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On a Budget Metal Detector-Prospecting For Gold

D

Dwayne2010

Member
Hi Folks,

I just joined this fantastic forum. I live in British Columbia, Canada. My search for information has lead me to this site. Hopefully I can gain some insight into making a logical choice on a metal detector.
After spending last year gold prospecting with a high banker, I decided that I would try metal detecting instead on my claim. A little information. There is a lot of black sand, hot rocks. The bedrock almost appears to be iron and I assume must be loaded with hematite and magnetite etc. The the largest nugget that I have located so far is around a half gram. I expect that in the right places, this size is not rare.
So, I have done a whole lot of reading. Essentially, it appears that under 1000$ I have a few options. Option 1-the Fisher Gold Bug 2 or 3, Whites GMT, Tesoro Super Traq and maybe the Xterra 705? Minelab being pricey and too much for my budget.

I am wondering what the general consensus is here. Lets say that I will be using a 6.5 inch coil to access the hard to get to cracks in the bed rock. All being equal, what would you all suggest?What would deal best with the hot rocks. I know in the past, back in the day when I had an Xterra 70 (I no longer own this unit), that it would pick up buck shot, but over load on the bedrock? Any ideas?
 
Have you considered going over to the Yank/Aussie Prospecting Forum? They have some very knowledgeable prospectors over there. If my brother and I start going out west prospecting (his son may be getting hired on at a federal park out there) the GMT is going to be my weapon of choice. Will let my brother use the X-T 70 with its 6" DD HF coil.
 
The GARRETT SCORPION with 5x9 and 3x7 coils would be a very good machine for your area
go to there website and check it out. It cost less than any other detector built as a Gold prospecting
machine and has manual ground balance ( needed for your kind of ground ).
 
said >"The GARRETT SCORPION with 5x9 and 3x7 coils would be a very good machine for your area"<

This is a fact. Also the Whites MXT. You can prospect AND do any coin and jewlery hunting you
want. I have the MXT and know it as a dependable well made detector. BUT I have heard many good
reports on the Garrett Scorpion as well and it is reasonably priced...somewhere around $500 US$.
It is also a savage coin and jewlery machine as well as gold nugget hunter.

I'd go with one of those two.

Katz
 
Your comments are appreciated. I never considered the Scorpion. Have you guys used this unit and found any gold? Will it over load on hot rocks? Or can you manually balance these out?
 
humm interesting ready for myself too here, i might try same sometime..i look forward to the responses here..
good luck
hh
john
 
I checked You tube and other then quite a few promotional videos, I was unable to find Joe user videos with this thing in action. It looks like this detector has been out for years, so why zero videos? Having said that, maybe I entered the wrong search engine. There has got to be videos by the average person on you tube/?
 
http://www.akmining.com/forums/showthread.php/13-Latest-Nugget-Detector-Recommendations-for-Alaska

Try this link. David sent it to me, good info

Jeff
 
I'd say your best bet would be an MXT w. DD or a GMT. I'd lean towards the MXT, having done a bunch of nugget hunting in B.C. The GMT would work, but might have some problems with hotrocks if you hunt around the Coquihalla/Similkameen/Tulameen areas. Also, the MXT can generally be run maxxed-out whereas the GMT would probably have to be run at reduced gain.. giving the same overall sensitivity. The Xterras have some real problems up the Coquihalla, so wouldn't be a good choice for hunting there. I'd forget about the Goldbugs in such areas (autotracking really helps and they don't have it) and, save for the hipmount option and warranty, the LST offers no real benefits vs the MXT. It also has a preset GB in disc. mode and no real ID function. ..Willy.
 
HAs anyone used the Xterra 705 for prospecting? Thats another option that I have come across
 
Before you start laughing take a look. It is a capable unit.

There are some inground nugget test results with interesting results in this thread here: http://www.findmall.com/read.php?37,878781,879308#msg-879308

2 grain nugget in the ground at 1-3/4" isn't something to overlook. These were with the 10" elliptical concentric stock coil. The 5"DD had not been released at the time of this test. It only makes it better.

HH

Mike
 
White's GMZ. 50 kHZ, Under $500.00

Jerry
 
I have heard good stuff about Whites GMT. I am leaning to the Fisher Gold Bug 3 now. The new model. Still not 100% on this. If I was rich I would just go out and purchase the Minelab 45ooGPX
 
By the way, I said in a previous post the Scorpian was about $500. I looked at Kelly co and
its selling for $467.00 plus free stuff as opposed to the MXT at $799.00 plus free stuff. Go to the Garrett forum and post your question there.
There are a lot of people there who has used the Scorpian. John Edmonton is one such person. Look for his
post. But if money is no problem Go with the MXT. The GMT has good reports but is strickly a Gold nuggett machine.
The MXT and Scorpian does both.

Have you been towww.losttreasure.com and read the field reports? If not check the site out.

Good luck
Katz
 
I'll assume that you won't be having any hunting opportunities for a few weeks due to the climate and given that, I think your inclination towards the new GB is spot on. Great price and comes with a coil that you will probably use a lot if not exclusively. I can tell you from first hand experience that the Tek Omega handles hot rocks better than the other detectors you're considering and based on that, I'd be willing to bet the new GB will do so even better yet.
 
Yea the Gold bug is another one. I've not heard much about it as of late but then
I don't frequent the Fisher forum much except to see whats doing with the F-series.
I just went back to the Kelly Co site and see they have a neweer version of the Gold Bug....The Gold Bug II
in the $700 and 800 range and a lower cost machine: The Gold Bug for $499. it appears it can also
hunt coin and jewlery as well.
Katz


Details:

Fisher Labs is proud to introduce their newest offering the "GOLD BUG". The engineers at Fisher have been busy designing one of the most sensitive new gold detectors to ever be offered by Fisher and at a very affordable price. Don't let its diminutive size fool you because it will find the smallest gold nuggets in highly mineralized soils! Let's face it, most dug nuggets at the shallower depths will be smaller in size for the most part and this is where this little gem will show its best sensitivity! It's small 5 inch DD search coil will effectively cancel out most ground conditions and the prospector can monitor the ground phase and ground mineralization. Computerized to give optimum results in all soils!

More than a Hot Gold Machine, the little Gold Bug will make adjustments a snap with many user intuitive features. When you're not in the Gold fields simply change modes and your ready for coin shooting and even relic hunting. You can not find a deeper, easier to use light weight gold detector today for finding gold nuggets and don't worry the little Gold Bug will find the bigger nuggets too.


` (click main image to enlarge)
Customer Reviews
 
So confusing! As money is a large factor for me, the GB 3 is tempting with the prospecting mode and coin and jewelery options. Again, i see a commment above that the GB 2 has no auto ground balance and doesn't work well in British COlumbia soils....hmmmmmmm
 
I had a GB II (it DOES GB.. but no tracking), XTerra 70 & 705, LST, GMT, Gold Stinger, and settled with the MXT for prospecting. I also did numerous in-ground tests using gold nuggets in B.C. ...Willy. BTW.. ground tracking is REALLY helpful here.
 
I kind of wondered how the new Whites GMZ is. Just don't seem to hear about it much. I read an article on it in a recent magazine, but the hunt wasn't enough I think to gain a better overall opinion. What also seems strange is the silent search. The 4 gold detectors I had were threshold based.
 
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