Basic advice from more experienced detectorists.

My wife and I have been amateur detectorists for a few years now and at present have a Minelab X-TERRA 705 Dual Detector having just sold another older model Minelab.

In the next few months we are planning spending a few months in the Leonora, Mt Magnet, Sandstone, Kalgoorlie areas of WA.

We plan to set ourselves up with the best equipment we can to do a good job and give us the best chance of finding gold.

My thoughts were to keep the X-TERRA 705, but add a GPZ 7000 and a GPX 5000 or 4500.

I realise this is a large financial investment with no guarantee that it will pay dividends, but we love fossicking and simply want to give ourselves the best chance of being productive.

The thought of walking miles and spending a lifetime of hours detecting ground with no result is disappointing, but even more so if later, this same ground is found to be productive when using the right equipment.

I am asking the more experienced members on this forum, what they would do in our situation?

What models would you equip yourselves for WA with and why?

Thank you,

Peter.

G'day Peter,

My Wife and I have the GPZ7000 & the SDC2300, I operate the 7000 & Jen uses the 2300. We go to WA each year and we find gold every year. Not a fortune, but we usually cover our trip.

Cheers.

Mike.

G'day Peter, welcome to the forum

Your thinking is on the right path. All hobbies cost money. It all depends on how much time you have or wish to devote/put into them.
When you're talking several months constant metal detecting for gold, from one locality to the next, by both of you & can put up with that extra bit of detector weight, then a GPZ 7000 is a must in anyone's arsenal.
Yes a GPZ costs a lot more than a GPX 5000, but the use of it's timings through that 1 only 13x14 inch coil, for finding most size/type gold, in just about all soil type/conditions, stand second to none.
Now on the other hand, purchasing a couple of new GPX 5000's through some form of package deals, (extra coils thrown in etc) or as Mike stated SDC 2300s, (being lighter in weight than the 7000), will save you a considerable amount of money, whilst at the same time, giving you both a good chance of lobbing onto gold. Then if need be (& you'v had a gut-full of detecting) selling both detectors once your trip is over, keeping losses to a minimum.
By the way if you haven't used a GPX series or GPZ series detector before, I can honestly say, you'll find it a big jump/difference from the  VLF Xterra 705 you'v been using

Cheers Kon.

G'day Peter

From the point of view of it wanting it to be a productive trip for you and your wife, getting a pi detector is going to have to be a certainty as although you can use the x-terra in the goldfields it is simply not in the same league as the Sdc2300, Gpx, or Gpz, even if one of you is using the x-terra and the other is using the pi machine then you will most certainly get a bit of gold.

Most of the well known areas that you mention have had plenty of attention from detectorists over the years with every detector you can think of so at the end of the day unless you have a very capable machine you are going to be disappointed, depending on your budget and keeping in mind that you both might want to use the pi machine then an Sdc2300 is a good starting point, they are an excellent machine on small gold and at least if you are picking up a bit here and there it will keep your spirits up, for the same sort of money that you will pay for an Sdc you can buy an gpx4500, the advantage there is you can use larger coils if you want to cover more ground, and there are many accessory items available for them as well, for around $2500 to $3000 you can probably pick one up with a few extra coils and so on, a Gpx5000 will be around the $4500-5000 range and a Gpz around $8500-9000 second hand. (if you are considering a Gpz make sure your wife is familiar with the weight of one as she may find it too heavy for her to use)

If you are uncertain whether you will continue to go detecting then keeping to the lower end of the scale might be the common sense thing to do as when you are finished with your trip you can re sell the pi machine and still get close to what you paid for it, its getting harder to get on to the gold these days but having one very capable machine will vastly increase your chances.

cheers

au-fever

Hi Peter
The above advice is very solid, to go from what your running to the above is a Quantum leap as far as technology goes.One could discuss the merit of choosing between a Gpx4500 and a Gpx5000.Both are capable machines.As far a value goes a new gpx4500 at $3500 is excellent.
As far as the next machine best if you can is hire GPZ7000.They are a brick on a stick but the latest technology. The sdc2300 would be a good option.
Put say a 15 mono on the Gpx4500 and use this as your search machine.Balanced properly you can swing it for hours.As mentioned with the sdc2300 you'll get the joy of getting smaller gold that your search machine will miss.WA is vast and is way different than the localised gold of the east coast.To have 2 different types of machines is invaluable and doubles your chances.
Do your research before you go.You cant just go where you want.Where you walk will be the key, but swinging any of the above will improve your chance.
I only use Minelab professional machines and strongly recommend other do.Theres a reason for this, they have a score on the board that dwarfs the opposition. Gold is a hard mistress. No one I know and no one Ive met uses anything else .Even a gp3500 in WA running a mono will outperform any opposition company machine.There specifically made for Australian conditions.
Hope this helps happy hunting and remember eagles take off into the wind, sometimes they sit on a carcass, sometimes they dont.There a bowling ball with claws at 100kph.
On that cheery note have fun
Cheers Dig

gday peta (a play on words?) anyway peter, your message of a few days back has got me interested.

i dont know where this might head, but i claim to be a experienced detectorite (if you read my history under my username of kevlorraine2 you should be able to get a gist of my personality and no, all my skiting was not just a keyboard warrior having a wet dream).

I am currently based at clermont in central qld, and was considering a trip to WA this winter. however my partner is in poor health and it would be a long and lonely trip to revisit those gold areas, where i detected in 2010. (successfully - my ten week trip visiting relatives, with 3 weeks detecting enabled me to find five and a half ounces with the 4500).

i have pushed away thoughts of a trip this winter, but your message got the gold running through my veins again, and i thought, send him and missus a message, have a yarn on the phone, and who knows what might come out of it.

if a trip together eventuated, i have the 7000, and the 5000, and my suggestion would be to complete the armoury, all you would need to buy is a 2300.
with those machines i would defy any gold to remain hidden from us.

give me a ring on my mobile 0381505510, cheers ... kev

I think all you need is a GPZ7000 & the SDC2300, like my wife and I, the X-Terra is a good basic metal detector for coins and relics, I guess that if you go all the way to WA you are looking for gold, so I would leave the X-Terra at home. My wife loves the SDC 2300, and I use the 7000. If you want the best chance to find gold you have to have the best machines.

Thank you to all members who responded with advice.

It is very much appreciated.

By my reckoning if we fit ourselves out with a 7000, and one of either a 5000 or 4500 or a 2300 as another alternative we should cover all bases. I would carry the 7000 and my wife one of the lighter model.
We would keep the XTerra (dual pack) as a back up for artefacts etc.

We are having an outdoor caravan/boating/home show in town this weekend (Cairns) and one of the detector businesses from Townsville will be exhibiting.
I am looking forward to having a look and a chat.
We used to have our own Miners Den here in Cairns but unfortunately it is no longer there, so I have to shop further afield.

Thanks Kev for you offer of a chat.
I may take you up on this but it will be after this weekend, once I get a more definite idea of which way we may want to go as far as fitting out with equipment.

Once again,

Thank you to all for your advice, it's as good as gold.

Peter.

opps, quoted the wrong phone number, dont know where the 03 came from --- it is 0481505510

sent you a pm peter, check it out ... kev

the three detectors you mention are the main ones finding gold around here (leonora)...prob sdc 1 7000 2 4500 3.
Budget gotta be your thing.
All three detectors good...apart from luck (which does play a good part)...the difference between finding gold or not will alway's come down to the operator.

Pilko wrote:the three detectors you mention are the main ones finding gold around here (leonora)...prob sdc 1 7000 2 4500 3.
Budget gotta be your thing.
All three detectors good...apart from luck (which does play a good part)...the difference between finding gold or not will alway's come down to the operator.

Thanks Pilko for your reply.

I'm a bit unsure which 3 detectors you recommend, of the 7000, the 5000, the 4500 or the 2300?

One will definitely be the 7000 but the other one will be one of the others.

I like the idea of the 2300 as it is the lightest and easier for my wife to handle, but I don't want to compromise detecting ability.

I original bought the X-Terra 750 as it was a middle of the road gold detector only to find that today, 2 years later it is regarded as a basic detector.
I wouldn't like to repeat this with the 2300.

I see you are in Leonora, it must be a lovely time of the year there at the moment. We hope to be in your neighbourhood in the next 3 or 4 months.

Once again, thank you for your feedback.

Peter.