nuggethunting

Hello Dqsantos, It's not normal for a coil to "false," especially the Blitz 14x9. Some of the older coils would false after they have been beaten around enough, so falsing when a coil gets older is not uncommon. However, new coils shouldn't just false when bumped, unless really bumped hard. Touching the coil wire can cause falsing, so its best to make sure the coil wire is secure around the shaft, not really loose and you secure it tightly at the connection (finger tight).

SOLD!

Hey Shep, I can't even keep them in stock at the MAP price. Sold two of the detector listed. Just an FYI.

Hello All, Well it right around Christmas, so I thought I would toss some deals out there for you. All of these units are in great working condition and have been used throughout the 2013 (roughly 6 months on weekends) season for field and detector instructions. Minelab X-Terra 705 Gold Metal Detector - was asking $600, now final price - $550.00 Comes with all stock accessories Minelab CTX 3030 Metal Detector - was asking $2000.00, now final price - $1800.00 Comes with all stock accessories Minelab Eureka Gold Metal Detector - was asking $850.00, now final price - $750.00 Comes with all stock accessories - SOLD Minelab GPX 4500 Metal Detector - was asking $3600.00, now final price - $3400.00 Comes with all stock accessories and extras. You can view this unit at my online store here - SOLD https://www.robsdetectors.com/p/800/minelab-gpx-4500 Some great prices for the detector and condition all of them are in. All prices are final, so first come first serve on them. Questions, call or email me. Rob Allison

Hey Lucky, I will post more information as time goes on. The supply on this unit is limited right now, but I hope to have several larger orders coming soon. Until then, I will play with it and see report back from time to time.

Hello All, This weekend the family, partner and I got out for a short hunt and camping trip within a few hours of Phoenix. The Wife wants to get back into camping, exploring and metal detecting, so I figured I would take her out and she if her heart was really into it. Well after setting up camp and showing her where to hunt, she was off with the GPX 5000. Not more than an hour she had her first nugget, then it was one after another. She ended the short weekend with 8 nuggets, nothing really big, but I had to hear how she didn't loose her touch. We were all using Minelab GPX 5000's, a total of 3 units and testing some other stuff. In the picture below, you will see the group of 8 nuggets my wife found on the GPX 5000 control box, the remainder my partner and I gathered up during the non-babysitting time .... LOL Hope you enjoyed. Rob Allison

Hello All, Here is a good video out of Australia on the ATX and then I copied and pasted Bilbo's post on using the GPX vs. the ATX on an old patch in Australia. Hopefully he don't mind, if anyone knows him, please let him know I borrowed his info. The guy that found this patch had bought a brand new White’s GMT to get most of the species. So first I phoned ML in Adelaide and explained what we’d observed with these species and this guy and told ‘em we reckoned there was a “hole” in the GPX theory. Now cop this,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,They agreed!!! Straight up,,,,,,,,ML said I was spot on with the reasons that I put forward to them over the phone as to why this happens. (more on that little point later). So we bought a new Whites GMT to get this pushing job done. But in spite of the dozing we got nothing down deep, it was all surface stuff. We gave up pushing and whilst we were waiting for a “float” truck for the dozer ( 5 days!!) we did some normal bipping. Sure enough, he did miss a few and we got just about all that was missed with the Whites - but there’ no guarantee as we all know. My wife wandered more than me with a 4500 and got nothing. She's a very patient lady and a good operator but she was getting mega-pissed off with these specimens!! I did a fair bit less walking than her using the Whites ‘cos I was servcing the dozer and fixing an oil leak most of the time. But I ended up with about 7 species. They were all on top,,,,,,and this patch has had the living bejeezus chained out of it by many people with ML machines. We saw heaps of these old chain lines but not one scratch or dig mark. Nothing. We tested both of our 4500s over these species that I'd found with the Whites as well and we also got no signal at all. Now these aren’t little species with specks of gold in ‘em these are palm sized and they’re rotten with fine gold! We never crushed these species and they’re still with me. I’ll try and put some pics up here soon. Over the days we were waiting for the float truck we had a few mates come by to see how we were doing,,,which wasn’t real well at all! We were getting pasted with bulldozing for zilch gold. But they had their chance to put their machines 4500 and 5000s over the species, They got no signal whatsoever!! The expression on the faces was priceless! We came home early as a result of that poor patch. We'd pinned a lot on it coming good. But shchit happens eh! So pushing is rarely as great as people say - trust me, I know!! So, how does the Garret fit in with this? Well, when Matt asked me did I want to test one I thought I’d take these species with me. I arrived at The Prospector’s Patch in Midland on Friday morning, had a chat with Matt who I hadn’t seen for years and we all jumped in car of the Prospectors Patch and off we went into the hills around Perth. Please note, I don't use The Prospectors Patch as my retail outlet. I normally use Reed's Prospecting for reasons that go back many years. So I have no connection with The Prospectors Patch. But things may change if I buy a new Garrett! We took a ML5000 with us as well. The weather was looking a bit dark but we got to the area before it started raining. However, due to the rain eventually we only had time to set up both machines and test the species I’d brought. The Garrett was up and running in a flash. It really is much quicker to get bipping than the ML. It had the Double D coil on. The 5000 had the mono on. Initially we had a problem with ground balancing the Garret and initially I was unimpressed with the “totally unbalanced” noise it was making. I thought, ”If this as good as it gets they can keep it”. But eventually we found the Ops Manual in the bag and that the Ground Balance problem was sorted in seconds. Without any word of a lie, this thing is QUIET, just a faint murmur or buzz, just audible with no "chattering". We had a quick scan around to clear any junk and by then it was starting to rain lightly. So we decided we’d test the species with the Garret and with the ML 5000 ASAP. Matt had a specie with him but it had several largeish , almost nugget size bits of gold in it. My species had much more gold in'em but it was very fine. By the time we’d finished this specie testing we were more than a bit damp The set-up and cosmetic bits of the Garrett are very well explained in this You Tube video so I’m not gonna repeat it here and it copies everything I witnessed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btrFKfZigP8 More in the next bit as these threads get too long and they stuff up when ya post 'em. B Part 3. By now you all have probably guessed what’s coming! Yep the Garrett gave a good strong signal on every specie, except one. When we put the 5000 across them all it missed all of ‘em – except one. That single one is the only one that all three detectors heard but the gold is rich and clearly visible in it. When we were working on the patch, the Whites heard and got all of ‘em. We couldn’t test my Whites GMT across these as it’s out in the bush with a mate ATM. But both Matt and the owner of the Prospectors Patch, Jamie, were stunned when the 5000 missed 7 out of 8 targets with not even a murmur. I didn’t handle any of the detectors or manipulate them in any way, I just let these two guys get on with it using my species. We didn’t do any depth testing for a variety of reasons. Firstly, for my money, depth tests are useless unless you have a properly set-up test patch much like Jonathan Porter has. That is a good set up with the plastic pipes in an undisturbed river bank. We didn’t have that and re-burying targets has never provided a qualitative test IMO. We were getting wet by this time and with what I reckon above about depth testing we called it a day. Well “half a day” actually! I had a yarn with Matt, who I’ve known for 20 years off and on and he told me about him doing the testing with the Garrett guys on “some of the hottest ground in WA”. I know exactly where he took those guys and it is -*- hot ground in both places – the hottest I know of. They’ve been hammered with ML machines since the SD 2000 first arrived. But Matt still found gold in quantity but I must say they were only small pieces. But both areas have been chained, cross chained by every man and his dog since metal detectors came to “Oz”. I won’t even go anywhere near these areas these days they are so well thrashed. But the Garrett found even more. So it looks like the ML4500/5000 does miss gold and substantial gold at that. This is the type of gold that could lead to another patch or even a mining proposition. But that’s not to decry what is and has been for years the benchmark in metal detectors- Minelab. But I’ve often felt that we have become institutionalised into accepting that “there is no other God before me but Minelab”. Well, I've used nothing but Minelab since way back in 1984 and even though I was the first to knock this new Garrett mainly for the battery pack, I now reckon that Garrett have produced something that probably wouldn'tl knock ML off its perch without more proof but it will make a fair old dent in the metal detector market. I would have loved a situation where both machines went detecting alongside together and then a reasonably fair comparison could be made about the targets as they arrived under the coil but we ran out of time and weather. But I will be asking the Prospectors Patch for another try real soon. Even more to come,,,,,,,,,,,,with a set of steak knives and a "Twister" excercise machine.!!! More soon, B Part 4 Cosmetics and design – there’s some things that I like and some I don’t. I don’t like the battery aspect. It’s a 12 volt machine that takes 8 by AA cells or it has rechargeables. Having seen the charger I noticed it had only 8 charging slots?? Most rechargeables are only 1.2 volt to 1.4 volts but alkaline cells are 1.5 volts which makes up the 12 volt total. But what’s the total voltage with rechargeables?? Worth asking Garrett the question I reckon. With AA cells the battery life is 12 hours. But for me, who can spend up to 6 months a year out bush, taking that many batteries is a step back in time. Even rechargeables aren’t without their problems. It seems Garrett have taken for granted that there’s a shop that sells inexpensive AA batteries within 10 kms of anywhere In Western Australia or even Mongolia for that matter. This is unlike the USA!! We know that's different don’t we!! I can see a 12 volt lead acid gel battery pack modification coming here much like the old days of the ML16000 VLF machines. I can’t see me messing around with AA cells for very long!! The battery carriers are inbuilt and they carried on either side of the handle/control box. So there are no external wires or cables. But this does make the machine heavy and it may even be a bit heavier than the 4500/5000. It seems like it is but I've never weighed either of 'em. That’s not good for me with two (out of four) snapped tendons in my right arm after 30 years detecting!! There is a bungee cord set up but I’m sure I’ll be making my own before long. The Garrett has an excellent external speaker but I hate the -*- things and the people that use ‘em. -*- noise pollution!!! But if you like the speakers then the Garrett is totally without any external cables or wires! But what about the coil cables I hear you ask? They are all built in internally within the coil and the shaft right up to the control box!! No coil cables. So with no batteries to connect up and no coil cables to wrap around the shaft it’s a machine that’s quicker than an ML to set up and be out there bippin’. You’re away in seconds without all the wires, backpacks and headphones to drag outta the car whilst cursing at the missus about “Who left this like this???!!!”. It’s also waterproof to 3 mtrs which makes it good for me as I live near the ocean and a bit of beach hunting might be nice! And it handles salt without any further salt coils or changing settings. It also folds into a very small space for use in restricted access spots. The swivelling coil will be good for me when doing bulldozer windrows as that murders my shoulder and back when doing it with a 4500. It looks a rugged machine but all this “mil spec” (military spec) strikes me as bullcshit. That term may appeal to our American cousins who seem to be into anything with camouflage on it but in reality the question is “Define the term mil spec”. It doesn’t mean anything unless you have a full understand of the US Defense Department’s Standards for Military Equipment at your fingertips! The sliding, folding joints also present an issue. With all the dust and grit in any prospecting environment, how long will they last before they wear out and become loose, sloppy and get the wobbles? Remember, replacement shafts won’t be cheap as each shaft section contains all the coil and power wiring! I can see rolls of gaffa tape being used here@! But the question is, “Would I buy one?’. Well, I’m in the market to sell one of our 4500s this coming season. I was gonna upgrade to 5000 but now,,,,,,,,,,,,,well firstly, I reckon that the 5000 is identical to 4500 but with a tweaked up sensitivity that get the fine gold. Well, if that is true and it seems to be so, then I’d rather buy the Garrett when it’s practically half the price of the 5000 and comes with three coils – two monos and DD. What else a do I need?? I hear more garbage talked about different coils than just about anything else. They're like fishing lures to fishermen, they catch more people than fish! So – anyone want my good 4500 and I’ll buy the Garrett as a replacement? I’m serious!! B PS - we also had a quick try with the new Deus detector which I think is a French design. At first glance it has some pretty clever features but I need a bit more time with it first. Jamie!! Jamie!!

Hey AZNuggetBob, I agree with you. I was just razzing Tom a bit, but I think he has the right idea for hunting for gold.

Hey Guys, I'm excited, no question about that. However, I'm not going to comment until I get a bit more time under my belt. I'm going to tell you this now, if you have a GPX series, no reason to sell it. If you're looking for a great, mid line PI that is waterproof, can fold up, made in the US, easy to use, great price, then you're going to have fun with the new Garrett ATX metal detector. When it comes to price and completely waterproof, that alone will sell the unit in my opinion. Will report more in the near future. Rob Allison

Hello All, Thanks for the comments. The family and I went camping the day after Thanksgiving. It was a great trip to the goldfields. My wife scored 8 nuggets and she hasn't touched a detector in several years. Ya, trust me I had to hear all about it. I told her next time I'm not pointing fingers .... I spent most of the time watching my Daughter, but was able to play around with a few detectors and score some nuggets on my own.

Hey Tom, Now I know who is running over the cactus, brush and critters up those washes .... LOL

Hey Chris, I can get you a Explorer SE PRO if you need one, but like others have stated, not a gold nugget hunter. It's a great coin and relic detector and the Explorer series ran for a long time. It was replaced by the ETRAC, then the CTX 3030. My two choices for all purpose would be either the Minelab E-Terra 705 or 705 Gold and the Fisher Goldbug Pro. Hope this helps a bit, Rob Allison

Hello All, We here at Rob's Detector Sales want to wish everyone on the forums a Happy Thanksgiving. We personally want to Thank everyone watching our forums for the support and business. May God Bless you and your family with Happy Holidays.

Hey Uncle Ron, Great find! Hard to get all the nuggets from a patch. Thanks for sharing. Rob Allison

Hey Chris, Yes, agree with you 100%. I have a handful of detectors, mostly for demo and field instructions, but the two detectors I have in my truck are the GPX 5000 and the Fisher Goldbug Pro. I used to carry the Bug2, but like the easy of operation of the Goldbug Pro. Hoping to do some nuggetshooting this weekend. Rob Allison

Hey Guys, Don't get me wrong, I will take all the small nuggets I can detect with the GPX 5000. That being said, I have no trouble hitting stuff in the 1-2 grain range at or near the surface while prospecting. I have found for my style, prospecting new ground and working old patches, that the GPX 5000 is much more productive. I know there are smaller nuggets, under a grain I'm missing, but the time it takes me to find those, I could have 2-3 Dwt's of larger gold for an old patch or new spot. Trust me, I have tried it many times and it always worked out better running the PI's. Like I said, this is for my style of hunting nuggets. P.S. Years ago, I had this friend of mine, which I consider a "true expert" with the Fisher Bug's work some old patches of mine. We spent days detecting them. By the end of several days, he had like 7 small nuggets, all under like 5 grains in weight. I only found two I missed, gridding and working very slow. Both of those nuggets were over 3 Dwt's. I will take my 6 Dwt's vs. the 1 to 1.5 Dwt's he found.

Hey Blake, Nice Finds!! Thanks for sharing.

Hello All, If anyone is looking for a very good conditioned Minelab GPX 4500, this is the one for you. I'm asking $3500.00 firm + Shipping/handling. The unit is in great working condition and includes all stock accessories. Many of the stock items are new, never used. The lower shaft, GPX push button handle, 12v car charger, harness are brand new. The owner said he never used the searchcoil either, always a aftermarket coil. View listing at my online store at - https://www.robsdetectors.com/p/800/minelab-gpx-4500 I will have this detector listed here and on my online store under "used items" for a few days. After that, I'm listing it on Ebay and know it will sell quickly there. Call us at 623.362.1459 or email me at - rob@robsdetectors.com if you have questions. P.S. If a local customer would like to purchase, I will include a quick tutorial on the settings and basic use. Thanks! Rob Allison

Hello All, If anyone is looking for a very good conditioned Minelab GPX 4500, this is the one for you. I'm asking $3500.00 firm + Shipping/handling. The unit is in great working condition and includes all stock accessories. Many of the stock items are new, never used. The lower shaft, GPX push button handle, 12v car charger, harness are brand new. The owner said he never used the searchcoil either, always a aftermarket coil. More pictures at my online store at - https://www.robsdetectors.com/p/800/minelab-gpx-4500 I will have this detector listed here and on my online store under "used items" for a few days. After that, I'm listing it on Ebay and know it will sell quickly there. Call us at 623.362.1459 or email me at - rob@robsdetectors.com if you have questions. P.S. If a local customer would like to purchase, I will include a quick tutorial on the settings and basic use. Thanks! Rob Allison

Hey Guys, Thanks for the comments. This is right at 1/2 ounce of gold. Biggest piece is 2.8 Dwt's. I was going to hear out this morning, but it was still raining a bit and just too muddy to dig. Anxious to get back out there .....

Hey Guys, The new technology is interesting to hear about, but it will be more exciting to see what it does in the real world of metal detecting. Personally, I'm not too much interested in finding smaller targets, but maybe slightly weaker targets (more depth). However, not sure I want to dig deeper on iron rubbish, which can be cans, horse shoes and such at 2-3 foot in depth. I'm not sure I want to dig down 3.5 to 4 foot. I would love to see better mineral immunity and most importantly, a much better iron discriminator on the bigger PI's. I was told it can't be done on PI technology, but was told it could be better on "different technology or technologies." Rob Allison

Hello All, Here are some gold nuggets I recently found metal detecting with the GPX 5000. The rains must be moving some gold around. It's out there .... Rob Allison

Hey Dave, Very interesting research! I like the first one, "new technology, Flagship Gold Detector!" Don't think it will happen soon, but when it does, bye bye Pulse Induction, you might be a think of the past .....

Hello All, Here are the recent Minelab Holiday Promotions for 2013. Purchase any of these Minelab Metal Detectors from Rob's Detector Sales from Nov. 22nd - Jan. 31, 2014 and receive - Minelab CTX 3030 - Receive a FREE PRO-FIND 25 Pinpointer Minelab Excalibur II - Receive a FREE Sand Scoop Minelab E-Trac - Receive a FREE PRO-SWING 45 Harness Minelab Safari - Receive a FREE Minelab Carry Bag Minelab X-Terra 705 - Receive a FREE Flashlight, Pair of Gloves & Koss UR-30 Headphones Minelab X-Terra 505 - Receive a FREE Environmental Cover and Backpack Minelab X-Terra 305 - Receive a FREE Flashlight and Minelab Baseball Cap On some of these detectors, we include an additional bundle from Rob's Detector Sales. Please give us a call if you have any questions. Rob Allison

Hello All, Here are the recent Minelab Holiday Promotions for 2013. Purchase any of these Minelab Metal Detectors from Rob's Detector Sales from Nov. 22nd - Jan. 31, 2014 and receive - Minelab CTX 3030 - Receive a FREE PRO-FIND 25 Pinpointer Minelab Excalibur II - Receive a FREE Sand Scoop Minelab E-Trac - Receive a FREE PRO-SWING 45 Harness Minelab Safari - Receive a FREE Minelab Carry Bag Minelab X-Terra 705 - Receive a FREE Flashlight, Pair of Gloves & Koss UR-30 Headphones Minelab X-Terra 505 - Receive a FREE Environmental Cover and Backpack Minelab X-Terra 305 - Receive a FREE Flashlight and Minelab Baseball Cap On some of these detectors, we include an additional bundle from Rob's Detector Sales. Please give us a call if you have any questions. Rob Allison