Gold Hunting with the F4

[DrJoeprime]

I've got the BH 3300 right now with a 4" coil. Would like to upgrade to a F4. Anyone with experience picking up gold with it?

I know of a few likely spots to try out. Would my 3300 be a waste of time?

 

[Idaho-Marke]

Hello,

I can't speak to the F4 question, but I will say that I had an entry level BH and the problem I had was hot rocks. Heck, I was pretty green then and thought I'd hit pay dirt until I couldn't find any gold.

Whether using your BH 3300 will be useful or not I can't say, but if you find you are getting a lot of hits and not much gold, it's time to invest in a new machine. I bought an MXT and it made all the difference in the world. I don't get lots of false hits anymore with the DD coil, in fact I don't get any hits at all, but the thing of it is... is when I do get a good hit, the chance that there might be actually real gold under my coil is much higher.

Long story short... if you are going to walk the ground, get yourself a machine that will give you the best opportunity to succeed; a gold machine or one with a prospecting mode.

I don't recall if the F4 was made for gold fields or not. My new F75 is made for the gold fields and the bonus is it's a LIGHT great coin machine also (or vise versa) which I do a heck of a lot more than visit gold fields.

Hope this helps. Good luck and happy hunting. Hope someone can answer your F4 and BH questions.

Marke

 

[BarnacleBill]

The two detectors you mention are just not the right tools to increase your chances. A used MXT or X-Terra 70 will put you leagues ahead of what you are considering. The F75 as of yet has not really been reported as being successful in the gold fields, and the price point is way above what a used MXT or X-Terra 70 would cost. You should be able to find either used at a price close to the F4 new.

But the most important decision you can make is to find somebody who knows how to prospect and is willing to let you tag along. Pay for their gas, beer, meals whatever, that is money that will be more wisely invested than any mega-bucks detector you could buy.

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Bobbylikesgold]

[quote BarnacleBill]The two detectors you mention are just not the right tools to increase your chances. A used MXT or X-Terra 70 will put you leagues ahead of what you are considering. The F75 as of yet has not really been reported as being successful in the gold fields, and the price point is way above what a used MXT or X-Terra 70 would cost. You should be able to find either used at a price close to the F4 new.


HH
BarnacleBill[/quote]

Hi Bill, just like to comment on the X-Terra 70, I got to test one of these units using the prospecting coil it was set up right, GB etc.

Now at the time I was considering buying it, but found the depth on my mineralised ground so poor I had to pass, the gold I would be seeking is in the same ground .

Bobby.

 

[DrJoeprime]

Thanks for your advice...Appreciate the comments.

I am into coin/ring hunting at the beach 90% with the idea of occasional trips for nuggets (and thinking of meteorites too <smile>)and park hunting the other 10%.

Seems the F4 should be the best overall choice for right now ... but that Gold Itch won't go away until I try for myself. Did well finding lots of gold flakes by panning in Redding, Vancouver Island and even Los Angeles. Of the two nuggets (mighty small) I found, one was LA and the other Redding.

I guess I'm of the opinion that in the right hands even the 3300 could work ... though with very strong limitations. So, maybe even a "waste of time" ... being out in the open and swinging the detector around
might not be all bad.

 

[BarnacleBill]

no VLF will handle a particular ground type well. But the reports from BT in OZ land, Parrot in AZ, and various posts from AK suggest it will do well in many environments. There is also the matter of experience with a particular machine. I'm sure Steve H. in AK, with he and I both sporting MXT's would clean my clock, as well as BT schooling me with an X70 in OZ.

There are going to be certain areas where PI's rule, and even maybe a particular PI brand, model, & coil combination. Just from a cursory reading of the OZ land gold forums it seems that there is regular blood letting over which PI detector is most effective in what ground.

But I have performed tests with the X70 & various other detectors including multi-freqs, whereby in prospecting mode it is the ONLY detector capable of indicating a U.S. Nickel under some of the iron laden basalt I encounter. This basalt registers in the 400,000+ range using the X70's magnetic ground assay feature. Now that number may not mean much to you but it is in the extreme range of mineralization. Perhaps a more familiar measure would be that it will deflect a compass by 45deg when brought in proximity. So a iron laden magnetically polarized ground matrix, how much worse can it get?

But for you to suggest that an F4 would handle a particular piece of ground better than an X70 is quite a stretch. Now my understanding is that you are now in possession of an F75, so do you have any gold species to post ala' BT?

HH
BarnacleBill

 

[Bobbylikesgold]

Thanks Bill for your in depth post, but my original post was about the poor performance with X-70s depth, sorry if you missed that.

Bobby.

 

[nugget71]

Bobby let me just say this in regards to depth with the XT-70. I live in North Queensland Australia and the mineralization here is very nasty in most areas. I have used the 70 in every condition possible even in water with the concentric coil. I have had success in all terrain including nugget shooting. I have dug deep targets with both DD and concentric coils in heavily minerlized ground. For what it is the 70 is a little fighter if you can read her right. The proof is in the pudding buddy and to say the 70 lacks depth is simply retarted! Any detector in the right hands will perform correctly regardless of brand, type, and power it all comes down to the user.........oh and there will always be someone out there that cant tame the wild horse so to speak LOL! So Bobby no hard feelings m8.
Cheers!

 

[Bobbylikesgold]

[quote nugget71]Bobby let me just say this in regards to depth with the XT-70. I live in North Queensland Australia and the mineralization here is very nasty in most areas. I have used the 70 in every condition possible even in water with the concentric coil. I have had success in all terrain including nugget shooting. I have dug deep targets with both DD and concentric coils in heavily minerlized ground. For what it is the 70 is a little fighter if you can read her right. The proof is in the pudding buddy and to say the 70 lacks depth is simply retarted! Any detector in the right hands will perform correctly regardless of brand, type, and power it all comes down to the user.........oh and there will always be someone out there that cant tame the wild horse so to speak LOL! So Bobby no hard feelings m8.
Cheers![/quote]

Hello Nugget, if you don't think the 70 is poor on depth, I'll back your right to say what you think, so what do you think in inches on a rice sized nugget is deep ? in bad ground.
I must have been retarded at the time I used the 70 , guess I need to eat more meat pies when using a 70.


Regards Bobby.

 

[nugget71]

n/t

 

[ttinca]

Or goldbug ll...The MXT on the other hand is GREAT dual purpose machine....I've never used an X-70 so can't comment...A rice size nugget?? Hmmm....That will depend on a LOT of things...Skill, hearing, coil size, mineralization,interferance, even how the nugget is laying on the ground & the angle at which the coil passes over it... There are places where I would NEVER even attempt to use a VLF...Bassalt, pyroclastic flows, etc. If that's your ground you need to look at getting a Good PI...Rice sized??? Man that's getting pretty small... Take a whole bunch of them to make an ounce...Beats a skunk...But not by much....I haven't had the pleasure to try a F-75 or even an F-5 but imagine that either would find a larger nugget but no where near the depth you will with a detector designed for finding gold...

 

[nugget71]

n/t

 

[Bobbylikesgold]

Thanks Nugget, that was nice of you ! I do hope you find gold deeper then most 70 users.

Bobby.