HammaH
Peter
Thanks nugget great info and advice :Y:
Minelab Gold Monster 1000 tips and questions
- Thread starter Heatho
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Well another day with the GM1000
My brother came over this afternoon and asked if he could have another go with the GM
Sensitivity set at 6 ... all metal mode... 10x6 coil
Working in the trashy area near camp
He found his first bit of gold near our van
Near this 40 foot hole
We then left him to his detecting, and went back to a patch we are working.
we thought it's time to get back to camp, as we saw the sunset.. looks like another great day for tomorrow
Once back at camp Tony showed us how he went with the GM
He said he was having a ball going through the trash.. oh my you need patience for that here.. lol
The gold is on part of an old pocket knife.. 0.53 grams
My brother came over this afternoon and asked if he could have another go with the GM
Sensitivity set at 6 ... all metal mode... 10x6 coil
Working in the trashy area near camp
He found his first bit of gold near our van
Near this 40 foot hole
We then left him to his detecting, and went back to a patch we are working.
we thought it's time to get back to camp, as we saw the sunset.. looks like another great day for tomorrow
Once back at camp Tony showed us how he went with the GM
He said he was having a ball going through the trash.. oh my you need patience for that here.. lol
The gold is on part of an old pocket knife.. 0.53 grams
Hey Jen, that's great, the GM is sure easy to use and is proving itself to be a very capable little detector. Minelab have nailed it again. :Y: 
Yes a lack of adjustable discrimination would limit the GM in a coin hunting scenario. You'll have to dig everything non-ferrous, with no ability to cherry pick.
I think the Nokta Impact would be a good choice for you if you want to look for coins and relics as well. You have the choice of two threshold based all-metal modes, with iSat as found on the gold racer for a very stable threshold. 20 kHz will handle more mineralised soils well, and you have a range of disc modes to choose from as well as 14kHz and 5kHz frequencies.
I think the Nokta Impact would be a good choice for you if you want to look for coins and relics as well. You have the choice of two threshold based all-metal modes, with iSat as found on the gold racer for a very stable threshold. 20 kHz will handle more mineralised soils well, and you have a range of disc modes to choose from as well as 14kHz and 5kHz frequencies.
Goldflower
Craig
Great write up Jen :Y: Thanks, I haven't given my GM much love but reviews like this will encourage me to spend some time getting to know it.
Like you I find it hard to put down the 45 or SDC
Like you I find it hard to put down the 45 or SDC
Thanks Jen, great write up and pics!
Nice Jen. Better luck than me. I said I would give a report on the GM and have been out in the field 3 times.
A bit of background: have owned the following in my time TDI Pro, GMT, SD2000, GPX 4500.
Detecting only now and then, on and off for 5 years or so.
So ok first trip was to Creswick, a horrendous trip, arrived late and just as the storm clouds closed in. Only spent an hour but wasn't impressed very noisy.
Second trip was to Maldon, spent half a day or so here, detector performed better but the ground wasn't ideal, could not find a shallow gully for the life of me.
Third trip today, went to Taradale first but plans changed as way too much water (see pics of coliban). Decided to detour up to Graytown way. Detector formed much better here but I think it's just me getting the hang of it more. No gold and left the area as couldn't find a nice shallow gully-compton creek was very high.
So I drove on down to a favourite panning spot in the heathcote area. Again, no gold sorry but I am confident if I walked over a bit, The detector would of picked it up. A few pics of the creek I was at-it was high too so bit of bugger of a trip. I only used the small round coil.
But anyway here's the pros and cons i found:
Pro's:
-excellent sensitivity in mild to hot ground on tiny targets, extremely light could swing it all day.
-Value for money
-It is much better then both the goldbug 2 and GMT-I find it by a long way, I was able to detect with much more ease in hot areas compared to the GMT I had.
Cons:
-Depth is a bit disappointing-but that may just because I didn't walk over a deep target.
-You will have to put it on shallow discrim mode if a lot of hot rocks around.
My favourite settings: Deep all metal+auto sens plus. However in saying that-it did sound off a few times when hot rocks and shale was around, also doesn't like basalt.
Discrimination was fairly good although it calls lead a gold target as well as aluminium, but not iron.
Auto Ground balance was quick and easy.
Note the tiny lead shot only 2mm in size. I was never finding targets that small with any other detector ive owned, even with the small nugget finder on. This gives me confidence to return to a suited area. Will be killer on creek sniping just need to find the right creek! Oh and finding the nice smokey crystal clear rock made my day so Im happy.
Here's a few pics from today, cheers
A bit of background: have owned the following in my time TDI Pro, GMT, SD2000, GPX 4500.
Detecting only now and then, on and off for 5 years or so.
So ok first trip was to Creswick, a horrendous trip, arrived late and just as the storm clouds closed in. Only spent an hour but wasn't impressed very noisy.
Second trip was to Maldon, spent half a day or so here, detector performed better but the ground wasn't ideal, could not find a shallow gully for the life of me.
Third trip today, went to Taradale first but plans changed as way too much water (see pics of coliban). Decided to detour up to Graytown way. Detector formed much better here but I think it's just me getting the hang of it more. No gold and left the area as couldn't find a nice shallow gully-compton creek was very high.
So I drove on down to a favourite panning spot in the heathcote area. Again, no gold sorry but I am confident if I walked over a bit, The detector would of picked it up. A few pics of the creek I was at-it was high too so bit of bugger of a trip. I only used the small round coil.
But anyway here's the pros and cons i found:
Pro's:
-excellent sensitivity in mild to hot ground on tiny targets, extremely light could swing it all day.
-Value for money
-It is much better then both the goldbug 2 and GMT-I find it by a long way, I was able to detect with much more ease in hot areas compared to the GMT I had.
Cons:
-Depth is a bit disappointing-but that may just because I didn't walk over a deep target.
-You will have to put it on shallow discrim mode if a lot of hot rocks around.
My favourite settings: Deep all metal+auto sens plus. However in saying that-it did sound off a few times when hot rocks and shale was around, also doesn't like basalt.
Discrimination was fairly good although it calls lead a gold target as well as aluminium, but not iron.
Auto Ground balance was quick and easy.
Note the tiny lead shot only 2mm in size. I was never finding targets that small with any other detector ive owned, even with the small nugget finder on. This gives me confidence to return to a suited area. Will be killer on creek sniping just need to find the right creek! Oh and finding the nice smokey crystal clear rock made my day so Im happy.
Here's a few pics from today, cheers
Picker wrote: "Discrimination was fairly good although it calls lead a gold target as well as aluminium, but not iron".
It's only natural that it would call lead and aluminium (also tin, copper, brass etc) on the gold side, as they are both conductive like iron, but unlike iron they are non-ferromagnetic.
It's largely the degree of ferromagnetism which is used to indicate/discriminate.
Not having owned one, but IMHO, it is likely that it would also discriminate out many hot rocks due to their iron content.
Beaut pics BTW :Y:
It's only natural that it would call lead and aluminium (also tin, copper, brass etc) on the gold side, as they are both conductive like iron, but unlike iron they are non-ferromagnetic.
It's largely the degree of ferromagnetism which is used to indicate/discriminate.
Not having owned one, but IMHO, it is likely that it would also discriminate out many hot rocks due to their iron content.
Beaut pics BTW :Y:
You are right on the ferrous/non ferrous bit BW.
And you are also right about the hot rocks. I'm keen to try mine in the GT as over in the places I frequent I try to use it in all-metal but it does ping a lot of hot rocks. When in auto I only use the first setting as auto plus makes it 10-fold worse.
Many of the hot rocks show left/right (ferrous/non ferrous) when swinging one way or the other. I simply ignore them now if they are going in both directions as I've tested quite a few on the Z in Normal and Difficult and they sound off in Normal and then nothing in Difficult.
I have had a few funny readings where something has shown non-ferrous but as it is dug and the coil gets closer it gets a better reading and shows it as ferrous. It's frustrating but at least it is not the other way around.
I do know that all the gold, lead shot, 22 bullets, a big something-calibre projectile I got the other day, foil, tin, etc, etc have all come back as only non-ferrous and have not been equivocal in their reading. I'm reasonably confident with it although I am also not expecting CTX 3030 levels of discrimination in an entry level unit
And you are also right about the hot rocks. I'm keen to try mine in the GT as over in the places I frequent I try to use it in all-metal but it does ping a lot of hot rocks. When in auto I only use the first setting as auto plus makes it 10-fold worse.
Many of the hot rocks show left/right (ferrous/non ferrous) when swinging one way or the other. I simply ignore them now if they are going in both directions as I've tested quite a few on the Z in Normal and Difficult and they sound off in Normal and then nothing in Difficult.
I have had a few funny readings where something has shown non-ferrous but as it is dug and the coil gets closer it gets a better reading and shows it as ferrous. It's frustrating but at least it is not the other way around.
I do know that all the gold, lead shot, 22 bullets, a big something-calibre projectile I got the other day, foil, tin, etc, etc have all come back as only non-ferrous and have not been equivocal in their reading. I'm reasonably confident with it although I am also not expecting CTX 3030 levels of discrimination in an entry level unit
I haven't posted on the forum for a while, but i felt that people thinking of buying a Monster may find this helpful.
I picked up my monster and ran it on the beach as well as in the goldfield creeks here in NQ. The monster doesn't like wet salt sand, but runs very well in the dry sand picking up coins and small pieces of foil. The beaches around cairns seem to be well hit, but i managed to get a few coins, a twenty cent piece was hit hard with the monster and 10 x 6 coil at eight inches or so in the dry sand. The processor speed on this machine is very fast and can sieve through junk well, the iron disc works well, but i mainly used all metal and listen to sounds of targets, which the monster does well at. I am confident that it will make an excellent dry sand small jewellery detector.
In the goldfields i picked a spot that i know is very mineralised and full of hot rocks, i wanted to test this machine out and see what its made of. It took me half hour or so to get the feel of the machine. First thing is the speed of this machines processor, it can sieve through some nasty hot rock invested areas and the thing a like the most is the machine gives you good feed back on positive and negative hot rocks and real targets. I picked up many small bird shot and small rusty iron. In this sort of environment i am not worried about if its ferrous or non-ferrous, but more so is it metal or hot rock. I then took it to the creek to some more tamer ground over bedrock and i could run with the 5" coil a good high level of gain and it hits hard on small targets in this area. I wanted to continue, but i was only passing through to get back home and was scraping out crevices with a stick and sharp rocks as i wasn't planning on buying a new detector, but there was one left in stock and i couldn't help myself . No gold this time, but, i shall return with Monster in hand.
The Monster has a very fast processor ( have i said this before) and you have to take advantage of this by slowing down and let the machine sieve through the junk and hot rocks. Its more like a coin machine on steroids and if you think like that you will get the best from it. People who are used to finding coins and relics amongst junk with there current machines will find this machine easy to operate, but think more coin machine then threshold machine and you can't go wrong.
I picked up my monster and ran it on the beach as well as in the goldfield creeks here in NQ. The monster doesn't like wet salt sand, but runs very well in the dry sand picking up coins and small pieces of foil. The beaches around cairns seem to be well hit, but i managed to get a few coins, a twenty cent piece was hit hard with the monster and 10 x 6 coil at eight inches or so in the dry sand. The processor speed on this machine is very fast and can sieve through junk well, the iron disc works well, but i mainly used all metal and listen to sounds of targets, which the monster does well at. I am confident that it will make an excellent dry sand small jewellery detector.
In the goldfields i picked a spot that i know is very mineralised and full of hot rocks, i wanted to test this machine out and see what its made of. It took me half hour or so to get the feel of the machine. First thing is the speed of this machines processor, it can sieve through some nasty hot rock invested areas and the thing a like the most is the machine gives you good feed back on positive and negative hot rocks and real targets. I picked up many small bird shot and small rusty iron. In this sort of environment i am not worried about if its ferrous or non-ferrous, but more so is it metal or hot rock. I then took it to the creek to some more tamer ground over bedrock and i could run with the 5" coil a good high level of gain and it hits hard on small targets in this area. I wanted to continue, but i was only passing through to get back home and was scraping out crevices with a stick and sharp rocks as i wasn't planning on buying a new detector, but there was one left in stock and i couldn't help myself . No gold this time, but, i shall return with Monster in hand.
The Monster has a very fast processor ( have i said this before) and you have to take advantage of this by slowing down and let the machine sieve through the junk and hot rocks. Its more like a coin machine on steroids and if you think like that you will get the best from it. People who are used to finding coins and relics amongst junk with there current machines will find this machine easy to operate, but think more coin machine then threshold machine and you can't go wrong.
I have read this thread with interest knowing that I'm going to be choosing my next detector soon.The GM looks the goods with its auto gb,easy setup ect.
I think it might excel in a couple of spots I have in mind which will see it used to its strengths...That's the key for me.
Still undecided,just.
I think it might excel in a couple of spots I have in mind which will see it used to its strengths...That's the key for me.
Still undecided,just.
Hey all just bought myself a monster from anaconda as they now stock them thort some would like to know they price match and beat it by 10% there retail is $1199 but got mine for $989.10 absolute bargin will post more in finds if I Find anything
GOFIND60 said:
Fixed that for you!
Best of luck with it, mate. :Y:
Haha cheers mate
Have a quick look at this
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20924&p=10
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=20924&p=10
Cando
Noel
Does this count??
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Cando said:
Yep :Y: it's a find no doubt just the wrong colour :N:. What depth did you find that slug (Slugget :lol
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Jen58, you really have the GM down pat, Congrats on the finds,
All of you folks seem to be on fire with the GM, So keep the stories coming they are some of the best reading around.
John.
All of you folks seem to be on fire with the GM, So keep the stories coming they are some of the best reading around.
John.
Cando
Noel
Have a look at the gold racer.. I was looking at it at the same time as the GM 1000.. gold racer would do coin and relic a lot better. I ended up going to the gm 1000 as I wanted a dumer machine for my wife to use... I already have a coin machine... xterra 705 is an awesome machine, great in the parks, beaches, wet sand etc but very average on gold. If I had to pick over the 705 and the GM 1000 for gold prospecting, I would take the GM 1000 ever time.
