How good is the v3i for gold prospecting?

[LittleJohn]

Can anyone tell me if they have had any success with the v3i prospecting dry stream beds for small gold? I am taking a trip out west to go prospecting with my nephew in the spring for a few days and I would like to hear from anyone who has used the v3i in this manner.

It has been a challenging year for me, learning the v3i, but I have it down pretty good now, and have found quite a bit of good stuff, including my first silver coin and a 1/2 penny from 1773.

I havent used the v3i in prospecting mode yet...so any suggestions as to where to start as far as settings/filters/etc...I would appreciate it.

LittleJohn

 

[Aurium]

First..find a place that has gold.

Turn the machine on..

Use it as a shovel

(sorry a bit of humor)

 

[LittleJohn]

about the response I expected. Thanks

 

[Rob (IL)]

I don't prospect but if you do a search I remember Steve made some posts about the gold sizes he tested. The 22.5 makes it very good for small gold. I believe there was one about guys using it in Alaska at his mine.

 

[LittleJohn]

Haven't used my v3i out west yet, but I anticipate that there will be quite a bit of ground balancing going on to remain at all effective in my hunts. The place where we will be hunting is very mineralized and the ground changes from one ridge to the next...often times even more than that. Did some testing with it in prospecting mode....very very sensitive.

 

[jalon]

I have used the spectras for over 3 years now and prospected in really bad ground in Colorado. If your location is really mineralized and changes often, then you need to ground balance your V, then turn off autotrac.

Re-balance as often as necessary, usually every 15 or so minutes. If your ground is really that bad, I recommend a 4x6 shooter and very slow sweep speed. The use of your ground probe will tell you how bad your ground is( ground tracking on live control bar then zoom). Balance often and slow sweeps are the key. Small nuggets will read from 0 to 15 or 20 usually. Gold will read where it reads, but numbers over 20 can be anything. If you see any red in your spectragraph, it's iron of some sort 99.999% of the time. Don't disregard all iron, there are some neat relics in gold country.
Good luck to you

John London

 

[nw1886]

Kudos Jaton. I remember answering a post with roughly "so it can't be a true substitute for a gold machine." and was jumped on by some serious Australians who were using it as a prospecting machine. I still think that if your hunting is for gold only, get one of those but......there is something to be said for a response like that. Guess all the control strengths put it well,well into the respectability range. (Unlike my original "knee jerk" response!!!!) Posts like your experiences Jaton, are sorely needed because the "gold field guys" tend to not make much time for "playing with controls"......completely understandable, but knowing at exactly what point the V3i "falls off" would be great! (If I still lived in Anchorage, I'd be all over it as some nice places are close, and for some reason, "time" is easier to find up there?) Yup.......aspects of "suburbia" really bites!

 

[LittleJohn]

I have used the spectras for over 3 years now and prospected in really bad ground in Colorado. If your location is really mineralized and changes often, then you need to ground balance your V, then turn off autotrac.

Re-balance as often as necessary, usually every 15 or so minutes. If your ground is really that bad, I recommend a 4x6 shooter and very slow sweep speed. The use of your ground probe will tell you how bad your ground is( ground tracking on live control bar then zoom). Balance often and slow sweeps are the key. Small nuggets will read from 0 to 15 or 20 usually. Gold will read where it reads, but numbers over 20 can be anything. If you see any red in your spectragraph, it's iron of some sort 99.999% of the time. Don't disregard all iron, there are some neat relics in gold country.
Good luck to you

John London

Just the info I have been looking for, thank you so much. I am looking forward to this trip and spending time out in the middle of nowhere, looking for that elusive yellow metal.

 

[LittleJohn]

Based on the coils that I have I will be using the 4x6 elliptical unless i get the motivation to spring for a new 10 inch elliptical.....we will be searching for specimen gold and small nuggets...so I think that the 4x6 would probably be my best bet, but I am certainly open to suggestions!

Its still several months away, but I want to have everything in order by the time my trip gets here so it will go as smooth as possible. My nephew will be using one of my tesoro's with a double d coil on it, he is new to detecting but is a quick learner so we should have a good time for sure!