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

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Well 90% is close enough to 100%. And used on Victorian goldfields.
So here are my main points on each of them after using all the Vlf's you've mentioned on both hot and dead quiet ground in Victoria. Although you've excluded the best one, I'll mention it anyway.

Gold Bug 11:

3 coil choice of 10x5, 6x4 and 14", all elliptical.
The very high frequency of 70khz alone makes it very shallow searching, unless a larger deeper piece on quiet ground sends it off.
They are beautiful to work over dead quiet ground and on both reef mullock and mullock heaps in general, and scream on tiny pieces of gold.
They are 5/8ths useless on hot ground. See below in the bracketed paragraphs.

Fisher F75ltd:

Around 13khz. Good coil choice.
Much better than I thought they'd be. Really nice to use on dead quiet ground.
Cannot handle hot ground, it upsets them to no end, but due to the lower frequency compared to the higher frequency units they do a bit better at it.
They run a touch better with a big drop in gain. I use that American term for sensitivity simply because you won't Gain much at all dropping the sensitivity so low to be able to run on hot ground. A ridiculously high gain was placed in them.
So overpriced at $1600 It's a mockery though.
See below bracketed paragraphs.

Whites GMT:

50khz, good coil choice for them. Again, great to use on dead quiet ground. Hot ground upsets them.
See below bracketed paragraphs.

Garrett AT Gold:

So much could have been done with this unit, but they just went backwards again. This is not 1985.
See below bracketed paragraphs.

Infinium:

Shocking coil choice, along with shockingly bad coils.
The most badly designed detector made to date, and to think it's still in production, is to me anyway, quite unbelievable.
You must remember, that while it began and still is being marketed as an all rounder with a dive depth of a couple of hundred feet and a new beaut reverse discrimination, they were also marketed here as a full on Gold Detecting unit that could handle hot ground, getting 2 to 3 times the depth of a 'typical Vlf'.
Truth is they weren't as deep as a Minelab gold Vlf run with a big coil in the correct frequency over hot ground, or as sensitive.

*(Welcome to the bracketed area.
This is a place where we can secretly chat about why Whites, Garrett, Tesoro and Fisher haven't bothered to produce a usable gold detector over hot ground. And not just here in Australia either, plenty of bad little patches of hot ground on the goldfields in the States as well.
The engineers that design these detectors are dinosaurs of the industry. Not only can't they come up with step forward in regards to improvement of the units, they can't even keep up with the times.
They are still producing 1980's models of detectors, as that is where they are still stuck in regards to R and D.
Even when designing digital units, they use the same 1980's outlook on Ground Balance, the all important Threshold, and Tone.
They only thing they seem to place any futuristic importance on is a ridiculously silly Boost of Sensitivity.

There are reasons why the AT gold, GMT, Gold Bug's and F75's cannot handle hotter ground. They are designed with really bad Ground Balance and correlation between Balance and Threshold.
There is no way you can work, tweak, operate correctly, tune or whatever words you'd like to use, to get these units to be able to detect deep over hot ground to detect gold.
Why?
Because the designers cannot even match the Ground Balance to Threshold correlation of a Minelab 15000, and they were produced way back in 1984, nearly 30 years ago!

The Minelab Vlf's, like the current Eureka Gold and XTerra's, can handle that hotter ground when operated correctly, simply because the designers of these units are ahead of the times and built them to do just that.

You think I'm a Minelab lover and like to bash other detectors?

The SD's and GP's have been so overpriced since their inception, that I still can't believe we bought them. And there's been a few dud models that were badly designed amoung both Minelab Vlf and PI range.

The promise of quietness over the hottest ground, three times the depth, deeper than the previous model ect.
I'm still taking a pre-set ground balance Vlf detector to places that are just too noisy for my GPX!

And I'd much rather buy a brand new Vlf, set it up and work it correctly, than buy a 17 year old SD that's had more owners than I've had socks, and has rusted electronics and screws that nobody can fix)*
 
Cheers for that Argyle, it just gives me a bit more confidence in my 705 even though I have found a .23 gram nug on a mullock heap with it and a 1835 sixpence. Have had it for over 12 months now and still learning how to tweak it to the best of its ability. Great hobby this and will always be learning me thinks :lol:
 
I have the SD 2100
For just a wee bit over $1000 you get a cracker of a machine
DD knows what ive found and there are pics on here too.
From .26 right up to 5.8 grams.
Deep and shallow, chunky and Flat.
Do ya wallet a favour and get a machine suited
to the ground you will be working on :)
KoD
 
thanks argyle, and everyone else. always learning something new about this every night as i research prospecting with detectors further.
 
1376493923_image.jpg


NOT BAD FOR A 17 yr OLD SD THATS HAD MORE OWNERS THAN YA SOCKS BLOKE :)
And the ground was hot, maybe its the rusty screws that makes it so good.
 
argyle said:
Whites GMT:

50khz, good coil choice for them. Again, great to use on dead quiet ground. Hot ground upsets them.
See below bracketed paragraphs.

The Minelab Vlf's, like the current Eureka Gold and XTerra's, can handle that hotter ground when operated correctly, simply because the designers of these units are ahead of the times and built them to do just that.

You think I'm a Minelab lover and like to bash other detectors?

And I'd much rather buy a brand new Vlf, set it up and work it correctly, than buy a 17 year old SD that's had more owners than I've had socks, and has rusted electronics and screws that nobody can fix

1. GMT - Hot ground can & does upset them but as you say with the Minelab VLF's - when operated correctly they can handle hot/noisy ground. I have detected some very small nuggets, down to 0.06gram in noisy ground, you need to learn your machine & its sounds. In saying that I have been on ground that unless you walked over something big it would be hard to hear the smaller stuff - need to be very tuned in with the sounds there.
Bet some AT Gold users would dispute bad reports on them too - there are some good results with them posted on here as well as claims they can handle the hotter ground with the correct set up.

2. Yes I do think your a Minelab lover. Most detectorists are & your pro Minelab VLF posts give you away.
I love the Minelab's too but I am also interested in how people do with other machines, some of which appear to get good results.

3. I have seen bad reports on the Minelab VLF's also, including the 2 you promote as the bees knees + the newer CTX3030, but have had a suspicion that these reports may be due to the operator especially with the high tech 3030 probably having a fairly steep learning curve (even more so for new detectorists).

4. Lots of people still get good runs on the board with the old rusty SD's. Must be something good about them.

I think the bottom line is, regardless on what you decide & what your budget allows, that you need to learn your machine inside out & use it to its positives. I think a lot of people pick up a detector & expect gold to jump out of the ground straight away.
Minelab PI,s old or new have the runs on the board with gold. I'm yet to have success with my old rusty SD but have only been out twice which was more to try it out & found it very easy to use. In saying that the VLF's have a place too & can excel on mullock heaps, chasing specimen gold, crevices & shallow ground with very small bits that a PI machine may miss.
 
I am in the market for a detector.

Looking for a decent PI from 1.5k anywhere up to 3.5k. I am looking for something that won't have a problem picking up a decent size nugget and still has the capabilities to pick up the smaller ones that say "your getting warmer".

If you see a decent one online or you have an idea where I should go (in a nice way) then a post or PM would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Otis :)
 
Thanks DD

I have had an eye on that GPX on the Forum but its at the top top end range of my budget and it looks like he has come down as far as he can.

I will have a see if I can find any of the shops second hand detectors online.

Do you think the older minelab models will cut it? I have had my eye on a 2200v2 and also the 2200d
 
spottedgum said:
Thanks DD

I have had an eye on that GPX on the Forum but its at the top top end range of my budget and it looks like he has come down as far as he can.

I will have a see if I can find any of the shops second hand detectors online.

Do you think the older minelab models will cut it? I have had my eye on a 2200v2 and also the 2200d

Either is good and will most definitely 'find' gold . I still use the old brown box 2200D with large DD coils in conjunction with my 4500. They are both simple to use. There are some mods about for them, auto ground balance etc. There are a few forum members still running the 2200 series with good results. If I was just starting out with a budget - these are what I would aim for, and if possible maybe a 3500 but price is an issue I guess. They run very well with the standard 11" DD. The discriminator gets a wee bit of a bad press, as it was/is thought they may discriminate out gold. I only ever run the discriminator on really trashy ground. I very rarely ever had to change settings and the continued ground balancing gets second nature as they are best run in fixed, all metal. The 2200v is probably the first of the better blue box detectors with a lot of 'current' in-built features.
 
loamer said:
spottedgum said:
Thanks DD

I have had an eye on that GPX on the Forum but its at the top top end range of my budget and it looks like he has come down as far as he can.

I will have a see if I can find any of the shops second hand detectors online.

Do you think the older minelab models will cut it? I have had my eye on a 2200v2 and also the 2200d

Either is good and will most definitely 'find' gold . I still use the old brown box 2200D with large DD coils in conjunction with my 4500. They are both simple to use. There are some mods about for them, auto ground balance etc. There are a few forum members still running the 2200 series with good results. If I was just starting out with a budget - these are what I would aim for, and if possible maybe a 3500 but price is an issue I guess. They run very well with the standard 11" DD. The discriminator gets a wee bit of a bad press, as it was/is thought they may discriminate out gold. I only ever run the discriminator on really trashy ground. I very rarely ever had to change settings and the continued ground balancing gets second nature as they are best run in fixed, all metal. The 2200v is probably the first of the better blue box detectors with a lot of 'current' in-built features.

As always, great info Loamer. I will definately have to keep an eye. On the other hand, if you see one that you think I would be interested in, send me a PM. Thanks
 
what can i say my eyes hurt from all the reading, and confusion well thats another story
after considering the cost of getting iinto this game, amount of time i can spend playing at the moment, and will i enjoy it as much as id like to ( spending 3k-6k is alot of money to turn around and sell it 2 years later ) and what i will use if for most, gold would be my main target, however i live 20 min from some of the best and most visited beach's in victoria, so u can see my problem, i like the idea of a water proof machine and using in salt water, ease of use for a beginner is always a plus
So after all the pros and cons of the different detectors im thinking of getting a x-terra 705 gold pack - the price seems good at the moment and as an all round unit seems to fit what im looking for
later if i enjoy prospecting i could up grade to a better detector, one with all the bells and whistle's after learning the skills to master it
people your thoughts would be appreciated

thank you
 
705 for beaches and parks would be fine. I still run its baby brother the 70 on very quiet mineralised areas in the central vic goldfields - clear mullock heaps/quartz dumps and the like. As an example, if I am detecting an old quartz reef I use the xterra 70 with a DD to ping little species (quartz and gold) that the 4500 would probably miss. i also use it mark trash on heaps (using the xterra's excellent discriminator) before I run a 4500 across the same ground with a mono coil (you can't use any discrimination settings with mono coils). they also have an excellent pinpointer/depth gauge which is handy if doing deep digging in quartz leads, also handy for checking any quartz lumps that get thrown up in digging. But as a stand-alone on the vic goldfields they can be a bit limited by ground noise due to the mineralisation. The more expensive pulse induction (PI) machines pretty well negate much of these noises (almost!). Some folk use the VLFs to great effect and have found a niche for themselves on the goldfields scooting around mullock heaps etc. Newer deeper ground is problematic due to a lack of sensitivity due to the electronic make-up of these VLF machines. For example, the sensitivity needs to be lower to cut out a lot of noises and thus a loss of depth. Some people detect in a several modes that get rid of any ferrous noises and just concentrate on non-ferrous signals. Unfortunately, the Xterras 'read' hot rocks (worthless rock) with a number sequence of - 8 (ferrous) and +48 (non ferrous) which can have you digging until you get used to it.

Pros: Light-weight and easy to use once you understand the settings and their various uses. Water resistant. Cross-over use from beaches/parks to certain areas of the goldfields. AA batteries. Sound with head phones is excellent - the speaker is a pain - who puts a speaker at the back of the box facing away from the user? Small ferrous objects (gold)is a most definite slight break in the threashold and will pull you up to have a look. They are also good in creek beds - can cut out the junk no problems and renowned for finding very small gold - great for cracks and crevices.

Cons: can get unstable in highly mineralised ground despite the DD and tracking. The Minelab american blurb about mineralised ground is not really for Victorian conditions - we have some of the worst ground in the world. the environmental cover is a pain - have to take off and remove coil leads to change batteries. Can only use the xterra range of DD coils which are actually not too bad and fairly sensitive to small stuff. You have to detect (on the goldfields) very slowly - standing still and a very slow sweep - I aim for anything up to 10 seconds, so ground coverage is poor.

Some of the 705 crew may be able to give you a steer but this is my two bobs worth. Overall - a good all-rounder and a great learning machine.
 
Not sure if it is something that would interest you but I am selling my Explorer SE. Would need to be a decent piece of gold to get on the goldfields but for beach and park work they are sensational. Have a read of the reviews and reports on them, still a very capable machine that is equal to the best machines out there today. I personally have dug florins and pennys with solid ID at 14". Looking for $750 for it. Only reason I am selling is I want to get a more gold oriented VLF machine, eg something like a Whites GMT or Fisher Gold Bug 2
 

Latest posts

Top