Nugget Finder Z Search Coil Release Date 18th December

[Jonathan Porter]

Every year I find myself buzzing around trying to finish off the year on a high, to lift the gold tally as high as possible before it it gets counted off for the year. This year I came in really strong and had some good finds throughout December. But now its a new year so the tally is at zero again and I need to start anew.  

Coincidentally the rain started Christmas Day and has continued right on into the new year, so now even the way I detect has changed. Everything is greening up so visually things are looking completely different compared to the drought and of course the ground now sounds completely different due to the moisture.

What better way to get the year rolling and the gold tally started again than to grab the little Nugget Finder Zsearch R12 and go target some guaranteed gold on old patches. I was in a lazy mood and only wanted to wander about for a few hours so I went to an old favourite not far from home.

The ground I work in Clermont is High X and conductive, conductive ground is a little different to salt signal, it is a salt like signal that is affected by moisture but is heralded like a blended extremely variable ground signal. Generally bad Salt signal is a waa waa like sound that is very broad and speed effected whereas conductive ground is over tighter sections with variable elevated ground noise like responses liberally scattered about. This is why our gold fields become noisy after rain and you find yourself investigating a lot of broad ground noises that were not evident during the dry periods. Conductive signal really messes with the Auto-G of Semi-Auto and can become a handful at times with the constant need to pump the coil to bring the GB back to accuracy.

So the little NF Zsearch makes sense, the smaller the coil the less conductive/salt gets into the signal train. Smaller coils ignore salt signal way better and is one of the reasons why the SDC 2300 is so good in salty ground. Generally smaller coils tend to Saturate more readily but the Zsearch is extremely good in this regard (even better than the GPZ14) so thats an advantage, lastly this time of year EMI is a major issue as our Monsoon is in full swing in the north so Atmospherics are extremely problematic, the new Zsearch is amazingly quiet EMI wise.

In the 2 hours I detected I ignored the bulk of surface sounding signals (even the nice rounded sounding ones as they are more likely to be shotgun pellets), like I said I was in a lazy mood so only wanted to investigate the ‘higher likelihood of being gold’ targets. With the little Zsearch I listen for the broad subtle channel flippers, these are the little buried nuggets that blend High/Low with Low/High, they are just about guaranteed to be a nugget when using Difficult. 

A fun session but not a lot of weight, however I got the tally for 2021 started and my puppy got a lovely walkies for New Years day.... till next time JP.

PS I’ve put this in the NF Zsearch thread as it’s relevant for those seeking information on the subject

Settings used:

Coil used: NF Zsearch Proto in 13” housing no stickers
Gold mode: HY
Ground Type: Diff
Thresh: 26
Thres Pitch: 40
Audio Smth: OFF
Sens: 15
Grnd Bal: Semi-Auto

 

 

[Gold Catcher]

23 hours ago, Jonathan Porter said:

Generally smaller coils tend to Saturate more readily but the Zsearch is extremely good in this regard (even better than the GPZ14) so thats an advantage, lastly this time of year EMI is a major issue as our Monsoon is in full swing in the north so Atmospherics are extremely problematic, the new Zsearch is amazingly quiet EMI wise.

Thanks for the report, JP. The better performance with saturation and EMI are two key features that I am looking for, so this is good to know. Reduced weight is of course a bonus, together with the quality seal "Aussie made" and long track record of coil excellence 🙂  I am on the waiting list for the NF12 and will for sure get the smaller coils as well, once available. 

Happy new year!  

GC

[Gold Catcher]

PS: just got word that there is a huge backorder and according to the distributor only very few will come to the US in the foreseable future

[Jonathan Porter]

We are wet, wet, wet here, the ground is sodden right the way through so everything is sticky, both the ground and the air, the atmosphere is all over the place because of all the unstable monsoon weather right across the State (just had our first cyclone for the season). Not a good time to be too serious about detecting but I’ve desperately been needing a gold fix.

Enter the little NF Zsearch, its the perfect coil for these conditions, I was amazed how quiet it ran in the salty areas even the bad ones that I generally avoid after rain. EMI is also way down compared to other coils so this has also helped at a time when I would usually not bother (OK yes I would, I’m a detecting tragic but it wouldn’t be pleasant 😅 ). 

First cab off the rank I spied during digging it up just sitting there in the damp clays, a nice plucky little 3/4 gram bit that made a satisfying clunk as I put it in my gold container. These little guys add up.

Next one was close by and gave a nice clear hit, actually I got a little bit excited because it low/high’d on me which got me thinking it was a bit bigger than it actually was. I am still learning the channel flipping cross over points of nuggets with this little NF coil, seems it channel flips quite readily on sub gram chunky stuff. 

That was the end of the session for that day, it took a while to get the sticky red clay washed off my hands and gear.🤐 

I got out a few mores times over subsequent days pinging little bits in old favourite spots enjoying the quiet sensitivity of this new little coil. One thing I have noticed though is my swing speed has sped right up because of the lighter weight, something for users to be aware of as that really does the kill depth on larger gold. The smaller coil can be swung faster but you will not see its full depth potential doing that.

Nice little Low/High trickster

My tally since New Years, not a lot but you got to start somewhere, I’m happy to start the season off slow and leave some in the tank for when the weather is nicer.