Buying my first detector, any advice for a newby?

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
17
Reaction score
42
Location
Hoppers Crossing, VIC
Hi to all at PA,

After looking through a whole bunch of threads here and researching for a good budget detector for nugget hunting, i think i have a couple in mind. I'm hoping to get up to the Vic goldfields as much as possible (I'm in western suburbs, Melb) and out to Bright, Wandi and Beechworth every once in a while.

My budget is a meagre $700/800, the dual pack X Terra 705 from Anaconda seems like a decent deal, i'd love a gold bug 2 but i think i'd probably have to go for a second hand one.

Would any of you good people be able to point me in the right direction? Would the 705 be a good starting machine, if not, what would you recommend?

Thank you in advance. :)
 
Mickybees said:
You need a little more of a budget to get something decent mate

Would have to agree ................... with the price of fuel and costs to "go play" it's nice to have at least a fair chance of pinging it if you walk over it. :D
 
705 is an awesome coin shooter .. it will find gold down to half gram ..but it will need to be very shallow... if you plan on heading to vic...best getting something more suited for gold only..You can get older pi detectors for around the grand mark..just keep looking :D
 
I was in the same situation as you about 6 months ago my budget was around $800. I went to have a look at the minelab machines both the Eureka Gold and the 705 and I wasn't really impressed. After doing some research I got a Makro Gold Racer which was $1000 I use it at Rushworth In some very minerilised noisy ground and it performs well. The ISAT and tracking do a great job of keeping the machine running smoothly over the ground. It comes standard with the GR26 coil which it perfect for the mullock heaps and very sensitive at 56KHZ it will find very small gold, there are also a range of coils that can be purchased. I recently bought a bigger coil for the machine GR19 and had doubts being a VLF that the machine would run to noisy but to my surprise it runs smoothly also. This coil allows for more depth for larger gold and more coverage. I would do some research online and go look at some machines and maybe even a good second hand machine would be another option.

These are the two coils I have.

1483529757_15423780_1337384582970187_844365509_n.jpg
 
Hey Patrick,

Thanks for replying, i've read some mixed reviews about modded machines, some say that they are fantastic and others say that there could be future issues with servicing, repair and maybe even resale. I'm sure it's an awesome detector but i'm wondering if, for my first machine, it would be best to go with a standard one.

I'm kinda still learning so please let me know if i'm way off here.

Cheers.
 
Hi Summit,

I had been looking at the Gold Racer, it looks like a nice detector, i'm guessing the digital display would be perfect for a newbie like me. It's good to read about your experience with it so thanks a lot for your reply. Ideally i would prefer a new unit for the warranty but i may have to go second hand.

I reckon in a month or 2 i'll have enough for one of those or something similar. Unless i come across a bargain somewhere. :)

Plenty of time to research and settle on something.

Thanks again! :)
 
You would pick up a cheap second hand gpx 4500 for a couple of thousand these days your better off with something like thats good for beginners and professionals ..cheers
 

Latest posts

Top