Quick Hello

[Blueboy]

I am hoping to take my son out metal detecting as we live in Smythesdale Vic and are surrounded by gold digging history. My dad took me fishing when I was younger in Scotland and gave me a love of the countryside, I hope this will do that for him, we have dirt bikes too, so can go for a drive and hunt, killing 2 birds with one stone.
Haven't bought any equipment yet, still trying to figure out what's best for him (aged 9) and myself, tempting to buy the cheaper stuff, but I guess I will just end up having to spend more by upgrading.
Thanks for the hints and tips, quite a lot to try and take in at first, but I do enjoy doing the research.
Cheers again.
Colin (aka Blueboy)

 

[GTOZ]

Welcome Blueboy,

You have come to the right place my friend..
I was in the same place as you, cannot spend to much. I did weeks of studding on the internet before buying and was looking at the (AT PRO around $600) or the (X-terra 705 duel, around $990)
I ended up going with the Minelab x-terra 705 duel.. it give you the 2 coils and one being for gold detecting the double D..
Its a good detector, however you have to spend lots of time with it to get the settings right...

Good Luck...

Cheers
OZ

 

[Nugget]

Welcome to the forum Blueboy.

I think it's great that you want to acquaint your son with the countryside as your dad did for you. Becoming a father only 14 months ago myself, I now appreciate the simpler things in life and want to provide my children with some great memories to look back on later on in life.

In terms of which detector to buy, I'm sure with all the information and advice on the forum as well as other online resources you'll make the right decision for you, and if you have any specific questions please don't hesitate to ask.

Best of luck mate.

Nugget.

 

[loamer]

Blueboy - excellent location you are in there at Smythesdale. There were some excellent diggings running through the town and you still have a lot of crown land around you with good ground. You have it all, shallow, reef, surfacing (Surface Hill in town there is a big hint) etc. Some good recorded nugget finds to - Just west of Browns Rd, south of Skipper Rd, out by the Jubilee Mines etc etc. You have kms of good ground through there without even hitting Ballarat.

 

[Blueboy]

Thanks for all the welcomes, look forward to maybe seeing some of you guys out on the track in the days ahead, there are old diggings just 5mins walk from our house, and a bit of a hole even on our property, so yes a good spot to be. Having said that, one of the things I really loved about fishing back home was it's a good excuse to discover your country and visit places you otherwise might not think about, so we will try to wander a bit too. I was thinking we could even hit the beach for a dig around when we visit the mother-in-law in Mornington good excuse to escape.

 

[GeoKJP]

Welcome BlueBoy. I have young kids myself, my 11 year old loves to go detecting and panning. Good family time. Good luck mate.