Thanks to all for the great information! I have been looking at the Goldmonster 1000 a bit more lately, to use for myself here in Arizona. This would be my first detector.

I'm curious about the GM24k, does it have a totally different processor and circuit board from it's predecessor? Or did Whites do a remodel makeover rebrand and add a turbo button with audio tones in answer to compete with ML's GM 1K? I don't know the answer to those questions which is why I ask one of our many legends Jim Mculloch, who has the inside scoop from Whites and rubs elbows with all the vendors from all the competitors from all the tradeshows. What's the timeline of the 24k
and the 1k prototypes that were used in the field before public release? I would love to know that and the differences between my existing GMT and the now covered 24k?

Thanks Jim and any others who feedback.

Actually, the 24k is faster to turn on and ground balance then the 1000. With the 1000, the start up procedure requires that you wave the coil in the air to allow it to cancel out (potential) EMI. As stated in the official Minelab YouTube video, "the Gold Monster 1000 is an entry-level detector designed for the international market." What that means is that it was designed, and is very well suited for, the NON-TRADITIONAL speed-detecting in the Brazilian track-hoe strip mining pits in which TEAMS of several 1000 users, operating virtually shoulder-to-shoulder, follow behind a track-hoe. Once the EMI tuning is finished, then, depending on the severity of the soil conditions, ground balancing requires a time-consuming 5 to 25 pumps. Check out the YouTube videos by my pal Bill Southern wherein he chides those who complain that the 1000 "doesn't ground balance with only 3-5 pumps." Of course not; the 1000 uses a wonderful microprocessor which does a splendid job of averaging MULTIPLE ground points, thus requiring numerous pumps over numerous spots to establish a good AVERAGE ground balance setting. There are some early anti-GM 1000 videos from Oz in which misinformed "reviewers" condemned the 1000 for "having erratic operation" and "possessing NO depth" due to THEIR failure to properly ground balance it. Without PROPER ground balance, NO detector will perform well. So, with the 1000, start up tuning requires the EMI adjustment, then the proper number of multi-point ground pumps. This takes from 20 to 60 seconds each time the 1000 is turned on. Now, with the 24k, which was released nearly 2 years after the 1000, the engineers at Whites developed an IMPROVED, PATENT PENDING, multiple ground point microprocessor system called "XGB," Extreme Ground Balance. It does a better job, especially in really severe ground, and does so in only 3 - 5 pumps. FURTHERMORE, when you shut off the 24k, it "remembers" ALL of the last settings and ground balance points, so that, when the user presses the "on" button the 24k instantly reverts to those settings, necessitating no further adjustment if you have remained at the same spot. NO unnecessary time-consuming tuning. Now, comparing the GMT to the 24k: totally different systems and circuitry. The 24k has a totally different circuit board. Plus, the 24k coils get 54% power to them then the coils for the GMT, therefore coils are not interchangeable between the two. The 24k is deeper, finds smaller gold, and handles really severe soil then the legendary GMT. PLUS it has numerous features not possessed by the GMT. Now, comparing the 24k to the 1000; to give the 1000 its due, it is a good, dependable, "entry level detector designed for the international market." Yes, it can find sub-grain bits at decent depths. BUT IT LACKS the ADVANCED USER features found on the 24k: these include adjustable threshold, self-adjusting threshold, locked ground balance, adjustable ground balance OFFSET, ADJUSTABLE severe mineralization/hot rock/iron ID, tone ID, VCO non-motion pinpoint mode, USER ADJUSTABLE frequency adjustment, ground scan soil analysis, and backlight. For the serious gold hunter, MORE features mean BETTER PERFORMANCE. Yeah, I've used the 1000, and found a lot of gold with my trusty GMT, but I now prefer the 24k. With my 24k I have found "microflakes" of gold weighing 1/15th of a GRAIN. Yeah, pieces of gold worth 18 cents. Check out the YouTube "Spud Diggers" channel, where several videos show Spud Digger Johnson, Gerry McMullin, and myself putting the 24k through its paces. In the video titled "24k Training" the business cards used as targets had 1/4 GRAIN (68 cent) bits laminated to them. If you want further details, feel free to email me at ophirau@gmail.com. Hope this helps; HH Jim

Following. I too am looking for my 1st MD for nugget shooting in AZ and beach combing the Gulf states.
I like that the Equinox 800 is waterproof but the pkg only comes with one large coil. Doesn't have a great bundle pkg offered.
I am overwhelmed by the recommendations on the many detectors. Weight is an issue .
If you're not use to it, some of the old bulky models can really wear you out.
Thanks for any and all advice!

Hi Susan,
Neither the GM1000 or the 24k are going to be the best choices for salt water beach machines. If you only wish to purchase one machine the Nox 800 would be your best choice IMO.

Susan, looks like some people are trying to confuse you. All 3 machines are great for finding gold, the 800 will have the advantage if you also wish to hunt on the beach or parks. The best thing you can do is buy from a dealer who will give you training and perhaps your first nugget. In Arizona, you can't go wrong with Bill Southern, you can find him on youtube under nugget hunter, or just look for gold monster. He will train you on either the 800 or GM. For Whites take a trip to CA, and visit with Jim Mcculloch.

Susan, NO make or model of VLF gold detector, operating in a true all-metal mode, is well suitable for searching wet salt water beaches. The reason for this is that the wet salt is conductive, and thus the all-metal mode will react to it. If you want ONE detector for BOTH nugget hunting and beach hunting take a good look at the White's MX 7. It is an improved and digitalized version of the venerable MXT, which was perhaps the most popular "cross over" multi-purpose detector ever made. Retail price of the MX 7 is $599.95, and the [really awesome for small nuggets] MX 6" concentric coil retails for $149.95. Throw in the Bullseye TRX, at $159.95, and all these items can be yours for about $910.00. Just a thought.... HH Jimmy M

Very well said Jim!

As a kid I started with Dad's old military looking machine from maybe the late 60's, then eventually moved up to my own Whites Coinmaster circa 1975? (blue case) and have then later purchased the MXT, (DFX, GMT loaners) and now the new 24K, which I absolutely love, perhaps this is due to the broad manual tuning options on the White's 24K.

I have ALWAYS liked White's workflow, physical setup, the way they process data, and have always felt secure that I'm doing well for my skill and abilities.
..........
One thing I have noticed is the that Minelab seems to have been on a long-term "consumer" binge to sell very bling machines that satisfy fanciful ideas and techno-marketing rather than really out-doing Whites or Garret.

Several months I also wanted a good multipurpose machine with above average gold prospecting capabilities. So I bought the Minelab Equinox 800 for my travel road trips and impromptu gold prospecting opportunities. It's decent, but for or an $850 detector the Nox it is NOT a favorite of mine for gold and seems to be a consumer bling machine with a horrible workflow and is perhaps not well suited for me. I should have stuck with the Whites and maybe get an MX7 or new MXT Pro.

I know others seem to love the Nox, it is evidently made by the gods and does everything is perfectly every-time-out, WOW! They often brag of finding unlimited gold microns over 100' deep, massive stash of ancient relics and prehistoric coins; they carry it to bed, tuck it in, kiss it good night.... Not me, I flung that sh** somewhere far out in the yard hoping the dog will eat it or it gets hit by lightening and blows up- no love lost here!!!!

I'm good with the Whites 24K, it's awesome, solid and accurate. I use it for my gold and general purpose park and field detector.
............

I should mention that I bought the Equinox 800 (and a GPX 5000 which I love) from Gerry McMullin* (a forum member mentioned above) and will be taking him up on the advanced user training this summer on the 5000. As many here know that Gerry is most honorable in the Metal Detecting community, he provides excellent sales and training and in the mean time has assured me the Equinox 800 would probably work better if I actually give it some love and learned to use it...errr, no way! :-/

* Look up Gerry on the forums or go to: http://www.gerrysdetectors.com/

Joe, it looks like you are bashing a detector you never learned to use. I have both the nox 800 and whites 24k. I have only been out with the 24k 3 times now because of medical issues and have not found gold yet. but I would not bash it. You need to learn how to use the detector sometimes it takes awhile. The nox is more complicated than the 24k, and has settings that can be manually changed just like the whites. if I go to a park and look for coins, other people in the club find more coins than I do, because they move faster. But when I look for gold I usually watch these people, they look like they are late for work, where as I move slow and steady, perhaps this is why you are not finding any color.
A hint with the nox, dig all targets until you get the hang of it, then use the horse shoe button, if your number is a negative, it is saying there is a high probability it is iron. do not notch out any numbers as gold will register anywhere between 1 - 30 depending on size (well maybe not 30 unless you find a monster nugget) , sometimes it will not even give a number only a change in the threshold.

Thank you, I didn't mean to sound like bashing.
Mby plz go back and re-read my post.

I use gold mode or all metal for a lot of my work and pretty much dig everything, I don't move fast, nor do I skip a lot of "well, anything".
It's not the fields, or the fact I don't find "metallic things", it's the way the Nox works and processes data, this is what I don't like... it's like a toy. So, I just turn on gold mode or all metals and start.

I have a variety of soil types Central and Northern California, Tonopah, Nevada, Central Washington and will be doing some in Idaho and Oregon when the pass clears up.

To me the Nox simply feels inadequate and leaves me always wondering if I'm missing something... errr, I don't like that feeling and I don't get that from any Whites product I've ever owned, nor from other ML products. :-/

Like I said, there are those people that absolutely love and I'm glad for them, it's a great machine, for those that like it. It's well made and all three coils perform VERY WELL, however... I simply am not a fan boy of this thing and that erks a lot of people. Sorry. :-(

I've worked on embedded projects (autonomous navigation and flight management systems), managed software development and test projects (hated that!), managed software release and implementation programs (@ $7.5 billion) and honestly, for me, I don't think the Nox (or the GM 1000) is all that impressive for the price, nor is it more complicated than the Whites 24K.

The Nox has a horrible workflow- it is simply less well laid out, making EVERYTHING you do "seem" complicated and technically advanced, it's not... it's just fluff. That alone is cheap and frustrates me- it's not necessary, it's lazy and rushed development... trying to get something on the market fast before someone else does. That's why they fouled up the lower tube fitting and botched the final software release, then had to do to prompt updates after purchase! LOL

I'm NOT a pro detectorist and I don't use all the settings, there should be no need to keep "trying something new" just because I can fiddle around and make it beep different... I update my ground balance often and reset my machine if I think I have done something wrong and start again. I'm not screening only for micron gold dust, nor excluding finding a buried shovel only 6" deep that nearly melted my headset!

I'm 56 and mature enough to know that no detector or company is perfect, nor is the person using the product. I used a ML Sovereign GT on the beaches for years and always cleaned up after the spendy "beach" machines before someone (who just missed another nice ring) told me "you know the Sovereign is NOT for the beach- it's a park only machine and not made for these salty mineralized conditions". Wow, I didn't know that (as I put another $1200 ring in my pocket!).

Maybe I want the Nox 800 to be a digital version of the Sovereign GT/Eureka Gold it replaced, but it's not. Errr! ???
I think if the CTX 3030 or the VSi 3 were updated (to be properly waterproof , have a USB charge, software update-able, hackable and we can share settings...) they might be a better choice for me.

For the average consumer looking for a decent slightly advanced multipurpose machine with gold and all metal settings, the Nox 800 is a damned good unit with many great "out of the box" features and a growing list of options making this a very friendly all-in-one consumer level product.

I have been using the gold monster for about a year now and it has become my go to detector and I own more than one. But the detector you use all the time is the one you feel comfortable the go out to outings I let people try mine out and show them how it works.

Tad, I fully agree Bill, aka "Nugget Shooter" out of Phoenix has been using both the Equinox 800 and the gold Monster 1000 since they came out.

And it looks like from all the videos his girlfriend has used at Gold Monster 1000 quite a bit and it's paid for itself and probably paid the bills on the house a few times, so there's nothing to laugh about on that machine, I guarantee it!

Thanks largely to Bill's excellent training, his girlfriend Tammy has indeed become a successful and enthusiastic Gold Monster 1000 user. To see the nuggets she has found with her 1000 in the first 5 months of being "Nugget Shooterette," check out her 9/6/2018 posting "Proud of My Finds" on the Nugget Shooter Forum. She has found several more since then. Sometimes she even beats 'ol Bill!

Hi All,
I recently bought a Minelab Goldmonster 1000. Mainly because I am not a hard core metal detector person and wanted something I could run without a lot of setup and tweaking. I recently had mine out on dredge tailing and was pleasantly surprised at how it handled hot rocks, which are plentiful here. To me, hot rocks are one of the main detriments to detecting where I go.

Another thing I noticed and practiced. You have to swing slower than you usually want to, to allow the detector to figure out what it is seeing. When you get a signal, slow down the swing over the signal and if it's a hot rock, usually it will drop the signal out.

So far, I've only found trash, but small stuff like bullets and .22 casings.

My dealer has told me that I can either sell or trade in the GM 1000 if I'm ready for a Goldmaster 24K, but I'm waiting to get more experience on the Gold Monster.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

RE:

My dealer has told me that I can either sell or trade in the GM 1000 if I'm ready for a Goldmaster 24K, but I'm waiting to get more experience on the Gold Monster.

Glad your enjoying the GM1000, it's a great machine and many people here love it!
I'm a 24K guy and am very happy with it's performance.

As your dealer knows and should have told you- the GM100 and 24K are VLF's, but very different machines marking it not a real smooth "Step-up" process... actually it's a waste of money to do this as a "step-up" purchase. I don't see anything wrong with owning both. They are fine, but very different machines... just not seeing the value in trying to justify the 24K as a step-up purchase only after you master the GM1000. You're going to have to learn a new machine... time and effort wasting in that case.

Here's the lowdown:
1. GM1000 Is a turn on and go machine designed for slave-workers in huge rip mining, plow field projects that required ZERO intelligence, and where 50 of these guys would be following the plow in a staggered fashion. Simply turn it on and go! It was not designed for one guy to scrutinize 10 safe for on hour. No, it was designed for 50 guys to cover a football field in one hour. That same area would be covered over and over by the guys behind you as you follow the ripper plow. You don't setup to sample, you call for sample, mark the spot and keep swinging ... That's its design concept and role... super easy KISS functionality.

NUGGETSHOOTER and his girlfriend use the GM1000 on tailings and dump piles and have had great success.

2. The 24K is sophisticated and provides many user options for more complex soil or mineral situations and works great in group prospecting. It also has excellent turn on and go capability right out of the box.

I like the 24K because of the robust use functionality it provides me if needed or desired.

I wanted a 24k but circumstances led me to get the GM1000. I am not at all disappointed with that, my research told me that both the GM and the 24k are excellent nugget detectors. If you already own one of them I would look into getting a PI before investing into another VLF for nugget shooting.

RE:

both the GM and the 24k are excellent nugget detectors. If you already own one of them I would look into getting a PI before investing into another VLF for nugget shooting.

That's a good idea as well. Even a basic beach PI will offer additional detecting opportunities in mineralized ground the VLF's can't handle.

One major thing I like about the beach PI models is the ability to work in harsh weather environments and if course near our in the water and not worry about skipping and dropping the unit in the water and killing it.

Maybe I'm more clumsy than most (probably am) and very much appreciate a water proof-ish detector, If there's water around, at some point in the search my A$$ is going to slip and fall in.

Having a beach model saves me from constant worry about getting the unit wet.

I have a GM1000 and I like it. The GM1000 is definitely a very sensitive machine. I have been able to find super super tiny pickers with it that I don't think most detectors could possibly find. The only problem I am having is trying to find the right lvl of sensitivity to use with it on the river banks and bedrock I am swinging it over... lots of hot rocks and pockets of iron sand.

Brandon,
Definitely need to go slow in ground with hot rocks. Hot rocks I have encountered here usually have a lower tone than targets (not always), and can many times be balanced out by either pumping the coil or swinging extra slow over the spot.

If you haven't already, go to nuggetshooter.com and watch Bill's videos on the GM 1000.

Wayne

Mineralization is a nugget shooting VLF's kryptonite, it is why I got a PI. While the PI is not nearly as sensitive to really small gold, it in my opinion is well worth the trade of not digging hot/cold rocks and ghost target signals all day. My son and went to a couple of different areas last year that his GBII was basically unusable at. What I mean by that is by the time the machine is adjusted to handle the soil decently, it won't see his test gold at all. The PI handled these areas easily.