The great debate what detector to use

[dirtdiggin]

Hi guys and girls.

I've been looking at a lot of gold detectors that will also detect coins and treasure things but must be a real gold nugget detecting machine! and like a lot of people myself and my wife do it for the enjoyment and it's also peaceful and relaxing. We mainly do panning and sluicing but I've now got the gold detecting bug lol, and yes we don't have huge amounts of cash just laying around otherwise we'd buy a GPX 5000. So I'm in need of some true advice from people who have used different machine and what they really found with it AND IF IT WILL SUIT WHAT I'M AFTER as this is a MUST!!. PI or VLF machines ? Remembering I'm really wanting to find the yellow stuff !!.

Cheers and thanks for your time and help.

 

[Twapster]

Yellow = PI = more expensive detector. You can find a good VLF for relics second hand for about $300 ie bugger all. Not so easy with a PI. Get the cheap second hander VLF for the relics, then search for the PI in your price range...so you have the best of both worlds! Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[old hand]

I have been detecting for gold for 34 years yes a PI it the way to go look at a ML 4000 for a entry level detector or another option is a white TDI OZ PRO they are about $2600 new if you add another coil its a half reasonable detector there was a few on gumtree for sale .I must say I have not used a tdi but other on this forum are using them, I do prefer ML myself regards john

 

[rc62burke]

What is your budget?????????????
cheers
Lee

 

[Ridge Runner]

Buy A Whites SSP or the TDI SL for around 12-1300 NEW, I had A GP3500 and it was useless, The dealers and marketing hype said it could discriminate which was a Lie. They suffer terribly from EMI, the only thing it could find was Iron or Dust. Sold It Thank God.

Bought a Whites and It does what it says on the Tin, At A 5th of the Price than the GPX series, Damned if I would pay 6 or 7 Grand For a detector made in Asia/China, The Only reason I bought the 3500 because at the time they were made In OZ, They Lost my Vote the moment they caved in to Greed. wouldn't **** on em if they were on fire.

John

 

[ezpacer]

Hello Dirtdiggin,

I am in process of buying a Garret ATX, after weighing the advantages relative to the GPX 5000. Half the price, and said to be as good or better. You can find comparisons between it and the GPX on youtube, and you might enjoy checking out matesandgold.com to see their opinion. Please take a look at my post on upcoming visit, here under metal detecting.

cheers,

Glenn

 

[rc62burke]

Hello Dirtdiggin & ezpacer

I think the below unit is a great option for either of you guy's.

ezpacer, this would be a good buy for you with all the gear & extra coils this would be versatile for what you are doing.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=8331

Cheers Lee

 

[mbasko]

Buy A Whites SSP or the TDI SL for around 12-1300 NEW, I had A GP3500 and it was useless, The dealers and marketing hype said it could discriminate which was a Lie. They suffer terribly from EMI, the only thing it could find was Iron or Dust. Sold It Thank God.

Bought a Whites and It does what it says on the Tin, At A 5th of the Price than the GPX series, Damned if I would pay 6 or 7 Grand For a detector made in Asia/China, The Only reason I bought the 3500 because at the time they were made In OZ, They Lost my Vote the moment they caved in to Greed. wouldn't **** on em if they were on fire.

John

The GP3500 was useless? Might have been the operator :lol:
Met a fulltime prospector not long ago who still used his GP3500 & was still getting good results.
You never let a chance to have a whinge about Minelab slip still hey RR.
Genuine Minelab metal detectors are exclusively manufactured by Minelab in Australia and by Plexus Corp, USA in the Malaysian facility.Not China.
Like all other brands there is no doubt some components would be Chinese made.
Manufactured in the USA doesn't mean that they exclusively use American componentry. It means they are built in their USA facility (or Scotland) from locally or internationally sourced components, no doubt including Chinese.
The Whites machines are ok for the money but to jump on a high moral barrel & beat your chest about where things are made in todays world is pretty useless when most companies use Chinese gear to some extent. They have to compete.
The proof is in the pudding - check the forum/s finds sections & machine used The fact is even older Minelab machines have the runs on the board but even though I prefer them I have found gold with Whites so they do work & are an option at a lower price.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Buy A Whites SSP or the TDI SL for around 12-1300 NEW, I had A GP3500 and it was useless, The dealers and marketing hype said it could discriminate which was a Lie. They suffer terribly from EMI, the only thing it could find was Iron or Dust. Sold It Thank God.

Bought a Whites and It does what it says on the Tin, At A 5th of the Price than the GPX series, Damned if I would pay 6 or 7 Grand For a detector made in Asia/China, The Only reason I bought the 3500 because at the time they were made In OZ, They Lost my Vote the moment they caved in to Greed. wouldn't **** on em if they were on fire.

John

The GP3500 was useless? Might have been the operator :lol:
Met a fulltime prospector not long ago who still used his GP3500 & was still getting good results.
You never let a chance to have a whinge about Minelab slip still hey RR.
Genuine Minelab metal detectors are exclusively manufactured by Minelab in Australia and by Plexus Corp, USA in the Malaysian facility.Not China.
Like all other brands there is no doubt some components would be Chinese made.
Manufactured in the USA doesn't mean that they exclusively use American componentry. It means they are built in their USA facility (or Scotland) from locally or internationally sourced components, no doubt including Chinese.
The Whites machines are ok for the money but to jump on a high moral barrel & beat your chest about where things are made in todays world is pretty useless when most companies use Chinese gear to some extent. They have to compete.
The proof is in the pudding - check the forum/s finds sections & machine used The fact is even older Minelab machines have the runs on the board but even though I prefer them I have found gold with Whites so they do work & are an option at a lower price.

Having Owned All Pre-Asian Minelabs , Musketeer ADV, Sovereign GT, Quatro, and An E-trac along with A GP 3500, The best all rounder was the Musketeer, but they stopped making them, and the Deepest small Item I ever found on Land was with the GT, and After spending over $20,000 on them plus extras,

And then I bought an MXT and went over the same area that I had Marked out with Pegs and string and gridded the whole Area where I used my Minelabs and then found 3 lumps of gold Jewellery and A Silver Pendant in ONE 4ft sweep of the coil, Tell me wouldn't you be P*** Off Too,
And The Reason for the Minelabs Not Finding them was because the Iron Mask could not be turned off Completely which Ruins their Recovery Rate,

Finding more In the first Week with the MXT than I did in six Years with the Others was one hell of a shock to me Too,
And Being an Aussie I was Proud of MineLab, But Having to swallow it and admit I was wrong in spending all that money to my self and my family Leaves A Bitter After Taste, Go and waste 25-30,000 and see how comfortable you are with that.

No Matter how much I wanted them to work in that ground, they wouldn't, And I have forked out Enough Dough to be Entitled to Express My Opinion and My Findings or the Lack There Of.

And yes my GP did have an Issue with Depth where it would not see things below the 10-12 inch mark, But It ran smooth as Silk,

And Whites Are Made In The US, and so are Garrett, the Only thing in a Whites Box that is Made in Asia is the Charger,
If Minelab had of stayed in Australia then Maybe I would Still use them for some things, But I will not buy the worlds so called best prospecting detector for 6 or 7k when its made in Asia when I can Buy one that's Made in the US, that can beat it hands down at a lot of other things for $1500 and it don't pick up thunder storms and power Lines,
Depth is not the be all and end all in detecting, You have to put the coil over it first, Look at the Hand of Faith for a start, and Smoothness and adjustability are far more important factors.

There's No Operator error about it, I'm not some young school kid, I have been detecting since the 70s, I even gave that GP to a fellow detectorist who has a masters in electronics and he said there was something wrong with it, and I then sold it to him for $1200 with all the spares after about 18 months.

You have your views, I have Mine but mine cost me a flaming fortune to find out.

 

[bushpig]

I agree with what Twapster said. Everyone has his or her own opinion though. Not too long ago I watched my brother pull out a nice 4g nugget quite deep down. He had never used a detector previously and the only lesson he had was a quick 15min one from me.

 

[Ridge Runner]

I agree with what Twapster said. Everyone has his or her own opinion though. Not too long ago I watched my brother pull out a nice 4g nugget quite deep down. He had never used a detector previously and the only lesson he had was a quick 15min one from me.

Good On Him, I bet the Look on his face was Priceless, I hope you both find many More

John

 

[Guest]

My recommendation is to buy a brand new SPP then later add the conductivity switch so you could hunt for coins easier, also you can still afford a few additional coils too.
I'm not going to blow my horn on the MineLab subject but will add that I owe nothing in the kitty for whites machines as they pay for themselfs easy' I can't say that for the "secondhand" mineLab units iv had over the years until I'd sold them.

Buy a additional Aldi detector while there's some left to leave in the car for rest stops.

 

[Ridge Runner]

My recommendation is to buy a brand new SPP then later add the conductivity switch so you could hunt for coins easier, also you can still afford a few additional coils too.
I'm not going to blow my horn on the MineLab subject but will add that I owe nothing in the kitty for whites machines as they pay for themselfs easy' I can't say that for the "secondhand" mineLab units iv had over the years until I'd sold them.

Buy a additional Aldi detector while there's some left to leave in the car for rest stops.

You always done well with yours, so that's saying something, That's a good idea about the Aldi machine its if you ever want to go and weigh up a new Patch.

 

[bushpig]

Thanks RR and yes I could tell he had found something by the big grin on his face when he came walking back to camp. He has the gold bug now just as bad as I do.

I agree with what Twapster said. Everyone has his or her own opinion though. Not too long ago I watched my brother pull out a nice 4g nugget quite deep down. He had never used a detector previously and the only lesson he had was a quick 15min one from me.

Good On Him, I bet the Look on his face was Priceless, I hope you both find many More

John

 

[rc62burke]

Hello Dirtdiggin,

I am in process of buying a Garret ATX, after weighing the advantages relative to the GPX 5000. Half the price, and said to be as good or better. You can find comparisons between it and the GPX on youtube, and you might enjoy checking out matesandgold.com to see their opinion. Please take a look at my post on upcoming visit, here under metal detecting.

cheers,

Glenn

Hey Glenn

Have you had a try before you buy session with an ATX ???

There was plenty of talk about them when they first came out there!! but that has all gone quiet??? to me this tells a story! I saw one in action briefly & was not impressed as it had a bad habit of sounding off when bumped on the grass etc, the Minelab Pi units have the runs on the board, there is no doubt about that & if it was me spending the money to come over here to Hunt for "Gold" I would get a Minelab.

I am not saying that the others will not do the job!! but the ATX is limited with it's versatility in coils, the SPP well it could be great? but for my way of thinking there is not enough current proof, for someone like you who is on a mission, I hope you understand what I am getting at.

I would love to give the SPP a good work out to see what it can do!!! anyone???

cheers
Lee

 

[mbasko]

Whites Are Made In The US, and so are Garrett

Yes from locally & internationally, including Asia + China, componentry!
As for the rest dribble, blah, blah, blah. The OP wants to know about gold detectors for Australian conditions not your MXT coin/relic hunting in Europe or wherever you are now. When was the last time you found natural gold with that MXT on an Australian mineralised goldfield?

I'm with Lee - get a Minelab that has the runs up. For mine, even though I have found gold with a Whites on Australian goldfields, they just aren't in the same league on our ground. Too much peeing around testing, modifying, etc. with their PI machines & not enough valid evidence of how good they supposedly are. Wasn't that long ago the TDI SL wasn't even recommended for use here or sold by Aussie dealers. Now we are led to believe that a watered down version (SPP) is supposed to be the ducks nuts. Funny how they didn't sell in the target area of Africa & now we have them here under a different name.

 

[stalker]

I would think the tdi pro oz would be the pick , if you're inclined to buy whites ,

the atx if you cut hrough all the bs that gets said about it ,, it is a really good all rounder ,
The sdc same thing ,,, both have pros and cons , but lately the sdc seems to have a few more cons but its really more suited to finding small gold ,,

Now if your not going to the beach whats wrong with getting a a AT GOLD ,
And to be really smart about it , why not have a few detectors , one for gold and one for coins , but depends on your buget , but you'd need at least 3 grand in the kit for two detectors ,,,

 

[Guest]

Mbasko buddy ol'Pal....
Nice to see your return has bought you back where you left off'

The man wants a gold detector that he can hunt coins and relics and on a budget so not a bl??dy MineLab that won't work in town.

Also the TDI SL is not sold here in Australia so it shouldn't be compared to any other machine' on that note the upgrades to the SPP' that allows it to work faultless in HIGH mineralised soil and not to mention BAD EMI with a mono, has the same circuitry as the TDI SL so if anyone wishes they could make the simple changes to their SL and it would also work extremely well here in Australia.
Any new SPP from Goldsearch already has the upgrades from factory' Iv got all 3 The SPP,SL & TDI pro but still recommend the SPP.

MineLab Vs Whites again! it's personal choice ones more expensive and they are both good at finding lots of bullets...

 

[condor22]

Hi guys and girls.

I've been looking at a lot of gold detectors that will also detect coins and treasure things but must be a real gold nugget detecting machine! and like a lot of people myself and my wife do it for the enjoyment and it's also peaceful and relaxing. We mainly do panning and sluicing but I've now got the gold detecting bug lol, and yes we don't have huge amounts of cash just laying around otherwise we'd buy a GPX 5000. So I'm in need of some true advice from people who have used different machine and what they really found with it AND IF IT WILL SUIT WHAT I'M AFTER as this is a MUST!!. PI or VLF machines ? Remembering I'm really wanting to find the yellow stuff !!.

Cheers and thanks for your time and help.

It would really make it easier to answer your question if you have an upper $ limit.

But, in simple terms;

You get what you pay for - The detectors that are better at finding gold cost more.......

• Pulse Induction (PI) is the way to go - I went cheaper with a VLF when I started and found a lot of rust.......[/*]
• You buy the best you can afford - keep in mind the hidden costs or restrictions i.e. the SDC2300 is a great detector, but you can NOT change coils - The Garret ATX, also a good detector, I only know what I read, but although a cheaper detector than the GPX5000 each extra coil is about $600 - the GPX5000 is more expensive initially, but has a bigger range of extra coils which start at nearer $200 ranging to $600.[/*]

I have no experience with Whites.

Consider a second hand PI machine, you can get an idea of the price range off of the internet.

I would suggest you search Minelab, Garret and Whites to start with and see what models in each brand fall within your budget (new and 2nd hand). Then try finding some reviews online. When you have narrowed it down to say something in each brand, new and second hand, then ask the questions on here to help you narrow it down to decide.

I use a GPX5000 for gold and a X-Terra 705 for coin etc. It would be too easy for me to advocate Minelab above other brands because that is what I use, but at the end of the day, it's your money and your decision.......

 

[condor22]

Oh forgot to add, be cautious if using Ebay, new detectors may not be the real thing, do what is advertised and 2nd hand may have issues not noted.

I say this tongue in cheek, because there are a lot of genuine sellers, I buy things all the time, but carefully.......