How a Detector works.

Hey so im very new to the whole prospecting idea and i am just wondering if anyone can give me good information on exactly how a detector works, ie how it picks that there is a metal there, via what frequency ect
and Some of the Key things to look for in buying a detector for Australian/victorian soils that is good for finding gold?

Pretty much i will be looking to spend the big bucks on a detector without having any experience or knowledge with one before so if anyone thinks they can point me in the right direction to what they think is the necessary info for GOLD detecting, so any iinformation tuning to gold or how that even works would be great

Any good documentary's would be good too if anyone knows any?

Cheers.

G'day Fitty91. Welcome to the Forum.

Google "How Metal Detectors Work",and just keep reading chum.As for documentaries,stacks on You Tube and if it's strictly gold your after,buy a detector designed for finding gold nuggets.The cost of which depends on how much time you intend on spending on this hobby out in the field and how serious you are about finding gold. A top of the line detector can set you back about $6500.

Cheers kon61.

Hi Fitty91, we were in the same position as you back in 1995 - we just happened to be passing thru Clermont QLD and were intent on sapphire digging when we heard about this brand new quantum leap detector that any greenhorn could use. This was the Minelab SD2000, and - for us - it changed our way of living. We really could just turn it on and without any fuss it would tell you to "dig here". Now, we still didn't have the finer points down, but we were able to find some nice gold in Qld and then in WA. We bought from the then dealer in Clermont (Graeme Pepper, are you still out there?? cheers Graeme) and had some good basic guidance on the how's. The newest has a few more buttons/enhancements, but it is still so easy for any newby. The hardest part is actually researching the areas and deciding where to start walking. But the main thing is to buy the best if you don't have dramas with the money, and expect to do a lot of walking and finding trash - or in places where "no man has trod" - no signal. Which can just mean that there is gold all around, and you have walked that path right thru the middle! The main players are obviously Minelab and Garrett. Lots of info on their sites. Good luck

The two main detector types are VLF (very low frequency) and PI (pulse induction)

You can read more about them here: http://www.ehow.com/list_6063469_different-types-metal-detectors.html

If you are looking for a good detector for hunting gold in Victoria, Minelab are the best detectors, no question. But they are also expensive.

If you want something brand new, you can look at the Minelab GPX-5000 which is their latest model, which you should be able to pickup for around $6k.

Second hand, you can look at either Minelab GPX-5000 (around $5k), Minelab GPX-4500 (around $4200), or Minelab GPX-4000 (around $3k).

I have a Minelab GPX-4000 myself, and I paid around $3300 second hand about a year ago. They are probably a bit less now. It's still a very capable detector but it doesn't find the very tiny pieces of gold, which doesn't really worry me. If you want to be able to find the very tiny pieces and want a bit better depth, look at a GPX-5000 (but more $$$).

Welcome Fitty91
A detector works as well as the operator.

..-86

(One of the Expensive)

It's still a very capable detector but it doesn't find the very tiny pieces of gold, which doesn't really worry me.

Not wanting to sound too critical like, but the 4k will find gold just as small as the 45 and 5k will.

Remember, your giving a new chum information that could impact his final decision.

G'day Fitty91 and welcome to the forum

Your getting good info in the replys to your post, in the end it's up to you what to buy, but I will say this, buy the best that you can afford, if this is the lattest Minelab machine so much the better, but the superseded models work just fine as well. Like some of the others have said, research and looking in places where gold has been found is also very important.

cheers dave

G'day Fitty91 and welcome to the forum... As everyone have stated 4000 and up is the way to go... I would suggest you hire a machine before you buy and see how you go from there...

Cheers.

Mike.

Hi folks , Hi Fitty 91, Basicly how it works is a detector is an electronic device designed by the devil himself that enables you to search for the elusive gold metal to the exclusion of all other activities, you will notice your mind slowly slipping away as you start doing things like sitting in your car and staring at the freshly ripped up earthworks or any other geological disturbance and wondering if there is any gold in there, in doing so you may alienate your wife, children family and friends and probably your employer, this machine will help you to further agrravate your gold fever to the point where you may end up living under a bridge wearing your underwear on the outside and reciting shakespear to the seagulls and the nice folks in white clothes that bring you food, in short it is an evil device that once acquired must be exercised regularly or will call to you in your sleep and ruin your life.
Good luck with that!
Regards
Wayne.

Digginerup wrote:Hi folks , Hi Fitty 91, Basicly how it works is a detector is an electronic device designed by the devil himself that enables you to search for the elusive gold metal to the exclusion of all other activities, you will notice your mind slowly slipping away as you start doing things like sitting in your car and staring at the freshly ripped up earthworks or any other geological disturbance and wondering if there is any gold in there, in doing so you may alienate your wife, children family and friends and probably your employer, this machine will help you to further agrravate your gold fever to the point where you may end up living under a bridge wearing your underwear on the outside and reciting shakespear to the seagulls and the nice folks in white clothes that bring you food, in short it is an evil device that once acquired must be exercised regularly or will call to you in your sleep and ruin your life.
Good luck with that!
Regards
Wayne.

errr...yup, that's about it, in a nutshell. seriously, don't give up the day job..at least til you've been out and found out the realities

Your a bad man Wayne.

Cheers guys, cant believe the amount of instant support on this forum! the info has been very useful.
And i appreciate everyone being so helpful even though i could have simply type these questions into google, i find it alot easier to trust the information i am reading when people with experience have told me to look at it

Money will be an issue but i like to know what the end game is going to be so i will be going with the hire idea i think, who knows might get lucky (extremely lucky)and find enough gold to buy my own!

If any of you happen to see my next post it might explain my sudden interest in gold, feel free to help with those questions too

Thanks again guys
Alex.

Alex, you should maybe consider joining a club in your area and going on a few club outing and even hire a detector to take with you. You will find like minded people in the club and can geta good sense of what the hobby is like. Another, more expensive option is to go on a conducted gold safari run by professionals.

Cheers John

Hi Fitty91:
Here’s a bit of light reading on how metal detectors work.
http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/11043/METAL%20DETECTOR%20BASICS%20AND%20THEORY.pdf

Narrawa wrote:

It's still a very capable detector but it doesn't find the very tiny pieces of gold, which doesn't really worry me.

Not wanting to sound too critical like, but the 4k will find gold just as small as the 45 and 5k will.

Remember, your giving a new chum information that could impact his final decision.

I was just basing it on my experience, where I've seen my detector (GPX-4000) not give a signal at all on some small gold, but my mates GPX-5000 picks it up. We've tested it probably 5 times on very small pieces, and my GPX-4000 doesn't get it, his GPX-5000 does. So I concluded the GPX-5000 was better at finding small gold.

Could be my coil I guess?

Hi Fitty91,
Bendigo Prospectors Club meets on the 2nd Friday of each month (so this Friday 12th) at 7.30pm at the Senior Cits Hall Old High St, (behind the Golden Square Fire Station). A field trip is conducted on the Saturday and Sunday following. Plenty of experienced detectorists and advice freely given.

Hi Narrawa,
My 4000 has the opposite problem. It will pick up pin-head size pieces through 3" of leaf litter, but wont find that elusive half ouncer!! I thought I finally snagged one today, a faint signal at first, down about 9" in what looked and felt like virgin ground, and still sounding sweet, only to turn up some rusty 1860s era steel thingy..!! Damn..!!

Onthehunt....Trying hard not to sound picky when i pulled you up, but you yourself now have a lower opinion on the 4k due to your findings, yet i guarantee you'll find many that swear by their 4ks ability. A number of things could be contributing to why your not picking up small targets. Its up to you find out what they are and get them sorted because your missing out on your share with a very capable machine.

My partners 4k ( previously mine) stuns me at how well it picks up small gold at the depth it does using a range of coils from the 14x7.... 11" .... 17x11.... and 14" round. Sometimes im convinced my 4500 needs a service when comparing the two units.

barkly48...Ask yourself this.....if you were a half ouncer.....would you want your freedom taken from you by a mortal, only to become a wedding ring that gets tossed out the window of a moving vehicle during a dummy spit.???
Keep looking mate, your doing well digging up trash at depth and the rest of us commend you for doing so......the more trash you remove for your fellow prospector the more the gold gods will shine on you in time.

Back to basics.....
The 4k i believe was the first of the models to introduce the S/smooth timing, a timing optimised for finding small gold in hot ground missed by earlier models, and it did/does exactly that. It also performs very well with a larger coil.
For every sizable bit of gold being found today, thousands of smaller bits are being found more often...take advantage of it with this model if you have one and dont let the fact you cant afford one of the latter models, or the fact your friend who has a latter one, detract from your state of mind while your out there. This is your biggest downfall, not the model of detector.

I agree with Narrawa,Sensitive smooth was the big advance from the GP series,as much as ENHANCE was on the 4500-5000.

you swing it where you can for as long as you can in known and in between gold fields just because the old timers didn't find it don't mean its not there!gold is where you find it.if the old timers had the device that we have now,there would be bugger all left.what im trying to say is there is there is gold out of known gold fields.hey wane sounds like your been there done that.but hey mate im not down to my jocks yet being spoon fed. the day might come but i would be looking at another area bro if its that bad1 any way i use a 4000 and find just as much as the next bloke with a 5k.don't get me wrong the 5k is the best on the market but nothing wrong with the 45 or 4000. as they say a prospectors fortune can change in a turn of a shovel!all the best bud.

You remember Blisters when I mentioned the other day, that when you write using capitals it's like SHOUTING, well it is OK to use capital letters at the start of a sentence if you like..
Cheers

thanks boss will get it right one day?bloody computers!much rather talk one on 1 over a campfire in the middle of nowhere with everybodys gold thrown on the table for the day.good fire geunine company,and a ice cold beer after a hard days swinging.to me thats whats its all about for me.

blisters wrote:thanks boss will get it right one day?bloody computers!much rather talk one on 1 over a campfire in the middle of nowhere with everybodys gold thrown on the table for the day.good fire geunine company,and a ice cold beer after a hard days swinging.to me thats whats its all about for me.

Hey Dave
Where is that camp fire, my beers are packed & bloody cold

hey lee talk about bloody cold just been over to adelaide,for a couple of days! bloody snow,hail rain and a wind that goes straight through ya.first time there and probably my last.they can have that joint,to cold for me land back in cairns today sunshine and 30 degrees nice to be home.the only way to get me back there is huge nuggets!beers around the fire sounds good mate.will have to organise it.

Digginerup wrote:Hi folks , Hi Fitty 91, Basicly how it works is a detector is an electronic device designed by the devil himself that enables you to search for the elusive gold metal to the exclusion of all other activities, you will notice your mind slowly slipping away as you start doing things like sitting in your car and staring at the freshly ripped up earthworks or any other geological disturbance and wondering if there is any gold in there, in doing so you may alienate your wife, children family and friends and probably your employer, this machine will help you to further agrravate your gold fever to the point where you may end up living under a bridge wearing your underwear on the outside and reciting shakespear to the seagulls and the nice folks in white clothes that bring you food, in short it is an evil device that once acquired must be exercised regularly or will call to you in your sleep and ruin your life.
Good luck with that!
Regards
Wayne.

1. Havent alienated the wife as she has the fever too.
2. Yep I've allready alienated most of my friends, but now I've made plenty of Imaginary ones (but you can't trust em there bloody patch jumpers and switch flickers)
3.Alienated the employer years ago, who wants a boss anyway.
4. I camped under a bridge for a few weeks
5.Don't wear any undies
6.My wife finds me rubbing my prescious.
7.I can't bring myself to sell my prescious.
8.MY PRESCIOUS, everybody wants my PRESCIOUS.

Whats the Diagnosis Dr Wayne
Am I sick
Am I ever going to be normal again

Hmmmm Fever ya say Eh!? rubbing your precious? is that healthy? it's not like I meant any of those effects of owning a detector were bad thing!.......... normal? whos normal? Oh yeah.......Take two aspirin and stop squeezing it!!!!
Regards
Wayne.