Qld Sandy

I'll put my hand up for being a wussy. Seriously though, as I use bigger mono coils and prefer the 20" or 25" to swing, the hipstick is a brilliant bit of gear. I don't even disconnect it if I go to my smallest coil, the 14" x 9" as I have gotten so used to it being there. Cheers.

This is in Oz but check out the link below as it might help you out. Cheers. http://www.minelabmods.com/joomla/index.ph...6&Itemid=34

Dougie, We all know how you and your followers are Minelab bashers. Just for the record I will state that I will use whatever detector gives me the best performance, and to date guess what machine delivers the goods? I believe the answer is the GPX4500, and I personally believe without a shadow of doubt that it is the best offering from them so far, regardless of what you or your cronies think. WHEN the new Minelab issue is released I will consider either trading some gold found for one, or just buying one outright to add to the 4500 and the 3500 I currently have. Sychophantic prompting from the "alternate brigade" won't sway me until there actually is an existing machine that I can physically get my hands on to check out. Sychophantic explanation ALL of your promises and those that hold you dear mean jack to me. You are guilty of promoting the Pulse Devil or Nemesis as a world beater and where is that, or those?? Give me something that I can actually, really, use and if it beats the competition then I will say so without fear or favour. Until your QED is actually in production then I will consider it as pure fantasy, or a "vapour detector". For me, all the hype is just the shallow words of a desperate man, seeking the attention of a world that is so used to seeing unbelievable offerings that don't come to fruition, that they are becoming numb from seeing it all constantly. The time is coming to either "Put up or Shut Up". The choice is yours!! Have a really nice day now.

The patent issue is probably the main one. In my opinion the US patent office has a lot to answer for because some of the ML patent claims and patents themselves should never have been granted as they are prior art. ML has a very aggressive patent policy that is designed not only to protect their existing technology but technology and ideas that yet do not have or yet can't implement! Some of these patents in my opinion are purely to squash competition and if ML was able too they would patent metal detecting and metal detectors! All of this is a major disincentive to others trying to develop a competitive product particularly to small players because you have to spend so much time reviewing ML patents to see if what you are doing could be subject to challenge or continually ask others skilled in the art to give their opinions on a particular ML patent or claims. These opinions often differ because ML patents are often written in a way that is subject to wide interpretation. However there are ways around this,one being open source which is the way we are going to go with our detector if it ever goes commercial. For further details see: Bugwhiskers post:Jul 13 2009, 08:18 PM http://goldprospecting.invisionplus.net/?m...;showtopic=3986 all the best, doug DAMN, That's a lot of detectors, and a bigger sum of money. I suppose it shows just how popular they are. Just imagine if someone had an alternative like a qed.

No worries. Forums are good for finding out things that you may never get to realise without them, and are also good for sharing thoughts and ideas. Forums are bad because there are some that push their agendas relentlessly. I have my parameters set already and I expect so do the majority of forum visitors. If I offend someone with my posts then I unreservedly apologise, but I would hope that I offer some alternative to consider without being totally and cyclopticly (is that a word - it is now) biased. Cheers.

Toadwhisperer, You'll learn something as you sift through whats presented and ultimately make your own mind up. I brought up the scenario that a 4500 has trouble on some ground types as I have experienced it personally, and also found settings to be able to work the ground successfully. That doesn't mean I am a 4500 basher, as I believe it is by far the best offering that Minelab have put out and any future machine will have to be a beauty for me to want to change. Isn't that what it's all about - learning? Cheers. ps circle what??

I know that when I see the areas in the gully where water lies for a period of time, and when it dries the rocks have a slightly white coating, that it is probably reasonable to assume that there just might be a higher than normal salt content in that area. Next time I visit there I'll try "salt mode" and see if the detector behaves itself.

Hmmmm. And here I was thinking it had to do with the salt content in the soil on the lower slopes.

Marshall, Have you ever found any ground that a 4500 moans and groans on in, both enhance and smooth timings, as well as Normal timings in tracking mode with a larger mono coil, but yet is workable in Normal timing using Fixed using the same coil if the operator is prepared to make continual adjustments? Why is it so? Why do later Minelabs have so many options?

TW, You are correct and I did just that back on page 2 of this thread. my post Perhaps Marshall might like to tell us his biggest nugget story and get us back on track again. Cheers.

My biggest nugget was actually a speciman of 1.5 kg (50 ozs) in weight that gave me 1.026 kg (34 ozs) of gold, dug from around 22" deep with a gp3000. The second biggest was with the same machine and was 20 ozs with 14 ozs of gold from a similar depth with the same machine. I had an SD 2000 and found it to be a noisy bloody thing in comparison, and the prime reason I upgraded was because of gold that I left behind on a patch I chained that was found by a GP Extreme just a week later. The most notable find for me was a 41 gram solid dug from a measured 24" with a 4500 and a 20" NF mono using Enhance timings. An 18" NF coil would not signal on it until we dug about 8" of soil off the target. There are those that say it fell out of the side of the hole and wasn't that deep, but I know how to dig a hole and they are merely armchair experts. Cheers.

Marshall, Please watch my lips carefully as I say this. I really don't give a rodent's thingo what you blokes think, or what you think you might have blindly stumbled onto. Remember the "Nemesis" and who's "Nemesis" it actually was. If you think that I might be enticed into buying one, at whatever LOW price that it is believed it can be assembled or sold for then I must say,---- Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. ROTHLMAO. The discussion here was about Minelab's decision to stop servicing older detectors, which I don't personally agree with, but can see where they are coming from. It may be the opening for someone, or several persons that have the ability and the know-how to do the repairs, and even (shudder) mods, to create for themselves a niche. With the excellent service we have these days between countries, I don't see why it should be a problem with repairs being done overseas. I would suggest that people look at Ismael and the link that Inhere put up as a possible source. I don't know the man at all, have never conversed with or met him, but from what I see him write on the forums, I would certainly give him a go if I had an older machine that needed attention, or at the very least contact him and make my own decision. As to the "vapour detector". YAWN. Cheers to all.

That's a fine piece of gold in any language. Well done on the find and congrats. Cheers.

Psst Ron, Don't mention the words QED and vapour detector in the same sentence because he damn well don't like it.