First Afternoon Using The Goldhawk 10x5 Mono

[Aureous]

Today I got my Goldhawk 10x5 mono and gave it a thrash on my currently producing spot where my Xceed 12x7 has found me 64 bits for just over 8 grams in the last week or so. The spot has high EMI from powerlines which the 12x7 handled extremely well. The GPX6000 likes the Xceed 12x7 a lot, very quiet in these high EMI areas. As soon as I tried the Goldhawk 10x5, I noticed it couldn't handle the EMI anywhere near as well. Noisy to the point of just walking away, three frequency scans, dumb the detector down to manual 2 and it was still unbearable. This was a disappointment to say the least.

I happily noticed the Earth-field Y axis noise wasn't present with the 10x5 as I'd demonstrated to myself a couple weeks ago with my friends coil. This is a huge bonus with this coil coz I can now basically 'harvest'  all the old diggings and tailings for small gold that no-one else can hear. A couple others I know are doing just this with 20-30 bits per afternoon being an easy feat. A gram or two each day adds up quick.

So, I gave up on the high EMI area and wandered an extra 30m away from the powerlines and began concentrating and adjusting the settings for noise and stability. This was an area I'd already flogged with the 6000 and the stock 11 mono. To my surprise, the end result was 45 bits of junk and 5 bits of gold for exactly 1 gram. Lead shot made up the lions share (38) of junk. I even found a broken bronze snake buckle at 10 inches! The extra sensitivity and depth on tiny targets makes this an outstanding coil. Very sharp and obvious signal quality, even on pinhead sized gold. I can recommend this coil to anyone who wants to harvest small gold on old diggings. There's a lot of it out there! I will certainly be using this coil a lot and keeping tabs.

[afreakofnature]

If you had to choose one, Xceed or Coiltek?  Or do you drop the same money for 2 on a Manticore 🤣

[Aureous]

6 hours ago, afreakofnature said:

If you had to choose one, Xceed or Coiltek?

I will be using both, maybe 50% even split. If I had to choose 1, it would be the Xceed 12x7 coz its quieter and does a generally good job for all detecting scenarios. But the 10x5 is ideal for old diggings, tailings etc.

[phrunt]

I'm a bit puzzled by your power line experience as mine has been pretty good with the 10x5", Perhaps different countries or just different lines in general.  I've been very happy with the 10x5" around power lines, much more so than the stock coil.  I haven't bought the Xceed, holding off for the little guy.

The great thing about the 10x5" is it doesn't care about being tilted at all which for me in my ground is excellent.

No one coil does everything though, each having it's own attributes we find beneficial.  Glad you're happy with both, now you're set for some good gold finding.

[Arky]

I love the Goldhawk 10x5. Worked near another fellow who was using the xceed and was very impressed with what it was doing. Bottom line, both found gold, they seem about equivalent in sensitivity to small gold, the xceed was seeing small targets deeper, easier to pinpoint with the Goldhawk. I probably won't spring for the xc eed coil, but it would definitely be nice to have. As many others have observed, each coil has a use.

[WesD]

The Goldhawk is a great little coil for creek hunting in bedrock.  Nice and maneuverable to get into tight spaces. I usually have to run in difficult soil mode to keep the detector smooth and without falsing in mineralised soils/bedrock.

[Aureous]

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

I'm a bit puzzled by your power line experience

Yeah, I was too.....I was expecting a much lower effect from the powerlines for sure. The 12x7 easily had half the noise of the 10x5. But the total lack of Y axis noise was easily the winning attribute. Once I got away from the powerlines, I could run up the gain and drop into 'Normal' mode a few times even. All the lead shot and tiny flakes of blasting cap genuinely surprised me. I'm also soon to create an add-on shield for my 6000 and see how that goes for reducing the EMI noise. 

[TE Gold]

Very interested in your shield. 

I've not seen anything after market for it, can explain what it is and how it works, or is that hush hush?

Totally understand if you want to keep it to yourself.

Cheers.

[Aureous]

14 hours ago, TE Gold said:

Very interested in your shield. 

I've not seen anything after market for it, can explain what it is and how it works, or is that hush hush?

Totally understand if you want to keep it to yourself.

Cheers.

There is a 'formula' of sorts which is used on medical imagery machines. I will use the same idea and add it to my DD-Leather 6000 control box cover. Not ideal coz it doesn't cover every square inch of the control box, but good enuff to see if there's a distinct difference. If there is, I will create a template in canvas and apply the concept to that...and then apply the template to the control box, complete with conductive tabs to basically shield the whole thing without gaps. I don't use the speaker so that helps (I can wrap the shield template right over the speaker grill) but I will need a conductive tab to open the shield to remove the battery for recharging purposes of course. See how the first step goes on Saturday when the hot weather here eases up a little. 

[TE Gold]

Is like a Faraday cage over the control box? 

I was thinking it might be coil related...