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GB 2 vs Whites GMT
- Thread starter whylee
- Start date
Big Boys Hobbies
Well-known member
I haven't used the GMT but used the MXT, sorta close. The G2/GB Pro is a way quieter and smoother running machine. Does EXTREMELY good in iron and trash. Some of these guys will jump in here soon that will testify. If you have questions feel free to contact me. I will send you a PM. Thanks!
Hi whylee-----Although it's been some time back, my wife & I both owned/used GMT's.---They were good enough gold machines but somehow just didn't "click" with us.----We got Tesoro Lobo ST's and liked them much better.----We now both have G2's and we both LOVE them (for a bunch of reasons).----You are probably aware of this but I'll say it anyway---in addition to excellent performance, these are things I would consider when comparing these two detectors: GMT 3.9 lbs, G2 2.8 lbs.-----GMT 48 khz, G2 19khz-----GMT (eight) AA batteries, G2 (one) 9v-----GMT 2 yr. warranty, G2 5 yr. warranty.-----GMT disc mode (no), G2 disc mode (yes)------Weight is definitely a factor to consider when swinging long hrs. in the gold fields, also, it's nice to have a disc. mode for those times you come on old home sites, etc. out there.------If I were considering a gold machine, it would be the G2, GBSE or the GB II (in that order).-----Truth be known, any of these four mentioned machines would make very good gold detectors. (IMHO)------------Delwhylee said:
I've found the GMT to work well. It is not what I would personally pick as a 'nugget only' detector pick (that being a model w/o discrimination). The Gold Bug, original, and Gold Bug II are two models I also like.whylee said:
Out of the other All Metal ONLY detectors that have been around my personal #1 favorite is a Tesoro Diablo
Gosh whylee... you are sure doing a lot of posting on the various forums: if your wife will go 
-----Think I'll go on "the hunt" for a Diablo!!! JimGilmore
Active member
What males the diablo umax score so high on your list ? I have one and hope to have it tuned up before august..
Some people judge a machine by how many "features" it has. And Marketing dept. loves to advertise features because they look good in print. Features create headaches for engineering dept. because first they have to design them into the product, and from then on out the engineers get dragged into customer service problems relating to the features.
I like stark simplicity. Whatever's essential, do that right. And to heck with the rest. (Of course marketing dept. also plays a role in what gets designed, since they're the ones who have to sell it.) I don't like gadgets. Don't own a television, computer games, phone answering machine, cellphone, iPod, stereo, GPS..... do own a $15 pocket calculator that has hardly changed in 20 years and even a couple of slide rules. And (as you can see) I do use computers as a communications tool.
The Diablo Micromax was designed as a (then) state-of-the-art low end but good-performing gold machine, stripped down to bare essentials. Its only "feature" was switchable ground balance settings for checking hot rocks or following streaks of magnetite by ear-- a very useful feature if you learn how to use it, and not available on any other machine even today.
Simple, very light weight, easy to use, relatively free of rude surprises and bad habits, not the hottest machine at the time but close to it. There was nothing there to get marketing dept. pumped up, just a basic tool done extraordinarily right, there wasn't really any way of explaining that in ad copy (and the ad itself was so badly written I cringed to read it). They only way to discover the character of the thing was to get curious and buy it despite the lousy advertising (or because of word-of-mouth recommendation), and then go use it for gold prospecting. ........That's why it didn't sell back when Jack was manufacturing it, and it's also why people who got their hands on one anyhow won't let go of 'em.
--Dave J.
I like stark simplicity. Whatever's essential, do that right. And to heck with the rest. (Of course marketing dept. also plays a role in what gets designed, since they're the ones who have to sell it.) I don't like gadgets. Don't own a television, computer games, phone answering machine, cellphone, iPod, stereo, GPS..... do own a $15 pocket calculator that has hardly changed in 20 years and even a couple of slide rules. And (as you can see) I do use computers as a communications tool.
The Diablo Micromax was designed as a (then) state-of-the-art low end but good-performing gold machine, stripped down to bare essentials. Its only "feature" was switchable ground balance settings for checking hot rocks or following streaks of magnetite by ear-- a very useful feature if you learn how to use it, and not available on any other machine even today.
Simple, very light weight, easy to use, relatively free of rude surprises and bad habits, not the hottest machine at the time but close to it. There was nothing there to get marketing dept. pumped up, just a basic tool done extraordinarily right, there wasn't really any way of explaining that in ad copy (and the ad itself was so badly written I cringed to read it). They only way to discover the character of the thing was to get curious and buy it despite the lousy advertising (or because of word-of-mouth recommendation), and then go use it for gold prospecting. ........That's why it didn't sell back when Jack was manufacturing it, and it's also why people who got their hands on one anyhow won't let go of 'em.
--Dave J.
Mr. Monte and Mr. David J. Read this and 
I got a Diablo MicroMax...
Bought it through Hal T. when they first came out.... I love it. I keep it safe. I
carefully used it with the accessory 5-inch circular concentric and/or the 3x7-inch
DD. When I was younger and able
I took it on several overnight hikes in the
Eugene range near Winnemucca. Whomever designed it did a great Job js
I got a Diablo MicroMax... Bought it through Hal T. when they first came out.... I love it. I keep it safe. I
carefully used it with the accessory 5-inch circular concentric and/or the 3x7-inch
DD. When I was younger and able
I took it on several overnight hikes in the Eugene range near Winnemucca. Whomever designed it did a great Job js
JimGilmore
Active member
Care to try and explaine the follow the streak part a little.... Only nuggets I found were with my gmt but I have diablo also.....
Biggest problem is getting comfortable with a detector to use it enough to find gold...and finding gold can take a long time for that first nugget...
Biggest problem is getting comfortable with a detector to use it enough to find gold...and finding gold can take a long time for that first nugget...
If you have visual readout of ground iron oxide content you can "follow the streak" by paying attention to the visual display. Most of my newer FTP-Fisher designs that have an all metals autotune mode incorporate that feature.
On machines that have manual ground balance, you can intentionally throw the ground balance off and listen to the ground noise: however, by listening to the ground, you're not finding much gold.
With the Diablo uMax there are two ground balance settings, one of which you deliberately offset either to cancel hot rocks or to make black sand sound off (which is often the same thing). You can search with your main setting and periodically switch momentarily to the offset GB setting to listen to the ground noise, which will be louder in the black sand streaks. It's a feature that takes some skill to use effectively: most customers probably ignored it.
Another feature which to my knowledge was unique to the Diablo uMax was the way the sensitivity control operated. It's a gain control which is also a speed control-- gain inversely proportional to speed. So in the mild ground you could both crank the gain up, and slow the response down for even more sensitivity, all with a single knob. In the bad dirt you need both faster response and lower gain to cut through the ground noise-- again, on the same knob with the Diablo uMax.
The Diablo uMax is not the hottest VLF gold machine out there, but it's competitive. Extreme hots isn't always usable and in the hands of an inexperienced customer is often a disadvantage. The Diablo uMax is an easy machine to learn and master, and in the hands of many customers that's gonna count for more than sheer blazing hots. A diehard serious prospector is probably gonna own something or somethings fancier and more expensive than the Diablo uMax, but even for that sort of person the Diablo uMax is a great backup machine because if you've ever been familiar with it, and haven't swung it in 5 years, the thing is so instinctive that in 3 minutes you can pick it up and be right back in the groove. And it's a great machine to loan to a newbie beeping companion, once they get the hang of ground balancing.
Responding to Parrot (who may have been setting me up?), the guy who designed it was Dave J., which is why it incorporates so much of my design philosophy, and just might have something to do with why I like it so much. Jack gave me a pretty free hand on it. The Lobo ST (a major revision of the Diablo uMax platform) was a good machine, too, but it never clicked with me the way the Diablo uMax did.
BTW, the trick of offsetting ground balance to check hot rocks was taught me by Ed Coogan, who at last report is still beeping the Central California Mother Lode.
* * * * * * *
Funny, this is an Teknetics-Fisher forum and here I am praising a Tesoro unit from 15 years ago. I get away with it because you can't buy one, probably not even on Ebay. If you want the latest gold machine from the same engineer incorporating quite a bit of the same overall design philosophy, something you can actually buy, and it's 21st century up-to-date ....... well, that would be the GB/G2 machines, and this is the forum.
--Dave J.
On machines that have manual ground balance, you can intentionally throw the ground balance off and listen to the ground noise: however, by listening to the ground, you're not finding much gold.
With the Diablo uMax there are two ground balance settings, one of which you deliberately offset either to cancel hot rocks or to make black sand sound off (which is often the same thing). You can search with your main setting and periodically switch momentarily to the offset GB setting to listen to the ground noise, which will be louder in the black sand streaks. It's a feature that takes some skill to use effectively: most customers probably ignored it.
Another feature which to my knowledge was unique to the Diablo uMax was the way the sensitivity control operated. It's a gain control which is also a speed control-- gain inversely proportional to speed. So in the mild ground you could both crank the gain up, and slow the response down for even more sensitivity, all with a single knob. In the bad dirt you need both faster response and lower gain to cut through the ground noise-- again, on the same knob with the Diablo uMax.
The Diablo uMax is not the hottest VLF gold machine out there, but it's competitive. Extreme hots isn't always usable and in the hands of an inexperienced customer is often a disadvantage. The Diablo uMax is an easy machine to learn and master, and in the hands of many customers that's gonna count for more than sheer blazing hots. A diehard serious prospector is probably gonna own something or somethings fancier and more expensive than the Diablo uMax, but even for that sort of person the Diablo uMax is a great backup machine because if you've ever been familiar with it, and haven't swung it in 5 years, the thing is so instinctive that in 3 minutes you can pick it up and be right back in the groove. And it's a great machine to loan to a newbie beeping companion, once they get the hang of ground balancing.
Responding to Parrot (who may have been setting me up?), the guy who designed it was Dave J., which is why it incorporates so much of my design philosophy, and just might have something to do with why I like it so much. Jack gave me a pretty free hand on it. The Lobo ST (a major revision of the Diablo uMax platform) was a good machine, too, but it never clicked with me the way the Diablo uMax did.
BTW, the trick of offsetting ground balance to check hot rocks was taught me by Ed Coogan, who at last report is still beeping the Central California Mother Lode.
* * * * * * *
Funny, this is an Teknetics-Fisher forum and here I am praising a Tesoro unit from 15 years ago. I get away with it because you can't buy one, probably not even on Ebay. If you want the latest gold machine from the same engineer incorporating quite a bit of the same overall design philosophy, something you can actually buy, and it's 21st century up-to-date ....... well, that would be the GB/G2 machines, and this is the forum.
--Dave J.
JimGilmore
Active member
As I said in my other post.. I want to know what makes machines unique..and why one might pick one over the other... No neccessarily what makes them best...I knew there was something that made the diablo different and even though I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed at times....(I sold off my original diablo 6 months after I bought it and had to buy another one later on..)
And while I prefer to drywash I need to try and figure out ow to follow the black sand a little more to see if it helps some....I know a spot where I get 1-2 grains of gold every day. Now I'm not the most active drywasher user... But thats still better than the 1-2 hundred coins a day I average doing bus stops.
1-2 hundred coins usally average about 2-3 dollars.
And while I prefer to drywash I need to try and figure out ow to follow the black sand a little more to see if it helps some....I know a spot where I get 1-2 grains of gold every day. Now I'm not the most active drywasher user... But thats still better than the 1-2 hundred coins a day I average doing bus stops.
1-2 hundred coins usally average about 2-3 dollars.
JimGilmore
Active member
I think that goes triple for me...
Dave J. We all are over joyed to hear from the guy that made the toys we like. And is most willing to explain the things about them that let us use them to their fullest.
Dave J. We all are over joyed to hear from the guy that made the toys we like. And is most willing to explain the things about them that let us use them to their fullest.
Hey Mr. David Johnson Sir: The Tesoro unit from 15 years ago (seems like yesterday)
is not a Tesoro... it is a "David Johnson." And the best thing that ever happened to
those that chase after the "yellow stuff" was back when Mr. Lewellen put Mr. Dave on
Fisher (Los Banos) payroll. And about the LST... it works pretty good in the alkali mode
and can be switched back and forth from Alkali to Normal as needed...
Also... You mention Mr. Ed Coogan... 10% in 100 find most of the gold; then there is
a higher group. It is a super group where 10% in the second cut find 90% of the top
10%... This super group is limited to just a handful. I believe Mr. Coogan is in this top
super group.... Parrott
is not a Tesoro... it is a "David Johnson." And the best thing that ever happened to
those that chase after the "yellow stuff" was back when Mr. Lewellen put Mr. Dave on
Fisher (Los Banos) payroll. And about the LST... it works pretty good in the alkali mode
and can be switched back and forth from Alkali to Normal as needed...
Also... You mention Mr. Ed Coogan... 10% in 100 find most of the gold; then there is
a higher group. It is a super group where 10% in the second cut find 90% of the top
10%... This super group is limited to just a handful. I believe Mr. Coogan is in this top
super group.... Parrott
Blank Planet
New member
well this has been the most interesting thread i have read in awhile thank you Dave and the rest of you guys for sharing very kool and i want MORE please 
BP
BP
Howdy Dave... this is an old thread that has been reactiivated... I'm not pulling your chain.I have been usingmy T2 since about 2006 to follow the black sand and it does work if you are in a metallogenetic area..
It is also true that that you can offset the ground balance of a manual gb Vlf which can indirectly lead to
placer, again in a metallogenetic area. I now have the GB-PRO/five- inch sniper coin, and have used the
bargraph readings to find shallow eolian-typeplacer areas where strong winds have blown away the fines leaving a
concentration of "desert pavement" heavier minerals that may have associated placer gold. With my GB-PRO
any area with two or more bars and a phase of around 75 is worth checking carefully. As I write this I have
osteoarthritis bad im my right hip and knee which is keeping me from detecting. But I'm on the list for a hip
replacement