Menu
What's new
Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!

Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

New Nugget Detectors (or Lack Thereof)

S

steve herschbach

New member
I find it odd that gold nugget detectors are selling at absurd levels the last few years, yet there seems to be little interest in catering to the gold nugget market specifically on the part of the manufacturers. Most detector manufacturers hedge their bets by producing multipurpose detectors, and the few dedicated units undergo little change if any over time.

Fisher - I have all but given up on there being a Gold Bug 3. The Gold Bug Pro seems to be the designated successor, and no apparent interest on Fishers part on producing a more compact GB3 or better yet a version with selectable frequencies. And as of yet no PI entry at all.

Garrett - The Stinger inexplicably still lives but I do applaud Garrett releasing a capable successor, the AT Gold. Some nice out-of-box thinking on the AT units. The Infinium has always suffered by being a hybrid - be nice to see a dedicated prospecting PI with a better coil selection.

Minelab - I guess I have to forgive Minelab on the PI units as the only competition they have is themselves and they have done a great job taking the PI tech to the max. But the Eureka is overdue for retirement and good as the X-Terra 705 is I think Minelab could do much better with a new dedicated VLF nugget detector if they tried.

Tesoro - How long can they milk the Lobo? Reintroduce the uMax Diablo with iron disc added.

White's - Please put the GMT in a box made for prospecting, not coin detecting. And lose the 1980 coils.

Scorpion Gold Stinger - 1990
Gold Bug 2 - 1995
Lobo ST - 1997
GMT - 2000
Eureka Gold - 2003
 
Appparently, they prefer to ride their inertia rather than exert the effort to break into new ground. If I were a detector maker, I would certainly pay special attention to your opinion. There are not many other people that detect for nuggets as much as you...if there are lots of other they certainly keep in the shadows.
fred
 
The problem is we have to go prospecting so we have to buy something and a sale gets made. The machines sell well, and the bean counters point at that and say the units must be good enough. In the end good enough wins the day.
 
The problem is we have to go prospecting ....spoken like a true believer!!!! or addict....ha, ha...yes, good enough is the best many hope for or want...

fred
 
I reckon its about time Mlab designed a new control box for the Pi's and had the screen for settings on the handgrip so you don't have to turn the thing on its side, hold your head in a special position and squint like a mole to see the damn thing when you change settings when your out in the bush! Considering the price they cost you reckon they would give us a bit better designed machine in that department. Lazy design, great machine though. But with no comp, who cares, there's no drive to change it so they leave it as it is. Definitely not designed by someone who prospects.
Here's hoping the next Pi they bring out has some more thought put into it.
 
fredm said:
Appparently, they prefer to ride their inertia rather than exert the effort to break into new ground. If I were a detector maker, I would certainly pay special attention to your opinion. There are not many other people that detect for nuggets as much as you...if there are lots of other they certainly keep in the shadows.
fred
Click to expand...
I know a lot of prospectors who nugget hunt and find a lot of gold, myself included, most of them spend very little or no time on the computer, some of them don't even own one.
 
You got that right. There are way more serious prospectors than I who know their stuff better than I out there doing their thing.
 
Hobo, my point was that someone such as Steve should be respected as he is a thinking man that puts many days into his detecting and takes the time to maximise their use. I realize there are lots of solid gold finding nugget hunters but if they don't tell the manufacturers what needs to be improved why would the makers change...

I admire those that Do rather than wish...may all your trips be golden
fred
 
steve herschbach said:
You got that right. There are way more serious prospectors than I who know their stuff better than I out there doing their thing.
Click to expand...
Steve; I think you know your "stuff" ' dint mean to insinuate that you didn't.
 
I did not take it personally. I do OK but seriously I agree with you. There are a lot of sharp operators out there and it is a shame we do not hear more from them. But I get it - they are busy prospecting! I will be dropping off the grid myself soon and will be a rare bird on the internet for a couple months.
 
Right you are Steve,
With very little changes the Infinium could have a lighter box (waterproof to only 10 feet), lighter coils and a pushbutton to go to full
discrimination for iron ID. I use mine at the beach mostly but also nugget hunting. It would still be a good beach machine also,
just not a diving detector. If Garrett is listening I DO love my Infinium.
Rich
 
But alas, Garrett came up with the AT Gold. Doesn't seem likely they would do this now, but it would be interesting.
 
I came very close at one point to taking an Infinium apart. I was going to stuff it into a Whites Classic box, that uses the drop in eight cell AA battery pack. Same case the TDI SL now uses. And put the 8" mono on as stock. It would weigh less, cost less, and no real engineering needed, just a new box. The underwater box adds needless expense and weight for the average nugget hunter.
 
I agree wholeheartedly that we need some professional quality vlf gold detectors from the mfgrs, not more all purpose entry level gold detectors or do all detectors which rob peter to pay paul, I would think if it was possible to add a two or three freq switch to a mxt you would have an unbeatable machine it already is for coins and jewelry, or digitize the gb2 and add two to three freqs, keep the iron id switch, or add a screen along the order of a mxt screen with total info including iron id,. Progress is a good thing. In any industry.
 
I'd be an extremely happy camper if Whites would come out with a waterproof version of the GMT or Fisher would do so with the GB2...I don't need 200 ft. capability but a reliable 60 ft. model would work. I'd even be on the AT gold like white on rice if it had more than a ten ft. capability.
 
Hobo lobo said:
Maybe the problem is that the guy who designed most of the vlf gold detectors now works for Fisher
Click to expand...

The GB is Fisher...only it's not waterproof
One thing I REALLY don't understand is why on earth NOBODY has come out with one that is waterproof down to depths that are realistic for a diver.:ranting:
Not every crack in the bedrock holds gold, but when you chip out one that's holding a fair size picker, you can pretty much bet on that same crack holding many more smaller sized pieces & is worth the effort at cracking them open...Hammering,chiseling open every crack in the bedrock is both time consuming & quite often unproductive. On top of that, theres the crevices that may be hidden by a few inches of rock & sand & are easy to overlook. In the past, I've called just about every manufacturer asking if they had plans at building one, but so far nothing...
 
tomtowns said:
Hobo lobo said:
Maybe the problem is that the guy who designed most of the vlf gold detectors now works for Fisher
Click to expand...

The GB is Fisher...only it's not waterproof
One thing I REALLY don't understand is why on earth NOBODY has come out with one that is waterproof down to depths that are realistic for a diver.:ranting:
Not every crack in the bedrock holds gold, but when you chip out one that's holding a fair size picker, you can pretty much bet on that same crack holding many more smaller sized pieces & is worth the effort at cracking them open...Hammering,chiseling open every crack in the bedrock is both time consuming & quite often unproductive. On top of that, theres the crevices that may be hidden by a few inches of rock & sand & are easy to overlook. In the past, I've called just about every manufacturer asking if they had plans at building one, but so far nothing...
Click to expand...

What I meant is the reason there are no new gold detectors is because Dave J. now works for Fisher and since he designed the Tesoro Lobo and the GMT, he can't design one for the competition now. He may be too busy working on other projects to spend time on a gold detector for Fisher. Or maybe he is working on a new super duper GB 3
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top