Is This Detector Good


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Red, the VSAT is an excellent machine. It is close in performance to the Gold Bug 2 and is the best bang for the buck for folks whose budget won't permit a higher end machine. I've owned several and found lots of gold with the VSAT. Whenever I see a good price on one I buy it as a back up. Cheers, Unc

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Red, the VSAT is an excellent machine.  It is close in performance to the Gold Bug 2 and is the best bang for the buck for folks whose budget won't permit a higher end machine.  I've owned several and found lots of gold with the VSAT.  Whenever I see a good price on one I buy it as a back up.  Cheers, Unc

Ron, Great to hear.

Thanks, RED.

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all about tuning:

do yourself a favor and get the jim straight book that Rob is hawking. In it are good leads on setting up and using your detector(s). If you haven't got the Jim Straight booklet that Rob is currently pitching, you are missing out on some very pertinent geological information, detector tips, and discovery strategy that you will not get most anywhere else.

Paypal $12 to auplacers@yahoo.com, and Rob will send you one.

I have 5 detectors and all are good in one thing and lousy on another. In the mineral world, you will find the two points of the compass are: [1] cancelling out iron-based soils, and [2] Cancelling out salt/alkali based soils. Once you get past these two obtacles, or modify your search patterns, coil swing speed, height or coil in relation to the ground, and target identification in spite of obstacles, you will be on your way to success.

It helps to have some geological sense and know what challenges variable types of country rock or soils play on your detector. At the very least, if you don't have one already, obtain a sample gold nugget at least 2 dwt in size so that while out in the field, you can verify signals with or without the gold. as some soils will cancel out the actual gold.

Last of all, the earth that you are walking on isn't the same earth that the placer gold came from, as part of erosional cycles over millenia. Why, there are gold deposits all over the west that haven't even been prospected yet by a competent detectorist that knows how to properly tune their equipment, using the proper coils sizing, and other field indicators. VLF's can be very good in certain settings, while nugget shooters of higher frequencies or PI detectors can be of great use in others. I wouldn't get rid of any detector that is capable of finding gold, whether in nugget or dink form, or as part of rock encased ore.

Your challenge is to use it enough that by sound, you know what the detector is telling you. The basic is not to use full sensitivity in some locations, and use variable threshold or coils in others. Once you start finding gold, try working the same ground, coming in from a different direction. Try changing coils; smaller ones work wonders but the sweep is more labor intensive. Larger coils for larger deeper objects. Different windings for static, electrical obstacles, different types of soils- dry or moist.

Using an alternate detector may also bring in more pay and find dinks the other detector missed. You'd be surprised how many people leave an area, thinking it was worked out, when in reality, it was a matter of the specific detector or coil that was being used. Like I said above, each detector has its use, and may work in areas where others (or other brands) don't. Carpenters carry different hammers, cops carry more than one type of gun, why wouldn't you take more than one type of detector or coil to a productive field? It's a simple point that many forget or miss.

Your effort is not "TURN ON AND GO", rather it is a study of electromagnetic signals in variable ground and mineral conditions

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Hello All,

The only White's metal detectors I have used were the Goldmaster 3 and the MXT. Both worked well, but struggled a bit on mineralized ground. I think for a starter machine it will work fine. All detector have limitations, so it's up to the user to figure them out and work within them to get the best out of any detector.

I have Jim Straight's books always in stock if you're interested. You can reach me through email or phone if needed.

Good luck with the detector and hope you get over some nice gold! :D

Rob Allison

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Hi Red and All

The goldmaster series detectors are great units , I have found thousands of nuggets with them. Get the manual and read up on how to ground balance then throw it away after reading and understanding it's other functions. Set your gain at 3 or 4 go to full salt get a good pair of high impedence earphones (koss are good) take a small test nugget with you in the field . Set your earphones volume at maximum and adjust the threshold to a faint barely audible background hum. If the ground is real hot or noisy or lots of hot rock sounds turn the gain down to 2 or 3 if it's real quiet you can increase it a little. Get you a pick with a magnet and a pouch to put your trash in and go dig up lots of trash and nuggets. The iron ID is reasonabley acurate but when in question always dig the target . Shallow small iron targets will chatter up ,non ferrous targets won't. Nor will large iron targets chatter. These detectors are still hard to beat by any of the newer models or technoligy in high trash areas,quieter ground of mine dumps and will hold there own or outperform against any new detectors available !! If in doubt bury your test nugget at different depths in the field and listen closely to the variations of sounds it makes at different depths. Good luck !! Happy Huntin John B.

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Jim Straight here... Gosh what nice things are being said about my bookets and book (7th Edition)

I have been very lucky... great friends since I started teaching adult school back

in 1969... I learned more from the fellow members of the class. And I'm still learning more everyday.

Actually... most of you are now on the cutting edge of the new technology while all I can say... I may have been one of the "pathfinders" to link the BFO/TR's to what they now are... The VLF's LF's and the Pulse.

It is now the newer generation... you... who are carrying on. However, I have a comment to make re the White's V/sat and GM-3.

They are still on the cutting edge... such as the Gold Bugs... and the other various

machines made by other manufacturers.

Some machines that have been givern "bad press" are really potentual sleepers. They may have been designed a little "off base"... Often it can be a small fix...

Such as Minelab when they redesigned the 16000 to the 17000

Or with anyone having a Fisher 600 Motherlode... All it needed was an autotune.

Just a modification... simple... Bill Lahr .... AKA Bill Edwards for those of you who subscribed to Treasure Found back a dozen years ago; added an autotune to my 660.

If anyone has a copy of Popular Mining; Issue 77; Dec/Jan 1967. (A field test of the then new Goldmaster 3); it could be worth reading if you have or are considering either the v/sat or the 3.

Simple modifications can sometimes make a mediocre machine into a first-rate.

I believe the Mods to the original 2000 are an example of this.

Also, those who experiment with different settings. Such as some machines that have a non-autotune or slow auto autotune pinpoint mode. Some older VLF-type detectors may work well in trashy areas if the p/p is pushed or locked in. Then move about and listen for a tiny pinpoint whisper in the broader non pinpoint mode. This may work best if a concentric (non-DD) coil is used. The p/p will be a small cone shaped detection "dot." Make sure you pinpoint is like a "laser beam."

You can control this by raising or lowering the search coil.

And yes I know... as an example the Fisher Goldstrike has been getting a black eye. But I also know of one detectorist who used it successfully to find over 4-ounces of placer... in early Spring a couple of years ago. Out in the cold and even snow.

So... bottom line... it is you the "user," and not the machine... Often something like using less sensitivity, or going slower, or using a signal boost will be the trick.

Keep the great posts going... I gotta go... to play with my great-granddaughter, Bella... While I can... she starts pre-school next week... "Gold" comes in many forms... Hurridly.. did not rwrite... some typos

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