Advice sort on detectors for hot grounds

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Mav

Mav

Joined
Jan 17, 2017
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Hi All,

Firstly let ne say that I am going to be getting 2 detectors, one for me and one for my son firstly so we can enjoy a hobby together and secondly to get my son out of the house and exploring the bush away from his game consoles.

We live in Alice Springs and the ground all around the Red Centre is basically crushed iron ore hence the Red in Red Centre. So being as we are starting out on this journey of discovery I am not sure that I want to lay down thousands of dollars on detectors but I would like to be able to keep my son interested with finding mor than bottle caps and VB cans. :)

So with that in mind and with doing my head in on the different mid range detectors on the market I am looking for some well seasoned advice to try and make up my mind.

I am okay with swinging a bit of weight but my son needs something light weight, he is a jockey in the making. lol

We obviously need detectors that have good ground balancing versatility.

Useage will be predominantly relic and coin hunting with maybe the odd trip out to Altunga fossicking area for gold.

I have been tossing up between the Nokta range and the Makro range for me and possibly the XP deus for my son but am open to other suggestions.

We own a holiday home in Port Stephens and would definitely be doing some beach detecting on holidays, just to throw the salinity and wet sand into the mix. :)

Depending on how things go I may fork out for a Minelab SDC 2300 or similar package a bit down the track just for the gold side of things.

So, sorry for the long windedness, any thoughts, fire away?

Cheers

Mav
 
G'day Mav, sounds like you have already done some good research uinto which detectors will suit you both. I think the Makro and Deus detectors are very good, quite a few members here own them and rate them very highly.

When you are ready to take the plunge on a gold detector the SDC2300 would serve you very well.
 
Mav the sdc will do all you will want to do. Compact not too heavy, waterproof to 3m hot ground is not a problem either also has salt discrimination. Yes they are expensive but they hold their value, bit like a Porsche. I love mine and I now my wife wants one lol !
My 2 cents worth. Cheers
 
Wishfull said:
Mav the sdc will do all you will want to do. Compact not too heavy, waterproof to 3m hot ground is not a problem either also has salt discrimination. Yes they are expensive but they hold their value, bit like a Porsche. I love mine and I now my wife wants one lol !
My 2 cents worth. Cheers
Click to expand...

Thanks Wishful, I will probably get one a bit further down the track. I want to see how things pan out first, I agree they are a great detector. :)
 
As most will say on here, is it always a bit of a chore to chose a detector that will suit all facets of detecting without any sort of compromise. The best idea would be to chose a detector that best suits your core area of detecting (coin/relic and beach), followed by any sort of gold ability considering that will be your area of least usage.

The Makro Racer 2 is a lot easier to use on the beach(ie. wet sand) than the Deus, even in the salt water - is it more simple to ground balance and run stable than the Deus in those particular areas. As for coin relic detecting, either machine is well and truly capable, the Makro is a solid detector for the money, and has some great features including the optional wireless headphones. The extra cash spent on the Deus gets you a fully wireless and extremely lightweight setup - a consideration for the younger fellow, plus the ergonomics are the best in the business. The money also buys a lot more flexibility over the Racer, a lot more tone options, programs, four frequencies, expert settings etc - a detector you can really grow with. The Deus can appear to be a very complicated detector, though in reality the built in starter prgrams make it quite easy to use from the get go.

Another detector that you may want to have a look at is the Teknetics G2 Plus, very lightweight, great ergonomics, gold, coin/relic and beach ability, and extremely easy to use. The G2 Plus supercedes the orginal G2 with a host of new features, both detectors are the same as the Fisher Goldbug DP (G2), and Fisher F19 (G2+), albeit with different shaft designs. The Teknetics detectors have the better shaft design over the traditional S-bend design of the Fisher detectors.

Gold detecting with a VLF takes time and experience to gain results, and helps if you target areas with lesser amount of mineralisation, areas like tailings, shaft overburden and so on. Surface workings can be frustrating to detect, especially if the area is laden with tasty sounding hot rocks, or even some areas where you may not be able to achieve a proper ground balance at all. Hence why many quickly upgrade to a pulse induction detector to ignore such ground mineralisation and hot rocks, simply easier and less frustrating to use, and less of a learning curve - though they do come at a price.

In reality there are a miriad of detectors that could possibly fit the bill, just have to sift through the online brochures to see what detectors offer the features that you are after - take into account things like overall weight of the detector, coil options, screen backlighting for night detecting, tone options, ground balance options, will the shaft setup be suitable for a youngster etc. :)
 
Goldpick said:
As most will say on here, is it always a bit of a chore to chose a detector that will suit all facets of detecting without any sort of compromise. The best idea would be to chose a detector that best suits your core area of detecting (coin/relic and beach), followed by any sort of gold ability considering that will be your area of least usage.

The Makro Racer 2 is a lot easier to use on the beach(ie. wet sand) than the Deus, even in the salt water - is it more simple to ground balance and run stable than the Deus in those particular areas. As for coin relic detecting, either machine is well and truly capable, the Makro is a solid detector for the money, and has some great features including the optional wireless headphones. The extra cash spent on the Deus gets you a fully wireless and extremely lightweight setup - a consideration for the younger fellow, plus the ergonomics are the best in the business. The money also buys a lot more flexibility over the Racer, a lot more tone options, programs, four frequencies, expert settings etc - a detector you can really grow with. The Deus can appear to be a very complicated detector, though in reality the built in starter prgrams make it quite easy to use from the get go.

Another detector that you may want to have a look at is the Teknetics G2 Plus, very lightweight, great ergonomics, gold, coin/relic and beach ability, and extremely easy to use. The G2 Plus supercedes the orginal G2 with a host of new features, both detectors are the same as the Fisher Goldbug DP (G2), and Fisher F19 (G2+), albeit with different shaft designs. The Teknetics detectors have the better shaft design over the traditional S-bend design of the Fisher detectors.

Gold detecting with a VLF takes time and experience to gain results, and helps if you target areas with lesser amount of mineralisation, areas like tailings, shaft overburden and so on. Surface workings can be frustrating to detect, especially if the area is laden with tasty sounding hot rocks, or even some areas where you may not be able to achieve a proper ground balance at all. Hence why many quickly upgrade to a pulse induction detector to ignore such ground mineralisation and hot rocks, simply easier and less frustrating to use, and less of a learning curve - though they do come at a price.

In reality there are a miriad of detectors that could possibly fit the bill, just have to sift through the online brochures to see what detectors offer the features that you are after - take into account things like overall weight of the detector, coil options, screen backlighting for night detecting, tone options, ground balance options, will the shaft setup be suitable for a youngster etc. :)
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, you have given me some food for thought with those suggestions, I will take a look at them. :)
 
Wishfull said:
Mav the sdc will do all you will want to do. Compact not too heavy, waterproof to 3m hot ground is not a problem either also has salt discrimination. Yes they are expensive but they hold their value, bit like a Porsche. I love mine and I now my wife wants one lol !
My 2 cents worth. Cheers
Click to expand...

Update of this is:
After a lot of discusion with bro inlaw and my wife and PA reading, the latest decision is that we purchase a GPX 5000 when funds somehow become available. Reason being as has been said here before, go over with SDC first then GPX 5000 to go the depth.

I see that the SDC is now dearer than when I got mine in August 2016.
 
The new 4500 are not far behind the 5000 some say they are as good ,I have a new 45 and had a 5000 myself I prefer the 45 much cheaper regards john :)
 
old hand said:
The new 4500 are not far behind the 5000 some say they are as good ,I have a new 45 and had a 5000 myself I prefer the 45 much cheaper regards john :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for that mate. Tell me are you running an external speaker with amplifier? I hate wearing headphones because I am totaly deaf in one ear and have a hearing aid in the other.
What would the extra cost be for that kind of a setup.

You mentioned that the new 4500 is better than the 5000. Can you expand on that a bit for me ?
 

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