Yesterday morning I took the GQ V2 to an area in the AZ Bradshaw Mountains, where I have found nuggets in the past. This is an area where I have taken a lot of detectors in the past, it is a good place to test a metal detector on hunting gold nuggets. This area has ground mineralization that goes from mild to wild, in some areas, the only use for a VLF machine, is a walking stick, loads of black sand and hot rocks drive the poor things mad.
I guess I should say, that I had an 11" mono coil on the GQ, because my adapter for Minelab coils is not working, but new ones are on the way. I started out in an area with mild mineralization on the slopes and banks and worked my way to the bedrock in the creek beds. The first thing that I noticed, was how smooth the CQ was running, I was at 10uS, filter 1, S.A.T. at half way, with just a hint of a threshold. I used these settings about 80% of the time and only had to switch to filter 2 in areas where the mineralization was at it's worst, but evan then, cutting back on the threshold hum, I was still hitting old lead bullets in the 6" to 8" depth range.
I hunted for about 2 1/2 hours and came away with a nice 8 grain nugget, I know I could have found more, but the weather started to change fast and the only access to this area is by foot, so I decided to hike out while the trail was still dry. The only problem that I have in hunting this area, is I need a smaller coil. The 11" are good and hit deep, but there are a lot of spots where a smaller coil would be better for getting into tight areas, such as around the edges of big rocks, trees in the creek banks and drop offs. I was thinking about a Coiltek 5" X 10" Joey coil, I had one on my old SD 2100 and it worked great pulling nuggets out of tight areas.
I was very pleased with the performance of the GQ V2 as an AZ desert nugget shooter, it is light weight and has amazing depth for a non ground balance metal detector. The nugget that I did find was only about three inches deep, but the signal stopped me in my tracks to check the signal both ways. The only problem I had was, I kept moving the nugget around in the loose dirt after digging the hole.
I guess I should say, that I had an 11" mono coil on the GQ, because my adapter for Minelab coils is not working, but new ones are on the way. I started out in an area with mild mineralization on the slopes and banks and worked my way to the bedrock in the creek beds. The first thing that I noticed, was how smooth the CQ was running, I was at 10uS, filter 1, S.A.T. at half way, with just a hint of a threshold. I used these settings about 80% of the time and only had to switch to filter 2 in areas where the mineralization was at it's worst, but evan then, cutting back on the threshold hum, I was still hitting old lead bullets in the 6" to 8" depth range.
I hunted for about 2 1/2 hours and came away with a nice 8 grain nugget, I know I could have found more, but the weather started to change fast and the only access to this area is by foot, so I decided to hike out while the trail was still dry. The only problem that I have in hunting this area, is I need a smaller coil. The 11" are good and hit deep, but there are a lot of spots where a smaller coil would be better for getting into tight areas, such as around the edges of big rocks, trees in the creek banks and drop offs. I was thinking about a Coiltek 5" X 10" Joey coil, I had one on my old SD 2100 and it worked great pulling nuggets out of tight areas.
I was very pleased with the performance of the GQ V2 as an AZ desert nugget shooter, it is light weight and has amazing depth for a non ground balance metal detector. The nugget that I did find was only about three inches deep, but the signal stopped me in my tracks to check the signal both ways. The only problem I had was, I kept moving the nugget around in the loose dirt after digging the hole.
