Gold Nugget Advice

[stoofer]

I'm sure this has been covered before....but here's my question. I'm the proud owner of both the XS and Explorer II. I'm heading off to the Gold fields of Idaho in a few weeks & I don't have a "Gold Machine". If I run "wide open" or at IM -12 or so, Sens. maxed out, with 5" coil, what could I expect as far as recovering some nuggets? I'm sure if there was a 1 oz "noogie" on or close to the surface it would sing out loud & clear. Just how small of a nugget & how deep do you think I would be able to score? Anyone out there used their Explorer hunting for Nuggets? Any lucK? The area is surprisingly void of black sands...a bonus for sure. I've done real well with a sluice in the past and just thought I would give it a go after a few days of coin & relic hunting as well. I've dug over 35 gold rings out of the Great Salt Lake at INCREDIBLE depths with the Explorer. 85 total counting the father-in-laws. He uses an Explorer as well. Look forward to hearing what you guys think.

 

[bakergeol]

Well if you are taking it for a day or two in the sun well take it and have a good time. Maybe you will get real lucky and hit a 1 oz nugget. However the Ex11 may be #1 the in coin hunting department,it does poorly in the nugget hunting arena. Like a lot of coin detectors it simply is not sensitive for very small gold particles. Worst it could not detect specimen gold(non solid) which was easily detectable with my other VLFs(X-5, GMT). However like all coin detectors put a large enough solid nugget under it and it will detect it.

Minelab nugget detectors are truly awesome,however the Ex11 as a nugget machine is not.

Take it and have fun
George