Golden Triangle Detecting (Avoca)

[nucopia]

If you are on the road full time you are bound to visit different places where your X Terra Pro and a gold detector such as an SDC 2300 would come in handy... X Terra would be good on Beaches and parks for coins and old race courses and abandoned areas for relics and pre decimal coins. Then you would have something like the SDC 2300 for all the gold fields scattered all over the country..

 

[Coiltothesoil]

Alright, all sounds like a plan now… the missus and I don’t have too much disposable income at the moment being on the road so I’ll have to pick up some work at some point to pay for one. Can’t wait to get my hands on one though

 

[wiley coyote]

What sort of work do you do?

 

[Coiltothesoil]

What sort of work do you do?

Wall and Ceiling fixer by trade but am fairly willing to do anything been travelling for a while now so have picked up some fairly random jobs along the way. Have done a heap of renovating so ‘handyman’ would cover it well I guess.

 

[Hawkear]

Good to hear you are happy to still do a bit of work while travelling.
Lots of Vinyards in the Pyrenees goldfields areas. Avoca, Warrenmang, Redbank, Moonambel. Harvesting time just around the corner so could be some odd job or harvesting work available there.
Had my detector stolen from my car once and a bit of harvesting work on the grapes and tomatoes help me buy another (and better) one.
Maybe worth a bit of drive to check them all out to ask around.
Work is like gold it never finds you.

 

[Coiltothesoil]

Oh yeah I agree with the ‘work never finds you’… I’ll be on the lookout plus the missus is on a few Facebook pages for work around Aus so I’ll keep an eye out there.
I might have to bite the bullet and pre empt the work and fork out for a new bit of kit now as I mean I am in the area so I can detect now and work later
I can’t help myself though I’m back out in the bush now in Avoca having a crack anyway. The ground must have dried out a bit and I’m not getting much random feedback. Found a bottle cap and a hot rock so far this morning so for me this early on in the hobby it’s still enjoyable being out in the bush and not finding the yellow stuff

 

[Marwick]

I agree with grubstake.
I started with a Gold Monster and found nothing but rubbish for 3 years.
Got myself a 2300 and found gold on my first go and have found gold with it regularly.

 

[Coiltothesoil]

I agree with grubstake.
I started with a Gold Monster and found nothing but rubbish for 3 years.
Got myself a 2300 and found gold on my first go and have found gold with it regularly.

Scary the thought of spending the $4500 but from what I’ve been reading it’s well worth it
Scary when just starting out I mean… I’ve spent many dollars fishing including boats so it makes sense to invest in the hobby.

 

[Marwick]

Yeah.
I know what you mean.
I sold my tinny to fund it.
Didn't use it much, but using my detector a lot.

 

[grubstake]

Scary the thought of spending the $4500 but from what I’ve been reading it’s well worth it
Scary when just starting out I mean… I’ve spent many dollars fishing including boats so it makes sense to invest in the hobby.

That's why I recommend hiring one initially. It's a cheap way to dip your toe in the water. After a few days detecting with it, you can make a confident decision one way or the other. And if you use it carefully and slowly during those days, the hire detector may well pay for its hire costs!

 

[Coiltothesoil]

Yeah I had a look at the Maryborough Coiltek and it’s only $60 a day so I’ll have a crack with that I reckon. Just need to map out where we are heading and come up with a plan on what days I’ll get the most out of it

 

[nucopia]

Keep an eye out on the forum Classifieds for second hand mine lab detectors you can often find some pretty good deals on SDC 2300 and GPX 4500

 

[Hawkear]

Seen them on Marketplace second hand from $2600 with some accessories. They are pretty bombproof and in my view a tier 1 gold detector. My view of rating a detector as tier 1 is anything that actually finds gold consistently and gives you the confidence that each time you use it, it will not miss any gold within its design objectives.
Buying a tier 1 detector secondhand cuts the financial risk because they retain value if you ever want to sell or upgrade.
If you bought a secondhand 2300 and six months down the track wanted to resell it, how much is there to lose? Maybe $200-$300 max depending on your negotiating skills. Thats about the value of 2 grams of gold. Less able to be valued is the enjoyment and confidence in using a machine that will find you gold if it is there.
If you are hanging around the GT for some time, I'd recommend go for it. Don't die wondering.

 

[Coiltothesoil]

Yeah mate my thinking also. I saw one in cashiers there for 3k, I can probably haggle that one cos I bet they only paid 2k or less for it. Miners den have a couple with some accessories… there’s one with a couple different coils at the miners den, is it worth the extra couple hundred for the ones they have with that kit?

• 8" Minelab Mono Coil
• 10" x 5" Coiltek Mono Coil

Also looks like I might have picked up some work at a guys house in Maryborough, met him at the free camp here in Avoca

 

[grubstake]

Yeah mate my thinking also. I saw one in cashiers there for 3k, I can probably haggle that one cos I bet they only paid 2k or less for it. Miners den have a couple with some accessories… there’s one with a couple different coils at the miners den, is it worth the extra couple hundred for the ones they have with that kit?

• 8" Minelab Mono Coil
• 10" x 5" Coiltek Mono Coil

Assuming you mean Cash Converters, you should easily get a $3K SDC for no more than $2.5K - I watched a mate do just that with a GPX5000 in Cashies Fremantle a couple of months back. They need turnover to keep their shop doors open and they'll certainly come down a lot if they sniff a serious chance to sell an item that's just sitting around in a display case. They'll also usually give you a 90 warranty, which is fair enough because they won't have had the skills to test it thoroughly before selling it.

 

[Coiltothesoil]

Assuming you mean Cash Converters, you should easily get a $3K SDC for no more than $2.5K - I watched a mate do just that with a GPX5000 in Cashies Fremantle a couple of months back. They need turnover to keep shop their doors open and they'll certainly come down a lot if they sniff a serious chance to sell an item that's just sitting around in a display case. They'll also usually give you a 90 warranty, which is fair enough because they won't have had the skills to test it thoroughly before selling it.

Haha yeah Cashies* autocorrect got me there. But yes I am Dutch (the good kind) so if I haven’t haggled I haven’t done my ancestors proud