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Best detector Under $500 bucks

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Post  hotrock Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:44 am

Just say you only had $500 bucks to buy a detector for gold prospecting, either new or second hand, and did'nt want to spend more then $500 bucks, what would be the best one? l know most of you will correctly say none of them would be much good, but if you had to go prospecting with only $500 bucks for a detector what would you buy?

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Post  deutran Sun Jan 15, 2012 2:51 am

I would hire a decent detector for a week,detect 24/7 and then buy something usable with the gold Smile
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Post  Guest Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:24 am

Used Gold Bug, Gold Bug 2 Gold Bug Pro, GT16000FT Very Happy Or if you are lucky ya might find an old and very used SD2000, Scorpion, Lobo ST, A2b Ground Hog, (Infinium for around 700)

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Post  hotrock Sun Jan 15, 2012 11:05 am

Adrian ss wrote:Used Gold Bug, Gold Bug 2 Gold Bug Pro, GT16000FT Very Happy Or if you are lucky ya might find an old and very used SD2000, Scorpion, Lobo ST, A2b Ground Hog, (Infinium for around 700)

Yes l would think a gold bug pro or second hand gold bug2, can the gold bug find larger nuggets also or just the tiny ones, do they handle mineralisation well? Also the gold snoop for $250 claims to handle minerialisation well.

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Post  Guest Sun Jan 15, 2012 3:00 pm

The Bugs are designed for finding small gold within a few inches of the surface. They will find deeper stuff but only in mild iron mineralisation or lower. Some operators can make these machines sing and have mastered the GB control. keep the GB and sensitivity set to best performance possible (easier said than done) and you will be successfull. Also with these old detectors you will have to learn the sounds from hot rocks and how they differ from metal target sounds. You will have to learn this no matter which VLF detector you may use because they are all noisy in high iron mineralisation and over hot rocks.
if you can find somebody with an old Pro Scan 2 (Aussie Made)for sale it might be worth snapping up as they could handle iron minerals very well. Mine is not for sale (yet).

If you don't want to be messing about with GB and hot rock noise then you will have to think about a PI machine such as any of the Minelab PIs, Garrett Infinium and Whites TDI Pro. All of the other PI machines are optimised for for salt beach and scuba work.

The Garrett A T Pro International is said to work quite well in the gold fields and the A T Gold from the GMC has been set up for our gold fields and is reputed to be very good on small gold in high mineralisation. These two are worth a closer look at.

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Post  Nebuchadnezzar Sun Jan 15, 2012 8:38 pm

Some very capable machines mentioned above, for sure. The Goldbug (original), A2B and GT1600 I thought were interesting suggestions - something I would have considered as "past their prime". Gold bug pro is a new machine and would like to get my hands on one to try out. Not sure you will find one though for under $500, as they are a fairly new unit. The GB2 is a very worthy machine, but as Adrian has already stated, they are specialised and take some time to master. Also hard to find for under $500.

PI machines like the SD are much easier to use and have seen them sold privately for under $500. A Garret Infinium or White's TDI are also worth looking into - if you can get one for under $500.
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Post  Guest Sun Jan 15, 2012 10:08 pm

I mentioned the Gold Bug, A2B and the FT16000 because they can work magic in the hands of someone prepared to learn how to use them . Past their prime?.... Maybe, but can still put up a good fight and get results. A bit like an old martial arts master.......Will beat the crap out of a young inexperienced upstart every time Very Happy
Another oldie that still can command a fair price on Ebay is the Gold Seeker 15000 because it has very good high iron mineral GB ability. Just food for thought for those who are on a tight budget.

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