Which detector

Hi to you all,
have finally decided to take up detecting as a hobby, within easy reach of Deep Lead, Stawell, Ararat, St Arnaud region I will hopefully have a bit of luck or at least fun looking for the yellow stuff. Now for the obvious question, a $6500 GPX 5000 is a bit out of my range as a first machine. I have searched the forums and come across the following units that may be suitable, Whites GMT, Whites gold master, TDI pro(oz), Gold bug pro, Garrett Infinium, Garrett AT Gold. I'm not really up to date with the differences between PI and VLF machines and realize opinions will vary greatly on which detector would best suit my needs and areas for searching. My budget would be up $ 2000 or so.
I thank you for any advice and replies posted as your wealth of knowledge sure beats mine on what will be a new adventure.

Cheers - nugget63

G'day nugget63. Welcome to the Forum.

Considering the current status of the Victorian saturated,hot ground conditions,making all VLFs noisy at the moment, I personally would go for one of the pulse detectors(either the Whites TDI Pro (oz version) or the Garret Infinium L/S. Both these machines will handle mineralized ground conditions & are quite reasonably priced.

Cheers kon61.

in your budget range, a second hand Minelab GP extreme will get you closest
to the performance of the GPX5000, should be able to pick one up
for $2000 or even less if you're lucky. Next model up is the GP3000.
good luck
bedrock

hey mate, welcom to the forum and this great hobby, stick with a minelab as you can't go wrong with them, whites i wouldn't bother seen a few on the grounds around my home town and great for picking up coins and that but not gold.i don't know why people talk them up saying they are a great detector, i'v tested some out on targets i found with the 4000 i had and the whites couldn't pick any targets what so ever. $2000 will get you a good M/L stick with them as they are made for aussie grounds, and anything that runs on AA batterys well i wouldn't bother as you'll be wasting your money.
cheers
stoppsy

Hi Nugget
No contest.If you can grab a Minelab GPextreme or GP3000.You are on your way.A mate of mine (Raymondj) brought a whites and detected 6 months fulltime with it at Dunolly /Moliagul result NIL.Brought a GPX4000 and he started finding gold .I know that there are people out there that use Vlf machines and I have heard that the Fisher goldbug is good on the first few inches.
But I have never heard of a VLF machine that works well on Australian Soil effectively to a metre like the Minelab PI machines do.To have the ability to pickup points of a gram and detect larger deeper cant be understated.Gpseries machines at current prices are brilliant value.For example the gp3000 cost $5000 when it was released (Now around $2300) and was the best detector in the world.They still have great capabilities and are probably 90 percent of their adjustable cousins (Gpxseries)
Cheers Dig

The type of battery a detector operates from has no bearing whatsoever on how well the detector will detect gold or any other metal, it determines how long the detector will run for without degrading the performance of the machine.
ML PIs require large capacity batteries that hold their terminal voltage well because these detectors require a lot of signal processing power compared to most other PI machines. The transmit power from these detectors is roughly the same as the TX power of the TDI and the Infinium and the Seahunter and several other PI machines.

Having said that , I might agree that the GP Extreme or the 3000 would be good choices if you have the money to throw away; Even detectors down to the old SD 2000 will still find gold but is a bit more cantankerous to operate.

The TDI , Infinium, will also find gold in highly iron mineralised ground but are not as sensitive to the very small gold as the ML PIs.

The AT Pro is an excellent detector but not one I would recomend if you will be spending a lot of time in the goldfields. The AT Gold is not ready for our gold field ground conditions yet.

Detectors like the Gold Bugs, GMT, MXT will find small gold better than most other machines but they will not go more than a few inches deep in extreme iron mineralisation. On mullock heaps they will find the very small stuff with ease that the ML pIs can only dream of detecting, however who wants to spend all day recovering .02 gm bits of gold. Easier to dry blow it I reckon.

Dig24crt wrote:Hi Nugget
No contest.If you can grab a Minelab GPextreme or GP3000.You are on your way.A mate of mine (Raymondj) brought a whites and detected 6 months fulltime with it at Dunolly /Moliagul result NIL.Brought a GPX4000 and he started finding gold .I know that there are people out there that use Vlf machines and I have heard that the Fisher goldbug is good on the first few inches.
But I have never heard of a VLF machine that works well on Australian Soil effectively to a metre like the Minelab PI machines do.To have the ability to pickup points of a gram and detect larger deeper cant be understated.Gpseries machines at current prices are brilliant value.For example the gp3000 cost $5000 when it was released (Now around $2300) and was the best detector in the world.They still have great capabilities and are probably 90 percent of their adjustable cousins (Gpxseries)
Cheers Dig

The auto GB on the GP extreme and GP 3000 is too fast, so I wouldn't waste my money. If you spend a bit more $2600 you can get a GP3500 which has three GB speeds, fast, medium and slow which makes it a far better machine on our goldfields. With the whites and garrett don't bother they are made more for the USA goldfields, thats why you don't see many around, stick with Minelab and aim for a GP3500 as a good detector to start with, you will only be dissapointed with the extreme or 3000 not as good.

A lot of gold found with the Gp and the 3000 but the above ref to ground tracking speed is a very valid point particularly where small gold is concerned.

Thanks for the input guys,
sounds like Minelab is the way to go, i don't want to waste cash on something that may not be suitable. Better start looking at second hand or save a bit more and go new. Your help is appreciated and may you all have a successful 2012.

nugget63

I reckonz ya shood get a gold snoop!! that way if ya get a signal from gold ya know it will be a biggun.

nugget63 wrote:
Hi to you all,
have finally decided to take up detecting as a hobby, within easy reach of Deep Lead, Stawell, Ararat, St Arnaud region I will hopefully have a bit of luck or at least fun looking for the yellow stuff. Now for the obvious question, a $6500 GPX 5000 is a bit out of my range as a first machine. I have searched the forums and come across the following units that may be suitable, Whites GMT, Whites gold master, TDI pro(oz), Gold bug pro, Garrett Infinium, Garrett AT Gold. I'm not really up to date with the differences between PI and VLF machines and realize opinions will vary greatly on which detector would best suit my needs and areas for searching. My budget would be up $ 2000 or so.
I thank you for any advice and replies posted as your wealth of knowledge sure beats mine on what will be a new adventure.

Cheers - nugget63

Yes l think a GPX 3500 for between $2500-$3000 and you will have a good chance of finding gold and, if say after a year you don't find any gold or enough gold to make it worth while and you decide to give up detecting a GPX 3500 has good resale value so you would get most of your money back.
Alot better then buying a piece of junk for $500 bucks and getting nothing but ground noise and the ocassional bullet then selling it on ebay for $100 bucks

Queenslander wrote:

Dig24crt wrote:Hi Nugget
No contest.If you can grab a Minelab GPextreme or GP3000.You are on your way.A mate of mine (Raymondj) brought a whites and detected 6 months fulltime with it at Dunolly /Moliagul result NIL.Brought a GPX4000 and he started finding gold .I know that there are people out there that use Vlf machines and I have heard that the Fisher goldbug is good on the first few inches.
But I have never heard of a VLF machine that works well on Australian Soil effectively to a metre like the Minelab PI machines do.To have the ability to pickup points of a gram and detect larger deeper cant be understated.Gpseries machines at current prices are brilliant value.For example the gp3000 cost $5000 when it was released (Now around $2300) and was the best detector in the world.They still have great capabilities and are probably 90 percent of their adjustable cousins (Gpxseries)
Cheers Dig

The auto GB on the GP extreme and GP 3000 is too fast, so I wouldn't waste my money. If you spend a bit more $2600 you can get a GP3500 which has three GB speeds, fast, medium and slow which makes it a far better machine on our goldfields. With the whites and garrett don't bother they are made more for the USA goldfields, thats why you don't see many around, stick with Minelab and aim for a GP3500 as a good detector to start with, you will only be dissapointed with the extreme or 3000 not as good.

You dont know what your on about Queenslander.
My two mates run an Extreme and a 3000 and they have found kilos of tiny nuggets between them, run in conjunction with a small mono coil.
These blokes were fulltime prospectors at Milparinka for many years. Everyone knows the place is famous for deep,small gold.

Extreme and a 3000 and they have found kilos of tiny nuggets between them, run in conjunction with a small mono coil.

Gus wrote:

Queenslander wrote:

Dig24crt wrote:Hi Nugget
No contest.If you can grab a Minelab GPextreme or GP3000.You are on your way.A mate of mine (Raymondj) brought a whites and detected 6 months fulltime with it at Dunolly /Moliagul result NIL.Brought a GPX4000 and he started finding gold .I know that there are people out there that use Vlf machines and I have heard that the Fisher goldbug is good on the first few inches.
But I have never heard of a VLF machine that works well on Australian Soil effectively to a metre like the Minelab PI machines do.To have the ability to pickup points of a gram and detect larger deeper cant be understated.Gpseries machines at current prices are brilliant value.For example the gp3000 cost $5000 when it was released (Now around $2300) and was the best detector in the world.They still have great capabilities and are probably 90 percent of their adjustable cousins (Gpxseries)
Cheers Dig

The auto GB on the GP extreme and GP 3000 is too fast, so I wouldn't waste my money. If you spend a bit more $2600 you can get a GP3500 which has three GB speeds, fast, medium and slow which makes it a far better machine on our goldfields. With the whites and garrett don't bother they are made more for the USA goldfields, thats why you don't see many around, stick with Minelab and aim for a GP3500 as a good detector to start with, you will only be dissapointed with the extreme or 3000 not as good.

You dont know what your on about Queenslander.
My two mates run an Extreme and a 3000 and they have found kilos of tiny nuggets between them, run in conjunction with a small mono coil.
These blokes were fulltime prospectors at Milparinka for many years. Everyone knows the place is famous for deep,small gold.

The bloke wanted advice and I gave it the 3500 is a better machine than the extreme and 3000, a bit rude there golden gus with your opening remarks, me thinks you don't know what your on about, Kilo's of gold thats funny how many, can you give us a better idea

each detector that comes out is going to be better than the last, but when you have had a detector for 12 months or so you get use to it. after a bit you'll know every little noise that detector makes. they may have picked up a lot of gold but if you take a newer detector over it you'll pick up more. i think any minelab detector you can't go wrong from the sd 2000 to the gpx 5000
cheers
stoppsy

Trent wrote
Extreme and a 3000 and they have found kilos of tiny nuggets between them, run in conjunction with a small mono coil.


I think you need to get out and smell the roses trent youd be very suprised what the old green and blue boxes are capable of using small or large coils
a few pros still swinging them and wouldnt change up
as for kilos ... you bet
john

Hi Nugget63,

Welcome to the forum and the best hobby on earth. You will find something ( Gold ) that has never been seen bu any other person before and is 100s of 1000s of years old, it truly is a hobby that can become an obsession.

As you can see there are many varied opinions out there, I personally own a 2 Minelabs, one SD2200D and a GPX4500 and they both work very well. The 4500 is an easier machine to use and coupled with a small mono coil is a real gold finder. The SD2200D is still a great machine which my wife uses now and finds some really small gold at depth, so I personally feel that any ML detector in this range will suit for someone starting out. My advise would be to don't get to hung up on the detector, as I have learnt it is more about the locations you will detect and the ability to understand your detector and what it is telling you.

I would strongly suggest that you look at doing a day or weekend course with one of the reputable company's that run training courses, this will be money well spent. I personally spent the first 6 months of my detecting life and many thousands of dollars on fuel, accommodation and so on to find ZERO. I did a GPA ( Gold Prospecting Australia ) 1 day course and have never looked back, again Money Well Spent.

Good luck with you new found.

Peter
Mariner3800

No worries Queenslander,mock at your own peril.
They reckoned if you were`nt getting an ounce every 7 days,you werent trying hard enough.
Seeing these blokes were out there six months at a time( The detecting season ) LETS DO THE SUMS.
4 OUNCES A MONTH X 6 MTHS= 24 Ounces a season,EACH,give or take an Oz
7 seasons straight.....hmmmmm
Lets just say they only got 40 Oz between them in a season,(for an example)thats still 280 Ounces in seven years.
280 X 31.1 Grammes = 8708 Grms,and thats an average.
You do the rest......

Hi Nugget 63, re detector choice, if you can find the money for a 3000 then go for it. The 3000 is an excellent machine capable of finding both small gold, and large gold at depth. as for the faster ground balance dont worry about it. you would detect in fixed and re balance when req.I keep one as a backup for the 4500 and lend it to friends when they come with me, they allways manage to find some gold with it. I have used from the 2200 to 4500 and all are very capable machines in the right hands. Everyone has their own opinion on diff. machines I can tell you from experience that the 3000 is a proven gold finder and a great starter machine. Scooter.

mariner3800 wrote:Hi Nugget63,

Welcome to the forum and the best hobby on earth. You will find something ( Gold ) that has never been seen bu any other person before and is 100s of 1000s of years old, it truly is a hobby that can become an obsession.

As you can see there are many varied opinions out there, I personally own a 2 Minelabs, one SD2200D and a GPX4500 and they both work very well. The 4500 is an easier machine to use and coupled with a small mono coil is a real gold finder. The SD2200D is still a great machine which my wife uses now and finds some really small gold at depth, so I personally feel that any ML detector in this range will suit for someone starting out. My advise would be to don't get to hung up on the detector, as I have learnt it is more about the locations you will detect and the ability to understand your detector and what it is telling you.

I would strongly suggest that you look at doing a day or weekend course with one of the reputable company's that run training courses, this will be money well spent. I personally spent the first 6 months of my detecting life and many thousands of dollars on fuel, accommodation and so on to find ZERO. I did a GPA ( Gold Prospecting Australia ) 1 day course and have never looked back, again Money Well Spent.

Good luck with you new found.

Peter
Mariner3800

Hey guys I didn't mean to start a debate about Minelabs, just after a push in the right direction,
Very sound advise, "Mariner3800" as I do have every intention of doing a day course to learn the ropes when I get myself a detector. Will probably do a lot of looking before a find of any sort but can imagine it will become very addictive once that first little (or big) nugget is in my hands.

Thanks scooter, will start checking second hand machines.
Happy hunting

nugget63

G'day nugget63, your getting a lot of good advice in this thread!
Even the guys that are at odds are telling you the truth, just their opinions differ.

My advice is buy the latest you can afford, If that is an Extreme, then no problem
good detector, I had one for years but the 3500 is better and the 4500 is better and so forth.

Stoppsy is right, I often tell people about an old guy who had a 2100 and could
pull nuggets out of a flower pot, he could always beat me in weight, just knew his detector
soooo well.