Newbie advise

Hi guys. I have no clue at all about detecting but very keen to give it a go. I have been looking at the Minelab equinox 800 and the Minelab Gold monster 1000. Any recommendations or adviser from those with the knowledge would be much appreciated

Hiya JimmyNoClue & welcome to PA
.
first up, more info needed, ie, what you are mainly going after?
The 2 machines you mention have different primary purposes.
The GM is a specialist small/fine gold hunter, but will find coins & jewellery (& lots of Aluminium trash)
The EQ is a mainly coins/jewellery/relic hunter, but will find small gold.

DED

Welcome to P.A.
https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=20

Thanks for your reply mate. Mainly i would like to get out looking for the huge nuggets lol. So ideally something to give the best chance at detecting any gold but could also be used for occasional beach strolls etc.
I don't mind spending a little bit more if it betters my chance of success rather than just walking over ground that others would have a win on.

Just further to my last post, I'm limited to what they sell at Miners Den in Melbourne because my wife, knowing i wanted to get a detector of sorts bought me a token one for a gift knowing i would probably exchange it for something more purposeful

SDC 2300 is a great machine...

Goody

Jimmy no clue said:

Just further to my last post, I'm limited to what they sell at Miners Den in Melbourne because my wife, knowing i wanted to get a detector of sorts bought me a token one for a gift knowing i would probably exchange it for something more purposeful

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Which " token " one did your wife buy you? Miners Den have a great range of detectors for you to chose from.Entry level to top of the range.

I dont have any experience with other detectors but I love my gold bug pro, it cost $1300 but it is too easy to use and very sensitive

I bought it on google search reviews, it won many comparisons for gold Prospecting

Eldorado said:

Jimmy no clue said:

Just further to my last post, I'm limited to what they sell at Miners Den in Melbourne because my wife, knowing i wanted to get a detector of sorts bought me a token one for a gift knowing i would probably exchange it for something more purposeful

Click to expand...

Which " token " one did your wife buy you? Miners Den have a great range of detectors for you to chose from.Entry level to top of the range.

Click to expand...

It is the Go Find 44

goody2shoes said:

SDC 2300 is a great machine...

Goody

Click to expand...

Cheers Goody. I checked them out online and it has some good reviews

You will find that a lot of people on this site use a SDC...

Or use it as a back up...

In what ball game of money are you going to kind of spend?

As a there are a lot of great machine to buy..

I would not recommended buying one off eBay as they mostly nock off's...

Miners Den would be the best place to buy one...

They guaranteed there metal detectors...

Goody

alexbunyip said:

I dont have any experience with other detectors but I love my gold bug pro, it cost $1300 but it is too easy to use and very sensitive

Click to expand...

alexbunyip said:

I bought it on google search reviews, it won many comparisons for gold Prospecting

Click to expand...

Not in Australia, it didn't, mate. There's been plenty of disappointed users here on PA.
It's old technology isn't suited to our highly-mineralised goldfields and the frequency is way too low for a dedicated small nugget machine.

From the reviews. The Gold Bug Pro features extreme ground and target information with an ability to find the smallest gold nuggets in any highly mineralized soil.

Ive been finding tiny bits of lead in almost total iron ground. Very happy so far. Maybe they have been using knockoffs from eBay?

alexbunyip said:

From the reviews. The Gold Bug Pro features extreme ground and target information with an ability to find the smallest gold nuggets in any highly mineralized soil.

Ive been finding tiny bits of lead in almost total iron ground. Very happy so far. Maybe they have been using knockoffs from eBay?

Click to expand...

I'd love to see pictures of what you have found ?
Cheers :goldnugget:

ignore the haters alex
GB pro is awesome.

just like anything learn it and it will serve you
well.

OrangeNugget said:

ignore the haters alex
GB pro is awesome.
just like anything learn it and it will serve you
well.

Click to expand...

Hmmm... funny you should say that:

OrangeNugget said:

knobs and switches FTW!
hate all these new lcd crap detectors
sucked in to the suckers who buy em!

Click to expand...

(https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=524689#p524689)

goody2shoes said:

You will find that a lot of people on this site use a SDC...

Or use it as a back up...

In what ball game of money are you going to kind of spend?

As a there are a lot of great machine to buy..

I would not recommended buying one off eBay as they mostly nock off's...

Miners Den would be the best place to buy one...

They guaranteed there metal detectors...

Goody

Click to expand...

The ones i was originally looking at were in the price range up to $1500 but the price of the sdc isn't out of the ball park at all either. I don't want to say price doesn't matter because i don't want to go stupid if I'm not going to benefit that much. In saying that i would rather spend a little bit more to maximise my chances if that all makes sense.

Also it would definitely be miners den i purchase from because as i mentioned in previous post my wife purchased a token go find 44 from there knowing i would upgrade

Well that didn't help much lol

Do what some of us do have a dedicated gold machine and a beach / coin and relic machine if its not out of range you want to spend hard to get a machine that does both as good as a dedicated machine for either. Cheers Muk.