Night detecting with the Teknetics G2

[Goldpick]

I gave the Explorer a rest tonight, to allow my first real chance to give the G2 a go at a small spot where pre-decimal coins were found previously. I must say, this little detector is pretty impressive in the junk, sure you dig the odd bottle screw cap, but not much else. I had the discrimination wound up to around 70, which pretty much blanked out everything bar the larger coins (mainly after silver/copper pre-decs), and it ran very quiet, even on 95% sensitivity (the 5c,10c &20c were found earlier with disc. set at 64)

The pre-decs found include a 1920 Penny, 1922 Penny, and surprisingly, considering the amount of discrimination I had set, an 1872 Victoria threepence, probably the oldest coin I have found so far. All 3 coins were clear signals and pretty hard to miss even with a fast swing if the coil, with depths ranging from 5-7".

On a side note, one mod that has to be done, is to run a headphone extension from the control box to the rear of the arm cuff. The side sockets are a pain, especially for a left hander, am constanly getting the coily cable tangled on the shaft and cuff.

There were many other fainter targets around the place, but stuck to plucking out the more obvious ones first up. Probably the biggest plus with this detector is the recovery time, allowing you to get away with faster swings, and hence cover more ground without missing targets. Will be eager to try the G2 out at another couple of spots that were also difgicult due to prolific junk targets.

 

[Guest]

Nice finds Goldpick.

Yes it is a nice detector.

If your a button hunter i think this is the machine to
Use especially in and around ghost towns.

 

[Goldpick]

Hey Wolf, what difference did you find with the NEL Sharpshooter over the stock coil - better target separation/depth/better pinpointing?

 

[Guest]

Hey Wolf, what difference did you find with the NEL Sharpshooter over the stock coil - better target separation/depth/better pinpointing?

I found it better trying to id the metal bottle screw caps
Because its tighter if that makes sense By using the tip
of the coil you can hear the slight crackle.

Ill sell mine and the 5" soon.

Keep going though its a nice machine.

Its cousin the teknetics 8000 is also a nice coin
Hunting detector which i think these both share
The same coils and is fast as well with generous
Depth..

 

[Goldpick]

Tried a new spot tonight with the G2, the area was extremely junky and probably would have driven the Explorer nuts. Despite hitting the brown buggars in a big way, I am still really impressed at how this detector performs in ground littered with junk targets. Some coin targets literally right up against iron and other junk, yet they still clearly registered as good targets. So, a few $$, some junk jewellery and a triceratops to round off the night.

I also rigged up a headphone extension out the back of the arm cuff for use with bug earphones, work a treat, especially considering I am left-handed. The LED torch mount was also added, plus some reflective tape on the torch body in case I have to go searching for it.

 

[Goldtarget]

You're an ideas man Dale, great thinking. Bet that put a smile on your face, look forward to seeing more finds with the g2.

 

[Mackka]

Hey Goldpick nice finds.
A silly question but one that need to ask. You said that you are left handed so do have your detector in the left hand leaving the right for digging or detector in the right using the favoured hand to do the digging?
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Mackka

 

[Guest]

As others would say.. Welcome to the dark side - lol

I bet your covering either more ground or finding more
Stuff quickly in a given area. The G2 is fast there is no
Doubt about that.

 

[Goldpick]

Hey Goldpick nice finds.
A silly question but one that need to ask. You said that you are left handed so do have your detector in the left hand leaving the right for digging or detector in the right using the favoured hand to do the digging?
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
Mackka

I usually lay the detector down and cut a plug with both hands, also to keep it away from the pinpointer. The soil is starting to dry out here, so you really need both hands using the Lesche, using only one hand would probably result in a pretty shoddy plug.

Thanks Goldtarget, best to set things up properly vs having a frustrating night of headphone entanglements. It's the first time out using earbud headphones, and I quite enjoyed using them. Will be good for up and coming hot weather, whilst still retaining good dampening on ambient noise.

I have been running around the place like a chook with its head cut off trying different spots with the G2, just to het my head around its ability in certain areas. Definitely better than the Explorer in junky ground and extremely easy to use, though I still feel the Explorer trumps the G2 in overall depth, especially on deep silvers. The G2 just spits and crackles over junk, and when you hit a nice clear repeatable tone, there's a good chance it will be a coin.

 

[Goldpick]

I must add that a good reason for wearing decent gloves is the amount of glass encountered. Most junk targets I am hitting at the moment are aluminium screw caps, so there is a likelyhood of something more sinister attached to them. I was starting to get into pre-dec territory with a few 1966 1c &2c coins, plus the odd beaver tail, but not on this occasion unfortunately.

 

[Goldtarget]

Would love to hear some depth reports on the $2 side of things and sensitively settings, coil size and type etc. The teknetics/Fisher range probably lack that punch downward, but are awesome on shallower finds in terms of discrimination, recovery and clarity in Id. Any info is good info, I've heard good things about the omega (2nd gen) and g2s getting down deep on solid targets. Any comparison with your existing machines would be great.

 

[Guest]

The depth of a detector depends on the frequency the Unit runs at and and most likely the processing speed
might help as well. Would love to see a test between a machine made in the 90's running at 19khz vs the G2
running at 19 khz to see whether the dual processors does in fact help the detector out in reference to depth.

The G2 platform was designed as a gold nugget detector Running at 19khz. The 19khz range makes the detector
More sensitive to smaller sized gold and small bits of Foil when comparing this to a machine that runs a low
Frequency such as 2.5 or 6.5.

On the whites v3i silver pings the hardest at 2.5 khz So when i read about machines pinging hard on silver
I wonder what the bottom range of the frequency the Metal detector is working at if it is a multifrequency.

Comparisons between 2 different technologies can not be made. These are both different.

The Omega runs at 7.8 khz and will not be as sensitive to The tiny bits of foil the higher frequency loves finding
but will find coins deeper and has excellent reviews by coin shooters in the USA.

In fact some 2nd hand bargains can be had by buying in the USA whether its a G2 or an Omega 8000.

 

[Goldtarget]

Sorry wolf I get what your saying just curious in a comparison. The yanks have a tendency to get excited about every machine so was wondering about a real aussie operator who's out there swinging it and what he's found, and more specifically using what settings with which coil. As much as air testing and detector specs play a part I'm interested in real data pertaining to in situ finds, I love the selection this"family" of detectors has, and as the Goldfields get drier in the coming few weeks and months and the days get longer I intend to do more shooting. Odds on I will get another machine so any info will help guide me. The g2 is currently on the shortlist

 

[Guest]

Sorry wolf I get what your saying just curious in a comparison. The yanks have a tendency to get excited about every machine so was wondering about a real aussie operator who's out there swinging it and what he's found, and more specifically using what settings with which coil. As much as air testing and detector specs play a part I'm interested in real data pertaining to in situ finds, I love the selection this"family" of detectors has, and as the Goldfields get drier in the coming few weeks and months and the days get longer I intend to do more shooting. Odds on I will get another machine so any info will help guide me. The g2 is currently on the shortlist

The G2 is a good machine. Just switch it on ground balance set the discriminator and go..

Discrimination set at 30 will find you the goodies but you can do your own tests. Its a very easy machine to use. Also
Don't be scared to swing the G2 fast. Be warned though you will dig a bit of trash. The G2 though I think needed an
iron volume and a wide and flexible notching system which it does not have.

The 5" nel coil is perfect for high trash areas or if your looking for very small gold nuggets. The nel sharp shooter was a
bit better with identifying steel screw caps by using the tip of the coil.

If you want an affordable gold detector and want to use it as a coin shooter the G2 is the way to go but it can get
noisy on hot ground It has a large screen and a comfy handle and you can buy these at a good price from the USA
2nd hand. If your looking for a decent coin detector I think the Omega 8000 will do the job nicely.

Areas the G2 excels in is high iron areas where you can detect, hear the iron and like magic a high tone will pop out
and most likely be a coin or button.

Another example is if your at an old Ghost town the G2 would excel detecting between 2 old house brick walls right
next door to each other which have disappeared but 1 line of bricks remain on the ground which are still there which
has a 4" or so gap in between each wall. I say this because you can hear the iron and if its been detected
previously with a discrimination type setup then coins or buttons could still be found if they lay right next
to iron in which case these might of been discriminated out and missed by that detector operator. Searching such
areas have yielded me some results.

I have had fun testing the whites v3i and I am going to test the XP Deus next.

There are 2 things I love about the V3i. The first is the 3 frequencies it uses at the same time. This is a good
way to cherry pick $1, $2 and silver coins because most fall under the 2.5kz range. Though as I discovered other
trash will also fall in this area such as padlocks and bolt nuts.

The other is the spectragraph screen which when you go over a metal bottle cap the screen will show you
round uneven circles. The XP Deus has something similar called the x & y screen as well and its my favorite.
Why? Its an awesome way of identifying thin metal trash or metal bottle screw caps.

This is why I am going to test the XP Deus next.

1. x and y screen.
2. You can hear the iron on the Deus like you can on the G2.
3. The Deus has iron volume.
4. The Deus has a reactivity switch. This in itself is amazing but be warned on how high you crank it up. Basically if its set on low
and you have a nail and a coin right next to each other the Deus will pick it up as one target like most machines would. Change it to 2 then
the Deus starts separating both targets and will start to give you 2 signals, change it to 3 and the 2 targets become clearer but
each time you crank it up your losing some depth which I don't think will be a huge issue because our coins are only like 6 or so
inches deep unless the ground has had more soil added.
5. Has an ability to notch hot rocks.
6. Silencer for rejecting metal screw caps.

So basically the Deus has a few different features plus the things I like from 2 other machines I have enjoyed using such
as the ability in hearing the iron and the xy screen.

Hope this helps.

 

[Goldpick]

The G2 is mainly directed at low conductors, and although the explorer is multi frequency, it is still of interest to compare the two, not head to head, but purely in response to targets at depth. Like I mentioned previously, I am running quite high discrimination, so the only targets that pop though are the higher conductors - copper, silver and 20c upwards.

You can run the sensitivity up nearly full tilt in discrimination mode without too many issues, some parks warrant a drop back to 3/4 to run stable due to mineralisation.

Just to give you an idea where oin vs junk targets fall under discrimination mode, here is a dreaded air test a 4", with sensitivity set at noon.

5c gets knocked out at the setting of 68, 10c at 70.

Set discrimination at 72: beaver tails knocked out completely, modern pull tab - low tone, crown cap - half high/half low, 20 & 50c - full low tone, aluminium screw cap - high tone.

Set discrimination at 73: modern pull tab - low tone, crown cap - half high/half low, 20 & 50c - low tone, bit weaker, screw cap - still there, threepence - low tone

Set discrimination at 74: modern pull tab - low tone, crown cap - as above, 20c - nearly gone, 50c - low tone, screw cap - still there, threepence -weaker low tone

Set discrimination at 75: modern pull tab - nearly gone, very scratchy, crown cap- mainly low tone, 20c - gone, 50c - gone, screw cap - still high, threepence gone.

Set discrimination at 76: modern pull tab - gone, crown cap - choppy low tone, screw cap - still there, $2 & $1, 1c, 2c, sixpence, shilling, florin, half penny, penny all clear high tones

Set discrimination at 77: crown cap - choppy low tone, screw cap - still high tone, $2 - mainly low, some high tone creeping in, all other coins still high tone.

Set discrimination at 78: crown cap - gone, screw cap - still high tone, $2 - low tone, all other coins still register high tones.

So despite inaccuracies regarding those settings at deeper positions, and taking ground mineralisation/target position into account, there is a fair bit to play with, depending on what you are targetting. I have been running around 74-75 as even though you can still hear some junk, those targets are quite discernable from good coin high tones, apart from the screw caps of course.

Pretty much every coin found so far has been a clear repeatable target, being obvious over the odd crackle or broken tone of discriminated junk targets and some ground mineralisation.

Yes I could run it in all-metal for max depth, but I would be there all night building a collection of pull tabs and foil wrappers.

As Wolf mentioned, it takes only a few seconds to setup from turning on and you are away. I could probably be a bit more efficient at picking out some of the junk targets via the vdi's, but as I am detecting at night, I am just digging any repeatable high tones.

Normally I am not a fan of using discrimination due to "blanking" and masking of good targets, especially with detectors that have a slow-medium recovery time. But the G2 seems to avoid this via its dual processors and very fast recovery time. So far on a couple of occasions I've pulled two targets out of the same hole, one being junk and the other a coin. Both targets were heard when swept over, a high tone of the coin, and low tone of the junk target, so that's pretty impressive.

The stock DD coil is 11x7", but you can run the goldbug pro 10x5 & 5" coils on it as well. NEL also offer a range of coils to suit.

 

[Goldpick]

On another area of the G2, I was keen to try it out the claims that it could indeed run on the wet sand at the beach, whilst still remaining stable. Seems that is quite true, very quiet when ground balanced and run in discrimination mode just to knock out some iron. I had sensitivity up to about 3/4, and the only time it started to protest with falsing was in very rocky areas, requiring the sensitivity to be dumbed down a fair bit. I probably should have given it a go in all-metal for better depth, but I prefer not to dig iron, I have a PI detector for that job.

I still very much prefer the Explorer as my go to detector for that task, being multi-frequency, it simply excels at depth and stability on the beach.

 

[Guest]

One day the technology of choice might be a hybrid.

PI for depth & vlf for discrimination..

 

[Goldpick]

I headed out to the same"hunted out" park tonight, where I found the two Victoria half pennies and two King George Pennies with the Explorer. Didn't get much detecting in due to the rain, but still managed to pick up a 1919 Half penny, a 1943 Roo half penny, and another dog tag. Pity about the copper oxides on the 1919 hp, otherwise it still had excellent detail on both faces.

Was very happy how the G2 ran, I only ended up digging one bottle cap, some melted aluminium, and one other piece of junk metal, so a pretty good strike rate in the limited time I had.

 

[Goldpick]

Had an interesting night tonight, with a few nice finds, and a real mixed basket of goodies, relics and junk. The best spot for the night produced the large 5.30 gram silver ring with dark red stone, a very nice old gold gilded button from C&J Weldon, London (mid 1800's to early 1900), and a 1926 Penny. The ring was buried very close to the penny, so might be reasonably old. Not sure about the significance of the material wrapped around the bottom of the ring, maybe it was just for comfort?? A couple of foreign coins popped up, including a Thai 5 baht, and a 1987 Fijian 2c.

Also found an old belt buckle, and possibly a metal loop off a medal or military ammo pouch??

All up, a very enjoyable night, the G2 is proving to be quite a capable detector.

 

[Sandta]

Awesome ring you have there GP Strange that material(?) wrapped around it ... would have expected it to have perished/rotted away by now