Minelab Gold Monster 1000 tips and questions

Hi folks,

I put some posts in the link below recently that might help if you haven't seen them. Just some things that we have worked out. Sorry about the narration. :/

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=22597

Cheers

Doug

What kind of coils are available for the GM 1000 ?

Nucopia, they come with 2 coils a 5 inch, 150mm round and a elliptical 10 by 5 inch, 250mm by 150mm , I bought mine only 2 weeks ago the first day I used it I managed a somewhere close to it 2 gram piece between 2 hot rocks 100 mm down . :Y:

Anybody had a chance to see how their gold monster goes against the new whites Goldmaster 24k detector ? Maybe too early ? Good to see the monsters sensitivity demonstrated by nuggsmoney's post

Don't think the White's 24K has been released yet? Hasn't been released in the US anyway.

And the question was asked elsewhere if there was a White's distributor in Australia now as Goldsearch had closed down or was closing down.

Somebody else might have some clearer answers :Y:

Thanks robmoto..
I was thinking the GM might be good for my wife to use...need a second detector for when we head west in September ..

nucopia said:

Thanks robmoto..
I was thinking the GM might be good for my wife to use...need a second detector for when we head west in September ..

Click to expand...

Not quite sure how the Gold Monster will go in the West as its very mineralised ground over there?, I guess itll depend on how far west but Ive just got back from detecting around Leonora 300km above Kalgoorlie and theres iron stone everywhere so Im guessing itd drive the Monster crazy.
But I only used the SDC there so I cannot say for sure how the Monster will go as I never used one there personally myself.

I have a Monster and it works perfectly fine here in Northeast Vic. But I have a mate who took his Z and Monster to WA last year. The Monster was for his wife to use. It drove her crazy and when he tried to get it to work it drove him crazy. Just couldn't get it to settle down. I don't know the particulars of where they were and what sensitivity they had it on, etc, but he is not a newbie detectorist. Got home and sold it.

He wishes he had taken an SDC. Simple, handles mineralised dirt really well, compact, etc.

Thanks guys
Was thinking to get a GM for her to use when we go to Kal and Leonora next month...last time we went she used a friends 2300 and its not available for this trip.
I have a gpx 45 so I thought getting her a GM might be a cheap option and give us two detectors on the ground when we are there..
Cant afford another 45 or 2300 at $3500 so looks like we will take turns swinging and digging for each other..

There are some good sets of hints and tips on setting up the GM to work well.

I have a GM and it drives me a little bit crazy after the ease of the SDC.

Shame that Minelab doesnt issue its own how to use and set up the GM.

Hi guys,

I currently own XT 705 and love it! I've been over some pretty trashy parks and haven't bothered to dig lower tones/ID being ring pulls etc.
Just wondering if anyone has used the GM 1000 in gold mode over trashed out areas to search for gold jewellery? I always wonder how much gold I've left behind.

jaytrav76 said:

Hi guys,

I currently own XT 705 and love it! I've been over some pretty trashy parks and haven't bothered to dig lower tones/ID being ring pulls etc.
Just wondering if anyone has used the GM 1000 in gold mode over trashed out areas to search for gold jewellery? I always wonder how much gold I've left behind.

Click to expand...

Interesting thought Jaytrav76. I too have both units, & might take a gold chain to a park & then the beach, bury it, & then run both machines over it to do a direct comparison.

To be honest jaytrav, if you are going to fork out the $$ for a Monster you would actually be better off getting an Equinox 600 or 800. Heaps more functionality, TID's, better unmasking, waterproof, etc, etc, etc.

I have both and would choose the Equinox every day of the week considering the small gap in cost. The Monster is fine, but the Equinox is better

Thanks for your input guys. If I had the opportunity, I would definitely have a crack with the GM 1000 on ground I've been over before.
I was just curious to see if anyone had done it or thought about doing it. In saying that, how does the Equinox 800 handle highly mineralised ground? And how well does it function discriminating between trash and treasure (as per the original post)?

The Equinox handles mineralisation just as good as the Monster.

The Equinox functions MUCH better at discriminating trash from treasure than the Monster. The Monster simply has a ferrous/non ferrous predictability meter.
The Multi frequency of the Equinox gives a much clearer picture of what is being detected, has tone changes that you can set to suit your ear, can be used across mineralised ground, beaches, parks, etc, has heaps more setting adjustability, has multiple wireless audio options, the list goes on. The only thing that does give me the irrates about the Equinox is the open spoked coils. In the bush they are a P.I.T.A!!

Days of reading here if you are interested. https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/forum/53-minelab-equinox-fan-club/

I don't know where you are located but if you REALLY want a gold monster you can buy mine. I think I have finally decided to sell it and get the 6" coil for the Equinox with the proceeds and have a couple of hundred left over. I have mainly kept it because it is so simple, it is very sensitive and I thought friends/the kids/wife might use it but that isn't happening :/ And I can't swing 3 detectors at a time

Good luck with your decision.

Jaytrav76, I own the monster and nox 800 , the monster with the 10x 6 used in all metal mode will give you the better depth than the 5 inch round in the same mode , you can read the bar graph to decide if you are going to dig or not as it still shows on the graph , if you don,t want to hear every target use discriminate but turn up the gain 2 notches to get back some depth, both coils are really easy to use and pin pointing a target is very easy because of the coil widths , the monster is very light and very easy to use only takes 10 minutes to learn and you will have it sorted, pluss are good on the nuggets too, on large junk targets it will show non ferrous when in either mode but better to be safe than sorry I guess It has auto ground tracking as standard , also 2 settings where it adjusts the gain to suit the ground automatically I don,t use these in hot mineralised ground as I feel they may and only may back off the gain a fraction to much when looking for gold in the gold fields .
You could use this as a dual machine but it won,t have the depth of a nox in sand and top soil parks , Its way more than a entry level machine and far from it .

Equinox has awesome descrimination in park mode 1, reasonable in field mode 2 and probably not much more than the monster when in gold mode. The nox shines when picking high conductive targets (silver, copper and brass ) out of a pile of trash but from my experience it struggles to descriminate low conductive targets (gold nuggets) from mineralized ground.

Thanks for the low down on both machines guys. I live on the mid north coast NSW, so my main hunts are pretty much restricted to historic sites, parks and beaches.
My curiosity regarding the GM 1000, has lead me to find out more about the Nox. (Thanks for the link Northeast (Vic?) I'll get stuck into it).
It certainly sounds as if guys are really enjoying using the Nox and, seems to be a real contender to add/upgrade the arsenal. I've had the XT for years still runs like a charm but, I also know I'm missing coins and jewellery at the beach especially during summer. An advantage of being water proof, the Nox will certainly add to covering bases.
Thanks for the advice and info...much appreciated.

Congrats on your find. Its always good to have a win these days and good info to know as well as I have too been thinking of a Gold Monster...how have you been liking it?

It's probably not worth it for the sake of $20 but the Monster and its accessories should still be under warranty?