Search the Community

Hi Steve, Wanted to kick this around for consideration. I know some of us have come up with models for 3D printed devices that are useful in this particular art of prospecting with detectors. Would you consider a new category in the Downloads section for such printer files? I know I and others have uploaded objects into various threads, but they do tend to get lost in the shuffle. I've got another object standing by to start things off if you would agree. Thx,

Steve H checking to see if this account functions properly.

New Member Signup - Click Here! Lost Password - Click Here! Forum Tips & Tricks Advanced Search Tag List/Index Welcome to the Detector Prospector forum! Anything remotely related to metal detecting and prospecting for gold may be posted here. Forums for other subjects may be found here. The main goal here - to inform and educate. Please keep threads and posts on topic (metal detecting and prospecting). Off topic posts may be moved or deleted without warning. This is the oldest forum here, at one time the on,y forum. As such it is a catch all for a wide range of subject. However, after about page 6, I move some posts to sub-forums for archival purposes. For instance, posts about specific Minelab detectors get moved to the Minelab Forum, and posts about specific Garrett detectors get moved to the Garrett Forum, etc. This makes it easier for people to find posts about specific subjects in the future, rather than sifting through everything here. The main goal of the forum is to share information. If you see something interesting on another forum or anywhere else, please link to it. Mention any brands you like. The only goal here is to inform and anything interesting or informative is not only allowed but desired as long as it is on topic. While visiting this forum please act as if you are visiting my home. Treat others with decency and respect. Politics is not strictly prohibited, but limit it to items of concern such as public meeting notices, comment periods, etc. Any post mentioning any politician by name is going to be deleted, period. No detector wars - every detector serves a purpose for somebody. For general editorial purposes this forum is treated as if it is a magazine. Do not place ads for your detector or equipment for sale here. That is only allowed in the Classifieds and is only for participating members - read the rules. A note about the Google Ads - I know we all hate ads but they pay for the website. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. All I can do is to promise not to go overboard with them. Special Note To Dealers - Dealers are welcome here, with minimal guidelines. Please read My Policy Regarding Dealers If you have problems logging in or any other issues while on the forum Personal Message (PM) me or send me an email. Information on other general forum use and features can be found here. Steve Herschbach

In general please use the default 14 point plain text formatting. People think they are doing those with poor eyesight a favor posting in all caps, or all bold, or in larger text. Well, if you are posting you probably know what you are posting, so you do not need it to read your own posts. For the rest of us it is the internet version of yelling "look at me" and more importantly, eats up space fast on people using a phone to view the forum. On my 42" PC monitor it may only look like largish text - on a phone I see 10 letters! If people have bad eyesight, they can use various options built into their browser or viewing device to increase text size. Look for the Accessibility Option in your device or browser settings, or both. There have also been people here that were promoting videos and such that think they need to get attention with big text and colorful letters and other fancy stuff. But the latest problem has been people copying from a translator and posting here. It formats into one long sentence in large text that runs off the right side of the screen for eternity. So here are some tips. 1. When you paste, use the paste as plain text option built into your device. 2. Look for the paste as plain text instead option built into the forum. 3. Paste into a simple text editor like Notepad first to strip the formatting, then copy and paste to the forum. 4. Finally, when posting videos, go to the YouTube page and look for the share link for that video. Copy and paste that link, and the video will appear here. I'm fine with videos. I'm less fond of links posted that make people go elsewhere to see stuff. It's more work for the viewer. If the video does not appear, try again until you get it right. As the police like to say, thank you for your assistance in this matter.

It’s time. Check it out at https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/65-quest-metal-detectors/ All existing threads of consequence have been moved to the new location. New Quest V80 Multifrequency metal detector

It’s time. Check it out at https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/65-quest-metal-detectors/ All existing threads of consequence have been moved to the new location. New Quest V80 Multifrequency metal detector

I work hard to keep spammers at bay. However, the is one area where I have minimal oversight. A new member can never post, but can start sending personal messages (PMs) immediately. So a spammer can join and send out junk via the PM system with me never being aware of it. Question 1 - is this actually an issue? Has it happened to any of you? Question 2 - should I limit the ability of new members to send a PM? I can install a plugin on the system that prevents a member from sending a PM until they have hit a post limit - say 10 posts made. This forces the person to become visible and known before they can PM. They can of course just spam with 10 quick posts to get the ability to PM, but I am pretty good at spotting that kind of behavior. There is only one area I can think of where this might present problems. If you do not put contact info in a Classified Ad then only way people can contact you is via the forum. So people may join simply to be able to send a PM to you about an ad. They also can't actually post in the Classifieds without having ten posts elsewhere already, so they can't just reply to the ad in a normal fashion with a post. It would really make only long time forum members able to respond to any ad that is placed without contact information. This might be a good thing or a bad thing I guess. I have been ignoring this possible issue for a long time, but was just contacted by a member to say a new member was sending them multiple nonsense messages, and not responding to his replies asking for explanation. The account was based in France and maybe a language barrier at work, but I went ahead and deleted (not banned) the account. The person immediately joined again and started with new PMs, so I deleted the account again. I did not ban as I was wanting to see how they responded, and whether they might contact me directly. If they join again I might send them a PM myself, or just ban the account, as something is up with it. But one last time, is this really a problem at all? I really need some feedback from anyone that has had issues with getting unwelcome PMs from new members. As far as more established members, there is an Ignore function that allows you to block any single member.

I guess I have been shy in the past but I ran out of likes for the first time recently. The discussion lately has been very good. How many is too many per day?

This forum has been running for ten years now. I have never done anything to weed the database down in all those years, and it is getting way too full of stuff that does not need to be there. A big one is people who have registered over the years, but never posted. The so-called Lurkers. That's fine I guess but the reality is there is almost no reason to join the forum if you are not going to post. The content is free for anyone to view without an account, so you are free to lurk all you want, without taking up database space. The only area that is off limits to non-members is in the Downloads area, where I have limited the ability to download the large files to members only. I'm just trying to keep a lid on the bandwidth by keeping outside sites from linking directly to the resources there. Long story short a quick review shows that fully half the members database is comprised of non-posting accounts, going back ten years. I am going to delete all those accounts before the end of the year, except any created in the last 90 days. If you have one of those accounts, and do not want it deleted, you need to make at least one post before the end of the year. This thread will work. Just post anything at all here, and your account will not get deleted. You only need to do this if you have never posted on this website before. If any accounts are being held by spammers, it’s likely to be in this group, so it helps clean that up also. The end result will be invisible to current users, except that the site may get a tiny bit faster once I clear out all the deadwood. These people have never posted, so no actual content gets lost.

We started getting hit hard in last 48 hours. Main problem these are not bots, but an army of paid spammers. Most are based in India, but there are a few in U.S. prisons also. So appears somebody has made an offer to pay for spam. The other problem is since they are mostly in India, they start hitting at 2am, so even if reported it stays up until Chase wakes up, and then me. He is farther east so first up. The reports help a lot, but until now were set as just a report. I have temporarily set the report function to quarantine any posts that are reported. In effect you are all moderators until this abates. Please do not abuse this - only report obvious spam or other serious forum rule violations. It will go in a review status until Chase or I look at it, so we will see if anyone is reporting stuff that should not be reported. My hope is by making the spam posts go away faster with everyone's help, that they will give up soon and move on. I assume the people only get paid if the spam stay up, and so they will find easier pastures if they get thwarted here. Since these are people, there is no way to stop them without changing the registration process, either to where we have to approve every application, or go to where a person must be sponsored by an existing member. Bots can be foiled, but any process that lets your average person in let's a human spammer in also. Anyway, sorry about all this. If it continues much longer I may simply block all new registrations for a week, which will put a stop to it for sure.

OK, new forum is done, threads moved. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/61-xp-deus-ii-forum/ I normally keep detector comparison stuff in a separate forum to stop detector wars. But the Deus II versus whatever videos have been pretty favorable, and not much dissension, so I have moved them all here also. Just seemed like one stop shopping is best. As long as people keep acting like adults it will work. Thanks in advance for that. 1700 posts on day one - that's cheating! By another measure, main Deus/Orx forum is 13 pages of threads, Dues II already at 6 pages; very impressive start for XP on this one.

I used to peruse other related forums daily, then weekly, then…. well, not very often. Just went to take a look, and saw both AZO and Finders are completely gone? Like poof? Is this temporary, or something that’s happened a while ago, and I’m just asleep at the wheel? AZO Finders

I thought things would perk along longer than they have. But companies go away, people move on fast, way faster than I thought. As early as May activity here was high, now almost nothing. But so it goes. If things don’t change, and I doubt they will, I will someday move the contents of this forum. Since Garrett bought White’s, I can merge it all into the Garrett Forum. But more likely I would merge it with the Compass, D-Tex, Tesoro, Etc. Forum, which is for companies that are no longer with us. But no rush to do so, and this is you chance to tell me why I should leave things as they are for now. Posting more might also help your case, even if it’s nothing but “look what I found with my White’s” even a thread a week here would matter, but right now, not one thread in month of June, just two in July. ‘If I do eventually move the content, does anyone have a preference between my two options?

Simon reminded me I needed to do an update, and boy did I. It has only been exactly a year since the last update, but wow, what a lot of changes! I had to drop the Minelab X-Terra 705 Gold, Nokta/Makro Gold Racer, Nokta/Makro AU Gold Finder, and Minelab GPX 4500 from the list, because all have been discontinued And only one addition, the Garrett Axiom. The field is narrowing folks. There was one big shift in the order, as the Fisher Gold Bug 2 went up $100, and the XP ORX went down $150. That changed my view of the ORX in a big way. It wandered a bit when it came out with coils and price, but now has settled firmly into its' role as XPs nugget detector, and an excellent VLF option at $599. Anyway, it is a first draft, I'll edit again later after my mind clears, but there will be no major change, just tweaks for extra info, and to edit mistakes in grammer, etc. I did add a summary at the end for those that just want a simple, straight up opinion on what I'd use and why, since the listing is still long enough to confuse, with too many options to choose from.

The history of these forums is a little complex. Once upon a time, there was only one, this one, the DP (Detector Prospector) Forum. The website ultimately is an information repository, and I try to organize things so people can find them. There is search. There are tags. But the main way to find things is look for the right forum. I added forums as things got busy, and so we now have brand forums, and activity forums. Coin & Relic, or Jewelry, for example. This forum still is the most popular, and acts as a catch all. However, I do sort it out periodically. After things drift back a few pages, I delete some fluff threads (Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, today's weather), and move other threads to other location. If I move threads in the first couple pages, I leave a link to the new location. These links expire after a short time. Older threads I simply move. In a nutshell, if you go back a dozen or more pages, you will only find general prospecting threads in this forum. Discussion of locations, geology, etc. but all threads that are about a model or brand, do get moved to the appropriate brand forum. This has been a long winded way to tell you that if you are looking for old Minelab threads, they are in the Minelab Forum, White’s threads in White’s Forum, Garrett threads in Garrett Forum, etc. Brand specific stuff posted to this forum are welcome, everything is good. This is just a public service announcement to explain why threads may appear to get deleted, when in fact they have simply moved. One of the most powerful ways to find things here are the tags. Click one now just to see.

Anyone signing in from old whites forum site? Just seeing if any of you guys made the journey over here. Sign in here if you did. This is Sleddman , long time whites user. Be safe out there to all and have a great Christmas. Sleddman

Recently, I have been trying to persuade my wife into coming out metal detecting with me. She has repeatedly told me that metal detecting is a man’s hobby, and that women don’t usually go out metal detecting. So here I am today to see what the percentage is to hopefully prove her wrong and get her to come with me.

OK, new forum is done, threads moved. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/61-xp-deus-ii-forum/ I normally keep detector comparison stuff in a separate forum to stop detector wars. But the Deus II versus whatever videos have been pretty favorable, and not much dissension, so I have moved them all there also. Just seemed like one stop shopping is best. As long as people keep acting like adults it will work. Thanks in advance for that.

I've created a new temporary subforum to hold the recent wave of videos comparing the XP Deus II to the Minelab Equinox. The focus on the battle between the $949 detector versus $1599 detector kind of says it all. Once this all dies down I will move the threads back to the Detector Advice & Comparisons Forum, but for now it was overwhelming everything else, so I thought I'd give this a try for now. XP Deus II versus Minelab Equinox Tests & Videos

How do send a personal message to another forum member?

So this pops up in the middle of me reading one of the posts. Am I on the right forum? And NO!!! I did not click on the link.

I was contacted out of the blue recently by Dimitar Gargov, owner and designer for Tarsacci metal detectors. I gave him a call and we were like two kids talking metal detectors! He explained some ideas he has for the future and I decided it was past time to set up a forum for Tarsacci owners to discuss their detectors. The MDT 8000 is a very high performance detector designed first for saltwater use but people are trying it for other purposes to good result. The bottom line is I have always supported competition especially as regards new technology. My main bias is I tend to only feature detectors with U.S. dealers and service. Yup, I am U.S. centric - sue me! Tarsacci as a home brewed detector obviously meets that criteria. So here we go, a forum for Tarsacci and the MDT 8000 and whatever else Dimitar's brilliant mind brings us eventually. Yeah I am buttering him up because I think I have talked him into doing what he never does - appear on a forum to answer questions about his product. Don't expect to get deep proprietary info as it is.... well, it's proprietary! But I hope to see Dimitar here soon. I am sure you will give him all that friendly place to share information we are famous for. Thanks! Tarsacci MDT 8000 Data & Specifications Tarsacci MDT 8000 metal detector at the beach

Enjoying everything but one person’s posts rub you the wrong way? Go to your settings in upper right and look for “Ignored Users”. Ignoring a user allows you to block some or all of their content from showing. Users are not notified that you are ignoring them. Just add the user name you wish to ignore to the list accessed under “Ignored Users”. I prefer people not complain about or directly address other people about their behavior on the forum. Don't take moderation tasks on yourself... leave that to me. If you have an issue contact me directly about it, or use the ignore function.

Almost all I've read here for several months now is about one detector brand vs the same brand model questions, comparisons, personal reviews and such. I thought most of these should be on that brand forum(which I follow religiously) and this was a forum about showing finds and and talking about new areas, how to and so on..... Sorry If I'm wrong.....please say so and I'll fade away.

Why is question about whites TDI moved and questions concerning Minelab are allowed?