Had a go with the worlds cheapest detector

[Twapster]

Just thought of a great idea: a spot on this website where fellow prospectors can tell you what gear they have that they will either lend or rent to other prospectors for a weekend. It sits there in the garage for most months so why not have a prospector borrow it? Good way to meet people that live near you and also prospect. Newbies could try out prospecting gear and get hints from a more seasoned bloke who has lots of old gold gear lying around in the shed. This website gets a commission on sales so it can maintain the service. I'm brilliant!!

Peter

 

[loamer]

Interesting theory - do a trial on lending out your gear and give us some feedback.

 

[Twapster]

I sense that some of you may think the gear will be lent and destroyed or not returned! Could be true. Would be good if that wasn't the case but yes, a big possibility Loamer. I'm imagining 2 big burly blokes rocking up to my joint as asking for that highbanker I said was up for lend - 3 months later and still no gear returned, I wouldnt be giving good feedback if that happened. having said that I thought us prospectors were a different breed?

Peter

 

[MYSPOT]

Hello Twapster,

My hair stands up when I type out some of these user names.

If you want a machine but cannot pay for a PI ( GPX series ) detector, have a look at the Minelab X-Terra 705 Gold pack.
Its a great coin relic machine at has the function for prospecting mode, very easy to use and great on trashy sites.
Check it out on youtube.
They cost about $950.00 from the miners den mitcham Victoria.

Cheers

 

[Twapster]

Thanks MYSPOT, but im after a gold machine not a relic hunter. X-Terra falls too short on Gold which is a real shame because its so good on other things.

Peter

 

[Philski]

I think, Get the best detector you can afford, with best bang for your buck, that will perform the jobs you plan to do. And, importantly, one you feel comfortable with and are confident with.

It does not need to be expensive. My kids have a handheld they scrub the playground with and find money. bless em.
cost $20 delivered on ebay. it will pick up gram size (planted) gold at an inch or two. But there are many areas with exposed bedrock and gold just an inch away right across Australia. It only needs to go beep.

We use a gpx 5000 in conjunction with an x terra 70. The 5000 to locate it. And the x terra to identify it.
i cant praise the x terras enough. add a 6 inch 18.75 coil on the x terra and you wont even need to buy a pinpointer.

i have seen a Garrett doing outstanding on Gold Sovs and Whites picking up more than anything. I have not used all brands or models so sharing what you guys think for someone starting out on a budget is great. If you want to be semi serious any of the SD range are a really good start. You can get them for $1000-$1500 mostly.

They still work well, and they are the first Pi machines that started getting the bigger deeper nuggets again in the 1980's. they just dont have all the bells and whistles.

i dont know the NSW Gold fields that well. But basically all the gold is West of or on, the Great Dividing Range. Everything east of it is sedimentary, sandstone, limestone, mudstone etc as far south as batemans bay. Then it starts getting into gold country again. There would be some tertiary alluvium i would imagine east of it. but the majority is west.

 

[Twapster]

Yeah Ive got the Xterra 70 with 6 inch dd coil, it needs to be mentioned that it wont find gold past about 3-4 inches which is a bit of a bummer if ur a newbie, you expect a min of 6 inches I would think on a standard coil. My advice on Sydney golders would be up towards (west of) mudgee areas... and down past Oberon, Braidwood, Crookwell etc as far as I can tell. All about 2-4 hrs from Sydney. You could have a lot of fun doing a down south expedition to South Coast and hit a western road at some point to take you in to gold country. I think that's the area with the most untouched gold as access is harder, and areas are less hyped compared to Hill End and Sofala.

There is no "one size fits all" detector, in my opinion...are you after gold or relics? If u want gold u need a special machine, just as a relic hunter wants a relic machine. Just so happens Relic machines are a lot more affordable... they say they find gold but so can a 2 year old falling over a sunbaker. Its like playing Keno as a form of income. Mostly unsuccessful.

Don't buy the best detector you can afford, buy the detector that detects what you are looking for. If the best I can afford will not do what I need it (ie find gold at 4 inches) to do.......then I should not be purchasing!

Peter

 

[Twapster]

No disrespect intended on anyones views, just I have formed the view that there are only a handful of detectors currently on the market that seem to get a good wrap, and the cheaper you go they seem to slide off the scale very quickly. So if you want a gold detector everyone keeps telling me my options are limited to a handful of machines. I want to inform this to new prospectors that are considering detecting gold.....what I have learned in research.

Peter

 

[Philski]

im not offended, just sorry you miss read it. I recommended the Pulse Inductive Super detector range for the budget he has. "If you want to be semi serious any of the SD range are a really good start. You can get them for $1000-$1500 mostly."

And the x terra i would put up against any VLF any day of the week.

Im not trying to make things up or second guess or put anyone on the wrong track. I come from a mining and prospecting family. 5th generation. At the moment i'm studying a bachelor of Science majoring in Geology at Murdoch University. And, in my spare time i write about our States mining history! And sometimes i offer occasional honest advice on forums like this, if i think it will help someone. I also prospect full time. My job.

What machine do you recommend Peter? if you dont like the machine your using?

 

[Wintersnake]

For gold only on a budget, south of $1.5k.
Your options are an ML SD or Whites GMT or sometimes a TDI will pop up at a good price.

As reported time and time again the SD will find 0.5gm the GMT will find smaller than 0.5gm.

Save your coin and get a ML PI.

 

[Twapster]

Hey Philski, was just worried that someone might get agro on my comments, you know how some forums can get ugly when all we are trying to do is learn and impart learned info. Some of the learned info is wrong and I for one like to have any of my misconceptions straightened out. Ive actually got no idea of which detector to purchase because of this issue. The big guns all point mainly to GPX machines to find gold. Really annoying that there aren't standard field depth tests on say 1gram, 1 ounce etc with standard coil as part of the selling point.

My own test on the xterra 70 was really disappointing on a half grammer - 3inches air swing max with dd coil. Made me really skeptical on "gold detectors". Previously id been told my machine could find gold- that test goes against that theory in my eyes.

I don't have any bigger nuggets but do have access to a 100g gold bar. I'm hoping the owner will let me depth test that on my machine. Wish there were more youtube vids on gold depth testing at different size specimens.

Id like to put it out there, what machine will find a 1/2 gram nugget at 6 inches minimum, and also on same settings and same coil find a 1 oz nugget at 12 inches minimum.

Id be happy to purchase that sort of machine.

Peter

 

[loamer]

Id like to put it out there, what machine will find a 1/2 gram nugget at 6 inches minimum, and also on same settings and same coil find a 1 oz nugget at 12 inches minimum.

Id be happy to purchase that sort of machine.

Peter

I would consider those pretty standard specs. In my experience, an old 2200 with an 11" DD plus about any another PI detector, and that means not just Minelab. I have also seen the old 2200 beat the 5000 hands-down while running big coils on detecting gold at depth. The 5000 however, won on an overall contest. Its horses for courses. I think the more successful prospectors tend to mix around their coils and settings during the course of a day. I run big coils some days knowing full well I am missing smaller gold because I know historically the area had big deeper gold. On a similar note, I run smaller coils for the same reason - smaller shallow gold.

The Xterra 70 - I highly rate it as a companion detector for my 4500. It is superb on clear mullock and quartz species but i have said this many times - VLFs are handful to use on highly mineralised ground. they have to be dumbed down with their sensitivity or run them in coin hunting mode to shut them up. When running an Xterra 70 on 30 sensitivity on hot ground or hot mullock heaps (yes, there are 95% of all mullock heaps that are considered 'hot'.) even i have trouble picking out the noises from targets - next to useless BUT I have been running PIs for a while and now used to the relative quiet. I do know of at least one bloke in Victoria who scored on a multi-ounce throw out with and Xetrra 70 - day in day out he just kept detecting through all the crxp and ferrous junk and pinged a ripper which I have seen.

 

[Twapster]

That's a cool story and gives me hope!

Peter

 

[Twapster]

I'm also thinking SD or the new ATX is the go. Does anyone think the ATX will hold up?

Peter

 

[Nugget]

Let's keep it on topic guys, the original question was regarding the best possible detector on a $1100 budget.

 

[Outback]

Let's keep it on topic guys, the original question was regarding the best possible detector on a $1100 budget.

Nugget I don't think that was the original question , maybe I've missed the plot ? :8

 

[Twapster]

yes I get that, so my message to a newbie is $1100, while a lot of money, if you are serious about having a good crack at gold hunting may be on the light side and might be an opportunity to sit back for a little while longer, possibly rent a detector first.

Peter

 

[Vorseth]

yes I get that, so my message to a newbie is $1100, while a lot of money, if you are serious about having a good crack at gold hunting may be on the light side and might be an opportunity to sit back for a little while longer, possibly rent a detector first.

Peter

Hey mate, im going to sit on the money for a while untill i have more, thanks for helping out, Just a note, i've called around recently looking to rent a detector and apparently, someone managed to get fake ID, credit card ETC, and has "rented" all of the machines they could find in NSW and then stole all the detectors, the guy i spoke to had most of his high end detectors stolen by this person with the fake ID and CC. He told me that you wont be able to rent detectors from now on unless the shop knows you well and trusts you.. He had his gold bugs, GPX models and Eureka golds stolen. as did another shop i called.

So renting isn't going to be an option, ill just have to start panning somewhere to help me save

Cheers

Jace.

 

[Nugget]

Let's keep it on topic guys, the original question was regarding the best possible detector on a $1100 budget.

Nugget I don't think that was the original question , maybe I've missed the plot ? :8

See below

Also i'm going to buy a EUREKA Gold soon i think, I can't afford a PI model as even the second hand ones are like $2000.. which im working with about $1100 max.

Anyone got a cheapy hanging around they wana do at a good price for an obsessed newbie?

My point is, lets not turn this into a "if you don't pay top dollar, then you're not serious about detecting" discussion.

Not everyone can justify spending $6000+ on a top of the line detector, and for all intended purposes a sub $1100 detector should more than satisfy a newbies needs while they're getting the feel of the hobby and deciding whether or not it's for them. Buying a cheaper alternative now will also assist in learning detecting fundamentals as they save for a premium model.

Edit: Some slight rewording of my post

 

[Pro dude]

Ok,sticking with the topic.......
I guess some of the better buys are `the right place at the right time` scenarios. Recently,a bloke I know offloaded his SD2200d for $700 !! Thats right,gave it away
If you buy from a dealer,expect a slight mark-up over normal retail prices.
From e-bay you could pay under $1100 for a SD 2100. Coupled with a Coiltek 10 x 5 Joey mono you will out preform an Xterra on gold anyday of the week. You could also pick up a GP extreme for a couple of hundred more off e-bay,and there is no chance that these would be Chinese copies.

Not wanting to start a gold rush to western sydney.......shhhhhhh
I have seen blokes Sluicing at Yarramundi of a night....and have spoken with a young fella who got kicked out of the quarries behind Penrith regatta center for sluicing. He had got a matchbox full over a few weeks before he got caught.
The source of this gold is through the Cox`s river,that enters the back of warragamba dam,which used to flow unimpeaded down to the Nepean.
There is also historic records of a alluvial lease in Kellyville,which for 2 brothers produced payable gold.