nuggetfinder

Any reports of the new 17 inch nuggetfinder flatwire??????

Hi Wilddog,
Roy Seery of Meeka has only admiration for this coil. He uses it on a GPX 5000.

Good hunting, Steady Eddie

Thanks, it will be interesting to see once they are around for awhile...,, i suppose theres only so much they can do with a coil.

We know theres still lots of gold down really deep.

You are quite right. However, a slight increase in depth capabilities may just gain you a few extra nuggets over time, but it will not tap into the rich layer of dirt below the first 30 cm (foot) on medium sized gold substantially. I feel a greater improvement can be had by plain technique, tuning and absolute concetration.
  I mean, if a new coil gives you, say, an extra five centimeter depth over coil 'X', then your advantage would be picking up all the bits in that 5 cm layer. As we know gold is very rare indeed; so your chances to increase your yield would be confined to the chances for that VERY RARE nugget to be sitting just in that 5 cm band - everything else being equal.
  As we know, most gold that is still found today is a leftover from the past, and can be picked up virtually by any detector/coil combination. What I am trying to say is: we should not put too much emphasis on slight improvements on hardware, but rather improve on our mindset and technique to hear a signal in the first place.
  Just a thought to get 2016 rolling!

PS: Should the new coils, with the three windings, prove to go beyond the '5 cm' (Elite, Evolution), then the ball game would change of course.

Steady Eddie

You're right Steady Eddie, if the detector you are using is designed to find gold, it will find gold.... it doesn't matter which one, chasing the newest detector is only costing you, and the manufacturers are the ones making the money...

Quick example: I met a prospector in Laverton, not too sure on which detector he uses, be it the SD2100 or the SD2200, but he stands by it, it is his living, only prospecting, and going since 1976.

Now he told me that, he'd come across some guys prospecting, all with the newest detectors, 5000's, 4500's. he heard them remark " there's no gold here". When they left, he went in there and started to find gold with his SD2100, ( I am quite sure that was the one he had) now, to me it is obvious that those guys don't know how to set up their machines, too much of a rush, and being impatient, comes at a cost, losing gold.....

On the same trip, I met up with a couple, joined our camps, and they also met this prospector, when they went back to town for some supplies, they saw him at the caravan park, he told them that he was digging a hole, the top was the width of a bus, he'd been digging for three days, and still hadn't got to the target, so the key is to know your machine well...

In Victoria I was using a M/L 15x12 mono, met a guy, and we did a test on a 1 gram nugget, 5" down a hole and we couldn't hear it, he lent me a N/F 14x7 mono and we could hear it clear as a bell, so coils make a big difference, having the right coil and learning how to set your machine to get the maximum performance is what most of us need to learn...

And, I for one admit, I am still learning....

Goldseeker57

I fully agree. A detector for detcting gold nuggets is very much akin a camera for taking photos. A person who uses an old box camera, but understands the dynamics of taking good piuctures, ie: The angle leading to the foreground; slight blur of a goal keeper to emphasize motion, use of out of focus distance to enhance beauty, etc, is in a better position to take good pictures than a person with an
ultra modern detector, with features that he struggles to come to terms with.
  After all, a detector - or a camera for that matter - is nothing but a tool: an extension to the hand to assist to find treasure, or take professional photos: at least that state should become the goal of the operator. If, for some reason, the operator keeps on changing his handtool every time the manufacturer wants us to line his pockets, then the detectorist never reaches a state of absolute mastery over his detector, which enables him to fully concentrate on his technique.
  Of course there are times when great revolutionary advances are made: take for instace the PI machine over the earlier VLF sine curve models in 1995; it is up to us to recognise such leaps and act accordingly, but if it is simply a slow release of minute improvements, I think we are better off to trust our tools, and just enhance our wits.
Thats what I think anyway. Some forum members, or guests, may not agree.

Steady Eddie

Its always the same thing as soon as something new hits the market, and of course with all the hype that goes with it is of course all designed to make people rush out and buy one, with this hobby they are selling the dream, we all want to be the first to get onto a patch or get the big one that we might have missed on an old patch, and I reckon that's what motivates some of us to buy a new product and then want to be the first to beat everybody else up to the goldfields to try it out.

I have found over the years that its better t sit on the fence and wait until all the hype and bulldust has settled and then when you get sensible feedback and first hand user advice you can then make an informed decision as to whether that particular item will suit you or not, I don't believe that you can ever get unbiased and accurate information from anybody that makes their living selling the things.

As mentioned you would find it more productive to spend more time learning to use what you have, and have a set up that is suited to your needs and style of detecting, its always been my belief that you have to tune yourself into your machine and you have to be comfortable with the set up, like having a comfortable harness and to use coils that are not to heavy for you to swing, if you are uncomfortable or in pain you will not be able to get yourself into the right frame of mind to detect properly and keep up your concentration span, having confidence in your gear is as important as being competent in its use, if you are getting consistent gold with the gear you have and you are confident that if the gold is there you will find it then that's when you will get the gold.

au-fever

Wise words Au-fever.
Steady Eddie

Great thread guys!

Instead of pinning your hopes on the latest and greatest coil or detector or whatever you might find it more productive to better set up your gear, become more familiar with available accessories, and be more pro active in your approach to how you go about your detecting.

Not trying to teach any of you experienced fellas to suck eggs, just thought that some tips for the new operators might be of use seeing we were on the subject.

One thing I quickly learnt during my time in the army was that webbing, clothing,boots, socks, while reasonably comfortable at first could become irritating and painful after some time in use, causing chafing blisters and sore spots, harnesses and such that we use for detecting can also have all these same issues, so having your harness or belt set up or whatever you use adjusted well and better fitting will serve you better, once in use and you start to sweat that's when all the issues will start, other things like your boots and even socks can cause issues if they are in poor condition or badly fitted, good sturdy boots and good quality padded socks are the way to go, wearing runners or thongs is just asking for trouble, and inviting injury that might end your trip earlier than expected, comfortable and loose fitting clothing is also worth considering, because as earlier mentioned if you are too busy messing around pulling at your harness or clothes or you are in pain then your concentration will suffer.

Other things that are worth looking at are accessories such as signal enhancers, external speakers, headphones etc, it took me a while to cotton on to a couple of things that will definitely improve your finds, the first is you need to find out at what level your hearing is at, as we age our hearing changes for the worse, if you want to find out at what level your hearing is you can google "mosquito ringtones" hearing test download and test your hearing, you might be surprised.

In my case my hearing has diminished due to truck driving and working on machinery, so some time back I found that lower tones are much more audible to me, and setting the tone at a lower pitch for the threshold I could better discern target signals from ground noises, higher tones tended to make small changes in the threshold blend in and I would not hear them, combine this with a good signal enhancer, I use the B&Z one, and my finds increased straight away as I was able to hear targets properly again, as your hearing slowly diminishes over time you don't notice the changes at first and its only when you seem to be getting less gold than you used to the realisation will hit you.

Lastly being pro active in your approach to detecting will help increase your finds, apart from research and landing in the right place to find gold you need to be working out what coils are best used in what situation, for instance anybody that has used a large mono coil on a salt lake knows that's a bad idea, it will drive you nuts in no time, if you have to do that and don't have an AI come salt coil then the smaller the coil you use the better it will handle the salt, using coils that suit the ground you are working is the key, if you are trying to use a large coil in broken rubbly ground you will certainly miss small targets, you either go down to a smaller coil or move the rubble to get the big coil closer to the ground, small mono coils are excellent for patch hunting hillsides and rubbly or scrubby ground, and should not be overlooked for this purpose, if you are on the other hand working flats and open area a larger coil with good sensitivity is the way to go, you are looking for indicators that the gold is there, once you nail a target then the idea is to cover the area with various sized coils to get the small pieces and hopefully larger deeper clunkers, what I mean by being proactive is don't become complacent or lazy, change coils as many times as necessary as no one coil is good for all conditions, its too easy to stick with one coil but if you do you will be missing gold.

au-fever

Great post au-fever.Anyone who is new to detecting will pick up on some great tips and head them in the right direction.
Thats where forums are great" knowledge-knowledge-knowledge" from other detectorist`s

Cheers

Phil