A
Anonymous
Guest
Hi All,
When I posted the question recently about the new low cost PI, I didn't have all the technical answers about this detector, nor did I know for sure, its new name. However,since conferring with Mr. Bill, I feel I should mention a little about it from my standpoint.
Quite a while back, like a lot of other people, I mentioned to Mr. Bill that I felt it would be great if there was a lower cost nugget hunting PI available for people who couldn't afford or justify the hi cost of a detector competetive to the SD, or a SD itself. Well, Eric Foster has answered that request.
Like so many other people, I was unsure if a PI normally used for water hunting could be modified to work satisfactorily in gold producing areas. Fortunately, Eric and Bill listened and through their help, I purchased a Beachscan.
With their assistance, I began modifying the Beachscan, and later trying various modifications, first in controlled tests and later in gold producing areas to see if it worked and what worked best.
Well, the information was passed back to Eric and Mr. Bill and based somewhat upon that information, Eric designed the new Goldquest.
Fortunately for me, Eric shared some of his thoughts and I was able to duplicate some of his changes, so my test detector was very similar to this new machine.
Based upon the similarity, I can say from use in the field the Goldquest will work very well in many areas and well in others. Will it work in the most severe of conditiions? Yes, but not as well as a ground balancing unit. Care will have to be taken in keeping the coil level while searching, and may require the coil be elevated a little in the most severe ground.
This is a quick summary. In areas like Gold Basin and the King Tut area of AZ, the detector worked very well. Ground balancing was not a major problem. One would experience a little ground signal but overall, a person could hunt easily and comfortably. Around Rich Hill AZ, I experienced similar results except for the deep red clay areas. There, the ground response required one to be more careful in their sweep techniques. However, like I mentioned before, elevating the coil a little higher off the ground minimized the ground problems.
The shortened delay does make the detector more sensitive to all targets and as such, is a little more ground sensitive than the Beachscan. The added SAT does a great job of reducing or minimizing this problem.
With the shorter delay, this detector does a respectable job of sensing small gold, down to the few grain range. It ignores many of the hotrocks that plague VLF's yet detects meteorites. It is a pleasure to use in areas having concentrations of black sand, since it basically ignores it. Is this detector a VLF killer? No, a VLF or LF, will have some advantages in certain areas and when looking for very small gold. This detector does compliment the VLF by having advantages in areas that give the VLF the most problems.
Depth wise, it is not the giant killer everybody wanted, but it is quite competitive, especially considering the price difference. In controlled tests, this detector did show a slight depth advantage on a couple of nuggets in the half to pennyweight range. Obviously, as ground conditions change, so will the comparisons, but in my opinion, not by a lot.
Finally, there is the weight difference. The Goldquest should be a pleasure to use. It is light weight and comfortable. A person can hunt all day and not feel like their arm is going to fall off.
In my opinion, this detector is aimed more at the recreational nugget hunter who only hunts a few weeks out of the year. However, it would make a great back up unit for the professional also.
Reg Sniff
When I posted the question recently about the new low cost PI, I didn't have all the technical answers about this detector, nor did I know for sure, its new name. However,since conferring with Mr. Bill, I feel I should mention a little about it from my standpoint.
Quite a while back, like a lot of other people, I mentioned to Mr. Bill that I felt it would be great if there was a lower cost nugget hunting PI available for people who couldn't afford or justify the hi cost of a detector competetive to the SD, or a SD itself. Well, Eric Foster has answered that request.
Like so many other people, I was unsure if a PI normally used for water hunting could be modified to work satisfactorily in gold producing areas. Fortunately, Eric and Bill listened and through their help, I purchased a Beachscan.
With their assistance, I began modifying the Beachscan, and later trying various modifications, first in controlled tests and later in gold producing areas to see if it worked and what worked best.
Well, the information was passed back to Eric and Mr. Bill and based somewhat upon that information, Eric designed the new Goldquest.
Fortunately for me, Eric shared some of his thoughts and I was able to duplicate some of his changes, so my test detector was very similar to this new machine.
Based upon the similarity, I can say from use in the field the Goldquest will work very well in many areas and well in others. Will it work in the most severe of conditiions? Yes, but not as well as a ground balancing unit. Care will have to be taken in keeping the coil level while searching, and may require the coil be elevated a little in the most severe ground.
This is a quick summary. In areas like Gold Basin and the King Tut area of AZ, the detector worked very well. Ground balancing was not a major problem. One would experience a little ground signal but overall, a person could hunt easily and comfortably. Around Rich Hill AZ, I experienced similar results except for the deep red clay areas. There, the ground response required one to be more careful in their sweep techniques. However, like I mentioned before, elevating the coil a little higher off the ground minimized the ground problems.
The shortened delay does make the detector more sensitive to all targets and as such, is a little more ground sensitive than the Beachscan. The added SAT does a great job of reducing or minimizing this problem.
With the shorter delay, this detector does a respectable job of sensing small gold, down to the few grain range. It ignores many of the hotrocks that plague VLF's yet detects meteorites. It is a pleasure to use in areas having concentrations of black sand, since it basically ignores it. Is this detector a VLF killer? No, a VLF or LF, will have some advantages in certain areas and when looking for very small gold. This detector does compliment the VLF by having advantages in areas that give the VLF the most problems.
Depth wise, it is not the giant killer everybody wanted, but it is quite competitive, especially considering the price difference. In controlled tests, this detector did show a slight depth advantage on a couple of nuggets in the half to pennyweight range. Obviously, as ground conditions change, so will the comparisons, but in my opinion, not by a lot.
Finally, there is the weight difference. The Goldquest should be a pleasure to use. It is light weight and comfortable. A person can hunt all day and not feel like their arm is going to fall off.
In my opinion, this detector is aimed more at the recreational nugget hunter who only hunts a few weeks out of the year. However, it would make a great back up unit for the professional also.
Reg Sniff