which detector will work better in Australia

[Rizsieblue]

hi people
i'm looking at getting a new detector
i want to know which one will work best in the down under (Australia)
the detectors i'm looking at are:
ace 250
bounty hunter time ranger
fisher id exel
tition 3000 xd pro
white's classic 5 id
if sumone can help that will be great

 

[mattockman]

This seems very strange to me you asking which detector is better in AUSSIE.....and you never mention one made right there in country......MINELAB....Thats what we use here in the states.....and it is AUSSOME! Unless its a budget thing.....they are pricey....if I lived in Aus. I would go for the Gold there.....Nuggets are big and plentyful from what I have read....depending where you live there I guess......I would stick to known good companys like Minelab,whites,garrett,fisher,tesoro.....I really don't think you can go wrong with any of those.....just look at all the sites and read allforums and see what works for what you are looking to find......Good luck....I personnally lean towards Minelab...but whites IDX and Garretts and fishers seem tempting....

 

[Elton]

You know MAttockman hit it on the head.Minelab would be choice if money were not a big issue..But just remember this fine Sir
The best detector is the one you can afford and have in your hand............They all work well as long as it's a brand name detector..So buy what you can.Use it too the best of your abilities and enjoy the hobby... Bells and whistles are nice but they are not everything.........Good luck !!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

n/t

 

[Wayne/TX]

Well Rizsieblue, please be aware that in Gold nugget areas the detectors you'll
be using will be of 2 types:
>1. VLF or
>2. Pulse
The VLF will work pretty well in Australia and will be most effective in All Metal mode
with best choices being:
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Tesoro Lobo SuperTraq
Garrett Scorpion
Whites GMT

Pulse units:
Garrett Infinium
MineLab Sovereign series

When VLF's (3 to 30kHz) were invented back in the 70's they enabled prospectors to finally be
able to penetrate deeply and ground adjust the ironized soils usually found in Gold areas. Many
nuggets were found by these units in Australia & America and can still be pretty effective today..

With the newer Pulse units it's possible to find Gold even more deeply in mineralized soils
and are the now preferred unit of choice in those areas since All Metal is how they work and
all metal is the mode of choice for native gold.

So you have various choices from the above, depending on your budget, with the Pulse units
being more costly than the VLF's.

With VLF's take note that they can also have discrimination modes for coinshooting too
in other areas away from the Gold fields so are more versatile over Pulse units which are
not good discriminators as yet (research is ongoing to change that).
The VLF in higher frequencies (15 to 71 kHz) is more effective for smaller Gold at shallower
depths, while lower freq's (3 to 15 kHz) are somewhat better for larger nuggets at deeper
depths. So as always, the choice is yours.

Good Luck in all your searches!
..W

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[diggindirt]

[quote Wayne/TX]Well Rizsieblue, please be aware that in Gold nugget areas the detectors you'll
be using will be of 2 types:
>1. VLF or
>2. Pulse
The VLF will work pretty well in Australia and will be most effective in All Metal mode
with best choices being:
Fisher Gold Bug 2
Tesoro Lobo SuperTraq
Garrett Scorpion
Whites GMT

Pulse units:
Garrett Infinium
MineLab Sovereign series

[/quote]

Hi all, I just wanted to say the only PI mentioned is the Infinium (waterproof). The Minelab Sov series are VLFs and not pulse machines. The Sov Series are not waterproof, however the Excalibur is the waterproof version of the Sov. Yes they have multi-frequencies but are not Pulse Induction units. The Minelab GPX is also now also listed as "MPS" on their website but not waterproof. The SD-Series are Multi-Peroid Sensing (MPS) and are the most popular gold hunting models "down under". Thanks

 

[Wayne/TX]

OOPS! Thanks for the correction, Diggindirt. I should've remembered about the MPS as it was quite an innovation in
the VLF universe.
I'll be much more astute and careful in the future with my statements.
..W

 

[ivanll]

For what and where ???????????
A Metal Detector is a tool.
Like any tool the more competent the person that uses the tool is, the better, the result.

 

[UK Brian]

The innovation was to gain more information by sending out both short and long pulses. But MPS still has to be a pulse with the advantages and perhaps a few less disadvantages of the method. Or am I totally wrong ?

 

[Uncle Willy]

I have several members on my Garrett Forum here at FIndmall from Australia that do quite well with the Ace 250 and swear by it as it performs like a machine costing three times as much - which is why it's the most sold detector on the market currently.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Forgot to ask what you will be hunting for mostly. That is a prime concern when choosing a detector as one size doesn't fit everything.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

Yeah at the request of the Aussies, a few months ago Garrett started installing new "mineral" chips in their 2500's, 1500's, and 1350's to allow them to perform better in the highly mineralized ground in the land of OZ.

Bill

 

[fantomv]

quite simple i live in australia and minlab is the only answer, all other machines are crap!!!, they are designed for the states and do not work well here, for gold i have a gp3500, this is the best gold machine out, it finds small gold at depth and larger nuggets no worries, the 4000 is good if u like small gold but most proffessionals have sold there 4000's to buy a 3500 again, i live in the golden traingle and know this from 10 years of detecting, for coins depending where u are and how much u want to spend, i run with the minlab x-terra 70 this is a awesome machine for $1150 brand new, u can use this in beach, coin or prospecting mode, but if u want one for beaches u may find that a soverign or quattro will go a little deeper but they are a little dearer, do not fall into the trap of buying a whites coin machine, australian coins do not contain as much silver as american coins, i bought one of these machines and it was useless, all our coins show as tin foil and pulltabs, after being shown a demo from a salesman then testing our coins after 3 hours of digging junk as i had to dig every target, i went back to find he was testing the machine with american coins which worked well and im sure it does in the states, minelab all the way hopes this helps

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[diggindirt]

tabdog,

I do like reading the reviews from Gary's detecting site! The ground they do the tests in (see other reviews) sounds like real tough highly mineralized soil. The testers seem to do fair comparisons on the reviewed machines. If you search on the site you can find most detector models reviewed in real field test conditions.

Thanks for sharing the link!

Happy hunting to all!!!

 

[tabdog]

n/t

 

[nero_design]

Any thoughts on the Minelab X-Terra 70 (.....with optional Elliptical DD coil designed for our so-called 'highly mineralized' Australian Goldfield Soils?)

/Has one.
/Probably should be on that list of yours.
/Just asking.

 

[UK Brian]

Just because you add MPS to a pulse machine doesn't mean its no longer pulse just like the addition of DVT didn't change anything either. Minelab came up with the admittedly good idea of alternating long and short pulses which provides a method of better elimination of the effects of highly mineralised ground by comparing the different decay times. Still pulse though and I doubt if it would add any depth on neutral ground.