New to prospecting / gold detecting

Howdy, I'm a relatively young bloke looking for someone to show me the ropes. I live in the Ballarat area. I'm about to purchase my first detector, a gpx4500 I was thinking. Anyway, I'm after some tips and advice. Any help would be appreciated, I'll be looking to get out and hunting as often as possible, so experienced people with the patience to teach a newbie to head out with would be a bonus. Thanks in advance.

You will not go wrong with a 4500 just check the PMAV I think there is a Ballarat branch regards john

Hi there Fisho, Welcome to the mad house. Have you detected before?? If not & the 4500 is going to be your first gold detector then you are in for a huge learning curve. The 4500 is a great machine & the price for the new ones today isnt half bad either. So pretty good choice. I swing one.
People may be a bit stand offish to step forward & take you out in the field to teach you. If you buy a brand new machine there are often free lesson days with the package. There are plenty of tips & advise on this & other forums so you can do a lot of research on sites like this to get your knowledge base under way. There is no easy way but just lots of time out in the field getting to know your machine & then learning where the gold is more likely to be. It aint an easy learning curve so you need a great love for the out doors as there is going to be a lot of gold-less days. I would recommend you getting Jonathan Porters (JP's) GPX detector series of DVD's. They will be of pricless value to you & speed up your learning curve no end.

Good luck out there

JW

Hi Fisho,

Welcome to the forum.

Lot of information to read _ you can use right hand corner of the main page to search for any topics you are interested in -including 4500.

First step is to get a Miners Right:

https://checkout.payments.com.au/dpi_minersRight/

Also recommended to become a Member of PMAV which does lot of work for our hobby (all volunteers):

http://www.pmav.org.au/    (support the organization which support our hobby)

Might join local PMAV branch in Ballarat as they do monthly trips etc so plenty to learn there from experienced members.

Most of us met someone who took us under their wings and we become detecting mates.

I will also move this topic to NEW MEMBERS SECTION.


4500gpx is a great machine. Once you decide what to buy let us know and someone will help you with settings etc.Good start is to use factory settings , you will find a gold with it eventually.
Unwritten rule or advise: dig everything, refill back your digging holes and take all rubbish with you.

Have fun and good luck.

Lot of advise will come your way and one of the main things is to stay safe.

GoldEN

Righto, a lot of good advice straight off the bat, cheers everyone. I was aware of the prospecting licence, I'm going to grab one on the same day I buy the detector. I'm glad to see the gpx4500 getting good reviews also.
I've applied to join Ballarat pmav on Facebook and I'm waiting to hear back with regards to joining the club officially.

Thanks JW, no I haven't detected before, I've always been curious but figured if I couldn't afford a decent detector then I'd wait until I could to get into it. I looked at the 5000, but from what I've read, the 4500 is pretty much just as good and half the price.

Hi Fisho
Just please be careful about buying detector from who you buy and where please.

If is too cheap there is a reason as it might be not genuine Minelab product.
Please consult with members here or buy from detecting shops they give warranty as well.

GoldEN

Cheers mate, I'll be buying one new, I've already checked for stock. Another question, what coils do you recommend?

For a smaller gold i had best success with 8 inch round mono commander and 10x5 mono coiltek. There is also another great coil NF 8x6.

When new in a hobby smaller coils are little bit more newbie friendly as they are not very noisy (picking up less Electrical interference and ground noise).

You will get probably a coil or two when u buy new so go one size down if you get 11 inch mono.
Thats enough for start to get you some experience and sure good enough to get you some nuggets.

GoldEN

Excellent, thanks mate

Here you go Fisho.
http://aurumaustralis.com/jonathan-porter-outback-prospector-gold-metal-detecting-gpx4500-dvd/

JW

Hi Fisho and welcome to the world of detecting. I don't know if you have bought your 4500 yet. But I'll give you a big tip be very careful buying of E-bay. There is a lot of Chinese reproductions out there. Not worth a pinch of sh!t. You may try here on this site. Some times a 4500 comes up for sale with extras. As you live in Ballarat get to know Mark Day from E.E. Day & sons. He is a great guy, supports the PMAV Ballarat branch. Also he is a prospector him self for over 20 years and sells Minelad gear. So he knows what he is talking about. I'm glad you have joined the Ballarat branch of the PMAV. You will learn a lot from these guys. Also go and talk to Cordel Kent from the Gold Exchange shop. He prospects as well.
The only thing I ask of you to do is, "please fill in your holes" otherwise we won't have areas to detect if the Greens have their way.
Good luck and have fun,
wombat

Hey all, got my gpx4500, proud as punch. Got it from E E Days mob. They talked me into buying a coiltek 14" mono elite which he reckoned was good for ground around the Ballarat area. So next step is to join the Ballarat PMAV branch. I have an application form, should I just bring it along to the next meet along with my fees? Just wanting to clarify the date and time for the next meet also...?