Why is a Quattro not recommended for Gold detecting

[dlsa]

Hi Everyone,

I'm hoping this is not a stupid question but if you talk to Minelab and sales people they all say that the Quattro is no good for Gold detecting in the Gold fields here in Australia.

I have not tried it yet, due to limitations in my knoweldge on where to look, but I have used my Quattro in a huge variety of locations and apart from changing sensitivity seem to be able to find a huge variety of metals in all environments right down to tiny pieces of metal at several inches.

Why would this great detector not be able to find gold?

Any thoughts? Anyone managed to find gold nuggets with this machine?

Thanks,

David

 

[stan_moto]

Hello Dlsa. I think the machine is not sensitive enough for the fine small nuggets. I would say you would get a soft signal if the size of the gold was about the size of a large pea very close to the surface say about one and half to two grams. I f it was larger then, the depth would come into play. The Quattro has a full range from 1

 

[beachguy777]

dlsa, I love your attitude. I'm a Quatro owner too, and I wouldn't totally give up on gold hunting with it. I've never searched for nuggets with it but I scanned a friends nuggets with it and it picked them up. They were probably a sixteenth to an eighth inch in diameter, (don't know the weight), but it picked em up but I had to be pretty close to the coil, maybe 3 to 4 inches. I'm not a good measure of all this, I'm only telling you what I've experienced. This thing will pick up gold rings pretty deep and other gold. The thing I keep hearing is the super small nuggets, are really tough and depending on how deep they are, they could be a problem, but I'd keep building up info on this subject, and see what you come up with. I've heard the "gold specific" detectors by Minelab are second to none, but they're really expensive, but they're designed mainly for gold and the hot rocks involved with nugget hunting. Beyond that, I'm pretty ignorant on the nugget thing, but, Good luck and I still feel the same way you do about this detector. It's a great machine and nothing to sneeze at. Marc Trainor.

 

[nugget71]

Hi there mate any detector will find gold if your lucky enough. Swing your coil over a nice piece that isn't too deep and you will find it. I owned an exp II from minelab and I sold it to an old friend of mine who is a part time prospector. He wanted a detector for around town and the beaches for whenever he couldn't get out to the gold fields because of his work commitments. I never wanted to sell the exp II but due to certain circumstances I was kinda forced to. Anyway my friend managed to get away from work for a week and took the exp II out for a gold trial and he found gold with it. A 4 gram piece and a 3 gram piece in a very trashy area, the same area that always gave his PI detector a hard time. He told me that he had spent alot of time fine tuning the machine and tweaking it for gold. You will definitely be able to find gold with your quattro all you have to do is put that little coil right on top of it!
Cheers!

 

[Golden]

Hello Disa, I agree with Stan in that the Quattro is not made with the sensitivity as a specific gold detector. The Quattro is more a specific relic/coin/jewelry machine. But as nugget said, there's always a possibility that you might find gold with it. I've found that the Quattro will read nuggets if they're close to the surface, but it doesn't seem to pick up tiny nuggets, however deep. If your detecting in iron infested ground, all the more reason it won't pick up gold, it's just trying to read too much. It can't differentiate and separate the gold from the iron or other metals in the ground, just not sensitive enough. I think what Minelab dealers are trying to say is, if you're after gold, then buy a detector that's specific to the hunt for gold. But yes, I'd like to find gold nuggets with the Quattro, but I believe the nuggets would have to be very close to the surface, or just the perfect conditions for the machine to read the ground. Just my little two bit thrown in!
Golden

 

[dlsa]

The info was great. When I get some time I will give a few try's and see how we go.

The thing I like about detecting is when you find stuff your not supposed to eg. coins in a well detected area, gold with a Quattro etc.

Will let you know if I find anything.

 

[beachguy777]

Right on there, Nugget71.. Just put the coil over the gold and you've got a chance. I agree with you, and if it's not too small or too deep it will pick it up. Marc Trainor. I'm being a little "facetious" here, but that is true from my own experience. Tiny gold nuggets, I think need to be pretty shallow, but it also takes the detector going over them or anything else for that matter to "pick em up". I have people from time to time ask me: "Are you finding anything good with that thing", and I always tell them , "yea, if the coil passes over the good stuff first". You "ain't" gonna find it if the coil doesn't pass over it, and in the case of Quatro, at a slow enough speed.

 

[beachguy777]

I scanned some of my friends gold flakes and small gold nuggets at his house and it picked them up, but they had to be within about 2 to 4 inches or so, unless it's a pretty big piece of gold. I'll pick em up, but it depends on the size of the gold.

 

[beachguy777]

Golden, that's the same experience I had when I read my friends nuggets and gold dust in a bottle. I had to be within 2 to say 4 inches for it to read it, and you know the numeric readings for gold can be 7 or 8 so you'd have to darn near dig everything not to miss it. I agree with you that a "gold specific" detector would be the best bet for serious gold hunting. My friend who is a serious detectorist, with tons of finds, that I saw for my self just told me last night that he'd rather use a gold pan or a syphon to find his gold, not that the detectors can't find some of it, but that's just his choice.

 

[Golden]

Hi Beachguy, I would have to agree with your friend in that it's more fund to find it panning. I like to use a concentrator, you can pan off about 10 to 1, using this method, and it's great for gemstones too.

 

[beachguy777]

Golden, I only wish I had the "bucks" to fly you over here and meet with this guy, or visa versa. I know you two would hit it off in this gold arena. He's retired, so he has a lot of time. I still need to go out with him while the streams still have water to try a little panning. I know you and he have a great deal of knowledge in this gold hunting area, and let's face it, even though your not always using a metal detector, to find some of the gold, it's still treasure hunting, and I hope our forum people reading this feel the same. I hope it's still of interest to them. Just for the record, this guy is also an avid metal detectorist, which you already know, but I'm just letting the forum people know that this guy also has done extensive gold and coin hunting with numerous detectors as well. Marc Trainor.

 

[Golden]

Thanks Beachguy. Yeh, he sounds like a nice bloke, into gold, but I reckon he'd have more in common with hubby, who has the gold prospecting background. His family descents were gold miners & prospectors, so was his dad. He's also found a lot more gold than me. I'd never catch up!