Does Size And Or Success Matter? No Right Or Wrong Answer.

[Gerry in Idaho]

If you just purchased a gold detector are you most interested in the finding of any size of gold?  Does the size of the gold have any effect on you or does it matter most if you go home with a few nuggets, no matter the size?  Is it most important to be driving home from your prospecting trip and you have a few clinkers in your nugget holder?  Or would you mind knowing you missed a few small pickers just to find a 1 grammer (a nugget).  My asking this question comes to mind as of the last month and a half, I have seen more of my customers showing/sharing pics of Success with their GPX-6000 and many from Rye Patch and surrounding areas.  Heck I have a few customers that are already over 100+ count.  Nothing big, but they seem to be happy and to me that is what counts most.

What's most amazing to this long time 25+ yr detectorist of Rye Patch is the new PI technology of the GPX-6000 and how it's changing my mind and how I sell detectors.  You see, I used to say if I wanted to find 10+ pieces of gold a day, I could easily do it with a VLF and small coil.  Heck, I used to have many 25 to 30 and an occasional 40 piece day with said VLF.  When I would run a PI, the last 10 yrs there at RP, a 10 nugget day is extremely rare, but I've done it.  The SDC-2300 really opened some old patches and 10+ days came back.  Then those went away and the GPZ-7000 came out.  It certainly opened up the old patches again, but even 10 a day was really tough, but I did it more times than most can imagine.  Now today, a 10 nugget day at RP with a SD/GP/GPX-5000 is almost failure.  In fact I would not even try it.  Even with a VLF at RP today, I think a 10 piece day is tough and I doubt but only a few can do it.  Here is the catch though.  If I did run a VLF to find 10 pickers, I'd have maybe a gram of gold at most = approx $50.

Now here is what I'm seeing.  The folks who go out there with the new technology PI GPX-6000 is literally tearing it up.  Many customers are having their best Success in numbers that they have ever had at Rye Patch.  Quite a few of them have had 10+ nugget days, but they never had a 10+ day with their GPZ-7000?  No they are not finding the 1 or 2 gram nuggets of old, but they are certainly finding $100 and some even more each day.  Heck I'm even getting customers who have yet to take my training going down and finding a few pieces with their GPX-6000 and that was unheard of in times past.

The GPX-6000 right now is the #1 producer for gold at Rye Patch and all other previous patches.  The GPX-6000 will be doing the same thing this winter is Arizona at all the worked patches and there will be many happy customers.  Will there be GPZ-7000's out there in the field, most certainly, but their numbers will not be up even close to what the 6000's will be.  Can I find gold at RP right now with a GPZ-7000, YES and I have done it for the last 7 yrs.  Each fall I go down and find an ounce of nuggets with a 7.  Each year it has gotten harder and harder and last Fall it actually took a couple extra days, but I hit my 1 ounce mark.  There lies the problem, it has been out for 7 yrs and for 7 years all the old patches have been covered again and again with a GPZ-7000.  From Rye Patch to AZ all the known nugget producing areas have been flogged and if you want to have Success, you better step over to new technology if you want best chance of Success or you can keep swinging the 7 and possibly get lucky for a 1 grammer or 2.

As a dealer who sells detectors, I feel Success no matter the size of nuggets is best for my customers, especially the new ones just getting involved. 

BTW, If anyone is interested, I know of a couple used GPZ-7000s at nice prices (less than the cost of a GPX-6000), just email me for details.

So I ask you again.  Going home with any nuggets possible to show Success or 1 nugget of a gram or don't care as you got to go prospecting and the gold is just a bonus?  There's a twist.

Looking to hear your answers and I know Australia will be different perspective, which is totally acceptable.

 

[tboykin]

Some trips I go specifically to find gold. Others I go to share an experience with other people. Since switching to Minelabs - and more importantly, learning more - I find gold 9 trips out of 10.

The way I look at it is if my hobby is somewhat self-sustaining financially it’s already better than most other hobbies. How many thousands did I spend on boats, lost tackle, and gas on my fishing hobby? Definitely a lot more than freezer full of fish.

I’m past the point of being excited over finding crumbs of gold. They are a consolation prize at best, and proof that the ground is worth detecting. When I find something I can feel the weight of and pays for my gas I am pretty stoked. I’ve been lucky to bring home a few bigger pieces and those really get my heart going.

One thing I’ve been spending more time chasing is good memories. And sharing those with other people is sometimes worth more than the gold we find.

[flakmagnet]

I am spoiled. I dredged for 5 years in the late 70s and early 80s. Happily I was lucky, I found quite a bit of gold. At one time I had five troy pounds of gold in a can in my garage. My kids thought the tooth fairy brought gold nuggets and I was able to buy several detectors with it.
When I was dredging, I can remember a 70 year old - who I thought was was an old timer at the time (I am older than him now), - who dredged near me, who used to literally wash the carpet of his dredge in the river after taking out all 'the pickers.' I asked him why he didn't pan out the remaining fines and he said "but that's just fine gold, who wants fine gold?" And he'd keep rinsing his carpet.

Those days are gone. I switched to detecting and of course that changed things, the gold wasn't found in cracks or in pockets under a boulder any more. Now I have put in a couple of decades of detecting and as you say Gary, the plentiful gold has been pretty much picked off unless you are in a relatively virgin area and that requires the luxury of time which most hobbyists like me don't have. I love my 7000 but reading your account I seriously wonder whether I should be rethinking my original decision to keep it. I also don't live near areas that were known for bigger gold so the pickings are usually quite small.

Anyway, you and others here have gotten me thinking…thanks for taking the time to post.

[LuckyLundy]

Rye Patch area, the recent rain has changed the normal Great October ground.  Hot and noisy, it will need a week or more to dry out.   I agree with Gerry, 6000 is a must at Rye Patch to have a rattle in your poke. 

Rick

[geof_junk]

Midas has been good to me, but most were small and a few multi ounce ones. My choice of finds of course is total weight but the pendent size is my favourite nuggets and yield the best price per gram. If they are bit heavy you will get a sore breast bone when moving (or that's what I tell the girls 😀

Same bits.

Carol with a 16 ounce necklace.

 

[Gold Hound]

Hi Gerry 

For me a gold detector has to pick up as much of both large and small bread and butter gold as possible in as minimal passes as possible, as I need to be able to pick up a larger 2+ oz bit at depth but still be able to find the bread and butter small bits as they make me my living!

That is why I preference mid size coils as my standard use coils, I find that 14-15in round coils on all the more modern detectors have been the best for me.

I can't wait for a 14in round mono coil to become available for the 6k!

Such a light well balanced easy to use detector, the only thing missing are coils! What a deadly machine it will be with more coil options!

[klunker]

 If you get angry with being skunked you ought not be prospecting. if an extraordinary find makes you do something stupid you ought not be prospecting. I consider any nugget find as a gift.

 A visiting detectorist foolishly left his new GPX 6000 unattended so I pilfered it and I'm beating the hell out of it to see if it is up to all the hype. But I still have a hard time setting aside the 5000 or the 7000 thinking I might be passing over large deep gold.

 I'll give an honest report after I return the remains of the 6000 to it's owner.  

[Steve Herschbach]

Great post Gerry.

I see two basic types of gold nugget detectorists. The pros can be illustrated by the couple Aussie posts above. If you are seriously out detecting for gold, with a desire to make money at it, you’d better be focused on WEIGHT, and weight comes mostly via staying in larger gold. That honestly is less about the detector, but more about genuine prospecting skills, and forging your own path. Many models do well on the larger stuff, and for some a GPX 5000 may still be a better solution than the newer rigs, just for coil selection, and tuning options. Or a newer model, whatever suits your gold and ground. I genuinely appreciate you guys and what you do, but what follows is aimed more at the U.S. detectorists. My apologies to you few U.S. pros. You know who you are… keep going for weight over nugget count. No need to ditch a GPZ or even GPX 5000 for a 6000 if weight is your goal.

The main U.S. market at least, tends to be more hobbyist oriented, and about relentlessly pounding old locations. The big gold tends to go first, so it’s been an arms race with new Minelab detectors, each generation getting better at generally hitting gold previous generations have missed. Some big gold still gets found, sure. The GPZ 7000 in particular hit smaller types of gold or specimen gold very well, while still retaining major punch on big gold. But most people just want to go home with some gold, any gold at all, and after GPZ the big stuff is getting very thin in many common locations.

The GPX 6000 seems to deliver the performance one might expect with a GPZ 7000 and a smaller X Coil. The SDC has an advantage in tuning out certain hot rocks, but it does miss a class of gold that the GPX 6000 hits. There are some rocks, you tune them out, you lose gold. So a GPZ or 6000 is a mixed blessing in that regard. If you have a serious hot rock issue, and still want tiny gold, a SDC is a great solution, but don’t think there is not a cost associated with its aggressive hot rock cancellation. That, and limited coil options.

For tiny gold and specimen hots, seriously giving all but the hottest VLFs a run for the money, the 6000 is optimized to hit gold that both a SDC and an unmodified GPZ will miss. That does mean more hot rocks, but frankly I’ve not found a place yet where I can’t deal with them, mostly by ear and by eyeball. If digging a few hot rocks means I get gold others missed, I’ll do it.

If I really put the pedal to the metal, my 6000 will hit small gold about as well as the 19 kHz series VLF detectors, assuming similar coil sizes, but with more punch. So like GPX 6000 versus Gold Bug Pro with 11” coil, well, except for trash handling, the VLF can now stay home. It’s only the 48 kHz and higher models that can hit tiny bits I miss with my 6000, but I am talking sub-grain bits. 480 grains to an ounce, and bits less than 1 grain. Say 10th of a grain or less. To make an ounce, you need to dig 4800 1/10th grain bits. That’s a lot of digging, and frankly, for that stuff, it’s maybe time to break out the dry washer.

Gerry asked me early on about specimen gold and the 6000, and my answer was not to worry. The 6000 is probably the best PI made to date for specimen gold, and I’ll post some of my finds in that regard soon. It may very well be my new “thing” with the 6000, hunting pocket gold. Dispersed gold in rock is just another version of small gold, and the 6000 with 11” mono kills it.

But I digress. Long story short, I’m not surprised your customers are seeing the number count go up at Rye Patch and other locations. I’ll offer some advice for that. People with VLF skills have an edge with the 6000 and tiny bits. Main thing is SLOW DOWN. Speed kills the 6000, it’s not a fast swing machine, and those in a rush to cover ground will miss the tiny stuff, and big stuff at edge of detection depth. “Small signals” not small gold.

I’ve been bouncing back and forth between manual sensitivity max at 10, or Auto+ with threshold on, and have yet to decide which is best. I don’t think you can just go with one, it depends on the ground. But mild ground, I’m currently favoring Auto+ with threshold on (hold ground rule button 4 seconds to engage threshold on in Auto modes), as the auto sensitivity can push above manual ten in the right conditions. Just remember in some ground, it will also auto adjust lower than 10 manual. There is not a cut and dry answer, you just have to try both. Then slow down, and get your tiny signal ears on! Only improvement I can see would be a 8” round mono, or 6”x10” mono, both for tight locations, but also because they enforce the slow down rule. Overall however, I’d still probably stick with the 11” mono myself, as being best on the small stuff, while still having max punch on up to 1/4 oz type nuggets. 17” mono for covering ground/patch hunting, plus more depth on larger than 1/4 oz gold.

Rod twists, and some warble now and then, whatever, this machine is deadly in my hands on my ground. Your results may vary, but I’ll selfishly admit that’s not a major concern for me. I’m about done for the year, but am looking forward to ramping things up next season, hunting places I’ve never hunted before. No more pounding old locations, it’s time to make one last big find before I simply can’t do this stuff anymore. In two years I’ll have been detecting for 50 years, a half a bloody century, and the GPX 6000 is definitely putting some new spring in this old detectorists step. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

13 hours ago, tboykin said:

One thing I’ve been spending more time chasing is good memories. And sharing those with other people is sometimes worth more than the gold we find.

Tom,  I'm really big on making/sharing memories with a metal detector.  Yes those trips are worth more than the gold itself.  

 

[Detectorist Dan]

16 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

When I was dredging, I can remember a 70 year old - who I thought was was an old timer at the time (I am older than him now), - who dredged near me, who used to literally wash the carpet of his dredge in the river after taking out all 'the pickers.' I asked him why he didn't pan out the remaining fines and he said "but that's just fine gold, who wants fine gold?" And he'd keep rinsing his carpet.

Where was he washing his carpets out exactly?? 😁

 

Steve,    I agree, I tend to find myself jumping back and forth between auto+ and sens10 and always with the threshold on. (  I love waking up in the middle of the night and still hearing the threshold in my head.😝 ) I really wish the engineers at ML would show where in the sensitivity the 6000 is auto balancing too if its less than the 10 sensitivity. This would give me better confidence in what the computers are doing.

 

As too the question at hand though. I am always relieved to find at least one small tidily winker when I get out but it definitely is way more enjoyable to get bigger bits (0.5g or better). So I would have to say that size does matter to me. I can always get grain size flakes sluicing if I really wanted to be going after gold that small. But, this also brings up a question I've had and I'll just make a new post so wait to answer on there. But that's when do you give up on a patch/how many times getting skunked until you move on or find it not worth your time going back even if your not getting skunked.