Quick Northern Nevada Trip

[IdahoPeg]

Drove down Monday and met up with Chet; we wanted to try out our new 6000s on some hammered patches, just to make sure I wouldn’t have “Buyer’s Remorse” after trading in my 7000. I got there about noon, and Chet had been out hunting in the morning. He had marked two targets in the ground so I could hear them too when I got there. One was in a scrape and the other a bit outside....hmmm? Likely iron crap in this pounded area we thought. Dug them out, and he had just found his first 2 gpx6000 nuggets...beautiful character, with some intricate folds. I ended up with one that afternoon. Even though the 6000 is light with great ergonomics, my detecting arm is out of shape and my bicep was getting a bit sore. I found myself missing my bungee, hip stick, and guide arm on my 7000 setup. I also missed the clip on wireless speaker. I was using the Aventree Torus headphones that hang around your neck; they fell off a few times while digging, then when I tried to secure them, the Power button would get pressed and they would turn off. Chet’s just stopped working. Weird. So need to figure out my speaker system. One other 7000 feature I also miss is the built-in gps...so handy. 

So day 2 we hit several other old patches. I used a bungee and was getting more in tune with the 6000...much more comfortable with it, though my left arm didn’t know what to do! Put hand in pocket? Hook thumb on harness loop? Its motor memory wanted to be helping with a guide arm😄! By the end of 8 hours we each had found a bit more gold. Nice, but nothing over .2 or .3 gram.

On the 3rd day we went back to Day 1 patch, as it was close to camp. Again, the 6000 was able to sniff out some good stuff from this patch that had been hunted by 5000s, 2300s, 7000s. By now I was in sync with my new detector. I mainly hunted in Normal, setting at 3 o’clock position with threshold. Tried the Auto+ but preferred the other, I like hearing the threshold and it was more sensitive to targets. We knew the machine was awesome at finding these smaller nuggets, and weird shaped nuggets, but we hadn’t found anything of any size yet. That changed when Chet found a gorgeous 2.5-3 grammer at about 6”! Woo Hoo!👍 

So Chet was the big winner on this trip; 6.2 grams in 3 days. And they will be beautiful when cleaned up...maybe add those pics to this post Chet? I ended up with 2.4 g in 2 1/2 days. Chet attributes a lot of his success on this trip to the ease of detecting with the 6000, compared to the 7000...fewer rest breaks means more time on the gold fields. Though I really loved my 7000, I think this detector will better serve me; either hunting known worked patches or walking miles looking for new, it will do the job and be easier on my neck and shoulders/arm.

[MSC]

Nice finds IDAHOPEG, thanks for the 6000 report. Looking forward to testing mine. 

[vanursepaul]

Good job and truthful writeup----- !!!! 

You will be dangerous now that you can swing even longer...

[beatup]

good going you guys

[Steve Herschbach]

Can't wait to see it cleaned up - very nice gold Peg!

My recent trip I used the built in speaker on the 6K exclusively.

[Lunk]

WTG Peg & Chet!

[LuckyLundy]

Now your talking!  WTG

Rick

[Glenn in CO]

Very nice gold and successful with your new detector. WTG!

[Valens Legacy]

NIce finds on a patch that has been beaten so much in the past.

Can't wait to see how you do on a new patch of ground.

Good luck and happy hunting.

[Gerry in Idaho]

I was waiting to hear your report Peg as I knew you would not sugar coat anything. 

Your report reminds me about a 3 day weekend date with a stranger.  At first, you are at odds of the situation, the conversation and the nagging sounds and realize it's not what you normally expect.  But the nice firm buttocks you keep checking out is a winner so you advance to a 2nd date.  Day 2 you are finding a few things in common and think there's actually some hope as you see the potential and are realizing some chemistry is there.  By day #3 you are much more relaxed with the date, starting to have a little fun, flirting a flash here and there and willing to let your hair down.  That last day you are most comfortable with the situation, know how to push the buttons and getting used to the response.  At the end your efforts are rewarded for putting in the time of 3 days on a trip, which allows you the prize of more gold nuggets.  Nice to see you add 9 more N NV nuggets to your collection, but what's most important is the learning and acceptance of a new date/swing/detector and the benefits of it.

Yes to you and the rest of the folks who know their 7000's, there is a learning curve to the GPX-6000 as you said it right "memory" of swinging a 7 and not having a harness, not knowing where the sound is coming from, no swing arm.  I personally used the speaker of the 6000 on my trip and never did use the headphones. 

Sorry to hear you two had problems with the Aventree Torus speaker system as I was thinking of getting it, but might wait a little longer, as said I used the speaker on the 6000 for my trip.

Those nuggets are certainly some unique odd shaped pieces of gold and I suspect that's what we'll be seeing coming from those N NV patches we've been working for the last 25 yrs.  Guess the solid ones (easy to hear) have mostly been removed from old technology.

Were you two able to do any comparisons on the undug targets with the 6 vs 7?  I know it takes extra time and effort so that's usually why so many people don't.

PS.  I think you found the little brother to one of mine I recovered in MX.  In your pic the 2nd one down on the left side looks really similar but pointing right.  The one I recovered looks like a brother, but swings left.  Funny how we pick out some of the most bizarre shapes and imaginations of our gold.

Well done.