gold snoop pro

Hey guys, I'm going down to victoria for 2 weeks and want to ask if anyone has found gold with the gold snoop. It's great for coin hunting but I'm not sure how it would go with gold. Or should I hire another detector down there?

Thanks!

If you are serious you are better to hire a minelab, I had a goldsnoop delivered today, only airtested so far, $1 coin at 7" best til now, will test with small gold soon. Field test later. Thread for goldsnoop at http://alluvialgprospectors.proboards107.com/index.cgi?board=general

I've done more air tests with two 12gm, one 2gm and one 1gm nuggets, air tests are not the same as finding targets that have been in the ground for millenia. With sensitive at 10 in all metal mode both 12 grammers gave a good signal at 145mm, both were flatish in shape, one was more 3D (hadn't travelled far when found).

Flatish 2 grammer good signal at 82mm, flatish 1 grammer good signal at 57mm.

Until I find different I would not use the discrimination mode, all signals for the above nuggets in discrimination mode said ferrous. The 1 and 2 grammers gave a ferrous signal all the way even when touching the coil.
The flatish 12 grammer signal changed from ferrous to non ferrous signal at 90mm from the coil, the 12 grammer
3D (hadn't travelled far when found) signal changed from ferrous to non ferrous signal 13mm from the coil.

The size and shape of non ferrous targets affect the goldsnoop discriminating accurately.

However, even as an air test, with sensitive at 10, in all metal mode, the goldsnoop would have targeted the above nuggets, all were found in shallow ground by my GPX4000.

I bought the goldsnoop for my wife until we find a good patch, it appears a good entry level machine, easy to learn and ok in shallow ground. Much better that the one aldi had earlier this year, that machine would target a 20cent piece at 40mm. If you are deadly serious get a minelab, otherwise the goldsnoop for its price is a goer.

I forgot to mention in my above post that the coil used for testing was the supplied 8".

Thankyou so much for your reply. We've been having alot of trouble with the 12" coil. Let me know if you find the same

They wouldn't sell me a 12" coil because of the troubles involved with them.

I went out to the local playground this morning for an hour, found junk.
The target button works. Drop sensitivity as little as possible to get rid of any false signals, you lose some depth if the “sens” is not at 10.

Unlike the Minelab, the Goldsnoop does not increase signal noise the closer you get to the target, takes a bit of adjusting to.

To sum up to date, you can buy 20 Goldsnoops for the cost of a GPX 4500.

Hi, I bought the golfsnoop to start me off just to get the hang of what to do and also as I am waiting on my pension bonus before i can get a better detector. Went out for a few days around Avoa and Dunolly and couldnt find a thing. Dont know what I am doing wrong. Maybe I am not going out bush deep enough but a bit scared to go too isolated. Its alot of fun I must say but gee if I had just even founf a match head size I would have been thrilled. Did however find a rusty nail LOL

Theres alot more junk to dig up! I use mine for coins at sporting ovals and playgrounds, there is alot of junk to 1 coin. But it's just as exciting!

I've read with interest comments about your gold snoop!!
May be fine for coins etc but seriously, you couldn't expect it to find gold like a Minelab dedicated metal detector, Surely.
1 minelab =20 gold snoops!! Doesn't that tell you something!! I've been detecting for close on 30 years and had many different detectors, nothing comes close to Minelab Technology. The GPX4500 is the best Metal on the market bar none!!!
Don't let anyone tell you any different. I am not associated with mine lab,so have nothing to gain. It's like all the hype about the new Whites detector, Where is it? I wonder what detector the Australian Whites Agent uses when looking for gold!! Can I suggest it's probably not a whites!!! Food for thought.
cheers out back tom

If I had the money I would buy a minelab! We've never been gold detecting before and if we lived closer to victoria I would save for a minelab. I just dont see the point of spending that much money on something I would use in the goldfields once. For now I love my goldsnoop. With our goldsnoops we have found rings, coins from the 1800's, historic relics and have pretty much paid for our detectors twice over. I do see where your coming from and I will definitely hire a minelab when we get there.

kristylaura2 wrote:Hey guys, I'm going down to victoria for 2 weeks and want to ask if anyone has found gold with the gold snoop. It's great for coin hunting but I'm not sure how it would go with gold. Or should I hire another detector down there?

Thanks!

The Goldsnoop is capable of finding Gold both on and near the surface but it's also a VLF (Very Low Frequency) detector ...which means you'll get fairly limited depth on mineralized soils and considerably more noise than the higher end rental models will offer you. You'll want to get the larger 12" coil (optional... and possibly not available here) which will allow for you to detect deeper and for larger items. Note though that each 12" coil needs to be tuned to the individual detector using it for some strange reason. The larger coil means you can cover more ground at a slightly faster pace. There's been some comments around town that some of the Goldsnoops have been "modified" at the factory and that they are supposedly tweaked to perform better than their identical off-the-shelf KMart cousins.. But a side by side comparison between an $75 off-the-shelf supermarket model and a "tweaked" model last year (October 07) showed no visible or observable differences in our experiments. Consider also that these detectors are fantastic for owners in North America since their soils are more neutral. There's even a few old-timer Prospectors using them in Alaska etc. The also work fine on the beaches away from the saline content of the wetter sand at the shoreline. In Australia, I find a lot of the VLF detectors have a very hard time reading through the ore-rich soils here, including some of the best models on the market - UNLESS the nugget is closer to the surface. The Goldsnoop has the same issue as all other VLF detectors in that respect.... too much ground noise and false targets for my liking. To get the most out of the Goldsnoop, you'd have to be in an area where few other detectorists have been for the last 20 years or so. Since that's not likely to be the case, you are fairly unlikely to find gold with it there except with a detector that can reach down deeper. If, on the other hand, you are entering properties where the owners claim no other detector has been, then your chances of finding Gold with a VLF detector are very high. Doubly so if you hire or buy a dedicated Gold Detector since you'll be able to read much deeper through the soil with less ground interference and phantom signals.

If you want to be finding Gold and were weighing up renting a higher end Gold Detector, you would probably best be advised to hire a good detector - and preferably one designed for Gold Nugget hunting and not beach combing. A few companies have a higher end detector for hire (usually a Minelab GP or SD model) and those are a very powerful detector on the Goldfields. Your chance of success will be much higher with one of these than with a Goldsnoop - or any other VLF detector. I'd suggest using a rental if you are new to Nugget detecting because you can get a feel for the dedicated Gold detectors and, if you find that the activity is not for you, you can then return the detector without further commitment or expense to yourself. Detector Hire rates are usually flexible and cost less (per day) if you hire them for longer periods.

Just out of curiosity, where are you from in Australia? There's Goldfields pretty much everywhere here. Victoria gets a lot of media exposure yet several of the other states actually produce higher amounts of nuggets (WA & QLD) since the original Gold Rush boom of the 1850s. Even NSW has a roaring boom of new and old Prospectors hunting areas where some of the largest Gold specimens and nuggets on the planet have been unearthed.
I've added a map showing the Gold bearing regions (YELLOW) in Australia and some slight highlight (RED) showing where nuggets are most concentrated. Although it's worth noting that nuggets can be found in any Gold Bearing environment.

Thankyou for your reply. It makes sense to me now! I live in Canberra

kristylaura2 wrote:Thankyou for your reply. It makes sense to me now! I live in Canberra

In Canberra? You're within driving distance of Cootamundra and several other nearby smaller groups of nugget-bearing areas! You should take a look at the maps for the region and ask a few nearby land owners for permission to detect on their property. The odds are actually fairly good in finding land that hasn't been picked over since quite a few of the leases there are still owned by the same families that bought them a couple of generations ago. Might be worth a trip out there to talk to a few people. It's a very photogenic place so bring your camera!

Another alternative (to Victoria) is to head up to NSW to pretty much any town north-west or even south of Bathurst. I think Victoria has some great areas though, many of which are fairly accessible to the public.

I find the Goldsnoop a good scout machine.. especially in difficult terrain like thick grasses..and when there is hot weather on.. it is a light machine and you could swing it all day without much fatique.
If I find something with the snoop .. particuarly small stuff of which it is good for ... then would get out the SD. I can pick up a $1 coin at 25cm ... with the 8 inch coil and .2grm nugget at 5cm ... so am happy with it especially in the mineralised ground.

The Goldsnoop is capable of finding Gold both on and near the surface but it's also a VLF (Very Low Frequency) detector ...which means you'll get fairly limited depth on mineralized soils and considerably more noise than the higher end rental models will offer you. You'll want to get the larger 12" coil (optional... and possibly not available here) which will allow for you to detect deeper and for larger items. Note though that each 12" coil needs to be tuned to the individual detector using it for some strange reason. The larger coil means you can cover more ground at a slightly faster pace.

There's been some comments around town that some of the Goldsnoops have been "modified" at the factory and that they are supposedly tweaked to perform better than their identical off-the-shelf KMart cousins.. But a side by side comparison between an $75 off-the-shelf supermarket model and a "tweaked" model last year (October 07) showed no visible or observable differences in our experiments. Consider also that these detectors are fantastic for owners in North America since their soils are more neutral. There's even a few old-timer Prospectors using them in Alaska etc. The also work fine on the beaches away from the saline content of the wetter sand at the shoreline. In Australia, I find a lot of the VLF detectors have a very hard time reading through the ore-rich soils here, including some of the best models on the market - UNLESS the nugget is closer to the surface.

The Goldsnoop has the same issue as all other VLF detectors in that respect.... too much ground noise and false targets for my liking. To get the most out of the Goldsnoop, you'd have to be in an area where few other detectorists have been for the last 20 years or so. Since that's not likely to be the case, you are fairly unlikely to find gold with it there except with a detector that can reach down deeper. If, on the other hand, you are entering properties where the owners claim no other detector has been, then your chances of finding Gold with a VLF detector are very high. Doubly so if you hire or buy a dedicated Gold Detector since you'll be able to read much deeper through the soil with less ground interference and phantom signals.

If you want to be finding Gold and were weighing up renting a higher end Gold Detector, you would probably best be advised to hire a good detector - and preferably one designed for Gold Nugget hunting and not beach combing. A few companies have a higher end detector for hire (usually a Minelab GP or SD model) and those are a very powerful detector on the Goldfields. Your chance of success will be much higher with one of these than with a Goldsnoop - or any other VLF detector. I'd suggest using a rental if you are new to Nugget detecting because you can get a feel for the dedicated Gold detectors and, if you find that the activity is not for you, you can then return the detector without further commitment or expense to yourself. Detector Hire rates are usually flexible and cost less (per day) if you hire them for longer periods.

Nero Design

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by llanbric on Wed 26 Nov 2008 - 15:37

I've done more air tests with two 12gm, one 2gm and one 1gm nuggets, air tests are not the same as finding targets that have been in the ground for millenia. With sensitive at 10 in all metal mode both 12 grammers gave a good signal at 145mm, both were flatish in shape, one was more 3D (hadn't travelled far when found).

Flatish 2 grammer good signal at 82mm, flatish 1 grammer good signal at 57mm.

Until I find different I would not use the discrimination mode, all signals for the above nuggets in discrimination mode said ferrous. The 1 and 2 grammers gave a ferrous signal all the way even when touching the coil.
The flatish 12 grammer signal changed from ferrous to non ferrous signal at 90mm from the coil, the 12 grammer
3D (hadn't travelled far when found) signal changed from ferrous to non ferrous signal 13mm from the coil.

The size and shape of non ferrous targets affect the goldsnoop discriminating accurately.

However, even as an air test, with sensitive at 10, in all metal mode, the goldsnoop would have targeted the above nuggets, all were found in shallow ground by my GPX4000.

I bought the goldsnoop for my wife until we find a good patch, it appears a good entry level machine, easy to learn and ok in shallow ground. Much better that the one aldi had earlier this year, that machine would target a 20cent piece at 40mm. If you are deadly serious get a minelab, otherwise the goldsnoop for its price is a goer.

llanbric

Gold Snoop air test on a 0.05Grm Bit.






ML 8" Skid plate under it













For the price it's a good little machine.