what is the best detector for finding small gold jewellery

[lazyaussie]

I run an ACE250 & do quite well with gold but i know i"m walking over a lot of small gold jewellery ( chains - earrings & small rings ) as i find a few pendents with no chains or wile digging other targets i find small earrings.
I was thinking that a high frequency detector with a small DD coil would be the best but i"d like to hear your thoughts on the matter.
Depth is not that big of a issue it"s more being able to pick up very small targets.
Thanks
lazyaussie

 

[Adrian SS]

A Gold Bug or Gold Bug 11 is dynamite on small gold, no good in wet saltwater beach sand.

 

[lazyaussie]

yeah i was thinking gold bug - garret scorpion - minelab xterra 70 with the small elliptical high frequency coil.

 

[littletwig]

Whites MXT or M6

 

[Bill in Texas]

I have never worked a beach with it, but on land the Tesoro Vaquero is the best small gold and silver Jewelry detector I have ever used. You can set the discriminator just below foil, beep and dig and it reads the Small gold Jewelry deeper than any other detector I have used, if properly Ground balanced. Where I hunt, I must have a machine that discriminates out small iron (paper clips and the like) or I would go nuts. Bill in Texas

 

[tabdog]

Hay LazyAu,

I make it a major part of my hobby.

I have been successfuf at finding very small gold jewelry.

I have found very tiny gold chains. Even, just pieces of tiny
gold chains without a clasp or loop.

It is my understanding that tha Minlab Sovern is one of tha
very best. They have a couple of others that are awsome,
like their beach detector. Very expensive and heavy.

Garrett's Scorpion Gold Stinger should work well, but tha
battery installation is supposed to be awful and it is heavy
for my liking.

Tha MXT and M-6 are really nice, but heavy. M-6 a little less
so, and less expensive.

There are more.

I use Tesoro'es. I have 5 of them. They are not as expensive.
They have a life time warranty and can work well for finding
tiny and larger gold jewelry.

Of the Tesoro'es, tha Lobo is probably tha most sensative to
small gold. It is a deticated gold machine that can be used for
other types of treasure hunting. But it's heavy for me...

The Tejon probably comes next. But it is hyper tuned. Has a
long learning curve and can be a bit hard to handle for a less
experienced detectorist. It is a tad heavy, but lighter than what
most people are used to.

Tha Tiger Shark is very sensative. It works great on fresh water
beaches and does coin and other types of hunting.

Tha Vaquero and Cibola are very senastive to tiny gold jewelry.

I have a Vaquero. It is light as a feather. Cost about $420 new.
I got mine for $320 used, but it is still guarenteed for life.

Tha Eldorado is just behind tha V and tha C in sensativity. It is
out of production but can be bought used for about $290. It works
real good in iron infested trash. I have a Euro Sabre, which is very
semilar to tha Eldorado. I used to have an Eldorado also.

In tha Tesoro line, the machine that has found tha most gold for
me is my $70 used Compadre. They cost $152 new. I like it so
much, I got a second one for a back-up.

The Compadre will not go as deep, but it works well in tot lots
where most of tha gold jewelry is, besides beaches. It doesn't
have tha depth for beaches, but it can be just tha ticket for heavy
trash.

I have a Silver also. It is a little less sensative than my others, but
it works great for cherry picking and jewelry finding. Not quite as
good on tha really small stuff.

That's my opinion.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

I think you need to check out the Ace a little more. I have picked up a gold clasp with mine. I also checked it on raw gold and I was surprised on how well it did. It will pick up raw gold that many other detectors can't even detect. If you want a gold detector that is another thing. With their higher frequency and that is what they were designed to hunt for, then that would be the way to go.

Here are a couple gold things I found this year with my Ace250. Both are 18k.

[attachment 114486 3-10-08ringchain.jpg]

All with the Ace 250

[attachment 114488 ringani1.gif]

A child's14k gold ring.

[attachment 114489 5-29-08ring.jpg]

I even found a gold nut.

[attachment 114490 goldnut.jpg]

You would pay more, but my F-70 picked up this small nugget at 5" in an air test.

[attachment 114491 10-1-08.4gold.jpg]

 

[lazyaussie]

nice finds John.
yeah i love the ACE250 & it does a good job at finding gold but i know i"m missing gold.
what i want is a detector for hitting the hot spots in the tot lots after i"v cleaned them out with the ACE a little grass hunting & hunting in freshwater lakes up to waist deep looking for chains & small gold it really only needs to detect about 4 inch for the small stuff i don"t mind digging lots of tinfoil as know there's plenty of small gold missed by others.

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

nice finds John.
[size=large]yeah i love the ACE250 & it does a good job at finding gold but i know i"m missing gold.[/size]
The Ace has found many small bracelets for me, even a clasp.

[size=large]what i want is a detector for hitting the hot spots in the tot lots after i"v cleaned them out with the ACE[/size]
I don't believe there is ANY detector that can get closer to metal in a tot lot than the Ace with the sniper coil! Ask Mick, he will tell you. I would use the Ace to clean up after another MD'er went through a tot lot. Really, how deep do you want to go in a tot lot?

[size=large]a little grass hunting & hunting in freshwater lakes up to waist deep looking for chains & small gold it really only needs to detect about 4 inch for the small stuff i don"t mind digging lots of tinfoil as know there's plenty of small gold missed by others.[/size]
The Ace picks up BB's quite well and that gold clasp I have. Research more on the Ace's ability to pick up small gold. You will be surprised. I was. Khouse has good plans for making a water Ace. Use an Ace 150. Cheap and it would do what you are asking for in fresh water.

No detector does it all. I am not brand loyal. I want the most for my money. I cheap, tight, frugal, what ever you want to call it. That is why I own an Ace 250 and a F-70. I consider them to give me the most for my money. The F-70 is my grass detector. For $649U.S. it is one of the deepest detectors out there. It will go through deep grass. It sucks in tot lots. Even when I turn the sensitivity down I can't get anywhere near metal. Most of our tot lots have liners under them. The F-70 detects things under the liner. I leave the F-70 in the car. The Ace will find much more in the tot lot.

Maybe you need to get an other detector? There are a lot of good ones out there that will suit for personality and pocket book. Really sounds like you need a PI unit for water and turf. You can dig foil till your heart's content.

 

[tab-nabit]

Before I got down this far on the replies, Tabdog came to mind with something good on the Compadre - your right on top of it Tabdog.

 

[slingshot]

I like the Ace,also. When I'm in a school tot lot that I know is clean, I like to use my Silver umax. But in a new place I love the Ace with the three tones and the ID. If I'm in a fun mood, I'll use the Ace most of the time. I can pinpoint faster with the Silver, so on beep-dig days I'll use it. With both, I have found tiny pieces of jewelry that were so small, it took some hard looking to find them.

 

[lazyaussie]

thanks for all the info looks like i have to do some more research on these detectors

 

[Daniel A.]

Hunting nuggets and hunting jewelry are very different normally the ground conditions that a dedicated gold machine is setup to compensate for won't work well in urban hunts. I use a Troy X5 at 19.3 kHz its hard to beat the Tesoro line are good as well and the Tejon was a take off from the Troy X5. The X-Terra 70 with the high frequency coil is decent for jewelry hunting. The best would be the Baron for separation of targets but well beyond the average user ability very steep curve. Water jewelry hunting I would go Excal or Tiger Shark. Dan

 

[lazyaussie]

never heard of the baron ??? more info please

 

[Daniel A.]

http://www.surfscanner.com/Surfscan3/Baron_Main.html

 

[Uncle Willy]

Try the Garrett Scorpion running at 15 khz with a small coil.

Bill

 

[lazyaussie]

thanks Daniel i"v never seen that brand before.
Bill yeah that one"s on the further research list i"v got 6 on the list so far but it"s good to hear other peoples thoughts on the matter quite often they"v got better ones than me .

 

[Daniel A.]

This is what a Troy X 5 will do all are 2008 finds. Dan

 

[lazyaussie]

WOW thats a nice pile of loot Daniel

 

[tabdog]

Sense we are showin gold finds.

Here's just a sample of tha finds with my Tesoro'es.
I started back in late 2007.

Most found with my $70 Compadre.

I have lots more. See how tiny some of tha stuff is?

And there's more.

Tiny stuff.

I was gettin ready ta send some to tha refinery.

Happy Huntin,

Tabdog