X Terra 705 - Alternative approach?

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Hi Guys. So a while back my wife bought me a 705 as a gift and ive been out a couple times with it - nothing serious. Anyway recently my father in law and I spent a day in Ararat having a good laugh digging holes and looking for nuggets. Needless to say we were unsuccessful (although i scored a 5c coin ha ha), but then again i was using the standard treasure coil rather than the double D coil. Bottom line is its got me a bit hooked. 2017 is going to be the year i find a nugget!

After the trip i bought the double D coil and today went out to Chapel Hill (SA) where i pulled up lots of small bits of tin, some copper and some kind of cast iron weird thingy. Anyway after reading a few threads on this forum am i right in thinking im wasting my time somewhere like Chapel Hill/Jupiter Creek with the thing? It seems these areas are well fossicked and the finds are getting deeper? Therefore going out with something a bit lightweight like this is like taking a knife to a gunfight?

Anyway i have a trip booked to go see a mate in Vic and we were thinking of going out for the day with the 705. Now seeing as its a tad under-powered, would our efforts be better spent trying to find an undetected area in the high country = 4wd access only etc. Or perhaps we would be better sticking with somewhere tried and tested like Blackwood?

Keen to hear your thoughts

Nick

Also keen to get a pinpointer - finding bits takes ages! Are the el cheapos ($60 vs $185 MLabs version) any good or are they a waste of money?

Sorry million questions, finally have a bit of land in Crafers - sandstone/quartzite with lots of quartz veins everywhere. Lots of native cherry trees and the quartz is a reddish colour - worth prospecting or wasting my time up there?

Thanks again
 
Hi mate, read Argyles comments here http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1036-minelab-x-terra-705/?page=1
may be a bit of help
But i must say , just buy a GPX 4500 if you can afford it
if not buy the SD2000 on Gumtree down Willunga for 500 bucks
And buy a couple of small nuggets from Ebay so you can test what they sound like i suggest a .2 gram and a .5 gram to start of with

cheers Dave
 
Hi Nick,

Chapel Hill would be your better bet with the 705, as Jupiter Creek is generally pretty mineralised. I'd highly recommend the 6" DD 18.75 kHz coil, as that will give you the best chance on pinging small gold. The 10x5" is good, but the 6" is better. Also always use headphones as some small targets will give a very faint response.

A lot of Chapel Hill is "out of bounds" for the big PI units (due to electrical interference from the big power line and electric fences), so a good VLF still stands a very good chance there. I rarely fail to find a small piece or two there with the Marko Gold Racer.

Crafters has no history of gold that I'm aware of, but it isn't far from Uraidla, so you never know. Stained quartz is a good sign, and if there's any ironstone then even better. I'd be scanning those quartz veins for sure.

Nenad
 
I wouldn't waste money on a cheap pin pointer , minelab or garret phase techincal also have some I believe.

You can get good rare earth magnets from bunnings x2 for $20 there actually used as door holders / stopers on the pack but aweseome for picking up those elusive bits of metal and cuts time down heaps

Good luck mate , i went out in the north west with the Eureka gold . I got some smirks from some people at first , but after a good bit of research I found my first nugget .
Good luck and enjoy
 
My 705 is great for pin pointing but I would like to cut down the time it takes to finally locate a target. I have been saving for a Phase Tech pin pointer.
Could you please explain a bit more about how you use your Bunnings rare earth magnets? Thanks Peter
 
Just wipe the rare earth magnet around the pile of dirt the signals in or the hole ect and if its a loose tiny piece of metal it will stick to it , just give it afew wipes through the dirt and check it , repeat if needed .
Just bare in mine alloy and gold wont stick the the magnet ;)
The rare earth magnets aren't anything flash just a type of magnet thats bloody strong for its size .
Pinpointers a good i use mine more for coin shooting as i dont like destroying turf . Definitely worth getting both tho mate

Alot of people screw the magnet to the end of the pick handle

https://www.bunnings.com.au/delf-22-x-8mm-concealed-magnetic-latch_p4010466
 
Hi Tailstock,

Magnets are used to pick up any ferrous bits and pieces like rust flakes, steel and iron nails, tin cans etc etc. Unfortunately there can be lots of little bits of these things in old goldfields areas and even in old parks too and they look just like dirt so you can spend ages sifting through handfuls of soil on your detector plate trying to identify what it is that is making your detector sound off. With a magnet a quick rub of it through the suspect handful or scoopful will pick up any magnetic material and if you are still getting a signal then you keep sifting as it may be that gold you're looking for.

Any magnet will do, but the rare earth ones are small and very powerful. I bought a couple from China off eBay for about $5 each including postage. To keep them clean I have them each in a little pills bottle or an old plastic 35mm film canister is perfect size too. Never take them out of the plastic bottle, just wipe it in the dirt and then it's easy to wipe off all the iron flings etc you pick up off the plastic. If you put the magnetic directly into the dirt you'll never get it clean again.

In answer to your first statement about pin pointers you absolutely do need one once you can afford it. I have a 705 also and while it gets you close to the top of the target you will save so much time with a pinpointer once you start the digging process. I got an Xpointer Wader from Phase Technical and it makes you so much more efficient it isn't conceivable to ever not have one again. You can dig smaller holes when treasure hunting in parks and on the beach and often if the target is near the surface you can recover the target without a hole at all, just a little scrape of the surface.

Cheers,
Troutman
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply Chrisso 1988 and also Troutman. Very helpful. Peter
 
Cheers guys for the info. Ill look into the magnets and a pin pointer then. We ended up going to Walhalla and whilst i didn't find any nuggets (well not one that i didn't buy beforehand - thats another story ha ha) we did find some specks in the creek and an old shotgun shell which my mates boys were wrapped with.
 

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