DO YOU SCRUB OR HOVER?

[Roscoe]

I am posting this question because there seems to be two types and/or theories to this method. I met a bloke today who just came back from W.A metal detecting. He is semi retired and travels over every year and makes a living out of metal detecting for gold. He uses a GPX5000 and i asked if he can give me some pointers as i have just acquired one myself. The first thing i noticed was he was scrubbing the coil on the ground (11" mono round), not once did that coil leave the ground. I asked him a few questions about that method and he said, in his opinion that " 1- The Auto tracking works better 2- The coil does not false signal when bumped into objects 3- The machine gets better depth and sensitivity to gold."

The reason i ask this question is the operators manuals by manufactures say to keep the coil as close to the ground as possible with out touching.
But, There seems to be a lot of operators out there amateur and professionals that keep there coils to the ground.

So do you scrub or hover your coil when gold detecting?

 

[Diggerdude]

I'm a scrubber, the lower the better, coil covers are cheap.

DD

 

[Nugget]

Opinions will vary but for me I scrub the coil on the ground as much as possible (always using a coil cover).

I think he is right about the auto ground tracking working better as I find the detector runs much quieter than when hovering. You also get the benefit of maximum depth penetration so it's a no brainer for me.

I guess it depends on the conditions but I've seen quite a few guys hovering 20+ centimeters of the ground, that's a huge amount of depth lost.

 

[Roscoe]

Good point about depth loss Nugget. Diggerdude, skid plates are fairly cheap so that's not a problem. It is going to be interesting how many people scrub their coils?

 

[loamer]

With the newer detectors - as low as possible - skid plates are cheap. The older GP series, did have problems on highly mineralised ground. It was not the detector, it was the ground was just too noisy for these detectors at times. Here is a little experiment - if you have a test piece, get on some really mongrel ground and try different heights of the coil. Benign ground is not a problem - pipeclay etc. Your detector manual should have some advice - my 4500 manual states "Keep the coil as close to the ground as possible". It also says - "In heavily mineralised areas the operator may need to sweep the coil 10 - 20 mm(1/2 - 1 inch) above the ground. This should give more stable threashold and less ground noise."

But, as I said, I don't think it's really a problem any more, at least not in my experience. Its part of what we call the terrible trio - coil height - tracking and swing speed - get them wrong, you may as well sat at home.

 

[Ben78]

scrub-a-dub-dub

 

[Roscoe]

Loamer, Did a lot of the VLF operators scrub their coils before pulse induction.?

 

[loamer]

On the older ones? It depended on the ground. I still use an xterra 70 and I have found that raising the coil quietens things down but so does turning down the sensitivity. I always use the tracking function and it helps a little bit but the swing speed has to be very slow.

 

[G0lddigg@]

with the gmt its a bit of a hot coil so scrubbing is a bit noisy if on bumpy ground however soft ground like grass is fine. in the scrub I tend to hover and scrub when honing in on a target.

 

[Roscoe]

Thanks Loamer, I just wanted to say this is not a trick question about scrubbing the coil. I genuinely want to improve my technique to find gold.

I got this out of the GPX4800-5000 manual.

"The GPX Series detectors will perform at their best when the
coil is kept close and parallel to the ground at all times. This
will increase the detection depth and target response
to small objects."

This is from the gp extreme manual

" While sweeping the coil, it is important to keep it parallel to, and
at the same height from, the ground at all times. Lightly skidding
the coil across the ground can sometimes help in this, depending
on mineralisation."

So the GP manual goes along with what you say there loamer. But, the GPX manual is a bit unclear?

I have watched a lot of videos and seen pictures in books and most of these images show the coil off the ground. I watched some of JP's videos and his coil is off the ground. Jack Lange has his coil off the ground.

Well from now on i will scrub my coil on the ground. The big question is? How many good signals that you recieved by scrubbing the coil would not have been heard have you not.

 

[Roscoe]

Golddigg, The GMT does have a very sensitive coil and i am not sure scrubbing it would work? I will try it out next outing. I did try the round mono on the gpx and it slid good over the ground. I wonder how much gold i could of passed over not scrubbing the coil?

 

[Nightjar]

Have never worn out a skid plate, only ever swing as close to the ground as possible.
This subject is and will be on going.
My question to those who scrub the ground, are you knocking rocks out of the way with coil, do you rake the ground first or do you only ever swing over ground that has already been cleared of surface rocks?
Most of the areas we detect the ground is strewn with a carpet of rocks ranging in sizes. Yes, we may be missing some sub grammers, but we as hell aren't going to waste time raking the ground first.

 

[Guest]

If it helps roscoe on the few minelabs iv had DD coils are fine to scrub mainly the 15x12 dd comander (I never take off its so quiet) but mono's on the other hand are worse on noisey ground if you touch it. I use a 8" mono and it can get the chirp's up touching rocks

 

[Roscoe]

Thanks Luke and Nightjar, I think its a worth while topic and i thank you for your input fella's.

 

[Outback]

Have never worn out a skid plate, only ever swing as close to the ground as possible.
This subject is and will be on going.
My question to those who scrub the ground, are you knocking rocks out of the way with coil, do you rake the ground first or do you only ever swing over ground that has already been cleared of surface rocks?
Most of the areas we detect the ground is strewn with a carpet of rocks ranging in sizes. Yes, we may be missing some sub grammers, but we as hell aren't going to waste time raking the ground first.

Good post , reality is that it's impossible to scrub the ground in most gold fields !

 

[WalnLiz]

Scrub in every location that allows it, and pick up all the little ones the hovers miss..( gpx5000 )....and that can be a real eye opener in many places. My suggestion....hover if your in my region..

Cheers Wal.

 

[Saltytom]

Always been a scrubber, I can't help it!

 

[Bushranger]

I'm a scrubber! I'm also a folder not as cruncher!

 

[Goldpick]

I can't comment on PI machines, but as mentioned, the small hot coils like the Goldmaster 4x6 DD or many other sensitive vlf's will false signal on rocks, vegetation etc, the only time they will be suitable for scrubbing is on cleared spoil piles looking for very fine gold or similar areas.

Same issue also if your coil cables aren't properly secured to the shaft, so I tend to hover slightly off the ground until I find a target that warrants further investigation, then clear the ground and scrub to see what else pops up. Garretts seem to recommend hovering 1-2" for general searching om their VLF's.

All really depends on whay detector you have, coil combination, ground conditions, and personal searching preferences.

 

[GarrettGirl]

I use my Hoover 5000 like a vacuum cleaner LOL - The lower the better - Skid plates are cheap as and if you hover too much off the ground, with the leaf matter etc - You will loose a good 3-5 inches in depth and also gold I also know plenty who have VLF and they do the same - Fair enough if you know that your target is lead or crap and is sitting on the top of the ground LOL - Any Minelab will pick that up a good two foot off the ground when passing over as you walk by - I work the grounds of Heathcote and all of Bendigo goldfields and I have the coil on the ground at all times