The reality is these machines can and do find Gold, we have seen quite a few folks do it yet in the same areas others don't, finding/buying a machine that suits the user plays a big part I am sure, PT goes out and finds Gold with almost any of his VLF's yet others struggle, I have done ok with mine too, VLF's are more about fine tuning where a PI is about horsepower and some folks are better suited to PI's.
With no disrespect intended, A lot of this boils down to the skill of the user, having spent the last 8+ years using/testing the last 3 models of the same machine from anywhere from 8 to 10k hours maybe more has helped a lot, and high lighted many bad habits that I have had to correct, Over thinking and trying to make a machine do things my way was just a couple of issues, Learning where the power lies had a major impact ( no pun intended ) from using the Mode that I hate most to it becoming my best friend, So I find it very hard to be impressed with the way other machines work,
I know these companies try hard but the VLF market truly has reached it's peak when it comes to depth, and if people are having no luck finding Gold with their VLF's then that says more about how they are using it, because if they can find all that junk then it comes down to 3 things, either there is no Gold there or it is too deep or it is how they are driving the machine, I bet that because people know that a VLF does not have the power in hot ground that they try to run the gain to the max where the machine is on the edge, Doing this will blind the machine and overload it with false signals, I have seen it and proved it, and when the gain is dropped then the signals have all come through, People adjust their PI's to a sensible level because they know they have the power/depth without cranking it up, but because it's a VLF they think that they have to run it maxed out to get any power out of it, which is not the case.
Turning down the Gain on a VLF can vary from model to model, but you can prove to your self just how much depth you are loosing by doing a simple Air Test, and Yes I know that air tests aren't worth a fart, But in this case they are,
IE:- So you always dig coins at 8 to 10" normally with your Gain set almost maxed out @ 9.4 or 94 or 28 what ever ??,, So now do and Air Test with the gain maxed out @ 10,100 or 30 ? and you are hitting that coin at 14" Now drop your gain down to 8 , 80 or 24 and now your Air Test is reading just on 12.7 to 13", but remember that Air Tests aren't worth a fart. Right ??
So lets look at those figures for a sec, 14"/gain of 10=1.4" per gain number but in reality you only get 10" in the ground so the ground is compressing the signal by about 40% so in your air test by going from 9.4 etc to 8, you have lost about 1" but in reality you have only lost 0.4" by time that signal gets compressed by the mineralization, But now all the signals all come through, You see so many videos of people talking about unmasking with a new machine etc But you can unmask targets with the right coil selection and by reducing your gain, Unmasking is a Buzz Word and nothing more and you can unmask targets as good as the next guy, This is why I said earlier about giving an average user a hot machine and a Skilled user an average machine and the skilled user will always win out, don't be afraid to lower the gain because in Ground results/depth we are talking millimetres not inches, Give the machine a chance to see what is down there and your finds rate will go up.
J.
