New to prospecting with limited budget

Hello Everybody,
I am new to prospecting just got interested in gold over the past year. I have been trying to do lots of research on how to find gold. Haven't found anything yet but some very fine dust. I am interested in getting a metal detector that is waterproof and am thinking about the Garrett AT Gold. 680 dollars is pretty expensive for me but I want something that is waterproof.
The areas that I am trying to search is in a stream underwater about 3 to 4 feet. I have only been panning and I am interested in getting something that will help me move through more dirt like a sluice box but the stream has no place to put the sluice because there is a drop off of a foot from the bank to the water level. Is there anything else that I can use that won't bleed my wallet too much?
Thanks,
Chris

G'day akversamax. Welcome to the Forum.

For $680 bucks you cant really go wrong with the Garret A/T Gold,with its standard dd 8x5 inch fully waterproof coil.It is one of the better VLFs out there on the market,which can handle mineralized ground conditions. The A/T Gold is also a very capable beach/coin detector.

Cheers kon61.

Thanks for your input kon61 and for the welcome. I have been looking at it for a couple of weeks now and wouldn't mind purchasing it.

Don't forget to keep an eye on eBay ... do google searches ... try all of those weird little for sale sites ... you WILL find one eventually! Of course, new is best .. but 2nd hand might be a way to get into it a little more cheaply ... and then you can work toward your brand new detector

Thanks for your input Kate. I have been watching one on eBay. Supposedly it is new but the buyer didn't want to pay customs fees to get it. I think I will just eat up the cost of a new from Amazon instead of getting it from eBay. Price went up to pretty much same as Amazon. I am nervous about getting one, although I have heard there is gold here but I don't know if there is enough to pay for all my prospecting equipment (getting future gold to cover costs) but it would be a lot better to have one than blindly panning where we think the gold maybe.

Careful !!!!! I've been buying off eBay for about 6yrs now ... and a LOT of my purchases are from USA. I have NEVER been asked to pay any form of import duty! Not once!!

I've bought clothing, detecting equipment, shoes, books, DVDs, CDs, camping equipment ...... and the list goes on!

Normal post. Full declaration. ...... Never had a problem! .... never been asked for any kind of duty payable!!

PS: Just noticed the AK ... Arkansaw USA? .... if so, please disregard my previous ... I'm in South Australia

I disregarded the eBay detector. He is stating the item is new and the person who was going to purchase it didn't want to pay import fee's. The seller has 99.8% positive feedback out of 3k reviews. The price is close to Amazon so I am going to go with Amazon. I am from Alaska not in any of the "hot spot" locations but I have heard there is gold around where I am from yet to find anything notable though just few specs of dust.