gold bug pro. The 14 kHz will win great nuggets. I understand correctly? Weight detector I am not afraid. 3. Choosing PI machine for me also not simple. I can buy a Minelab. but I have to take out a bank loan. How TDI SL worse depth on nuggets 0.5-20 grams compared to GPX. This hunt we gaining popularity and would not want to miss the season! Andrey Sorry, i forgot to add: I live in Kazakhstan.
  24. Through a bunch of "horse trading" I ended up with a flock of VLF gold detectors and have played with them extensively on my property here. The soil is moderately mineralized and well supplied with hot rocks, cold rocks, nails, bottle caps, cartridge cases, shotgun shell bases, air rifle pellets, lead and jacketed bullets and countless fragments of both. I claim no objective truths arrived at, just relating what I liked and had confidence in and what I didn't. An original Lobo went early, the audio was just too week and the depth in discriminate was pretty poor, spoiling it as a dual purpose detector. A GMT was the next victim, it wasn't as sensitive as my Goldmaster 4b and I just couldn't warm up to it. A Lobo Super Trac was tempting but the auto only GB and weak discriminate function made it a gold only machine. A friend admired it and it has a new home. I'm now down to four finalists. The GM 4b is a chest mount and I like its sensitivity to both 1 grain and below fragments and it's depth on larger stuff. I have the regular 6x10 and the large GoldMax coils (both concentric). I will probably hang on to it for meteorites at least because it is easy to swing. My Gold Bug 2 has amazing sensitivity and I am convinced that it will find crumbs better than anything else - besides, I got a smoking deal on it from a Pawn Shop and think I'd better keep it. My MXT is a great machine and I am impressed with it's depth with the 6x10 DD coil. It seems to be smoother and just as deep in discriminate as in All Metal (although it doesn't ID to anywhere near that depth). It is much heavier than the next detector however and I probably will sell it on soon. Last of all, I got a GB Pro, mainly after reading TrinityAU's posts about it. I think if I had to keep only one VLF for gold, it would be this one. I was confused at first why the main display in all metal was the continuous GB reading, but I am now understanding how that helps me know when to grab a GB fix and also how hot and cold rocks affect the GB reading vs how metallic targets like gold, lead, etc do so. The next phase of detector wars - Pulse Induction - starts next week when the ML SD2100 I just bought shows up. I was looking for a GP 3000 when a deal too good to pass up on a hardly used SD2100 with 3 coils popped up. It will face off with my Whites TDI which I have had for a while. That part of the program will have to be done somewhere else since the EMI here is really bad and the TDI hates it here - the Sd2100 no doubt will as well. Of course any sensible person would ask why I'm not out looking for gold instead of digging up my 3 acres here in Gold Canyon (where there is no gold). Good question. I hope to remedy that deficiency in a week or so since I just joined a local club with many claims here in AZ.
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