Tests

Very true words! I do get overly engrossed at times due to several variables running thru me head, and can only multitask to a certain extent. Breaks are most necessary in order to refocus, and sometimes, the devil's in the details which are momentarily forgotten!

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22583.msg167192.html#msg167192

Au, I've been using the machine just about every day (including today) ever since I got it. Sometimes I even nip out during lunch hour for a few quick swings! Been getting very familiar with its various nuisances. Love the hi-low in discrim mode, am on 2nd battery now. I think I've learned enough to be reasonably competent in its usage.
 
Next month, weather permitting, will be a flurry of detection. I have 3 sea-based volcano sites (I posted some photos of 1 of those sites @

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), 2 inland volcanoes, and many freshwater streams/riverine areas which I scouted out during the rainy season. I'm gonna need more sunblock soon!

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Yes areas like that are very hard to get ground balanced on. And I will post photos for your viewing pleasure  Getting the Nokta to stabilize on that rock was a pain, and knowing how crucial it is to be perfectly gb'd for the algorithms to produce realistic results, I could not totally trust the readings there. Under more "normal" conditions, eg inland soils, I trust the Nokta totally at 80% sens.

I have had a few dry runs on nearby almost-similar rock with the Gold Bug Pro and it balances fine. In some places, even with gain turned up to near the 4 o'clock position, it's largely stable with the rare bit of brief, tolerable chatter. The boffins at Fisher really did their work excellently, and sometimes I can't help but wonder what genius algorithms they brewed up to be calculated on those dual 5 MIPS processors. At the risk of waxing lyrical I must say that every avid detectorist will "bond" with at least one machine, knowing how to get the best performance from it and forgiving its shortcomings, for every machine has it's limits. I count myself fortunate to have bonded with 2!

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So far the Goldbug Pro's been a stellar performer in saltwater and sea-volcanic rock. She's stable and balances easily.
But today on the slope of an inland mountain I hit the limits of it's capabilities. Encountered the faintest of all signals; the coil was scraping the rock. Would not have heard it if my headphones weren't on or if the target was slightly deeper. Tiny particles of color in the rock...so small I put red circles around them in the photo. Haven't found any pickers yet in that area, but will continue exploring it.

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http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,22583.msg186135.html#msg186135

You got good eyes, Au. Yes there are specks of colour which I didn't mark. I only circled those specks which I had scraped out (after snapping the photo) and they passed a malleability test along with not being affected by muriatic acid. Was controlling my excitement and chanting to meself: it could be pyrite, could it be pyrite, don't let it be pyrite. And it turned out that they aren't pyrite. PHEW!

Individual tiny flecks of that size cannot be picked up by the machine (did an air test with the stuff I gouged out from the rocks), so I figure that it must have been a grouping of a few bits here and there that set off the machine. Generally speaking, PI machines are less sensitive to small gold than VLF ones, but I believe your suggestion has much merit; a good PI can give me a decent shot at finding deeper and larger pieces in this area. Heck, since there's so many small bits around, there may well be a larger piece here and there too!

Been trying most of this Monday morning to rent a gas-powered water cooled core borer...am unsuccessful so far. I wanna see how far those flecks extend into the rock. I may have to buy one    and poof goes the funds I was gathering for another detector.

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