My question is how does a 4500 being used by an experienced operator compare with a 6000?
Just as good if not slightly better on larger chunky gold. Won't touch the 6 on very small bits.
Finance doesn't allow me to update so have to make the most of what I have. Does signal enhancement and coils with flat windings make an improvement? Having a good audio set-up definitely helps to hear those really iffy threshold variations, and flat wound coils increase sensitivity, as long as ground mineralisation doesn't work against you.
Agree with Phase tech on those.
Detecting in WA also requires coverage of large tracts of ground, and you need to be able to cover those tracts for long periods without tiredness creeping in to spoil your technique and concentration. When that happens, you lose the ability to pick up on targets that possibly other operators before you may have missed.
Before spending big bucks on mods, I'd suggest looking at something like a 12" Nugget Finder Evo.
This would be a coil size which would still be easy to swing for long periods. Also being a flat wound coil and slightly larger than Minelab's standard 11" size you could expect improved depth and also an edge in sensitivity too.
Before you go also make sure that whatever you take, you have the utmost confidence in your detector, the settings you run, the coil you have on, and your technique to hear and recognise a genuine target at a reasonable depth. So go out and do some tests to ensure that if your coil is passed over a nugget of a given size you will hear it at a satisfying depth. It will be much the same over in WA.
Lack of confidence can be a killer.
When I bought a machine, I think it was even a 4500, I attended a training day in Talbot, Vic. After we had all returned for lunch, the instructor told us that he had planted a very small nugget close to our lunch area. Some of the more experienced of us had already found nuggets and the instructor picked on someone who had been having some doubts in his ability to identify a real target with the 4500. After checking the guy's settings (close to factory I think) the trainer told him that if he could find the nugget, he could keep it. We all sat back and watched this person detect the area, the difference in his technique was profound, and he found it easily.
Best lesson I ever had about detecting by just watching.
