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Have tested the GPX at an old site and picked up several pistol balls but this really was my first serious all day relic hunt with the GPX 5000, Got out for a day up in gold country, Wasn't planning on going just worked out unexpectedly getting together with a newbie in metal detecting from the area. In fact, I need to get Ray from Ca. and Lawernzo out there too hopefully soon time is against us with snakes and tall grass. With the Newbie, Had offered to help him with his detector in the future and if he was game for relic hunting lessons to give me a call, He calls me 2-3 days ago after getting permission from his wife and turns out yesterday (SAT) was perfect. So up the hill we go packed with our gear, Go over to the property owners home and introduce David to the owner. From there , Off we go into relic tertiary on the 1500 acre property. David did extremely well being his first time relic detecting, He scored four Chinese cache coins, Several pistol balls and his first powder flask top. At the time, I had picked up four cache coins too and a couple of broken pieces of Chinese coins, Several pistol balls and a few other interesting finds with the GPX 5000 using the 5"X10" DD commander coil. Before we new it was getting late, Long hike back to my pickup and as we were starting to leave he mentions let's stay longer. It's getting late and I remember finding another patch of ground 8-9 years ago from a brief sampling digging several square nails, So rather than stay and continue hunting mentioned to David of another site about 1 mile hike away and through a forest of trees was a meadow with great potential. We arrived at the meadow, Unpacked our gear and started to detect. Square nails everywhere great we're on the right ground, David is using a Whites V3 and I'm still swinging the GPX. Later, Switched over from the GPX after working the outer areas going to the Deus to work the inner area of the meadow laced with iron. When I say Laced with iron that's an understatement the inner area is thick with iron and rusted tin about 70-80% of digging was iron or rusted trash, But the new comer to relic detecting didn't care he was digging up gold rush era finds even if it was mostly iron. Somewhere between this mess of iron, got a clean signal and what popped out really surprised me. What looked like a quarter half dollar size coin was the prettiest target I've seen all day, new it was coin but what was it and based from the size it had to be foreign. From help of others on another forum, The coin is a 1793 King Louis XVI 12 Deniers France Coin 18mm and made of bronze my first bronze coin find in my career. Have to share the GPX is one dynamite PI, So glad to have made the investment it's one serious relic machine. Wanted to slap on the 11" DD but was having so much fun with the 5"X10" DD commander for this type of hunting it stayed on. Also, Have heard from several GPX users and even the manual states Coin/Relic mode will not work in mineralized soils. For some reason my 5000 has no problem it handles this poor dirt well in fact was running Gain pretty high normally between 14 to 20 Gain in Coin/Relic mode. Looking so forward to getting out more often with the GPX and my trusty ATX, Both are well worth the investment. An adventures day for sure, Got my first bronze coin in my career. HH, Paul (Ca)

Sorry if this is a little off topic, but I thought this might be interesting to the GPZ owners/prospective owners out there. There is an event held in Virginia several times a year called "Digging in Virginia" (DIV), and the dealer I bought my Zed from is involved in the hunt this year (Keith Leppert of Fort Bedford Detectors.) Anyway, an area scoured with the GPX series was scanned by Keith, and he found a large number of additional civil war bullets with the GPZ, at much greater depth. Here is a link to a blog with the results: http://detectingsaxapahaw.blogspot.com/2015/03/div-blog-day-3-going-deep-with-zed.html And a link to the DIV postings: http://www.mytreasurespot.com/main/read.php?5,650501,650501#msg-650501 Best, Bob

Ok folks. I know... Ron is posting $5 gold coins, and he finds Eagle Buckles as an aside! Well, I'm fairly new to detecting, and have recently just found my first US Silver coins.... Actually, when i took my buddy here for the first time, he found an eagle buckle close by, but SOLD it for $130! I thought he found the only Eagle buckle in my "hot spot" and he went and sold it! Figured I'd never see another one! Well, persistence and patience!....

I found this post over on the Big Boys Hobbies forum. How much of it is applicable to prospecting is open to question – but it's a thoughtful and detailed summary of one guy's experience with the ATX looking for relics. I think this guy is a dealer but I don't think that invalidates what he had to say. Of course one of the beauties of this forum is that Steve isn't a dealer, he doesn't – as far as I recall – have any problem with links to other forums even if they're commercially sponsored. http://forum.bigboyshobbies.net/forum/metal-detector-accessories-discussion/garrett-detectors-discussion/atx/963-several-hunts-in-and-loving-it

Steve, I know you covered a lot of the same info in your comparison of VLF gold detectors, but please reiterate for the slow kid in the class. I haven't done any coin and relic hunting, but might want to give it a try. The conditions I see are: Trashy, lots of iron and nails Moderately mineralized ground, not city parks and such, but old desert settlements Reasonably priced Suppose you could only take one detector to such a location. What would it be?