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So a big hello to everyone. I'm really new to all this, and have yet to do any detecting, I'm more into designing detectors than using them. I'm hoping to get feedback from the users here to help me refine my designs, I think I can develop some really useful and fun machines. I'm currently working on my first analog prototype, to be followed by a microprocessor controlled one. I'm integrating some features that I think are missing in most if not all the current designs, and am looking forward to hearing all your feedback, what you like, what you don't, what you can do without, etc. Don't know how often I'll be here, but I'll try to add to the conversation in a positive way when I am. Thanks folks, -SS

popeye from Maine has just dug you up ! Finally upgraded my trusty Micronta Discoverer 2 6KHz detector . ( Bounty Hunter) to an 800 last summah OH AYUH ! Located this forum without using it too. skuh kuh kuh kuh (LOL) Not a lot of detector addicts to hang out with so thinkin' this group will be a good source of info and fun. Have done all the updates on the 800 so far . Haven't had a lot of detecting time on it yet though , maybe 20 hours...so still have many things to learn about it. I also bought my first pinpointer (the ML35) and wow ! Gotta say I love it !!! Weighs a lot less than the screen box I have been using yup yup. She just froze ovah uptah camp and I'll be hangin' out with the forum till it thaws out .......U boob videos only go so far .....

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for allowing my business to prosper. How many of you found detector or prospecting tool under the tree? 2020 was a rough year for many of us, but if you took advantage of the beautiful outdoors with your detector, just maybe you were rewarded with a nice nugget/trinket/treasure. Hopefully 2021 is golden to you all and I look forward to viewing your pictures of new discoveries, reading your adventures and maybe even sharing a few of mine. Merry Christmas to all.

Even though 2020 has been awful in a number of ways (a number of milestones in my immediate family were either cancelled or subdued including high school and college graduations and milestone birthdays and anniversaries, close friends and family were affected by the virus, and the list goes on) . But the nature of detecting as a naturally socially distant activity was one bright spot and an effective outlet for all the frustration encountered this year. Below are pics of my finds and site memories over the past 12 months (cheated a little as a few of these go back into the end of 2019). They were pretty much recovered using 3 main detectors - the Deus/Orx (using a number of different coils), the Equinox 800, and Minelab GPX 4800. A couple buttons were also recovered using the Tarsacci which has found a semi-permanent place in the first team detector lineup as well as the Nokta Simplex+ and Tek G2+ as the next tier in specialized situations. All of the below were recovered on private permission property or public beaches in the DMV (DC, VA, MD) region and PA. Enjoy the pics and looking forward to a better, safer, and fun 2021, especially with detector and digger in hand. I'll end it with my bucket lister of all time (so far...) - 1849 $1 Gold and a sequence of stills from the GoPro capturing the first moments of detecting magic. Hope everyone gets to experience similar moments in 2021 and beyond. Detecting is a magic mix of technology, relaxation, excitement, history, discovery, adventure, and most of all great friendship, fellowship and lifetime memories. Happy New Year Everyone! My first relic hunt in 98F heat (usually it is a spring/fall deal after harvest, before planting) but COVID delayed this hunt until the end of June. Still managed some keepers between downing about 10 pints of water including an improvised fishing weight from a carved lead CW minie ball bullet. My first Civil War Token below - an Army/Navy token with an image of the US Capitol Building US Cavalry bridle bit boss...a deep find made even more memorable and unexpected because I had to put the GPX DD coil in cancel mode due to severe electrical interference... My first 1/2 reale above, but Mexican First Republic not Spanish... Some nice old silver quarters below. That seated quarter was literally the first find of the day - it was a good omen As my last keeper of the day was my first dug Confederate Button...An Confederate infantry "Block I" Camp life at CW sites turns up a huge variety of finds...intricate flower button above, a partial harmonica reed, and a pristine campfire annealed square nail devoid of any corrosion. A .69 Caliber minie ball dug below - this thing will do some serious damage just getting thrown at someone, imagine it still travelling 360 feet per second AFTER travelling 1500 yards from the muzzle. Don't forget to take in the sights at the sites... A relaxing day at the beach finding...a 2 cent piece? An exciting day at the farm finding...my first flat round gold!

Well I'm finally joining up. I've lurked here numerous times and have read a lot of really great dig stories, and appreciate the valuable tips given by the experienced detectorists. I try to absorb all of that info, and apply it when MD'ing, but time doesn't allow for that to happen often enough....the good news (for me) is that retirement will happen in a few months...so no excuses after that. I'm located in Illinois and primarily detect on old farm/home sites. Good luck to all.

Hi all. I've been detector prospecting since 2003, but I moved to AZ in 2015 and took some time away for business and other hobbies. I'm back at it for both gold and coin detecting. Great to see all the good info here! I’m hoping to meet some other Roadrunner members in Yavapai county. Thanks!

As a young man over 50 years ago I became interested in prospecting for gold, especially in the Western Cascade Range of Oregon. As is often the case, life has a way of diverting ones interests and attention through such events as jobs and family. Now that I have finally retired and am living near Spokane, WA, I have once again chosen to pursue the hobby of gold prospecting. Only this time I decided that in addition to the gold pan, I would add a more modern companion prospecting tool, the metal detector. I am a lifelong fan of White’s metal detectors and have for many years wanted one of their instruments. This fall when I learned of their closure I decided to act quickly while I still had some opportunity for equipment acquisition, albeit limited. While doing research on equipment options I found this forum. I do greatly appreciate the wealth of information presented here, and must give a “shout out” to several people on this forum who were willing to help me with basic questions about equipment and aid in purchasing the proper coils and related items for gold prospecting. I now have both a White’s Goldmaster 24k and also a White’s TDI SL. After viewing several videos on YouTube to learn the proper settings, I was able to test my 24k in one of the mining districts in the Cascades. I am pleased to report that although I have not yet found gold, I did find some very tiny flakes of iron shavings and also a couple of lead bullet fragments. This provided the needed encouragement that the 24k had the correct settings and now all I need is to practice and find favorable terrain. There are also candidate terrains in Idaho that I hope to research. I do appreciate the wealth of information provided on this forum.

Hello all, Floridian here. I detected for years and got away from the hobby for awhile. Work, 5 kids, and numerous other priorities will sometimes do that to us! I need a new machine and used to always use Minelab. I was looking at the Eqiunox 600? I don't know a thing about the machine except what I read and hoping to get some input from you guys! Once again, HELLO! and looking forward to hearing from Y'all

Hello everyone, This past July I had my roof redone. I decided to research metal detectors to find the nails that inevitably get strewn about after such a job. I decided on a Garrett Ace 400, as it seemed to give the most bang for the buck at a mid-level. My wife and I both agree that one should never buy the least expensive tool to do a job, but not always the most expensive , as it would be a lot of money sitting on a shelf. I only found about 70 nails, a testament to the people that did the job! While I was doing this search I also came upon many videos about metal detecting, and it opened my eyes to the possibilities that I could entertain in my area. I live in a very rural part of one of Virginia's northern peninsulas. As it happens it is a very old county, one of the first established. In addition the War of 1812 happened a bit here as well, particularly in my backyard. I knew I was going to be hooked, as I am also sort of a history buff. I set up sort of a "grid" system in my backyard using 6 6' blaze orange driveway markers from Lowe's, 3 on each side of the yard spaced 6 feet apart. I use 3 on each end so I can jump one one every pass, so that I always can line up between 2 of them. I use the 6 foot fiberglass rods because they are about the width of a full swing side to side, and all I have to do is lay one down to know where to put it next. Seemed like the best way to "grid" search my yard. At first I dug up a lot of Iron whatzits, but as I got used to the detector, I started turning up coat and sleeve buttons that are about 200+ years old. I found some musket balls, Shot, and even a WW1 army jacket button. Didn't find any coins until I got to the house, and all were new. Of course I found my share of aluminum, mostly beer and soda cans from the construction of the house. I was starting to get stuff like all the people in the videos, so I was hooked. Luckily for me there is much more to explore, all of the land in front of my house has always been farm, and was bought from the developer by a farmer due to the housing crash of 2007. I asked for permission to detect the farm two weeks ago when the farmer came to collect the crop, and he said "have at it"! He also directed me to 200 acres more he owns down the road. Thus far I have searched about an acre of the 300+ acres I now have permission to. I have found many more buttons, all colonial, copper and Tombac and gilt. I have found three coins, one 1809 half penny, an 1879 Indian head in almost perfect shape, and what I think may be a King George copper that is in "field shape", no identifying marks but rings when dropped on a table. I also have found a sun-face pendant with sparkly stones for eyes, and a lot of horse tack and colonial buckles, some spurs, and other odd stuff. I also have an 1800s Steamboat landing close by, map locations of a few colonial houses, and an old Baptist Baptism site. The oldest maps I can find so far are from 1917, so I'm working off of them to find the houses. I have already located one that was pushed into the woods on one part of the farm. Needless to say I guess, I have a lot of work to do! I retired in October, and because some of my search areas are water or river, I bought a Minelab Equinox 600 and waders, because most of my search would have to be in the cold months. I am hoping the Equinox will be a step up, but in going over where I searched with the Ace 400, I didn't find much more. I like the 400's "baseball bat" approach on land. I also downloaded an app called Tect O Trac which is very useful for geolocating my finds, keeping records, and showing patterns of finds. Looking forward to interacting with y'all! sorry for the tl;dr.

So I recently retired in January. I've been having a great time touring the western states in our RV, flying my drone in some really interesting places. Great hobby. My dad always had a metal detector in retirement, he found over 10,000 pennies, ha! But I'm more a history buff and would visit locations that have some history to find "who knows what", maybe some nuggets! 😉 So I thought I would give it a try and invest in a good detector, something state of the art, so I don't have to buy another one very soon. I built a kit metal detector in the late 60's, played with it for a few months, and then moved on to motorcycles, which was a bit more exciting at the time. However, the technology has come a long way since then, and I don't ride motorcycles anymore. I do have an RZR side-by-side that can take me to remote places to detect, which is part of my plan. I'm still shopping for the right detector, that's why I joined this forum, to get the straight poop to make an informed decision. Looking forward to learning a lot here, like I have in my drone forums.

Hi Everyone. New to this site but old to prospecting. Great site! Still working full time so I can't post a lot but sure do appreciate the great detector advice here. I am a long time placer prospector so can help with panning and sluicing more than metal detecting. Larry AKA Sir Pansallot

Hi all. I'm new to this site as well as detecting. I waited my whole life to do this after retirement. However, It took me 8 years to figure out how to actually be retired, but spring of 2020 turned the page. First book I found while out browsing mining supplies was "The Nugget Shooter's Field Guide" by Reese Townes. Excellent book, well written and illustrated. I contacted the author via his website just to say thanks. To my pleasant surprise, about ten minutes after submitting, my phone rang and it was Reese. I had 90 minutes of some of the most information filled dialogue I've had in a long time. If this initial exposure is any indication of the camaraderie to be found amongst prospectors...well, this is going to be fun! Reese also mentioned he'll be giving a field class sometime in 2021. Sign me up, I'm all in. I plan to do some travelling and camping in different areas this coming year. (just joined GPAA) I look forward to meeting some new acquaintances out in the field. Be well, all. Paul - Montana

Vanursepaul recently posted in a thread somewhere a picture of a pair of thongs he had. I posted some remark about how they looked ideal for out here as the Double Gees nail regular thongs to your feet and asked what brand they were. He replied how they were not off the shelf and he had them made...most likely at some expense. Low and behold this morning I find a private message asking for my size and mailing address as he was going to get a pair made and send them to me. I've declined (hopefully politely) as I've ran with his idea and will make a set myself. I just wanted to acknowledge the calibre of a bloke who would make such a generous offer to a complete stranger on the other side of the world. Thankyou sincerely Paul for the very kind and generous offer. Cheers, Steve

Hi Joining from Southern Connecticut, with a just purchased XP ORX. I live near several beaches, but hoping to use the ORX primarilly on camping and hiking trips in in CT and California. I grew up in California, and have camped throughout the United States, including Alaska. This is my second metal detector. In high school I bought a very inexpensive Fisher but left it for my younger brother when I went to college. He made one unusual find: When searching in a field in the California foothills he found a portable Sony Color TV sitting in the grass. Believing it was stolen, he turned it in to the police. Two weeks later, the police called and said the TV was his—it was worth more than the metal detector.

Hello from the West! I go by the name Tree, given to me by some jokers making comments about a jacket I wore once! Anyways, my number one is gold prospecting; detecting, drywashing, and panning. In that order. Though I am interested in other methods of course. My number two is general rock hounding. My mantra is, “Always be prospecting.” And it is always suitable! I have been aware of my prospecting habits for 7 years now and there’s no sign of them ever going away! I am seriously, seriously grateful for these prospecting forums. Where a great variety of knowledge and ideas can be communicated and the inspiration that perspires from that is magnificent! So, I’m hear to learn and occasionally share some stories. Because sometimes you just need to read a prospectors tale! Thanks!

Hey everyone, Name is Paul. I'm essentially new to the hobby. I had a metal detector when I was younger, and lived in Canada, and used it a bunch, really enjoyed it. But haven't done it in a long time (and no idea where that original detector went, or what make/model it was). Anyway, I've since immigrated to New Zealand, and live within a short distance of about 100 beaches lol... (exaggerating, but only slightly). And many parks. And being a Canadian expat, have been watching to catch up on "The curse of Oak Island" over the winter period, and through COVID lockdowns, etc... Which lit up my "Treasure Hunting Urges"... So coming into Summer I was bugging my wife to let me get a metal detector as we'll be hitting all the beaches anyway, and would be a great opportunity to do a bit of treasure hunting of our own! 🙂 She broke down and bought me a Minelab Vanquish 540 for Christmas, it's under the tree taunting me right now... So in the meantime I've been doing as much reading as I can, looking for tips, tricks, info, etc... And this forum came up so I thought I'd better sign up and make myself known, as I'll probably be annoying people with lots of silly questions at some point soon! 😉 I also understand a few of your other active members here are also Kiwis, so will be neat to swap some stories with them too! I'm on the North Island, about 45 min drive north of Auckland, and very much looking forward to getting out there after Christmas, and hunting on those beaches! Anyway, just wanted to say hi, and introduce myself! Cheers!

Hello All, It's been a tough year for everyone! My wish to you all today, is a Safe and Thankful Holiday! May you all be Blessed with Good Health, and Better Finds into the New Year, and beyond!🦃 👍👍

Hi everyone, I'm an older fellow here hoping to get a few tips and tricks on how to do a bit of gold searching on my property. I'm nearing retirement and this could possibly be a descent hobby to get into.

Hi all, Been detecting for just over a year now, have two machines a Simplex+ and a Vanquish 540 (won the vanquish in a raffle). Found some interesting things including coins on nearly every outing, hoping to gain some tips & tricks from the wealth of knowledge here. Cheers Rusty

greetings all. i'm bryan. i've been lurking the forums for a very long time but now i'm official! hope everyone has a great weekend.

I'm excited to be getting into detecting - I picked up a Gold Bug II and I'm planning a desert camping trip soon. I'm targeting the Salton Sink and Bradshaw trail areas - I'm sure a lot of people here are familiar with these spots. I'm not specifically looking for Pegleg's gold, but I wouldn't mind finding it either.

How many of you have a non-human prospecting or detecting buddy? Dog, cat, burro, reconnaissance bird... whatever. Post a pic and tell us about them. Here is a chance to brag about our best friends!

I just joined today, I live in Walker Lake Nevada, about two hours south of Reno. I'm an LDMA/GPAA member and went to an outing at Scott River CA last weekend and it was the first time for my wife, it was a metal detector outing. I brought my Garrett Infinium LS that I have used a couple of times from new, it wouldn't fire up, with new batteries. Very disappointing, I called Garrett and its on the way to Texas (for repairs). I noticed on your site that my experience sounds way to familiar, ouch!! Well, while I'm awaiting the outcome on the LS my wife says she wants a detector for Christmas. The Fisher F19 looks like a great little detector to go down to the lakeshore and up on some of the trails around here. The price on that unit varies quite a bit, like from $499 to $799 with the 10" loop. I notice that some of the lower priced ones on eBay have a lot of positive feedback and after visiting their store seem legit...any input on that? I also have a Treasure Finder 900 two box deep search detector in excellent shape I might be interested in selling. Any comments would be appreciated

Been lurking here off and on for quite a while and decided that it was time to join in and introduce myself. Not currently a detector/prospector, but hope to change that. A bit of my background: 21 years as a geologist with the USGS, about 2/3 summers looking at mines in Alaska, 1/2 in CA, NV, AZ, and WY. When I left the survey in the big purge in ’95 I was working on a project looking at lode mines east of the Mother Lode proper. My work in Alaska was almost exclusively looking at lode gold mines and prospects, and spent quite a bit of time late ‘70s early 80’s south of Anchorage: Girdwood/Crow Pass (my favorite, staying at the Alyska and eating at the Double Musky), Hope/Sunrise, Moose Pass, Port Wells, Port Valdez, down the Kenai, and around PWS and SE Alaska (good story about an almost helicopter crash into the AJ pit, but maybe later). I think part of my lurking here was many of these areas are home for Steve’s exploits, and kicking myself for always staying up on the hillsides and not looking in the creek bottoms. I sure missed out on the gold (the Bureau of Mines guys were dredging the creeks as their part of the assessments, and I know a lot of gold went home in their pockets). I always thought about taking a metal detector with me, not to look for gold, but to check around all the old cabins and workings, and in ‘88 I bought my first metal detector, a Gold Mountain King Cobra because it was small and light and I could sneak it into my backpack. Never got to use it up there. My final AK field season was in ’89 sampling and mapping the exposed bedrock from active mining at Valdez Creek. The cheerful 18 yo security guard was more than happy every evening to let us know over beers that he had his scope on us all day just in case we decided to pick up a nugget. Don’t think swinging a detector would have gone over well. That King Cobra also indirectly contributed to my getting off my butt and joining here. When Reggie posted the pictures of his dad’s collection I thought I saw a Gold Mountain detector among the lot. It was also somewhat ironic that I had earlier this summer been reading a lot of what Reg had written about PI detectors on various blogs and forums over the years. Back in June I did a small consulting job in the Mother Lode at a winery where the grapes are planted in the weathered volcanic cover and the owner was wondering if the volcanics capped any Tertiary channel gravels. Turned out there was a lot of gravels that don’t show on any geologic map I could find, and they had been extensively mined though I couldn’t find any record in Cal State pubs. Since lurking here I decided to take along my two detectors, a MXT (I’m deadly at parks and old houses) and a mid '90s V-Sat that has not seen a lot of use. The ground there was unbelievable. Just setting my magnetic cultivator on the ground would pick up several pounds of hot rocks and coat with black sand. A full screened pan once the weathered volcanic soil and clay was removed would end up almost half full of black sand (and quite a bit of flour gold). Never seen anything like it. Anyway, got me curious whether a PI detector would work better and got me reading a lot of Reg’s posts and discussions here and on other sites. I was very sorry to see the news of his passing here. The detecting community truly lost a hero. Anyway, recently retired from 12 years sitting on my butt doing research/data analysis in radiation oncology (once a scientist, always a scientist), getting a knee replacement in a few weeks (Steve, I think the first time I blew it out was hiking down from the Nearhouse mine on Palmer Creek with a backpack full of about 80 lbs of samples), and I hope that part of my recovery therapy is walking and swinging. I’ve spent a good deal of time on the other side of interstate 80 from Rye Patch but never visited the Majuba Mtns and reading some of the geology papers reminds me of some areas I worked in the Klamaths. I hope to get out there at some point - soon. Looking to pick up a PI machine (was tempted by the GPX 5000 listed here, but a bit out of my price range) and pick your brains on how to best use it (just missed on a TDI Pro on Craigslist - damn). A bit of a more rambling intro than I had planned. Cheers Bill

To all members I wish to thank all of you at this site Detector prospector.com and also some of my old friends at The old Compass Forum, sven7, Joe D, And Paul (CA) plus all of the new friends I’ve met on this forum are some of the greatest guys I’ve met in along time. In 2014 I started this road of doctors and hospital stays. I always thought when I retired I would enjoy my life and take trips and detect some and spend time with my wife. But it’s not in the Lords will for me to have that, I can except his way and I trust him with my life. But I’m on this soap box to tell you believe in the kindness of man and lady’s that there is still people who care for you and want to help when you don’t know what to do or where to go and some friends new and old pick you up and brush you off and point in the right direction and say it’s fine we get it done. I have to tell you Joe D talked to Paul (ca) now he’s putting one together and shipping it to me. I told my wife when I’ve pasted ship it back to him. I will leave a note in it before I past to let him know I will meet him in paradise. I will me a lot of my friends that’s left one was on national news today his name was Sargent Jumper he worked for the Greenville South Carolina Sheriff office you may have seen it on the news. I work with him for 20 years. He was kill by out of state drug runners, I told him to get out or that department many times. Now my friend has gone leaving a wife and one teenage girl never to come home. I think about these things and I know we will have a joyous day with no tears. My bone cancer will not be healed with chemo. It just keeps me ahead of it and then I must decide to try to live or let my time come. Jesus Christ will come and let me how we will go. My wife wants me to fight but with all my other problems I don’t know if it will God help me do the right thing. Thanks Friends I’m very tired so good night and thanks for all your kind words and actions HH Jimmy Huff