Alchemist

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  1. Congratulations Gents, that's one hell of a way to kick off 2018. I've noticed one of the strengths of ZVT is its canny ability to see gold sitting on edge in deep basement cracks that other machines and coils completely pass over. I don't know if it's the coil geometry, the DOD arrangement, where the juxtaposition of the two RX coils intercept more target response, or just the fact that ZVT is more akin to CW tech such as VLF, but with much more grunt. If anyone can join the 2lb club it'll be you Rob with your keen hearing, well done. Cheers & beers to you both. Kev.
  2. Thanks Rob for the positive news. There are a few good reports slowly begining to appear and it seems to be as you say, folks just needing to find its strengths and weaknesses and maintain confidence while they do. Much of the discontent appears to originate from professionals, so it's understandable when it's their means of earning a living. The long wait and optimistic marketing by Minelab has I think caused some to have unrealistic expectations. My coil is still in transit so I'm yet to give it a run. I'm itching to get out and see what I can find with it. Maybe Doc should look at producing a secondary skid plate for the coil base, as a lot of people are peaved by debris and stuble getting caught in the spokes and causing hangups and ultimately shoulder grief. Nice going on the gold by the way especially since you didn't get out much. Hopefully you will be able to round up their relatives with the 19" Cheers Kev.
  3. I am very sorry, but there appears to be some teething issues with this coil, hopefully there will be a simple solution as to why a number of people are seeing reduced ground noise, greater coverage and stability but little significant depth improvement. http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t24407-gpz-19-inch-depth-increase-i-don-t-think-so http://golddetecting.4umer.net/t24391-gpz-7000-19-coil-test-sites
  4. Tortuga there has been ziltch mention of Extra from Minelab or the testers, so it's anyones guess. I've found some very deep chunky gold with Extra, in hot ground that moaned and groaned in HY and G, and Difficult couldn't hear them. Seems Extra cut out the groaning so I could just hear the very quiet signals. This was while cleaning up some old patches, I was keeping it real slow and precise. Keep an eye on JPs feed he's providing a little info. Looks like you need to have a training session with him to learn his thoughts on this " learned approach" I think we will need to bury some deep targets and practice. Cheers Kev. https://m.facebook.com/JonathanPorter.TheOutbackProspector/?ref=hl
  5. Benefits of being a Minelab dealer eh Ray, first in to get to play with new toys. Looking forward to hearing how she goes, especially with Extra deep. Cheers
  6. Yeah I thought I was being realistic based upon some of our tougher ground in decomposed metamorphic ultra-basics, but Minelab have really pushed it to the limits with the latest chart, if it's just half as good as they suggest, it should well and truly step above the GPX as far as hitting all types of gold the deepest. No sunken chests on all the old farts swinging this baby!
  7. Good to see you posting again Doc, was a little concerned what had happened, now we see you've truly been extra busy. Here's to a good long detecting holiday in your fabulous new trailer. I'm hoping to build a popup one on the back of a 4x4 truck for my retirement in a few years time. Cheers Kev.
  8. Rob you might want to pick up your 7000 again, this new coil could be a totally new game. The results appear to be the best case, whereas the lines I put on the one above were for medium warm ground. Just under 2 weeks to go for Aussie then we'll know for sure. Cheers Kev.
  9. I definitely think the Z is more sensitive and runs smoother with the update. It's not just for Aussie ground. It changes a fundamental way the ground balance updates over time. The way the original software operates can cause a drifting of the ground balance point, and this has been linked to instability in difficult ground and a loss of gold in both difficult and quieter ground. I'd give it a go Whitebutler, both versions of code are available for download so you can always drop back to the release revision if you think it works better in your situation. Phil Beck a Senior Engineer at Minelab explains it in depth on a Treasure Talk page. https://www.minelab.com/anz/go-minelabbing/treasure-talk/gpz-7000-ground-tracking-software-update Cheers Friends
  10. Wow......I could retire on that......I wonder if it was with the new coil? Thanks for posting that Rob
  11. A sharp eyed Auszie prospector spotted a depth chart in Minelabs' test bed video. I took the liberty of adding an approximate depth grid to get a better idea of performance in moderate ground. (I've dug a number of pieces in the 1 to 2 gram range around the foot mark, but that was in mild ground. Extrapolating the possible advantage in mild ground is feverish :-) The new coil will definitely extend the Zeds incredible sensitivity to the next level down! Can't wait to get my hands on one.
  12. Sadly JP has suffered too much loss from pirates.......typical..... all it takes is one rotten egg to stink out the kitchen for everyone else. I'm grateful for all the work Jonathan did making vids post Z release which helped immensely, and hope Minelab rewarded him accordingly.
  13. We sure do leave gold behind using Difficult, no doubt about it. If I start getting the "he haws" from the ground I will always go into Extra Deep while remaing in Normal before ever considering using Difficult. Most of the gold pictured below was taken off a small pounded area one weekend using Extra Deep / Normal. The GPX moaned and groaned on this ground too, and I believe that's why so much gold was still there, previous people had gone into Enhance, Smooth, or Salt to tame it giving similar results to the Z in Difficult. What is more, all those pesky little bird shot don't register (except iron ones) on Extra, and it makes an excellent patch hunting timing as you don't need to be so particular with coil swing speed and attitude. I think many are scared to use this timing thinking you will loose gold, well I reckon you'll lose a lot more in Difficult. Extra can turn annoying noisy ground into a pleasure to hunt. I seek out this ground now since a lot of nice gold still remains in it.
  14. "Out of many, one" I was going through some of my Zed finds recently, and being a total gold enthusiast, I was inspecting a few interesting looking ones through a loupe when I spied one that was quite unique. It weighs but a puff, being a very thin flake, but has what I believe is secondary precipitative crystallization. I see a scene with mountains in the background and rocks in the foreground, and maybe a lake, or it could be terraces and a trail leading you within. Yahu has hidden gems everywhere for those who open their eyes and really look. My favorite field of wonder is Biomimetics. Anyway here's the scene....with a bit of imagination.....
  15. Hi Rob, I mentioned the SDC in relation to the patent i.e. Minelabs use of the ferrite beads in the coil to stop eddy currents being generated by highly magnetic ground as the coil is being swept across it, in addition to the slow interfering decay of two slugs of solder very close to the coil windings. I posted some more info here which I'll reproduce below for more clarity. I don't pretend to be an expert, and I could be wrong in my assumptions about the ferrite, but I have seen the benefits of using it on benign sedimentary soild. Cheers I'm building a coil and had the 4500 handy and so used that. I doubt earlier machines will benefit from using the ferrite. The main reason for the vid as Robby pointed out was to show the essence of the patent, which was concerned more with currents generated in metal parts of the coil by the magnetic field emanating from the ground and not so much the detector. Two slugs of solder sitting close to the edge of the coil will generate target like eddy currents as the coil is moved across highly magnetic ground, (especially bad with this type of coil) What you say is true Kon, we were finding gold before the ring came along, and as far as I can understand it does only provide a calibration point, and as you point out Jasong using the ring to balance the 7k will not allow nuggets surrounded by ferrite concretions to suddenly be unmasked. The reason why I tied the 7k to this was due to a test I did before the firmware update. I had been detecting for an hour or so not finding much when I located a few nuggets at the base of a gutter. I gridded that 4 square meter area from all directions passing the coil ever so slowly, and believed I had cleaned it up. I wandered on up hill a bit and then had an idea, try ground balancing at the spot and check again. So I placed the ring on the ground near the patch and passed the coil over the ring and it didn't make much response to it at all, but going over the patch again produced a few more very deep nuggets. I believe using the ring on the 7k will allow better target differentiation in ground having a minor masking effect. The fact that all the nuggets found after using ferrite in the example above were among the deepest found may be evidence of this special property ferrite has to mess with magnetic fields being lessened by the use of tge ring. The magnetic material composition of the ferrite ring, and the balun used in the video will be slightly different. I guess the point is, I have seen first hand how the use of the ring has provided more gold, and the new firmware extends this effect, even though at first it didn't appear to make much difference. To fully unmask some gold will take new tech, and the 7000 is another step in that direction, but fortunately not all the gold is hiding in tin boxes. Perhaps Jasong your "hotpots" are rising pipes of iron rich minerals focusing the earths' magnetic field into a tight area. When I get out of town again I'll have a play with some ferrites and see if the 7 is better at differentiating the gold from the iron dust.