Newbies from Denial Bay, Far West South Australia

[T & K]

Hi Everyone. Terry & I are completely new to this but Terry has had a 30+ year passion to do some gold detecting and we feel now is the time as we're not getting any younger.
We are still researching (a LOT) to try and find the gold detector that would be a great beginner tool for us and the more we research, the more confused we are becoming.
To date, we are tossing up between a Garrett AT Gold or the Minelab Eureka Gold. Despite watching hours & hours of YouTube videos on different detectors, how to's etc, we are no closer to settling on any particular one.
If you are inclined to reply with any information that could help 'clear the fog', we would be eternally grateful
I'm starting to worry that by the time we find a machine that might work for us, we may just run out of time.
We are looking at around the $1200 to $1500 mark if that helps with suggestions.
In the meantime, we will spend countless hours checking out Topics & Posts here and acquainting ourselves with the site.
We look forward to a long & fruitful adventure with you all.
Happy Hunting.... Terry & Karen

 

[SCROUNGER]

Welcome T&K, i'm no expert on detectors but i doubt you'll have any problems getting some positive info on this site. The PA members are very helpful from my experience. Good luck with your new adventure.

 

[Chewy]

Hi T and K, welcome to the forum. Only a newby myself but it sounds like you guys are in the same point in the decision process that I was a while back. I went from being about to buy a xterra 705, to a Eureka gold, to an sdc 2300, to a 2nd hand gpx 5000. I ended up buying the 5k. A little bit more than the grand roughly that I was originally planning on spending, but I don't regret it. Plenty of good 2nd hand detectors around at the moment as ppl upgrade to the gpz 7000. Keep an eye on the for sale threads. For about the money your talking about spending, you could pick up a better detector more suitable to your needs.

 

[T & K]

Thanks Chewy
Think we are heading the same way but will have to wait for a good second hand one
Thanks for the info

 

[T & K]

Howdy Scrounger & Chewy

Thanks so much for the 'Prospecting Australia' welcome.

Terry & I are thankful for your responses and look forward to being able to add info to the site rather than our present 'take, take' situation.

We're sure that this site will be of huge value to us as newbies.

Cheers to both of you .... Karen

 

[SCROUNGER]

You're not 'take, take, in my opinion Karen. The way i see it, by asking questions and getting answers, you're helping others find answers as well. From my experience, just about every active member of this forum is happy to help each other. Make sure you post up what the two of you end up buying, i for one would like to know.

 

[Chewy]

Yep spot on Scrounger. The questions of 1 user help many at the same time. Another thing I've found is there are no stupid questions, what might seem like 1 and make you hesitant to ask, don't worry, we all learn by asking questions.........and watching vids on youtube.

 

[Goldtarget]

Whites spp pi? More coil options more places to detect. Depends on what your after but if you are really curious about a Eureka every 2nd Sunday there's a good few being sold across the country alot cheaper than retail not very old with warranty. My thoughts are there's a reason for this.

 

[T & K]

Hi again Chewy & Scrounger

Thanks for the encouragement and you're right ..... you don't learn if you don't ask.

We'll definitely post what we finish up buying.

GOLDTARGET: Terry said he had thought the same thing and thanks you for your input.

Hopefully we'll finish up buying something worthwhile.....

Watch This Space

 

[Goldtarget]

Maybe I should ask what location you are going to detect? If your heading across the border it might be worth a day of tuition and then hiring. That way not only you still get some great tips and you learn how to operate a machine and with some luck get some gold I only say this based on your location.

There's some pretty good info in here on the eureka if that's the path you tread. As has been pointed out and I can attest the price of machines has come down considerably with the release of the sdc and gpz7000. While I was looking recently there's some serious bargains To be had on the second hand market even through the dealers.

I nearly got an extreme with extras for $1050, and plenty of options around the $2000 mark. That sounds expensive but most I looked at were packages with extras like coils picks batteries headphones maps etc all which cost extra if starting from scratch.