What's a good Gold Detector to start out with?

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Hi Aussteve,

If you wanted to go for a new pulse induction machine that is primarily to be used at the beach then a waterproof detector is the only way to go, its much to risky to take a non waterproof detector to the beach. Keep in mind much of the goodies are not on the shore but in the water and often in water that is a few feet deep, sometimes deeper. My personal choice would be the Garret Infinium LS. For your application the Whites GMT would be inadequate, its a great detector for small shallow gold in bedrock or crevices but in saltwater the 50Khz search frequency will limit its usability, so I'd give that one a miss.

I think the Infinium LS would also be a good beginners detector for the odd venture into the goldfields too, the more I think about it the infinium is a no brainer for what you want and for $2000 you could afford to buy two of them, or one and $1000 worth of beer :) Later on when your ready to go detecting in the goldfields then the GPX4500, GPX4800 or GPX5000 is the only way to go. The GP series are very very good, but the Minelabs took a quantum leap ahead with the GPX4500 and above. The GPX5000 is the gold standard (parden the pun) and I doubt we will see any detector better its performance now or anytime in the the near future.

Cheers and beers James
 
Keep in mind Aussteve that the whites PI oz series also comes with a waterproof coil as standard and uses all the NF ML and Coiltech coils, and if ever you go down the minelab track you will already have all the coils you'll need. Cheers Wal. :)
 
Hi Steve,
Re the GP Extreme, mate.....
Who ever told you the Extreme was a waste of time did not know jack I have to tell you.
I have a 4500 and a 5000, I also detect alongside a couple of people that run Extremes, and they find just as much as I do!!!
If the extreme had an Enhance function, mate... I would have one as well.
But then it would be called a 4500 :lol:
If you think the machine looks in good nick, get the sellers to let you hire it, swing over a few targets, if it works, you could do much worse.
Just my opinion however...
Hope it helps, and good luck, see you out there.
 
Hi all,

Steve, for my money, go the Extreme. I had one that I part traded for my 3500 (the 3500 is only marginely better) They are very simple to operate, and will find you gold :)

Jim & Kerrie
 
Hi There Everyone,

I'm looking to get a detector, and can see me spending around the $500-$1500 initially, happy to buy new or used, from Aus preferably but from the states if it means a better detector cheaper.

Ideally i would be looking for gold first, then jewelry, coins or relics etc

The areas that i can see myself searching in will be be creeks, both wet and dry, areas surrounding the creeks, beaches and possibly fully submerged in conjunction with a hookah unit.

Now i know that if i go fully submerged it limits the amount of units that i can use, so that could be be a secondary priority for the future unless the detector for that purpose can also be used now.

The areas that are close to me is heaps of virgin bushland, with a few locations that have had gold found in them before.

Couple of ancient valleys dead end valleys with a load of different sized creeks coming down from them some with water some without.

Most of the terrain is granite boulders, rocks, quartz etc, from little ones to the size of buses, and then theres the shore line and surrounding few beaches.

Can you guys offer any suggestions for a suitable unit??? i have had a look at some units so far, e.g. the garrett sea hunter, AT gold and Infinium, as well as the mine labs Excalibur and some others.

I have also read reviews of different units too.

But it appears that with my very limited knowledge its seems almost impossible for me to make a choice as i don't really know enough about prospecting in this fashion to start with.

So if you have sort of done what i would like to do in the sort of areas that i have described, i would love to hear your views,

Thanks in advance,

Matthew
 
Thank you Nugget,

I had actually already looked at that page prior to posting,...haha.

It didn't seem to answer my questions.

And i can imagine how difficult it is to get an answer to this type of question.

Where im located (Far NQ) there's not much chance of renting a machine, so that gets ruled out.

Ideally i would like to (If Possible) have a single machine that can do do underwater fresh and salt, and ground scanning because i live on a boat and when i sail i like to stop in remote places and yes occasionally drop something overboard that needs to be found.

From the types of machines that i have been reading about i'm not sure if a vlf or a pi is the better way to go?

If its going to be a strictly underwater machine that i should look for the Garrett sea hunter is a fair bit cheaper than the infinium and from the reviews that i have read the infinium supposedly still has a few bugs in it.

Alternatively there's a 10 year old White surf pro that is for sale used at present for a reasonable sum, but is it the right machine for my needs?

Should i get a light water proof type machine for the terrain that im trying to cover? (mostly wet and dry creeks and river to start with and also some of the local beaches, if so i have seen the AT Gold, and others like it.

Now i dont usually care for brands, so i dont care one way or the other what make the machine is but getting the best bang for my buck and the most usable machine for the type of terrain that i have access too.

Seems to be confusing for me,....and not sure if im helping make it easier,...hahaha

Matthew
 
I believe Garrett have ironed most of the bugs out over the years but I don't actually own one so can't comment for sure. I was looking into buying one late last year and did a whole heap of research on the machine, but was talked into buying the AT Gold from the guys at Garrett Australia given my specific requirements.

Hopefully someone that owns an Infinium will swing by to comment soon.
 
Thank you all so much for your valued input. After heaps of research, wed trawling & looking at what I will actually be using a MD for, which would more frequently be beaches, parks with occasional trips to gold fields, I have pretty well determined to go for an AT Garrett Pro; unless of course anyone can show good cause why not to?

Feel free to criticise & pull this decision apart but please give me substantive reasons not to go with this machine.

Cheers all.
 
I have an AT Pro, paid itself off in 7months, i bought a minelab CTX3030 great machine, especially when i am up to my waist in water, and its found me some fanatstic treasure and coins. I did have a GP Extreme back when they were new, i sold it due to breaking my neck, but it was a great machine. First day out i found a 27gram nugget and thought how easy is this, then found nothing for months :D . I just recently purchased an SD2200V2 thats hasnt had a lot of use and for not alot of cash, which i am refurbishing, so that i can also have a PI machine for when i am in the goldfields.

Yesterday i used both the CTX3030 and the AT Pro out near Castlemaine, they both found bits and pieces of coin and relic but for which machine came out on top? i am going to give it to the AT Pro on the day, it has a 12" NEL hunter coil on it that punches nice and deep.The old saying does apply, you have to walk over them to find them, and the machine is only as good as the operator.

The AT Pro is a great machine, and i think the best bang for your buck on the market, mine lives in the car and is ready to go at the drop of a hat.

Check out the Garrett Infinium a PI detector that just about does the lot and about $1200 new
 
Hello all

Please pick your brains re which detector I should think about buying with up to $500 to spend ,mainly on gold bearing ground .

Thanks Pete
 
With your budget being a limiting factor, here's a few (prospecting suitable) detectors to check out.

White's GMZ - around $500
Fisher Gold Bug - around $500
Tesoro Vaquero - shop around

If you can spare the extra cash you might be lucky enough to pick up a second hand Garrett AT Gold or Minelab X-TERRA 705 for around $600/ish.

Nugget.
 
Thanks Nugget
,I feel a bit of a dope when I read all the info on the forum but all the info available is a bit overwhelming.
Thanks again for your patience & reply

Pete
 
 
Hey Nugget,I got a new garret a/t for $600 new!

Tickled pink

Pete
 
Well I'm now in the market for a gold detector as soon as my tax money clears. What can you guys recommend without sounding like a broken record of newbie posts.
Budget will be just under 1k and will be used for MD when I'm not sluicing.

Also new or second hand? I was checking out the package deals for the xterra 705 on detect-A-Rodden or maybe the eureka.
How do these go? And what sort of price would I be looking at for a second hand setup?

Cheaper the better as I also need to get tyres for my 4by for a trip I'm planning over Xmas and maybe grab a mackirk sluice while shopping
 
G'day, for under a grand you would be better off getting the Garret AT gold. I have the eureka which is a good machine although I haven't found any gold with it yet. Jack Lange sells cheap detectors so he might be worth having a look at.
:) Mick
 
Looking at the Jack Lange website,
2 fall into my eye sight...

Fischer F5
And the "Jack Lange special" which claims to be built to Jack specs for under $300

y opinions on these 2 models?
 

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