Advice and Tips -Opinions Back to Main Tips Menu GMT Report GMT Impressions Bigfoot Comments HotShot Comments Offer an Opinion Report on the Whites GMT (GOLD MASTER TRACKER) Back to Menu   Upon reading the product manual introducing the new ‘GMT’, the latest metal detector from Whites’ Electronics, I found the set up to be quite easy, as the basic suggested settings on the GAIN (preamp) control and the ‘S.A.T.’(Self Adjusting Threshold), are marked on the control scale. I realized these settings are obviously for average conditions in the U.S.A. But for start up, these basic settings will do for Australian conditions, but do allow for different settings in higher mineral soil conditions. The best all round settings I found, using the machine in the Dunolly region, are to run the ‘S.A.T.’ flat out as far as the control knob goes and to cut the GAIN control back to 4-5 on the dial setting. Setting the Automatic Ground Balance is exceptionally fast, this is simply done by gently pumping the coil up and down from the ground, only two pumps was required and I discovered this was enough even in very hot (highly mineralized) ground. Because this machine is more sensitive than similar Auto Ground Tracking machines it is critical to start sweeping the coil slowly – but that is the secret with all detectors – "low and slow". The new 250mm elliptical ‘Double D’ coil is quiet in operation, there are also 2 other add on coils which are both mono loops, the 250mm and the larger ‘Blue Max’ 350mm elliptical which will give greater depth, these are noisier in warm to hot ground, but if you slow down on sweeping and allow the Auto Ground Tracking to ‘catch up’, the machine remains pleasingly stable. There are also other coils that can be used on the GMT as well as some new ones soon to be released. The Auto boost I found was hardly necessary as the sharp response was more than ideal, headphones are a must as the response using them was very crisp and clear, ones with a volume control would be preferred as no volume switch is on the machine and the audio is quite loud. On targets that I purposely set up at varying depths and sizes the GMT performed very impressively. The Digital read-out response meter is steady and reasonably accurate with Ferro (iron & Steel) probability. In very bad hot ground if the machine tends to overload, the read-out will tell you to ‘reduce gain’ to run quieter with no loss of depth. Another brilliant asset in using the GMT is that it can tell you the amount of mineralisation in the ground, this is handy for tracking the gold bearing mineralized ground. To sum up, I was very impressed with the handling of this new machine, weight and comfort of use was excellent and I have not used ANY other machine that will AUTO Ground Balance as fast in all conditions on start up. With the asking price of this detector being a lot less than others on the market, the GMT is a sturdy, light weight machine which provides a wonderful alternative to other auto tracking machines presently available.   Neil Saville   Unsolicited BigFoot Comments Back to Menu     I bought a bigfoot coil recently and got a chance to try it out this weekend. Most of the time I expect something less than what the advertising promises, but in this case I was pleasantly surprised to find the bigfoot coil to be even better than I expected! I first went to a civil war battle site nearby. I searched an area where some skirmishing had taken place, where there's lots of land but only a few targets. Operating my XLT in dual mode at fairly high gain, I was able to find three bullets in less than two hours - one a fairly rare sharpshooter's bullet, another was a carved bullet. The bigfoot performed much better than my last two outings with the standard coil. I could cover open ground quickly, and the shape made it easy to poke around the brush and briars. Next I scanned a local school playground where I had previously found about $15 in change. Using a standard coin program, I walked away with another $1.35 from areas that were unproductive and had been lightly searched before. One thing about the bigfoot coil, it makes it easy to keep from getting sloppy when you're working a lot of ground. I also like the null pinpointing. It's easy to be right on the money. As far as depth goes, I suppose there will be times when I'll switch back to the standard 9.5 inch coil, but for foreseeable future I'll be using the bigfoot as my #1 coil. The extra lower shaft was a nice, unexpected bonus! Mike Hall Acworth, GA   Back to Menu

 

Unsolicited Hot Shot Coil Comments

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Jimmy,

Had to write to you and let you know how impressed I am with your new Hot Shot Coil. On my first outing with the new coil I grabbed my Classic ID and headed for the old 1800’s town of Stillwater, a highly mineralized area to give it a good workout. After getting it hooked up the first thing I noticed was how lightweight it was and how well it balanced with my machine. I had doubts about it working in a really trashy areas, but all of those fears went away soon after I began to hunt. The loop not only handled the trash, but also the highly mineralized soil I was hunting in and within ten minutes I had my first coin, a wheat penny down about 8 inches.

Then I started my grid and on my second pass I received a real strong signal, I looked down at the meter and it was locked on nickel I said, "Yeah right," but began digging. After 10 inches down I thought to myself, "no way," but kept digging and another inch down out rolled a 1919 Buffalo Nickel in great shape. I’ve never found a nickel down that deep before. My next target was an 1882 seated Liberty dime, two passes later a rare Stillwater Hotel token and several more wheat pennies, all at great depths. After several more passes on my grind another strong nickel signal at 8 inches, out rolled a 1886 Shield nickel, a few feet more out came a Bank Bar token from Fallon. I’m impressed!

After a short break I moved my truck knowing in past times I’ve parked right over good treasures. I began hunting once again and not ten feet in front of my truck I received another strong hit dollar, half dollar, another, to my surprise at 11 inches out rolls a 1918 walking Liberty Half. I went to my knees and thanked the Treasure Gods! When I returned to hunting I picked up several more wheat pennies and then the Treasure Gods smiled on me again, a 1900 Morgan dime in perfect shape. I made another pass of the coil and out rolled a 1897 Morgan dime five feet further another 1912 Morgan dime, all targets about 6 to 7 inches down. On the way back to the truck I found a woman’s broach and an old tool fob.

What do I think of your new Hot Shot Coil? I think it’s a real winner and "It made my day." I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to find coins and treasure at depths like never before with a White’s detector. Can’t wait to get back out with it.

Thanks!

Ben Vincent

 

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Jim,

Had a chance to test out the new 12 ½ inch Hot Shot last weekend. Here are some of the results:

On an old White’s Eagle II detector (air test only) noticed an improvement of depth overall of about 3-4 inches. For example, a quarter registered a strong audio signal at 13 to 14 inches. A simple gold band ring gave a good audio signal at 12 to 13 inches.

On a 6000 XL Pro (air test only) all coins and a simple gold bank ring gave very good signals at about 3 inches deeper than the 9 ½ inch coil.

I took an XLT up to a park that I have hunted over 20 times and using the factory preset program for coins and jewelry with the preamp gain bumped up to 4 (the only change I made) managed to find 40 clad coins, two wheat pennies, and two silver Roosevelt dimes in a four hour period.

I plan to give the new coil a beach test this week and will give you the results.

There are many things I like about the Hot Shot Coil: lightweight, ability to cover a lot of open ground, longer cord with the re-enforcement on the end that screws into the control box and of course the hole in the center of the loop that allows me to see the ground the target was in (like the 950 coil).

I called Megan on Friday and told her to charge me for the loaner loop. No way am I sending this one back.

Dan Hart

 

My Impressions of Whites G.M.T

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Over the years I’ve had a lot of success with the Whites Goldmaster range of detectors. Starting off with the Series 2 and ending up with the Series 4B, which I thought was the best small gold detectors ever made. The 4B was easy to ground balance, lightweight, and dynamite on any sneaky little bits of gold that tried to hide from it. It was also equipped with an iron id device that was brilliant.

When I heard that Whites had improved on the Goldmaster 4B I wondered what they could possibly improve on? I found out about an hour after I picked up my new Goldmaster Tracker from Finders in Dunolly, I stopped off at a spot where I had picked up a few bits before, the ground is very hot and the gold small and I figured it would test the new machine in all aspects.

The first impression after setting the gain, v-sat and threshold as per the manual and with the ground balance toggle on fast auto track, I lowered the coil to the ground and raised it up and down a couple of times and to my surprise it was ground balanced. All I had to do to fine tune was to drop the gain down to 4 from Whites setting point of 7~8 and turn the v-sat to maximum 10 on the dial. Our ground must be a lot hotter than theirs! With those settings I worked for the rest of the day without any problems. Hot rocks can be fixed by passing the coil back and forth a few times and you will notice a reduction in the signal strength, becoming much quieter and sometimes completely disappearing. The iron id has also been upgraded with a bar graph on the screen and works spot on, in conjunction with the trigger it really lets you know it’s looking at iron – it grunts at you, sounds exactly like a pig and funnily enough it’s called a grunt feature.

Well I ended the day with about a dozen targets that I had missed including a couple of matched size bits of gold. This has been repeated at several of my other spots and I am totally sold on the ground tracking ability of the new Whites Goldmaster Tracker.

Regards and best of luck on the gold

George Peel

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