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1st post, been lurking awhile...

shadowulf

New member
Hi all,
I've been lurking the boards for awhile trying to gleen as much knowledge and info as possible.
I've been trying to find a good machine for myself off-and-on for years. But the stars never seemed to line up for me on that.

I became interested in MDing when I was a kid, around 9 or 10. I had a cousin that had a whites machine that would let me poke around the campground with it on family camp-outs.
Several years later, I had a "entry level" bounty hunter that was great at finding junk. It was later "borrowed" and never returned.

Today, I live near and travel to several places that seem to be great for detecting. I've been trying to squirrel away enough money to a "good" machine.
My interest include prospecting, relic hunting and some coin&jewelry hunting. In that order.

I've been looking at the whites mxt the m6, the tesoro lobo, the minelab xterra 505 & 705 ( and the 70), and the Gold-bug Pro/G2.
According to the boards and ads, these all seem to fit the bill for what I'm interested in. But I would like some opinions of other machines that might fit my needs.

Also, would it be better to find a couple or more older machines to fit the niches.

I live in Northern Nevada, work near Rye Patch nugget grounds, and often travel through the sierras and western Oregon.

Can ya help a curious fella out?


Thanks
 
I would maybe go for an garrett 350, Whites xlt or Mxt. They are great machines.....I would personally go with the mxt. Lots of nice features and a proven treasure hunter. They rarely break down but if it does Whites is great on fixing for low cost. No one beats Whites on customer service.

Let me know if you have anymore questions

Welcome to a great hobby!
 
X2 on the White's service and recommendation. My vote is for the DFX with a variety of coils. A true transformer to different types of detectors and lots of available accessories. Welcome, GL and HH. Matt
 
Shadowulf,

Welcome to the forum. Being in nugget country and knowing your first love is for prospecting, MHO, I personally would buy a machine with a high(er) frequency. The Gold Bug Pro / G2 -19khz certainly "fits" what you are looking for and is very good for finding coins as well. The best part is you can find one of these machines (used) without breaking the bank.

I highly suggest you check out Steve Herschbach's guide to gold nugget detectors as he has enormous amounts of experience in this area of detecting.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?27,1773244

Best of luck! - Jim

shadowulf said:
Today, I live near and travel to several places that seem to be great for detecting. I've been trying to squirrel away enough money to a "good" machine.
My interest include prospecting, relic hunting and some coin&jewelry hunting. In that order.

I've been looking at the whites mxt the m6, the tesoro lobo, the minelab xterra 505 & 705 ( and the 70), and the Gold-bug Pro/G2.
According to the boards and ads, these all seem to fit the bill for what I'm interested in. But I would like some opinions of other machines that might fit my needs.

Also, would it be better to find a couple or more older machines to fit the niches.

I live in Northern Nevada, work near Rye Patch nugget grounds, and often travel through the sierras and western Oregon.

Can ya help a curious fella out?


Thanks
 
earthlypotluck said:
Shadowulf,


I highly suggest you check out Steve Herschbach's guide to gold nugget detectors as he has enormous amounts of experience in this area of detecting.

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?27,1773244

Best of luck! - Jim

I printed two copies of Steve's article, one for the house and one for my luchbox.
I was very interested in the MXT when it first came out. A local shop recommended it or a Tesoro Lobo SuperTraq for my intrests.
That was several years ago and I had often regretted not buying one then.
But I know there have been many "improvements" on the machines since then. And I figure I should ask which ones fit what I would like to do, so I can give them a try.

Thanks
 
Welcome.
I have the 705 and am very pleased with it. I have the 9", 6" and 10.5" coils all in the 7.5 frequency. I mainly hunt for relics and coins at old homesteads. This machine can turn into a gold prospecting machine simply with a coil change out. The gold coil, 18.75kz, 5x10, is the standard coil on the "gold pack". I still want this one.
I like it because I can completely change the way the machine runs with just a coil change. Just MHO.
 
The xterra 705 and the xterra 70 seem to be versital in that way. And I like the fact that they are lightwieght. Seems like one could swing it for a good portion of a day without getting "spaghetti arms".
It also seems like the major players got away from chest/hip mounting. I kinda like the idea of a chest/hip mount for walking desert washes and rock outcrops.

I guess I should say that I'm not limiting my choices to the machines I mentioned. Just that from what I've read, they seem to be the most likely machines. I am open to suggestions on others units that I may have not considered.
 
For the types of hunting you want to do, I'd go with the MXT Pro and my second choice would be the Gold Bug Pro or Teknetics G2. They all offer very good nugget capability and are excellent coin/jewelry detectors as well. The M6 is a great coin/jewelry detector but for nuggets not so much.
 
Thanks for all the input. Seem like I'm on the right track on what machine I should get.

As for the Whites MXT & DFX, my only concern with these are their weight. I have borrowed and rented whites machines in the past, and know them to be tanks for durrability. Unfortunatly, the can be heavy for long periods of use.

As for the Gold Bug Pro/ Tec G2, I've yet to hear or read of any major flaws. I like the screen and the ability to track "black sand" for setting up a drywasher or recirculating concentrator. I guess my only real concern is durability. I've been able to play around with a GBP in a store. But haven't been able to field test one.

And the Minelab X-Terra 705 & 70 seem to offer a comprimise between the MXT and the GBP. Good general purpose machime that doesn't weigh much. The only downside is the need of multiple coils and their price.

Looks like I'm looking at $500 to $800 for a new or newer machine. Maybe less if I get lucky on fleabay or craigslist.
Thanks again for your suggestions. Please post if anything else comes to mind that may fit my needs.
 
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