Detector Purchase Advice - Beach and relic

[Phantom]

What is considered the top equipment for beach and relic hunting these days. I assume the same detector would not be so good for gold, but, happy if there is one, with the big Minelab pricing.
What technology is best and reasons why?
Just think I would love to have one when away camping.

Any advice or links appreciated.

 

[HippyProspecting]

Take this with a grain of salt as I'm not a detectorist but people bang on about how good the equinox 800 are

 

[Ramjet]

Equinox 600 or 800 ate very popular. The 800 has some gold programs. The Xp Deus 2 is another good option though more expensive. Your budget? The detectors mentioned are multi frequency and waterproof. The Nox to 3 metres, Deus 2 to20 metres. There is also the Nokta Legend.

 

[Phantom]

Looks like I'm going to be doing some reading.

 

[Teemore]

If you just want to detect beaches then a good entry level is the xTerra ... a few coils around to enhance them (should be able to find some 2nd hand).
Currently the higher end Equinox series seem to be in favour, they can also be used in your search for gold.
Most VLF have some form of discrimination to help any decision to dig although it's always best to check regardless. The older CTX (3030) also seemed to be in favour, again may be able to find a 2nd hand unit.
Best option of course is to ge for the latest ML offering, the 6000 is just as good on beaches as it is on gold BUT comes with a hefty price tag.

 

[OzzieAu]

Do some research on the new Nokta Legend . Said to be the best value allrounder for the $$$

 

[Gold1hunter]

I own a GPZ7000 & an Equinox 800 the 7000 would be absolute rubbish in parks and beaches due to no discrimination & power lines so the most expensive can be amongst the worst.
I wouldn't bother with any machine that didn't have some discrimination for parks and beaches & that definitely includes the Minelab GPX 6000

The 800 is essentially the same as the 600 except it has supposedly gold settings and a personal preference button. Now that personal preference button is awesome as it can save you digging out thousands of twist tops. With the 600 you'll save a few hundred dollars and can reach the same conclusion on twist tops as the 800 but it's not as simple or quick as a personal button, so is the worth the extra cost? To me YES!
Forget looking for gold with the 800 it's rubbish, been there tried that, you'll walk over more than you'll find.

If you want to get out cheaply for parks and beaches the go find 66 is a good option. I was tossing up between that & the equinox and went the equinox because it had gold settings, had I tried one in the gold fields prior to purchase I would not own one now! But parks and beaches, I can't complain as it's what its good at.
Easter sale @ Anaconda
Equinox 600 $898 Waterproof
Equinox 800 $1098 Waterproof
Go find 66 $319 not Waterproof

You'll need a pin pointer too, get the minelab pro find 35 as it discriminates. Yes it's not the cheap one, JUST BUY IT!

All that said, one of the very best machines for parks, beaches and relics is the Minelab 3030 to the untrained eye it looks identical to the 7000. You would have to be dedicated and strong as it's heavy and expensive and also useless in the gold fields.

I can't comment on other brands or models as I have zero experience with them.
Do research quickly Anaconda sale is on now!

 

[Dog Ranger]

Good advice as above and you could also give Phase Technical a call for some honest unbiased professional advice/opinion. Many times when put into laymans terms. it all makes much more sense than reading the glossy sales brochure

 

[Phantom]

Thank you guys, really appreciate the effort out in to give me feedback, I will look at the 800. I also did some reading last night on the XP Deus 2 sounds impressive, but, again would need to hear from people who use it. Anyone using it for relic or gold???
The online reviews these days are hard to trust.
Regards Phantom

 

[PeterInSa]

Re (Forget looking for gold with the 800 it's rubbish, been there tried that, you'll walk over more than you'll find.)
Agree,
But I would not find any Gold with my 7000, because I would walk away after digging up my 20 th piece of rubbish in a Trashie area in the goldfields, like a lot of others, leaving gold behind. Have used the 800 in said areas but unless your partner/detecting friends have similar, they just sit in their vehicle/s ( with their 4500's/2300) and watch you, so you cut short your outing with the 800..

Note: about 10 years ago, I came across friends that I had not seen for sometime, way out North East of Leonora in rough country/rough track in, stopped to ask them about detecting in this trashie area ( that I had stopped at years prior) they informed me that had found 32 ozs in the area.

From memory I think the struck gold early on, ( B4 their 20th piece of rubbish?) so they preserved with the rubbish using their gold detectors.

 

[Phil8303]

Just my two cents; I own an SDC2300 and GM1000. Both have worked for me on the beach, but the SDC comes into its own when I hit the goldfields and use over hotrocks. Plus the SDC folds down into a (large) laptop size, so I can take it away when travelling for work. I hear good things about the 800 all the time, but have never used one.

 

[Dave79]

Equinox 800 with the 6" coil goes alright in the right kind of ground. I got all these out of 1 mullock heap after a mate found a bigger specie in it with his 4500.

 

[gdayjr]

I own a 7000 and took it to a local park. Literally hundreds of targets, so I gave up pretty quick.
I also want a beach and relic detector and settled on the 800 which I will buy at the Sydney Caravan show next week.

 

[hurr1cane]

i was under the impression the gpz 7000 was marketed as full metal discrimination , but its not at $9500 , pretty slack of them the engineers

 

[Gold1hunter]

I own a 7000 and took it to a local park. Literally hundreds of targets, so I gave up pretty quick.
I also want a beach and relic detector and settled on the 800 which I will buy at the Sydney Caravan show next week.

Mate! It's only $1098 at Anaconda during their Easter sale, it'll cost more at the caravan show - why wait?

 

[mbasko]

i remember the gpz 7000 was marketed as full metal discrimination , but its not at $9500 , pretty slack of them the engineers

GPZ in specs is stated as "Discrimination: All metal" which basically means it detects all metals - no discrimination as such.
I've never seen it marketed as having full metal discrimination other than the counterfeit/fake Chinese versions that make various unbelievable claims something like "separates metals & determines their depths easily making drilling easier"?? Good luck with those!
There was a lot of hype pre GPZ7000 release that the ZVT technology may allow VLF like discrimination but it has never come to fruition or been marketed as such as far as I know?
Some people discriminate out target signals based on pitch &/or tone but IMO you would easily miss gold doing that.

 

[Gold1hunter]

i was under the impression the gpz 7000 was marketed as full metal discrimination , but its not at $9500 , pretty slack of them the engineers

Zero discrimination or control on the Z it finds everything (one reason it's useless in parks and beaches) smallest Nugget so far is 0.06g it's one thing hearing things like that but another altogether finding it in the pile of diggings! Dig every target and you'll get all the gold that's there (9oz last year)
It also has wifi only (no Bluetooth) signal breaks all the time (very annoying) have converted mine to Bluetooth for my Clermont trip next week.
Discrimination isn't always a good thing as it'll hide good targets next to the rubbish. I always thought that the equinox 800 would find a $2 coin if it had a nail either side of it whilst using the discrimination. When doubt of my belief set in I tested the theory & guess what? The $2 didn't even register & that was on the surface! So when looking for $1 & $2 coins now I don't use the iron discrimination as I run all the numbers up to 19 on volume 1 and numbers 19-23 volume on high numbers above 23 about half volume. Now it finds everything but the coin numbers are loud, fair to say if I walk over a gold ring (number 13 same as a twist top) I'm not going to dig it but I'm only after $2 & $1 coins 50c coins number 17, 20c No16, 10c No10, none of them will I find, used to but can't be bothered with them.

 

[hurr1cane]

i was expecting same marketing verbal's as the sd2200 full metal discrimination setting

 

[Hawkear]

If you are considering a detector you have to make a clear choice between gold and beach/treasiure hunting. An each way bet will most likely leave you with an unsatisfactory choice for each.

 

[Phantom]

Thanks for all the advice guys, picked up a second hand Equinox 800, with a 6, 11 and 15" coils figured this is a good setup to start with.