First Detector. Opinions? (Vic Area)

[ToPoke]

Hello! Here's to a first post here and I hope I've found the right place to ask a couple of questions I've got

I've always had an interest in prospecting both alluvial and detecting since I was young but never got an opportunity to, and I've read through a bunch of posts here and it's been super informative, so thanks everyone. I decided to bite the bullet and find a detector to get learning with and I've narrowed down a shortlist of machines to look for under $1k-ish that still seem to be relevant for gold in Vic GT, thought I might get some opinions on them first:

Minelab SD 2000-series heavy? and replacement batteries might be an issue.. are these getting old?
Minelab Gold Monster 1000
Whites GMT, Goldmaster
Nox 800

How does the learning curve differ for all these, or how rewarding they are to learn? Also just to know what to expect to fork out for these, also appreciated

And no, I don't have the budget to go SDC2300 or GPX as I'll bet some of you might suggest :lol:
Thanks in advance, looking forward to reading your posts, and do correct me if I'm sorely mistaken :Y:

 

[Rockhunter62]

Welcome to the forum ToPoke. I'll let the Vic's talk to you about detectors for over there.

Cheers

Doug

 

[Perth Tim]

If you can't afford much, have you considered just hiring one?
Unless you live close to a gold bearing area how likely are you to spend a lot of time at it?

 

[Rodt]

ToPoke I am in the same position (ie: looking to get into it but not going to spend $thousands)

In addition to your list I have narrowed mine down to

Nokta Makro - VLF unit (new they are about $1200)

QED PL3 - PI unit (2nd hand anywhere from $1400 - $2000. Can get dearer with additional coils and accessories)

Good luck with it

 

[Rockhunter62]

There is a QED PL3 up for grabs in the For Sale section.

Cheers

Doug

 

[techo_bob]

Hi ToPoke & Rodt

I also have a Makro Gold Racer, I could possibly sell in as new condition
this is a High frequency VLF designed for gold prospecting
has a ground grab for auto ground balance
looking around $900 - $1000 mark
if any one is interested will post in for sale section with photo's and details

Cheers Bob..

 

[mbasko]

Hi ToPoke & Rodt

I also have a Makro Gold Racer, I could possibly sell in as new condition
this is a High frequency VLF designed for gold prospecting
has a ground grab for auto ground balance
looking around $900 - $1000 mark
if any one is interested will post in for sale section with photo's and details

Cheers Bob..

Might have to adjust your used price Bob?
They currently sell for $875 new http://phasetechnical.com.au/product/makro-gold-racer-56khz-gold-detector/

 

[ToPoke]

Thanks everyone for the welcome, seems like I'm not too far off the mark for now. You would have a preference for any machine in particular, if you could only choose one?

As for renting, Tim, that's definitely an option to consider but I'd prefer having my own machine in the end though. Might not be particularly close to gold areas but driving up now and again isn't a problem

 

[techo_bob]

Gees the Makro prices have really nosed dived as I paid well over $1k a couple of years ago
looks like I will have to re consider that one, and thanks for pointing this out.
I don't think I would go any lower than $750, or I may as well keep it as I use it as a discriminating pin pointer on the deep stuff

Bob..

 

[Moneybox]

ToPoke, Tim's suggestion of hiring a machine might be a good idea. This game is not for everybody but for those who get the bug we usually end up soon moving up to bigger and better machines. We started out with Whites GMT and a Garrett ATX. Both found gold. The second nugget I found was 35g with the ATX. That sort of thing seals your fate. Once you have the fever it's worse than Covid because there's no cure. I regret selling the ATX, it was my first metal detector and holds some special memories. We have six gold detectors now much to Mrs M's disgust and a couple of dryblowers.

Beware of the danger of getting started :lol:

 

[Guest]

Hello! Here's to a first post here and I hope I've found the right place to ask a couple of questions I've got

I've always had an interest in prospecting both alluvial and detecting since I was young but never got an opportunity to, and I've read through a bunch of posts here and it's been super informative, so thanks everyone. I decided to bite the bullet and find a detector to get learning with and I've narrowed down a shortlist of machines to look for under $1k-ish that still seem to be relevant for gold in Vic GT, thought I might get some opinions on them first:

Minelab SD 2000-series heavy? and replacement batteries might be an issue.. are these getting old?
Minelab Gold Monster 1000
Whites GMT, Goldmaster
Nox 800

How does the learning curve differ for all these, or how rewarding they are to learn? Also just to know what to expect to fork out for these, also appreciated

And no, I don't have the budget to go SDC2300 or GP/X as I'll bet some of you might suggest :lol:
Thanks in advance, looking forward to reading your posts, and do correct me if I'm sorely mistaken :Y:

G'day

The minelab Sd's are still quite a capable detector despite their coming out in the 90's, and being a pi (pulse induction) machine they will handle the goldfields conditions far better than most Vlf detectors will, the 2000 and 2100 machines come up for sale fairly often on ebay and gumtree and for around the same sort of prices, the up side to these machines is that you can still get many accessory items to work on them from other sized search coils and many types of batteries and boosters, so you don't have to worry about using the original heavy brick batteries that they came out with, which by the way are still available anyway through jaycar and online sales, if you enjoy the hobby you will find as you go along that so will the bits and pieces you buy to compliment the detector you are using, then you might upgrade to a later model pi machine which some of the other coils you might buy will also be usable on that as well.

As far as learning the ropes, any detector whether it be a pi or vlf are going to require a degree of learning about the operation of it, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses as some are, like the vlf machines better at discriminating out unwanted ferrous trash targets but can really struggle in hot ground, where on the other hand the pi machines will in most cases be usable in hot ground but have no discrimination in the 2000 and 2100, the 2200 up to the 5000 have a discrimination feature but its nowhere are good as the vlf detectors have so its mostly never used.

Its also good advice to be hiring a detector first and see how you go, as mentioned you may find its not your thing and so nothing lost, but if you get hooked you will find that you will soon realise that to get gold you are going to have to work out how to increase your budget and get better machines to do it with if you want to make the hobby pay.

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[Perth Tim]

M advice - hire an SDC2300. They are cheap to hire for a week, and easy to run and give the best chances to find something even if it's only tiny.

 

[ToPoke]

Gee, sounds like quite the dangerous dark hole indeed, best way to save yourself from it is just not to start at all hahah

Thanks Moneybox for all your anecdotes and Stayyer for your advice, it seems like my expectations are more or less in line, now it's just the waiting game for a PI detector in decent nick and the right price to come along, and hoping there's not too much bracket creep in the meantime.. :argh:

Is there much of a difference between the SD and GP Minelabs from a usability standpoint?

As for renting... I still feel like if it doesn't work out, I'll be able to still sell one on, rather than renting one, since I'll be shoehorning myself into going all out for the rental period. Just my take on that for now, but definitely doable if all else fails.