Are old detectors any good?

Hi, guys. I have done a little beach combing but am keen to hit the hills close to home.
I was wondering if these detectors are worth using for finding small nuggets?
I have no small nuggets to test them in the yard. Would a small piece of nail etc suffice for testing purposes?
Heres a pic of what i have . they work ok on the beach .

Good God!! havent seen any of those since the 80's and in great condition by the looks of the pic --- cant help with the yes or not im afraid but im sure someone will post

Try a small lead fishing ball sinker ( size 0 or size 1 ) rather than a nail and bury the sinker 6" - 8" and see if those machines find it.
You'd probably be better off selling those 2 machines ( they look to be in great condition ...collectors items ! ) and putting the $ towards a secondhand Minelab PI detector if gold is what you are after.
I doubt those machines will have any search depth and they would hate hot ground but if the ground where you want to search is not hot and is shallow then try your luck..just go real slow and dig all targets.
It's well worth doing some research about any ground you want to search before you go there...did it yield gold and was it shallow alluvial...there are plenty of resources on this forum to help you in your research.... goodluck

Yes they are old school. I like retro. theres something about old things i love. And yes they are in very good condition.
I have small pieces of soldering iron( lead) i should test it with different sizes of that, and see how they go.
I will definately upgrade some day, if the bug bites me well enough.
The Laceys creek area was producing between 4 to 7 gram per tonne in the 30's i think.
I dare say alluvial is the way to go, But theres a guy up there who claims to find gold up the with his detector.
I just cant find where the actual mine is.Although after 6 or 7 metres of water ripped thru the creeks up there anything is possible...If fridges are in trees i guess gold could have been washed down from the hills, or uncovered.

G'day Maka

Talk about a stroll down memory lane,ye good old Red Baron 10 and Bounty Hunter Raider.As long as you can avoid hot ground(asking for a miracle) they will go off on gold over the gram mark but from memory,at very shallow depth. If your going to do any testing use lead such as sinkers or old lead bullets.

Cheers kon61.

Thanks, I did actually find 2 nuggets for testing, One is .9 and one is .7. Fine tuned them above ground, will bury them tomorrow and see how i go for laughs.
I may have to donate these to a museum, unless a new fangled coil can be put on them for decent depth etc..

maka. unless you live on a large property, don't do your testing at home. Do it out in the field that you will be detecting on.